From a press release issued by C.H. Johnson Consulting, Inc., a company which bills itself as being “Experts In Convention, Sport and Real Estate Consulting”:

C.H. Johnson Consulting Completes Review of Rausch Creek Motorsports Club

Adaptive Reuse of Former Coal Mining Site in Pennsylvania Features Alan Wilson Designed Roadcourse

CHICAGO, August 31, 2001 — C.H. Johnson Consulting, a leader in convention, sport, and real estate consulting, today announced the completion of a market and financial review of an $8 million motorsports facility being developed 40 miles northeast of Harrisburg in Tremont, Pennsylvania by Rausch Creek Motorsports, L.P. Situated on 1,268-acres of mountainous terrain, Rausch Creek Motorsports Park is being developed as a diversified high performance, educational, and recreational driving venue with race-ready tracks, race-quality facilities, and premium recreational driving capacity.

The centerpiece of the park will be the Wilson Motorsports designed 2.31-mile road course, which capitalizes on the mountainous topography to offer more than 300 feet in elevation changes. When completed, the course will meet the safety and design standards of several officiating bodies including the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), making it eligible to host more than half a dozen auto and motorcycle racing series.

In addition to professional racing events, RCMP will also host driving schools and sell memberships that provide access to the road course for amateur users. Membership will be required for the privilege of using the road course on the 70 days a year set aside expressly for member use. Full and associate memberships will be available. Full membership is available only to individuals. Associate membership is available to clubs and corporate entities that join RCMP as a group. The RCMP is also contains 600-acre motocross and all terrain vehicle park and camping facilities. Future development plans call for a 1.77-mile road course, a go-kart track, and several member and spectator amenities such as a restaurant and lounge area, VIP club, and pro-shop. There is also additional land available for a hotel and golf course development.

Johnson Consulting was engaged to complete the independent feasibility of RCMP by Rausch Creek Motorsports, L.P.

“It is important for our development team to have thorough and accurate analysis of the market and financial potential for this innovative concept in motorsports–and the credentials and industry specific expertise of Johnson Consulting made them the perfect entity for this challenging engagement,” said Ronald Lickman, Chairman of the Board for Rausch Creek Motorsports, L.P.

“This is an important study in determining the market for motorsports facilities that offer
a membership platform as a supplement to professional racing events,” stated Charlie Johnson, President of the C.H. Johnson. “Our analysis indicates the demand for track time in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions provides strong revenue potential for this facility.”

About C.H. Johnson Consulting: C.H. Johnson Consulting is an international real estate
consulting firm with expertise in sports facilities and other real estate land uses, such as hotels, office, retail, and entertainment developments. Johnson Consulting performs market and feasibility studies, develops business plans, conducts organizational audits, performs tax analyses, and writes and manages requests for developer proposals on behalf of public agencies. Johnson Consulting’s clients include state and local government agencies, sports franchise owners and teams, real estate developers,
universities, entertainment facilities, lenders, and investment bankers.

12:00 p.m. AMA 600cc Supersport Pikes Peak
1:00 p.m. World Superbike Race One Germany
2:00 p.m. World Superbike Race Two Germany
3:00 p.m. FIM 125cc Grand Prix Germany

7:00 p.m. Bike Week
7:30 p.m. American Thunder
8:00 p.m. AMA Formula Xtreme Pikes Peak
9:00 p.m. World Superbike Race Two Germany
10:00 p.m. AMA Grand National Dirt Track Peoria
11:00 p.m. Bike Week
11:30 p.m. American Thunder
12:00 a.m. AMA Formula Xtreme Pikes Peak
1:00 a.m. World Superbike Race Two Germany
2:00 a.m. AMA Grand National Dirt Track Peoria

All times Eastern Daylight Time.

From Gordy Lunde:

I just finished watching the 600cc Supersport race from Pikes Peak. Does anyone at AMA read their rulebook?

Kurtis Roberts crashes on lap two of the 600cc Supersport final and is out of the race. A red flag comes out on lap three for a different incident. The rulebook reads the riders are credited for the lap they are on which would be four. For scoring purposes they go back to the last complete lap which would be two. In this instance they can do a complete restart…..
but………

The rulebook reads on page 18, roadrace rule #8, subparagraph f: In Superbike only, when a race is restarted following a red flag, a rider who was present at the starting grid, but was unable to start or dropped out after the start, is permitted to restart on a back-up motorcycle using the following procedure: (1) rider must obtain permission from the Chief Stewart or Race Manager. (2) Rider will be gridded on the last row of the restart grid.

OK, Superbike only….. How does this relate to 600cc Supersport?

Roberts was allowed to restart on a back-up bike and on the pole again! Somebody needs to explain this. Yes, he crashed again and was out of the race but he never should have been able to restart on a back-up bike.

Am I correct or did I miss something? Was there an update to the rule book that allows this in Supersport or any other class?




And now the answer, from Jeff Wilson of American Suzuki’s Sports Promotion Department:

Roberts did in fact start on the original bike. Parts were removed from the back-up bike to repair the original.

I specifically went and verified this after the red flag–just in case.

WERA President Evelyne Clarke says that the organization will not return to Memphis Motorsports Park unless modifications are made to the track to make it suitable for wet weather use.

This weekend’s WERA National Challenge Series and National Endurance Series event at Memphis was cancelled because rain made the dragstrip used as a front straightaway of the road course too slippery.

The required modifications include the removal of the guardrail section to allow use of the existing hot pit area to bypass the first half of the dragstrip, avoiding the problem of no traction on the rubber-coated pavement in the event of rain.

Memphis track management has been asked to make the changes by Clarke.

Call it wishful thinking, public relations or pure propaganda, but the latest Benelli press release makes the team’s pair of 16th-place finishes in the two World Superbike races at Oschersleben this weekend actually sound pretty good. The press release text follows:

Benelli Sport satisfied after another World Superbike weekend

The Benelli Superbike story continued this weekend with another pair of solid finishes by the Benelli Tornado Superbike ridden by Peter Goddard. The experienced Australian managed to finish in both races despite being run off the track at the first corner of race one by a falling rider. The finishes not only demonstrated the increasing reliability of the Tornado engine but also allowed the team to gather even more valuable date.

“We are leaving Oschersleben with lots of data which will all be very useful for the future,” said Team Owner Andrea Merloni. “Our mission to build a truly competitive World Superbike team is on target, the reliability is improving as we learn more and find real solutions to any problems that racing has exposed. Unfortunately today Peter Goddard had a little tangle in the first corner of the first race with a fallen rider. That cost him valuable time and he spent the race recovering from that. In race two he had some handling problems which allowed riders he had passed early in the race to pass him again. But I am really happy with the way the project is progressing and I am looking forward to the racing again next week in Assen.”

The circuit at Oschersleben offered the team a unique opportunity to learn more about the behaviour of the Benelli. The circuit has some long and very fast corners. These have allowed the engineers to gather different types of data from that collected at previous rounds. But the circuit also threw some new problems at the team, which unfortunately they didn’t have enough time to solve in qualifying before the racing began. “We were experiencing chatter and a lack of rear grip today,” explained Goddard. “We didn’t get the set up completely right and that made my job difficult. But at least the bike proved more reliable and the performance was stable, the engine felt the same at the end of the race as it did at the start.”

After today’s action was all finished, the team set off to Holland for the next round, held on the weekend of September 9 at the historic Circuit van Drenthe in Assen. It’s a very fast circuit, again with its own unique characteristics, which will give the team another chance to continue developing the Tornado Superbike. After Asses comes the last round at Imola, back in the team’s home country Italy. After that the team will spend the winter extensively testing and developing the Tornado ready for their first full season of World Superbike racing.

Copyright 2001 Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Las Vegas Extremes video star Paul “Pauly” Sherer won the first-ever XSBA (Xtreme Sport Bike Assn.) stunt competition in front of a very appreciative crowd at Pocono International Raceway during the Sunday lunchbreak of last weekend’s Formula USA National Road Race Series weekend at Pocono. For his efforts, Sherer was dubbed the “King of Pocono” and won $1100.

The XSBA stunt competition was modeled after the highly-successful freestyle motocross jump competitions held by Clear Channel Motorsports (formerly known as SFX Motorsports and before that, PACE Motorsports). Contestants were invited based on submitted video resumes, proving their abilities as stunt riders. Some of the 13 contestants were teenagers with little more than one year of riding experience, but the show was not the amateur hour that many expected it to be.

Each competitor was given a one-minute warm-up in front of the crowd, followed by three minutes to perform as many stunts as possible within set boundaries on the front straightaway at Pocono. Each competitor scored between 5-100 points awarded by a panel of judges and was then given an average score. Meanwhile, announcers tried to call the action, making up names for new stunts as they went along.

The preliminaries were held Saturday evening at the conclusion of the F-USA road racing activities. The 13 entries made their performances and the top eight were invited back for the finals on Sunday at lunchtime. Although the program needed polishing on Saturday evening, XSBA Director Cliff Nobles and his staff made improvements to the competition on Sunday.

Sherer won with a routine that included “nac-nac” wheelies, a “Christ-switchback” (standing backwards on the gas tank with arms extended), a footpegs-to-tank jump called an “elevator”, a reverse handstand dropped into skiing behind the bike with one hand, laying backwards on the bike face-down, and high-speed “bulldogging” (skiing beside the motorcycle).

Sherer not only won for his selection of tricks, but also for smooth execution, choreography and presentation. From the winner’s circle, Sherer thanked the fans, XSBA and Clear Channel Entertainment “for giving us a safe place to do this and not ride dangerously on the street.”

Loose Riders’ Kevin Calo, from nearby Newark, New Jersey, took second but was the fan favorite for exploding his rear tire in a burnout during the preliminaries and dropping and standing on his Honda CBR900RR at the end of each routine.

Matt Blankstrom of Grand Rapids, Michigan finished third thanks to a combination trick where he jumped from his seat to the tank, spun around in circles on his bottom on the tank, wheelied with his feet over the windshield, and went straight into a one-handed stoppie with his feet over the windshield.

XSBA’s Nobles called the event “wildly successful” and said he plans to make the stunt competition a stand-alone event even though it seemed to work well in conjunction with the F-USA National Road Race Series.

For more information on XSBA go to www.xsba.com.

By Glenn Le Santo

James Ellison overhauled fellow British rider Marty Nutt for an impressive win in the European Superstock Championship round at Oschersleben Sunday. Nutt led from the flag, but Ellison broke away from the pack of pursuing riders and caught Nutt on the second lap.

There was no looking back for last year’s Champion after that and he finished with a clear lead from second place Nutt. Ellison’s Championship rival Walter Tortoroglio struggled to overtake Andi Notman, who clung onto third place until the closing stages of the race.

Tortoroglio almost crashed as he pushed hard through the final turn, running well off the tarmac and getting very loose on the rumblestrip. He maintained his composure and hit back to pass Notman on lap 10, then set about closing the gap on second-place-man Nutt–but it was too late, and “Torto” had to settle for third and watch Ellison take a 15-point lead in the Championship.

Race Results

1. James Ellison, Great Britain, Suzuki, 23:22.173
2. Marty Nutt, Great Britain, Suzuki, 23:25.285
3. Walter Tortoroglio, Italy, Suzuki, 23:26.371
4. Andi Notman, Great Britain, Suzuki, 23:27.563
5. B. Jerzenbeck, Germany, Suzuki, 23:27.886

From a Benelli press release, issued yesterday from the World Superbike race at Oschersleben:

Peter Goddard crashed out of qualifying today, moments after the team had fitted their best Dunlop qualifying tyre. Goddard was pushing hard in an attempt to get the beautiful Benelli Tornado Superbike into Superpole for the first time when he lost the front end and crashed, without injury.

“Bad luck always seems to strike us at the wrong moment,” said a disappointed Andrea Merloni, owner of the Benelli Sport racing team. “Usually, the bad luck comes just after we’ve fitted our best qualifying tyre,” he observed. “But I have told the team they have no reason to be downhearted. This is our first year and we are just here to gather information, data and experience, and we are doing just that. I know that our potential is better than our results, and I am sure that both our luck, and our results, can and will improve.”

With the end of the year in sight the racing world enters what is known as the ‘silly season’, when rumours and counter rumours spread faster than a forest fire. Riders are seen talking to team managers and instantly the press is reporting possible deals between them for the next year. Benelli Sport isn’t immune from the ‘silly season’ so Sig. Merloni was keen to outline Benelli’s plans for 2002.

“We want to run two riders next year. Peter Goddard will ride for us again, he is a very talented rider, he tries hard and his development skills are very valuable to us. But I also want to hire another top rider.” Naturally, it will be expected that an Italian team with an Italian bike will want to employ an Italian rider. “This is certainly a possibility,” commented Sig. Merloni. “It would be a very good situation for us, and I think it would be one that would generate much interest and publicity, both in Italy and in the rest of the world. There are many good Italian riders, both in WSB and in GPs, and you don’t know who might be available for us to talk to soon, when some contracts have been signed and other riders find themselves looking for a new ride. But I won’t rule out hiring a rider from another country, even a British rider, A British rider would be good, as I expect Britain to be one of the biggest markets for the road-going Tornado. But the main thing is that we have a rider who is capable of getting onto the podium on the Tornado. Much will depend on budgets, we are speaking to some very big sponsors and once we have finished those talks we will be able to talk seriously to some riders.”

Much of the future development of the Benelli Sport team and the Tornado Superbike will depend on what rule changes, if any, are decided by the governing bodies. “They need to make an announcement soon, for the sake of the teams. We need to know what direction to move in, what we need to do for next year. I would prefer to see more capacity allowed for the Triples and the Fours, to allow them to compete more evenly with the Twins. But, if we have to come here next year with the same rules, we will, and we’ll still do our very best to succeed. I think that a rule change would be very good for the sport, it would increase the publicity that the WSB series receives. People would be talking and writing about the new rules all winter, and next year also.”

Whatever the rules, one thing is certain, Benelli Sport will be in the WSB competition next year fighting for points, and trying to reach the team’s ultimate goal, a World Championship title. “I think the WSB and the new four-stroke GP series can run side-by-side, and maybe, in the future, a four-stroke (Benelli) can even race in the GP World Championship again.”

For now, the team remain upbeat about their future, and Sig. Merloni is very pleased with all the progress made so far, despite the bad luck suffered today. Tomorrow is another day and Benelli Sport will be out there fighting for success.

Final qualifying position:

21. Peter Goddard, Benelli Tornado, 1:29.768

By Glenn Le Santo

Ruben Xaus made history in World Superbike competition at Oschersleben today by winning race two. No Spaniard has ever won a race in the series’ 14-year history. The win was also enough to secure the Manufacturers’ Championship for Ducati; the Italian company has won the title 10 times.

Xaus rode a faultless race, overhauling holeshot man Colin Edwards to deny the reigning World Champion a double win. Xaus’ teammate Troy Bayliss finished third, ahead of yet another Ducati, ridden by American Ben Bostrom.

It was another poor race for pole-sitter Neil Hodgson, who could only manage 10th. Troy Corser also had a tough race–he was suffering from the effects of a high-speed spill in free practice prior to Superpole and finished 11th. The crash, which happened on the fastest curve of the circuit, left Corser with severe bruising to his shoulder and ankle. He struggled to even get on the bike in the morning warm-up so it’s no surprise that he also struggled in the race. Corser finished 11th.

Edwards acknowledged the help given to him by Akira Yanagawa in race one: “I’d like to thank Akira for holding everyone up in race one and letting me get away,” Edwards joked.

Xaus was obviously overjoyed to be the first-ever Spaniard to record a World Superbike victory. “This is a fantastic feeling,” said Xaus. “In Spain everyone goes to GPs, the money also goes to GPs, so for me to do World Superbike has been very hard. But I love four-strokes so I only wanted to do WSB. Now I am glad to have won and I hope it helps the profile of Superbikes in Spain.” Xaus also revealed that there was more than just the image of WSB riding on his win this weekend: “Ducati said to me to win or to go home, so I won!”

Troy Bayliss finished third, keeping the title wide open. “We didn’t have time to get the perfect set-up, so I was glad to finish third. I am satisfied with third, in the circumstances, it’s better than pushing too hard when things are not right and falling off,” Bayliss said.

Race two
1. Ruben Xaus, Spain, Ducati, 41:17.957
2. Colin Edwards, USA, Honda, 41:27.895
3. Troy Bayliss, Australia, Ducati, 41:32.864
4. Ben Bostrom, USA, Ducati, 41:35.527
5. Regis Laconi, France, Aprilia, 41:47.268
6. Pierfrancesco Chili, Italy, Suzuki, 41:47.349
7. Gregorio Lavilla, Spain, Kawasaki, 41:47.564
8. Tadayuki Okada, Japan, Honda, 41:47.698
9. Akira Yanagawa, Japan, Kawasaki, 41:48.004
10. Neil Hodgson, Great Britain, Ducati, 41:50.778

Superbike World Championship points
1. Bayliss, 319
2. Edwards, 295
3. Bostrom, 276
4. Troy Corser, Australia, Aprilia, 238
5. Hodgson, 232
6. Chili, 199
7. Yanagawa, 152
8. Xaus, 151
9. Okada, 137
10. Lavilla, 136

Manufacturers’ points:
1. Ducati 458 (World Champions 2001)
2. Honda 347
3. Aprilia 272
4. Kawasaki 252
5. Suzuki 215
6. Yamaha 28
7. Benelli 4

Next round: Assen, Holland – September 9