This report from Stephen Bowline, after visiting injured racer/tuner Kevin Murray in the hospital:

“I saw Kevin and can now clarify a few points. First off, Kevin most definitely crashed his dirt bike. He has no significant other injuries, but he does have various bruises–including one very telling bruise across his brow. My initial concerns of an aneurism or other hemorrhages are unfounded.

“Kevin was unconscious for a few days in what was called a level 12 coma. That’s considered a fairly good number. It was not a deep coma, and he is now fairly responsive. He is still under 24-hour watch for signs of recurrent bleeding, but he no longer requires a 1-on-1 watch in which a nurse was dedicated to just observing him. Kevin’s first session with an occupational therapist will be tomorrow morning.

“Kevin would correctly and consistently respond to many simple questions. This is a very good sign for someone so fresh from the coma. In fact, one of the first things I said to Kevin was, ‘Hey, Kevin, what’s up?’ His answer was, ‘Retirement.’

“Kevin’s customers can rest assured that his business is in good hands, and that their needs and concerned will be duly addressed. I have confidence that Kevin will be able to contact many of his customers himself within a couple weeks. Any assistance Kevin needs will be provided by some very close and loving friends. He’s in good hands.”

By David Swarts

Erv Kanemoto’s Bridgestone tire testing team of Shinichi Itoh and Nobuatsu Aoki will test alongside current MotoGP Championship teams at Brno following the August 24-26 Czech Grand Prix. The test, tentatively scheduled to start Monday, August 27 with Telefonica Movistar Suzuki’s Kenny Roberts and Sete Gibernau, will mark the first time that the Bridgestone development team has shared a track with a current Grand Prix team.

This will allow Kanemoto’s team to compare the performance of the Bridgestones againt real competition under the same conditions. The test is expected to continue August 28-29, when Red Bull Yamaha’s Noriyuki Haga and Garry McCoy also test at Brno.

Bridgestone engineers have spent the last several months with Kanemoto, Itoh, Aoki and a pair of Honda NSR500s, developing Bridgestones tires for competition in the 2002 Grand Prix season.

Back problems have sidelined racer Vicky Jackson-Bell for the rest of the season.

According to press release issued by vjb Racing Team, “Recurring back pain will put an early end to the season for Vicky Jackson-Bell. Vicky had surgery for a herniated disc in November 1999 but the same area of her back is again creating problems. Vicky can no longer run, ride a mountain bike or lift weights. An MRI on September 3 will determine whether surgery is necessary.

“Vicky was to have competed in the Formula USA events at Portland and Daytona, competing in the Aprilia Cup and 125cc GP National Championship.”

Sources within Competition Accessories have confirmed that Tim Pritchard has left the company. Pritchard was General Manager of Competition Accessories retail operations and also managed the company’s overall racing operations.

Competition Accessories President Dan Conetta is expected to make a statement on Pritchard’s departure soon.

When reached by phone on Thursday and asked about the Pritchard situation, Competition Accessories rider Larry Pegram said, “He’s retiring. He’s been wanting to do it for a while. Tim’s family owned Competition Accessories and sold it to the company that Conetta’s President of five years ago. Tim’s been there helping them run it up until now. I think he was going to wait until the end of the year to do it, but he’s been racing his shifter cart and stuff like that and just decided to it now.

“He’s still going to come to these last races. I don’t know if he will be at Colorado, but I know he’s going to Virginia and I think he’s going to Willow.”

Meanwhile, Pegram has been staying busy building a full motocross track on the 26 acres he owns in Ohio.

Well-known two-stroke racer and tuner Kevin Murray was seriously injured Sunday in a dirt-riding crash, but it’s too early for his customers to panic.

According to Murray’s friend Al Brown, 43-year-old Murray was been moved out of intensive care as of Thursday morning. “He’s doing good,” said Brown in a telephone call to Roadracing World. “He came out of the coma, started opening his eyes, last night (Wednesday). He started talking today.”

According to hospital spokesperson Janet Landy, Murray is listed in “Good Condition” and has been transferred to the Neuro-Care unit of Scripps Memorial Hospital. Murray was originally admitted with a left frontal contusion, or bruise, on his head, on Sunday, August 12.

Those wishing to send cards, flowers, or well wishes to Murray can address them to Kevin Murray–Patient 4West, c/o Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, 9888 Genese Ave., La Jolla, CA 92037 or send a FAX to (760) 599-1081.

In the meantime, Brown is helping take care of basic business at Murray’s MCE Racing shop, such as returning some phone messages and accepting UPS shipments until the two-stroke specialist can get back on his feet.

Here’s what we know about what happened to Murray, as told by his friend and customer Steve Bowline:

“Kevin was riding on his own in Borrego Springs (in the Southern California desert) when he came across a few guys. They rode for awhile, but Kevin told them he had go back to the shop, and took off by himself. When the other riders got back to the car park they noticed that Kevin’s van was still there. They were concerned since Kevin had left them quite a while before. They notified a park ranger.

“The park ranger searched for Kevin and found him lying next to his bike in the middle of the desert. There was no immediate sign of a bad crash. Kevin was unconscious and non-responsive.”

By David Swarts

Speedvision announced today via the www.speedvision.com website that Jim Liberatore, 39, has been named President, Speedvision Networks. Fox Sports Television Group CEO and Chairman David Hill and Fox Cable Networks Group CEO and Chairman Jeff Shell made the announcement in one of the first moves following the buyout of Speedvision by Fox. Liberatore comes from within Fox, having served as Vice-President and General Manager of the Florida-based Sunshine Network since 1995 and as Vice-President of Advertising Sales for Madison Square Garden and the Madison Square Garden Network. Sunshine and MSG are both part of the Fox Sports Cable Network. Liberatore replaces Roger Werner, the founder and original President of Speedvision.

Regarding Liberatore’s assignment, the announcement states “one of his first responsibilities will be an analysis and development of a potential relocation and re-launch of the popular motorsports network to further capitalize on Fox Television’s highly successful association with NASCAR.”

On the change in Speedvision President, the site quotes Hill as saying “I’ve known Roger Werner throughout his sports career, and appreciate his passion for building successful new ventures like Speedvision. Nobody could have managed the initial phase of the network any better, so we all thank him and his team for their contributions. Now, it’s time for Jim to take the wheel, and together we’ll all see what interesting things we can come up with for Speedvision’s current fans, as well as the huge new group that NASCAR brings with it.”

Liberatore is quoted as saying, “The opportunity to take what I have learned at Sunshine at the regional level and apply it across Speedvision and NASCAR is a challenge I can’t wait to take on.”

The link to the Liberatore appointment announcement was found in the motorcycle section of the Speedvision website.

From a press release issued by Mat Mladin’s publicist, Steve Reeves:

Alton, Virginia, USA – With the 2001 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship in the midst of a four-week break, Mat Mladin’s Team Yoshimura
Suzuki and a number of leading teams took the opportunity to test at the new Virginia International Raceway where they will race at for the first time on September 30 this year.

The opening day of the scheduled three-day test (Monday, August 13) was interrupted by rain, before the skies cleared to provide the teams with two days of clean track time.

Mladin came away from the test with the fastest time, recording a 1:26.00 lap time around the 17-turn, 2.25-mile Virginia circuit and was happy with the information gained from the test.

“We only did about five or six laps on Monday, but were able to do a lot in the following two days and come away some good information that will help us when we get there for the final round of the Championship,” Mladin said. “We just went through our normal testing routine for when we go to a new circuit. A lot of guys were out there trying to set fast single lap times, but we were more intent on getting a package that would allow us to do a lot of consistently fast laps and I think we got pretty close to that. I was able to reel off a lot of laps in the mid-26s, so I was happy with that. My teammates Aaron (Yates) and Jamie (Hacking) are still there today, but I was able to get through what I wanted to, so we packed it up.

“I’ve been disappointed with the mechanical problems that we have had with the bike since the Laguna Seca round, with the clutch being our main worry. The amount of Championship points that we have been able to score in this period of time has been good considering and we’ve made the best of a bad situation. It’s a critical stage of the Championship, so hopefully Suzuki will have some answers for us.”

As for the new VIR circuit, Mladin was happy with his first visit there. “It’s actually a nice little circuit. I had heard a few things about it before we got here, but I’m happy with it. The safety aspects and the infrastructure around the circuit are good. It should all make for a good race meeting when we come back here in September.”

Mladin headed to Denver, Colorado after the test, where he will acclimatise himself with the higher altitude in preparation for next week’s (August 26) Pikes Peak round of the Championship.

With three rounds of the 2001 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship remaining, Mladin holds a 20-point lead in the Championship over Team Kawasaki’s Eric Bostrom. Bostrom was the victor at Pikes Peak last season, so the scene will be set for a continuation of the battle that the pair has been involved in all season.

FIM officials carried out alcohol and drug testing in conjunction with the 24-hour Endurance World Championship event held July 14-15 at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. All test results were negative for banned substances.

Those tested for alcohol included Frenchmen Bertrand Sebileau, Eric Mizera and Mathieu Lagrive; Germans Frank Schueller, Karston Schmidt and Klaus Schulz; and Swiss Dave Rollier, Head Carrard, and Claude-Alain Jaggi.

Riders tested for drugs included Christophe Guyot, Nicolas Dussauge and Sebastien Scarnato of France; Peter Jennings, Dean Ellison and Russell Baker of England; and Danny Schildermans, Dirk Buylinckx and Benjamin Pister of Belgium.

More drug testing was carried out July 29 during the Brands Hatch World Superbike and Supersport event. Riders testing clean included Italian Superbike rider Mauro Sanchini, British Superbike pilot Sean Emmett, French Superbike rider Regis Laconi, Australian Supersport rider Shannon Johnson, French Supersport competitor Christophe Cogan, and Spanish Supersport racer Pere Riba.

Aaron Gobert has re-signed with Yamaha Motor Corporation U.S. for 2002. The plan is for Gobert to compete in AMA Formula Xtreme on a Graves Motorsports Yamaha and to also race in AMA 600cc Supersport.