Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Chuck Graves returned to his home track of Willow Springs International Raceway August 18-19 and won each of the six Willow Springs Motorcycle Club (WSMC) races he entered, including the premier Toyota Cup Formula One Unlimited Grand Prix, on his Dunlop-equipped Yamahas.

Ken Chase, Vincent Haskovec, WSMC Operations Manager Kenny Kopecky and Bryan Kovarick also collected wins during the hot race weekend in the Mojave Desert.

A small mid-season break in the AMA National racing schedule allowed Graves Motorsports Yamaha team owner Graves the opportunity to come out and have some fun of his own, after not racing for the last several months while attending to his team’s and shop’s business. Once on the track, Graves didn’t waste a single moment. Graves started the weekend by winning the Solo GTO race on his Yamaha YZF-R1/R7 hybrid Saturday, on probably the hottest race day of the 2001 WSMC season, with ambient temperatures reaching 107 degrees F.

On Sunday, Graves picked right up where he left off by winning in 600cc Superstock, Graves Motorsports 650cc Superbike, and Hyperclub/WSMC Formula Two on Damon Buckmaster’s YZF-R6. Graves used his own personal YZF-R1/R7 hybrid Superbike to score victories in Performance Machine Open Superbike and the Toyota Cup Formula One Unlimited Grand Prix.

In the Formula One race, Graves got a small advantage before the riders even took to the grid. Chase, Haskovec and Kovarick were forced to start at the back of the grid for missing all or part of the Sunday-morning riders’ meeting. When the green flag waved, Graves grabbed the holeshot, pulled way with a 1:22.83 on lap two, and steadily added to his lead to win the 12-lap race by eight seconds. Lee’s Cycles’ Jeremy Toye took a lonely second on a Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike. (Toye also finished runner-up to Graves in Open Superbike.) White Tip Racing’s Chase came from behind to pass Haskovec and then Kovarick, despite running a used Dunlop D208 DOT-labeled rear tire that blistered during the feature race. Kovarick took fourth on his Marina Yamaha YZF-R1 ahead of Haskovec on a Hypercycle Suzuki GSX-R750.

Graves, Kovarick and Haskovec went at it again on their Yamaha YZF-R6s in Hyperclub/WSMC Formula Two. Kovarick got out in front early only to watch Graves come by on the brakes for turn three on the second lap. Graves, Kovarick and Haskovec circulated nose-to-tail in the low 1:25s until lap seven, when Haskovec on his Hollywood Motorcycles-sponsored Yamaha made his move. Haskovec pulled up beside Graves and Kovarick as the trio went three-wide into turn nine, and the Czech immigrant emerged with the lead. Graves passed Haskovec right back in turn one, however, and the three riders continued to race in a tight group. A few corners later coming through turn five, Graves accidentally hit his handlebar-mounted kill switch. Haskovec ran into the back of Graves and crashed. Kovarick took to the dirt to narrowly miss running over Haskovec. Graves got his Yamaha running again in time to hold his lead, but Jacob West passed Kovarick. Graves won by three seconds over West, Kovarick and Kopecky.

Aside from a crashed 600, Haskovec went home with a win in L&L Motorsports 750cc Superbike; second-place finishes in 600cc Superstock, 750cc Modified Production and Maxima Oil 750cc Superstock; and a fifth in the Formula One race.

Kovarick won in Open Modified Production; took thirds in Formula Two, 600cc Superstock and Open Superbike; and finished fourth in Formula One.

Ken Chase collected wins in 750cc Modified Production and 750cc Superstock and took a third in Formula One on his Michael Cox-built GSX-R750.

Kopecky won Saturday’s Solo GTU and Sunday’s Formula 40 Lightweight races, took second place in 650cc Superbike and Barnett Clutches 600cc Modified Production, and finished fourth in Formula Two, all on his Air-Tech-sponsored Yamaha YZF-R6.

Willow Springs International Raceway has posted a $2000 winner-take-all purse for a Fastest Wheelie Contest to be held during the Willow Springs AMA Superbike National weekend September 15-16. Participants, who must hold a current WSMC Novice or Expert racing license, will attempt to record the fastest, controlled wheelstand down Willow Springs’ front straightaway while being measured by a radar gun at the start/finish line. Each participant will get two attempts. Any motorcycle may be used but motorcycles may not use wheelie bars, extended rear fenders, gyroscopic devices, or “any other method of wheelie assistance.” Riders must wear full race protective gear. There is no charge to enter the contest.

Finalists will be determined at qualifying events during WSMC race weekends. On Saturday, August 18, Josh Gooding, Tyler Paulson, Tommy McComas, Joe Bucaro and Janin Carlson advanced to the finals. Gooding was the fastest qualifier with a 101.7 mph wheelie down the front straightaway of Willow Springs on his Honda CBR929RR.

The next, and last, qualifying event will be held during the lunch break of the WSMC race weekend on Saturday, September 8. Each of the top five qualifiers earn $50. WSIR officials may also add riders to the finals at their option as the AMA race promoter.

But WSMC frowns on wheelies in their races. After winning his first race in 501cc-650cc Novice, Jason Britton celebrated with a wheelie across WSIR’s finish line. Britton was docked one position as a penalty. Britton is best known for his stunt riding appearances in X-Factor Videos such as “All Twisted and Pucked Up” and “Urban Assault.” Britton’s X-Factor video co-star and teammate David Sanders also won his race, 651cc to Open Novice. Britton and Sanders say that they will be back to race again with WSMC and to compete in the Willow Springs Fastest Wheelie Contest.

A press release from Jason DiSalvo’s team:

WILD CARD DISALVO AIMS FOR CZECH GLORY

Following his fourth-place finish in the 250cc European Championship race after setting pole position at the Most circuit last month, Cruise America Grand Prix Racing Team rider Jason DiSalvo returns to the Czech Republic this coming weekend eager to compete against the world’s best 250cc riders once again.

The 17-year-old from Batavia, New York will be contesting the 250cc Czech Grand Prix at Brno on Sunday, August 26th, having been awarded a wild-card entry following his impressive performances in the Czech Championship this season and according to the teenager, he’s looking forward to the race.

“I really enjoy racing in the Czech Republic and feel confident after racing there this season. My main aim is to score some points so I’ll be doing my best to put in a solid performance on the Honda,” said Jason.

The race will be DiSalvo’s third Grand Prix wild-card ride of the season which in itself is a record along with the fact that he is the youngest-ever American to race in 250cc Grand Prix. Jason retired due to the changeable weather conditions when well placed at the Dutch TT in June before taking a well-deserved 22nd place at the British Grand Prix a week later, emerging as best of the wild-card riders.

The 250cc Czech Grand Prix race will be shown live extensively in Europe, mainly through the Eurosport and British Eurosport networks while American viewers can catch the action through a delayed Speedvision broadcast starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, 26th August.

This just in from Stephen Bowline:

Kevin has been moved to another hospital with a neurological rehabilitation ward. The address is:

Kevin Murray, patient Rm. 162
Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas
354 Santa Fe Drive
Encinitas, CA 92024

I went to visit Kevin today (Saturday), and his progress from Thursday is encouraging. I met Kevin’s parents and several friends that he’s known since before junior high. I am constantly amazed by the number of circles his friendships run in. He’s very highly regarded in many different facets, and I think that with everyone’s help Kevin can pull himself through this.

Feel free to print his new address. I will have updates on his condition from time to time, and sometime within the next couple weeks we will have a plan for returning customers’ equipment. Until then I hope everyone can please be patient and understand the difficulty of this situation.

This press release just in from Steve Reeves:

Formula Xtreme Promotions – Media Information
For immediate release
19 August 2001

BAIRD SECURES N.S.W. FORMULA X UNLIMITED TITLE

Queenslander Robbie Baird secured his second major title in as many months when he took out the 2001 Yamaha NSW Formula X Unlimited Championship at Sydney’s Oran Park Raceway today.

After taking victory in the first of three 7-lap legs that made up the Championship, Baird followed with a pair of second places to give him a total of 65 and another title along with the 2001 Yamaha Formula Xtreme Tri-State title that he secured in July.

Baird, along with his Radar’s Team Yamaha teammates Craig Coxhell and Jamie Stauffer, proved to be the dominant force in each race, with the pair taking out the minor placings and giving the Sydney-based Yamaha team a clean sweep
of the top positions.

“It’s a great feeling to have won another title,” said Baird. “The team has worked extremely hard all year and it’s a credit to everyone that we can not only get the win, but also get all three of us up on the podium.”

The three Yamaha riders shred a win apiece with Coxhell and Stauffer taking victory in races two and three. In finishing second overall, 18-year-old Coxhell scored a second, first and third, while Stauffer completed his day with two thirds and a win.

With the Yamahas in such dominant form, Wollongong’s Wayne Maxwell did well to keep the trio in sight aboard his NorthVac Kawasaki ZX-9R. The 18-year-old was consistent, finishing the day with three fourth places in the feature event, but made up for that with overall victory in the 2001 Honda NSW Supersport Championship.

Maxwell chased home Baird in the first of today’s two 7-lap Supersport legs before taking his Kawasaki ZX-6R to victory in race two and clinching the Championship in the process.

“It’s only the second full weekend of racing that I’ve competed on the 600, so it’s definitely a great result,” said Maxwell. “I chased Robbie (Baird) hard in the first race, but couldn’t get within striking distance at the end. In the second I just kept calm and didn’t make any mistakes.”

Maxwell led race two in a dominant flag to flag win as Baird was joined by Bringelly’s Josh Brookes (Geoff’s Auto Spares Honda CBR600F4i) and Queensland’s Ben Attard (Brisbane Motorcycles Honda CBR600F4i) in the battle for second. Brookes passed Baird on the penultimate lap to move into second, before Baird made an uncharacteristic mistake at Turn Four on the final lap, allowing Attard to slip by into third.

Queensland’s Robert Bugden (Netstar Aprilia RS250) was the most consistent of those competing in the Aprilia NSW 250 Production Championship and took out the Championship honors by finishing with a total of 58 points after finishing second, first and fourth in the three legs. Finishing second overall was Glenn Allerton (Terry Hay’s Shock Treatment Aprilia RS250) who after taking victory in races one and three, crashed out of the lead in race two, ruining any chance he had of taking the overall victory.

Honors for the 2001 NSW 250cc Grand Prix Championship saw Queensland veteran John Allen (Aluma Lite Racing Honda RS250) tied on points with Wollongong’s Chris Wilkie (Daytona M/C Painting Honda RS250) after the pair shared a win
and a second place in each of the two six lap races. Allen getting the decision by virtue of his better placing in race two which he won.

Defending Australian 125cc Grand Prix Champion Jay Taylor (Taylor Racing Honda RS125) added a NSW 125 GP title to his mantelpiece after two dominating wins in the smallest of the GP classes. With the 125cc and 250cc GP classes combined, Taylor was mixing it with Allen and Wilkie at the front of the field, displaying his 125’s exceptional speed.

The meeting also hosted the opening round of the 2001 LAZER Helmets Australian Sidecar Championship. The close-knit sidecar community was saddened yesterday when sidecar passenger Russell White was fatally injured during qualifying for the event, but the competitors rallied together to compete in today’s events.

Taking part in the first qualifying session for the opening round of the Lazer Helmets Australian Sidecar Championship (run in conjunction with this
weekend’s NSW title event) two sidecar outfits were involved in an incident at the end or Oran Parks main straight.

As a result of the incident White, who was a passenger in one of the sidecars, was fatally injured. Driver Robin McGregor escaped uninjured but was treated by medical staff for shock after the incident.

The driver and passenger on the second outfit were transported to hospital with driver Warren Bruce suffering a fractured arm and ribs, while passenger Mark Patterson suffered a broken hand.

The circumstances relating to the accident are currently under investigation.

The incident halted further qualifying sessions and opening races while investigations into the accident took place.

Formula Xtreme Promotions, the promoters of this weekend’s meeting, wish to pass on their condolences to Russell White’s family and friends.

Ray Spence and Jon Winders showed why they are the defending Australian Sidecar Champions, as they dominated today’s two races and took an early lead in the Championship. Second overall was the pairing of Vince Messina/Alison Scoullar who chased Spence and Winders home in each race.

The only non-championship event of the weekend was that of the combined Michelin Pro-Twins and Buell Nakedbike. With three 6-lap races conducted Suzuki TLR1000-mounted Chris Houghton emerged as the overall winner of the Michelin Pro-Twins after finishing with a win a two second placings, while Evan Jones (All Sun Motorcycles Suzuki Bandit) took out the honours as the highest placed rider in the Buell Nakedbikes.

2001 Yamaha NSW Formula X Unlimited Championship
(Overall points)

1. Robbie Baird, Radar’s Team Yamaha YZF-R1, 65 points
2. Craig Coxhell, Radar’s Team Yamaha YZF-R1, 61
3. Jamie Stauffer, Radar’s Team Yamaha YZF-R1, 57
4. Wayne Maxwell, NorthVac Kawasaki ZX-9R, 39
5. Alistair Maxwell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 30
6. Alex Gobert, Redwing Honda CBR929RR, 29
7. Jay Normoyle, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 27
8. Stephen Fisher, Seaside Motorcycles Honda CBR929RR, 26
9. Roland Kruck, Doin’ Bikes Honda CBR929RR, 22
10. Clayton Landells, Williamstown Tech Services Suzuki GSX-R1000, 19

2001 Honda NSW Supersport Championship
(Overall points)
1. Wayne Maxwell, NorthVac Kawasaki ZX-6R, 41 points
2. Josh Brookes, Geoff’s Auto Spares Honda CBR600F4i, 40
3. Robert Baird, Radar’s Team Yamaha YZF-R6 38
4. Ben Attard, Brisbane Motorcycles Honda CBR600F4i, 29
5. Alex Gobert, Redwing Honda CBR600F4i, 22
6. Jay Taylor, Taylor Racing Kawasaki ZX-6R, 19
7. Mark Aitchison, Suzuki GSX-R600, 17
8. Simon Rattenbury,Team Tasforce Security Kawasaki ZX-6R, 15
9. Daniel Breen, Yamaha YZF-R6, 13
10. Rory Rock, Rock Motorcycles Honda CBR600F4i, 3



2001 Yamaha NSW Formula X Unlimited Championship

Race 1, 7 laps
1. Robbie Baird, Yamaha YZF-R1,8:32.017
2. Craig Coxhell, Yamaha YZF-R1, +0.058 secs
3. Jamie Stauffer, Yamaha YZF-R1, +0.148
4. Wayne Maxwell, Kawasaki ZX-9R, +0.484
5. Alex Gobert, Honda CBR929RR, +8.934
6. Alistair Maxwell, Suzuki GSX-R1000, +13.944
7. Stephen Fisher, Honda CBR929RR, +14.123
8. Jay Normoyle, Suzuki GSX-R1000, +14.296
9. Clayton Landells, Suzuki GSX-R1000, +20.880
10. Roland Kruck, Honda CBR929RR, +21.145
Fastest lap: Robbie Baird, 1:11.941 on lap 5

Race 2, 7 Laps
1. Coxhell, 8:28.877
2. Baird, +1.063 secs
3. Stauffer, +1.285
4. Wayne Maxwell, +1.435
5. Gobert, +15.417
6. Normoyle, +15.668
7. Alistair Maxwell, +15.884
8. Kruck, +16.149
9. Fisher, +18.237
10. Landells, +22.211
Fastest Lap: Craig Coxhell, 1:11.257 on lap 7

Race 3, 7 Laps
1. Stauffer, 8:28.780 mins
2. Baird, +0.040 secs
3. Coxhell, +0.324
4. Wayne Maxwell, +6.012
5. Alistair Maxwell, +15.466
6. Fisher, +15.706
7. Normoyle, +16.048
8. Kruck, +17.653
9. Gobert, +18.293
10. Landells, +22.263
Fastest Lap: Robbie Baird, 1:11.304 on lap 4

From a press release issued by Eric Bostrom’s agent, Norm “Lawdog” Viano:

ERIC BOSTROM EXILED

August 18, 2001 – Atlanta, GA. Eric Bostrom, “the Boss”, left last night from California for a self-imposed exile to Colorado with his brother, Ben. The goal? Besides having fun with a brother he doesn’t get to see very often, Eric will get acclimated to the altitude and get in some serious mental preparation for the upcoming AMA Superbike round at Pikes Peak.

With three rounds left in the series, Eric is in the hunt for the Championship in both the 600 and Superbike classes. He is currently 20 points behind Mat Mladin in the Superbike class (332 to 312 points, respectively) and 19 points ahead of Miguel Duhamel in the 600 class (224 to 205, respectively). So with only three rounds left, Eric knows that next weekend will be a pivotal one, and that he needs to win both races.

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By David Swarts

During the March 4 Formula USA event at Daytona International Speedway, there was a new face among the crowd of racers. Toshiyuki Arakaki and his Kenz/J Trust Suzuki GSX-R1000 were surrounded by a virtual army of team members and umbrella girls/models. Due to the language barrier, the most that we could discover about Arakaki was that he was a former 500cc Grand Prix rider.

Arakaki qualified 11th for the Unlimited Superbike race at 1:55.287, well behind Shawn Higbee’s record-breaking pole time of 1:52.941. In the race, Arakaki shot to the front and passed, for an instant, leader and eventual race winner Grant Lopez. But Arakaki immediately crashed out of the wet race and the second Unlimited Superbike race was canceled due to darkness.

Apparently, Arakaki is much better racer than his Daytona results indicated. Arakaki and teammate Keiichi Kitagawa rode a Kenz/J Trust Formula Xtreme Suzuki GSX-R1000 to fifth overall and the class win in the Suzuka 8-hour August 5.