According to a report in Sunday’s Birmingham News, the new Barber Motorsports Park being built by George Barber’s non-profit Barber Motorsports Park Foundation will open in 2003 and will seek as many car races as motorcycle races.

The 2.38-mile track near Birmingham, Alabama was originally proclaimed as being targeted for motorcycle road racing with a budget of $3 million. That budget has since grown to $22 million with another $18 million allocated to a new 141,000-square-foot Barber Vintage Motorcycle Museum as well as landscaping, the newspaper reported.

Track managers hope for 10 races a year, each drawing around 10,000 spectators.

The Whirley Phase One team won the Oschersleben 24-hour, a round of the Endurance World Championship hled in Germany.

Zong Shen A finished second overall , after losing 12 laps when rider Stephane Mertens crashed while leading by three laps.

Moto 38 was third on a YZF-R1 Yamaha. The top three overall were all running in the SuperProduction class, which allows Superbike chassis but requires near-stock engines.

Wim Motors finished fourth overall with a Honda RC51, first in the Superbike class, and clinched the Endurance World Championship, which is only open to entrants in the traditional Superbike class.

Police Nationale was fifth overall on a Kawasaki ZX-9R.

Herman Verboven Racing retired after running second in the Superbike class around mid-race.

One round of the Endurance World Championship Series remains, the Bol d’Or in France.

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

American Honda’s 20-year-old Nicky Hayden said on Friday, August 10 that he would most likely have post-season surgery to fix a numbing problem in his right hand caused by Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Speaking via cell phone from a photo shoot at a Honda test facility in the desert near Mojave, California, Hayden said, “My hand has kind of been going tingly on me. As practice wears on or the race, my pointer and my middle finger and thumb are going numb on me. So they (physicians at Dr. Arthur Ting’s office) did a test, and I have Carpal Tunnel in my wrist. I guess it’s real common for racers to get it from all of the abuse the wrist takes. That’s been bothering me lately. It bothers me worse at some tracks and not so much at others.”

Hayden did not seem worried about the surgery; he’s discussed it with former World Champions Kevin Schwantz and Freddie Spencer, who both have had the same procedure done. Schwantz has actually had Carpel Tunnel Surgery on each wrist…twice.

Hayden also mentioned that his left wrist still isn’t 100% following surgery to screw the scaphoid bone back together in March. Hayden said he planned to get an MRI at the end of the season to “check things out.”

Meanwhile, Hayden continued to endure two days of the part of a factory rider’s job that isn’t exactly glamorous. Outside still and video photography are dependent on natural light, and the best light is just after dawn and just before dusk, the result being that photo shoots involve extremely long hours. “My wake-up call this morning was 3:45 a.m.,” said Hayden. “We met in the hotel lobby at 4:15. We didn’t back to the hotel last night until almost 9:00 p.m.”

The location of the photo shoot doesn’t ease matters as the daytime temperatures can reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit or higher in the Mojave desert. And as for the security at Honda’s top-secret test facility, “I think I could get into Fort Knox easier than it is to get into this place,” said Hayden.

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

The sign in front of Road Atlanta read “NO CCS EVENT” on Friday, August 10 with good reason–a race date originally appearing on the CCS schedule was never reserved at the Braselton, Georgia track.

According to Road Atlanta spokesperson Dave Levi, a race appearing on the CCS schedule for August 11-12 at Road Atlanta was a “publisher’s error”.

“We didn’t write it. Somebody wrote that saying that we were gonna have a race, but we never said that we were going to,” explained Levi before confirming that CCS made the mistake. Levi also said that a Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School is confirmed for the track this weekend, August 11-12.

Reached via telephone in his Fort Worth, Texas office, CCS National Road Race Manager Kevin Elliott said, “The first I learned of it was February 1st while I was in California at the first CCS race at the Streets of Willow. Our booking department called to say that we didn’t have a date at Road Atlanta. Usually what happens is that when you have a date with a track, they hold that date for you for the following year. I guess they (Road Atlanta) were unhappy with our spectator turn out, but we (CCS) told them that we were not really a spectator series. We’re real disappointed that the track didn’t even call to tell us that they were unhappy with the spectator turn out. We had to call them to find that out.”

Elliott said that the August 11-12 weekend was originally given to a vintage car racing group, but later scheduled to hold a Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School.

“I’m also disappointed that they didn’t offer the track to us when the vintage car deal fell through. It’s not like Schwantz’s school is a spectator event,” added Elliott. “We’re looking at having two events at Road Atlanta in 2002 with hopefully one of them a Formula USA National Road Race event.”

From a press release:

The 10-annual Hudson Valley Ride For Kids raised $156,319 Sunday, August 5 in upstate New York to go toward research to find the cause and cure of pediatric brain tumors. Hundreds of motorcyclists enjoyed a police-escorted ride from Harriman State Park to Piermont, New York. In Piermont, the group joined in a “Celebration of Life” where past and current brain tumor victims and survivors told success stories and expressed their appreciation.

The top fund-raising dealership was Prestige Harley-Davidson with $9771 donated. GWRRA NY-S got the top honors for donations by a club at $62,393. Ed and Brigitte Pugliese were the top individual fund raisers with $44,740.

The next Ride for Kids event will be August 19, 2001 in N. Oxford, MA. For additional information, contact the Ride for Kids at 800-253-6530 or visit www.ride4kids.org or www.pbtfus.org.

With an average time of 1:31.801 on a Suzuki GSX-R1000, GMT94’s Christophe Guyot, Sebastien Scarnato and Nicolas Dussauge earned the pole position for the 24-hour Endurance World Championship race at the Motopark Oschersleben in Germany on Friday.

Unfortunately, Dussauge, GMT94’s fastest rider, was seriously injured during the qualifying session and will not participate in the race, the penultimate round of the series. GMT94’s reserve rider, Phillippe Dobe, will ride in Dussauge’s place.

Zong Shen’s three riders turned an average lap time of 1:31.916 on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 for second on the grid. Schafer-MO-Devil Racing Team’s three riders, on another Suzuki GSX-R1000, averaged 1:31.992, third on the grid. France’s Castrol Suzuki team earned the fourth spot on the grid with an average time of 1:32.094.

Zong Shen’s second team qualified fifth with an average time of 1:32.293 on another GSX-R1000.

Reigning Endurance World Champions Whirley Phase One recorded an average lap time of 1:32.952 on a Suzuki GSX-R1000.

The top five qualifying positions, all taken by SuperProduction-class Suzuki GSX-R1000s, were separated by a mere 0.4-second.

The fastest Superbike qualifier is the current World Championship points leader, Wim Motors, on a Honda RC51 with an average time of 1:32.976.

Americans Michael Barnes and John Jacobi, along with Herman Verboven Suzuki teammate Jeff Vermeulen, qualified as the second fastest Superbike entry, 10th overall, with a 1:33.694 on a GSX-R750.

The fastest-qualifying StockSport team is Team KFM Motorrader in 12th overall with an average time of 1:34.323 on a Yamaha YZF-R1. World Endurance StockSport regular, Police Nationale, was second-fastest in the class and 14th overall at 1:34.742 on a Kawasaki ZX-9R.

Maxim Experience, 13th overall, led the Open Class in qualifying with a 1:34.366 on an MV Agusta F4.

There are 54 teams qualified for the race with a strong local turnout.

It is possible that Wim Motors could clinch the Endurance World Championship this weekend. Only Superbike class entries race for the FIM Endurance World Championship. SuperProduction Class teams race for the Endurance World Cup.

From a press release issued by RPM, the WERA affiliate based in Texas:

RPM has confirmed that G.M.D. Computrack Atlanta will be supporting the RPM/WERA Texas World Speedway Round 6 weekend August 17-19 and open to service your motorcycle.

You can email G.M.D. at [email protected] for appointments. For more information go to www.gmdcomputrack.com