Monitored AMA Pro Racing radio traffic at Laguna Seca showed that Merrill Vanderslice is still firmly in control and continues to make operational decisions.

During the 750cc Supersport race at Laguna Seca last Sunday, starter Bobby Lemming was heard reporting that Rich Alexander’s Attack Suzuki was smoking.

Ron Barrick reported that he could not see any smoke from Alexander’s bike on the bank of race control TV monitors. Lemming continued to complain about the smoke and at one point told Barrick to come down to the start/finish line and see it for himself.

Vanderslice then came on the radio, and, ignoring Barrick’s input, had Lemming black-flag Alexander. When Alexander pitted, nothing was found wrong with his bike, and he rejoined the race.

It was later found that the rear tire on Alexander’s bike was expanding and slightly rubbing on the swingarm on the straightaway. Lemming apparently could not tell the difference between tire smoke and oil smoke.

Later in the race, Jimmy Moore re-entered the track after crashing, and oiled the racing surface, and several riders crashed on Moore’s oil in turn 11, the final turn, including then-race-leader Ben Spies, two laps from the finish. After the finish, Spies followed Moore around on the cool-off lap, and the front of Spies’ bike and the windscreen were coated in oil from Moore’s bike.

According to AMA officials, the checkered flag was scheduled to come out on the same lap that they would have thrown the black flag for Moore, which is why Moore got the checkered flag and not a black flag.

Bill Amick, AMA Vice President, Events And Entertainment, said in a FAX sent to roadracingworld.com that current Director of AMA Sports Hugh Fleming is moving into AMA Pro Racing over the course of the year and will be full-time with Pro Racing by January 1, 2002.

The question is, of course, exactly what Fleming will be doing for AMA Pro Racing and what his title will be. At post time, the question remained unanswered as we were unable to reach Fleming by phone, and Amick said he didn’t know what title Fleming would have.

Reached by phone, Amick told roadracingworld.com, “I don’t know what they’re gonna title that. I have not heard. Don’t know. (AMA Pro Racing CEO) Scott (Hollingsworth) is out. You could give them a try, but I’m not even sure if they’ve arrived at a title on it or not.

“The FAX was in response to the item I saw. So hopefully that’s the answers that you’re looking for. Again, I don’t even know if they’ve come up with a title. I’ve definitely not seen one. I think they’re kind of developing the job description as they go along ‘cause this sort of just happened. We literally, as I said, we kind of loaned them Hugh for a couple of weekends, and the next thing we know they stole him. But we’re a fairly small company. So when there’s opportunities in other departments here, we’re always very supportive of folks finding a niche where they’re gonna be happy.”

Amick sent his FAX in response to our 7/10/01 post, headlined, “AMA Advertises For New Director Of Sports.”

The text of Amick’s FAX follows:

I’m trying to catch up on calls between our Dirt Track Grand Championships and AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days–followed closely by next week’s Road Racing Grand Championships and AMA Crossroads Rally. In short, it’s a very busy time. I haven’t gotten any messages from RW, but I saw your post on Hugh Fleming, and perhaps this will help to clear up the personnel change that is taking place.

Hugh has been a member of the AMA Sports staff for almost 25 years and is currently Director of AMA Sports. He is responsible for our amateur and pro-am competition programs and reports to me as Vice President of Events and Entertainment. There is no connection between AMA Sports and AMA Pro Racing.

Earlier this year, we essentially loaned Hugh to AMA Pro Racing on a part-time basis to assist with several projects, including deployment of Air Fence.

AMA Pro Racing subsequently offered Hugh a position which he has accepted. His transfer from AMA Sports to AMA Pro Racing is being phased in through the end of the year, so he is essentially working for both AMA Sports and AMA Pro Racing until January 1, when he will begin to focus on his AMA Pro Racing duties.

Hugh has been and is a hardworking and dedicated employee, he’ll be missed by AMA Sports, and everyone in AMA Events And Entertainment wishes him well in his new role for AMA Pro Racing. I have no doubt he’ll do a good job for them.

The job you have seen advertised is for Hugh’s replacement in AMA Sports. We’ll be looking at both internal and external candidates and I hope to hire in August.

Bill Amick

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

This just in from AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin, regarding Colin Edwards’ comments during a press conference at Laguna Seca. To see what Edwards said and did during the press conference, refer to related post from July 6, headlined “Edwards Blasts Mladin With Impunity At Laguna Seca World Superbike Press Conference”.

Mladin’s statement:

“If Colin Edwards was on time for the press conference he would have known that after we had finished our bit with Richard Chambers, (who at the time of my interview was the press conference host), we were asked to step down to make room for other racers to be interviewed, just as Nicky Hayden had done three minutes earlier to make room for Eric Bostrom.

“I thought it more wise to go to the AMA riders’ briefing which was happening just 50 yards away than stay and listen to Colin’s dribble.

“Personally I don’t think Colin was very funny. He stated that he doesn’t think any less of me. It’s a shame I can’t say the same about him.

“Mat Mladin”

Posting of the just-obtained video tape of an altercation at Loudon last month has been delayed due to technical problems, and the video will be posted tomorrow instead of today.

In the meantime, commenting on roadracingworld.com’s announced intent to post the video, NHIS Motorcycle Safety Director Jerry Wood wrote:

“I understand that you are going to run a film of Bob and Gary Bahre yelling at (AMA Superbike Operations Manager) Ron Barrick. The thing that I didn’t like was the comment that ‘this is a reason not to go back’.

“I want to make it clear that I am not paid to defend the track or the Bahres. I am a lifelong motorcycle nut who is doing all he can to keep the New England National.

“Let me give a brief summary of the events that led to the reaming.

“Four years ago we have a serious incident and people called out for change. (Track onwer) Bob (Bahre) makes the changes recommended by the TRACK committee and the AMA. The next year Bob is told that we need more changes, Bob does ’em, every single one. The next year it rains and Bob is told that we can’t race because of the slippery spots so Bob buys the best cure known to man and puts it on his track.

“Thursday morning, June Bike Week 2001, we are told that if it rains we will try the new stuff and if it’s okay we race. Fair enough. Thursday afternoon we are told that Mat Mladin assembled a posse and told Ron (Barrick) that if it rains no classes race. None of these folks on the posse rode on the new surface. Ron agrees. The word in the pits is that AMA now stands for American Mladin Association. Bob is told that if it rains have the jet dryers ready.

“Sunday it rains, the jets go out, I am working with them. At about 4 o’clock I called Ron on the radio and told him that the track was ready for practice. I did say that there was only a small amount of moisture left and the line would be totally dry in a short time. Ron said that there would be no practice, he was going to send the riders out for a sighting lap and race. We were told to continue leading the jets around for another hour while the fans waited.

“After all this Ron’s plan didn’t work, the Pro riders did not like his idea and were refusing to race right in front of the crowd, That is about the time that Bob and Gary had enough.

“Bob and Gary Bahre don’t ride motorcycles. They are businessmen who have been willing to do more than any other track owners for motorcycle racers. I don’t think that publicizing a well-deserved reaming is going to do the sport of motorcycling one bit of good. You and I both agree that AMA Pro Racing has been lacking proper leadership. This was the result.

“Jerry Wood”

Racer Ben Spies, who led the Laguna Seca 750cc Supersport race before crashing in oil, turns 17 years old today. He can be e-mailed birthday wishes at (the now-corrected e-mail address)[email protected].

Or, a press release illustrating how to make finishing second sound really good:

Corbin Grand Prix Continues Championship roll

Corbin Grand Prix’s Jimmy Filice rode his Yamaha TZ250 to second place in the MBNA 250cc Grand Prix race held Sunday at Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. The race set an all-time record for spectator attendance at a motorcycle race in North America with close to 100,000 spectators.

The 250cc teams were slated to be up against it from the start as available practice would be limited to half of what the teams are used to, the reduction coming as a result of the busy schedule of the combined AMA and World Superbike weekend. The team worked hard to find the right settings for the race, and were still doing so for the qualifying heat race. The first heat was stacked with probably the best four 250cc riders in the country, Jimmy Filice, Rich Oliver, Chuck Sorensen and Roland Sands, who, between them, have won nine AMA 250cc GP titles over the past 10 years. In fact, the only man to win a U.S. 250cc GP title in the last 10 years who was not among these four is reigning World Superbike Champion Colin Edwards, who won the U.S. 250cc GP title in 1992.

The pace in the heat race was fast and furious, with the riders dipping into the low 1:30s. Jim finished fourth with a bike that was not yet right.

The race proved to be what everyone anticipated, with the magnificent four breaking away from the start to square off for a shootout. Sands took the early lead but was overtaken by Oliver in turn two on the second lap, with Sorensen and Jimmy in tow. Sands may have pushed too hard to close the gap in turn three, as he was highsided from his machine in dramatic fashion. Sorensen’s concentration may have been broken as he crashed in a virtual carbon-copy crash in the following corner. This left Oliver with a two-second gap, which Jim immediately set about closing. As Jim upped the pace, though, he found the front end suspension setting would not allow him to push harder and he was forced to settle for second place, rather than crash overriding the front end.

With his wise second place, Filice retains his lead in the championship standings, holding a 26-point lead over Rich Oliver with 188 to Oliver’s 162, with six rounds complete and five to go.

The team now heads for back-to-back race weekends at Mid-Ohio and Brainerd in two and three weeks time.

Corbin Grand Prix’s Success is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors, who include Corbin, Yamaha, Red Line Oil, Dunlop, Motion Pro, Swedetech Racing Engines, Scuderia West, Fox Racing Shox, Supertech, Tiger Angel, Arai, Alpinestars, Z Gallerie, Hap Jones, Mike Vail Enterprises, Nutec, DID Chain, Aim Sports, and Roadracing World.

For More Information about Corbin Grand Prix, contact James Siddall on (415)401-6250

John Hopkins ended the first day of his latest test session with the Red Bull Yamaha WCM team by bettering the times he turned on the bike during a test last year.

Hopkins flew to Vienna from his hometown of San Diego on the morning of Monday, July 9, after driving home from the AMA/World Superbike races at Laguna Seca. Barely 24 hours after arriving in Europe, and with a bad case of jet lag, Hopkins was aboard a Yamaha YZR500 at Brno.

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“He has a pretty serious case of jet lag,” said WCM Racing Director Peter Clifford of Hopkins. “He’s just been going around, although the weather hasn’t cooperated and we stopped after half a day because of rain. Pretty soon he got down to better the times he did here last year, just riding the bike, nothing ragged.”

As for bike set-up, Clifford said that the YZR500 was initially set-up as it was during Hopkins’ test last year. “He started with it virtually the same as last year,” Clifford said, “except for a slight difference in the forks. Since then we’ve been having him try some things that Hamish (Jamieson) knows are better just by our having another year of working with the bike. We’re letting him try things and his comments have all been very logical and in line in what Hamish expected.

“I think if you look in terms of the general way he rides, he does really, really well,” continued Clifford. “If all you looked at was the lap times you wouldn’t be stunned, because the way he goes about things is not to leap on it and break the lap record. It’s the way he moves on in periods two, three and four that are impressive. We don’t expect him to be blindingly fast right now. He’s doing well.”

The YZR500 Hopkins is riding carries his initials, JH, on its numberplates.

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Air Fence Safety Systems Managing Director Andy Coffey is at Texas World Speedway today, assembling 20 sections of Air Fence Bike soft barrier for use in turn nine, the corner where CMRA racer Ryan Smith suffered fatal injuries in 1999.

The Air Fence Bike sections were paid for by the Roadracing World Air Fence Fund.

Coffey is being assisted at Texas World Speedway by Tom Shields of RPM, the Texas-based WERA and AMA affiliate, and Charles Brothers of CMRA, the Texas-based CCS affiliate.

The Air Fence Bike sections will be used for RPM/WERA and CMRA/CCS motorcycle races at Texas World Speedway.

Officials from both organizations gladly cooperated in the project, recognizing that many racers in the area compete with both groups and that, ultimately, a racer is a racer regardless of what “brand” of license he or she holds.

The Roadracing World Air Fence Fund is dedicated to improving safety for racers from all organizations.

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin responded to NHIS Safety Director Jerry Wood’s earlier comments regarding the situation at Loudon, via phone and e-mail. (See related post below, headlined “Loudon Video Delayed Until Tomorrow; Wood Comments On Situation”.) Mladin’s version of what happened at Loudon differs significantly with Wood’s.

In his statement to roadracingworld.com, Mladin wrote:

In response to Mr. Wood’s comments:

Thursday about lunchtime Ron Barrick came to my motorhome to ask me to come and look at the track. He wanted me to see the position of the airbags and if there needed to be any changes. He asked me to meet him in the AMA tech garage after the day’s riding had finished. I agreed. Doug Chandler was also asked and he agreed.

Within the next few hours I got talking to Aaron Yates (whose motorhome was parked next to mine, as was Doug Chandler’s, Jamie Hacking’s, Ben Spies’ and Roger Hayden’s) and told Aaron that we are doing an airbag inspection after practice. He said, great I’ll be there.

By the time we showed up at AMA tech there were a few more riders already there (Jamie Hacking, Rich Oliver and Steve Rapp). This so-called “posse” that I had nothing to do with getting together, certainly has a lot of racing experience!

From there we went onto the track, the first thing we looked at were the airbags at the end of the front straight. They were close to being in the right place so we were about to move on when we noticed a rubbery gum-like substance filling up all the cracks in the racetrack. While this stuff is definitely not good to race on it was actually quite funny that they thought it was acceptable to fill the cracks with. You could actually stick your thumb into this stuff up to the first knuckle and a lot of the cracks were at least one inch wide.

It was at this point that everyone had very serious doubts about racing in the rain. Although some people will try to make you believe that last year I said the surface was too slippery to race on in the rain, this is not true. Whilst the surface at NHIS in my opinion is definitely not good, it is not my main worry. The walls are my main concern. You see, people think that when you are riding in the rain you are going a lot slower than in the dry. Whilst you do go slower there is one thing for sure, and that is, when you crash in the rain it takes a lot longer to stop than it does in the dry. Now, if you make the track surface better and don’t move the walls then, bingo, you hit the wall harder.

With 40 bikes racing in the rain and no room between the track and the airbags as soon as you have a crash you could have people lying everywhere on the racetrack. I’m sure you can imagine what happens next.

My recent crash at Road America in the wet is a good example of how long it takes to stop when you crash in the rain. I would say that it took me at least 60 to 70 yards to stop. This crash was second-gear doing approx 110 mph compared to third gear at NHIS entering turn three at approx 125 mph with a concrete wall protected by car tires just 10 yards away. Last year in the dry, I tangled with somebody in that same corner and made it into the wall covered by car tires. While I walked away with only a tweaked neck, I didn’t expect the response I got from Mr. Jerry Wood telling me that the car tires work great because I hadn’t broken anything. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard.

Then there will be the argument that there are airbags on the walls, agreed. Unfortunately when the airbag is placed directly on the edge of the track as they are at NHIS, there is every chance of hitting it and bouncing back into the oncoming bikes. So yes, the airbag stops you hitting the wall but no guarantees about what’s next. Airbags were meant to go on walls after slowing down through a gravel trap.

From there we move on and continued to sort out the airbags. Another funny thing happened in turn three. You could see where somebody had grabbed the gum and pulled it out for about 10 feet. A lot of these gum-filled cracks were running parallel with the racing line.

We continued to go around shaking our heads, then we got to the penultimate corner when there was this painted arrow on the track right on the race line. We took a look and realized it was a piece of the track that you could grab with your hand and lift it about two feet in the air. We were told that they were flying some epoxy in overnight and it would be fixed. Well, on Monday we raced around the outside of it. It had some temporary curbing nailed on top of it which made any passing in that section of the track almost impossible. There are plenty of issues between turn three and the penultimate turn that were discussed, but to be honest I am quicker on the track than I am at typing and I can assure you I have a sore neck.

From there, we headed back to AMA tech to discuss the track. This went on for about 10 minutes and the last thing somebody asked Ron Barrick was, “Are we racing here if it rains?” (It wasn’t me.) The answer was “no”. Not maybe, just a plain “no”.

This is my recollection of what happened on Thursday afternoon, June Bike Week 2001.

Mat Mladin