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

On Saturday the AMA-affiliated Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum opened a new exhibit on Indian motorcycles. The following text is from an AMA press release on the opening of the exhibit, which is officially known as A Century of Indian, presented by Progressive Motorcycle Insurance:

This exhibit, the most ambitious in the museum’s 11-year history, commemorates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company.

The exhibit officially opened during ribbon-cutting ceremonies held this afternoon (July 7) at the museum. In attendance were several hundred motorcycle enthusiasts, local officials, and many of the men and women who rode Indian motorcycles during the first half of the 20th century. Also on hand were classic motorcycles from the “Century Ride Home,” a 15-day ride from Los Angeles, California, to Springfield, Massachusetts (original home of the Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company).

The new Indian exhibit celebrates one American motorcycling’s most heralded brands. It features 50 important motorcycles from Indian’s tumultuous history, as well as period sales literature, memorabilia, photos never before displayed, and informative text that chronicles the rise and fall of an American icon.

“Indian remains one of the true touchstones of American motorcycling, as well as a fascinating study in American business,” said Mark Mederski, Executive Director of the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum. “The museum is proud to present an exhibit that not only showcases classic motorcycles, but also documents the people, events and cultural context surrounding the Indian saga.”

Ed Youngblood, the exhibit’s curator, agreed. “Our goal has been to create an exhibit that can be enjoyed by everyone–from motorcycle enthusiasts to history buffs; from business majors to school-age children. The array of rare and beautiful motorcycles can be appreciated in their own right, of course, but we also present the intriguing story of the Indian brand, in a way that brings the legend to life.”

Progressive Motorcycle Insurance, the exhibit’s presenting sponsor, is well-known for insuring more motorcycles than any other American carrier. But the company is also committed to preserving motorcycling’s heritage.

“Progressive is proud of its long-standing commitment to motorcyclists,” said Ben Sheridan, General Manager of Special Lines for Progressive Insurance.

“Our customers tell us that history is important to their sport. As the presenting sponsor of ‘A Century of Indian,’ Progressive Motorcycle Insurance is pleased to do its part to preserve that history.”

Motorcycles in the exhibit represent the entire history of the Indian marque — from a 1905 Lightweight Single to a 1961 Royal Enfield Chief. The most contemporary Indians on display are a 1969 Velo 500 designed by industry legend Floyd Clymer, and a 1998 Chief produced by the new Indian Motorcycle Company of Gilroy, California.

“A Century of Indian, presented by Progressive Motorcycle Insurance” will be open through December 2002. An accompanying 200-page, lavishly illustrated catalog of the exhibit will go on sale this fall.

The goal of the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum, located on the campus of the American Motorcyclist Association in Pickerington, Ohio, is to tell the stories and preserve the history of motorcycling. The Motorcycle Hall of Fame honors those who have contributed notably to the sport, and three major exhibition halls showcase the machines and memorabilia that have shaped motorcycling. For more information, call (614) 856-2222, or visit the Museum’s website at www.motorcyclemuseum.org.

The Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum and this exhibit are not sponsored or endorsed by Indian Motorcycle Company, and these two entities are not affiliated in any way. The use of the Indian designs are for historical purposes only and should not be construed as endorsements of or promotions for Indian Motorcycles.

7:00 p.m. Bike Week (from Laguna Seca)
7:30 p.m. Rolling Thunder
8:00 p.m. AMA 600cc Supersport – Laguna Seca
9:00 p.m. AMA Formula Xtreme – Laguna Seca
10:00 p.m. FIM World Supersport – San Marino

All times Eastern Daylight Time.

People with non-traditional work schedules may have already watched coverage of both World Superbike races from Laguna Seca plus the 250cc and 500cc Grands Prix from Donington Park, aired earlier today.