Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Ending the question of who is going to race, some of American road racing’s stars arrived at Willow Springs International Raceway Friday to practice and qualify for Sunday’s $150,000 WSMC Toyota 200.

WSMC Toyota 200 entrants have two, 20-minute practice sessions Friday prior to the final, 30-minute qualifying session tentatively scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

Friday’s fastest qualifier will earn the fourth and final front-row starting spot.

Three front-row starting spots and 25 total grid spots have been earned through the three previous qualifying sessions.

Only the fastest 40 riders will qualify for the race.

According to factory Yamaha Team Manager/Crew Chief Tom Halverson, front-row qualifier Aaron Gobert will not race in Sunday’s 80-lap, $150,000-purse race because he is currently in Australia. Halverson and Tony Romo (Anthony Gobert’s factory Superbike mechanic) are working with reigning WSMC Champion Chuck Graves this weekend.

In the big race, Graves will be riding his WSMC Formula One bike, which is a Yamaha YZF-R7 chassis fitted with a modified YZF-R1 engine. For this weekend, Graves has borrowed quick-change hardware from Gobert’s Yamaha Superbike as well as the manual bike-lift stands used by Gobert at this year’s Daytona 200.

“We’re just babysitting the parts,” joked Romo as he worked on Graves’ bike Friday. Romo often works for Graves on non-conflicting WSMC race weekends.

Another favorite for the Sunday’s race will be 2002 AMA Formula Xtreme Champion Jason Pridmore. Pridmore’s Attack Suzuki team raced in the last two, 24-hour races at Willow Springs and has detailed information on fuel mileage and tire wear. In addition, Pridmore has been racing in World Endurance events over the last two seasons on Dunlop-equipped Suzuki GSX-R1000s, including a recent successful run at the Suzuka 8-hour in heat similar to that of the Mojave Desert.

Pridmore will ride Ben Spies’ AMA Formula Xtreme bike fitted with full quick-change gear and a FIM-spec, 24-liter endurance fuel tank.

Spies will not ride at Willow Springs.

Corona Extra Suzuki has brought its full AMA paddock presentation to Willow Springs for two-time AMA Superstock Champion Jimmy Moore and former rider Vincent Haskovec. According to Crew Chief Carry Andrew, Haskovec will ride a bike “specifically-prepared for this event.” Andrew and Haskovec have won many races together at Willow Springs, on big bikes and small bikes.

Andrew said Moore was a late addition to the team’s plans and would probably ride Steve Rapp’s Suzuki GSX-R1000 Formula Xtreme bike.

Corona Extra Suzuki mechanic Jeremy Daniel will split his time between working with Moore and working with young gun Hawk Mazzotta. Mazzotta recently contracted Daniel to build an AMA Superstock-spec Suzuki GSX-R750 in preperation for the 2003 AMA season. Mazzotta’s priority at Willow is to get up to speed on the new bike, said Daniel, but the 21-year-old Califorian may enter the Toyota 200 if things go well.

Synergy Racing Technologies Honda stopped young Canadian rider Andrew Nelson on his way home from the Portland Formula USA race to have him come to Willow Springs at the last minute. Team co-owner Glenn Dekoven said the team mainly wanted to give Nelson some seat time on the Honda CBR954RR in preperation for 2003 and that Nelson may run the Toyota 200 on his CBR600F4i.

Also planning on running the long race on a 600cc Supersport bike is Kneedraggers.com’s Matt Wait. With a seven-gallon endurance fuel tank on his Yamaha YZF-R6, Wait’s strategy calls for only one, 30-second pit stop to change one rear tire and refuel.

Tommy Hayden plans on running his 2002-model factory Kawasaki ZX-6R Supersport bike in the 200-miler and in several WSMC sprint races. According to Hayden’s crew chief Joey Lombardo, the bikes have no quick-change hardware. “We’ll just go until we need fuel or tires and put more on,” said Lombardo. “We’re here just to have fun and get Tommy some more seat time.” Hayden will use Dunlop slicks for the 200.

Tech Star Industries’ Michael Hannas will also race his AMA Supersport Kawasaki in the WSMC Toyota 200. Hannas finished eighth in the AMA Supersport finale at VIR and grew up racing at Willow Springs.

Team Embry/Roadracingworld.com’s Geoff May is still deciding whether he will ride his Formula USA Suzuki GSX-R1000 or his AMA Superbike GSX-R750 in the main event. In his first visit to Willow Springs, May feels that he has the tires, Pirelli, and the conditioning to be a contender for the win.

Local ace Jeremy Toye will be a threat on his Lee’s Cycles Suzuki GSX-R1000. Toye has added an earlier model kit swingarm and quick-change gear to his normal WSMC Formula One racer but admits his front set-up is only good enough for 25-second front wheel changes. Toye has thousands of miles of experience at Willow Springs including time in both of the recent 24-hour races.

Another WSMC racer with a strong race package is Team Orthopedics’ Jack Pfeifer. Like Toye, Pfeifer has also added a 1999 Suzuki GSX-R750 Superbike swingarm and made custom adjustments to his Superstock Suzuki GSX-R1000’s front end for quicker wheel changes. Pfeifer added a dual-dry-brake refueling system to his stock Suzuki fuel tank.

Top WSMC racer Richard Headley is coming out of retirement to ride his 2002 Ducati 998RS World Superbike in the race, which pays $50,000 to win.

Curtis Adams, another former WSMC star lured out by the potential payday, will race on the same bike that he has ridden for years around Willow Springs, a 1993 Suzuki GSX-R1100. For this weekend, Adams has added a single-dry-brake to the fuel tank, quick-release pins (from the old Fastline Suzuki endurance bikes) to his front calipers and a quick-change rear wheel system. Adams will roll on 17-inch front wheels and 16.5-inch rears to accommodate Dunlop’s latest rubber.

Las Vegas Xtremes’ Pauly Sherer escaped injury when he highsided in Friday morning’s Toyota 200 practice, but Sherer’s GSX-R750 suffered a broken frame. Sherer is attempting to get his frame fixed before qualifying Friday afternoon.

The WSMC Toyota 200 race is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time Sunday, September 15.

For additional information on the WSMC Toyota 200, call (661) 256-6666 or go to www.willowsprings.com or www.race-wsmc.com.

From a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service:

FRANCE WINS EXCITING FIRST GSX-R CUP RACE

Suzuki GSX-R Cup Final, Race One Result, Magny Cours, France, September 13th:

OLIVIER FOUR from France won the first GSX-R Cup Final race at Magny Cours today.

The 25-year-old reserve rider for the Suzuki Endurance Race Team survived a hectic first lap that saw the race stopped when Gunther Roelens from Belgium suffered a high-speed crash. Stephane Jond from France was another faller, but while he made the restarted 9-lap race, the Belgian rider was absent from the grid.

After the restart, Four broke clear from the field quickly, taking Australian ace Scott Charlton in tow. The Aussie rider had led the first part of the race and was looking to be a real threat for the win until an excursion off track later in the lap put him out of contention.

Four opened a lead of three seconds over Giuseppe Fiorillo for the rest of the race, while the UK’s Steve Brogan narrowly claimed third place from Jason DiSalvo of the USA. The pair enjoyed a race long battle and it took Brogan to set the fastest lap of the race – 1:44.910 – to claim the last spot on the podium.

Four said: “I wanted to take it easy for a couple of laps after the restart as my tyres would be cold. Then when I got a three second lead I decided to manage the race from the front. Tomorrow I will be using scrubbed tyres and my race plan is to watch the Italian and try to win the event that way.”

But the Italian ex-250cc European Champion has ideas. Italian boss D.Mutti said: “We raced today with tyres that we used in practice. We finished second, but we have new tyres for tomorrow. I don’t think anyone else has, so we are good now, but should be better tomorrow.”

Fastest lap man Brogan is hoping for a good start tomorrow from seventh on the grid. He said: “I enjoyed a good battle with DiSalvo for third today, but I know if I’d got away with the leaders I could have been in with a chance of winning. But I was boxed in on the first lap and had to make the best of a bad situation. Tomorrow depends on my start.”

1993 World 500cc Grand Prix Champion Kevin Schwantz from America was trackside to watch the close racing. He was supporting Team America and will later take the combined winner of both today’s and tomorrow’s race around the track before the Bol d’Or for a celebration lap in front of 80,000 fans. He said: “I’ll be rooting for the States. This GSX-R Cup Final is a brilliant idea. The GSX-R Cup racing in the US is a real personal interest to me. The World Cup Final is a great event and shows how much Suzuki puts into motorcycle sport. There are some young up and coming riders out there along with experienced guys that know how to make a machine go around fast. It is a good race formula.”

Suzuki’s GSX-R Cup Final 2002 brings together the best motorcycle riders from around the globe to compete on identical GSX-R750 machinery. Riders will race in two finals – one on Friday 13th, the second on Saturday 14th. Each competing country is desperate to win the title for national pride. Every rider uses a Suzuki GSX-R in their home country and is already familiar with the awesome performance of the GSX-R range, which started the race-replica class of motorcycles in 1985 with the first GSX-R750.

Race One Results:
1: Olivier Four (France) 15:49.464
2: Giuseppe Fiorillo (Italy) +3.691
3: Steve Brogan (UK) +6.637
4: Jason DiSalvo (USA) +6.894
5: John Dugan (USA) +12.263
6: KH Hennemann (Germany) +13.277
7: S Jond (France) +15.718
8: J Kirkham (UK) +16.864
9: J Hurtado (Spain) +17.525
10: F Heidger (Germany) +18.111
11: T Fluckiger (Switzerland) +21.649
12: Brian Livengood (USA) +22.130
13: J Tangre (France) +23.245
14: S Charlton (Australia) +31.478
15: L Pini (Italy) +32.723
16: Z Nelson (Canada) +49.003
17: J Martensen (Germany) +49.863
18: C Pfeifer (Austria) +57.041
19: Tim Easton (Canada) +57.854
20: RDV Molen (Netherlands) +59.514.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

The Roadracing World Action Fund is paying to have 20 additional Alpina Air Modules installed for the Formula USA/CCS Race of Champions (ROC) at Daytona and to have 18 additional Air Fence sections installed for the WERA Grand National Finals (GNF) at Road Atlanta.

The additional modules will make a total of 38 installed at Daytona, counting 18 still-functioning Air Fence sections allocated to F-USA/CCS earlier this year, and a total of 68 at Road Atlanta.

The additional Alpina Air Modules to be used at Daytona are being rented from Dan Lance, with the rent paid for by the Roadracing World Action Fund.

The additional Air Fence sections to be used at Road Atlanta are the 18 still-functioned sections allocated to F-USA/CCS, with the Roadracing World Action Fund paying expenses associated with shipping the modules to and from the track and deploying the modules at the track.

WERA has directly contracted Dan Lance to provide 20 Alpina Air Modules at Road Atlanta.

Another 30 sections of Alpina Air Module and Air Fence are being transported to and deployed at Road Atlanta by AMA Pro Racing, free of charge, as part of AMA Pro Racing’s affiliation agreement with WERA.

Lance, who runs Alpina’s rental and deployment service in the U.S., has also volunteered to repair damaged modules in the F-USA/CCS fleet and in the AMA Pro Racing fleet.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

2002 AMA Superbike Champion Nicky Hayden will ride a full factory HRC Honda RC211V in the 2003 MotoGP season but is still unsure which team he’ll ride for.

“I’m not sure of what team I’ll be on,” said 21-year-old Hayden in a telephone call to Roadracingworld.com Friday. “We just did the deal yesterday. I mean, we did it at lunchtime yesterday (Thursday) and announced it at the dealer meeting last night. So I don’t know a lot of details. I will definitely be on an HRC factory bike, though. That’s the main thing, what really matters.”

Hayden said he didn’t remember all of the names of the people present at the finalizing of his deal, but he did say that the President of Honda was there. “Not the President of American Honda or the President of Honda Motorcycles, but the President of all Honda. They said it was his first time ever coming to a dealer show in America,” explained Hayden.

“I’m just really excited about it! This is what I’ve wanted. This is what I’ve been working for all along.”

Hayden said that he would like to take some members of his current American Honda crew with him to his new MotoGP team but didn’t even know if that was possible. “I don’t even know when my first test is or anything. I’m going to try and hit the last couple of GPs, to go over and get a feel for things.”

So what will Hayden do on his first weekend knowing he will be a Grand Prix racer? “I’m flying down to Tunica, Mississippi for a dirt track.”

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

CMRA has hired Nancy Selleck to run its office operations, replacing Connie Brothers, who is retiring from the job.

Selleck currently works for F-USA and CCS in Clear Channel Motor Sports’ Dallas office and will remain on the job until after the F-USA/CCS event at Daytona.

Charles Brothers, long-time CMRA Race Director, is also retiring.

From a tardy press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service:

TIMES TUMBLE AS GSX-R CUP RIDERS GET SERIOUS

Magny Cours, France, September 13th:

THE GSX-R Cup Final riders got down to serious business today during the second and final qualifying session.

In the all-action 25-minute long session, the lap times tumbled from yesterday, but the names at the top remain familiar.

French ace Olivier Four took over a second off his provisional pole position from yesterday to stay ahead of the field. His time on the near standard GSX-R750 was just two-seconds slower than the GSX-R1000 SuperProduction machine he uses in the Masters of Endurance qualifying for the Bol d’Or – showing just how good the Suzuki is as a ready to go racer.

Four said: “The bike is near its limits now. The rear tyre was new before the start of the session and now it is dead. The suspension is good but on the limit. It was warm during the session, so if it cools down a bit, perhaps I could go half a second faster. But I am fastest and happy with that.”

He was followed in second place by the same man as yesterday – Italy’s Giuseppe Fiorillo, who is also a top contender in the Bol d’Or on a Suzuki GSX-R1000. His Italian teammate Luca Conforti took over half a second off his practice time yesterday to join him on the front row in fourth place. Italy Team Boss D. Mutti said: “We have two riders on the front row and today’s times are better. That gives us a good chance for the race later on.”

Third place on the grid was taken by rising US star Jason DiSalvo. The 18-year-old American who is coached by Freddie Spencer, took two-seconds off his lap time from yesterday and is bubbling with confidence for the race. He said: “We made some suspension adjustments and the bike felt much better. I thought when I came over here I’d be riding around at 90 percent, but there are some real good guys out there. I am riding as hard, if not harder than I do at home. But I’ve only had one-hour 15-minutes on track and I’m still learning. Every lap I do I learn something and will get faster and faster.”

Most riders beat their lap times from yesterday. The first race in the GSX-R Cup Final takes place at 17:40pm today.

Suzuki’s GSX-R Cup Final 2002 brings together the best motorcycle riders from around the globe to compete on identical GSX-R750 machinery. Riders will race in two finals – one on Friday 13th, the second on Saturday 14th, which support the Bol d’Or Masters of Endurance 24-hour race. Each competing country is desperate to win the title for national pride. Every rider uses a Suzuki GSX-R in their home country and is already familiar with the awesome performance of the GSX-R range, which started the race-replica class of motorcycles in 1985 with the first GSX-R750.

Final Qualification Results:
1: Olivier Four (France) 1:44.631
2: Giuseppe Fiorillo (Italy) +0.613
3: Jason DiSalvo (USA) +1.019, 4: Luca Conforti (Italy) +1.070
5: S Jond (France) +1.100
6: John Dugan (US) +1.261
7: S Brogan (UK) +1.358
8: S Charlton (Australia) +1.488
9: J Kirkham (UK) +1.619
10: F Heidger (Germany) +1.894
11: KH Hennemann (Germany) +2.211
12: RDV Molen (Netherlands) +2.341
13: L Pini (Italy) +2.525
14: T Fluckiger (Switzerland) + 2.581
15: Brian Livengood (USA) +2.591
16: J Hurtado (Spain) +2.823
17: RK Valderhaug (Norway) +2.977
18: J Martensen (Germany) +3.509
19: J Tangre (France) +3.582
20: G Roelens (Belgium) +3.597
21: C Pfeifer (Austria) +4.354
22: Tim Easton (Canada) +5.056
23: Z Nelson (Canada) +6.361
24: JP Laurett (Brazil) +8.981
25: B Cockerill (UK) +14.648.

Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Loris Capirossi has agreed to race a works Ducati in the MotoGP Series starting in 2003.

That’s the word from sources close to Marlboro, which is sponsoring the Ducati team for the next several years.