A videotape made by rider Mark Miller of parts of a confrontation involving New Hampshire International Speedway’s Bob Bahre and Gary Bahre, AMA’s Ron Barrick and Merrill Vanderslice and various riders makes the best case for never returning to the track, long-time track critics say.

The tape was made on Sunday, June 18 at the Loudon, New Hampshire racetrack and came into roadracingworld.com’s possession on Monday evening, July 9.

Miller caught the controversial action while making a momento tape for his friends of pit scenes at the races. The majority of the tape shows various riders sitting around the paddock and talking among themselves and to cameraman Miller. The copy of the tape that roadracingworld.com obtained was originally made as a gift for roadracingworld.com-sponsored Chris Ulrich, who frequently trains with Miller. Miller did not make the tape as any kind of political statement.

In a section of videotape which will be posted on RoadracingWorld.com, Gary Bahre calls Barrick a “little coward” and an “a–hole” and says that the riders are in control and asks of Barrick, “why do we even have you?” On the tape, the Bahres repeatedly tell Barrick to order the riders to take to the track, which had been artificially dried using jet blowers after hours of rain. At no time on the tape are the Bahres seen showing anything but contempt for rider concerns in the situation.

On the tape, when rider Grant Lopez attempts to mediate the dispute between riders who were unsure of track conditions and the combined track and AMA forces, Bob Bahre angerly tells Lopez “there’s no water anywhere” as he points at the pavement, ignoring the plea from Lopez, who desperately wanted to ride, for “10 minutes of practice to check it out.”

“I’m sure there’s water somewhere” on the track, Lopez says, trying to make the case for the short warm-up session he and other riders were asking for.

Vanderslice stands near both Bahres in the videotape and is seen speaking but hiw words were not caught on the videotape.

The abusive dialog directed at riders and AMA officials and caught on the tape stands in stark contrast to the relatively mild comments that led AMA officials to fine AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin $5000 and dock him a point, for, among other things, according to an AMA press release, “using profanity at times” and criticizing “an AMA official” as well as other riders and the racetrack itself.

At post time Monday night, roadracingworld.com was unable to reach any AMA officials to ask about the dual set of standards apparently being applied to riders vs. track owners. A phone call to AMA Media Relations Contractor Larry Lawrence had not been returned when this item was originally posted.

But in a Tuesday-morning e-mailed response, Lawrence wrote:

“I don’t know what to tell you about the abuse that AMA officials took at the hands of the Bahres at Loudon. I wasn’t aware of the situation.

“Why can they use so much profanity and Mladin can’t?

“For one thing Mladin an AMA licensed racer and our two-time champion. He is a spokesperson for our series. The Bahres are not.

“For another, the Bahres were speaking to Barrick and Vanderslice in a non-public forum. The fact that someone taped the incident does not mean that it was meant to be public.

“Heated discussions at a meeting on a starting grid are very different from a press conference.

“I’m speaking in generalities since I wasn’t around and didn’t hear or see the incident. I’m sure if it was as you described then some serious discussions will be taking place between AMA Pro Racing and the Bahres.”

Relevant portions of the videotape will be posted on roadracingworld.com.

From an AHRMA Press Release Issued Monday, July 9:

AHRMA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION

Citing personal reasons, Jack Turner has announced his resignation as executive director of the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association. Turner asked that his contract not be renewed when it expires in October, and he pledged to work closely with his successor to ease the administrative transition.

Turner was hired as executive director of the 5000-member organization in August 1999 after serving as director of AHRMA’s national road racing program since 1991.

“We regret but understand Jack’s decision and thank him for his fine work on behalf of the association,” commented Fred Mork, chairman of the AHRMA Board of Trustees.

Mork explained that AHRMA’s Executive Committee has appointed a Search Committee to evaluate applicants for the executive position. The committee is made up of three AHRMA trustees, chaired by Rob Stickler of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, along with Rusty Lowry of St. Marys City, Maryland, and Jeff Smith of Wausau,
Wisconsin. The committee will make a recommendation to the full board, which in turn will make the final selection.

The Search Committee is seeking applicants with a motorcycle sports background plus strong business, administrative and communications skills. Resumes and cover letters should be directed to the AHRMA national office, P.O. Box 676, Shawnee Mission, KS 66201.

Turner intends to continue to be involved in a leadership position with AHRMA. “The Executive Committee is delighted by Jack’s interest in continuing in some capacity with the organization,” Mork said, pointing to Turner’s role in the growth and success of AHRMA’s roadrace program through the 1990s.

Turner, 57, is a former trials and scrambles competitor, and is a founder and past president of the Kansas City-based Heart of America Motorcycle Enthusiasts. His wife, Jacki, serves as AHRMA administrative assistant.

(Editor’s note: Turner, along with AHRMA Trustees and various other AHRMA officials, is a named defendant in Rob Iannucci’s pending lawsuit against the organization. The suit stems from a series of disputes between AHRMA and original AHRMA founder Iannucci, culminating in the association revoking Iannucci’s membership and banning his Team Obsolete from participation in AHRMA races. The team does compete at Daytona, because Daytona International Speedway officials make the team’s participation a condition of allowing AHRMA to race there.)

John Hopkins and his girlfriend are scheduled to fly from San Diego to Vienna today for a Red Bull Yamaha WCM test session at Brno, Czech Republic, where Hopkins will ride a YZR500 for two days.

Hopkins, who turned 18 in May, may also test with a winning World Superbike team in the fall and has been fielding multiple AMA Superbike offers.

Last year Hopkins tested with Red Bull Yamaha WCM at Brno and after one day–his first time on the bike, at the track and using carbon-fiber brakes–turned times that would have put him 19th on the grid for the Czech Grand Prix.

Factors leading to World Championship factory team interest in Hopkins include the fact that he has won on a Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki GSX-R1000 in AMA Formula Xtreme and that he has extensive experience on Michelin slicks.

This Just In, in the form of a press release from Benelli:

Peter Goddard took the Benelli Tornado Superbike to a 15th-place finish at Laguna Seca Raceway in the USA to score the team’s first Superbike World Championship point.

Andrea Merloni, the owner of Benelli, was very pleased with the result, saying “This means we are now in the manufacturer’s standings, a great result after only two meetings on a brand-new bike. Our aim today was to get our first finish, so getting into the points is very satisfying.”

Despite the success he still has his feet firmly planted on the ground, “We know we have a lot
of work to do before Brands Hatch as everyone is going to expect us to improve for that meeting.”

It almost didn’t work out for Goddard, though. He had passed Broc Parkes late in the race to move into the championship points but then missed a gear losing so much time that Parkes was able to retake the position. “I’d been having trouble with the gearshift for most of the race,” said Goddard. “It had a lot of play in the lever and must have cost me five seconds in the race because I kept getting false neutrals.”

When it looked like the Benelli team would have to wait longer for that all-important first championship points finish, Giovanni Bussei made a mistake in the last turn of the final lap and crashed out. Goddard managed to avoid Bussei’s fallen machine to cross the line in 15th and score one championship point. “Now we have
our first point, one of many more to come I hope.”

Team Manager Max Zani joined in the celebrations but was overcome by the achievement. “I am speechless,” he said shortly after the race. “We’ll have a big party tonight!”

Now the team have to pack the two Tornado Superbikes and all the equipment away and head home to the team’s San Marino headquarters to prepare for the next challenge at Brands Hatch on July 29th.

Copyright Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

On the cool-off lap for the 600cc Supersport race at Laguna Seca, Anthony Gobert and Jamie Hacking made contact repeatedly, and it wasn’t any accident. Both riders agree that contact was made; in fact, both riders readily admitted they intentionally hit the other rider.

According to both riders, Hacking was going into turn five, waving to the crowd. Gobert came up on the inside of Hacking and clipped his clutch lever, putting Hacking into a wobble. Hacking pulled up on the left side of Gobert and backhanded him in the helmet. Then Gobert pulled up alongside Hacking and started kicking at his bike.

The reason? According to Gobert, Hacking cut across the front of his Yamaha in turn two at the start of the race. Gobert was entirely unapologetic about his actions, saying instead that when he was kicking at Hacking, “I would have liked a little better impact, too. It’s frustrating, being so injured because he needs a good smack in the mouth. It’s one thing if it’s racing, but he does it on purpose. He thinks it’s funny.”

It seems that Gobert’s complaints against Hacking have been accumulating over a period of time. While discussing this incident, Gobert mentioned that Hacking ran into him at Road Atlanta.

When told the nature of Gobert’s complaint, Hacking said, “That’s it? If I’d hit him, it would be something different, I didn’t do it on purpose. If he can’t handle it, he shouldn’t be here. The problem is he can’t get up the balls to come talk to me face to face. He needs to straighten his act out. It’s racing. I’m fighting my way to the front. I’m sure it was close, but nobody even touched.”

Final Results 125cc Grand Prix At Donington Park:

1. Youichi Ui, Derbi, 43:17.675
2. Toni Elias, Honda, 43:20.804
3. Manuel Poggialia, Gilera, 43:21.544
4. Masao Azuma, Honda, 43:21.641
5. Lucio Cecchinello, Aprilia, 43:35.061
6. Simone Sanna, Aprilia, 43:41.322
7. Steve Jenkner, Aprilia, 43:41.876
8. Gino Borsoi, Aprilia, 43:42.097
9. Angel Rodriguez, Aprilia, 43:45.714
10. Gabor Talmacsi, Honda, 43:46.287

DNF Crash:
Pablo Nieto
Alessandro Brannetti
Angel Nieto
Alex De Angelis

DNF Mechanical:
Gianlugi Scalvini
Paul Robinson
Christopher Martin
Stefano Perugini

Practice Times From Sunday Morning 750cc Supersport Practice:

1. Jimmy Moore, 1:30.927
2. Ben Spies, 1:31.115
3. Richie Alexander, 1:31.275
4. Vincent Haskovec, 1:31.776
5. Chris Ulrich, 1:31.778
6. Lance Isaacs, Honda CBR600F4, 1:32.178
7. Anthony Lupo, 1:32.215
8. Tony Meiring, 1:32.254
9. Stuart Stratton, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:33.614
10. Rich Conicelli, 1:33.930
11. David Ortega, 1:34.220
12. Doug Pitcock, 1:35.004
13. Marc Palazzo, Honda CBR600F4, 1:35.405
14. Mark Crozier, 1:35.493
15. Ed Milhausen, 1:35.503

All riders on Suzuki GSX-R750s unless noted.