According to a press release issued by the FIM, anti-doping testing during the Catalunya Grand Prix came up negative. Tested riders included Valentino Rossi, Loris Capirossi, Mark Willis, Roberto Locatelli, Tetsuya Harada and Jeremy McWilliams.

In his first visit to the track at Valencia, Cruise America Grand Prix Racing’s Jason DiSalvo finished a respectable 11th in a Spanish National 250cc Grand Prix race full of GP regulars and Spain’s best on Sunday, July 15.

DiSalvo launched from the 12th starting position on the grid to be eighth into the first corner. DiSalvo led the second pack of riders battling for eighth before finally slipping back to finish 11th.

“When you consider the quality of the field and this was my first time at this track, I’m pleased with the result. My lap times were good and I was the only non-Spanish rider to finish the race” said 17-year-old DiSalvo in a press release issued by his team.

From Spain, DiSalvo takes his A-kitted Honda RS250 to Most in the Czech Republic for a Czech National July 20-22 followed by a European Championship weekend July 27-29, also at Most.

Copyright 2001 Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

These photos were taken July 11-12 while John Hopkins was testing with Red Bull Yamaha WCM at Brno, in the Czech Republic. Hopkins was riding a pair of Yamaha YZR500s and is considering a deal to compete in the 500cc World Championship in 2002-2004.

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From the British Grand Prix, Donington Park, England, on Saturday, July 7:

“Rain always changes the feel of the tarmac, even after it’s dried. The tarmac had a different quality of grip this afternoon. It was good to have the track time anyway, and we all could have beat our Friday times if the session had lasted just a while longer.”

This is from a Ducati press release, which reveals that Colin Edwards was fastest in World Superbike tests today at Imola’s Enzo & Dino Ferrari Circuit:


Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada) and Ben Bostrom (Ducati L&M) set fifth and sixth quickest times on the first day of World Superbike testing at the Enzo & Dino Ferrari Circuit in Imola today. The two-day test, which sees the participation of factory teams from Ducati, Honda, Aprilia and Kawasaki, is in preparation for the final round of the championship scheduled at Imola for September 30.

Championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati Infostrada), who has never seen the track before, said that he was looking forward to racing again in Italy (where he has already won three races out of four this year) after completing a massive 92 laps, setting a time of 1:51.53. “This is my first visit to Imola and it’s coming along nicely”, declared the 32-year-old Australian. “The circuit is not too bad and I’m glad we came testing. The track was slippery this morning, but I’m sure tomorrow the grip will be much better. I’m really pleased the last round of the season is in Italy, because it’s close to the Ducati factory and that means there’ll be a good crowd for the race”.

Double Laguna winner Ben Bostrom (Ducati L&M) was a fraction of a second behind Bayliss but the 27-year-old American was suffering with jet-lag after returning from California a couple of days ago. “This is the first day and I’m feeling so tired”, commented Bostrom, who completed 64 laps with a best time of 1:51.80. ” I’ve been here before to do some testing when it was raining, but the track seems decent to me and I’m looking forward to racing here in September”.

Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada) crashed out in the morning session, suffering a slight injury to his left collarbone, and the 23-year-old Spanish rider only did a few laps in the afternoon before concluding his day’s testing. “I was going quite well on the old tire but when I put a new one on, I lost the rear end of the bike and highsided at a slow speed. The track is quite nice but very slippery”, commented Xaus, whose best time over 42 laps was 1:53.040.

UNOFFICIAL TIMES:
1. Edwards (Honda) 1:50.12
2. Laconi (Aprilia) 1:50.61
3. Okada (Honda) 1:50.90
4. Corser (Aprilia) 1:51.49
5. BAYLISS (DUCATI INFOSTRADA) 1:51.53
6. BOSTROM (DUCATI L&M) 1:51.80
7. Antonello (Aprilia) 1:52.30
8. Yanagawa (Kawasaki) 1:52.70
9. Lavilla (Kawasaki) 1:52.90
10.Parkes (Ducati) 1:52.90
11. XAUS (DUCATI INFOSTRADA) 1:53.04.


Here’s Aprilia’s press release on the same test day:

Private tests at Imola in preparation for the last round of the championship on 30 September. The three official Aprilia riders, Corser, Laconi and Antonello get their first taste of the Santerno track.

On 30 September, the final curtain will come down on the World Superbike Championship 2001, here in the “land of motors” at Imola, in the heart of Emilia Romagna. The thirteenth and last round of 2001 will also witness the debut of the Superbikes on the historical track named after Enzo and Dino Ferrari. Today, World Superbike riders got their first taste of the circuit: Many of them are at Imola for the first time and these test sessions are an excellent opportunity to take note of useful references for the September races. The President of Superbike International, Paolo Alberto Flammini, the President of Sagis, Federico Bendinelli, and the mayor of the City of Imola will be officially presenting the event in tomorrow morning’s press conference: They will be opening up what looks all set to be the decisive round for the 2001 title.

The Aprilia riders lost no time doing lap after lap and acquiring precious information. Corser completed 45 laps, Laconi 70 and Antonello, who completed 40, slipped halfway through the afternoon on the fast curve before Rivazza, without too much harm: Just a slight contusion of his right forearm. The official Aprilia test rider will be back on track tomorrow.

Temperatures: morning 27°C/40°C ground – afternoon 29°C/43°C – clear sky, strong wind 16/18 metres a second from southwest.

“A very technical circuit with some blind corners where you can’t see the way out”, said Troy Corser after his debut on the Imola track. “There are also plenty of bumps, so we worked hard on the set-up of the bike to get it just right. Fine-tuning of the bike and the choice of race tires for my schedule but also getting to know the ins and outs of a track that requires enormous concentration.”

“I’m more than happy with today”, said Regis Laconi, who raced here on 250 in ’97 and on 500 in ’98 and ’99, so I know the track well. “There are lots of long curves and that’s where you need a really stable bike. The trajectories are like those of a 500, so I felt completely at ease. We’ve done a great job and the test session programme has got off to a fantastic start.”

It is the first time at Imola for Alessandro Antonello too: “Setting up the bike needed great care since the power of the engine takes a lot of weight off the front, and the exit trajectories tend to be wider, taking you onto the curbs. The changes we made to the set-up today have already obtained their first results. Pity about the slide in the afternoon–but I’m okay and I’ll be back on track tomorrow.”

From an AMA press release:

AMA INVITES ALL MOTORCYCLISTS TO SUPPORT 10TH ANNUAL RIDE-TO-WORK DAY

PICKERINGTON, Ohio — The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) encourages all motorcyclists to participate in the 10th Annual “Ride to Work
Day” on Wednesday, July 18.

“Ride to Work Day shows the American public that motorcycles aren’t just recreational vehicles, but an alternate form of transportation,” said Robert Rasor, President of the AMA.

The AMA believes that motorcycles can play an important role in reducing traffic congestion, especially in large urban areas. As an association committed to protecting motorcyclists’ rights, the AMA also has an interest in demonstrating the size of the motorcycling community to policy makers.

“With the support of millions of American motorcyclists, Ride to Work Day can make a powerful statement about the strength of our voice in the democratic process,” said Rasor.

In 1992, Andy Goldfine, founder of Aerostich Riderwear, launched this annual celebration of two-wheeled commuting, to make the public more aware of commuting motorcyclists. Last year, Goldfine established a non-profit corporation to promote the concept.

Shortly thereafter, the AMA’s Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution to “approve and endorse the value of motorcycles as a vehicle for
daily personal transportation and designate the third Wednesday of July as Ride To Work Day in recognition of that value.”

More information is available from www.ridetowork.org, or from (218) 722-9806.

(This year’s Ride To Work day conflicts with AMA-sanctioned racing activities at Mid-Ohio, which is where we’ll be.)

By David Swarts

One of the coolest things about working at Roadracing World is having access to the archive of back issues, reviewing past seasons, and reflecting on how far people have come. As we look ahead to the July 20-22 AMA Double Header Superbike Weekend at Mid-Ohio, we decided to take a look back at the Mid-Ohio AMA weekend from 1996, five years ago.

It rained on Sunday at Mid-Ohio in 1996 causing some strange results. The Superbike race, along with most of the other races, was red-flagged twice for crashes in the last turn, which sent bikes into the wall on the outside of the turn and bouncing back out onto the track (The wall has since been moved back.) The second red flag stopped the Superbike race short of its full distance, leaving then dominant Honda rider Miguel Duhamel in fourth behind privateer Brett Metzger on his GSX-R750 Supersport bike, Thomas Wilson on the then-two-year-old Harley-Davidson VR1000, and Pascal Picotte on the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750.

Notable crashers included Mike Smith on a Muzzy Kawasaki ZX-7R, Larry Pegram on a Fast By Ferracci Ducati 955, current Ducati North America Road Race Manager David Roy on a Suzuki GSX-R750, Jamie James on a Vance & Hines Yamaha YZF750R, and Mat Mladin on a Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750.

Doug Chandler’s seventh-place finish allowed him to leave Mid-Ohio with the Superbike point lead over Duhamel, Picotte, Kipp, and Mladin.

In 250cc Grand Prix, Team Oliver Yamaha’s Rich Oliver took the third of four consecutive wins at Mid-Ohio en route to his third of four consecutive 250cc Grand Prix Championships. Cliff Tolley was second ahead of Perry Melneciuc. The finish was Melneciuc’s first AMA National podium. (Melneciuc just earned his second podium position during the wet 250cc Grand Prix race at Road America last month.)

Kurtis Roberts, then 18, crashed his PJ1 Yamaha in a 250cc heat race and broke his ankle.

The wet, red-flag interrupted 600cc Supersport race was far from normal. After hours were spent cleaning up an oil spill on the wet track, the re-started race was won by Erion Racing’s Doug Toland followed by Moto Liberty’s Gerald Rothman and Erion’s Andrew Stroud. All three were sponsored by Bridgestone but ran Dunlop DOT-labeled rain tires for the wet race.

Fourth place went to Todd Harrington with class points leader Miguel Duhamel fifth ahead of Marcus Hubbard, Matt Wait, injured-in-practice Thomas Stevens on the Kinko’s Kawasaki ZX-6R, Ken Melville, and Ben Bostrom. Owen Weichel finished 14th, one spot better than 18-year-old Tommy Hayden on a Muzzy Kawasaki ZX-6R. Brian Parriott crashed and finished 21st, still better than Mike Smith’s 28th after a first-lap crash. Nearly everyone crashed at some point in the race.

The wet Harley-Davidson SuperTwins race saw Ben Bostrom pass Matt Wait for the win, three corners from the finish, with Eric Bostrom third. Both Bostroms ran Metzeler Lazer front tires with ME99 rears. Wait used a Dunlop dirt track front tire and a D364 rear. All three rode with high, dirt-track-style bars and put their feet down in corners.

Other notable finishers in the H-D 883 race included Nate “Gator” Wait in fourth, Brian Gibbs in fifth, David Estok in 10th, Richie Morris in 12th, and current 750cc Supersport racer Daigoro Suzuki in 13th.

In Saturday’s dry SuperTeams race Moto Liberty Honda’s Gerald Rothman and Al Salaverria took the win on Bridgestones ahead of Fritz Kling and Ray Yoder on the Dutchman’s FZR1000-engined YZF750 “Yama-Monster.” Doug Polen and Dale Quarterley finished third on the Carry-Andrew-tuned EBSCO Suzuki GSX-R1100, giving the EBSCO the class point lead. (That same GSX-R1100 is still used occasionally by Vincent Haskovec to win WSMC Formula One races at Willow Springs.)

In 750cc Supersport, Yoshimura Suzuki teammates Aaron Yates and Pascal Picotte continued their domination of the class. Yates won over Picotte followed by Michael Barnes, Mark Miller, and Mark McDaniel, all on GSX-R750s.

For the financial quarter ending June 30, 2001, Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. (publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange as DMH) has announced a 7.2% growth in total revenue (to $102.5 million, Euro 120.9 million) with 5.6% growth in total sales (to $97.1 million, Euro 114.6 million).

Total revenues for the first half of 2001 are up 5.2% (to $187.8 million, Euro 221.5 million) versus 2000 when total sales were up 2%, (to $184.1 million, Euro 217.1 million).

“These results, however, are not at the extraordinary growth levels that Ducati has achieved in recent years,” said Ducati Chief Executive Officer Carlo Di Biagio in a Ducati press release. “Our outlook suggests challenging selling conditions in the coming months. We would therefore anticipate high-single-digit year-end sales growth versus last year, below our 15% target.”

Racer Bruce Lind has been taken off the ventilator and is breathing on his own again in Monterey Community Hospital, where he is recovering from injuries suffered at Laguna Seca.

Lind apparently crashed in his own water on the first lap of his AMA 250cc Grand Prix heat race 10 days ago, bringing up the question: Why not require two-stroke racebikes to run the fluid-containing fairing lowers used to contain oil with great success on four-stroke racebikes? While the fluid-retaining lowers do not work in every circumstance, for example when one of the engine covers that protrudes from the fairing sides of a GSX-R750 is leaking, they have proven to greatly reduce oil spills and related clean-up time.

There is no reason why such a fairing lower would not be equally effective in containing water lost by a TZ250.

Fluid-retaining fairing lowers were first required by AMA Pro Racing several years ago and rank as one of AMA Pro Racing Director of Competition Merrill Vanderslice’s greatest technical innovations, being cheap and effective.

By David Swarts

Fox Sports, already a shareholder in Speedvision, is in the process of buying out other partners in the network to obtain a controlling interest. There has been wide speculation as to what will then happen to the motorcycle portion of the network’s programming. Some say that Speedvision will become the NASCAR Network, others hope that Speedvision, and its motorcycle programming, will remain untouched.

The July 2, 2001 issue of Autoweek magazine reported on the purchase as follows, and referred to Fox Sports Chairman David Hill:

“As for Hill, he said he will be working on the ‘evolution of Speedvision into a NASCAR channel.’ Fox recently agreed to purchase Speedvision in a deal that closes in August.

“We’re looking at various program grids with more NASCAR materials,’ Hill said. ‘We’d like to get all the changes done by February, but that may be a bit optimistic.’ Hill would not rule out a name change for the network, although he noted Speedvision has a strong brand equity.”

Roadracing World called Dan Murphy, President of Speedvision Productions, to get his take on Hill’s comments. Speaking from his Denver, Colorado office, Murphy said, “I’m not completely sure that Mr. Hill was quoted correctly, but I don’t think that Fox would have let us sign off on the deal to air the 2002 Daytona 200 live if they planned on completely shutting motorcycle programming off and turning it into a NASCAR-only channel.”

When asked if he felt that the amount of motorcycle programming on Speedvision would change, Murphy said, “It’s too early to tell. The sale of the network isn’t even finished yet.”

Murphy said that once the sale is complete, Hill will be the man who sits down and makes programming decisions. Asked if he would be one of the people able to provide input to the decision-making process for the new programming schedule, Murphy said, “I’d like to think I would, but Hill will be making the decisions.”

Roadracingworld.com readers who would like to comment on the situation can send an e-mail to David Hill, c/o [email protected]. A petition opposing the elimination of other programming in favor of making Speedvision a NASCAR channel appears on the internet at www.petitiononline.com/svsn/