WSMC Champion Jeremy Toye entered two races during the CCS regional event at The Streets of Willow Springs on Sunday, April 8, and won both. Toye started from the back of the pack for the Unlimited Grand Prix race and within three laps had moved his Lee’s Cycles’ Yamaha YZF-R6 into fifth place on the tight circuit. A crash, in the final turn on lap four, left bikes and riders in harm’s way, forcing the race to be stopped. Toye benefited when the re-start was gridded based on the running order from lap three, and Toye went on to win the winner’s share of the $1000 cash purse. Second place went to Racer’s Edge-sponsored Chad Rolland, followed by Lenny Beckman and Robert Campbell.

The crash that caused the red flag involved Jeff Whitmer and Clinton Whitehouse, and was set off when Whitmer straight-lined the esses, jumped a curb and T-boned Whitehouse, with both riders crashing hard. Afterwards, the two riders’ crews got into a shouting match that threatened to become physical before CCS officials broke it up. In the thick of the argument was Yamaha Motor Corp. U.S. Regional District Manager Rocky Aiello, representing Whitmer’s corner in the near-melee.

Toye returned for the Mediumweight Superbike race and finished off his Dunlop slicks with another win. Toye’s tuner got into the action as well. After wrenching on Toye’s bikes for the last two years, Evan Steel made his road racing debut on an ex-LaVaughn Montgomery-Daniel FZR400 and won the Lightweight Supersport Amateur and Lightweight Superbike Amateur races.

Zoran Vujasinovic won three races during the weekend on his 700cc MB Motorsports Suzuki SV650 Superbike. Using Michelin slicks, Vujasinovic–or the V-Man as he was quickly labeled by public address announcers–won in Saturday’s Heavyweight Sportsman race before taking victories in Sunday’s Lightweight Superbike and Super Twins races. Vujasinovic turned lap times that could have won most of the big-bike races not entered by Toye.

Saturday’s wet Engine Ice 200-Mile Team Challenge was shortened due to terrible weather conditions, including included rain, lightning, high winds and hail. In the end, Steve Kopp’s Yamapimp team topped the GTU class on a YZF-R6, while Stan Bates’ West Coast Pipeline won in the GTO category on a Honda CBR900RR.

Several AMA teams and one Canadian team will meet at Road Atlanta April 10-11-12 for shared test time, with each team paying a share of track rental and operations costs.

Teams participating in the test, which was organized by Yoshimura Suzuki, include the following:

Competition Accessories Ducati
Harley-Davidson
Honda Canada
Kawasaki
Team Hammer (aka Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki)
Yamaha
Yoshimura Suzuki

Yoshimura Suzuki will test without Mat Mladin, who broke his left lower leg while training on a motocross bike in Australia last weekend. Harley-Davidson will test with Mike Smith but without Pascal Picotte, who recently injured himself while riding a snowmobile. Chris Ulrich is joining Team Hammer at the tests as a temporary stand-in for the injured John Hopkins.

The HMC Ducati and American Honda teams had originally been scheduled to participate in the tests but recently cancelled.

American Suzuki’s Jeff Wilson, reached by phone April 9 as he was en-route to Road Atlanta, said “Yeah, that’s true. He (Mladin) broke his ankle. I don’t know what the status is whether it’s been repaired yet or just healing on its own or what. He won’t be at the test (at Road Atlanta), but he’s supposed to be ready by Sears (Point the next round of the Chevy Trucks AMA Superbike Championship). We don’t have any details yet. It may have already been fixed in Australia. Mladin’s a big boy. So he’s just taking care of it.”

When asked if it was the same ankle that Mladin regularly wears a brace on, Wilson said, “I think so. It’s his left, his shifting ankle. Who knows how well healed it will be by then, but that’s the plan–to have him on a bike again by Sears. It’s three weeks. He’s got a few days.”

Since Wilson made that statement, Roadracing World has learned that Mladin actually broke a bone in his lower left leg, not his ankle, and that he plans on having it plated.

Mladin’s injury makes it a clean sweep for the Yoshimura Suzuki line-up of riders. All three, Mladin, Aaron Yates and Jamie Hacking, have suffered injuries since the end of the 2000 racing season. Like Mladin, Yates was injured while training on a motocross bike.

Yates and Hacking also crashed in the pace car melee in the March 11 Daytona 200 but did not suffer any serious injuries.

Joe Prussiano and Ty Howard will replace injured Ryan Landers on the Shogun team in Formula USA competition, Prussiano riding Landers’ Yamaha YZF-R1 and Howard riding Landers’ Yamaha YZF-R6.

Landers suffered a severe concussion in a crash at Motor Sports Ranch a week ago.

Prussiano and Howard will debut with Shogun at the Willow Springs Formula USA race April 19-22. They join Paul Harrell, Landers’ original teammate.

Daijiro Katoh won the Japanese 250cc Grand Prix at Suzuka by 18.763 seconds over Tetsuya Harada. Roberto Locatelli finished third.

Katja Poensgen finished 22nd, one lap down, and was the last rider still running at the finish.

Results follow:

1. Daijiro Katoh, Honda, 41:03.596
2. Tetsuya Harada, Aprilia, -18.763 seconds
3. Roberto Locatelli, Aprilia, -18.835
4. Naoki Matsudo, Yamaha, -23.135
5. Roberto Rolfo, Aprilia, -24.423
6. MArco Melandri, Aprilia, -26.595
7. Franco Battaini, Aprilia, -31.142
8. Jeremy McWilliams, Aprilia, -43.953
9. Sebastian Porto, Yamaha, -45.887
10. Taro Sekiguchi, Yamaha, -48.496
11. Fonsi Nieto, Aprilia, -53.583
12. Alex Hofman, Aprilia, -1:05.172
13. Hiroshi Aoyamo, Honda, -1:05.267
14. Klaus Nohles, Aprilia, -1:17.422
15. Sylvain Guintoli, Aprilia, 1:18.183
22. Katja Poensgen, Aprilia, – 1 lap.

Crashers included Julien Allemand, Emilio Alzamora, Alex Debon, David De Gea and Shahrol Yuzy.

Masao Azuma preserved Honda honor by beating Youchi Ui and his Derbi by 0.067-second at the line to win the Japanese 125cc Grand Prix at Suzuka. Aprilia’s Simone Sanna was third and Aprilia’s Gino Borsoi was fourth, with the top four riders all finishing on the same second and the first six finishing within 1.5 seconds.

Results follow:

1. Masao Azuma, Honda, 40:59.192
2. Youchi Ui, Derbi, -0.067 seconds
3. Simona Sanna, Aprilia, -0.604
4. Gino Borsoi, Aprilia, -0.898
5. Manual Poggiali, Gilera, -1.151
6. Lucio Cecchinello, Aprilia, -1.376
7. Steve Jenkner, Aprilia, -14.173
8. Mirko Giansanti, Honda, -14.632
9. Arnaud Vincent, Honda, -15.735
10. Pablo Nieto, Derbi, -16.333
11. Angel Nieto Jr., Honda, -17384
12. Max Sabbatani, Aprilia, -17.992
13. Gianluigi Scalvini, Italjet, -18.621
14. Alex De Angelis, Honda, -18.628
15. Hiroyuki Kikuchi, Honda, -23.655

Crashers included Marco Petrini, Naoki Katoh, Stefano Perugini, Eric Bataille, Gaspare Caffiero, Noboru Ueda and Jarno Muller.

Honda’s Valentino Rossi beat Yamaha’s Garry McCoy and Max Biaggi to win the Japanese 500cc Grand Prix at Suzuka, the three leaders crossing the line within a second. Defending 500cc World Champion Kenny Roberts was seventh, and Leon Haslam was the 13th and final finisher, just behind 12th-place Haruchika Aoki.

Chris Walker and Jose Luis Cardoso crashed on the first lap; other crashers included Sete Gibernau, Noriyuki Haga, Carlos Checa, Akira Ryo and Tohru Ukawa. Retirees included Johan Stigefelt, Olivier Jacque and Mark Willis.

Results follow:

1. Valentino Rossi, Honda, 44:51.501
2. Garry McCoy, Yamaha, -0.724 seconds
3. Max Biaggi, Yamaha, -0.956
4. Norick Abe, Yamaha, -1.176
5. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, -3.256
6. Alex Barros, Honda, -14.515
7. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki, -22.876
8. Loris Capirossi, Honda, -28.732
9. Alex Criville, Honda, -34.478
10. Carlos Checa, Yamaha, -53.765
11. Jurgen v.d. Goorbergh, Proton, -58.688
12. Haruchika Aoki, Honda, -1:17.338
13. Leon Haslam, Honda, -1:17.681

CCS issued a press release announcing significant membership growth in 2001 compared to the same period in 2000.

According to the release, “The Championship Cup Series has seen a dramatic increase in the number of CCS licenses issued to riders from last year’s inaugural season with SFX Motor Sports Group on board as the promoter of all Formula USA/CCS race
events taking place across the United States. The following are year-to-date figures representing a 34.8% increase from 2000.

“Licenses issued to riders from CCS in 2001, 2654.

“Licenses issued to riders from CCS in 2000, 1970.”

The release quoted CCS Road Race Manager Kevin Elliott as saying “This increase of 684 licenses in 2001 represents an increase of 34.8 percent to date. I would like to thank everyone who has had a hand in this. It is truly a group effort and it wouldn’t happen without the help and dedication of the entire CCS staff.”

More information about the Championship Cup Series is available at www.ccsracing.com.

Loris Capirossi put in a blistering lap almost two seconds underneath the lap record to take pole for Sunday’s 500cc Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit, Japan.

Capirossi turned a lap at 2:04.777 in Saturday afternoon’s final 500cc qualifying session. Top times follow:

1. Loris Capirossi, Honda, 2:04.777
2. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, 2:05.588
3. Max Biaggi, Yamaha, 2:05.703
4. Garry McCoy, Yamaha, 2:05.833
5. Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 2:05.924
6. Norick Abe, Yamaha, 2:05.927
7. Valentino Rossi, Honda, 2:06.140
8. Alex Barros, Honda, 2:06.295
9. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki, 2:06.469
10. Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha, 2:06.597
11. Alex Criville, Honda, 2:06.714
12. Carlos Checa, Yamaha, 2:06.858
13. Jose Luis Cardoso, Yamaha, 2:06.993
14. Sete Gibernau, Suzuki, 2:07.121
15. Akira Ryo, Suzuki, 2:07.580
16. Jurgen vd Goorbergh, Proton, 2:08.419
17. Haruchika Aoki, Honda, 2:08.906
18. Chris Walker, Honda, 2:09.129
19. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, 2:09.409
20. Leon Haslam, Honda, 2:10.478