A compromise agreement announced last month between Summit Point Raceway officials and local residents opposed to the Summit Point, West Virginia racetrack’s expansion plans has fallen through. The compromise over track operating hours and sound levels was reached in principle just before a public hearing on the track’s proposed expansion was held January 17. But the two sides have been unable to finalize an agreement and all bets are now off.

The track is seeking permission to build a new 2.0-mile road course in addition to the main course and the school/track-ride course now in operation. The track also wants to build on-site housing for participants in driver training programs for police and federal agency employees.

Opponents have asked for a strict weekday and Saturday curfew, a ban on any racing activities Sunday morning before noon, and draconian sound level restrictions.

Report By David Swarts

Former racer Carry Andrew is poised to return to AMA Pro Racing as a Crew Chief three years after he was banned by Director Of Competition Merrill Vanderslice for repeatedly failing post-race tech inspections with bikes ridden by Nicky Hayden, Jason Pridmore and Mark Miller. Andrew, who has maintained all along that he was unfairly singled out and that he didn’t do anything that other winning AMA teams don’t do, now says he just wants to be able to get on with his life and build and tune race-winning bikes.

Andrew showed up at Willow Springs Sunday, February 18 with Team EBSCO Corona Suzuki’s Vincent Haskovec and Tony “The Tiger” Meiring, Haskovec won the restarted Formula One race after leader Chuck Graves caught a false neutral and ran off in turn one, and Meiring finished second behind Attack Suzuki’s Rich Alexander in 750cc Superstock.

Attack’s Jason Pridmore finished second behind Haskovec in Formula One and also won the 750cc Superbike and 600cc Supersport races.

Aaron Clark led Heavyweight Twins on his Aprilia RSV Mille R until he almost highsided in turn nine, setting off the bike’s tip-over switch, which turned off the ignition. Clark eventually figured it out and got going again, but could not regain the lead.

Aaron Gobert beat older brother Anthony Gobert heads up to win the Hyper Club Formula Two race, the race called by decision at the line. Both rode YZF-R6 Yamahas.

Back in his pit area, Andrew said of his return to AMA racing, “I’m really looking forward to it.”

AMA Pro Racing staffers were directed to reverse new minimum weight requirements that would have guaranteed that only the Ducati 748 and certain works Buells could have been competitive in the Pro Thunder class.

Under the 2001 season weight rules announced in December, Suzuki SV650s and various single-cylinder machines would have been forced to carry as much as 70-100 pounds of ballast, despite already having a displacement and horsepower disadvantage.

Riders who competed on non-Ducatis in 2000 protested the rule change vehemently, and their comments, publicized by Roadracing World and roadracingworld.com, caught the eye of several members of the AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors.

The Directors, already unhappy with the rules-making procedures used by AMA Pro Racing Director of Competition Merrill Vanderslice, ordered that the minimum weight rule be dropped for machines other than Ducati 748s and Buells.

AMA Pro Racing issued a Competition Bulletin, dated February 9, announcing the removal of the minimum weight for those machines.

A key factor in the decision was Directors seeing the raw input from riders, several of whom are long-time AMA members, instead of relying upon an interpretation of that input presented to the Board by AMA Pro Racing staffers. The Board’s interest in seeing the raw input stemmed from the comments published by Roadracing World and roadracingworld.com.

Motorcycle road racing is coming to Albuquerque, New Mexico this spring with events sanctioned by the Sandia Motorcycle Roadracing Association (SMRA) and run at Sandia Motorsports Park. The racetrack, which opened in May, 2000, was built by local car racers and includes a 1.65-mile road course along with 0.4-mile and 1/4-mile paved ovals.

The track is located west of Albuquerque at the top of Nine Mile Hill.

The road course will see motorcycle road racing action starting April 28-29, with additional events scheduled for May 12-13, June 23-24, July 14-15 and August 12.

According to a press release issued by the AMA on February 16, the SMRA is AMA sanctioned and additional information is available from SMRA President Juan Romero at [email protected] or from the SMRA website at www.smra-racing.org.

Ralf Waldmann, who competed in 131 World Championship Grand Prix races with 20 wins and eight pole positions, will test a Honda CBR600F4 Supersport bike with the alpha Technik Castrol Honda team starting tomorrow at Valencia, Spain.

Waldmann is slated to replace injured Adam Ferguson at the tests and in the opening round of the 2001 Supersport World Championship series, scheduled for March 11 at Valencia.

In 2000, Waldmann rode a works Aprilia RSW250 in the 250cc World Championship.

American Honda has recalled all 2000 and 2001 CBR929RR models for a potential problem with the clutch. Honda is sending letters to CBR929RR owners informing them of the problem and instructing them to take their bike to a Honda dealer for repairs.

Slipping the clutch at high rpm to make a racing start can cause a clutch plate chatter that in turn can cause the clutch outer basket to fail with several large sections of the outer basket cracking and breaking off. The chatter can also cause the clutch actuation shaft to crack and/or break at its machined end.

Under the recall, dealers will replace the clutch outer basket, the bottom fiber clutch plate, the damper spring and damper spring seat that fit between the bottom fiber clutch plate and the clutch basket, and the clutch actuation lever/shaft assembly, free of charge.

Affected units include all 2000 CBR929RRs and 2001-model CBR929RR/REs with the following serial numbers:

JH2SC440*1M100001 to JH2SC440*1M103117
JH2SC441*1M100001 to JH2SC441*1M100434
JH2SC443*1M100001 to JH2SC443*1M101150
JH2SC444*1M100001 to JH2SC444*1M100126.

Attack Suzuki’s Jason Pridmore is slated to ride in the 24-Hours of Le Mans Endurance World Championship race with the reigning World Endurance Champions Phase One Endurance. In a February 15th call to Roadracing World, Pridmore said, ” It just got confirmed yesterday. I’m confirmed and committed for the Le Mans 24-hour. I raced for (Phase One) in ’97 at the Bol d’Or. We’ve just kept in touch with each other over the years, and they’re a great group of guys. This year I was able to put a package together with them to where I can go over and do it. I might go do four other rounds that I could do on top of Le Mans that don’t conflict with AMA races. The ones that don’t conflict are Le Mans, Nurburgring, Spa, Oschersleben, and Suzuka. Suzuka is one of the others that I’d really like to do. Then if Willow was to get canceled, the Bol D’Or is that same weekend .So I might go do that if Willow gets canceled.

“I’m going to take Shogun Motorsports with me (as a sponsor). They jumped in and wanted to be a part of it. That’s another reason why I wanted to do it. They have a team over here, and Brooks Gremmels is a big sponsor of our school. He’s really made our schools what they are over the last two or three years. When I mentioned this to him he was like, ‘How can I get involved?'”

Originally, Phase One had announced that 1995 Endurance World Champion Stephane Mertens was riding for the team. “I think Stephan went to Suzuki France,” explained Pridmore. “(PhaseOne) called me at the beginning of last week to see if I would be interested, and I said that I would be interested. The other big reason I wanted to do it is because we haven’t had much time to test this (Attack Suzuki) Formula Xtreme bike. And they are going to be running a GSX-R1000 on Ohlins suspension on Dunlop tires which is what I’m running over here. I thought it would be cool to get some time on the bike. I want to make sure that when we go to Sears Point (the first AMA Formula Xtreme round) that I’m ready to do the business on the bike.”

Having ridden in a World Endurance race before Pridmore is looking forward to the crowds. ” It’s sick how many people they get for that event. We can’t get them to come out for a sprint race here. It was the same way when I went to the Bol d’Or. It was this humongous spectacle. It was just incredible. I was going down the Mistral straightaway and there were so many barbeques that the smoke going across the track made it a little scary. The enthusiasm and everything about it is just incredible. But I wouldn’t do it with just any team. (Phase One is) a great team. I want to go over and win races for them this year. It should be cool.”

After an engine failure relegated the team to 23rd overall and ninth in class at the 2000 Le Mans race, Phase One went on to win the Championship with a Suzuki GSX-R750. Phase One will compete in 2001 on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 for Suzuki Great Britain. Suzuki has won three of the last four world endurance titles. Phase One’s website, www.phaseone.co.uk lists Aussie Warwick Nowland and Swede Peter Linden returning to the Russell Benney-led squad with 1997 AMA 750cc Supersport Champion Pridmore.

Son of former AMA Superbike Champion Reg Pridmore, Jason’s early years in racing included plenty of WERA endurance races. “I did the Willow 24-hour a few times, and I did the Nelson Ledges 24-hour a few times. Oh man, that was ugly, Nelson Ledges,” remembered Pridmore.

A new Briggs & Stratton Motorplex for go-kart, Legends car and junior dragster use has been built inside the existing 4.0-mile road course at Road America, near the carousel. The new Motorplex includes a 1/5-mile paved oval, a 1/8-mile drag strip, and a short road course. The new road course does not run on any part of the existing road course or new drag strip, except for using the drag strip as a pit lane and access road. The new road course has eight different possible configurations.

Other changes to the Road America infrastructure include a new gate added for the convenience of competitors, additional on-facility camping spaces, trees thinned out in spectator areas for better viewing, new grandstands, an expanded main paddock, and a new fiber-optic network installed around the track and in the media center to help with audio, video, and communications.

Former Formula USA Champion Tray Batey showed up at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway in Talladega, Alabama for a WERA Regional race, jumped on Mike Himmelsbach’s Blackmans Racing RSV Mille R for the first time last Sunday morning, and came within 0.1-second of his own track record, which stands at 58.336.

Batey won two races, A Superstock and B Superstock, and finished second in Formula One. Himmelsbach won the Heavyweight Twins race on the same bike.

The Blackmans crew showed up with Himmelsbach and Chris Carr on Friday, the two riders working together to sort out the new Mille R and also an Aprilia Cup Challenge RS250. Batey elected to show up later, saying “I’ve been down there a whole lot, so I thought I’d just show up Sunday instead of Friday. Mike called me back and said I should show up Saturday, but by the time I arrived it was Saturday afternoon. I didn’t get on the bike until Sunday morning.”

Batey said he was surprised that he went as quickly as he did on the bike, especially since the Blackmans crew later dynoed the machine and found that it made about 116 horsepower. “If I had known the bike was going to be turning those kind of times, I would have really tried to break the record,” Batey said. “I knew the bike was under 120. To get into the 58s and not even have 120 horses, I was pretty pleased.”

Batey’s victory in B Superstock was marred by a last-time incident involving Batey’s former Arclight Suzuki teammate, Lee Acree, who crashed after a last-lap pass by Batey. “He kept leaving openings about three places per lap,” Batey said of Acree. “In two or three turns he would go in tight, then go wide, leave a little opening, then pinch it off as he came down to get a drive out of the corner. On the last lap in turn four, all of the sudden I had a big opening and I rolled on through. I had my front axle about even with his and out of the corner of my eye I saw him jerk, and I thought, cool, he’s seen me. I never felt him, never felt any wiggle, and there were no marks on the bike. But when I took the checkered flag and looked back to give him a thumbs up, he was gone. I came around and there were a bunch of skid marks in the turn, and when I got back to the pits I found out he had crashed.”

Acree was very understanding when he talked about the incident afterwards. “It was definitely a tight pass, but it was clean,” Acree said. “I knew we might touch, but I thought it would be bodywork. Unfortunately, his pipe nicked my handlebar. The bike has a bent footpeg and that’s it. I know there was nothing malicious about it.”

Carr had planned on racing the RS250 but went home after the bike broke Saturday morning. After Himmelsbach won the Heavyweight Twins race by 17 seconds on the Mille R, Batey adjusted the control positions and won the A Superstock race and came within 0.1 seconds of the Talladega track record he set last year on a Suzuki GSX-R750 on slicks. Batey then went on to win in B Superstock and to place second in Formula One behind Larry Denning on a Yamaha YZF-R1. The Blackmans Aprilia Batey rode was equipped with Pirelli tires, a racing exhaust and a racing E-PROM chip.

Batey and Himmelsbach will contest the entire Formula USA Unlimited Superbike Series on the Mille Rs, with Carr riding a third bike at the spring and fall Daytona races in the series. Himmelsbach will also ride an Aprilia RS250 in the Aprilia Cup Challenge Series.

Following roadracingworld.com’s posting of news that the 2001 AMA National at Willow Springs would be cancelled, complete with quotes from promoter Hansyllan Motorsports’ Steve Rethmeier, we received additional e-mail comments from Rethmeier. While–based on conversations with track officials–Roadracing World does not believe that Willow Springs International Raceway will take over promotion or participate in promotion of an AMA National in 2001, we are posting Rethmeier’s latest statement here anyway:

“A distinction should be made regarding the Willow Springs round of AMA Superbikes. It is technically not cancelled. At this point, we are awaiting final word from WSIR regarding our proposal that we co-promote the event. As I said, we have not discussed specific roles of WSIR or Hansyllan Motorsports, other than an offer for Hansyllan Motorsports to act as a project manager for WSIR in the event that they saw value in having the race at their location, but did not want complete responsibility for its promotion. Of course, Willow Springs could easily promote the race themselves, as they have done in the past. The deadline that Ron Barrick gave me for cancelling the event is February 16th. We expect to hear from WSIR today or tomorrow, although you may know more in this regard.

“On another matter, while I obviously have some frustration with AMA Pro Racing, canceling the event is first and foremost a financial issue. Admittedly, I love motorcycle road racing and want an AMA round in the Los Angeles area. Furthermore, as promoters new to the series, I wanted AMA Pro Racing to have more to offer us as we struggled with the decision to cancel the event, or continue operating it at a loss or maybe at breakeven. At the very least I wanted more support. At most, I wanted them to subsidize the event in exchange for other considerations. In the end, it did not work out the way I wanted, but it is unfair for me to characterize AMA Pro Racing as part of the problem. Really, they just weren’t part of the solution that I preferred.

“If I set aside my current frustration, it is clear that AMA Pro Racing does not have the infrastructure to assist a money-losing venture. And if they did, why should they? Furthermore, in spite of my thumb-sucking rant over what they didn’t do, my experience working with them in 2000 was largely positive.

“I also need to clarify that Coca-Cola did not back out as a sponsor. They simply defined a desired level of involvement that was not a title sponsor role. They are happy to be involved, but not to the degree that we want and need them to be involved.

“Nearly every aspect of promoting the final round of the AMA Superbike series at Willow Springs last September was incredible. We enjoyed everyone that we worked with, and really had the time of our lives. I hope we can do it again.”