A February 14 statement from AMA Pro Racing made official what Roadracingworld.com reported on January 9, mainly that the AMA Pro Thunder series would “expand” over into WERA Championship events.

The AMA’s release quotes Buell Motor Company chairman and Chief Technical Officer Erik Buell as saying, “We believe the 2001 AMA Pro Thunder class is a perfect place for riders and teams to compete for a prestigious national championship.”

The release goes on to describe the class as being a “grass-roots type program that prepares riders for the rigors of a full-time professional racing career, the Buell Pro Thunder series will transition to a prominent role as a part of select WERA Championship events.” The release says that this addition of three rounds of the Pro Thunder series to WERA events brings the Pro Thunder total up to 11 races, but that does not factor the probable loss of the Willow Springs round.

Just as we informed readers more than a month ago, Pro Thunder will have rounds at the following WERA National Challenge series events:

6/29-7/1 Portland Int’l Raceway, Portland, OR

8/3-5 Summit Point Raceway, Summit Point, WV

10/23-28 Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA

The complete Pro Thunder schedule now reads:

3/8-11 Daytona Int’l Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL

5/4-6 Sears Point Raceway, Sonoma, CA

6/15-17 New Hampshire Int’l Speedway, Loudon, NH

6/29-7/1 Portland Int’l Raceway, Portland, OR

7/5-8 Laguna Seca Raceway, Monterey, CA

7/27-29 Brainerd Int’l Raceway, Brainerd, MN

8/3-5 Summit Point Raceway, Summit Point, WV

8/24-26 Pike’s Peak Int’l Raceway, Fountain, CO

9/14-16 Willow Springs Raceway, Rosamond, CA*

9/28-30 Virginia Int’l Raceway, Alton, VA

10/25-28 Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA

*Subject to cancellation

And in a surprising reversal, AMA Pro Racing officials have responded to input from competitors by throwing out a new minimum weight rule that would have eliminated any chance for machines other than Ducati 748s or factory Buells to be competitive.

The minimum weight requirement has been removed for unlimited displacement four-stroke, single-cylinder machines and 600cc-850cc, non-desmodromic, four-stroke liquid-cooled twin-cylinder bikes. All other machines will still be required to weigh 380 pounds. This change is for the entire series.

Points will be awarded at the WERA Pro Thunder rounds per AMA rules, but only competitors’ nine best finishes will count toward the AMA Pro Thunder Championship.

AMA Pro Racing license holders will need no extra license to compete in the WERA Pro Thunder rounds, but WERA license holders must also be an AMA member to run in the Pro Thunder class. WERA licenses will not be honored at AMA National rounds.

The entry fee for Pro Thunder will be the same at all 11 rounds at $120, but racers can pre and post enter the WERA Pro Thunder rounds on WERA entry forms.

Gridding at WERA Pro Thunder rounds will be according to one timed qualifying session with WERA’s AMB electronic scoring system, and a maximum of 44 riders will be allowed on the grid.

AMA Pro Racing technical standards and rules will be enforced at WERA rounds.

Sponsorship compliance will be recorded on AMA forms at all rounds.

At WERA rounds, secondary rider insurance coverage will be from WERA’s K & K Insurance policy.

AMA Pro Racing rules concerning penalties, protests, appeals, red flags, re-starts, finishes, and whether a rider who crashes during the race may continue without re-teching (with exceptions) will be enforced at WERA rounds.

The Pro Thunder purse at WERA rounds will be $2833 per race, paying $600 for first, $500 for second, $400 for third, $300 for fourth, $250 for fifth, $225 for sixth, $200 for seventh, $160 for eighth, $115 for ninth, and $83 for 10th. The purse is being posted by AMA Pro Racing.

For more information call AMA Pro Racing’s Rob King at (614) 856-1900 or visit the AMA website at www.amaproracing.com and click on the Rulebook and Bulletins link.

WERA can be contacted at (770) 720-5010, FAX (770) 720-5015, www.wera.com, e-mail [email protected].

Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

12:00 p.m. EST

This just in:

Hansyllan Motorsports, promoter of the 2001 AMA National scheduled for September 14-16 at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California, is cancelling the event.

Hansyllan Motorsports sources cited the the cost of promoting an AMA event and difficulties working with AMA officials as being behind the decision. Hansyllan took over promotion of the Willow Springs event when the racetrack declined to continue putting on the event itself.

Reached by phone moments before post time and asked to comment, AMA Road Race Manager Ron Barrick said, “Well, I haven’t been informed by Hansyllan yet of any such decision.”

Reached by phone and asked to comment on his company’s decision to cancel the AMA National at Willow Springs, Hansyllan Motorsports’ Steve Rethmeier said the decision was based on economics, the loss of event sponsor Coca-Cola and a lack of consideration and interest on the part of AMA Pro Racing’s Scott Hollingsworth, Merrill Vanderslice and Barrick.

“We lost more than we thought we were going to lose on the race,” said Rethmeier of the event his company promoted at Willow Springs in 2000. “Part of the problem is the facility itself. It has a capacity we figure of about 9500 to 10,000 in the bleachers and we need about 15,000 to 20,000 capacity for it to make sense to put the event on. There’s so much to do in Southern California, and to let everyone know what’s going on, it just costs so much to advertise. We’re probably in one of the most expensive markets to promote an event in, yet we have a venue that doesn’t have sufficient capacity to make it worthwhile to make the investment in the event. And our sponsors, primarily Coca-Cola, once they experienced the event, felt that it was not the type of event that justified their involvement at the level they were involved at.

“We would like to see an event occur in the L.A. area, so I called Barrick and told him that we were having some trouble financially with this event,” continued Rethmeier, “and that we wanted to know if they could help us or subsidize the event, if they wanted to subsidize it. The best we could figure was that we could come close to breaking even on the event without some help. Barrick’s response was ‘We really don’t care that much about Willow Springs anyway, so whatever you guys want to do is fine.’

“I was surprised by that,” Rethmeier continued. “Here’s effectively a customer of the AMA calling up and saying, ‘We’re not really interested in your product any longer.’ and there was not any interest in that. If I was Barrick I would have worked a little harder to try to keep that customer. And we haven’t heard anything from Hollingsworth.

“Barrick did counter with an offer for us to promote events in other parts of the country, but we’re a little leery until we hear what they can do to help us. He offered up to three events, not counting Willow.”

Rethmeier said that he had been given a deadline of February 16 to notify the AMA’s Barrick of his decision regarding the race. “I haven’t given him the official word that we are canceling,” Rethmeier said, adding that one of his partners had contacted Willow Springs owner Bill Huth and asked if the track would like to “take on some of the promotion” of the race with Hansyllan managing some aspect of the event. Rethmeier said that he was awaiting an answer from Huth.

Rethmeier had harsh words for AMA Pro Racing management, citing problems scheduling the 2001 race. “I was contacted by (AMA Pro Racing CEO) Hollingsworth and (AMA Pro Racing Director Of Competition) Vanderslice and given the option of two dates, one in April and one in May. The May date was just within the 30-day blackout period that PACE had for any of the venues that they run at. I talked to Stephanie and Bill Huth and negotiated real hard for that May date, and I got it. Next thing I know Barrick calls me and says I guess we forgot to tell you, we gave that May date to Road America or Road Atlanta, I don’t remember which. So Hollingsworth himself calls me and works me over on that date. We preferred a September date, but I agreed to do what I could to get the date, we got it, and then they didn’t even have the courtesy to call us and tell us the date was given to somebody else. They scheduled us in the middle of September, when I think it’s too hot and would have preferred a date later in September or early in October.

“Then just the lack of contact from Hollingsworth,” continued Rethmeier. “Barrick told us Hollingsworth had an idea to try to help us with sponsorship dollars in return for guaranteed signage placement, he was gonna contact me in October or November, but he never called me.

“It was more of a lack of attention, a sense that they’re operating on their own plane, we’re trying to make them happy and it doesn’t seem to matter. We’re technically the customer, we’re paying the money, and I don’t feel we’re getting the same consideration we give our own customers.

“If they want to approach us to promote other venues, we’ll listen to what they have to say. It’s just that we have other business interests where we actually make money, so we need to focus on that,” concluded Rethmeier.

About five hours after Roadracingworld.com posted news that the AMA National at Willow Springs was being cancelled by promoters Hansyllan Motorsports, AMA Pro Racing’s Connie Fleming e-mailed an official statement to members of the press, headlined “Willow Springs round of AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship in question”.

The statement read, “The Hansyllan Group, promoters of the Willow Springs round of the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike, have indicated to AMA Pro Racing officials that the event may be in danger of being canceled.

“AMA Pro Racing’s road race manager Ron Barrick is in contact with the Hansyllan Group and indicates that the promoter is having difficulty obtaining a sufficient level of sponsorship for the Superbike event and is exploring other avenues to keep the event scheduled.

“The final decision on the event is expected in the next week.

“AMA Pro Racing will post additional information as it becomes available.”

All phone calls to AMA headquarters regarding the Willow race situation are being directed to AMA Pro Racing Director of Competition Merrill Vanderslice, who has refused to speak to Roadracing World Special Projects Editor David Swarts since Swarts started covering the Edmondson v. AMA court case in 1998.

When AMA Pro Racing removed the Pro Thunder class from the schedule of the AMA Superbike double header weekends, not only were the competitors and class sponsors affected, but racetracks and promoters as well.

In a February 12th telephone call to Roadracing World, Road America Communications Director Cheryl Barnes said, “We are very disappointed about not having the Pro Thunder race here (at Road America), but it’s the sanctioning body’s decision to make sure that the event runs on time. They thought that there might not be enough time to get all of the racing in. And when we have television involved, we really have to worry about our fans, not just at Road America but across the country or wherever that broadcast goes. We would love to see the Buell Pro Thunder bikes here, but the AMA feels that wasn’t best for this particular weekend. Unfortunately we’re going to have to abide by their decision.”

Barnes said that the first Road America heard that the track would not have a Pro Thunder race was during the AMA Pro Racing awards banquet, held in Las Vegas in December of 2000.

Road America is located only about an hour’s drive from the Harley-Davidson and Buell factories in the general area of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and for several years, Harley and Buell have used the AMA road races as a gathering place for Harley Owners Group (HOG) members as well as factory employees. Last year, Road America hosted B.R.A.G. (Buell Riders Adventure Group) for the AMA road races, with the event attracting many enthusiasts from around the country. Pro Thunder is currently the only class that an American V-Twin motorcycle has a legitimate chance of winning, and, as expected, there is some disappointment that Pro Thunder won’t run at Road America.

“We were disappointed to hear that Road America was one of the races not to run Pro Thunder,” said Buell spokesperson Paul James. “Certainly from our stand point, we’re disappointed because it’s our home track. A lot of our employees and our customers traditionally go to that race. We’re very disappointed.”

Although the California Highway Patrol closed two snow-clogged mountain passes leading toward Willow Springs Raceway last night, the raceway itself is just wet with rain, and no snow is on the ground.

In the early-morning hours, the Grapevine section of Interstate 5, the main north-south highway in California, was closed due to several feet of snow, and Highway 14, the main highway leading from I-5 to the track in Rosamond, was also closed. Highway 138, an alternative two-lane route to the track from the San Bernardino/Riverside/Corona area, remained closed at post time.

But while the track itself was sodden with rain still falling this morning and expected to continue through Wednesday, no snow is present on the track itself nor on the hills immediately surrounding it.

The weather front is playing havoc with Ducati testing planned for the track. The HMC Ducati and Competition Accessories teams had planned to test at Sears Point but cancelled due to rain and headed south 300 miles to Willow Springs, but the rain followed. The Ducati teams had planned to test Monday and Tuesday privately and then continue to test Wednesday and Thursday with the Suzuki and Kawasaki Superbike teams.

John Kocinski and Competition Accessories Ducati could not come to terms on a contract for the 2001 season even though they had been negotiating off and on for all of the 2000 season. In a matter of a couple of days, Aaron Slight signed a contract with the Ohio-based Competition Accessories team to ride in the AMA Superbike series for 2001 and immediately flew to California, arriving Monday to join his new team for scheduled tests at Willow Springs.

“Basically we couldn’t come to terms on our contract,” said Ducati North America Race Manager David Roy from his rental car headed to Willow Springs. “(John Kocinski) had different issues that we couldn’t help him with. We just decided to part company as friends instead of drawing anything out any further than we had to. He asked for his own mechanics, and we went ahead and provided those for him. That wasn’t a problem. There was never any conflict with tires this year. It wasn’t anything major. It was just more of a couple of little things, and we didn’t want to waste anymore time. So we decided it was better to dissolve our relationship as friends. I know the press wants to know all the details and stuff, but there’s not really that much with the John deal. We had been negotiating with John for basically the entire time that he had been riding for us. We just couldn’t wait any longer because the season is right on top of us. Those discussions were with the team. We (Ducati North America) were supervising all of that, but it was all done through Competition (Accessories).”

When asked the status of Aaron Slight, Roy said, “Aaron’s sitting right next to me in the car. I don’t know if he wants to give any interviews right now. He’s really tired from the flight. Aaron will be riding for us this season. We do have something signed, but I can’t go into the details of the contract at this time. I’ve been doing the negotiating with Aaron. I first met him at Brands Hatch. Basically the same way that I did things with Scott Russell and Tony “Slick” Bass. I initiated contact with those guys and negotiated the deals for the teams, of course, but Aaron’s contract will be directly with the Competition Accessories team though.

“It’s going to be an awesome season. The level of competition in the AMA this year is really, really good. We want to get through Daytona. Then we’ll go from there. I think Aaron’s going to do great. I’m looking for big things. I think this will be good for everybody. Ducati North America’s very, very happy. Ducati Corse is very happy also. They are really ecstatic. They really wanted to see Aaron on a Ducati this year.”

The HMC and Competition Accessories Ducati teams were originally scheduled to test at Sears Point but were rained out, so they headed for Willow Springs. But with rain predicted now in Southern California possibly through Thursday, Roy predicted that testing may in fact last through the WSMC race weekend.

“We might have to stay and cherry pick the WSMC races this weekend. I don’t know,” said Roy. “We’ll see what the team says and what happens. This is going to be a more a relaxing, get-acclimated-to-the-bike sort of week. We want to keep everything real low key, no bothers, so (Slight) can get used to the Ducati versus the Honda.

“We want some more leverage to influence the AMA,” said former pro racer Roy. “So we’ve increased our effort in the AMA two-fold to show them that we want to help anyway we can. Ducati doesn’t hold any cooperate membership within the AMA. Unless you’re a Trustee, it doesn’t really matter. It’s not worth it. There’s not really any secret alliance or anything. I wish there was. But we just rely on our sponsor relationship and participating with two teams and being involved as much as we can. I’m working on some stuff like getting the 748 included in the 600 Supersport class.”

Slight, 35, has won the Suzuka Eight-Hour three times (once with teammate Scott Russell), placed second in the World Superbike Championship twice, placed third in the World Superbike Championship three times, and has 13 World Superbike race wins. Slight finished the 2000 World Superbike series eighth in points after missing part of the season recovering from life-saving brain surgery. Slight has raced at Daytona twice, once on a Kawasaki 250 GP bike and once on a Muzzy Kawasaki Superbike in 1993.

The press office of SBK, promoters of the Superbike World Championship, has moved from Rome to London. The press office is now located at 25, Upper Brook Street-Park Lane, W1Y 1PD, London, England. News of the move came in a subscription change of address form FAXed to Roadracing World by Renata Nosetto, SBK Press Officer.