POSTED March 21st, 2001:

In a March 21 e-mail headlined “RESPONCE” (sic) and sent to Roadracing World but addressed to former racer Allen Engel, Superbike Racing’s Andrew Wright denounced Engel and Roadracing World Editor John Ulrich and firmly placed the blame for the dispute between Superbike Racing and Engel–which is centered around Dymag wheels which Engel bought more than a year ago and found did not fit Engel’s Moto Guzzi, and around Engel’s attempts to either get wheels that did fit or a refund–at Engel’s feet.

In the e-mail, Wright wrote:

“I have no desire to communicate with you at all, now or ever dont (sic) bother wasting your time. As I told you yesterday Carol has issued your refund, before you start to criticize me, make sure that you are beyond any criticism yourself. I guess your (sic) perfect like John you never make any mistakes.

“When I shipped the Dymag wheels to you they were new. You returned them to me they were without security documents no original packing they had not even been cleaned, you just thru (sic) them in the box.

“Most DECENT people wanting a refund would return items in the SAME condition that they recieved (sic) them in. NO NOT YOU. If you returned items to any store for a refund in the condition that you return the wheels to me, you would not have been given a refund.

“All you are interested in is first of all lying to Ulrich, giving him an incorrect account of the transaction and admitting that your intention is to discredit me.

“See your letter to him December ’00.

“You are responsible for this whole bunch of crap, you created this, you and your buddy John. Both of you are immature viscious (sic) and vindictive people.

“Andrew Wright”

Attached to the bottom of Wright’s e-mail was a March 20 e-mail sent to Wright by Engel, after roadracingworld.com posted a news item revealing that Engel still had not received a refund for Dymag wheels which Wright admitted did not fit Engel’s bike and which Engel had ordered more than a year ago. At one point in the saga, Wright made the publication of an “apology” letter from Engel in Roadracing World a condition of Engel getting his money back for the wheels which never fit his bike. At another point in the saga, Wright promised to refund Engel’s money and told him to return the wheels, then refused to accept the wheels when they were delivered to Superbike Racing. Engel’s March 20 e-mail to Wright read:

“I will telephone you in the morning to allow you to explain to me why you feel I am vindictive. It has been nearly two years and I have written one correspondence to one publication. Days drag on to weeks that have dragged on to months. I have always given you every opportunity to do the right thing. You will not even return my calls or call when you say you will. Think about it Andrew – two years, and I have nothing to show for my frustration, time and patience. I am looking at a receipt dated May 28th, 1999. I have a thick folder of e-mails, letters, phone receipts, magazine articles where, when I read them again, it sounds like I am begging for you to either provide me with the correct wheels or return my money.

“I never ever threatened legal recourse, even though I was advised to do so. I have never sued anyone in my life. Certainly when one of our club members or an industry friend asked about Superbike Racing I do not hesitate to relay my personal knowledge. But I have had no contact with John Ulrich, until yesterday via e-mail, since I asked him to publish the apology letter, over two months ago. Once I get my money returned you will never hear my name mentioned again. It is a waste of my time and energy.

“You say your wheels went onto a 1997 1100 Sport. Have the person contact me so he can tell me how he did it. The 1996 Sport (Stan’s) that was at Daytona which had your wheels had a great deal of fabrication done to adapt your wheel and the ’96 wheel hub is very different than that which is on my ’97. The (sic) would love to talk to the guy who purchased the wheels.

“Regards, Allan Engel”

As a result of a horrific starting-grid collision during the first restart of the Daytona 200, former AMA and World Superbike Champion Scott Russell remains in Intensive Care at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach after several attempts to move him to a private room. In the crash, Russell suffered severe compound fractures of his left arm and femur and has undergone surgery to replace bones with metal plates in his arm and to have a rod inserted in his femur. Russell went through another surgery to remove a drainage tube that broke off inside his leg during its attempted removal. On Wednesday, March 14, Russell got up and took steps with the aid of a walker, earning him a ticket to a private room. Later that night, an artery in Russell’s injured leg burst. Luckily, Russell woke before he bled to death and went back to the ICU for another blood transfusion and for repairs to his artery. Russell has received at least eight blood transfusions during his time at Halifax.

Russell is slated for skin grafts to repair cuts made in his leg to relieve the pressure from swelling. It is possible that, after successful skin grafts, Russell could be transferred to an Atlanta-area hospital via an air ambulance, by the end of March. Russell wants to leave the hospital and begin his rehab as soon as possible. Russell has told friends and family that he intends on returning to racing this year.

When Scott Russell was laying injured on Daytona’s pit lane, thoughts could only be for his well-being. Now, a little over a week later, thoughts must now go to who will fill the seat of Russell’s HMC Ducati in the very likely event that Russell is unable to ride in the AMA Superbike National at Sears Point.

Also in question at this point is whether Aaron Slight has decided to commit to Competition Accessories Ducati for the entire AMA Superbike series or to concentrate on his own transition to car racing overseas.

The first name that comes to mind as a possible replacement for Russell or Slight is former AMA, World Superbike, and 500cc GP rider Mike Hale. Hale tested the factory Ducatis at the December 2000 Dunlop tire tests, but many observers figured that Hale would continue pursuit of his new car racing career and not race motorcycles.

Roadracing World spoke to Hale March 20, in a telephone interview.


Roadracing World: Are you in line to fill either Scott Russell’s or Aaron Slight’s Ducati seats?

Mike Hale: “We’ve been really focusing getting this car racing thing off the ground. We’re making really good progress. We’ve got a lot of good contracts for equipment, everything’s in order there, and we’re getting closer with our sponsorships every day with the car racing thing. But at the same time, I would definitely do one of those Ducati rides if everything was in place. There’s just a few things that you have to make sure are right. But I think both of those teams have their stuff together. They’re factory-backed teams. When I went to the tire test in December, I saw everything first-hand. They looked like first-class organizations.”

RW: Has anyone from Ducati or the teams been in touch with you yet?

Hale: “I’ve been in constant contact with them since the tire test. That’s about as deep as I really want to go with that right now. It’s one of those things that if I committed to doing the rest of the AMA Superbike Championship, I would do it. Then we would structure our car racing program around those Nationals. So I would make it (the Superbike series) my priority. I grew up racing motorcycles. That’s what I love doing, but it’s that time in my life to make that transition (to car racing). That’s the future.

“Look at the success that this new TV deal has done for NASCAR. It’s kind of almost taken it to another level. All of the tests and time that I’ve spent in cars over the last eight months has all been positive. I’ve done really good. If there’s an opportunity where I can get in to go all of the way with the cars, I’d be stupid to turn that down because of the success that they’re having. I saw a breakdown of this new TV contract. By the year 2004, the average purse for a Winston Cup NASCAR race will be $11.62 million and there’s 43 cars in a race. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look at that and figure if you even have a chance at getting involved in that to take it. With the contracts and agreements that we’ve got in place now, I have a real possibility at that in the future. I’ve got to go after that.”

RW: How are you able to succeed in that when guys like Dale Quarterley, Jamie James and Kevin Schwantz have fallen short of reaching the big NASCAR show?

Hale: “I think Dale is a success. Even though he’s still running the Busch North Series, I think of Dale Quarterley as successfully making that transition. For me, we are putting together a program for this ARCA series. That’s a pretty big level to start out on. It’s pretty expensive. I would say the biggest factor is money and sponsors. That is the probably the biggest determining factor. That and if you’re able to hang around long enough to prove yourself in cars. There’s not a question in my mind that Kevin Schwantz has the talent to get out there and be a successful car driver. I know he’s got the talent, but go ask Kevin how expensive that series is. For him to jump in and start in the Busch series, that was a big statement. He did good, but you’ve got to have the funding and the sponsors behind you for you to get out there and prove yourself and get the results and get the right people around you.”

RW: Do you have a car race scheduled for your debut this season?

Hale: “No, we do not have a definite debut race. We’ve got the cars. We’ve got the engine program. Basically we’ve got the team agreement. I can’t really go into it yet because we’re not ready to release all of that information. I’ll say I’ve got a Winston Cup team owner behind me. Which is a big, big benefit. We’ve got a couple of associate sponsors that we’ve got verbal commitments from. We’ve got three title sponsors that we’re working with now to be on the deal. When we get those things signed up then we’ll start scheduling.

“It depends on what markets they want us to be in as to what races we do on the schedule. If they have more stores down in Georgia, we’ll do Atlanta. It just depends what the sponsor wants. Our initial proposal now is for 12-15 races of a 25-race series. It’s expensive, but it’s not near the money to do the whole series or what it takes to do like the NASCAR trucks or NASCAR Busch series. We’re looking for a big company to come get involved with us at a lower financial commitment because we’re at a little lower level series.

“The ACRA series and Winston Cup cars are the same cars. Our motors have a little less horsepower. A lot of the races are support races for Winston Cup guys. So we would be racing Saturday when the Winston Cup guys are racing Sunday. So we’re still racing in front of 150,000 people. We have national TV. We’re racing on the same tracks. So you get that experience and you get that experience in the same cars. So it’s a really good training series and stepping stone. I guess it would be considered like 750 Supersport and the NASCAR Busch series would be more like 600 Supersport because it gets more recognition. The Winston Cup would be more like the Superbikes. That’s about how it breaks down.

“When I went to Daytona, we were looking at doing our own motorcycle team. The reason for that was we had a really big corporate sponsor that was interested in doing both the motorcycles and the cars which is kind of what I would like to do. I would like to do them both and be a crossover with the same company. Nobody’s really doing that. I think it would be really cool. I would like to go out there and podium at Laguna Seca on one Sunday and then the next weekend put it in winner’s circle in the ARCA series. That’s something that would be really neat to me, and it’s something that we’re still working towards. I think that if we can get some results in NASCAR and stay involved in motorcycles in some way, I think it would be great. If I could bring a corporate sponsor into AMA Superbike, it would just help the whole series in general.”

Ducati North America Race Manager David Roy said that he would know more about possible replacement riders in the last week of March.

HMC Ducati released a press release March 20 headlined “Doctors Predict Full Recovery For ‘Mr. Daytona'”, which read as follows:

“HMC Ducati Team rider Scott Russell is on the road to recovery after an accident at the first round of the AMA Superbike series left him with a badly broken left arm and leg. The five-time Daytona winner is already showing signs of strength in his damaged arm and is expected to be released from Halifax hospital in a week’s time.

“Russell has spent a rocky week in the Daytona hospital. He has been in and out of intensive care and has lost a lot of blood, but doctors are confident that the bleeding has stopped and have started the first stage of skin grafts. When the grafting is complete, Russell will have to stay immobilized for five days; with no complications, he should be on his way home to Georgia on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

“When Russell was first admitted to Halifax hospital, doctors’ main concern was the damage to his arm, which required a plate rather than a pin, but so far there have been no problems and already he is able to straighten all five fingers and is even trying to use the arm to pull himself up straight in bed. Scott’s sister, Sheri, was amazed when he squeezed her hand with a firm grip.

“Russell is also showing signs of impatience, eager to return home and start rehabilitation. There is no doubt the former World Champion will be back in the saddle as soon as physically possible.”

After a March 20 press conference held in Noale, Italy, to announce the company’s racing plans for 2001, Aprilia President Ivano Beggio confirmed that the company is working on a four-stroke Grand Prix racebike. Beggio also said that the firm plans to be competitive right away when rule changes allowing 990cc four-strokes become effective in 2002.

According to an Aprilia press release on the team launch, Beggio said “This is the first time that we have organized a GP launch at home.It is a confirmation of the strength of the commitment of Aprilia and the Racing Division that hosted the press conference today. We have made massive investments this year, not only because we have always believed in racing and because Aprilia was born for racing, but also because the success of our company derives from the image obtained at circuits throughout the world. For sure racing is the most exciting way of transmitting our passion for motorcycling. The investments made in the 500 GP class have been doubled for the four-stroke GP1 project. It is our desire to be immediately competitive when the other major constructors accept the four-stroke GP challenge.”

Aprilia is fielding Marco Melandri, Tetsuya Harada and Klaus Noehles in the 2001 250cc World Championship. Aprilia test rider Marcello Lucchi, 44, may contest a few rounds of the 250cc World Championship series as well.

Former racer Allan Engel said March 19 that he is still waiting for a refund on Dymag wheels that didn’t fit his Moto Guzzi and were returned to Andrew Wright’s Superbike Racing after months of haggling.

Wright originally claimed that the wheels did fit and could not be returned because they were a special order. After a letter from Engel explaining his plight was published in Roadracing World, Wright eventually admitted that the wheels did not fit Engel’s specific U.S.-market Moto Guzzi model and agreed to take back the wheels and refund Engel’s money. But when Engel returned the wheels, Wright then refused the shipment.

Months later, according to Engel, Wright finally accepted the returned wheels. But as of March 19, Engel said he did not have his promised refund, this on an initial order placed over a year ago.

In a March 19 e-mail to Roadracing World, Engel wrote:

“Here’s the latest. About two months ago I returned the wheels and Superbike Racing accepted them. Andrew (Wright) said a refund would be forthcoming following his return from the International Motorcycle Show in Chicago. I called about a week ago whereby he tells me that following the Chicago show he had to fly to Italy and that now his accountant/money person was on holiday and when she returned they would cut me a check. He promised that he would send the check out last Friday and that he would call me that day to confirm the check was on the way. He never called–I telephoned him today but he was out. I asked that he return my call. Hitherto he has not returned my calls or sent a refund.”

Wright has consistently denied that any of Engel’s problems are his (Wright’s) fault and that publication of Engel’s claims is an unfair persecution of Superbike Racing and Wright himself. Wright has also consistently claimed that he is an honest businessman who has been victimized and misled on wheel delivery dates and, in Engel’s case, on model fitment, by U.K.-based Dymag, and that he (Wright) has been unfairly portrayed by Roadracing World. Wright has also claimed that customer complaints sent to Roadracing World are untrue or unfair, and that his (Wright’s) personal honesty and fairness is proven by the people he and Superbike Racing are associated with.

Roadracing World called Richie Morris, (involved with Scott Russell, Dean Mizdal and John Pearons in a starting-grid crash during the first restart of the Daytona 200) at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach to see how he was doing.

Morris said, “I just left the doctor. We’re trying to figure out the game plan. Tomorrow we’re gonna do skin grafting. We’re talking to Dr. Ting and other doctors as to who is going to do the actual surgery once we get the skin graft done. Right now there’s not enough skin to do anything with. They’ve already performed four surgeries on my wrist. It’s a mess. They’re fighting to save it as a useable wrist. Basically right now, they’ve taken the bones that were supposed to have been in the forearm section that were down in the finger section and have got them all back in the forearm section and vice versa. And a lot of the other bones were scattered on about because they were just shattered. They’ve pretty much bundled everything together in the right places with bags of wire, plates, and pins. Tomorrow they’re just going to make sure that we have enough skin.

“That’s when they’re gonna further repair everything. They’ll get nerves lined up with the right fingers and get everything straightened to where it will work. If they can just get it me on the track on the 25th (of April), I’ll come back for more surgery if I have to.

“They think it’s a miracle that I’ve maintained movement in my fingers. So we’ve got that much going for us. All my wrist is right now after you peel the bandages off of it, there’s the external (fixator) device and just raw nerves and ligaments and a few things gathered together by wires and pins. It kind of looks like Robocop. All in all, I think we’re gonna be alright.

“I got burned pretty bad, too. Thank God for Max McAllister. If you ever write anything, say a little that-a-boy for Max. I was laying there in all the kind of pain that you are in after an incident like that. All I remember is Max saying, ‘Richie, what can I do?’ I said, ‘Number one, do not let anybody touch my left arm. It’s broken bad. Number two, get my leathers off of my private parts and get some water down there. I’ve got Nutec spilled down my pants.’ He got that handled somehow. However he did it, I don’t know how, but the pain was unbearable. The burns aren’t a major deal now, thanks to Max.

“Mike Smith just left the room. He brought the tape to my room just now, and we were watching it. It could’ve been worse. That gas could’ve ignited. Some did on Dean’s (Mizdal) bike. We watched the tape at the nurse’s station. They thought it was pretty hairy. They had never seen anything like that. I haven’t got to visit Scott (Russell) yet. He’s been in and out of ICU. We’ve just sent each other messages. I haven’t felt well enough to go down there, and he hasn’t felt well either.

“If we can have a successful surgery on my wrist, my goal right now is to still ride (Formula USA at) Willow. I’m not saying that I’m going to miss Willow yet. I don’t know what kind of shape I’ll be in, but I want to win that (Buell Lightning) points Championship for Hal’s this year. I owe it to those guys to be out there.”

Richie Morris and his wife Lisa also thanked everyone who had taken the time to call or send flowers or cards with words of encouragement.

Ducati North America Press Relations Manager Alice King was laid off Friday, March 16 after just three months in the job. “As of Friday night she’s no longer with the company,” said Ducati North America Advertising and Communications Manager Gary Schmidt on Monday, March 19. “It’s part of some internal restructuring and internal reorganization.”

Asked if that meant that King had been laid off, Schmidt said, “I don’t know how else to put it, for all intents and purposes. It had nothing to do with her performance, it has more to do with corporate reorganization.”

Asked if that meant that Ducati North America is undergoing financial difficulties or is worried about a recession, Schmidt said “It doesn’t really have anything to do with a recession or being worried about a recession or being proactive about a recession. And this has nothing to do with Alice’s performance because the fact is that she was a stellar performer, but has more to do with some decisions the company had to make and some unfortunate timing. I wish Alice could have come to us at a time when we didn’t have to make those decisions. It was just the type of corporate reorganization that companies undergo from time to time.”

Schmidt is again handling press relations for the company, a duty he held prior to former racer King being hired. Schmidt also handles advertising and product placement for Ducati.

CMRA racer Larry Locklear has been arrested and is being held by the Dallas Police Department on motorcycle theft charges. According to CMRA Board of Directors member Eric Kelcher, Locklear was arrested in Mineral Wells, Texas the week after he finished 13th in the Formula USA Sportbike race at Daytona. Locklear was found in possession of a stolen motorcycle, arrested and charged. Locklear is still being held and Dallas Police are attempting to arrest others in what they believe is a ring of motorcycle thieves and stolen-parts dealers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Kelcher told Roadracing World on March 19 that CMRA officials do not tolerate bike thieves and will provide the VIN numbers of racebikes–collected during tech inspection–and rider information to police when asked.

In 1998, a stolen vehicle task force consisting of Dallas-Fort Worth law enforcement officials stormed Oak Hill Raceway during a CMRA event on a tip that they would find specific bike thieves and stolen motorcycles. After blocking the exit of the facility so that the VIN numbers of every motorcycle on site could be checked, police only found one confirmed-stolen bike and that machine had been ridden to the race by a spectator.

However, police impounded several machines when their riders could no prove ownership or when engine numbers did not match the VIN number. Riders went through a lengthy process to get their racebikes back, and, in one case, the machine had been left out in an open impound lot for weeks in the meantime, and suffered severe corrosion damage.

Following the event and resulting uproar, police officials began working with the Texas-based CMRA in an attempt to learn more about racebikes–including Grand Prix racebikes–which may or may not have original VIN numbers, frames or original engines.

The Dallas Police could not be reached for comment at post time.

Australia’s Damon Buckmaster was the big winner in WSMC action at Willow Springs International Raceway on Sunday. In his first race with Graves Yamaha, Buckmaster beat the best of the locals to win the GMD Computrack Los Angeles 600cc Superstock race and the Toyota Cup Unlimited Formula One Grand Prix race. In both races, Buckmaster had to come from the back of the grid, through the pack, and past his employer Chuck Graves and local star Vincent Haskovec to take the win.

Haskovec and Graves didn’t get shut out completely. Graves showed that he is the only team owner on the AMA circuit capable of beating his own rider when Graves bested Buckmaster early in the day in Performance Machine Open Superbike. Later, Haskovec beat Graves in the Hyperclub Formula Two final

White Tip Racing’s Ken Chase won both the L&L Motorsports 750cc Superbike and Maxima Oil 750cc Superstock races.

Young guns Tony “The Tiger” Meiring, 17, and Chris Peris, 15, collected wins in 750cc Modified Production and Roadracing World 125cc Grand Prix, respectively.

Sunday also featured the first road racing success for Mike “Godfather of Freestyle” Metzger. After a fast and flammable first attempt late last year, Metzger, 25, returned to Willow Springs to complete his first Novice race in promising fashion.