Mat Mladin topped the Superbike time sheets at and Roland Sands was fastest in 250cc Grand Prix during practice at Daytona Wednesday.

The times follow:

AMA Chevy Trucks Superbike
1. Mat Mladin, Suzuki, 1:49.999
2. Steve Rapp, Ducati, 1:50.385
3. Tommy Hayden, Yamaha, 1:50.883
4. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, 1:51.106
5. Scott Russell, Ducati, 1:51.391
6. Nicky Hayden, Honda, 1:51.461
7. Anthony Gobert, Yamaha, 1:51.702
8. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki, 1:51.871
9. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 1:51.935
10. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, 1:51.967
11. Jamie Hacking, Suzuki, 1:52.240
12. Larry Pegram, Ducati, 1:52.304
13. Aaron Slight, Ducati, 1:53.425
14. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, 1:54.006
15. Pascal Picotte, Harley-Davidson, 1:54.412
16. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki, 1:55.081
17. Mike Ciccotto, Suzuki, 1:55.094
18. Eric Wood, Suzuki, 1:55.252
19. Rich Alexander, Suzuki, 1:55.519
20. Jordan Szoke, Harley-Davidson, 1:56.031



AMA 250cc Grand Prix
1. Roland Sands, Yamaha, 1:55.895
2. Rich Oliver, Yamaha, 1:55.928
3. Jason DiSalvo, Honda, 1:57.569
4. Randy Renfrow, Honda, 1:58.329
5. T. Palander, Honda, 1:59.071
6. Simon Turner, Yamaha, 1:59.571
7. Derek McKelvie King, Honda, 2:00.678
8. Perry Melneciuc, Yamaha, 2:01.120
9. Andre Castanos, Honda, 2:01.435
10. Jeff Wood, Yamaha, 2:01.656

WERA Operations Director Sean Clarke, who is doubling as an AMA tech official at Daytona, told Roadracing World that the WERA National Challenge Series date scheduled for Portland International Raceway on June 29 – July 1 has been confirmed. The date had been tentativley scheduled by WERA while the Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association’s Board of Directors considered the date. Clarke said that he received word on or about March 1st . When asked about the To Be Announced 10th date on the WERA schedule, Clarke said that nothing had been confirmed except that there will definitely be 10 rounds. While it is known that WERA is working on a date at Shannonville near Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Clarke would not comment on that possibility.

Fox Racing Shocks showed up at Daytona with a large support truck usually used for snowmobile events and a new technican in the form of Jun Suganuma, who formerly worked in product development for Kayaba and was a suspension specialist for Team Kawasaki during the 2000 season.

Fox was an early leader in developing and selling high-performance aftermarket shocks for sportbikes, but in recent years has concentrated on off-road, mountain bike and snowmobile shocks, letting its sportbike market share drop as Penske and Ohlins made big gains.

We caught up with Suganuma in the Daytona paddock and asked him about the company’s road racing plans.

“Because of our success in other markets like mountain biking and snowmobiling, we want to bring motorcycle racing up to the same level,” said Suganuma. “This year’s efforts will be concentrated at AMA Nationals with a support vehicle at every event and a vehicle at non-AMA-conflicting Formula USA events. We have a whole slate of new products being developed right now. Our sponsored teams like Arclight Suzuki in Formula USA and Ricci Motorsports in AMA Supersport will be testing the new products this year that will be available to the public in 2002.”

The support vehicle Suganuma brought to Daytona was actually a Snowcross support vehicle complete with hoists in its work bay for the sleds, an area for vending Fox merchandise, and a plush rider area complete with leather sofas and every electronic media device available.

Ben Spies, 16, was fastest in Wednesday afternoon practice for the 750cc Supersport class at Daytona. Riding with a broken bone in his left hand, Spies turned his fastest lap at 1:53.301 on a Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki GSX-R750 tuned by former racer Shane Clark.

Spies’ time was 0.6-second faster than the Daytona 750cc Supersport record, set in qualifying by Damon Buckmaster last year.

The fastest times, taken off a transponder display on pit lane, follow:

1. Ben Spies, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:53.301
2. Tommy Hayden, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:54.945
3. Brian Parriott, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:55.418
4. Kurtis Roberts, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:55.565
5. John Hopkins, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:55.584
6. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:55.894
7. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:56.759
8. Eric Wood, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:56.770
9. Rich Conicelli, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:56.831
10. Roland Williams, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:56.910
11. Jake Zemke, Honda CBR600F4i, 1:56.913
12. Grant Lopez, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:57.105
13. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki GSX-R600, 1:57.749
14. Joe Gill, Yamaha YZF-R6, 1:57.687
15. Rich Alexander, Suzuki GSX-R750, 1:57.912

Ducati Motor SpA will introduce the new 996R model to the world press in Valencia, Spain tomorrow.
Representatives from magazines around the globe are gathering in Spain to sample the limited edition machine: just 500 of the new bikes will be built.

The Ducati 996R is the homologated basis for 996RS used in World Superbike competition. Only 14 996RS versions will be built.

Roadracing World is being represented by Website editor and racer Melissa Berkoff at the event.

Four-time Superbike World Champion Carl Fogarty said at Daytona that he hasn’t seen any new up-and-coming talent. Interviewed in the paddock area at Daytona March 5th and asked “Who do you think is the most talented, up and coming, young racer?”, Fogarty said:

“I really don’t know who is the most talented guy coming up right now. There’s not too many fast guys coming up right now. The fast guys tend to be in their mid-to-late 20s. There’s not many young riders anymore I can think of. I don’t know of any in America. Well, there’s one name I’ve heard of – Nicky Hayden. I don’t know. Is he a young guy? So I’m interested in seeing how he gets on this year. There seems to be a bit of a shortage really around the world of young 500cc Grand Prix riders coming through. There’s a few out there now like Rossi doing the business. It always seems like an Italian/Spanish dominated thing for bringing young riders. America’s struggling and Britain’s struggling as well.”

Fogarty is in the United States to film a video.

For more from Fogarty, including how he’s dealing with injury-forced retirement and what he thinks of John Kocinski and Anthony Gobert, see the May issue of Roadracing World.

AMA Pro Racing has hired Dan Lance to oversee safety at all professional venues. Lance, who worked part time last season handling the AMA’s Pro Marshalls training program, had resigned and taken a job with Motion Pro because he wasn’t being paid enough money to even cover his expenses going to races.

But now the AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors has approved the budget needed to hire Lance. His official title will be Safety and Logistics Officer.

In a related move the AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors is expected this week to approve a proposal to buy 30 sections of Air Fence inflatable air barriers to be used at AMA Pro Racing events. Each Air Fence unit is approximately 27 feet long and is specifically designed for motorcycle racing use.

Several Buell racers at Daytona talked about changes AMA officials made to Pro Thunder rules in the off season.

“The plan is to run both (F-USA Buell Lightning and AMA/WERA Pro Thunder) series,” said Harley-Davidson/Buell of Fredricktown’s Bryan Bemisderfer. “We’re at a disadvantage at Daytona in Pro Thunder versus the Ducatis, but I think at tighter tracks we can do well. The rule change (limiting Ducatis to 750cc) is gonna help us. Now we can keep the Buell in a horsepower range where they can live.”

“There will be no Pro Thunder for us. The AMA turned that into a Superbike class,” disagreed Hal’s Performance Advantage/ Daytona Harley-Davidson/ Buell’s Richie Morris. “Whoever has a $100,000 motorcycle will win. I’m not gonna do that for a $1400 purse. There were a few of us chasing the Ducati 748RSs on standard 748s with 800cc kits, but now the AMA has made that impossible.”

“It’s (the Buell) really not too competitive at the Pro Thunder level,” said Steve Luxem in his return to Buell racing after a year layoff. “I’ve never run Pro Thunder, but you can just see what the 748s can do out on the track. I saw how much work (Shawn) Higbee had to put into his bike, and it made it a time bomb.”

Jeff Johnson raced the Harley-Davidson Twins Sports series and then moved on to Buells when that series ended. Johnson said, “I’m not doing Pro Thunder on my Buell due to a lack of sponsorship for a separate effort and the whole break up of the Pro Thunder series with some races going to WERA. We wanted to go to Road America at least, our home track, but now we can’t due to it being dropped from their double header Superbike program.”

Buell racer Greg Avello echoed Johnson’s thoughts saying, “I would’ve hit two or three Pro Thunder rounds with my Buell, but the ones I wanted to do were Road America and Mid-Ohio. I think the AMA should re-think not having Buells at Road America. The Buell Lightning series seems to pay off better. Plus when it’s Buells against Buells, it’s more fun.”

AMA officials did listen to the concerns of some Pro Thunder racers when they reversed themselves and eliminated a new minimum weight limit for all machines that would have outlawed anything but Ducatis and Buells. The weight limit would have seen single-cylinder machines and Suzuki SV650s add 70-100 pounds of ballast.

And a day after RoadracingWorld.com published quotes from a Ducati official pointing out that Ducati is at a disadvantage because it has no representation with the AMA, AMA Road Race Manager Ron Barrick called Ducati North America Race Manager David Roy and offered him a place on the AMA Road Racing Advisory Board.