Former 500cc World Champion and AMA Superbike winner Kevin Schwantz is back on a Superbike today, riding one of Mat Mladin’s Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750s during tests at Road Atlanta.

Mladin broke his lower left leg and cannot attend the tests, which are scheduled to run through Thursday.

A group of teams shared the cost of renting the track, hiring ambulances, buying haybales and buying insurance for the tests. Each team’s share was about $6000.

The Wegman Benefit Fund, Inc., which raises money and distributes it to injured road racers, has upgraded its informational website at www.wegmanfund.org.

The Wegman Benefit Fund is run by Gordon Lunde Sr. and is endorsed by Roadracing World.

Lance Holst, who has worked with Jason Pridmore’s STAR school since its inception, has signed on with the new Suzuki-sponsored riding school being hosted by former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz at Road Atlanta.

At post time it was unknown when Holst will leave the STAR school. Jason Pridmore and Mark Gallardo, two principals in the STAR school, could not be reached for comment prior to posting.

Information on the new Kevin Schwantz Suzuki Riding School is available from www.kevin-schwantz.com or from www.roadatlanta.com.

According to a cryptic e-mail sent out to AMA Pro Racing employees and contractors by AMA Pro Racing Director of Competition Merrill Vanderslice, Dan Lance has again left the organization.

The e-mail, dated April 5 and obtained by Roadracing World on April 10, read as follows:

“Effective today, Dan Lance has resigned as Safety/Logistics Officer to pursue other interests.

“Merrill Vanderslice”

Lance could not be reached prior to post time. Responding to an e-mail requesting clarification, Vanderslice declined to comment, stating that he was not “at liberty to comment on private personnel issues”.

Lance was well-liked by riders and team members for his practical approach to problems faced by riders, including track set-up.

He originally left his part-time job with AMA Pro Racing last fall because the organization would not pay him enough to even cover his direct expenses incurred getting to AMA Pro Races. Lance was lured back this spring with a full-time staff job based out of AMA headquarters in Ohio.

Stayed tuned for details.

Yamaha has issued a press release announcing the official name of its four-stroke Grand Prix racebike. The release reads:


“Yamaha is proud to announce the official designated name of the OW-M1 machine, which is the
YZR-M1. The name has been derived from the following key elements: The YZR component of the name represents it as a Yamaha factory prototype Grand Prix motorcycle. The M1 signifies Yamaha’s new #1 Mission, which is for the new bike to win the MotoGP GP-1 World Championship in its debut year. While at the same time playing a key role for Yamaha as an R&D test-bed for new four-stroke technology. This crucial data will be fed back into the company’s future four-stroke production models, providing its customers the edge over the competition with the most technologically advanced production motorcycles.

“The YZR-M1’s intensive testing program is continuing in preparation for the 2002 season, and its performance in both lap times and race distance endurance tests have met all expectations to date. The lightweight Inline, four-cylinder powerplant has already achieved better acceleration and higher top speeds than the current two-stroke machines. Track tests have been carried out at Yamaha’s own Fukuroi testing circuit. A further test was then held at Sepang, Malaysia in December 2000, when Marlboro Yamaha Team riders Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa both sampled the new bike. Yamaha then moved to Phillip Island, Australia at the end of February 2001.

“For the very latest test this week, from April 3-5, the testing team again returned to Sepang and it was here that the YZR-M1 completed almost 200 laps and proved its durability, even under extreme weather conditions. Now Yamaha is ready for the next phase, in search of the best balance between the compact, high performance engine and the lightweight chassis–which is based on the YZR500’s twin-spar Deltabox design. These tests will be carried out in Europe at several current GP tracks over the next six months. The YZR-M1 development is on schedule, and it is ready to achieve the next set of objectives in order to be fully ready for its Mission in 2002.”

Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz pitched in and helped Yoshimura crew members place haybales around the Road Atlanta road course Monday afternoon, in preparation for team tests Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Valvoline EMGO Suzuki mechanics also pitched in, along with VES Crew Chief Keith Perry.

Schwantz won the 500cc World Championship in 1993.

According to a press release issued April 10 by Morgan Broadhead, special dual-compound Michelin tires designed for use at Willow Springs will be available for the balance of the WSMC season and for the April 19-22 Formula USA National at the Rosamond, California racetrack. The press release read as follows:

“Freddie Spencer’s High Performance Product Line recently received a shipment of special Michelin Pilot Race tires for use at Willow Springs International Raceway. The ‘Willow’ DOT tires will be available trackside through Racers Edge Performance during all remaining WSMC events and round two of the Formula USA National Road Race Series.

“Willow Springs International Raceway is known to be one of the toughest tracks for the tire manufacturers to come to grips with. The ultra-fast turn 8-9 combination puts incredible stresses on the right side of tires while the left side is used in only three corners. This special dual-compound rear tire was developed specifically for Willow Springs and features a very soft left side coupled with a durable right side to handle the unique stresses Willow Springs puts on a tire.

“For more information please call Morgan Broadhead at Freddie Spencer’s High Performance Product Line: 702-591-8915.”

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.