Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts broke his own Daytona 600cc Supersport lap record enroute to qualifying in the pole position for Friday’s Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport final. Roberts circulated in a draft pack that included factory CBR600F4i Hondas ridden by Nicky Hayden and Miguel Duhamel as well as a GSXR600 ridden by Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki’s John Hopkins. As the time ran down in the 20-minute session for odd-numbered machines, Roberts recorded a 1:53.549 on his Honda fitted with a Dunlop D208 qualifying tire to better his record of 1:54.147, set last year. Hopkins used the draft of the leading Hondas to record the second-fastest time–1:53.624–on his 2001 Suzuki GSXR600. While Roberts and other riders sponsored by Dunlop pitted for qualifying tires late in the session, Hopkins set his lap time using the same set of race-compound Michelin Pilot tires that he started the session with. Nicky Hayden was third fastest at 1:53.675 with Duhamel fourth-fastest at 1:53. 736. Eric Bostrom, the fastest qualifier from the even-numbered session, was fifth-fastest overall when the times from the two qualifying sessions were combined. It appeared that Bostrom’s last lap on his Dunlop-shod Kawasaki ZX-6R was his fastest but it was missed by the electronic scoring system. Team watches had Bostrom going faster than the 1:53.773 confirmed by AMA timing and scoring, but the team’s time didn’t count. The top combined 600cc Supersport qualifying times follow: 1. Kurtis Roberts, Honda, 1:53.549 2. John Hopkins, Suzuki, 1:53.624 3. Nicky Hayden, Honda, 1:53.675 4. Miguel Duhamel, Honda, 1:53.736 5. Eric Bostrom, Kawasaki, 1:53.773 6. Jamie Hacking, Suzuki, 1:54.166 7. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, 1:54.866 8. Josh Hayes, Honda, 1:54.882 9. Anthony Gobert, Yamaha, 1:54.893 10. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, 1:54.986 11. Tommy Hayden, Yamaha, 1:55.328 12. Grant Lopez, Suzuki, 1:55.505 13. Owen Weichel, Kawasaki, 1:55.771 14. Jake Zemke, Honda, 1:56.162 15. Lee Acree, Suzuki, 1:56.285 16. Vincent Haskovec, Suzuki, 1:56.632 17. Brian Parriott, Suzuki, 1:56.692 18. Roger Lee Hayden, Honda, 1:56.888 19. Joe Gill, Yamaha, 1:56.914 20. Richie Alexander, Suzuki, 1:57.012 The Michelin rear tire used by Hopkins in 600cc qualifying was part of a shipment that arrived directly from France on Saturday, March 3. Prior to the arrival of that shipment, Michelin had not shipped any DOT-labeled tires capable of lasting race distance to Daytona.

TG Racing’s Troy Green, K&N Yamaha’s Sam McDonald, and Ronnie Lunsford were the big winners in CCS/CMRA regional action at Texas World Speedway March 3-4.

Green rode his Yamaha YZF-R6 to wins in Middleweight Grand Prix, Middleweight Superbike, and Middleweight Superstock on the 2.9-mile road course.

McDonald used a Yamaha YZF-R1 to take wins in Unlimited Grand Prix and Unlimited Superstock.

Lunsford won Super Twins and Formula 40 on his Ducati 996. Lunsford also teamed up with Rusty Allen and Matt Maschmann on a Honda CBR929RR to take the overall endurance win in the first, six-hour endurance race of the CMRA season. Incredibly, the second place overall team on the fast, flowing course was Suzuki SV650-mounted Faltless Racing with riders Robert Bradlaw, Eric Falt, Laroy Montgomery and Mark Andrews. G-Man Racing’s Harry Tomlinson and Mike Guillot completed the overall podium on their Kawasaki ZX-9R.

Blue Odyssey won in the Middleweight Superstock class, placing sixth overall. TG Racing scored the Middleweight Superbike class victory at seventh overall. Dynatech Endurance grabbed the Unlimited Superstock trophy with ninth place overall in the large field.

The CMRA is the CCS South Central Region affiliate, running races in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

Overall Results
CMRA 6-Hour Endurance
March 3, 2001
College Station, Texas

1. Performance Powercoating (Hon CBR 929RR) 125 laps, UGP (Ronnie Lunsford / Rusty Allen / Matt Maschmann

2. Faltless Racing (Suz SV650) 122 laps, LSB (Eric Falt / Laroy Montgomery / Robert Bradlaw / Mark Andrews)

3. GMAN Racing (Kaw ZX-9R) 121 laps, UGP (Harry Tomlinson / Mike Guillot)

4. Team Green Genesis (Kaw ZX-9R) 120 laps, UGP (Don Hawkins / Dalton Hamilton / Jamie Lane)

5. No Homeless (Kaw ZX-9R) 119 laps, UGP (Frank Shacklee / Mark Niemi / Andy Galindo)

6. Blue Odyssey Racing (Suz GSXR600) 118 laps, MSS (Scott Lawson / Charles Ergle / Scott Crawford)

7. TG-Racing (Yam YZF-R6) 118 laps, MSB (Troy Green / Darren Behm / Craig Montgomery)

8. Carpet Dog Racing (Yam YZF-R6) 117 laps, MSS (Scott Stevens / Dale Love / Mark Gifford

9. Dynatech Endurance (Suz GSX-R750) 117 laps, USS (Jason Griffin / Tim Carlson / Bruce Lacy / David Ferris / Bob Dietrich

10. T-Town (Yam YZF-R6) 117 laps, MSS (Jason Hammons / David Sanders / Cody Perkins)

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.