SFX Motor Sports Group announced the return of Doug Gonda to Formula USA with a January 25 press release headlined “SFX appoints Doug Gonda to Formula USA expansion efforts.” The release read, “Douglas Gonda has been retained by SFX Motor Sports to manage race track business development for road racing properties. Mr. Gonda will be responsible for all track negotiations and race scheduling for both SFX Motor Sports’ Championship Cup Series (CCS) and the Formula USA National Road Race Series. “Mr. Gonda has extensive experience in the business of motorcycle road racing over a period of nearly two decades. Aside from his background as an event organizer and promoter, Mr. Gonda has worked as consultant and business partner with AMA, CCS and WERA. Mr. Gonda was the founder of the National Championship Formula USA Series. The Formula USA Series was acquired by SFX from Mr. Gonda in 1999.” The release went on to quote SFX Motor Sports Group Senior Director of Marketing, Motorcycles, Dan Krolczyk as saying “Doug has been an important piece of the history of Formula USA road racing and of the new SFX Motor Sports road racing properties. We’re happy to keep Doug involved in the expansion of road racing.” According to the release, SFX Motor Sports has 92 motorcycle road racing events scheduled across the nation in 2001, 31 operated through affiliate organizations and 61 produced and promoted directly by SFX Motor Sports.

According to former racer Dennis Smith of Sport Tire Services, Dunlop’s grid fitment at the January 20-21, 2001 WSMC race shot up to a record 71 percent, up from 54 percent at the same race last year. Smith said that his sales at the track set a new record for his company at a WSMC club event, by a margin of 33 percent. Smith’s sales were helped by the fact that there was no Michelin sales and service operation at the event. Graves Race Tire Service did not renew its contract with Michelin, bailing out of the deal at the end of 2000. No new Michelin representative has been named yet, although Michelin North America officials are thought to be close to finalizing a deal with three-time World Champion Freddie Spencer, who won his titles on Michelin tires. Spencer is interested in putting together a tire sales operation with racer Dale Kieffer, who has been involved in trackside tire sales for about five years.

AMA Pro Racing CEO Scott Hollingsworth told Ducati North America Marketing Manager Jim Viola that the AMA ultimately plans to eliminate the Pro Thunder class from AMA National weekends entirely and to run it at non-AMA events, according to Viola. In a January 24th phone interview with Roadracing World, Viola said that AMA officials did not discuss new restrictive rules prior to those rules being imposed on the Pro Thunder class, but did reveal that the class has no future at AMA Pro events. Describing a series of conversations he had with Hollingsworth in an unsuccessful attempt to get the Ducati 748 declared legal for the 600cc Supersport class, Viola told Roadracing World “In the last conversation we had in September or October, they told me that they wanted to keep us. That we were a strong consideration, especially our 748, when it came to racing. Then they changed the rules for the 748 and this Pro Thunder deal without telling us. Then they also said they weren’t having it at all of the events. I don’t see any benefit there for Ducati. What Scott then told me was the eventual plan was to have it (Pro Thunder) at the local level. Am I happy about that? We really enjoyed the Pro Thunder class. We seriously need to discuss this with them.” Voila said that he was caught off guard by the changes in Pro Thunder rules and venue, especially since he had already proposed sponsoring the class and spending enough money to get Pro Thunder races televised on Speedvision. The way Viola tells it, Speedvision was not interested in his proposal. Asked what Ducati North America could do to help Ducati 748 racers who face financial hardship due to the announced-at-the-last-minute rules outlawing existing 800cc engines, Viola said, “We’re not really in a position to pay for the AMA’s decision making, but we are thinking about those guys. We can’t do anything for them this year, but we are thinking of ways to help our 748 guys out.” Speedvision Productions President Dan Murphy could not be reached for comment prior to posting. AMA Pro Racing CEO Hollingsworth did not return a phone call prior to posting.

The Competition Accessories AMA Superbike team of Larry Pegram and John Kocinski is not considering switching from Dunlop to Michelin tires for the 2001 season, according to Pegram, regardless of speculation caused by the sight of a Michelin-equipped team racebike on display last weekend at Competition Accessories headquarters in Ohio. The display included two bikes, one with P1 on its number plates and the other with K2 on its number plates. The K2 bike was fitted with Michelin Pilot slicks, while the P1 bike carried worn Dunlop slicks. Both Kocinski and Pegram attended Dunlop tire tests at Daytona in December, with Kocinski setting fast time of the tests on Dunlop qualifying tires. In the past Kocinski has been an outspoken advocate of Michelin slicks and an outspoken critic of Dunlop slicks. At one point during the 2000 AMA Superbike season Kocinski flatly declared that he would not show up for the next race if he couldn’t get Michelin slicks on his Vance & Hines Ducati. Vance & Hines team owner Terry Vance quickly issued a statement that the team would continue to run Dunlops and the controversy was smoothed over, at least in public. That’s all in the past, Pegram told Roadracing World when reached on his cell phone. “He’s definitely not running Michelins,” Pegram said of his teammate Kocinski. “We’re running Dunlops, no questions asked.” Pegram added that Kocinski evidently “liked the Dunlops when we were at the Dunlop tire test.”

Michelin North America plans to dramatically cut back its popular Bib Bucks contingency program but also plans to lower retail prices on racing tires, insiders say. According to sources close to the company, Michelin plans to offer Bib Bucks to racers at AMA Pro, Formula USA and WERA National races only, paying in all classes. Bib Bucks will no longer be awarded at regional events, if the plan proceeds as it currently exists, but tires sold at regional events will cost less. Michelin’s Randy Richardson declined to comment on the reports and referred Roadracing World to Michelin spokesman Steve White, who had not responded to a voice mail message at post time.

Rick Gray and Jeff Smith, recently certified as winning re-election and election to three-year terms on the AMA Board of Trustees, each won by less than 250 votes in their respective regions. Gray, re-elected from the Northeast Region, won with 830 votes compared to 599 for Jerry Wood and 184 for Bob Coy. There were some concerns that Coy, who runs the USCRA Vintage road racing organization, would be a spoiler in the election by drawing votes cast by road racers who would have otherwise voted for Wood, an active racer and official with LRRS who ran on a reform platform. But even if Wood had received all the votes cast for Coy, Gray would have still won by 47 votes. Smith beat challenger Dale Greenwald by 245 votes, 581 to 336, to take over the seat vacated by a retired Trustee. Smith served as Executive Director of AHRMA, a Vintage racing organization, for nine years until retiring from the position recently, and is a two-time 500cc Motocross World Champion. The election was certified by the accounting firm Ernst & Young of Columbus, Ohio. Election of three more Trustees will take place later this year, representing the three southern regions of the country. Several active road racers have explored running for the board as reform candidates, including Roadracing World Editor John Ulrich. Final decisions by those racers is expected within a few months.

Metzeler Motorcycle Tire North America Corporation has hired racer Jeff Johnston as Senior Product Specialist. Johnston worked for Metzeler as Racing Manager from January 1994 until April 1997, when he moved into the automotive aftermarket equipment industry. In May 1998 Johnston took a job as National Sales and Promotion Manager with Specialty Sports Ltd., the U.S. importer of Teknic leathers and gear. Johnston, who started his new job at Metzeler on January 22, will handle some marketing duties for the company, working at trade shows and providing technical information to OEM representatives, consumers and dealers. Metzeler/Pirelli race support will continue to be handled by Rich Munson. Johnston is in the process of moving from Michigan to Pennsylvania. Johnston last raced at the 1999 WERA GNF, on a TZ125, and is currently looking for a new racebike.

Vicent Haskovec rode a pair of Hyper Cycle-prepared Suzukis to win the Formula One and Formula Two races during a WSMC event at Willow Springs Raceway Sunday. Haskovec ran down leader Chuck Graves and made a pass into turn one to start the final lap of the Formula One race, then worked traffic better in turn nine and held off Graves to the finish line. WSMC star Ken Chase was third ahead of Rich Alexander on a GSX-R750, WSMC Overall Champion Jeremy Toye on a Yamaha YZF-R1 and Jason Pridmore on a GSX-R600. In the Formula Two race, Haskovec beat Pridmore, WSMC star Jacob West and young gun Jason DiSalvo, with Graves sixth behind Mark Palazzo. Pridmore and DiSalvo were hampered with poor grid positions, since gridding was based on 2000-season points. Pridmore won the 650cc Superbike race, beating Palazzo and Graves, and beat Haskovec, Matt Wait and Palazzo in 600cc Modified Production. But Haskovec beat Palazzo, Wait and Pridmore in 600cc Superstock, all three races running just six laps. Haskovec also beat Graves and Toye in Open Superbike, and Chase beat Alexander in 750cc Superbike and 750cc Modified Production. The Formula Two race was marred by a last-lap collision involving Jodie York and the racer now known as Jocelin; Jocelin was on a Yamaha TZ250 and York was on a Yamaha YZF-R6. The two women collided in turn three and crashed while racing for about 13th position. Jocelin was transported to a local hospital with a dislocated and badly abraded finger, and underwent surgery. York suffered a concussion.

Bridgestone Corporation has made it official, announcing that it has begun testing tires for the 500cc World Championship with Kanemoto Racing and riders Nobuatsu Aoki and Shinichi Ito on Honda NSR500s. According to a press release announcing the test program, “the company has put in place a global organization to create the tires” and “the start of development work on racing tires for 500cc motorcycles is one of several events to mark Bridgestone’s 70th anniversary in 2001.” The release also stated that “Bridgestone Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, is the world’s largest manufacturer of tires and other rubber products. Tires account for 79 percent of Bridgestone Group sales worldwide. The company also manufactures industrial rubber and chemical products, sporting goods and other diversified products. It sells its tires and other products in more than 150 nations.”

American Honda and Team Kawasaki have scheduled a two-test test session at Sears Point Raceway for January 28-29. An AMA Pro National race is scheduled for the Sonoma, California track May 4-6.