The American Federation Of Motorcyclists (AFM) has a new mailing address, 6167 Jarvis Ave. #333, Newark, CA 94560.

The 2001 AFM Season kicks off weekend after next at Buttonwillow Raceway, near a controversial landfill that recently started accepting dirt contaminated with low levels of strontium 90 and cesium 137. The 14,000 tons of contaminated soil came from a now-closed nuclear lab, Santa Susana Field Laboratory, located in the Simi Valley area. The levels of strontium 90 and cesium 137 are so low that the dirt does not meet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission definition of “radioactive”. But that hasn’t kept environmentalists from raising alarms about the Buttonwillow landfill, which is in the same windy, dusty area as the racetrack and began accepting the contaminated soil on January 22. Authorities estimate that it will take through April or May to transfer all 14,000 tons of dirt to the dump.

Meanwhile, the 2001 AFM schedule follows:

3/10-11Buttonwillow Raceway, Buttonwillow, CA
4/14-15Sears Point Raceway, Sonoma, CA

5/12-13Thunderhill Park, Willows, CA

6/2-3Sears Point Raceway, Sonoma, CA

7/21-22Thunderhill Park, Willows, CA

8/18-19Sears Point Raceway, Sonoma, CA

9/224-hr, Sears Point Raceway, Sonoma, CA
9/23Sears Point Raceway, Sonoma, CA
10/20-21Buttonwillow Raceway, Buttonwillow, CA

In announcing the move of its Superbike team testing venue from Sears Point to Willow Springs Februaru 12-15, Ducati North America referred to the track as being “an undisclosed location,” even though the tests scheduled at Willow Springs were common knowledge to racing journalists. Ducati”s breaking off of negotiations with John Kocinski and signing of Aaron Slight in secret has also raised eyebrows of journalists who wondered why Ducati was attempting to be secretive, or perhaps selectively secretive.

Some media outlets were leaked information on the test location moving and on Slight replacing Kocinski, and others were not.

But sources close to Ducati say that what appears to be an attempt to be secretive is actually just a lack of a coordinated worldwide press relations policy and program on the part of the Italian manufacturer and its racing subsidiary, Ducati Corse, as well as various Ducati distributors.

Former French GP star and Bimota factory racer Eric Saul is bringing his International Classic Grand Prix Series to Daytona International Speedway as part of the March 5-6 AHRMA event. The Series is open to dedicated two-stroke road racing machines displacing 250cc and 350cc and built prior to December, 1984. Air-cooled Yamahas such as the 1969-1971 TD/TR 2 or 1972-1973 TD/ TR 3 are scored separately from water-cooled bikes. Other requirements for machines in the Classic GP Series include:

-Tubular steel or aluminum frames.
-Parallel-Twin engines.
-18-inch wheels.
-No carbon-fiber or Kevlar-fiber parts.
-No upside-down forks.
-No flat-slide carburetors.
-No reed valves.
-No cassette gearboxes.

Bikes are required to be “very highly prepared genuine racing motorcycles that conform to FIM standards for safety. Hybrids and converted streetbikes are simply not permitted,” according to Saul’s press release. The Series has attracted top level racers from past eras and has earned the Series support-class status at prestigious events such as the 24-Hours of Le Mans and the Bol d’Or.

Additional information is available from three sources:

Jack Turner at AHRMA, (913) 268-4401, FAX (913) 268-4400, e-mail [email protected], website www.ahrma.org.

Patrick Bodden/Heritage Racing, (703) 836-0157, FAX (703) 836-0157, e-mail [email protected].

Or, for French-speakers, Eric Saul/Creuse Moto Competition 011-33-555-89-03-97, FAX 011-33-555-89-22-52.

Donated for an auction to benefit the Roadracing World Air Fence Fund, Eric Bostrom’s 2001 Team Kawasaki Road Racing leathers have a current high bid of $2000. Apparently a Kawasaki fan, grocezx7r leads the bidding, but wera163 and koups.com also placed bids over the weekend.

The auction is scheduled to end Thursday, February 1 at 12:44 p.m. Eastern Time.

Kawasaki factory racer Eric Bostrom donated the custom-designed Alpinestars motorcycle racing leathers, which he wore during the 2001 AMA Superbike Championship series in which he finished second in points.

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The suit is one of only three made for Bostrom during 2001 and was worn by the young Californian in his AMA Superbike race win at Laguna Seca. Bostrom was featured on the cover of Roadracing World magazine wearing these leathers as he dragged his elbow during the race at Laguna Seca. The suit has a 2.5-inch drag mark on the left elbow where it came in contact with the pavement.

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Bostrom also wore the suit during tire testing at Daytona International Raceway in December 2001 where he crashed, scuffing the right arm, hip and seat areas of the suit.

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The green, silver and black garment was made in Italy and includes all of Bostrom’s team and personal sponsor logos for the 2001 season in addition to custom-made A&G knee sliders that display Bostrom’s initials. The suit retains its interior body armor, padding and removable liner. Bostrom added his autograph in permanent paint marker just below his lettered name and American flag patch on the aerodynamic hump on the back of the suit.

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In donating the leathers to be auctioned off for the Roadracing World Air Fence Fund, Bostrom said, “It’s the least I could do, you know. You guys have shown such a big effort and really went out of your way to put your heart into this effort. Anything I can do, for sure I’m there. Hopefully somebody will feel the same way and pay a few bucks and have a pretty cool set of leathers.”

All proceeds from the sale of this leather suit minus the cost of eBay and escrow services will go to the Roadracing World Air Fence Fund. The Roadracing World Air Fence Fund was established to raise funds to purchase and deploy inflatable Air Fence and Air Module soft barriers to protect crashed riders from hitting walls and other hard objects at racetracks.

To go directly to the auction on eBay, click on the link below.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1801269462

*Air Fence is a trademark of Airfence Safety Systems of Australia.

An American team of former Champions put together by Speedvision television won the annual Numb Bum 24-hour ice race on Sandy Beach Lake, Alberta, Canada February 10-11. Former Champions Scott Parker (AMA dirt track), Jeff Ferdette (off-road), Dick Burleson (off-road), Mike Bell (AMA Supercross) and Kevin Schwantz (1993 500cc Grand Prix World Champion) teamed up to ride a Suzuki DR-Z400 to the win ahead of 34 other teams on various motorcycles and ATVs. The three-second margin of victory made this the closest Numb Bum on record.

“That was awesome, and it was even better because we won,” said Schwantz February 20th. “It was like that Australian Safari where I committed to it early and then thought, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ But it was really a good time with a great bunch of guys.

“We ran the race on a 10-mile road course with 163 turns,” continued Schwantz. “We weren’t cold while we were riding, but when you were standing around, you were standing on a big slab of ice. I couldn’t believe how much grip those things had. When you were off the throttle, the ice would pack up against the front of the screws, and it would get pretty slick. But when you were on the gas, there was so much grip I thought about putting my foot back on the peg and sticking my knee out. It was just a blast.”

Cooperation between SFX Motor Sports Group and the Grand American Road Racing Association already involves contingency programs and may expand to include an event or events featuring classes for both motorcycles and cars, according to sources close to the Grand American sports car racing series.

A likely candidate for a combined motorcycle and car event would be the June 28-July 1 Formula USA weekend at Virginia International Raceway near Danville, Virginia. To work for both motorcycles and cars, a track must have enough run-off room to not require the use of haybales in close proximity to the racing surface, car racing sources say.

One piece of cooperative business being done by Grand American and SFX involves Patrick Murphy, who closed his California PR and contingency marketing company and went to work in Florida for Grand American, which is run by long-time Murphy associate Roger Edmondson. Murphy is now handling contingency programs for SFX Motor Sports again.

According to a press release issued by Murphy, “through a mutual agreement between Grand-Am and the SFX Motor Sports Group, I will continue to administer contingency award programs for the SFX (formerly PACE) National Road Racing Series, CCS racing, National Dirt Track Series and National Arenacross.”

Ties between Edmondson and SFX are relatively strong, SFX having purchased NASB and CCS–both founded by Edmondson–before the start of the 2000 racing season.

Edmondson and Murphy could not be reached for comment prior to post time, and SFX staffers declined to comment on the record.

Murphy can be reached during normal business hours at (904)681-4054 or via e-mail at [email protected]

The Harley-Davidson VR1000 project’s seven-year-long struggle without reaching competitive status in the AMA Superbike Championship was caused by a lack of funding and support from Harley-Davidson, Inc., according to a team insider incensed that former project leader Steve Scheibe is being blamed for the project’s lack of results.

The way an associate of Scheibe explained it, the VR1000 was on the verge of being cancelled every year since its inception, and was revived before the start of each season only by Scheibe’s herculean efforts. And now, when the project has finally gotten the funding it needs and is set up for greatness, new management has farmed out engine development and building to Cosworth and thwarted the project’s chance of success, said the associate, who added “Here this guy (Scheibe)has been pulling this old bus down the road for seven years and he finally gets it started and it runs him over. He had the team set up where it finally had what it needed, and it was going to be competitive in six months. After that it was going to run away from everybody because nobody else would be able to react as quickly as it could. That team has guys there that could build a complete car chassis from scratch in six months if they wanted to. That’s the kind of capability they have here now.”

According to the associate, Scheibe was under-funded to the tune of $400,000 per year for what he was trying to accomplish.

The associate also said that reports that Scheibe said the 60-degree VR1000 engine could never be competitive and asked for funding to design a new 90-degree V-Twin were untrue, as were reports that Scheibe told senior Harley-Davidson managers that rider input could not be trusted, and should be ignored in favor of data acquisition and Scheibe’s personal experience riding the VR1000.

Those reports, published in the March issue of Roadracing World, were based on what former team members and a current senior-level manager at Harley-Davidson said in not-for-attribution interviews with Roadracing World reporters. Information from those sources had proven reliable in previous instances.

A Harley-Davidson spokesman could not be reached at post time to to comment on the original Roadracing World report and on the Scheibe associate’s allegations.

Although details are not available, the Umoto Aprilia 250cc Grand Prix World Championship team has encountered financial difficulties, and left Jeremy McWilliams and teammate Katja Poensgen scrambling for rides. Aprilia announced that McWilliams will now ride factory Aprilia RSW250s with young Italian Riccardo Chiarello for the RSC Aprilia team. McWilliams will be reunited with Team Manager Gianni Cantanella, who worked with McWilliams in 2000 when McWilliams rode the works Aprilia RSW-2 500cc V-Twin GP bike.

Meanwhile, Poensgen, 24, showed up for the recent IRTA tests at Jerez without a bike to ride. “They (the Umoto team) now have money troubles,” Poensgen told reporters. “No machine was ready at the Umoto Team,” wrote Poensgen on her website, www.katja-poensgen.de. Poensgen was able to borrow Alexander Hofmann’s spare bike to ride and turned the 19th-fastest 250cc time at the test, some eight seconds off the pace set by the fastest rider.

Poensgen gave up her last year of European Superstock Series eligibility to switch to Grand Prix race; the Superstock Series has a maximum age limit of 25 years.

Loris Capirossi was the fastest 500cc rider after three days of Grand Prix team testing at Estoril, Portugal February 21-23, ending the IRTA-organized tests marginally quicker than Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa. Biaggi and reigning 500cc World Champion Kenny Lee Roberts didn’t ride during the final day of testing.

The fastest times turned by riders in the three Grand Prix classes during the tests follow:

IRTA 250cc-500cc Tests, February 21-23
Top 500cc Times
Loris Capirossi1:40.109
Max Biaggi1:40.149
Carlos Checa1:40.166
Jurgen v.d. Goorbergh1:40.3
Tohru Ukawa1:40.5
Garry McCoy1:40.6
Kenny Roberts1:40.65
Alex Barros1:40.7
Norike Abe1:40.8
Valentino Rossi1:41.1

Top 250cc Times
Daijiro Katoh1:41.0
Marco Melandri1:41.9
Tetsuya Harada1:42.5
Jeremy McWilliams1:42.9
Marcelino Lucchi1:42.9
Klaus Nohles1:43.0
Roberto Lucatelli1:43.0
Fonsi Nieto1:43.0
Alex Debon1:43.1
Naoki Matsudo1:43.1
Emilio Alzamora1:43.7


IRTA 125cc Tests February 22-23
Top 125cc Times
Youichi Ui1:40.6
Gino Borsoi1:41.4
Lucio Cecchinello1:41.5
Max Sabbatani1:41.6
Masao Azuma1:41.6
Gaspare Caffiero1:41.6
Manuel Poggiali1:42.1
Angel Nieto Jr.1:42.1
Jaroslav Hules1:42.2
Pablo Nieto1:42.2

During an evening-drive-time radio show February 13, Bay-area shock jocks Kramer & Twitch encouraged motorists to run over or open their doors in front of motorcyclists and bicyclists when stuck in afternoon traffic, suggested that it was illegal and wrong for motorcycles and bicycles to share the roadways with cars, and made numerous derogatory comments about motorcyclists and bicyclists. Kramer & Twitch broadcast their show from the San Jose, California studios of KSJO 92 FM, a station owned by Clear Channel Communications, which also owns SFX Entertainment, which in turn owns SFX Motor Sports Group, which promotes the Formula USA National Road Race Series, the Formula USA National Dirt Track Series, CCS motorcycle road racing, Arenacross, IFMA Freestyle Motocross, and EA Sports Supercross.

Asked to comment on the situation February 22, KSJO Vice President and General Manager John Sutherland declined to speak on the record and instead e-mailed Roadracing World a press release, which is reproduced here in its entirety:

“Thanks for taking the time to contact KSJO Radio. Your comments have been heard and I hope you’ll take the time to read this letter in regards to the Kramer and Twitch situation.

“KSJO radio as well as Kramer and Twitch do NOT advocate violence, aggressive behavior or discrimination against anyone, in particular bicyclists and motorcyclists. Kramer and Twitch made an error in judgement and they are being punished. However, that does not reduce the severity of this issue in our minds.

“In what was supposed to be a humor-based, talk segment that involved callers, the wrong message came across. Sensing that their commentary was problematic, KSJO suspended Kramer and Twitch before any type of backlash began. In the subsequent days, KSJO has aired apologies during Kramer and Twitch’s afternoon time slot and KSJO has ran over 80 Public Service announcements (and will continue doing so) that ask listeners to be cautious of bicyclists and motorcyclists on the road. The frequency of these announcements is once per-hour.

“KSJO has always been a radio station that supports bicyclists and motorcycle riders. In recent years KSJO sponsored a bicycling team, something that most radio stations ignore. And last year alone, KSJO gave its listeners a chance to win one of 20 Harley-Davidson motorcycles. It’s clear that KSJO unconditionally supports bicyclists and motorcyclists. This summer KSJO will be supporting the Hollister Independence Day rally (something we committed to months ago) and we’ll be giving listeners another chance to win more motorcycles. On top of this, KSJO will be airing some programming aimed at promoting bicycling and bicycle safety in the next few days. We have a champion cyclist on staff as well as many employees who ride motorcycles in their free time. Anyone who disputes KSJO’s support of these industries and lifestyle groups is misinformed.

“If Kramer and Twitch are allowed to once again broadcast on KSJO, they will begin with a personal on-air apology. It should be known that Kramer and Twitch are very apologetic about this and in no way, shape or form intended for their comedy to be misinterpreted, as it has been. Bad judgement –yes. Malicious intent–absolutely not. On behalf of KSJO, we will be making a decision in regards to Kramer and Twitch’s suspension shortly and we will then consider this matter closed. I thank you for your concern and want you to know that we relish our moral obligation to the community. We have responded appropriately and we will take the proper disciplinary action with this situation.

“John Sutherland
“VP/GM, Market Manager
“Clear Channel San Jose/San Francisco”