Former Superbike World Champion and AMA Superbike Champion Doug Polen will be signing autographs in the Ducati area during the Advanstar Cycle World Motorcycle Show at the IX Center in Cleveland, Ohio Friday through Sunday. Polen won the Superbike World Championship in 1991 and 1992. Polen won the AMA Superbike Championship in 1993. All Polen’s Superbike titles came aboard Ferracci Ducatis.

Speaking at a media day held at a go-cart track in Malaysia, the CEO of Proton announced the company’s continued involvement with three-time 500cc World Champion Kenny Roberts’ Grand Prix motorcycle team. DRB-Hicom, a Malaysian conglomerate, owns the car brand Proton and the motorcycle/scooter brand Modenas (as well as the Lotus car company). Roberts’ V-3 racebike had been labelled a Modenas from the start of his affiliation with DBR-Hicom five years ago. Roberts’ team will now be officially known as Proton Team KR. The media day and announcement was held at Fastrack Speedzone in Sungei Pencala, Malaysia. A press release issued February 1 quoted Proton CEO Tengku Tan Sri Mahaleel Tengku Ariff as saying “Proton is continuously increasing its technical involvement in the area of providing design and rapid prototyping support to the race equipment. This is not just a straightforward sponsorship deal–it is a smart partnership where both parties will benefit apart from the immediate brand leverage Proton will gain. Right from the very beginning, our aim is to learn as much as possible in the area of engine and chassis development, and there is much to learn from Kenny and his team.” According to the release, “Roberts Senior, who was also at the go cart event, said that the KR3 was his contribution to the evolution of motorcycle racing, where it had to establish its own engineering infrastructure like Formula 1 had, if it is to continue to grow.” Roberts, whose full name is Kenny Leroy Roberts, is the father of 2000 500cc World Champion Kenny Lee Roberts. The release also stated “This year, PROTON Team KR will have a new rider, Jurgen van den Goorbergh , who will debut on the much refined Mk3 version of the lightweight three-cylinder Proton KR3. The new bike combines compact dimensions, light weight and agile handling with an improved and more powerful version of the proven V-3 engine, and made its racing debut in the sixth race of the 2000 season. Several different riders took the new KR3 through the early stages of its development, and it demonstrated its potential by consistently finishing in the points. Van den Goorbergh, in recent tests, was pleased with the agility and power of the lightweight V-3 engine, and believes it will give the established factory V-4s a run for their money. He had expressed confidence that the bike, with the support of the team will surprise a few people and get much better results in the season ahead. “It is this professionalism of the team, in developing the engine and motivating its riders and team personnel that PROTON hopes to learn from. PROTON hopes that the expertise and technology used to develop the KR3 will further enhance the knowledge and technological know-how of its already state-of-the-art Research and Development facilities in Shah Alam.” The release ended by quoting Mahaleel as saying “We have seen how the factory-based machines were adapted specifically for race conditions. Perhaps we will now see a full cycle where an engine developed specifically for racing will evolve into factory machines catered for the lucrative Superbike market, perhaps in the very near future.” It is thought that Mahaleel meant that evolutions of racing engines could be used in production streetbikes in the future.

GPRA West Coast Champion Peter Hofmann, 26, has landed a ride in the 125cc European Championship Series with Team Raudies, a team owned by 1993 125cc World Champion Dirk Raudies. Hofmann was recommended to Raudies–who himself didn’t start racing until he was 25 and who won his World Championship when he was 30–by Raudies’ former mechanic Uli Maier, a friend of the Hofmann family who worked with Hofmann throughout 2000 and who is now working for the Kawasaki World Superbike team. Hofmann will ride a Honda RS125 sponsored by the oil company Total, Daytona boots, Aeris.net, and most likely Bridgestone. Hofmann is Manager of Investment Analysis for Aeris.net and will commute between his home in San Jose, California and the team base in Munich; Hofmann says that his employer is being very supportive. Team Raudies is scheduled to start testing March 7-11 at Cartagena, followed by more tests March 19-21 at Mugello and April 13-15 at Hungaroring, with the European Championship season starting April 27-29 at Vallelunga in Rome, Italy. “It’s a dream come true,” said Hofmann. Hofmann was not an overnight success, and did not instantly attain his dream. He started racing mid-season 1992 on a Kawasaki Ninja 250R and raced the Kawasaki through 1993. He bought a 1989 RS125 and started the 1994 season on it, trading up to a new 1994 RS125 from Moto-Liberty halfway through the season. On that bike, Hofmann ran top-five and top-10 in AFM races in 1994 and 1995, competed in a few races in 1996 on the 1994 and on a subsequently acquired 1995 RS125 that had serious problems related to its previous owner’s tuning attempts, problems which lead to Hofmann crashing, hitting a wall at Sears Point and breaking his wrist. Hofmann didn’t race at all in 1997, because, he says now, “I wasn’t really serious about it.” Back up to 1994, and the U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. Peter, who has dual U.S.-German citizenship, and his German-born father, Otto, snuck into the pits after the races, walked up to Raudies and his team and started speaking to them in German. The Hofmanns offered to show the team around San Francisco during the few free days the team had before heading to the next GP, and friendships developed. After graduating from college in 1997, Hofmann went on vacation to Europe and attended the German Grand Prix at Nurburgring, where he again met with Raudies, and Hofmann’s interest in racing was rekindled. Hofmann took another run at racing in 1998 and 1999 on a 1998 RS125, but almost quit for good at the end of 1999, selling his bike and equipment. “I was discouraged because I was riding hard but not getting picked up by a team because nobody was watching the 125 class,” Hofmann said. “I was doing in it on all my own money and was always worried about crashing the bike and not being able to fix it.” Hofmann’s break came before the start of the 2000 season, when Chris Wallace put together Shakai Racing and signed Hofmann, which meant, to Hofmann, “I was able to just focus on racing, it didn’t matter if I crashed, all that mattered was that I won. The sponsors didn’t care if I trashed the equipment, all they wanted was wins. And I really thrived under that pressure.” Maier, who was looking for a break from the GP circus, agreed to move to the U.S. and tune for Hofmann for most of the 2000 season. Hofmann’s charge in the second race of the GPRA Final at Willow Springs–which saw Hofmann lead eventual GPRA National Champion Vicky Jackson-Bell before crashing–impressed Maier, who put in a good word with Raudies. Raudies, who has run riders in the European Championship since he personally retired from GP racing in 1997, agreed to back Hofmann for the 2001 season. Hofmann said, “You see the race tapes on TV and its looks so easy, but going fast on the track is an entirely different type of riding. The big change in my riding where I went from top five to consistently winning was due to an entirely different mind set. It was when I really made a mental connection to how I broke down the racetrack, breaking each corner into five or seven parts, and what I was doing on the racetrack in each of those parts. What really made the difference was learning to think about my riding that way and it took a couple of years to learn to do that.”

Former AMA President J. Scott Thornton was forced to resign in the face of outrage from AMA members and the AMA Board of Trustees over evidence that Thornton fabricated a first-person story of Viet Nam War bravery, heroism and suffering in the September 2000 issue of American Motorcyclist magazine. Thornton in fact never served in Viet Nam and was exposed by a website dedicated to exposing fake tales of military service. The story debunking Thornton’s claims of Viet Nam service and his related emotional problems appears at www.phonyveterans.com Violent reaction to the news that Thornton lied about his military service in the official magazine of the AMA was behind his replacement by long-time AMA employee (and then Vice President)Rob Rasor, effective November 1, 2000. Thornton had been hired by the AMA as President one year earlier, in November, 1999. He replaced Ed Youngblood, who resigned at the height of controversy over his part in AMA actions leading up to the still-unresolved Edmondson vs. AMA lawsuit. The AMA Board of Trustees never publicly announced why Thornton resigned. When asked January 30 if the website report was true, a Trustee declared it “water under the bridge”. Two other Trustees confirmed that Thornton had fabricated the tale of wartime service and that reaction from veterans in the membership and on the Board forced the resignation. None of the Trustees contacted by Roadracing World were willing to be quoted on the matter. Thornton could not be contacted prior to post time.

In a January 30 press release, AMA Pro Racing announced that Lockhart-Phillips USA has been named as the title sponsor for the AMA Formula Xtreme series. Wendell Phillips, President of Lockhart-Phillips USA, was quoted in the press release as saying, “Lockhart Phillips USA is very pleased to be the title sponsor of the AMA Formula Xtreme class. We believe this competitive class is a major stepping stone for riders to move up to the Superbike class, and LP USA is pleased to support the progression of road racing talent in the USA.” Lockhart-Phillips USA takes over the sponsorship of the Formula Xtreme class from 2000 sponsor eSportbike.com. In 2000, Lockhart-Phillips sponsored the AMA 750cc Supersport Championship which was won by 17-year-old John Hopkins. The 2000 Formula Xtreme Champion was Erion Honda’s Kurtis Roberts. Roberts will not return to race in Formula Xtreme, but Hopkins and his Valvoline EMGO Suzuki teammate Grant Lopez will chase the FX title on Suzuki GSX-R1000s.

Kawasaki has recalled all 18,931 ZX-12R models sold worldwide to check for a cracked fuel tank overflow pipe, which could cause a fuel leak and a resultant fire hazard. Kawasaki dealers will inspect the pipe and either replace the fuel tank or install a vibration damper, whichever is applicable, free of charge. At the same time, dealers will replace the defective fuel level sender unit on ZX-12R models with VIN numbers that end in A000001 through A011374. More information is available from Kawasaki dealers.

The AMA has just released an official statement concerning former President J. Scott Thornton. The release is reproduced here: “In recent days, questions have been raised in various forums about the circumstances leading to the departure of Scott Thornton as AMA President last fall. As previously stated by the Association, Mr. Thornton chose to retire during a meeting of the AMA Board of Trustees on October 27. “As is the case with most employers, the AMA has long had an official position of not commenting publicly on personnel matters, most of which are discussed in executive sessions of the AMA Board. However, because this issue has been raised in a public forum, the AMA is releasing the following: “Mr. Thornton had been hired as AMA President under a one-year contract that began November 1, 1999. That contract called for an evaluation and a decision on contract renewal at the end of the contract period. During this evaluation, questions arose concerning the accuracy of various facts, including those contained in Mr. Thornton’s column published in the September, 2000 issue of American Motorcyclist that purported to discuss his experiences during the Vietnam War. “It was of great concern to the AMA Board of Trustees that statements made in the Association’s publication be factually correct. The Board’s investigation revealed that there were valid questions about the facts in this column. Before the conclusion of the evaluation, Mr. Thornton announced his retirement to the Board. “The AMA is not in a position to confirm or refute any of the statements made in Mr. Thornton’s column. The Association does not speak for Mr. Thornton in this or any other matter, and he does not speak for the AMA.”

The AMA has announced that the 2001 Daytona 200 will be televised on a tape-delay basis, aired at 5:30 p.m. EST, two hours after the event runs on March 11, on ESPN2. According to an AMA press release, a Daytona 200 preview and qualifying-coverage show will air March 10 at 2:00 a.m., re-airing March 11 at 5:00 a.m. EST. Other Daytona road racing action is scheduled to air on ESPN2 as follows: 600cc Supersport, March 17, 3:30 p.m. 600cc Supersport, March 20, 5:00 a.m. 750cc Supersport/Pro Thunder, March 23, 1:00 a.m.

Dave Roper will ride a 1954 AJS Porcupine fielded by Team Obsolete in AHRMA races at Daytona International Speedway March 5-6. Team Obsolete will also enter Yvon Duhamel on the BSA A75R used by Dick Mann to win the 1971 Daytona 200, and Cal Rayborn III will ride a 1972 Harley-Davidson XR750TT raced for Team Harley-Davidson by his father in the early 1970s. Other Team Obsolete entrants will include Johnny Kain on a G-50 Matchless as well as Erik Green, Lon McCroskey and Tupper Robinson on AJS 7R machines. Team Obsolete maintains a website at www.teamobsolete.com

As a January 2 roadracingworld.com report predicted, on January 29 Honda Racing Corporation officials in Tokyo unveiled the V-5 engine the company will use in the 2002 Grand Prix World Championship. Designated the RC211V, the engine uses the three-front-cylinders, two-rear cylinders configuration predicted by roadracingworld.com on January 9. The engine coding, according to Honda officials, refers to this being “the first four-stroke racing engine designed by Honda for the first year of the 21st century.” According to a press release issued by American Honda Motor Corp., “Honda arrived at the unique V-5 engine configuration after examining the revised Federation Internationale de Motorcyclisme (FIM) regulations for 2002. This engine was selected because Honda believes that it will best satisfy two design requirements that Honda has historically pursued: ‘Concentration of mass’ and ‘reduction of projected areas’. The five cylinders have round pistons and four valves each. For the intake system, PGM-FI (programmed fuel injection) has been adopted. The minimum weight as stipulated by the regulations for four- or five-cylinder engine motorcycles is 145kg (approximately 320 lbs.).” The press release continued, “This new chapter follows the storied history of four-stroke innovation for which Honda is famous. The last four-stroke milestones in Honda motorcycle racing were Mike Hailwood’s ultimate victory with the four cylinder RC181 in 1967 in Canada, and Freddie Spencer’s final outing on the oval-pistoned NR500 in 1981 during the British Grand Prix. Honda also has a special Grand Prix history with 5-cylinder engines — Luigi Taveri won the manufacturers’ and riders’ Championships for Honda in 1966 with the 125cc RC149.”