Since I left for Europe the morning after the big race day at Daytona, I didn’t get a chance to post anything on the blog about the Superbike race or the Daytona 200. They’ve been thoroughly covered on all the other sites but nonetheless I’ll say my piece…

First, the Superbike race picked up right where it left off last season with Mladin controlling the race from the first lap to the checkered flag. In the past, Suzuki has had to work fast to get their GSXR ready for the race season due to domestic test sessions being washed out by rain. Suzuki took the first step three years ago by sending the US Yoshimura squad over to Malaysia early in the year to get in some setup time before the first race. This season they went one better by heading over to southern Asia immediately after the last race of 2004’s champagne went flat. The affect has to be demoralizing for the other teams since Mladin showed up at Daytona after heading all the pre-season tests and showing dominating form from the first lap of practice. Everyone else’s best efforts were still nearly a second a lap slower than Mat. That’s a harsh start to the season for the other racers.

Every other story from the Superbike race is a bit of a stretch to make sound interesting.. The closest story worthy of some bits and bytes was Neil Hodgson’s performance. The ex-World Superbike champ learned the tricky Daytona track faster than I’m sure anyone expected and was clearly the second best person on the track. His performance highlighted one other issue, that being just how bad his teammate Eric Bostrom is struggling with the odd handling Duc. Neil was faster than Eric from the first lap, despite EBoz being a past Daytona pole sitter and having the previous year’s experience on the bike. If Eric doesn’t get something figured out soon, his stock back in Bologna will drop faster than an Italian bike manufacturer can go bankrupt. Neil, on the other hand, is showing that the Ducati 999 isn’t a complete dog which is perhaps the best the red bikes can hope for based on the thumping Mladin seems ready to hand out.

Mladin’s teammates Yates and Spies showed that the GSXRs may well sweep many races this season by consistently setting fast laps in Superbike. Continuing this trend, the customer Suzukis from Team Jordan and Team M4 finished top 10 as well. The Hondas, meanwhile, showed that they should probably have done some time Malaysia this winter since they are way behind compared to their historical trend of heading the speed gun measurements at Daytona. Their decision to bring Superbike development in house may pay rewards in the future but they have to make some huge strides before the second race at the end of April if they are gonna have a chance of slowing Maldin’s march to a sixth title or stop Suzuki from ruling the podium all season.

So with that bleak outlook off my chest, how about a review of the Daytona 200? Well, I’m afraid the news there isn’t much better as it was even more predictable than the Superbike race. As expected, all three podium spots were filled with the Hondas. Duhamel was the commanding winner with Roberts and Zemke completing the rostrum. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that the forth Honda of Alex Gobert was outside the top ten. The only interesting part of the Daytona 200 was watching the three youngsters of Eslick, Peris and Perez go through their trials of Daytona 200 crashes and pit stop fiascoes to card respectable finishes. Like in years past, the Daytona 200 was an interesting race up until the first pit stops, then changes in pit strategy and problems lapping slower riders strung the field out. Roberts and Duhamel actually put on an entertaining show for the first 10 or so laps. Nonetheless, Duhamel does deserve credit for putting a fifth Daytona 200 trophy on his mantle despite the criticism raised by others. No matter how much people try to downplay his achievement, winning the 200 is a trial of man and machine as much as a competition against other racers. Being able to race hard for two hours is reason enough to garner respect.

In my opinion, Saturday at Daytona lived up to expectations but that is only because the results were generally predictable and the expectations rather low. The classes were still confusing and not having all the factories competing in a single class just amplified that. Thankfully, also as predicted, there weren’t the tire problems that the past years have demonstrated so now its a matter of putting the excitement back into the premier class (or classes). Otherwise, the “support” classes will gain more popularity since both of those races were exciting and unpredictable. Lets hope the AMA Superbike and F-X seasons turns out to hold some big surprises…

Finally, I wanted to at least acknowledge that I’ve been pretty monotonous in using photos of guys doing big burn-outs in my blog entries. As penance I’ll say ten hail Rossis and try to find some different cool photos for future write-ups.

[image from Tim Huntington’s Web Page.]

An old wedding adage starts with the phrase “Something old, something new…”. Well, it isn’t exactly nuptials but the joining of the AMA and the reconfigured Daytona circuit has a few folks celebrating tonight. It was an exciting first day of racing at Daytona with some qualifying sessions sprang on the teams with little notice, some fast laps put in today including a last gasp stunner, a few shows of dominance, a surprise winner in one race and a disappointing DNF in another. An excellent way to start the season…

First, the AMA reversed yesterday’s decision about griding the Superstock and Supersport races by last year’s finishing order. Instead, they decided to use this morning’s practice sessions as a qualifying session. This change caught some of the teams by surprise but ultimately it made the grid fairer for everyone. A good call by the AMA in my opinion.

Supersport qualifying was first up this morning on a track still damp from yesterday’s rain. Things were further complicated because there wasn’t time to split the Supersport field into two separate sessions, so the whole swarm of them where sent out at once. Getting a clean lap became the secret to pole, rather than bike setup or tire choice. In the end, it was a case of “the more things change, the more they stay the same”. Tommy Hayden was slated to be on pole due to his winning last season’s championship and when things went back to a qualifying setup he bested all comers to retain that pole position with a 1:43.511 lap time. Ben Spies, Jamie Hacking and Jason Disalvo filled out the front row, though only Spies was on the same second as Hayden with a 1;43.905. The rest of the grid was surprisingly similar to yesterday’s grid based on 2004 results, with only a single row change forward or backwards for those affected.

Next up was the Superstock qualifying session which, unlike the Supersport situation, made for a drastic turn-around from yesterday’s list which featured a front two rows filled with Yamahas and Kawasakis. When the checkered flag few on the Superstock session, it was Suzuki that came out the big winner. Aaron Yates threw down blazing 1:39.667 lap time which bested even teammate Ben Spies fastest *Superbike* practice time from yesterday. Only Yamaha’s Jason Disalvo could stay near Yates with a 1:39.910 while the rest of the grid was nearly a second off the pole time. Yates is back… Another big winner in the qualifying session was Jason Pridmore. He finished 11th in last year’s Superstock class but pulled out a front row starting position during qualifying. M4 Suzuki teammates Vincent Haskovec and Geoff May leaped forward from 12th and 17th based on 2004 results to 7th and 8th based on this morning’s qualifying. The changes swept through the privateer ranks as well. Lee Acree was able to jump from 24th to 12th while Brent George and Jason Perez also jumped into the top 15.

Yates was also back on the bike immediately after Superstock qualifying to lay down some fast times on his Superbike. However, qualifying was all about Mat Mladin as he smashed the field, nearly a second faster than anyone else. As Ben Spies predicted yesterday, the Superbike qualifying times were into the 1:38s as Mladin blitzed the clocks with a 1:38.232. Spies stayed true to his word with a 1:38.963 to grab second. Neil Hodgson showed he is quickly adapting to the new tracks with a 1:39.884 to head a group which included the final spot on the front row taken by Aaron Yates. The second row had a surprise since Geoff May put his bike into fifth. Miguel Duhamel, Jake Zemke and Josh Hayes filled out the second row. A few other factory or factory supported riders were expected to be on the second row but ended up further back: Eric Bostrom (9th) and Kurtis Roberts (13th). However, Mladin had them all covered with his blazing lap time, so they’ll all have to step up come race day no matter what their starting position.

The final qualifying session was the Formula Xtreme bikes trying to sort out their positions for the Daytona 200 on Saturday. As expected, the factory Honda’s dominated FX. The best news from this qualifying time is that the pole sitter was able to better the Supersport bike’s times which prevented the embarrassment of having the Superbike spec 600s getting spanked by a less modified bike. The big drama wasn’t in the time but in how pole was determined. Jake Zemke appeared to have pole set with a 1:42.599 but Miguel Duhamel went out with just a few seconds left and threw down a flying 1:42.593 which just pipped Zemke and earned him the pole sitter’s Rolex. High drama and it was caught on TV in the pre-Superstock race coverage so hopefully that will get a few more people interested in qualifying. The rest of the grid was made up of third place Josh Hayes and forth place Kurtis Roberts. The rest of the grid was 1.5+ seconds behind pole, so the factory Hondas have a definite advantage for the race Saturday.

With qualifying out of the way, it was time for the first AMA race of the weekend as the Superstock bikes lined up for their 13 lap final. Now in yesterday’s blog entry and in an article I wrote for Roadracer X magazine’s web site, I predicted that the factory Yamaha and Kawasaki bikes would dominate Superstock. Oppps… from the time the green flag flew, it was obvious that the Suzukis were the bikes to beat. Yates, Pridmore, Disalvo, Hacking and Haskovec shot off from the rest of the pack with Yates and Pridmore swapping the lead over the first few laps. Reigning champ and nice guy Aaron Gobert had a mechanical DNF and wouldn’t factor into the race. Also obvious was that Yates has some serious power as he pulled away from Pridmore exiting the chicane nearly ever lap. This despite Pridmore’s bike supposedly being built to the same spec as Yates’ GSXR by Yoshimura. Hmmm…. It appeared that the two Yamahas were struggling to hold the speed of the Suzukis and eventually Haskovec moved past them and then, with a few laps to go, railed around Pridmore and Yates to take the lead. At the same time, Hacking and Disalvo succumbed to the pressure with both temporarily running off track and dropping out of the draft. On the last lap it seemed like Yates was in the catbird seat being behind Haskovec but the Czech rider was able to up the pace and actually pull away from Y
Yates’ rocket ship. Pridmore couldn’t gain anything, despite Yates tires sliding around, so the finishing order was Haskovec, Yates and Pridmore. This was definitely an upset having Haskovec, riding for the factory supported M4 Suzuki team on Pirelli tires, besting the favorites of the factory Yamahas, the factory Kawasakis and even the factory Suzukis. The highlight of the entire day was seeing the enthusiastic Haskovec’s podium interview which so plainly showed his joy. After years of pre-planned podium speeches, it is great to hear an underdog having an opportunity to express his happiness. This was the “something new”.

The second and final race of the day was the 22 lap Supersport final. Some of the riders had already ridden two qualifying seessions and a race so far today, so this was an endurance race as much as a sprint race. As it was, Tommy Hayden got the jump off the line which was good since there was almost a turn one pile-up. I’ve always felt that Jamie Hacking and Jason Disalvo were “rough” racers that tend to push other riders around. It was ironic, then, that the two of them seemed to lean on each other going into turn one which almost caused an accident. Meanwhile Ben Spies pulled an amazing move around the outside which had me puckering up in my chair. Spies then went to the front with Hayden and Hacking in pursuit. After a few laps, Hayden and Hacking upped the pace and Spies started drifting backwards. Rog Hayden, riding injured after a couple of accidents, started to move forward passing Gobert, Disalvo and Spies to move into third. The Hayden brothers and Hacking pulled out a gap to break the pack but then Tommy had the the field covered power-wise and upped the pace yet again. Rog passed Hacking and appeared to go with Tommy, leaving Hacking for a lonely third. With one lap to go Rog’s bike let go almost putting him on the ground while Tommy rode another perfect lap to win Daytona with a 3+ second break-away, something very rarely seen in the recent history of Supersport racing at the Speedway. Rog’s DNF was heart-breaking as he had ridden such a great race especially considering how beat up he was. Tommy Hayden, the 2004 Supersport champ, showed he and his ZX-6RR are the bikes to beat again this year making this news “something old”.

A toast: Congrats to the winners, condolences to the losers and good luck to those with races yet to be run.

[image from the SpeedTV web site.]

The opening salvo has been fired at Daytona…The AMA was able to get in a full morning of practice before rain called a halt to the proceedings around noon. The rain prevented qualifying for the Supersport and Superstock races but the practice times offered up a few surprises..

In Superbike practice, it was the Suzukis that dominated the session with Ben Spies clocking the best time by laying down a 1:40.505. Mladin was nearly a half second back in second with a 1:40.933 and Yates followed his two teammates with a 1:41.166. It is hard to read anything into practice times, since you never really know who is still working on a setup and who has already found the setup. Still, the guys that can setup their bike while running fast times are often the ones that can run fast times later in the weekend. Clearly the Yosh crew will be strong come race day.

The real surprise, at least among the big bikes, is that Jason Disalvo turned a 1:40.621 on his Superstock Yamaha R1. That makes him the second fastest rider circulating at Daytona today. Clearly the kid is serious and the bike is fast. Spies feels that the Superbike pace will drop into the 1:38s, if they do their qualifying on a dry track, so we’ll have to see if the Superstock guys have anything left or if DiSalvo’s time shows the high water mark for the Superstock bikes. For the moment, the gap between Superbike and Superstock, at least at Daytona, is looking pretty slim.

With the smaller bikes, the situation is even more clear though not necessarily as surprising. Like last year, the “stock” Supersport bikes are actually lapping on the opening day faster than the “built” Formula Xtreme bikes. FX only had one practice session while most of the Supersport bikes used the first Daytona 200 practice (since the 200 is running Formula Xtreme bikes this year) for extra track time in addition to their own morning practice. When the Formula Xtreme practice was called to an early halt due to rain, it was the Supersport bikes which dominated the top of the time charts. The fast Supersport bike was Jason Disalvo with a 1:44.242. The fastest FX bike was Josh Hayes a half second back in forth with a 1:44.646. The next FX bike was a full second off Disalvo’s time. Another eye opener was that the factory Hondas, the only true factory bikes racing Formula Xtreme, finished the morning practice in 8th and 16th. Ouch! Clearly the Formula Xtreme bikes find themselves once again struggling to turn the laps of the stockers.

It is possible that the reason for this gap is that the FX bikes have to go 68 laps while the Supersport bikes only have to churn out 22. Or maybe the FX bikes will improve their numbers when they get more track time. However, it is just as likely that the majority of the factories have chosen Supersport as the arena to duke it out with 600s and thus aren’t putting the development (or riders, or crew) into FX teams. Whatever the cause, if the AMA is ever going to realize its apparent goal of having Superbike spec 600s replace the current liter size Superbike class, they need to see a lot more performance and a lot more buy-in from the other factories.

Because of the rain today, the grids for the Supersport and Superstock races tomorrow will be grided based first on a rider’s finishing order in last season’s series and second based on the order of entry form for this year. This is really going to help some of the riders like Kawasaki’s Roger Lee Hayden who crashed today and would normally be gridded at the back of Supersport but now gets the #2 spot. Conversely, it is going to crush other riders like Aaron Yates, Pascal Picotte, Jason Pridmore and Geoff May who either didn’t run Supersport/Superstock last year or who are on more competitive machinery this year than last. It will also be a set back to privateers that were hoping to make a good showing during a one-off ride at Daytona but now find themselves stuck near the back of grids with 33 (Superstock) or 61 (Supersport) riders.

What is clear from the practice times in both Supersport and Superstock is that the front runners will likely be the same as last year: the factory Yamaha and factory Kawasaki riders and they will be gridded at the front anyway. The lack of qualifying may change some finishing positions but it won’t likely affect the podium.

Despite the first day’s drama, it should still make for some super racing tomorrow.

[image from the Daytona International Speedway web site.]

We’re just a day away from the start of the first AMA road race of the season and the beginning of another season of Superbike racing. I did a blog entry two months ago detailing who would be racing in the AMA series this season. What I haven’t done is list all the big name crew chiefs and lead mechanics which will be in the series this season. Many times the guys spinning wrenches and managing laptops are the unsung heroes of the Superbike series. This coming weekend’s visit to Daytona International Speedway may be the best example of this in years. The new track layout means there are now slow first gear turns in the infield, along with the WFO run on the east banking. The track surface continues to degrade and is made trickier because of the transition from the new track surface onto the banking which supposedly add a pretty big bump. Many of the factory teams actually build their bikes in their US shops rather than having trick parts shipped in from true factories. The tuner’s job this year will be tougher than ever before and the folks that win races may well be thanking their crew even more than in the past.

The list of stars behind the scenes in the paddock this year may be the best in years. Al Luddington, Ray Plumb, David McGrath and Merlyn Plumlee fill out the always impressive Honda factory crew line-up. Over at Erion, the pairing of Kevin Erion and Rick Hobbs lead the list of names of people with a successful history in the AMA series. Even the privateer teams like the new Hotbodies Honda team has big guns since their crew will include Mike Velasco, one of the most famous tuners in AMA history. Yoshimura Suzuki has an amazing crew with Don Sakakura, Peter Doyle, Reg O”Rourke, Katsu Yanagawa and Tom Houseworth. Michael Jordan’s Suzuki crew has ex-Mladin crew chief Amar Bazzaa and the ex-Harley Superbike squad from Gemini racing supporting their effort. M4 Suzuki will have WERA legend Keith Perry handling their wrenches. Ducati has AMA regular Gary Medley and many of the factory Ducati mechanics that worked with Hodgson in World Superbike. Kawasaki returns with Mike Preston and Joey Lombardo as their big names, while factory supported Attack Kawasaki has Richard Stamboli and Jerry Daggett for their name dropping. Finally, Yamaha has a less famous crew of wrenches but they are headed by Tom Halverson who has been a powerhouse behind Yamaha for ages. That is an impressive list of talent lined up behind the factory riders in the AMA.

But one name is once again missing from that list of tuning talent in the AMA paddock, that of Victor Fasola. Fasola has towered over the AMA scene for over 20 years (both figuratively and literally…the guys is something like 6” 8″ tall!) and he has tuned or handled crew chief duties for winning riders like Scott Russell, Tom Kipp, Tripp Nobles, Doug Polen, Aaron Yates and Anthony Gobert. He has worked with the Kawasaki, Ducati and Suzuki factories and helped bring them championships in Superstock, Supersport, Superbike and World Superbike. He has also tuned for many of the fast “local guys” in the Atlanta area in both WERA and CCS and even tuned on some seriously fast street bikes. An impressive list of accolades…

Vic has been in and out of the AMA paddock for the past few years. His last visit was in 2003 as the crew chief for the Ducati Austin Superbike team with riders Anthony Gobert and Giovanni Bussei. Unfortunately, that season was plagued with rider-team conflict, which resulted in Gobert being fired. The end of the season brought an announcement about Eric Bostrom being signed as lead rider and a bigger commitment from the Ducati factory, definitely exciting news for any crew chief. Sadly, Vic’s wife passed away in the Spring of ‘04 and Vic resigned his position with Ducati Austin to spend time with his son, extended family and friends. By the end of the summer of ‘04 Fascola’s name again appeared in the AMA paddock this time as the crew chief of an Aprilia Superbike team that was being formed with riders Mike Hale and Matt Wait. The team made a big PR splash announcing their intention of running a few races in ‘04 and the full ‘05 AMA Superbike season. Vic headed off to Italy to work with the factory race department in building the bikes and the two riders showed up at a couple of AMA races to get everyone psyched for their first race. Then the team suddenly imploded when the team owner failed to raise the needed money and Fasola was out of work again.

Fasola is currently working in the car racing arena but he’ll definitely be missed in the Daytona pits this coming weekend and I hope he can get back into motorcycle racing in the near future.

[image from the Ducati web site.]

My buddy Jeff today was complaining that no one had put out a combined road race calendar for 2005 (with race dates for AMA, WSBK and MotoGP). Since I keep all those dates anyway, as well as the dates for the MRA, our local road race series, that seemed like a good topic for today’s blog entry. Without further ado, the current road race calendar for 2005:

February:

26 - WSBK @ Losail Int’l Raceway; Doha, Qatar

March:

12 - AMA @ Daytona Int’l Speedway; Daytona, FL, USA

April:

3 - WSBK @ Phillip Island; Phillip Island, Australia
10 - MotoGP @ Circuito Permanente de Jerez; Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
17 - MotoGP @ Estoril Circuit; Estoril, Portugal
22 - AMA @ Barber Motorsports Park; Birmingham, AL, USA
24 - WSBK @ Comunitat Valenciana; Cheste, Spain

May:

1 - MotoGP @ Shanghai Circuit; Shanghai, China
1 - AMA @ California Speedway; Fontana, CA, USA
1 - MRA @ Pueblo Motorsports Park; Pueblo, CO, USA
8 - WSBK @ Autodromo Nazionale Monza Circuit; Monza, Italy
15 - MotoGP @ Le Mans Circuit des 24 Heures; Le Mans, France
15 - AMA @ Infineon Raceway; Sonoma, CA, USA
15 - MRA @ Pikes Peak Int’l Raceway; Fountain, CO, USA
22 - AMA @ Pikes Peak Int’l Raceway; Fountain, CO, USA
29 - WSBK @ Silverstone Circuit; Silverstone, Northants, Great Britain

June:

5 - MotoGP @ Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello; Mugello, Italy
5 - AMA @ Road America; Elkhart Lake, WI, USA
5 - MRA @ Second Creek Raceway; Denver, CO, USA
12 - MotoGP @ Circuit de Catalunya; Barcelona, Spain
19 - MRA @ Continental Divide Raceway; Mead, CO, USA
25 - MotoGP @ TT Circuit Assen; Assen, Netherlands
26 - WSBK @ Autodromo di Santamonica; Misano, San Marino

July:

10 - MotoGP @ Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca; Monterey, CA, USA
10 - AMA @ Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca; Monterey, CA, USA
17 - WSBK @ Automotodrom Brno; Brno, Czech Republic
17 - MRA @ La Junta Motorsports Park; La Junta, CO, USA
24 - MotoGP @ Donington Park; Donington, Derby, Great Britain
24 - AMA @ Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course; Lexington, OH, USA
31 - MotoGP @ Sachsenring; Sachsenring, Germany

August:

7 - WSBK @ Brands Hatch; Fawkham, Kent, Great Britain
14 - MRA @ Pueblo Motorsports Park; Pueblo, CO, USA
28 - MotoGP @ Automotodrom Brno; Brno, Czech Republic
28 - AMA @ Virginia Int’l Raceway; Alton, VA, USA

September:

4 - WSBK @ TT Circuit Assen; Assen, Netherlands
4 - AMA @ Road Atlanta; Braselton, GA, USA
4 - MRA @ Pikes Peak Int’l Raceway; Fountain, CO, USA
5 - MRA @ Pikes Peak Int’l Raceway; Fountain, CO, USA
11 - WSBK @ Lausitzring; Lausitz, Germany
18 - MotoGP @ Twin Ring Motegi; Motegi, Japan
25 - MotoGP @ Sepang Int’l Circuit; Sepang, Malaysia
25 - MRA @ Pueblo Motorsports Park; Pueblo, CO, USA

October:

1 - MotoGP @ Losail Int’l Raceway; Doha, Qatar
2 - WSBK @ Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferreri Imola; Imola, Italy
2 - MRA @ Second Creek Raceway; Denver, CO, USA
9 - WSBK @ Never Magny Cours Circuit; Magny Cours, France
16 - MotoGP @ Phillip Island; Phillip Island, Australia
23 - MotoGP @ Istanbul Circuit; Istanbul, Turkey

November:

6 - MotoGP @ Comunitat Valenciana; Cheste, Spain

Nothing beats watching a race in person. I’ll definitely be at the AMA Pikes Peak race in May and the combined MotoGP/AMA weekend at Laguna Seca in July. I’ll also make about half of the MRA races. I’ll also watch all the MotoGP, WSBK and AMA races that are televised and will probably give my views on each here on the blog. Our support can you all the support it can get, whether that is by buying tickets to see races live or tuning to watch the race on TV, so make sure to mark these dates on your calendar and watch some racing this year!

[image from the Motorcycle-USA web site.]

March is just around the corner and it is always a rough time of the year for the Ducatisti. Like the long suffering Boston Red Sox fans, the die-hard race fanatics who cheer for Team Bologna generally find March a month they’d rather just skip. Success at the Daytona International Speedway has been a rare thing for the big red Italian twins, so rare in fact, that there hasn’t been much to cheer about after an AMA Superbike race at the Speedway in nearly 30 years.

In the 90s, Fast by Ferracci tuned Ducati’s ruled the AMA Pro Twins class and even more recently, Ducati 748s have won in Pro Thunder but in the premier class, the last time Ducati stood a top the podium at Daytona was 1977. When you consider that Ducati virtually ruled the AMA Superbike class in the nearly 90s with riders like Doug Polen and Troy Corser, the length of their drought at Daytona comes as a shock. Especially when you look at their success in practice and qualifying for the past decade it seems strange that there hasn’t been a win. Maybe there is a Ducati Daytona curse!

Well, if there is a curse, then like the miracle Red Sox of this past baseball season, this may well be the year that Ducati gives it the smackdown. First, they have a solid team line-up. Second, they have an excellant bike. Third, they are on the “spec” Dunlop tires.

Their favored rider has to be Brit Neil Hodgson racing over here after a dismal season in MotoGP. Despite not having ridden at Daytona since the 90s, Neil was one of the fastest riders during the recent tire tests on the newly reconfigured Daytona track. The guy is a past World Superbike and British Superbike champion, so there is no denying his talent. Additionally, as recently as 2003 he was riding a Ducati 999 and as recently as 2002 was on Dunlop tires so he should have no trouble adapting to his 2005 ride. The only question mark for Neil is how quickly can he adapt to racing next to Daytona’s threatening concrete walls after so many years of racing on world class tracks.

Also a potential threat at Daytona this year is Eric Bostrom. He is into his second season now riding the Duc 999 and is now back on his favorite Dunlop tires after a season to be forgotten on the Michelins. The 999 doesn’t have the same level of front end feel of the Kawasakis upon which Eric was so amazing, so the real question is whether he will finally have gotten that under control. Still, Eric was pole sitter at Daytona last year and ran well until a claimed busted oil cooler ended his shot at winning.

The 999, while definitely finicky, is a proven race winner which has dominated World Superbike since its introduction in 2003. The bike Hodgson and Bostrom will be racing is based on a limited production model, homologated specifically for racing in the AMA series, so it will probably be the most powerful and race focused bike on the grid.

All of the factory teams in AMA Superbike are running Dunlop tires this year which means no more wondering who has the good tire and who doesn’t. While Michelin makes a good tire they don’t have the history in the US that Dunlop have, so there was always a question mark in that regard. No only will everyone be Dunlops but ll the top factory riders will have access to the same choice of tires so there won’t be some guys with a special “A” tire and others with something more mundane. Additionally, Dunlop has said there will be no qualifying tires this season, so fast race time will be set on soft race tires. No more one lap wonders. Neil’s fast times at the tire test are an indication that the Duc doesn’t need ‘em to throw down fast laps.

But perhaps the best card in the Ducati Austin team’s hand this year will be the change in the Superbike race itself. After years of the premier Superbike class running 200 hard miles at Daytona, this year it is being relegated to a 45 mile sprint race while Formula Extreme takes over the prestige of the 200 mile race. Historically, reliability has been the Achilles’ heel for the Ducati during the 200. Whether it is an obvious failure (Gobert’s 2003 race, Picotte’s 2002 race, Mladin’s 1997 race), crashes (Bayliss in 2000, Russell in 2001) or apparent bad luck (Bostrom’s 2004 problem) Ducati have been unable to run at nearly full throttle for the two hours required by the Superbike race at Daytona. This history of failure is in sharp contrast to their qualifying results. In the 90s, Ducati took nearly half of the Daytona pole positions and this was during the reign of Scott Russell as “Mr. Daytona”. I suspect Ducati is near 50% in poles over the past two decades. The big V-twin certainly has the power and in many ways Daytona may be a “Ducati track”. With Superbikes only running a 15 lap sprint race this year, perhaps they can dodge the reliability bullet and finally win one.

Isn’t it about time this curse, like that of the famed Bambino, is finally put to rest?

[image from Ducati web site.]

One of the hot topics this time of year is testing. It is when the new bikes are rolled out after a winter of modifications and put under the harsh scrutiny of the stop watch. Like the melting of snow in the spring, the bike covers melt away to reveal new secret compound tires, fancy unobtanium brake systems, magic suspension modifications, monster engine upgrades and sleeker more aerodynamic bodywork. The crowds ohhh and ahhh. Some factories beat their chests in triumph while others sulk back to the workshop for some frantic last minute changes. Timing sheets show lap records that have been shattered, everyone predicts the most competitive season yet and the track owners start trying to figure out how to deal with bikes that go 10 mph faster than last year without dumping millions into track re-configuration projects. Ah, the joys of spring.

One thing that usually only gets mentioned in passing are that the riders aren’t usually put under that same level of scrutiny, despite their mental and physical conditioning being more essential to success than anything on the bike. The off season is usually a time when riders recover from the previous season: some guys relax, others go into obsessive training while others visit their favorite surgeons to fix the problems that accumulated over the previous season. There are always the guys that are left scrambling for rides during the off-season and teams trying to sort out what bikes, classes and mechanics they will have available for the next year. Anyone that comes to the first test session in anything other than 100% fitness, without 100% focus and without a team that is 100% prepared is already behind the eight ball.

In MotoGP this year, there have only been a few riders in that position because of health problems. The biggest name in this position is Max Biaggi. At the end of last season, he broke his leg in a Supermoto training accident. Being unable to walk wasn’t a big enough hindrance to prevent him from getting promoted to the much coveted lead Honda rider position but did threaten to sideline him for the first official test after the mandatory winter test ban. However, the miracle of modern medicine raised its head, along with a helping of space age technology, and he showed up at Sepang with only a heavy limp and a fancy carbon fiber boot. As it turns out, he was able to cut respectible times ending the test fifth fastest and less than two seconds of session leader Capirossi’s best. Out of potential disaster comes success.

The only other MotoGP rider still on the injured list is Capirossi’s teammate on the Ducati, Carlos Checa. Checa suffered a freak accident during a joint Ducati-Ferrari press event where he cut his left hand on the ice screws on a go-kart. Checa made the Sepang test, despite the injured hand, but then caught the flu and was unable to ride the majority of the test. Despite missing most of the first test, he showed up a day early for this week’s second official test at Sepang and punched in on the clock to start getting seat time. Tomorrows time sheets will show how well he has bounced back from his injury.

Both Kenny Roberts, Jr. and Nicky Hayden suffered from late season injuries last year but both claimed to be back at 100% by the first Sepang test. Otherwise, the MotoGP paddock has been uncharacteristically injury free during the off season and starts the new season generally healthy. But given the reputation for crashing with riders like Xaus and Melandri, there are still a a few more big hurtles to cross before a full grid of injury-free riders can really be announced for the first race at Jerez in April.

Closer to home, things are looking a bit more gruesome.

First of all, two of the star riders in the AMA paddock spent time late last year having hardware removed from their bodies. Jamie Hacking and Miguel Duhamel both took the off season to visit the famed Dr. Ting to have plates removed from previously broken bones. Honda’s star rider Duhamel, after a few sessions of this, has reversed his previous transformation into a cyborg and is back to being more bone than metal plates. Miguel trains with Lance Armstrong’s fitness coach so he should have all the tools necessary to recover quickly. For Jamie, it was the final step in repairing the damage that may well have cost him and Yamaha a championship last season. Both spent some time resting on the couch but otherwise shouldn’t be affected. Both showed up at Daytona fit and appeared to be race ready.

The same can nearly be said of Ducati rider Eric Bostrom now that he’s had the winter to continue the healing process with his shoulder which he injured in his crash at Road Atlanta. He claims to be close to 100% and has already been putting in strenuous training time aboard his bicycle and the rock climbing wall. Again, only the stop watch will show if he’s really ready to race but nothing raises a red flag at this point. Eric really needs thing to go well this season and can’t afford to start with with a bum shoulder.

Another question mark is whether Erion Honda’s Kurtis Robert is ready. He missed the first tire test at Daytona but did start riding today at Fontana. He spent half his 2004 MotoGP season with an injured wrist but says that he has completely healed. Since wrist injuries are among the slowest to heal, only having seat time on the bike will really answer the question of how the hand has recovered. That could be answered as soon as tomorrow since his first day at Fontana was spent adjusting the bike and learning the team.

More seriously on the injured list is Mat Mladin who is still recovering from the effects of his 80mph crash at Daytona during the first tire test. He was back aboard his Suzuki today at Fontana, turning the second fastest lap of the day, so obviously he isn’t too injured. The question is how well that chipped bone is doing and whether the race season will start before the bone has re-knit itself. If so, he’ll be fighting that leg injury all season long. Possible bad news for Mat but perhaps the only chance his competition has of getting the Superbike championship away from the Aussie.

The final person fresh from a hospital visit is Kawasaki’s Roger Lee Hayden. News broke today that he was in a serious bicycle accident last week while training which has turned the left side of his body into one big slab of roadrash. While skin heals pretty quickly, its basically impossible to move for a week without the painful experience of breaking scabs open and that rules out any physical training. It also rules out this week’s testing at Fontana. With Rog racing a new ZX-6RR this season, that lack of seat time could be tragic. We’ll see if he’ll be ready for Kawasaki’s next test at Laguna or if he’ll miss that test too.

Even among the riders listed as full fit, there are some lingering wounds that may yet play a part. Yamaha’s Damon Buckmaster spent most of last season with various bone injuries but returned for the last two races of the year. Likewise, Josh Hayes took a pretty big tumble at Road Atlanta that had him hurting for a few months. Those kinds of incidents may not affect the rider on the bike but just one nasty highside can re-break bones or re-tear tendons at the side of a previous injury. Something that takes a rider from healthy to bed-ridden in one quick twist of the throttle.

The prognosis on these two series? Well, MotoGP appears healthy and ready to bring on another season of excitement. The AMA, on the other hand, has some major players on the injured reserve list. With only a month until the opener at Daytona, the doctors may have as much to do with race results as the crew chiefs! Lets try to stay healthy out there!

[image from MotoGP web site.]

So the motorcycle press has been buzzing lately about the AMA losing some tracks off the 2005 calendar. The Brainerd International Raceway has definitely been cancelled because of the impending sale of the track (and sadly its likely future as a golf course) so that double header round is definitely off the schedule. Additionally, it seems that the AMA and Virginia International Raceway are having trouble coming to an agreement about a race date there (tentatively shown on the AMA schedule as Sept 17-18) so it may be cut as well. If so, that will only leave nine tracks for this season. Fortunately, seven of those events would be double header events, so there would still be 16 separate superbike races. What would be hurt are the support classes, especially Formula Extreme since it isn’t scheduled to race as one of the Laguna Seca MotoGP support races. The FX title may be determined by only eight races. Yikes!

Anyway, I don’t think a nine round series is necessarily a problem. Sure, it doesn’t indicate any growth in the AMA Superbike series but it also doesn’t mean the series will go the way of Formula USA’s road race series either. What I do think is a problem are the tracks themselves. Its the old quality versus quantity issues. While there are nine tracks on the series this year three of those circuits are actually NASCAR oval’s with infield tracks. I think these infield tracks have a few major problems while offering relatively few advantages. First and foremost is always safety. The length of these tracks is often an issue, with all three now being shorter than three miles in length. Finally, these tracks often end up with slower chicanes in place to bleed off the speeds from the bankings and that makes for stop and go racing, rather than high speed dicing which characterizes road racing.

In terms of safety, 2000 lb race cars going 200 mph need to be contained when there is an accident and that means hard walls. Safety at Daytona has gotten its fair share of press already this year but California Speedway and Pikes Peak International Raceway aren’t much better. In fact, turn 2 at PPIR may be the worst of them, given the huge mid-corner bump over the access tunnel and the concrete wall on the outside of the turn. PPIR has been lucky not to have a serious injury over the past eight years, particularly given the turn one chicane that was used during the Formula USA and AMA races the first year bikes raced there. Not only is PPIR unsafe through the turns coming onto and off the banking, it is also an amazingly short track at only 1.3 miles in length. With sub-one minute lap times, back-markers are a huge problem which just compounds the safety issues.

California Speedway seems like the only one of the three NASCAR ovals with a relatively safe infield course. This is because the track is so large (a two mile oval, where PPIR is a one mile oval) and that means nearly twice the track length at 2.4 miles. It also packs 21 turns which keeps speeds lower, making that maze of concrete walls and steel guardrail a bit safer at the expensive of tight racing.

Of the tracks on the 2005 schedule that aren’t NASCAR oval infields the worst of them in terms of safety is still Mid-Ohio. The track is a beautiful 2.5 miles long classic road course and there aren’t many off-track obstacles, so all would seem great right? Well, the problem with Mid-Ohio for the past decade has been the track surface. Because Mid-Ohio’s main income is from sports car racing, they use concrete pads in the corners to keep the pavement from being rippled due to the lateral force of the aerodynamic cars. This concrete works great for the cars but has always caused problems with the bikes. The seams between asphalt and concrete raise (no pun intended) hell with bikes that are heeled over at max lean angle mid-corner. Last year they tried to solve this by grinding down the concrete pads to level out the tops but this resulted in an ultra-slick surface which caused more accidents than the uneven concrete edges. Every fan of AMA motorcycle racing hopes they will finally get the repaving job it needs to be a top rated motorcycle track.

To give credit where credit is due, four of the tracks on the AMA circuit have been making major changes which greatly benefit motorcycle racing. Road Atlanta, Infineon Raceway, Barber Motorsports Park and Laguna Seca are all tracks which are improving every year. What makes this particularly exciting is that motorcycles rarely fill the coffers of the tracks who instead make their money of some form of car racing. It is basically impossible for the AMA to leverage increased earnings as a motivation for track owners to make their tracks safer for bikes because bike races don’t bring in very many spectators. The tracks that are making these changes are doing so either because they hope to bring in International racing which requires greater safety (Laguna Seca and Barber) or are making these changes just to make the tracks safer (Road Atlanta and Infineon). Either way, these tracks deserve some added attention from motorcycle racing fans in return for their efforts. If you’re near one of them, be sure to buy tickets to this years AMA Superbike race. If that starts to happen, maybe more tracks will pony up the bucks necessary to provide a safer venue for our sport.

[image from Pikes Peak International Raceway web site.]

With the start of the 2005 AMA Superbike season only a month away, I thought I’d throw out one reason to watch Miguel Duhamel. I guess I should say “another reason” to watch him, since the primary reason to watch him is that he’s damned fast and may well be one of the few riders that can challenge Mladin for the title in 2005.

Over the last 15 years the Canadian born racer has won his share of both critics and fans. Throughout the 90s Duhamel, along with Scott Russell, was regularly chided by fans for his harsh treatment of backmarkers. TV scenes of Miguel flipping off slower riders at tracks like Daytona were common place. Despite those that screamed for his head on internet mailing lists, the number of fans who support him has grown into a veritable army. And why not? The guy has a better sense of humor that many comedians, has more on-screen personality that most of the TV commentators that interview him and, most importantly, has stamped his authority on the AMA scene with so many 600SS, Forumula Extreme and Superbike wins that nearly everyone has lost count. His heroic (yes, that is an overused word these days but re-watch the race…its true) 1999 Daytona sweep of both 600SS and Superbike was enough to get him a legion of sworn fans.

Well, none of those are the particular reason I think the guy deserves a little extra attention. I think it is because the guy showed himself to be a class act on two different occasions in 2004 and I’d like to see more riders follow his lead. The situations I’m thinking of where his podium speeches at both PPIR and VIR after winning Formula Extreme races. In both instances, he used that opportunity to recognize people who were less fortunate that himself. At PPIR, he commented on a woman with AIDS. At VIR, he mentioned Colorado racer Donna Bowden who was in the ICU with a flesh-eating infection and at VIR recognized cancer patient Shawn Hose and had her present his Superbike trophy.

Racers in general, and perhaps motorcycle racers in particular, can be pretty egotistical people. To master, even for just one race, all the complex aspects of a motorcycle and the tricks of a track is a great accomplishment. For someone like Duhamel who has done this so many times, it is understandable that he could develop a bit of an attitude about winning. After his triple sweep (both Superbike races and the Forumla Extreme race) at VIR, I don’t think anyone would have been surprised to see him on top of the podium pounding his chest and proclaiming he was number one. That, at that triumphant moment, he could see beyond himself and recognize people who are suffering is amazing. That he asked to for go the usual spandex clad trophy girl and have a common fan who was terminally ill with cancer present his trophy was wonderful show of humility and compassion.

I hope more racers can learn from that and perhaps do the same. While every race fan wants a racer that is skilled on the bike, I think even non-motorcycle fans would be thrilled to see well paid athletes spending more time showing compassion for the less fortunate.

Bravo Mr. Duhamel!

[image from AMA Superbike web site]

I’ve heard repeatedly the claim that the AMA Superbike series the best in the world. However, recent news about the British Superbike series (BSB) should prove that otherwise.

First and foremost, there is simply the size of each series. The AMA Superbike series currently has 9 events scheduled for 2005, seven of which are double header events, for a total of 16 races. The British Superbike series, on the other hand, will run 13 events and all of their events have two legs totaling 26 races.

The quality of the tracks could also be argued as a factor since three of the English tracks are truely world class (Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Donington Park) while only one of the US tracks currently hosts an international motorcycle race (Laguna Seca). New tracks in the US like Barber Motor Sports Park could help swing this difference but dropping a track like Virginia International Raceway from the 2005 AMA calender while keeping a track like PPIR isn’t helping the cause…

Both series have roughly the same number of registered riders (based on the assignment of race numbers) but many of the American riders are reserving a race number just to compete in a single race, either the Daytona 200 or the event on the AMA calendar that races at the same track as their regional race series. As a result, the number of racers at a single event in the US fills out the grid with more riders than the British but the British series has roughly the same number of riders when comparing how many race at every event.

But the largest difference for 2005 will be the depth and variety of their respective fields. The 2005 British Superbike Series has the best line-up they have ever had with at least 14 factory riders representing all five major manufacturers: Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Ducati. The AMA series has only 11 factory or semi-factory riders on four brands (Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Ducati). The British teams also run a wider variety of tire brands (Dunlop, Michelin and Pirelli) where the US series is dominated almost completely by one (Dunlop with some second tier teams running Pirelli).

And the final nail in the coffin is the talent level of the riders. While no one can argue that some top US riders like Mladin, Duhamel and Bostrom could be world class riders there is really only two with with recent experience in a world class series: Kurtis Roberts and Neil Hodgson. The British series this year has become a home away from home for many ex-GP riders including Leon Haslam, James Haydon, James Ellison, Shane Byrne and perhaps Jeremy McWilliams as well. The list is even longer if you consider events like the Isle of Man and the Macau road circuit races as world class races, since BSB riders always dominate both events. Finally, the Japanese factories are even sending their star riders like Kagayama and Kiyonari to the BSB as a stepping stone before going to World Superbike or MotoGP.

The AMA Superbike series is a great series but it for 2005 I believe the British have the bragging rights for the strongest series in the world. I hope the AMA will soon regain the clarity in their own program required to raise the bar and hopefully return to the brilliance of being the national superbike series which leads the world.

[image from British Superbike Championship web site]