I think all sports fans probably feel that their favorite athletes deserves more pay (though I’m baffled by how fans of the “Big 4″ of football, hockey, baseball and basketball can possibly think anyone involved is *underpaid*). I’m also aware of the economics of the whole thing where the money available is directly related to the popularity of the sport. Despite all that I’m still appalled by how little motorcycle racers make relative to the risks they take. I just did some quick googling and found that most professional golf tournaments have purses *per event* in the range of $1 million. The 2005 Asia Golf Tour has a total prize over 14 rounds of $20 million. By comparison, last year the combined purse for all finishers in the AMA Superbike class at just one round was around $40,000. Now, its not that I have anything in particular against golf. I find it boring but then again I find a lot of things boring so that’s really not a big deal. But I can’t believe that someone can earn a $1 million bucks in one day for swinging little clubs at little balls while most professional roadracers are literally putting their lives on the line for a fraction of that per race.

Over the past few weeks I’ve done a couple of blog postings giving the health updates for the riders in the various roadrace series. Unfortunately, this past weekend has added new names to the list:

Topping the list is the popular Czech Team M4 Emgo Suzuki rider Vincent Haskovec. Vincent was seriously injured in an accident at Infineon Raceway when he crashed his Formula Xtreme bike. He was slammed into trackside tire wall and was then hit by his Suzuki as it cartwheeled into the barrier behind him. Initial reports show a broken collarbone, broken ribs, punctured lungs and an ominously vague “back injury”. There hasn’t been any updates on the Team Hammer web site despite surgery being performed on Monday. I’m trying not to be too grim but my fingers are certainly crossed for Vincent. Whatever the extent of the injuries my thoughts are with his team, friends and family.

Also on the injured list is Jason Pridmore who suffered a huge crash at Barber which very nearly killed him. He was highsided off his GSXR and came down flat on his stomach. The impact split open his spleen and started lots of internal bleeding. Thankfully, the injury was found but not before Jason lost a lot of blood. It was a welcome site to see Jason hobbling around the pits at Infineon and it would appear he is well on his way to full recovery. He will miss this weekend’s race at PPIR but should be back for Rd America in early June.

The French doctors got a chance to chat with MotoGP star Max Biaggi on Saturday after he got thrown off his RC211V. His hard landing resulted in bruising on his back and a knee injury. Max went on to race on Sunday and even netted an impressive fifth place finish but apparently the knee injury was bad enough that he skipped Monday’s test. Max started the year with a broken ankle and now has a bum knee. Not exactly how his dream year as a factory Honda GP star was supposed to work out.

Also visiting the hospital this past weekend, though thankfully for less severe injuries, were MotoGP riders Alex Barros and Shane Byrne. Barros had a painful visit to the LeMans gravel traps after loosing the back end of his Honda and getting slammed down on his back. He checked out of the doc shack with just a lot of bruising but the scene on TV of Barros lying in the gravel trap was a worrisome sight.

The other big name getting press for the wrong reason was KTM-Proton’s Shane Byrne who had a huge highside on the first lap of the MotoGP race at LeMans. The accident resulted in some cuts and bruises on Byrne’s back which, when combined with the scars on his hands after a scooter crash in Jerez, make him the Dr. Costa poster child of the ‘05 MotoGP paddock.

So its this grim news, week after week, that have me feeling that these guys just don’t make the money they should. Sure, there are big names that make decent salaries but other than the top few names in both the international MotoGP and national AMA series the bulk of motorcycle racers are getting a pittance for their effort. This is amplified when you take into account the relatively short time span of a professional roadracer’s career and the likelihood of injury during that time period. I just hope that AMA roadracing will eventually gain the popular following that it deserves and that if/when that happens, some of the money that will be generated makes it into the pockets of these gritty riders.

[image from the Team Hammer web site.]

Yet another week with more of the same when it came to the big race series…Rossi and Mladin showing why they are multi-time champions in their respective series. They are making it excruciatingly difficult for me to keep my blog interesting. I mean, how many times can I type the word “dominating” before people start wondering if they are reading a new post or an old one? Anyway, on to my re-caps:

First, the AMA series. Mat Mladin put on another commanding performance and won both rounds of the doubleheader at Infineon Raceway in California. In fact, his biggest challenge appeared to be trying to win a race with at least a 15 second margin of victory. Talk about confidence! In both races, Mladin started out fast, pulling a comfortable lead as soon as the green light was lit. The first race was started twice because an accident in the opening two laps resulted in a complete re-start so we got to watch him take off two different times. At the first attempt to run the race Mat took of with such amazing…dare I say?…dominance that he pulled a five second gap on the first lap. Wow. No one came close in either the second start of race one or in race two. In fact no one could even see Mladin on the track in front of them in either race. Behind the #1 Suzuki, the race was a little more interesting, especially in race two. The front runners in the first race were all strung out with Yates and Hodgson filling out the podium but never really dicing. In the second race, the two Suzuki teammates of Yates and Spies duked out it out to the finish with Yates getting the nod for second over the young Texan. Behind the all-Suzuki podium finishers, the real surprise was Jake Zemke storming through for fourth ahead of Hodsgon. What made this particularly exciting was that both factory Hondas had to pit in race one with tire problems so neither were expected to make such a huge improvement in 24 hours. Maybe the Hondas are starting to see some measurable results from their development work. It may yet be possible that we could see Zemke and Duhamel fighting for podiums during the rest of the Superbike season. With Mladin firmly back in control of the championship, we’ll have to find excitement whereever we can.

Perhaps the best televised race all weekend was the AMA Supersport race. It shows why Supersport racing should be more popular than the Superbikes. While Mladin was squashing his opponents like play things, the three front runners in Supersport were crawling all over one another and riding like they were the premier class. In fact, the top Supersport bikes would have qualified in the top 10 on the “premier” Superbike grid! Maybe Kawasaki should consider running their 600 in other classes like they did in the old 750 Superstock? In the Infineon Supersport fight Tommy Hayden, Jason Disalvo and Jamie Hacking couldn’t have been any closer for the entire race and all three put their bikes through the wringer. Head shakes, tank slappers, rear tire slides, stoppies and wheelies were the norm from start to finish. In the end, Tommy barely held ‘em off for the win with Disalvo taking second. This gives Tommy the points lead again over Hacking.

In MotoGP, it was Rossi again putting on a spirit crushing defeat to his main Honda rivals. This was particularly harsh for Gibernau who actually looked like he could win the thing. Despite the predictable result, the race started out interestingly enough. Rossi, Gibernau and Biaggi all got lousy starts and it was actually Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden and Loris Capirossi who led in the early stages. Eventually the usual suspects made their way forward with Edwards leading Rossi for much of the race. As the laps wound down, Sete started charging forward on the Honda and actually gained time to the tune of half a second a lap on the two Yamaha riders. Meanwhile, Honda mounted Hayden found a reverse gear on the RC211V and went backwards. With the Spainard charging forward, Rossi made a move on his American teammate and started to pull away. Gibernau also got passed the Yamaha of Edwards and closed up to the back tire of the Italian. Despite consistent pressure, including fastest laps by both Rossi and Gibernau on the final lap, the highly anticipated pass never came. Rossi won again, adding more points to his championship lead, with Gibernau and Edwards finishing out the podium.

My cheers and jeers for the weekend:

Once again, a hearty thumbs up to Neil Hodgson for learning a very difficult, very technical circuit fast enough to get a podium in one of the two races. There are AMA series regulars that have been to Infineon for many years and are still struggling to learn the place.

The Ironman award goes to Ben Spies for racing another weekend with a fractured tailbone and carding forth and third place finishes in the two races. While he lost the series point lead at Infineon, he did what he could to keep his championship hopes alive.

My perennial favorite Tommy Hayden gets a “If only there were justice in the world” shout-out by again showed his maturity in stepping up to win a tough race and re-take the championship lead. Once again, Kawasaki should be bitch slapped for not having this guy on a Superbike.

A “Raise your hand if you’re surprised” prize goes out to Kurtis Roberts who didn’t make the second race at Infineon after a horrible finish on Saturday. The reason was because of a crash but given his attitude about riding and developing the Erion CBR it shouldn’t have shocked anyone to see the #80 missing from the grid.

The Oh-my-f’ing-god award goes to Rossi for again showing how amazing he really is. He got a lousy start, passed everyone like they were putzing around in practice and won despite huge pressure from Gibernau…Wow.

Consolation prize goes to Edwards for finally netting the kind of result at LeMans everyone was expecting in the first three races this season. If the Texas Tornado really wants to send the “up yours” message to his detractors, as he said in the press conference, then he needs to do this every weekend.

A reluctant jeer goes out to Nicky Hayden for turning what looked like a turn around ride into another let down. I don’t doubt the guys ability but this may be his last year to break through. The difference between MotoGP stardom and being an also-ran is getting the bike setup quickly, consistently running fast laps and then having the skill to ride around problems if/when they occur. He is tantalizingly close but its hard for a fan to keep the faith.

Another sigh of disappointment to the KTM-Proton team. Their first race on the new KTM motor didn’t last more than one lap before Byrne crashed his way to the hospital. They’ve gotta get some track time if they are ever going to move forward with their program and with only one rider, especially one who is regularly visiting Dr. Costa, it isn’t going to happen.

The final raspberry goes out to the MotoGP experts who predicted that LeMans would be a Honda track. Two Yamahas on the podium and a third win for Rossi shows that every track may now be a Yamaha track, or at the very least, a Rossi track.

[image from the SpeedTV web site.]

This weekend is another busy one as three different series offer up some viewing entertainment: MotoGP, AMA and MRA.

First off, the local MRA will be racing down at Pikes Peak International Raceway. While I’m not a fan of the track this weekend it does have two things going for it: 1) It is a chance for our local roadracers to get some track time at PPIR which can help them be more competitive next weekend with the AMA show comes to town and 2) since its does offer pre-AMA track time, some of the fast privateers who regularly race the national series may show up so they can get a leg up as well. As a result, this weekend’s MRA race should offer up some good racing and maybe give a sneak preview about what will happen among the non-factory boys on May 22nd.

The second event of the weekend will be the AMA double header at Infineon Raceway in California. All the press releases will be asking the question “Can anyone stop Mat Mladin?” but I’m a bit more cynical. I’m asking “How badly will Mat Mladin beat the rest of the field at this race?”. Mat has won three of the last four races at the Sonoma track. The other race was won by Miguel Duhamel. Given the problems the Hondas are having with their in-house development, I doubt Duhamel will be able to to repeat his victory from last season. The best chance for a challenge to Mladin will likely again be from his teammates. Yates as always run well at Infineon and Spies, the current Superbike points leader, has been a contender at most of the races this season. Infineon is a very technical track which means Hodgson will have to learn it quickly to have any chance of stepping up against the Suzukis. If its gonna happen for Neil, expect it to be in race two. EBoz seems to be coming around but I don’t think he’ll make a big enough leap to win this weekend on the Duc. The support classes are gonna be interesting as well. Supersport is a neck-n-neck battle between Jamie Hacking and Tommy Hayden. Can either stamp their authority on the series? Superstock has been a great battle manufacturers, a welcome change give the classes Suzuki dominance in the past. The top ten are separated by only ten points and includes two Yamahas, two Suzukis and a Kawasaki. Yamaha are coming on strong as the season develops can the others follow? Finally, only one point separates Zemke and Duhamel in the Honda Xtreme…oh, sorry…Formula Xtreme class. Can the factory supported teams keep up? Does anyone care? Should make for five exciting races over the course of the weekend.

The weekend’s menage a trois will be capped off when the MotoGP bikes take to the track at Le Mans for the French GP. This race is guaranteed to be interesting because the Honda versus Yamaha duel is heating up. Rossi has won two of the three GPs but the Hondas of Gibernau, Melandri and Barros have consistently run with him. Le Mans, at least on paper, is a Honda track. Lots of slow turns and lots of acceleration between corners. Then again, China looked like a Honda track but with torrential rain it became a Yamaha track. With the forecast calling for rain in France, the same may be true at Le Mans. If it does rain, expect a lot of unexpected riders to move to the front: Both Roberts and Hopkins are rain riders. Jacque nearly won China in the wet and being French would love to do the same this weekend. Barros seems to run well in the wet. Tamada’s replacement van der Goorbergh finished a fantastic sixth in the Shanghai rain and has nothing to loose in his last ride on the Minolta bike. Also worth watching: the KTM/Proton is back this weekend with a new motor, so lets see if they can finally move forward with their program. Nakano was running well at China before being sidelined with a mechanical. Can he bounce back to another top five finish like at Jerez? Melandri has been the second most consistent rider this season (3rd, 4th and 2nd) behind Rossi. He leads both Gibernau, Biaggi and Barros in the points and has become an unexpected challenger to Rossi. Can he step up and beat his friend Vale? Both Gibernau and Biaggi see themselves as Honda’s lead riders so better put in a good showing if they want to keep the R&D focus from shifting to Melandri.

There are a lot of questions for both AMA and MotoGP fans after just a few races in each series. Lets see if this weekend’s races offers any answers or just more question marks.

[image from the Gresini Racing web site.]

With the AMA Superbike season one third of the way over a few things have become pretty clear. One of those is that American Honda’s decision to build their own Superbikes has proved to be quite a challenge to the two factory riders and to the Erion factory supported team. While Duhamel and Zemke have made some brave runs on poorly handling bikes, they are inevitably racing for the honor of not being the last factory bike rather than having a chance at challenging the incredible factory Suzukis. Another thing that has become clear is that the pressure of being on an uncompetitive bike is again bringing out the worst in Kurtis Roberts.

The situation in Formula Xtreme is less clear. Honda CBR600RRs have dominated in that class but have also done so with no other full factory bikes on the grid as competition. The question can’t yet be answered of whether Honda’s AMA Superbike woes are because they lack the time to test the full variety parts available or whether they don’t have the R&D resources to compete with an established factory supported teams like Yoshimura or directly with factories like Ducati. Until some other factories enter Formula Xtreme, we won’t really be able to tell. What is clear is that the CBR1000 has sufficient power since their top speed has been on par with the other bikes. That means the problems they face are with the components like clutches, suspension and brakes. Clearly these are not combined into as complete as package that what is found on the GSXR and 999.

But where we can draw some comparisons are with the riders. While it seems unlikely that Roberts will be challenging Mladin on the track, he is giving the five time AMA Superbike champ a run for his money in the arena of bitching every weekend. As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog posting anytime there is a TV camera or journalist near by you can be sure Mladin can find something to complain about. Well, now it appears to be Roberts turn as he’s been pretty vocal after the past few AMA Superbike races about the state of his Erion Racing CBR1000RR. He even issued a veiled threat that he would quite riding the bike if results don’t improve…and the results thus far definitely haven’t been good: 9th at Daytona, a second in his one-off ride in the Daytona 200, back-to-back DNFs at Barber, a 12th and a DNF at Fontana. Ouch!

Now I’m not an insensitive type. I understand that a talented racer will always want to win. If the rider isn’t winning, especially if its because of inferior equipment, they will eventually start to complain. But given the fact that Kurtis spent last year venting about his father’s Proton bike it is getting pretty old to hear him griping about the Erion bike.

In the grand scheme of things, Honda made a big business decision last year. Roberts knew it was in the works when he signed with Erion. The two factory riders, both of whom are also struggling for results, have buckled down to the hard task of developing the CBR into a Superbike. Kurtis is getting a big fat paycheck and is certainly expected to do the same. If he can’t get his head around this task, stop bitching about the bike and start providing some meaningful effort then he’ll burn a very big bridge with both Erion and Honda. It would be a shame for the youngest son of King Kenny to talk his way out of a factory supported ride. This would be doubly tragic if it ultimately keeps him from ever having a shot at a Honda MotoGP ride, since Honda’s seven GP riders make up one third of the entire grid. Pissing off Big Red means he’d have just shot 33% of his chance of returning to the world’s premier series.

Mladin gets away with all his whining and griping because he has been on a great bike, with a great team and has put in great rides to bring home the goods for Suzuki. Until Roberts can do the same, he needs to zip it and use his considerable talent to help Honda build a bike that could be competitive in the future. If he can turn the CBR into a bike capable of carrying the number 1 plate then he’ll have a blank check for complaining about the bike, the riders, the tracks, the race organizers, the press and whatever else ticks him off each weekend.

[image from the Thousand Oaks Honda web site.]

My grandfather was a soldier in the US 3rd Army during World War II. For years he has had nightmares from a moment during the war when a German grenade landed in a fox hole with him. Regularly wakes up remembering that moment of terror that came with knowing it was about to blow up while he scrambled to escape. Well, while the severity of the situation is completely different, I think that Attack Kawasaki’s Josh Hayes may be having a bit of that stomach wrenching and cold sweets each morning before he shows up at the AMA races these days.

Josh is a fantastic rider, in my opinion he is probably the most underrated rider in the 2005 AMA paddock, and he seems to be a genuinely good guy. His performance last season aboard the then-new ZX-10R with the barely factory supported Attack Kawasaki squad was amazing and he finished the season in eighth place as the leading privateer. He made waves at some of the races by leading practice sessions and out qualifying factory bikes at some events including an amazing practice session at horsepower hungry Brainerd. This season it looked he would have a chance to improve on that by getting more factory support for the Richard Stamboli run team, along with the advances that can be made to a bike in its second model year of being raced.

Unfortunately, this season Josh has been sitting on top of a grenade at every race. His start to the season in the AMA Superbike race at Daytona was short indeed as his ZX-10R went bang on the first lap. Disappointing to say the least since the likable rider from Mississippi ran some credible times in practice and qualifying. Even his one-off ride in the Daytona 200 on a Attack ZX-6RR started off with a front row qualifying position but ended just a few laps later with a smoking motor. Just to show this wasn’t a one off occurrence, the Superbike spec Kawasaki has since retired at both Barber and Fontana. Even Hayes’ teammate hasn’t been immune to this explosive trend as his Daytona 200 ended on lap one due to a mechanical failure.

Clearly, the team has gone one step too far in their effort to get competitive power out of their Superbike and Formula Xtreme bikes. The only reason that Attack Performance goes racing is for the marketing for their performance parts. Their current results aren’t going to be doing much to drive customers to their sales counter, so I’m sure they’ll be working overtime to turn this thing around.

As I’ve said in other blog postings, I’m a sucker for the underdog, especially when the underdog is such a genuinely nice guy. I’d like nothing more than to see some of the AMA Superbike egos get popped by Josh and his non-factory Kawasaki. Unfortunately, they’ll have to make the ZX-10R less of a time bomb before that is going to happen. In the meantime, Josh will have to dig in a little deeper in his fox hole and try to keep that acid in the pit of his stomach under control with a little Pepto.

[image from the Attack Performance web site.]

This past weekend brought about two big firsts, one for a series rookie and another for a series wildcard. Bravo to both for their successes. The other news was the exact opposite by being more of what followers of the series have come to expect.

First, the inaugural MotoGP race at the new Shanghai Circuit in China. The weather made things interesting by raining most of the weekend meaning that riders got their first shot at comparing the rain tires from Michelin and Bridgestone. In practice and qualifying, Valentino Rossi seemed to show and unexpected weakness in his armor, generally being mid-pack. The Hondas and Ducatis, presumably taking advantage of their power down the long straight, rose to the top. But some race time, things were different. The first surprise was the two Suzukis which both took turns leading the sodden race. After a few laps, however, things returned to normal as Rossi worked his way to the front and steadily pulled out a seven second gap. Behind him, the Honda teammates of Gibernau and Melandri seemed to settle into the final rostrum spots. But two riders soon started to charge forward…Kawasaki wild card Olivier Jacque (replacing Hoffman) and Honda wild card Jurgen van den Goorbergh (replacing Tamada). Since neither rider is racing the entire series, both were able to take risks that the other riders may not have been willing to take. Olivier Jacque ended up turning the fastest laps of the race and actually passed the Gresini Honda riders and close down the gap to Rossi. In the end, Rossi could undoubtedly have turned up his pace if he’d really felt threatened by Jacque but the fact that the Frenchmen closed the gap down to almost 1 second by the checkers was amazing. Sete appeared to have bike problems and slipped behind Melandri. Other riders to have bike problems were Nakano and Roberts. Hopkins ran off the wet track but stayed up right. Checa threw the Ducati away and Bayliss followed suit with his Honda. van den Goorbergh came home a credible sixth for the Minolta team. The final order was Rossi, Jacque and Melandri. The second podium finish for Melandri was great but Jacque getting his first MotoGP podium ever was even more spectacular. Jacque raced the big four strokes for two years without getting on the podium so it was an emotional moment. With Jacque also filling in for Hoffman at the French GP in a week, this had to be a fantastic boost to his confidence and a nice way for Kawasaki to offset the disappointment of Hoffman’s injury and Nakano’s mechanical.

The AMA doubleheader at Fontana California was similar but the thing which shook things up there wasn’t the weather but a series of red flags. Mladin and this all conquering Suzuki again led all the practice and qualifying sessions, usually nearly a second clear of the rest of the field. The two Ducatis both seemed to “come good” with Bostrom and Hodgson qualifying well. The Hondas were all still mired back in the pack, showing they still have a lot of work to do. And so it was the three Suzukis leading the way again. In race one, Mladin checked out, leaving his two teammates and Hodgson to battle it out for the podium. Then the race was stopped with a red flag. On the restart there was another crash and thus another red flag. With the clutches on the Superbikes not ready to take a third round of 200hp abuse, the mechanics had to do some hasty clutch replacements before the next restart. On the third waving of the green flag, it was again Mladin who pulled away and again the Ducati/Suzuki battle resumed for the rest of the podium spots. But with a few laps to go, both Spies and Mladin appeared to have bike problems. Spies momentarily slowed but then picked up again. Mladin, on the other hand, appeared to have a severe clutch problem and eventually rolled to a stop. That DNF left Spies and Hodgson unexpectedly fighting for the win. Hodgson made a mistake in turn one on the last lap and gifted the lead to Spies. Yates also passed Hodgson, making for a Suzuki 1-2 finish. The Brit got things back under control to fill out the podium. This first Superbike win for Spies was a fantastic result. For anyone to win at this level, against the dominant Mladin, in only his forth Superbike race is simply excellant. I’m sure this is just one of the many which are still to come for the talented Texan. In addition to the win, Spies also moved into the series points lead, so it was a double whammy.

In the second race, Mladin went about setting things straight. He pulled out a commanding performance, taking off from the flag to win by a substantial margin. As I predicted, there was a Suzuki sweep in one of the races and it was race two as Spies and Yates came home two-three. The two Ducatis came home in forth and fifth but with Bostrom leading a flu stricken Hodgson home in race two. Duhamel crashed in the race and finished outside the points, dropping him down in the points chase. At the end of the weekend, Spies still leads the Superbike series by three points. Yates is nine points back from Spies with Hodgson three behind Yates. Mladin’s DNF has really closed up the points battle, mainly because of the consistency of the other three riders.

My big winners for the weekend? Jacque and Spies, both breaking into the big time with a podium for the Frenchman and a win for the Texan. Both rode hard races and are plenty deserving of getting to spray some champagne.

The 250GP, Superstock, Supersport and Formula Xtreme races weren’t televised on Sunday to I’ll try to report on those later.

[image from the Superbikeplanet web site.]

This weekend will be a great weekend of racing. For the first time this year, there will be three different race series I can watch in one weekend:

First, the MotoGP season holds its third round at the new Shanghai Circuit in China. This track promises to make for some exciting racing for a few different reasons. For one thing it has the longest straight of all the tracks on the MotoGP calendar at nearly 3/4 of a mile in length. The long length of tarmac will mean everyone better bring their horsepower to the 3.3 mile circuit. Honda probably has an advantage in this arena. However, the teams can’t just focus on going fast because the designers threw in four 180+ degree tight turns including one that is nearly a full 360 degrees. Some of these turns are long enough that the bikes stay leaned over on the right side of the tire for a long time. The fourteen turns on the track mean that a good handling bike, like the Yamaha, may have an advantage. Finally, this is a new track so the teams will have to figure out tires (Michelin is basically bringing one of everything since they don’t yet know what the tire wear will be like), suspension settings, fuel usage, gearing, computer settings and lines around the track. The team that can get all these myriad details sorted out the fastest will have an advantage. This may be a place where teams like Suzuki, Kawasaki and Ducati can shine. I doubt they’ll close the gap to the top Honda and Yamaha teams but they can show their stuff within their own competition to be the best of the rest. It will be very interesting to see which riders are the fastest after the first practice and whether those same riders are still among the fastest in the last practice session, as it will show whether riders are slowly and methodically building their speed or if they get up to their max speed relatively quickly and then just fine tune. Any rider that can get up to speed quickly will then be making tire, gearing, suspension and computer changes that match the speed they are likely to run in the race. Everyone else will tune as they go and may well find new problems showing up if their race time is faster than their final practice time.

A more predictable situation will present itself this weekend when the AMA series returns to California Speedway in Fontana, CA. Unfortunately for the rest of the field, Fontana has been the sole domain of Mat Mladin for the past two years. With Mladin coming off two devastating victories at Daytona and Barber, things don’t look good for anyone hoping to break Mladin’s streak at California Speedway. Despite being built in the middle of a NASCAR oval, California Speedway is a reasonably interesting track…at least as interesting as a flat, concrete wall lined bull ring can be. The track designers managed to squeeze 21 turns into the two mile NASCAR track, including some high speed left hand sweepers that give the gutsy riders a chance to show their stuff. From what we saw at Daytona, this is going to favor the Suzukis, so I predict another Suzuki sweep in at least one of the two races. Those fast sweepers put a premiun on a rider’s ability to trust his front tire and that is a weakness for both the long wheelbase Ducati and the still developing Honda.

The final race of the weekend is the series opener for our local MRA roadrace series at Pueblo Motorsports Park in Pueblo, Colorado. Of the tracks in Colorado, Pueblo may be the most interesting. It is among the longest of our tracks and has the longest straight. The track is actually part of a motorsports complex which means that in addition to watching roadracing, you can ride dirt bikes, camp and even watch drag racing in the evenings after the racing. As for the races themselves, the usual suspects should dominate: Shane Turpin, Ricky Orlando, Dan Turner, Mike Applegate, Jon Glaefke, Jim Brewer, Dennie Burke, Mark Nudelman, Marty Sims and Rich Deeming. While there have been some impressive new riders joining the series in the past couple of years, no one has yet been able to step up in the premier Race of the Rockies class to challenge the veterans like Shane Turpin, Ricky Orlando and Dan Turner. In addition to the weekend’s MRA road races, the MRA also has a Supermoto class which runs on Saturday afternoons once the morning practice is over, which makes for an even more interesting race weekend. ‘Course all this assumes that our unseasonably late snow fall doesn’t force the cancellation of the event.

Because of the weather I won’t be driving down to Pueblo for the MRA races. Instead, I’ll be spending Sunday curled up on the couch with two foot of snow outside and the TV tuned to Speed….

[image from the Shanghai Circuit web site.]

“I still think that riding motorcycles is much, much more than a sport; pretty close to religion.”
– Keith Code

This past weekend was the American debut of a documentary film made in Canada about multi-time AMA champ Miguel Duhamel. The film Adrenaline Rush, as with many other religious functions, was shown this past Sunday on SpeedTV.

The primary focus of the film was the 2003 AMA series, the year in which Miguel won his 41st AMA Supersport race at Brainerd. As if winning 41 of anything isn’t impressive enough that race win emphasized what a determined racer Duhamel is since a crash at Infinion Raceway six weeks earlier had broken his left collarbone in three places. The fix for the shattered collarbone was to insert a pin to strengthen the bone while it healed. The pin didn’t stay in place and by mid-season was protruding out of the bone enough to pierce the skin. After an attempt to hammer the pin back into place failed, Duhamel just taped foam over the pin, took antibiotics to prevent an infection and raced anyway. Taken as a second chapter to his stunning 1999 Daytona victory after a crash at Loudon the previous season left him with a crushed left femur, the collarbone stories shows just how much Duhamel wants to race and to win. Looking at his record: 32 career Superbike wins, 5 Daytona 200 victories, 41 Supersport wins, 9 Formula Xtreme wins, 1 Superstock win, the 1995 Superbike championship, five Supersport titles (1991, 1993, 1995, 1996 and 1997) and his being the 2004 Formula Xtreme champ shows just how successful he’s been.

This is basically the story that is told in the biographical film. There are home movies of a young Miguel riding mini-bikes with his siblings, race footage from many of the key races in 2003 and 2004, interviews with family members and friends and one-on-one interviews with Miguel himself. Some of the film footage, like the post race film from Barber in 2004 where he was taken out in a multi-bike accident with Ben Bostrom, shows the less glamorous side of Miguel. It clearly shows how he tried to force a red flag after the crash in an attempt to get back into the race. While this is understandable from the viewpoint of a racer, its of questionable ethical value when considering those still in the race. This film clip also shows how that very personal decision on Duhamel’s part affects both his girlfriend and mother who were watching the race.

Ultimately, these personal glimpses are what really make the documentary a decent film. Duhamel’s personality is entertaining and getting this view into the man behind the visor makes many of the trials and tribulations that much more human. Finally, I doubt a film about a less charismatic rider would be nearly as enjoyable to watch, and it would be very difficult to find a rider that has experienced as many highs and as many lows as Miguel has during the course of his career. Both of these factors make him the perfect candidate for such a film. While this isn’t the greatest motorcycle documentary ever made, that honor is still held by On Any Sunday, it offers some great insight into motorcycle road racing in particular and into one of the AMA’s greatest in particular.

For the moment, a trailer for the movie is available online. Check the SpeedTV program schedule to see if the program will be broadcast again.

[image from the Daytona International Speedway web site.]

This past weekend’s superbike races would seem, at first glance, to have been a story of old timers sticking it to the youngsters. In both the World Superbike and the AMA races, 30+ year old veterans won handily over a field that included both series regulars and bright young stars. Likewise, both riders took early commanding leads in two races each and those double wins put both in positions atop the points table with large enough margins to miss a race without threatening their advantage. Impressive stories to be sure. However, I found that the race reports show an equally interesting development further down the podium.

…but first, the race reviews:

In World Superbike, it was another Troy Corser weekend. As in the first two rounds, TC was unbelievable all weekend. In both races, he jumped out to an early lead and held that till the finish. The focus therefore shifted to what was happening behind him. In race 1, that was highlighted by a crash-fest. It all started before the race when Ducati mounted title contender Regis Laconi crashed in morning practice and was too concussed to race. In the race, nearly all the Australian riders, with the exception of Corser and Vermeulen, visited the gravel including Pitt, McCoy and Martin. German Neukirchner had a particularly nasty highside on his Honda early in the race that sent Muggeridge and Lanzi off track with Italian Lanzi breaking his collarbone. The later stages of the race boiled down to a fascinating battle for second between Honda’s Vermeulen and Yamaha’s Abe. The Pirelli tires appeared once again to be crap and in the second half of the race all the riders were sliding everywhere. This finally bit Abe and sent him down the track, handing third place to Suzuki’s Kagayama. Another notable finish was Frankie Chili crossing the line in seventh just two weeks after breaking his collarbone in Australia.

The second WSBK race started as a mirror of the first with Corser clearing off early. Vermeulen put up a better fight and stayed a little closer but it still seemed TC could manage the gap, upping the pace if necessary. Once again the focus turned to the Australian youngster in second place this time because Kawasaki’s Walker made a surprise appearance at the front. As with Abe in Race 1, Walker put a tremendous amount of pressure on Vermeulen. Also as in the first race, it appeared that the Honda used up the rear tire sooner than the following bikes which made Vermeulen’s job of holding off Walker all the more difficult. In the end, the talented Honda rider did just that to take home another second place trophy. Walker performed brilliantly to get onto the podium after struggling in the early races of the season. The other big surprise for race two was Ben Bostrom’s fantastic sixth place. It appears the Renegade Honda rider may finally be getting the new bike sorted out.

In the weekend’s AMA Superbike races, the headline was Mat Mladin’s continued romp towards a sixth title. In just the second race weekend of the season, Mladin has already pulled a 22 point advantage in the points chase. This is shades of seasons past where Mladin creams ‘em early in the season and plays it smart in the second half, while others come apart under the pressure. In both races, Mladin lead immediately and just pulled away throughout the race, turning laps a second a lap faster than anyone else. The trailing pack was limited to Suzuki teammates Yates and Spies, as well as Ducati’s Hodgson. Yates was easily the second fastest guy of the weekend, able to gap the following riders but not catch Mladin. The race for third in the first race boiled down to a wonderful battle between the ex-World champion Hodgson and the superbike rookie Spies. At the end, Spies threw down an amazing move through traffic and clinched the final podium spot.

The second day’s Superbike race at Barber Motorsports Park started with another rocket maneuver from Mladin. Second was briefly a battle between Yates and Hodgson with Yates eventually pulling a gap but then having a rear tire vibration which forced a pit stop, handing second place to Hodgson. The focus then trailed back down to Spies who was in a see-saw battle with Honda’s Duhamel. This fight came down to the last lap, when Duhamel pulled a brave last corner pass but was then pushed wide allowing Spies to sneak back underneath for the win. Another exciting race for the rising star from Texas.

The only AMA support race that was televised, the 600 Supersport race, was a thrilling race as well. Yamaha’s Jamie Hacking was on fire all weekend and took off from pole position (both times actually, as there was a red-flag induced re-start) with Kawasaki’s Hayden brothers in close pursuit. The race pace was very fast which eventually caught Roger Lee out causing him to run off the track and lose touch with the two front runners. Tommy kept pressure on the Yamaha and finally made a run at him on the last corner of the last lap but came up a little too short to make the move. Jamie’s victory ties up the points battle. Particularly noticeable in the race was how slow the Suzuki GSXR600s are this year. Despite some hard riding by the racers, the first Suzuki was in 10th place. Yamahas and Suzukis filled the first nine positions. Its time for Suzuki to put some of its GSXR1000 engineers to work on the smaller bike. Mention should also be made of Yamaha mounted privateer Robert Jensen who finished seventh. That is a phenomenal placing for a privateer in a class so loaded with factory backed talent and it definitely highlights the guy’s riding skill.

With all that out of the way, my focus will be on the two young stars that showed their metal through some extremely tough races. On the World Superbike stage in Valencia, Spain that star was Chris Vermeulen. While he didn’t quite have the speed needed to challenge Troy Corser, he survived two grueling race long battles with more experienced racers. In race one, it was ex-GP winner Norik Abe and in race two it was ex-GP racer Chris Walker. Both racers applied considerable pressure and in both cases, appeared to have tires in better condition and thus better mid-corner speed. Despite these advantages, Vermeulen kept his wits and rode a superb race to beat both of them. I’m sure his previous World Supersport experience really helped here since that class is all about racing in a tight pack. I also believe that him continuing to get this experience, as he did last year in Superbike, will forge him into a better and better racer. The guys that lead races from the front may become better technical racers but its the guys that know how to fight it out that build a skillset that helps them in the long run. Expect Chris V to be replacing one of the under-performing MotoGP riders next season.

In the AMA Superbike series, this same kind of performance was turned in by Ben Spies. He was able to go to school with ex-WSBK champ and ex-GP rider Neil Hodgson and then in race two do the same thing with multi-time AMA champ Miguel Duhamel. Both of these riders are smooth, precise and smart. All attributes that, should they rub off, will be useful to Spies throughout his career. The fact that the Suzuki rider bested both veterans in their respective races shows he is a quick study and that he has bucket loads of talent. If anyone is going to be able to step up and challenge Mladin this season, it may well be Spies as he continues to grow as a rider.

Bravo to both these riders, as well as the two old guard masters who should be their targets.

[image from the Italian Motorsport web site.]

Yamaha and Honda both lay claim to the title of best motorcycle company based on their engineering prowness in the battlefield of the MotoGP series. For the past two seasons, it has been obvious that these two companies can out research, out design, out innovate, out test and out spend all the other manufacturers in their quest to build the fastest prototype racing motorcycles in the world. The Honda RC211V and Yamaha M1 have dominated for two years and look to continue that in 2005. However, if the yard stick for measuring a motorcycle company’s success is production racing, then this year it appears Suzuki has all comers covered.

This weekend there are three different major Superbike races: World Superbike at Valencia Spain, AMA at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama and British Superbike at Mallory Park. In two of those series the Suzuki GSXR 1000 has already stamped its authority in just the first few rounds. In the third, the chances are good that Suzuki will soon flex its muscle. As I said in a posting last month about Suzuki’s strong showing early in the year the Marketing department at Suzuki is set to have a busy year.

Lets start with the bad news: The British Superbike Series. After being the fastest guy at the first pre-season test for the BSB series, Suzuki rider and defending champ John Reynolds had a serious crash which resulted in a shattered right leg. Amazingly, he has come back in an amazingly short time and ridden at the first races of the season but he has been in such a poor state of fitness that he couldn’t hang with the front runners. With each passing day, his leg is mending and he will soon be back to fitness. Whether he will be able to challenge the current season’s undefeated race winner, Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari, this weekend at Mallory Park remains to be seen but you can be sure JR will run up front once he’s healthy. Reynold’s young team mate, Scott Smart, still has some learning before he’ll be a title contender but what better teacher than a two time BSB champion? Expect the Suzuki name to be back on the podium later in the season.

In World Superbike action the races have been a Suzuki ad as the two Alstare Corona riders, Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama, have lead every race by a proverbial mile. The dominance of the GSXR1000 is shocking, considering that World Superbike has been the property of Ducati for so long. That the new bike can not only be competitive but actually monopolize the results has to shake the series faithful to the core. Suzuki and Alstare team owner Francis Batta have put a huge amount of effort into this series because if you want to get your new bike noticed in the show room, having it reign at the race track is a good start. Expect the two GSXR riders to continue this trend this weekend in Spain.

Finally, there is the AMA series where the three Suzukis have been in the top four fastest in every test session and during the race at Daytona. Mat Mladin has topped everything at every track. No matter what your opinion of the guy’s personality, there is no getting around his riding prowess. The force he wields over the AMA Superbike field is incredible, both with his equipment, his skill and his psychological warfare. Last year Suzuki had a GSXR1000 Mat Mladin replica for sale, showing just how confident they were that Mladin’s win on Sunday would translate into sales on Monday. Mladin was consistently the fastest guy, sometimes by over a second, at the recent AMA test at Barber. Just like Daytona, I think Mladin will use that speed to pull away early and control the race from the front. That’s just the image Suzuki wants in people’s minds…

While Suzuki’s GSV-R MotoGP bike is getting is ass handed to it by Yamaha and Honda, they have found a different way to showcase their engineering strength and its a method that probably gets more potential buyers into showrooms. If Suzuki can sell more bikes by focusing on Superbike racing, do they really care if they stand atop the MotoGP podium?

The rest of the teams stack up like this:

BSB - Honda has kept a perfect win record so far, with Kiyonari and has captured second place two times in four races thanks to Michael Rutter’s performance. The only rider to put pressure on the two Hondas thus far as been Ducati mounted ex-WSBK star Gregorio Lavilla.

WSBK - The Hondas, Yamahas and Ducatis are all a half-step behind the Alstare squad but it looks like Ducati mounted Regis Laconi has the best chance of bridging the gap. There are a lot of young riders in WSBK this year (Muggeridge, Vermeulen, Neukirchner, Pitt, Lanzi), so maybe those guys still have some growth left in them as well.

AMA - I think Ducati’s Neil Hodgson is the only guy that can challenge the three Yoshimura Suzuki riders at this point. Honda are still struggling to build their bikes, Eric Bostrom is still trying to figure out the front end of the 999 and the Jordan Suzuki team is still trying to gel.

[image from the Powersports Network web site.]