Road Racer X

Features:
2005
October 7, 2005	Unfiltered After months of testing, traveling, and competition, AMA riders tend to let their guard down a bit at the last round of the season. While the racing is as intense as ever, the banter is a little more honest and a little less PC. Would we take advantage of that fact? You bet! Continued from Road Racer X Nov/Dec 2005 (Vol. 3 #6)
September 23, 2005	Green Goes Big LCA’s report from the annual Kawasaki dealer meeting.
August 30, 2005	The Man With the Plan With the 2005 AMA Superbike Series winding down and the 2006 race schedule and rule changes yet to be announced, Series Manager Ron Barrick’s brain is ripe for the pickin’. Barrick—who has unique thoughts on what makes a good interview (namely, eating chocolate while answering, which isn’t really all that great for the person who has to transcribe your gooey words, Ron)—sat down with us at the recent V.I.R. round.
August 25, 2005	5 Minutes With ... Anthony Gobert Since Anthony Gobert was fired from Erion Honda for drunk driving early last season, there hasn’t been much word on what the Aussie is up to. Initial word was that he had returned to his motocross roots. Later we heard that he had started racing the Australian Superbike Series. After little brother Alex told us the other day that Anthony had notched his best finish of the year last weekend in Winton, Victoria, we decided to give Go-Show a call....
August 22, 2005	Backmarker I seem to be making the annual AFM four-hour endurance race at Infineon Raceway a—well, an annual event. It has a lot to recommend it—tons of track time and a party atmosphere (perhaps because the race doesn’t yield points in the harder-fought AFM season class championships.) But the best thing is that unlike with sprint races, in an endurance race, you’re not alone.
August 18, 2005	Marshalling the TT The new (September/October) issue of Road Racer X, contains a great feature on the Isle of Man. If Gary Kahlil’s story has inspired you to check out the historic event for yourself, what better way to truly experience it than by working as a course marshal? If that sounds like your cup of English tea, read on…
August 15, 2005	The Mirage RRX contributor Mark Gardiner checks in with a report on some very, very fast motorcycle racers.
August 04, 2005	Grandstanding In the past couple of weeks, a couple of Road Racer X readers have sent in reports on their recent experiences as race spectators—one at the Red Bull USGP and another at the soggy Donington MotoGP. We decided to post them here: Moto GP is For Me! by Karen Jenson Wet, Chaffing, and in Heaven by Kevin Wehr
July 28, 2005	Alex G. on Mid-Ohio Last week, Alex Gobert announced through roadracingworld.com that for 2006, he’ll be heading back to Australia to pursue a career in magazine journalism. The Erion Honda rider isn’t satisfied with his racing results lately, and he wants to try something for which he says he has a lot of enthusiasm. It’s tempting to discount a racer’s ambitions to trade in his helmet for a “real” job, but we thought it would be better to ask Alex to walk the walk. He called our bluff and sent in the following report on last weekend’s Mid-Ohio AMA Superbike round.
August 15, 2005	Between the Races: Team Sheriff Hardcore road racers already know that racing on the street is silly, dangerous, and—compared to riding on tracks—unnecessarily dangerous. However, that’s not always clear to folks who have never tasted the pleasures of the track-day experience, and those people may be tempted to take chances on the street. L.A. Sheriff Mike Churney is doing his best to spread the word, using a cool cop-themed Honda CBR to catch attention and then sneaking in some education....
August 30, 2005	The Man With the Plan With the 2005 AMA Superbike Series winding down and the 2006 race schedule and rule changes yet to be announced, Series Manager Ron Barrick’s brain is ripe for the pickin’. Barrick—who has unique thoughts on what makes a good interview (namely, eating chocolate while answering, which isn’t really all that great for the person who has to transcribe your gooey words, Ron)—sat down with us at the recent V.I.R. round.
August 25, 2005	5 Minutes With ... Anthony Gobert Since Anthony Gobert was fired from Erion Honda for drunk driving early last season, there hasn’t been much word on what the Aussie is up to. Initial word was that he had returned to his motocross roots. Later we heard that he had started racing the Australian Superbike Series. After little brother Alex told us the other day that Anthony had notched his best finish of the year last weekend in Winton, Victoria, we decided to give Go-Show a call....
August 22, 2005	Backmarker I seem to be making the annual AFM four-hour endurance race at Infineon Raceway a—well, an annual event. It has a lot to recommend it—tons of track time and a party atmosphere (perhaps because the race doesn’t yield points in the harder-fought AFM season class championships.) But the best thing is that unlike with sprint races, in an endurance race, you’re not alone.
August 18, 2005	Marshalling the TT The new (September/October) issue of Road Racer X, contains a great feature on the Isle of Man. If Gary Kahlil’s story has inspired you to check out the historic event for yourself, what better way to truly experience it than by working as a course marshal? If that sounds like your cup of English tea, read on…
August 15, 2005	The Mirage RRX contributor Mark Gardiner checks in with a report on some very, very fast motorcycle racers.
August 04, 2005	Grandstanding In the past couple of weeks, a couple of Road Racer X readers have sent in reports on their recent experiences as race spectators—one at the Red Bull USGP and another at the soggy Donington MotoGP. We decided to post them here: Moto GP is For Me! by Karen Jenson Wet, Chaffing, and in Heaven by Kevin Wehr
July 28, 2005	Alex G. on Mid-Ohio Last week, Alex Gobert announced through roadracingworld.com that for 2006, he’ll be heading back to Australia to pursue a career in magazine journalism. The Erion Honda rider isn’t satisfied with his racing results lately, and he wants to try something for which he says he has a lot of enthusiasm. It’s tempting to discount a racer’s ambitions to trade in his helmet for a “real” job, but we thought it would be better to ask Alex to walk the walk. He called our bluff and sent in the following report on last weekend’s Mid-Ohio AMA Superbike round.
July 25, 2005	Day of Champions Fresh from his first MotoGP win at Laguna Seca, Nicky Hayden made a big impression at the 13th annual Day of Champions, on Thursday before the British MotoGP. Although it wasn’t too sunny, conditions were far drier than in Sunday’s monsoon race. The whole paddock and thousands of spectators cheerfully raised $310,000 for Riders for Health’s work in Africa ...
July 18, 2005	5 Minutes With ... Joe Skidd Joe Skidd is racing director for Blackfoot Motorcycles, which fields not only a highly successful Canadian national motocross team, but also a Superbike team that’s currently in the lead for the Parts Canada Superbike Championship. Joe worked the 500cc Grand Prix circuit from late 1993 to 2000 for Ohlins, and he still gets his hands dirty by taking care of suspension for both Blackfoot teams ...
July 6, 2005	The USGP's First Winner! Shawn Fehlman crashed his R1 into a wild donkey, totaling his motorcycle. It’s a sad, sad story, and it would have stayed that way had Shawn not had the wisdom to subscribe to Road Racer X. Luckily for Mr. Fehlman, we pulled his name as the winner of our Red Bull USGP contest, which means he’s won a trip to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, a Spidi jacket and gloves, a meeting with GP rider Colin Edwards, and a new Yamaha R6....
July 5, 2005	Preview: Red Bull USGP A final rundown of what to expect at this weekend at what is arguably the biggest motorcycle race ever to hit American soil. For more of Alan Fleming’s excellent work, check out his blog right here.
June 29, 2005	5 Minutes With ... John Hopkins For the first time since February, John Hopkins is in California. The Suzuki rider—make that Red Bull Suzuki rider for one race—flew in from Assen on Sunday, and we met with him and girlfriend Desiree Crossman yesterday for lunch. Hopkins let us turn on a tape recorder for his wide-ranging conversation as he heads into next week’s Red Bull USGP at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca—an event Hopper calls “the most important weekend of my life.”
June 28, 2005	Going to the Show A while back, northern California racer Ryan Teixeira turned in an online column in which he tried to capture what racing is like for a privateer (check it out here). Judging from the reader feedback, he got it right. Last month, Ryan entered his first AMA National at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Here’s his report on the experience:
June 23, 2005	Rossi Named Top Italian Endorser In a feature in the June 9 edition of Panorama magazine, a popular mainstream Italian weekly, MotoGP Champion Valentino Rossi was named as Italy’s top celebrity endorser. According to the article, Rossi earns 1.35 million euros (about $1.64 million) for his endorsement of the Peroni beer’s Nastro Azzuro (which means “Blue Ribbon”)....
June 15, 2005	5 minutes with ... Nicky Hayden If you followed our hints and tuned in to NBC’s Today show this morning, then you know that Repsol Honda MotoGP racer Nicky Hayden made an appearance. Nicky was named to People magazine’s "50 Hottest Bachelors" list, and he is doing promotion for the upcoming Red Bull USGP. We spoke to him today, minutes after he won a dating contest on the Today show.
June 14, 2005	5 minutes with ... Wayne Gardner By becoming Australia’s first motorcycle World Champion in 1987, Wayne Gardner dramatically raised the profile of motorcycle racing down under. With a population of about 20 million, Australia produced a disproportionate number of GP and Superbike competitors after Gardner showed the way.
June 13, 2005	5 Minutes With ... Gerry Biasi One of the coolest things about MotoGP races is the glamour, and one of the main examples of that glamour is the various hospitality units that teams and sponsors construct in the paddock every weekend. Gerry Biasi—a 16-year-veteran of the GP tour—is the man behind many of those units, including those of Team Suzuki, Roberts, and Fortuna Yamaha. But Biasi’s crown-jewel is the Red Bull Energy Station, a two-story, transparent structure that dominates the pits ...
June 9, 2005	5 minutes with ... Mike Hale “Look at my bike, man—they’ve got everything off of it,” laughs Mike Hale. “We’re still learning about this thing; yesterday and today was the first time I was really on it, so we’re just trying to learn how it works.”
June 8, 2005	Road America AMA Superbike Slide Show A collection of John Hanson's Road America images for your viewing pleasure.
June 7, 2005	Road America Supermoto Slideshow Ray Gundy's slideshow from the season-opening AMA Supermoto race at Road America in Wisconsin.
June 3, 2005	Interview: Superkarter Larry Kurpiewski If you’ll be at the Red Bull United States Grand Prix on Saturday, July 9, then you’ll be in for a treat. That’s when the Yamaha and GE Superstars of Superkarts race will pit legendary motorcycle road racers Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Doug Chandler, and Kevin Schwantz against each other in 250cc twin-cylinder, two-stroke shifter karts. Also on the track will be regular kart racers, and we figured we’d speak with one of them—55-year-old Larry Kurpiewski
May 31, 2005	Interview with John Farris DC recently did the interview below with AMA Pro Racing Vice President of Commercial Development John Farris, and it appeared in his “Racerhead” column last Friday on www.racerxill.com. Because much of it is relevant to AMA Pro Racing’s current lack of a title sponsor for the AMA Superbike Series, we decided to run it here as well.
May 29, 2005	Slide Show: Alstare Corona Shop With the Silverstone World Superbike round this weekend (and airing on today on Speed Channel, at long last!), we thought we’d get you primed with a slide show from the Alstare/Corona Suzuki race shop, in Belgium....
May 25, 2005	Climbing at night Just in time for next weekend’s Silverstone World SBK round, #155 checks in from the road with an Australian climbing adventure.... By Ben Bostrom
May 24 , 2005	Special: A Fan’s-Eye View For the last couple of years, I have tried to turn motorcycling into a career, and some of the love for the sport had vanished. Thanks to Rudy Landry, a self-confirmed fan-geek, I found the love again at one of the best races in years for the AMA series....
May 20, 2005	BLACK SUNDAY: MAY 20, 1973 This day 32 years ago will forever be remembered as the most tragic day in the history of motorcycle racing. At Monza, Italy, 14 riders crashed in the first turn of the 250cc Italian Grand Prix event, taking the lives of veteran rider Renzo Pasolini and the reigning 250cc World Champion , Jarno Saarinen. Their speed in the Curva Grande, where the crash occurred, was estimated to be 135 miles per hour....
May 20 , 2005	Special: Website and T-Shirts to Benefit Haskovec In order to raise money to help defray the medical costs of M4 EMGO Suzuki racer Vincent Haskovec, a website has been created by Lisa Keating and friends of Vincent . Haskovec suffered serious injuries when he crashed at over 100 mph while racing in the AMA Formula Xtreme class at Sonoma, Californians Infineon Raceway on Saturday, May 14. The Czech racer hit a barrier that was protected only by tires, and his motorcycle struck him as well....
May 20, 2005	Catching up with Hopper For a guy who’s on the same team as he was last year, John Hopkins’ situation is quite a bit different this season. The Team Suzuki rider has a new team manager, a new home, and a new management company. He’s optimistic that the changes will help improve his results in the MotoGP series, as we learned when talking with him in the Suzuki hospitality area at the Estoril MotoGP round.
May 19 , 2005	Infineon Welcomes Becca For the third time this season, Road Racer X has teamed up with www.umbrellagirlsusa.com to field an umbrella girl, this time at the Infineon Raceway round of the AMA Superbike Series. This time, it was the stunning Becca, who joins Candy and Amber on the growing list of ladies who have represented RRX as an umbrella girl. If you were fortunate enough to have your photo taken with Becca, please email the shot to letters@roadracerx.com, and we’ll post it on our website.
May 12, 2005	Guest Editorial: The "Reality" of Road Racing Motorcycles Ryan Teixeira thought Road Racer X could use some more content from the privateer’s perspective, so we asked him to come up with some himself. Fortunately, he called our bluff. Here’s Ryan’s take on what it’s like for a road racing privateer....
May 09 , 2005	Interview: Jason Pridmore We had been planning a story with Jason Pridmore for the July/August issue of Road Racer X, but when the Jordan Suzuki rider suffered serious injuries in a practice crash at Barber Motorsports Park on May 24, those plans pretty much went out the window. Pridmore had ruptured his spleen, lacerated a kidney, and lost a lot of blood, and he actually came within about a half-hour of dying. Pridmore’s early recovery has been nothing short of amazing, though, as the Californian flew home on Friday, April 29, just five days after the crash. That being the case, we decided to see if Pridmore was up for a brief interview ...
May 04, 2005	Final Phase of Construction Begins at Laguna Seca We spoke on the phone Monday with Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Vice President of Marketing Andrew Leisner who, like the rest of the folks there at the Monterey, California, racetrack, is a busy man. The track was fresh off a weekend of hosting the U.S. Sports Car Invitational, and already, bulldozers were beginning the final phase of safety improvements to be concluded before the July 10 Red Bull United States Grand Prix....
May 04, 2005	Editorial: Learning from Baseball, NASCAR … and the U.S. Navy SEALs I was pleasantly surprised to spot a color photo of Mat Mladin atop the San Diego Union-Tribune’s sports section. The banner referred me to the back page, where I found a detailed write-up and several large color pictures. It was the most extensive coverage of an AMA national that I can recall seeing in a major-market newspaper ... Mentally, I chalked up a win for AMA Pro Racing. After all, our sport attracts—at best—a niche audience in the U.S., so we crave attention from the mainstream media ... then I read the text....
May 02, 2005	Amber Takes on Fontana If you were fortunate enough to have your photo taken with the lovely Amber, please email the shot to letters@roadracerx.com, and we’ll post it on our website. If you weren’t so fortunate, keep an eye out for RRX umbrella girls at future AMA Superbike races.
April 27, 2005	The Ambulances are too busy With 75 degree weather and clear sunny skies today, I can say that spring is officially here for us east coasters. This means awesome new bikes and of course new riders as well as those riders that are trying to shake the cobwebs from the long winter we had. But with all that good sunshine comes the unfortunate occasional black cloud....
April 19, 2005	5 Minutes with ... Doug Henry Doug Henry is one of the sport’s most beloved riders. His will and courage in his professional career was remarkable. Countless times it was thought he wouldn’t be able to outdo what he had already done, whether it was the time he broke his back, broke both arms, or became the first four-stroke in modern times to win in supercross (a feat he accomplished in Las Vegas in 1998). Henry always persevered when times were tough, most recently by coming out of retirement to shock the off-road world by winning the first GNCC he ever entered, the notoriously rough Orange Crush GNCC in Florida. We rang up Doug just to see what his plans are, and it looks like we’ll be seeing more of him, as always ...
April 03, 2005	Road Tested The day after the San Francisco supercross, three riders blazed out of town on borrowed motorcycles and in borrowed gear. (Well, two of them blazed; the third—installed on a burly adventure tourer—proceeded at a brisk-but-reasonable pace that facilitated the taking-in of scenery.) Their final destination was the Anaheim 3 supercross, a mere 600-some miles and six days away (six days, as this was meant to be a mellow stroll down the coast, not an Ironbutt rally); the result was “The Motorcycle Diary,” ...
March 30, 2005	Hero Worship Ever wish you could get the chance to hang out with a group of your favorite MotoGP and AMA racing stars? George Shaw (www.divinepenguin.com), the designer of our humble website, recently got the opportunity to do just that in the Great White North, where a group of top riders had traveled to attend a charity event ...
March 29, 2005	SX to RR Seven-time AMA Supercross Champion Jeremy McGrath donned his leathers last Friday to take part in a road race track day at California Speedway. MPTRacing-backed road racer Danny Eslick (fourth-place finisher in the recent Daytona 200) was at the Fontana track, preparing for the upcoming AMA National at the same location. “Yeah, he was out there with a Honda CBR600RR,” Eslick said. “He just had a plain-Jane box van, but his bike had his Timex and FBC logos, and a big number-two on it. I heard he was doing it for some asphalt experience, to get ready for Supermoto ..."
March 16, 2005	i,CANDY RRX Umbrella Girl Candy Keane, on loan from www.umbrellagirlsusa.com, was in the house at Daytona Bike Week. If you had your photo taken with her, email it to letters@roadracerx.com, and we'll post it here.
March 10, 2005	Daytona Preview When we stumbled across Alan Fleming's stellar blog a couple of months ago, we were so impressed that we invited the Colorado resident/computer whiz/hiker/philosopher to pen a preview for Daytona Bike Week's road races. Fleming obliged with this insightful, myth-busting report that all serious road race fans owe it to themselves to check out.
March 3, 2005	5 Minutes with ... Chris Carr Chris Carr is the master of hard left hand turns in the dirt, and he has six AMA Grand National Dirt Track Championships to prove it—his next title defense kicks off next week at Municipal Stadium in Daytona. But before that, Chris is stopping by Tuesday’s Suzuki Grand National Cross Country race to serve as Grand Marshall ...
February 11, 2005	Phriday Photo Pheature Daytona is just a month away, and during yesterday’s road race testing at California Speedway in Fontana, the anticipation was evident. Rain was predicted for today, but here are a few peeks at what was going down.
February 10, 2005	5 Minutes With ... Ozzie Saez Whereas American motocross racers often get started right around the time they learn to walk, Stateside road racing has for the most part been an adult affair. Ozzie Saez is trying to change all that ...
February 7, 2005	Speed's Qatar Coverage Reader John Garza recently alerted us to the fact that the Speed Channel is planning to delay airing of coverage of the opening World Superbike round in Doha, Qatar, from Sunday, February 27, until the following Tuesday afternoon. He also alerted us to a thread on Speed's forum, where a campaign has started an effort to convince Speed to reconsider their decision ...
February 4, 2005	Bostrom and Hayden siblings to hit the mainstream Keep an eye out for the April edition of Men's Journal magazine. Road Racer X has learned that two of American road racing's most famous families—Ben and Eric Bostrom, and Tommy, Nicky and Roger Lee Hayden—recently took part in a photo shoot that will appear as a fashion feature in that magazine ...
January 28, 2005	5 Minutes With ... Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta As the promoter of the world's most popular motorcycle-racing series, Dorna Sports is in an enviable position. However, for over a decade, the Spanish-based company hasn't had a race in the world's biggest motorcycle market. That will no longer be the case after the 2005 Red Bull United States Grand Prix, to be held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on July 10, a turn of events that Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta is very happy about ...
January 10, 2005	5 Minutes With ... Jeff Ward From motocross to supermoto to Indy car racing Jeff Ward has done it all. Now, he's considering entering the Daytona 200 road race this March. RRX editor Chris Jonnum chats with the man some have dubbed "Steve Wise II".
2004 Articles >>