AGV Backmarker: The Midwest & Flat Tracks

Looking toward next season, Kidd’s goals are to hold more events, attract a title sponsor, and reinstitute a points fund. “There’s got to be a pot of gold at the end of the season,” he told me. To make that happen, he knows that the first step is going to be getting more events televised.

As for the title sponsor, he said, “It doesn’t have to be a big-money deal. I think what we’re looking for is a company that realizes this is a diamond in the rough—a company that will really help us to promote events, the way R.J. Reynolds did.” Back in those days, it was widely known as the Camel Pro series.

I asked him about the riders’ and teams’ ability to turn a profit racing—or at least to break even—and he told me that when he was running the Arenacross series, a top rider managing endorsements and contingencies well could earn (along with purse money and points-fund payout at season’s end) $250,000. That would be a big improvement over what flat trackers now make. Kidd cautioned me that, “It can’t all come out of purses. I learned that when I was about 12, watching my parents promote events. The first person that has to earn a profit is the promoter; if that doesn’t happen, we won’t have a series at all.”

No argument there. Anyway, it’s not the only series short on money these days. The rumors I hear are that almost all the racers and mechanics in the AMA Pro Road Racing paddock are still without commitments. One perennial sponsor in the racing industry summed it up this way: “I spoke with an agent the other day who told me, ‘I have nothing going on, for any of my riders,’ and that was a guy who represents world-class talent.” That’s just hearsay evidence of the tenuous state of the road racing business, but it’s scary nonetheless. I suppose most flat trackers would say, “Welcome to my world.” Oh well, there’s nowhere to go but up.

…to even flatter tracks

It’s been a busy period for flat trackers, with the Indy Mile and then Springfield in rapid succession. But it’s been exceptionally busy for up-and-comer James “The Rocket” Rispoli. He’s been running at the front in the single-cylinder Pro class all year, but after Indy, he rushed west to ride in the BUB-sponsored, FIM-sanctioned Speed Trials on the Bonneville Salt Flat.

One of Rispoli’s sponsors, James Benton of Cycle Dynamics, built an amazing-looking bike, powered by a Kawasaki 650cc twin. Benton’s goal was to break a long-standing record for un-faired 650cc motorcycles. The speed to beat (over a two-way average) was 147.471 mph. They also brought along a different seat for the bike, which would allow it to run in the “partially streamlined” class, where another record stood at around 152 mph.

“It’s another world out there,” James told me. “There’s nothing like it; the salt was soft but hard at the same time. You had to have a lot of throttle control to make it stick.”

In their first attempt at the record, they came up .001 mph short. A day or so later, though, James put in a 148.250 run, then backed it up with 149.950. That makes him an FIM Land Speed Record holder.

With that record in the bag, the Cycle Dynamics crew went after the partial streamliner record, and again came up agonizingly short. “It’s a mind game—you wait so long and then the wind picks up and your run’s gone,” Rispoli said. “But I learned a lot. It’ll make me a smarter rider in the draft, it’ll improve my throttle control, and I’ll improve my aerodynamics.”

It’s been a season of victories and near misses for Rispoli, who focused on flat track this year, with the goal of winning the Pro class championship. He was in contention all year, but when the Springfield Mile was rained out, he had to win it or bin it in the short track race. He led eleven of twelve laps, but was passed by Brad Baker going into the final tour. The race and the championship hung in the balance, and Rispoli attempted a last-corner pass of a type you’d more expect to see on a supercross track. It didn’t work, and Rispoli ended up on the ground; he’ll finish the season in second overall.

“I’d really like to focus on road racing fulltime,” he said of his 2010 plans. In any other year, there’d be a few satellite teams sniffing around the 18-year-old. In any case, he’s sure to be back on the salt chasing a few more world records.

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