Road Racerhead #37

For the first time, Road Racerhead falls on this sober day in our nation’s recent history, the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. There’s not anything I can say to suitably acknowledge the occasion, but please take a moment to reflect on that morning eight years ago and to think about the series of events that followed that day. Though it’s just a coincidence, the fact that there’s no elite-level road racing this weekend is somehow appropriate.

It’s also in stark contrast to last weekend, which hosted not only the AMA Pro Road Racing finale (and the attendant year-end awards banquet), but also both a MotoGP round and a World Superbike stop—the stop that saw Ben Spies take over the series points lead. If you know the most recent date prior to this past weekend that an American was atop the World SBK points battle, put it in an email and send it to letters@roadracerx.com. We’ll select one correct answer at random and send the winner an Ogio backpack. Be sure to put “American SBK” in the subject line and to include your full name and address in the body of the email.

That reminds me, the winner of our last trivia contest was Mesa, Arizona’s Matthew Hartlieb, who was one of the many readers who knew that Cameron Beaubier was the Red Bull-sponsored American rider who was making his home Grand Prix debut at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP.

As I said, Spies now finds himself leading the Word Superbike points chase, and although I don’t know if he’s going to earn the title this year, I do know that even reaching this point is a major achievement. There are the obvious facts that the series, tracks, team, bike, and tires are all new to the Texan, but in addition to that, a whole bunch of bad luck (and a few bad decisions) has made his task even more difficult. Simply put, if Ben lands the title this year, he’ll have earned it.

Last week I referenced Yamaha’s press release announcing the re-signing of Spies for two more years, a release that seemed to suggest that he’d definitely be back in World SBK next season. It appears I may not have been reading closely enough. Laurel Allen, who recently spoke with both Spies and Colin Edwards, can explain:

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Thanks, CJ. The press release definitely seemed pretty straightforward on first read (make that press releases, as identical versions were sent out by both Yamaha Racing Communications and the Fiat Yamaha team): “Yamaha Motor Company., Ltd and Yamaha Motor Europe N.V. are delighted to announce that an Agreement has been concluded with Ben Spies for his participation with Yamaha for 2010 and 2011. The program foresees a season in 2010 with the Yamaha World Superbike Team based in Gerno di Lesmo, Italy and a switch to Yamaha’s satellite MotoGP team for 2011.”

The release makes it clear that Yamaha’s first priority for Ben is to have him win the World Superbike title, but while the 2010-WSBK/2011-MotoGP arrangement is spelled out later in the release as well (”I am very happy to say that I will remain a part of the Yamaha family and will continue in the WSB series for 2010,” Ben’s quote reads, “ … and I want to thank them for all they have done, and giving me their trust for a next career step into MotoGP in 2011”) there’s some debate about whether the arrangement is actually that set in stone.

In short, speculation is that the word foresees provides some wiggle room, and that if Ben wraps up the World SBK title this year, he may well just move on over to the Tech3 team sooner rather than later—as in next season. While I was talking to Colin Edwards on the phone last week, he said this: “There’s lots of rumors going on about next year—who’s doing what, who’s going where, but honestly, I would say there’s quite a large chance that we’ll have a ‘Team Texas’ out there next year, with me and Spies on Tech3.

“I think Ben is a little more up in the air, not real sure,” Colin continued, “and obviously they want him to win the championship on the superbike, but they’ve given me an offer on the table, so it’s a matter of basically just saying yes and moving on with it. And for the right company, for the right sponsor, I think it would be a Dream Team situation to have two Texans—two Americans—on the same team. Sky’s the limit, I think—all you’ve got to do is use your imagination. [Ben and I] know each other really well … [and] I think we both look forward to possibly being on the same team together.”

In talking to Ben a few days later, I referenced the Team Texas conversation with Colin and said, “I guess he was a year early with that.” Ben laughed and answered, “Yeah, maybe—we’ll see,” then quickly added, “It’ll be fun when it happens.”

Plenty of room to do your own speculation there (I’m a Team Texas 2010 believer myself, though admittedly that conclusion is heavily influenced by what I’d like to see happen), but with just three rounds left in the World Superbike season, hopefully we won’t have to wait long to find out.

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Thanks, Laurel. It will be fun to see what happens with Spies, and it’s great to have an American at the top of a world championship series. I certainly didn’t predict this level of success, but in a way, it all makes sense when you watch this video.

Spies isn’t the only American World Superbike racer starring in videos this week, but John Hopkins’ clip isn’t nearly as humorous. The Californian’s streak of misfortune and injuries continued at the Nurburgring, where Hopper crashed in a pack of riders and was literally run over. Word is he’s out for the season, and John addressed his fans directly via a video blog. Hang in there, Hopper, and good luck.

Oh, and even I did a little multi-media work this week, as Sports Illustrated writer Tim Tuttle was nice enough to invite me on his always-interesting Race Fan Radio program on Labor Day (click on “On Track On Radio”).

As I mentioned at the top, the discordant 2009 AMA Pro Road Racing season finished up last Sunday, but judging by a WERA forum thread, it seems that some (including a couple of industry heavy hitters) are already growing nostalgic for the animosity. To be completely honest, I don’t have the energy to even comment, except for this: Really, guys, could we not even make it one week into the off-season before renewing the vitriol?

New Jersey Motorsports Park’s first AMA Pro event was a historic weekend, with Mat Mladin calling it a career and no fewer than five wins by riders named Josh (Hayes twice in American Superbike, Herrin twice in Daytona SportBike, and Day in SuperSport). Mladin ends with seven Superbike titles and eighty-two victories—both records by very big margins—and like Troy Bayliss in World Superbike last year, he goes out on top. By all appearances, Mladin couldn’t way to be gone—he was glum in the press conference and gave the awards banquet a pass—and here’s hoping he has a happy retirement.

Danny Eslick, on the other hand, definitely enjoyed clinching his first AMA Pro title, the Daytona SportBike crown that he wrapped up at the New Jersey race. The likeable Oklahoman always wears his heart on his sleeve, and his raw emotion was on display during his cool-down lap; between fist-pumps, one-handed wheelies and burn-outs, and flag-waving, I was as impressed by Danny’s stunting abilities as I was by his obvious joy. Danny hasn’t always gotten the respect he deserved this season—by the press and reportedly even some of his sponsors; no matter what your thoughts are on the Buell 1125R, Eslick enjoys props for racing very hard and putting on a good show. Congratulations to him, to Mat, and to SuperSport champs Ricky Parker (West) and Josh Day (East), whose incredible NJMP battle (which Day one) was both the race of the weekend and a possible preview for the overall SuperSport championship showdown at Daytona next month.

And on to Parker’s country of birth, where MotoGP put on its show last weekend before embarking on an unusual three-week autumn break (a Grand Prix was originally scheduled for Hungary next week, but the track isn’t ready). In some ways, the race was a momentum-shifter. It seems that almost every time Valentino Rossi makes fun of himself, he ends up winning, so Jorge Lorenzo had to be worried when his teammate showed up with a special AGV MyFace lid, that had a donkey’s head in place of his own visage—a nod to the unforced error he made in crashing out of second place in Indianapolis the previous week. Sure enough, Vale was untouchable, notching another victory and taking another step toward his ninth world championship.

It was also a momentum shifter for the Americans, as both Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards were taken out of the race on the first lap by an overzealous Alex De Angelis (who was not only feeling confident following an Indy podium, but who was in front of his home crowd and is trying to land a ride for 2010).

I said above that the racing schedule is light this weekend, but there is some action happening, including both the AMA Racing Road Race Grand Championships at Mid-Ohio and the World Endurance series. The latter series is making its annual Bol d’Or visit in France is this weekend, and with his AMA Pro season behind him, Josh Hayes (who recently got a bit of endurance time in at a WERA event) is joining fellow American Jason Pridmore’s Maco Racing team for the huge event (their teammate is Spaniard Dani Ribalta). Other Americans at the event include Kenny Noyes (of the GSR Kawasaki team, and becoming more and more comfortable with Pirellis) and RRX contributor Will Gruy (who rides for Amadeus X One). While pole went to the Michelin Power Research squad, Noyes’ team is fifth on the grid, two spots ahead of Maco. Good luck to one and all.

In a recent column, I linked to RRX’s very own Scott Wallenberg doing his thing with a Yamaha guitar at the Red Bull Indy GP. Turns out he’s not the only industry veteran with some musical chops; check out Miller Motorsports Park’s John Gardner on the keyboard.

Also, I recently mentioned that Riders for Health raised over $20,000 during their memorabilia auction at the Red Bull Indy GP, but I forgot to say that the item pulling down the most money was a beautiful Valentino Rossi portrait by RRX contributor Andrew Wheeler. Wheeler had the shot, which also appears on the cover of his 2008 season review, printed on canvas, and accompanied it with a sequence of Rossi passing Casey Stoner through Laguna’s Corkscrew last year, and the result was a winning bid of $8,500. That’s one of the highest bids ever during a Riders auction, with the record being a Kenny Roberts Jr. helmet that went for £7000. Congratulations, Andrew, and thanks for doing your part to help out such a deserving cause. (To donate, visit www.riders.org).

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your weekend.