where are they all going?

With the uncertainty of the status of motorcycle roadracing here in the U.S for next season, what are racers going to do? Where are they going to be racing? It seems like no one knows. As we were preparing to go to Laquna Seca for AMA Superbike Finale a couple of weeks ago, we contacted the PR people for the Big4 to line up interview time and as I mentioned before three said interviews are fine but don't bring up politics and one, Suzuki, said no interviews at all. As a matter of fact the PR gal completely ignored us at the track. Oh well.

Yamaha, Kawasaki and Honda have always been helpful and fun to deal with and the PR people and riders have become good friends. When the subject of the current situation of roadracing came up, we were told that the guys are just tired of hearing about it and the truth is no one knows whats going on. In our interview with Honda's Neil Hodgson, we were talking about the off-season, he brought up next year and his quote " God only knows what is going to happen" my response was "and he's not telling"..we both got a chuckle out of that.
So he
re are a couple of things we do know and a couple of rumors and speculations. We do know that Ben Spies is going to World Superbike. He wanted MotoGP but maybe in reality, WSBK is a perfect stepping stone for him. He has a good deal with Yamaha and Valentino's contract runs out in a couple of years, who knows what Ben's next step could be, but I think Ben will be a major force in World Superbike. We do know that Troy Corser is going to BMW and Max Biaggi is going back to Aprilia. We know that Ben Spies is taking Troys seat at Yamaha, but who is taking Max's seat at Sterilgarda Ducati. AND...who is taking Troy Bayliss's ride at Xerox Ducati???

Now, onto rumors and speculations...back in July, we here at The MotoWorld www.themotoworld.com interviewed Erion Honda's Jake Zemke and he came right out and said that he is looking to Europe for a ride next year, and besides that, his wife loves Italy. Josh Hayes has a ride for the end of this year in World SuperSport and finished ninth this past weekend..good for you Josh. That is both Erion Honda riders looking eastward. What is Kevin Erion doing for next year?

Did you watch this last weekend's World Superbike race from Magny Cours, France? More importantly, did you listen? During the broadcast, one of the announcers made a couple of cryptic comments. First was a hint that Noriyuki Haga may be leaving Yamaha to Ducati, could be a good match, could be the one that finally gets the 'perenial bridesmaid' a World Championship that he so richly deserves. That would fill Troy Bayliss's seat, and, I think 'Nitro Nori' is probably only one of a couple that could fill Troy's seat. So, who steps in to fill Hagasan's ride? Well, another comment was made by the Speed TV commentator that there was a possibility that Ben Bostrom may be heading back to the continent. Let's see, he has had a good bit of success in World Superbike, and he is the AMA SuperSport Champion on a Yamaha..a very good fit in my view. But..and this is a very BIG but..Ben Bostrom and Ben Spies as teammates?? Uh...BBoz could be a good teacher helping BSpies get used to the World Tracks, but would he want to? BBoz is highly energized and back in a big way in his racing. He likes winning. Helping out someone else...not so much.

And then there is Jake Zemke. AMA Formula Extreme Champion. He wants to go back to Europe. Jake would be a perfect fit on just about any team. There may be a couple GP teams??? John Hopkins at Kawasaki might be needing a new teammate


The top racers here are still wondering where they are going to race this next season. A few have a pretty good future overseas but at the same time, the World Teams are on a budget like everyone else. You simply can't bring every AMA ex-patriot to Europe.

An interesting time in roadracing here in America. I feel it's almost like a game of chicken

MotoJournalists? Oh yeah...

Here we are, camera and voice recorder in hand and just stoked as can be to be at the race. I have been going to big motorcycle races for a long time and you know what..it never gets unexciting. In the stands, in the pits it doesn't matter..the sights, the sounds, the smells (well,since the end of the 2 strokes the smells aren't quite as wonderful..we don't get the 125's and 250's here in the US..., the tension, it's all great. I love motorcycles and motorcycle racing!

We wandered the pits, the garages all around the track, getting the lay of the land. Miller Motorsports Park is a really great facility. All the staff were friendly and helpful. Our first day was great but not too productive...hey, where are all the racers??? They get off the bike, talk to the technicians and disappear. They come out of the back of the garage, get on the bike and off they go..the cycle repeats itself all day. How do we get to these guys???

Saturday, a new day,back to the media center... more updates, press clippings, schedule changes..this is really work!!?? Down to the track, check out whats going on, over to the Pirelli press conference regarding how to run a 'Spec Tyre' program and learn as much as we can. Back to the media center for more updates and schedule changes and a couple of quick press conferences after qualifying. It's time to figure out how the pro's do it....ask the pro's..duh. After getting some great advice off we go. Well, lets watch a race first.

Next thing you know, we have scheduled interviews with Matt Mladin, Ben Spies, Miguel DuHamel and Neil Hodgson. Cool. Back to the media center to do some research and get ready for interviews. Like I said, this is a job!


Photogs come in between races, upload and download photo's like crazy. Stock up on water and back to the track. Magazine and internet journalists are watching the TV feed and typing away. Posts are sent, notes compared with other writers and catching up with friends. Back to the pit's to get some photo's and see if we can snag an interview or two. Lucky me..After the second WSBK practice session and a bit before Superpole, I got a couple of minutes with Troy Bayliss. A very cool guy...didn't have a great race weekend though. The rest of the afternoon was watching WSBK Superpole and the first of the AMA Superbike race. And..more research. A great day.


Sunday... more press conferences, a lot of racing. In between the races, do the interviews. Three out of four were great and one was good. You can listen to them on our podcast and you choose which one was just OK. The Honda guys were very nice and fun, Matt Mladin took time in between pictures and autographs with everybody and Ben Spies and I hung out at the Suzuki rest area.
Back to the media center...get more updates, watch a bit of the races, catch up with an old racing friend of mine, Evans Brasfield..writer and photog for numerous magazines..and a darn fine WSMC Lightweight Twins racer..I have a great story to tell about racing with Evan at the 2000 WERA 24 hour event at Willow Springs..but that will have to wait for another time...

Well, There you have it. The life of rookie motojournalists. A lot of work..and it's great work. Listen to the podcasts, send me your thoughts paul@themotoworld.com

Now, lets go for a ride...see you on the road

Paul
www.themotoworld.com

The World Comes to Utah

Well,well...what a weekend!! It's been four years since the World SuperBike circus has come to the states and I could hardly wait to see it again. The last time we all saw WSBK was at Laguna Seca and it was great so I've been missing it. In my opinion it is currently the best of the two wheeled racing series. In the AMA it's generally the Ben and Matt Show and everybody else racing for third (this last weekend was a bit different with Jamie Hacking getting his Kawasaki in there for second..well Matt crashed on Saturday and just didn't have the setup going into Sunday...but Hackers Kawa was really fast!!) MotoGP is good this year with Rossi seeming to come grips (no pun intended) with his new 'Stones and the Yamaha developing some more speed and the bloom seems to be coming off Stoner's rose. The racing is good but it can't come up to the surprises WSBK can..like Carlos Checa doing the double this last weekend. And check this out..these were his first wins in ten years!!! It was great to see.

Anyway, this was a very spectacular weekend in all ways. Because of the growing sucess of the Motoworld podcast www.themotoworld.com we decided to apply for media credntials and with the help of John Gardner of Miller Motorsports Park www.millermotorsportspark.com we got them. Thank you John.


Load up the truck with camping gear and all our audio equipment..(uh, a little digital voice recorder, a mic and some headphones...whew, lugging around all that gear can wear a guy out...) and Heather and I are off to Salt Lake City and The World Superbike and AMA Superbike races. We're on way as professionals now..real motojournalists! The drive was easy enough, long but easy. we arrived at the track around midnight only to find the gate to the campground closed..so, camping in the back of the truck it is. A little of Kentucky's finest to ward off the chill and we get a few hours sleep.

Friday morning dawns bright and clear and pretty chilly. Looking like we had slept in the back of a pickup, we pick up our credentials and the weekend begins. After a bit of clean up we make our way to the media center. We are greeted at the door by a very nice young lady who provides us with all sorts media material and told to go ahead a find a space. The Media Center is alive! One hundred people, six languages, 99 laptop computers (we only had our little recorder)and about a million dollars worth of camera gear!!
Needless to say, we were a bit overwhelmed. So after finding a space to call 'The MotoWorld' we scoured the volumes of info and then headed out to the track. What an amazing facility. Lets go find some one to interview for the podcast. Results of our search...check back in tomorrow.
Oh, and listen to the podcast..www.themotoworld.com

See you on the road,
Paul