By Nick Ienatsch

Riders!

Enjoy Motorcycles Forever!

This Is The Key To Long-Term Motorcycling Happiness.   
 

Well trained riders have more fun riding motorcycles for longer.  

The vast majority of motorcycle road racing champions contemplate quitting the sport at some time in their careers. Injury and losing prompt those contemplations. But rather than become another ex-racer, they work harder on their craft. Quitting due to injury is self-explanatory. Pain and expense lead the list of reasons, but embarrassment and family pressure and a loss of points must be added in. Getting beaten is the second reason racers quit and it can be put more simply: Losing isn’t fun.

My Point

Apply this to our entire industry. Crashing is usually tougher on street riders than racers, and not having fun on your new motorcycle prompts you to leave it in the garage. One crash or six months of hardly riding lead to a “showroom condition, selling with riding gear” advertisement in the local want ads.
 

My Experience

Expert rider training changes all this. Whether it’s an hour spent talking with a championship-winning racer around a track map or enrolling in a school that teaches riding at the highest level, this expert advice and approach is the game changer. It’s the industry grower.

How about this for an industry motto: Don’t quit, get expert training.

Expert rider training is the shortcut past the crashes that might teach you a lot if you continue to ride. The problem with learning through trial and error is that the errors can be quite difficult to deal with in this sport. This is not waterskiing. Failing to make a cut behind the boat doesn’t compare with failing to make the downhill right-hand corner with a truck in the oncoming lane. “If you’re not crashing, you’re not learning” is BS!

Expert rider training will help you identify the steps that lead to a crash, the mistakes that finally add up to a loss of traction. The experience of the instructors is passed on to you, allowing you to skip over all the mistakes the instructors have made and seen. It’s a great shortcut.

Don’t Forget Fun

Expert rider training makes riding more fun. Suddenly, and I mean suddenly, improvements are rapid; you can run with your friends on the way to breakfast. That new fast motorcycle becomes a joy to ride rather than sheer terror. You learn to ride your old “pile of crap” quite rapidly and safely. Touring in the rain is no big deal, and when you visit the Alps on a rented BMW you are always in the lead group. You start to think about trackdays and even racing. Your expert-based knowledge seeps into your riding group and all ships rise. Riding is more fun because expert training brings you bike control and a technical approach to this often overly emotional sport.

 
Maybe I’m Wrong

The solution could be antilock brakes. Linked brakes. Traction control. Power modes. Better tires. Improved suspension. But wait… We have all that. What we need to add to all this incredible technological hardware is the rider software, the expert’s approach pre-ride and during the ride. Not just the physical skills used to manage traction and direction, but the focused all-in mental habits that the best bring to their motorcycling. The bikes and tires are getting better and the rider isn’t keeping up. Proper advanced training brings the rider up to the level of the modern motorcycle.

Maybe another motto:​ Rider training keeps riders riding.

You And Yours

Maybe I’m writing this to you, maybe to your brother or neighbor. I’m speaking directly to these people:

1.) The person who came into our sport and found it too difficult or too scary after their initial foray at a new-rider school. Additional training helps solve those mysteries, making riding more comfortable in all situations.

2.) Someone who doesn’t have time to ride anymore—a euphemism for “riding isn’t fun.” Riders who are hooked on motorcycling will always find time to ride.

3.) Riders who are done with the sport and are selling the bike and all their gear. In other words, these riders fell in love with the sport. They bought the bike, the Rossi replica helmet, extra oil filters, and changed the pipe and turn signals. But now they’re done. They are quitting a pastime that captivated them at some point in their lives.

4.) Motorcycle industry workers who don’t ride. They got in this industry because of their two-wheeled passion but now, due to injury/expense/embarrassment or not having fun because they couldn’t safely keep up with their friends, they are just going through the motions at work without the passion of riding. A love of motorcycle riding makes this the best industry in the world, but without that love it’s just another job.

5.) Rider coaches who are burned out. Boost your enthusiasm by attending an advanced school. Your enthusiasm is an important concern to the industry because you are often the first motorcycle professional a new rider will meet, and your love of riding will be contagious while your burned-out attitude will be another reason your students don’t ride after class. Rekindle your love of the sport with an advanced school.

6.) Track riders or road racers who have hit a plateau in their lap times and enjoyment. When you try to go quicker, you run off the asphalt, yet there are riders on the same bike and tires who are going consistently faster. “Why go beat around the track doing the same thing next year?” you ask yourself. Easy to become an ex-rider at that point, but a visit to an advanced riding school will give you a toolbox full of new techniques and approaches. Time at a school will make you faster safer, with increased understanding of how and why.
 

To Be Exact

The fun and safety leave this sport when the motorcycle is poorly ridden. Think of it this way: The motorcycle is designed to work with certain inputs at certain moments by expert development riders working with expert development engineers. If the owner of that motorcycle is riding the bike differently, the bike doesn’t work as well. The faster the owner tries to ride, the larger these discrepancies become. The owner is working with the best advice they have heard or read. Some examples of the poor advice I have seen:

1.) An uncle who has ridden slowly for 40 years will advise “use the rear brake only.” Please don’t listen to your uncle.

2.) A forum writer who lives in Nebraska and rides a Rebel 250 will tell you trail-braking is not necessary. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet, especially on forums.

3.) A rider who races but crashes too often will tell you to “flick that thing in there.” Obviously his simplified view of proper corner technique is serving him well. Right?

4.) A passionate rider who really cares but doesn’t have the background posts “training” videos on the internet and advises downshifting for corners and not braking. Passion does not equal knowledge.

5.) You hear, “Power through the corner.” Not every corner.

6.) You read, “You should be accelerating or braking.” What about between those two?

7.) “When in doubt, gas it.” Not always.

8.) “To tighten your line, accelerate.” Dead wrong.

9.) “Don’t use the brakes at lean angle.” One hundred-percent wrong.

10.) “Don’t touch the rear brake.” Wrong again.

11.) You’re convinced that all you need is more seat time, more laps, and that “practice makes perfect.” However, the best rider coaches know that “practice makes permanent,” so riding more miles with poor technique is not the path to improvement, it’s only the path to grooving your mistakes.

12.) You believe that the rider you are now is the rider you will always be. Wrong! Expert-level riding is logical, explainable, and learnable. The expert coaches in this country have enormous faith in every rider’s ability to learn advanced techniques.

Help Fix Two Other Issues

Students who attend advanced training schools are hit with how seriously good riders take their riding. Not only does this message come through loud and clear from the instructors, but the entire class is extremely intent on riding better. They are also hit with the safety of a racetrack when compared to the street. This helps with two vital issues:

1.) Speed choices on the street. A rider who has been to a track-based school and seen what “fast” really means looks at the immovable objects surrounding most public roads and curbs their street speed accordingly.

2.) Alcohol involvement. An advanced riding school stresses the vital importance of rider inputs and approaches in terms of safety, so drinking alcohol before or during a ride becomes as intelligent as riding blindfolded. Alcohol is involved in 25-to-50 percent of motorcycle accidents (depending upon whose stats you read) but riders with advanced training become focused on eliminating anything that is so sure to cause an error.

Riding advice is everywhere but know this: At the limit, which could be setting your personal best lap time at the track or entering a downhill, blind corner in the rain on a road you’ve never seen before, the rider’s actions must be precise and accurate. Poor technique based on flawed advice gets painful when the pace is up or the traction is down. In those moments, expert-level riding instruction will equip you for survival and triumph.

Notice that I haven’t written, “Expert riding instruction will prevent you from crashing again.” That’s the goal of every professional riding instructor, but not a guarantee. But here is a guarantee: If you crash after expert riding instruction, you will get up off the ground knowing what went wrong. You will be able to review the pre-crash action and form a plan to not repeat that series of actions. That keeps riders in the sport.

Expert riding instruction equips riders with the tools and outlook to continue to coach themselves into a constantly improving rider or racer. These students become technical riders rather than emotional riders. Their initial fascination with motorcycles grows into a lifelong passion because they stay healthy.
 

Summary

The American motorcycle industry isn’t growing and there are many opinions as to why. Blame is going to video games, millennials, a risk-free society, and not enough beginner bikes. But here is my provable belief: Motorcycling in America isn’t growing because riders don’t get the advanced training necessary early in their riding careers. To put this in our earlier parlance: The new riders aren’t riding the bikes as the bikes are designed to be ridden. That’s simply not much fun—scary, in fact.

ChampSchool is working to evolve rider training in America. We ask that the industry join us in pushing riders toward advanced training, whether through promotions like the free driving school you get when you buy a Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicle, or continued support of schools who provide the necessary curriculum to make riders consistently safer.

The information is out there, and it is the job of the motorcycle industry to get riders into these programs. We can guarantee our long-term future by developing expert riders early in their riding careers.

Join us by pushing yourself, your friends, and any rider you know to increase the safety and enjoyment of motorcycling by taking advanced riding instruction from a source you trust. Well-taught advanced instruction has never failed to make riders safer and happier—and faster, if you care about that. Safe, happy riders grow our industry.

If you haven’t had advanced riding instruction, you don’t know how truly amazing riding a motorcycle can be. Yep, I mean that.

How about this motto on every motorcycle classified-ad site: Don’t sell your bike and quit, get trained.

The post Is The Key To Long-Term Motorcycling Happiness Rider Training? appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

Riding motorcycles has always been inherently dangerous. Although safety has improved with better tires, suspension, traction control, and riding gear, the laws of physics still apply when things go wrong. Be it on the track, street, or dirt, fellow riders are often are the first ones to arrive on scene when somebody crashes. And since emergency medical professional may not always be nearby, there are steps rider can take to improve the situation, or at least attempt to prevent further injury until paramedics arrive.

As a career firefighter/paramedic, an AFM racer, and an instructor with a track-day provider, my fellow instructors and recognized the need to develop simple approaches to being more than just bystanders–and actually assist in a emergency medical response.

Even though we developed our approaches for track-day situations, they can also apply to your street or trail riding. The goal is to get the injured rider stabilized, initiate basic life support, and have them ready for transport as soon as possible in order to maximize their overall outcome. In the emergency medicine world, we have a goal called The Golden Hour–getting a trauma victim to definitive care within one hour of the injury. Following these steps before paramedics arrive can shorten the on-scene time for the injured rider, increasing their chance of survival. Keep in mind the physician’s Hippocratic Oath of “first, do no harm,” which is important because many injuries to crash victims actually occur after the initial incident; we want to minimize the chance of further injury. 

The first step is to understand and assess the initial scene and plan an approach. There are three priorities when dealing with a downed rider, with the first priority being you. You need to make sure you are safe and that your bike is located in an area where the both of you do not end up becoming bowling pins should another rider come through, grab a handful of brakes, and crash into you. Target-fixation is a real thing, and it is not uncommon for riders to be distracted and crash themselves when approaching an incident. Walk backwards towards the incident if you must, or have a fellow rider watch for traffic, but make sure your safety comes first.

The second priority is making sure your fellow riders and bystanders do not become part of the incident. And the third priority is the downed rider; this may sound callous, but it is there for good reason–to make sure you do not expand the incident, creating more injuries and diverting medical resources from the initial accident.

As you approach the downed rider, you can gain perspective of the potential injuries by looking at their position, the damage to the motorcycle, and the damage to any trackside objects that may have been hit (“furniture,” as some Irish road racers would call it). The rider’s position combined with the collateral damage of the incident will tell you the “Mechanism of Injury,” a medical term to indicate what probable injuries may have occurred. For example, if a rider low-sides and takes a header into the tire wall, the Mechanism of Injury would tell us we could expect head and neck injuries.

As we approach the rider, we want to look at their movements, which can give you an indication of injuries. Are they favoring an arm or a leg, are they moaning, are they moving in a rational manor, or are they disoriented and asking repetitive questions?  Most riders, especially newer ones, will lie on the ground for a moment to collect themselves; experienced riders and racers will often jump up and look at their bike to see how damaged it is, even when they have sustained injuries. Many racers have experience with injuries, so the shock factor is not so high following a crash.

If you are an instructor at a track-day event, make eye contact with a cornerworker and let them know what resources you need. This is where it is important to know what hand signals are used at each track so you can communicate the need for a red flag and/or an ambulance, or if there is oil on the track. Having a good relationship with track staff is essential during an unexpected event. 

Once we make contact with the injured rider, we typically will not move them. The rare occasions when we will move a rider is if their airway is compromised or if further injury will occur from their current position; but most of the time, we do not move a downed rider.

Next, we follow the basics of Airway, Breathing, and Circulation, or “ABCs.”  For our purposes we are just assessing to see how well the rider is managing their airway and how effective their breathing is. There are really only two occasions where we will immediately remove a rider’s helmet–if their airway is blocked in some manner, or if they are vomiting. This is a very delicate procedure, as you can cause further neck injury when removing a helmet if it is not done correctly.  That being said, a neck injury is irrelevant if the person dies from not being able to breath. This is one of those exercises you want to practice beforehand. With a quick internet search, you can find a number of online tutorials on how to properly remove an injured rider’s helmet.

The circulation piece for our purposes is basically looking at their skin signs; the big red flag is if they are pale and sweaty. When you are in full leathers lying in the dirt at Buttonwillow Raceway in the middle of August, even a healthy person will be sweaty, but a combination of someone looking pale with profuse sweating can be in indication that the person is going into shock.

The next step is to assess their mental status or “Level of Consciousness;” this is done by asking four basic questions, “What’s your name? What happened? Where are you? What is the date?” If they answer all four questions correctly, we have determined that they are “alert and oriented times four.” This is important to relay to paramedics when they arrive. This line of questioning is used universally among emergency medical personnel, so they will immediately understand what you are telling them.

If you are dealing with a disoriented rider, this can be one of the more challenging scenarios. First, this is an indication of a head injury, which is bad. Secondly, they are rarely cooperative, so you can expect erratic and even combative behavior, repetitive questioning, strange requests, denial of any injury, and most of the time they are going to insist on taking their gear off regardless of what you tell them. We do not want to restrain people in this situation, we want to do our best to calm them down and keep them from injuring themselves further.

Dealing with non-head-injury situations can be easier; our goal with these riders is to simply stabilize their injuries. This is typically done by holding the injured appendage in the position you found it. If you can feel a pulse at the wrist or ankle, great, this tells you that whatever fracture they may have has not severed or blocked an artery. Stabilizing an injury goes the same for head, neck, and back injuries. With this situation we want to hold the person’s helmet in the position we found them, assuming their chin is not pressed against their chest and blocking their airway. Let the injured rider know what you are doing; our goal is to prevent movement of the head that can further injure their spine. Imagine a bowling bowl attached to the end of a broomstick; moving that bowling ball is going to have an immediate effect on that stick, and we want to keep them both from moving. This can be done by kneeling down by the rider’s head and placing your hands on each side of their helmet; this is referred to as “holding c-spine.”  Make sure you are comfortable because you are going to be there for a while.  Once you hold an injury in place whether it is an arm, leg, or head, you do not let go until you can hand it off to a paramedic.

Bleeding injuries are another challenge. In these situations we want to apply direct pressure to the area to stop the bleeding. If the wound continues to bleed, you can attempt to elevate the appendage above the level of the heart, but this must be done with care to ensure you are not moving the arm or leg in a manner that will injure the rider.

Should it occur, the worst-case scenario is when a rider is in cardiac arrest. We often assume this is from a traumatic injury from a crash, but of the few I have encountered at the racetrack the majority were the result of medical conditions such as a stroke or heart attack. Regardless, if you are trained in CPR, which you really should be for a lot of reasons, you can begin resuscitation efforts. And whether you are trained in CPR or not, it is critical that you get help on the way immediately. 

Now that we have done what we can for our fellow rider, we are going to hand them off to the arriving paramedics. The paramedics do not need a long story as to what happened, and they will likely blow you off if they feel you are distracting them from the rider, so your simple goal is to tell them who the rider is, their age, their level of consciousness, extent of their injuries and what you have done.  For example, “This is John, he is 36 years old, alert and oriented times three, complaining of left leg pain, it appears his leg is broken at the ankle, we have held his leg in place and kept his head from moving by holding c-spine since he isn’t able to answer all of our questions and we’re worried about a head injury.”  The paramedic will thank you and let you know if they want you to keep holding the leg and the head. With this information, the paramedics have a head start on their patient assessment, reducing their on-scene time and you have prevented further injury by stabilizing John.  Great job!

Ultimately, a rider critically injured in a motorcycle crash needs definitive care from a surgeon. Your goals are to maximize the rider’s chance of both survival and to minimize injury. Utilizing basic life support skills, you can give riders that chance. I hope this has been helpful. Be safe and always ride with the best gear available!

About the author: Clive Savacool has been an AFM racer and a riding instructor with Carters@theTrack since 2008 on the west coast; he won an AFM Expert-class championship in 2019. Savacool has competed in several professional races including the 2014 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Savacool’s experience in the fire service began in 1996 in the San Francisco Bay Area and he recently left the position of Fire Chief for the City of South Lake Tahoe to be CEO of the software company LogRx. For more information on rider first aid, Clive can be contacted at savacool71@gmail.com

The post Rider First Aid: When A Rider Crashes appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

By Elisa Gendron Belen

Will the new FIM Women’s World Championship be a viable class that will attract the best women racers in the world?  It remains to be seen.  To date, the best women in the world have taken their talent to the “co-ed” classes to compete. Frankly, there have been few, if any, opportunities for the best women to compete against each other in a class open to any woman who wants to enter, qualify and race…on the homologated machine of her choice.  Even the new FIM Women’s World Championship does not completely address this, as there is an application process and a one-manufacturer spec grid. 

While I applaud Royal Enfield and the organizers for putting together the Build. Train. Race. series to showcase women and attract them to the sport, it is limited to riders who are selected through an application process, and obviously to one manufacturer/model.   This is not unlike Italika Racing’s International Latin American Women’s Cup that I personally competed in for the past three seasons.  There is also a selection process for the women competitors and again, a single manufacturer/model to ride.  Neither of these series allows for an “open” qualifying opportunity on a variety of homologated machines, which could possibly increase the size of the grids and draw talented women racers from the “co-ed” classes.

In spite of the one manufacturer limitation and application process, there does seem to be some excitement building for the FIM Women’s World Championship, which is marketed as a series that will attract and highlight the talents and abilities of the best female racers around the world. There are high hopes among promoters, teams, racers and fans that the series will finally provide the long-awaited platform that top female road racers have been looking for to showcase their talents on a global stage.

The women will be racing the Yamaha R7 motorcycle in this 12-race spec-class championship and will compete at six European rounds of the FIM Superbike World Championship. The pitch of this single manufacturer/model spec-class is that the promoter-mandated standardized equipment will ensure that the machines are similar in power delivery and handling so that no one machine has a competitive advantage, and the series will therefore exhibit the talent of the individual racer.  But there is also a risk to a series completely dependent on one manufacturer for support.

Women from series such as ASRA, WERA, MotoAmerica, Italika Racing, and the European Women’s Cup are preparing to go and compete in this inaugural year of the championship.

Of course, many uncertainties remain regarding the organization of the series and the level of competition it will attract. 

While there have been opportunities for women to race in women’s championships before, generally they have not garnered the validation or respect of the racing community at large and many women racers have chosen to avoid them all together in an effort to move further in their careers.  There are, in fact, some very fast women riders on the MotoAmerica grid that have publicly stated their lack of interest in a women-only series.  Likewise, the fastest women racers in Europe have also generally competed in the traditional “co-ed” classes.

The FIM Women’s World Championship hopes to accomplish what others have not and establish a series where the women’s championship can be taken seriously and enjoyed by fans of the road racing world community. While this will still be a learning year for the championship and its organizers, it is important to the series that their riders are marketed and approached as seriously as any men’s championship. Many women’s championships have struggled to establish validity within the racing community which, as noted previously, has turned women racers away from participating in those competitions. 

Women road racers have long had to forge a path for themselves in the heavily male-dominated world of motorcycle racing. The small number of women racers have often led to very few women on the grid at professional race events, if at all. The hopes are high that with World Superbike taking up the effort, that a new era for women racers is just beginning.

Elisa Gendron Belen competes in the MotoAmerica Jr. Cup class on her Karns Performance Kawasaki Ninja 400 and is a Sport Management major with minors in International Studies and Language & Culture at St. John Fisher University. Elisa also works with both KYT Helmet Americas and Chicken Hawk Racing as a customer service representative.

The post Opinion: A New Era For Women In Road Racing? appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

By David Swarts

It seems like only yesterday it was 1998 and I was the new guy in the paddock of America’s premier motorcycle road racing series, trying to suppress my inner fanboy while interacting with the stars of the day while keeping my eyes and ears open to learn from those who came before me.

Now, when I when I walk through the pits, very few of those same faces remain and I’m not sure if there are any younger people interested in what I have to say. But I can tell you that most of the important things are much better with MotoAmerica running the series, than they were in the past.

For starters, it’s easier than ever to watch the races you want, whenever you want, on whatever device you want, from a smartphone to a tablet to a laptop to a huge TV. I remember staying up until 2:00 a.m. back in the 1990s to watch a premiere broadcast of an AMA Pro Superbike race that had happened days (if not weeks) prior. If you were lucky you could also catch a broadcast of a Supersport race, but watching a full-length race of any other class was unheard of.

Now, thanks to MotoAmerica investing in its own in-house TV production, fans can watch traditional live broadcasts of most races and many classes on cable networks like FOX Sports 1 and MAVTV as well as digital streaming platforms like YouTube. Fans can watch every race live and uninterrupted via the MotoAmerica Live+ subscription streaming service, which also provides on-demand viewing of all the races.

Then there are seemingly constant replays of all the races on MotoAmericaTV and MTRSPT1, which is a channel available for free through most TV streaming services and available to 100 million households. This TV package has made the series very valuable to stakeholders, and there’s no better evidence than the Rahal Ducati Moto team coming into the series with non-endemic sponsors.

Broadcasting races live across the world requires a time-definite schedule. This means that if Superbike Race One is supposed to go green at 3:12 p.m. local time, the race needs to actually start at 3:12 p.m. local time.

This is not a new concept, but before MotoAmerica took over, it seemed like other groups running professional road racing in America could not consistently execute a time-definite schedule. The MotoAmerica staff carefully crafts each weekend’s schedule to include time buffers that can be used to soak up unexpected delays and get back on schedule quickly. And officials keep riders and teams informed of schedule changes via direct radio communication and even a new app.

Not only are MotoAmerica staff members good at making and keeping schedules, they are also good at officiating. While perfection is very difficult to attain, the making and enforcing of the rules under MotoAmerica is still light years ahead of where it’s been in the past. It wasn’t long ago that races–and even Championships–were ruined by bogus jump-start calls determined by the movement of a single pixel on a video replay, and there were even instances of race officials making up completely new rules and procedures in the middle of race weekends.

Now MotoAmerica follows the lead of FIM procedures, so rules are usually set in place well in advance and remain stable for long periods of time; violations of rules and the sanctions issued to riders and teams are made public; and those who are accused of breaking rules have set procedures they can follow to appeal decisions and sanctions. And aside from some technical issues that require special testing, the appeal process can be handled at the racetrack before the weekend is over.

Whether it be questions about scheduling, rules, sanctions, or other topics, it wasn’t long ago, a rider or team representative asking a race official a simple question often resulted in a demoralizing lecture, questioning of personal integrity, insults, shouting matches, and seriously poor customer service. Most teams and racers spend lots of money for the opportunity to race, and to have the people running the races yell at you for no good reason is hard to take.

In my personal experience, MotoAmerica staffers have been very approachable, open, and honest when asked questions in even the most uncomfortable situations. Again, perfection is hard to attain, but many of the MotoAmerica officials currently in place were working in the paddock during the bad old days and were impacted by some very poor decisions made by their bosses, and they do not want to repeat that cycle.

Last but certainly not least, safety. As Editor John Ulrich often reminds us, back in the day if riders asked for some haybales so they wouldn’t die if they crashed in a particular corner, they were often rudely told in no uncertain terms that they should get off the property if they didn’t like how things were being run. Over the years, acceptable safety standards slowly improved, but with most racetracks designed without motorcycles in mind, hard barriers remained a serious hazard and the only really good answer was getting Airfence.

That’s why in 2001 Ulrich founded the Roadracing World Action Fund (RWAF) and started raising money to purchase and deploy Airfence and Alpina soft barriers at racetracks to help reduce injuries (and the severity of injuries) when racers crashed. But even then, past regimes running America’s premier motorcycle road racing series often treated the Airfence as an afterthought at best, and a burden at worst. Officials had to be convinced to deploy enough soft barriers, coached on where to deploy them, and frequently ignored advice on placement from riders. And they had to be closely monitored on how they handled and maintained the pricey soft barriers.

Now, MotoAmerica has a group of hard-working, trained staffers who transport, maintain, repair, deploy, and monitor the largest single fleet of soft barriers in the United States in a very effective and efficient manner. MotoAmerica staff members seek input from the most experienced racers in the paddock (including RWAF consultant Josh Hayes and RWAF representative Chris Ulrich) to improve deployment strategies and avoid compromise when it comes to safety. In fact, the MotoAmerica staff’s ability to deal with safety issues like fluid and debris clean-up and rider health concerns is unprecedented in the history of American motorcycle road racing.

For instance, it’s crazy to think that not long ago there was no such things as a Chief Medical Officer, a medical doctor who travels with the series and works directly with riders and treats their injuries, both incurred on and off the track. But MotoAmerica has had a Chief Medical Officer for years and usually has two doctors at the track at all times.

These are just a few of the positive differences that fans may or may not notice when they watch MotoAmerica races as opposed to American races in the past, but the riders certainly do notice. Another perspective on this comes from Hayes, the four-time AMA Pro Superbike Champion and all-time AMA Pro/MotoAmerica race win leader, who won his first AMA Pro racing at Daytona in 1999.

“A lot of times when we showed up at the races [during past eras] we didn’t feel we had a voice with the people who were in charge, and so it was a caustic atmosphere very often,” said Hayes. “The people who were running the show and the people who were in the show were not seeing eye-to-eye. There wasn’t a good line of communication, and things were very difficult.

“Then came the MotoAmerica era. They had people from a different time in motorsports who were running the show and listened to us. From a rider’s standpoint, we were listened to a lot more. The show and rider safety, in some respects, were greatly improved. Decision making fell into a more normal, common-sense way. But the big thing was feeling like we had a voice.

“[MotoAmerica] decided early on that we would not go to a racetrack where we could not ride in the rain. That was one of the huge things right off the bat. We ended up losing some racetracks that we really loved, but we had gotten to the point where we had to cancel races because of rain and what that did to fans, teams, and everyone else involved was just bad.

“I think overall the fan experience is second-to-none in motorsports. Road racing can be difficult to spectate because you can only see a small portion of the racetrack from any given point. So having Jumbotron TV screens at every event for fans to be able to watch all of the action, was a key thing MotoAmerica brought.

“Some people complain that manufacturer support in sportbike classes has decreased from what we would consider the heyday was. But the top level MotoAmerica guys are still top-level guys anywhere in the world. So, we still have really high-level racing with world-class riders here in MotoAmerica. We don’t quite have the depth [of talent] that we used to, but we’re bringing in younger riders, much younger than we did back in the day, and getting them involved in the sport earlier, which is good for the future.”

When MotoAmerica took over professional motorcycle road racing in 2015 it was like the toxic fog that had enveloped the paddock lifted, and the sun finally came out. MotoAmerica’s leadership made an immediate impact with how they ran races and listened to stakeholders. Now, as it enters its 10^th season in 2024, MotoAmerica continues to stick to those endearing core characteristics while continuously improving the series for all parties involved, including the undercover fans working in the paddock, and enabling growth in the future.

The post Opinion: MotoAmerica Has Made Road Racing Better appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

Three Reasons Why The Rahal Ducati Moto Team Is So Important For MotoAmerica

by Michael Gougis

You could say that it’s just another team in the MotoAmerica paddock, two more bikes on the grid in a support class.

But that misses just how much the entry of the Rahal Ducati Moto Team means to MotoAmerica. Having series President Wayne Rainey on hand for the intro at the iconic Petersen Automotive Museum (a must-visit if you are ever in Los Angeles) is just one indication of how much the new Rahal team means to the series.

Here are three reasons why this announcement means so much to fans of motorcycle road racing in the United States:

1 – Team Rahal’s status and presence in the racing community is massive. I had a straight-up fan boy moment at the news conference when I went to get coffee and realized that Bobby Rahal himself was standing next to me. For those of you who are four-wheel illiterate, Bobby Rahal is an Indy 500 winner and a three-time CART/Indy Car Champion as a driver and a two-time winner of the Indy 500 as an owner. Son Graham Rahal, who is operating the motorcycle team, is a six-time IndyCar race winner who’s found a fair bit of success racing sports cars as well.

Why does this matter? Exposure. The Rahal clan brings attention, wherever it races. They are not just well-known but well respected, in the business world and in the racing world. Bobby Rahal served in a managerial position in the Jaguar Formula One team and was an interim president of the Championship Auto Racing Teams sanctioning body that ran open-wheel racing in the U.S. for decades. Rahal’s IndyCar team has David flippin’ Letterman as one of its owners, and his sports car team is the factory partner of BMW. Team Rahal has connections in racing, knows who to call to get things done, and operates at the highest levels of publicity and professionalism.

It would be hard to find a name that attracts more attention in North American racing than Rahal. The organization brings with it an audience that already follows road racing, admittedly on four wheels rather than two. That means exposure where Team Rahal goes, and the team is going racing with MotoAmerica. Good for everyone.

2 – Team Rahal knows what it is doing when it goes racing.

Graham Rahal pointed out, for example, that the team’s personal and in-depth interactions with Öhlins suspension equipment and personnel goes back decades. They know how to go racing, and when they show up, it’s a professional operation from the ground up. You don’t take 88 podiums at the highest level of American open-wheel racing over 17 years, as Bobby Rahal has, by accident. And Graham Rahal said the team chose to go into the Supersport class with the Ducati Panigale V2 because it could start with a bike in the showroom of one of its Ducati dealerships and make a simple, direct business case for racing on Sunday and selling on Monday. Racing is a business for him.

That works best when you’re running up front. And the initial impression is that Rahal Ducati Moto is putting together an operation capable of running at the front. Hiring Ben Spies as Team Principal is an example of how much effort Rahal is putting into the project. Spies, a MotoGP race winner, multi-time AMA Superbike Champion and Superbike World Champion in his one and only season in the series, has experience at the highest levels of International motorcycle road racing competition. As a rider, Spies knows what it takes to get to the front. Team Rahal is hiring that experience to get it out of the blocks as fast as it can.

Bobby and Graham Rahal aren’t gentleman investors looking to back a team in a sport that they enjoy. For Team Rahal (like Team Hammer) professional racing is its day job. Having a team like that in the paddock forces everyone to up their game. Again, good for everyone.

3 – New sponsors and a multi-year deal are good for the entire paddock. Racing Editor Chris Ulrich wrote recently that baggers were good for professional racing in the U.S., in part, because those were teams spending money on going racing. People get paid to work for teams on racebikes. Team uniforms get purchased. Dunlop sells more tires. You get the idea.

Team Rahal is bringing in XPEL film protectants as a title sponsor. And the plan is to spend 2024 in Supersport, then move up to Superbike in 2025 if all goes well. It’s a multi-year deal, so that means money coming into the paddock for years to come. Good for everyone.

The post MotoAmerica: Three Reasons Why The Rahal Ducati Moto Team Is Important appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

By Harry Klinzmann

Today marks 20 years since David Emde passed away way too soon. David was my very dear, closest friend while we were racing in the ’70s and ’80s. We always traveled together because David didn’t like his dad Floyd’s smelly cigars while traveling together with his dad and his mom Florence. So, I had David living 24/7 at my parents’ house in Garden Grove, California. I had David helping at my family’s restaurant Mr. Al’s as much as possible as a line chef. My dad, Mr. Al himself, really enjoyed cooking with David because he listened to the instructions and I didn’t.

Mom and Dad loved David staying with us very much, and I believe Floyd and Flo liked David staying with us as well.

Boy, David and I did party a lot as well. Always chasing the ladies around. Then I thought, “Let’s send David to collect money on our arcade machines?” He loved doing that but found out real fast how heavy $5,000 weighs in quarters for the bank deposit. I was laughing so hard watching David lift a bag of quarters and sitting there at the bank waiting for the teller to count them. It took David days to do the five routes we had and after a few months David told me, “I’m sorry, but I’d rather cook.”

LMAO. Anyhow, we were brothers over the years. I did offer to paint David’s bikes, but I told David, “You gotta help sanding.” So, he helped with everything, but then he did it by himself.

I was so glad to have him staying with me over the years, and we learned off of each other. Such a kind person. There was nothing we couldn’t do as friends.

Oh, all the stories I could tell. It would be days of writing. Some day soon I will write a book, with someone’s help probably.

I miss my brother David as many of us do. It broke my heart in racing when first Mark Jones and Hugh Humble passed away. Then John Bettencourt, Jimmy Adamo, and the list goes on.

Life is so short. I am going on 65 next month, and I know my time is probably coming soon, but I am glad to still be here to share found memories of my life and wouldn’t change it in anyway. But not having David around has been a very hard blow.

RIP, my brother. I’ll be seeing you in Heaven, and then we all can race on.

HK31

The post Harry Klinzmann Remembers David Emde, 20 Years Later appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

By Misti Hurst

Ashton’s FIM MiniGP Canada win

On Sunday, I watched my 14-year-old son, Ashton Parker, win the final race of the FIM MiniGP Canada Series, and it was more exciting and emotion-filled than anything I ever felt when competing in road racing.

I couldn’t even process the emotions colliding in my head as I watched the race. Unless you have kids yourself, it’s nearly impossible to convey the depth of love you have for a child.  You’d do anything to protect your children, except you can’t.

I taught him to ride his first dirt bike at four years old and took him mini road racing at six. I’ve picked him up and dusted him off more times than I can count. I’ve wiped tears, spent nights at the hospital, and put in hundreds of travel miles just so the kid can race.

Sometimes I question why I do it. The long, hot, exhausting days, the early mornings, the packing and unpacking and loading and unloading, making food, buying water, registering for races, organizing, logistics, and hours and hours of driving.

But then I experienced a day like Sunday. It was absolutely priceless, and I mean it. I watched him come into his own over the weekend when he listened to me as “Coach Misti” instead of just “Mom” and spent time improving his riding. I watched him discover a new ability within himself. I watched him realize that coaching helps.

He got the fastest time in one of the practice sessions, and that caused a spark to form, a belief in himself that maybe he could win, that maybe he did deserve to be there as much as the other kids.

Then I watched him ride like a bat outta hell.  He was several bikelengths from the two leaders, Ben Hardwick and Michael Galvis, when Lincoln Scott, in fourth place, passed him to take over third.  Ashton didn’t like that and grabbed the position back with a sly pass.

Then it was as if someone lit a fire under his arse.  He put his head down and turned some of the fastest laps of the race to close the gap before pulling an insane pass on Hardwick and Galvis into the tight left hairpin off the front straight.  I was terrified, proud, excited, and shocked that he was now winning the race!

Everything in my entire being wanted him to love that moment. I know what it feels like, I silently tried to tell him as I shook my fists and yelled, “Common kid, you’ve got this!” We were in the stands, and I wanted him so badly to feel all the emotions of what it’s like to lead and win a motorcycle road race.  I felt so much pride that he was mine and that I
KNEW what he was experiencing, even though there was also so much fear. Fear he might get hurt, fear he might NOT win. No mom wants her son to feel disappointment and heartache.  I wanted him to win so badly I could hardly contain my excitement.

He rode incredibly, from a coach’s, a racer’s and a mom’s perspective and took the win like a boss.  As the stands erupted, we all screamed for him and jumped up and down before I ran to hug him and congratulate him.  To see such growth, maturity, race-craft,  determination, and some super-talented riding in my kid made me the proudest mom in the world.  There really is nothing better than sharing your passion with your children and watching them experience success, especially in something as cool and exciting as motorcycle road racing!

The post More From FIM MiniGP Canada: A Kid And His Mom Go Racing appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

By Misti Hurst

It was quite a surprise to discover that the first FIM MiniGP Canada Race series event, a doubleheader no less, was taking place at my local go-kart track, Greg Moore Raceway in Chilliwack, British Columbia, in just two days.  I’d never even heard about the series before that. How was that possible?

I read about it on the Pacific Coast Mini Roadracing Club’s (PCMRC) Facebook page and immediately set out to find more information. An online link sent me to the Super Sonic Road Race School website run by Toni Sharpless, where I learned that she was responsible for planning, organizing and getting FIM approval for this exciting new Canadian series. It would be the first-ever FIM-sanctioned road racing event in the province of British Columbia and the first time Canada would participate in the FIM World MiniGP Series.

“After three years of building, all of us at the Super Sonic School are super excited FIM road racing is coming to Canada!” Sharpless said. “The FIM MiniGP Canada series is the crucible for young Canadian athletes to develop their skills and dream of MotoGP.”

In Canada, riders are eligible to race in the national Canadian Superbike Series (a.k.a. CSBK) when they reach the age of 14. With limited opportunities for younger kids to practice and race on pavement, Canadian athletes are dropping behind world leaders in road racing.

Sharpless wants to introduce more young people to the sport of road racing, give more opportunities to young up-and-coming racers and bring the same kind of training and support to Canadians that exists in the rest of the world. Her ultimate goal is to see the Canadian flag waving proudly above podiums at World Championship events.

Toni Sharpless

Sharpless is an accomplished Canadian motorcycle racer and industry professional herself, and her racing background is impressive.  The oldest of three children of Hall of Famer Bill Sharpless, she began riding at just six years old.  At 9, she started ice racing, becoming the national junior class champion and the first woman to win a Canadian Motorcycle Association Championship before moving to road racing in her 20s.

She received the British Empire Motor Club’s historic Kaye Don Trophy, awarded for “the most meritorious high-speed performance on a motorcycle,” and in 1987 Sharpless and Kathleen Coburn both qualified for and finished in the prestigious Daytona 200, which led to them racing the Suzuka 8-hour, part of the FIM Endurance World Championship Series over the next four years, and extending to rides in the historic Bol d’Or 24-hour and Le Mans 24-hour races in France (finishing 9th in France).

In 2009 Toni was honored with the Canadian Woman of Influence Award presented by the Motorcyclists Confederation of Canada, and in 2011 was inducted into the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame. She continues actively pouring her heart and soul into motorsports with her Super Sonic Road Race School, the Canadian MiniSBK Championship Series, and now the inaugural FIM MiniGP Canada Series.

The Series

The FIM MiniGP Canada Series with Pirelli and Motul support is a six-round, 12-race season stretching across the country with four races in Ontario, one in British Columbia and one in Alberta. Each weekend consists of two or three featured, 12-lap races and is wrapping up on August 6th at Lombardy Raceway in Ontario.

Racers aged 10-14 use Ohvale GP-0 160cc mini-GP machines, competing on kart tracks run with the support of the local mini-series organizers in each province. “(The) Ohvale is a fantastic motorcycle,” said Sharpless. “They are purpose-built for road racing and training and are perfect for kids to race. That’s why they are the spec bike for the MiniGP World Series.”

This is the first opportunity for Canadian kids to begin on the pathway to MotoGP racing without first going to Europe or the U.S. to compete.

The worldwide competition organization, Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), sets the rules and regulations and is represented in Canada by its affiliate, the Canadian Motorcycle Association (CMA).

For 2023, Canada and Germany joined the FIM MiniGP World Series for their biggest season yet. The FIM MiniGP Canada Series complements the FIM MiniCup USA, previously named the FIM MiniCup North America series. (MiniGP has been used for years and is trademarked in the U.S., which did not stop FIM from appropriating the name when it started its own series.) Other nations already participating in the FIM series include Alpe Adria, Australia, Austria, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Portugal, Qatar, Spain, and others.

The champion and vice-champion of each region of the world will be offered a chance to race in the finale of the World Series, held in Spain.

Going Racing!

It was Wednesday, June 21st, and I was reading this information, thinking about what kind of incredible opportunity it would be for my kid, 14-year-old Ashton Parker, to try his hand at competing at a national level.  But how? We hadn’t run many mini-road races over the years, just a few here and there, and we certainly didn’t have an Ohvale 160 we could use. Not to mention that the race was taking place in just two days!

However, after doing more research into the series, I  found that Sharpless, through her Super Sonic School, was offering race-ready Ohvale GP-0 160s for rent.  Not only that, but a generous anonymous sponsor has stepped forward to cover a portion of the series’ expenses, cutting the cost for families in half and making it much more affordable and accessible.

I couldn’t NOT do it.  It was a great opportunity; the door opened before us and it seemed meant to be.  I messaged Sharpless immediately to see if there was still an Ohvale available, signed the kid up, purchased all the necessary race licences, registered for the races, re-arranged my Friday meetings and headed to the track.

We live about 1.5 hours away from Chilliwack and know the kart track at Greg Moore Raceway fairly well. Ashton has done some mini road racing before, starting at age six on a Yamaha PW50.  He moved up to a Suzuki DRZ70 for a few years and then, after a sizable break, went back earlier this year to try a 125cc Kayo. There may have been an epic mom-and-son battle on track with us racing against each other for the first time ever, but that is whole other story in itself!

But this would be a great opportunity for him to try an Ohvale and compete against some of the fastest kids in the country. Let’s just say he was pretty excited!

A Weekend Of Racing!

The weekend was fantastic, and Ashton had a blast competing with some seriously talented riders. “The Ohvale is very fast, twitchy, and very responsive,” he said. “It’s also very fun, and it was exciting racing against kids that are so fast.”

Sharpless and her team were well organized, and the bike rental included tire warmers, mechanical assistance, and general help with whatever we needed trackside. It’s an arrive-and-race format, which is extremely helpful for not-so-mechanically inclined parents like myself.

Back-to-back weekends are scheduled out West and in Ontario, so families like ours can reduce the overall amount of travelling.  Ashton loved it so much that he begged me to take him to the following race in Alberta, so we drove the 12 hours to compete there as well!

The series continued in Ontario with two back-to-back weekends in a row, meaning that I only had to take a week off work to be able for us to fly there from Vancouver so he could race the full series. I didn’t even know about this series a few weeks earlier, and now we’ve flown across the country to make it happen for the kid.  It was an opportunity too good to pass up, and when things like this fall in front of me, I take it as a sign that it’s meant to be.

All in all, the FIM MiniGP Canada series is an exciting opportunity for Canadian kids to gain experience in road racing with the chance to compete against the rest of the world at the MotoGP Finale in Valencia, Spain, this November.  “It will just blow their mind.” Sharpless said, “Let’s get our maple leaf flag over there and see where it takes them.”

2023 Schedule:

RD1 May 13-14 Lombardy Raceway Karting, ON – Race 1&2 Exhibition Race, no Points

RD2 June 24-25 Greg Moore Raceway, BC – Race 3&4&5, Points Round

RD3 July 1-2 Strathmore Raceway, AB – Race 6&7, Points Round

RD4 July 29-30 Lombardy Raceway Karting, ON – Race 8&9, Points Round

RD5 Aug 5-6 Lombardy Raceway Karting, ON – Race 10&11&12, Points Round

RD6 Sept 15-16 Shannonville Motorsports Park, ON– Race 13&14, Bonus Round, no points

To learn more, please visit: https://supersonicschool.com/FIM-MiniGP-Canada/
contact info@minisbk.ca or call 416-629-8989

For 2024, Sharpless will run the FIM MiniGP Canada Series again with a similar scheduled but with the addition of an Ohvale 190cc class for 14-16-year-olds. This will insure that young riders can continue to progress in their motorcycle racing careers without having to switch to larger machinery. I guess this means that Ashton can race again next year. I better start looking for sponsors!

The post FIM MiniGP Road Racing in Canada! appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

Two-stroke 250 GP bikes are alive and well at AHRMA (American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association) events but those hoping to reach the top step of the box will have to go through Ralph Staropoli.

The 59-year-old’s dominance is reminiscent of Rich Oliver in the AMA’s last few years of AMA Pro two-stroke racing.  Staropoli was a new 250cc GP racer back then with a best AMA Pro national finish of seventh, but 20 years later the Coloradoan has risen to Oliver levels and that’s the highest compliment you can give in American two-stroke road racing. And it’s not just a two-stroke 250 that this guy dominates…read on.

Why This Guy?

My interest in writing about Staropoli is two-fold: First is the ultra-professional approach he has taken in his return to road racing. Staropoli, like many AHRMA racers, quit racing due to the pressures of time, money, and lack of joy…that was 1998 for Ralph…but he kept his 250 and started dabbling again a few years later.

We’ve all learned that “dabbling” in a risky endeavor isn’t a great approach and this guy rekindled the joy of motorbike racing with a methodology that rivals factory efforts, even though it’s basically a one-man show (more on that later). Certainly an inspiration for us all. In a nutshell, Staropoli’s message is, “If you’re gonna do it, do it right.” The results of this all-in approach speak for themselves.

Second is Staropoli’s motivation, the only true reason to go amateur racing: Joy. We have all felt the “garage therapy” happiness of fettling our own bikes and Ralph dove headfirst into this world, establishing international ties with two-stroke gurus and taking advantage of the ongoing evolution of two-stroke racing happening in Italy, Portugal, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

But he did more than establish ties; he educated himself on everything necessary to consistently run GP bikes at the front of the field. He’s won on his Honda RS250 and Yamaha TZ250, both built and extensively modified in his shop.

Ralph says, “I wish I knew then what I know now. Bikes have come light years since my AMA days; kit parts are available and I’ve learned how to set these bikes up. I just didn’t know back then. Now I don’t have seizures due to better knowledge and technology like exhaust-gas-temperature readings, detonation counters, and data loggers.” Staropoli does every facet of bike building for his two-strokes, including crankshaft set-up.

It would be easy for those in America to believe that two-stroke road racing development ended when World Championship 250cc Grand Prix racing switched to Moto2 with four-stroke Honda 600s in 2010. From that belief you would guess that American 250 racers were eking by with decades-old equipment. Attend an AHRMA round to see how wrong this belief is!

Staropoli also enjoys the social aspects of racing, especially with close friends like Dave Frick and Adrian Jasso, two racers who share pit areas with Staropoli and field a similar set of bikes. “When racing isn’t fun, I’ll quit,” Ralph says, but like so many of us he realizes that road racing motorcycles brings challenge and satisfaction that is difficult to find elsewhere.

Ralph went to college on a soccer sponsorship and played competitively for years. He’s a certified sky diver. As a high-level defense-industry expert he has the money to buy any fast car, boat, motorcoach… but what else combines the risk, skill, competition, amazing technology, and social aspect of two-wheeled racing?

While true challenges are getting harder to find here in America, Staropoli is looking to international racing waters again after being prevented from going across the pond by COVID. Europe’s lure is pure two-stoke events. This is noteworthy because when Staropoli races in American club events with CCS/ASRA he is often pitted against four-stroke machines that “make a lap time” much differently than a 250cc two-stroke.

More Than Two Strokes

Tucked into Staropoli’s ultra-clean pit area is a four-stroke NSF250R Honda that looks just right next to his TZ250 and RS250 because it is a Moto3 bike for the masses. This little Single has been produced since 2012; bikes and support are available through Rising Sun Cycles (rscycles.com) here in America.

“These NSFs took a while to catch on,” Staropoli tells us, “but they’re getting more and more popular. It’s a great bike right out of the box: 42 horsepower and 180 pounds, around $14,000. Most fun bike, best bike, I’ve ever been on.” High praise from a guy with one each of the best TZ250s and RS250s in the country–and some would argue in the world.

“When we got the NSFs, Stewart Aitken-Cade, Dave (Frick), Adrian (Jasso), and I agreed to keep them stock and that lasted for about a year. A really fun year. When Stewart modified his bike’s brakes I told him, ‘The dam has broken’…and now these things have gotten even better.”

If you enter the three or four AHRMA classes that the NSF fits into, bring your A-Game because in 2022 the name Staropoli was at the top of every finishing chart. That was 28 starts and 28 wins…and the streak continues in 2023.

What says Fun better than a 500cc GP bike?

Let’s just start with this: 185 horsepower and 270 pounds. Smiling yet? Those are the essential specifications of the ROC YZR500 that just entered Staropoli’s racing world in a very roundabout way.

Ralph takes over the story. “I was talking with Andy Sawford, a friend of mine in the UK, about Honda kit parts. Andy told me to contact a guy in Germany name Jorg Schollhorn.  Jorg is the last 500cc National Champion. We became friends and talk four or five times a week. He mentions that an acquaintance of ours might have a 1992 ROC 500 for sale (ROC built chassis for four-cylinder Yamaha YZR500 engines).

“This acquaintance is a master craftsman, a former National Champion in several classes, has huge factory connections…a real mover in world road racing venues, building two-stroke bikes for very famous racers. He was building this ROC for himself, but came across something even better and Jorg thought that perhaps the ROC was for sale.”

It was a dream most of us share and a perfect bike for AHRMA’s Open Two-Stroke class where anything goes as long as it does the ring-ding thing.

The bike traveled from Germany to America and should be debuted at the Laguna Seca AHRMA round this coming weekend. For those of us lucky enough to be at Laguna when 500cc GP bikes shook Monterey, this ROC 500 will be another of the tremendous throw-back moments that AHRMA provides.

Sure, we’d all like to buy a former 500 GP bike but probably don’t have the available budget. But that’s not the point. The AHRMA paddock is full of this exact story, at all levels of budget. Many of us are returning to a bike we always loved, many of us are finally on a bike we always lusted for.

In my case, at about 0.0002% of Ralph’s budget, I’m rolling around on a Speedwerks FZR600, returning to a bike model that not just brings me current joy, but brought me joy 30 years ago. For Staropoli, the ROC will introduce a new challenge in preparation and riding…and that anticipated challenge is a big component of the word “happiness.” Happiness abounds in the AHRMA paddock.

The Partner

Anyone who has gone racing knows the slogging work involved. The long prep nights, the even longer drives through Texas, the unexpected problems challenges that trucks, trailers, wheel bearings, master links, bad fuel (how much time have you got?) present. Alone, these challenges can become overwhelming. Ralph recently married Sheri Mursick, a cross-fit star and true right-hand man (person?) of the Staropoli racing program.

This addition to the team brings us to a significant subject, something that Roadracing World Founder & Editor John Ulrich discussed with me. He said, “No matter what it is, there’s usually somebody in some paddock somewhere who knows all about anything you need, and will tell you what you need to know. Doctors, lawyers, great mechanics, musicians, whatever. And usually are ready to help. Motorcyclists are great.” The Hall of Famer recognizes what pulls so many back to racing and riding: The people. Mr. and Mrs. Staropoli working together to solve the puzzle of winning races will be another reason that Ralph Staropoli will continue to be a tough racer to beat.

The post Ralph Staropoli Is Living The GP Life In America appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

By Michael Gougis

It was something rare, if not unprecedented, in International-level professional motorcycle racing. In retrospect, however, it’s remarkable that it took so long to happen.

At the Catalunya round of the FIM Superbike World Championship, race officials red-flagged the Supersport300 Superpole session for irresponsible riding and called all of the riders to an impromptu meeting in pit lane, where FIM representative Antonio Lima absolutely chewed out the entire field.

“If you don’t want to race, easy. Go home,” Lima said. “What we have seen this morning is a shame. Don’t play with safety. Next time you go to the track and you do this again, I stop the practice again. This is a World Championship. This is not a playground for kids. If you are not adult enough to be here, stay at home. If it is necessary, I stop the race. If it is necessary, I cancel the race. Go to the track and race like riders, not like stupid kids.”

The frustration of trying to rein in dangerous riding in this class has been boiling over for some time. But there are pressures in this class, at this level, that make it extremely difficult for riders to not engage in risky behavior.

What happened at Catalunya? When the Superpole practice started, nearly all of the riders went out on the track and began cruising around slowly, waiting to find the right pack to follow. After three minutes and 11 seconds of this, race officials had had enough and halted proceedings on the spot.

The Supersport300 class has been under more scrutiny since Dean Berta Vinales–cousin of MotoGP racer Maverick Vinales–died in a multi-bike accident in Jerez in 2021 and Victor Steeman died in a similar incident in Portugal in 2022.

Aboard small-displacement, close-to-stock motorcycles, Supersport300 riders tend to circulate the track in large packs during races and rely heavily on drafting during qualifying. At Catalunya, 10 laps into the first race, the first 18 riders were separated by 2.069 seconds. The large, closely-spaced packs have led to problems because if a rider crashes, the following racers have little or no chance to react before hitting the downed rider or bike. Their behavior is much the same in qualifying, with similar risks. And timing the draft, or waiting around for a pack of bikes to tow you around, becomes as or more important than raw speed.

But as Maverick Vinales and others have pointed out, this kind of pack behavior is almost a requirement for racers in the class. With very limited horsepower, light weight, sticky slicks, and extremely limited modifications, more riders can get the absolute best out of these bikes. With the machines so equally matched, no one can get away at the front. And drafting is critical. In Race One at Catalunya, the first nine riders crossed the finish line within a second. And the rider in the back of the pack gets a massive draft from those in front, making it even more difficult for the leaders and faster riders to break away.

It’s also worth noting who is racing in the Supersport300 class. Yes, it’s inexpensive in terms of racing in a World Championship. But it’s not cheap. And few, if any, of these riders are earning career-worthy salaries. At this point on the ladder, there’s a good chance that these riders are kids, bringing sponsorship or cash to the teams in exchange for a ride in the hopes of doing well here and climbing the professional racing ladder, where a fat paycheck might be found.

Do poorly in Supersport300, and a lot of other people’s money goes down the drain as your career sinks like a stone. The pressure to perform is immense, it is laid squarely on the shoulders of very young adults, and the price for riding irresponsibly is relatively small–generally a grid penalty.

In their place, what would you do? Maybe exactly what many of these riders are doing–waiting for a draft that can give them a critical edge in qualifying. At worst, they feel, if they try it and get penalized, they’re no worse off–they’ll just wind up back where they would have qualified had they tried for a hot lap on their own.

Increasingly harsh penalties have not worked. Perhaps the series organizers could consider making changes in the way qualifying works. Send the fastest 12 or 15 riders from the practice sessions to a final Superpole session. The longer practice sessions would remove the pressure to hang around immediately after leaving the pits to find the right drafting partner. The riders would have more than an hour, with both sessions counted, to put in a fast lap. Then, for the final Superpole session, have the riders go out in reverse order of their fastest practice lap, one at a time. No drafting, no packs, just pure skill. And it will give the faster riders a better chance at making a break at the start of a race.

It might not be the perfect solution. But it will work better than the system in place now. And no one wants to be standing on the grid for a moment of silence on Sunday because a 15-year-old died in a race accident on Saturday. No one wants to be standing next to a fellow journalist who wants to know how he’s supposed to behave, what he’s supposed to do, because he’s never been on the scene of a racing fatality in the past. And if that sounds specific, I spent Sunday morning at that race in Jerez in 2021 doing exactly that, comforting another member of the press corps who had come face-to-face with the worst part of the sport for the first time.

Chewing out the riders and red-flagging the session is one reaction. But wouldn’t it be better to create structural changes that will enhance safety and at the same time reward the riders with more speed and skill?

The post FIM Warns Supersport300: “Race Like Riders, Not Like Stupid Kids” appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.