Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

AMA Pro Racing organized a test session with five racers to evaluate recent changes made to the new, 2.3-mile infield road course at California Speedway in Fontana, California Thursday, September 11.

Riders involved in the test were Eric Bostrom, Damon Buckmaster, Mike Hale, Aaron Yates and Jake Zemke.

The Speedway will host an AMA National in 2002, replacing Willow Springs on the schedule. Willow Springs officials were told earlier this week that the AMA would not sell them a race sanction for 2002.

California Speedway officials made several course changes following a previous test at the facility. Both tests were closed to the public.

According to California Speedway Operations Manager Craig Hatch, “The main differences between when the AMA tested here last month and now was that we opened up a couple of corners to make them flow better. At the end of the long, infield straightaway there is a left-right section. That right was about 120-degrees coming back on itself. After talking to the Superbike guys and several car guys that have tested the infield course with us, we decided to open that up a little and make that a 90-degree corner, make it a little less sharp so it will flow better.

“We also spent a lot of time in the morning (Thursday) working on a configuration in the transition off the banking. We wanted to provide an area where traffic from the banking and pit lane could safely merge together without it taking away from the race-ability of the area. We took about 100 cones down to an area paved specially for the motorcycles’ use and tried a number of different arrangements. That area will be for the motorcycles only. Cars using the road course will bypass that chicane. The riders didn’t express any concerns about any other areas.”

Hatch said that he could not verify that the speedway will be on the 2002 AMA road racing schedule, but said that things were moving in that direction. Hatch said that California Speedway itself would promote any AMA Superbike race that takes place at the facility. Hatch would not discuss possible scheduling, other than to say that track officials would try to avoid the heat of summer.

Hatch also said that speedway and AMA officials are currently discussing the possibility of holding a double-header Superbike weekend.

Reached by phone October 12, Yamaha’s Damon Buckmaster said, “I thought it was a good productive day of track design. All of the officials from the AMA and the track were there. All of the riders–myself, Aaron Yates, Eric Bostrom, Jake Zemke, Mike Hale–worked together. I’ll be very surprised if anyone has a problem with what we’ve worked out.

“For a speedway infield road course, I think it’s really good. It’s right up there with the best places that we go and we won’t have a lot of the problems that we have now with some of the speedway infield road courses that we go to. And as far as the facilities, it’s probably the best we will go to. The whole place is really nice.

“We had a couple of safety issues that needed to be addressed yesterday, but everyone was very open-minded and receptive. The turn-one issue was a concern but we corrected that. Then in turn two, there was one point where if you overshot you could come back across the track in a different spot before you could slow down. They will put some Air Fence or other soft barriers there to prevent that from happening when we come back. The speedway staff were very receptive to all of our suggestions.

“By the end of the day, we were all making laps on the whole thing. It’s going to be good. The track is 45-feet wide, there are lots of places to pass, more than one line, a lot of the run-off areas are paved so that you can make a mistake and recover, they’ve opened up some corners to give it more flow and the main straight is super fast. I had the tallest gearing that we brought on my R6 and I still needed to go up teeth on the front sprocket.

“Jake (Zemke) was there for the original tests last month, and he seemed really upbeat about the changes.”

Buckmaster added that the track still needs added curbing, some infield grass and a cleaned-up surface, but those minor problems did not discourage his enthusiasm.


Meanwhile, a bizarre, semi-literate press-release posting on the AMA website concerning the California Speedway test referred to AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship Operations Manager Gary Mathers–who took the AMA job after retiring from American Honda–as a “racer.” The AMA release also made it difficult to understand Hatch’s reluctance to admit that the racetrack will host an AMA National in 2002, since the AMA site refers to such an event as being the “inaugural AMA Pro Racing event next season.”

The text of the AMA website release follows:


October 12, 2001
Second California Speedway test a success

New road race facility nearing completion for inaugural AMA Pro Racing event next season

California Speedway, Fontana

Proposed 2.3- mile, 21-turn motorcycle course


AMA Pro Racing’s Road Race Operations Manager Gary Mathers and five other racers tested Thursday at California Speedway’s new in-field motorcycle competition course. The all-day test was the second at the facility and was met with positive results.

The track paving is complete as the top coat of asphalt has been installed. Of the racers involved, Aaron Yates, Damon Buckmaster, Eric Bostrom, Jake Zempke and Mike Hale, all were said to be satisfied with the course, Mathers said.

Most of the day’s testing was concentrated on the Turn 1/pit exit area of the race course where the most extensive changes have been made. A large area has now been paved near the pit road exit to allow for multiple configurations. This area is also where riders will be coming off the banking’s front-straightaway to enter the first turn. The track has now installed a chicane before the first turn to bring speeds down to better match the speeds of riders leaving the pits.

“We found the smoothest transition from the oval onto the motorcycle racing surface and put in a chicane to slow them,” said California Speedway Director of Operations Craig Hatch. “Now we can design a pit-out area so that riders are at comparable speeds.”

Mathers is also happy about the test. “The riders were all positive about the track. This was their second time there so there were no surprises for them,” said Mathers. “New riders will have questions; that’s inevitable. But overall, it certainly will be the best infield road courses that we run.” That sentiment is also backed up by Hatch who said no rider has been concerned the important issue of run-off room. “There have been no concerns about run-off room,” said Hatch.

Five riders circulated the track for the better part of Thursday, although the track was not clean enough from recent grass seeding for racing speeds. According to Hatch, the track is in the fine-tuning stages, awaiting some fine grading, grass seeding and curbing. They are awaiting more rider and car racer input for curbing issues can be completely addressed. Mathers said the riders discovered a few bumpy areas that the track said it would fix.

Overall Hatch has been happy with the tests. “We’re very happy with the progress we’ve made,” said Hatch. “These sessions have been very beneficial. The input from the riders has prompted us to make some changes.

“We’re fully committed on working with AMA Pro Racing on an event in 2002. Part of this deal might include another test. If we have a race set, we certainly would have to have another test of some sort.”

The original posting, along with a track map, can be seen at www.amaproracing.com