When AMA racers tested at Miller Motorsports Park (MMP) in April, they told officials with the track that they had concerns over the arrangement of the pit lane exit. Several riders felt it was unsafe to have slow traffic exit pit lane directly onto the racing line in front of traffic traveling in excess of 160 mph on the long, fast front straightaway. Riders asked track officials to extend the pit out exit lane all the way down and around turn one, with the pit out exit lane going through the run-off area of turn one, similar to the arrangement at the Grand Prix and World Superbike circuit in Valencia, Spain. Another option the riders asked for was to add flexible pylons to separate the pit out acceleration lane from the front straightaway, similar to the layout used at Laguna Seca to prevent riders from going straight from pit lane to the racing line in a dangerous area. When the AMA riders returned to MMP for a test last week, May 24-25, they only found that the pit out acceleration lane had been extended and that a line had been painted on the track to differentiate the pit out acceleration lane from the racetrack. This is unacceptable to Eric Bostrom, who attended both tests. “Something needs to be done,” Bostrom told Roadracingworld.com Friday at Road America. “You cannot have a race meeting with that situation, with basically no pit out. Pit out puts you right out on the racing line in the fastest part of the racetrack, so it has to be addressed.” Bostrom said he found it strange that the track hadn’t added the flexible pylons between the pit out acceleration lane and the front straight when flexible pylons had been added onto the curbs in several corners. Dan Solomon, MMP Director of Motorcycle Operations, confirmed to Roadracingworld.com that the track had lengthened the pit out acceleration lane since the April test but had not added pylons for a number of reasons. “If we added permanent pylons there it would affect our ability to quickly and easily reconfigure the racetrack,” explained Solomon. “And if we make the pylons removable, it will leave holes in the racetrack. But having said that, we haven’t completely ruled out adding the pylons. “We are committed to providing the best, safest racetrack we reasonably can. We’re trying to be as accommodating as we can while keeping our configuration options open.” Solomon pointed out that MMP was adding more curbing to ‘West Hook’ at the request of Neil Hodgson, who saw the track for the first time last week. Both Bostrom and Solomon said a possible compromise to the pit out situation might be to use orange traffic cones to differentiate the pit out acceleration lane from the front straightaway, a configuration that served well for many years at Brainerd International Raceway.
AMA Riders Very Concerned Over Pit Out Arrangement At Miller Motorsports Park
AMA Riders Very Concerned Over Pit Out Arrangement At Miller Motorsports Park
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