Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Fastrack Riders hosted the first track ride and practice day open to non-factory riders at California Speedway Monday. The event attracted several riders from the AMA national race series but overall attendance was held down by cool temperatures and weather reports that erroneously predicted rain all day. During the day, snow fell on mountain tops within sight of the track, but only a few sporadic sprinkles of rain hit the track itself.

The moral of the story may be, never believe weather forecasts, and always go to the racetrack.

On-track activities were delayed by water on the track, a remnant of heavy overnight rain. But while most of the course dried out, crews were unable to eliminate a combination puddle/river running across the final corner of the infield, just before the course rejoins the Speedway oval on the front straightaway; cones were used to slow riders and narrow the line through the submerged section of track.

Obviously, drainage needs to be improved in that part of the infield.

The Fastrack day was attended by the Kawasaki road race team, members of Kawasaki Motor Corporation’s Research and Development team, Bruce Transportation Group Honda’s Jake Zemke, 2001 AMA 750cc Supersport runner-up Vincent Haskovec, Laguna Seca 750cc Supersport winner Chris Ulrich, 250cc GP runners Ed Sorbo and Frank Aragaki and former WSMC Champion Jeremy Toye.

According to Team Manager Mike Preston, Kawasaki originally planned on only bringing Supersport riders Tommy Hayden and Tony “The Tiger” Meiring to the Fastrack day for extra seat time. But when he heard of the test, Eric Bostrom wanted to take the additional opportunity to ride and work on his ZX-7RR Superbike with his new crew; Bostrom drove to Fontana in brother Ben’s Hummer.

Bostrom spent some of his time switching between his 2001 forks and the new, gas-charged Ohlins forks that he has been testing this winter.
“We’re still working with our new suspension,” said Bostrom. “It’s been really bad some times at some of the places we’ve been so far, but we got it working better today. We’re definitely making progress.”

Bostrom had to work from feel rather than lap times; the AMA riders shared the track with club-level racers and track day participants during most sessions and sometimes cut through the 2.36-mile road course’s many chicanes to avoid close encounters with slower riders.

Hayden was lapping three seconds slower than his best time (and best 600cc time overall) from the January 14-15 test at California Speedway. Conditions Monday didn’t promote chasing lap records with temperatures in the low 50s and the river of water crossing the track where riders exit the infield and power onto the front straight.

Hayden crew chief Joey Lombardo also said that Hayden’s strong performance at the recent Laguna Seca test was done with “old school” methods. Hayden’s data-acquisition-equipped ZX-6R broke during the test in Monterey, and it was too time-intensive to switch all of the monitoring equipment to the B-bike. So Lombardo and Hayden continued to lower the lap times with their back-up bike through the use of seat-of-the-pants diagnostic techniques.

Meiring put in a large number of laps at Fontana while his new boss, Preston, got a chance to ride a ZX-6R with the Team Green R&D crew.

When asked why he came to Fontana, Zemke answered, “Because it’s snowing at my house!” Zemke, riding his personal Honda CBR600F4i practice bike, is much better off than he was this time last year, when he was recovering from surgery on an arm broken in an off-road riding accident. That injury prevented Zemke from doing any sort of physical training or bike testing prior to the Daytona race and made the former dirt tracker start the 2001 season with a handicap.

Working alone out of the back of his pick-up truck, Zemke fought a loose clip-on during the day but still put on a show. After passing one rider, Zemke backed his Honda into Fontana’s double-apex left-hander and laid rubber from the rear tire past the point at which his knee touched the ground!

Haskovec took time from his preparations to campaign the 2002 AMA season as a privateer to stop by the AMA series’ newest track to have a look at the facility. Haskovec, who didn’t ride, was amazed at how many riders showed up to participate in the Fastrack day at $295 per licensed racer and $350 per track rider; that fee included lunch and soft drinks.

Still recovering from the shoulder separation he suffered from crashing a Honda CBR954RR during a press introduction in Las Vegas less than two weeks ago, Ulrich did not ride but was on hand to see the California Speedway track for the first time and to assist his father, newly elected AMA Trustee John Ulrich, during his track testing on a TZ250.

Fresh from a two-day Freddie Spencer High Performance Riding School, Toye used his Suzuki GSX-R750 to hound young Meiring during the afternoon’s best sessions. Of the Freddie Spencer school, Toye said, “I never knew who this Jeff Haney guy was before, but he is ‘The Man’! He was ripping, leading us around the place. Then, with his knee on the ground, he would take his left hand off the bar to sort of say, ‘I want you to hit this mark, this mark and this mark.’ Then he would slide the rear and wheelie out of the corner before he put his left hand back on the bar! It was pretty insane!” Toye added that Haney, a former AMA Superbike rider, was just as impressive during the dirt track portion of the school.

A resident of nearby Redlands, California, Sorbo came to California Speedway to test a new data-acquisition system and try to get a head start on his AMA 250cc Grand Prix competition. Sorbo also identified several concrete barriers which posed a potential threat to crashed riders and could easily be moved back to increase run-off room, one in particular placed in a section just before the flooded final corner.

Riders were unimpressed by the use of cones to form a chicane coming off the banking at the end of the front straight, and to form the pit exit.

Fastrack Riders has several track days scheduled for California Speedway as well as a four-event race series. The first Fastrack race weekend takes place March 29-31, one week prior to the AMA National.