(The following is the personal opinion of the author, as an individual, and does not represent the official viewpoint of any other person or any organization.) By John Ulrich Recently it has been suggested by a motorcycle racing tabloid writer that I favor Thursday practice being open to all riders with valid AMA Pro licenses because my team makes money running such Thursday practice sessions. (I suppose the next thing the guy will falsely claim is that I had some profit motive for starting and continuing to run–and spending my own money on–the Roadracing World Action Fund, which is responsible for getting the majority of soft barriers such as Airfence deployed at U.S. tracks and events.) It apparently would have been too difficult for the writer of the piece of fiction in question to either pick up the phone and check a few facts, or even to go to roadracingworld.com, type “Thursday Practice” into the search box, and hit the arrow. It’s all there. I am in favor of unrestricted Thursday practice because there is no fair, equitable way to restrict participation. The status quo was obviously no good because in 2006 Josh Hayes could participate while Jason DiSalvo could not, since Jason DiSalvo was categorized as a “factory” rider and Josh Hayes was not, and never mind that they battled long and hard for the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship and that both are well paid by motorcycle manufacturers to race professionally. I am against rules that cannot be fairly and equitably enforced. I am in favor of unrestricted Thursday practice because it is the most economical and practical way for teams and riders to sort out their bikes and for riders to get their heads around going fast prior to the start of official AMA practice on Friday. At events where there was no Thursday practice, riders trying to learn a new track in the first session Friday sometimes encountered factory riders (who had already run stand-alone tests there) flipping them off, kicking and waving their fists as they went by, shaking their heads in disgust. These weren’t incompetent riders drawing the ire of the irate factory few for not magically learning the track in one lap, these were front-running non-factory riders–one being Lee Acree, an AMA 750cc Supersport National winner. I started running a Thursday practice at Brainerd some years ago because there wasn’t one, and I noticed that some riders–my young racing son included–needed more time to get up to a competitive pace than others, and that not everybody could roll off the truck and be competitive in the first Friday practice the way guys like Miguel Duhamel can. My team lost about $1100 on that first Thursday practice, not counting the paperwork and accounting time. The next thing that happened was that opponents of Thursday practice started claiming that I favored Thursday practices because my team (Team Hammer, Inc., now racing as M4 EMGO Suzuki) made money running them (in fact, the one at Brainerd was the only one we did at the time). Believe me, the effort and time that goes into putting on one of those doesn’t make losing $1100 a worthwhile return. But no matter, after a while even an AMA official started claiming that profit motivated me to favor Thursday practice. You can read about that here: ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=13459~ Nothing that I do in racing is motivated by profit. If that was my motivation, I wouldn’t BE in AMA Pro Racing. It is a money pit. In 2007, my team will host a combined AMA Pro Practice and Track Ride at VIR on the Thursday before the AMA National there, working with the event promoter and arranging some sponsorship for the day (it’s called a “Suzuki Privateer Appreciation Day”) because the promoter understands that privateers need practice and also because the promoter needs the help to put on the practice. Two years ago, my team also arranged for Fastrack Riders to run a Thursday practice at Fontana because otherwise there wouldn’t be any, and in 2007 it will be held again, called the “Suzuki Privateer Appreciation Day Presented by Team Hammer and Fastrack Riders.” Team Hammer doesn’t make a dime on the day. My team will also host a Track Ride held in conjunction with the Thursday practice put on by the event promoter at Road Atlanta, again, as a means of subsidizing the Thursday racing practice for the promoter. Team Hammer does not make a dime from licensed AMA Pro racers paying Road Atlanta to practice on Thursday prior to the AMA National. The reason this subject is coming up again is because some of the factory few (and their tire sponsor)–who will have participated in more than 20 stand-alone, private test days between the end of the 2006 AMA season and the end of the 2007 AMA season–claim that they are now being forced to also participate in Thursday practice. They aren’t. There is no legal summons, no rule requiring them to participate. Jason DiSalvo will probably want to run Thursday practice, judging by his complaints that he couldn’t last season, but the rest of them can spend the day they way they did in 2006, parking their motorhomes while their teams set up their elaborate hospitality areas. The factory team managers and their tire sponsor claim that allowing riders like DiSalvo to run in Thursday practice will cost them more money. Hey, they could skip some stand-along factory team tests held at AMA tracks and save more than enough to cover anything spent running in every Thursday practice held during the 2007 season. (Currently, one factory team manager admits that his team uses more tires at stand-alone tests than it does at races during a calendar year–we should help the factory teams and their tire sponsor economize by banning unsanctioned, private testing at AMA tracks.) At any rate, this is an old argument, one dredged up every few years by some of the factory few (or their tire sponsor), men who want everything their way, every time, and the hell with the privateers who finish out of the top 15 or anybody who isn’t a member of the moneyed elite of AMA professional road racing. Instead of rehashing everything, I’ll just direct you to some previous posts on the subject, ones found by typing in “Thursday Practice” into this website’s search function, an act that takes a few seconds but is a lot less juicy and scandalous than just making up something and letting it fly without doing any research other than talking to some of the disgruntled factory few or their disgruntled tire sponsor. ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=28006~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=23431~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=22491~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=15611~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=14459~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=13584~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=13546~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=13466~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=13460~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=13446~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=13438~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=12917~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=12553~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=12543~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=11952~ ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=11673~ I’ll close with this thought: If we take care of the privateers and non-factory teams, the guys who own or run teams with semi-trucks (me included) will be fine. The reverse is not always the case…