AMA Pro Racing officials have delayed the scheduled start of Sunday’s races at Barber Motorsports Park due to severe weather in the area of the track. At 1:19 p.m. local time the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning for the greater Birmingham, Alabama area. This warning followed the confirmed report of a tornado touching down in the city’s southern suburbs. The Daytona SportBike field was on the pre-grid in preparation for a 2:00 p.m. race, but at approximately 1:35 p.m. officials called for the grid to be cleared. At the same time, the track’s public address system informed spectators of the severe weather forecast and advised them to seek shelter in buildings or in their vehicles. According to an AMA spokesman, AMA Pro Racing officials will wait for the severe weather to pass before attempting any racing. Stay tuned. Update: One cell of severe storm activity passed directly over the track producing torrential rains and lightning, but now that that storm has passed AMA Pro Racing is making preparations to start the SuperSport race at approximately 3:00 p.m. local time. Second Update: At approximately 3:00 p.m. the SuperSport field was given a 10-minute warm-up session to acclimate themselves to the wet conditions. Following that session, riders were given a short break to make final preparations for the race. But during that break another line of heavy thunderstorms arrived at the track, and officials were forced to shut down activities once again. Third Update: The SuperSport race is scheduled to start at 4:00 p.m. local time and has been shortened from 17 to 12 laps. It is still raining at the track, but most of the severe weather has passed. Fourth Update: The Daytona SportBike and American Superbike races will be run, but their lengths have been reduced from 21 laps to 16 laps each. Each class will get a short warm-up to access the track conditions before the start of their race. It stopped raining during the SuperSport race, but the track surface was still completely wet as of 4:25 p.m. local time.
Fourth Update: AMA Racing Delayed At Barber Due To Tornado Near The Track
Fourth Update: AMA Racing Delayed At Barber Due To Tornado Near The Track
© 2009, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc. By David Swarts.