Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

AMA Supersport racer Michael Hannas says that new walls at Sears Point Raceway make the Sonoma, California racetrack much more dangerous than it was last year.

Hannas formed his opinion after competing in last weekend’s AFM club race at thr track.

Hannas grew up racing 125 and 250cc racebikes at Sears Point. In 2000 he competed in the AMA 600cc Supersport Series and in 2001 he finished third in the AMA 250cc Grand Prix Series. This season Hannas is riding a ZX-6R sponsored by Hayward Motorsports Kawasaki in the AMA Supersport Series.

An e-mail from Hannas follows:

Just thought I’d offer up my two cents on the changes made to Sears Point after riding it during the AFM weekend. In my opinion, the track is more dangerous now than it was last year. The front straight is narrow with concrete walls on both sides, which could be extremely dangerous when AMA level riders are going through there three/four wide fighting for position, and is definitely dangerous on the start, as evidenced this past weekend by the number of crashes that resulted in injury during the starts of more than one race. Think Scott Russell at Daytona, except with half the room and concrete on both sides.

Turn one is now wide open in fifth gear on a 600, with bumpy pavement seams that you cross over while at a pretty good lean angle, pointed straight at the same hillside/bridge that has taken at least one life that I know of back in the old days. Two through 3 are the same, 3a has a chunk of pavement missing right in the racing line as you crest the hill, four has a new pavement strip that appears to be an asphalt patch over some sort of drainage pipe that was dug into the ground.

Turn five is the one place that is worlds better, with new, smooth pavement and adequate run-off. However, as you crest the hill and drop in to the carousel, you are back on old pavement that is more torn up and bumpier than ever. The exit of six puts you back on new pavement and seems to have additional run-off, but not much, and walls still surround both sides down the straight to seven, which puts you back on the old pavement and points you directly at a concrete wall strategically placed right on the edge of the track, all the way around the turn. Lose the brakes there and you’d better hit the eject button. The second apex of seven has another one of those asphalt patches over a drainage pipe, which is very bumpy.

The actual track stays the same through the 8/8a esses, with additional run-off on both the outside of 8 and 8a, however, it is not nearly enough and instead of hitting a hillside if you tuck the front entering 8a, you hit a concrete wall where the hillside used to be. The exit of 8a down the hill is a lot better in terms of run-off, though. New pavement starts again entering turn nine, with a rough transition, and it seems even bumpier than the old pavement. There might be a little bit more run-off there, but not much and still not nearly enough before the concrete wall.

As you tip it into 10, you transfer roughly back to the old pavement right before the apex of the corner, where you are at maximum lean angle. The old pavement of 10 seems bumpier also. I don’t know if this is because the racetrack was used as a road for construction trucks or what. I can’t comment on the AMA 11 since we didn’t run it, but it looks like the exit to it will be even tighter and closer to a wall than before.

Leading onto the front straight is so much narrower that the already tight AFM chicane was made even tighter, which caught me out on the first lap of practice when I nailed one of haybales used to make the chicane with the inside of my knee while hanging off in a normal fashion, which compressed my foot onto the footpeg hard enough to actually lift the rear wheel off the ground. The result of this was what the ortho surgeon called a 3rd degree sprain and ligament strain of my ankle, all I know is I can’t put any pressure on it and was unable to ride above an 80-85% pace or shift the bike properly. Not really because of the pain, but the limited range of motion and strength. At that 80-85% pace, I was not fearing for my life around the track, but I could see there being some major issues when all the AMA guys show up.

It really saddens me that some riders continue to paint a rosy picture of unsafe racetracks instead of really telling it how it is. We all saw what happened at Fontana when we decided to just put up with something we thought might be an issue, I sincerely hope that isn’t what is happening here. I don’t know how many feet of Airfence the AMA has access to, but I’d say they better bring all they can get their hands on, and then some.

Michael Hannas