Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Contrary to what Roadracingworld.com was told by an AMA official at the scene, Team Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates will now be fined for lying on an active racetrack during the AMA Superbike race at Virginia International Raceway August 11.

“He’s been sent a letter and he’s been talked to on the phone,” said AMA Pro Racing Superbike Operations Manager Ron Barrick in a telephone interview Tuesday, September 3. “He’s being fined significantly for his actions there (at VIR).”

When it was pointed out that Barrick told reporters Sunday night at VIR that Yates would not be fined, Barrick said, “Yeah, well, you know, things went beyond me and what my personal thoughts were at the time. Of course, when things are happening quickly like that I don’t have a lot of time to think things through as well as I, perhaps, need to at times.

“But yeah, I agree that was a significant action he took, and especially given the fact that he did it for selfish purposes, based on his public comments on wanting to get back in the race.”

Barrick said that the after-the-fact decision to fine Yates was made by AMA Pro Racing Director of Competition, Merrill Vanderslice, who was also in attendance at VIR.

The letter announcing the fine was mailed to Yates on August 30, nearly three weeks after the incident (and the end of the 2002 AMA season), Barrick said. “Yeah, it would seem a little late,” said Barrick, “But we’re busy with an awful lot of things at this stage. It’s not easy for everybody to get together and discuss that when it’s not the top priority of the day. Sometimes people just don’t realize how many things are going on that need to be dealt with and addressed, that are more important than the timeliness of dealing with a situation like that.”

Attempts by Roadracingworld.com to reach Aaron Yates for comment Tuesday were unsuccessful. His manager, Cliff Nobles, said that Yates would issue a statement in response.

In other AMA Pro Racing news, Barrick said he had just returned from a recent trip to Road Atlanta and would possibly be making another trip to the Braselton, Georgia racetrack September 7-8 to consider changes to the 2.52-mile, 12-turn road course.

“We’re primarily looking at turn three at the moment and trying to figure out what our options are there,” said Barrick. “I was down there last week trying to think out of the box and kind of stand back and think about what all of the possibilities are, whether it be moving walls or reconfiguring the track somehow differently, looking at as many possibilities as we could and try to sit down and look at what will work best for the racing as well as be something that will be affordable from a cost standpoint.”

The turn in question is the left-hand sweeper, usually referred to as turn four, in which Yamaha’s Anthony Gobert fell during qualifying for the 2002 AMA Superbike races at Road Atlanta. Gobert broke his right leg when he slid under inflatable air barriers–which set off a controversy as to whether or not the barriers had been properly installed–and impacted haybales stacked against a concrete wall. Gobert missed most of the season as a result of his injuries.

The same weekend, Doug Chandler crashed his HMC Ducati Superbike into the same air barriers and suffered injuries that put him out of several races.

Barrick also re-confirmed that he will be visiting California Speedway, to look at several possible changes to the Fontana, Calfornia facility’s infield road course, and that he will be looking at Barber Motorsports Park over the next few months.