We actually made it out there this year, but this race is still cursed to us. Willow Springs is out in the High Desert, yet the past 2 years, the race has been under rain conditions, so we decided it wasn't worth a 2.5 hr drive to stand in the rain waiting for a race to start, or stand in the rain to watch a rain race. But they moved the race back a month (used to be in October), and there was pretty much zero chance of rain today. It was a gorgeous day. Totally clear blue skies, and not insanely hot. As anyone who visits Willow will attest, you typically share the track with a constant wind. The wind was certainly there today, but not utterly horrible, and it wasn't gusty. Worst wind day I had been there before, turn 8 was obliterated by a small local sand storm at that end of the track. You'd see bike diving in to that dust cloud in 5th gear, only hoping to see them come out the other end. No dust today though, weather was pretty much as good as anyone could ask for. We got there just as they were finishing up some novice races, and before the RRW 250/50 race. This was actually a decent race. They managed to fill the grid. 40 bikes. Rich Oliver showed up and obliterated the field. Just...gone... But there was a decent battle for 2nd. The race was actually Red Flag on lap 7, but later finished without incident until the last lap. I recall watching the 2nd place battle cross the line and looking past them down the front straight. I saw a line of dust, indicative of someone leaving the track, but I saw a rider coming around, trailing dust, and making his way back on the track, so I thought that was his trail. Turns out it was a 3 bike crash, and one of the riders was killed. We didn't know that at the time, but that pretty much stopped the day cold. The T200 was supposed to kick off at 1:30, and I was worried we'd miss the start during lunch, but all was quiet outside. Vincent Hascovec was there, and they were interviewing him, but I didn't hear it, as we were in the cafe'. All we knew was that there was some undefined delay, so we just waited. Josh Hayes was being interviewed in the observation tower, so we decided to try and get a chat with him, but he was pulled away when he left. Hayes did not race this year, and though it wasn't brought up specifically, it was pretty clear that he wasn't racing due to his status in FX. If he weren't doing so well in FX, and was out of contention, I'm pretty sure he would have ridden this race. At around 2:30 we headed back to the stands near turn 1, hoping the race would start soon. I made a comment to another spectator, trying to learn what the delay was. A track official overheard me and came up telling me that the delay was that they had to have the police out to investigate the fatal accident, and that they didn't know when the race would start. At that point we just waited, and eventually went back to our truck to simply sit in some air conditioning for a bit. When we got out of the truck, it was a bit after 4, and someone was singing the National Anthem, and 5 minutes later, they had the bikes gridded up. For qualifying, the top 5 were pretty close -- 1:21's, low 1:22's. Track record was 1:19, held by Steve Rapp on a Ducati back in 2000, during the last AMA event they had there. In fact, the Toyota 200 essentially takes up the slot that the AMA used at Willow. When the AMA left Willow for Fontana in 2002, the track owner/promoter decided to spend the money on a new race, rather than the AMA sanctioning. The race has a juicy top prize: $50,000. The total purse is $150,000. Each rider down to 40th gets a prize of at least $1000. So, just for qualifying, you get $1000. That's a fine gesture from the promoter, but he certainly isn't making that money back over this weekend, at least not obviously. The AMA will pull 30,000 people today at Fontana, and it never pulled anything close to that at Willow. And today at the T200, it was far far smaller. I'd be surprised if there were 1,000-2,000 people there, including racers and their crews and families. With a $30 entry fee, that's $30-60,000, but that's a bit from the $150,000 purse. Nonetheless, it is what it is. What really surprised me is how few mid-pack AMA privateers don't show up. The only thing I can figure is that they don't get any sponsor money when not running in an AMA National. The most notable AMA rider on the grid was Steve Rapp, since Josh Hayes wasn't racing. Taking Josh's place at Attack Kawasaki was Jeremy Toye. He's been a regular middling AMA privateer. Last year they campaigned a stock R1, tweaking it throughout the year. Scott Jensen was there, he's riding AMA. There were perhaps 1 or 2 others. But the rest were mostly local folks. Club racers from Willow. This is in stark contrast to the the 250 race. Those riders seemed to come from everywhere, even as far as Canada for this race, and it didn't have anywhere near the purse of the 200. $3,500 for first I think. I was surprised Chuck Sorenson wasn't there (pretty much the only guy that can give Oliver a run for his money on a 250), but maybe he's not local, or simply not playing anymore. So I was quite curious what drives racers to race. Why not come out to Willow and play in the 200. Many AMA guys are east coast guys, but I can't believe there's only 3-4 from the west coast (not including factory guys, of course, who all seem to live in Las Vegas for tax purposes). Certainly racing isn't cheap, but the privateers are racing for SOME reason in the AMA, and the T200 simply pays better. Is it purely the sponsorship money in the AMA? Trying to ogle the factory team scouts? Why not come out to the 200 which is dominated by club racers, and place well, and get paid. There were several racers there just riding the 200 to ride it. One rider decided that, save for a guy with a fire extinguisher, and someone to put the bike on a stand, he was going to do his own bike fueling and tire changes. One man pit crew. Amusing, novel, but it's not going to win the race. So clearly not everyone takes this race as seriously as others. Much like Rick Shaw at Daytona. I mean, that's great that he can ride in Daytona, and there's obviously room for both the top end professional's and teams as well as the event racers. But, if the AMA left Daytona, and Daytona ran it anyway, would anyone show up to race? How long would it last? So, here's the countries only other 200 mile race (not including endurance racing), certainly a race without the heritage of Daytona, but all told, Willow isn't a bad place to race, and even if it doesn't have any championship points, it's fast. Damn is it fast. The back straight, turns 8 and 9, and the front straight are made to let the big dogs eat. Horsepower track all the way. Plus, this race has a solid payday attached to it. And if anything, that aspect appeals to me, the aspect that winning actually matters here. In the AMA I tend to lose interest after the championship has settled out. Typically, the racing gets boring because the races aren't worth winning by the racers that can actually win them. Point leaders trying to maintain 4th place, team orders keeping Yates stuck behind Mladin. I want racers to race to win the race. (Kudos to Hacking, who seems to not realize that he's already won the championship and keeps racing like it's actually important.) I want E-Boz to win the FX championship, but I was glad Josh Hayes beat him at Road Atlanta. The FX championship is going to come down to whoever wins that race. Period. No pole points, no laps lead. Winner take all, literally. Mid-Ohio is going to be a humdinger because of it. If Eric had won in Atlanta, then he could get by with 2nd at Ohio. And as much as the racer in him would want to win the final race, the professional racer in him would make him happy with 2nd, and the Championship. I wouldn't slight him for it, but that doesn't mean I enjoy watching it happen. Last year, we saw Jake go off track in probably one of the best races I've ever seen (though that GP earlier this year at Catalunya? I think? was pretty damn good). I don't want anyone to get hurt, but Jake and Miguel put on a damn good show last year in Atlanta. Nailbiter to the end. We got to watch the start of the 200 today at Willow, but couldn't stay until the end. The race pretty much started when we were scheduled to leave with the 3hr delay. But we got to watch the first chunk of it before a red flag came out, and that was as good a time as any to leave. Jeremy Toye and Steve Rapp were out the gate like greyhounds on fire. And they fought very hard up until the red flag. They were changing positions for the lead, playing games in traffic, and Toye was able to get some AMAZING drive in turn 8. Turn 8 and 9 at Willow are 5th/6th gear sweepers, are notorious for having serious sphincter factor (the wind doesn't help), yet Toye passed Rapp like he was standing still in turn 8, twice, while we were there. And they were simply FLYING down the front straight in to turn 1, nose to tail, late braking, the whole 9 yards. And this was simply the opening of an 80 lap race. They were stuck together like glue. The bikes and riders were well matched, and they were both HUNGRY for the win. Truly, for the 17ish laps (I think) before the red flag, it was simply a great race to watch. But we had to leave at that point. I learned later that Toye beat Rapp by 6 seconds at the end. 6 seconds! At the end of a 200 mile race! AT WILLOW! In the past, Josh would simply walk away and lap the field. Today, 3rd place was down 70 seconds, and 4th place was down 3 laps. We've had closer finishes at Daytona, of course. Infamous finishes. High bank draft passing slingshot OMG! finishes. But that's Daytona. Lots of rules, factory teams and riders. This is Willow. "Forumla 1" (i.e. Run what you brung.) Rich Oliver was 7th on the grid with his TZ250 running 1:23's. There was also a mix of 600's in the pack, as well as a lone Ducati 999. So, I wasn't going out to find the highest level of competition, but they delivered this year. Boy did they. I wish I could have stayed. I also wasn't expecting to lose a rider today either. Of course, nobody did. That really sucked. It always sucks. But I am surprised we didn't get more AMA guys there. I guess it's just not worth dragging the trailer across the desert to get a crack at the big prize. Yet, somehow it's worth it for a bunch of ramshackled "obsessed" hobbyists to come across to race WERA endurance. I don't know what they get paid there, but it doesn't pay what Willow was paying today, but still they came across the desert for their national events. Anyway, modulo the accident and the delay, I though it was a pretty good event. Since I last saw a race back in, what, May? At Sonoma? It was a great treat to go out and watch these guys. I hope next year it's as good as it was this year for the main race. Regards, Will Hartung
