Flat track TT motorcycle racing returns with a roar to the
Salinas Sports Complex in Salinas on August 3 for round five of
Gene Romero’s West Coast Flat Track Series, where several of the
West’s fastest motorcycle racers will be gunning for their first
win of the season.
SALINAS – Flat track TT motorcycle racing returns with a roar to the Salinas Sports Complex in Salinas on August 3 for round five of Gene Romero’s West Coast Flat Track Series, where several of the West’s fastest motorcycle racers will be gunning for their first win of the season.
Chief among them is reigning West Coast Flat Track Series champion Kevin Bricker of Escalon, who has yet to earn his first series win despite handily taking the West Coast Flat Track title in 2002. Bricker currently leads the 2003 points standings over Jesse Sanchez of Ceres, 61-56. With the 10-race series reaching its halfway point in Salinas, no rider has managed to win more than one round thus far.
“That speaks to the competitiveness of this series,” founder Gene Romero, a native Californian who won the American Motorcyclist Association Grand National Championship in 1970, said. “It seems like every year, it gets tougher for one guy to win twice, let alone dominate.”
Former Formula USA National Dirt Track Series competitor Beau Brown of Oregon made an appearance at round four at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, and he won the main event. Two current AMA Grand National-ranked competitors, John Hlebo III of San Jose and J.R. Schnabel of West Bend, Wisconsin, squared off at round three of the series, a TT at Watsonville Speedway in Watsonville, with Hlebo winning that race. Hlebo won last year’s short track event at Salinas, and he is expected to be flying in from a Formula USA National Dirt Track event in Texas in time to compete at the Salinas TT.
“We draw the best motorcycle racing talent in the western United States to our races, and then we get a lot of top National guys popping in for a visit from time to time,” Romero said. “When you have that many good guys, the competition gets really fierce.”
All three regular West Coast Coast Flat Track Series divisions will be part of the program at Salinas. They include the marquis Open Pro class, the Saddlemen Open Vintage class, and the Honda 450 Top Gun class. Rick Hocking of Livermore is the defending Saddlemen Open Vintage class champion and, unlike his Open Pro class compatriots, has yet to be defeated in 2003.
The Honda Top Gun 450 class, which mandates 450cc four-stroke and 250cc two-stroke, motocross-based motorcycles, is the replacement for the 250cc class that Romero ran for the last three seasons.
“I can see a time when our Top Gun class will be just as big as any other class,” Romero said. “It’s really easy to get into, and a great place for guys who want to learn how to race flat track.”
Romero also said that to make it easier for motocross racers and off-road racers to compete at the Salinas TT, he is waving the rule that requires flat-track tires to be used exclusively.
“Salinas will be what we call a ‘open traction’ event for the Top Gun class only,” Romero said. “The racing surface is such that it allows us to waive our standard rule, which should increase participation. The racing in all of our classes at this event is going to be excellent.”
Gates Open 11 a.m. – First Race 1 p.m. – Info/Tickets 831-775-3100
