D-R proud of event stature

By Don Empey

SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC -- It was standing room only at the Tony Roma’s Steakhouse on Thursday evening as this popular downtown Santo Domingo venue hosted the pre-race press conference for this weekend's motorcycle road races.

Major D-R newspapers, radio and television stations all had representatives on hand to cover what is obviously a very big event for this country. Many of the entered riders were in attendance including the complete Canadian contingent.

On introduction all riders received an ovation however the longest and loudest response was for Daniel Abreu. Abreu was a many time D-R motocross and road race champion. He excelled at all forms of motorcycle competition and finished second in the Latin American championships in 1991. A highly respected personality in the D-R, Abreu was at the conference by special invitation. He was referred to as the 'Yvon Duhamel' of the Dominican.

Bookending the head table of the conference were Diego Almonte and Diego Campos of Acelerando, the event organizers as well as George Butler, the D-R FIM representative. Alongside Butler was the track manager Nancy Montilla, who was flanked by the Mobil 1 representative Fabio Herrera as well as Marcelo Hazim of Tricom, a large Dominican communications concern.

Montilla spoke of how important this race weekend is to the venue.

“As you have seen we have made a lot of progress at the track, a lot of improvements and we are proud of this," she said. "Our intent is to first make it better and then make it bigger. I’m sure there are other tracks who have envy for us, to be hosting such a high profile international event. We are very happy, and really looking forward to the races this weekend.”

Speaking on behalf of the Canadian riders at the conference were Jean Francois Cyr and Andrew Nelson, both voicing their pleasure of being at these races and their intent to do well. Journalist Frank Wood was also asked to speak. Midway through his speech Wood knocked a beer bottle from a table while gesturing with his hand, much to the delight of the crowd. Although very embarrassed, Wood and all the Canadian riders were very pleased to hear from Butler that such a mishap is in fact seen as a good luck omen in these parts.

The Canadian effort has been a popular addition to the Dominican race series and has received a great deal of attention in all avenues of the Dominican daily press. Local television broadcasts have featured Vanessa Gareau-Dominguez.

Qualifying for the four-race Latin American Superbike championship starts Friday afternoon with the pre experts and amateurs scheduled to qualify on Saturday morning.

Photos from the event and festivities can be seen at http://www.pbase.com/don_empey_photography/dominican and will be updated daily.