Cycle News

Cycle News 2013 Issue 06 Feb 12

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/108863

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 26 of 105

IN THE WIND Lawrence has been threatening to make a return to racing for the past two years, but this time the threat sounds like a promise as Utopia and Arma Energy will support his comeback. Lawrence has been riding at his grandparents' property in Florida to get ready for his return, but was in Southern California last week staying with friend and fellow racer Josh Hansen. Lawrence was sentenced to 365 days in the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta, California, on September 8, 2009 with the then 22 year old charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of battery with serious bodily injury, PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANKIE GARCIA P28 and one count of mayhem. Lawrence was sentenced in Riverside County, California, just 46 days after finishing third in the AMA National Motocross round in Washougal, WA. Lawrence also very nearly won the Daytona Supercross in March of 2009 before fading to a second-place finish. The 2009 season was littered with trouble for Lawrence with the AMA penalizing him for his on-track actions at the Jacksonville round of the 2009 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series after on-track altercations be- Jason Lawrence was at Pala Raceway last week preparing for his comeback in the AMA National Motocross Championship. tween himself and Broc Hepler. Since he was already on probation for an earlier incident, Lawrence was suspended from competition for the rest of the 2009 AMA Supercross Series. Frankie Garcia CARDENAS GETTING READY W hat most impressed Martin Cardenas in his first ride aboard the Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000 was the speed. Coming off the GEICO Suzuki GSX-R600, on which he won the 2012 Daytona SportBike title last year, the difference in power was impressive, he said, after testing his new race machine most recently at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway in the desert southeast of Los Angeles. "It is very, very fast," Cardenas said in a phone conversation on Monday morning. "The power is like the most thing that you can feel. The main difference is… yeah, very powerful. And so far it's been good. The bike seems to be working really good and also the team, all the guys are pretty nice, so I think we started good." The two-time Daytona SportBike Champion previously rode a Superbike in 2011, but it wasn't at the level of the Yoshimura Suzuki. Still, Cardenas managed to win at Barber Motorsports Park and carded nine top-five finishes. He finished the season fourth overall. "Compared to the 600, the Superbikes, they move a lot more, so you have to be a little bit more physical," he said. "Ride it a little different. So, yeah, I think the difference in power is the main thing." Martin Cardenas is readying himself for another shot at AMA Superbike racing. Cardenas said that it was mainly on the corner exit that you have to be judicious with the continued on page 30

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Cycle News - Cycle News 2013 Issue 06 Feb 12