Cycle News

o 'l u red Andrews ( Kaw ) scored a narrow in at the comb ined Grand National ross Country and AMA National Hare cram bles in Hurricane Mills. Tennessee. n April 22 . Andrew s took the checkered lag five seconds ahead of Rod ne y mith (Suz) . while approximately 20 econd later came S te v e Hatch in hird . J ason Raines (Yam) and Mike ied ro w ski (Suz) rounded out the top ive overall . Former series leader Shane atts (KTM) finished 22 nd after crashing arly in the race . giving the points lead to mith. est ry Abbott (Kaw) capt ured the win t t he AMA Nat ion al Hare & Hound in ucerne Va lley. C aliforni a. on A pril 22 . bbott led fro m start to fin ish . sco ring he w in ahead of B r ia n B row n (Kaw) nd 250cc clas s w inner Ru sse ll Pea rn (Yam). Fourth ov erall w ent to David earson (Yam) . w hile fifth ove rall w ent o A n d y Grider (Yam) . By w inning . bott moves into the series points lead ver Brow n. ame s S te w a rt (Kaw) was again the ig winner at the N MA World Mini Grand rix in Las Vegas. Nevada. Ap ril 18-22. tew art won every moto en route to the 25cc Stoc k. M odified and Open Intermeiat e class w ins . In the M ini classes. i mmy Nelson (Yam) and Davi M iII a p s (Suz) were the top riders. Nelson n the 85cc ( 14-16) Stoc k and Modified lasse s. as w ell as the Supermini class. illsaps won the 85cc (1 2-13) Stock and od ifi ed div isions . Eli Tom ac cam e way with three class w ins. toppin g bot h he Pee -Wee (7-8) Stock and M odi fie d lasses . as well as the 65cc (6-8 ) Mod iied class . In the Pro division . Billy Laniovich (Yam) was the top rider. He took op honors in the 250cc Stock and Modiied, and 125cc Modified Pro classes. ya n H ugh e s (Hen ) and the all -new RF450R took both mot o victories for the verall win at �� ro und one of the Wh ite rothers Four-St roke Wo rld Champ insh ips at G len He len Raceway in San emard ino. C alifomia. on Ap ril 22 . markng the unofficial U .S. debut of Honda ' s irst four-stroke motocross bike . Hughe s on both motos in convincing fash ion gainst a field of talented competitors . ncluding Yamaha ex-factory racer Doug u ba c h . four-stroke c hampion Spud alters. Moto XXX 's M ichael Branes and Yamaha of T roy 's Nathan amsey (on a YZ250F) . A lt h o ug h onda Racing does not compete in the series . the facto ry team ente red the race to temper both the machine and Hughes in preparation for national compe tition . Hughes. a member o f the winning 2000 U .S. Motocross des Nations team . w ill race the 450cc machine in the upcoming 2001 AMA Chevy Trucks U .S. Motocross Championships. According to a Honda pre ss releas e. Hughe s was ecstatic afte r the race - in wh ich he at times he gained up to three seconds a lap on se cond place finisher Dubach. -I love the bike.' Hughes said. 'I've been looking forward to racing it because I've felt great durinq practice. but I know that winning races is wha t counts. I can 't wait for the season opener [of the A M A Nationals] at Glen Helen in three weeks!' Doug ie Lampkin (Men) ru led t h e opening round of the World Trials Ch ampionship in Sant Llorenc, Spain. on Apri l 21 -22 . The B rit ish ride r do minat ed th e event from sta rt to f inish. riding to the best scores on both days. Second place on the first day went to David Cobos (Mon) wi th G raha m Jarvis (She) finishing third . The fo llowinq day ' s action saw Lampkin to p Jarvis and T akahisa Fuji, nami (Mon). J J Led by Roadracing World/Team EMGO ValvoJine Suzuki team owner John Ulrich , and with a goal of raising some $87 .000 to purchase 30 sections of Air Fence to be used in AMA Pro road racing, a group of individuals. some manufacturers and afterm arket cornpanies have started to pull together to get the deal done. The AMA responded to this initiative with the following press release. issued April 19: "In December 2000. the AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors took action to initiate a plan for the purchase of 30 additional units of air fence to be used at rounds of the AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Champ ionship. "T he esti mated co st to purchase, staff. transport and store the fenci ng exce eds 5450 .000 for a three-year period , not including ongoing ma intenance and repair costs. "A formal announcement of this program was planned once all details were complete. It should be noted that a four-month lead-time is required for the delivery of this quantity of air fence. "AM Pro Racing appreciates th e individuals and corporations pledging support th roughout the development of this important initi at ive. Visit amaproracing.com for updat es on this and other AMA Pro Racing news and race results." In response. the following press release from Roadracing World's John Ulrich was sent to Cycle News the same afternoon : "The AMA release is the usual excuse for why something hasn't happened. I've been pushing these guys to get more Air Fence since Grant Lopez, Miguel Duhamel , and Thomas Wilson slammed into bare concrete walls two or three years ago. At this time , the AMA has three sections of Air Fence, one of which leaks badly . In two and a half days . I've raised $48 .000, enough for sixteen sections of Air Fence, with donatio ns com ing from individual AMA members, racing enthusiasts , and companies invo lved in racing without any help whatsoever from anybody at the AMA headquarters. Talk is cheap and it's easy for bureaucrats to make plans. "It's also worth noting that they didn't say they've already come up with the money to enact this grand plan, they just said they're work ing on it and were planning to announce the plan when they were finished. which is what they always say. "What we've done is make something happen. That's what racers do, and we're not going to stop until we have funded thirty new sections of Air Fence. And if I have to buy a truck and deploy it myself, that is what I'm going to do. How is that a bad thing?' Craig Conne ll (Ouc) won race one of the Formula USA Unlimited Superb ike race at Wi llow Spring s Intemational Raceway in Rosamond. Ca lifornia on Sunday. April 22 . topping S hawn H igbee (Suz) and Ken C ha se (Su z). In the second Unlimited Superbike race. Higb ee scored t h e victory over C ha s e an d Grant Lopez (Su z), Earlier in t he day. P a u l Harrell won the Formula USA Sportbike race. leading every lap of the 12-lap affair t o be at V in ce nt Haskove c ( S uz) and B rian Parr iott (Suz) . H owever . bo t h Haskovec and Parriott were disqualified when their motorcycles failed to pass a po st -race dyno run. giving se cond and third p lace to Lee Acree (S uz ) and Marc Pa lazzo ( Ho n ). J usti n Mc R e y n o l d s . meanwh ile, topped M icha el Barnes and Tripp Nobles to win th e Buell lighting race . In other action. D a n Fischer t o pped Aa ro n C lark and J eff Wood to w in the Ap rilia Cup Challenge final. Since it' s printed on co ated-stock paper. our Bikes o f the Stars page went to press early t hts week. before we had rec eived Ch evy Trucks Kawasa ki manager Bru ce Stj emstrom' s final comments on Ric ky C armi ch ae l's AMA EA Sport s S up erc ro ss Championsh ip -w inn ing KX250. Here the y are : ' R.C . wants the mot or to pull hard throughout the power range. Starting is especially important to him - a good start gives him a lot of confide nce. Ricky has the chassis set- up for fa st corn ering - he uses his incred ibl e comering speed to pull ahead early in the race . His confidence in the whoops has also improved this season . It' s obviousty working for him. as his results have been very good. ' Belgian Fred Crosset won both rounds of t he se aso n-o p e n i ng NATC / AMA National Trials Ch ampionship in Teme cula, C alifomia, Apri l 20-21 . Crosset topped Geoff Aaron and Rya n Bell on the firs t day. with tho se tw o sw apping pos it ions on t he sec o nd day. Meanwhile. The Road2Recovery charity. whic h helps pro riders w ho suffer career, thr eat ening in ju ries while raci n g . i s ho ldi ng its Supercross Celebrity Golf C lassic at Badland s G olf C lub o n M ay 3 . th e Thursday bef ore th e Las Veg as S upe rcross . Included is a ' caddy auction ' (bid- Aaron was the big winner in the EI Trial de Espana that was held on April 22 . topping Bell and Jeff Kem pkes . C ro sset fin ished fourth in Sunday' s event. ders pay to caddy for a SX hero . including Ric k y C ar mic hae l. Jeremy M cG rat h . G ran t Langston . D av id Pin g r ee . Ti m Ferry . Em esto Fonseca. St ephane Roncada. etc .J. but bidding closes soon CApril 29 ). You can also pay to play (as a team or individual). or sponsor a tee sign. For more in for ma tion . log on to http: / /www.road2recovery .com . Sou th African road racer Lance Isaacs filled in for t he injured Matt Wait in the second round of the Formula USA Serie s on April 22 at Will ow Spri ngs Racew ay. Isaac s . who raced as Ben Bo st rom ' s te ammate on the NCR Ducati tea m in la st year's World S upe rb ike Cha mpi onship. rode the team' s Honda CBR 60 0 F4i and C BR929 in his first non-Laguna S e c a appearan c e in the U . S . ' I am th rilled to have thi s opp ortunity w ith the Ame r ican Honda supported Synergy t ea m . ' Isaa cs sa id p r ior to t he rac e . ' Wh en Fred [Bramblett. the own er of his management company. O.M .S . Ltd .! ca lled me w ith thi s opp ortun ity. I didn 't hes istate w ith my answer - knowing that Supersport racing is the place to be to show my talents and poss ibly get picked for a full ride in 2002.' Isaac s finished fifth in the Formula USA Sportbike class. CJ o r "} I -=:, J C) o o o o o o o Q J 'l '-..J " I d o o o o o o o o o :J J o o o n l.J CJ o o l cue. e n e _ S ��� MAY 2 , 200 1 1

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