Cycle News

Merriman On Top Again U FO Co rse Y a m aha 's Stefan Merriman co ntinued to march forward to ward his fourth World C hampionship title w ith another victory in the Grand Prix of Swe de n in Skovde on June 6. Briefly... ! According to team manager Danny Paladino, MDK Motorsports along with title sponsor Unked in.com has added a new rider to its team - Rusty Hollan d . '~he r watching Rusty Holland 's performance at the Hangtown National ( 10- 19 for 15th overall) , we were very impressed," Paladino said. "Rusty has a good work ethic and training program that we feel will ben efit the entire team. Rusty will ride a 10<250 the remainder of the season as the th ird member our team. With Mike Brandes out with a shou lder injury and Casey Johnson out with hand surgery, Rusty will be our main focus for the ne xt few weeks. We also plan to have 19-year-old Teddy Maire fill in for Brandes at Budds Creek on a 1O<250F." Stefan Merriman wo n again, this time in the Grand Prix of Sweden. W it h Me r riman Lance Bryson has re signed from Clear Channel Entertainment Motor Sports and w ill join Advanstar Communications, working in its Power Sporn Group Division. Bryson worked at Clear Channel for seven years. taking the victory, his teammate Bartosz Obl ucki was again left to batt le it o ut with KT M's Petteri Silv for the an runner-up spot on day one w hile Italian Mario Rinaldi placed fourth , just five sec ond s back of Silvan. On day two, Merr iman aga in proved just too fast for his EI class rivals and again walked awa y with th e win. Improving fro m his sixth-place finish on da y on e, Italian Simo ne Albergon i claimed the ru nnerup spot ahead of Silvan , wh o again ear ned third. With Obluck i squ eezed off the pod ium into fourt h, Rinaldi proved that his dayone result w as no nuke by finishing fifth - his best World Enduro result of the season . "Everyth ing went okay for me on day one - I was just a little bit too smooth and not aggressive enough," Merrim an said. "I rode a gear lower in most places after that and rewed the bike harder, w hich seemed to be be tter. I had one small crash in the enduro test, but I didn't lose much time . It was so difficult to ride the cross -country te st because th e dust was hanging in the trees and covered the rocks , which made choosing a line difficult. You just had to kee p the fro nt end light and hope you don 't hit anyth ing. Day two was just rea lly tir ing. There was now he re to rest o n the course and not much time to rest at the end of the co ntr o ls either. It White Brothers has announced that it will be the official fourstoke exhaust supp lier to Yamaha Motor Corporation's motocros s team for the remainder of the 2004 season. Chad Reed , David Vuillemin, Tim Ferry, Team Mach I riders Heath Voss and Ezra Lusk have already bee n using the White Broth ers Carbon Pro system at the Hangtown and Mount Morris round of the 2S0cc National Championship series. Jimmy Perry. Yamaha's motocross team manager said: ':AJI of our riders are very happy with the Carbon Pro exhaust syste m. Th ey continually remark on the smooth power and reliability of the White Brothers system. Additionally, the White Brothers R&D and racing departments are provid ing the kind of support that we rea lly appreciate ." Mike Bell, White Brothers executive vice presid ent commented, �� We 're thrilled to have Team Yamaha run White Brothers exhaust systems. Over the past year the company has worked hard to re invigorate the White Brothers brand, focus our product offer ings, and re-esta blish o urse lves as the off roa d pe rfo rmance leader. I think the fact that Yamaha was in a position to ru n any system that they wanted to and chose the Carbon Pro is a huge statement." mad e it really hard to keep your concen tration . Normally you have to concentrate just on the special test - here yo u had to concentrate all the wa y around the course . Winning both days has given me a bigger lead in the cham pions hip, wh ich is gr eat. I just have to try and get the same resu lt in Slovakia in three weeks." Merr iman leads the title chase over Oblucki, 235189. Silvan is third with 18S points. AUTOGRAPH S IG N IN G: At Manchester Honda in Manchester, Connecticut, on Friday, June I I, fro m 6 to 9 p.m. Doug Henry and Steve Lamson are scheduled to appear. For more information, call BOO/34B-0070. APPOINTED : Motoman Distributing of Upland , California, as Western states' distributor for TM motorcycles and parts. effective immed iately. For more information, call Motoman Distributing at 909/6OB-0082. OPENED: Mototek Aprilia's new home page on the World Wide Web . The site can be found at the following address: http://www.aprilia-o nline.com . www.cy clenews.com AMA Pro Racing has announced an agreement w ith Yamaha Motor Corporation that will make the manufacturer the "O fficial Utility Vehicle of AMA Superbike and AMA Motocross." As part of the agreement, Yamaha will supply AMA Pro Racing with its all-new dual-passenger Rhino 660 fo ur-w heel -drive utility vehicles fo r use at AMA Superbi ke and AMA Motocross events. "The Rhino 660 is our latest concept in utility veh icles, with seating for two, a largecapacity cargo bed and the highest gro und clearance in the industry," Yamaha Motor Corporation communications director Bob Starr said. "Th e automotive-style controls and On-Command push -button 4x4 system help make the vehicle easy, durable and safe to use. We're confident the Rhino will prove to be extremely useful for AMA Pro Racing." "As the Official Utility Vehicle of Superbike and Motocross, the Yamaha Rhino 660 will aid our staff with on-site operations and race management," AMA Pro Racing vice president, commercial development John Farris said. "O ur staff is loo king forwa rd to putting the Rhinos to work at the races." In exchange fo r supplying the Rhino ve hicles, Yamaha receives the right to promote itself as the Official Utility Vehicle of AMA 5uperbike and AMA Motocross as well as various other mar keting con siderations. Anti-doping co ntrols were carried out at the round of the Individual Speedway World Championship Grand Prix held in Prague , Czech Republic, on May 15. All the samples tested showed the absence of any banned substances. Those tested were Tony Rickardsson, Jason Crum p and Bjarne Pedersen. The FIM has announced some changes to the 2004 calendar ofthe SuperMoto Wo rld Cham pio ns hip : the rounds in Lydd-Ashfo rd (England), Belfast (Ireland), Nice (France), albia (Sardinia, Italy), and Genk (Flanders, Belgium) have been canceled . The event in Bucarest (Romania) will be held on July 25 (instead of August 22). New rounds will be held in Sosnova (Czech Republic) on August 22 , Melk (Austria) on September 19, Bordeaux (France) on October 10, Cuneo (Italy) on October 31, and KaJamata (Greec e) on November 7. The other dates and venues remain unchanged. CYCLE NEWS ��� JUNE 16,2004 11

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