Cycle News

AMA Releases Flat Track National Numbers 30 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 16. 1975 ~19"l'':'!':''!'!'l'!'!'I'!'!IIAMA 2S0cc National MX Champion Tony DiStefano skipped onto our cover of Issue #49. In addition to his new 2S0 title, Tony D was doing the business in the TransAMA Series as well, having won three races in a row. DiStefano would end up third in the series... We ran a feature on a cantilever suspended Maico 250, a homebuilt contender in the long-travel revolution that was changing the face of motocross. The Mike Ruby-built bike featured a suspension design that appears similar to that used by "modern" XR7S0 dirt trackers today, except that it used two shocks instead of one. 20 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER lB. 19B5 ..1iilllliJJ _, - .• _._._ _ -. The cover of Issue #49 told the story. It I:IIa was time to find out who was the king of ij~ji the SOOs in our Open Class Showdown. How did they rate? Yamaha YZ490 was iiiiii!~""-l considered to be the best bike for Beginners, while the Honda CRSOO was considered as the best for the rest and the winner of the shootout... Dan Smith (Hus) won the Barstow-to-Vegas Hare & Hound race on November 30. Chuck Miller (Hon) was second. and Larry Roeseler (Hus) was third... We ran a watchdog story about how the State of California was trying to exclude motorcycles from HOV (carpool) lanes, and also a guest editorial from California Assemblyman Richard Katz that called for a tightening of safety regulations on open gravel trucks using public roadways... to YEARS AGO.•• DECEMBER 13. 1995 1E~;:ilI5~(5:;»There was big news on the cover of Issue #49. as Cycle News learned that former 2S0cc World Road Racing Champion John Kocinski had tested a Ducati 916 Superbike with an eye toward returning to competition in the World Superbike Championship. Kocinski wound up doing just that with Ducati. and he later won the title with Honda... We featured a racer test on Loris Reggiani's quizzical Aprilia RSV400 GP road racer, and we also gave you the first published test of the 1996 Suzuki RM2S0. The allnew RM was a huge improvement over the '9S model, going from one of our least favorite 2505 to one of our favorites... Casey Johnson (Kaw) was one of the main men at the Florida Winter National Olympics MX. johnson won the Silver Tire Award for being the top finishing Expert. AMA Pro Racing announced the list of AMA Flat Track Championship riders who have earned National numbers for 2006. Seven-time and defending AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr will once again wear the number-one plate on his race bikes in 2006. A total of eight riders - Dan Gedeon, Nick Cummings, Shawn Baer, Sam Halbert, josh Toungett, Ken Yoder Jr., Scott Stump and Matt Burton - are new National number holders for 2006. National numbers are earned or retained by obtaining championship points in the previous season in AMA Grand National main events. The top two points earners in the AMA Hot Shoe 7S0/lOOO class are also eligible for a National number. Riders must have held a GNC license in order to earn a National number. Riders earning Grand National points that do not currently hold a National number can select an open number based on the previous year's Grand National points standings. National numbers are between 1 and 99. Numbers 2 through 9 are reserved for past Grand National Champions. As announced on November 7, major changes are planned for the AMA Flat Track Championship. Beginning with the 2006 racing season, the championship will feature two separate classes, one for twin-cylinder equipment and one for single-cylinder equipment. 2006 AMA Flat Track National Numbers Chris Carr Joe Kopp Jay Springsteen Dan Stanley Brian Bigelow *Dan Gedeon Jacob Johnson Chris Evans AJ. Eslick Henry Wiles Terry Poovey Paul Lynch Johnny Murphree jared Mees 22 "Nick Cummings 23 Kevin Atherton 26 Steve Beattie 27 Robert Pearson 28 Shaun Russell 29 Charlie ltalia 30 Dominic Beaulac 31 Ken Coolbeth Jr. 32 "Shawn Baer I 3 9 10 II 12 14 IS 16 17 18 19 20 21 Fleetwood, PA Mica, WA Lapeer, MI Bellingham, WA Au Gres, MI Warren,OH Deptford, Nj St. Catharines, ON, CAN Tulsa, OK Blanchard, MI Euless, TX Bel Air, MD Paso Robles, CA Honey Brook, PA Mount Morris, MI White Pigeon, MI Petrolia, ON, CAN Chillicothe, IL San Jose, CA Cuyahoga Falls, OH Dalveyville, PQ, CAN Warren, CT Mechanicsburg, PA 33 34 39 42 43 44 47 53 54 55 57 59 61 66 67 69 72 73 77 J.R. Schnabel Joshua Butler -Matt Burton Bryan Smith *Sam Halbert Christopher Hart Greg Tysor Gary Rogers Cory McDermitt *Josh Toungett *Ken Yoder Jr. Willie McCoy Shawn Clark George Roeder II Mike Hacker Jethro Halbert Tim Eades Larry Pegram "Scott Stump 80 Rich King 88 John Raun Wood B9 Kevin Varnes 94 Jess Roeder West Bend, WI Mattoon,IL Ottumwa, IA Flint, MI Graham, WA Farmington, NY Cumming, GA San Jose, CA Breckenridge, MI East Peoria, IL East Earl, PA Justin, TX Groton, NY Monroeville, OH Colonial Heights, VA Graham, WA Petersburg, VA Baltimore, MD Berlin, NJ Dysart,IA Dublin, PA East Earl, PA Monroevilie, OH "Earned national number for 2006 Sellards, Johnson Split AMA Arenacross Wins Thor/HondalTuf Racing's Brock Sellards took the AMA Arenacross class in the main event on Friday night, December 2, at the Metrocentre in Rockford, Illinois, while Toyota AMA National Arenacross Series points leader Chad johnson rode his Yamaha to victory the following day. Sellards' effort, coupled with johnson's crash on Friday, did take an eight-point chunk out of the Team Yamaha rider's overall points lead, cutting the margin to 2S points, 180ISS. In fact, Sellards had the opportunity to cut even further into johnson's lead on Saturday night, but a poor start and untimely crash kept the Ohioan back in fifth place. "My goal was to make up about six points on Chad this weekend, so coming out eight points ahead was cool," said Sellards. On Friday, Sellards was on it, though he did benefit from a Johnson wreck that took out the points leader's front brake. "On the second lap, I'd stalled my bike, got back going and made it up to fifth by about the fourth lap when jeff [Northrop] came up short on that double after the triple and we came together," said johnson. "He [Northrop] was able to ride away, but I came down on his rear fender and 'whiskey'd' out of it; next thing I know is, I'm chasing my bike across two lanes. Broke the front-brake lever, and 1had to ride the next 16 laps with no front brake." Sellards had his A game on, coming through the pack on fire and catching up to Johnson and Rockstar/Suzuki's Greg Schnell after a 10th-place start. "It seemed on Friday that everything was happening to everybody else and not me," said Sellards. "Guys are hitting each other my teammate [Northrop] and Uim] Neese, Chad stalled, Schnell had a huge lead, and I finally chased him down by lap 14 or IS." Schnell had his best race of the season thus far, going 2-2 - the best overall two-race finish out of anybody at Rockford, if you use the AM.A:s two-moto MX National points-scoring breakdown. Team FaithfYamaha's Kevin Johnson also had an excellent evening, going 4-3 and moving ahead of Northrop for third in the overall points thus far, 139-137. On Saturday, johnson turned the tables on Sellards, again taking advantage of a poor start by Sellards (who got hung up on the starting gate this time) and staying with race leader Schnell before getting by him on lap fIVe before eventually pulling away to a half-track lead by the checkers. "I'd regrouped for Saturday, told myself I was not going to get into a situation like I got myself into on Friday," said Johnson. "Kevin johnson and I had a great heat race, which fired me up for the main. I got like a fifth- or sixth-place start and was able to get up to the leader [Schnell] with no real aggressive passes. I battled past Greg on lap five, and he stayed right there with me for, like, three laps. Then 1was able to pull away for the win." Briefly... Continued from page " blant, a challenging racetrack with a rich history in Canadian motorsport." Following the Mont-Tremblant round of the series, the tour will head west to Calgary's Race City Motorsport Park for round three on Canada Day Weekend, june 30july 2. From there, the National Championship visits another of Canada's storied racetracks, Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville, Ontario, for its traditional july 14-16 doubleheader. The series then moves to Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie, NS, August 11-13, before closing out at Shannonville three weeks later. Each round of the 2006 Parts Canada Superbike Championship will include races for the Parts Canada Superbike feature class, in addition to the Hindle Exhaust Pro 600 Sportbike, International Motorcycle Supershow Amateur 600 Sportbike, Suzuki SV6S0 National Cup and Canadian Thunder National Support classes. The Mosport doubleheader will consist of two points races for the Superbike and Pro 600 Sportbike classes, one each on Saturday and Sunday. Vincent Haskovec will be the master of ceremonies at the 2006 Racing 2 Save Lives children's charity fund raiser at Miller Motorsports Park, according to event promoters. "It'li be good to get out and help with the event," said Haskovec. "I think what you guys are doing is great." "R2SL is thrilled to have Vince's help; he has always been enthusiastic about what we are doing," said R2SL president Sharon Foxworthy. "It's wonderful to have him on board." Racing 2 Save Lives is a SO I(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting children's charities by raising awareness, involvement and capital within the motorcycle-racing community through donations, corporate sponsorship and fundraising events. All profits generated by Racing 2 Save Lives are distributed among carefully selected organizations that have a significant impact on the lives of children in need and their families. For more information, visit www.racing2savelives.org. The Team Rally Pan America squad, which will shortly be heading to the Dakar Rally, lost one of its team members when Pedro de Uriarte crashed while testing in Mexico and injured his knee. That left the team scrambling for a new member, and they have recruited Johan Street, a threetime Baja SOO winner. The Dakar Rally starts in Lisbon, Portugal, on December 31 . For more information on the team, contact team manager Charlie Rauseo at 41S/71 09386 or visit the team's site at www.rallypanam.com. James Stewart and Red Bull have substantially increased the depth of their partnership for the 2006 racing season, according to Stewart's publicist. Beginning with the Toronto, Canada, round of the World Supercross Series, the Red Bull logo was slated to be highly visible on Stewart as he makes his debut in his first international Continued on page '4 CYCLE NEWS • DECEMBER 14,2005 13

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