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/127933
P roject2000 update ยท DIRT TRACK By Scott Rousseau ~ ched u led for launch at the turn of th e cen tu ry , Project 2000 is coming on line, and so me of the rock ets wi th which the AMA is hopin g to propel p ro fessional dirt track racin g in to the next millennium are just abou t read y to be fired . Exac tly one yea r fro m the d ay that the AMA ann ounced its five-yea r plan to re vamp dirt tr ack raci ng a t all level s th ro u gh the u se of prod u cti on-ba sed engines, the sanctio ning bod y came to the '98 show in Indi anapolis to display four examples of the type of machinery that will likely be competing at all levels, including Gra nd Nation al, in the future. Accord ing to plan , Gary Stolzenburg of F&S H arley-David son in Dayton, Oh io, has buil t tw o machines, one u tilizing a Harley-Davidson Sportster engine, bu t th e other - and perhaps the eyecatcher of the qu artet at Ind y - hou ses a carbureted (that's righ t, no fuel injection) Suzuki TLlOOO V-twin. "A lot of peop le co mmented on the Suzuki," Sto lzenburg sai d . " Peo p le would be walking by it a nd it woul d catch their eye. It was something new tha t they hadn't see n before. They said th at it was something that needed to be d on e for a lon g time . A lot of them we re a lso glad th e AMA a nd the owner's gro u p d eci ded to d o so me thi ng - and you need to point out tha t this is a joint venture. I thi n k that it has generated a w hole lot of positive response." Both bikes were finis hed too close to the Indy deadline for an y testing to have been cond ucted (the Suzuki appeared sans ignition), but Stolzenburg is plann ing to begin ha rd -core eva luation s of both mach ines soo n. "I' rn hoping to have th em both on the d yno in a few weeks," Stolzenburg (Right) This is one of the machines that had the dealers and vendor s at the 1998 Dealernews International Powers ports Expo in Indiana polis talking. F&S Suzuki stuck to its guns and produced a Suzuki TL1000 dirt tracker for all to see. The bright yellow, carbureted mach ine was an eye-pop per. (Below) F&S Harley- . Davids on's "XLR1000" was also completed in time for the show , albeit with a stock Evo Spo rtster en gine. Owner Gary Sto lzenburg plans to beg in se rious testing of both the Suzuki an d the Harley In just a few weeks. said . "I want to have them on the track so me time in Jun e or maybe as early as May. Right no w, dry, and wi thou t th e igniti on , the Suzuki we ig hs abou t 304 pounds. O ur XRs weigh aro und 315 to 320, so w e're righ t in the hunt." Tea m Saddlemen /1 -800- FASTHOG ow ner Pat Moro n ey also brought an Evolu tion -powered bik e to ln d y . Despit e not havin g s ta r te d it ye t, Moroney is confident that he can duplica te the power cha racte ris tics of his team' s XR750s with the new combina tion . Moron ey, who wa s originally s keptical w hen he first heard of the new dirt tra ck plan, sa id that he, li ke Stol zenburg, was pl eased with th e comments that the ma chines drew amo ng the d ealers a nd aftermarket vend ors wh o saw them at the sho w . "I wa s w atchin g peop le , and the Suz uki probably held the most in terest," Moroney said. Mo ro ney als o said that he want s to start runnin g his bike as soon as possible. "T he AMA d oesn't w ant u s to test (at Gra nd Na tio na ls ) w ithout a nyone el s e tes ti ng t h e m , " Mo ro n ey s a id. "Mine wa s th e on ly on e (a t Ind y) that we could've bumped off and had ru nning. We need to put some mor e pressu re on the AMA and some of the othe r teams so th at we ca n test the m at th e Na tionals, because that's the best place to d o it. We 'll be a t th e sa me p la ce where w e' re racing 750s, a nd then we ca n co m pare la p times to w ha t we're d oing on the 7505." The third different ma chine at Indy, and the smallest d eparture from a stock motorcycle, was th e seco nd p hase of (Above) Pat M oroney's Harley-Davidson was also at Indy. Moroney ctaims that he is ready to begin testin g with the machine right now, and is hopeful that the AMA willa llow him some practice time at the upcoming Grand Nationals s o that he can gather data. (Above center) Dirt track fans may remember seeing this Honda VTR1000 at the Sacramento Mile last September. Since then , the Rick Ca node-bullt machine has undergone further changes, but still retains several stock co mponents as well as a s omewhat st ock appearance . A similarly prepared Ducat i should be s urfacing soon. . . (Above right) AMA dirt track manager Bruce Bober handed us this photo at Indy. Repo rtedly extracted from a Yamaha Vision, this V-twin is being deve loped in a 750cc configuration by former Harley-Davids on factory mechanic Babe Demay. Keep in mind that the new rules te ntatively allow for engine combina tions disp lacing "up to 1000cc: ' Professional Mo to rcycl e Racing Own e rs Grou p presid ent Jim Land es' Hond a VTRlOOO, which is being ma ssa ged by Team Un do crew chief Rick Canod e . The b ike a p pea rs to ha ve bee n "b a ck-ha lved" since its engine test a t the Sacrame nto Mile in September. A new Missile Engineering swingarm and rear clip take the place of the stock machin e. It now rid es on dual shocks inst ead of the stock ProLink sus pe nsion sys tem . Yet re taining .the stock appearance of the street-going VTR is importan t to Landes and Canode at this stage. "We fee l that th os e (H on d a) eng in eers th at built that fra me are p re tty s ma rt, and w e'd be foolis h not to tr v and work with tha t frame befor e going ou t and bu yin ganother frame," Landes sa id . "We want it to look li ke a 2000 bi ke. We don't want it to necessari ly look like a traditi ona l d ir t tra ck e r . I think it' s just ano the r way to go. From our standpoint, we wan t the new bikes to look new." Despite the recent progr ess, skep tics still argue tha t the Project 2000 plan wi ll be 11 bust w it hou t some form of a ss istance by the va rious O EMs. If th at is trulv the case, then consider this: Bot h theLand es z Ca node VTR1000 a nd a Ducati 916 (which just miss ed the Ind y show due to a cou ple of technical glitches when it came time to fit the fuel tank) we re donated to the AMA by the Honda (you know, the com pa ny tha t supposedly hates dirt track) and Ducati facto ries, respecti vel y , fo r u se in th e prog ra m . And Stolze nburg claims tha t American Suzuki has expressed interes t in assist ing his proj ect via the do nati onof another TL motor or tw o. Co u ld Kawasaki and Yamaha be interested as well? Fo r a project th at was s up pos ed ly never going to fly, this one ap pears to have gotte n off the ground nicely . l~