Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1999 08 18

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

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Moth er Natu re strikes aga in. Rou nd 11 of the AMA Grand Nat ional Championship, scheduled for Saturday, Augu st 7 in Lake Odessa, Michigan, was canceled d ue to rai n . Sunday' s rain d a te was also rain ed-ou t. Toby Thompson (BSA) and Glen Petty Jr. (H- D) conquer ed the Greasy Ridge . N ati o nal Hill climb in H a vd en v ill e, Ohio, on August 7, winni ng the 540 and 800cc cla sses, res pec tive ly. Thompson topped Chad Disbennett (Tri) and Paul Pinsonnault (Hon) to tak e the 540cc cl ass w i n, whil e Petty bea t Terry Th ompson (BSA) and James Large (HD) 'to w in the 800cc class in what was rou nd six of the AMA Na tio nal HiIIclimb Cha mpionship. Jo rd a n Szoke (Hon) edged Mich ael Taylor (Kaw) and Jeff Wi1Iiams (Kaw) for the win in the fifth rou nd of the Toyota Ca nada Superbike Champio nshi p, he ld a t A tla n tic Mot o rsport Pa rk in Shu benacad ie, Nova Scotia, on Aug us t 8. The Yoshi mura 600 Spo rt Bike race was won by Linnley Clarke (Yam) over Owen Weichel (Hon) and j ea n- Francois Cyr (Yam), w hile Taylor ca pt u red th e Open Sport Bike final over Benoit Pilon (Yam) an d Dave Marcella (Yam). Shawn Giles (Su z ) w on h is third straight race in the Aus tralian Superbike Champ ionship at Wan neroo Park in West ern Aus tra lia o n August 1. Gile s led Steve Martin (Due) a nd Andrew Pitt (Kaw) home in both races. Thirt y-t wo AMA Amateu r Mot ocross Ch am pions we re crowned at the 18t h annual running of th e Lor etta Lynn's Ama teur Na tional Motocross in Hurricane Mills ; Tennessee. More than 1200 fina lists competed in the even t, w hich ran from August 2-7, in perfect wea ther conditions. The top per formers included Tra vis Past rana (Su z), James Stewart (Kaw), Kevin Walker (Yam) and Interm edi ate Ben Ridd le (Kaw), eac h of wh om won bot h of their class championships. Pastrana topped the 125cc and 250cc A classes; Stewart earned his sixth a nd seven th ti tle s in th e 85cc (12-13) Stock and (9-13) Modified classes; Walker top ped the Junior (25+) and FourStroke classes; a nd Rid d le top ped th e 125cc B Modified a nd 250cc /O pen B Modified cl as s . Jimm y Durrett also claimed a pair of cha mpionships in the 125cc C Stock and Modified classes. In addition, Jessica Patterson won the race of the week agai nst Italian motocrosser Stefy Bau (Ka w ) to claim the Women's class title with a last-mote, last-lap , lastturn pass for the w in. The 125cc A Pro Sport class was top ped by Billy Payne (Kaw), an d the 250cc A Pro Spo rt title went to Damien Plotts. !4 . I!!Ii III .. U ~ Motocrosser David Vuillemin, who was pe nali zed one m inute in the second mo to o f th e 250cc World Mo toc ro ss Champion sh ip round from the Czech Republic on'July 11 becau se his Yamaha failed to meet FlM noise reg u lation s during pos t-race tech inspection, lost his ap pea l on August 6. The Internationa l Disciplinar y Court u pheld the ju ry's decisio n on the case. In co nj unctio n wi th NH RA officia ls , AMA/P r os tar a n d NH RA w ill be • rest ri ctin g gaso line usa ge to s pecific en en en allowed fu el s. Af te r lab orat o ry test s ' cO taken from several Pro Stock teams were ~ reviewed , NH RA concluded that some u; ::s teams a re usin g fu els wi th add itives g' conside red extremely hazard ous to rae0« ers, th eir 'c rew, rac e o fficials a nd the gene ral p ublic. Effective August 3, all 2 Q ~ Bailey, Bartolini top Luxemaou: GP doubleheader H ond a's Frederic Bolley an d Yamaha's Andrea Bartolini came away w ith wins a t the FIM World Ch a mp io nship 250/500cc MX Series rou nd s held at the Fokenda nge circuit in Luxembourg, August 8. In the 250cc class, Bolley emerged on top of the heap despi te fa iling to win either moto. Instead, Bolley took second place in each ou ting, fin ishin g less tha n a second behind fellow Frenchman David Vuillernin, Yama ha, in the first rnoto, and finish ing some three seconds behind series points lead er Pit Beirer, Honda, in the seco nd moto. Anot her French rid er, Yamaha 's Mickael Maschio, claimed third place in both motos, wh ile Honda's Ryan Hughes we nt 4-8 on the day . Defend ing 250cc World Champion Stefan Everts mad e his first GP appearance of the year since injuring his knee in a preseaso n cras h. The Pam o Honda rider took fifth in the first moto and improved on that by one posit ion in the second moto. Mickael Pichon, on the factory Suzuki, went 10-6 on the day. With three races left in the series, Beirer (righ t) holds a modest 16-point lead over Belley, 369-353. Vuillemin is currentl y third wit h 318 points, whil e Hu ghes has all bu t locked up fourth place in the series at least, wi th 300 poin ts curren tly to his credi t. His nearest rival is an injur ed Marnicq Bervoets, wit h 267, followed by Maschio, with 235. Bartolini, on the four-st roke Yamaha, dominated the 500cc class. The Italian won both motos in Luxembo urg , well clear of second- place moto finish ers Bernd Eckenbac h (firs t rnoto) and Francisco Garcia Vico (second moto). Yama ha-mou nted Vico was awa rd ed second overall (4-2), and KTM's Peter Johansson third overall (3-4). Eckenbach, on the factory Husqvarna, failed to finish in the top 15 in the second moto, scoring zero poin ts in that outi ng. Defendi ng cha mp Joel Smets continued to stru ggle with bike problems in Luxembourg. The factory Husa berg pilo t did not finish either moto. In the series point standings the title is Bartolini's to lose. The , Italian owns a comfortable 52-point lead over Joha nsson (281-229) with three rounds to go. Yves Demaria, who went 5-0 on the day, is third, with 208 points, and Smets is fourth, with 178 points. In Roggenbu rg, Switzerland, August 8, the 11th round of the FlM World Cha mpi onship 125cc MX Series was played ou t and Honda's Mike Brown came within a single point of scoring his first overall GP win. Instead that hon or went to de fending champ Alessio Chiod i on the factory- backed Hu sqvarn a. Chiodi 's 1-3 (35 poin ts) mo to finishes ed ged ou t Brown's 2-2 (34 points). Third on th e da y we nt to Itali an Yama ha rider Clau d io Federici (5-1), while Belgia n Honda rider Patrick Caps (3-8) and Italian Husqva rna rider Thomas Traversini (4-lOl rounded ou t the top five overall . With just two rou nds left in the 125cc series, Chiod i enjoys a command ing 29-po int lead ove r Fed erici, ::149-320. Brown has a secure gras p on third place with 214 poin ts; Tra versini is fourth with 179 points. Geoff Meyer , competitors in AMA/ Prostar Pro Stock co m pe titio n mu st u se o nly accep te d fuels per the current AMA / Prostar fuels list, whic h will be ava ilable to competitors at each event and will be posted on Prostar 's Web site. The only fuels curren tly acce p ted inclu d e VP (CI 9, C25, C32, C34), Unocal 76 Race Fuel (76 Pro, 76 Pro Stoc k Plus ) a nd Su noco Ma x. Both NH RA and AMA/ Pros tar will be monit oring fu el sa m p les ca refully a t their resp ective events, and each competitor mu st identi fy the fuel being used to fuel-check personnel. Accord ing to Cycle News con tribu tor Darryl Flack, two-tim e Worl d Cha mpion Barry Sheene Is astonis hed at Marl bo ro Yamah a' s Carlos Checa's 1999 crash count - wh ich is over half the amount of Sheene's career crashes. Prior to the Germ an GP on July 18, Checa had crashed 19 tim es in pr eseason test ing, practice and racing in 1999, compared to Sheene who had 27 cras hes in hi s 17year racing ca reer. "I've hear d Cha rlie (Checa) say that Michelin is makin g tires for Honda and not Yamaha, so he or his team sho uld as k them to build o nes, wit h whateve r construction they nee d, for their bikes," Shee ne said. "Really, I th ink Cha rlie is a good rider, but 19 crashes - and we're jus t past halfway in the seaso n - is ridiculous . It just goes to show that Yamaha have got it wro ng." The FiM has an no u nce d the sche d ule for the 2000 In d oor Trial Wo rld Cup. The nine-round series begins on Jan uary 8 in Sheffie ld , England, an d concludes on March 11 with a round that has yet to be nam ed . In between th er e w ill be rou nd s held in Toulouse, Fran ce; Geneva, Switzerland; Barcelona, Spain ; Vien- na, Au st ria ; Lisboa, Por tu ga l; Bremen, Germany; and Mad rid, Spain. The second annual Dirt Track Hall of Fame Race, sched uled for Saturday, Septem ber 4 on th e Sp ringfie ld Mil e in Springfield, Illinois, will offer a $103,000 pu rse - d o ub le th e previ o u s r eco rd , according to event promoters. Extende d from 10 to 15 miles, the race will be ope n to a ny AMA- Iicensed ri der w ho can qua lify. While last year's inaugu ral event wa s a IS-rider invitationa l, th is year' s format will resembl e a n AMA Grand Na tional event in that riders will qualify via four heat races and three semifinals wi th 18 rid ers going to th e main . "We made this change to provide more racing for our fans," said race orga nize r Dave Despain. "Last year's invitational forma t served a 'purpose, but it also limited the top riders to a few laps on the track. This yea r, w it h $100,000 on th e lin e, every rid er wit h the a pp rop riate license will have a sho t at the money and they will ha ve to ra ce their way in to th e main even t. That' s go ing to be a spectacular show for the fans ." The Hall of Fa me race kicks off a Labor Day dou bleheader with the Springfield Mile porti on of the event scheduled to JWl on Sunday, September 5. For ticke t informa tio n, ca ll 215/753-8866. Du cati Mo to r H o l d ing S.p. A anno unced record consolid ated sales for the second qua rter and six mon ths, end ing on June 30. Total sales for the 1999 second quarter increased 30.8 pe rcen t to $104.6 million - u p fro m $79.9 milli on for the second qua rter of last year. "We are extremely pleased with the streng th of our seco nd qu ar ter top-line grow th, wh ich exceed ed our expectations d uri ng our highest-volum e selling seaso n of the year ," said Fed er ic Min ol i, chairman and chief execu tive officer. "We are par ticularly delight ed with the perform an ce of ou r apparel and accessories product lines, the success of which demonstrates s tro ng cu s tomer acc e pta nce of th ese branded prod ucts' d esigns and technical fu nctionality. Thi s robust pe rformance reinfor ces ou r confidence th at we will ac hiev e ou r s ta rted growth objectives both in terms of mot orcycles and related products.". WuIfSport North America has agreed to be the title sponsor of the Over The Hill Gang Bay Area Chapter for th e 1999/2000 season s. Rou nd fou r of the OTHG Ser ies w ill be held at Hollist er Hills MX in Hollister , Ca lifornia, Sep tember 11-12. For more informa tion, call 209/ 839-9332. . All Harley Drag Racing Associa tion and Sout heas t Rally Events have team ed up to prom ote four d ays of eve n ts in Las Vegas, Nevad a, October 21-24 - the Las Vegas Motorcycle Rally and Races. For more inform ation, call 336/924-2095. Englis ht own , New Jerse y' s Race way Park will host a M X Freest yle a n d Wh eelie Cha mp ionship on Au gust 28, fea turing th e li kes o f Brian Dee gan , Larr y Linkogie and Ronnie Faisst. For more informati on, call 732/ 446-7800. Tim Lau ren t of Green Bay, Wisconsin, won a 1946 Ind ian Chief in a raffle put on by the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum. The dra w in g was held in July a t the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days in Ohio. Wit h the film set to celeb rate its 30th

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