Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

anniversary on Oc tob er 12, Columbia Tr istar H orn e Video will issue a rere lease of Easy Ride r, the movie th at starred Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda and Denn is Hop per. The video will retail for $14.95. Fast Streets Dept: A new housin g subd ivision in Suwanee, Georgia, fea tures some 102 hom es in the $300,000 ran ge on stre ets w ith the foll ow ing names: Surtees Drive, Rainey Court, Hail wood Drive, Mamola Court, Agostini Court, Sheen e C ourt, La v ad o C ourt a n d Shobert Court. The man behind the project is motorcycle racin g fan and d eveloper Mike Embry. Discover Today's Motorcycling h a s a n no u nced it s s po nso rs h ip of Lyle Lovett and his Large Band tour, underwritte n by Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki. The tour opened in New York's Central Park on July 30. Mo tonation, th e excl u s ive Sidi b oot importer for the Un ited Sta tes, is cu rren tly accepting racer res u mes for th e 2000 racing season. Resu mes can be sent to Motonation, attn: ride r suppo rt mana g er , 14 168 Poway Road , Suite 205, Poway, CA 92064. H eat h er Ko z ar, Playboy'S 1999 Playma te of t he Year, w ill m a k e a guest appearance a t the BMW Mo to rcycles display d u ring th e Stu rgis Ra lly and Races on Frida y, Aug ust 13 and Satur-, day, August 14 from 2 to 5 p.m. A cc ordi ng to BMW , BMW of Nor th America h as retailed more than 5000 bikes in the first half of 1999, a figure that surpasses the total annual sales of 1996. For the first time in 18 years , BMW No rth American motorcycle sales have exceeded 1000 units fou r months in a row . " Ev er y o n e in volved with BMW motorcycles d eserves to share in th e success," said Ed Rob in son, vice presiden t of BMW of No rth America, motorc ycles. "Atthe core of our brand lies the undeniable pleasure and excitemen t of riding mo torcycles . We a r e reminded o f this b y b oth longtime BMW riders and new ones at each event we attend ." The second AMA Woman and Moto rcycling Con feren ce will be held Ju ly 13-16 on the campus of Ohi o Uni versity in . Athens, Ohio . Th e fo u r-day national gatheri ng for and about woman motorcyclists expects to draw more than 1000 motorcyclists. For mor e information. call 614/856-1900. Pro ject Monza had a set of Ducati 748 Marchesini wheels s tolen from th eir garage a t the Brainerd Interna tional Raceway rou nd of the AMA Superbike Series on August 1. The team is offering a $500 reward for the return / recovery of th e wheels. For mor e info rma tio n, call Bill St. John at 256/ 734-2114. KTM announces race lans for 2000 T eam KTM's World SOOcc MX Cha mpionship race boss Kurt N icoll an nounced a restructu rin g of KTM's race teams for the year 2000, in w hich Peter Johan sson will be joined by Joel Smets for next year's 500cc World Title, w hile Shayne King will be maki ng a factory -backed tilt on the AMA National Motocross and Supercross Champio nships. Nicoll announced his new-year team lineup at the August 8 round of the FIM World Champ ionship 250/ 500cc MX Series in Luxembourg. Swede Johansson currently lies second in th is yea r's 500cc GP Championship behind Italia n Yamaha rid er Andrea Bartolini after winning five GPs thus far this season aboa rd' KTM' s new 520SX four-stroke. His teaming with Belgian Smets, a thr eetime World Champion for Husaberg - the marque now own ed by KTM - gives the Austria n factory a formid able combina tion in next year's 500cc World Championship. Smets this year has struggled wi th reliability prob lems with his Husaberg and lies four th in poin ts after nine rounds. For New Zealander King, the 1996 World 500cc Cha mpion wi ll be chasing new hori zons in the Uni ted States. King's American assaul t comes with the full backing of KTM, which will be lau nching an entirely new race team in the United Stat es head ed by King, and which wi ll also feature a factory-backed fou r-rid er 125cc squad. The team will ope rate ou t of a purpose-built semi-trailer tran sporter, and the compa ny has also bou ght land in California to establish its own test track facility. "It's a great opportu nity, and honestly, one that came up as so mething of a su rprise," Kin g sa id of his forthcoming move to Ame rica. "Bu t I'm really looking forw ard . to it, and I'm alwa ys up for a cha llenge anyway. "The factory is reall y serious abou t the American market and is putting in a big • effort with a brand-new team in the States next yea r, and I can' t wait to get there and get into it." King has already started su percross testing on the KTM's thumper, admitting there will likely be extensive technical cha nges between his current GP moun t a nd the bike he will ride on the tight and technica l supercross circuit. "Su re there's a lot of wo rk to do , bo th on the suspension and the engine," King said . "As it is now, the GP bike just makes way too much power for su percross, so we 'll have to tone it down and play with things like flywheel weights and so on. "Once the GP season is ove r, I'll be flying straight home to New Zealand to keep training and testing in Octo ber, and then a KTM eng ine guy will fly out and we 'll do more specific testing. Then I'll fly to America in November to be based with Guy Cooper for a month or so before the supe rcross series sta rts in January." And rew Clubb Aprilia USA has announced its first 29 dealers that have been signed up for the launch of Aprilia ' s product s in to th e U.S. market. "We are very pleased to let everyone kn ow that we are her e and that product is bein g shipped to our first dealers," said Tom McDonald, gen eral manager of the U.S. subsidiary. Th e 29 d ealers are loca ted in Californi a (seven), Connecti cut (two), Florida (11), Massach usetts (two ), N orth Ca rolina (two), New York (two), Oregon (one), Pennsylva n ia (o ne) a nd Washi n g to n (o ne). Aprilia has shipped RS250s, SR50 scooters a nd RS50 stree t bikes to its de aler network . The 5carabeo scooter is expected to be ship ped shortly. Kawasaki recently presented seven-time AMA Na tio na l Mo tocross Cha m p io n Jeff Ward with a Kawasaki KXI25-powered shifter kar t. Ward , who drives the Yahoo! / MerchantOnline .com-sponsored entry for Pegan Racing, finished secon d in the Indy 500 in May and remains near the top of the IRL point standi ngs . T h e AMA ha s annou nc ed t h a t it s Natio nal Champ ions Awards Ban qu et will be held at Caesar's Palace Ho tel and Casi no in Las Vegas, Nevada , on Saturd ay, Decem ber 11. The black-tie evening features a dinner, star-stud ded program and video presentations of the 1999 racing season. The eve nt is open to any one. For mor e information, call Dee White at 614/ 856-1900. ble for export sales of the Answer Racing brand worldwide. Promoter s of the U.S. Open, a supercross event sch ed uled for October 8-9 ins id e th e MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, N evad a, ha ve a nno u nced that Spanish motocrosser Edg ar Torronteras - ET - will p e rfo rm as p art o f th e freesty le exh ibition sched uled for Frid ay nig ht, October 8. For mor e information, . call 702/566-1453. NAME D: Thomas R. Rayb urn a s nati onal sal es m anager of Ameri can Iron H orse, effective immed iat ely. Rayburn will lead the sales and marketing effo rts fo r the company' s d ealer netwo rk. NAMED: Jami e Little, to the live broad cast team for the 2000 EA Sports Supercross Series. "We have been looking for some time to repla ce the position vacated by Leeann Tweeden prior to the start of the 1999 season," said PACE's di rector of su percross, Todd Jendro. "We kept an eye on [arnie 's ca reer (w ith esp n2) and decided that she d eserved a shot at w ha t O PEN ED: Grand N ational Cha mpion. com' s home pa ge on the World Wid e Web. The site ca n be found at th e following address: http:/ / www.grandnationalchampion .com . PROM OTE D: Brad Cam eron of Answer Racing, to a position in the export sales d epartment. Cameron will be resp ons i- we feel is a very importan t position with supercross. Little will join Terry Boyd and Irv Braun as a floor annou ncer. OP EN ED: Aprilia's hom e page on th e World Wide Web . The site can be fou nd at: http: / / www.aprilia.com . H IRED: Gregg Trude, Rick Ne lson and David Podulsky, by Aprilia USA Inc., as the first of its sa les representatives hired to es tablish and maintain a de aler network. CH ANG ED: Th e ope ning d ate of th e PACE Fr eest yl e Motocross Series at Fr esn o' s (Ca li fo rnia) Sell and Arena, from September 17-18 to Se p te m b er 24-25. 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