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/128010
In the Wind Continued from page 3 event , an no u nced the endorsement of th e Pasadena City Council to host th e even t on Novem ber 20. "The respon se w e have received for the World Supercros s has been ext remely positive," said Dan Murphy, p res iden t of Speedvision Pro d uctions. "The star-powered competi tion and prestige of th e Rose Bow l wi ll m a k e the T o y o t a Worl d Supercross a to p -shelf d estinat ion for racers and fa ns alike. We are lo okin g forwa rd to having an international race of th is m a gn it ud e in o u r own ba ck ya rd ." The Rose Bow l w ill host ro und thr ee of th e fo ur- round ser ies th a t begi ns in France on October 2. Acco rding to Speed vision, Jeremy McGrath , Larry Wa rd ; Ez ra Lu sk an d Rob b ie Rey n ard have a lready committed to participating in th e series. CBS Sports wi ll air th e race on December 11 from 1-2 p. m . (Eas te rn) , and Speedvision w ill re-a ir th e r ace o n December 2 1 from 8-9 p .m . (Eastern). MX Tea m Cha nges: Next season, Tea m SplitFire /Pro Circuit /~awasaki won' t hav e to worr y a bo ut its s tar, Ric k y carmic hae l, be ing b e a te n b y Tea m Honda's / FMF's Tallon Vohland. Why ? Two reasons: First, Ca rmic hael will be co nt es ting th e 250cc division. Second, the Pro Circu it squad just signed Vo hland away from FMF. The d eal n ixed r u m or sthat Vo h la nd was hea ded to Eu rope a gai n. Sp litFire /Pro Circuit /Kawasaki is re ta in in g Nick Wey, Na tha n Ramsey, Sha e Betley and Billy Payne, but is drop ping Scott Sheak. FMF is filling th e vacancy left by Voh land wit h Ca sey Lytle, w ho this year rode for Yamaha of Troy. Th e latest AMA road racer to sign a con, tract is rising-star Jo sh Ha ye s . Hayes, w h o is currentl y ranked third in the AMA Formula Xtreme Series and fifth in the AMA 600cc Supersport Series, has inked a deal that will see him on Erion Racing Hondas in 2000 . The Gu lfport, Mississ ip p i, rider currently rides for EMGO Valvoli ne Suzuki: According to a release from Ka wa saki, Team Green has re -s ig n ed for me r GNCC Champion Fred And rews to a co n trac t for th e 2000 racin g seaso n . Andrews will ride a KX250 in an effort to win the 2000 GNC Champion ship. Funeral services w ere held on Monday, August 23 in Roslyn , Pennsylvania, for Anthony Ferracci, the yo ungest son of Fast By Ferracci Ducati's Eraldo Ferracci. A nt hon y Ferracci wa s kill ed o n Augus t 20 in a stree tbike accid ent in Philadelphia . An excl usive field of th e top 16 rid ers fro m U.S. tracks and also tw o Europeanbased speedway superstars are gettin g se t to ta ke part in the AM A National Speedway Championship at Fast Fri. d ays Speedway o n th e Gold Coun try Fairgrounds in Auburn, California, on September 3. Heading the list are 1998 AMA Na tiona l and 1997 World Speedway C hampion Greg Hancock, 1996 Wo rld Speedway Cham pion Billy Ha mi ll , a nd 1998 Coo rs Li g h t u.s. Nationa l Cha mpion and Auburn na tive Bart Bast. They wil l be joined by thr eetim e U .S. Ju n ior Na tiona l Speedwa y Cha m pio n Rya n Fis her, fo rmer U.s. Nationa l Cha mpion and World Champion Bobby Schwartz, former U.S. Nation al Cha m pion Mike Faria, Brit ish Leagu e rac er Josh La rs e n , California State Champion Charlie Venegas, Gary Hicks, Jim Sise mo re, Bill y [a n nir o, Shawn McConnell, Bobby Hedd en , ICE Champion Rober t Curry, and Ian Ferris. Gat es . will open at 6:30 p .m ., w ith the first race begin ning at 8 p.m. Jay Springsteen and Rich Kin g are just two of th e to p Gra nd Natio nal s ta rs scheduled to participate at the Emerald Downs AMA Hot Shoe Nat ional in Seattle, Washingt on , on September 25. Th e ev ent, w hich coincid es with the West ern swing of the AMA Grand Nati on al Dirt Track Series, will feature an added twist in the form of a new IT course tha t will be co nstru cted o n the infield . Th e TT races will alternate with the mile races during the evening's program. For more informa tion, call 310/ 547-9898. Th e fifth round of the AMA/W est ern Fo u r-Stro k e National S e r ie s a t th e Co operland track in Stillwater, Oklahoma, o n Sep tem ber 17 has been ca nceled . The event w ill not be rescheduled . For mo re info rmation, call 503 /7088486. Rounds five and si x of the California Cross Summer Seri es a t th e Prairi e City Polish round to Nielsen R en en en ~ 1. . . . . eig ning World Speed way Champi on To ny Rick ardsson is closin g in on th e defense of his crown aft er a dramatic Polish Gra nd Pri x at Byd goszcz, Poland, on Au gu st 28. Rickardsson is just four points behind leader Tom asz Gollob, the man who has been ahead in th e tit le race rig ht fro m th e s tart of the se ries in May. Go llob still lea d s Ricka rdsson, 90-86. Top spot on th e ros tru m in the penultimate ro u nd of this yea r's series went to the evergree n Dan e Hans Nielsen, w ho reeled off four clin ical w ins to claim his first GP . victory of the season. It all means that the final ro und in Vojens, Denmark, ne xt month will be the decid er, and an ything can ha p pen on a night whi ch is sure to resemble a one-o ff w orld final. British champion Mark Lorarn , who ga ined. entry to the fifth ro und bec ause of an inju ry to Mario [irout, w as in se nsa tional form and his per formance contributed to the title race going d own to the wi re. It was Lorarn's brilliant se m ifina l overtake of Gr and Pri x se ries lead er Gollob that threw a spann er in the w orks to hand a lifeline to chi ef cha llenger Rickardsson. Lorarn, w ho had on ce again picked his wa y through the m eeting with so me br eathtaking pa ssing, red uced the Bydgoszcz crowd to an eerie silence as he st ole ahead of th e Po le to pip him for second place on the line in heat 22. It meant Gollob m issed ou t on the final , and although he took the consolation fina l in hell-for-leather style, Rickardsson 's second pl ace behind Nielsen in the final narrowed the gap at the top of the leaderboard to just four points. If Rickardsson wins the final GP at Vojen s in Denmark on September 25, he will now tak e the crow n - no mat ter where Gollob finis hes on the night. American star Billy Hamill managed to negotiate his wa y through the pre-main-event section before bowing out in heat 16, and Gr eg Ha ncock, after a second behind Loram in heat 13, ran two last places to make his exit before th!!sem ifinals. John Hi pkiss -.. ]jt Davis: champ/spoiler ยท A ft er o nce ha v in g h is shot at a seco n d Natio na l End u ro Cha mpions hi p "sp o iled ," Ty Davis has done some spoiling of his own, by claim in g th is yea r's titl e. In '96, Ra nd y Hawkins dethroned a thenKawa saki-mounted Davis, despite being involved in what . Davis per ceives as a Team Suzuki cheating incid ent in th e final round. (H aw kins broke down, switched bikes, kept tim e for teammate Rodney Smith, and then di squalified himself at the finish; the po ints earned by Smi th pr even ted D avis from rega i ning th e crown .) Bo th Davis a n d Hawkins su bseque n tly sw itched teams (both to Yama ha , ironically), and Davis - unha ppy with the AMA's hand ling of the situa tion - swore off the End uro se ries. That was the n, this is now. Davis, who sta rted this season with n o pl ans to contest the entire AMA Acerbis National Endu ro Series, has been recro w ned over cir cuit regular s Hawkins and Mike Laffer ty. " I won the first two events," says Davis, "so I decided to look at the schedule to see if any of the rounds conflicted wi th the desert races. I cou ld n' t believe it, bu t non e of them conflicted. Wit h 15 End uro ro u nds and 12 Ha re and Hound o r Best in the Desert ro unds, not a single one was on the sa me weekend !" Not that it came easily. Take the August 22 Harrison, Michigan, round , w here Davis clinched the title. Lafferty's KTM mechan ic Alan Ran dt is a member of th e promoting club, and Davis believes th e event was set up to h urt his an d H awkins' chances. "Everyone kn ows Randy is a slow starter, and they pu t all th e important spe cial tests right at the start," explains Davis. Whethe r imagined or real , suc h obs tacle s weren't enough to stop the Californian, and that fact has made this su ccess esp ecially satisfying: "Switching to Yamaha, everyone wa s wondering w ha t would happen, but I'v e won th ree cha mpionships since then (includ ing the '97 an d '98 Har e and Hound titles). I gave Kawasaki its firs t Enduro title and I gav e Yama ha its first -eve r End uro title. Kawasaki hasn' t won one since ." With the cham p io nship al ready in hand, Davis did not contest the pe nultima te round of the series on August 26. , SVRA tra ck in Sacramento, California, Se ptember 5 a nd 19, have been postponed . The races will now take pla ce on October 31 and November 21. For more informa tion, call 916/782-8511, or visit www.californiacro ss.com . AUTOGRA PH SIGNING: At Ha rley-Davidson of Dallas , 3914 Sou th Shilo h St.. Ga rland, Te xas. from 6 to 8 p.m., on September 10. Several AMA Grand Nationa l Dirt Track Seri...'S are sched uled to appear, including Chris Carr, Jay Springsteen, Steve More-head, Will Davi s and Willie McCoy. For more informat ion , ca1l9n/864-4320. CO RRECT ION: Las t wc ek "s iss ue s ta te-d tha t Dou gi c Lampkin rides a G.lS G .1S. Lampk in ac tually rides a Beta. CO RRECTION: Last week's item regarding Perfcr- man ce Eng inee ring featured the wrong addr ess. The correct add res s is 1333 Pine A ve ., Suite B, Orlando, FL 32824. CO RRECTION: The co rrec t phone nu mbers for information for VDTRA members who are planning to ride the AHRMA Natio nal Short Track at Peoria Spee dway in Peoria, Illinois, on September 24, or the AH RMA National TT, on Se ptember 26, are 309/ 697-8148 and 309/ 494-0794. eN Italians crowned hough w e'll ha ve to wa it for Bud ds Creek to see ' w ho wins the 250cc World Motocross Champi. onship , the 500cc and 125cc titles were bo th decided on Augus t 29, and it was Italians doin g th e hono rs in both cases. T eam Rinal di Yamaha rid er An d rea Bartolin i (rig h t) is th e fi rs t It alian 500 cc World M otocross Champion after clinching the titl e with a fourth- place finish in the ope ning moto of th e Kou volan , Finland, round . Th e d imi nutive rider's cons is tency has see n him d om inate th is year's points chas e aboa rd a Yamaha YZ400 th u m per, against th e threat of concerted , factory-backed effo rts from KTM and Husaberg. On e ro u nd rem ains to be run in the series. " I wa s very nervous at the sta rt of the first heat ," sa id Bartolini , "but I saw (title rival Peter) Johansson driving behi nd me and I managed to find a good rh ythm . A nd of co u rse I w as happy to keep Peter behind me at th e end ." In the moto, Bartolini followed hom e local rid er Miska Aaltonen, defending champ Joel Smets and Willie Van Wess ell. With the pressure off, Bartolini topped moto two , chased by Kiwi Shayne King and Johansson. Alessio Chiodi (left ) gave Husqvarna its second title in as man y 'yea rs in the eightliter divisi on, ridin g to co nse rva tive 4-4 placings in the final round in [astrebarsko, _ Croa tia . The eve n t was w on by cou ntry m an Claudio Feder ici , who topped both motos on h is Yamaha . Honda -mounted Am er icans completed the podium with Jeff Dement ccond -o ve rall and Mike Brown third. T