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/128086
8 c Continued from ~ge 3 c c nois State Champion in dirt track racing in 2000. He is survived by his wife, Laurie, sister, Ann, parents, Ed and Carol O'Brien and Kathy and Lindell Powell. Honda Motor Co. Inc. is voluntarily recalling about 22,000 XR50R off-road motorcycles. According to a Honda press release, the two bolts that attach the handlebar can break. Honda has received four reports of handlebars separating from these motorcycles and four reports of loose handlebars caused by one of the two bolts failing, although no injuries have been reported. The recall includes only years 2000 and 2001 off-road motorcycles with model number XR50R. Consumers should stop using these motorcycles immediately, and call their local Honda motorcycle dealer to schedule a free repair. To locate their local dealer or for more information, consumers should call American Honda at 888/289-8226 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. (Pacific), Monday through Friday, or log on to http://www.hondamotorcycle.com/loca1or. After a brief hiatus to sort out some component problems, Cannondale says it has resumed production of its MX400 motorcycle, and is looking forward to shipping the first units of its FX400 ATV in the first part of 2001 . [ ,- For the third consecutive year. United States Tobacco Company has continued in aiding injured adult motorcycle racers by donating $50,000 to the Clayton Memorial Foundation. To date, the Foundation has donated over $207.000 to 48 injured motorcycle racers. ~ o According to Cycle News Italian correspondent Mario Marini, Italian Alessio Chiodi has changed his plans and will not race the first few AMAlEA Sports Supercross rounds, instead opting to spend January in Sicily testing and training for the 125cc GPs with his Free Time Yamaha 125cc teammate Alex Belometti. An island off the southern tip of Italy, Sicily has warmer weather than in the north of the country, where Free Time's headquarters are located. FMF motor builder Terry Vamer is moving Varner Motorsports to a different facility in Upland, Califomia, where he will continue working as FMF's primary engine and porting-expert. Varner Motorsports is currently contracted to build the engines for Team Suzuki Off-Road, Team Motoworld Yamaha, and FMF's top • Amateur Elite· racers. c C n California, this year, and it will be opened to 100 members of the general public on a first-come, first-served basis. The event takes place February 6-7, and these 100 riders may ride their own bikes on course. Admission is by pre-entry only, costs $150, and will include three meals and an event T-shirt. For more information, fax to the attention of Dirt Rider Rock Around the Clock at 323/782-2372. ical Center in Plymouth, Indiana. Bu roughs was a member of the Antiqu Motorcycle Club of America, the PI mouth Blackhawks Motorcycle Club, an he owned Burroughs Cycle Shop in Su Oak. Indiana. for 40 years. He is surviv by his wife, Brenda - Dee" Burroughs, daughter, Theresa Marie Burroughs; an a son, Ira L.G. Burroughs. FMF has reached a three-year agreement to become title sponsor of the AMA District 37 Big 6 Grand Prix Series. Expected changes include increased purses (all rounds feature pro team races) and expanded manufacturer contingencies and industry support. The series kicks off February 3-4 at Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale, California. For more information, call 714/377-0909. AMA District 36 released the final stan ings for its Dirt Track Championshi Series. Mark Corsetti won the Sport man title, while Robert Bacosa to the Veteran title and Steve Hall w the Vintage title. Bobby Fong an Jesse Garcia won the Mini and P Wee championships, respectively. The NMA's 30th annual World Mini Grand Prix will take place in Las Vegas on April 18-22 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, while the same organization's Grand Nationals of Motocross will occur in Ponca City, Oklahoma, July 31August 4. For more information, call 909/657 -6782, or log on to 'INWW.nmamx.com. Dirt Rider magazine's annual 24-hour motorcycle test is being relocated to Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, American • Ira D. Burroughs, 77, died on December 30 at the St. Joseph Regional Med- annual operating budget was I ,5 million Swiss Franes ($.8 million). We'd need to send a 12-rnan team of engineers to each race and, in order to supply a two-rider team, we'd need to build at least 10 engines per year, all of course at added cost. For MuZ, we built six to eight engines per year.' These figures seem a little conservative. since Aprilia boss Ivano Beggio has gone on record as foreseeing a minimum of 12 engines per year for his two-rider team, as well as much higher operating budgets. But Wenger Is very clear what kind of motor he would design, should Swissauto be commissioned to do so. "I doubt very much that you could build a three-cylinder four-stroke engine which would allow you to meet the 135-kllogram (297-pound] weight limit," he says (perhaps one reason Honda is believed to have chosen the oval-piston V3 route, with its 22-pound-higher limit). "I'd build a 99O<:c V4, which should be capa.ble of nmning to 15,000 rpm and producing llIOUt1d 220 horsepower." Any takers? Oilera is another historic name in the OP annals rumored to be planning a comeback in the four-stroke OP class, after first relaunching itself In the 600cc Supenpem class with bought-in Suzuki engines. Plans originaHy called for the bornagain marque to make its debut at the Bologna Motor Show In December, with a V-twin roadster using the Tl1000S engine and prototype 600cc sportbike powered by the new fuel-injected OSX-R600 motor, but these plans have now been put on hold for nine months, a company insider reveals. The reasons are twofold: FIrSt, Suzuki can't/won't supply the new 600cc engine untlI the 2002 model year, and second, Cagiva's success in relaunching itself with a range of bikes • Swissauto in GP Racing? An idea of the kind of money that will be required to develop and race a four-stroke Orand Prix bike has been provided by Urs Wenger, the boss of Swissauto which nowadays works primarily in the car world after terminating Its relationship at the end of 1999 with MuZ (as it then was) to run its own V4 two- stroke GP engines under the MuZ banner. SWissauto's entry into bike racing came with the turbo-charged 250cc four-cyUnder sidecar engine running to 18,000 rpm, which preceded the evolution of the company's World Sidecar titlewinning V4 two-stroke design, which in tum was adopted by ELF and then MuZ for 500cc solo UP racing. Swissauto therefore has the track record to be considered seriously as an engine partner by a team looking to develop its own four-stroke OP engine, and Wenger to be listened to when he talks about the budgets entaUed in doing so. "We'd need 18 months to design and build a competitive fourstroke race engine: he says, "And the budget for getting it on to the grid for its fltSt race would be 3.9 million Swiss Francs (about $2.2 million. only on prototype development). HoweveI'. after that our operating budget for ongoing development would be 3.5 mlDion Swiss Francs [$2 million]. By way of comparison. when we supplied engines to MuZ, our --I o '1 '- r l.J o r-o 90 JANUARY 10, 2001 • cue I • n e _ s a powered by Suzuki V -twin motors means that Qilera wo have difficulty in identifying itself clearly enough if it follow suit. The decision has therefore now been taken to hold the Oilera comeback until the next Milan Show in Septem 2001, after which, however, production of the revival-spear heading Gilere 600 which will commence almost at once . the former Oilera Corse racing headquarters at Velate (ne the marque's historic former Arcore home, not far fro Monza). OUera plans to compete in the 2002 World Super sport Championship with a two-man team, and already has sought-after place on the Increasingly crowded entry Ii reserved for it by series organizer Octagon Motorsports_ To cast your vote log on-to http://www.cyclenews.com. F' AMAIChevy Trucks Grand National Di Track star Will Davis will be the gue of honor at the AMAIWill Stoner Vinta Motorcycle Swapmeet and Show on Su day January 21 at the York Fairgrounds York, Pennsylvania. Davis will pick t "Will's Choice" winner in the bike sho as well as sign autographs and visit wi the fans from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Main Building. Show hours are 8 a.m. 3 p.m. Admission is $6 for non-AM members and $5 for AMA. AHRMA. a AMCA members.