Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

o After 14 stages, Fabrizio Meoni CKTM) leads the 23rd running of the Paris-Dakar Rally. Meoni took over midweek when early leader Richard Sainct CKTM) dropped out of contention with mechanical problems, and Meoni has led ever since. The Italian enjoys a 20 minute, 29 second lead over fellow Italian .Jordi Arcarons CKTM). Third in the standings is another Italian Carlo De Gavardo CKTM). Rounding out the top five is Spain's Esteve Pujol CKTM) and South Africa's Alfie Cox CKTM). Americans .Jimmy Lewis CBMW) and .Johnny Campbell CHon) have been running steady ever since problems slowed them down early on. Lewis is currently 10th, three hours, 14 minutes and 55 seconds behind the leader Meoni. Campbell is six hours, 14 minutes and 43 seconds back. The Rally concludes on Sunday, January 21. Buddy Antunez CSuz), .Je" Gibson CSuz) and Rusty Holland CHon) came away with main event wins at the National Arenacross round at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma, January 12-13. Series leader Antunez won both 125cc mains over the weekend, while Gibson and Holland split the 250cc wins. Dougie Lampkin CMon) won the third round of the World Indoor Championship Trials Series in Koblenz, Germany, January , 3. Albert Cabestany CBet) took second, followed by Marc Colomer CG-GJ and Steve Colley CG-G). After three of 11, Lampkin leads the series point standings with 60 points over Marc Freixa (44), Albert Cabestany (43) and Colomer (40). Pirelli - the tire manufacturer who last tasted World Superbike success when Fred Merkel won the title using the Italian rubber in 1989 - will retum to the racetrack this season with Australian Steve Martin, reports contributor Paolo Gozzi. Martin will race in a Ducati satellite team - DFX - and the squad will have full support from Pirelli. Martin used the tires for the first time in November at Valencia and was pleased with the results. Although Martin will be the only Pirelliusing rider in 2001, the company plans a full assault on the championship in 2002. In other World Superbike news, the second rider on the Ducati NCR team will be Giovanni Bussei, the former Kawasaki-Bertocchi rider. Bussei tested for Aprilia in November and Ducati a month ago with bo h tests coming at Valencia in Spain. Bussei will join Australian Broc Parkes on the two-man team. "I have a very high opinion about Bussei - I think that with a Ducati he can be the 2001 big surprise," said team manager Stefano Caracchi. Little known fact: Bussei, 28, is the nephew of Giovanni Agnelli, president of Italian car giant Fiat. Paul Bird Motorsport has announced that Steve Hislop will ride the team's Monstermob Ducati in the 2001 British Superbike Championship. The 37-year-old Isle of Man.based Scotsman signed the deal last week. "I'm delighted to have secured a competitive ride and genuinely believe I've got a great chance of winning the title this year," Hislop said. "The team gained a lot experience last year and I'll have a great team behind me and I'm really looking forward to testing the Ducati." Hislop, who won the 1995 British Championship riding a Ducati, is now fully recovered from the broken neck he sustained last August. In addition to the 13-round British Superbike Championship, Hislop has been promised a few races in the World Superbike Championship. However, the 11-time Isle of Man n winner will not be this year. racing in the n Good news for Idaho off-highway vehicle users: According to an Idaho newspaper, the Idaho Statesman, the scenic Owhyee canyonlands won't be designated a national monument in the final days of the Clinton administration, Interior secretary Bruce Babbit said, Saturday, January 13. Environmentalist have asked President Clinton to set aside 2.7 million acres of steep river canyons and desert highlands in Southwest Idaho. But there simply wasn't enough time left to meet with ranchers and motorized recreationists who are worned the designation will close them out. Babbitt said. Babitt, however, predicts that within the next decade the Owyhee canyonlands and uplands will be protected by Congress as a national monument. The Road 2 Recovery Foundation will be hosting the Supercross' Celebrity Golf Classic in conjunction with the Phoenix Supercross in Phoenix, Arizona, January 25. The tournament raises money for AMA-licensed riders who have suffered career-ending injuries. Seventime Supercross Champion Jeremy McGrath, Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael and Team Honda's Sebastien Tortelli are a few who have agreed to participate in the fund-raising event. For more information, contact Bob Moore at 602/617-9705. Another gold toumament is scheduled for May 3 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Lotus Motorcycle Tours is offering some new tours for 2001, including a series of rides to Mexico's Yucatan on BMW F650s, from March 27 to April 3. Also scheduled for this year is a historic and cultural tour of Turkey on BMW GSs; a tour through Italy on Ducatis: a ride across Madagascar on Honda TransAlps, and many more. For more information, call 31 2/951-0031. HMC Ducati's Steve Rapp is healing up after getting surgery recently in Northern California. Rapp, who suffered hand and wrist injuries in his practice crash at Sears Point Raceway last May, underwent surgery from noted surgeon Dr. Arthur Ting. "It all feels pretty good, " Rapp said. "I've got a half cast on right now and I have to go back up there in two weeks. They'll check it out and put another half cast on for four more weeks or so. I'm not really missing anything right now because we weren't going to do the Laguna test anyway. So, basically, there's nothing going on, riding-wise." Rapp is also happy so far with the HMC team. "It'll be great: he said. "It's really going to be good. It's nice knowing something going into the year, as far as being on the same bikes. I'm looking forward to haVing a good year." Rapp rode magnificent installations, but also good people who support the competitors and press. They are very kind and professional. Participants appreciate Mugello especially because of the hard conditions in which a championship like this is developed. We are forced by our sport to a continuous exodus that makes our job \... very difficult, always far from our home countries. That is why, as Chairman of IRTA I would like to thank all the people "involved with the Italian Grand Prix held at Mugello for their efforts in making us feel at home." Vance & Hines Ducatis in last year's AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship, posting a third-place finish in the final round of the series at Willow Springs. ] J '""' Contestants in Pepsi-Cola Company's PepsiStuff promotion have a chance to win one of four Buell Blast Motorcycling Experiences. Winners will receive a Buell Blast motorcycle and a trip to Harley-Davidson' s Rider's Edge training school in either Las Vegas or Albuquerque. In conjunction with the Buell Blast, Harley-Davidson and Buell Motorcycle Company continue their commitment to attracting new riders to the sport by offering "Rider's Edge - The Harley-Davidson Academy of Motorcycling," a rider-training program designed specifically to meet the needs of novice riders. This course, taught by Motorcycle Safety Foundation's CMSF) certified instructors, uses the Buell Blast to provide its students with an experience intended to be not only educational, but entertaining and inspirational as well. Lasting apprOXimately 25 hours, the Rider's Edge New Rider Course offers small class sizes, interactive classroom exercises, plenty of riding practice and time to become familiar with different types of motorcycles, accessories and riding gear. Longtime Bell helmet wearer .Jimmy Button is now working for the helmet company, working with both Pro and Amateur racers. Button's first day on the job was at the Anaheim $upercross - with Bell riders winning both classes. Not a bad debut. Button can be contacted through Bell Race Support at 31500 Grape St. # 3-350, Lake Elsinore, CA 92532. The Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello has won the prestigious IRTA "Best Grand Prix" of the year for the 2000 season - the fourth time the circuit has been given the award. Mugello, home of the Italian Grand Prix, has achieved an enviable reputation over the last six years and is acknowledged as setting the standards others must achieve, according to a press release issued by IRTA. Set in the tranquility of the rolling hills of Tuscany, less than 12.4 miles north of Florence, the 3.24-mile circuit boasts the finest of facilities and is a particular favorite of the majority of Grand Prix riders. A triple winner of the IRTA Trophy between 1995-'97, Mugello finished second in the ran kings in both 1998-99 before edging out the latest purpose-built circuits on the GP calendar, Valencia and Sepang, to regain the coveted trophy for their 2000 performance. The annual poll, conducted among the IRTA teams, takes into consideration all facilities and each aspect of the running and management of the Grands Prix circuits over the four-day GP weekend, awarding points for each. Circuit safety is paramount to any circuit hoping to impress the teams and Mugello spare no effort to ensure maximum safety for the competitors. The track management and staff make constant improvement to the run-off areas and track surface, often before absolutely necessary. IRTA Chairman Sito Pons said of Mugel10. "It is not only a beautiful track with U a • e I LJ -. Team Virgin Mobile Yamaha has announced the signing of road racer .Jamie Robinson for the 2001 British Superbike Championship. Robinson joins James Haydon in the team with the pair set to ride Yamaha R7 Superbikes in the 12-round series. Robinson, 24, raced in the 250cc Grands Prix Series last year. "I am over the moon to be joining Team Virgin Mobile Yamaha," Robinson said in a release issued by the team. "I have been watching their progress and realize that this is a dream chance for me to be working with what is undoubtedly the best team in the country. I realize that I have a lot to learn about riding a 750cc four-cylinder Superbike after spending so long racing the smaller machines, and that is another reason why I am so delighted to be a part of the team. Having seen how they help a rider develop his skill and take it on to the next level is something I am massively looking forward to being a part of. " Team manager Rob McElnea, a former 500cc Grand Prix racer, said: "With Jamie signing for us we now have arguably the most exciting line-up in the championship. Seldom do we have the chance to sign one rider with as much all-out talent and hunger for the job - by landing both Haydon and Robinson, we have really hit the jackpot for the coming season. " Impact Video Distributing is creating and sponsoring a new awards program for motorcycle videos called the XtrEMMY Awards. The first award show will be held on Friday, February 16 at the Hyatt Regency Ballroom in Indianapolis, Indiana, during the Dealer Expo weekend. For more information on this industry-only event, call 949/460-9496. a j The FIM has announced the expanded 2001 Endurance World Championship, eight rounds exclusively in Europe, with the lone exception being Japan's Suzuka 8-Hours, the most presti- w gious race on the calendar. Missing from the calendar are any races in North Amer- --.J ica. Early in the process, it was rumored that the series was going to visit at least one, and possibly two, of the tracks on the current AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series calendar. Instead, the series makes new stops at several European tracks. As recently as 1999 the series 'had four events. Now it's doubled to eight, up from last year's six, with first visits to Brands Hatch in England, Bmo in the Czech Republic and Magny Cours in France. The series schedule is as follows: April 14-15 - 24 Heures du Mans, Le '1 Mans, France; May 6 - 6 Hours of Brno, Bmo, Czech Republic; June 9 - 6 Hours 'I J 3 J J J .J n e _ 50 • MARCH 29, 2000 1 J n

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