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/128089
o (j[j){BEJ o\X/ [i) o o o ll:D JeH Willoh (Hon) scored a couple of wins at the seventh round of the National Arenacross Series in Baltimore, Maryland, January 19-20. Willoh won on both nights, once in the 125cc class (Friday) and once in the 250cc class (Saturday). Other winners included Pedro Gonzalez (Kaw) and JeH Gibson (Suz). Gonzalez scored his first win of the year, topping the 250cc class on Friday, while Gibson won the 125cc class on Saturday. Buddy Antunez (Suz) went 4-2-2-5 over the weekend but still enjoys a commanding lead in the series points race. March 11 at Mountain High in Wrightwood, California. There is also a northern California event that will take place April 7 at Silver State Raceway and April 8 at Kirkwood Mountain. For more information, call 714/438-7800, or log on to www.boardermotocross.com. According to team owner Kevin Erion, road racer Jake Zemke suffered a broken arm on January 21 in a motocross crash. "He's seeing someone today about getting it plated," Erion said on January 22. "II's the big bone in the arm, but I don't think it was a clean break. Hopefully, he's 90 percent by Daytona." Zemke finished second in last year's AMA Formula Xtreme Series, winning the final round at Willow Springs, and is expected to be the lead rider in Erion's pursuit of yet another Formula Xtreme crown. o Ty Davis (Yam) led the Pro class from start to finish at the Tecate Hare Scrambles in Tecate, Mexico, on January 22, winnin9 by over two minutes. Russell Pearson (Yam) took second after battling with eventual third-place finisher Michael LaHerty (KTM) for much of the race. Destry Abbott (Kaw) recovered from an early crash to take fourth, and Patrick Garrahan (KTM) was fifth. ~o Road racer Jimmy Filice will race in a Yamaha team backed by Corbin in the 2001 AMA 250cc Grand Prix Series, the former series champ has announced. "II's pretty cool," Filice said. "Corbin is backing me fully and I'll have Ed Toomey back as my tuner. We'll be doing all the races and I'm really excited about it." The team will be run by Jame~ Siddall, and Toomey will work in conjunction with mechanic Mike Montoya. The Toomey/Filice combination has tasted success previously, with the pairing taking the 250cc title in 1991 and a9ain in 1993. Overall, Filice has won two AMA 250cc GP titles and 23 AMA 250cc GP events, putting him second to Rich Oliver on the all-time win list in the class. Filice also recently completed his drag racing school in Florida, turning a best run of 7.9 seconds in the quarter mile. "I need more time with it," Filice said. "II's a difficult thing. All my instincts were telling me not to do what the instructors were telling me. They tell you to hold it wide open and drop the clutch." o .. o o o o o o The team of Terry Hahn and Roy Nafzer (Kaw) won the three-hour Steel Shoe Fund Endurance Ice Race on Lake Koshkonong near Fort Atkinson,' Wisconsin, on January 21. Hahn and Nafzer outran a field of 32 teams, including the runner-up squad of former AMA National Enduro and IS DE competitor JeH Fredette (Kaw), who was teamed with Tim Farrell and Jerry West· house. AMA Grand National number 33 J.R. Schnabel (Hon) anchored the third-placed team, which included Scott Schnabel, Jesse Janisch and Scott Rousseau. ~ o GNC recently informed us that it has made a slight'rule change for its International Motocross Final, to be held March 15-18 in Texas. Rather than run the Yamaha YZ426F in the four-stroke class, it will be classified in the 250cc class as in AMA competition. The YZ250F will run in the 125cc class. o o o o o As one of several events to mark its 70th anniversary in 2001, Bridgestone will shortly begin an intensive tire-testing program as the Japanese manufacturer sets in motion its plans to contest 500cc Motorcycle Grands Prix beginning in The sixth annual Boarder Motocross Challenge, a competition that pits snowboarders and motocrossers head to head, will take place on March 10 at Perris Raceway in Perris, Califomia, and The 2001 Total Paris-Dakar finally came to an end in Dakar, Senegal, on January 21, with Fabrizio Meoni giving KTM a longawaited victory. The Italian veteran was somewhat of a darkhorse, as Frenchman Richard Sainct and Spaniard Joan Roma had been expected to fight for the win, but both of those riders retired - Sainct with a blown engine and Roma with a broken leg. It was Meonl's first Dakar win. "Jt is the realization of 10 years of hard work," he said. To complete its total domination of.this 23rd edition, KTM also filled out the top five 9verall, with Spaniard Jordi Arcarons second (for the fourth time), Chilean "semi-privateer" Carlo De Gavardo third, up-and· coming Spaniard Esteve Pujol fourth and South African Alfie Cox fifth. The first BMW home, in stark contrast to last year, was UK rider John Deacon in sixth (also first twin) with American Jimmy Lewis seventh, despite breaking a collarbone in the last special testl First amateur rider and best rookie was American Honda rider Johnny Campbell in eighth. 2003, according to Bridgestone. The program will take place over eleven scheduled sessions, mostly at Jerez in Spain and Brno in the Czech Republic, beginning with a test scheduled for January 18·22 in Jerez. Bridgestone has contracted Erv Kanemoto of Kanemoto Racing to undertake the testing program using Honda NSR500 machines supplied by HRC. Nobuatsu Aoki and Shinichi ltoh will become full-time test riders for the Bridgestone program, according to a release from the tire manufacturer. Both Japanese riders have years of 500cc GP experience: 29-year-old Aoki finished third in the 1997 World Championship while Itoh, 34, had a best overall result of fifth in the 1995 season. Since 1997, Itoh has ridden in the Japanese Superbike Series where he was champion in 1998. Akira Inoue, Vice-president of tire development at Bridgestone' s Tokyo Technical Center, will head the testing program, to which 38 full-time Bridgestone staff has been assigned. Bridgestone, the world's largest tire manufacturer, has supplied tires for the 125cc GP World Championship since 1991 and, last season, three of the top eight finishers - including fourth-placed Mazao Azuma, who won the final GP at Phillip Island in Australia were on Bridgestone tires. Suzuki team opened the 2001 testing season at Sepang in Malaysia last week - and conquered equatorial flood conditions to complete their first-run test sessions early. In spite of tropical rain storms and sodden ground - with accumulated water spouting through the track surface at one corner· Roberts and new teammate Sete Gibernau were able to accomplish the first phase of testing important modifications to the RGv500 Gamma GP machine, as the Suzuki racing department works toward finalizing the 2001 racing machine, according to Suzuki. With 99 percent of technical testing done, the team cancelled a provisional booking for further tests at Phillip Island in Australia, to give the factory engineers more time to develop the next round of improvements for IRTA tests at Jerez in midFebruary. Roberts and Gibernau left the tests directly after the third day, and will return to action at Jerez. Team manager Garry Taylor described a fruitful time of testing, in spite of very bad conditions. "Even after it stopped rainin9, the circuit was still flooded. Track-maintenance staff drilled holes in the tarmac at Turn Nine to try to help drain it... and even more water came flowing out. In the end, we continued with testing, but with riders treating that corner with caution. As a result, lap times were academic - but we were still able to test the new engine and chassis developments. ~ ~ ~~[jJ)[bC9[?-------- o o o o 8 o o 2 JANUARY 31,2001 • cue •• n e _ lIS World Champion Kenny Roberts Jr. and the rest of the Telefonica MoviStar