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/128097
o o lIu G111<9 8fliJE @}@r;) !lJ@(J!J@[JDr;) 8(J@[ffJ@0iJ1.-t-=-9Gf1.=....-....:{]ffJe........-....-_ _--:- 8 o o o o o o o o The city of Namur in Belgium was announced as the host of the 2001 Motocross des Nations in a press conference held on March 17 in Bellpuig, Spain, the site of the opening round of the World Motocross Championship. The Motocross des Nations, which was originally slated to take place in Italy, will be held on September 29-30 at the famous Circuit de la Citadelle. Giuseppe Luongo, the manager of Dorna Off Road, was pleased to announce the location of this event. "When we arrived in Namur last year, a Jot of people were told that we wanted to kill Namur,· Luongo said. "It was completely false, and after the triple GP organized this year on this track, I'm happy to tell you that Namur will receive the Motocross des Nations on the 29th and 30th of September. We had several meetings with the local promoter and the political authorities, and I'm sure that they will do a great job for this event.• Namur and its famous Circuit de la Cltadelle will host the Motocross des Nations for a fifth time, with the track also holding the event in J 951, J 956, 1959 and J 965. The Belgium team won in 1951, but the British team won the other three MX des Nations held at Namur. At the four-day GNC final at Mosier Valley in the Dallas/Fort Worth. Texas. area, March 15-18, Team Green's James Stewart was the big winner, scoring victories in the 125cc Stock Intermediate, 125cc Modified Intermediate and 125cc Schoolboy classes. There were 1500 entries. an increase of 300 from last year's event. 8 o o youngsters to take win number 10 of the l1-round championship. Freixa finished second with Cabestany in third place. Freixa's fine ride moved him into second place in the championship ahead of Marc Colomer (G-G), who failed to qualify for the final. Takahisa Fujinami (Hon) also had a bad day and failed to make the final. The Japanese rider finished the Indoor season in sixth place. ~o won both 125cc mains over Buddy Antunez (Suz) and Jeff Willoh (Hon) on Friday night. and Pedro Gonzales (Kaw) and Keith Johnson (Yam) on Saturday night. Gonzales and Rusty Holland (Hon) topped the 250cc mains. Gonzales finished ahead of Josh Demuth (Kaw) and Antunez on Friday night. and Holland ahead of Darcy Lange (Kaw) and Denny Stephenson (Kaw) on Saturday night. Steve Hengeveld and Jonah Street ( ot) teamed up to win the SCORE San Felipe 250 in Baja California. Mexico. March 16-1 7. Hengeveld and Street finished the race in 3 hours, 33 minutes and 22 seconds. The runner-up team was made up of Johnny Campbell and Tim Staab (Hon). who finished the race in four hours, one minute and seven seconds. Third overall went to Philip Zeiger and Trevor Shariton (Hon) with a time of four hours, seven minutes and 12 seconds. c 8 o World Trials Champion Dougie Lamp. kin ended the 2001 Indoor Trial World Championship in fine style in Madrid, Spain. on March 18. Lampkin. riding the Montesa Cota 315R, had already wrapped up the World Championship at Bolzano on March 1 - his fifth consecutive Indoor title - but was determined to end the season with a win. The World Champion was pushed all the way by two Spanish youngsters. Albert Cabestany (Bell and Marc Freixa (She). In fact. Cabestany beat Lampkin into second place on the qualifying lap, with Freixa third. However, Lampkin exerted his power and experience over the two Mike Lafferty (KTM) maintained his perfect Win record at round three of the AMA/FMF National Enduro Series in Greensboro. Georgia. promoted by the Cherokee Cycle Club on March 18. Rodney Judson (G-G) was the runnerup, with Brian Garrahan (KTM) taking third. Fourth and fifth were collected by Richard Lafferty (G-G) and Matt Stayish (G-G). respectively. o o o ~o Jeff Gibson (Suz) scored a pair of wins at the Albuquerque National Arenacross in New Mexico, March 16-17. Gibson Five-time Daytona 200 winner and former AMA and World Superbike Champion Scott Russell has been moved in and out of intensive care at Halifax Memorial Hospital in Daytona Beach, Florida, several times following the startline incident in the Daytona 200 by Arai that left him with severe arm and leg injuries. Russell, who was hit from behind by Richie Morris and Dean Mizdal after his bike stalled on the second row of the grid in the second restart of the 200, has undergone two surgeries thus far. with skin-graft operations upcoming. Russell underwent his initial surgery on Sunday night, March 11, with doctors fitting a titanium rod into his broken left femur to repair the compound fracture. Doctors also used two plates to repair his left arm. which was broken above and below the elbow. According to his sister Sheri. Russell also suffered a severed nerve at the back of his left thumb, but he can still move his fingers and toes. To date. Russell has. also undergone nine blood transfuSions at Halifax. To make matters worse, the drain tube that was inserted in his broken leg on Sunday night snapped off. reqUiring a second surgery to remove the tube. Doctors have also made two incisions in Russell's leg to release pressure that has built up. Those incisions will be left open for several days to allow the leg tei drain and skin graft surgeries will be performed to cover those incisions. "He was sitting up thiS moming eating Jello," Sheri Russell said last week. "And he' s started bitching. so his mind is clear. He's ready to get up and get out of here. but the doctors say it's going to be at least another week. It's serious, but the doc· tors said it went well. He's in for a long recovery. but he'll fight back." Russell had a problem with a broken artery las week that sent him back to intensiv care. according to family members. Richie Morris, the second man injure in the startline crash in the Daytona 20 on Sunday. March 11, has also under gone two surgeries thus far with a thir scheduled for Tuesday, March 20. Th first - at Halifax Memorial Hospital in Day tona Beach· was to repair a seriou break to his wrist, with doctors insertin a plate. screws and wire to hold th bones together. He has also been fitte with an external fixator device. Morri then had surgery to have incisions put i his arm to relieve pressure build up an he will have a third surgery to skin gra those wounds. Morris appears to no have suffered any nerve damage in hi arm, but he did suffer serious chemica bums on his lower body in the incident Morris is currently in recovery and will b visiting Scott Russell as soon as he get back to his room, according to his wife Lisa. He is obViously concerned abou Russell, though he still isn't certain wha happened. A TV and VCR was schedule to be brought into Russell's room on Fri day, March 16 and the Georgian wa expected to watch the tape of the 200 according to his sister. Sheri Russell. The FIM has announced that. due to and mouth disease in the United King dom, the opening round of the Outdoo World Trials Championship, due to be held on March 24-25, has been cancelled. Ditto for the Scottish Six Days in May. Italian Valentino Rossi set the fastes 500cc times on the first of the three-da Grand Prix test at the Suzuka circuit i Japan on March 19. Nastro Azzurr Honda rider Rossi ended the day four tenths of a second faster than Spaniar Carlos Checa and his Marlboro Yamaha with Red Bull Yamaha's Noriyuki Hag setting third-fastest time - a full secon behind Rossi on the track that will hos the first round of the World Champi onship on April 8. Rossi was happy with the first day of testing with the ne NSR500 Honda. "We have no chatterin problems at this track," said Rossi in a Honda press release. "We were quit qUick in finding the right balance for m bike. I am very happy with the first day 0 testing. we worked well and my team was focused on suspension settings. This three-day test session is very important to set up the motorcycle for the first GP and today's results give me a boost." Rossi rode 21 laps on the first day. Meanwhile. only four riders tested thei 8~(!J[W[b(9[?--------1 o o 'I >=' ~ LJ o o 2 MARCH 28, 2001 • cue I e n e _ ,.