Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

J Vines , N ick Weyand Kevin Wi ndham . The five-man-scramble format allowed for many und er-par sco res and left racers [oc keyinq for the top podium position , but t he co-w inne rs ended up bei ng Team Oakley and an injured Shane Trit tler, his father. Steve Hudson . Hilton Beatt ie and R2R' s founder Bob M oore and his father. The real w inner. howe ver, was the fou ndat ion that is getting clos er to their goal a mobile hospital unit. The majority of the fund s raised at the event wi ll go toward the purchase of a mobile ho spita l unit. which R2R hopes to have at every Supercro ss and AMA National M X. However. the single day' s fundraising efforts will all ow Road 2 Recovery Foundat ion to send Dr. Stephen Augu st ine t o all the National M X rounds this year. CEO Sco tt Hollingsworth has announced t hat AMA Pro Racing is now fully fund ed to purcha se. tra nsport , deploy and maintain a significant number of air barriers that will be used to enhance rider safety at AMA road-rac ing eve nts. according to the AMA. This additio n, the lates t in a series of ongoing actions taken to improv e racetrack safety across th e count ry. takes place during the most pro gre ssive period of safety enhancement in A MA history, the A MA say s. The AM A Pro Racing Airfe nce Program repr esen ts a financial commitment of appro ximately $475 ,000 over a three-year span. Purc h as e of th e Airfe nce will re q ui r e $125 ,000 , and the balance of the fund s wi ll cover t ransporta t ion . main te nance, storage. manageme nt and deployment of the A irfence over three years . The A MA wil l purchase 35 modules of Airfe nce. each 28-feet long, for use at AMA championsh ip road races. The use of new Air f ence saf ety barrie rs beg in s w ith t he Road At lanta round. M ay 18-20 . Financing for the progra m has been generated by AMA Pro Racing efforts, spearheaded by Ray Blank. Vic e President M otorcycle D ivisio n at America n Ho nda, w ho has been a me mb er o f the AMA Bo ard o f ·. .. ,. ,. ,. .,. ,. .. " ,. Tru st ee s for 12 yea rs and is an ac tive member o f the Pro Rac ing B oard o f D ire cto rs . A lso , Roadrac ingwo rld .co m Editor J ohn Ulrich headed a grass roots fund-raising effort that contributed mo re than $100 ,000 to the AMA Pro Raci ng Airfenc e p r og r a m. Thi s fu nd ing ha s enab led AMA Pro Rac ing to purchase addit ional modules and defray some operating costs t hat w ill be incurred by the prog ram. · We are ve ry grateful for the s uppo rt Honda . Harl ey-D avid so n an d Suzuki have given to this safety project. whi ch w ill ben efit our AMA racers .· Hollingsworth said. · We also appreciat e the grass-root s supp ort for this program. and we thank lo ng- tim e AMA memb er John Ulric h for the role he played in raising the se suppleme ntal funds. The support co nt ribute d toward this project by Honda. Harl ey -D avid so n an d S uzuk i. alon g w it h dona tions f rom individua l ' motorcycle racers. fans. enthusiasts and members of the motorcyc le busines s com m uni ty , is t ru ly aw e so m e . W e at A MA Pro Racing finalized plans fo r t his Ai rfence program during the fall of 2000 , and whe n we had identifie d all of t he ass oc iated cost s. we began t o purs ue funding. The incr edibly rapid respon se in financia l supp ort has enabled us to purc ha s e and deploy the A irfence i n a remarkably short amount o f ti me .' The A irfence will be tran sported mo re than 40 .000 miles du ring each season. a proce ss that requires train ed pers onn el as we ll as spec ialized maintenance and care. Placement of the safety barriers will be perfonmed wi th the assistance of the Track Rev ie w Adv isory Com mittee CTRACl. a group of riders and other team personnel that assists AMA Pro Racing in evaluat ing safety iss ues and is als o a subco mmitt ee drawn from the AMA Road Racing Ad visory C omm ittee . W hile th e Airfen ce Program w ill be a most not iceable change. it is only one co mponent of the most far-reaching and comprehensive rider safety program in the AMA' s history , according to the AMA. Oth er recent " "" ,. ~ safety initiatives include an ongo ing com prehen sive co urse -mars hal-t raining pro gram . This prog ram incorp orates a variety o f tra ining pr oced ure s to better equip marshals to respond to real-world t rackside situations . Anoth er significant safety enhancement involves the routing of live. unedited television fed directly to the onsite AMA race co ntro l cen ter . This realti me. first- ha nd view o f the tra ck improves the speed and accu racy of the decisions AMA Pro Racing offi cials make when incidents occ ur on the track. J erry J ir ko v s ky of California Race Services has anno unce d t hat he w ill have Pirelli dual-comp ound tires available for t he next W illow Springs M otorcycle Club round at W illow Springs, May 1820 . For more information. call 7 14/30568 46 or 949/548·1 58 5. The T ony D . M ot ocross School has announces additional schools . There will be a school in Camp Coker. Sout h Carolina on J une 4. ri9ht before the Lorett a Lynn qualifier; Troy. Ohio , w ill have a two day school, AU9ust 10- 11; and a spec ial F & S Suzuki cust omers-only sc hoo l w ill be held on Au gust 12. For more infonmation. call 410/635-6916. Arai Helmets are featured in the new S y lv est er Stall on e auto -r aci ng action movie • Driven." acco rdinq to the helmet compan y. But in true Hollywood fashion, the real action for A rai's american staffers and two of the motorcycle industry 's top helm et pain t er s lay behi nd th e scenes . · W e suppl ied all the hel mets for the movie." said Brian M . We ston . Ara i Am ericas ' di rector of o perati o ns. • Approximatel y 130-plus helmet s for the act ors, s t unt drive rs. pi t c rews , an d c am era crews . W e also had to arrange and coordinate all of the custom painting for all of the diffe rent 'teams,' and the typical wo rld of changes along the way . The schedule was beyond belief. We owe a huge debt to custom paint er s Artco and Pro Con ,. .. ,. ,. · . . ,.,. AUTOGRAPH S IGN IN G: At Koup's Cycle Shop in Oberlin, Pennsyl- vania. on May 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Former AMA and World Super. bike Champion Doug Polen is scheduled to appear. For more information, call 717/939-7182. OPENED: National Hare 8. Hound Champion Destry Abbott 's home page on the World Wide Web. The site can be found at the following address: http:/ /www.destryabbott.com. · M A RRIED: Pro motocrosser Cliff Cook to his longtime girlfriend, Anne Romero, in Fair Oaks, California, on May 12. A UTOGRAPH SIGN I NG, At Morgantown Suzuki in Morgantown, West Virginia, on May 25 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tearn Suzuki's Kevin Windham. Travis Pastrana, Ben Riddle, Rodrig Thain and Danny Smith are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 304/296·9055. AUTO GRAPH S IGN I N G : At Motorcycle Performance Center in ADDED: A new. toll-free information hotline for the THQ U.S. Open. For informat ion on race dates . locatio n. tickets sale s and ride rs. call Roseville, California, on May 18 frorn 5 to 7 p.m. Team KTM/ Red Bull's Grant Langston, David Pingree, ke lly Smith and Brock Sellards are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 9 161722-2300 . MARRIED: Pro motocrosser Ty Kady to longtime fiance. Davy Tucker. on May 4 in Fullerton Heights, California. 888/9 88·7472. BORN: A baby boy, Tyler Scott Varnes. to Memphis Shades/ Coziahr H-D dirt-tracker Kevin Varnes and his wife Colleen on May 13, in New Holland, Pennsylvania. AUTOGRAPH S IGN IN G: At Roswell FunMachines in Roswell, Georgia, on May 18 at 7 p.m. Team Honda's Miguel DuHa mel and NiCkY Hayden are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 770 /44 2·8460. PURCHASED: Kawasaki of Hayward in Hayward. California, by AFM OPENED: Aaron Yates's new home page on the World Wide Web. The site can be found at the followingaddress: http:/ /www .aaro nyates.com. road racer Ken Hill. The new name of the dealership is Hayward Kawasaki Motorsports. For more information, call 510 /537 -2257 . OPENED: Motion Speed's home page on the World Wide Web. The OPEN HOUSE: At Pasadena Yamaha in Pasadena, California, on May site can be found at: http:/ / www.motionspeed.com. 19. For more information. call 626/577 -3000. BORN: Noah Riley Quackenbush, t o supercross.com photographer and ANNOUNCED: DP Brakes as a sponsor and product contingency provider for the World Off-Road Championship Series. For more inforrnation, call 716/681-8806. . Cy cle News contributor Bill Quackenbush and his wife, Dawn. on April 20 in San Diego, California. .. .. .. .. .. .. ,. ,. .. ,. ,. .. ,. · eye I e . cepts . who really rose to the occasion and helped make it possible for us.' N ew fe deral regulat io ns tha t legalize health· ca re d iscrim ination agai nst mo torcyclists , horse riders and othe rs involved in recreational act ivities have take n effect desp ite co ncerted efforts by mo torcycli sts and others to chang e the rules. according to the AMA. The new regulations, which became the law of th e land On M ay 8. are th e end result of a rule making process that dragge d on for nearly five yea rs after Congress passed t he Hea lth Ins uranc e Po r t abil it y and Acc ount ability Act of 1996 . The new rules s ta te th at an em ploye r c an ' t ref us e hea lt h-c are coverag e t o an empl o yee based on participation in legal recreat ional activities after worlking hour s, but that health -ca re ben efi t s can be de nied for injuries suffered while taki ng part in those activities . The rules . issued jointly by the Internal Reven ue Serv ice. th e Pen sion and Wel fare Benefit s Administrat ion, and t he Health Care Finance Admi nist ration , directly contradict the intent of Congress in passi ng this law . In fact. language in th e C ongres si on al Reco rd at the t ime noted that the law " is intended to ensure, among ot her things, th at individuals are not excluded from healt h-care coverage due to the ir part icipation in activities such as moto rcycling, snowmobiling, all-terrain veh icl e riding . ho rseback riding , skiing and other sim ilar activities . ' The AMA and other mo to rcy cl ing groups w orked hard to get that language included in the C ong ressiona l Record after unco vering inc ident s in w hich employers were dis crim inating against motorcyclis ts, leaving th em without coverage when the y we re involved in recreational act ivities . Team Husqvarna has announced that it will provid e facto ry suppo rt , mot orcycles , and assistance to Elin Mann during the first tw o rounds of the AMAIBel-Ray W om en ' s M otoc ro ss Lea gu e Ch ampio nshi p Series and the Bel -R ay WML Internati onal M otocross Championship . The Swedish teenager hails from Kareby • Sweden . and is the defending Ladies B r it i s h M X Inv ita t ional S en io r Class Cha mpion and one o f the top Husqvama ride rs in Sweden. M ann will pit with the othe r members of Team Husqvama. and she will also have the opp ortun ity to prac tice before the race s with team mate Steve Lamson . " Husqvama. as a company, is de dicated to support ing it s riders around the w orld , ' said Larry Ferracci . di re ctor o f ope rat ions fo r Husqvarna ' s U.S. distribu t or . "We h op e that o ur invol vement with the Wo men ' s M X League will set an example of what needs t o happ en to p rope l pr ofes si ona l w o me n's motoc ro s s t o the next level w hile provi di ng t he ex posure both the WML and Husqvarna deserve." Peter Starr's MTake It To T he Limit" w ill be shown at the Edwards C inema in Hunt ington Beach, C alifornia, presented by Huntingt on Honda and the Honda Riders C lub of America, as a benefit for the Pedi atric Brain Tumo r FOunda tion (Ride for Kids) . on M ay 24 . Ticke ts are on sale at Huntington Honda . For more information, call 714/842-5533 . n e _ s: • Continued on page 92 3 MAY 23, 200 1 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 8 o o o o o o 8 o o o o o o o o

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