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/128107
o o o Continliedfrom page 3 c o n ~ LJ side co urse featuring SuperTI racing and motocross racing will also be featured on the PIR grounds on Saturday and Sunday aftern oo ns . Less than two miles away on Satu rday night , round seven of The Drag Spec ialt ie s National D irt Tr ack Ser ie s retums to Portland for the second , " Portland is a city that has always supported th e Aren acro s s. Free styl e M oto c ro ss , Dirt Trac k and Ro ad Race events that SFX has presented to Northwest. We 're proud to work w ith the great people of Port land to creat e another de st inat ion w eekend event fo r motorcycle enthusiasts of all ages," said D an Krolczyk, senior d ire c t o r of ma rket ing fo r S FX Moto r Sp ort s Group, Spectato r event ticket s for both the road race and the dirt track are available for sale at all Ticket master outlets and online at Ticketm aster.com. For racer/rider part icipatio n, visit FormulaUSA,com or call 8 17/ 332-4822, o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o c o o o n o r Montclair Yamaha ha s annou nced th at fo r ro und t wo of t he Yamaha Deale r S e ri e s, scheduled for June 3 at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bemardino, C aliforn ia, any rid er sig ni ng up und er Montcla ir Ya mah a w ill rec eive a $25 store gift certificate. For more information call 800 /RIDE-YAM. W SMX w ill be ho st ing a mot o c r oss schoo l in Dallas , Texas, on J une 9, followed by a session in Lond on, Kentucky on Jun e 10 . Th e school' s up coming schedule co nclud es w ith a session in Lake Geneva, W iscons in, o n June 30 . For more information, call 949 /837-2206. L Effect ive immedia tely, Dunlop is granting a 1O-pencent discount to all riders wh o bring a Dunlop-equipped motorcycle to a grou p class a t a Gary Bailey Motocross School . In additio n, every rider who attends the school on a Dunlop-equipped bike is eligible for a shot at earni ng Dun lop sponsorship for the 2002 racing season. On Dec ember 31,2001, a drawing will be held and four peop le w ill earn the D unlop backing for the 20 0 2 season. Fo r more information on t he schools, call 540 /650-1759. Telefo nica M oviS tar Suzuki' s defending 500 c c World C ha mp i o n Kenny Roberts Jr. is ho ping to t urn thing s around in the com ing Italian Grand Prix, sche dule d for Ju ne 3. Wh ile Robert s has been struggl in g t hi s year , his r ival Va lent ino Ro ssi - has won three of the four 500 cc GPs held. Last wee k, all the teams w ere energized by the fact t hat Ro ssi suff ered his first defeat - at t he hands of M arlboro Yamaha's M ax Biaggi. " De veloping a Grand Prix machine is a con tinuo us process, w it h new parts or ideas to test from one race to the next , som e times one pract ice session to t he ne xt , " explained t eam manag er G arry Taylor in a Suzuki press release . "There are always different ch oices and comb inations in bo th hardware and so ftware. We will , as always, have some new combinations to try at Mugello that w e hope will mak e a differenc e, and be another step tow ards w inning races again.' Suc ce ss in Italy w ould be part icularly sweet fo r the fifth race of the 16-round W orld • Italy Catches The Drift Italy's transport ministry has extended vehicle safety inspections to scooters for the first time this year , but has now announced a set of new, even stricter controls limiting emissions as well as exhaust noise, to be inspected as a mandatory part of the test from January 2002 onward. At Ure 75,000 a time (about 535), these tests are aimed at redr essing the sit uat ion uncovered by a government enquiry, which found that elderly two -stroke 50cc scooters were up to 30 times more polluting than a car of equivalent age. Although it will still remain the choice of individua l city councils as to how often the tests will be required, Italian govem ment guidelines call for all scooters to be submitted for the combined exhaust and safety check fOUT years after their first registration, and every two years after that but with the Italian motorcycle industry 's national body ANCMA > C hamp ionship will take place in a pressure -cooker atmosp here , w i t h the exc itab le fans of the three Italian stars Ro ssi , B iagg i and las t yea r' s M ug ello w inner Lo ris Capiros si - driven to fever p itch at the ir ho m e GP. " Su zuki has prom ised us some stuff to t e s t f o r M ugello , ' Roberts said. " The aim is to get a better respon se from the engine . At this poin t. we need some help to get the bike mo re consistent. and to smooth t he p o w e r d eli v e ry . At a p la c e l ik e M ugell o , you need that for t ho se long , deep co mers . Wh ether th at mean s I can get to the po dium, or whe ther it w ill just help make it easier to ride arou nd - we'll have t o se e . I ' m hop ing it w il l he lp improve our lap time, and w e can go forwa rd from there. ' Max B ia gg i, meanw hile, is also hoping to keep his st reak go ing in his home GP . The Marlboro Yamaha Team ace dominate d Le M ans , w inning his first GP o f 2001 and lift ing him se lf t o thi rd in the W orld Championship. Followinq difficult races in South Africa and Spai n, Biaggi was in good form followinq crucial tests at M ugello, where h is tech n ic ians changed direct ion on bik e settings . Both t he Rom an and his crew believe they have turned the corner on set-up and intend to use their recently gained knowledge to devastating effect this weekend , accordi ng to a release fro m his team . " We' ve changed our chas sis configuration, so I'm getting better fee l from the bike ," says Biaggi, who w ill compete in his 5 1st 500 GP on Sunday .• And it estimating that at least 20 percent of the country' s 10.5 mil li on -strong pool of scoo te rs in regul ar use would fail an exhaust test, there's concern that, together with the introduction last year of compulsory helmet use. regardless of age or experience, the current boom in two-wheeled personal transportatio n may be heading for an end. This upsurge fueled a steep increase in sales across the board in 2000, with more than half a million powered twowheelers registered for the first time in a single year in Italy. The 517,355 registrations which took place represented a 40 percent increase over the year before - itself a record - with scooter sales up 47.51 percent over 1999, and Piaggio heading the best-sellers in its first year under MGPE Anglo-Ger man ownership , with a massive 104.500 scooters sold, no less than 43.500 units up on the previous year. But Yamaha's 250 Majesty, with 21,725 registrations , headed the maxi -scooter lineup, while motorcycle sales were no less buoyant, up 19 percent over 1999 with the Honda 600 Hornet heading the hit parade by some distance from the Yamaha R6, the previous year's best-selling Ducati M600 Monster, and Suzuki's SV650. It remains to be seen whether the new regulatio ns will put a brake on this growth. but the presence of such a buoyant home market helps explain the ongoing strength of Italia n To cast your vote, log on to http://www.cyclenews. com.. .- -.:; cyclenews.com reader poll question of the week ~=,~~,"-=-=,,-,,'.;; U believe will D hilmpioni' ' c y c l e ne'IIVs seems to work at other tracks too. On Friday at Le M ans we ran one bike with the original set- up and t he o ther w it h our new setti ngs , and the new configuration was immediate ly better. ' As well as finet uning cha ssis set-up during their Mugel1 tests, B iag g i and his tea m also 0 cha nged direction on tires. In the past, B iag g i has sw itc hed b ack and fo rt h be tween M ic helin ' s 17-inc h and 16 .5 inch rears , choosing one tire or the other according to circui t characteri stics. The 17 offers easier handl ing but the 16 .5 offers superior race-long t ract ion thank s to a radical prof ile that puts more rubber on the road at maxim um lean for extra grip and cooler running, Biaggi says . At Mugello the y dec ided to focus on 16.5 s and also switched to a different Mi che lin fro nt slick . " In the past , M ax somet imes t ried 17s but w e 've wo rked to improve ou r rang e of setti ngs w ith the 16.5, so we can react better if we encounte r set up difficulties, ' explains M arlboro Yamaha Team d ire cto r Hiroya Atsumi. " The new front has also helped. " A limited-edition po ster of T ra vis Pastrana w ill be produced by Motocross 338 to bene fit the M ake-A-Wish Founda t ion of we st ern and central Massachusetts . The signed poster will be numbered and only 500 w ill be produced. The po sters will go on sale during the fourth rou nd of the AMA 125 /250cc National Motocross Championsh ips at Southwick, J une 9-10 , at a cost of $ 10 . The posters are expected to sell out and are not availeN able by mail. manufa cturers in all secto rs, from inexpensive scooters to high-ticket sportbikes . The best·selling Ita lian bike isn 't Italian. Honda's 600 Hornet has displaced the Oucati M600 Monster as the best·selling motorcycle in the country.