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/128110
o 8 o Ba rry Hawk Jr. (Yam) scored th e ove rall win at the Grand National Cross Country in Taylorstown , Pennsylvania, on June 17 . Hawk finished 14 seco nds ahead of series leader Rodney Smith (Suz), while S teve Hatch (Suz), Fred Andrews (Kaw) and Mike Kiedrowski (Suz) rounded out the top five overall. Shane Watts (KTM), who was riding with a broken wris t, finished 20th. o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Former Worl d Speedway Champion S am Er molenko and America's elder statesman of spee dw ay, John Cook, we re among eig ht ride r s who adva nce d on Sunday, June 17 from the Overseas Final qual if y ing r o und for th e 2002 W o rld Speedway Grand Prix Series. Ermolenko, 40 , the 1993 W orld Champion, finished third in the event after taking a runoff victory ove r upc om ing Br it is h star Sc ot t Nicholl s. Co ok, 42 , placed fifth. Both riders now move on to the August 11 Intercont inental Final, where they w ill join four British and two Australian rider s along w ith the best eight finisher s fro m Sunday's Scandinavian Final. Ermolenko is a Califo rnia native w ho now lives in England, and Cook splits his time between Roseville, California, and Sweden, where he is a re g ul ar in t he S w e di sh Eli te Leagu e. Ermolen ko . was the def ending winner in the event, but the class of the field o n S unday was 30 -year-old Au stralian Jason Lyons , who was undefeated in his five races for a perfect score of 15 po int s. Former W o rld Ch ampion Ga ry Havel oc k , w ho ha d the ho me-t rac k advantage at Poole, where he races for the Poole Pirates of the British Speedway Le agu e , w as a so lid second w ith 13 points . Ermolenko and Nicholls were tied wi th 11 points, and Ermolenk o co mfo rtably won a runoff heat for the final position on the podium. Riders failing to qualify included 20-year-old Billy Janniro of Vallejo, California, a British League rookie who scored four points and placed 13th; and Bobby Hedden of Folsom, California, who was shut out and placed 16th. Only six riders from the Intercontinental Final, which wiJI be held in Vastervik, Sweden, wiJI advance to the Grand Prix Challenge, which is the final hurdle in qualifying for the 2002 W o rld Speedway G rand Prix Serles. The Grand Prix Challenge will be held in October in Slovenia, with only six of 24 riders earning automatic transfers to the 2002 Speedway Grand Prix Series. Two Americans '- form er world cha mps Greg Hancock and BiJly Hamill · are currently among the world's 24 elite riders contesting the 200 1 Speedway G rand Prix Series. o o o o o o o o o o 8 o S tev e C r e v ie r (Hon) regai ned the points lead in the Part s Canada Superbike Ch a mpio nship with a victory at Edmonton's Namao Airport on June 17. Crevier started from pole and led all 16 laps to clai m his sec ond victory of the se aso n . He fin is he d 3 .884 secon ds ahead of Fra ncis Martin (Suz), with Ow e n We ic he l (Kaw ) ta king thi rd place . C revier ca me int o the race ti ed w ith W eichel for the point s lead, but he now heads to round four of the sevenrace series at Montreal's Autod rome StEustache with a 13' point advantage over We ichel, 156- 143. Crevier also enjoys a o o o o o o 2 JUNE 27. 2001 • c u e I e healthy lead in the Yoshimura 600 Sport Bike national support class afte r winning tha t race in Edm ont o n, edg ing C lint Mc Bain (Suz) by .627 of a seco nd. Jeff Will iams (Hen) was third. Martin (Suz) rode to a convincing victory in the Open Sport Bike race, topping Williams (Hon) and Pilon (Yam). Castrol Honda's Colin Ed w a rds ended up recording the quickest laps in last wee k's M isano W orld Superbike tests, th ough Ap rili a 's Troy C o r s e r d id improve on the second day of the test to close in on Edwards' best lap. StiJI , the Texan's 1:35.08 remained as the benchmark lap with Corser putting in a 1:35.10. "I' m happy about the job done today in terms of the choice of tires for the -race." Corser said in an Aprilia press release. "In particu lar , in a race simulatio n t he times were very co nsisten t and always near a minute, 35 seco nds , a constant series with a good rhythm, As far as the bike set-up goes on the other hand, we improved the fine-tuning of the rear suspension that created an even better feel on the track. I didn't best use the only set of qualifying tir es that I decided to test today in order to concentrate completely on the race configuration: a little mistake and the time sto pped at a minute 35.10, a time I think it's possible to beat. " L&M D uc at is B e n Bostrom lap ped at 1:35,33 to emerge as the third quickest rider , to pping Ducati lofostrada's Troy Baylis s , w it h the Au stralian carding a 1:35,38, Be ne lli also took part in the recent Misano W orld Superbike test, with Australian P eter Godda rd riding the Tornado 900 in preparation for the team's debut in the M isano ro und of the cham pionship o n J une 24 . Afte r months o f work, Cycle News con tributor Pao lo Gozzi reports that the bike is ready to co mpete . Goddard lapped at 1:36.78 on the Tornado , using a qualifying tire, a time that wo uld have put him 11th on last year's grid. The team has a first-race goal of being in the top 16 during qualifying in order to make it to the Superpole competition. -W e are still at first step of development, " said Benelli project leader Riccardo Rosa, the ex Ferrari F l and Ca g iva 500 c c chief engi neer. " W e will race in Misano and Laguna Seca with a sort of stree t engine, but we wiJI have some more fo r Brands Hat c h . Now o ur pro ble m is also t he weight - we are 173 kilos [380.6 pounds] with this configuration, but we w iJI be 170 [374 pounds] be fore M isano qualify ing, thanks to a new titanium exhaust component that we will assemble on bike next Wedn esday, " The three-cylinder Benelli now uses a tw in exhaust syste m. " The ch ass is now is very good, " God dard said. "They need some horsepower, but I think that Benelli is on the right track. The engi ne is now a lot st ronge r t han two mon ths ago . I thi nk we will be able to challenge fo r Superpole, and maybe for some points in the race." Gozzi repo rts that the Benelli sounds like a race car, or an old 500cc four-stroke GP racer. " Our goal is to have very smooth power delivery," said Rosa. "And I think that w ith big bang the rider and tires ' work can be easier." Benelli has a small racing structu re n e vv s at this point, with just 15 people working in the racing department and race team, may of who came from the form er Ducati Gatt olone team. Have you ever see n Colin Edwards ride a Kawa sak i? Wel l , he d id at a Kawasaki party held last weekend afte r the W orld Superbike round in Ge rmany. The Kawasaki Edwards rode was not your average garde n var iety , but a specially desig ned mechan ical bull shaped like a ZX-6R, Kawasa ki's racing team, in conju nction wi th t hei r sponso rs, held the inaug ura l " Rodeo Riding " competi tion throughout the World Superbike Championship race at Lausitzring in Germany . The " Texas Tornado " tot ally blitzed the field, staying on the bull fo r over a minute longer than his nearest rival. "If I hadn't won , people wo uld never let me live it down , coming from the bull riding capital of the world, " said Edwards. Karl Mug geridge was sec o nd , w in nin g a new Kawasaki leather jacket for his troubles. Jorg Teuchert rounded out the to p three. Five-time 500cc W orld Champion Mick Doohan has written in support of a campaign by the People For The Ethical Treament of Animals (PETA) and Aust ralian animal rights groups against CBS and the television show S u rv ivo r II because of the stabbing of a baby pig, acco rding to a release iss ued by PETA. " My brother s and I hunted wild pigs, who were strong, fast , agile [and] extremely brig ht and wou ld never have ventured onto a busy t e levi sl o n se t, " Dooh an said in t he release. " Based on my experience, the bloodthirsty Survivor II co ntestant wa s not dealing w ith a wild pig - unless that ani mal had been w eak ene d by som e means prior to the encounter." The co ntestant who killed the pig on the popular " reali t y" te levisio n show is M ich ael Skupin, a Michigan man w ho says he is cons idering running for the U.S. Senate next year. Since returning from the Australian outback, Skupin has co me under fire from animal rights activists . Erion Racing's Kurtis Roberts said he expects to miss only two rounds of the AM A /Chevy Trucks U.S , S up erb ike Championship while recovering fro m successful surgery on June 13 to rectify armpum p problems , thou gh he added he won 't return unless he's fully fit. " I should be back fo r M id-Ohio, pro bably, possibly, " said the American Honda/Erion Racing rider, who will miss the Loudon and Laguna Seca rounds, in a phone co nversation from his home in Hickman, California. "It looks good . We'll have to see. I'll only come back when I'm 100 percent. " Roberts had been plagued with the armpump probl ems sinc e last season. The problems intensified this year, comi ng to a head at the physically demanding Sears Point and Road Atlanta circuits. At Road America , Roberts was n't pa rt icu larly affect ed, but he knew that the June 16· 17 race at New Hampshire Internationa l Speedway would be difficult. "I anticipated it being bad on my arrival and with a problem like t hat yo u're go ing to get screwed up," said Robert s, who added that arm pump didn't contribute to any of his crashes at Road Am erica. " There 's no reason to take a chance at Loudon. As to what prompted him to seek reli now , Rob ert s said he fi nally go t th surgery beca use he , "just got ti red 0 fighting it. It got worse and worse . Hond wanted me to do it because it's the bes th ing to do instead of hurt ing myse lf . The one-hour surgery was perfo rmed b noted surgeon Dr, Art hur Ting with Tin essentially cutting the sheath surroundin the forearm muscles in both arms so tha the pres sure building up in the muscle co uld be relieved . " He cut that so th muscle can expand o ut of it, " Robert said . Rob erts retu rn ed to his fathe r' ranch in Hickman, California, afte r th surgery. " I'll be at Laguna from Wedne day o n doing autographs and what eve Ho nda ne eds , " Rob e rt s sai d. As f o missi ng Lo udo n , Ro be rt s joked , " I' rather be watching than riding that plac right now ," Following the death of former San Jos Sp eed way anno unce r and mot orcycl racing guru Bill Spencer, the Mo to Sports Press Association has announce that the MSPA Motorcycle Rider Of Th Year awards for the oval and road racin catego ries will now be named the " Bil Spencer Rider Of Th;;"Yea r Awa in Motorcycle Oval Track Racing " and th " BiJI Spencer Rider Of The Year Award i Motorcycle Road Racing." Most recent ly Sp e nc e r was the voice f or Gen Romero 's We st Coast Flat Track series Bill was also an announcer for Lagun Seca Raceway, Sears Point Raceway an the Sacramento M ile during the motorcy c1e eve nts as well as an announcer fo Speedvision and Fox Sports. In addition Spencer also covered events for Cycl News. Sp enc er was a fo rmer membe and Board Member of the Motor Sport Press Associ ation. After a tw o-year layoff from racing, for mer AMA 250cc Grand Prix competito AI S a laver r ia will retu rn to act ion 0 J une 30 . The Cal ifo rnian wi ll race in Su pe rTT event at t he C al Expo Fair grounds in Sacramento, California. Fuel tests were carried out by the FI during the European G rand Prix of th Motocross W orld C hampionship held i Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, on May 27 and among the samples test ed, the on co ming from t he mot orcycl e of British rider Ca r l Nunn revealed a lead conten of 0 .140 gIl and a MON value of 91. 1, above the maximum limits of 0.005 g/ I (lead) and 90 (M ON) , respectively , as specified in the FIM Technical Rules, Art . 63 .0 1.2. Nunn did not ask for a countertest and the International Jury w ill convene on Jun e 20 in orde r to judge the case. The samples taken from the motorcycles of the other riders contro lled at this event were in accordance w ith the Techn ical Rules : M a rn ic q Berv o et s (50 0cc) , Ken net h G undersen C1 25cc), Co llin D ug mo re ( 2 5 0 cc), J ul ien B ill (125cc) and Damien Denil (250cc) . Getti ng Caught. Part II: The FIM's Internationa l Jury, co mprising of .Jean-Pierre Moreau (FIM Ju ry President), Bambang Guna rdi (FIM Jury M emb er) and M rs . Dobromiia Mikova (FM NR Jury Member)