Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

o articipating aboard a White Bothers onda CRF450R equipped with road race heels and tires. For more info, visit .supertt.com. or the third year in a row, Progressive surance will sponsor the 2002 AMA rogressive Insurance U.S. Flat rack Championship. As part of the ompany's sponsorship, race fans will gain be able to help Progressive Insurnee build the championship bonus that is warded to riders at the end of the seaon, according to a press release issued y AMA Pro Racing. Since Progressive surance became involved with the AMA .S. Flat Track Championship in 2000, it as helped deliver the sport to millions of ns across the country and around the orld through television and the Intemet. e AMA says. The company will contine to do so in 2002, which promises to e the most exciting season in the series' istory, according to the AMA. Progresive Insurance will continue its unique rogram that adds money to the .100,000 series point fund. Each time a lat-track fan gets an insurance quote m Progressive on his or her motorcyIe, auto, RV, or watercraft by calling 1OO-FLAT-TRACK or visiting 1800Flatrack. com, Progressive will donate dditional dollars to the championship onus. The bonus is awarded to riders at e end of the season. "We're thrilled to .ontinue to be a part of this exciting eries, and to give flat track fans a ,hance to help build the point fund," said iriam Deitcher, Progressive Insurance otorcycle marketing manager. "Proressive insures more motorcyclists and re flat-track fans than any other comany. It's important that we continue to e involved in bringing our customers a ljJort they love." "AMA Pro Racing is leased to have Progressive back on oard as a series sponsor," said John arris, AMA Pro Racing's vice president f commercial development. .. As a com"any, they've done a great job integrating heir sponsorship of motorcycle racing to an effective business plan and AMA ro Racing has helped deliver the insurnee results needed to maintain Progresive's involvement. .. he Los Ancianos Motorcycle lub will be holding its annual Hare Scrambles event near Tecate, Mexico, on Sunday, January 20. Editors from Cycle News and Dirt Bike are riding - as are some of the sport's biggest heroes, according to the Los Ancianos. For more information, call 619/281-1400 (days) or 760/753-0786 (evenings) or visit www.losancianos.com. ·European Union (EU) Governments are unanimously opposed to Daytime Running Lights CDRLl being fitted on all new cars produced from 2002, according to the AMA. The exclusion of DRL was the condition for the Member States accepting this self-commitment presented by the European Car Manufacturers' Association CACEA) to the Commission as an altemative to a Directive intended to make car fronts safer for vulnerable road users. EU countries have already set their own national requirements on the use of lights depending on various aspects such as weather and light conditions, experience and public consensus. EU govemments also said that the introduction of a harmonized legislation on DRL needs to be carefully and thoroughly investigated before considering any harmonized application in Europe. The Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA) campaign against the inclusion of DRL measures in the ACEA Commitment, undertaken jointly with the other European federations of vulnerable road users, bicyclists, pedestrians and accident victims, has already produced very positive results. FEMA also proVided the European Commission with research evidence supporting that there was no positive benefit in accident reduction through DRL. FEMA is now going to concentrate its efforts on the next steps of the procedure, including representations by the Members of the European Parliament who have already been informed of the position of European motorcyclists. The opinion of Parliament should be made public by next spring. European Motocross Champion Kevin Strijbos is set to race Suzukis in the coming season, according to a release issued by his team. The 16-year-old Belgian will remain with the Bonenberg Racing Team and will compete in both the World and Dutch Open Motocross Championships. His teammate will be South African Wyatt Avis, who will race the European Championship as well as the Dutch Open Championship. When possible, Avis will also race in selected World Championship rounds. The third rider in the team will be Louis Bonenberg, son of team owner Gert Jan Bonenberg, who is also the main Suzuki dealer in the Netherlands. The team will receive support from the factory Suzuki Team managed by Sylvain Geboers with former 125cc World Motocross Champion Dave Strijbos acting as team trainer. Motocross Champions Mercedes Gonzales-Natvig and Ricky .John~ son have teamed up to hold motocross schools targeted at woman riders. The first school will be held in Lake Elsinore, Califomia, at the Elsinore Motocross Park on January 16. It will be an all-day school with a maximum of 20 riders. The school is offering special discounts to WML members (members will need to bring their membership cards). To sign up or for more information, e-mail GonzalezNatvig at merspeedy@aol.com. Starwest Motocross Park in Lake Perris, California, will now be open for open practice (all bikes, adults and minis) on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., effective January 6. This is in addition to the track's regular weekly open practice days on Tuesdays and Thursdays (motorcycles only) and Fridays (minis only). For more information, call 909/943-4535. A stock-based headline class, called Superbike, will be the foundation of the new Parts Canada Superbike Championship rules set to debut in 2003, according to event promoters. The new Superb ike class will resemble the existing International Motorcycle Supershow Open Sport Bike division, with dyno enforced maximum horsepower limitations. Modifications beyond current Open Sport Bike guidelines will permit changes to triple clamps and shock linkages. The new Superbike category will also be similar to Formula USA's current Unlimited Superbike feature class. The Open Sport Bike category will disappear after the 2002 season. It will be replaced by an Amateur 600 Sport bike class, which will run alongside the existing Yoshimura 600 Sport Bike division. All three classes will · AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Spectrum Motorsports in Lake Forest. World Wide Web. The site can be found at the following address: California, on January 17 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Ricky Carmichael and the rest of the Honda team are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 949/859-3186. http://www.motocrosstrainer.com. CORRECTION: The advertisement for the Kold Kutter Ice Racing PROMOTED: Lee Edmunds, to manager of the motorcycle press department for American Honda, effective immediately. Edmunds takes over from Pete terHorst, who has taken a position with the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. Series in issue #1 featured the wrong location. The races will be held in Bentley, Michigan, January 19-20. For more information, call 800/3690001. CORRECTION: Our report from the Daytona tire test was inaccurate BORN: A baby boy, Connor Burdette Spencer, to three-time World Champion Freddie Spencer and his Wife, Chelee. on December 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Connor is the Spencers' second child. in reporting the best lap time turned in by Bruce Transportation Group's Jake Zemke. Zemke lapped at 1:55.01 8 on his 600, according to sources in his team. ~ cycle J o o o ~ o o o o o o o o o o Q J o 8 8 J J J (' .............................................................................................................•.........•.•.••........ OPENED: All Pro MX Performance Training's home page on the receive television coverage. The new rules package comes after two years of deliberation between Parts Canada Superbike Championship officials and representatives of Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, along with rider input. The format is designed to reduce the cost of competing in the national motorcycle road race series and encourage more riders to participate, event promoters say. "A lot of discussion went into this," said Colin Fraser of Professional Motorsports Productions, organizer of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship. "While it is always hard to please everybody, we think we have a program that will appeal to the teams, racers and the many fans that enjoy our series." The change in feature class format will see the disappearance of exotic and expensive works motorcycles imported from Japan, which have appeared in the Parts Canada Superbike Championship over the past two years. Bikes like Honda's RC51, winner of the past two titles in the hands of Steve Crevier, and the Kawasaki ZX-7RR raced last year by Owen Weichel will be grandfathered. with restrictions for 2003. Under the new regulations each of the four Japanese manufacturers will be expected to support a minimum of three riders with bikes and parts in both the Superbike class and the Pro 600 Sport Bike division. Direct factory support for Amateur 600 Sport Bike competitors will not be permitted. The creation of a national Amateur 600 Sport Bike class should further assist the development of young Canadian racers. The category will be open to Amateur class license holders across Canada and the champion will receive a major career enhancement award. "This class will lead Amateur racers directly into the national system: Fraser said. "It will give them valuable exposure and provide the means for them to continue their racing careers. · · · . · n According to reports in the Denver Post. a fire broke out at Fay Myers Motorcycle World on January 2, all but destroying what some motorcycle enthusiasts call a Colorado motorcycling institution. The fire was reported at 8 a.m. By 11 a.m .. when firefighters got it under control, the flames had consumed much of the store, which had been there since 1948, according to the Post. "We've got the fire contained," Captain Larry Trujillo of the Denver Fire Department, which had about 60 firefighters on the scene, told the newspaper. "It's hard to say [(jf the building was destroyed)] because we can't get inside, but it looks like heavy, heavy damage." There were about 600 motorcycles and ATVs inside when the store caught fire, Trujillo said. The cause of the fire had not been determined Wednesday. The blaze did about $8 million in damage, Fay Myers advertising manager Jim Krebs told the Post. But. since some inventory is kept off-site, and since two of the store's buildings were unharmed, the store could be open again within a week, he added. "Our showroom will be a little smaller. but it'll be open iii _ lIS • Continued on page 72 3 JANUARY 16, 2002 LJ 'I Li CJ ~8 J (\ L o o ~ LJ o o o

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