Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

o o o o o o Sean Emmett (Duc) and Steve Hislop CDuc) split wins in the opening The hearings will be held from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on: April 9: City Council Chambers, 1275 Main St., El Centro, California; April 11: The Grand, 4101 E. Willow St., Long Beach, California; April 15: Phoenix College, 1202 W. Thomas Rd .. Phoenix, Arizona; April 18: Brawley City CounCil. 225 A St., Brawley, Califomia; April 23: Yuma Civic and Convention Center, 1440 W. Desert Hills Dr., Yuma, Arizona; April 25: Marriott Mission Valley, 8757 Rio San Diego Dr., San Diego, California. Reading copies are available at the BLM's EI Centro Field Office, 1661 S. 4th St., EI Centro, California, and at the California Desert District Office, 6221 Box Springs Blvd.. Riverside, California. Reading copies are also available at selected libraries in cities where the public meetings will be held, and the documents can be found at the BLM's Web site at www.ca.blm.gov/elcentro. Comments will be accepted through June 28. Written comments should be sent to the Bureau of Land Management, EI Centro Field Office, Attn: Jim Komatinsky, 1661 S. 4th St.. EI Centro, CA 92243. If approved, the plan could go into effect late this year. Glamis is an extremely popular recreation area for motorcyclists, ATV riders, four-wheel-drive vehicle enthusiasts and others. The BLM reported that an estimated 108,000 peo- round of the British Superbike Championship in Silverstone, England, on April 1. Emmett topped Hislop by .398 of a second in the first race with Hislop coming back to beat John Reynolds (Suz) by over seven seconds in the second race. Steve Plater (Yam) finished third in the first race with Emmett taking the final podium spot in race two. Hislop's 45 points leads Emmett's 41 points after the first round. 8 o o o o Joel Smets (KTM) bagged the overall win at the MX Challenge 2002 in Qatar in the Middle East on March 28. The four-time World Champion dominated two of the three motos. Second overall was Josh Coppins (Hon), who, with the positive results of teammates Andrea Bartolini and Pit Beirer, gave the Vismara Honda squad the overall team win. In the 125cc class, (which competed together with the 250 and 500cc riders), Belgian Patrick Caps (KTM) finished on top. o 8 o o o o o The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has proposed a plan to reopen more than 49.000 acres of southern California desert closed two years ago to off-highway vehicle use, according to the AMA. The action would partially reverse a closure enacted by the BLM in late 2000 that affected 49,305 acres in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area, known to OHV enthusiasts as Glamis because of its proximity to that city in far Southern California. The closure was part of an out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit filed by antiaccess groups that alleged the BLM failed to properly consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conceming the effects of the BLM-administered California Desert Conservation Area Plan on a number of threatened and endangered species. On March 29, the BLM released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Recreation Area Management Plan for the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area that would reopen about 16,000 acres of the Glamis area to unrestricted OHV use. In addition, more than 33,000 acres would be reopened to limited use, with a restriction on the number of riders allowed. A maximum of 525 vehicles would be allowed each day in that area for a year while the BLM monitors the impact on plants and animals there. Changes would then be made on OHV use of the parcel, if necessary. "This proposed management plan is a significant development for all the OHV enthusiasts who ride at Glamis," said AMA Western States Representative Nick Haris. "Under the terms of the Califomia Desert Conservation Area Plan, open motorized recreation was restricted to less than 2 percent of the California Desert. With thiS closure, even that tiny amount was in danger of disappearing. " The AMA encourages those interested in the future of motorized recreation in the desert to read the plan and comment on it. The BLM will hold six publiC hearings on the plan to gather comments. o o o o 8 o 2 APRIL 10, 2002' II: U n II: • In 2000, the BLM agreed to temporarily close 49,305 acres in the 150,000acre Algodones Dunes area that includes Glamis in response to a lawsuit by anti-access groups. The groups that filed the suit alleged that the ban was needed to protect the Peirson's milkvetch plant, a member of the bean and pea family. The plant is listed as "endangered" by the state, and as "threatened' by the federal government. The anti-access groups made that allegation even though a BLM monitoring study showed that between 1977 and 1998, while OHV use was allowed, six plant species including the Peirson's milkvetch increased in the dunes. The closure meant that more than half of the land set aside for motorized recreation in the dunes was closed. PreViously, a 32,240-acre parcel - about 20 percent of the total - was designated as the North Algodones Dunes Wildemess Area and closed to OHVs. The BLM manages more than 9 million acres of the 25 million total acres in the California desert. The Califomia Desert Conservation Area Plan, which went into effect in 1980, and the California Desert Protection Act passed eight years later, resulted i severe closures and restrictions 0 motorized recreation in the desert. The left open travel on some eXisting road and ways through the desert, but con fined open riding to a handful of specifi cally designated "intensive-use" areas including the Imperial Sand Dune Recreation Area. The lawsuit, filed b the Center for Biological Diversity, th Sierra Club, and PubliC Employees fo Environmental Responsibility, not onl shut down 49,000 acres to OHV use a Glamis, but also closed areas t campers and closed, or threatened to close, other recreational areas in the California desert. Honda's Valentino Rossi continued to dominate pre-season testing, finishing the final weather-struck preseason test with the top time in advance of next week's SKYY Vodka Grand Prix of Japan at the Suzuka Circuit. Most riders finished an hour earlier than expected as rain fell over the Japanese track. halting any further meaningful progress, so Rossi's time from the morning session stood as the qUickest overall. After bettering Loris Capirossi's pole time from last year, he eventually improved to a final result of 2:04.343, just under half a second off the West Honda Pons' The development of the Ducati prototype bike for the new MotoG? championship is continuing on schedule, according to a release issued by Ducati - along with the first photos of the bike. Wind-tunnel testing has been taking place over the past few months and an aerodynamic configuration offering extremely high performance levels has already been obtained, despite the shape undergoing constant development. The final version wiD only be defined after track tests and the intense Wind-tunnel-testing program have been completed. "Thanks to the freedom our engineers were given in the design of a new bike and a new engine at the same time, we were able to apply the concept of integration to the full," declared ClaudiO Domenicali, Ducati Corse Managing Director, who is in charge of the MotoGP project, in a release issued by Ducati. "In particular, the engine has been designed in line with the demands of the bike, and everything in function of the position of the rider. The result is a very compact bike, one that has been created around the rider giving him maximum freedom of movement through comers as well as allowing him to take up an extremely aerodynamic straight-line position with minimum physical effort." "Extensive 3D CAD design has allowed us to analyze the layout and perfect the interaction between every component in a virtual mock-up modeled around the shape of the rider, obtaining unprecedented integration between all components.· "No aspect has been neglected in such a demanding and important project for our company. We have therefore also given particular attention to the search for an extremely low aerodynamic drag, which we view as vitally important because regulations based on fuel consumption reward the most effiCient designs, The excellent wind-tunnel results have also been obtained thanks to the compact nature of the Desmosedlci engine, which has enabled a bike to be designed around It with the rider placed in an aerodynamically efficlent position.· The tubular-steel trestle frame and the exhaust pipes under the tail fairing. together with the desmodromic system and the l-shaped layout of the engine, maintain intact some of the characteristics typical of Ducati's sportbike models. "The tubular trestle frame was a natural choice," continued Domenicall. "Our victories in the World Superbike Championship confirm that this is an excellent technical design. The MotoGP prototype, however, has been built around an innovative structure, which by explorong the layout of the l-shaped Desmosedicl engine to the full, uses it as a stress-bearing member and reaches the required levels of stiffness with a substantial reduction in frame weight and dimensions." "The decision to place the exhausts under the taU, which gives the bike a 'family feeling,' in line with Ducati's road-going sportsbikes, was made above all because of Its aerodynamic advantage." "Thanks to the commitment of the team headed by Ducat! Corse Technical Director Filippo Preziosi, everything Is continuing according to plan, and today we are in a position to announce the date when the definitive version of the bike will be presented to the world's press", concluded Domenicali. "The bike launch will be Thursday, May 30, dUring the Italian GP at Mugello. Ducati fans will also have an exclusive opportunity to see the bike during WDW2000 (World Ducati Week, Misano Adriatico, June 14-161, the event held every two years that brings thousands of 'Ducatlstf from all over the world to Italy to celebrate with us their passion for our bikes," o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o pie used the dunes during the President's Day weekend, February 16-17. The area is approximately 40 miles long, five miles wide, and has dunes that rise 300 feet above the valley floor. • __ !IS

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