Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

• ... • .... • • 1'1'- I~- Happenings In Motorcycling Ultra-Mega-Rad Hayabusa Formula Xtreme Bike Fonner AMA Superbike privateer, and Fonnula Xtreme racer, Rad Greaves plans to return to AMA competition next year aboard his latest creation, the GP Busa Ill. Uke his other incamations of the GP Busa concept, the frame has been extensively modified by car guys Roush Racing who also contributed to the radical new bodywork. Greaves felt that the fonner bike's 19O·or·so horsepower just wasn't going to cut it, so the new motor's displacement has been increased to 1661cc, for a claimed 250 rear· wheel horsepower! Yikes! Check out the front fairing's evil looking air intakes. The top two are for the airbox, while the lower two feed the radiator. Can you say E·ticket ride? Look for the GP Busa III jn 2003. ByA CATHCAllT .. New Ducati Middleweight On the Way? In spl\'e of the success of P1erglorgio Bontempi aboard the solitary NCR Ducati 748RS in keeping !be desrnoquatlro twin-cylinder flag flying in World Supersport this season, consistently running in the top 10 wlth a second place finish in PhIllip Island as the team's best resuJt to date, Ducati hIlS no longer been a serious contender in the 600 fours/750 twins streelhlke category since works rider Paolo Casoll so narrowly lost !be 2000 World Supersport title in the last 300 feet of the flnal race of the season at Brands Hatch. However, just as the new Testastretta engine has given the Bologna factory's 9O-degree Vtwin cIe8moqIllIttrO a new Iene Qi life in Superblke guise, allowing Troy Bayliss last season to reglIiD tha world title whk:Jl. Ducat! !oat to Hoada In 2000, as well as to dominate the championship so far In 2002, so the same design phI/oIophy will now be transferred to !be Ila1Ian compeny's Supersport a;iCltllllder, with the debut at lntermot In September of the Ducat! 749R. wIIich will enter pia It tllon In .Janu.aIy 2003., juIt In time far homologation for the 2004 rae:InlJ.-sat. The bike'\ _ compad, IigbIIer and more ~ new short-stroke engine has been UIIder develupment for _ time at Duc:atI Corse's race shop In die Bologna fact0ry, sat on the t.ck ~ whlIe R60 -oak ISS c:or.c:ttilbated on deve/oplIag 1he new ultra III rkbuk.e, 1 ~ 998R ~eogInebelng a-d ... seesan by wurb rid... T~8IIyIlss, Ben Bcp:ll1. I and Rubm- xu, iii jldpdiatlue far Its lnItaIIatillR In ltle ... T~9!I91i1e1RgtauDc:bed.lDtenliot iii Sepbiiber. itlt--, - * WS J81 • _ OD tbe _ 749R eagine ..... In ill: IJig 1he same ...... design paIIt _1he bIgger'li' . . motor, 15 beIle_ to . - - 90 x 5A'lkhlF ;wet to the aiIIfng 748 • ~.. I •• d.aa x 61~ .a ID . . ID 13 In race guile. . . . ef to .,.~ blke'. 1~ 1'e'I' eeIIIDo- 1be_ new'" 6 JUNE 12, 2002' cue I • n .... s David Pingree (right) was out at Glen Helen on his new Plano Honda CR125 the Thursday after the Mt. MorTis National and looked quite fast, staying a good distance in front of Y.C.T.'s Ivan Tedesco for a number of laps. Pingree said that his fonner mount (KTM) had a significant amount more power, but that the Honda handles much better, so he feels it should be a wash in tenns of perfonnance. He also said he used to get tired much faster on the KTM because of its relatively poor handling once the track got rough. Here, Pingree takes a rest in. the shade between 35·minute practice motos in the nearly 100·degree Glen Helen weather. wIgIDeIy t.IRge.(ed IItclelverill8 18 tbp _ I n lIlrllet lJiIse than the exlsting 1(16.. btIp?- .... - * t , .... del; I , =4 fa .....t ad ID line gone so wei tIwt It's ~ deII-*'IiI 122 blip at 12,000 IpI1i on 1he nalICli'IausIy stingy Ducat! ~ .a_ _ WiIh. a wider IplIlIid of ~1bon !be ~ motor. ThIs will equalie to a pelfuriFlMCe in race guile of wei in excess of 130 blip • more than enoUgb lID redress !be ~ e far 1he ClIlIy twIn--cyIInder Swpersport conlIender against the new ser-tion of fuel-injected, four-cyllnder Japanese 600&. These are about to be joined - again at Intermot • by a completely redesigned version of the R6 Vamafla, now also fuel-Injected and likely to provide the new junior Testastretta with Its stiffest competition in the battle for Supersport supremacy in 2003. as well as the new Triumph TI600R presently under development in Hinckley, Installed with a more potent racetrackfriendly version of the exist· Ing four·cyllnder engine, in a chassis fitted with uprated suspension and brakes, and dotbed in much more distinctive, aggressiveIooklns styling. ThIs will set It lipIIIt from the existing TT600's much i>lander appearance. though this wlI c: 'I *e 10 prudvctIoo IJIonGsicIt! !be new. sportier version wbiClh Triwnph will Indee(( compete with III III ....... top-level SL\persport rae· ..... . . . . ."''IiI die I'IrsI time • , b 1he . . . . fAlc::tory'-1JOne r s •• II." .::::::~: nidIrlII"a~liIclIOry-- T .....1 " a • eAglne _ ' . . . . . .1I!em. '1

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