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/128161
o C '1 Continued from page 2 Triumph banner from the start on the East Coast and look to complete the ride on Sunday, June 30 in Pasadena, California, with the closing event ceremony, At the AMA/Chevy Trucks National Motocross in Buchanan, Michigan, on July 7, Portuguese 250cc National Champion Paulo Gonzalvez will be racing for the Nielsen EnterpriseslWSA Snocross/Ti-Lube team, Manager Jamey Grosser will not be competing due to a broken ankle, Rally Raid UK, a specialist rally support organization, recently sent us a press release announcing its intention to make easier the prospect of English-speaking off-road riders competing in the Dakar Rally, For 2003, the race's 25th anniversary, the group is entering a team that includes European female enduro champ Patsy Quick and former European and British Enduro Champion Mick Extance, (l and it will be supported by its own four, wheel-drive cars and trucks, Realizing the problems that face rally neophytes (language struggles, bike procurement and preparation, support, etc,), Rally Raid UK r founder Paul Round (himself a Dakar veteran) has introduced what he calls a "turnkey package' to make things easier, Rally Raid UK says will take care of p everything for its clients, from corresponding to the French promoter to organizing the details of gelling client '-' and bike to every bivouac along the route, Clients will ride prepared new Honda XR650Rs, and will be supplied with apparel. For more information, log on to www. rallyraid.co.uk or e-mail Paul_Round@msn.com. c " u LJ C C [ [ [ C O OMS Sports has announced that it has signed freestyle motocrossers Drake McElroy and Doug Parsons, to its freestyle motocross division. According to OMS' Shane Trittler, account manager for the company's freestyle division, McElroy and Parsons personify the type I ' of freestyle athlete OMS is looking to represent and market. "Both Drake and '-J Doug have proven themselves in competition, as well as carrying themselves as " pros when dealing with everything else involved with the sport," said Trittler. "Both are very marketable athletes and we look forward to getting them hooked up with the sponsors that best match "'""' their personalities and appearance schedules." McElroy, who finished third overall in each of the last two IFMA seasons, began his freestyle career in August of 2000. Like most riders, he felt he had a better opportunity at making a living at freestyle than he did with motocross, And, in two short years, he's made a big enough splash to earn him a spot on the No Fear FMX team. Parsons brings to the table a stellar amateur career and some supercross experience - his best showing being a seventh place at the 1999 St. Louis Supercross (125cc class). More active on the LXD Freestyle Tour, Parsons' career highlight to date was a seventh-place finish in the Winter X Games. C C C e C I C C C C C C e n102 JULv3. 2002' II: U II: I e ~G!JD DI!7&J[fiJ D ~(1[lDDl@&S 5J@~&J=.=..::D[fiJ~ _ Speedway Grand Prix racing came to Slovenia for the first time on June 22 and produced one of the most exciting finishes in the history of the competition. Australian Ryan Sullivan won his second successive Grand Prix, but Poland's Tomasz Gollob was so close behind that referee Marek Wojaczek used television replays to determine the winner. "I knew Tomasz was close, I could hear him," said Sullivan, "but I was never in any doubt that I had beaten him to the line. I thought after winning at Cardiff that it might open the door for me, and it has. But now I am the championship leader for the first time and the pressure will be on me in Stockholm in two weeks' time:' It was a wonderful result for Sullivan in more ways than one. Defending World Champion Tony Rickardsson, who was tied at the top of the table with Sullivan before the start, went out at the semi-final stage and is now 11 points behind him, Rickardsson looked strangely out of sorts all weekend and suffered a number of race defeats before eventually being eliminated. Gollob has now moved up to third in the overall standings on 63 points, with Leigh Adams on 55 and Crump and Mikael Karlsson a further point adrift, Jason Crump had another frustrating evening, storming through to the semis only to be knocked out for touching the tapes. Crump knows that there are still six rounds to go but he desperately wants to start reaching finals again. Greg Hancock and Billy Hamill continued to struggle in the GP series, with Hancock running in ninth position and Hamill two places behind him_ With six rounds to go, it has become a battle for the two Americans to survive in the top 10 to transfer automatically into next year's GP series_ John Hipkiss Anti-doping controls were carried out at the rounds of the World Supersport and Sidecar World Championships held at the circuit of Eurospeedway Lausitz in Germany. June 8-9. All the samples tested showed the absence of any banned substances. The riders controlled were: Stefano Cruciani, Chris Vermeulen, Fabien Foret, Sepp Doppler, Bernhard Wagner, Martien Van Gils, Tonnie Van Gils, Jorg Steinhausen, Trevor Hopkinson. After spending two days at the Virginia International Raceway during the recent Superbike test session, Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom came away from the test confident enough to label it a success. "Our pre-test setup was good going into the test and proved to be a winner, so we didn't really have much to test," Bostrom said. "Of course, we still went through some suspension pieces and tried a number of things with the front end. The bike still seems a little too harsh on the bumps, but I'm pretty happy with how things went. In fact. I went over a second faster during the test on race tires than I did last year on a qualifier, So it's all positive, Running the extra World Superbike rounds this year has really helped both my confidence and the team's ability to set up the bike. Our learning curve has really steepened by being over there and our bike setup is better now than it's been all year. It's also helped my riding and been a bit of a catalyst to my season, " With the big Laguna Seca weekend approaching, Bostrom is looking forward to making another strong showing in n e _ s World Superbike. although he realizes he faces stiff competition at his favorite track. "I know my brother [Ben Bostrom] and Neil [Hodgson] were tough last year. And all the World Superbike guys ride hard all the time and then there's that war between [Troy] Bayliss and [Colin] Edwards. Those guys have been tough and incredibly fast this year. It's basically going to be an all-out battle with those guys. So, honestly, it's going to be really tough to get on the podium, butI'm going to try really hard to make it happen, My fans expect that. It won't be for a lack of effort if it doesn't happen, that's for sure." Corona Extra Suzuki has announced the extension of the partnership, originally started last year, with Stahlwille and Ontool. Stahlwille and Ontool are supply, ing special tool systems to enable the team to further its winning performance. according to the team. According to Nippon News, Sundiro Honda Motorcycle Co. Ltd. ' Honda's joint venture with two Chinese companies - has started producing a second type of motorcycle in China to meet growing demand. Sundiro Honda Motorcycle will begin selling the Wave motorcycle in China on July 1, with an annual sales target of 100,000 units, the report states. The new model, made from lowcost parts procured locally, follows the launch of the joint venture's M-Living motorcycle last November, Sundiro Honda, which is half-owned by Honda Motor, plans to launch further new models in the future, the report states. Blata has designed three Castrol Pocketbikes - the Castrol 2.5 Pocketbike, the Castrol Elite 13 and the Castrol Elite 13WRS - which will make their U.S. public debut at the Laguna Seca round of the World Superbike Series in July. The three models feature the distinctive Castrol logos and colors, For more information, see Blata's Web site at www.blatausa.com. The purpose of the Castrol Alliance is to gain greater exposure of the Pocketbike's Racing Sport through the endorsement of well-established, long-term industry giants like Castrol. Its image andposition in the Racing Sport industry throughout the years will prove to be a great ally in formalizing Pockebike Racing as a great Sport for Children and adults alike. Pocketbike Racing in Europe teaches children at an early age the technique's needed in order to ride bikes in a responsible manner and generates a newfound respect for the art of Superbike Racing at all levels, from the junior division to the advanced division. Colorado AMA member Jim Bensberg won the top line ballot designation for EI Paso County Commissioner, District 5 at the EI Paso County Republican Assembly. Bensberg will now advance to the Primary Election on August 13. The winner of the Republican primary will face a Democrat, Dean Tollefson, in the General Election. CN