Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

c o II LJ Continued from page 3 it all, Metz?" The full video, shot from multiple angles, will be seen on ESPN as part of coverage leading up to the X Games and on other X Games programming, including X today, according to the release. A page in two-wheeled Grand Prix history has begun to tum, with the recent death of the first of the modem generation of motorcycle road race champions to pass away through natural causes - Italian maestro Walter Villa, who died of a heart attack at his home in Modena on June 19, at the age of 58. Winner of a hat-trick of 250cc World titles between 1974 and 1976, plus 350cc World Champion as well in the latter year, 'II Reverendo' (as Villa was known, on account of his ecclesiastical appearance!) was the only man to date to have won a World Championship title for Harley-Davidson, which he did by virtue of winning his four world crowns riding the products of the American company's Italian then-subsidiary - a company fonnerly known as Aennacchi, then later as Cagiva and, today, MV Agusta. Together with Harley Italia R&D guru Ezio Mascheroni's tightly knit race team based in H-D's Varese headquarters, and which later was responsible for the succession of Cagiva 500cc bikes culminating in those ridden to GP victory by Eddie Lawson and John Kocinski, Villa dominated 250cc GP racing for three years in a row on the Harley-Davidson twin-cylinder two-strokes and, but for teammate trouble with Franco Uncioi, which handed the title to Morbidelli's Mario Lega, would likely have made it four in a row in 1977. The winner of 23 GPs on the American-backed bikes, plus one on his self-prepared Yamaha in 1979 in Venezuela, Villa had to wait until he was 31 years of age before becoming a World Champion, but once he did so he made a habit of it, becoming respeeted as a hard but fair racer with a mechanical intuition which helped him set up bikes ideally for different circuits, as well as keep abreast of new technical solutions, such as the Campagnolo hydroconical brake or coaxial swingann Bimota frames, used at various times on his titlewinning bikes. His calm demeanor only got ruffled once in public, when after becoming exasperated by what he felt were his rival Johnny Cecotto's unfair riding tactics in the Belgian GP at Spa, he aimed a well-directed kick at the Venezuelan's Yamaha at the La Source hairpin, which forever eamed him the sobriquet of 'Golden Goal Villa' from the Italian press. He was offered the chance to race for Kawasaki in 1978, aboard the then-new tandem-twin 250 and 350cc machines which would go on to dominate these classes for the next five seasons, but typically he turned the offer down, on the grounds he didn't want to upset Mascheroni and the rest of the H-D/Aennacchi team. But then the orders came from America to stop GP racing - so, caught between two stools, Villa simply prepared a pair of customer Yamahas and went racing as a privateer. Because he wanted to. Villa's long competition career began in March of 1962 at the age of 19, when he followed his brother Francesco (10 years older, but a constant partner throughout Walter's own career) into racing by fin- C C The AMA has announced that its chartered clubs and promoters reported raising $5.816.999 for charitable causes in 2001. The most generous AMA-chartered promoter in 2001 was the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation of Asheville, North Carolina, reporting a total of $2.8 million. The top AMA-chartered club, New York City's chapter of the Harley Owners Group (HOG), reported raising $160,000. "When it comes to giving, no other group can match the generosity of American motorcyclists," said Robert Rasor, President of the AMA. "We're pleased to recognize the good works of our clubs and promoters." Total donations reported in 2001 represent an increase of more than $1 million over the previous year. C " . '\ ...J " The Little Egypt Off-Road Motorcycle Club will host round seven of the AMA National Hare Scrambles Championship Series on August 4 at the Uttle Egypt Public OHV Recreation Area in Crab Orchard Illinois. As part of the '-' festivities, the club will honor former AMA National Hare Scrambles Champiw on Tony Hendon for his accomplishments as a racer. Hendon suffered a leg injury the year after winning the title in 1988 and did not get a chance to wear the number-one plate. r o o team. Racing is the main reason for his visit to Monterey, but he will also make time in his schedule to join Bayliss, Ben ~ o Ducati will play host to film star Ewan McGregor at the upcoming World Bostrom, Ruben Xaus and Doug Chandler on Ducati Island Saturday night for the annual Ducati Party. McGregor first Superbike round at Laguna Seca, July 13-14. McGregor is currently in the U.S. working on his latest project with Renee Zellweger and will take a short break to attend the race and spend time with World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss, according to Ducati. The Scottish actor, most famous for his role as Obi-Wan in the new Star Wars episodes, is a self-professed bike nut. owning several models including a 996. Racing is also one of McGregor's passions, and he has sponsored race teams in the U.K., including an all-women's o rocketed to fame in the cult movie "Trainspotting," and has recently appeared in "Black Hawk Down,· and c o (\ u (' C[J(J® C C O r r , W ;=< H "Moulin Rouge" with Nicole Kidman, another Ducati fan. Multi-time AMA supercross and motocross champion Ricky Carmichael has been issued a Tribute by the Rorida House of Representatives. The declaration, put forth by Florida's District 49 Representative Larry Crow, reads as follows; "A Tribute to Florida's own Ricky Carmichael "WHEREAS. Motocross came to the United States from Europe more than 30 years ago and took on a distinctive American style when the first-ever stadium motocross was held in California in 1972, a race that birthed supercross, and since then sold-out stadiums have become the norm from coast to coast while television coverage brings these events to avid fans in the comfort of their homes; and "WHEREAS, 22-yearold Havana resident Ricky Carmichael began racing Motocross in 1984 at the age of five and, within the next 11 years, accumulated 67 amateur championships, a record for the American Motorcyclist Association; and "WHEREAS, in his first !P®~ [iJil[f:{@ !p@f? f}@fd The Foggy Petronas Team will not be competing in the 2002 World Superbike Championship after all. According to an F1M spokesman, the FlM "did not receive a fonnal request with a date for fonnal visit of inspection. Therefore, there was no inspection carried out before the June 30 deadline." The full initial batch of 75 road machines must be inspected by the F1M to meet homologation requirements for the streetbike-based World Superbike Championship. There appears to be no possibility of the F1M giving out a special dispensation for the Foggy Petronas team to compete at any time this season, as the next homologation deadline is not until January 31, 2003, and it is thought that the total number of finished machines is not close enough to the 75 required for i1ny such move to be contemplated. The official FIM inspection can take place any time before the January 31 deadline, but if and when the three-cylinder machine 88 ishing third on his 125 Morini Settebello in his debut race on his Modena home track - beating a certain Giacomo Agostini into fifth place, on a similar bike. Villa rode with quixotic success on a wide variety of bikes throughout his career, including Triumph, Mondial, Morini, BeneJli, MV Agusta, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Ducati, Itom, Malanca, Montesa, Morbidelli/MBA and ELF, as well as his brother's own Villa marque, whose own products which he helped to create, took him to six Italian National Championship titles. Villa was one of the most versatile riders of any era, finishing third behind the duo of dominant Ducatis in the 1972 Imola 200 aboard the local Triumph importer's three-cylinder F750 bike, a week after winning a round of the 125cc Italian title series on a Villa. Always a rider with a keen technical sense, Walter raced the avantgarde ELFe endurance racer several times for the French equipe during the 19805, and latterly took pride as well as satisfaction from designing, tuning and race-developing his own Villa-Yamaha Supermono single, which his nephew took to a rostrum finish at Monza in 1996, in the European series run as a support class to World Superbike. Walter shook the bike down himself in local races, but by then the fact that he bore increasing witness to the excellence of his wife's cooking, as well as his fine cellar of local Sangiovese wine, told against his power-to-weight ratio for racing at the upper level. But he raced uninterruptedly for 34 years, and even in the early '90s was employed by Pirelli as a race tester. Walter still enjoyed parading in historic events, though, aboard the quartet of two-stroke Harley-Davidson GP racers which he'd restored himself, including three of his title-winning machines plus one of the rare four-carburetor Harley 500cc two-stroke twins he'd had a hand in developing for customer sale in 1977/,78, Affable, intelligent and the dispenser of astute advice to upcoming riders like Luca Cadalora, Walter Villa was a completely genuine person unruffled by the trappings of the inevitable celebrity which came in the wake of his World-title success. He just loved motorcycles, both working on them in the crowded workshop beneath his Modena home, and racing the result. It's not often that nice guys win World Championships, least of all repeat the feat several times over, but Walter Villa was such a man. He was one of us - an ordinary man with a special love of motorcycles, and a talent for racing them which matured with the years, just like the contents of his wine cellar. He was also a top-line mechanic who could have earned a good living as a race engineer for one of today's top GP teams, had he wanted, and a man of honor, as well as intelligence. It's a cliche to say Walter Villa will be greatly missed - but that doesn't make it any the less true. He will be. JULv17,2002' cue I e n e _ s passes inspection it still will not be allowed to compete before 2003. Due to the new-manufacturer status of the Petronas, the first homologation is still only expected to run to 75 units, with the next required batch of 75 only needing to be built to the next deadline June 30, 2003. At this time, no official comment was forthcoming from any of the main players involved - MSX, the project engineering company charged with making the streetbikes, Eskil Suter's race- and roadengine manufacturing company in Switzerland, the Foggy Petronas team or Petronas itself, rime, always the enemy of any new-model production, appears to have been the one thing even the supposedly vast resources all the elements of the project have had to draw on could not defeat, despite the consistently bullish attitude emanating from some quarters, which was intolerant to any talk of missing deadlines. Gordon Ritchie year as a professional racer, Ricky Carmichael was named the AMA Motocross Rookie of the Year and has to his credit the most AMA 125 National titles and the most AMA 250 National race wins in a season and was the first rider to sweep the AMA 125 East Coast Regional Supercross series, winning all eight races; and "WHEREAS, Ricky Carmichael recently became the first back-to-back winner of the U.S. Open of Supercross and is the current champion in both the AMA 250 supercross and motocross championships, and his outstanding record is giving rise to speculation that he might well become the greatest talent of all time in supercross and motocross. "NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESPECTFULLY PROCLAIMED that Ricky Carmichael is enthusiastically recognized for the outstanding achievements of his career and is wished unlimited success as he faces the challenges of future competitions." Carmichael was grateful to be honored by his state' s government. "It's humbling to think about Florida honoring me," said Carmichael, who is the top-ranked rider this season in the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Motocross Championship competition. "I thank Representative Crow for submitting the Tribute. Florida has really become a hotbed of motocross in recent years. A lot of riders are moving here to train. It's not only a great place to work on my racing skills, but it's also a great place to live. " eN

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