Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Undisputed National Speedway Champion Billy Hamill had a busy weekend in Califomia, as he and British League teammate Billy .Janniro led a team of Californians to victory in the USA vs. The World speedway challenge at Fast Fri"days Speedway in Auburn, California, on November 1. Hamill then hit Interstate 5 South to Costa Mesa Speedway and won the Fall Classic on November 2. Hamill won the Denim Doctor Challenge event, and then came back to win the Fall Classic main event, ahead of runner-up .Josh Larsen and third-place finisher Bobby Schwartz. .Josh Demuth (Yam), Darcy Lange (Kaw) and Tommy Hofmaster (Yam) were the big winners at the opening round of the National Arenacross Series in Des Moines, Iowa, November 1-2. Hofmaster got the series off with a wins in the 125cc class and the Dash For Cash Friday night. while Lange finished the evening off with a win in the 250cc class. On Saturday night, defending champ Demuth won both 125cc and 250cc main events, and Pedro Gonzalez (Suz) took the loot in the Dash For Cash. Former champ Buddy Antunez (Suz) struggled with a sore wrist but came out of the weekend fifth in pOints. Mike Lafferty (KTM) wrapped up the AMA/FMF National Enduro Championship after taking the overall win at the final round in Indiana, on November 3. Lafferty topped Randy Hawkins (Yam) in Indiana by one point. Fred Hoess (Hus), who was in contention for the title, was DQd after missing the second to last check. Third overall went to Robbie .Jenks (Yam). Doug Dubach (Yam) won the White Brothers World Vet Championships at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California, on November 3, his ninth victory in the event. Second place went to Terry Fowler (Yam) with Kevin Walker (Yam) ending up third overall. "I don't think anyone has ever won both the 30 and 40 Pro classes on the same weekend before," Dubach said. "Maybe next year." Dubach will be 40 by the time next year's even comes around. Tom Carson (Yam) won Saturday's inaugural Over-40 Pro event. Yamaha has made it official: The tuning fork company has signed 250cc World Champion Marco Melandri to join Carlos Checa in the 2003 MotoGP World ChampIonship. In addition, Alex Barros will ride Yamahas under the Gauloises banner and the number one team will be backed by Fortuna, a Spanish tobacco company. According to a press release, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. has signed a new sponsorship agreement with multinational tobacco company Altadis. The agreement will see two of A1tadis' s leading cigarette brands assume title sponsorship of Yamaha's factory efforts in the 2003 and 2004 MotoGP World Championships. Yamaha's in-house factory squad will be re-named the Fortuna Yamaha Team and will consist of Checa and Melandri. The Gauloises Yamaha Team will also benefit from the full technical support of the factory, with the Tech 3-managed outfit continuing its sponsorship from Altadis' intemational Gauloises brand under the "umbrella" YamahaA1tadis Agreement. o o o [J(J@f?@ ©@fJUi]@~ 7lDD@ {jf)O@O@[JJD!1!iJ&J'llJ..-L--_@ W The U.S. GP is well on its way to returning In 2004, and, if it comes, it will be in Florida, according to Carmelo EzpeJeta, CEO of Doma, the GP rights holders. "I think there are strong possibilities this will happen," Ezpeleta said of a U.S. GP at Homestead, south of Miami. "If this is the case, we will announce this before the beginning of the 2003 season." Ezpeleta would like to kick off the 2004 MotoGP season some time in late March, after the Daytona 200. MotoGP will be the only GP class, with an AMA Superbike round filling out the weekend schedule, Expeleta said. For some time, Ezpeleta has been in discussions with Jim France of International Speedway Corporation, the company that owns Daytona, Homestead, and Watkins Glen, among others. Five-time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan was sent to both Homestead and Watkins Glen on Doma's behalf and reported back, "It's almost easier to start with a clean piece of dirt," Doohan said of the tortuous, guardrail-lined Watkins Glen road course in upstate New York. "Watkins Glen, it's a fantastic race track but very, very expensive to achieve the safety necessities," Ezpeleta said of the heavily guardrailed upstate New York facility. "Then the opposite is Homestead. Homestead, it is possible." Ezpeleta pulled out a drawing of the Homestead layout with proposed changes, mostly widening the approaches to the front and back straights, The length will be 2.3 miles, about the same as Germany's Sachsenring. Aside from the massive problems of removing guardrail and building gravel traps, the Watkins Glen track is somewhat inaccessible in the middle of the state, not well served by international flights. Homestead, on the other hand, is less than a 40 minute drive from the international airport in Miami, with plenty of lodging nearby. "Being in that part of America could actually make it work," said Doohan, whose love of boating has taken him to Miami more than once. As for the circuit, "It's just a typical small race track," the Australian said. "In America, there's such a cosmopolitan population. There's South Americans and Spaniards and Europeans in general." "The situation is, I already sent these maps to ISC: Ezpeleta said. "I will be In Florida in the beginning of December to once again talk about this possibility." The race, if it happens, will be a long-term project with a fiveyear agreement and ISC promoting the race and shOUldering much of the financial burden. "The people who know how to promote anything In the country are the people in the country," Ezpeleta said. "It's very difficult to be there with a European mentality. It's necessary to put very cheap ticket prices to draw spectators. And of course the kind of agreement we make with the States will be different. We don't expect anyCarlos Checa will be joined in the team by newly-crowned 250cc World Champion Marco Melandri on the factory team. The 20-year-old Italian will make the step up to the premier class on Yamaha's four-stroke YZR-Ml machine. Melandri is the latest in a long line of 250cc World Champions to graduate to the top class and follows in the footsteps of the current cream of MotoGP including Max Biaggi, Loris Capirossi, Valentino Rossi, Olivier Jacque and Daijiro Kato. The Gauloises team will feature Alex Barros and Olivier .Jacque on fullfactory YZR-M 1 machines. The experienced Brazilian has shown a rich vein of form in 2002, particularly since switching to four-stroke machinery for the final four races. "Yamaha is very pleased to have cemented a relationship with Altadis," Yamaha's lin Jarvis said. "Altadis has been an excellent supporter of MotoGP over the last few years and is an innovative and exciting company. We are looking forward to a fruitful partnership. With both teams covered under this agreement, we should be able to achieve Yamaha and Altadis's mutual objectives both on the racetracks and in the marketplace. Our new rider line-up is strong with a good blend of youth and experience. We are counting on Carlos [Checal to fulfill his potential and take the M 1 to the next stage in terms of development and _ thing from them. We wiJI take care about the costs because we think it's necessary, it's an investment in the country: What hIlS encouraged Ezpeleta is the knowledge Jim France brings to the deal. Of all the France family, Jim has always been the one who championed motorcycles the most, "It's the first time I speak with someone in America who understands. Jim [France] understands very well MotoGP and the races," Ezpeleta said. "He thinks very well we can be successful, and in case we will sign a long-term agreement to be sure, between ISC and us." When asked about the rumor that he'd been told to consider Daytona as a venue, Ezpeleta laughed, "I was there, to be honest," he said. "All the reference was exaggerated. Clearly the situation was not just the banking. The banking, of course. The normal racetrack, to be honest was..: he said, shaking his head. The facilities at Homestead are first rate, Ezpeleta said, and an easy entry point to the U.S. for the Europeans. "The beginning of the year, with a race of the states, with our people, it's very close for Europe," he said, "I think it's a good place to invite people from Europe, It's 40 minutes from Miami airport. It could be a place to start the championship." Ezpeleta was asked about the. other possible GP venues, including the Barber facility in Birmingham, Alabama. "Everybody tells us the race track will be fantastic, but the difficulty will be with spectators there," he said. "And also we haven't been approached by anybody." Doma has had a long and frustrating dialogue with the management of Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, their history going back several years. "Now we realize that Elkhart Lake was impossible to deal with_ They want to lease their track and they say, 'sorry, this is the cost;' he said of the track that would also need substantial improvements. Two other proposed tracks, south of Dallas, Texas, and outside of Palm Springs, California, Ezpeleta dismisses as projects. "They said they acquired 1200 acres and they will develop it," Ezpeleta said of the layout to be built next to a drag strip 28 miles south of Dallas. "This is real. If it is necessary, we can have two Grand Prixs in USA." Palm Springs International Raceway, as the Southern California facility will be known, is also only in the planning stages, Ezpeleta said. Another race expected soon on the GP calendar is the Chinese GP with proposed sites in both Shanghai and Beijing. When that comes on, it means the loss of one of the current venues. Ezpeleta wouldn't speculate which one would go, but speculation centers on the Malaysian GP. "We will have maximum 16 as it is, just we will increase one in case it is in the States," Ezpeleta said of the number of GPs. Henny Ray Abrams results. [Marcol Melandri is an exciting new signing for the future, and he's proved he has the talent and determination to do well. The Gauloises Yamaha Team has also made an excellent new signing in [Alexl Barros. He has had an incredible end to thiS season, and we are sure that his experience will benefit the team enormously. We are confident that Olivier Jacque will continue to develop on the M 1 and show some of the aggressive, race-winning form that we know he's capable of." emissions standards beginning with 2006 models. The federal standards would be the same as those adopted by the state of California but would go into effect two years after California's standards. The first phase of the new national standards would go into effect in 2006, and the second phase would be in place for 2010. The AMA has been involved in the rulemaking process from the beginning, including testifying before EPA officials on September 17. The new standards are expected to result in an increased use of fuel injection and catalytiC converters on new motorcycles. Some motorcycles sold in the United States already meet Califomia's strict 2008 standards, which are the same as the planned federal EPA 2010 standard. The new California standard that begins with the 2004 model year, and the planned federal standard that would take effect for the 2006 model year, require new road-going motorcycles to emit no more than 1.4 grams per kilometer traveled of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides and 12 grams per kilometer of carbon monoxide. The Califomia standard for 2008, which would also be the national standard beginning in 2010, sets a limit of 0.8 grams per kilometer of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides and 12 grams per kilometer of carbon monoxide. The current federal emissions standards for street motorcycles are 5.0 grams of The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has extended the comment deadline on the agency's proposed emissions standards for street motorcycles, according to the AMA. The comment deadline of November 8 has been extended to January 7, 2003. Comments may be submitted by referring to Docket A-2000-02 and writing to: Margaret Borushko, U.S. EPA. National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory, 2000 Traverwood, Ann Arbor, MI 48105; or by e-mail to MCNPRM@epa.gov. To see the proposed emissions standards, go to the "Protecting Your Right to Ride" section of the AMA website at www.AMADirectlink.com. The EPA is about to implement revised national emissions standards for new road motorcycles that would require those bikes to meet strict cycle n • _ S • NOVEMBER 13. 2002 1 o o o c

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