Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

1 ... _:-1_ .1'1 . . . . . . . . • • • -1_'--- • .... - Happenings In Motorcycling SoBe Suzuki's Sean Hamblin got the ride of his life last week when he went up in a Blue Angels F-18 Homet at the Naval Air Facility in EI Centro, Califomia. Lt. Craig Olson, also known as "Merlin" to his flying buddies, gave Hamblin a 30·minute "tour" over the Southem Califomia desert that included an arsenal of flying stunts. such as loops, rolls, steep tums, dives and a high-performance climb on take-off. Hamblin also got the chance to experience what ifs like to travel at nearly the speed of sound and feel extreme G forces. At one point, Olson flicked the F-18 over and pulled 7.5 Gs (eight Gs is pretty much the max they're allowed to do), and Hamblin pulled through with flying colors, none of which was green. "He sustained a lot of Gs and didn't get sick," U. Olson said. "Obviously he's in good shape. And he didn't use the 'party [barf] bag'." "A couple oftimes J thought I was going to pass out," Hamblin said. "We pulled 7.5 Gs going around a comer, and it sucked me straight back in my seat; it was gnarly. But my main goal was not to throw up, and I didn't even come close." Many people of the Blue Angels' team are big-time Supercross fans and were just as thrilled to have Hamblin and some of the SoBe Suzuki crew visiting as was Hamblin and the Suzuki crew to visit them. Suzuki brought Travis Pastrana's team bike (Hamblin's bike wasn't available, but Pastrana's ride, of course, was available). A few of the Blue Angels said they were planning on attending this weekend's San Diego Supercross. "That was so awesome," Hamblin said afterward of the flight. "I'm still a little light-headed; it was hard to tell which way we were going, but I could see the sand dunes over Glamis. It was awesome; I'm kind of speechless." One of Hamblin's SoBe Suzuki teammates, Sebastien Tortelli, was supposed to join him on the day, but the knee injury Tortelli suffered the week before at Anaheim III prevented him from going up. Even though Tortelli can walk, the Navy has rules that prohibits giving rides to passengers with injuries. They did say, however, that they would like to make it up to Tortelli when he's healthy again. By ALA CATHCART - • Laverda Comeback News The revival of the historic Laverda marque • which ceased production of its 750cc paralleltwins four years ago, before being sold to Aprilia in September 2000 - with the new SFC 1000 V-twin sportbike launched at the Bologna Show before Christmas, and powered by the same Rotax·bullt SO-degree V-twin engine found In Aprllia's RSV1000 range (but in its highest level of street-legal performance yet, delivering 133 bhp in road form), will be confirmed when the new model goes into production in October this year, says Aprllia boss Ivano Seggio. The high-spec lightweight model fitted with 0hIlns suspension, racllally mounted Brembo brakes, and many titanium components, including the silencers, will sell in Italy for Euro 25,000 ($25,000), reveals Beggio. It wiD initially be built in a strictly Umited-edition, individually numbered run of just 549 units - the same number of examples as the entire production total 01 Laverda's legendary SFC750 production racer built in the finn's Breganze factory in the 1960a and 70s, and the first time Itwlt Aprllia has followed the high-end, limited-edition route for any of Its new voltme-production models, 85 pioneered by MY Agusta with the F4 Serie d'Qro and since successfully followed by DuclItI and Benelli. lbeceefter, a lOwer-spec version of the SFC 1000 will enter procIuc:tion later in 2004. with ah.mlnum ~ titanium and IIlCOlpclldtlllg less costly brake and Mmpension packages. Avllilable through Aprilia dealers, this will cost around EW'o 13,000 (513,000) in street fonn, but It wJ1l also be produced in race-ready guise u the basis for a Formula Laverda one-make championship, which AprIIIa hopes should rival the succeuful BMW Boxer Cup series. and which wiu also serve u 8 promotional exete:ise for the marque - just as the T TOteo LaverdlI series for which the parallel-twin Laverda Formula 500 model was developed in the 19705 did with such success. Five top riders visited Loma Linda University Children's Hospital's Acute Care and Pediatric Oncology wards on Thursday, February 7. Jeff Emig, Trevor Vines, Danny Smith, Josh Hansen and Nathan Ramsey all saw about 50 kids as they held bedside visits or met with them in playrooms. Vines and Emig brought posters and signed them, and Clear Channel sent each of the kids a supercross hat and souvenir program. Bar 2 Bar videos were sent in advance, and some of the playrooms had the video running while the riders explained what they were doing. At each place they stopped, the kids' faces really lit up. Some knew the riders well and some didn't, but just having someone stop by and chat was pretty important. All of the riders got pretty good at just making conversation with strangers, which can be really hard to do - especially in a hospital. Emig was a natural. The first room they went into, he just sat down and started playing cards with some kids. Every single child got souvenirs, too. Vines even left the ward a box of "Moto Balm," which the woman there said was a lot cooler than the boring stuff they give out. The highlight of the trip was an enthusiastic cancer patient named Jonathan Arana, who raced minis and was blown away to see riders he knew so well come into the hospital. He joined the group as they worked their way through the hospital and kept everyone laughing by ribbing Emig about getting rid of all of his Kawasakis and about how thin Emig got since he retired. The group spent two and a half hours in two different wards, and the hospital staff was pleased to have some famous visitors. Some of the kids asked riders about injuries and hospital stays, so they had something in common Vines and Ramsey are both recovering from broken femurs. Steve Bruhn While it's also envisaged that Laverda may compete in the World Superbike Championship with the SFClooo from 2004 onwards when the new restlictor regulations come into effect, this wW depend on whether twin-cylinder bikes are still competItiVe under the revised rules. Much more likely is that Laverda will return to Its former happy hunting ground of World Endurance racing, in which the orange Italian bikes made their worldwide rnarit In the 1970s by becoming consistent winners in 24-hour events as weD as shorter IOOOkm races - first with the SFC750 twins, then later with the first-series SFC 1000 triples. A modern replacement for Laverda's legendary three-eyllnder range seems far away, however, with Beggio Intent on underlining the potential 01 the new V-twin range and dismissing talk of a three-cylinder model. There's one ray of hope for traditional "Iaverdisti," though: while confirming that Aprilia is indeed developing an all-new V-twin engine for his other historic trophy marque, Moto Guzzi, Beggio admits Itwlt, "Our advisers out there in the public arena have told us that. later on, after this new V-twin. they wanted to see a It:; three-cylinder Moto Guzzi. We've taken note of that and filed it away in our 'Pending' file, for future attentlonl" Might not such II motor also be used to power a new range of Laverda triples? Watch this space! i .. 8flCt............. i L....r------------J~ ..... LII 7 nil ,. ••• ,.. • pnlln•• n ............ .._ .............. _ AwIl_ pr. III.:... wnIon. ........ ...-.: , " _ toTTaw, To [list your vote, log on to ....- -........., tlp:/ /_wxydenews.[om. Michael Byrn ••...........••.•...••.....33.36% Branden Jesleman 23.73% Mlk. Brawn .•.....•.........•..•...•... 16.33% Braek S.lIerd•..................•......• 1D.33% Ivan Tltdl!sCD 8.23% Sha. B.ntl.y .........•............•....2.SB% laaqulm Radrigu••.....•..•.....•..••.... 2.Qq% Ryan Mill. • ...•.•..•.•..•....••...•.... 1.26% Br.tt Molealf•..•••.•..•..•.••••..•.•.•..D.7D% I.ff liib.an ...........••. , ..•......••...D.Q9% Daryl Hurl.y ..••...•..•..•..•...........D.Q2% Mathi.u Lalla> ..•.•......•...•.•........D.I Q% A. It would even the PlaYing.~'~I!!~,~.:::===~::::===:::::;=-!--------B. It would make no differe C. The AMA needs 10 prDpD's~~e~a:"':n~o":"ht"e~r-s~o".,.,ufi=o'='n-. - - - - - - - 6 FEBRUARY 19, 2003' eye l e n • _ os Iq3J

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