Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

for third place on the final lap. "We got in there with a slower rider, and Jake !Zemke] went inside. I was trying to set up for a good drive out of the chicane, and I guess I just hit a patch of pavement that nobody had ridden on before because it felt like a slick track. I picked it up when I realized it was going, but it never came back. I tried to get off the bike when I realized it was gone. I figured I would flip and land in a safe position, but something caught my boot, and I landed awkward on my shoulder. Unfortunately, something happened there, and I felt tethered to the bike for some reason. But these things happen. When I got up, I thought it was maybe just a bad bruise," The next round of the AMA/Chevy Trucks U,S, Superbike Series will be held on May 17-18 at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. Honda's CBR600RR will complete in the Dutch round of the World Endurance Championship in Assen, Holland, on May 25, according to a release issued by Honda, The Dutchbased Ten Kate team has entered the 200-mile race with its regular World Supersport riders, Karl Muggeridge and the World Supersport Championship leader Chris Vermeulen. Team manager Ronald Ten Kate explained: "We have chosen Assen as our test track for the year, but actually getting any testing time on the circuit is difficult: this race is a perfect opportunity." The race will be run over approximately 80 laps of the short circuit at the famous venue in the north of the country. "We expect to make two pit stops," added Ten Kate. "We will race the full World Supersport- specification machines, and we're hopeful we can win the race with the riders and package we have." Vermeulen leads the World Supersport Championship on his Pirelli-shod CBR600RR after taking first. second and fifth places from the three races so far, The fourth round is at Monza, Italy, on May 18. Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin will head to Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, May 17-18, eyeing another pair of race wins. Mladin has won four of the five AMA Superbike rounds and leads the championship by 24 points over his teammate Aaron Yates as they head into sixth and seventh rounds of the series, "We're looking forward to the race, that's for sure, and hopeful we can continue on with winning some races," said Mladin in a release issued by his publicist. "I like the race track. It's got a lot of different aspects about it that makes it interesting. It's a good event where the fans get right into it. so it's always nice to do well there. As for the weekend, we have to go there and play smart, win a coupie of races and extend the points gap. With 13 races remaining, there is a huge amount of the season left to go. At the moment we have a full race worth of points break over fourth place in the championship, and it would be nice to leave Atlanta with that same margin over second place. After this round, we'll be on the road for a couple of months living out of the motorhome, for the upcoming rounds at Pikes Peak (Colorado), Road America (Wisconsin) and Brainerd (Minnesota), before heading back to California for the combined World Superbike/AMA round at Laguna Seca on July 13. It'll be good fun: it allows us to get out and see a bit of the country as well as giving us some different training routines as we prepare for each of those particular rounds, It's a time of the year that I actually look forward to." Organizers cancelled the North West 200 feature race on Saturday, May 10, after a combination of heavy rain and a "roads open notice" left officials at the Northern Ireland event with few options, all after an incident-packed day. With the roads due to reopen at 6.30 p.m .. the Superbike riders returned to the grid from the warm-up lap at 6.10 p.m., to report that conditions for the proposed six-lap race were treacherous, "That warm-up lap was scary," said Honda Racing team rider Steve Plater. "We had a wet-weather tire in the front and a semi-wet weather tire in the rear, but I was sliding everywhere under braking. Nobody in their right mind wanted to go out and race in those conditions: it was the right decision to take." The cancelled feature race was due to be the sixth and final race of the day. Michael Rutter won the earlier Superbike support race, the opening race on the program at the nine-mile public roads circuit near Portstewart, in the north of the country. Rutter's race victory, in a five-lap affair held in dry conditions, came after the British rider set a new absolute lap record, at an average speed of 121.34 mph. Local ace Ryan Farquhar took a Supersport 600cc double. His first win came in a race stopped after two laps as rain fell on the blustery coastal venue. However, runner-up Ian Lougher was ieu Lolloz are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 916/7822171. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Bamhart's Suzuki in Ruff Creek, Pennsylvania, on May 23 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Team SoBe Suzuki's Travis Pastrana, Sebastian Tortelli, Stephane Roncada, Sean Hamblin and • Mathieu Lolloz are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 724/627-5819. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Capitol Powersports of Sacramento, Califomia, on May 16 from 6 to 7 p.m. Team Yamaha's Chad Reed, Tim Ferry and David Vuillemin and the Yamaha of Troy team are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 916/485-9200. MOVED: Zero Gravity, manufacturer of sportbike and road racin9 • motorcycle windscreens, to 91 2-A Pancho Road, Camarillo, CA 93012, 805/388·8803. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At SheboY9an Yamaha in SheboY9an, Wisconsin, on June 6 from 6 to 7 p.m. Factory Yamaha and Graves Yamaha road racers Jamie Hacking, Damon Buckmaster, Aaron Gobert and Jason DiSalvo. along with Team Oliver Yamaha's Rich Oliver, are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 920/565-2213. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Roseville Cycle in Roseville, California, on May 17 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Team Chevy Truck's Kawasaki's Ezra Lusk and James Stewart and Team Pro Circuit/Kawasaki/Chevy Trucks' Mike Brown and Eric Sorby are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 916/782-2171. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Capitol Yamaha in Sacramento, California, on May 18 from 6 to 7 p.m. Factory Yamaha riders Tim Ferry, Chad Reed & David Vuillemin, Mach 1 Yamaha's Heath Voss and Nick Wey, and Yamaha of Troy's Ivan Tedesco, Brock Sellards, Josh Hansen and Craig Anderson are all scheduled to appear. For more infonmation, call 916/485·9200. OPENED: Tim Morton's Baja Bound Adventures' home page on the World Wide Web. The site can be found at the followin9 address: hltp:l/www.BajaBoundMoto.com AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Carmichael Honda in Carmichael. California, on May 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Team Honda's Ricky Carmichael and Ernesto Fonseca, and Factory Connection's Mike LaRocco, Michael Byrne, Chris Gosselaar and Ryan Mills are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 916/944-1318. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Rocky Mountain Cycle Plaza in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on May 29 startin9 at 6 p.m. Honda's Ben AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Roseville Cycle in Roseville, Califomia, on May 16 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Team SoBe Suzuki's Travis Pastrana, Sebastian Tortelli, Stephane Roncada, Sean Hamblin and Math- · ............................ " " Bostrom, Miguel DuHamel, Kurtis Roberts, Roger Lee Hayden and Jake Zemke are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 719/591-9700. " cue I e . . later declared the winner of the Regal Supersport 600 race when Farquhar was disqualified. Officials acted after reports of an incident on the second lap of the four-lap race, at the Metropole, Portrush, area of the course. "There had been a crash at the Metropole, and on the run down to it marshals were on the track cleaning up some oil," Lougher said. "I was leading at the time, and Ryan took the lead from me with the caution flags waved. I was really surprised when he came by to take the lead, especially as the marshals were in the middle of the road, and it wasn't right to be racing while they were trying to clear up the incident. Once the organizers spoke with the marshals from that area of the track, they confimned what had happened, and Ryan was disqualified," On April 20, Mach One Motorsports amateur rider Troy Plunkett crashed on his CR 125 at Club Moto in livermore, California, breaking his 9, 10 and 11 vertebrae. A fund account has been set up for Plunkett at Bank of America, account # 05789 09503, Plunkett wanted to thank Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin for taking time out to call him in the hospital and to Matt Wait, Jimmy Filice and Mickey Lane for their encouragement. "My goals have changed now from racing to working with a race team at entry level and to working my way into the industry," Plunkett said, ESPN2 will again teLevise the 2003 AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Motocross Championship, according to AMA Pro Racing. Programming is scheduled to begin on Sunday, May 18, at 12 p,m. (Eastem) with coverage of both 125cc motos from Glen Helen. Immediately following, both 250cc motos from Glen Helen will air at 1 p.m. In addition, several repeats will air. The Glen Helen show kicks off a summer full of AMA Motocross coverage on the sports network. In all, ESPN2 is slated to provide more than 50 hours of broadcasting for the 12 rounds of the series. "We're pleased to see continued commitment to AMA Motocross on the part of ESPN2," said Kerry Graeber, AMA Pro Racing vice president and director of communications. "Since giving the nationals better time slots last season, as well as upgrading the production, ratings increased by 23 percent. Plus, we've had positive feedback on the improved show presentation, We will continue to look for new ways to provide the best show for our fans," The broadcast team for this year is set to include former racing great David Bailey and experienced TV sports personalities Cameron Steele and Todd Harris. Clear Channel Entertainment's Motor Sports division, meanwhile, has announced that ABC's Wide World of Sports' broadcast of the THQ World Supercross GP/AMA Supercross Series' final round from Las Vegas earned a national ovemight rating of 1.2 and a 3 share. The 1.2 rating represents a 50 percent increase over last year's - - - - - - - Continued on page 112 n e _ so • MAV21, 2003 3 j J J LJ o o o o o J J ] ] ] j J J o o o o o o o o o CJ J J J J ] ;l

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