Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

rz@[JiJ\!l!l@[]{J[}ur; []!J@Jl1D@[JiJ@JD [fjJE [fJ@011[j)@[JiJ@@ Stephane Gimbert, Nicholas Dussauge and Olivier Four (Suz) won the Spa Francorchamps 24 Heures de Liege on July 6, topping the No. 1 Sert team of Morrison, Dobe and Philippe (Suz) with the Dap Moto Suzuki GSXR 1000 of Lerat Vanstaen, Jond and Cortinovis finishing third. Jean-Francois Cyr (Yam) scored the first Parts Canada Superbike Championship victory of his career on July 6, his victory coming at the Autodrome Old Milwaukee in St-Eustache. Cyr took the lead from Pascal Picotte (Yam) on lap 13 of the 22-lap race and pulled away to win by 2.445 seconds. Picotte held on for second ahead of Francis Martin (Suz). The win gave Cyr the lead of the Parts Canada Superbike point standings after three of eight events. He has 110 points to the 104 of Steve Crevier. Crevier didn't race in the Superbike final after suffering an injury 'earlier in the day in the 600cc Sport Bike final, a race that was won by Frank Trombino (Yam) over Picotte. Cyr ended up third, Three-time AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin has re-inked a deal with the Yoshimura Suzuki team that will see the Australian compete in the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Series for two more seasons - 2004 and 2005. Since the team is everything to Mladin and Yoshimura Suzuki knows it, the question was whether he'd be surrounded by his hand-picked crew. "At this point. Peter [Doyle, the crew chief] and Reggie [O'Rourke, the chief mechanic] have already basically committed," Yoshimura Suzuki team manager Don Sakakura said. "John Asher [mechanic] is kind of a newcomer, coming midseason to the team, We're hoping he's going to be around. We plan to keep him and [engine builder] Henry Yokota as well." Sakakura said the contracts for the mechanics will run the same length as Mladin's. The signing was something of a surprise, coming before the start of the silly season, and was driven by American Suzuki, which signs the riders. Yosh is responsible for the crew's contracts. "ObViously, other teams were aware of his availability," Sakakura said of Mladin, whose contract originally expired at the end of this season. "Everybody knows the length of every rider's contract. There was some interest that I was made aware of from 2 JULY 16, 2003' eye • B AMA Pro Racing and Kenworthy's Motocross Park have been forced to postpone the July 13 AMA Chevy Trucks U.S, Motocross Championship event due to extensive rain and threat of flooding, The event has been tentatively rescheduled for September 6-7, AMA Pro Racing director of competition MerriJI Vanderslice says the postponement was a joint decision between AMA Pro Racing and the event promoter. "Don Kenworthy informed us of the situation with the track and expressed concem about their ability to hold the event: said Van- other teams. It's something that Suzuki would definitely not like to see happen, for him to go elsewhere." Mladin confirmed that there were talks going on and that Suzuki had gotten wind of it and had come to him, The deal didn't take long to solidify. "We come to an agreement pretty much straight away," he said. Of the eight years he's been in the United States, Mladin has been with Suzuki for seven of them, winning three AMA Superbike Championships (19992001) and 20 Superbike races, 900d for a second overall tie with Fred Merkel behind Miguel DuHamel's 26. "It's been a good relationship," Mladin said. "It's not something that I need to be looking elsewhere to think there's something better." Last year was the low point, Mladin feeling he wasn't getting the proper support from suspension supplier Showa while struggling with the handling of the Suzuki GSX-R750. He finished seventh in the championship with no wins, the first time since 1996 he's gone without a win. "Since last year there's been a pretty big tumaround," he said. Entering this weekend's 12th round of the AMA/Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Mladin sits second in the standings, three points behind Kawasaki's Eric Bostrom, 321-318. Mladin would certainly be in control if not for tire problems in four of 11 races. Yoshimura Suzuki is signed with Dunlop through next season, and Mladin is confident that Suzuki won't allow the tire problems to continue. There's also little option at this point, with neither Michelin nor Bridgestone committing their best product to the AMA series. "It was a consideration at a certain point, but right at this particular point in time nobody can give me an answer with any other tire," Mladin said. "It's something I believe Dunlop will step up and fix. I'm sure we're all under the belief that Dunlop is going to fix, and if not it's a multimillion dollar program that's going down the drain for Suzuki ... American Suzuki is also talking with Aaron Yates and has Ben Spies signed through 2004. "Ben [Spies], he's really shown a lot of promise this early in the season," Sakakura said. "He's adapted to the big bike pretty quickly." neVlls derslice. "The incessant rains, combined with the threat of severe flooding from the nearby Great Miami River, made it clear that we'd have to postpone the race. There's simply no way we're going to be able to park the team trucks and safely get spectators in and out of the event under these conditions." According to Kenworthy, the track is currently under about two feet of water with no way of knowing whether or not the water wOuld recede by race time. The rescheduled event will now be the season finale. Six-time World Motocross Champion Stefan Everts has also reupped with his current team, and the Belgian will remain with Yamaha for the 2004 season. It will be Everts' fourth season with the official factory Yamaha team, run by Michele and Carlo Rinaldi, a partnership that has already yielded two 500cc World Titles in as many seasons. So far Everts has won seven GPs in 2003, including three double victories - winning both the Motocross GP and 125cc races on the same day in Italy, Austria and Sweden. The 30-year-old is currently second in the new Motocross GP class on a Yamaha L&M Motocross Team YZ450FM. Everts first joined Yamaha in 2001. He won the 500cc title that year and backed it up with a successful defense the follOWing season. At the end of last year he Signed a two-year deal to ride in the Motocross GP class with an additional clause stating that the contract could be terminated by either party at the end of the 2003 campaign. But Everts and Yamaha have opted to continue for 2004. "There has been no reason for me to change," said Everts in a Yamaha relesase. "My contract gave me the chance to move on if I, or Yamaha, weren't happy, but everything is working really good. Yamaha and the Rinaldis are always working hard to give me the best bike. They are a great team to work for, and I had no hesitation in committing to Yamaha for another season." Laurens Klein Koerkamp, Yamaha Motor Racing's European Racing operations manager, added: "The reconfirming of Stefan as a Yamaha rider represents the excellent relationship we have enjoyed over the past 2'/, seasons. With two championships in as many years, Stefan has lived up to his nickname 'The Best Ever,' and we are confideni that we can go on to achieve more success in the remaining part of thiS season and in 2004 ... According to sources close to the team, Yamaha of Troy has signed Danny Smith, who currently rides for Team Suzuki, to a two-year contract for the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Smith will compete in the 125cc class for the West Coast Supercross Series and the outdoor Nationals. Smith, who is good friends with the team's Brock Sellards, says he feels that this is a "good oppor- tunity" for him. Last year, Smith won his one and only National at Southwick. On June 21 , former National dirt tracker and road racer Phil McDonald suffered serious injuries when a pickup truck struck the motorcycle he was riding on a local street in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The impact threw McDonald into a metal road sign, nearly severing his left arm. He has had three surgeries on his left arm in an attempt to repair the extensive nerve damage and part of the aorta had to be removed during one of the surgeries. McDonald also has three pins in his right arm and a pin in his left foot from the incident. He is scheduled for another surgery in about eight months, and his recovery will be long. Cards and letters of encouragement can be sent to K&N Motorcycles, 6105 New Sapulpa Rd., Tulsa, OK 74131. In the 1980s, McDonald was a factory mechanic for Team Honda and the Kenny Roberts road race team. Numbers. numbers. numbers ... The four AMA Superbike riders who will take part in the July 13 World Superbike round at Laguna Seca Raceway will carry the numbers 15, 86, 87 and 88. Italian Giovanni Bussei will use the number 15 on his Ducati Austin mount; Mat Mladin gets number 86, Aaron Yates will wear number 87, and Eric Bostrom's Kawasaki will circulate with the number 88. For the rest, buy a program. American Suzuki is gearing up for the First of three World GSX-R Cup qualifiers. Each of the three qualifiers will feature the top Suzuki GSX-R750 riders in the USA battling for the chance to represent their country at the second annual World GSX-R Cup Final duringthe final round of the World Superbike Series in Magny-Cours, France, on October 19. The World GSX-R Cup brings together the best privateer Suzuki racers in the world to compete on equally prepared GSX-R750s, Participating countries include Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Austria, Bel9ium, Hungary, SWitzerland, New Zealand, Spain, Greece, South Africa, Japan and the USA. Each team consists of up to three riders and their mechanics. The 2002 U.S. team consisted of Jason DiSalvo, John Dugan and Brian Livengood, who finished in third,

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