Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

BRIEFLY••• Shirley Short, Sharon Richards , Evie Ferry and Sarah Voss got the ladie s of the MX paddoc k together for the firs t Women ' s Aux i lia ry of Mot o c r o s s mee ting the S aturday before the National unde r the Pro Cir cuit awn ing. Nicknamed GEMS (Gals Encouraging Motocross Suppo rt), the group discussed the co ncept of the group and what they would do to help each othe r and differen t ch arities througho ut the year. It s missio n s tatement is three fold : first to support any racer, crewmember. staff, e tc . wh o the big comer double in the back, and I thought there was a big pileup because people were running allover the trac k, " Voss said. "I thought someo ne go t hurt really bad, and me and Nic k both rolled that big doub le and rolled the jump aroun d the tum beca use I did n't know whe re everybody wa s running to , but I gue ss they were all out there taking banner s. Then, about two laps to go, I had to roll all of those big tabletops w ith people running everyw here , and I almos t ran right ove r a kid. I looked over at my team man ag er w ho was standing rig ht th e re . It w as c razy . Anoth er corn er I took , people w ere playing tug-a-war with a banner ac ro ss th e track fight ing over th e banner. It wa s nut s out there. It was like a riot. Sti les had to roll those tableto ps and got passed by two or three guys. " do the same thing we always do . I know one thing: I am not riding this week. I am going jet skiing and all that fun stuff ." With the AM A ado pting the FIM 's " no l ea d e d g a s " rule for co mpetitio n in 2003, many more ride rs are thinking of sw itching to fo ur-s tro kes next year, since the rule wi ll aff ect a two-stro ke's perf orma nce immensely. Ricky Carmichael, for one, said he will pro bably be riding a fou r-stroke CRF450 in the N ational s next season, and James Stewart said tha t if he does ride the 125 class again, he will probably do it on the new KX250F four-stro ke . " Yo u have to be realisti c , " says Ca rmichael. " Four-strokes are the future. But there are still so me things they do wo rse than a two-stroke. It' s going to be to ug h nex t year . " suffe rs an injury in the way o f financial and emotional suppo rt ; seco nd to p rov ide f in anc ial s up por t t h ro ugh t h e m e an s of fundraising - to the M obile M edical Unit. MRO , Clayton Foundation and R2R - and third to con tribute to the M X co mmunity by pro moting good will and fellow ship among the teams and rep resent our spo rt in a beneficial way. The group is made up of sisters. wives . girlfriends. etc . of racer s, track wo rkers. offic ials. tru c k driver s. mechanic s. etc . The gro up plans to meet six to eight times a year. or as needed. and apparently it's not imperative for eve ry member to be at every meeting. Nick Wey look s like he'll be riding a n RM250 next year. " It will be 1·2·5: J esseman and M illsaps and Hepler and Brian G ray, and then 250 wil l be Tortelli , Hamblin and Nick W ey," said team manager Roger DeCoster. " W e start testing the week afte r Ohio , and we 'll deci de then who 's riding two-strokes and four-st roke s in t he 125cc class . Initially, we'd like to have one two-st roke and o ne four-stroke on eac h coa st . " W hen asked if Ste phane Roncada would be racing next week in Troy, D eC oster replied : " I don 't think so . It' ll just be Gray and Lalloz , and Hepler will be going to the RM Cup next week , so he won 't be at Troy eithe r. U n le s s R i c ky wants to r ide my b ike to make me feel good or so met hing llauq hsl , He's won the championship, so it's okay now . M aybe some o f my oid friends [at Hondal wouldn 't mind. " D eC o st er says So Be Suzuki likely won't be r ac ing the W orl d S u p e r c r o s s r ounds in December . "We have no plans for that ," he said. " W e' ll prob ably just stick to the AMA stuff . " Also, he says Mill saps wi ll like ly mis s round one of the 125cc Eastem Regional Supercross Series next year , " He turns 16 the day after the first round," DeCost er said. SoB e Suzuki' s Branden Jesseman was awarded his 125cc supercross bike at Delmont. " Basically. we totally rebuilt his racebike just like he was going to the line for a supercross , and we 're giving it to him as like a trophy, or a thank you, for doing so well in the supercross series," his mechanic James Coy said, " I do the best I can every wee k. and I wanted to make sure it looked that good fo r him at his hou se . Mi chelin want ed new race -spec tires on there and eve ryt hing. It' s the real deal. There's nothing on that bike that isn't like he raced it. I think he's want ed one for a w hile, so he's definitely got a spot fo r it at his house. " Richie Owens got his shot under the Pro Circuit tent. and he made goo d with the new equipment. " Bro wn and Soriby got hurt , and they didn't have anyone under the tent, and I'v e been doing all right these past co uple wee ks, so they gave me a two-ride deal for this race and Troy to see how I go ," Owens said . "T hey told me no pressure. just to go o ut and have fun , so I'm goi ng to go out and do the best I can. The motor is so fast, and hopefully I can get a good start and get a goo d race out o f it." He did just that. scoring a caree r-hiqh 10th ove rall and top privateer honors. Kevin W indham is sticking with the CRF450R and the Factory Connect ion outfit for next year , but he's not riding the U .S. Open. "The reason why I chose not to do the Motocross des Nations is the same reason I'm kind of choos ing not to do the U.S. Open, yo u know? " he said. " I mean, I love to race, but at the same time , I want to get really prepared for supercro ss. At the first race. I'll be approaching my two-year anniversary fro m taking off from supercross , and I'm attempting to tackle it on the four-stro ke thrs year, which is definitely going to take a little bit of gett ing used to as we ll. I haven' t ridden the bike on a supercross track or even ridden on a supercross track in a long time, so I'v e got a lot of testing to do . I'll be kind of banging my head against the wall for a while, and 1just want to put all of my focus into gett ing ready. It' s kind of a bummer, because I'd really like to go to the des Nations and represent my coun try, and of co urse it' s always nice to race for 100 grand too , but the big picture is that I need to get ready for supercross ." And he's wit h Fact o ry Connec tio n for a couple of years, at least. "I've just got to finish up a two-year deal with them, and I'm very excited. Everything' s working well. and I'll co ntinue to improve . H Jame s Stewart w as on an NBC te levision show called " Lrvin' Large " at about 1 a.m. the Saturday night before the race at Steel City Raceway . It looked as though it wa s taped at one o f the three Anahe im S uperc ro sse s thi s yea r, and t hey interviewed Stewart , his mom, Kawasaki PR man Tony Gardea , Team Honda rider Nathan Ramsey and Jeremy M cGrath . The interviewer at the track asked if it hurt s Stewart's hands when he " bitch slaps " his compe titors , and Stewart repli ed that it didn 't because he had rough hands. St ew art said his main goal is to retire w hen he ' s 26 and not have to do anything else the rest o f his life, And just when you think the sport is getting huge becau se of atte ntion by these te levisio n shows, one wo rd can bring you rig ht bac k down again: As she introduced the bit on St ewart, ho st ess Ca rmen Electra called him B ubb a William s . Ri c ky C a r m ich ae l does n't really want to go to Troy. " I was really loo king forward to this being the last race," he said. ..I don' t have a problem with going to Troy: I am sure everyone had their heart set on this being it and having a littl e vacatio n. Things happen. We are going to Troy and will have a good time, and that' s about it. My self and Kevin and Red Dog will be out there trying to Ezra Lu sk st ill doe sn't know exactly what he's doing next year. " I should know next week, but I think even next wee k I'll have to stay hu sh -hush for a little w hile unt il every thing else is iro ned ou t." Lusk said . " It's prett y much down to tw o co lo rs at this point. " Paul Carpenter is goi ng to be rac ing t 25c c supercro ss next yea r, one w ay o r the other. " I won 't know fo r a few days w hat' s going on," he said. " It's po ssible that W hite Brothers might put me on a CR F250 in supercross , but I don't know what exactly will happen yet. I can' t really say . One way or another, so mehow , some way , I'll be in supercros s and everyt hing next year . I probebly wo n't be around to defend my four-st roke titles next y ear. W e'll see how it goes. " Stephane Roncada is offi cially on the Pro C ircuit Kaw asaki team next y ear . " I'm go ing to P.C .. fo ur-st rok e ; " he said, " I signed the co ntrac t th is morn ing for o ne ye ar. " He may even race the U.S. Open on a Kawasaki in Oct ober, if he can get a KX250 to race, " I've got to talk to my agent and to Kawi. because if I could get a good 250, it' d be really aweso me if I could have one right there for me. But I've got to start tes ting the four-stroke A SA P." Larry Ward hinted that somet hing may be in the works in the MotoXXX camp, "Urn. it looks like I'll be sticking around, but I'm not exactly sure about the whole program yet · but it's going to be diff erent , tho ugh," W ard said . " Poss ibly still TripleX, but p o s s ibl y a really d iffe r e n t d eal. " M e mbers o f th e TI· Lube /Sn oc ro ss team that' s ma naged by Ja mie G ro sser were spending a lot of time under the M otoXXX awning aft er t he race. The A mso il Honda t e am ' s lineup is se t fo r next yea r . " We're going to have Travis Preston retuming to do 125cc W est on the C RF250 , Billy Laninovich w ill ride the C RF250 on the East Coast. tentatively, and then Gosselaar on the West on a C R125 and M ills o n t he Eas t on a C R 12 5 , " said team manager JC W atenh ouse. "And then Preston will definitely do opposite-coast 250c c stuff, proba bly on the C RF450, and the ot her guys will ride selected 250cc events . The W indham/laRocco thing is going to be similar. It' s all going to be as a group , though , instead of being split. and M ike is Supercro ss-only and so me selected Outdoor Nationals , and then W indham is doing bo th series . We're going to run all three transpo rte rs, and the sponso rs are going to be more uniform , although M ike is an O'Neal guy, and Windham I believe is a No Fear guy." M otoworidRac ing.com Suzuki's B o bby K i n iry was hurting at St eel City. " I broke my fibula before Broom e last wee k, and I didn't really know it. and then I rode last week and dealt w ith it, and this wee k in practice I didn' t really twea k it , but in the heat race I tweaked it real bad," Kiniry said. " I still qualified through the LCQ even tho ugh the Asteri sk people said it was broke , but then Paul lindsey and them said it was best if I didn' t nde the main. It was to o much risk . I mean, I already had a ride for next year here, and they just didn't want to risk it." Kiniry was sporting a different looking grill in Del mont , too. " I have so me fak e teeth , and my mecha nic , I give the m to him before I ride, and he puts them in his shirt poc ket. and then at Bro o me we were practicing so me starts . and they were in his shirt pocket. and he bent over, and they fell out of his shirt pock et, and he lost them . I have to go get new ones. It' s like 700 or 800 bucks, but insurance ge ts them. It' s still a pain in the butt." And apparently Travis P reston is recovering wel l. " He's doing great." Waterhou se said . " He start ed riding about three week s ago, and he' s been riding the 450 , and I haven' t talked to him, but they did tell me he was riding at Glen Helen and he was about a seco nd off of Reed at Glen Helen on the 450, so he's doing really good . He is entered, and he is scheduled to co mpete at the U.S . Op en, although he' s got a little bit of an option if he feels he's not quite there, but he is ente red." Racer X Illustrated staffe r B ill Ursic was granted a factory ride for a da y at S t eel City . In a p r om ot ion wit h t he Boo st M ob ile/Yamaha/ Troy Racing team, the AMA Distri ct 5 pro got a semiwo rks YZ 125 under the YoT tent . " It was aweso me," said Ur sie, w ho graduated from California University of Pennsylvania in M ay w ith a mark etin g degree and now w o rk s full-time at Racer X. " Everyo ne on the team was really helpful. I went to scrape mud off my bike bet w een motes . and t hey tol d me to sit down . I haven ' t raced a 3D-minute mot a since Budd s Creek in 2001 . so I got really tired out there ." YoT truck driver Paxton M endelssohn handl ed Ur sie' s pit board , and he w rote " move over" w hen Cra ig Anderson came by to lap him. " I even got to parti cipate in the team tact ics. " said Ursie. W aterhou se said his whole team has bee n invited to the U.S . O p e n , but not everybody 's racin g. " Eve rybody's invited , but it turns out Wind ham 's not going to do it, Mi ke 's the defending champ, so he's going to race it for sure, and of cou rse both Gossel aar and Mill s will ride the new 125cc Pro class, " he said . "Byrne isn' t going to ride for us at the race." Rumor s had Clark Stiles racing fo r the Subway Honda team next year, but he says nothing's official. "I don 't know ," he said. " I'm talking to XXX and a co uple different people, so I don't know, we'll see . Wi th Silly Season, all this stuff is happening, but right now, noth ing ' s co ncrete ." The Racer Productions crew that runs the Steel City Nat ional had to work harder than ever over the we ek end, as heavy rain on Friday night drowned the track . Saturday's Amateur racing and Pro pract ice were canceled to pres erve the track, and w hen sunny skies bloomed on Sunday, the course turned out abo ut perf ect. "The crew did a great job here," said 125cc series' leader Grant Langston , " It looked like we wou ld have a pretty crappy weekend. wea therwise, but they really fixed the track up nice, And the fans here were great. They cheered through every lap. " Sti les and Heath Vo ss both had probl em s w ith ton s of f ans crossing the track in the middl e of the second moto to steal banners. " I had a good pace , and I was riding along wi th about 10 minutes left to go," Stiles said. " I came around to one of the big doubles in the back, and about 30 people were running acro ss the track right as I wa s going up to the face, so I backed off and came up way short and we nt up over the bars and jammed my hot-start butto n up under my handguard, so my bike was idling way too high, and I lost a lot of power, They did it right in fro nt of us, so once w e made It by, maybe they realized 'Hey, the race is still goi ng .'" Voss had a similar problem. " W hen me and Nick [Wey] got together w ith about six laps to go , I was co ming up to cue O ne week afte r his career-best fourt h overa ll ride in Binghamton, N ew York, Red Bull KTM pilot Josh Woods injured his shoulder on Thursday w hile pract icing. The M ichigan rider is now out for the remainder of the season. I e n e VIl' s S EPTEM B ER 1 0. 2 0 0 3 31

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