Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Cycle News 2003 09 24

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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n : I r l.- r» Elm G'[bCB •~R . . . cf]1 \X/UUJ G X ~ The long -anticipated and much-rumored replacement for Honda's CBR954RR is finally here - the CBRIOOORR. In what looks to be the year of the open-class spo rtbike . like 2003 was the year of the 600s - there are thr ee brand-new four-cy linder, 1000cc offerings from Japan this year (Honda. Kawasaki and Yam aha). Honda created this new generatio n of open-class, ultraliqhtweight weapons with the CBR900RR back in 1993 . For the first time the com pany has finally gone all the way and created a true 1000cc iteration of the bike - and what it calls its new Superbik e platform. Th e motor is an all -new 998cc inline four -cylind er, wi th 75 x 56 .5m m bor e and stroke dim ensions. Th e cylinder head features fo ur valves per cy linde r with 29mm intak e and 24mm exhaust valves. Th e alum inum cyl inders are im pregnated with ceramic and graphite materials to reduce friction. whil e th e pistons are new forged aluminum units att ached to new nutl ess connecting rods . Th e fuel- inj ect ion system is Hon da 's Dua l Sta ge Fuel Inj ection (DSA) with two injectors per cyl inder inside of 44 m m throttl e bod - '-' Jean -Michel Bayle . S eb a s t i e n r: G im b e r t and Nicholas D ussa u g e (Suz) won t he Bol d 'Or round of t he n M a st e r of End u r a nc e S e ri e s at the M agny C ours circ uit in France on S eptember 14 . The t eam com ple ted 788 LJ n laps at an average speed of 89 .28 mph . The w inning team en d ed up nine se cI....i o nds a head of t he Fre e Bi k e Pe rf o rmance team . L 'I w n LJ n I....i Jason R a i n e s (Ya m) w on t he Saluki N at io nal Hare S cramble ho s ted by t he little Egypt Off Road M ot orcycle Club at C rab O rchar d. Illinois. o n September 7 . Raines to pp ed Fred Andrews (Kaw) and D oug B lack w e ll (Ho n). o o o o o o The Go shen Iro n Ho rsemen M oto rcycl e C lu b ho s t e d rou nd n in e o f th e AM A Nat io nal Ch ampi o nship Hil lcl imb Series o n S ep t ember 14 . and despite ra in all aftern oo n. t he " Showtime " hill lived up to its re p ut at io n. P h i l Lib h art (Tri) became the second rider in 2003 to beat defending 54 0 cc Na t iona l Ch ampi on Dave Watson (Hon) aft er a 3 .166-sec o nd run. Wa tson finishe d second ahea d o f Mike Living ston ( Ho n) , lib hart crashed in the fir st ro und of the 800cc class and suffer ed a blow to th e head that resu lted in a trip to the hospital. He was tol d of his vic tory two ho urs lat er and was released S unday evening after X- rays w e re negative . In the 80 0cc class. W atson (Hon) added to his po ints lead with his first -eve r 800cc win. A ft er go ing ou t o f boun d s on his fir s t ri de . W atson ca me back on his second ride to se t t he fast t ime of the day . a 3 .022 that upended Walte r "Tiger" S t rank Jr. (Ya m). last wee k's wi nne r. J ames "Ja mmer" Large (H-Dl finished th ird . Watson leads Strank by two po int s and Larg e by four po int s w it h th ree ro unds to go . Jo hn Rey n o l d s ( S uz) and S e a n Em m e tt (Due ) sp lit wins in the Brands Hat c h ro u nd of t he Briti s h Sup e rbi ke Champion ship on September 14 . In the first rac e . Reyn o ld s bea t Emm ett and newl y crow ned British Superbike Ch ampi o n Shayne Byrne (D ue) . Em met t. ho w e v er . boun c ed b ac k t o b e at Reyno lds and Byrne in the second race . By rn e . who ha s w rapped up the t itle . leads the point standing s ov e r Reynold s. ies. The gearbox is a cassette -ty pe, cl ose-ratio six-speed designed for quick intema l-ratio changes at the racetrack. Th e clutch features eight plates and is a hydraulically actuated unit wit h an adjustabl e lever on the clip-on handlebar. As for the chassis, it' s closely related to Honda 's own MotoGP m issile. the RC211V, in the same way the new CBR600RR was last year. It has an all-new alum inum twin -spar fram e joined to the Unit Pro -Link rear suspensio n, featuring what Honda claims to be the longest swingarm in the cla ss. Braking is handled by new Tok ico radial -mount four-p iston calip ers and 3 10m m flo ating rotors up front and a 220mm disc and single-pi ston caliper out back . Suspen- 438 -322 . M ich ae l Rutt er is t hird w it h 263 points . Former AMA 250c c N ational Ch ampi on David Emde w a s ki lle d o n Sun d ay . Sept e mber 14 . in a s tree tbike cras h in San D iego . C alifo rn ia. Emde . who won the A M A road r a c i n g ti t le in 19 7 6 . wo rked in moto rcycle dealerships in the San D iego area and enjoyed sportbike rid ing on the weekends after his re tirement from racing . He reported ly was rid ing w ith friends in the mo unt ain roads around t he Ramo na area o f San D iego County w hen he went o ff the highway. and he died at !he sce ne . David 's fathe r. Floyd . wo n the 194 8 D ayton a 200 . and his fami ly me mbe rs include his broth ers Bo b and Don . also a D ayt o na 200 winner . and sisters J oAnn and N ancy . He also had a son. Bryan . D et ails abo ut services are pe nding. Th e S uzuki World M oto cro s s C hampi onship tea m an nounce d on Mo nday. September 15 . that it had opted not to retain t he services of two-time World Champion M ickae l Pichon and that he wou ld be rep lac ed by fo rmer KTM man Joe l S mets for the 2004 FIM M Xl M otoc ro s s W orl d C hampions hip . S uzuki sai d its decis io n had no thi ng to do w ith the kne e inju ry Pich on sustained in th e 10th rou nd of the se ries in G e rmany a fe w weeks ago . The 34 -year-o ld sion is handl ed by a fully adjustable 43mm upside -down cartridge fork , whil e out back is the full y adjustable shock . A cool feature on the CBRI OORR is the new Honda Electronic Steering Damper (HESD) that electronically modulates damping based on the bik e's road speed. Th e ECU sends a signal to a solenoid that controls an oil pressure valve within the damper and controls the amount of resistance. At low speeds a relief valve opens to make it steer lighter. The bike's styli ng is completely new and inclu des an under-theseat exhaust canister simila r to the CBR600RR's. The CBRI OOORR has twin Ram-air ducts that feed a new 8.35-liter airbox, just to the side of the new Line Beam Headl ights. Smet s . wh o has c laim e d f o u r 5 00 c c W orld Championships on four-stroke machinery and ho lds th e rec ord number o f GP vi ct orie s in th e o ld c la s s. has Signe d a tw o- y ear d eal w ith t he te am . " In some resp ects t he decision not to renew the second yea r of M ick ael' s contract was a hard c hoice . natu ra lly because of the record we have enjoyed in the last few years." said team owner Sylvain Geboers in a re lease . " How ever . in another way we are delighted t hat Joel is coming on board . and we a re very pleased to have obtained a rider that can offer so muc h to the tea m. J oel lives close to our base in Lomm el: he is one o f t he t op rid e r s in t he wo rl d o n four -st ro kes: his rec ord is no thing short of excel le nt. I beli eve him to be also a very profes sion al and dedi cat ed ind ividual w ho is keen to co mpe te away fro m the G Ps. and th is level is exact ly w hat we need fo r th e fir st year o f t he 450 . This move may appear sudde n or even strange to so me . and the ti ming was no t helped by the unluck y injury to M ickael . but Suzuki . the team and my sel f fee l that S met s is the bes t man for the job wi th th e conditio ns that face us regard ing a new motorcycle in w ha t wi ll be a very to ugh M X category next year. I wa nt to wish M ick ael all the best. W e had so me great seasons together and some wond e rful victo ries . I re a lly ho pe th at he re c overs w ell. and I have no doubt he [1CfJ!JLiD[j)!ZDDD []j)CfJ!Z@0 r5!l@[lD@ WDCfJD0 !XJD07]@f!TZ J-Reig ning Wor ld Tri als Ch am pio n Doug ie Lampki n rewrote the records books at the Europ ean GP in Jarama . Spain, September 1314, when he clinched his seventh consecutive World Cham pionship title. "I never thought I would say this. but it feels even better than winning my first title ," Lam pk in said. "It's been a long and hard year. and now I am j ust glad it's over, and I have got the result I so badly place finish on day one put extra pressure on his team mate and fellow cham pionship hopeful Takahisa Fujinarni, who finished fifth on the day. Lampkin went into day two with a 16-poi nt cushion on the Ja panese rider, and Fujinam i would have to hope for a mi racle in order to steal the titl e. It never cam e. Although Lam pk in wo uld endure a late scare when he crashed while riding between sections, he scored another thir d place on the day to clinch the cham pions hip. Fuj inami finished fourt h, ending up 18 poin ts behind Lam pkin . 308 290, in the final standings. Spaniard Adam Raga rode his Gas Gas to the win both days in Ja ram a, which helped Raga move past Graham Jarvis to fini sh fourth in the series standings. Fellow Spaniard Marc Freixa fini shed as the World numb er three after finishing third on day one and second on day two. wa nted." A mo ng the first to congratulate Dougie was seven-time former World Tria ls Champion Jordi Tarres, who acknowledged that while he and Lampkin are no w tied with seven titl es each, the British rider's record is better due to the fact that his championships are consecutive . Lampkin failed to win either day at Ja rama . though his second- 2 S EPTEM BER 24, 200 3 ' c u e I e n e vv _ s will become one of ou r mai n riva ls 2004 . " Joel S m e t s . meanwhile . lea ve s KTM aft er a long ca ree r with the c o m pany. " Throug hout th e year I w as slow ly co ming round to th e fact that techni cally we had reached th e end o f the line in term s of progression of the p re s ent KT M 45 0 . " S mets said . "I had a mee ting w ith J the bosses in Aus tria . and thei r plans fo r the lo ng- te rm futu re we re very po sitive . bu t at th is stage in my career I felt stay- ' ing w ith the team would not have been th e best op tion . Taki ng the s tep away fr o m KTM was a di ffic ult t hing t o d o ' because I have always had a good work- , ing re lation ship wi th th em and enjoyed ~ my ti m e there i mm en s el y . Ho w ev e r . lo oking ahea d. I co uld see th at S uzuki had th e most att rac t ive overall pack a e . I bel ieve in the factory, and I am deli ghtr: ed wi th my deci sion . I live very cl o se to the team . and t his is a real advantage f6~ ,} \; develop ing the new bike . I said ea rlier in the season t hat it wo uld have be en ,a• ..., shame to have not ridd e n fo r a .Japanese manuf ac turer. I now fee l t ha t this ~ 1 d eal wi ll o pe n d o ors an d all ow me to buil d so me bridges fo r wha t I wo uld like to do af te r my ca reer. I ho pe t hat t he " next few yea rs will open my mind , and wa nt to make the new S uzuki a motor-" cycl e capable of bringing the same level of suc ces s the te am enj oyed on the 250 . " Kevin S t r ij bos will be the sec ond rider in the squad. and plans for the 18-year-old reg arding his entry to th e MX2 cl assifi cation w ith the 250cc fourstroke have yet to be confirmed . according to S uzuki. r AMA Pro Racing has named B ri a n Gray as the 2003 AMA Motocross/Supercross Rookie of the Year. The 18year-old ride r from Saint Augustine. ROOda, bur st onto the sce ne thi s summe r with an outs tanding showing in the 125cc class o f th e AMA Ch e v y Tr uck s U .S . M ot ocro s s Ch amp ion ship . Gray w e nt fro m be ing a rela tive ly unkn own S uzuki ama teur support rid er t o a full -f le dged fac tory S uzu ki rider this su m mer after t urn ing in a surprising ei ght h overall in

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