Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

8 OO>"'E1liJCO - - • fJ0j][lj} (lj)UDI!J@f}D0 rl,©&3 @f}ru W @@[Z@{l tI:D O O n KTM sprang its long-awa ited dirt track twin on the dirt track world during the Columbus AMA Half Mile at Scioto Downs in Colum bus, Ohio, on September 20. With KTM factory rider Joe Kopp aboard, the machine took t o the track for a three-lap shakedown after the GNC practice sessions . The 950cc LC8 engin e on the test mac hine was basica lly left stock, acco rding to KTM dirt track team manager Mike Rosso, who told Cycle New s during a phone conversation on the Monday after the test that he felt the team was already on the right track as far as the machine's development is concerned. "It went real well," Rosso said. "We were in the hunt for what we had. It needs some mor e steering angle. Joe said that the motor is smoother than the (Suzuki] TL that he had ridden. We were limited . . ' on geanng - per f or mance M ac hlme set us up WIth some uniq ue wheels, and we were a little blind sided by the disc brake arrangement. We need to have a bit more brake to go racing. Wheelbase isn't ideal for flat track racing yet, but we're going to give the stock chassis a chance." Kopp echoed Rosso's sentiments on the bike . "It was pretty dang good," Kopp said. "It was a lot better than what I thought it would be right out of the box. The biggest proble m we had was that it was a streetbike chassis, and it would only turn so far. I hit the locks several times. But what I noti ced right away is that on the Suzuk is when you roll out of the throttle in the comer , they' re kind of jerky, and it's hard to get the power down, where the Harleys are really smooth . The KTM is a lot more like the Harley than the Suzuki. It was pretty cool," Kopp said. "I was pretty impressed with the motor. It was real responsive off the bottO I'm going to practice it .m. at Del Mar (Formula USAJ, and if it feels good, I want to race it. I was pretty amazed. I thought I was goi ng to just go out there and take it pretty easy, but I could really drive it into the corner . I could hold it on, and it would just track right Into the corner, but that has something to do the wheelbase. It' s 62 inches long right now, so you know that it's going to get sideways pretty easy." One of the interesting modifications to the machine is the location of the fuel tank, which has been placed under the seat. "We had questions about what the shape of the airbox and fuel tank should be," Rosso said. "The guys told us that it had to feel like a racebik e, so we decided to get the fuel tank out of their way. " The only issue with the locati on was that the tank made contact with the rear wheel, A new shape or smalle r design is already in the offi ng. Rosso also said that a stoc k LCe m ot or is go ing to an exhaust fabricato r to have a high-performa nce system built. Continued from page 3 I w ill be th e ride r w ho wi ns at the G rand Nati onal Final. U n Coast Racing A ss ociation (C RA ) has relased six new dates fo r mot oc ro ss I U pract ice at C a r lsba d R acewa y . Practree w ill resu me o nce again this S aturday. Septemb er 20 . The gate s w ill o pen O I O 1'1 I U n at 10 a.m .. a nd rid ing wi ll be f ro m 1 1 a.m. t o 4 p. m. Thi s Saturday 's pra cit ce w ill be held o n the low er U .S . GP tra c k. CR A wi ll be o pe ni ng t he gates at 10 I a.m . so th at ri d ers can bea t t he drag race tr affic that sta rt s at 11 a.m . C RA also wa nted to remi nd everyo ne that no U O n mino rs are allow ed to part icipat e in t he I practi ce. You must be 18 years of age LJ o r o lde r to rid e at C arl sb ad Racewa y . I n U Total tr ack fee is $40 rs 15 fo r the raceway gate fee and $25 fo r t he CRA practi ce fee) . Sch ed uled practice date s at C . Carl sbad Racew ay are as follows : Sep t e mb e r 2 0 ; O ct ob er 4 ; O c t ober 18 ; Novemb e r 1; N ovemb er 15; and Novem - O O O i i I J' ber 2 9 . Fo r mo re information . co nt act CRA at 760 /722 -6639 . or e-mail CoasI tracingmxa@aol. com . n \.....) Road racer Jody Hendley. 39 , of M is' ; sion V iejo , Californ ia. died of can ce r on S eptember 13 . Hen dley is surv ive d by LJ n U n . his wife . Kasey , d au ghte r , Ky le . so ns Tyl e r and M ax . broth ers J am es III and J D .. and his fat her , Jam es. in his native co untry . " G SE Racing is currently asse ssing its future po sition, " team pr incipal D arrell Healey said in a st ate ment issued by th e t eam. "There are a number of exc iting oppo rtunities open to us. and I hope that we w ill be in a po sition to make a fu rt he r anno unce men t about thi s in th e near future . We may be quit- o U n u r~ U The semifac tory GSE Racing team has ca lled it quits in World Superbi ke and does not appea r to be racing in any class of co mpetitio n in 2004 . The team does hope to keep its co re members to co mpet e in (possibly) M otoGP in 2005. but for next yea r both its contracted ride rs J am e s To se land and Chris W alk e r are lo o king fo r alt ern at iv e e mployment . It appea rs that Tose land w ill indeed race in the W orld Sup erbike class for the official D ucat i Fil a t e am . alo ng side th e ot he r expe cte d sig ning , Regis Laco ni. Ruben Xaus. a hero of the crowd in Lagu na Se ca this year, is still stro ngly linked to a ride for Ducati in the U SA. and Chris W alker may als o head o ut We st . un le ss he is co nfirmed as a Honda UK Superbike ride r o o o G roup for the ir suppo rt of GSE Racing. In addit ion . w e are indebt ed to the suppo rt t hat D ucat i C o rse and HM Plant hav e show n to the team. particularly during o ur three -year stint in W orl d Superbikes. And finally. I w ould like to exp ress o ur sincere app reciation to Dunlop and all t he ot her spo nso rs. suppliers and staff w ho have Sturgis Hall of Fame honor s the men and wo men w ho have dedicated much of their ti ng t he W orld Su pe rb ike racing sce ne . U (\ "The plan is to actually put it in competitio n at Del Mar," Rosso said. "If it's working, it may be raced there, We're going to try and lighten it up and shorten it up. Motorwise, we'll have an exhaust system for it" but we'r e not going to try and get to.? radica l too quick and lose SIght of the basics." Scott Rousseau helped us throughout ou r Su perb ike racing ca ree r. W ith o ut th e m. ou r su cce ss sto ry to date wo uld not have been po ssible," ing o u r g re at s po rt and life styl e . We enco urage you to help us recognize these individuals by sending in a nominatio n on but th e fut ure could st ill be a bright one w ithin m ot o rspo rt and t he moto rcyc le indu stry at large, GSE Racing has been th e numb e r-one B ritish te am ove r th e pa st f ive yea rs . a nd t he hig h lev e l o f exp ert ise co nt a ined w it h in the t eam sho uld provid e us with a stable platform for th e fu tu re. On beh a lf o f eve ryo ne associated w ith the team. I wo uld like to th ank my col le ag ues w it hin th e GSE o o o Racing Enterprises M otocross (R EM ) will be presenting an Octobercross on October 4 on a specia lly pre pa red co urs e at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino. C aliforn ia . Fo r more inform at ion , ca ll 858 / 484-144 1 or visit www.remsatmx.com . 8[lj}@UD~@ \5!l!JUD0 @@(l[JJD@[JD r!ll@{lD@) O &)G!J[f)@[l[JJD®li® o o o o o o ( "0. u (\ U o e . beh alf o f a de se rvi ng ind iv id ual , " the relea se said, N o minatio n form s must be accompanied by c rede ntials that explain w hy this individual should be co nsidered for inductio n; biographical info, new spape r articles , histori cal docu ments, etc . may be submitt ed , Cred entia ls sho uld be two to five page s long. You can request a nominatio n fo rm by phoni ng the Mu se um at 605/347.200 1. o r e-mail exec utive dire cto r Pepper Ma ssey -Swa n at pepper@stu rmust be received by the M useum no later than Janua ry 12. 2004 . Individuals chosen for induction into the St urgis Hall of Fame w ill be honor ed at a breakfast ce re mony on W edn esday . August 11. 20 04 . T e a m Arizona Roadrace C lu b has a n no u nc e d it s i naug u r al w in ter ra ce se ries. The fo ur-round series w ill feature 16 classes, six o f w hich wi ll aw ard cas h prize s totaling over $8000 . making it the richest race series in Ari zon a. The seaso n o pe ner is sc heduied for Octob er 18- O L----------------::::::i:~~~==~~:::::J I lives to improving, promotin g and advanc- gismo to rcycle museum ,org. Nom inat ions It was an extraordinary weekend for Vertemati at the Sachsenring in Germ any at the eighth round of the FIM World Supermoto Champi onship. as its factory ri ders, Max Manzo (pictured) and Gerald Delepine, went one-two in the SuperFinal yesterday. Home rider Jurgen Kunzel was third. . Actua lly it was standings leader and local star Kunzel who first stood in the spotlight by nett ing two solid wins in the preliminary finals, but in the SuperFinal Manzo got the lead out of the first corner, only to be passed by Kunze!. At the end of the 1Othlap, Manzo retook the point after an aggressive attack on Kunze!. Team Husqvarna's Eddy Seel then set up a strong attack as well and went to the front, only to go down in the dirt eventually after leading for six laps. Manzo steered clear of Seel's crash and controlled the last seven laps to win his first GP, which is also the first Italian win, ahead of his teamma te, the Belgian Delepine. Kunzel finished third to preserve his lead in the provisional standings. Kunzel leads his factory KTM teammate, 275 -262. Seel is thi rd, with 225 . Mario Marini 108 O CTOBER 1, 2003' c u e The S t urgis Moto rcycle Museum & Hall of Fame is also now accepting atlarg e no minatio ns fo r t he 2004 Ha ll o f Fame indu ct ees. Ind ividual s co nsidered for induction wi ll have made a posi tive and signi fica nt impact in mot o rcycling . " The n e vv s 19 . For m o re info r ma t io n , chec k o ut w ww .a zro adra cing . c om o r e - ma il info @azroadracing.com , To regi st e r. call 4 80/ 20 1-8693. eN

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