Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

(Motor cycle Sp o rt M anufacturer s ' A s so cia t ion) to rev iew th e techn ic al regu lat io ns , taking into acco unt t he ge ne ra l performances and behavio r o f the raci ng moto rcycl e s and its co nseque nc es on sa fe ty. Rega rd ing th e 2005 J apa ne se G rand Prix, the ci rc uit of Suzuka and the FIM will keep o n th e discuss ions in an eff ort to o rganize this Grand Prix agai n as t he season o pe ner , M o re o v e r , in agreem ent w ith the FIM and D o rna , the G rand Prix sc he d uled o n t he ci rc uit o f Twin Ring M ot eg i o n 19 S e pt e m b e r , 2004 , will b ea r t he t it le o f J apa ne s e G rand Prix. " T h e 2003 Indoor Trial des Nations. sch ed uled on N ovember 16, w ill be he ld in Granada , Sp ain , instead of Santa C ruz de Tenerife (C anary Isl and s, S pain), as prev iou sly sc heduled , ac cording to th e FIM , The t eam s qu alifie d for t his event are Spain, Great Britain and J apan. Fo rm er A MA S upe rc ro ss and N at ion al M otocro ss C hampion Donnie Hansen wi ll be in C alifo rnia afte r the U.S. O pen to c o nduc t scho ols. The sessions w ill be h e ld O c t o b e r 14- 15 at Lo s A ng el e s C o unty Rac eway in Palmd ale and O cto ber 16 at Lake Elsi nore M otocro ss Park in Lak e Elsin ore . Hansen w ill als o teach at Ho lliste r H ills , D ec e mber 11- 12 . Fo r i n f o r m a ti o n and reg i st r at io n , call 719/495 ·2624 o r visi t www.D HM A.com . According to the Sturgis Motorcyle Museum and Hall of Fame , it has no invol ve ment in a law s uit w ith the Na t ional M oto rcycl e M useum and Hall of Fa m e . " It ha s re c e n t ly co me to o u r atte nt ion t hat mi sinfo rma tio n has been c irculat ing regard ing the S turgis M otorcyc le M u s e u m & H a l l o f Fa m e ' s (S M M &Ho F) inv ol v e m en t in a law s uit aga inst J ohn Par ham and t he N at io nal M oto rcyc le M useum and Hall o f Fam e (N MM&HoF) , " a relea se from t he mu seum said, "For the reco rd, we wo uld like to sta te th at the SMM &HoF is no t now , nor has ever been part y to any law sui t co nnect ed to J ohn Parham and /or the N M M&H oF . Our focu s is o n preservin g motorcycl e hist ory and pro moting motorcycl ing . To t hat e nd , w e w il l w o r k to The Indian Motorcycle Corporation has clo sed its doors and is no longer in business as of Frid ay, Septem ber Ig. The decision to close the doors was a huge surp rise to everyone involved at the compa ny, including Indian's executi ve vice president Fra n O'Haga n, who had j ust ret urned from the Milan Motorcycl e Show in Italy when he was told on Frida y that the company woul d cease to exist as of Saturday, Septembe r 20. "We were fi nally getting all of the bits and pieces tog ether; O'Hagan told Cycle New s over the telepho ne. We were finally going to have a motorcycle (the ' 2004 mo del line) that you could line up next to the BMWs and the Harley -Davidsons and not have to apologize for." T he India n Mo tor c ycl e Co rp o rat ion set new month ly sale s records this past year. In May, the company sold 563 motorcycles, a 39 -percent increase compared to the same perio d last year. While the rest of the industry expe rienc ed declines in sales that sam e month , Indian enjoyed the single largest percentage gain of all the m aj or m otorcycle ma nufacturers , while monthly unit sales were ahead of other manufacturers such as Trium ph, Ducati , Victory and Aprilia. A ccor di ng to O 'H agan , summer sales had rema ined very good, and the com pany was expecting to report record sales again for the mo nth of September , which it projected would be its secondbest month since the company's revival in 1999 . Accordin g to O'Hagan, the 2004 mod el line had been extensively changed. The bik es had received extensive upgrades in every area" ; from the motors to the brak ing system and the chassis, the bik es had take n a significant step forward. So where did it all go wrong? Apparentl y most of the new parts that Indian was sourcing from outside vendors had recently been ordered so that product ion of the 2004 bikes cou ld begin. Everything was going to plan until Indian's pri mary investor Audax , a pr iva te equity firm based in Boston , develop relatio nship s in the motorcycl e c o m m u n ity , not d e s t r o y t h e m . " For mo re info rmat io n, c all the St urgis M oto rcycle M useu m 's executive dir ector Pepper M assey-Swan at 60 5/347 -20 0 1. F ire has d e st r o y ed m o st o f th e National Motorcycle Museum near B i r m i n g h a m , En g la nd . acco rd i n g to reports on t he BB C , A bo ut 650 vintage mach ines worth be tween $ 11 million and $ 15 million have bee n de stroy ed, t he rep ort says. The fo llowi nq is f rom the BBC : Th e m useu m , at B ic ke nhill near B irm ing ham Int e rn at io nal A irp o rt , was ho m e t o m o r e t han 9 00 v i ntage mach ines - many o f the m uniqu e - tracing the histo ry of th e British mot o rcycle indu s try . Own er Roy Rich ar d s start ed co lle cting th e b ik e s in t he 19 70 s , and the mu seum o pe ned in 1984 w it h an initi a l co llec tio n o f 3 50 m a c h in e s . It bec ame o ne o f the bigg est moto rcycl e mu seum s in t he wo r ld an d att ra c te d ab o ut 2 50 ,000 visi t o rs a ye ar . It w a s also a c o nfe re nce ce nte r. Richard s to ld BB C M idlands Today : " It is a devast at - Massachusetts, decid ed to pull the plug . The company had invested $45 million in Th e Indian Motorcycle Corporation, According to O 'Hagan , who formerl y had worked for BMW, Jagua r and Mercedes-Benz, "The motor -vehicl e industry , and I don 't just mean the mot orcycle industry , requires huge amounts of invest ments and a lot of planning . We had a large investo r line d up, but that deal was at least four mo nths away from closi ng at m inim um ." O'H agan joined the Indian Motorcycle Corporation in 200 I and was promoted to executive vice president in July of 2003 from his position as senior vice president of sales, service, marketing and product managem ent . He brou ght many of the com pany's em ployees with him to Indian. "My primary goa l ri ght now is to help the 20 to 30 people I brought to this com pany find new jobs," O'Hagan said. As for the other 380 em ploye es at the Gilroy factory, they were inform ed of its dem ise on Friday. The Indian Motorcycle dealer show was supposed to take place on Sunday , Septem ber 21 st, in Las Vegas to unveil the 2004 mod el line, followed by a tour of the facto ry in Gilroy this Wedn esday . Th e dealers we re reportedly not informed of the news unt il most were in transit to the show. The futu re of the company is now in the hands of the cou rts. "I don't know if A udax plans on fil ing for bankruptc y or If they will file for an Assessment for the Benefit of Credito rs (ABC), which is possible in California," O 'Hagan said. The same go es for th e Indian name, whi ch now rests in the hands of the co urts . With Indian's past history, O 'Hagan said he " wouldn't be surprised if the company surfa ces onc e again. Stay tuned. Blake Conner St on e , " said Stew art fr om Las Vegas, wh e r e he w a s att en d ing Kaw a sa ki ' s ann ual De aler M eeting , " I ha ve t o say that I' m a little su rpri sed by all of th is attentio n . I w ork ha rd to w in race s o n the trac k. But I also work jus t as hard at the other as pects of being a pro fessio nal athlete . like workin g wi th the media . I ing lo ss, no t just to me, bu t fo r th e co untry as a wh o le . " He vow ed to reo pen th e mu seum , d e spi te the de struc t io n o f m u ch of h i s co ll ec t io n . Th e fi re destroyed mo re than 60 per cent of the building , w ith three of th e five ex hibition hall s burnt out. Exhibito r N eil Payne to ld the BBC : " The re are so ma ny unique , pri c el e s s , irrep lac eabl e mach ine s t hat are lost. It is absolutely devast at ing . The museu m and indeed t he country have think so meti mes it' s eas ier for me in an interview than it is ou t on the t rac k. I do w ha t I do for t he fan s and for the love of t h e sport. I gue ss th at i s what it all comes down to . I race because I love it. an d maybe tha t' s w hat works in t he end , " lo st some uni que mac hines fro m British motorcycling his tory. " Team C hevy Truck s Kaw asaki ' s James S t ew a r t i s b e in g f e a t ure d i n t h i s week's iss ue o f Roll ing Sto ne , wh ere he is in c lu d e d i n t h e maq az ines a nn ual " The Ho t li st " feature , The annu al list According to so urces close to the team, So Be Suzuki' s D avi M illsaps suffe red a po ssible bro ken and di slocated elbo w portrays the ye ar's " ho ttes t " c elebrities, e nte rt ain ers , at hlet es and t re nds, and in c lud e s si nger B rit ney S p ea rs , ac tor V iggo M ort e n se n , co me d ia n F r e d in a c ras h w hile pr ac ticing at the Su zuki te st t r a ck i n C orona , C a l if o r n ia , W edn e sd ay , Septe mber 16 . Th e 15 ye ar-o ld wa s reportedly pu tti ng in so me Armi s en and th e see mi ng ly t i m el e s s " truc ker hat " trend th at ha s be c om e po pular in Ho llywood . " It 's unbelievable to see my self in magazine s lik e Ro llin g pretty amazing lap t im e s at th e faci lit y befo re t he fall. Thi s may no t affe c t the rider' s upc o ming season , though, as he won't be tu rnin g 16 unt il after th e first 12 5 c c Ea s t eve n t in H o u s t o n , so he w on 't b e ma k ing h is p ro s up e rc ros s debut un til the February 2 1, 2004 , M inneap olis S up erc ro ss . This sh o uld g iv e him the m ax imum am ount of tim e to heal. He 's repo rte dly back home in Flori- ACCEPTING: Mot onation, the exclusive import er of Sidi boots . is now accepting re sum es for rider suppo rt for the 2004 sea son . Resumes can be sent to Motonation. c/o Sidi rider support, 14168 Poway Road, Ste. 205, Poway, CA 92064, 858/ 513·6285 (fax), or via da be ing taken care of by his doctor. e-mail atridersupport @motonat ion.com. NAMED: David Casella, to the position of marketing manager for MS R. Casella come s to MSR with over 10 years of market ing and design background in the apparel industry. Casella most recently served as the brand manager for Alloy MX. W ERA has annou nced that V alu C yci e has been selecte d to be th e titl e spo nso r o f The Va luCyc le Senior Superbike Challenge . The serie s will b e g in in t he 2004 season and is o pe n to all rider s age 40 and over co mp eting in t he S eni o r S up e r b ik e c lass (fo r me rly kn o wn a s C OR C ) a t a ny W ERA S portsman se ries event. Race rs w il l co m pe te wi t hi n t he ir res pec ti v e re g io ns fo r Re g ion al Ch amp io ns hi p s . The Va luCycie Senio r Superb ike Reg io nal Ch am p ion wi ll be the rac er w it h the AUTOGRAPH SESSION : At the 30th annual Viewfinders MC Grand Prix on Saturday, October 4, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the Desert Empire Fairgrounds in Ridgecrest , California. Bobby Bonds, Johnny Campbell, Kurt Caselli, Mike Childress, Steve Hengeveld, Paul Krause, Joey Lanza and Scott Sheak are scheduled to attend. For more info call Viewfinders MC at 909/685-4637 . BORN: Wyatt Christian Faught. to Dirt Rider editor Ken Faught and his wife, Amy, in Loma Linda, California, on September 19. ACCEPTING: Cycle Screens is now accepting race resumes for the SIGNED : Team Suzuki Off Road rider, four-time AMA National Mot ocross Champion and fo rmer WORCS Ser ies Champ ion Mi ke Kiedrowski, to a multiyear contract with Sidi boots, casual shoes and bicycle shoes. 2004 racing season for Puig Racing Screen s. Resumes can be sent to Puig/C ycle Scr eens, P.O. Box 158 , Ventura, CA 93002, or visit : www .cyclescree ns.com. ACCEPT ING: Galfer Braking Sy ste ms is now accepting race BORN: Brayden James Stowe. to D-36 enduro and cross country star resumes for the 2004 season. Resumes can be sent to Galfer Braking Systems, Race Dept. , 67 W. McFarlane, Ventura, CA 93001. J. .. .Tim...... Stowe and his wife, Nicole. on September 16 in Northern California. . . . .................................................... ...... . ...................... .......... .............................................. " cue I e hig hest poi nt acc umulat ion at t he end of t he season in each region. The Va luCyc1e Se nior Su perbi ke N ati on al C ham pio n . . - - - - - - n e .... s Continuedon page 108 2 0 03 3 O C TO B E R 1 , o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o n u o o o o o

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