Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128237
all - aft er Mot egi, he lay 13t h. The Ap rilia had be en disa p po inti ng e ve r s ince improved M ichelin tires arrived. he said . "Tes ts a t the beginning of the year went '8d.L~ 'd, Motorcycle Parts & Accessories • well, but with the better grip of the new tires, we just got more chatter prob lems . It' s like a gove rnor. or speed limiter. " Annual Dunlop has beg un legal ac tion against t he Flammini G ro up , World S uperbike rights holders, against the switch of bo th Superb ike and Supersport Wo rld Champi onships to Pirelli tires next year. Du nlop has filed a complaint with the EEC Direc torate G ene ral for Compe tition. claiming an infringement by the FIM and FGSport under the EC treaty . European Motosport manage r Je remy Ferguson explained the One Day Only! Saturday, November 1, 2003 9am to 5pm ONLY! Cash only please! rea sons for the complaint. The first reaso n is t hat nob ody sho uld be ab le to buy a W o rld C hampi o nsh ip , he sai d . " They should enco urage mo re people to com pete, rather than kick them out," he said. Then there was the fact that the contract had be en g iven t o Pire ll i w it ho ut any opportunity to the other participants in the championship, Dunlop and Michelin. "The FIM have t he pow er to decid e t hat th e W orld Championship can go in that directio n, but they should give at least t hose participat ing in the current championship the chance to tender for the contract. " No such chance had been given. "There are plenty of examples in cars wit h the FIA not in Worl d C hampionships but at European leve l. Ther e is a procedure established to give all tire manufact urer s an eq ual c ha nc e . Ou r ma in conc e rn is to remove this precedent. " He added that the Supersport side was more important than Superbike beca use the road-legal t ires required were more close ly related to dayto -day busin ess. D unlo p had won th is champio nship in 1999, 20 00 and 2001 . " It 's the main promotiona l plank for our hiqh-performence radials," he said. Possible solutions would be to revert to the sta- Stem Gas Jugs tus quo. wi th free choice of tire s; a new $10 chance to te nder for the bus iness , or to drop the W orld C hampionship tag from the Booth #41 series . he said. Ogio Sags M ichelin expressed support of Dunlop's move. "W e are 100 percent behind them and support their action," said racing boss ~ N icola s Gau bert . "There is no point in two people making the same complaint, but if w e are asked to give ev ide nce . we will support them totally. Ou r lawy ers are in full contact with Dunlop's lawyers. We are still fighting wi th the FIM about the Flammini group using the title W orld Championship, Booth #35 It is unbelievab le tha t a mono-tire series can be a World Championship." Kenny Roberts was star of the show at the pre -race press conference , playing it for laughs - and getting them . He first said that the thing that had hurt the Proton pro- Honda-Yam aha 10380 SW Cascade Blvd" Tiga rd , OR 97223 1-800-593-6947 ject the most wa s racing. "W e can't deve lop an e ngine and race , " he said. T hen www.bhy.net· info@bhy.net added: " Our engine is very good - if you need a boat anchor. We missed the mark a little. But we're going to make it right. " The project had been laborious and expensive, he agreed, but said: "The oil compa- SORRY! No credit cards or checks accepted on warehouse sale merchandise . All sales final. Prices limited to stock on hand. nies love us. because our bike is so hard on oil." He was sharing the confere nce ta ble wi th Biaggi, Rossi, Edw ard s and Nakano, all of whom were joining the general amusement. Then came the last laugh. When the host asked all the delegates to sta nd up for t he photoq rap hers. Kenny ----------------------------------------------- l1li o shot straight back: "I am standing up ." The firs t C h inese rider to qualify for a GP made a little bit of history at Sepang . Zhao Huang Shi placed his d'Anttn Arlen Ness Yamaha 25th , ahead of regular Henk van der Lagemaat' s Honda. But his team- mate Xian He Zi missed the cut by less than two tenths of a second. Pre-race publicity for next yea r's Qatar G P sent some shivers down the spines in G P racing. It was not so much the need for monthly paym en ts) E very wee k for t w o y ea rs N a me the grid girls. The real problem is that the floodlighting syste m will reportedly not be ready for the race . so plans to run it at night will have to be cance led . A nd t he heat during the day makes tropical Sepang like a refrigerator by comparison. The race is scheduled for October 2, o Add res s Phon e Sta te o Zip O r der Da te Send to: !~ !tl;k/,neW$' , Inc. o o o P.O . 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