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/128239
!J[i) G'(bCB O\5U o \2l@[?O@] @G!J[fJ@[?Worz@ @[}o&J [JiJiJ@O@fiD~!JDO[fJ i=--0_D-=~=-= =--=@ ~ ' @ =----=--- o o o B o o o o Continuedftom page 3 tome r s hav e be en pa tiently await ing their first product delivery. White Bro thers acqu ired th e excl usive distribu tio n right s to A llo y j us t thi s pa st summ er, and we are pleased to be running right on sc hed ule wi th t his first shipment. A ll dealer orde rs w ill begin shipping immediately. " Ben Masek, president of A lloy M X. credits the pos itive dea ler impact to re cent p ress and race co verage. "Ou r succes s can be dire ct ly attributed to incredib le ma gaz ine p rodu ct revi ew s , awesome advertisi ng and Team Hond a rider s M ike and J eff A lessi. C on sumer awa reness is at an all-time high , and th e dea lers are fee ling the pos itive effects . " FGSport. the promoter of the series, has announced the 2004 World Superbike Championship schedule, a 12 -r oun d series that now includes two North American rounds - the Laguna Seca round in CalifornIa and a new round in Canada. The World Supersport rounds will be announced at a later date. according to FGSport. The 2004 series schedule is as follows: Valenci a, Spain February 29 Phill ip Island, Australia March 28 Misano, Italy (San Marino) Apri l 18 8 o Monza. Italy May 16 Oschersleben, Germany May 30 Silverstone, England J une 13 Mont Tremblant, Canada (to be confirmed) J uly 4 Laguna Seca, Monterey. Califomia Ju ly 11 Brands Hatch, England July 25 Assen, Holland September 5 Imola, Italy September 26 Magny-Cours, France October 3 The F1M has released the 2004 schedule for the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Series. The 16-race series that begins in South Africa and concludes in Spain will visit Qatar for the first time on October 2. The series schedule is as follows: Welkom , South Africa April 18 Jerez. Spain May 2 Le Mans, France May 16 Mugello, Italy J une 6 Catalunya , Spain J une 13 Assen, Holland Jun e 26 A press conference was held during the f ina l r oun d of th e W orld S up e r b i k e C ham pion ship on October 18 in w hic h FG Sport Group managing director V ince nzo Lamaro and Zh uhai New C ent ury Internat ion al Man agem ent C omp any Ltd. directo r Ling Z heng anno unced the finalizat ion of the three -year agree me nt to stag e a ro un d o f th e FIM Enduranc e W o rl d C hamp io n s hip in th e Peo p le ' s Rep ubli c of Ch i na f r om 2004 . Th e "Zhuhai 6 hours" wi ll be held M ay 12 and will be the first -ever FIM Road Racing W orld Ch ampionship event to be held in th e People' s Repub lic of C hina. July 11 July 18 July 3 1 August 22 September 5 September 19 October 2 Octob er 10 October 17 October 31 o o o o o o o o B o o o o o o o 5J[li]5J @G!J[fJ@[?Worz@ @[}o&J [JiJiJ[fJO@fiD~[}o O[fJ M adison, Illinois: Jun e 26 -27 - Norw alk Raceway Park, Norw alk, Ohio: Aug ust 7-8 - Indianapolis Raceway Park, Indianapolis, Indiana: O ctober 2-3 - M emphis M otors ports Par k , M e mp his , Ten ne s s ee ; November 5-7 - W orld Finals, Gainesville Raceway, Gainesville. Florida. T h e f i nal roun d of the D -3 7 B ig 6 Grand Pr ix Series w i l l be held November 1-2 at Hungry V alley in Gorman , California . Fo r more informati on , call 56 2/4 2 1-01 28. AMA/Prostar has announced its 2004 series that now includes Memphi s Mot orsports Park in M em phis . Tennessee. By popular demand, A MA/ Pro st ar has also re d uce d the season t o e igh t nationa l events and all two-day events , except the W orld Finals, to accommodate the majority of the racers , according to AM AIProstar. The biggest shoc k to the schedule is the absence of the series' most famous race, t he O rien t Exp re s s U .S . M otorcy c le Nationals in Atco. New Jersey. It is missing, but it w ill be back, AMAIProstar says. The series schedule is as follows: March 67 - Gainesville Raceway , Gainesville, Florida ; Apri l 3- 4 - Atlan ta D ragw ay , Com merce, G e o rgi a ; May 1-2 - V irgin ia M o tor sp orts Park, Richm ond , Vi rgini a; June 5-6 - Gateway Intemational Raceway. 8 o o o o o o Kawa saki M ot or s Corp .. U .S.A . (KM CJ has annou nced a rep lacemen t for Mark Homchick , w ho rece nt ly res igned his positi on as nat ional marke ting manager AMA Pro Racing has released its schedule for the 2004 AMA Chevy Trucks U,S. Superbike Champion ship. The upcoming road racing season will begin with the 63rd running of the Daytona 200 during Bike Week in March and conclude with a doubleheader event at Vir ginia International Raceway in September. AMA Pro Racing vice president of comme rcial development John Farris states that the 2004 schedule is similar to that of 2003 but with some subtle changes implemented to improve the series overall. "By design, we set out to make the flow of the 2004 schedule consistent with the just- concluded 2003 season," said Farris. "At the same tim e, we tried to be responsive to the local situations of some of our promo ters in order to make each event as successful as pos - sible." Farris cites the events at Barber Motorsports Park in Birm ingham, Alabama , Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, and Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia, as examples of races that received new dates for the 2004 season. Travel patte rns relat ive to th e scheduling of events were also given careful consideration. 8 o o According to San Diego Off -Road M agazine , lo ng -t ime race p rom ote r "Fud" Fudpucker passed aw ay on O ct ob er 23 . S herri Kukl a, t he maqazln es e di tor/ co-pub lisher , info rme d us that , afte r a morn ing jog , Fud puck er wa s talking with a nei ghbo r w hen he collapsed in front of his home in Chu la Vista , Cali fornia. The cause is believed to be a massive heart attack. to pursue ot her interest s. Vince Iorio. w ho hold s the po sition of retail market i n g m an age r , w i ll ass ume c u rrent res ponsibility fo r guiding the company's nati o nal b ran d advertis ing p ro gram s . Rod ger How e , di recto r o f co mmu nica tions . said the tran sit ion will be a " seamless one due to our internal departm ental s t r uc t u re, wh ich integrates all aspects of Kawasaki 's branding and pro motional act ivities . Primary responsibility fo r daily supervision of KM C' s advertising agency is a key component to maintaining continuity, and Vi nce's parall el involveme nt wi th the age ncy for the pas t seve ral years will as sure a natu ral t rans ition. M ark' s know ledge of t he enthusiast co mmu nity and his commit ment to our br and ing effo rts w ill be mi ssed . How - ever , our plans for the coming yea r are fairly well cemented, and Vi nce has been involved at every step in th e process. " lo rio, who joi ned KMC in 19 95 as it s pub lic rel ation s man ager, serv ed as a mark et ing manage r respon sible for th e company's all-terrain ve hicl e and ut ilit y ve hic le p rod u ct c a t e g o r ie s prio r t o assuming his mo st recent pos itio n. ~@@~ 0 6 NOVEMB ER 5 . 2003 · c ue _ I e "As we do every year with all of our series, we tried to construct a schedule that was favorable to the racers and teams comp eting in our series," said Farris. "The 2004 schedule has a cadence to it that will not only benefit the needs of our participants but also help contin ue to build our TV audience by mai ntain ing consistent tune-in times for Speed Channel." The schedule is as follows: March 3-6 Daytona Int rnational Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida e April 2·4 CaliforniaSpeedway, Fontana, California" Inflneo Raceway, Sonoma, California· n April 30·May 2 May 14-16 Barber Motorsports Park, 8irmingham, Alabama· May 21·23 Pike Peak International Raceway, Fountain. Coiorado s June4·6 Road America. Elkhart Lake, Wisconsm" June 25-27 Brainerd International Speedway, Brainerd, Minnesota July 9·11 MazdaRacewayLaguna Seca, Monterey. California July 23·25 Mid·Ohio Sports Car Course, Lex ington, Ohio" Septembe 3·5 r Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgie" ·19 Virginia International Raceway, Alton,Virginia· September 17 ·Superbike doubleheaders neVIl's Donington Park. England Sachsenring, Germany Rio de Janiero, Brazil Brno, Czech Republic Estoril , Portugal Motegi, Japan Qatar Sepanq, Malaysia Phillip Island, Austr alia Valencia. Spain T h e Fo rt u n a Y ama h a T e am h a s announce d Norick Abe wi ll ride as a rep lacement fo r Marco Melandri at the se ason -clo sing Va lenc ia Grand Prix in Sp ain on Novemb er 2. M elandri was schedule d to undergo surgery to repai r his injured right shou lder on October 27 in Forli, Italy , and w ill be forced to miss t he la st roun d of t h e 2003 M oto GP W orl d Cha mpio ns hip. Abe w ill compet e in Fortuna Yama ha Team co lors fo r the third time thi s year , having already st epped in to rep lace M elandri at t he season -ope ning S uzuka and We lkom race s in Ap ril. S oB e It D ep t : Am e r ic an S uzu ki ha s annou nced that former Supercro ss and M ot o cro ss sponso r SoBe Beverages wi ll not be spon sori ng Team Su zuki for t he 20 04 season du e to a c ha nge in b udge ta ry priorit ies by t he N orw alk , C onnect ic ut -based drink man ufac turer. " We enjoyed a frui tf ul tw o -year partn ership with SoB e ," said ASM C vice presiden t of motorcycle / ATV divi sion Me l Harris. "While it is unfortunate we wo n't be able to implement mark eting and pro motion al pro gra m s w it h th em in t he future , we und e rst and th eir budget ary s it uat io n and re spect th e ir d eci s ion . " S o Se pa r t nere d wi t h Suz uki f o r th e 2002 and 2003 race seasons . For 2004 . Su zuki ' s su p er cro ss and mot ocro ss team s w ill race under th e Team Suzuki bann er. " W e 'v e shar ed a t remen dous rel ati on sh ip w ith Su zuki over th e past two yea rs . " added SoB e director of integrate d marketing Mi ke J oyce. " Suzuki has been a tr uly grea t market ing part ner. and we are huge fans of the brand and t he t eam ri d er s . Th e dec is io n to not renew th e S oS e Su zuki team spo nsorship was a diff icult one, but as a co mpany. we hav e be en fac ed with s hift ing market ing prioritie s and a finite market ing budget. W e hope th e riders , the fans and our friend s in t he indu stry know that thi s deci sion is cert ainly not a reflection o f our co mmitme nt to motocro ss, but rather a shift in So Be .s marketin g support ." eN