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
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For the third straig ht year Chris Carr
has earned a nom inat ion f or the AMA
Pro Racing Speed Cha nnel Athlete of
the Year. Carr became only the second rider in a half -cent ury of AMA Grand
Nationa l competition to w in five champio ns hips . He is t he w inni ngest active
rider in the AMA Progr essive Insura nce
U .S . Flat Track Cha mpi on sh ip se ries
w it h 62 -caree r nat iona l vic to ries . This
ye ar marks C arr 's sixt h nom inat ion for
the At hlet e of t he Year award . In 2003
C arr w o n a series- leading fiv e rac es,
putti ng hi m se c on d all- ti m e in A MA
Grand Nat ion al Ser ies w ins t o ret ired
rival and recent M ot orcycle Hall of Fame
inductee Scott Parker. W ith th ree victories on sho rt t rack s th is seaso n, Ca rr
also moved to the head of pack in the
all-ti me ca ree r AMA Sh o rt Track wi ns
list ahead of legends Kenny Robert s and
St eve Eklund . C arr j ust co mplete d his
17th season on the AMA Gran d National
ci rcuit. C arr wo n his firs t A MA G rand
National Championship in 199 2 and followed that up with title s in 1999 , 2001 .
200 2 and 2003 . He w ill be gunning for
his fourth st raight championship in next
year's 50t h anniversary season of AMA
Grand National racing.
Suzuki successfully debuted its all -new RM-Z450 four-stroke at the final round
of the All -Japan Championship MX Series, October 20, in Japan. Akira Narita
piloted the aluminum-framed thumper and experienced some very promising
mom ents on the bike. Narita produ ced quick lap ti mes on the bike and,
according to Suzuki, even tum ed in lap times quicker than wild-card entry Stefan Everts during the prelimin ary heat. For Narita, who clinched the 250cc
class championship on an RM250 two-stroke at the previous round, was riding
the four-stroke for j ust the second tim e.
The first championship moto, however, didn't go too well for Narita, who
suffered a rash of crashes and finished out of the points. In the second moto,
Narita got off to a good start and battl ed for the lead for much of the race
before dropping back and finishing fifth.
"It was j ust my second ride on the machine today: Narita said. "I didn't
really have enough time on the new RM-Z450 to leam the differences between
the two-stroke and four-stroke, but the new bike has massive power, even at
low revs, and handled really well once I got used to the different characteristics. I think we showed that the new machine will be a serious threat next
year, and Suzuki will use the winter period to make it into a race winner.In the 125cc Championship races, Tetsuya Mizuguchi clinched the title on
the Kawasaki KX250FS-R that has been joint ly developed alongside the Suzuki XRMO development machine for the RM-Z250 production model.
rider, yo u can have a good bike . yo u can
be the best rider and have t he best bike.
b ut wi thou t a goo d t eam, y o u're not
going t o wi n any t hing , " Mladin said .
- I've got to give all these wi ns, all four
of them, to my team. because I think if I
was on any ot her team, it wo uldn ' t have
happened. That' s for sure. "
Mat M l ad i n , t he 2003 A MA Ch evy
Truck s U .S , Super bike Cham pion, has
also been named as a no minee for t he
AMA Pro Racing Speed Channel At hlete
of the Year. The 31 -year-old Aust ralian
became the fir st rider in the history of
AM A Superbike racing to wi n four championships when he wra pped up the 2003
tit le at the series finale at Barber M otor spo rts Park in Bir mingham, Alabama, in
Sept ember. M lad in had a sp ec t acu lar
season in AMA S upe rbike competi ti on
riding his factory Yos himura S uzuki to
10 race wi ns, tyin g the nearly 20 -ye arold reco rd of AMA Superbike w ins in a
si ngl e sea so n s et by Fred M erkel in
1984 . Mladin is being nominated for the
A thlete of t he Year Award for the fourt h
t ime . He wo n th e pre sti g iou s pr ize in
2000 after ea rni ng his secon d A M A
Super bike titl e. M ladin was also no minated in 1999 and in 2001 . Mladin gave
much of t he credi t for his fourth champ ionship to his crew . " You can be a good
The FI M Spe ed wa y G r a nd Prix
Co mmi s sio n and series prom ot er
Benfield Spo rt s Int ernat ional (BS)) has
announced its permanent riders ent ry list
for the 2004 season wit h the fo llow ing
ri de r s : Ma rk Lo r am , Lu k as D ry m l ,
M ic hae l M ax , Lee Ric hard so n . Hans
And e r se n and J aro slav Hampel. The
qualified riders and reserve riders for the
2004 Individual Speedway W orld Cham pionship G rand Prix are as fo llows : Nicki
Pedersen, J ason C rump, Tony Rickardsso n , Le ig h Ad am s , Gre g Han c o ck ,
Tom asz Go llob . S cott N ic holl s . Rune
Holta, Ryan Sullivan. Andreas Jonsso n.
M ark Loram, Piotr Protasiewicz, Lukas
D rym l, M ikael M ax. Bj arn e Peders en.
Lee Richardson. Hans Andersen, Bohumil Brhel , Kaj Laukk anen, Ale s D ry ml,
J esper B . J ensen, J aro slaw Hamp el.
Joonas Kylmakorpi, Simon Stead, Rafal
Dobrucki. Billy Janniro , Roman Povazhny and Charlie Gjedde.
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Vallejo S p e e d w a y 2 . in Vallejo . California . w ill cease operat ion on December 3 1. acc o rding t o ev ent pro moter s
Steve and Bobbie Hazelt on. Accordi ng
to the Hazeltons, the Solano County Fair
Association plans to use the speedway
area for an eques t ria n ce nte r. and the
spee dw ay w ill be removed . ending five
years of hard wo rk and races at the facility. Va llejo S peedw ay 2 ho sted eve nts
prom ot ed by G ene Romero and Eddie
M ulder in addition to AHRMA races and
D-36 events . Two D-36 dirt tracks are
scheduled for November 1 and November 8. with the November 8 race to feat ure a tribut e to th e lat e Bill Spencer.
For more inf o rm at io n , c all 707 /55 4 3 140.
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At the final round of the All-Japan
Championship MX Series, Yamaha
displayed what could be the 2005
VZ125. Although we have very
little detailed information about
the bike pictured here, we know
that it sports an aluminum frame
Ju st t hree weeks aft er the bill was introd uced in C on g r e s s . t he Ho us e
and supposedly an all -new eng ine.
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Reso urces Forest s an d Fo rest Healt h
Subcommitt ee held a hearing on a proposal t o c rack down o n peop le w ho
willfully d a mag e pub lic lan d ,
acco rdi ng t o the AMA . " C o ngres s is
moving qu ickly because it recognizes
that this is a prob lem that needs to be
addressed, " no te d A MA W ashing t on
represe ntative Patrick Holtz. The bill, HR
324 7. is called the Trail Respo nsibility
and Accountability for th e Improvement
of lands