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/128242
opm (f(b~ 'R · VX7u O@ On 00 CO. . . ' [~ Ap rilia debuted its radical twin 450cc four-stroke machine, dubbed the SXV4.5 (pictured) , at the FIM World Supermoto round in Spa Francorcham ps, Belgium , November 15-16. The decision to introduce the machine earlier than the 2004 season was apparently made to collect informatio n before the company gets involved full time in 2004 in both the FlM World Supermoto and FlM World Motocross championships. But the paddock talk was also that Aprilia wanted to show the new bike to the Ja panese competitors, who are rumo red to be concerned by the revoluti onary V-twin project. Aprilia rider and 125cc-c1ass road racing star Alex de Angelis was tapped to ride the new bike, De Angelis comple ted the entire GP program on the new SXV4.5 twin, though he pretty much stayed 'away from the real race as he focused on the data acquisition, which, according to the team, was prett y informativ e. He quali fie d 29th , with a time of one mi nut e 11.923 seconds (pole time was I :03.252), and went on to finish 22nd and 25th in the two respectiv e motos. He completed 16 laps in the SuperFinal to co llect a 2.3rd-place finish. Rain during the weekend meant that it was the first time the machine had run in the wet, and Aprilia was more than happy to test the response of the electronic features under these conditions. De Angelis will contest the next round , as well, at the season finale held in Finestrat-Benidorm , Spain, on November 30 . The motocross version of the same bik e should be ready in about a month, and while Spaniard Javier Garcia Vico is one of the.riders who will race it in the new MX1 class next year, the Itali an manufacturer is still negoti ating with two-tim e world champ Mickael Pichon to comp lete the 2004 motocross lineup. In Supermoto , talks continue with Max Manzo and other riders, among them '02 champion Thierry Van den Bosch, who first tested the new bike for Ap rilia recently. Mario Marini Kevi n Br ic ker ( RotJ ea rned his seco nd con secuti v e W e s t C o a st Fl at Track Series Ch ampion ship du rin g the ei ght h '-/ 0 O O . O and final round of G ene Rome ro' s West Co ast Flat Track Seri es at Gri zzlies Sta dium in Fresno , Ca liforn ia, on November I 15, Br ick er came into the fina l round the odds-on favorite, but in the end he sur- vived a dramati c cla sh with rival J esse Sanc hez (C C M ) in the Wil son 's Mot or- o n LJ cycl es Op en Pro main event. f inish ing well en oug h t o ke ep the numbe r-one plate aft er Sanchez cras hed on t he last lap . Jeth ro Halbert (Hen) w on t he O ma in , foll ow ed by brother S a m Hat b e rt ( RotJ and Donnie Harrell CRotJ. Fo r m e r ' 7 0 s Gra nd N a t io nal regular R ic k Hocking (Yam) w on the Saddle - O O men Open Vintage main event. Justin Filice (Yam), so n of former AMA 250 cc G P Road Race Champion J immy Filice, O U r o won th e H onda T o p G un 450 ma in ishes in the 125cc mains . Tommy Hof· master w on the first main eve nt o f th e weekend and sits third in points . event. O ff -road privateer Lance Smai l ca ptur ed th e overall win at the final round o f th e W o rld Off-R o ad Cha mpi o n sh i p Series at Coo perland Racew ay in St ill- D O ( A release issued last wee k by Kawasaki co nfi rmed rumors that Eric Bostrom '""' wat e r , Okl ah om a, o n N o v em b er 16. .) 1 Smail worked his w ay up from a fourt h- w ill no longer be with th e tea m. B ruce Stj ernst rom , direc to r of professional rac- O o p lac e st art , ho okin g up with f ront- run ners N athan W o od s, Sco tt Sheak and ing for Kawasa ki M ot ors Co rp., U .S .A. , announ ced the company's decisio n not t o co ntes t t he 20 0 4 AM A S up er bike Series and instead to co nce ntra te on the Ro bert Naugh ton . The foursom e brok e away early from th e rest of th e 39-rider fi eld, es ta b lis hi ng th em sel v e s as t he le ad p ac k, wh er e Smail. wh o rode a stock Yamaha WR450F , eve nt ually too k the lead at the end of lap two . " I had ju st O O O r. LJ 0, o S up erst o ck and Sup er s p ort serie s races. At t he same ti me , he indicat ed th at Kawasaki woul d release Bo st ro m " to pursu e his pe rso nal caree r ob jectives . " " Our decision is to put our team , past Sheak on th e last grasstrac k, and as we entered t he mo tocro ss tr ac k, he effo rt behind t he 'Superstoc k and Superspo rt series at a tim e whe n the A MA's to o k a di gger w hi le tryin g to pass me ba ck," S m ail sa id . " Whe n he we nt dow n, I kn ew t hat w as my c hance t o Sup erb ike series is being restructured, " said Stj ern strom . " Eric 's co nt ribu tio ns break away , so I was go ne." Fro m that point, S mail pu ll ed away d urin g t he to t he t eam and Kaw asak i hav e b een enormous over th e past severa l years , remaining nin e lap s o f th e seven- mile and there' s ju st no way we cou ld sta nd in his way once t he decision was made t o not race t h e Su p e rb i k e se r ies . " Accor ding to Stjern strom, tea m manage- I O O course, w her e he held an average 45 I second lead ove r the Kaw asaki -mou nt ed " I Sheak, wh o rode in second unt il th e fin ish. Yamaha 's Ty Davi s wo rked his way up to fin ish out th e race in t hird, whi le Su zuki rid e r N au ghton and Ya ma ha 's Russ Pearson finis hed fourth and fifth LI ment di scu ssed th e com pany 's 2004 plans with Bost rom, and a mutual agreement w as reached , wh ich the direc to r of rac ing says "is a prime example of the O O o ov erall. By f ini shing t h i rd, but mo r e res pec t that exis ts betw een th e two par- imp ortantly ahead of sixth-place finisher Brian Garrahan, Davi s wrapped up t he WORCS Nat iona l titl e. Davis also w on the separat e East and W est Regi ona l . WO RCS tit les , The KTM rider , G arrahan, wh o led in points go ing into th e final round , f ini sh e d seco nd in th e overa ll ties. Kaw asaki ce rtainly wishes only the bes t for Eri c in th e f uture . " Bo strom , O mean whil e , was m um o n t he subject. th ough h i s m anag er N o rm V ia no res ponded to a Cycle News e-mail. "We are pu rsuin g o the r o ppo rtu nit ies th at would mat ch Eric ' s abilit ies and ca ree r O o o o o o o o o OJ go als, " Vian o sa id in his e-ma il. " Er ic rea lly enjoyed his tim e wi th Kaw asaki and thank s them for such a strong relation ship that w as (and is st ill) built on mutual respe ct and admiration . Eric told me it's so rt of like b re ak ing up with a girlfriend that you love. You hate to , but sometimes you just have to... " Bostrom series . Josh Demuth ex te nde d hi s point s lead at round tw o of the Na tional Arenac ro ss Serie s in Worce st er , Ma s sa chuse tts , No vember 14- 15. He fini shed second three times and w on on ce on his way to ex te nding his poi nts lead by a fur t her 16 points over D arcy Lang e , is expected to sign a con tra ct w hich wi ll see him aboard Ducati Aus tin machines w ho wo n two races fo r the se con d w ee ke nd in a row but f ell beh ind in po ints due to 12th - and eighth-place fin- 2 NOVEMBER 26. 2003 · c ue I fo r t he 2004 A M A / Chevy Tru ck s U .S . Su perbike Series . n e _ s e It' s off icial: Spaniard Ruben Xaus w ill partner w ith World Superbike Champion Neil Hodgson o n th e Te am d 'Ant in Du cati s in next year' s M otoGP World Ch ampi on ship . Xaus, 25 , will make the sw itc h to M o toGP f rom W orl d Superbik e afte r riding th e Fila D ucat i thi s year. "I'm exci te d wit h th e new challenge and wou ld l ik e t o pe rso na l ly th an k Lui s d'Antin for co unting on me, " Xaus said in a stateme nt. " I'm going to give it all 20 0 pe rce nt fo r him and for th e te am . I'm happy to be on Spanish t eam and to con t inue w it h Neil [H od g sonl. I have a goo d rela ti ons hip w it h him. and o ff the track s we respect each ot her. I've been with Ducati fo r the past four yea rs , and I'm please d to keep on , but until now I haven' t had the opport unity of try ing the GP bike. and I'm loo king forwa rd to it. " The tea m will tes t its new bike s De cember 10 - 12 a t th e Va le ncia c irc u it i n Spain. Xaus' signing ends all spe cula t ion that he wo uld end up in the AMA Sup erbike Serie s on th e Ducati Au stin mount . Cl ear Ch annel has off icia lly announc ed th at b oth Ricky Carmichael and Chad Reed will co mpete in the opening tw o rounds of the W or ld Sup ercro ss Cha mp io ns h ip. wh ich w ill ge ts un der way in S evill e, Spa in , o n Saturda y , Decemb er 6 . Team Alstare Suzuki , who thi s yea r fielded Spaniard Gregori o Lavilla in th e W orld Sup erb ik e Ch ampionship , hav e co nfi rmed th at they would abide by the d e ci si o n o f th e MS MA (Mo to rcyc le Sp ort M anufa ct urers A sso ci at ion) and not to take part in th e 2004 se ries due to th e t e chn ical and tire regul ati on s , Francis Batt a, tea m manager of the Belgium-based team . issued a release th at ech oed th e statement rele a sed by the MSMA o n S unday , November 16 . "In accordance wi th the MSMA 's decision , Team Alstare Suzuki has decided not to part ici pat e in 200 4 W orl d Superb ike Cha mpio nship races as Suzuk i's off icial t eam , It is ou r heartfelt regre t that we are not able to show our racin g perfor- mance at the track to all of the SBK race fan s , We do hope that the publi c can understa nd th at we were compelled to ma ke suc h a sa d de ci si on th is tim e." Batta did say that they wou ld take pa in the 200 4 W orld Supersport Ch ampionship races with the new Su zuki GS XR600 . The o ff icial det ails, including riders, will be announc ed at a later date . Barta 's state me nt came hot on the heels of th e release fr om the M embers of the M otor cycl e Sp ort M anufa cturers As so ciatio n (M SM A) th at they wi ll de finite ly not compete in the World Superbike Championship be cau se of the te chni cal and o ne- t ire rule s , the w ord coming from a press release iss ued by th e organizat ion' s sec retary-general. "A set of ve ry fair techni cal rules had been agree d by all MSMA members (Aprilia, Hond a, Kaw asak i. Su zuk i, M V Agusta, KTM . Du cati and Yama ha) in order t o pr e vent un n e c e s s a r il y high ma rket prices for the machin es t hat the series is based on, but th e rules have not been ado p te d. C on s equ entl y , the MSMA. me mbers have unanim ou sly det erm ined that unless these rules are adopted and th e decision to restrict tires to a Single make is rescinded , MSMA memb ers will not co mpe te in 20 04 W orld Ch ampio ns hi p Sup er bi ke ra c in g a s fa ct ory teams and, furt herm ore , w ill not provide tec hnical assistance on a fact ory basis . Du cati is exempted due to its pre- exist in g co nt rac t ual com mit ments to spo nsors , " sai d th e r e lea s e, wh ich was Signed by Taka nao Tsubou ch i. long-time Grand Prix phot ographer w ho is also the MSMA' s sec re ta ry -ge ne ra l. Du cat i is co mmitted to the series th rough th e Fila Du cati t eam o f Jame s Tose land and Regi s La coni. No other factory teams are expec ted to take part , bu t it should be pointed out that on ly Suzuki took part in 2003 through it s as s oc iat io n w it h Corona Als tare S uzuk i. Rider G regorio Lav illa has bee n searching, in vain, fo r a 2004 ride , suggesting Suzuki wo n't be back in Superb ike next year. Hond a will