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/128243
8WElUXO o Continuedfrompage 3 ~ ~r J ~n H op ~ n s ,wh o ~ s attend ~ ' O O O O 0' O nJ ' eve ry Ca nadian national round but tw o since 1997 . "Few forms of racing have tency . " Fraser' s 25 yea rs of race files , not e s, interv iew s and photos w ill form the basis of t he boo k, Inside M otorcy- c1 es w ill provtde edit ing, o rganizat ional and de sign serv ices . A spring, 2004 , launch is ant icipated , l,. Ezra Lu sk has announced he wil l team wi t h veteran mo t oc ros s t rai ner (and rr-: c yc le n ews.corn c o n t ri b uto r ) Gary S emics fo r t he 2004 s uperc ros s and nat ional mot oc ro ss se ason . Lusk said I _ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. Th e Am erican Motorcycl ist Associa tion trad it iona lly caps off the year of racing with its AMA Pro Racing Banquet, but thi s year, the AMA deci ded to sing le out the amate ur racer s who com pete in championships run under the AMA Sports banner by holding their own AMA Sports Banquet. The inaugural event was held at the Las Vegas Hilto n on Friday night, November 22, the night before the Pro banqu et . The AMA Sports Banqu et recognized cham pio n racers from off-roa d to road racing and j ust about every thing else in between. Also, a few other outstanding individuals in the sport were honored. The gala event was hosted by Greg White and Tim Cotter. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Sportsman of the Year and the Athlete of the Year Awards, The Sportsman of the Year Award honors acts of exceptional sportsmanship in the heat of competition, and it was presented to Austin Greenland, winner of the Grand National Championship in the 85cc DTX (9- 13) class of the AMA Dirt Track Grand Championships . The Athlete of the Year Award went to six-time AMA National Enduro Champion Mik e Lafferty, who j ust recentiy wrapped up his fourth titl e in a row. Motocrosser Mike Alessi was honored as Youth rider of the Year enjo yed suc h ongo ing popularity in th is co untry or developed Canadian ta lent for t he international sce ne with such co nsis - L 7lDiJ@ jij[Jljj]fiJfJ@[Jf][jrfj @@fJ ·7lDiJ@f)r? @f21DiJ [fJfiJ!.lBI!l the nat ionally te levised A M A U.S . Ch evy Tr ucks Superbike C ham pi on ship event the two wi ll hit th e trac k Decem ber 1 at l. us ks B ainbri d g e , G e org ia, t rai ning fa c ility to begin p re pa rati on s fo r w hat at Infineon Raceway . The event w ill be k nown as t he Kaw a sa ki Sh o wdo wn , t ions , t hat d oo med th e 200 4 op en ing round a t t he S uzu ka C ircui t , a t rac k ow ned by Honda, Instead the se ries w ill Festival in Va lencia, Spain, at the circuit o f C heste, December 13· 14. There s tart at th e Ph ak i s a Ra c e w ay i n Welkom, South Africa. are 49 racer s f rom eigh t cou nt ries part ic ip at in g . T ho se racers will inc lude J o s h H e r r in, 13 , and Tommy A q u i no , 1 1, wit h boys comi ng from was a ki d , " S ern ic s . a f o rm er Su percr oss Ch ampi on w it h 14 years expe rience as a pro race r, ha s pe rso na lly tr ained many of the w orld ' s winn ing est ed safety change s. It wa s the ir report. w hich as ke d for s ubs ta nt ia l modifica- The Spanish M ot or cyclist Federation will sanction the first -ever World Mini G P wouldn 't race aft er 30 ," Lusk said, " By t e ami ng wi t h Ga ry, I f e el I 'm g ivi ng myself the best poss ible chance of finally acc om plishing t he goa l I've had since I Yoshimura Suzuki' s Ben S p ie s is on the road to recovery afte r his cras h du r- riders, including Jeremy M cGrath, Brock S ellard s , J ohn D owd and Kevi n W ind - Southern California. Both were invited to co mpet e in the even t by O zbike USA. t he company that sponsor s both riders. ham , " Gary and I worked t og et he r in 1997, and it w as dur ing tha t perio d wh en I won my firs t indoor race and my first - A mong the many competito rs taking part in t he W orld Mini G P Fe sti v al wi ll be sev e ral t op 125 c c G ra nd Pr ix ra c er s F ever 250 cc outd oo r race, and it turned ri out to be the most successful period of my c are er, " sa id l.u s k . " Th at' s w hy Gary' s nam e kept co ming up as I start ed puttin g t og e th e r my g am e pl an f or 2004 . " from Europ e, with all of them co mpeting on Me tra Kit Min i GP mach ines. I t': tJ l: C I' I . t~ The mys tery of D a ij ir o Kato's death at the ope ning M ot oGP of 2003 may be unc ove red during a briefi ng in Japan thi s wee k . The ind e pend ent inves tig ato ry Suzuk i's Sean Hamblin has announced grou p, form ed in the wak e of the tragic death, will hold a pres s bri efing November 28 in Tokyo. according to a Honda M ot or Spo rts pres s release. "P lease be inform ed th at the ACCident Invest igati on that he will partner w ith Alloy MX for the 2004 and 2005 se aso ns . " I am really exc ited abou t wo rking with A lloy for the "'--'1 L n next tw o years , and I hope my relat ion- U sh ip w ith t hem grows in t o some t hing r: ..,J C C omm ittee o f Mr. Daijiro Ka to would even longe r t erm ," said Hamb lin in a release fro m his publicist. " From day one , I've been imp resse d w it h everyth ing hold th e D ebri ef (s ic) se s sio n o f t he c ras h accident, w hich occurre d back in Ap ri l 6th , 2003 , d u r i n g 20 03 WGP J apa ne se Grand Prix , held at Suzuka C ircuit. J apan, " th e releas e say s. The A CCide nt Inv e st ig ati o n C ommittee is fo rmed by an inde pend en t t hird party o o o n o o o o o about Alloy - from the quality and design o f t he gea r to the people wh o run t he compan y . N e il Ca lves be rt and B en M a s e k hav e a s tro ng pa ssion f o r mo tocr oss and a uniqu e vis ion fo r how A lloy can co nt ribute to the spo rt. I' m really happy to be a part of wha t they 're chaired by pro fe ssor Ichiro Kageyama , N ihon U niversity , College of Ind ustria l Technolo gy . Kato, w ho w as put o n lif e doi ng. "In addition to endo rsing A lloy' s riding gear, Hamblin will also endorse its support afte r the accident. died a week later as a result of injuries suff ered in an early race crash. Entering t he chicane on th e th i rd la p , Kat o ' s b ike s u d d e n ly line of mot oc ross-inspired sportswear. Kawasaki Motors Corp. and Infineon Raceway have reached a mult iyea r stra tegic partners hip that wi ll make th e pow ersp or t s industry co mpany the " Off icial M otor cycle, ATV and Per sonal Wa te rc ra ft of In fi n e on Ra c e w ay , " according to officia ls from both compa- o o veered left into a wall. Speculation centered on a mech anical p rob lem , rat her tha n hu man er ro r , and an outcry wa s made to inves t igate . The committee was fo rmed , and now , nearly eig ht month s later, it will reveal its findings. What also came out of the cras h wa s the formation o f a safe ty co m m ittee . T op r id ers , nies . The three-year partn ership w ill also give Kaw asaki the tit le spo nso rs hip of o 6 DEC EMBER 3, 2003' c y .c inc lu d ing V al en tin o Ro s si and Kenn y I Robert s J r.. join ed by various race off icials , now inspe ct every G P track th e night before the race, sugge st ing need- beginning w ith the 2004 season. th e 28 -yea r·ol d rider said co uld be his fi na l at t empt a t w in ni ng a N nat io nal C hampionship, "I 've always told myself I i after sweeping all six of his motos en route to two champ ionships in the AMA Motocross Natio nals at Loretta Lynn's, Vet/ Senior Rider of the Year honors went to Kevin Foley, who, at the age of 40, has been racing 31 .years and this summer won his ninth championship in the AMA Motocross Nationals. Nichole Cheza was honored as Wom en's Rider of the Year for winning champion ships in both ice racing and dirt track: The AMA also used the opportunity to acknowledge other industry people and organizations. A new Organizers of the Year Award was broken down into three categorie s: off- road, motocross and track racing. The off- road award went to P&D Promotio ns, long-time promoter of hare scrambles races. The motocross award went to MX Sports, which produces the annual AMA Motocross Nationals (Loretta Lynn's), and the track racing award went to the Lodi Motorcycle Club. Other honors included Jason Weigandt as Print Media Journalist of the Year, Steve Bruhn as Photojourn alist of the Year, Larry Maiers as Broadcast Journali st of the Year, and www.cyclenews.com was honored as Website of the Year. e n e Vll s ing a tire test at Dayt ona Int ern at ional Speedway, ''I' m getti ng re al c lo se to being bac k," Sp ies said last wee k w hile en rout e to Las Vega s for the AMA Pro Aw ard s Banqu et , " I've go t about tw o days left be f o re my ba c k i s t o t all y healed, My butt is abo ut a w eek and a half away fr om being better, an d t he same goes f or my arm . If I had to . I co uld be on a b ike goi ng as fast as I co uld in fo ur we eks . I've just got to put on so me weig ht and ge t in be tte r car dio shape , I w on't do the Dayt ona t ire test beca use th ere's really no se nse in rushing things, Everyt hing is ahead of sc hed ule as far as my injuri es go, and it won 't be long bef ore every thing is 100-percent healed. " Spies sa id he'd bee n hearing r umors th at he 'd dropped out o f th e Superbik e class becau se of his injurie s. "That ' s ju st not tru e ," Sp ies said, " People are saying I dropp ed out becau se of my injuries and that I have a mess ed-up back . Right now all my bac k has on it is a Band-Aid. Again , everyth ing is ahead o f sc h e d u le , a n d I ' l l be ba ck a s planned ," p ur c hase t he c o mp any and bring it s p ro duc t s, t eam and expert is e int o the Re v ! fa m ily , a c co r d ing t o a p r e s s release, The newl y form ed comb ination w ill co nt inue w it h the leg endary Cob ra b rand name and w ill be call ed C obra Sp o rt. In c . B ud M a im one, C obra fou nder, mar ket ed th e f ir st t ruly raceready 50cc motocro ss bik e. " Bud 's cont rib ut ions t o motocro ss are ex t rao rdinary . and we are proud to carry on the t raditio n of C obra and thrilled that he w ill co nt inue to be part o f t he tea m," said C ob ra ' s new pr e sid en t S ean Hi lb ert. " B ud creat ed th e mar ket fo r the highperformance 50 cc mo to cross bik e, and his le g ac y will co n t inue wit h C ob r a t hro ugh hi s hands-on involvemen t w ith t he co mpa ny," C o b ra ' s futu r e pl an s includ e improving th e quality and performance of ex ist ing prod ucts and expanding produ ct offe rings , t he release state s. Team C hevy Trucks Kaw asaki ' s new est memb er Michael Byr n e was recently inj ured at the team ' s te st facility in Corona, Cali forni a, sustaining an injury to his left shoulder, The 24-year -old Au stra lian, who res ides in Lake Elsinore, Cal iforn ia, underwent suc ce ssful s urg ery in San Di ego on Friday , N ovember 14 , by Dr , Pau l M ur p hy , th e sa me s urge o n wh o suc cess f ully repaired tea mmate J ames Stewart 's co ll a r b o n e la s t se as o n , By rne ' s inju red shoulder was in far bette r co ndi t ion than or iginally diagnosed , leading to a shorter rehabilitation, which is expected to keep Byrne off his motorcyc l e f o r f o ur weeks , T he surge ry repa ire d torn ca rti lage in his left shoulde r and did not affect his rota tor cuff as A ustralian road racer Jamie Stauffer has inked a dea l with Kaw asak i that wi ll see him contest t he Aus tra lia n Su perbike and S upe rsport C ham pi on sh ip in 2004 . Sta uffer st arte d the 2003 A M A Supers po rt season ri ding a se lf -p repared Yamaha R6 be fore impre ss ing the Yo sh imura Su zu ki team eno ugh t o be Sign ed on to ride its G SX- R600 beginning w it h t he Inf ineon Racew ay rou nd , He ended the series ranked 13th, Officia ls at Rev ! Motorcycles hav e co me t o an agreeme n t w it h Cobra Motorcycle Manufacturing Inc , to init ially diagnosed , He will begin rehabilitat ion immediat ely and can continue his card io t raini ng o n a sta tiona ry bike , acco rding to Kaw asak i. Byrne ret urns to Kaw asaki for th e 2004 ra cin g seaso n after a tw o -year hiat us , w here he w il l compe te aboard a f a c t o ry -b a c ked Kaw asak i KX2 50 in t he 16 -ra ce TH Q A MA U ,S , S upercro ss S erie s and 12 race C hevy T r uc k s AM A U ,S , M ot o cross Ch ampionshi ps. He rode an abb rev iate d Su perc ross season aboard a Kawasak i in 200 1 for J eff Emig' s race tea m and finis hed ninth in the final 250 stan dings . eN