Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

The big story of Mich elin's tire tests at Dayton a International Speedway last week was Eric Bostrom riding the Ducati Austin 999 for the first time. Valvoline EMGO Suzuki , with Steve Rapp and new signee Vincent Hask ovec, joi ned Ducat i in the three-day session to test the French rubber. Bostrom's fastest tim es on the Ducati were in the 1:48s on hand held stopwatches. These tim es were considered excellent, considering the track was green and there was no drafting involv ed. Bostrom ended the test happy with the new bik e and the tires, even though he crashed late on the final day. And the mood in both the Ducati and Michel in camps seem ed very upb eat. . "Overall , it was a very positive test," Bostrom said. "We were able to tum very consistent times, and that's what important here at Daytona. I was upset with myself for the one crash in the chicane. It was really chilly today [Saturday] and the tires were just too cold . I'm anxious to get on some other track s to find out more about how the bike and tires work on a more tradit ional road course." Rapp and Haskov ec looked solid on Valvo line EMGO Suzuki's new Formu la Xtreme -spec Suzuki GSX-R600s. The team also tested a nearly stock 2004 GSX-R600 Supersport m achine and did additional testing on a GSX -R 1000 AMA Superstock-spec bike. It's unclear if the team will compete in Superstock, since Michelin has not developed a 17-inch racing slick for a few years. Ducat i con cluded the tests with Bostrom do ing some long endurance runs to simulate racing conditions, and he did experience one chunked rear tire during the long endurance runs. The tire, how Lag una Se ca . N ot w antin g to butt up against the co nsiderably mo re pop ular F- l meeti ng, in rough ly the same part of England, M otoGP officials may want to move the D onington date up a w eek . to July 4 (the G erman G P at Sachsenring is a week later - Ju ly 18). If the British bik e GP was moved to the 4th . it would come a week after the Dutch at A ssen. traditio nally held on a Sat urday . Th e Fo r mula On e dates will be co nfirmed at the FIA W o rld Co uncil meeting on Decemb er 12, and no dec ision about D o ning to n will be made until then. n The World S upe rbike even t w hic h was schedu led i n Mont Tremb lant , Quebec. Canada . on Ju ly 4. 2004, will not take pla ce , acc o rd ing to t he FIM . " Fo llow ing the circuit inspectio n by CC R inspector C laude D an is . t he nume ro us works cannot be carried out in time. and therefore the circ uit ca nnot be hom o logated. Serie s promoter FGS ports is cur rently st udyi ng po ssibilities of re placi ng the event. .. the FIM said in a release . Joe Rocket made two announce ments last week. The first wa s that the leather company and N icky H ayde n had part ed ways. and th e second was that Mat M ladin had signed o n to use Joe Rocket le at h ers . " N icky ' s dedi ca ti on and relentless will to win became the spirit of our co mpany, " said Randy Robi son. president of Joe Rocket. ..And he has been a very big part of o ur success. I w ish him well in the fut ure as ou r co mpany look s forward to the new challenges of 20 04." In the same releas e, Hayden said: " Be ing part of Jo e Rocket has been a fant ast ic expe rie nc e for me. W e 've w on a lot of race s togeth er and had so me fu n. I know they 'll continue to have success , because my brother s To mmy and Ro ger Lee are going to co nti nue to fly the Jo e Rock et flag. I'd really like to thank Randy . Bru ce and M arc for all their support ." A s fo r Mladin. Bru ce Parker. marketing director fo r J o e Ro c k et , sa id : ..M at ' s a terrif ic addit ion to the Rocket racing team. His ta le nt a nd d et erm inati o n m ak e him a threat to w in any race , and we are ve ry proud to be associated with him. " In addition to we aring the Joe Rock et leathers, Mladin w ill be the excl usive dist ributor fo r the brand in A ustralia. Glove Boy has esta blished a distri but ionand-sales arrangement w ith M ot ion Pro to se ll and market Gl ove Boy lat ex gl ov e product s to powersports dealers nati on - ever, did not lose air pressure. Michelin officials said they were not overly concerned with the tire chunking , claiming they understood why the problem cro pped up and that adj ustments would be m ade before the Daytona 200 in March . Dunlop began a three-day tire testing session at the Speedway on Monday , December 8. Larry Lawrence wide . For more information. call 650/594 9600 or visit: www.motionpro .com . STTARS SupermotoTT has announced its Three Brothers Racing Wint er Series at Gr ange Motor C ircuit near App le V alley, Califomia. Each of the six rounds will offe r open practice on Saturday, w ith racing on Sunday for a range of supermoto classes. The series begins with round one on .January 4 and w ill co nclude w ith round six on April 18. For the co mplete sched ule. visit www.supertt.com or call 866/ 966·moto. C lear Channe l Ent ert ainm e nt' s M o t or S ports d ivi sion has annou nced a mul t iproperty agreement w ith Salt Lak e Citybas e d Ogi'o Intern a t io na l t hat i nclud e s T HQ W o r ld Supe r c ro s s G P/ THQ AMA Sup ercro s s S eri e s . N ati o nal and Reg io nal Arena cross and IFMA Freestyl e M ot ocro ss . M S R has announ ced that it has signed the MotoSport Outlet /Honda race tea m fo r th e 2004 and 2005 rac e sea sons . The two-year ag reeme nt wi ll put C raig An derson . J ust in Buck elew , JeanS e ba stien Ro y , Tig e r Lac ey an d S ea n Co llier into th e MSR Syst em X Apparel fo r t he S upercro s s and AMA N ati o nal Motocross Se ries . " We are ex tremely happy to be a part of the M otoS port O utlet Team . " said MSR' s D avid Ca sell a. "This is an o uts tandi ng group of racers who w ill really tum so me heads thi s year. It' s great to be part of so meth ing that has so much enthu siasm , talent and professio nalis m behind it. " M o to S ports tea m manager Bill Tanner added: " M S R rep resent s great motocro ss trad ition s, we at MotoSpo rt O utl et are proud to be a part of that co ntinuing he ritage. It is very clear to us that MSR is an industry leader , w ith solid leadership, desig ns and quality prod uc ts . W e lo ok fo rward to represen t ing MSR and deve lopi ng stro ng association s w ith their staff, spec ifica lly D ave Casella . M S R 's ma r k e ting m an ag e r , w ho has de mo nst rate d g reat co mmitment to t he success of our team ." Buck elew. Lacey and C oll ier w ill all ride th e new Ho nd a CR F250R with And erson and Roy slate d to ride the Ho nda CRF450R . Chap arral M otors ports w ill ho ld it s 11th annual Fan Appreciation Autograph Signing at its San Bem ardino. Cali fo mi a. headqua rte rs o n W ednesday . January 14 fro m 6 to 8 p .m. An ybo dy who is anybody in the AMA Su percross Series will be on hand to sign autog raphs at the dea lership . In add ition, Jeremy M cG rath w ill be ra ised $330,426 during the 2003 race season that w ill be used primarily to fund nee dy youth organi zati o ns in S onoma County. according to Infineon. The figure mark s th e larg est si ngle -ye ar donation since the Sono ma chapte r wa s formed in 1996 . The chap ter ' s Board o f Trust ees approved t he distribution of fund s at it s annual meet ing . S peedway Ch ild ren ' s C harities is the primary charitable arm of Speedway Motorsports Inc . wh ich owns and operate s Infin e o n Raceway . The S o no ma County c hap te r ha s aw ard ed $809,684 over the past three yea rs. The Dubai Ra llye (UA E D esert C hallenge) and the Rally por las P a mpas (Argen tina) have ch anged t hei r d ate s. ac co rd ing to the FI M. The Aust ra lia n Safari Rally withd rew its application and therefore is not part of th e 2004 World Championship . o n hand t o siq n his new bo ok . " W id e Open : The life In Sup ercro ss . " For mo re information. call 909/889 ·2761 . Big Gun Exhaust Systems ha s anno unc ed that the followinq tea ms w ill be using Big Gun Exhaust Systems and Big Gun Racing mot ors fo r the 2004 racing season: Keith /Kevin /Brian J ohn son . Eri c V allej o . J e ff G ib son , Robby M c Quarry, Matt Sm iley . Sant o Derisi. A Donnie Han sen Motocro s s Academy sess io n will be held at L.A. C ounty Raceway in Palmdal e, Califom ia. January 13-14 . For more informatio n. call 7 19/495-2624. Update dept : Jeremy McGrath's boo k . " W ide Open : A life In Supercro ss " will hit book stores on January 6. The World Speedway Grands Prix sc hed uled for Stockh o lm , Sweden, on May 1 and in Gothenburg on Augu st 21 have both been co nfirme d by th e FIM . The G rand Prix, w hich was scheduled fo r G ermany on J uly 10 . however , has been cance led . The o the r date s and ve nues have been co nfirmed. In addit ion. the FIM has anno unce d that the Spe edway World Cup will take place in Great Bri tain . The followinq is the calendar for th e Sp eed way W orld Champ ionship: M ay 1 - Sw eden. Stockho lm (O ly mpic Stadium): Ma y 15 - Cz ech Rep ub lic , Pragu e (Mar ket a Stad iu m); M ay 29 - Pola nd , Wro claw (Oly mp ic St ad iu m ) ; Ju ne 12 - Grea t B rit a in . C a rd iff ( M illenn iu m Stadium) ; Ju ne 26 - D enmark. Co penhagen (Park en St adium); Augu st 21 - Sw eden, G ot henb urg (Ul levl S ta dium) ; S e pt em be r 4 Slovenia, Krs ko (Matije Gu bca Stadium) ; Sept emb er 18 - Poland. Bydgoszcz

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