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/128306
MotoGP Schedule Changes It's now final: where the wig-wearing Rossi wil l sh ower his cham pog ne in 2004. T he final pieces of th e 2004 MotoGP calendar fell into place I recently afte r Form ula On e organizers made their final moves. The e nd result is that the British Gra nd Prix w ill now be he ld on July 25 instea d of July I I < Don ington Park), and at the Rio Grand Prix will be held on Sunda y, July 4, instead of Saturday, July 3 I (at th e Autodro mo Nelson Piquet in Jacarepagua, Brazil), The FIM moved the date of the British race because it wo uld have clashed with the new da te for th e British Formula On e race , now planned fo r July I I at Sil erstone , a tra ck not v far from Doningto n Park in the British Midlands . With the UK date o n July 25, it wou ld have been impos sible to get the bikes and teams to Rio in time fo r the July 3/ race, so th e co mp ro mise date of Inde pe ndence Day was chose n. On December 12, the F-I go veming bod y, t he FIA, announced t hat th e French and British GPs wo uld sw itch dates. Silverst one's F- I race was moved to July II w ith Magny.Cours o n for july 4. Th e French rac e remain s pro visional until an agreeme nt is reached between the teams and or ganizers before the end o f 2003 . Racing On The Rocks B ecause of miserable weat he r, jan uary and early February is a time when many mo torcyclists can on ly dream about riding. For those willing to brave th e cold . howeve r. th is is pr ime time for mo to rcycle racing. The AMA Ice Race Nationals w ill be held January 31 and February I at Albright Shor es in Gladw in, Michigan. W ith a tota l of 20 classes for ATVs and bikes, including classes for st udded and unstudded t ire s, the Nation als will feature th e purse-paying The schedule is as follows: Briefly··· California S peedway and t he Ameri can Red C ross have announced the "Race for Relief" moneta ry do nat ion total of $ 143 ,284 .29 to the South ern California Fire Disast er Relief fund, w hich is be ing adm iniste red by th e American Red Cross. "O n beh alf of all th e people we serve, staff and vo lunteers of th e Ame rican Red C ross, we wo uld like to th ank Ca liforn ia Speedway for the support and co mmit me nt to t he co mmunity," said Sandy Silva, Inland Valley Ch apter CEO of the American Red Cross, "The speedway sho uld be co mme nded for he lping the fire vict ims rebuild and get back o n th e ir fee t ." Th e largest of the monetary donatio ns, $93,462.50. came fro m California Speed way ticket hoiders wh o donated th e co st of the ir C hamp Ca r weeken d tickets to th e disaster re lief effo rts following its cance llat ion. Close to 500 t icket ho lders re spond ed w ith t icket totals averaging $200, w ith so me as high as $900. "Th e real vict ory here lies in the hearts and hands of our ticket holders w ho gave unse lfishl to th e disaster re lief y efforts:' California Speedway president Bill Miller said. "T he ou tpouring of ge nerosity fro m so many people made th is community effo rt a very humbling ex perie nce ." Fujio Yoshimura. the head of th e famous Japanese tunin g house, has be en ho lding a num ber of European Suzuki importer tuning and setup tra ining schools over the past two wee ks, intr od ucing the factory racing kit parts fo r Suzuki's all-new 200 4 G5X-R range of machines, accord ing to a release issued by Suzuki. T hree separate seminars in Italy. France and the UK have seen invited Suzuki race teams, Suzuki dea lers and press attend ing th e day-long introduction to t he 2004 tun ing kits . Y himura has been manufacturing th e facto ry race kit parts os for Suzu ki since 1997. Fujio Yoshimura . 55 , said: "I have co me to Europ e to give a se ries of se m inars on ou r 2004 Y shimura rac e kit o parts fo r the new GSX-R range o f mach ines. It is impo rta nt to bo th Yoshimura and Suzuk i t hat teams and individuals are fully trained in the fitting and setup of ou r race parts, and we ar e confident that 2004 o will rep eat the outstanding results achieved by Y shim ura and Suzuki ove r the past few years. II April 18 May 2 May 16 June 6 June 13 June 26 July 4 July 18 July 25 August 22 Se p t e mbe r 5 Sept e mbe r 19 October 2 O ctober 10 October 17 O ctober 3 I Welkom, South Africa Jerez, Spain Le Mans, France Mugello , Italy Catalunya, Spain Assen, Holland Rio de Janiero, Brazil Sachsenring, Germany Silverstone, England Bmo, Czech Republic Estoril, Portugal Motegi, Japan Qatar Sepang, Malaysia Phillip Island, Australia Valencia, Spain Cold Cu tter Shootout races , for A and Pro ride rs in 450cc and Open classe s. Practice begins at 9 a.m ., and racing beg ins at I I a.m. on both days. Lodging is available but is som e distan ce fro m the track, so ma ke plans ea rly. For mo re info rmati o n about the 2004 AMA Ice Race Nationals, call 8 10/686 - 1994 o r 810/845 · 1192. Robe rts St ill Not Signed Although he was aboard his father's Proton at the se aso n-e nding test session in Spain in De cember, Kurtis Roberts hasn't signed his co ntract yet, and wh en he does, it w on't mean much. "I can actually get out o f it at any time ," Roberts sa id - and th at w ith his father 's co nse nt . "If so meone cam e along like Y aha o r Honda and w anted me to ride for them if • who am knows, if one of the guys gets hurt befor e the start of th e season . I can be let out of mine any time fo r so mething like that a bett e r ride - as long as I want to . If it 's something that we can win on , then I can do th at. I thin k it's go ing to be e it her a on eor two-year dea l, but I have a lot of options in th e re to get out. My dad wo uld want me to get on something t hat co uld w in, if th e thing 's [Proton] no t coming along as we need it to. He knows that I want to win , and he wa nts me to win also , or at least be in a posit io n to ." www.cyclenews.com Rich Oliver's Mystery Scho ol has announced a ne w associatio n wit h Lindemann Engineering. Long-tim e Team O liver Yamaha sponsor jim Lindemann of Lindemann Engineering is now the "official suspension spe cialist and supplier" for Rich Oliver 's Mystery School fleet of Y amaha training motorcycles. Former AMA Supercross and Moto cro ss Champion Jeff Emig has ente red into an e ndorseme nt agreement with Motocross Vacations. "Motoc ross Vacation s is th e best way to ex perie nce t he Southern Ca lifornia motocross lifestyle," said Emig. As part of their re lat ionship, Em ig will host two Motocross Vacation s special eve nts per year with fans and ride rs gett ing t he opportu nity to tak e an MX Vacation with Emig. "I loo k forward to wo rking with a quality-based ride r ex pe rience as MXV has proven to be and ant icipate working close ly w ith jo hn and Suzi to en sure we provid e great spec ial ce lebrity events. " Fo r more info rma tion, visit www.MXVacations.co m or call 909/246-1503 . Team Hamm er Inc., racing as Team Valvoline EMGO Suzuki. has signe d a one-yea r contract with road racer Chris Peris. The 18~year. old Peris w ill co mpete in th e 2004 AHA Supersport Se ries o n one of the team's Suzuki GSX-R600s. Per is lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, but has competed reg ularly in the United States since he w as 15 . In 2000 and 200 I, Peri s raced exclusively in the USA, w inning the 200 I WSMC 125cc Grand Prix C hampio nship, In 2002 Peris continued to race with WSMC , co mp eted in the C anad ian 600cc Supersport National Serie s wit h a best finish of third, and qualified for and corn peted in a 125cc Wo rld Championship Grand Prix. Peris ran most of th e 2003 AMA Series in the Supersport an d 5uperstock classes on a private 600cc machine , w ith a best finish of 13t h in Supersport and best finish of I Ith in Superstoc k. "I'm excited to finaily be making a career, out of my racing and actually getting paid to race ," said Peris. "Th is definitel y furthers my career, and I'm real happ y with that. I'm ex cited to ride with the team and to be on a Suzuki next season." Josh De m u t h re -e stablished his dominance of the National Arenacro ss Series by sweeping all four main events in Fort Worth, Texas, january 2-3. This domination was further exaggerated in the points standings, as Demuth's main rival, Ca nadian Dar cy Lange, d idn't start Friday's 12Scc main ev en t, altho ugh he finished second in both 250cc mains and fifth in Saturday's I25cc main. Dem uth now leads Lange by a score of 304·260. CYC LE NEWS • JANUARY 14, 2004 9