Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Testing, Testing... 1-2-3 Han T he American Honda road race team was back at it again last week w ith a test session at Californ ia Speedway in Fontana, Cal iforn ia. All three of the Superbike me n - Ben Bost rom, Miguel Duhamel and Jake Zemke (pictured) - were there, as well as Erion Honda's Alex Gobert, the Aust ra lian rid ing his Formula Xtreme and Superstock Hondas. When all was said and done after the two-day test on January 14-15, Bostrom was the quickest of the t hree Superbike men, the Californian clocking a I:26.0 to the I:27.0 of Duhamel and the I:27.3 of Zemke . "We 've been sha ring two of the bikes at every test: ' Zemke said . "The setup is pretty close to the same . It's fun to try w hat they have as far as setup and go from there." In addit ion to the Sup erbike, Zemke and Duhame l also joined Gobert on the Xtreme bikes . "Tha t bike is fun to ride, but we're just starting to scratch the sur- face ," Zemke said. "Since we can change the geometry o n that o ne , you can carry crazy corner speeds with it. It's like it's on rails." Duh ame l was the fastest of the three on the Xt re me bike, lapping at I:28.4 to Zemke's I:29. 1 and Gobert's 1:30.1. "I didn 't work much on the Xtre me bike at all at th is test," Zemke said. "We 're going back there in a few weeks, so we just worked on fuel injectio n and stu ff. Th is test I was more focused on the Superbike tha n on the Xt re me bike." World Endurance 2004 The 2004 Endurance Wo rld Championsh ip will consist of seven ro unds and w ill include , fo r the first time ever, a round in the Peoples' Republic of China - on the circuit of Z huha i. In addition, a 200 -mile event will also be held in Imola, Italy, on June 27 , with the se ries conclud ing at Vallelunga in Italy on October 3. The schedule is as follows: APRIL12 Assen, Holland(SOOkm race) MAY 2 Zhuhai, China (six-hour race) J UNE5 A1bacete, Spain (12-hour race) J U E27 N IrnoIa, Italy (200-mile race) J UY25 L Suzuka Japan (eight hour race) , · AUG 14·15 AIlemagne, Gennany(24·hour race) OCT 3 Vallelunga, Italy (200-mile race) Paul Carruthers Indian's Assets Sold A deal to purchase Indian Motorcycle Corporation's hard assets has been finalized w ith Nat ional Retail Equipment Uquidators (NREL) and Great American Gro up. While the hard assets - including motorcycles, parts and factory machinery • is now under the ownership of NREL and Great Ame rican, future ownership of Indian Motorcycle's real estate and intellectual property is still be ing negotiated . "We co ntinue to steadfastly pursue negotiations to buy Ind ian's real estate and intellect ual property," says Bill Melvin, CEO of NREL, in a press release. "As we negotiate the rest of the deal , our group continues to evaluate how we could retain the factory and resume motorcycle production in Gilroy, California." For now, NREL will move forward with a preview and sale of excess hard assets not needed by a new manufacturer. Vintage Motorcycle Days To Feature BMW The AMAhas announced that BMWwill be the "featu red marque" atAMA Vintage Moto rcycle Days 2004, to be held July 16-18 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington , Oh io. In celebrating the BI-yea r-old brand, AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days 2004 will be nefit the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum and will fea ture an exh ibit of classic mo to rcycles and me morabilia. The trad itional "Grand Marshal" of the event will be announced soon . Mid-Ohio will again host AHRMA road racing throughout the weekend; two days of AHRMA motocross , plus observed trials and dirt -track racing, also will be on the schedule. In all, the AHRMA racing events are expected to attract more than I 100 competitors. The event will also will feature two vlntage bike shows; the tradi tional all-brands AMA Swapmeet, No rth America's largest; a 8 JANUARY 28,2004 • slate of guest speakers , including renowned des igner Craig Vett er; de mo rides offered by BMW, Buell, Harley-Davidson and MotoGuzzi; an array of vendors featuring new products from top manufacturers and dealers ; the annual Moto rcycle Hall of Fame Auction of motorcycles and memorabilia; and the retu rn of Rhett Rotten 's o riginal 194 I "Wall of Death" drome, with vintage Indians and Harley-Davidsons defying gravity on its hardwood walls. This year marks AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days' 10th annual eve nt at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Motorcycles previously ho no red with the featured marque distinction include BSA, Honda, Norton, Pe nton, Vincent, Indian, Span ish mo to rcycle s and , most recently, Hartey-Davidson . CYCLE NEWS inconvenience to any buyers wh o had already arranged their schedules . ':AJI interested par"There's a sizeab le invento ry of equ ipment and assets that would be considered excess baggage to any new startup: ' says Melvin. " NREL will se ll excess machinery, apparel. accessories. raw materiaJ, office equ ipment, motorcycles and company veh icles to prune facility assets do wn to a leaner operational level." NREL will open Indian's Gilroy, Californ ia, factory doors on January 21 to kick off the sale of excess machinery and assets - out of respect to the large volume of inte rested buyers who had o riginally planned to attend a now-cancelled pub lic auct ion at the facility by CMA Business Credit Services that same day, according to N REL. CMA's sched uled auction was canceled when the hard assets were purchased by N REL and Great American Group. Since the auctio n had already been preadvertised, Melvin dec ided to start his sale of excess inventory on the same date to avoid ties are invited to preview sale items January 19-20 and to attend the opening of the sale on January 21 in Gilroy, California," he said. Doo rs open for the sale at 9:30 a.rn. at Indian's 200 East IOth Street facility. The sale does not include all items orig inallyadvertised by CMA but will be a substantial portion of the advertised lots , according to Melvin. "T his will be a negotiated sale, not a public auct ion," Melvin said. ''Additiona l assets may be added to the sale inven tory in the future - if we determ ine that they're unnecessary for future production." Many of Ind ian's 380 form er employees have been out of work since then-presi- dent/CEO Lo u Terhar gathered them together o n September 19 to tell the m that the factory was shutting down, effective immediately. The workers had no prior warning. Details and photos of items to be sold off can be viewed online at www.nrel.com. Hopkins: The Tour M aster Grand Prix Tours has annou nced a personal sponso rship agreement with Suzuki MotoGP rider John Hop kins. In 2004 Grand Prix Tours is organizing tours to MotoG P events in Je rez, Spain; Donington Park, England; and Brno in the Czech Republic; and Hopkins will make personal appearances at function s put on by Grand Prix Tours during these World Championship events. "We are thrilled to have this re lationship with John," said Grand Prix Tours president Barry Simpson. "O ne of the things people who attend ou r tours en joy most is pe rsona lly meeting the racers. John is a great young rider and already has a strong following among American MotoG P fans. We loo k forward to working with John this summer and wish him a successful season on the track." Hop kins, the 20-year-old two-time AMA 40 t h Anniversary /W Champion, is entering his th ird season in MotoGP. He's looking forward to getting more people enthused about MotoGP. "I want Ame ricans to get to know MotoGp," Hopkins said. "I can't think of a better way to become a follower of the sport than to come to watch the race live and meet the racers. Hopefu lly I'll , win some new fans along the way. With fIVe Ameri cans in the series next year, there's neve r been a better time for fans fro m the States to come to watch a MotoGP." For more information, contact Grand Prix Tours , I07 1 Camelback Street, Newport Beach, CA 92660-3228. 8 '." g >- '"

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