Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Rossi Rides Yamaha... Fast! n just three days , MotoGP Wo rld Cham pion Valentino Rossi nearly set the fastest time this year in preseason testi ng at Sep ang in Malaysia, and ce rt ainly re affi rme d his status as the greatest ride r in th e wo rld. The Italian quickly came to grips with the much-maligned Yamaha MI, lap ping the searingly hot Sepang circuit in a time nearly as good as the fastest that had been run this testing seaso n. His final best lap of 2:02.7 5, I on the third day of a three-day tes t, was only a few tenths off the 2:02 .5B5 set by Camel Honda Po ns' Max Biaggi, the Italian wh o was riding the fam iliar and improve d Honda RC21 IV. Telefo nica MoviStar Ho nda's Sete Gibe rnau's be st was a 2:02.70. "We did some good work," Rossi said in a team press release. "The time we made was good for a first te st , but tires and chassis se ttings were the main aim here. I've really enjoyed my first three days with Yamaha I'm very happy. There's still work to do o n the engine, and we 'll carry on with that , but overall things have been good ." Crew chief Jeremy Burgess, who came w ith Rossi from the Repsol Hon da team, was his typical unde rstated self. "I guess we 're doing okay," he said. "We 've achieved enough for a fast time, and we were running according to the Michelin test pro - gram . Things have been very harmonious in terms of integration with Yamaha, and now we'll go away and work on whatever the Yamaha Development Group has got for us." Rossi's teammate Carlos Checa did his best lap of 2:03.72 on an BB-Iap day. "The bike fee ls better with th e 16.S-inch fro nt tire ," said t he Spaniard, who tried both 17-inch and 16.S-inch fro nts. "T he race endurance test was not so bad. and this was only the first test of the sea - Valentino Rossi had his first ride on the Yamaha Ml in Malaysia and was quickly o n the pace. son. O f course, we've got more to do , but we have all we need to achieve results." Rossi's time came as a pleasant surprise to Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha team director Davide Brivio. "All our competitors will work hard this Raga Wins Again Adam Raga won the fifth rou nd of the World Indoo r Trials Champio nship in th e Palais des Spo rts in Marse illes , France , o n January 24, topping Montesa HRC's Dougie Lampkin by a single point. Th e win puts Raga in the lead in the World Cha mpionsh ip by four points over Lampkin, 44-40, with Lampkin's team mate Takahisa Fujinami third in the title chase. Fujinami finished fourt h in the Fre nch roun d with Albert Cabestan y finishing third. Janklow Gets 100 Days Former Sou th Dako ta Co ngress man Bill janklow was se nte nced to 100 days in jail last week in conn ection with his December B conviction of seco nd-degree mans laughter as the re sult of an auto accide nt that killed a motorcycli st . After 30 days beh ind bars, ja nklow will be allowed to leave jail duri ng the day fo r up to 10 ho urs to perform community service, according to news reports. After he com- pletes his jailterm , he w ill be o n probation for 6 '1\n error in a pretty slippery zone compl icate d things for me," runner-up Lampkin said in a release from histeam. "Coming second is no t so bad, but it's no t so good when Raga wins again and goes off with ano ther tw o of my advantage points. This is a hard and c1ose run champ ionship, and so now I have to keep wo rking and put up a good fight to red uce the diff eren ce he has over me ." The next rou nd of the se ries will be held in Barcelo na's Palau Sant jordi on February I. three years, during which he will not be allowed to drive . The 64-year-old Rep ublican was found guilty of seco nd-degree manslaughter for speedin g, running a stop sign and causing a collision that killed 55-year-o ld mo torcy clist Randy Scott at a rural inte rsection o n August 16. janklow anno unced his resignation fro m the U.S. House of Representat ives after the verdict. South Dako ta does no t requ ire minimum sentences, so judge Rodney Steele was free to impose anything from no jail time and no fines to a to tal of more tha n II years behind FEBRUARY 4, 2004 • CYCLE N EWS bod y." His teammate Norick Abe couldn't quite w inter. too, but this is a good first test to motivate everyone in the team and every- Rossi confers wi th his crew chief Jeremy Burgess, the Australian having left Ho nda to join his rider at Yama ha. the end the bike was okay, but I took time to adjust to the 16.5-inch front tire I tried today. mak e the most of a selection of M ichelin tires on e fro m Yamaha," he said. Marco Melandri rode S2 laps on his Fortu na Gauloises Tech 3 and put in a best time of 2:0S.SS. "Bette r than yesterday," said the ltalian, still so re fro m recent sho ulder surgery. "In bars and $1 1,400 in fines. In addition to the IOO-day jail term, Stee le fined janklow $SOOO and ordered him to pay $SOa day fo r the cost of his 100 days in jail, for a total of $10,000. Janklow has been ordered to report to the coun ty jail in Sio ux Falls, South Dakota , on Feb ruary 7. On Sat urd ay, August 16, Scott, of Hard wick, Minnesota, was killed in a collisio n with a car driven by janklow. Th e fatal crash too k place at the inte rsection of two co unty roads in eas tern Sout h Dakota. Re po rt s rel eased At the moment my mind is strong but not my that suited his style we ll. "Tha t was a bit so-so," said the experi- enced japanese rider. "We 're still not qu ite there wi th the settings. but w e have not worked toget her before as a team. Even so I could n't get the time I felt the tires were capable of." back to 19B9, BO percent of those convicted of second-degree manslaughter have been sent to jailor priso n. Average jailtime was six months, and the average prison term was almost seven years, accor ding to the AMA. In the days followlng the accident, the AMAcalled on moto rcyclists nationwide to co ntact South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds and Atto rney Genera l Larry Long, urging the m to see k justice in the case . Using AMA Rapid Respo nse , moto rcyclists and by investigator s indicated that other concemed citize ns can send e-mail janklow 's car, trave ling at speed s estimated at more that 70 mph, did not stop at the stop sign and co ntinued into the path of the motor cycle, giving the rider no chance to avoid the fatal collision, according to AHA re po rts. "T he AHA is extre me ly disappointed with this sentence ," said Edward Moreland, AHA mes sages directly to South Dakota officials. AHA Rapid Response , which allows users vice pres ident for governme nt relations. "T his So uth Dakota cou rt has handed down a judicial insult to motorcyclists natio nwide and to the memory of Randolph Scott , the mot o rcyclist who paid the price for Mr. janklow 's crim inal conduct." Accord ing to a recent Associated Press review of Sout h Dakota court rec ords dating 40th Anniversary to contact lawmakers , govem ment officials and the med ia with the click of a button, is available on the Association's website, AHAD irectl ink.com . The AHA notes that tragic crash es like the one involvingjanklow, in which a car o r other vehicle violates th e right of way of a motorcycle , are all too common on the nat ion's highways. The most comprehe nsive study ever conducted into motorcycle accide nts fo und that nearly 7S percent of motorcycle accidents involve another vehi- cle, and tha t in almost tw o-thirds of th ose cras hes, the cause could be tra ced to the

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