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/128314
Brief'Y··· Lawson Flies o ur-time World Ch ampion Eddie lawson got the opportunity to fly w ith the Blue Angels on February 20, the former Grand Prix star flying w ith Lt. Justin Otto in an F/A 18 over the Naval Air Facility in EI Cen tro, California, the winter home of the Blue Ange ls. "Wow, talk about shoc k and awe - I'm just shock ed ya'il let me fly in this jet," said lawson in a press release issued by Y amaha. "What I experienced is simply indescrib- F able ; I always have had the grea tes t res pect for o ur military and es pec ially fo r the se pilots and now even mor e so. They are so smart; they're e ngineers. tacticians and athlete s all rolled into o ne ." "Eddie ep itomizes the characteristics we re present in the Navy and Marine Corps ," said Otto. "It's an ho nor for us to share our passio n for flying and ou r love of se rving ou r co untry with him." I Honda's Steve Hengeveld and Johnny Campbell won the Class 22 motorcycle division of the SCORE San Felipe 250 in San Felipe, Baja California, on February 28, finishing the race with a time of four hours, nine minutes and 42 seconds for 12th overall. The duo maintained an average speed of S4.73S over the four-plus hours . Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha rider Carlos Checa took advantage of his sojourn in Austra lia when he dropped in on the world press test of Yamaha's RI at the Easte rn Creek circuit near Sydney, Australia. The Spaniard impressed attending journalists with several speedy outings aboard the bike at the former MotoGP venue, where he last competed in the SOOcc class in 1996. The press test sees aro und 120 inte rnatio nal journalists pass in and out of the Sydney area over a six-week pe riod, te sting both the new RI and Yamaha's Europe-only XT 660R and XT 660X models . Checa arrived on th e sce ne directl y fro m his arduous preseason Y amaha MotoGP te sting program, which in 2004 has alrea dy sent him twice to the Sep ang circuit in Malaysia and to the Phillip Island circuit near Melbourn e. "T his was a great way to have fun, e specially o n such a good track," Checa said in a re lease fro m Yamaha. "I'm very impres sed by this bike, the pe rformance is good, it handles lightly and well and is a real pleasure to ride . When the original RI first came on the mar ket , I got o ne, and the perfo rmance ofthe RI mod el has increased since then. This bike might becom e my numb er-o ne passion out- side racing! It's not just good to ride , but I rea lly like the look of it. I've just move d from the north of England down to London , and the weather is normal ly quite bad, but this is the kind of bike that even if it was too wet to ride , I wo uld kee p it in my garage and look at it every day!" Checa will return to Australia for Yamaha neXl test at the Phillip Island circuit March 9-1 I. f i r---------- (;j " u, u, a CJ ~ 5 I 0.. Townley Wins Lommel MX In front of roughly 7000 spectators, New Ze aland' s Ben Town ley w o n the 125cc Lommel Inte rnatio nal Motoc ro ss, he ld in Lommel, Belgium, o n Fe bruary 29. The KTM factory ride r showed great speed in earni ng the win, leading ho me team mate Marc de Reuver in both motos. T he Lammel cir cuit w as covered in ice and snow as th e riders arr ived on Sunday morning, and t he event was mo ved to the practice track across the field from the legendary Lammel Motoc ross circuit. From the moment Townley and de Reuver hit the first t um , it was o bvious the two were aiming fo r just one position on the track. In the Open class it was Belgianrider Ced ric Melotte, riding for the L&M Yamahateam , who took victory, taking the win with a 4- 1 tally. Second place went to another Be lgian, Kevin 5trijbos, who also finished with 1-4, his lesser result in moto two giving the win to Melott e. Stefan Everts went S-2 for third overall after crashing twice in the opening race. Suzuki-mo unted Strijbos showed a clea n pair of heels in the opening rno to , pro ving once again that th e Suzuki 450 machine is ready for the Grand Prix season. As for Melotte and Everts , the tw o L&M Yamaha riders managed to put to get he r mo re con sistent results in the second moto of the day. However, a poor sta rt by Melotte saw the yo unge r of the two Belgians battle hard for his w in. Five-time World Motocross champion Joel Smets remains on the injured list, and it looks unlikelythat the tough Belgianwillride before the season begins in Zo lder, Belgium, on March 23. Ge o ff Mey er Whe n mo to rcycle enthus iasts visit Dayto na Beach and Dayto na International Speedway during Dayton a 200 Wee k, they' ll have th e op po rtunity to check out the Daytona 500 winning No .8 Budwe iser Chevrolet of Dale Ea r nhard t [r, at Dayto na USA, the official attraction of NASCAR. The No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet that Earn hardt Jr. drove to his first Dayto na 500 victory o n Sunday, Feb ruary IS, sits inside Gatorade Victory lane at Dayto na USA and will be retu rned to the team before the start of the 47t h annua l Dayto na SO Oon Febru ary 20, 200S. The car is in the same con ditio n as it was when it first rolled into Gatora de Victo ry Lane inside Dayto na Inte rnational Speedway after the Dayto na SOO and bears the signatures of all of the crew members, including Earnh ardt Jr. Dayto na USA is ope n 9 a.rn, to 7 p.m. For more information, call 386/947-6800. Pirelli has an nounced major changes in its 2004 U.S. road racing co nti nge ncy program . The com pany is posting over $2 .3 million in co ntingency in 2004 , mor e than $ 1 million mo re than in 200 3. Pirelli will also be paying de e per into the finishers' list, as deep as 10th place depending on race organiza- www.cyclenews.com tion and class, according to Pirelli. Additionally, contingency payments in 200] were limited to a racer's top-four finishes during a race weekend. This year, Pirelli has done away with the limitatio n; there is no limit to the numbe r of race payouts, once a minimum starting-grid numbe r is met, according to Pirelli. For more information , visit www.us.pirellimoto.com . Avon has been named the officialtire of the 2004 AHA Sports Supennoto Grand Championships as a result of an agreement between AMA Sports, SuperMoto USA and Avon Tires North America . "This looks pretty exciting to me; Avon Tires has stepped up to the plate with a full line of SuperMoto Xtreme race slicks and DOT produces for consumers," said Carl Blake, CEO of SuperMoto USA, in a press release. "We' re happy to we lcome Avon Tires as the officialtire of this exciting series." AMASports presents the 2004 AMASports Supermoto Grand Championships in cooperation with AMAcha rtered promoting organ izations Supermoto USA and Supermotard USA. For mo re information on these pro moters and their events visit www.supermotousanet or www.supermotard-usa.com. MotoSponsor.com has anno unced the launch of the MotoSpon so r.com Ride r's Club, an internet-based ride rs' club des igned for racers competing in sanctioned events natio nwide . MotoSponsor.com aims to assist riders at every co mpetitive leve l and in eve ry genre to build up and maintain a successful racing program, according to MotoSponsor. Membe rs get the latest racing news, riding an d training tips . ne w product rev iew s, spo nso rship information and assistance , and discounts on racing schools, produ ces and services from co mpanies throu ghou t the industry. "The MotoSponso r.com Ride r 's Club is o ne that will appeal to both Amate ur and Profess ional riders alike ," said co mpany president Jeff Emde. "O ur goal is to provide o ur members with all of the resources and informat ion that they' llneed to further their racing careers while still keep ing our membership fees at a minimum. A MotoSponsor.com mem bershi p is truly a bargain fo r any rider in any U.S. state and is unlike anything available in our indu stry today. We are cur re ntly working on our off-road and road racing programs, but we'll ultimately offer a program for every racing genre - supermoto, fre estyle, dirt track and ATV." For more information, visit www.Mot oSponso r.com. Dunlo p Moto rcycle Ti res has announced the addition of Team Suzuki to the ranks of Dunlop's facto ry-suppo rted racing effo rts for t he 2004 Supercr oss and mo tocross sea so n. Suzuki's most recent AHA motocross championship victo ry, the 200 l AMA 12Scc National cham pionship with Travis Pastrana, was wo n o n Dunlop tires . Broc Glover, Dunlop se nior manager, off-roa d moto rcycle racing. said , "We are ex cited to be wor king w ith the facto ry Suzuki team o nce again. We're co nfident that the re newal of this wo rking relatio nship will prove beneficial fo r both Amer ican Suzuki and Dunlop Moto rcycle Tires ." CYCLE NEWS • MARCH 10, 2004 7