Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Quick Nick At Spanish Test with the first race. I'm rea lly excited." Capiro ssi, meanwhile, continued to work o n t he 2004 Du cati. "It is more of a laborious process t han hard work," Capirossi said in a Ducati release. "T he re are ma ny new t hings, and we are advancing step by step. We have worked a lot on the suspension and the chassis, and now t he bike is more stable, agile and better under braking . It has really come on , and I ho pe we keep th is mom en tum for the next test at Barce lona, a track at wh ich I have some good memories." Caplrossi's teammate Troy Bayliss finished the test t hird , a tenth quicke r than Hayden's teammate Alex Barros, the Brazilian still fighting a sho ulder injury. 'T oday we tested a lot of differe nt Th e Prot o n KR team of Kurtis Ro be rts and No buats u Aoki were also at t he test, w it h the new e st version of t he V-five appearing fo r t he first time . Unfo rt unately, Ro be rts crashed the new bike o n his first lap w ith t he 2004 model, and it caught fire . Ro be rts suffere d a disloca te d sho ulder in the incident. Kurtis Roberts crashed the 2004 Pratan V-five an his first lap an the bike, and it caught fire. Roberts suffered a d islocated shoulder. out www.greatame rican.com . soluti ons on the bike for this circuit, R epso l Ho nd a's Nicky Hayden en ded up w ith t he faste st lap times after a twoday test at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia, Spain, March 6-7 . Th e Moto GP Rookie of t he Year ended up besting Marlboro Ducati's Loris Capirossi over the course of the two days, lapping at a 1:33.3 - . 10 of a second better than Cap irossi. "It' s been a good cou ple of days ," Hayden said in a re leas e fro m his team. "I've gone faste r here than I eve r have be fore, which is good. The team 's working real well, and I'm looking forward to the IRTA tests at the end of the mo nt h, w he n the season will really start to build . In Barce lon a, there w ill be all t he teams, great atmosphere , a iittle bit o f hype . We t hen have o ne more te st at Je re z. and then the fun starts and I am very happy with the res ults over t he weekend," Bar ros said in t he HRC release. "I can now make consiste ntly fast laps, and I do n't seem to be too bot he red by the shoulder, which seems to be coming better with every test we do. We are still not at 100 percent, but I'm pleased we are on the schedule we set ourselves when we started testing th is year. Tha t is to take it steady with the bike and the sho ulder in order to be at 100 percent for the first GP in South Africa. I'm travel ing back to Brazil shortly and will return to Spain for the IRTA tests at the end of the mon th ." Great American Group Wholesale & Industrial Serv ices w ill be holding a Public Webcast Auction to liquidat e all of the man ufact uring equ ipment used to produce t he now-defunct Indian Motorcycle Company, Inspe ct io n fo r t he equi pment w ill be from 8 a.m . to 4 p.m., March 16- 17, with the aucti o n sche duled to start at 10:30 a.m . on March IB. For mo re informa tio n, check Before Roberts' crash, however, Aoki was able to rack up some mileage on the new bike, and he told mo togp .com th at "I was working with the new chassis during these two days, and I could eas ily see that it was better than the previous model because I coul d enter t he corners a lot faster. I th ink that this year we will be a lot more competitive because we are ma naging to work with new mate rials duri ng t he preseason. T he bike is different from last year's; it is much lighter, and t here is a lot of roo m fo r development. " Suzuki was also on hand with Kenny Ro be rts Jr. and Gregorio Lavilla, fil ling in for t he injured Jo hn Hop kins. Roberts and loviliaen de d up fift h and sixth , respectively, lapping at I :34. 1 and I:3S.0. PointXCamp, an act ion spo rts facility, has an no unced tha t it has o pen ed its regist ratio n fo r t he 2004 sum mer seaso n. Wee kly sess ion dat e s run fro m May 31 through Se ptember 4, and t hr ee -day sess io ns are also available thro ugho ut the summe r se ason . On its 260-a cre site , featu ring a fiveacre lake , t he camp provides X Gam e s sta nda rd facilities fo r act ion sports ent husiasts from beginners to ad vanced at hletes. Located in Sou thern California, dri ve tim e to the ca mp is generally betw een o ne and two hou rs fro m San Diego , Los Angeles and O ran ge Coun ty. PointX featu res profe ssional instruction on ve rt ramps, st re et cou rses, m ini ra mps, bow ls, dirt jumps, and t racks for BMX fre estyle , skate board, in-line skati ng. an d mo tocro ss. Seven -t ime AMA nat io nal champ ion Rick Johnson w ill again d irect t he camp's summe r motocross program. O th e r activ ities include a paintball course, wakeboarding, sw imming, fishing, video pr oduction, pho tog raphy, a video arcade, an d TV ro o m. For more info rmation, visit www.po intx.com or call 90 9/ 767 -06 10. AMA Pro Racing has anno unced Ducati North America will be t he title sponsor of the AMA Ch evrolet Superbi ke Cha mpions hip even t at Brainerd International S peedway. The eve nt, to be called th e AMA Superbike Trofeo Ducati, is se t fo r June 2S-27 and is round seven o f t he 11ro und C hamp ionsh ip. "T he hiring of Eric Bostrom to ride our new 999R in the AMA Supe rbike C ham pionshi p is just part of o ur renewed fo cus on the core values of t he Raines Rolls On in Georgia GNCC Am- Pro Yamaha's Jaso n Raines capped off his en joying "o ne o f t ho se days where you just Bike Week swing with another win at Th e can't do anything wrong." Even losing his rear General GNCC in Was hington, Georgia, on brake on t he last lap co uldn't slow him down. March 7. Earlier in t he week, Raines A tremendo us battle finished th ird at the Palat ka b raged fo r the other podium posi tion s. Afte r three GN CC , and then he wo n t he ~ Alligato r End uro . In Ge o rgia, ~ hours of raci ng. five-t im e Raines dominated . 5 GNCC Champion Sco tt " I came into t hese two races ~ Sum me rs and SCR Yamaha 1< [Florida and Georgia] ioo king to 0: rider Robbie Je nks have fun," Raines said. "W hen I in e merged fro m the woods was injured , I had a lot of time to side by side. Jenks and t hink abo ut my racing . I w as put- il: Summ e rs cut inside and ting a lot of pressu re o n myse lf to o utside of eac h ot her in win, and I wasn 't having a good t he final grasst rac k section time . Rodney [Smith] always tol d and then co llided in t he last me , if you have fun w it h this, you turn . Jenks en ded up o n can race forever. I'm try ing to relax: the gro und, and Summ ers Jason Raines won and have mo re fun at the races." too k se co nd . The General GNCC in Raines pulled o ut a huge lead , Washington, Georgia. " I've never been exci t- § ed about just getting o n the pod ium before, but th is is a rea l personal victory," said t he Parts Unlimited! Moose -backed Summers. "I've bee n thro ugh a lo t ove r the last fo ur years, and I'm happy to reward all the co mpanies w ho had fait h in me to get back up here ." Jenks co llecte d his first pod ium in over a year w ith third. "I don 't know w hat it was today," Jen ks said. "I d idn't even have a good start, but I was able to get to th e fro nt." Fo urth place we nt to FMF Suzuki's Doug Blackwell, wh ile fift h we nt to his team mate Mike Kiedrowski. FMF Suzu ki's Fred Andrews and Th rottleh ead. com ! Kaw asaki Team Gr een 's Steve Hatch battled all day and finished sixth and seventh ove rall, respectively. Defending series cham p Barry Haw k, who won Palat ka, struggled w ith an illness. He ran with the leaders early but ended up eight h. www.cyclenews.com Ducati brand ," Ducati Nort h Ame rica director o f marketing Joh n Po rter said. " Now that Eric and th e team are in place , a natu ral progression was to sponso r a topnotch AMA event. We 're th rilled to sponso r the Brainerd ro und. The cam pgro und, supe rb ro ad riding nearby, and the excellent facilities w ill let us present not only a fantastic race, but also a camping rally to celebrate t he Ducat i exper ien ce w ith ou r fans." Former National Motocross and Supe rcross Champion Do n nie Hansen will be conducting schools in Texas, Nevada and Uta h in April. O n April 6-7 sessions will be held at Mesquite Moto X in Mesquite , Ne vada; on April 21-22 the schoo l visits Cycle Ranch in Floresville, Texas: and on April 28-29 the scho ol head s to Ced ar Racew ay in Cedar Continued on page 9 CYCLE NE WS • MARCH 17,2004 7