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/128318
,Brie fly... Rossi's New Engine alentino Rossi showed up with a special eng ine for the IRTA test at Catal unya last weekend, the engine the final choice out of four different configurations tested over the w inter, according to renowned crew chief Jerry Burgess. "Th is is the one we decided to develop further," he said. It is thought that the moto r had a different crankshaft configuration, deviating from the two -up/two-down configuration conve ntio nal with an in-line four-cylinder motor. Th is would free the motor from evenly spaced firing strokes in a sort of modern emulation of the c1ose-firing-order Big Bang principle pioneered by Honda in two -strokes . V N BC Sports has announced that it will launch the Action Spo rts Tour (AST) , th e first-ever, season -long. nationally televised , competi tive tou r for the growi ng sports of skateboard ing, BMX and freestyle motocross, accord ing to a release fro m Clear Channel. Clear C hanne l Entertain ment - Moto r Spo rts w ill co- own and operate th e new tour wit h N Be. Boasting th e biggest compe titive purse in actio n spo rts , a $ 1 million "Bo nus Poo l" based upon yea r-e nd stand ings and t he largest netwo rk and ca ble television br oad cast ing co mmit me nt ever, the Act ion Spo rts Tour deb uts in 2005 , according to th e re lease . Ken Schanzer, pre sident , N BC Sports, and Charlie Mancuso , presiden t, Clear Cha nnel Entertai nment - Moto r Spo rts , mad e the joint announce ment abo ut the t our and N BC/Clear Channel joint ve nt ure. NBC Spo rts will produce co verage 01 the tour and provide live network br o adcasts , mar king the largest ne twork broadcast com mitment ever toward action sports, according to the two co mpan ies. A ca ble te levision part ne r will be announced at a late r date. The AST is in discussio ns regarding official tour dates and host cities t hat will be anno unced at a late r date . The landmark Action Spo rts Tour repre sen ts t he following, according to the release: The first-ever, seaso n-long com petit ive tour spotl ighting th e pop ular and growi ng act ion sports of skatebo ard ing (vert and st reet), BMX (vert, st reet and dirt) and freestyle motocross. In addition, eve nt-spec ific spe cialty co mpe titions such as surfing. in-line Conlin ued from page 7 these motorcycles are en couraged to take thei r veh icles to a Harley-Davidson dealer to have the appro priate service pe rformed. The required service is expected to tak e less tha n o ne hour and is provided free of charge to the ow ne r. Burgess would not be drawn on whether this so lution had been adopted, but ta lking nonspecificaJly, he confirmed that a fo ur could be timed to fire w ith any intervals you might desi re , provided that balance cou ld be arranged. The Yamaha M I already has th is facility, with a jack-shaft between the cran k and the gearbox input shaft , which can be weighted to act as a balancer. Burgess was clearly enjoying the new task of unloc king the potential of th e too-touchy M I. "I had 21 good years with Honda, but now I feel like a mechanic again," said the Australian champ ion -maker (yVayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Rossi). So far, he and The new Yamaha M1: What lies within? Ross i had the move the goal posts, " he said. "HRC always Yamaha in a state has stuff on the back burner. If things go w here it could match wrong for them, they willget it out. I'd like to pretty much anybody 's push them, so we can see what they have got lap times , at least over a as soon as possible." hand ful of laps. Now he How clo se is he to the M I's full w as waiting to see potential? Honda's respo nse . "A lo t closer than at Decembe r," "We need to see he grinned. how far Honda can Michael Sc ott The Action Sports Tour skating and "su per-mote" competi tio ns w ill be adde d base d on loca l appea l; th e establishment of an April-to-October action spo rts season, co mplete with a unified, co mpetitive points system and th e crow ning of year-e nd cham pio ns in skateboarding, BMX and freestyle motocross; and massive , multiplatform ma rketi ng commitments by NBC and Clear C hannel , utilizing both internal and external resources in support of the athletes and new tou r. Market ing platforms w ill include various television, radio, print, online, outdoor and even t marke ting initiatives. Th e Action Sports Tour will also include : exte nsive amate ur and grass roots action spo rts compe tit ions and youth clinics designed to develop and spotligh t t he next generation of actio n sports stars; lifestyle and entertai nmen t e leme nts at ea ch AST stop featuring inte ractive events, video gaming pavilions and com petitions, live music and co nce rts feat uring headl ine acts ; a de dicated commitment to the developm en t of women's action sports th ro ugh com peti tions , exhibitions and clinics. "Act io n sports are clea rly growing globa lly with soaring compe tition, fan and sponsor su pport ," said N BC' s 5chanze r. "The Act ion Spo rts Tour is th e nex t chapte r in the evo lutio n of these sports and its growi ng legion of stars. By aligning wit h Clear C hannel and drawing upon t he growing resou rces of NBC , we are uniquely positioned to drive these spo rts towards even mo re dram atic growth in the future." Clear Ch anne l Entertainment - Moto r The WCM t eam arrived somewhat unexpectedly to the IRTA tests in Spain. with four o f their last-year's machines and one rider - 19-year-old Ita lian Michel Fabrizio . Possible second rider Chris Burns, with the tea m last year, was on the pits, but with no prospect of riding. Team boss Peter Clifford spoke o f a very uncertain futu re for the team, w hich needs to keep racing to keep their entry franch ise active . ':A this stage, I t don't really know what we will be doing this yea r. The rea lity is that we only have our ex isting motorcycles, albeit wit h improveme nts to the engine." The team still had a friendly re lationship wit h Moriwaki , who have their own chassis fitted with a V-fIVe Honda engine, said Clifford; "but without money, it's not going to happen." Another hope that had been dashed was that they might build a chassis around the KTM V· four engine , which has been bench-tested at the Austrian factory, in sp ite of their announcement last year that the project would be canceled. "We thought we had a deal, but that quietly went to sleep in January," said Clifford . The hope now was that Fabrizio might bring some financial backing to allow the team to continue. The Italian won the European Superstock Championship last season on a Suzuki GSX·R I000; the Yamaha RI-based WCM GP machine should be a logical step forward . Sports will lend to the AST its expe rt ise in live event touring and pro motion, including a w ide range of off-channe l assets. "T his partne rsh ip with NBC Sports is a logical extension of our existing Cle ar Channel actio n sports initiatives in supercross and freestyle motocross," said Mancuso . "O ur event management and market expe rtise , together w ith the ma rketing and crosspr omotional opportunities of Clear Channel's rad io, outdoor and mus ic divisions, will e nable us to qu ickly launch a succes sful to ur. Our assets co mple ment NBC , and both are stru ct ure d to spotlig ht th is new to ur, the athletes, sponso rs and the industry. We believe live spectators and tele vision view e rs will e mbrace the evolution of action spo rts and w ill significantly impact t he growth of these exciting sports." Wade Mart in, w ho joined NBC Sports after overseeing the Gravity Games and O ctago n's acti on spo rts division for the past five years , has bee n appo inted gene ral ma nage r of th e Act ion Sports Tour. Mart in w ill ove rsee to ur sales, mar ket ing, busine ss deve lop me nt and operations. Martin's Action Sports Tour team w ill be d irectly re spo nsible for to ur and competit ion manageme nt, athlete re lations and event design. "O ur plan is to work with the ath letes , spons ors and industry to bring real structure and consiste ncy to actio n sports, provide bette r context and meaning to these sports and crea te the definitive tour w hile gro wing th e sports and its sta rs," said Mart in, w ho w ill report to Clear C hannel's Mancuso and Kevin Monaghan, vice presiden t, business deve lop men t, NBC Sports. www.cyclenews .com I Kawasaki has shifted some of its racing operations fro m Japan to Europe, to work more closely with the Germany-based Eckl race team , as well as Swiss ex-racer and engineer Eskil Suter, who designed and built the machine's new compact chassis . "The re are two or three Kawasaki race department engineers permanently in Switzerland now," said Harald Eckl, "afte r we managed to convince them to build the bike in Europe." Currently it is experimenting with different crankshaft we ights, including the lightwe ight crank int rod uced last yea r, wh ich they were using at the recent IRTA test. "We are te sting a lo t with different weights. The aim is to improve drivab ility and handling," he said. Minimum weights have been revised for the MotoGP class, with immediate effect, with 3kg (6.6 pounds) added to the various weights for different engine sizes . Th is was one of a handfu l of changes or re visions announced by the Grand Prix Commission at Catalunya. Minimum weights are now 13Bkg(303 pounds) for three cylinders or less, 14Bkg (32S.6 pou nds) for fo ur or five cylinders, and 15Bkg(347 .6 pounds) for six or more cylinders. (As before, in all cases , the use o f ova l pistons moves th e machines up to the next weight category.) The change is to take account of the w eight of fuel. Currently bikes are w eighed witho ut the tank , with a 2kg (4.4 po unds) allowance - but it was decided th is w as not enough. Other changes include a ban on re-joining the race afte r calling in to the pits , unless the mach ine remains outside the pit box o n Conlinued on page " CYCLE NEWS • APRil 7, 2004 9