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/128327
Ted Taylor, 1967-2004 was str uck by another rider. He refused A fune ral service was held on Tuesday, May 25, fo r former AMA Grand National dirttracker Ted Taylor, 36, of Arbuckle, California, who died the week before as the to co mpete in his heat race before e lecting to leave the racetrack. O n May 18, Taylor began to have difficulties, and emergency resu lt of injur ies sustained at a flat track race in Tulare , Ca lifornia. Taylor we nt down while practicing fo r an Eddie Mulder 's West Coas t Vintage Dirt Track Series event and med ical trea tment at th e scene and we nt on medical personnel were summoned to his home . Taylor was life-flighted to UC Da~is Medical Center in Sacramento, but he passed away en route. Taylor was later deemed to have suffered a ruptu red spleen B enelli Tornado 113[] []n The Way Had to happen . Such has been the response to the muscular might of the new BenelliTNT I 130 streetrod, fitted with the long-stroke ver sion of the Italian company's trademark fuel-injected dohc 12-valve three-cylinder engine , that Benelli has speeded up development of a prototype Tornado sportbike employing the same corso lungo I 131 cc version of its existing 898cc sportbike motor. This is already being road tested, and it is likely to de but at Inte rmot 2004 in September, ready for 2005 model year delivery. To create the long-stroke TN T evolution of Benelli's trademark three-cylinder dohc Tornado motor, with offset chain camshaft drive and its cylinder block slanted slightlyforward at 15 degrees from vertical, Benelli chief engineer Pierluigi Marconi and his R&D team left the liquid-cooled engine's B8mm bore well alone, but they lengthened the stroke from 49.2mm to 62mm to create an 1131cc version of the 12-valve power unit with its 120-degree crankshaft throws, which measures 898cc in Tornado 900 guise. Producing 135 bhp at 9200 rpm in TNT form , the result delive rs essentially the same maximum horsepower as the smaller-engined I37-bhp sportbike, though at lower revs than the Tornado's I 1,800 rpm peak - but the big dif- as the result of the Tulare crash . Taylor's biggest racing moment came at the Sacrame nto Mile in 1992, when , as a lowbuck privateer, he finished third, beh ind Harley-Davidson factory racers Chris Carr and Scott Parker. After a layoff of several years , he had only recently begun a return to active competition, winning a 4S0cc main event at a Gene Romero's West Coast Flat Track Ser ies race in Tulare on May 15. punch of its smaller-engined, short-stroke Tornado sister. With no longer any need to tailor its mode ls to suit World Superbike championship rules (thoug h a works Tornado 900 end urance racer is competing in this year 's World Endurance series) , Bene lli intends to focus on pro ducing an enjoyable, torquey option for the sportbike sector, capable of delivering real-world customer satisfaction rather than focusing on its potential on-track race per· forma nee - rather like its fellow three -cylinder manufacturer Triumph, which has remained faithful to the 9SSi Daytona tr iple instead of trying to go face-to -face with the japanese marques in the one-liter hypersport market. Prod ucing the first corso lungo sportbike of the modern era is part of that new corporate strategy governing product development for the small Italian factory. Alan Ca t hc ar t Taylor is survived by his wife, Dedee, sons Gunnar and jeff, daughter, Shanna, brother Zach, and mother, Barbara. He was preceded in death by his father, John, who was also his tuner dur ing most of his AMA Grand National career. A memorial fund has been established for the Taylor children. Donations can be sent to the Ted Taylor Memorial Fund, River City Bank, 199 Main Street, Woodland, CA 95695. RESCHEDULED: The May 3 1 th ird round of the AMA Northeast Amateur Nat ional half-mile at Williams Grove Speedway was rained out. It has been rescheduled for Saturday, June 19, Path ValleySpeedway Park as a short track . For more information, call 717/426-4756 or 717/426 -2910 . PROMOTED: Phil Tucker and justin Bentley to the positions of director of operations and operations manager . respectively of California Speedway in , Fontana, California, by president Bill Miller. Tucker will begin his duties immediately, while Bentley willtrans ition to hisnew role from his current position of corporate sales manager over the summermonths, official- ly beginning his new position following the Pop Secret 500 Labor Day weekend . "Iam pleased to announce the promotions of Philand justin," Millersaid. "Each has done an outstanding job in their respective areas , and we look forward to their continued ference comes in the TNTs torque curve , which is substantially success in the ir new roles ." stronger and much flatter all the way throug h the rev range , peaking at 6250 rpm , compared to the Tornado's peakier 8700 revs. As a result , the long-stroke version of the Be ne lli motor completely resolves the layered power de livery and lack of serious midrange CHANGED: The phone number for Suspension By jake . The new number is 909/273-0329. 12 JUNE 9, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS 40th Anniversary