Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Hengeveld, Campbell Endure Baja 500 Kevin Schwantz was headed from the AMA Superbike race at Road America on June 6 to Barce lo na, Spain, where he 'll be reun ited with his former rival Wayne Rainey. Rainey had a deal w ith Fo rtu na Gauloises V amah a's Carlos Checa that if the Spania rd finished on the podiu m, Rainey wou ld come S teve Hengeveld and Johnny Campbell com bined efforts to win the 36th annu al Tecate SCORE Baja 500 on June 5. Hengeveld and Campbell had a good dice with fellow Honda X R6S0 R pilots Chris Blais and Qu inn Cody for most of the race before pullingaway for the duo's th ird con secutive win in the 500. Hengeveld and Campbell finished app ro ximately six minutes ahead of the Blais/Cod y duo . Third place we nt to Chuck De mpsey and Andy Grider, who were also Hond a XR650R-mounted. Gerardo Rojas and Vicente Guerrero finished fourth overall but came away with the Class 30 win ahead of the fifth overall finishing team of Fred W illert and Mike Barnhill (Honda XR650R). The Jim O 'Neal and Tim Withers team topped the Class 40 divisio n in sixth overall, and Alfredo Contreras and Salvador Hernandes won the Class 2 1 division in ninth overall . Mark Karlya to a race. "He called me after the race [Le Mans] and said, 'I made the podium. Are yo u go ing to come!" Rainey said, tho ugh he 'd mentioned going to Spain before the bet. Rainey just renewed a three-year pe rson al services con tra ct wit h V amaha, the firm fo r which he wo n t hr ee 500cc World Champion ships fro m 1990- 1992. Rainey remai ns the last pre mier-class Vamaha Wo rld Champ ion. The last G P Rainey att ended was at Esto ril, Po rtugal, in 2000, when he was ind ucted into the Motorcycle Wo rld Champions hip Hall of Fame. It will be the firs t time his w ife, Shae, and son , Rex, have bee n to a GP since 1998, w he n Rainey owned the Marlboro Yamaha team. Fro m the Mont me lo Circuit , Rainey plans to drive do wn the M editerranean coast to the seaside resort of Sitges, just south of Barce lona, where he was base d during his illustrious GP caree r. Schwan tz, an advisor to the Voshimura Suzuki teams , takes in a few GPs a year, often timing them with the European sessions of the KevinSclhwantzSuzuki School. From Barcelo na he's off to Italy to visit Dainese, the Italian leathers company that sponso rs the sclhool and his racing efforts. The n he's off to meets his pare nts, Jim and Shirley, in London, where he'll celebrate his 40th birthday on June 19. Henny Ray Abra ms Steve Hengeveld (pictured) and Johnny Campbell topped the Baja 500 for the third straight time. Thorwaldson Injured in Road Race Crash Former factory Suzuki motocross and off-road racer RichTho rwa1dson was seriously injured in a road racing whe lmed wit h calls. In or der to provide everyone with information, we take some time. in the Form ula Pacific race at the event when he rep ortedly swerved Tho rwa ldson rose to national atten - to avoid another rider, we nt off tion in his efforts as a factory Suzuki rider in the early '70s, racing Suzuki's no to rious TM40 0 Cyclone accident at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, on May 30. Thorwaldson , 58, was competing track and struck an em bankment. He suffered severe brain trauma and a collapsed lung from the impact , and he remains in a coma in the intensive care unit at John Mu ir Hospital in Walnut Creek, California. According to www.richardthorwaldson .com, a website set up by the family to update his condition, "The lung has been inflated and seems to be functioning fine . His breath ing is beingassisted by a respirator in order to ease the stress on his brain. He is still unconscious. Ho wever, the doc tors won't try to wake him for anoth- er 5 to 10 days, as his brain needs time to heal. While we very much appreciate your concern, pleas do e not call the hospital; the staff is not able to provide any information. We would also ask that you do not callBig Valley Honda; the staff has bee n over- 6 GP Or World Superbikes To Road America? Will Road America in Elkhart Lake, W isco nsin, host a U.S. GP or Wo rld Superbike race! 'res, according to general manager Geo rge Bruggenthies, but it cou ld have set up a website that we will update regularly. httpJlwww.richard thorwaldson .com ." A Southern California dese rt racer and flat tracker in the '60s, to victory in several off-road events. H e was also a prom inent figure in the formative yea rs of the AMA National Moto cross series, finishing fourth in the inaugural AMA Nat ional 500cc MX Series and then improv ing to a career-h igh second to friend and racing rival Gary Jones in the 1973 AMA 250cc National MX Series. Upo n retiring, T ho rw aldso n con tinued in the industry, found ing Thor Racing and going on to beco me a dealer of Honda motorcycles in the no rthern Nevada area , all the while remai ning active in compet ition in severaJ different disciplines. For up dates on Thorwalson's condition , check the w ebsite at www.richardthorwa ldson.com. JUNE 16,2004 • C Y CLE N EWS Schwantz And Rainey To GP Three years ago the track insta lled a full closed circuit television system, one of the FIM's requirements for holding an international event. There was an extended flirtation with Do ma, including the poss ibility of an alternate layout , but it went nowhere. He said he hadn't been in tou ch w ith anyone from Dorna for 15 months. He was aware that Dom a was interested in other tracks, including Indianapolis Motor Spee dway, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and Barb er Mot ors ports Park, each of wh ich has shortcomings, he said. "W e want to have the best series in the world here all the t ime , whether it's car racing or bike racing," Bruggenthies said. "It e nded up not working," he said. Reversing direct ions wou ld present operational issues that wo uld take six w eeks to resolve. "I can't shut dow n for six weeks," he said. Spectator areas, mean while, are being upgraded on a regular basis. "We' re constantly trying to improve the facility for an internat ional event . When are we going to get there! It de pends on w hat the stand might be. " He added, "We th ink we're a safe racing facility." American Ho nda's Miguel Duh amel said during the Friday Superbike press conference that some w ork would be needed on the back stra ight, a sentime nt echoed by Voshimura Suzu ki's Mat Mladin. T he most glaring prob lem is the comer exiting under the Billy Mitchell Bridge, which has very little run-off on th e ride r 's right. "We want to have the best series in the world here all the time, whether it's car racing or bike racing." - George Bruggenlhies If there is an international race, it w ill be on the fo ur-mile road course, w hich Bruggenthies acknowl ed ges needs work to me et FIM co de . "Last year we put The Bend in," Bruggenth ies said of the alteration out of the carousel. The alternate layout involved making a left-hand t urn going down the back straight, down to the carousel, then the opposite direction back to tum five w he re there'd be a left, then a right to re-join the trac k. 40th Anniversary "I don't think that's that big a dea l," Brugge nthies said. "We make that happe n like that." It would be a 45-day construction sclhedule and would cost about $200,000, "a lot of money for a little company." The holdup in getting a GP is money. "We know the riders want to race here. If we had an unlimited budget , we' d have a race her e next year," he said. "We've got to take care of business, and we are." Henny Roy Abra ms

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