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/128336
I Cou ld Kurtis Roberts end up on a Ducoti? • Briefly... He avy rain forced the cancellatio n of t he 24th Annual H ub City Classic half -mil e , round nine of the AHA Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Championship series. at Hagerstown Speedway in Hagerstown, Maryland , today. The bad weather rolled in to the track at 4 p.m. eastern time. turning the infield into a lake in a matter of minutes. No ra in date has been scheduled for Hage rstown. The ne xt event on the schedule is the half-mile at Farley. Iowa, on August 7, with the mid-week, Sturgis rally stop at Rapid C ity, South Dakota . scheduled for August 10. Lege nda ry Bonneville speed king Don Vesco was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame on July 29 at the Novi Expo Center in Detroit, M ichigan. Vesco, who d ied of cancer in 2002 at the age of 62 . held several records at Bon neville on bo th two and four wheels. Also inducted were Joe Amato, Geoff Bra bham. Bill France Jr., Shav Glick and Bobby Rahal. Several top teams stayed o n at the Dcn lngton Park circuit in England to test immediately after the British Grand Prix and Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha riders Val e n t in o Ro ss i and Carlos Checa were among them. The Yamaha factory team was joine d by two other MotoGP teams, the Repsol Honda team and its riders Alex Barros and Nicky Hayden, and Honda Gresini rider Sete Gibernau. Rossi and C he ca continued evaluation and setup work with their YZRM I machines , testing different chassis sett ings and new engine mapping. Winner of his fifth Grand Prix of the year at the Donington event. Rossi tested a ne w fro nt fork selting and a different chassis setup. as well as different engine mapping to ensure smoother engine de livery. Rossi completed several laps in the morning on his M I machine, with a fastest time of I:29 .82s. just over one second slower than his pole position record of 1:28.72. The 25-year.old finished testing earlier than planned after a small crash in the early afternoon. "That was a really strange fall. The track was mostly dry, but it was starting to rain and there were a few wet patches." explai ned Rossi. "My fro nt tire hit a wet patch. and I did a kind of wheelie; the bike just went upright. It was coming out of the Me l· bo urne loop. be fore Goddards. Anyway. I was fine and was able to ride th e bike back to the pits. It has bee n a use ful test; we have found some go od info rm ation . The new front fork selting improves braking stability, and t he new e ngine ma pping is making the bike eas ier to ride in general. I finished early anyway today because I only had some Michel in tires to test, bu t the track conditions were not suitable at that time. We had done most of what we set out to achieve today. I will now go on holiday w ith some friends for a good rest." Remember road ra ce r Dale Q u arterle y? The former Team Mirage (Teenage N inja Mutant Turt les) racer has been steadily movingup the ranksasa stock car racer. H islatest kudos comes on the nascar.com website and they come from Richard Childress Racing team owner Richard Childress. w ho opted to put Dave Blaney in his #30 Continued on page 9 www.cyclenews.com CYC LE N EW S • AUGUST 11, 2004 7