Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I Briefly... Alessi Ties Loretta Lynn's Record he 23rd annual Air Nautiques/AMA Amate ur National Motocross Championships finished up with 33 cham- T pions crowned at Loret ta Lynn's Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, August 3-B. The big winners included Honda rider Mike Alessi, who scored his 10t h and I Ith career titles at Loretta Lynn's. This ties James Stewart's all-time rec ord just one week before Alessi begins his pro fessional motocross career at the upcoming Spring Cree k National at Millville, Minnesota. Alessi, who will ride a Honda CRF450R in the 250cc class for his National debut, won the 250cc A and Four-5troke O pen classes at Loretta L ynn's. He also claimed the prestigious AMA Horizon Award , which goes to the rider show ing the most potentialashe leavesthe amateur ranks . Past win- ners have included James Stewart, Travis Pastrana, Davi Millsaps and Nick Wey. Kansas Ho nda rider Thomas Hahn topped the 125cc A class with a 1-1-1 moto sweep as talk swirled aro und the teenager si ning a profess g ional contract with the Amsoil/C haparral/Facto ry Co nne ction Honda team for 2005 and beyond. In I25cc A Pro Sport, Ke ntuc ky's Ryan Sipes top ped Flor ida's Matt Goerke in a battle of two young prospects who have already scored top - 10 125cc National moto finishes. Goerke, a Suzuki support rider, turned the tables on Team Gree n's Sipes rebounding for a win in the 250cc/O pen A Pro Sport division. KTM rider Zach Osbourne of Virginia to pped the B5cc ( 14- 15) Modified class title, wh ile Texan Matthew Lemoine was the big winner in 105cc ( 12- 15) Supermini racing. Suzuki's Nico Izzi wo n the B5cc ( 12- 13) Modified class over O klahoma's Trey Canard and South Ca rolina' s PJ. Larsen; he then came back to lead the Stock vers ion of the class ahead of Canard and Texan Bla ke Whart on. No rth Carolina's Ian Trettel top ped Colorado's Eli Tomac in the B5cc Modified (7- 11) class, winning all three motos . Trettel was also perfect in the Stock class, takingthe title over New Mexico's Jason Anderson. The Suzuki-mounted Tomac returned to take the 65cc Stock (10-1 I) division, while Oh io's Shawn Rife won the 65cc (7I I) Modified class. Wisconsin's Kody Kamm won the 65cc Stoc k (7-9) class. In junior minicyc1e racing, the classcham- pions we re North Carolina's Tyler McSwain (5 1cc Stock 7-B), Californ ia's Blake Gree n (5 1cc Stock 4-6) and South Carolina's Taylor Barnett (5 1cc Shaft-Drive). Finally, with six class titles, California picked up the "state championship" award for the most success th roughout the week I Continued ltom poge 9 Ce nter on O ctober 15-16 and the champ himself is set to be racing, for more inform ation log on to www.c1utchfilms.com. Both Ricky Carmichael and Chad Reed have confirmed that they will participate in the U.S. Op en of Super cross in O ctober, according to Clear Channel Enterta inme nt's Moto r Sports division. The race , scheduled for Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena, Octob er B-9, w ill feature the two super cross sta rs, w ith Reed set to defend his U.S Op en title from last year. "I have been wa iting for a long time to get back on a supercross track and co mpe te In the U.S. Op e n," said Carmic hael in the Clea r Channel release. ability to produ ce high-quality products that satisfy its customers, mak ing it a trusted brand among motorcycle enthusiasts ," said Todd Mundorf, study director at J.D. Power and Associates . Roger Weston, preside nt of Arai Ame ricas in Daytona Beach, Florida, admitted to some hesitation and surprise when asked abo ut his com pany's continued numb er-one position. "A fter six stra ight years , you te nd to risk rep eating yourself. How many ways can you say 't hank you' to all the riders who chose us?" The J.D. Power study finds that style/color, comfor t/fit and price remain the top three reasons for pur- chasing a helmet, accordi ng to Aral. Twoth irds of re cen t he lme t pur chasers cite style/color and comfort/fit among the top "Th is is always a fun race for us, the riders, three factors that influenced the ir purchase and for the fans. Chad Reed rode great last year to win his first U.S. O pen championship - but I'm going there to win." In addition to Reed and Carmichael , ot he r riders invite d to race at the 2004 Maxxis U.S. Open Include Travis Pastrana and James Stewart . Veteran Mike laRocco, who won the 2002 U.S. O pen, has also been invited to com pete. Fans can purchase tickets at the MGM Grand decis ion, while almost one -half indicate that price was among the most important attrib- Garden Arena box office, WWW.ussx.com WWW.ussx.com and www.ticke tmaste r.com . For m ore information on the M axxis U .S. Open, visit WWW.ussx.com . utes. The study also finds that as custome r age increases, the prope nsity to choose a hel- met based heavilyon style and co lor decreases , with con sidera bly more emphasis being placed on com fort and fit. "Rider preferenc es for the type of bikes and helmet s the y buy tend to change w ith age and experience," said Mundorf. "Younger riders, particularly those who own sportbikes, place somew hat greater imp ort ance on a helmet that match- es the late st color and graphic tre nds." in Tenne ssee . KTM North America, Inc, and FMF Gilroy Hoping To Keep Indian With the Indian Motor cycle brand being sold last week to Ste llican Ltd. (a British company that specializes in restoring classic but distr essed companies), the tow n of Gilroy in California is hoping to kee p prod uction of the motorcycles at the factory where the bikes were built from 1999 to 2003 , according to new spaper reports fro m Gilroy. Bill Lindsteadt, exec utive directo r of the G ilroy Econom ic D evelopment C orporat ion, is hoping to convince Stellican officials that the best place to restart produ ction is Gilroy. Lindsteadt said he plans to get the city cou ncil's cooperation in offering Indian a tempting made . We have n't had time to care fully rev iew any of our alternatives at this time. Ob viously, we made t he investment, and the business has to be located somewh ere. I've been running aro und for a mo nth , as has [Stellican fou nder] Stephen [julius], trying to acquire the brand. That has take n the lion's share of our attention." The Gilroy plant closed on September 19, 2003 without wa rning, putting 3BO em ployees out of work. At its peak, Indian em ployed some 600 peopl e at the Gilroy factory. Gilroy's chances of kee ping Indian didn't look good when the British-based Financial Times quot ed Julius as saying his firm would reduction in develo pment impact fees. "We haven't ruled it out," Ste llican part ner David Wright, of Sarasota , Florida, to ld the newspa per in Gilroy. "It's frankly too States . But Wright says the re port was inac- early in the pro cess to have any decisions curate, according to the re port fro m Gilroy. begin construct ion of a new Indian manufactu ring facility somewhere in the Uni ted Triumph Motorcycles (America) Ltd" Racing have announced a new-product col- has announced that new retail sales topped laborati on that w ill be unveiled next week at KTM's ann ual dealer meeting in Reno , Nevada. On August 16, dealers will rece ive . the first edit ions of KTM's I 16-page 2005 Hard Equipment acce ssories catalog that will featu re "KTM powered by FMF" exhaust prod ucts. KTM Hard Equipment manager Lowell Anderson said: "Collaborating with I000 units in July, marking the com pany's fourth consecutive month of record breaking sales. TMA also so ld more than 7500 units for the 12 months e nded July 30, which is anoth er U.S. sales record for th e Hinckley, England-b ased moto rcycle manufactu re r. Interest in Triumph's new produ cts including the Thruxt on 900 and the Rocket III has gen- FM F on this new exhaust program was a nat- era ted an avalanche of positive press in both ural. We both develop prod ucts through racing and it' s very clear that KTM custome rs have a significant level of trust in the FMF brand name. Working together, we're offering, a com plete line of "KTM by FMF" exhaust systems for just about every twostroke and four-stroke mode l KTM makes, fro m 50cc Sportmin is to full-sized SX, EXC and MXC-Cross Country machines." FMF founder Don Emler offered his perspective : "Even afte r 30-plus years in the performance end of the mo torcy cle industry, it's been gratifying to he lp con tribute to KTM's growth. We jumped at the oppo rtun ity to develop the "KTM by FMF" line. Wor king with the Red Bull KTM team, KTM's U.S. and / facto ry managers Kurt Nicoll, Ron Heb en, Scot Harden and Lowell Ande rson has been very rewarding, and I'm glad we 're now able to expand this experience by worki ng with KTM's dealer network." enthusiast and general interes t med ia alike, according to Triumph. This in turn has creat- For the sixth consecutive year, Arai helme ts ranks highest in custo mer satisfaction among all mo to rcycle helmets , accordi ng to the new J,D , Power and Associates 2004 Motorcycle Helmet Satisfaction Study. Arai has earned the top spot every year since J.D. Power first began the helmet study six years ago. Arai ranks highest overa ll among the nine helmet brands include d in the study rankings. 'i\.rai continues to demons trate its www.cyclenews.com ed renew ed awa reness and interest in the Triumph bra nd, which has brought thou sands of new custom ers into Triumph showroo ms. "The pe rformance of ou r deale rs these past few mo nths has been nothing short of amazing." said Todd Andersen , marketing vice pres ide nt of Triumph Motorcycles (Ame rica) Ltd. "With their help, we we re able to leverage the interest created by the Rocket III into record-breaking retail sales." Clear Channel Ente rtainmen t' s Motor Sports division has annou nced t he payout structure for the seventh-annual 2004 Maxxis U,S. Open at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The payout is as follows: [s t : $ 100,000; 2nd; $35,000; 3rd: $20 ,000; 4th; $13 ,000; 5th : $ 10,000; 6th: $9000 ; 7th: $ BOoo; Bth: $7000; 9th: $6000; 10th: $5000; I Ith: $4000 ; 12th: $3000; 13th: $2500; 14th: $2300 ; 15th: $ 2200 ; 16th: $2000 ; 17th $1900; IBth: $ 1BOO; 19th: $1700; 20t h: $ 1600; 2 1st: $ 1500; 22nd: $1400; 23rd: $1300 ; 24th : $1200 . The Riverside Old Timers' Motocross Club (ROT MX) will take to the track again on August 22 at Barona O aks in Ramona, California, before heading to Raceto wn in Adelanto , California, on Sept ember I I for an Continued on page '3 CYCLE NEWS • AUGUST 18, 200 4 11

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