Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I Briefly... First Look: 2005 Honda CRF450R T he folks at Ho nda swung by our office the other day to give us a sneak peak at their significantly updated 2005 CRF450R motocrosser. The bike is said to be 3.5 pounds lighter and even more powerful - yet more cont rollable - than the '04. The big news here is the eR's new fourth-generation twinspar aluminum frame, which is now very similar to that of the '04 and 'OS CRF250R frame. The swlngarrn is also significantlyupdated. as it is now lighter and stronger than before . Honda also managed to save some we ight by going to a titani um exhaust heat shield , beveling out the back side of the rear brake pedal , recasting the hubs. rerouti ng the radiator hose and going to an alu- minum clutch cable bracket. Suspensio n-wise, both the Showa shock and the 47mm twincham ber fork have been revalved , and the Pro-Lin k linkage system has a new ratio . The 2005 Honda CRF450R features a new fourthgeneration twin-spar aluminum frame California Off-Roaders May Lose 4. I Million Acres The AMA has ex pre ssed its opposition to a fede ral court ruling th is week that has the pot ential to shut dow n an additional 4.1 million acres of the Californ ia desert to all offhighway vehicles. O n Tuesday, August 3, U.S. District judge Susan IIlsto n issued a ruling that cou ld end all off-highway motorcycling and ATV riding in areas of the desert that are des ignated a cr itical habitat fo r th e des ert to rto ise , wh ich is listed as a th reatened spe cies und er the Endangered Spec ies Act . lllston 's ruling reve rses an o pinion by th e U.S. Fish and Wild life Serv ice that had allowed activities including cattle grazing and mo torize d rec re ation on so me torto ise hab itat con trolled by the fed eral Bure au of Land Management wit hin the 25-m illion acre des ert, according to the AMA. The ruling came in a lawsu it filed by opposing forces in the de bate over access to the desert: AMA District 37 and the Center fo r Biological Diversity. The AMA dist rict org anizat ion argue d that the Bureau of Land Manage me nt should loo k into o the r factors leading to a decline in th e tortoise po pulat ion, mo st notably disea ses affect ing th e tortoises ' upper-respi rato ry syste ms and thei r she lls. The district asked that the BLM be o rdered to co nsider so me 900 pages of re sea rch po inting to the diseas es as prima ry causes of tortoise de aths wh en de velop ing its plan for re cove ry o f th e species . Mea nwh ile, the Cente r for Biological Diversi ty argued t hat re strictions on mo to rized recreation and cattle graz ing imposed by the BLM did not provide sufficient protection for th e tortoise, the AMA says. In ruling against District 37 and in favor of the Center fo r Biological Diversity, IIIston essentially decid ed that no matter how minor a role off-highway motorcyclists and grazing cattle play in the decl ine of the tortoise , the BLM is o bligated under fed eral law to eliminate t hose activities throughout the tortoise 's critica l habitat . Dunlop Issues Tire Info Acco rding to a release by t he company, Dunlo p U.K. has analyzed th e KRI08 tires involved in three recent on-track incide nts and believes to have isolated the issue through co mmo n date of ma nufacture. "In ord er to keep pace w ith the ongo ing development of today's IOOOcc Superstock machines, w hich place high demands on rear tires pr imar ily certain construction changes were made to t hese previo us, ly pro ven tires fo r this year 's Dayton a AMA races," the release said. "Based primarily on the results of performance at Dayto na, these changes were applied to all stand ard production IT' KRI08 's beginning with the I Ith week of 2004 's production." As a res ult, Dunlop has suspended sales and will rep lace any KRI08 tires manufactured prior to the I Ith wee k of 2004, the release said. Tires being replaced include all versions of I95/70RI 7 KRI08 with a date co de prior to w eek e leven of 2004 . The date cod e can be found in a stenciled oval located o n the left-hand side of the tire . The stencil includes four digits. For examp le, 4803 wou ld re present the 48th week of 2003 . Codes fro m 1104 forward inco rpo rate the new standards and wou ld not need to be replaced . For assistance in rep lacing the older version of the KRI08 with tires of the new cons tr uction , co ntac t Dunlop's race distri butors at the following numbers: Sport Tire Services , 805/434-4810; Race Tire Services, 6 15/64 1-2234. "Th is ruling com plet e ly ignores the fact that off-highway moto rcycling and ATV riding have played little, if any, part in redu cing the tortoise pop ulatio n," said N ick Haris, AMA Western Stat es Representative . "Moto rized re creation is already ext re me ly re stricted o n most of the tortoise hab itat land. In fact , motorized veh icles are either banned e ntire ly or restricted to using ex isting route s and ways in nearly every part of the desert. "The amo unt of public land available for recreation has shrunk dram at ically over t he years. Until today, the areas available for o pe n riding amo unt to a mere two percent of the ove rall de sert," Har is adde d. "Closing an additional 4. 1 million acres to all off-highway vehicles wo uld be anoth er giant step to ward eliminating this legitimate form of rec reation from the desert." AMA Distr ict 37 will appeal to the 9th U.S. Circ uit Court of Appeals in an effo rt to get lllsto n's ruling reversed , accord ing to the AMA. Lafferty Tops Michigan National Enduro KTM's Mike Lafferty took top hono rs at the AMN FMF Nat ional Enduro in Harrison, Michigan, August 9. Lafferty has won th e last two ro unds of the se ries since returning to action afte r having knee surgery. In t he no n-t imekeeping style rou nd, Lafferty e nde d up d ro pping a winning sco re of 43 po ints, th ree po ints be tt er than the next- best scor e put up by both defe nding GNCC cham pio n Barry Haw k and Husqvarna's Fred Hoess. Hawk , however, was credited wit h runner-up ho nors and Hoess third. KTM's David Lykke , who finished fourth overall, moved back into the series points lead, slipping ahead of Randy Hawk ins by o ne po int . Hawkins finished fifth o n the day, matching Lykke's sco re of 47. Kawasaki rider Stev e Hatch finished sixth overall, ahead of Yamaha- mo unte d Robbie jenks, Gas Gas rider jo hn Barb er, Yamaha pilot jo sh McLevy and KTM-mo unted Michael Keen. With just two rou nds left in the se ries, Lykke sits atop the leade rboard with 16 1 points , followed by Haw kins with 160 , Hatch with I37 and Hoess with 94. www.cyclenews.com I Altho ugh Carl sbad Raceway has alrea dy been clo sed , local businessman and Carlsbad Raceway supporter Bruce Santou rian is heading up an I It h hour effort t o save Ca r lsba d Ra cew ay in Carlsbad, California, by asking track goe rs to attend a Carlsbad City Council meeti ng scheduled for Tuesday, August 10. "We must show our strength in great overwhelming numbers," Santourian said in an e-mail. "Keeping the raceco urse and motocross facility open will continue to discourage the yo unger kids from ta king part in the street racing scene, provid ing them w ith a safe regulated environment to express themse lves. The Raceway has great Histo ric significance. It is over 40 years o ld and has hosted many famous big named drag race rs - Do n Prudhomme, jo hn Force, to name a few - and many great events, including t he world class Superbikers Motocross event, wh ich was yearly covered by ABC' s Wide World of Sports. I inte nd to make a presenta tion the re [at the city co uncil meeting] to save t his racecou rse from destruction It is extremely important for others to express their views at the meeting as we ll. They allow the first 15 minutes for the public to e xpress their o pinions. We want to se e 5000 people supporting us in downtown Ca rlsbad ." Santou rian is re questi ng that all inter ested parties arrive at Carls bad City Hall, 1200 Carls bad Village Dr., in Carlsbad at least one hour before the city council meeting, wh ich is sched uled to begin at 6 p.m. "We hope to hold an or derly rally just outside the meeting hall well in advance of the 6 p.m , starting time ." Santourian said. Seven-time AMA Supercross Champ Jere my McGrat h has anno unced his newest venture - a line of action sportsinspired clothing , whic h will be so ld unde r a newly created label, Ns ane Industries. McGrath has joined forces w ith sportswear manufacturer Fo rt une Fashio ns Indust ries (FFI) to launch this collection of ap parel and he adwear. T he co llection, consisting of young men's, juniors and yout h lines, will be launch ed with in mid-tier retailers and mall specialty stores as we ll as mot o rcycle shops and sporting goo d sto res beginning in Spring 2005 , according to McGrath's pub licist. The line will be comprised of short and long sleeve T-shirts, hoo ded- and full-zip fleece , wove n and knit fashion tops, pants, shorts and headwear. "I am rea lly excited abo ut this oppo rt unity, and I fee l like I found the perfect scenario - great, quality stu ff will be manufactured and the n actually sold to retail," McGrath said in a release. "A lot of the initial designs fo r the 'f-s hirts. for example , are based o n some of my act ual race photos - I know this type of shirt is what fans have asked me about fo r years. This is something I've rea lly wanted to do fo r a wh ile." In addition to starting his new cloth ing company, jeremy McGrath is go ing to be pr o moting a su pe rcross race in O ctob er. The seven-time Supercross Champion is working with Clutch Films to put on the McGrath Invitational Supercross. T he one-off race w ill be held at th e Home De pot Continued on page 1 r CYCLE NEWS • AUGUST 18, 2004 9

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