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/128340
Albertyn To Return Former tw o-ti me 250cc World C ham pion Greg A1 bertyn will retu rn to action for t he Gra nd Prix of South Africa in Sun City on September 26 , riding a Suzu ki RMZ 450 for the fact o ry team in w hat w ill be his final pro fessional race , accordi ng to Suzuki. Th e 3 1-year-o ld A1 bertyn won t he second of his 250cc t itles in 1994 in Gaildorf. Ge rm any. and then left Sylvain Geboe rs ' facto ry Tea m Suzuk i squ ad to com pete in the AMA Se ries, win ning t he 250cc AMA Natio nal Moto cro ss Ch ampionship in 1999 . Albertyn's AMA career was un fort unately plagued by injury and he re tired from the sport in 200 I. "I tho ught it'd be a great opportunity to co me home and see my fam ily, as wellas have a fun race and ride in fro nt of my home crowd, " A1 be rty n said . " I just want to go ou t there . have fun, and if I cou ld ge t a top- i 0 finish. I'd be very happy: ' Having submitted a req uest to his form er em ployers for technical backing for a guest ride at his home Grand Prix, A1bertyn will on ce again form part of th e Belgian-based factory team. He will ride the facto ry RMZ 450 in the abse nce of Joe l Sme ts, and Tane l Leok w ill ret urn to using the Motovision RM250 for th e last Wo rld Cham pionship ro und of the seas on . "Greg aske d if we cou ld help him out, a nd Suzuki Japan were fine wit h the req ues t, so he will beco me a membe r of the team fo r the Grand Prix and use the 450," said team manager Jens Johansson . For ow ne r and director Sylvain Geboe rs , it will be an emotional reunion with the rider w hose brief spe ll w ith th e team was suc h a suc cessful one. '~though every race in th e past when he was riding as part of the team w e were loo king at victory, we don't expect Greg to ge t a w in for us this time ," Ge bo e rs said . " He has asked us if he can enter th e South African GP to make his last o ffici al race, and fo r us it is grea t to be able to offer him t his opport un ity. We simply cannot refuse because we owe him t hat muc h. Wh en we were wo rking together, I knew t hat Greg was a de manding ride r. so I fully ex pect him to be in good con dition for the Gra nd Prix. He was a nice pe rson to be around and a pleasu re to have as part of t he team. I have on ly seen him a few times in the U.S. since 1994 and I have never been to Sout h Africa, so it w ill be nice to meet up w ith him and his family in Sun C ity. The even t will be a nice exam ple of t he " family" we often speak about e xisting w ithin Suzuki and t he sport of motocros s." Picotte Takes Molson Indy Win Pascal Picotte led every lap of a restarted race to win the Parts Canad a Superbike Invitationa l at th e Mo lson Indy Montreal on Sunday, August 29 . Riding t he Tea m Yama ha/ Picotte Perfo rmance Yamaha YZF-R I. Pico tt e bea t the DXS Diablo Racing Suzuki GSX-R I000 of Steve Crevier by 2. 175 seconds. Fran k Tro mbino finished third on the Brooklin Cycle Yamaha YZF-Ri . "Thi s is ho me for me . and it's a great feeling to wi n here," said Picotte , w ho clinched his seco nd straight Parts Canada Superbi ke cro w n last w eekend at Le Circuit MontTremblant. "To se e the w ay t he fans reacted was amazing." The race was the first motorcycle event at MARRI ED: AMA Pro Racing Supermoto Series manager Chris Bradley, to Katy Klaver, on Saturday, August 28 in Col umbus. Ohio. AUTOGRA PH SIG NING: At Chaparral Motorsports in San Bernardino, California. on September 10 from 6 to 8 p.m . Factory Yamaha riders Chad Reed and David Vuillemin, Mach I Yamaha's Heath Voss and Yamaha of Troy's Mike Brow n , Josh Hansen, Kelly Smith and Dan ny Smith are schedu led to appear. For more info rmat io n. call 909 /889-2761 . H IRED : Eric Putter, as marketing manager for Phillips Motorsport Group, which includes the Lockhart Phillips USA, Options ltalia and TeamUne brands, effective immediately.A fo rme r motojournalist, photographer and public -reiations executive. Putter will report directly to PMG president Wendell Phillips and be responsible for the company's advertising activities, catalog production , marketing programs, media re lations and website presence. He can be reached the 2.7-m ile Circuit Gilles-Ville ne uve since 1987 . It did not co unt as an official rou nd of the Parts Can ada Superbike Champion ship but featured a purse of $ 12,000 from Parts Canada. Kevin Lacomb e gra bbe d t he lead at the sta rt of the race (o riginally sc hedu led for 12 laps) but c rashed his Laco m be Racing/ Brook lin Cycle Yamaha YZF-RI halfway aro und the first lap. Th e race was stopp ed and resched uled for 10 laps. On the second sta rt , Pico tt e too k th e lead fro m Jo rdan Szoke and Trombino and was in control. "Right away, I put in tw o really good laps and got a gap," Pico tte e xplained . "Fro m t here , I decided to put it o n cruise con tr ol. and my plan w o rke d ou t really well:' at 949/498-9 090 ext. 222 and eputter@lockhartphillipsusa.com . OPE NED: Carlsbad Raceway Inc.'s new home page o n t he World Wide Web, chronicli ng the history of the famous racetrack. The site can be fo und at the following address: www.carlsbadraceway.org. BORN : A baby girl. Hailey Nicole Winston, to former AMA dirt tracker Joe Winston III and his wife, Misty, on July 15 in Southern California . AC C EPTI N G: Ten Racing wi ll be accepting racer resumes for the 2005 racing season from September I to January 31. Resumes can be sent to Te n Racing, attn: rider sup port manager, 1800 Sheridan Ave., Pitts bu rgh, PA 15104. ACC EPTING: Schilling Products is currently accepting racer resumes for the 2004 racing season. Resumes can be sent to Schilling Products. P.O. Box 756 , Yuba City, CA 95993. :Briefly... ! Conrinued/rom page 9 dirt section . Stevens remounted to finish second . For the rest of the Florida schedul e, visit \N'INW.supermotard-usa.com. Biketoberfest ho tel rooms in Dayto na Beach . Florida, are available for re servat ion now t hro ugh Travelcraft. To confi rm rooms o n the beach, call 800/241 -1223 . Little Known Fact : Th e MZ 10005 finished fifth in the Ope n class of t he 24 Hours of Osche rsleben in Ge rmany recently. OB I Bre ckle team riders Rico Richter and Rene Kno efler sta rted 39th in the race but finished fifth w ith 794. AMA Pro Racing has an nounced that Dunlop will be t he official t ire of t he 2005 AMA Supermot o Championship. AMA Pro Racing vice pr esident Andy Leisne r said that Dun lop 's involvemen t in AMA Supermot o has be en instru me ntal in the succe ss of the new se ries . "We are del ighted to nam e Dunlop as the official tire of t he AMA Supermoto Championship," said Leisner. "When w e intr oduced AMA Supe rmoto in 2003 , Dunlop stepped in w ith unp aralleled ride r sup po rt as w e llas e xtensive tire deve lopm ent. T he ir w ork helped the inaugural AMA Supermoto Championsh ip get off to a strong start from a technical sta ndpoint. Plus, wit h w ins in both the 2003 AMA Supe rm oto and AMA Supe rmoto Unlimited Ch amp ion ship as well as the Gold Medal in X Gam es Supe rm oto X , Dunlop is clea rly t he leader in Supe rmoto tire s." Du nlop o fficials confirmed that the comp any will offer e xpanded rider suppo rt at each ro und of the 2004 AMA Supe rmoto C hampionship . Dunlop vice president Mike Buckley says the company is proud to support the growi ng sport of Supermoto . "Supermoto is one of the hottest things in motorcycling right now," said Buckley. "O ur participat ion has been good for ou r bus iness, and we plan o n continuing o ur st rong support of t he category." Ray Price Racing has annou nced its return to Screamin ' Eagle N itro Ha rley drag racing. As Ray Price cont inues to improve from the injuries he suffered at Las Vegas in May of 2003 , he is bringing road race r Tripp Nobles to the team. Price is very pleased w ith Nobles' ent husiasm , according to a team release. In just a few test sess ions, Nobles has alrea dy run a 7.02 at 202 m ph. Evo Sports Inc. w ill hos t t he fouth annual Texas Vintage Pro-Am, pre sented by Toyota, Hooters Restauran ts and Me tro Racing. October 2-3 at t he historic Rio Bravo MX Park in Houston, Texas. T he two-day event w ill feat ure a Marty Smith moto cross school, nine Vintage classes . fo ur Mo de rn and t hree Mini classes . In add ition to the Amateur classes , there w ill be two Pro classes - Vintage and Evolution. Each class will offer a pu rse of $4000. Fo r more information, visit www.evovintage.com or call 28 1/265 -88 12. www.cyclenews.com The FIM has announced changes to the World Supermoto calen dar. The FIM says that du e to problems of o rgan ization, se ries promoters Youthstrea m has canceled ro unds in Melk, Austria; Bord eaux, France ; C uneo, Italy; Kalamata, Gre ece ; and Palermo, Italy, w hile add ing ro unds in Ottoblano , Italy, o n O ctober 10, Bilstain, Belgium, on October I7, Ath en s, Gr eece, on O ctober 3 I, and Latina, Italy, on No vember 21 . X-Card Inc. has anno unce d a new motoc ross/ o ff-road rider-support prog ram designed to save enthusiasts money in a wide range o f areas, fro m mot oc ros s parts and gear to t ravel , food and entertainment , w itho ut th e need for sponsorship application processes. The X Card program is designed to be one of the most effe ct ive ways for mo toc r oss and off -ro ad riders to receive spe cial d iscou nted pricing on a var iety of products and services covering nearly all aspects of an act ive lifestyle. The 200 -page Motocross Sport Saver book contains more than 140 pages of discou nts from motocro ss manufacturers. With the book's help . an athlete can save thousands of dollars w it hin one year, according to X Card. Th e X Card Mot ocro ss Spo rt Save r is available on line at www.xcard.co m o r by calling 800/380 -9227 . Vet X Racing w ill kick off its 10-race Xtreme Prize Giveaway Series on Sep tembe r 5 at Race tow n 395 in Adel ant o, Ca lifo rnia. T he se ries w ill conclude with a twoday event at Gle n Hele n Raceway in San Bernardino, C aliforn ia. December I 1-12. For more inform atio n, visit www.ve txracing.com o r call 949/400-1089. Race r Productio ns, t he producer of the AMA Grand National Cross Country Series , will onc e again support t he U ,S, Trophy Team at the Inte rnat ional Six Days Enduro, according to a release Issued by the company. Each of the six riders on the Trophy Team received $1000 from GNCC Racing to help defray the costs of t rave ling to Euro pe and racing for a week. "Th is mo ney really helps ," says GNCC contender Nathan Kanney, who w illbe raci ng in his first ISDE. " I can't be lieve the amount of w o rk that go es into t his event. It's cool th at GNCC st epped up to help us o ut , so I hop e to get noticed and make peopl e proud of us." GNCC Racing sent chec ks to Kanney, as w ell as fellow GNCC pro co ntende r Jimm y Jarrett . and th e oth er Trop hy Team membe rs Kurt C asselli, Fred Hoess, Nick Pearson and T im Taber. Th e mon ey was raised throu gh ISDE fund raising events held thr ou ghout the year, including dinn ers hosted by Parts Unlimited, and th e Wisp GNCC Golf Tourname nt, which is he ld be fore the Wisp GNCC in Maryland . Race r Product ions then made the ir own donation to ensure each ride r w ould have $ 100 0 . CYCLE NEWS • SEPTEMBER 8, 2004 11