Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

.Briefly... 2005 Suzuki GSX-R I 000 After a w orse- than-expec ted diagnosis on his bro ken right collarbone , Andrew McFarlane is a no-go for the Australian team in this year 's Motocross of Nations (MoN) on O ctober 3, and will be replaced by Paul Broomfield. McFarlane, who recently had surgery in England, has been advised to convalesce for a couple of months, w ith his major focus now on regaining full fitness for the 2005 Mot ocross World Championship. The indisposition of McFarlane, w ho has been the mainstay of the Australian MoN tea m in rece nt years , has now opened the doo r for an elate d Broom field to make his second successive appeara nce in the teams' eve nt, afte r what has been a limited year of campaigning for the 28-yea r-old. "With the question mark over McFarlane , I was first sounded out about the ride late last week," said Broo mfield, who finished fourth in the 2003 Australian Motocross Championship. '~d now it' s going to happen - I'm still coming to terms with it really. I haven't been that active on the national mo tocross scene in 2004, although I did ride in the final round at Wonthaggi and I was quite happy w ith how I rode . Now I'm going to wor k really hard on losing a few kilos and regaining some fitness in preparat ion for the event ." Broomfield , w ho has devot ed most of his T he ope n-class sportbike segmen t was absolutely stacked with fresh meat in 200 4, w ith new bike s fro m Hon da, Kawasaki and Yamaha. Now it' s Suzuki's tum. The all-new 2005 GSX-RI000 has been updated significantly to com pete with the aforementioned Japanese competition. The first order of business was the motor, which has been tweaked in an effort to improve pow er output and performance . The displace ment has been increas ed slightly to 998 .6cc (from 998cc), by increasing the bore from 73 to 73.4mm. The crankshaft has been re inforced while a new balance r shaft has been added to smoot h o ut high-rpm o peration. Lighte r weight forged pistons featuring chrome-nitride coated upper com pre ssion and oil control rings have also been added. Th e fuel-inje ct ion syste m has been improved by changing the throttle bodies to a new com pact dou ble-barrel design with larger 52mm bores. The syste m features two injectors per throttle body, w ith the primary injector operating all the time and the secon dary injector kickingin under high rpm/heavy load conditions. The new cylinder head features larger 30mm intake and 24m m exhaust ports, plus a smaller co mbustion cham ber and highe r 12.5: I co mpression ratio . New lighter tita- between the ride r's knee s. The bodywork has been reshaped with nium intake and exhaust valves w ith larger information gained in the wi nd tunnel. The 4.5mm stems were added for increased stre ngth to allow for the 1000 -rpm higher vertical headlights have been resha pe d and feature 55/65W bulbs, while the ram -air duets have been re positioned. The new engine red line. The transmission is new w ith closergear ratios and a slipper clutch for improve d shifting and improved spacing th roughout the rev range . A larger trapezoidal-shaped rad iator improves cool ing capacity by 17-percent without increasing frontal area, while a new co mpact cooling fan has been added. The ex haust system is an all-new titanium pack- age designed to kee p the ce nter of gravity closer to the centerl ine of the machine - to decrease drag and increase the bank angle. The syste m stillfeat ures the Suzuki Exhaust Tuning syste m (SET) exhaust back-pressure regulator. Th ey didn't stop after the e ngine make over how ever, as the chassis has bee n update d significantly as wel l. A lot of the chassis changes we re made to increase rider comfort. The reach from the seat to the handlebars has been decreased , the seat height has been lowe red by almost an inch, and the bike is significantly narro w er energies to mo tocr oss instr ucting in 200 4 , willride a Yamaha YZ250F in the MX2 class at the MoN, alongside event rookies Cheyne Boyd (KTM 540 SX/O pen class) and Lee Ellis (Honda CRF450R/MX I). m irro rs feature integrate d tum signals and Five-tim e N atio nal Are nacross champ ion the tail-section has bee n reshaped. Buddy Antunez has started his ow n athlete management company. Along with his attomey partn er and co-founder Steve Aldaco, Antunez has started his comp any called, The Agents. For more information on The Agents, contact Antunez at 951/205-4686 and via e-mail at bud man 1ax@ aol.com, or Aldaco at 951/205 -3348 , or via e-mail at aldaco@ lbb- T he instr ume nt cluster has been redesi gned and features an analog tac h, digital speedometer, new gear indicator, LCD odom et er-tripmeters, cool ant tempera- ture, clock and EFI diagnostics. The all-new, lightweight aluminum frame is a combi nation of cast and extruded is a spar piece that concentra tes the engine mass toward the center of the machine. The braced aluminum swingarm is lighter, more rigid and is shape d to allow the exhaust to tuck in for improved cornering clearance. Th e suspens ion featu res a fully adjustable 43mm inverted fork and a fully adjustable piggy -back shock absorber w ith a more linear rate linkage system. Radialmo unt four-pisto n front brake caliper s with large r 3 1Omm rotors and new radial-mou nt maste r cylinder should provide improved lever feel and feedback. Blake Canner slaw.com . As part of the Peoria Motorcycle Club's AHRMA National dirt tracks on September 24 and 25, ther e willbe an open amateur class for nonexpert AMA riders on machines of over 250cc in addition to all AHRMA classes. This will be at the September 24 short trac k event run at the Peoria Speedway as we ll as the Septe mber 25 TT - run on the famous Peoria TT trac k. For mo re informatio n, call 309/697-8149. Kawasaki Motor s Corp., U.S.A. has announced that its long-standing partner - Picotte Again Pascal Picotte put his name in the record books with a V ictory in the final roun d of the Parts Ca nada Super bike Cham pionship at 5hannonville Motorsport Park on Sunday, September 12. The victory was the Yamaha racer's fifth of the season , tying him with Steve Crev ier and Jordan Szoke for the most w ins in a Canadian National Superbike season. Picott e started from the pole and led all 14 laps on his Team Yamaha/Picotte Performance Yamaha YZF-RI. Crev ier finished seco nd, .789 of a second behind on the DXS Diablo Racing Team Suzuki G5X-R1000, and Frank Trombino finished third , riding the Broo klin Cycle Yamaha YZF-RI. "It's a perfec t weekend," Picott e said. "I couldn't have finished the season any better. Everybody may think it's easy to win these races , but it' s tough ment ally. I put a lot of pressure on myself. II Picotte was never seriously challenged by C rev ier and led by as many as five seconds in the middle of the race . Crevier and Trombino battl ed fo r the runner-up spot befo re Trombino suffered a big slide on lap nine and lost ground to the six- time Canadian Supe rbike Champion . Pico tte also wo n the Hindle Exhaust Pro 600 Sport Bike Championship roun d at 5hannonville on his Yamaha YZF-R6. Picott e, who had already clinched that season title as well, led every lap and finished 4.771 seconds ahead of fellow Yamaha rider Trombino. Crevier placed third on his Suzuki GSX-R600. www.cyc lenews.com ship w ith Thor has bee n extended thr ough 2005 . Under the agree ment , Kawasaki will marke t and distribute its own bran ded-v ersion of Thor riding appare l for adults and childre n. The exclusive line of Kawasakibran ded appare l wiil include adult and children's pants, jers eys, gloves and chest protect ors , and will be available for purchase thro ugh Kawasaki's dealer network. Con sumers wiil also have the op tion of purchasing the apparel online at www.buykawasaki.com , As part of the marketing re lationship, Kawasaki is also making the Continued on page 9 CYCLE NEWS • SEPTEMBER 22, 2004 7

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