Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

will be able to get away with brushing or drying the track . Rossi's team said that it had laid the rubber not so much for traction but to mark the spot for him to see at speed, so he cou ld run over it repeatedly in morning wa rmup to clear the dust for the run to turn one. It was reported that they used to do the same thing for Mick Doohan. The frve-t ime World Champ ion was taken by surp rise by this news. "If they used to do that, they neve r told me about it," he said in Malaysia. "The first I heard was when I saw it in an Austra lian newspape r." Crew chiefJerry Burgess cleared the air. "That was misreported," Burgess said. "We used to get Mickto run over his grid position , but we never marked it. It' s dif- Hawk Tops Power Line Park GNCC I The World Off-Ro ad Ch ampionship Se ries (WORCS) has already announ ced its 2005 sche d ule , and there are some significant changes. No longer w ill the ATVs run on the same weekend as the motorcycles. as the y w ill now have their own stand- alone series for 2005 . Plus, there are a few new venues on the schedule , including at least one not eworth y r eturn ve nue - Washougal MX Park. The popular Washou gal event was dropped off the schedu le in '04 but willretu rn in '05 - twice . The 2005 sched ule is as follows: Roun d I : January lSIB - Speedw o rld MX Park, Phoenix, Arizona; Round 2: February 11-13 - Mes qu ite MotoX Pa r k, Mesquite , Nevada; Round 3: Feb ruary 25-27 - Cycle Ra nch Pa r k, San Antonio, Texas; Round 4: March IB-20 Crazyhorse Campgrounds, Lake Havasu, Arizona; Round 5: April 15-17 - Clay Pe ak s MX Pa rk , Payette, Idaho; Round 6: May 20-22 - Cedar Raceway MX Park, Ced ar City, Utah; Rounds 7-B: June I 1-17 Washougal MX Pa rk , Washougal, Washington ; Round 9: September 2-4 - Bullhol low Raceway, Monticello, Utah ; Round 10: September 23-24 - Ho ne y Lake MX Park, Milford, California; Round II : Octo ber 7-9 - TBA; Round 12: October 2B-30 Oak Hill MX Park, Decatur, Texas; Round 13: Novem be r 19-20 - Glen Helen Raceway, Devore, California. Of course, the schedule is subject to change . ferent now because of the new three- pe r-ro w MotoGP grid [introd uced this seaso n]. There's so much paint and so many slots on the grid now, it's not so easy for the rider to find his own at 300 km/h [I B6 mph]," he said. Anoth e r point is that when all classes had four per row, then the MotoGP riders, in the last race of the day, would take a grid pos ition that had already been used by a 125cc and a 250cc, cleaning the spot and laying rubber. "Now, especially if you are in the middle of the grid, like Valentino at Q atar, you're on virgin territory that has never been used ," said Burgess. The legendary crew chief added: "Y ou used to be rewarded for do ing somet hing clever. No w you get penalized." The re were questions about the actions of Yamaha team manager Dav ide Brivio, with some accusing him of dup licity in getting the track cleaned after the rubbe r had been laid do wn - especially since the acetone used made the patch much mo re grippy than any rubber. The Italian gave a good account of himself, however, when quest ioned . ':A.t about e ight o'cloc k on the evening before the race, I was with Valentino at the track, and we didn't know the crew had made the mark . We saw it , and we thought that someone had done something to damage our grid position. We immediately called the circuit manager, and he was very surp rised to see the mark. He wondered if it was paint, or possibly oil.We left the track, and the circuit manager said he would do what he could to fix it - at that stage we thought Valentino might have to start fro m the side of his position, to avoid the black mark." Circuit staff had used acetone to clean the spot. Brivio was adamant that they ally had not requ ested this spec ific . The next morn ing. Brivio discovered how the marks had been made . "It is a bit embarrassing that we didn't know how it happened," he said. By that time the acetone cleaning had already ta ken place. Mi cha e l Scott Briefly... o r the second straight time, Am Pro Yamaha's Barry Hawk won a round of the Grand National Cross Country Championship, this time at the Powe r line Park GNCC in St. Clairsville, Ohio , on O ctobe r 10. Hawk, who recently F returned to racing after getting injured earlier in the year, has risen back to the level that won him his first GNCC title last year. "O nce I came back from the injury, it really lit a match up unde r me," said Hawk, who raced for the first time the 2005 YZ250. "I'm fire d up . The '05 work ed awesome, it just too k me a little wh ile to get used to how it reacted in some situations. I wa nt to use w hat we learned and keep this momentum going into next yea r. It After three hours of close racing, FMF Suzuki's Doug Blackwe ll and Kawasaki Team Green's Chuck Woodford finished second and third, respe ctively. It was the best finish for both riders this year. "I wanted to win this one today, but I'm happy to be up here ," Blackwell said. "It takes a great team behind you to get up her e, and I finally have that . It's been way too long since I've been up here, but I'm back." ':A.II year long I've been struggling," said Woodford, who livesonly 10 minutes from Power line Park . "I didn't have to bang bars all day. I just stayed re laxed and calm and let it come to me . I was following Barry for a while, and we got into first and second, but Doug got a little too excited in a mud hole and we crashed. But I just stayed in a comfort zone today." Series points leader Rodney Smith was in position to clinch the 2004 champ ionship when he ran second early, but he got wire wrapped in his bike and dropped all the way back to 12th before mou nting a strong comeback to finish fourth, just one position ahead of Am Pro's Jason Raines. The title will now be decided at the final round in Crawfordsville, Indiana , in two weeks . "Once I saw Jason right beh ind me , I knew I wo uld have to wait until Indiana," Smith said. "On the last lap it was kind of fun, we we re hollering at each other and every thing, just having fun. I think the pressu re is off of both of us right now." Before the race , Rai nes revea led that he has been riding with a fractured shoulder socket. ':A.t this point, my only goal was to just try to keep the championship going to the last race ," Raines said. "I hurt my shoulder over the summer and I'm going to ride it out. It gets stuck in position sometimes and itis like a deer in the headlights while you just wait for it to unlock." Throttlehead.corn Kawasaki's Josh McLevy finished sixth, followed by his teammate Steve Hatch , Australian Enduro Champion Glenn Kearney, KTM's Mike Lafferty and Gas Gas rider John Barber. Napster, a division of Roxio, announced it has teamed with Factory Conn ection Racing, Inc. in a new partnersh ip that will com bine the world's biggest brand in digital music w ith one o f the co untry 's pre m ier supercross and motocross teams. To launch the alliance, Napster has become an associate sponsor of Factory Co nnection Racing's Amsoil/ChaparraVHonda Team for the 2005 supe rcro ss and motocross seaso ns. The sponsorship kicked-off in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Friday, Oct ober 8, at the U.S. Open in the MGM Grand Arena. "We are very excited about the opportunities a relation - ship betw ee n a leader in the digital music wor ld and our race team can yield," said Jeff Majkrzak, team co-ow ner of Facto ry Connection racing. ''As soon as the Familie brought us the opportunity with Napster, we knew it w as a unique chance to partn er w ith a brand that fits perfectly with our sport, our team and ou r fans." Riding for the team in 2005 will be Kevin Windham and Mike laRocco. They will be joined by the I25cc team of Josh Grant , Billy Laninovich, Joaquim Rodrigues and Tommy Hahn, the foursome riding Honda CR250Fs. The Women's MX/5X Foundation says it will facilitate a medical relief fund for injured mot ocrosser Shane Lusk . "Do naContinued on page 9 www.cyclenEWs.com CYCLE NEWS • OCTOBER 20, 2004 7

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