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/128346
Carmichael's Vegas Woes A I mer ican Suzuki sent out a release on /""\Monday, Octobe r I I regarding the clutch failure on Ricky Car michael's Suzuki RM2S0 at the U.S. O pen o n Octob er 9. "Te am Makita Suzuk i Racing's Ricky Carmichael's Suzuki RM250 suffered a clutch failure at the Maxxis U.S. Open in Las Vegas this pas t weeken d," the release sta ted. " D espite t he unfortunate incid ent , Team Mak ita Suzuki Racing remains extremely excit- ed abo ut the upcoming THQ AMA Supercro ss Series." According to tea m manager Roger DeC oster, "We had a clutch failure . The problem w ill be fixed immediately. Based on the short time t hat Ricky has had on the bike [two w eeks] and w itnessing how much he improved from Friday night's race to Saturday night's race , I have every reason to believe that Ricky w ill be t he rider to beat fo r t he ne xt Supe rcross Ch amp ionship." Added Carmichae l, "It was just a freak accide nt . I have ridden w ith this part all through testing and never had a problem . The part was brand new so it was just bad luck. The positive w as that I w as the faste st guy o n the t rack and have a lot of co nfidence based on my riding from t he w eekend." Ricky Carmichael's RM250 ha d clutch tro ub les in Las Vegas. Savoie on the M arch - Again U.S. Army Suzuki's Angelle Savoie has won 34 N HRA National event titles in her eight-year Pro Stock Bike career, and few of them have been as dominating as her most rec ent victory at the Lucas O il Nat ionals in Reading, Pennsylvan ia, o n October 10. Savoie defeated her U.S. Army tea mmate Antran Brown in the final ro und, winning wh at is officially the quickest side-by-side race in the history of the class - 7.0 18 to 7.047 . Her 7.0 I8-second ru n in the final was not only t he quickest quarter-mile e lapsed time of Savoie 's career, but also just two -th ousa ndt hs o f a second slower tha n the current N HRA nation al reco rd of 7.0 16 - held by Screamin' Eagle Harl ey -D avidson's Andrew Hines. "To be honest, I thought I ran a 7.04 in the final, but then w he n my crew got to me , t hey told me it wa s a 7.018 ," Savoie said. "O bvio usly, I was happy, but I w as also a little upset because I knew that we had come so close to setting the nat ional record. I also re alized th at if eve ryt hing had gone perfectly, we might have made the first six-second Pro Stock Bike run ." W it h t he wi n, Savoie passed her former teammate, the late joh n Myers , for second place on NHAAs all-time win list . She no w trails on ly six-time champ Dave Schultz, w ho had 45 wins at the time of his dea th in 200 I. "T here was a time when I d idn't think Iw ou ld ever get to race a Pro Stock Bike, much less win race s," Savoie said. "To pass john Myers is really unbel ievable. It's so mething I never thought w o uld happ en . I still have a lo ng wa y to go to pass Dave, though." In qual ifying, Brown led th e 16-bike field w it h a 7.057 , just ahea d of Savoie's 7.082 . Th e only oth er rider in the 7.0s was Hines, w ho recorded a 7.089 and se t top speed of the meet w ith a 193.57 mph top speed. Hines, the winner of three eve nts t his sea so n, made it to t he semifinals but lost to Savoie , 7.0S3 to 7.149. Brown then joined Savoie in t he final round wit h a 7.075 to 7. 126 victory over K&N Filters rider Steve johnso n. With Brown still in contention for the championship, some might have expected Savoie to take a knee fo r her teammate in the final round, but the Army te am insisted that t hat was never a part o f their game plan. "To be honest, we never thought about asking Angelle to do that," Army crew chie f Mark Peise r said. "It isn't fair to e ither our riders, or to the fans w ho expect us to have a clean side -by-side race . I want people to know that any time these bikes have to race , they' re going to go for it. Besides , with only two races left , I don 't think we cou ld realist ically ex pec t to catch Andr ew fo r th e champ ion ship. He's got too big o f a lead. " Had I known t hat she was go ing to be th at close to run ning in th e sixe s, I w ou ld have rea lly went for it," Peiser conti nued . "We ran the bike five pounds hea vy, and I cou ld have been a lot more aggre ssive w ith the tun eup. The conditions w ere certainly there to run a six, but w e didn't take advantage o f them." Kevin M c K en n a www.cyclenEWS.com Briefly... Continued from page 9 letting him concentrate fully on C rescent's new agreement to manage the factory Suzuki MotoGP team ." KTM a nd Malco lm S mi t h Motorsports w ill be offering demo rides on se lect 2005 KTMoff-road models in conjunction with the AMA National Hare and Hound on Saturday, October 23 , in Lucerne Valley Cali, forn ia. No entry fee required . Demo rides are open to all customers with a helmet, eye protection and protect ive clothing. For mo re information, contact David Rees at Malcolm Smith Motorsports at 9S 1/687- 1300. VP Raci ng Fue ls Inc. has anno unced the opening of a new plant in Terre Haute , Indiana . According to jay Farnsworth, VP's Midwest reg ional manage r, the new $1.4million distribution center will se rve VP's Midwest region, which consists of Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee , illino is, Missour i, Iowa , Wisco nsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. Located on 10 acres of land , the plant includes eight 20,OOO-galion storage tanks along wit h 6000 squ are feet of warehouse space. Braun Enterta inment has announced that Parts Unlimited will be a majo r sponsor of the upco ming Amateur Open o f Motocross at the Arizona Cycle Park, December 1-5. For mo re information regarding the race , call 607/742-9428. Three riders from the United States have been selected to com pete in this year's 5 1st Macau GP - Geo ff May , Je r emy Toye and Jo sh Hayes. The team leaves fo r Ho ng Kong on No vember 13, and the 60 -mile race through the streets w ill be run on Saturday, Novembe r 20. After t he race, the team w ill be treated to an eight-night paid vacation in Pattaya, Thailand . Motocross racer W hit ney Murphy, 19, was killed durin g a Racing Enterprises Motorsports race at Glen He len Raceway Park in San Bernardino, California, on October 2. A memorial service w ill be he ld for Murphy at noo n o n O ctober 17 at Westminster Memorial Park in We stminster, Ca lifo rn ia. For more information, call 7 14/893-2421. MOVED: Boyesen Pre cision Porting Inc. to 602 Hayden Station Rd., Windsor, CT 0609S ; 860/683-44 10, 860/683-4451 (fax). CYCLE NEWS • o a OBER 20, 2004 11