Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Without Ch evy, the Levee Is Dry AMA Pro Racing announ ced last week that Chevrolet will not return as title sponsor of the AMA Motocross Championship or the AMA Superbike Championship in 2005 . Chevrolet has be e n the title sponsor of both championship series since 2000 . The strategy origina lly was to support Chevy's truck d ivision then was expanded at the beginning of the 2004 racing season to includ e Chevrolet's e ntire mo del line up. accord ing to AMA Pro Racing. "C hevro let has been a tremendous partner w ith us for the last five years, and we sincerely appreciate that support," said John Farris, AMA Pro Racing vice president o f commercial development . "O bvio usly, we'd prefer tha t they were staying, but we respect the business decision t hey have made . We are already proactively working on developi ng new sponsorship packages with other companies. Add itionally, the door rem ains open for Chevrolet to ret urn to AMA racing." Farr is added that t he re lationship has been be ne ficial fo r Chevrolet, also . "C hevy's focus has sh ifted away from sponsorships. also known as 'affinity marketing.' and mo re towards a traditional advertising and promotiona l effort . We , along with a numbe r of othe r companies, have been affected by that change in marketing d irectio n. Based o n t he ir prior app roach, spo nsorship of our championships met their o bjectives ." Farris also said that AMA Pro Racing was prepared for Chevrolet's decis ion . "C hevro let informed us of the ir plans approximately 30 days in advance of their co ntra ctual ob ligation to do so, whic h has been helpfu l to us," Farris said. ' ~I s o , recognizing that their contracts expire d at the e nd o f the 2004 racing season - and t he possibility existed t hat they wo uldn't return - w e had begun pre limin ary conversat ions with ot her companies that have expressed interest in supp orting AMA racing in some fash io n. Those co nversations are continuing, and we're optimistic abo ut t he outcome." BORN: Evan Dean Ferry, to Team Yamaha motocross/supe rcross star Tim Ferry and his wife, Evie, on O cto be r I I. ANNOUNC ED : Andy Devol as the number-one outside sales representative by A5V Inven tio ns Inc. Devol was prese nted with t he award at th is year's Dirt Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Th is is the second year in a row that Devol has taken the top ho nors as an ASV outside rep; his territory includes Oregon an d Wash ingto n. FO RMED: High Pro file Public Relatio ns (HP PR) by former OM 5 Sports representative and lo ngtime Cycle News contributor Pat Schutte . The company is based in Ann Arbo r, Michigan. Fo r more information, call 248/821 -33 80. BORN: A baby boy, Jenso n Bradford, to AXO America's Rob Chapin and his wife , Aman da, o n Septem ber 15 in Santa Clarita , California . Briefly... Continue d fro m page 9 the Year - Geoff Aaron, Observed Trials; Joh n Lew is V. Dirt Track; Greg Hancock, Speed way. AMA Sports Print Media Journalist of the Year - Doug Karcher, Cycle News; Chris Jon num, Road Racer X; Shan Moore, Tria/s Campe lilian . AMA 5ports Bro adcast Jo urn alist of the Year - ATV Sport TV; DMXS Radio; Brian Dr ebber; Dick Lague. AMA Spo rts Track Racing Organizer of the Year - Boulis Racing, Mark Cheza; Ice Race Nat ional Fast Fridays , Dave Joiner; W inter Sho rt Track & Speedway Nationals; Two W heel Pro motio n, Vicki Flowers; Dirt Track Natio nals. AMA Sports O ff-Road Organizer o f the Year - 5alinas Ramblers ; Racer Productions ; Sacramento PITS. AMA Sports Veteran/Senio r Rider of the Year - Kevin 5nyder, Dirt Track; Jeff Fred ett e , Enduro and 15DE; Kevin Walker, Motocross. AMA Spo rts Female Rider of the Year - Heath er Wilso n, Hare 5crambl es and GNCC; Louise Fo rsley, Youtlh O bserved Trials. ATVA Amateu r Ride r of th e Year - Bobby Ro ss, Motoc ross; Mitch Reynold s, Dirt Track and Moto cross; Jeremy Rice , GN CC. ATVA Yo ut h Rider o f the Year - Ashton Laird, Moto cross, 90cc Prod uction ; Ricky Sta ir, Motocross, Youth Produ ction; Landen W illiam s, Dirt Track, 90 cc Productio n. AMA Sports Photojournalist o f tlh e Year - John Ho w ell, ATVRider; Steve Bruh n; Mark Kariya; Shogo . AMA Sports Webs ite of the Year www.cyclenews.co m; www.racerxill.co m; www.exri de rs.co m. AMA Sports AMA Sports Motoc ross O rganizer of the Year Victo ry Sports, Sam Gammo n; Lake Whitn ey, Lisa Pecsok; Reads Racing, Larry Read. AMA Sports Youth Rider of the Year (Youth classes on ly) - Ethan Gilli m, Dirt Track; Ashley Fiolek, Motocross; Jaco b Pre be , Hillclimb ; Za ch O sbourne , Motocross. ATVAAthlete of t he Year - Patr ick Brown , Pro -Am Motocross; Douglas Gust, Pro Motoc ro ss; Bill Ballance , Pro GNCC. ATVA O rganize r o f t he Year - Victory 5po rts , Sam Gammo n; Pine Lake , Bud Fisch er ; Race r Produ ct ions, Rita Coom bs; Patriot Pro motio ns, Wayne Phillips. Road racer Eric Bostrom w ill make a trip to the East Coast and visit Ducati dealers, do radio interviews and mingle with loca l Ducatisti, accordi ng to Ducati. The Ducati Aust in ride r will make appearances at two authorize d Ducati dealers, Coleman Pow ersports in Falls Chu rch, Virginia (outside of Wash ington , D.C. ) and North Ame rican War ho rse in Scranto n, Pen nsylvania. O n O ctob e r 22, Bost rom w illvisit Co le man Powerports in Falls C hurch and atte nd w hat is being billed as the "Rockstar Ducati Riders night" even t, w hich w ill see numero us act ivities cen tered on fash ion, moto rcycles and su perbike racing. Th e eve nt is open to all riders, regardless of motorcycle brand. O n Saturday, O cto ber 23, Bostr om w illappear at No rt h American Warhor se in Scranton for th e Warho rse Rider appreciation day. During his visit in Scranto n, Bostrom w ill take part in a street ride w ith his fans, along with ple nty o f loca l po lice esco rts . Th e event at No rth American Warhorse w illinclude live ente rtainme nt, free food and re fres hments, ho urly doo r prizes, a stunt show and many other activities . The AMA has announced the results of its recen t nom inatio n pro cess for the AMA Board of Directors. In the Southeast Region, the candidate w illbe Carl Reynolds (incumbent, unop posed) . In t he South Central Region, t he candidate will be Stan Simpso n (unop posed). In the Southwest Region , the candidates w ill be Dana Bell and Art hur More. These fou r no minees will appear on the ballot appearing in the January, 200S issue of American MOlarcyclist magazine. Each AMA memb er in the Sout hwest region will then have the o pportunity to vote on t he candi dates in that region. The three succes sful candidates will be seated at the Febr uary 200 5 meeting of the AMA Board of Directo rs. A minimum of 25 nominatio ns was re quire d to appear o n the ballot. No minatio ns closed o n Octob er 8, 2004 , and were independen tly ta bulated w ith the re sults ce rtified by tlhe acco unting firm of Ernst & Young, wh ich also ve rified eligibility. Ernst & Young also will tabulate t he ballots cast in t he election . T he AMA Board o f Directors consists of 12 members . Six individua l d irectors are elected by the gen eral membership in their respective regio ns and serve t hree-year te rms. Six co rporate d irec to rs are e lec te d by t he co rpo rat e mem be rship and serve twoyear terms . Th e AMA Board of Directors meets fo ur times a year. manufacturers, sponsors, teams and fans w ill con tinue to en joy a high ly qualified distribution of our championships which are moving from st re ngth to st rength w ith increasing audiences both o n TV and on the tracks." Coolskunk Promotions has annou nce d a new sp o nso r, Infinity GP Racing, for th e 200S seas o n. Infinity GP Racing, headed up by Fran k Pate , CEO of the Infinity Companies, is a co rpo rat e sponsor for the U5GPRU , a natio nal road race se ries taking place on both coa sts over t he 2004 seas on . The sponsorship package will include on e of th e Infinity GP Racing RS 125 GP bikes to be use d by the Cools kunk KyDs ro ad racing develo pm ent team in 2005. Acco rding to Philip Rispo li, fo unde r of Coolskunk Pro motio ns and t he Coo lskunk KyDs roa d racing developmen t te am, "This spon sorship is a vote of con fidence from t he road racing com munity abo ut o ur co mm itment to yout h in motorspo rts . We are excited t hat t he Infinity GP Racing Group w ould support o ur effo rt s." Fo r more informati on, contact Rispoli at 603 /479 -1259 or visit www.coo lskunk.com. Malcolm Smith's annua l No Wimps dual sport ride is set for No vember 14 in the San Jacinto Moun tains near Hem et, Califo rnia. Du e to po pular demand , an additio nal Adve nture-class mo torcycle route has been added to t his year's event. This w ill include twisty paved sectio ns along w ith graded d irt ro ads appro pr iate fo r large displacement bikes , such as KTM's 950 and 640; BMW R12ooGS, RI 150GS and F650; Triump h Tiger; 5uzuk i DR650; etc . Participation includes co ntine ntal breakfast, a BBQ pit ro ast pig lunch (vegetari an ve rsion availab le), a T-shirt with ea rly ent ry and time w ith Malco lm Smith himself. For more information, visit www. malco lmsmith.com or call Tom Reec e or David Rees at 95 1/687- 1300. Eurosport has anno unce d that it has rea che d a five-year agreement w it h FG Sport to broadcast the Wo rld 5upe rbi ke and the Wo rld Super sport Ch amp ionships. In accordan ce with th is long-term agreement, Euro spo rt will con tinu e to be the excl usive ca ble an d satellite live bro adcast er and will pr opose ex tensive coverage on its panEuropean channel and on its multime dia platform with Eurosportnews and eu ros port.com, according to the release. "We welco me th is significant agree ment renewal for the broadcasting of 5upe rb ike and Supe rs po rt through our entire multime dia platform," said Laurent- Eric Le Lay, Euros po rt ma naging director of bro adcast. "Superbike and 5upe rsport are tw o o f th e mo st exciting mo to rcycling eve nts worldw ide, and th is new exte nde d deal will allow ou r viewers to wa tch their favorite spo rt ." Paolo Flammini, FG Sport C EO , said, "The w ide coverage guaran teed by th e Eurosport chan nels represents one of the key assets o f the Superbike and Supers po rt World Ch ampionships. With this extende d agreement, www.cyclenews.com Clear C hannel Ente rta inme nt' s Motor Spo rts d ivision has anno unced that Suzuki's Travis Pastrana has co mmitted to racing t he 2004 -2005 THQ World Supe rcr oss Gp, which o pen s at Toronto's SkyDo me o n Saturday, Dece mb er 4. Pastrana, 20, captured his first majo r cham pions hip in 2000 when he won the I25cc Natio nal Motoc ro ss title , claiming five overall w ins as a ro okie . In 200 I, he won the 125cc Easte rn Regional Supercross 5er ies Champions hip. O n O cto ber 5, Pastrana wit hdre w from th e Maxxis U.S. Ope n to con tinue his rigo rou s training program in pursuit of his first THQ World Supercro ss GP champ ionship. Pastran a joins thre e-time 250c c AMA Supercross Series cha mpion and new Factory Suzuki teammate Ricky Carmichael o n t he THQ Wo rld Supercross GP starting grid in Toronto and Vanco uver. Th e two intemational races , co upled with 15 of the dom estic races (excl uding t he Daytona Supercro ss), co mpri se the 17-round THQ World Supercross GP. Kurtis Roberts w illno longer be represente d by Internation al Racers Inc., tlhe manage ment gro up run by Gary Ho ward t hat has managed th e likes of Kenny Roberts Sr., Ke nny Rob e rts [r., Wayne Rainey, Eddie lawso n, Doug Ch andler and all th ree of t he Hayden s, acco rding to Rob erts . "Internatio nal Racers and I have split," Kurtis Rob erts said from his home in No rth ern Californ ia last week. "I let 'em go. It happen ed th e same weekend as t he Reno Supermot o . We 've bee n done since then. Right now no thing is set in stone [as to who w ill re present him] ... I just have some friend s he lping me at t his po int. I've go t a few things going for next yea r, but I'm going to take a step bac k and lo o k at everything myse lf and not get sucke red into anything. I can't sign anyt hing unti l next year anyway." Rob erts said he 's almos t back to full health and w ill co mpete in t he final ro und of t he MotoGP Wo rld Cha mpio nsh ip on his father 's Proton in Valencia, Spain, o n O ctober 31. "They w ant me 100 pe rcent and we'll do Spain,' Roberts said. "It's an end -o f-tlhe-year th ing - it's a big race and it' s in Spain." CYCLE NEWS • oaOBER 27, 2004 11

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