Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Hawkins Sews Up Enduro Championship nd y Hawk ins wrapped up he 2004 National Enduro title with a sixth-place finish at the series final in New Paris, Indiana, on October 31. The National Enduro tit le is Hawk in's seventh and the third for Yamaha, two of those coming with Hawk ins at the helm . Hawk ins' last title came in 1994. In Indiana, though , it was the Gas Gas rider fro m Pennsylvania, John Barb er, who came away with the overall win, followed by KTM rider Leonard Keen and Yamaha rider Barry Hawk. Husqvarna's Fred Hoess and Throttlehead .com l Kawasak i's Steve Hatch round ed out the top-five overall. Hawkins finished out the year with one win and 196 poi nts, whi le second in the series went to KTM's David Lykke, with IB2 points and two wins to his credit . Hatch ended up third in the series , followed by Hoess, Hawk and 2003 champ Mike Lafferty, who was fo rce d to sit o ut the first half of the series w ith a knee injury. R: Welcome to Europe ISDE Riders Will Get Medals Th e AMA announced that 23 me mbers of the U.S. tea m to the Inte rnational Six Days Enduro (ISDE) w ill receive finishers medal s they we re originally de nied by organ izers of the eve nt , whic h was held in Poland in September. The decision to award the medals fo llows a successful app ea l by the AMA to an Internatio nal Disciplinary Court of the FIM. The Am er ican ri ders w ere amo ng m any Class II and Class III competitors - nearly two -thirds of all ISDE participants - who chose not to ride the moto cross course on the event's final day because the tra ck's dusty condit ions were Judged by riders and team officials to be unsafe. Requests from Team USA and others to cancel the mo toc ross event for safety reasons w e re den ied . Competitors first were informed that failing to ride the final moto wou ld carry a pe nalty of one minute for eac h lap not ridde n; lat er, it was announced that medals wo uld not be awarded to riders wh o d id not finish th e cou rse . The Disciplinary Court sided w ith the AMA. overturning t he decision by organizers to w ithho ld t he meda ls and eliminating any tim e penalties for failing to ride the mot ocros s test. Th e court noted that "an unusual accu m ulatio n of ad ve rse circu msta nces " was the responsibility of th e or ganizer, and therefore the U.S, team sho uld be awarded Its me dals and be included in the final res ults. \$ ken into in on a busy street in Valencia w hile in Valencia] t he next morning at nine and we co uld get [passpo rts]. We went there at nine and they didn't open unt il 10. They said you can get them in a week." Instead they hired a cab drive r fo r 250 Euros (abo ut $ 3 15) to d rive th em from Valencia to Madrid, a 345 kilom eter trip that normally takes three hou rs. "He drove like IBO k's [ 112 mph] , that's how fast it is. Flew up there and flew back, and passing people o n the right, As soo n as we pulled into Madrid, he sto pped and asked Briefly..• MX Sports, producers of the Air Nautiques/AMA Amat eur N ational Mo tocross Championships at Lore tta Lynn's Ranch, will change the structure of the 125cc Schoolboy ( 12- 1S) class for 2005. T he class will now only be e ligible for 12Scc two-stroke machines; 250cc fo ur-strokes will no longer be allowed to com pete, The rule ap plies to both the Stock and Modified divisions of the I25cc Schoolboy ( 12-15) class. "Most of our minicycle riders gradu ate into the Schoo lboy class once they're ready for full-sized bikes, and we want to make that transition easy for them," MX Sports directo r Tim Cotter said. "We believe a I 2Scc motorcycle is an easier first step for a 12- to 15-year-o ld race r to handie." T he decision was made jo intly through MX Sports and the AMA after thorough discussion. The new rule will apply in all levels of qualifying for the AMA Na tional Championship. The 250cc four-strokes will also not be legal to qualify in the School boy classes at the Area and Regional qua lifiers. The 250cc four-strokes will, howeve r, remain legal in all other 125cc classes at the National Championships, including 125cc A, Band C divisions. The Maxxis U.S. Open w ill re -air in its entirety on NBC December 12 at 2:30-4;00 p.m. (ESl). The o riginal airing of the Maxxis U.S, Open was conden sed due to th e length of the Subway SOO NASCAR race fro m Martinsville. After reviewing overw helming re spon se of the viewers, NBC made the decisio n to re-air the Maxxis U.S. Open in its entirety. According to Braun Ente rta inment, Mike a nd Jeff Ale ss i will co mpete in the A mateur O pen of Motocross at Arizona Cycle Park (Phoenix), December 1-5. "We 're ho nored to have the AJessi brothers compe ting at the Amateur Open," Erv Braun said. "Knowing that Mike and Jeff do not race Amateur events any mo re gives us a 'special' presence for o ur inaugural year. Mike and Jeff w illco mpete in all our Pro Expert classes and will race ou r most prestigious class, the Pro Invita tional." The Pro Invitational will qualifythe top-five finishers for a high-sta kes , single-moto Pro race Braun Entertainment is producing at Cooperl and in Stillwate r, O klahom a, during the last weeke nd in March 2005 . In add ition, Kawasaki willbe po sting $1B,375 in facto ry con tingency, and Honda will be po sting $ 17,27S fo r its respect ive ride rs w ho participate at the Amateur Op en of Motocross, Cobra has posted $1OBO. a Tommy and Roger Lee Hayden d idn't have the best first impressio n of the Gra nd Prix life wh en they went to Spain for the Vale ncia Grand Prix The night they arrived, their van was bro they were in a grocery store buying su pplies fo r brothe r Nicky's moto r ho me. Lost we re all of Nicky's and Earl Hayden's luggage , along with Nicky's backpack that contai ned all four passports, Nicky's laptop, iPod, two digital came ras , his tra ining and nutritio n log . all their plane tickets , Nicky's U.S. cell phon e and a folio that con tained all his travel car ds. "N icky see n the window and he said, 'O h my God, " Earl Hayden said o utside the Repso l Hon da team bus. Because Roger Lee and Tommy were staying in a hotel, th eir luggage wasn't in the van. "So we wen t to the police statio n and spent a lot of ho urs there . They to ld us to go to [the American co nsu late I ~n _ Nicky Hayden was joi ned b y hi s brothe rs Tommy (ce nter ) a nd Roger Lee (r ight) o n t he grid fo r the fina l rou nd o f the Mo to G P World Cha m pionsh ip in Spain. a ca b driver, and the cab dr iver took us straight ther e ," Earl said they weren't received warmly. "Fo ur moto rcycle guys - I mean they was jumpy," he said. "They we re all dressed up po lice and loo ked like soldiers . They had to think we had bo mbs in ou r pocket s. We got in there and we to ld them we needed to ge t our passpo rts . So they ta ke o ne at a t ime . You em pty you r pockets, take everything o ut . they scan you good and you go to a holding area and the n t hey come ge t t he ne xt one. They we ren' t going to ret the four of us go to a roo m by ourselves, Then you talk th rough glass. We got upstairs and th rough two more areas, and everybody was behind glass more and we had te lephones to talk to th em, and then do backgro und check s and all that st uff. Took photos, had a little mach ine there." The re was a wa it through the lunch hour and then another hour to finish up . In the en d they got 90-day passpo rts, each of w hich costs $B5, tho ugh that wo uld cove r th e cost of a new passpo rt , Th e Vale ncia paper carried a story of the theft, offerin g a reward . He nny Ray Abrams www.cuclenews.com Th is yea r 's Troy Lee Designs' A Day In T he Dirt is again scheduled over th e Than ksgiving Weekend, Nov ember 26-28, at Los Angeles Cou nty Raceway in Palmda le, California. The seve nth annual A Day In The Dirt brings tog eth er wo rld-class stuntrne n, stu ntwomen , producers, directo rs, musicians and actors from t he e nte rtainm en t indust ry, and professional actionspo rts athletes, includ ing auto race rs and rnotocros s/sup erc ross Pros , for three days of nonstop motorcycle racing, Some of those w ho have part icipated in the past include act or Matt LeBlanc - "Frie nds"; acto r Mark-Paul Gosselaar - " NYPD Blue"; CYC LE N EWS • Continued on page 9 NOVEMBER 10, 2004 7

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