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/128350
The Aprilia Cube Eva :Briefly... Continued from page 7 C hris Carr, James " Bubba" Stewart and Do ug He nry are the final three nominees for the 2004 AMA Pro Racing Speed Channel Athlete of the Year Award, joining Mat Mladin, Ricky Carmichael and Jeff Ward . In September, Chris Carr became only the third rider in AMA Grand Nat ional Cham pionship racinghistory to win four consecu tive titles . Additionally, the 37-yea r-old racing veteran from Flee twood , Pennsylvania, is the de fending winne r of the AMA Speed Athlete of the Y Award . He won the title for the ear first time last year after being nominated six times. In two decades of pro fessional racing, Carr hasamassed one of the most impres- A prilia arrived at Valencia in Spain after /"'\the final MotoGP of the season to test its latest evo lution of the Cube threecylinder racer. Despit e the axe hanging over its involveme nt in MotoG p, this test was the last scheduled for the 2004 testing program. The deal to co mplete the sale of the Apriliagro up to Piaggio should be complete d on November IS, and only then will the new bosses dec ide whether the pro]- Ove r three years the riders have tried to ride around this, but it always destroys their corner exit speeds. A new chassis and gear box has bee n rumored for two years now, but this is the first time it has bee n seen in public, let alone photographed. This bike has a new chassis and engine layout. It is fitted with the swingarm used on the works racers since June, but here it is used properly, with the three bolt holes on top of the swingarm holding a shock mounting plate . This makes the Aprilia team the th ird Moto GP team to use the swingarm as the top mount for the shock in a fullfloating syste m. The chas sis and engine are also new - well , eet should continue. If it doesn't, then we will never see one of the mo st beauti ful MotoGP bikes out on track again. The bike is simply beaut iful with some really taste ful styling in a new carbon fiber seat and tank unit. M arcellino Lucchi w as the test ride r and he e nded up lapping just a seco nd slower than Jerem y McWilliams did in the Gra nd Prix. Aprilia has been suffer ing badly from a design decision made in the project's initial sta ges. The rear chain and swingarm geo metry was designed to pull the bike down unde r acceleration, and theo ret ically, this would help the bike accelerate without wheelieing over backward. What actually happe ned was that the rear whe el was pulied off the grou nd when accelerating. most of it anyway. The powerpro ducing part of the bike is the same as this year, but where t he backward rot ating cra nk used to send its power to the clutch and gear box via a big balancing shaft unde r the engine. now it goes via a new balance shaft fitted on the back of the cylinders and above the clutch . N I this means the gearbox shafts can be rearranged to put the out put spro cket just w here it is needed for a conventional style of frame. The frame has also bee n red esigned w ith a style similar to the Honda RCV21 1. Thinner main beams are used (you can just see the cutaway above the fairing line) and a beam connecting the bottom cran kcase mounts is added. This means a complete redesign under the fair- ing w ith oil tanks now on the right. N eil Spalding sive records in the history of allAMA racing. His series-leading six wins in 2004 pushed his care er AMA Grand Nat ional win tota l to 6B - second on the all-time list to Scott Parker's 94 wins. Carr's th ree half-mile wins this year moved him past Jay Springsteen for third on the all-time half-mile national wins list. Carr leads the short track and IT categor ies and is fourth in all-time wins on the big mile tracks . "This championship was special for me because with four straight, it put me in a category with legends like Carroll Reswebe r and Scotty Parker," Carr said. "We've assembled a great team, and it' s e nabled me to come to a trac k and get up to speed very quickly. And from there, it's just a simple matter of making small refinements. Winning the Athlete of the Year last year was one of the most memorable moments of my career in racing. and it's an honor to be nominated again and be considered among AMA Pro Racing's best." AMA Pro Racing w ill honor the champ ions of American professional mo to rcycle racing at its 30th annual AMA Pro Racing Awards Banquet on Sunday even ing, Nove mber 14, at Paris Las Vegas. The banquet will culminate with the naming of the AMA Pro Racing Spe ed Channel Athlete of the Year. Doug He n ry was a leading star in the AMA Supermoto Championship this year, over a decade after he burst onto the scene by winning his first AMA Motocross Championshi p in 1993. Henry first took up supermoto racing in the middle of last season and quickly became a leading contender in the series, winning the Irwindale Speedway race in only his th ird even t. This year, Henry really began to hit his stride by bec oming the wins leader in this year's AMA Supe rmoto Championship, w inning four of the six roun ds leading up to the series finale in Las Vegas on November 13. He runs second in the standings to Troy Lee Designs Honda tea mmate Jeff Ward. "Becoming a part of AMASuper rnoto racing has bee n amazing," Henry said. "I still had competitive adren aline left in me after motocross and I was work ing towards a move to road racing. and then supermoto came along and it was a perfect fit. It feels good to be recognized as an Athlete of the Year nominee. I think mo re than anything e lse it's an acknowle dgme nt that AMA www.cycieneW5.com Super moto is rea llygrowing." Henry is in his 16th year of AMA Pro Racing. This is the second time he has bee n nominated for the AMA Pro RacingSpeed Athlete of the Year. He won the awar d in 199B after becoming the first rider to win the AMA 2S0cc Motocross Championship on a four-stroke. James "Bubba" Stew art is coming off a ste llar 2004 seaso n, which saw him win both the AMA I25cc Motocross and 125cc East Superc ross Championships, and set many new AMA records along the way. The Floridian dom inated the AMA 12Scc East Supercross Series, clinching the serieshistor- icallyearly and becoming only the second rider ever to earn bot h the East and West 125cc Supercross titles. He won the 12Scc East races by an average of over 20 seco nds per race , "I didn't want to give the fans anything less than my best ," said Stewart, who became the all-time winningest rider in AMA 12Scc Supercross racing history. '" rode every race like the rest of the riders were right on me." Stewart went on to wi n the annual Dave Coombs Sr. 12Scc East,IW est Shoot out in Las Vegas in May, becoming only the second rider in history to twice accom- plish that feat . He the n set his sights on the AMA 12Scc Motocross Championship. Again the resu lts were nothing less than spectacular: Stewart w on 23 of the 24 motos and too k II of the 12 overall wins. A first-turn pileup at Red Bud (Buchanan , Michigan) that dam aged Stewart 's bike was the only thing that ke pt him from a perfect, undefeated motocross season. He clinched the 125cc champio nship at rou nd lOin Binghamton, New York, one of the ea rliest points to wrap up the title eve r, and along the way he passed RickyCar michael to become the alltime wins leader in AMA 125cc Motocross history. "It was really a dream year," Stewart said of 2004. "I wen t out to set some new records, and 1got that accom plished. I did it on a two-stroke, which I'm pretty proud of, especially after 1found out how good the four-stro ke bikes were when 1raced one at Glen Helen . It was definitely a season to reme mbe r, and I'm hoping to have a few mo re like that in the future ." In addit ion to his accomplishments on the track, Stewart also broke into the consciousness of mainstream America. He was featured on the "N BC N ightly News with Tom Bro kaw " and the "CBS Even ing News with Dan Rather. " Sparts Illustrated named Stewart one of the 101 Most Infl uential Minorities in Sports, and he had a featu re story writte n on him that appea red on the front page of the Washingtan Past. Produ cers of the Cycle World International Motorcycle Shows present ed by Toyota Trucks realize that "kids are riders, too" - so they're opening up a brand-new section of the 200S shows dedicated to these e nthusiasts: the Kids Cycle Center. "The Ki ds Cycle Center is a brand-new area of the show designed exclusively for youth ages 615," says Jeff D'Entr emont , show directo r Co ntinued on page J r C YCLE N EWS • NOVEMBER 17,2004 9