Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Yates Likes It Y oshimura Suzuki 's Aaron Yates came back from the recent th ree -day test in Malaysia impressed with the new Suzuki GSX-R I000 and ready to race. The Georgian had a small taste of the new machine during a few laps during its press preview at the Wor ld Suzuki Cup Finals at Road Atlanta last month , and the strength of the new, lighter and more powerful machine was confirmed duri ng three part ly wet days in Malaysia. Most of Yates' time in Malaysia was spent on the Superstock mach ine. The 1996 750cc Superstock Champion will be competing in the big-bore Superstock class for the first time , in addition to his Superbike duties . The motor was stock and the chass is was fitted w ith some parts off Ben Spies ' 2004 G5X-RI000 Superstock bike. "There're a couple of things different about it from the bike this past year that off on the rear shock and didn't have some pieces we nee ded to really make it perfect. Honda T ime 2005 an nounced its z -; bolted on the 'OS chassis. We had a few ~ things to test. It's got a new injection sys~ tern. I just basically just did laps o n it and But 1just did some laps. It was rea lly, I guess, the first time the 'OS bikes or engines or anything had any time put on them. Checking out the new slipper clutch deal, that all seemed to work pre tty well as far as the production clutch in the I000. I rea lly liked that a lot. The bike seemed to run good ." Though they had three days on track , the hours we re limited. "It was kind of pretty much wet every morn ing we got there," Yates said. "We probably only got a few hours every day riding - probably three, four hours ." Yates only rode his Superbike on the final day, and then for about 20 ~ ~ e, 2005 Yates' laps over the course of a couple of hours . "The thing seemed to accelerate well ," he said . "It' s got a couple more hundred rpm than what we rode this year. Really no negatives about any of it, I'd say." As for the handling, he said, "the bike seemed to maybe turn a little bit better. I didn't concentrate a lot on really setting the bike up. Pret ty much all our suspension stu ff Hop kins was slated for sur gery on November 15 at Dr. Arth ur Ting's in Northern California. The young MotoGP star scheduled an operation that could take AMA from two to six hours to rem ove vario us metal parts from previously broken bones. Ting's plan was to dislocate Hopkins' left hip and knee and re move the rod from a host of support teams slated to join the four-man Honda factory team and Factory his femur that has bee n there since Connection squad on the company 's two- "Hopper" was 14 years old (the resu lt of a car accident). W hile he had Hopkins sedated, Ting would also remove the steel plate s and pins fro m both of the stroke and four-stroke motocrossers . Returning to the H onda team is Emesto Fonseca, who will campaign a CR250R in both the Supercross and outdoor Nationa l Ca lifornian's two ankles. Hopkins drove to las Vegasin his brandnew, tricked-out BM for the final round W of the AMA 5upennoto Championsh ip en route to T ing's place and was in good spirits, despite the impending operation. "It'll be good to have the stuff taken out," Hopkins said in Vegas. ''I'm supposed to be up and aro und in a few days, and this will allow me to be able to run again." Pa ul Carruthers motocross seasons. He will be joined in select Supercross events by mu lti-time champ ion select 25 0cc Supercross races. The Factory Connection team will fie ld Mike laRocco and Kevin Windham in the 250cc class. laRocco will ride a CR250R in Supercross. with Windham, once again, aboard a CRF450R in 250cc Supercross and 250cc outdoor motocross events. Billy Lininovich rejoins the team in 2005, and newcome rs Jo sh Grant, Tommy Hahn and Joaquim Rodrigues will join him on Honda's CRF250R in 125cc Supercross and 125cc National events. In addition, five other teams will be riding Hondas in 2005 . These teams include: Moto XXX Honda, MotoSport Outlet Honda, Subway/Coke/DGY Honda, Team ECC Honda and Team SamsungiHoligan Honda. 14 If you think your Monday was bad, consider what Suzuki MotoG P star John Hopk ins endured on Monday, Nove mber 15. How does having your hip and knee dislocated on purpose sound? Muzzy in Buell Switch Rob Muzzy Racing has announced that it has re -signed Ryan Schnitz for the 2005 drag racing season and that he w ill be racing an 5&5Vtwin-powered Buell Pro Stocker. Schnitz has ridden for the team since 2002, winning three AMA Prostar Drag Racing Championships two in 600 Supers port and one this year in the new 1000 5upersport class. According to Muzzy Kawasaki has decided , not to continue its support of the ZX-12R Prostock Drag Racing program. and that's the reason he's switched to S&S power for next year. Grand Nationa l Champions hips for Honda with Rickey Graham and Bubba Shobert aboard in the 1980s. Testing for the new Pro Stock team willcommence inJanuary and the first race for the team , willbe at the MacTools NHRAGatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, on March 20. "Rob Muzzy and Team Muzzy wou ld like to sincerely thank Kawasaki Motors Corp. in addition to all their current and past sponsors for their loyalty and support over the past 16 years , hundreds of races and multiple championships," the release from Muzzy states. "Racing is a sport of constant change and evolution, and this move is significant in that Muzzy is no stranger to V-twins, having process . Team Muzzy is act ively seeking mar- been instrumental in the deve lopment of the Honda 750 dirt track twin that won three keting partners to share this exciting new NOVEMBER 24, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS ed all that. And we didn't put a whole lot of effort into setting the bike up perfect. It was good ; it was pretty close . But there the rear side. We'll get time on the track to get it dialed in, but it's looking pretty good for the first time on the bike." The Suzukis were brought to Malaysia from Japan, where they had been built by Motocross/Supercross teams last week, with Jeremy McGrath aboard a CR250R. Travis Preston , who ea rned a 125cc West Supercross Championship in 2002, move s up from the Factory Connection squad and will be riding Honda 's CRF450R in all Supe rcross and Natio nal events. New to the team this year is Andrew Short . He will ride a CRF250R in both 125cc Supercross and 125cc outdoor events , and also campaign the CR250R in made some little changes to things that we concentrated on for the test ~ just evaJuat- were some areas we could have made in Hopkins Under the Knife they raced ," Yates said, "so we were a litt le Honda z § w chapter in the Rob Muzzy Racing story." 40th Anniversary crew chief Katsu Yanagawa . Yanagawa, Yosh computer man Herschel Auxir, and Mat Mladin's crew chief Peter Doyle and mechanic Reg O'Rourke went to the Suzuki factory the week after the final AMA race at Virginia Inte rnational Raceway to build the bikes. Yates said his next ride on the bikes would be at the Daytona tire test on January 3-5. Henny Ray Abra ms Pastrana Okay for Anaheim Suzuki's Travis Pastrana was on hand as a guest of Red Bull for the final round of the AMA Superrn oto Serie s, the Re d Bull 5upermoto-A-Go -Go round in las Vegas, Nevada, Novem ber 12- 13, and he says he'll be ready for the Anaheim Super cross in January. Past rana, who was sporting a blue cast on his newly broke n left wrist, said that he likely won't be perfect for Anaheim, but he' ll be close eno ugh. "I might have to race wit h some sort of a cast, but I'll be goo d," Pastrana said in Vegas. W hen asked w hat he thought of the upcoming THQ Supe rcross Series, Pastrana said, "It'll be tough. There're three guys who know they can win and two more who believe they can."

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