Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

KTM Makes Proton Fly \ A /hat I makes. Former Proton Team KRrider Jeremy McWilliams was granted permission by Aprilia to test the new KTM V-four-engined Proton KR MotoGP racer over Thanksgiving in Jerez , Spain, and after two days, he was just a few tenths of a seco nd off the Spanish Grand Prix trac k's lap r ider is under contract to the Renegade Ducati team unt il December 31, and so far Renegade has not given Haga permission to test the Y amaha. Y amaha will dec ide soon if it will payoff Renegade to let Haga test or just wait until the end of January, at the scheduled test at PhillipIsland in Australia. r ecord. McWilliams recorded a best time of I:4 3.00. Th e lap re cord, set by Valentino Rossi's Honda RC211V in 2003, stands at 1:42.788. "The re was definite ly more to Keith Code, founde r of the Ca lifornia Superb ike School, has added Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Reno Fernley Race way in Nevada, Firebird Raceway in Arizona , Texas World Speedway in Texas and Autobahn Country Club in Illinois to his 200S school schedu le. For mo re information on the school and to see the full 200S schedule, visit www.superbikeschoo l.com or call 323/224 -2734. come ," McWilliams stated in a Proton re lease. "W ith another day or two , it could easily run in the low I:42s." It was just the new bike's fourth full day at a racetrack, and McWilliams was I.S seconds off the best lap turned in by the Proton KR V-five in qualifying at Jerez ear lier this year. "I was really impressed," McWilliams said. "I didn't expect it to perform anything like it did. There's plenty of potential, but it's already really easy to ride . It's deceptive, because you don't realize how fast you 're going. The handling is great , Custom Chrome's Nate Stewart died In his sleep on November 21 while attending the BigTwin West Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, accor ding to Global Motorsport Group. Stewart joined Custom Chrome in September 1995 as a buye r after spending 22 years with IBM in finance and progr am and the engine response is smooth and predictable." Dur ing his tests, McWilliams worked on improving the fueling, and contro l of engine bra king - but the level of the machine was already much higher than he had imagined. "The re' s nothing about this bike I can co mpare to the Proto n KRV·flVe I rode in 2003 ," McWilliams said. "It's so much better in every way_ The chassis wo rks really well, and the motor has good powe r all the way through the range . And it's willing to keep revving. Our top spee d at these tests was only four or frve km/h [3. 1 mph] slower than the Hondas!" Team manager Chuck Aksland was delighted w ith the rider 's confirmation of the team's impressions. "It's the first time ever that the rider m anagement positions. He w as promoted to director of purchasing for Custom Chrome and Mot orcycle Stuff. "Dedication, com mitment and loyalty are th ree wo rds that can sum up w hat N ate Stew art meant hasn't asked for mo re power," Aksland said. "The re was an upgraded-spec engine on hand, but Jeremy didn't want to try it . What he had was working so well." In addition to McWilliams, Spaniard Grego rio Lavilla also tested the bike and Kurtis Roberts ran a few shakedown laps "just to get the feel of the thing." The team used Michelin tires for the test. its layout , despite speculation t o the contrary , according to Gill Campbe ll, ge neral manage r of the Monte rey facility. "I heard rumors last week that w e w ere actua lly rec onfiguring the track to its original configuration [which wo uld be too short for FIM homologation]," Cam pbe ll said. "I'd also heard that we were going off into BLM [Bureau of Land Management] land. Amazing side o n r ider 's right is go ing to be exca vated and a re taining wall built. "There is absolutely zero being do ne to the track itself," Cam pbell said. Another of the rumors is that the event is sold ou t. That's partly true . The limited number of paddock passes are sold ou t, as are the reserved campi ng sites and hospitality suites , how these rumors start ." but the re are a few grands tand seats left, as The rumor was that the turn I I trai ectory onto the fro nt straight wo uld be changed and that the hump over turn one would be shaved down. The truth is that the I I-t urn layout won' t change, but it will be vastly well as general adm ission. In an unw ritt en im proved w ith new curbing in every turn and tion - our chassis, the KTM engine and their tires - and to prove to ourselves that it offers a serious chance of being competi- tive," Aksland said. "We've spent eight years working up to this point - gaining knowledge and exper ience , often the hard way.' Technically, this is the best package w e've ever had ." rule, the trac k limits itself to 50,000 pe r day. "To be hon est . we m ayor may not reach be not until the event until we reach that ," Cam pbell said. What spectators will see in addition to the "We're still working on the schedu le ," Camp bell said. "The re are a lot of e lements that have to be wo rked into the schedule, and a lot of people that have to approve it. So we haven't gotten a final schedule yet." There's a str ong likelihood of a go-ka rt race featuri ng form er World C hampions Wayne Rainey and Eddie Lawson, and po ssibly other former motorcyclists. And there could be other AMA support classes. "I hope to have that informat ion after Thanksgiving some time," Campbell said. T he first ma jor co nstruc tion project begins on December 22 with the removal of the turn-ni ne bridge that spa ns Rainey Corner. The track will be closed for 45 days for const ruction . www.cyclenews.com to Global Mot orsport ," said Tom Coch ill, CEO of Global Motorspo rt . "His everpres ent smile , pers istent personality and ded ication will trulyand sadly be missed. For a great many of ou r longtime employees, they have not only lost a cowo rker but a dear and loyal friend." Stewart is survived by his wife of 32 years , Bobbi, tw o grow n daughters and a granddaug hte r. KTMhas anno unced that Jack Penton w ill join its off-road program . Penton w ill be the team 's off-road racing and promotions class m ay be determ ined as soon as th is w ee k. expanded gravel traps in many. Because of the e xte nded run-off past turn one, the hill- that. It' s going to "Thanks to the help of Michelin, we were able to try out a potential combina- two AHA Superbike races and the MotoGP N o Layout Change for Laguna Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca w ill not change . Continued from page 5 Decision time: Yamaha Racingltalia is still trying to organize a te st for its newest rider, Noriyuki Haga. Howe ver, the Japanese a difference a little horse- V V powe r Briefly... coordinator, focusing on the AMA Enduro Series and the GNCC Series. He will also be involved in other specialized off-road events and will rep ort to Ron He be n, KTM's Motorsports marketi ng manager. "Jack has know ledge, experience and a rich history in the off-road racing wo rld," Heben said. "He has competed at every level of off-roa d and has won a coupl e doz en national event s in a variety of off- road disciplines, including Nat ional Enduro 's and GN CC' s. Jack also has years of e xpe rience managing off-road teams and riders . This is a great fit for our off-road racing department, and I look forward to w orking with Jack." "The KTMcompany's ob jective for 200S is to focus on our co re mark et , which is the serious off-ro ad ride rs," Penton said. "O ur KTM off-ro ad pro gram is aimed right at that goal. We will be at the ma jor off-road events wi th our sem i supporting not only our KTM pro riders , Henny Ray Abrams Continued on page 9 CYCLE NEWS • DECEMBER B, 2004 7

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