Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly... 3D YEARS AliD... February "I, 1975 The Sierra Enduro =,...",r=:l Club hosted a 100mile enduro in Coalinga, California, Hershell Wright won it aboard his Honda... We tested the new Montesa 250 in a two-day ISDT qualifier. The bike withstood our abuse, and we enjoyed the experience immensely... Kenny Roberts was on top of the world in Road Racing. We did a short feature about him and his accomplishments... We took a closer look at a new fork kit for Maico motorcycles. The kit increased travel and oil capacity of the fork, and it made for smoother overall action. i!D YEARS AliD... February li. 1985 r.o:'7'IlP'P.....'P.'l~~l We took an in-depth look at Suzuki's allnew RG500 Gamma. Most of the technology that went into it came from Grand Prix . Road Racing. This bike was as close to a racer as a street legal bike could get... Team Honda's Johnny O'Mara won the AMNMilier High Life Supercross season opener in San Diego, California. Taking second was Yamaha's Brae Glover, while Yamaha rider Rick johnson rounded out the top three ... Dan Ashcraft won the second District 37 Hare and Hound of 19B5 and did so in a dominating fashion. He won by 4 minutes over second- placed Eric Hallgath... Jeff Matiasevich was the winner of the 12Scc Intermediate class at a CMC race in Adelanto, California. 1D YEARS AliD... February I, 1995 We had our giant Sportbike Buyer's Guide inside this issue... Jeremy McGrath won the second round of the U.S. Supercross series in Minneapolis. Minnesota. He dominated the 250cc main event, taking the win ahead of Mike laRocco, and privateer Larry Ward was third ... Brian Deegan was a motocross racer before a freestyler. He took the win in the 2S0cc Pro class at a GFI race in Perris, California. That same day he carded a second, behind Greg Schnell, in the I25cc Pro class... The Dakar Rally wrapped up in Continued from page 9 improve customer satisfaction and by stimulating interest among prospective customers. U.S. retail sales for Harley-Davidson motorcycles increased more than 7 percent over last year, demonstrating that the dream of owning a Harley-Davidson motorcycle remains extremely powerful. Our fourth quarter retail sales of Harley-Davidson motorcycles were up 6.7 percent in the U.S. over the same period in 2003 and up 14 percent in international markets. We expect to continue to grow in 2005 and ship 339,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycles during the year to support that growth. This is consistent with our established goals of satisfying demand for 400,000 motorcycles in 2007 and generating an annual earnings growth rate in the mid teens." Spanish road racer Fonsi Nieto signed a contract with Team Caracchi-NCR on January 22, officially marking the beginning of Nieto's World Superbike career. Nieto will join the Bologna, Italy-based team, which will have full cooperation from Ducati Corse for the coming season. Nieto will be joined on the squad by Italian Lorenzo Lanzi. Nieto is the nephew of Spanish racing great Angel Nieto, a 13-time World Champion. Six-time AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr has announced that his Quality Checked Certified Pre-Owned Ford Racing team has added a new associate sponsor for 2005: Coolskunk KyDs Racing. Coolskunk KyDs is a sports promotion program for young racers that focuses on creating a wellrounded racer who not only excels on the track, but off it as well, according to a release from Carr. The program teaches youngsters how to promote themselves to potential sponsors, encourages them to enjoy their involvement in racing, and even helps them with bike serup and technical assistance. "First off all, I just want to say that I've been impressed with the approach that Coolskunk's program has made in bringing younger riders up, specifically flat trackers and they're starting to get into the road racing arena as well;' Carr said. "They're bringing kids up who are going to be more prepared to be professionals, and be more professional when they rurn Pro, and that's a program that I think all motorsports need. I think baseball, football and basketball could benefit from something like this as well." As an associate sponsor, Coolskunk KyDs will provide a complete, Kenny Tolbert-prepared Harley-Davidson XR750 motorcycle for the Ford team of Carr and Texan Willie McCoy to use. The bike will feature a Coolskunk KyDs paint package and will be at the team's disposal throughout the year and on display in the paddock area at each race. "The bike will stand apart from the rest of the Quality Checked Certified Pre-Owned Ford bikes in our stable;' Carr explained, "and it will be a bike of choice at one time or another for myself or Willie McCoy. I think it is a great way to draw some attention to the team as well as Coolskunk KyDs." Dakar, Africa. The winner of the event was Stephan Peterhansel. It was his fourth time winning the grueling race. AMA District 36 celebrated its 50th year of racing on January 15 at the Richmond Memo- rial Auditorium in Richmond, California, with its 2004 awards banquet. The list of distinguished attendees included: Joe Leonard, Brad Lackey, jimmy Odom, Jake Zemke, Johnny Murphee, Rick Hocking, AMA president Rob Rasor and California State Parks OHV director Daphne Green. The evening included video highlights from the year's races, awards presentations, and a cake in the shape of California, iced with the names of past and present District 36 racing events. Rasor and District 36 president Dave Pickett were the first to cut the cake in celebration of District 36's 50 years of racing. For more information, visit www.ama-d36.org. As an original sponsor of the Brute Horsepower Shootout, Dynojet is back to support the 2005 Horsepower Challenge at its new location. After the recent sale of the American Motorcycle Institute in Daytona Beach, Florida, the event looked to be cancelled. However, AMNProstar, SGMP and Dynojet have gotten together and have moved the event to Valdosta, Georgia. Dynojet will be providing multiple, model 2S0-i Dynojet Dynos, complete with all the latest features to judge the event. For more information, visit www.amaprostar.com. J.C. Agajanian, one of motor racing's most successful promoters and team owners, has been selected to receive the sixth annual Eagle One-Shav Glick award. The award is symbolic of distingUished contributions to motorsporrs in California. The award, presented by the car-care products company, is named in honor of the venerable motorsports writer of the Los Angeles Times, Shav Glick. Previous winners were Dan Gurney, Wally Parks, Parnelli jones, Rick Mears and Les Richter. Agajanian's sons - Cary, Chris and J.e. Jr. - will accept the award during pre-race ceremonies at the NASCAR Auto Club SOO on February 27 at California Speedway. Agajanian, who died in 19B4 at age 71 , was the premier promoter of motor racing in Southern California for 25 years, beginning in 19S9 as operator of Ascot Park, in Gardena. He promoted races throughout the United States for more than 50 years. "There has never been anyone in Southern California motorsp0rls with the enthusiasm and savvy of Aggie," Glick said in a release. "He was a legend at Ascot and other tracks, and at Indy, where the sight of his handsome Stetson brought an immediate response from the folks in the grandstands. Wherever he went, Aggie was an asset to racing, and the fans knew it. His legend lives on. It is an honor to salute him with this award." The AMA has announced the results of its recent election for the AMA Board of Directors. Carl Reynolds (incumbent, unopposed) will represent the Southeast Region; Stan Simpson (unopposed) will represent the South Central region; and Arthur More has been elected to represent the Southwest region. The AMA Board of Directors consists of 12 members. Six individual directors are elected by the general membership in their respective regions and serve three-year terms. Six corporate directors are elected by the corporate membership and serve two-year terms. The AMA Board of Directors meets four times a year. The two new individual directors will be seated at the Sunday, February 20 session of the AMA Board of Directors, which will follow the election of corporate directors at the annual corporate member meeting on Saturday, February 19, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Votes cast in this election were independently tabulated and the results were certified by the accounting firm of Ernst & Young, which also verified the ballots' eligibility. NASCAR Champion Benny Parsons, Indi· anapolis SOO winner Tom Sneva, Le Mans 24Hour king Hurley Haywood, drag racer Tommy Iva, powerboat racer Danny Foster, car builders John Holman and Ralphy Moody, 1952 Indy 500 winner Troy Ruttman and dirt tracker Jay Springsteen are the nine racing greats that will be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America when the organization stages its annual induction ceremony on Thursday, August IB at the State Theatre in Detroit. The Class of 200S will join the 126 racers already enshrined in the Motorsporrs Hall of Fame of America. Springsteen is a three-time AMA Grand National Champion. Tickets for the induction ceremony can be purchased by calling BOO/2S0-7223. For motorcycle instructors who would like to improve their overall skills by learning to dirt track, motocross and cross train at the IO-acre Mystery School training site, Rich Oliver has designed a special two-day course that will round out each instructor's riding skills and vastly improve their teaching abilities, according to Oliver. Similar to the standard Two-Day Fun Camp offered to the general public, the Instructor Courses add speCial components with an increased intensity that will download a wealth of knowledge and bike control into each instructor, Oliver says. Special pricing is available for each official school instructor to help him or her gain the opportunity to learn these new skills from Oliver. "I feel it's important to help my fellow track day coach's and race school instructors pass on as much information to their students as possible," Oliver said. "I've coached other instructors from all over the U.S. and Canada, from many of the well-known race schools, and even from law enforcement, so I know each one has gone home excited and motivated to apply what they learned here to their coaching, the end result being better instruction for each of their students." For more information, visit www.richoliver.net or call S59/BS5-30B9. If you have been trying to find a hotel for the MotoGP in July, you probably already found out the entire Monterey Peninsula is virtually sold out, indicating that this could be the biggest race in the history of Laguna Seca. Motorcycle travel agency Traveleraft has come up with a fresh supply of hotel rooms in Monterey and Carmel and says that this will be "last call." Once its rooms at the Hyatt Regency Monterey are gone, nothing more is expected to be available. For info or reservations, call BOO/241-1223. CYCLE NEWS • FEBRUARY 2,2005 11

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