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/128365
Alessi and Brown for GPs Y outhstream, the promoters of the FIM Motocross World Championship, are ecstatic that two Americans are headed for its MX2 class this year. Those two Americans are Mike Brown and Mike Alessi. Brown will contest the entire series with Alessi a definite for the first three rounds in Zolder, Belgium; Bellpuig, Spain; and Agueda, Portugal, according to Youthstream. "This is absolutly fantastic," said Giuseppe luongo, president of Youthstream, "This demonstrates again that our work on the promotion and notoriety of the FIM Motocross World Championship is working well. Only one year ago, when we took the rights for this FIM World Championship, there were many rumors that riders such as [Ben] Townley, De Reuver and Rattray would move away from the FIM World Championship scene and head towards America for the 200S season. This didn't happen, and we even have two from there coming to join our championship. I am aware that it will be difficult to continue in this way, but we are hoping to have strong backing from the Japanese manufacturers in the near future in that they support the teams and riders to stay in the most important and competitive motocross championship in the world. I would very much like to thank KTM and RWj, who have already started moving in this direction." Mike Alessi (pictured at right with his brather Jeff and father, Tony) will compete in at least three World Championship MX raunds this year for KTM. Timing the Whoops - Literally Raising Money at Winter X { In a continuing effort to provide in-depth data to riders, teams, officials, fans and media, AMA Pro Racing successfully tested a segment timing system this past weekend at Anaheim III, round five of the 2005 THQ AMA Supercross Series. The system, similar to that used in the AMA Superbike Championship, records a rider's time through a given section of the track. In this case the track was divided into three segments: starting line to the whoop section (I), the entirety of the whoop section (2), and the end of the whoop section to the finish line (3). One benefit of the new segment system is to help teams better analyze bike setup and make competitive adjustments by isolating distinct sections of a racetrack. A team can determine how its rider is doing specifically in the whoop section compared to other riders. "The new segment system tested well at Anaheim III and, once fully implemented, will prove to be a very valuable addition to the Supercross and Motocross Series," AMA Supercross/Motocross timing and scoring manager Conrad Young said. "From an informational standpoint, segment times are an accurate way to determine a rider's specific strengths and whether or not adjustments are needed." Young also pointed out that the additional timing locations help to serve as a backup and verification to the start/finish timing line. AMA Pro Racing director of timing and scoring Ken Rogers said the segment system will gradually be phased into the AMA Supercross Beau Bamburg gets his Jeep seriously sideways coming down Buttermilk Mountain in Colorado. \ A /hile most of the action at ESPN's Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado, was focused on coming V V down Buttermilk Mountain, one event - the second annual jeep Adventure Comp - featured athletes rallying jeep Wrangler Unlimiteds up Buttermilk Mountain. Bringing home top honors and, more importantly, $1000 each from the jeep brand to charity were 2005 Winter X Games Moto X gold medalist Brian Deegan, former snowboard Big AIr medalist and current X Games judge jim Rippey, ESPN supercross/motocross and X Games announcer jamie little, and longtime voice of the Indy SOO and X Games SnoCross, announcer Paul Page. In addition, jeep donated another $1000 to each of the runners up, SnoCross racer Tomi Ahmasalo and Boarder X racer Mike Rosengren. All totaled, jeep donated $6000 in prize money to Boarding for Breast Cancer ($2000), the Clayton Mel)lorial Foundation ($2000), the Aspen Environmental Fund ($I 000) and the Aspen Community Fund ($I000). "It was very cool of jeep to do this, and I know the athletes that participated really got a kick out of rallying Wranglers up and down the mountain," Rippey said. "Not too often you get to do that." 6 FEBRUARY 16, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS Series and AMA Motocross Championship, with segmentations varying from track to track depending on the layout.