Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

·. Yamaha Recalls Cruisers Vamaha Motor Corporation is voluntari- I Iy recalling around 190,000 motorcy- minor injuries caused by the defect. Yamaha decided to recall the vehicles cles because of an issue with the passenger seat, which can become detached from the after reviewing quality control reports on rear fender and fall off, federal safety regulators and Yamaha reported last week. The recall affects Virago 250, V Star I 100 and V Star 650 motorcycles from the 1988-2005 model years, according to "We constantly monitor this sort of thing because we do care about the safety of our customers," Banister said. "NHTSA the motorcycles in Japan. Yamaha spokesman Brad Banister. The requires recalls to go back I0 years, however, we've expanded the recall to go back an additional eight years." mounting hardware that connects the seat to the fender can loosen when passengers as far back as 1988. Yamaha will notify The recall affects units manufactured shift their weight, which eventually can cause the seat to fall off, according to a owners about the recall this spring. recall notice sent to the National Highway hardware for free. Concerned owners Traffic Safety Administration. 8anister said that Yamaha knows of two can call Yamaha at 800/227-5963 or con- Dealers will replace the seat's mounting tact their dealer. Buckmaster Injured at Daytona back real fast, and the thing highsided him," Halverson said. 8uckmaster was transported to Halifax Medical Melotte, Smets and Everts Win at Hawkstone Park Rain had cut their testing season in half, and they had Rinaldi Yamaha rider Cedric Melotte was the star of the weekend at the big international motocross on March 6 at Hawkstone Park in England. the Belgian rider Winning both MX2 events while also finishing third in the Super Final against 45Occ-c1ass motocrossers. Melotte held off young American Mike Alessi, the 16year-old KTM rider pushing Melotte in the first MX2 race all the way to the end before settling for second some 22 seconds ahead of Mike Brown. In the second MX2 race, it was Melotte and Alessi who again broke free and were dicing for the top spot. Unfortunately. however, Alessi suffered a mechanical failure on the fourth lap and was forced to retire. Melotte took his second Win, with former British Champion Carl Nunn taking second with Brown third. In the hotly contested MX I class, it was Stefan Everts proving why he is an eight-time World Champion as he won despite coming under attack by Suzuki's joel Smets. Everts and Smets were in a league of their own in the a number of areas to develop on the new R6, name- first race and were massive 44 seconds faster than pole ly chassis, suspension and fuel injection, and Jamie place man jussi Vehvilainen, the Finnish rider well clear of fourth-place finisher james Noble. Smets was fired up for the second race and got a great start, putting a gap between himself and Everts and winning by 13 seconds. Vehvilainen was once again third with former British Motocross Champion Paul Cooper in fourth. The last race of the day was the big race, with the best 18 finishers from MX2 and best 20 from MX I racing head to head. The MX2-c1ass riders were allowed a 10-second advantage before the MX I riders were let loose. It was Melotte who Impressed the most, the feisty Belgian holding off Everts and Smets for 17 minutes of the 25-mlnute race. Smets and Evens made their move on Melotte and pulled away, however, with Smets taking control until a small error allowed Everts to pass. The two battled to the finish with Everts taking the win. Melone finished third. Alessi ended up sixth on his 250cc KTM. Center, where he was kept overnight for observation. The initial diagnosis was a bruised lung, from landing on his chest, and a damaged shoulder, along with sore hips and legs. "He just kind of traumatized the muscle and ligaments when he landed," Halverson said. Because of other, more serious cases at the hospital, the team was never able to see a doctor. The X-ray technician who filmed Buckmaster's shoulder on Sunday thought it might be broken, according to Halverson, though they had no more information. On Monday morning, he said Buckmaster looked better and his lungs appeared to be fine. "He still hasn't been able to see a doctor about his shoulder and he still hasn't seen the X-rays," Halverson said. "The shoulder is definitely hurt. Other than that, I can't give you any details." Yamaha had come to Daytona for two reasons: Hacking hadn't seen the new layout. Hacking was recovering from shoulder surgery during January's tire test. Yamaha's Damon Buckmaster will likely miss the opening round of the AMA Pro Honda Oils Supers port Championship and the Repsol Superstock Championship final at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, March 10 after injuring his right shoulder in a single bike accident during the Formula USA Superbike race on March 6, according to team manager Tom Halverson. "It doesn't look good, to be honest," Halverson said on Monday, March 7 by cell phone from Halifax Medical Center, where he was visiting Buckmaster. '" can't say for sure. We haven't seen the X-rays." Buckmaster was riding by himself at the back of the pack when he crashed in turn seven. "He just got a little bit greedy, and it snapped 8 MARCH 16,2005 • CYCLE NEWS "We got a lot done," Halverson said. "The guys were really happy. Jamie [Hacking] got the track layout nailed. If it hadn't been for Damon [Buckmaster] crashing, it would have been a complete winner coming down here. It still was for three of the guys. "In Jamie's [Hacking] case, it put him ahead a lot. He didn't know the track. jamie, it put him way ahead. As far as the other guys, they got a head start because they did repave a little bit of the turns six, seven, eight area. They got to ride on that; they got acclimatized. They're all going really good, and they're fit. Mentally, they feel strong about going into the race week. They've got three days under their belts. They're really happy with the setup." Henny Roy Abrams

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