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/128377
Fontana SITARS a Smashing Success? Two Brothers Racing/Del Amo Motorsports' Steve Drew had I the worst weekend of anyone during the STTARS Supermote event held in conjunction with the AMA Superbike Championship weekend at California Speedway in Fontana. Executing a triple jump while charging to the front of the field, Drew collided with another rider in midair, sending him down hard. Cycle News contributor Jamey Blunt just happened to catch Drew in "mid-W." Jeff Ward remained undefeated at Fontana as he topped the 4S0cc class in Saturday's feature race. Ward outran teammate Chris Fillmore and KTM's Cassidy Anderson, cruising to victory with a 3-second buffer. In Sunday's highly anticipated 20-lap Open Expert main, Ward shot to the front, but Husqvarna's Leonardo Bagnis was never far behind, matching Ward's pace for three-fourths of the race. Anderson finished third again. The 2S0cc main saw an upset of sorts, as last year's positions were reversed, with Brandon Currie taking the victory over last year's winner, Gary Trachy, both aboard Kawasakis. Briefly... Mike Romine (H-D) won the Screamin' Eagle Nitro Harley Exhibition at the O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tennessee, on May I. Romine defeated Lan"( Brancaccio (HD) in the final round. It marked the third time Romine's Top Fuel motorcycle has won an NHRA exhibition event. Honda's Josh Brooke and Yamaha's Mark Aitchison were the big winners in round two of the 200S YM F Loan Australian Superbike Championship at Eastern Creek in New South Wales on May I. While Brookes left an indelible mark on the two 13-lap Superbike races - his only "blemish" was failing to secure pole position on Saturday - 21-year-old privateer Aitchison scored his maiden Supersport win in Sunday's race two. The result helped Aitchison move up to fifth in the Supersport standings, which has him well on the way to improving markedly on last year's eighthplace championship finish. Aitchison's win also snapped Honda's five-race winning streak in the 200S YMF Loan-backed Supersport title, after Brookes had earlier taken the win in the opening 13-lapper. In addition, it was Yamaha's first Supersport win at Eastern Creek since Brendan Clarke prevailed in the final round of the 2003 season. The two Superbike races were epics, with Brookes fighting all the way against the Stauffer armada: siblings Daniel (Yamaha) and Jamie (Kawasaki). Aiter failing to score a podium result in the opening round at Phillip Island, Daniel Stauffer made the biggest gains at Eastern Creek, and he finished second in race one, 3.133 seconds behind Brookes and just a few bikelengths in front of Jamie Stauffer. Adam Fergusson was fourth in race one. Race two was just about a carbon copy of the opener, with Brookes taking the win. This time, however, he was stalked all the way to the finish by Jamie Stauffer, with Daniel Stauffer finishing third. Fergusson was again fourth. Former AMA Superbike, Grand Prix and World Superbike racer Anthony Gobert finished 12th and 10th in the two races on his Redwing Honda CBR IOooRR The 2005 Maxxis Australian Motocross Championship reached its halfway mark at Coolum in Queensland on May I, with New Zealanders Daryl Hurley (Suzuki) and Darryll King (Yamaha) continuing to dominate proceedings in the absence of local gun Craig Anderson. With Anderson missing for the second Queensland round in as many weeks with broken toes, Hurley and defending champion King both scored a. win and a second in the two 16-lappers, with King taking the overall. Shayne King (Honda) completed the podium in both races. "It's disappointing not to take the overall win today after being so strong in both motos:' Hurley said, "but we maintained the championship lead, which is important. Race one could easily have been a nonfinish, and that would have seen us drop a lot of points to the other guys." Hurley has now scored 183 points out of a possible 200 in 2OOS, with his lead over King now seven points with four rounds remaining. Continued on poge II CYCLE NEWS • MAY 11, 2005 9