Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Schnitz, Muzzy Get First NHRA Victory t took all of 17 career starts for Muzzy Racing and rider Ryan Schnitz to reach the winner's circle at an NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series event. The fonmer two-time AMNPro Star champion scored his first NHRA title at the Pontiac Performance Nationals in Columbus. Ohio, on May 22 when he defeated reigning series champ Andrew Hines in an all V- I twin final round. Racing after a lengthy rain delay, the final was anticlimactic as Hines fouled at the start, allowing Schnitz to ride uncontested to the victory. '~ soon as I left and saw the win light, I went into a state of shock," Schnitz said. "This hasn't hit me at all. Maybe it will tomorrow, I know it can't get much better than this. I was hoping that Andrew would red-light and make it easy for me, but I was shocked when he did." Schnitz spent two uncompetitive years aboard a developmental Kawasaki LX-I 2, but the former two-time AMNPro Star Champion along with team owner Rob Muzzy made the switch to an S&Spowered Buell V-twin this season. In just four starts, the improvement in their performance has been dramatic. Schnitz was been competitrve in the first three races of 2005, but reliability has been an issue resulting in three early round losses. The Muzzy team had no such problems in Columbus as Schnitz qualified second with a 7.1 O-second elapsed time and ran two more 7.10s and a 7.09 in his firstthree-round wins over Joe DeSantis, Houston winner Karen Stoffer and G- Ryan Schnitz captured his first career NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle victory at the Pantiac Perfarmance Nationols in Columbus, Ohio. Schnitz rides for former factory Kawasaki road race team owner Rob Mu%%y. Squared Buell's Chip Ellis. "Everything is still so new with this bike," Schnitz said. "We're still teething. I honestly didn't expect that we'd win a race this soon. At the start of the season, people were predicting that we'd have the first bike in the sixes, which I thought was a huge compliment because we were completely unproven at that point. Obviously, we're making progress though." Hines, who was the first rider in the sixes earBer this year with an historic 6.99-second run in Gainesville, qualified just fifth fastest on his Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson. But he was the class of the field with the three quickest runs in eliminations: a 7.06, 7.07 and a 7.08 in the semifinals against his AMA Road Racing: The Future Is Near The long-range future of the AMA Superbike Championship could be decided in the next month, according to AMA road race manager Ron Barrick. '~MA Pro Racing is working on a long-range plan for the Superbike Series classes," Barrick said at Pikes Peak International Raceway. though he chose not to give an exact time frame. Barrick said that he'd meet with AMA Pro Racing CEO Scott Hollingsworth, AMA Pro Racing's Merrill Vanderslice and AMA Pro Racing technical manager Rob King to work out the details. That proposal would be forwarded to the competition committee of the AMA Pro Racing Board, "The goal is to get that to them in three weeks," Barrick said. He also said the group would seek input from others, including Daytona International Speedway's Jim France. "He's a proponent of smaller bikes," Barrick said of France. "That's not necessarily what the manufacturers want." The manufacturers will market IOOOC( motorcycles for some time to come. That was the very clear message they delivered to AHA Pro Racing at a meeting several weeks after Daytona. The final decision on the Superbike class could come in about a month, Barrick said. "Hopefully it will be good enough that these guys can take a decision for next year." Once Superbike is decided, "I think it's possible the [support classes] could be included," Barrick said. Henny Ray Abrams teammate, last week's Atlanta Champion G.T. Tonglet. With the foul start, Hines is now three-and-three in final-round appearances, The V-twins dominated in Columbus, taking five of the top eight qualifying spots. The only Suzuki riders to survrve the opening round were Stoffer and former series champs Angelle Sampey and Geno Scali, and they were all gone before the semifinals, which featured four twins. The victory also did wonders for Schnitz in the points standings. Ranked I Ith coming into the event, he has moved to sixth with four of IS rounds in the books. Tonglet remains the points leader by S7 over second-placed Hines. Kevin McKenna Monster To Bacl< AMA Motocross AMA Pro R.lcing has announced that Monster Energy Drink will be a series sponsor of the AMA Motocross Championship presented by FMF. "We're pleased to announce Monster Energy coming on board as a series sponsor," said John Farris, AMA vice president of commercial development. "The Monster Energy crew will be at all 12 AMA Motocross Championship events, and along with the company's sponsorship of Pro Circuit KawasakI, Sean Hamblin and the new lj'iple Crown of Motocross, they've added to an already significant presence to the sport." "Monster Energy is proud to become a sponsor of AMA Motocross," Crown AMG's Scott Sepkovlc said. "Motocross is the true heart and soul of the extreme sports, and we belteve the series has a major Hlfluence on the segment of the energy drink market we're going after." Monster Energy Dnnk/Pro Circuit KawasakI riders Grant Langston and Ivan Tedesco recently capped off a clean sweep of the AMA 12Scc Eastern and Western RegIon Supercross Series. The AMA Motocross Championship presented by FMF kicked off with the Hangtown Natlonai on May 22. The series concludes in September at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino. CalIfornIa. Briefly... Yamaha made it official last week when it announced that Doug Henry will spearhead a new Graves Motorsports/Yamaha AHA Supenmoto effort. The announcement comes just in time to help Yamaha celebrate its 50th anniversary, Yamaha says. Joining Henry on the factory-supported team will be Mark Burkhart, who will be returning this year after a sixth-place overall finish in last year's series. Henry will ride a YZ'l50F, while Burkhart will compete in the new 2SOcc class aboard the VZ250F. "We are very excited to put this team together," said Keith McCarty, Yamaha Racing's division manager. "Henry and Burkhart are two of the most skilled riders in supermoto, and we're pumped to have them riding Yamahas, We are also thrilled to expand our relationship with Graves Motorsports in yet another racing arena, as their professionalism and excellent efforts with the RI in capturing the AMA Superstock Championship shows." The team's YZ's will feature Dunlop tires and each rider will sport Thor supermoto riding gear, The first AMA Supermoto National is scheduled for June 'I at the Road America racetrack in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. New Zealander Bruce Anstey gave Suzuki its very first Superbike victory on British soil in 2005 when he won the International North West 200 on May 22. Anstey, riding his TAS Suzuki GSX-RI 000, was never headed during the fIVe-lap race in difficult conditions, breaking the expected dominance from the HRC factory bike of Michael Rutter, Team Shift Motul Suzuki's Daryl Hurley made a clean sweep in both Pro Open races on his RM-Z'ISO to take victory in the fifth round of the 2005 Maxxis Australian Motocross Championship in Newcastle, New South Wales, to extend his championship lead. Hurley qualified fastest, grabbed the holeshots in both motos and rode away from the field to win the day's two races in convincing fashion. The New Zealander was never headed throughout the entire event, setting fastest laps in both motos and winning each race with a margin of 18 and 3 I seconds, respectively, stretching his championship lead to 13 points over second-placed rider Darryl King, The second annual Racing 2 Save Lives event to benefit Children Charities, which was held May I 1-15, brought motorcycle riders and racers in from all over the country, according to event promoters. Among those who showed up were Team Green Kawasaki's AHA Pro Jessica Zaluski and RoadRace for Kids' Michael Newhouse, By Sunday, the Racing 2 Save Lives staff was able to present a check showing over $130,000 raised for the five children's charities. "What's so remarkable is the fact that R2SL has been able to give money to the charities right from the start at last year's event, and it looks as if they have doubled at this years event," said Dave Rogers, director of the Missing Children Task Force, "When I came out here on Wednesday, I expected to see only a handful of riders and Continued on page 9 CYCLE NEWS • JUNE 1,2005 7

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