Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly... McGrath King of the Mountain Continued from page 9 j The X Gannes has released its final list of invited riders who will compete in the X Games Supermoto event on August 7. The race will air live on ABC's Wide World of Sports. The list of riders is as follows: Darryl Atkins, Eric Bostrom, Mark Burkhart, Benny Carlson, Steve Drew, Chris Filmore, Doug Henry, Jurgen Kuenzel, Ivan Lazzarini, Jeff Matiasevich, Jeremy McGrath, Mike Metzger, Johnny Murphree, Travis Pastrana, Chad Reed, Eddy Seel, Thierry Van Den Bosch, Jeff Ward, Kevin Windham and Jake Zemke. eremy McGrath won two out of the three Pro classes at the 38th annual Mammoth Mountain Motocross in Mammoth Lakes, a1ifornia, June 24-26. On Friday, the seven-time Supercross Champion easily swept both motos of the Open Pro class. While he did have a short battle with Suzuki's Michael laPaglia in the first moto, McGrath was in a class of his own. Once around the young Suzuki rider, McGrath pulled out to a substantial lead to take the first moto win over laPaglia and KTM's Michael Sleeter. In the second moto, McGrath had a much easier time of it. He grabbed the holeshot and never looked back. He took the win over Honda rider Timmy Weigand and laPaglia. The overall saw McGrath in first, followed by laPaglia and Sleeter, respectively. In 12Scc Pro racing McGrath, opted not to ride, leaving the door wide open for anyone to take the win. Kawasaki's young prodigy Ryan Villopoto, though, was the heavy favorite. Riding with a sore shoulder, Villopoto won his qualifier and the main event. The 16year-old started second behind laPaglia but quickly moved into the lead on the first lap and held on to take the win. Villopoto also won the competitive Schoolboy class the previous day. In the final day of racing, McGrath took a popular win in the 2S0cc Pro class over a pair of future stars: Honda rider Daniel Sani and laPaglia. Honda-mounted Weigand took the holeshot and held the lead before crashing hard on the first lap. He got up but was taken to the hospital for further evaluation. From there, McGrath moved into the lead and never relinquished it, with Sani getting around LaPalia for second. After that, the running order never changed, with McGrath cruising in for the win, followed by Sani and laPaglia. Former Supercross production manager and Intemational Jet Ski Boat Association competitive events manager Jim Delzer will attempt to reclaim the Guinness World Record for crossing the United States on a Kickbike scooter. Departing July 2 from San Diego, California, Delzer will travel a total of 2395 miles in 20 days, ending his journey in Jacksonville, Florida. Delzer previously set the record for traveling the Northern route on a Kickbike Scooter and now hopes to add a new Southern-route record. Making this attempt in support of the Lance Armstrong Foundation Peloton Project and the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, this attempt is one person (in this case Delzer) making one decision to take one action to encourage people to do something to help others. Contributions to help defray the cost of this attempt can be sent to Delzer at PO. Box 758, Lake Forest, CA 92630. Much Needed to Make Loudon Work the track. "We just said, 'Here's what we would like to see.' I think Mat [Mladin] pretty much took the lead on that," Barrick said. "He provided the most input." Much work needs to be done before New Hampshire International Speedway can return to the AMA Superbike calendar. That was the verdict after AMA Road Race manager Ron Barrick, Kevin Schwantz and Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin visited the facility in mid-June. "Certainly there are a lot of changes that need to be made to the racetrack before the AMA would agree to go back there, but again, that is just my opinion," Mladin said in a teleconference call to discuss the Red Bull U.S. GP "The racetrack is not even close to AMA specification, as far as I'm concerned, but they seemed like they were willing to lis- the tire warmers. The AMA gave the teanns about 25 to 30 minutes notice; the teams claim they need 40 to 45 minutes to properly warm their tires. especially on a cool after- ten to us, and I guess the ball's in their court, was crammed mostly inside the mile oval. There was continuing dissent over the lack of progress on safety issues - that things that should have been done weren't. Two years in a row, inclement weather forced postpone- you're staying tighter in because you're going to have to go left, on the inside, as you come ment of the race to Monday. Even though the AMA departed, the track on the other side would disappear because where you come back into the track would As to whether it could be on the calendar in 2006, Barrick said, there was, "No way of knowing that [without] talking to [track owner] Gary Bahre directly about it. It wasn't continued its traditional Father's Day weekend race, the Loudon Classic, only now it was a Formula USA event. At one time, F-USA was going to replace the AMA, some thought, be further down. 50, the existing turn 10 would disappear. Exiting the left-hand turn-six bowl, you would turn right, then through a very brief, a flat 'no.'" and Loudon had no choice. But it soon almost right-left combination and then would Repeated attempts to contact Gary Bahre were unsuccessful. became obvious that F-USA would never be be left parallel with the upper fence line. From more than a second-tier event, and the there, you'd join the new road course section. crowds stayed away. If Loudon wanted a crowd, and a legitimate Loudon Classic, it needed the AMA. So came the invite. Barrick said the trio met with Jerry Wood, It would blend back into speedway further down from the existing turn 10. And there would be a different way to join the front straight from the infield to reduce the angle where riders are driving up toward the wall. "I suppose that Mat [Mladin] ultimately felt that if they were able accomplish all the things that we asked for, it would certainly be a better facility and probably be able to race so we'll see." "They have to see if this is possible from an engineering standpoint," Barrick said, "and from any other sanctioning body standpoint that also makes use of their facility and from an economic standpoint." The interest in Loudon came about after the speedway sent letters to the AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors expressing its desire to rejoin the championship. The last AMA Superbike National was held at Loudon in June 200 I, and it ended in acrimony. The contracted factory riders refused to ride in Sunday's Supersport race that was won by local Scott Greenwood after the factory teams claimed the AMA didn't give them enough warning to fully heat their tires on The changes were to most every corner, noon. What appeared to be the inmates run- along with a new section of track to be added ning the asylum angered track owners Bob and Gary Bahre. The pair confronted AMA in reclaimed wetlands near where the track racing officials Merrill Vanderslice and Barrick in the pit lane, openly berating them for their lack of organization and asking who was running the show. The confrontation was the final straw. Riders had long complained about track safety, that the modern Superbikes had outgrown the tight, twisty road course, much of which a track safety consultant, and his son, Eric Wood, both principles with the Penguin Road Racing School, and Loudon's construction contractor. Barrick said they and track owner Gary Bahre examined diagrams made by the Woods and then spent the day looking at currently rejoins the infield. Turn one would be changed, as would turn two. "Mat had the idea of making [turn two] a tighter turn where you added pavement to the left side of the existing pavement, kind of on the inside of the apron," Barrick said. ':A-nd that would be the pavement that you aim for. As you come out of the infield, turn two, out of the infield." Turn three would be similar except that the dividing wall between turns three and 10 there again," Barrick said. Henny Ray Abrams Emest Berroth passed away suddenly on June 13. Originally from Connecticut, Berroth followed the New England Enduro circuit pitting for his son Bill Berroth (the 1981 NETRA Champion) in the late 1970s and early '80s before retiring to California. .Berroth was 76 years old. Oakley Inc. has announced plans to launch an exclusive line of highly fire-resistant clothing made with O-CarbonX, a proprietary blend of CarbonX, an invention of Chapman Innovations engineered specifically for motor sports. The co-branded base-layer apparel was demonstrated recently for media and NASCAR drivers at the Dodge/Save Mart 350 NASCAR event held in Sonoma, California. "Building on the success of our footwear collaboration with Chapman, which yielded the most flanne- and heat-resistant race boot ever made, O-CarbonX fabric enables us to pursue the sanne superior protection, comfort and performance in racing apparel," said Jim Jannard, founder and CEO of Oakley. "This ultrasafe technology represents the next generation of innovative fire resistance, and we believe that Oakley is positioned to take full advantage of these opportUnities in future applications." Oakley's O-CarbonX protective motor-sports apparel will be available in loog- and short-sleeved tops, bottoms, balaclavas and high-performance racing gloves. The products will be distributed by Speedware Motorsports with expected availability in the third quarter of 2OOS. More information is available at oakley.com/racing. Team Suzuki's Glenn Keamey was injured in a local hare scrambles race near Auburn, New York, at the Frozen Ocean Motocross Facility on Sunday, June 19. Kearney crashed on the last lap of the race while battling for the lead with local AA rider Ben Bouwens. According to Team Suzuki OffRoad race team manager Mike Webb, Kearney suffered a compound fracture of his Continued on page '3 CYCLE NEWS • JULY 6,2005 11

• Cover