Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Briefly.•. 30 YEARS A60... Augu§f: '9, '975 Aboard a Triumph, Sonny Burres won the Peoria National TT in Peoria, Illinois. He led every single lap of the 25-lap main event. Dave AJdana was second, followed by Mert Lawwill in third... We interviewed newly crowned 250cc National Motocross Champion Tony DiStefano. The 18-year-old rider was only in his second year of competition on the National Circuit. We also interviewed various other "heroes" of the time, everyone from riders to the heroes behind them. They included Dave Aldana, Connie Nunez Oeff Steele's girlfriend), Brad Lackey and Jay Springstien... A young Danny "Magoo" Chandler rode a monoshock Yamaha to victory in the I25cc Expert class at a local motocross race in Carson City, Nevada. 20 YEARS A60••. Augu§f: 2', '985 The United States Team Captain for the Speedway World Team Cup 01ampi0nships, Bobby Schwartz. appeared on the cover. That year, the U.S. team finished second, behind = . . . l Denmark. Schwartz tied for second in individual points with teammate Shawn Moran.. Ron Lechien wrapped up his first-ever National Championship at the ninth round of the 125cc National Championship Series in Millville, Minnesota. He won by sweeping both motos... After incessant rains fell all day, Freddie Spencer clinched the 250cc World Road Racing Championship by finishing a strong fourth in Silverstone, England. He also won the 500cc class at the event. One week later. Spencer became the first rider ever to win both SOOcc and 250cc World Championship titles with his win in the 500cc class at the Swedish Grand Prix. to YEARSA60... Augu§f: '6, '995 ~~;;r,~:riliiiiThe winners of the weekend all graced ~~~~~~~ our cover. Chris Carr won the Peoria TT in Illinois, Jeremy McGrath won the Washougal National Motocross in Washington, and Carl Fogarty was victorious at the Brands Hatch World Superbike race in England... Team USA for the Motocross des Nations was announced. Jeff Emig, Ryan Hughes and Steve Lamson were set to represent the United States. Unfortunately, they did not win; Belgium did ... We got to throw a leg over the Scorpia Works 295 trials bike. We even enlisted two-time 125cc Supercross Champion Damon Huffman to help us with the test. Everyone came away quite impressed with the bike... Tallon Volland took his first 250cc World Grand Prix victory at round I I in Maracay, Venezuela. Continued from page I I future is not signed, it is apparent that the agreement has been made to . . un there again, next year and in the future. The Spanish race attracts nothing like the crowd of a MotoGP race, but every year has seen a steady growth in spectators. Elements within the FGSport Iberia offices want to run a race at Jarama, but it is seen as too problematical for reasons of lack of modernity and a deadend in terms of building for a brighter Iberian future - as the track seems threatened by . . edevelopment plans in the futu . . e. Mexico City is becoming less of a hot tip for 2005, but sources from within the Aistare team consider it to be 90 percent likely to happen. According to information circulating on Saturday, July 6 at Brands Hatch, Neil Hodgson has made a deal to have a second year racing AMA in the USA for Ducati. It is common paddock knowledge that Hodgson (present at Brands with his manager, Roger Burnett) is happy to stay in the United States again, but only if he is given what he sees as a fair chance to try and beat longtime AMA dominator Mat Mladin. It seems that these concerns were addressed to his satisfaction during a meeting at Brands with Ducati chiefs, so there may be some change in setup of the squad and the level offactory equipment and personnel in the USA in 2006. The possibility of Chris Vermeulen going to MatoGP seems to be enhanced by his recent second placing at the Suzuka 8 Hours, but other developments in MotoGP may conspire against him. The obvious slot for him is in the Camel team, as it enjoys sponsorship from the same JT Morris tobacco company ownership of Vermeulen's current Winston brand. However, talk in the MotoGP paddock is of a defection of Camel sponsorship to the Gresini team if Telef6nica MoviStar sponsorship disappears into the F I world on the trail of would-be champion Fernando Alonso - or worse, to the official Repsol sponsored team of HRC. The current Gresini team setup, with young star Marco Melandri matched to Sete Gibernau (second best after Rossi), seems impregnable by unproven rider Vermeulen. Vermeulen himself seemed to have taken the view that going MotoGP in 2006 is his wish, and maybe even in other circumstances Honda's wish as well, but for now, he may have to put in another year of riding in his current paddock. He will at least get a chance to sample MotoGP machinery once more. "Mr. Horikke said that they will organize a test on CORRECTION: In his Scootermania column in Issue #32, Scott Rousseau stated that Road America is located to the west of USA International Raceway, when it fact it is located east, closer to Lake Michigan. Rousseau was apparently backing up when he did his reckoning. ACCEPTING: HRP SPORTS is accepting Racer resumes for the 2006 season, now through December 31 , 2005. Resumes can a MotoGP bike for me at the end of the year," VermeUlen said. "My goal is to go to MotoGp, but I only want to go with a top team. In my opinion, there are three top Honda teams: Camel, MoviStar and Repsol. Repsol is controlled by HRC and is full, the other two teams are controlled by Gresini and Pons. I spoke to both Gresini and Pons at Donington, and they both know I want to come to MotoGP. Honda knows that I want to go, I just have to wait and see if there is a position available. If there is no chance to go to MotoGp, I want to stay in World Superbike and win it." At a recent World Supemike test at Lausitzring by some of the top teams, then followed by a Mugello test by the Ducati factory squad, the teams used the opportunity to not only refine setup and tire test for outright performance, but they also tried to make some sense of the tire situation, which many riders have complained about recently. It appears that almost every rider has experienced a phenomenon wher they use one tire after another, all the same type and grade of tire, but every now and again one will not perform as expected in race or practice conditions. As a result, Ducati personnel treated the same grades of tires brought to Mugello in different ways. Some were left on the warmers for long periods then cooled, some were warmed for only a short time, some were not heated at all, and some were heated then cooled then heated again. No results of this hands-on experiment were made pUblic, but sources within the Ducati team claim it made no difference to the tire. When asked about possible reasons why any tire manufacturer would experience the aforesaid phenomenon, Ducati Xerox team boss Davide Tardozzi said, "In my experience and my opinion, it seems it can only be something in the manufacture of the tires. We put them through every possible situation in this test and really tried to help Pirelli to be able to take the tires away and analyze in a scientific way the chemistry of the tires we used." A Jim Gibson Motocross School will be held at a new indoor motocross track called Hindsight MX, in North Plains, Oregon, August 20-21. The track is located 20 minutes from Portland, Oregon. The school will feature a Pee Wee/Mini school Friday, August 19, and a class for teens and adults on Saturday and Sunday, August 20-21. For more information, call Ed Fuller at 503/860-0888 or visit www.igmxt.com. Expanding its strong commitment to Super- be sent to HRP SPORTS Attn: Race Support, P.O. Box 190, Somersworth, NH 03878; or www.sponsorhouse.com HIRED: Patrick Dowd as sales account representative for Avon Tires North America, effective immediately. MOVED: TAW Vehicle Concepts Inc., importers for Brembo brakes and Marchesini wheels, to 1340 I W 43rd Drive # I I, Golden, CO 80403. moto racing in the United States and Canada, Red Bull North America has officially thrown its support behind NASMOTO (North American Supermoto), the new organization formed recently in partnership with AMA Sports. "Though it's been huge in Europe for a long time, Supermoto was just a blip on the radar in North America before Red Bull helped bring the sport back three years ago," AMA Sports senior director Doug Neubauer said. "The future of the sport is with the amateurs, and Red Bull's strong ongoing support with funding, talent and marketing power has put Supermoto on a steep growth curve. Now we can take the sport to the next level by expanding the talent pool of riders through the NASMOTO Grand Prix program." Several Grand Prix events held throughout the summer serve as qualifiers for the NASMOTO AMA Sports Supermoto Grand Championship, held in conjunction with the AMA Pro Racing series grand finale, the Red Bull Supermoto A-Go-Go on the downtown streets of Reno, Nevada, October 1-2. The inaugural NASMOTO Grand Prix was staged in June at USA International Raceway in Shawano, Wisconsin. "Red Bull and Supermoto have become synonymous, and we couldn't ask for a better partner," NASMOTO vice president Ted Baker stated. '·When you add in the substantial support from our friends at AMA Sports and a growing list of top brands who recognize the future of Supermoto, there's only one way that this sport can go, and that's up!" For more information, visit www.nasmoto.com and www.redbullsupermoto.com. Donnie Hansen will be conducting a twoday school at the Washougal MX track in Washougal, Washington, August 24-25. For registration and information, contact the Donnie Hansen Motocross Academy at 7191495-2624. K-FROG I03. I will present the Go Army Super Motocross Challenge, August 2728, at Racetown 395 in Adelanto, California. For more information, call staff sergeant Michael Brobston at 760/948-7049 or visit www.kfrog.com. According to Don Schneider, the series organizer of the Western Four-Stroke Motocross Nationals, the August 20-21 round of the series at Thunder Valley Raceway in Lakewood, Colorado, has been postponed and might be canceled altogether. For more information, contact Schneider at 503/756-4782. CHANGED: The WERA Northeast/MidAtlantic Summit Point race from September 24-25 to September 17-18. For more information, call 770/720-50 IO. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Triangle Cycles North in Danville, Virginia, on Thursday, August 25, from 7 to 8 p.m. Team Kawasaki's Tommy Hayden, Roger Lee Hayden, Ben Attard and Josh Hayes are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 434/799-1838. CYCLE NEWS • AUGUST 17, 2005 13

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