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/128404
Victory Makes Management Moves 3D YEARS AGO•.. NOVEMBER lB. 1975 The cover of Issue #45 featured a cartoon that depicted our right to ride being attacked from all sides by such evils as land closures, helmet laws and emis.":::':';;;.JC;!!;l!~ sion controls. It's a battle that ··continues today... The "Latest Poop" section ran a photo of one of 20 Husqvama flat trackers being built as a feasibility study for the Swedish manufacturer. The 360CR engines were planted in Champion frames with an eye toward producing either a kit or a complete motorcycle for sale... Roger DeCoster (Suz) fended off Suzuki teammate Gerrit Wolsink (Suz) to win the St. Louis TransAMA round on November 2. Jimmy Ellis (C-A) won the 250cc Support class. i!0 YEARS AGO... NOVEMBER i!O, 19B5 I,: ill": A very young Kit Palmer ......... streaked across our cover aboard a brandnew 1986 Honda CRI25R. Wanna bet that Palmer has aged better than most of the CRs from that year?... Jeff Ward (Kaw) won the final round of the three-round Rodil Cup Supercross at the Los Angeles Coliseum on November 9. but Jim Holley (Yam) emerged as the series champion... Kevin Schwantz (Suz) won the final round of the AFM!Kerker West Coast Superbike Series at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, California, on November 10. Scott Gray (Suz) was second, and Jim Vreeke (Yam) was third... We ran a two-page feature on the 1986 Cagiva lineup of street and dirt motorcycles. While not on par. the Italian manufacturer's 125cc and 250cc WMX models were starting to make headway against the best offerings of the Japanese. ,I '::'" : IU YEARS AGO..• NOVEMBER 15. 1995 This was our special 1996 Dual Sport Feature Issue, and inside we made good on our theme by including a feature on a Kanab. Utah. dual-sport adventure, "Riding Impressions" of the Honda XR650L, KTM 620RXC and Suzuk; DR650, and we also built a nifty little dual-sport project bike, a White Brothersmodified Suzuki DR270... Toby Jorgensen (Hon) successfully defended his IOOcc A title at the fourth annual Engines Only Formula 100 Nationals. jorgensen outran Tony Meiring (Hon) and Aaron Cisco (Hon) in the race... Our coverage of the 31 st Tokyo Motor Show offered insight into what japan Inc. was think;ng as far as the future went. Interestingly, Honda showed off a dirt-trackreplica twin called the Hornet and a highpiped inline four naked street bike called the CL644. The Hornet never made it into production, but the CL644 eventually did under the model name The Hornet! Polaris Industries Inc. has announced the appointment of several members of the management team to new positions, effective immediately. Mark Blackwell has been named vice president, Victory Motorcycles & International Operations. Blackwell joined Polaris in 2000 as general manager of Victory Motorcycles. "Mark has done an outstanding job over the past four years, building a very strong team, developing new, compelling product, and establishing Victory, the New American Motorcycle, as a legitimate brand positioned for significant growth in the motorcycle industry," said Polaris president and chief operating officer Bennett Morgan. "There are many reasons why this is a good move for Mark and Polaris; he is a proven leader with strong international experience running businesses and as a motocross champion early in his career. His experience will be a huge asset in our deveioping partnership with KTM, and Victory will be a key component of our growth outside the U.S. in the future." Allan Hurd has been promoted to general manager, Victory Motorcycle, reporting to Blackwell. ':t>Jthough we do want Mark to have a key roie in Victory Motorcycles' going forward, we also want to ensure that he has sufficient time to focus on the international business," Morgan said. An industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience, Hurd joined Polaris in 2000 as director of engineering for Victory. "He understands our competition and has extensive experience in Europe and other parts of the world," Morgan said. ':A.llan and Mark have proven to be an effective team, which will be instrumental in our continuing quest to grow our motorcycle business." Marc Tullemans has been promoted to the role of international operations manager. In this role, he will be responsible for managing the international staff based in Medina and overseeing logistics, marketing and retail development processes on a global basis. Tullemans came to Polaris in 200 I as the product manager for the Ranger Utility Vehicle division and later joined the international team as the global sales and dealer development manager. Prior to joining Polaris, Tullemans held positions at Graco, Thermo King, and Arctic Cat in dealer development, product development, marketing, and international sales roles. Paul Tomsche has been promoted to international business development and distributor sales manager, reporting to Tullemans. In this role, he will be responsible for global business development in a variety of territories. Tomsche joined Polaris in August of 2000 as the retail development manager for the personal-watercraft division. Prior to joining Polaris, he held a variety of sales, marketing, dealer-development and business-management positions at Yamaha for nine years. John Corness, vice president of human resources since 1999, who has extensive international experience, had been taking on interim responsibilities of managing the international business for the past seven months leading up to this announcement. "John stepped up and filled a key gap for Polaris at an important time," Morgan said. "During his leadership, the international team continued to deliver outstanding growth, and we thank him for his tireless efforts." Comess will now resume full-time responsibility for human resources. "We're all ecstatic about the changes we're announcing today for Victory and our international business," Morgan said. "This is a talented and experienced management team that positions our company for significant growth on a global scale in the coming years." ETC • HIRED: 5atoru Tanno, as research & development/special projects manager for Factory Connection. Tanno has more than 25 years of experience in the motocross and off-road motorcycle suspension industry with Showa. His background includes stints as a laboratory technician. an HRC Japan race team suspension technician. an R&D manager, and racing and production for MX. SX, OffRoad. A1V, Road Racing and CART/IRL. His most recent role at Showa was as senior manager of race support, production testing and parts sales. Tanno has worked closely with riders such as Johnny O'Mara. David Bailey. Bob Hannah, Jean-Michel Bayle. Jeff Stanton. Jeremy McGrath. Mike LaRocco and more. For more information, check out 'W'WW.factoryconnection.com. LAUNCHED: Fast By Ferracci's new site on the World Wide Web. The new site shows the latest offerings from Ducati. MV Agusta. Moto GUZZi, Husqvarna and Yama- ha. along with extensive details on each model. The site automatically matches up Fast By Ferracci parts specifically designed for each machine. Also. the site highlights Fast By Ferracci special-edition bikes from throughout the years. along with its current custom-bike-building capabilities. The site can be found at www.ferracci.com. CORRECTION: In our coverage of the Ironman GNCC last week, we mistakenly ran a photo of Nathan Kanney instead of what should have been Charlie Mullins, who finished third in the race. LAUNCHED: LeoVince US!':s new site on the World Wide Web. The site features a complete listing of all LeoVince products available in the United States. company and technical information. FAQs and informa~ tion on U.S. and international race teams. For more information. check out www.LeoVinceUSA.com. Briefly... Continued from page 9 wear and gear. There are even gift items from some of the hottest automotive brands around. One-of-a-kind motorcycle memorabilia range from a Motocross America exhibit catalog autographed by legendary champions such as Roger DeCoster, Brad Lackey, Dick Burleson and Jeff Emig to 2005 Hall of Fame induction posters signed by the class of 2005, including racing stars Scott Russell and Doug Henry. Featured motorcycle art includes a framed and matted limited-edition print of the 1919 Harley-Davidson racing team from the A.F. van Order collection. Also, there is a wide selection of gear and gifts, ranging from a Widman Harley-Davidson leather jacket to entries for the 2006 Big Woods Dual Sport ride in Wisconsin. Other nonmotorcycle items include an Andretti Green Racing team hat signed by Mario, Michael and Marco Andretti, a 200S Indianapolis 500 hat signed by winning driver Dan Wheldon, and the book Autograph Session. featuring original signatures from Indy Racing League stars such as Dario Franchitti. Electronic bids will be accepted until I I:59 pm EST, December 8, 2005. Shipping costs are the winning bidder's responsibility. Donations for additional auction items are also welcome through the duration of the auction. To donate an item. contact Amy Krak at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum at 614/856-2222, extension 1340, or click on the donate-an-item link featured on the motorcyclemuseum.cmarket.com, motorcyclemuseum2.cmarket.com home page. Promoters of the sixth annual Honda of Houston Texas Winter Series presented by FMF Racing have announced that Kawasaki contingency for the four-round 2005-06 series will total $54,000. Kawasaki will be rewarding riders for all four rounds, starting at Freestone County Raceway for round one, December 3-4, 2005 and ending once again with the Lake Whitney season opener, February 18-19,2006. Village Creek MX Park and Oak Mill MX Park are sandwiched in between as rounds three and four, respectively. For more information, check out www.FreestoneMX.com. WERA has announced that its 2006 Cycle Jam will be held at Road Atlanta over the weekend of june 29-July 2, 2006. "Road Atlanta is centrally located, and Cycle Jam is one of our largest events next to the Grand National finals, which are also held there," said WERA president Evelyne Clarke. "Road Atlanta's management and staff welcome WERA motorcycle road racing, and we all work well together, so it seemed like the logical choice for this large an event." Virginia International Raceway, the former site of the event, gave the traditional weekend for Cycle Jam to a vintage car race, and the March replacement date that VIR offered is up against the AMA Pro schedule at Daytona. For more information, contact WERA at 770/720-5010. CYCLE NEWS • NOVEMBER 16,2005 11