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/128406
Briefly... Continued From page 9 httpJladelantomotorplex.corei.shutterfly.com on Tuesday, November 22. eam Makita Suzuki's Ricky Carmichael became the first rider in AMA history to earn four Athlete of the Year awards when he was honored as the 200S AMA Pro Racing Speed Channel Athlete of the Year on Sunday night, November 20, during the 31 st annual AMA Pro Racing Championship awards banquet at Paris Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. With past recipients including racing greats such as Bob Hannah, Scott Parker and Kenny Roberts, the Athlete of the Year is the highest honor an AMA racer T can receive, and fittingly the award went to Cannichael after another historic sea- son from the Floridian. In accepting the award, Carmichael thanked his team and sponsors and com- plimented his fellow competitors. "It was a great night of celebration," said AMA Pro Racing vice president and director of communications Kerry Graeber. "It was nice to honor Ricky Carmichael as AMA Pro Racing Speed Channel Athlete of the Year. Ricky had a remarkable season and added to his already solid legacy among the greatest riders in the history of AMA raCing. It was also a real thrill to make the Toyota announcement. We look forward to a successful relationship with them and hope to push AMA Motocross to even higher levels of recognition." The evening was hosted by Jamie Little and Todd Harris. Champions of 200S were honored, and highlights of the Ricky Carmichael earned his fourth AMA Pro Racing Speed Channel Athlete of the Year award at the AMA Pro Banquet in Las Vegas. 21-year-old second-generation AMA road racer from Brentwood. California. finished 27th in the AMA Superbike Championship in spite of only participating in the final six rounds of the 17-race series and battling back from a serious evening included the announcement that elbow injury. Juss Laansoo made his first full season Toyota signed as the new series sponsor racing AMA Motocross a successful one of the AMA Motocross Championship. The evening continued with an after party hosted by Toyota. Besides Carmichael. others honored included the 2005 AMA Pro Racing Rookies of the Year. Nick Cummings was named the 2005 Ricky Graham Flat Track Rookie of the Year. Cummings, 19. battled back from injury to finish 15th in the 200S AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship. Jason Perez earned the 200S AMA Superbike Rookie of the Year Award. The by earning the AMA Motocross! Supercross Rookie of the Year honors. Laansoo, a native of Estonia. burst onto the scene this year with a fifth-place finish in the 2S0cc class at Hangtown in May. Chris Carr was named the AMA Pro Racing Sportsman of the Year, and Pro nominated along with Payton for the Award of Mechanical Excellence. Introduced in 2004, AMA Pro Racing recognized advertisers and agencies for race-win advertising. For the second year, Fox Racing took the prize for Best Ad, and The Creative Works, which represents Suzuki, won for Best Campaign. AMA president Rob Rasor presented the Chamberlain Trophy to the 2005 Motocross of Nations winning team of Ricky Carmichael, Ivan Tedesco and Kevin Windham. AMA Sports top athletes were also Fifteen-year-old British road racer Bradley Smith is on the brink of a Grand Prix career after a stunning victory in the penultimate round of the CEV Buckler I25cc Spanish Championship in Valencia, Spain, on November 20. The highly competitive Spanish Championship is regarded as the steppingstone into GP racing, and the teenager has won the last two rounds riding his 125cc Honda. "It was really tough leading the race for 35 minutes and having to concentrate so hard," Smith said. "Perhaps I was lucky other people crashed out, but I just kept focused. I was second in dry qualifying on Saturday, but in the wet warmup for the race on Sunday morning I was only 26th, but I made a good start from the front row in the race. When the leader crashed in front of me before the end of the first lap, I took the lead and kept a good advantage at the front." Smith had already won the previous round at A1bacete and also a round ofthe British Championship at Oulton Park. He is a member of the MotoGP Academy, which has been set up by Dorna Sports, the rights holders and organizers of the MotoGP World Championship, to give promising young riders the chance to compete in the Spanish Championship and to receive help and advice about ultimately competing in World Championship racing. They are coached by fonmer Grand Prix star Alberto Puig, who has already produced the 12Scc and two-time 2SOcc World Champion Dani Pedrosa through the program. Cycle City Promotions, a motorcycle and ATV event promotion company, has announced ~ will host the first round of ISDE (International Six Day Enduro) qualifiers in StilNvater, Oklahoma, May 2&-27,2006. This Memorial Day Weekend event will be headquartered at Cooper1and Raceway. Sanctioned by the AHA, this two-day event will test America's top offroad competitors as they attempt to qualify for the 2006 ISDE competition in lake Taupo, New Zealand. For more information, visit www.cyclecitypromotions.com or call recognized. Honored for their achievements in amateur racing were Horizon 918!519-66B6. with Carr, the Motocross of Nations Team Award winners Ryan Villopoto (for motocross), Stevie Bonsey (for dirt track) and Blake Young (for road racing). USA, Mat Mladin and Danny Walker were Juhu Salminen was crowned earlier on nominated for the Sportsman Award. Friday with the 2005 AMA Sports Athlete of the Year. Toad Town Racing's trailer and two road-race bikes were stolen on November 15. The trailer is an enclosed Carson with "Toad Town Racing" in blue letters on the side and a large, round AHRMA sticker and race decals Circuit's Mitch Payton received the Award of Mechanical Excellence. Along Richard Stanboli and Kenny Tolbert were Rutter Wins Macau GP Red Bull Honda's Michael Rutter led a British Isles sweep of the top five places in the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix, equaling the 18year-old wins record set by fellow Brit Ron Haslam. The event, however, was marred by the death of 45-year-old Bruno Bonhuil; the Frenchman crashed in the morning warmup and suffered fatal injuries. Six of the European riders taking part in the race withdrew at the end of the first lap to honor Bonhuil. The 32-year-old Rutter rode his Honda CBR IOOORR to a flag-to-flag win in the 39th running of the race, held on the streets of Macau, the fonmer Portuguese colony off the southeast corner of China. The victory tied Haslam's record from 1987. Stobart Honda's John McGUinness, also from England, ended up second, nearly 17 seconds behind. Scotsman Les Shand ended up third on this Yamaha after passing Honda's Ian Lougher on the ninth of IS laps to finish third. Lougher was fourth, another six seconds back. MSS Discovery Racing Kawasaki's Stephen Thompson of Ireland was fifth. Californian Mark Miller led home the U.S. team with his sixth-place finish. on the rear door, with California license num- ber 4EPS9S9. The motorcycles, both with the number 59, are a 1971 Honda SL3S0 Sportsman with a white tank, blue front fender and yellow number plates, and a 1977 Suzuki GS750 Vintage Superbike with a black tank and bodywork and green number plates. If the trailer is spotted, call police dispatch at 818/734-2223, e-mail dyn2sr5@earthlink.net or call 818/891-0330. FGSport. the promoters of the World Superbike Championship, has announced that the Losaillnternational Circuit in Qatar has been awarded the "200S Organizer of the Year Award." The management team of FGSport and the championship's top teams voted and agreed to appoint the Losail Circuit as the best circuit of the year from the organizational, promotional and sporting point of view. "We hope that this well-deserved success will be seen as reward for the huge investments and development already undertaken at the circuit," Continued on page 13 CYCLE NEWS • NOVEMBER 30, 2005 11