Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Paul Edmondson (Kaw) was the overall winner at the second round of the AMA Hare Scrambles National Championship Series in Wilseyville. California. on February 13. Second place went to Brian Garrahan (KTM) and third to Shane Watts (KTM). Rounding out the top five were Doug Blackwell (Yam) and Jason Dahners (KTM). These results. however. are under protest and are not official. faster than his new teammate Jeremy McWilliams. The 250cc factory team was also present. with veteran Ralf Waldmann turning a 2: 10.30 to best his teammate Marco Melandri. with the young Italian lapping at 2:10.41. "For me. this was just the second outing in the saddle of the Aprilia RSW-2 500. so I continued trying to accustom myself to the motorcycle and the team." McWilliams said. "I tried out some solutions to the setup of the frame and suspension in order to avoid the problem of the rear wheel spinning. Towards the end of the second day. our efforts began to bear fruit and. in fact. I managed to achieve the same time as Harada... The team of Nick and David Pearson (Yam) reigned supreme at the Best in the Desert Laughlin U.S. Hare Scrambles Championship Team Race on February _ 12. in Laughlin. Nevada. After 130 miles of racing the winning cousins won the Open Pro class and beat out the runnerup team of Ty Davis and Doug Blackwell (Yam) by 13-minutes. Doug Chiapuzio and Oakley Lehman (Kaw) filled the podium spot. finishing third in the Open Pro class an in the overall. '" b C [ r r- u Despite a late start. the Competition Accessories team of road racer La rry Pegram is quickly shaping up as a contender in both the AMA and PACE Series. according to Tim Pritchard. general manager of Competition Accessories. Members of the team. which • include famed dirt-track tuner Skip Eaken and Jeremy Daniel. formerly of Yoshimura Suzuki. spent the past week at Eraldo Ferracci's shop in Willow Grove. Pennsylvania. prepping the Ducati 996s the team will be racing. They were also schooled in the quick-change equipment needed for the Daytona 200. "The biggest thing now is getting to Daytona and having a good showing there." Pritchard said. .. Larry' s as motivated as he's ever been.' The team will use 996s for both series. with the recent addition of a 996S for the PACE series. "It's going to be a real struggle to get that ready. but we think we'lI be ready." The team will contest the Championship Cup Series (CCS) races prior to the PACE races on March 5. but mostly as a Buddy Antunez (Suz) walked away with three out of four main-event wins at rounds 19 and 20 of the National Arenacross Series at the Wisconsin Center Arena in Milwaukee. Wisconsin. February 11-12. The other winner was Josh Demuth (Hon). who topped Friday's 125cc main. Antunez stretched his lead over Denny Stephenson in the series points standings to 38. 673-635. Stephenson went 4-4-3-2 over the course of the weekend. The Aprilia factory road race team tested in Sepang. Malaysia. February 9-11. with Tetsuya Harada turning in the fastest times of the test on his RSW·2 500cc Grand Prix V-twin. Harada lapped at a best time of 2:07.80. just fractions o o o C r- t t [ c [ c ~o o o o o After an incredible 32·year run, it appears as though the brakes might finally be put on the speedway motorcycles at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California. The weekly races, which began in J 969 and have been a motorsports tradition in Orange County and Southern California, appear to be on a deadend course that will see the track close and vanish into the revered motorsports Valhalla that has claimed other famous SoCal facilities, such as Orange County International Raceway in Irvine, Ascot Park in Gardena and Inland Motorcycle Speedway in San Bernardino. And like those facilities, the looming death of Costa Mesa Speedway appears to have been brought on by economic factors. "Under the terms of our current agreement with the fairgrounds, we cannot afford to run events at Costa Mesa beyond this next season," International Speedway's Brad Oxley said. "What it comes down to is that a lot of improvements need to be made to the existing arena at a substantial cost to us, but we have been unable to secure a three- or five-year lease that would allow us to amortize those costs, and we are not going to run our operation into the ground by spending the money to improve the facility under the terms of a one-year contract. There is still hope that our current status with the fairgrounds may change, but it is really slim. We may try to find another facility to continue promoting speedway, but it probably won't be in Orange County. I don't know if anybody else has any plans [to promote speedwaY'l "We fee terrible that it has come to this, and that we have only been able to give our riders, fans, sponsors and 2 • FEBRUARY 23, 2000' cue • n _ ...., s shakedown. The PACE bike came about through a working relationship that Competition Accessories has with wrenchead.com. an on-line car and truck parts supplier that i~ the title sponsor of the Formula USA Series. Motor-Cycle Stuff. Eclipse (a motorcycle-luggage company). Dunlop tires. Motul Oil. Shoei Helmets. and Two Brothers Racing will back the team. Everlast. a company known for its involvement in bOXing gear. will be making its debut in the motorcycle world by making Pegram's leathers. After 30-plus consecutive years of peddling copies of Cycle News in and around Daytona Intemational Speedway in Daytona Beach. Florida. Leo Potvin has announced that he's sailing away into retirement. "I won't be down at Daytona thiS year," Potvin said. "I've retired and I'll be sailing in the Gulf." He'lI be missed by anyone who was ever short-changed by the man who really was" Mr. Cycle News" during Bike Week. The Donnie Hansen Motocross Academy will hold sessions in Texas during March in conjunction with the GNC and Whitney Spring Nationals. The sessions will be held at Mosier Valley in Euless, Texas. March 7-8. and at Lake Whitney MX Park. March 13-14. For more information. call 719/4952624. The AMA will announce its title sponsor of the AMA National Enduro Series during the AMA's "Evening at Indy' reception on February 1g at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum. The Todd Henning Collection will businesses who depend on the speedway d'ust nine months notice," xley said. "My family and I are in tears over the situation." Just the same, Oxley says that International Speedway plans to pull out all of the stops for the 2000 racing season. "We are not going to dwell on the negative. Instead, we plan to make a huge noise." Oxley said. "We are not pulling in the sails and giving up. We plan to blow the roof off the place for 20 weeks, and that means more advertising and promotion than ever. We know that our riders are going to be pulling out all the stops to be the last guy to win the Spring Classic, or the last guy to win the Jack Milne Cup, or the Fair Derby or the U.S. National Championship. The gloves a.re coming off. We have been up front with our sponsors and supporters about our situation, and they have stepped up to the plate big time to help us ensure that if this is going to be our last season, it's going to be our best season." The Spring Classic, which has traditionally opened the California speedway season, is scheduled for April 8. The regular season opener is scheduled for April 29. be sold dUring Daytona Bike Week at the annual J. Wood and Company Antique and Classic Motorcycle Auction on March 11 at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. Henning was seriously injured in a racing accident last year and is on the road to recovery. Among the items to be auctioned are Henning's Drixon 450 Honda. a 1970 Yamaha TR2. a 1974 Yamaha TA125. a 1980 Yamaha TZ250G. a 1983 Yamaha TZ250J. a 1960 Honda CBR77. and a Yamaha XT400. For more information, call 352/795-8895. Sears Point Raceway has initiated what it is calling a Season Passport Holder program for fans who would like to pur- chase tickets to every racing event that the facility is holding in 2000. For a one· time price of $250, fans will receive one ticket for every event. including the NASCAR Save Mart/Kragen 300 Winston Cup race and the NHRA Fram/Autolite Nationals. The cost savings is over $200 when compared to the retail purchase of each individual ticket. For more information. call the ticket office at 800/870-RACE. or contact any BASS Ticket Center. If you' re one of the lucky 20 who could afford the $40,000 for the very-limitededition MV Agusta Oro. Fast by Ferracci's Larry Ferracci said you'lI be getting your bike this week. "Jay Leno just got his bike," Ferracci said at the Indy Supercross, where he was tending to the FBF/Husqvarna team. Ferracci is the North American importer for MV Agusta. Cagiva and Husqvarna. Among the 20 others who've already taken delivery of their MVs are longtime FBF loyalists Lyle Lovett and Stephen Weiss, the husband of FBF team sponsor Donna Karan of DKNY. Netscape's Jim Clark also picked up his MV Agusta, as did Indy car team owner Carl Haas. Former Indy car driver and current Indy lites team owner Stephan Johansen is expected to get his this week, too. The fourth annual Coupe Classic motocross will be held on March 5 at the "E"Bridge Sand Track in Marysville. California. featuring a $10.000 Pro purse. For more information. call Dave Coupe at 530/673-5956. This year's Pikes Peak NRace to the Clouds N on July 4 will again feature motorcycle racing. Entries are now open. For more information. call 719/6334514. Salt Lake City, Utah's Ronald Schroeder suffered ser'ious injuries in a desert race near Delta. Utah, on February 6. Schroeder is paralyzed from the chest down. has a broken femur. broken ribs and a broken stemum. A carpenter by trade. Schroeder and his wife are expecting their first child in September and his friends have set up a donor account to help with expenses. Donations can be sent to the Ronald Schroeder Fund, 10584 South 700 East. #258, Sandy. UT 84070. MBNA America Bank will continue to support AMA Pro Racing as its official credit card, as well as taking on title sponsorship of the AMA 250cc Grand

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