Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

( , om llLDG[] ~ cD~- [i)~ Trucks recently created the like~a~Rock Challenge, which will reward the rider who earns the most Wins/points of the three doubleheader rounds - scheduled for Road Atlanta, Road America and MidOhio - with a Chevy Silverado pickup truck valued at $32,000. A new $26,000 point fund has been created specifically for Privateer Superbike riders. The top five privateer finishers will split an additional $2000 after each race. Interstate Batteries has returned to award pole winners with a $1000 bonus. and motorcycleusa.com has created the AMA Superbike Holeshot Award. which will pay $500 to the Superbike rider who takes the lead through the first tum. In addition to the rider point funds and season~end bonuses. AMA Pro Racing will pay $940,000 in race purse money, and $3.265.825 is available to riders through industry bonus award postings. """\ Rodney Smith (Suz) won the second round of the Grand National Cross Coun~ try Series in Macon. Georgia. on March 12. Second place went to Paul Edmondson (Kaw). followed by Shane. Watts (KTM). Fred Andrews (Kaw) and Steve Hatch (Suz). L' ( LJ r- L Buddy Antunez (Suz) was on a roll in San Jose. California. for rounds 27 and 28 of the National Arenacross Series. March 11-12. Antunez won both main events Friday night. as well as the 125cc main Saturday night. Pedro Gonzalez (Kaw) ruined Antunez' bid to win all four mains. after the rider from Mexico topped the 250cc feature. Antunez still finished second in that race. Denny Stephenson (Suz) finished right behind Antunez in all four races. C o o o Dougie Lampkin (Mon) recorded his fourth successive World Indoor Cup trials title by winning the final event of the series at Bercy Stadium in Paris, France. on March 11. Lampkin scored the win in Paris over Takahisa Fujinami (Hon), Graham Jarvis (Bull and Marc Colomer (Mon). Lampkin won the championship with a grand total of 185 points. followed by Colomer with 171 pOints. Steve Colley (G-G) ended up third in the standings with 142 points. Walter ("Wally") David Sakowski died of lung cancer on March 5 at his home in Milwaukee. at the age of 48. A lifelong motorcyclist, Sakowski roadraced competitively in WERA and AMA/CCS events for over 10 years. retiring in the mid-1990s. Sakowski had a knack for creative engineering and tuning, and his SRX sported a monoshock conversion of his own deSign. He and his team. Low Profile Racing, were well known at his home track. Road America. Following graduation from University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Sakowski toured the United States by motorcycle more than once. In 1995 he toured Europe on a BMW K100RS, purchased from the fac~ tory in Germany. A true enthusiast. he would travel by motorcycle to the Day~ tona 200 from Milwaukee. departing and anriving home in snow and freezing temperatures. Sakowski is survived by his mother, Hannah. of Milwaukee. his father. Walter, of Kissimmee. Florida. and two brothers. both of Milwaukee. Cards and letters may be sent to Hannah Sakowski. 7305 West Hampton. Milwaukee, WI 53218. C r C r c c u [) Round one of the Edgesports.com/ FreeRide Moto-X Championships took p'lace on Saturday night. March 11, at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale. California. The Godfather of Freestyle motocross. Mike Metzger (Yam) took the win with Tommy Clowers (Hon) taking second and Mike Jones (Kaw) recovering from his recent broken back to take third. The AMA announced several new bonus packages for riders in the 2000 Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship. In addition to the traditional $100,000 AMA Superbike point fund. new programs have been created to raise the economic climate for both factory and privateer riders. increasing available purse money and sponsor-supported bonus awards to over $4 million. Chevy o o The ABC network will air a special broadcast of the EA Sports Supercross on Sunday. April 30th at 1:00 p.m. East- 8 2{?@iJMJJ2(]@r:B'f1 g C r ',... I '- A new track and a new challenge presented itself to the majority of the World Superbike combatants at Valencia in Spain last week. The final official World Superbike test of the pre-season campaign provided surprises aplenty, not least of which was the high rate of attrition suffered by riders in both Superbike and Supersport classes. u o o o J 'I t 'I L., MARCH 22, 2000' II: Y II: I .. n e vv s the AMA reports. As part of his Senate campaign. Floyd distributed fliers that pictured motorcyclists and read: "We need someone who will stand up to their threats.' Floyd called California motorcyclists who lobbied their legislators on hel~ met laws "Hell' s Angels types' who threatened and intimidated lawmakers. Floyd. the father of California's mandatory-helmet~use law, claimed he was the only one who "stood up' to the motorcyclists. "Floyd obViously had no record of achievement to present to the voters. so he tried to create a fear of motorcyclists to win votes.' said Robert Rasor, AMA vice president for government relations. "The ploy didn't work. The voters are much smarter than Floyd gives them credit for.' . Assemblyman Edward Vincent, who was supported by ABATE of California and other motorcyclists, easily defeated Floyd in the Democratic primary election in the 25th Senate District. Vincent will face Republican Cliff McClain for the seat in November's general election. If the 350 people in attendance at the Volunteer State Trailriders Asso· ciation evSTA> Fall Ride at Loretta Lynn's Ranch were any indication of acceptance. thiS new organization is rapidly gaining the support of Tennessee OHV riders. VSTA was formed just over two years ago with the goal of becoming the statewide voice for off-highway motorcycles and ATVs in Tennessee. Stressing the possibility that misinforma~ tion could be widely disseminated about its products via the Intemet. Arai Helmets is taking steps to eliminate all but official use of its logo. name and product information on the World Wide Web. "As the clutter on the Internet increases. it is becoming harder and harder to find the correct information about our products, and all too easy to become misinformed on the 'Net.' said Roger Weston, Presi~ dent of Arai Helmet (Americas), Ltd. in a prepared statement. "A misinformed buyer can become a consumer with a poorly fitted or an entirely unsuitable hel~ met on his head. An unhappy, iii-fitted. uncomfortable consumer isn't likely to blame his Internet source for his problems, but rather may work out his dissatisfaction at the expense of Arai.· Arai is taking measures to ensure that only the official Arai sites (araiamericas.com, araihelmet.com and arai_europe.com) represent the Arai product line on the Intemet. The AMA Western Four·Stroke National MX Series. sponsored by Motoworld of EI Cajon, is scheduled to kick off on March 26 at Speedworld MX Park in Phoenix, Arizona. There is a combined $70.000 purse and $10,000 up for grabs. The AMA claims that defending champ Dustin Nelson has commited to the series. along with Mike Kiedrowski and Damon Bradshaw. For more informa~ tion. call 503/756-4782. California Assemblyman Richard "Dick" Floyd, who hoped to earn a state Senate seat by portraying motorcyclists as thugs, was soundly defeated in the Tuesday. March 7 primary election, Spectator tickets for the May 10, Glen Helen/Chaparral Charity Golf Tournament at the Shandin Hills Golf Course in San Bernardino, Califomia can be purchased by calling Chaparral Motor- Another characteristic of this test was the non-domination of the Honda Castrol Honda twin - at least not in the early stages. At previous Phillip Island and Misano tests the RC51 was either outright faster or at least trading punches with Carl Fogarty's Ducati from the first lap to the last. Not so here, because until Fogarty went out of the action after crashing at the infamous Turn 11 in the Wednesday afternoon session. the Englishman was a half second ahead of series rookie (but experienced 500cc GP rider) Juan Borja, with Colin Edwards down in fourth. Until the World Champion tweaked his shoulder and suffered a mild concussion, he was unstoppable. "I was standing there wondering where I was and what had happened to me," Fogarty said. "I can't ever remember, in nearly 20 years of racing, feeling like that." His 1:36.162 lap, (set in the very first session) withstood all the pressure that the entire field of factory Superbike rid~ ers could throw at it for two whole days. In the very last session, however, Edwards had his RC51 dialed in well enough to destroy even Fogarty's impressive time with a 1:35.700 that would prove to be untouchable. Even by Grand Prix bikes - with Edwards' lap four-tenths of a second quicker than what the GP 500s had managed in official qualifying for last year's Valencia GP. "I don't know what the majority of the GP guys think of us, but [Stefano] Perugini was freaking out at how fast the " 2 The Trailblazers, a social organization of early~day motorcycling enthusiasts. will celebrate their 56th anniversary at their upcoming annual banquet on March 25. at the Sequoia Club in Buena Park. California. This year's theme will be to honor BSA. For more information, call 714/5579221. {?@iJMJJ2_D--=--GlJ_ffli D- r .....J ern Time, just prior to the airing of the NAPA Auto Parts 500 NASCAR race from the California Speedway. In the Pacific Time Zone the program will air immediately following the NASCAR race. This year ABC's special airing will include a summary of the first 15 rounds of the Supercross series. including highlights from the Chicago round that is scheduled the day before the ABC coverage. This is the third season that ABC has ran a spe~ ciaI presentation of Supercross and the Neilson Ratings have demonstrated the strength of the sport and the fan base surrounding it. _ bike was at Misano," Edwards said. "There's definitely another three to four tenths left in this machine around here anyway." The new star of the show, however, was undoubtedly Juan Borja, who used every micron of his knowledge of his home circuit to finish third on the time sheets on his ex~Andy Meklau 996 Ducati. How well he will eventually go on less familiar circuits is yet to be seee but without question World Superbike has got a new star in its midst. "I think this was an easy change to make: said Borja after his first taste of World Superbike testing. "iThe main difference is the lack of power. On this you can open the throttle much earlier than on a 500. I also think that the handling is at least as good on this, maybe even better." Valencia also gave Ben Bostrom his best showing yet, with the young American making up for the missing Fogarty with the fourth fastest time. "I'm almost back to myself," he said. "Almost back to me. When I get enough confidence in the front to turn it in hard l'iI be even happier." Leaving his run late, Bostrom, stiil somewhat overawed by the whole World Superbike scene, looks better and more settled with every session on his Duke. Gordon Ritchie

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