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/128611
o DfBooo We received qu ite a few entries in o ur Cover K ing co ntest, bu t surprisin gl y , no one correctly guessed wh o had the most cov er a p pe a r a nces in Cycle News h isto r y. A ctuall y , m a yb e it 's not so su r prising , sin ce it was k in d of a trick qu estion. D i ck Mann w as th e ove r w hel mi n g c h oi c e among o u r readers , but " Bu g sy " h as a su rp risingl y low to t al of i4. Ja y Springsteen was also a popul ar c h o i ce, but "Sp rlnqer's" tota l of 23 whil e impressiv e - is The King's late st cover. nowhere near th at o f o ur k ing, nor is J .N . Roberts ' 5 , th ough he got two reader vo tes . Scott Park er (3 9), Wayne Rain ey (20 ) and Kenny Rob erts (5 0) all got multipl e votes, but none a re the king. Neither are Gary Nixon (i7 ), Larry Roeseler ( i 2) , Cal Rayborn ( i2), Bart Mark el (i l ) , Mert Lawwill (14 ), Bob Hannah (27), Eddie Lawson (23), Steve Wise (3) , or Jean-Mich el Ba yl e ( 2 1) th ough each got a vote by a sing le read er. No, the Cycle News Co ver Kin g is non e other than th e lege nda ry Kit Palmer - say w hat ? That's right, the Cycle News Asso ciat e Ed it or has an asto n ishi ng 77 co vers, and aithough he was as surp rised as anyone else with the news, it actua ll y makes sense - desp ite h is gen eral avo id anc e of the limelight. You see. Palmer has been employed here for i7 y ears, and he ofte n ends up servi ng as a ph ot o model for bikes th at he tes ts . He ha s appea red on CN cove rs riding spo rt bikes, cruisers, m otocro ssers , enduro b ik es, du al sporters , and dirt tracke rs, and wh il e he hu mbly wi sh es that J erem y McG rath were the Cover King, there's something to be said fo r Palmer 's versatility and endurance. Th ough no o ne gues sed co rrec tly, we decided to draw a name from all the c onte st ants, and the lu cky guy wa s Craig J . Ste in (w ho pic k ed Parker - o n ly two co ns o na nt s off ). Palmer has graci ou sly agre ed to auto graph o ne of hi s co v ers and send it to Stei n, and ju st in c ase ou r winner is less thrilled w ith hi s Palmer cover th an he would be with a Par ker, we're al so send ing him a Cycle News ball c ap. Top five Cycle News cover appea rances t o date 1. Kit Palmer 77 57 2 . J erem y McGrath 3. Kenn y Rob erts 50 39 4. Sc ott Park er 5 . Sc ot t Russell 35 million from $66 .5 million during the same period last year. "This is a great start as we head into the heart of thts year's seiling season, - said C arl o d i Biag io , Ducati's chief financial officer. ' This quarter's result s illustrate the continued success of ou r commercial stra tegy. We were so lucky that the weather played in rounds of the series . depending on when Slight returns from his off-season brain surgery . D u c a t i M otor H ol d i n g S . p . A . announced reco rd conso lidated revenues for the first quarter, ending March 31, on April 12. Tot al revenues increased to $98 PACE Motor Sp orts announced that the avai la ble fundage for its 12-race, Formula USA-sanctioned Wrench ead .com National Dirt Track Ser ies will top thre e quarters of a m illion dollars, incl uding a $150 ,000 poin t fund to racers in its national championship class , $50,000 earm ark ed for the series champion , and even t purses of $45 ,000 to $55 ,000 to bring the total guaranteed awards to $760 ,000 for the seri es' inaugural season . The seven mile events on th e 2000 sched ule will pay a $50 ,000 purse to th e national ch ampionship cl ass , wi th $10,000 go ing to th e race winner. The half-mile races will pa y $4 0 ,00 0 . with the w inner taking home $ 7500. Formula USA 's new Pro Sing les support class will offer a $5000 purse at all ev ents . According to PACE Motor Sports Vicepresident Mike Kidd, th e PACE team is confident that the big money will attract the sport's biggest names. With Wrenchead.com as our ser ies spo nso r, we are able to offer an awards package that makes our ser ies a ve ry attractive program for professiona l racers : Kidd said. "Thi s our favor durin g the first quarter. especially in Italy and the rest of So uthern Europe.According to a press release from Z ero G ra v ity, the company has ended its twoand-a -half year business affiliation with Aprilia . effective March 1. Zero Gravity c om m itment by PACE and Wrenchead .com clea rly sho ws that we resp ect th e ti me, eff ort and expense it takes to be a professional rac er." K idd also said tha t in addition to th e pu rse and series po ints fund, PACE is developing a co ntingenc y aw ard p ro gram th at will bring additional support from co m pa nies in the m otorcycl e industr y that offer the machines and eq uipment that will be used on th e trac k . " We' ve alrea dy heard fr om sev er al manufa cturer s th at are eager to participa te in the co nti nge ncy program," K idd said. "We' ll ge t an announc em ent out to ou r rid ers soon letting th em k no w wh ich companies we have on bo ard ." Companies inte rest ed in pa rtic ip atin g in t he p r o gram sh ould c onta ct Patri ck Murph y at 916/73 7 -6272 . T h e opening round of th e Wren ch ead .com National Dirt T rack Series is sched uled fo r Ma y 6 at T exas Motor Sp eed wa y in Fort Wo rth , T exas. . .............. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . . .. .. . . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. . .. . . .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . . .. .. . .. .. . .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. . . .. . .. .. . .. .. .. . .. . . . . . . .. . .. . .. .. . . .. . . .. . .. . .. . .. . . . .. . .. .. .. .. . .. HIRED: Matt Freeman. to a position in the advertising department at American Suzuki. Freeman formerly served as associate editor at Cycle News. OPENED : Fmeline Suspension's home page on the World Wide Web. The site can be found at the following address: http:/ / www.finelinesus· pension.com. RESC HED ULED: Round five of the e-rnoola.corn West Coast Flat Track Series. in Vallejo. California. The event has been moved from July 22 to July 1 in order to avoid schedulingconflicts at the venue. HIRED: Former World Motocross Champion Bobby Moore, as Supercross and motocross account executive for OMS Ltd.. effective May 1. For more information. call 606 /689 ·5854 . AUTOGRAPH SIGN ING : At Temecula Motorsports Suzuki in Temecula. California, on April 29. Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat Mladin and Team Suzuki's Greg Albertyn are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 909/69 8·4 123. MARRIED: Motocrosser Kirk Bassett to his girlfriend. Joann Schofield. on March 4 in Southern California. OPENED: Motoworld of EI Cajon's home page on the World Wide Web. The sit e can be found at the following address : http:/ /www.motoworldofec.com. HIRED: Mike Farmer as rider support coordinator for FMF Racing. effective immedia tely . PROMOTED: Chris Bergstrom, to production manager of FMF Racing, effective immediately. OPENED: JT Motorsports Yamaha in Leesburg. Virginia. JT Motorsports is operated by Ron Greene. RESI NGN ED: John Slebler. from TWS/U SAIVOR Motori USA, as Sales Manager. RESCH EDULED: The Tony D. Motocross School at Monroe Park. in Monroe. Georgia. to May 6. For more information. call 410 /635 ·6916 . ADDED: A Tony D. Motocross School at Lazy River MX Park in Dalton. Georgia. on May 5. For more information. call 4 10/635-6916 . will no longer function as an Aprilia dealer. nor will it operate in any official capacity I with regard to the Aprilia Cup Challenge. The ending of their affiliation came about as a result of a differe nce in point of view between Tom McDonald. general manager of Aprilia USA. and Glenn Cook. president of Zero G ravity , according to the press release , regarding the direction of the Cup Challenge and the position the I C up C hall e nge ho lds w ithin Ap ril ias changing overall USA marketing strategy. " I'm really sad about the situation : said Cook. "We have been working with Aprilla since October of '97. long before Aprilla USA w as fo rmed . W e sweat blood putting the Aprilia Cup Challenge together under very difficult and st ress ful co nditions. And to have to give it up wasn 't easy. Especially given how successful it became . But. hey, some times yo u just ' have to let go and move on. I wish Aprilia all the best in co nt inuing the spiri t o f affordable two-stroke racing." T he 2 3 rd ann ua l CRC D unestown S e r i e s will kick off at the Edwards Air Force track in Rosamond. California. on ':=: Apri l 30 . The five-rac e ser ies featu res over $ 125.000 in co ntingency money. For more information. call 661/272- 8889. Kawasaki has agreed to furnish demo bikes at the AMA Women 's Motorcycling C o nf e renc e fo r use in the W o me n ' s School of Motocross Session on July 13 in Ohio, according to WSMX . For more info rmation , check WSMX's website at www.dmsports-wsmx.com. The Mo t orcy cle Hall of Fa m e in Pickerington . Ohio, is celebrating its 10· year anniversary this summer. The AMA is planni ng severa l new featur es at the museum in the co ming months. For more information. call 6 14/856- 1920 . Jake Thompson from N ole e n s wanted t o remi nd everyo ne tha t he' ll be attending the 29t h annual N M A W orld M ini G rand Prix in Las Vegas , Nevada, Apr il 27-30 , an? will be available to assist anyone wit h their suspensions. Kawasa k i Tea m G r een will also be attending the W orld Min i G rand Prix in Las V egas. Plus. Team Green will be suppo rtin g t he WML riders attendin g the Glen Helen and Hangtown rounds of the W ML Series May 13 and May 20. Technical Support and Emergency parts service will be available to all Kawasaki racers. Wrenchead.com Formula USA will host t he S upe rTT A meri ca n R acing Series (STT AR S ) So uthwest Series opener at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond. California, Ap ril 29 . Sup e rTT race s take plac e on the kart track locatd in the roadrace paddock. Visit www.supertt.co m for more information. Team Ch evy Trucks Kawasaki 's John Dowd crac ked a vert ebrae las t week wh e n he c ras hed w hile practi cing at Southe rn Ca lif o rnia 's M X Compound . Dowd will definitely miss the April 29 Joliet: Illinois, Supercross, but he might be Continued on page 98 3 MAY 3 , 2000· c ue I e n e vv s n 1.J 0