Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

op en to a ll Ex p e r t level 80cc ra c e r s between the ages of , 2 and 16. Fo r more information . call 800/Hangtown . The prom oters of the c om b i n a t io n W orld S up e rbike / AMA S up e r b ike N a ti o n al event at Lag una S e c a Ra ce w ay in Monterey. Cal ifornia . have re leased what is a rather busy schedule fo r the fou r-day road rac ing event. slated for July 6 -9 . Thursday . Ju ly 9 's schedule wi ll feature practice and qualifying for sev eral of the A M A events . w it h Friday feat uring W o rld Superbi ke qu alifying. A MA Superbike qualify ing . the Pro Thunder final and the AMA 600cc S upersport final. On Saturday. Ju ly 8 . t h e AM A S up e rbi ke N ational w ill be held. fol lowed by the Formula Xtreme final. W o rld S upe rb ike qualifying and W o rl d S uperbike Supe rp ol e . Sunday' s program w ill feature both W orld Superb i ke le g s and t he AM A 75 0 c c Supersport an d AM A 250cc Gra nd Pri x fina ls. " By co mbining the A MA and W o rld Superbike rounds into o ne weeke nd we have created an exceptiona l value for the fa n . - sai d Jo hn Sto rn e tt a . the' ge neral manager of Laguna S ec a Racew ay . " By purchasing one ticke t. you ge t to see two separate events. - Tic ke t s fo r the event range from $35 to $85 w ith c hildren under 12 admitted fr ee wi th a t ic ke t ed adult. A merica n Mik e Br ow n (right) rode hi s Caterpi lla r/ A xo- backed Honda CRI25 to the first Grand Prix win of his caree r on May 14 in Mla dina, Croatia, posting a perfect j , I tall y to not only t ake the ove rall victory but also the lead in the I 25cc Wo rld Championship. "My fir st overa ll vict or y in Grand s Prix and the lead in the championship in one day - I'm happy with that ," Brown said aft er his wi n. "I k new if I co uld get a good start I would be to ugh to beat and I proved tha t toda y," Brown topped Yama ha's Luigi Seguy and T exan J eff Dem ent in th e fi rst mo to, and then ca me ba ck to beat Gr ant Lan gston and Segu y in the second m oto. He now leads Langsto n in the championship point standings by a single point. 150- 149 . Br it James Dobb is third with 127 poi nts aft er posting 4- 10 finis hes in Croatia. Bot h the 25 0 and 500cc World Motocross Cham pionship Series were also in acti on on May 14, with Suzuki 's Mick ael Pichon continuing his stro ng run in th e 250cc Series with th e overall vi ct ory in Schwanestadt, Austria . Pichon battled all day with first- moto winner Frederic Bolley on the factory Honda. but Pichon ma naged to get the bette r of his fellow Frenchman in the second moto and that gave him the overall vic to ry. Yama ha' s Yves Dema ria finished third in both motos for third overall. American Ryan Hughes finished sixth in the first moto, but was a non -finis her in the second m oto. Pichon now leads the cham pionship point sta ndings by 39 points over Belley, 182-143. aft er fiv e round s. In 500c c Gr and Prix action. Yamaha 's Marn icq Bervoets and KTM 's Peter Johansson split moto wins . Berv oets topped teammate Andrea Bart olin i in the first moto with Johannsen finishing third. In the second moto , Joh annso n took the vict ory with Bartolini taking seco nd (and the overall ). Cham pionship points leader Joel Smets was third after finishing ninth in the first moto. The Belgian , however, conti nues to hold a healthy 38 -point lead over Bervoets, 174 -136, with Bartolini . the defending World Champion, th ird with 125 points . Geoff Meyer Th e federal go vern me nt has released its draft pla n for managing huge areas of Am erica's nati onal forest system , acco rding to the AMA. And although th e plan represents a partial victo ry for off-highway motorcycli sts and ATV riders , it still could lead to shutting down nearly 60 m illi on acr es of publ ic land to many recreational acti vities, incl uding trail ridi ng . The U.S. Forest Service draft , released May 9, came in response to President Clin ton's order th at the agency create a single managem ent plan governing so -call ed roadless areas in all 155 nati ona l fo rests fro m coa st to co ast. These incl ude about 43 million acres in inventor ied roadle ss areas, and as mu ch as anoth er 15 mi llion acres in sma ll er pa rcels that have not been inventoried. Togeth er, they add up to an area nearly equal in size to the state of Wyo m ing . One of the optio ns tha t cou ld have been wri tt en into the dr aft called for a ban on all.o ff- highway motorized recreatio n throughout those areas. Tha t optio n was rejected by the Forest Serv ice, but the agency did incorporate a ban on all road constructio n and recon structio n. a m ove that could slowly strangle m ot ori zed recr eation. rath er than ki llin g it immediately. "Th is is a clear indicati on of how th reatening this sweeping proposal is," said Robert Rasor. the AMA's vi ce president for govern m ent relati ons . "Even though we averted the wor st dama ge it could hav e inflicted on off-h ighway ri ders, we're sti ll faced wi th seri ous co nsequences over the long haul." If adopted, thi s plan would have a m ajor impact on a wide variety of recr eational opport unities. Even th ough th e areas being di scussed are lab eled roa dl ess, they includ e th ousands of m iles of existing routes, ranging from dirt roads to narrow trails , m any of which have been used for generati ons. By bann ing ma int enance and reconstruction on that network of roa ds and trail s, the For est Serv ice is essentially guaranteeing tha t they will eventually det eriorate until they are unusable, according to the AMA. Th at woul d mean lost ridin g op portunities for off- highway m otorcyclists and ATV riders. but it would also affect cam pers. fishermen, hunters. horseback riders, mountain bikers . snowmo bile enthus iasts and even hikers. who coul d be unab le to take suppo rt vehi cles to existi ng cam psites and trai lheads . ........... ......... . ~ ~ Ticke ts can be purchased at the Laguna S eca Racew ay ticket o ff ic e. all Ca lifornia BASS and W h e reho u s e locatio n s a nd participating motorcycle dealers. Fo r more information. call 800/32 7-7322. "The Forest Service's own figures indicate that there " are some 860 million visits to nation al forests each yea r, m ost for recreational purposes, and that num be r is expected to k eep gro wi ng," said Rasor. "Clo sing off access to million s of acres of public land will just intensify the use on the land that remains, increasing user conflicts and environmental problem s." Despite th e enorm ity of this pla n. th e Forest Serv ice is giving th e public only a m atter of weeks to react to it before deciding the fate of these lands . The agency says it wil l hol d abo ut 300 m eetings nationwide befor e the end of th e com ment period on Ju ly 17. T he AMA has alr eady fil ed a requ est fo r an exten sion of tha t deadline to all ow rec reat io n gro ups the tim e needed to stud y th e imp act of the pla n. "We are j ust seeing the ma ps of the affected areas for the fir st time," said Rasor. "T here' s no way anyo ne can get a comprehensiv e idea of the existing conditions on these widespread areas in less than two months. We hope that th e Forest Serv ice will recognize that and grant an extension to September 15. In the m eantime, the AMA urges conce rn ed motorcycli sts t o atte nd meeting s and fil e comment s with the agency. For a co m plete list of meetings, visit the AMA website at www .AMADirectJink.com and cl ick on th e "Protecting Your Right to Ride" button . Written co mments can be sent to USD A Forest Servi ce - CAET, A ttn: Road less, P.O. Bo x 221090, Salt Lak e City. UT 84122. Or yo u can em ail comments to roadlessdeis@fs.fed. us, or co m me nt by fax to (877) 70 3-2494. " It 's vital that we let officials in Washington k now the severe impact this proposal wou ld have on rec reation in our nat ion al forests ," said Rasor. " Sinc e the presi dent anno unced his roa dless plan last Oct ober . the Forest Service has been lik e a shi p headed into dan gerous waters . By eli m inati ng the outright ban on m otorized recreation, we'v e deflected its course a few degrees. But we need to tum it co mplete ly around." The FIM carried out rando m drug test s at the D utch round of the World Motocross C hampio ns hip o n April 8 with all ride rs p as s ing the test. Among those t e st ed were M ickael P ic hon , Claudio Federic i. Re my van Ree s . M arn ic q Bervoets, W illy va n Wessel and Jonas Engda hl. Steve Laszko s u ff e re d a r up t ured . S IGNED: An exclusive arrangement between Yuasa Inc. and Cannon- dale Motorcycles. making Yuasa the official sponsor and supplier of batteries and battery chargers for the Cannondale motocross team. Yuasa has also signed o n as a spo nso r o f the PA CE M otor Sp ort s Wrenchead.com Dirt Track Series. OPENED: Ducati Corse's home page on the Wo rld Wide Web. The site can be found at the following address: http:/ /www.ducaticorse.com. PROMOTED: Chris Wall. to advertisi ng manager at Yamaha M otor Corporation. U.S.A. Wall was previously a district manager in the Southeast region. S IG NE D : A sponsorship agreement between Moto Tassinari and Team FMF Honda. making Moto Tassinari the official reed valve of the team. SIGNED : A spo nso rs hip and pe r sonal endorse me nt agr eement between American Honda' s Mguel DuHamel and Esportbike.com. OPENED : Iron Horseman's home page on the World Wide Web. The site • can be found at the following address: http:/ /www.ironhorseman.com. . ........................ ................................ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ cy . . cle s p lee n a n d a bro k e n n e ck w hen h e cras hed durin q 600cc Superspo rt pract ice at last weeke nd 's AMA N at ion al at Sea rs Po int Rac e w ay in S o nom a . Cal ifo rnia . Ac co rd ing to an e-ma il fro m his brother. Bo b. Laszko was fo llowtnq ano ther rider int o the braking zone o f tum seven w hen he either clipped the other rider or locked up the front tire on the brakes. He somersau lted into the wall lining the left side o f the co urse and came to res t on the track. He was unconscious and wa s not brea thing when the co m er w orkers reached him . Qu ick act ion by th e co m er w orkers . paramed ics and life-flight c rew had Laszk o stabilized and he wa s flown t o S anta Ro sa Memorial Hospital. Laszk o regained con sciousness wh en he arrived at the hosp ital. but was quic kly sedat ed to allow the d octors t o inves tigate the extent of his injuries. He had damaged his spleen and kidney and had a severe neck injury. His spleen was the immediate con cern. Bob Laszko said , as it w as caus ing a lot o f intemal bleedi ng. It was removed du ring emergency surgery: t he kidney was exa mined but le ft to heal o n its own . The doct or's atte nt io n was now on th e ex te nt o f th e n ec k in j ury , Laszko wa s s u ffering from pa ralysis from t he neck down. He had been unable to breathe o n his own sinc e the time of the accident. and had been placed on a respirator shortly after arriving at the hospital. X-ray s show ed a - - -- - - - - Continued on page 92 e .... os: M AY 2 4 , 2000 3 n :=-

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