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/128614
Continued from page 3
significant displa cemen t of the C 2 and C3
ve rtebrae (at the base of the neck) with
some collateral damage to the C 1 and C4
vertebrae. MRI scans did not reveal any
tear/shear damage to the sp inal co rd .
Laszko wa s place d in traction to begin
movin g the ve rte brae back into position .
HIGH IN VEGAS
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In th e past , interactio ns between PACE and organ izers of the
THQ U.S. Open ha ve been mostl y acrim o n io us (and in large
part confined to a co urt ro om), but the tw o are now teaming
up for t he 2000 U.S. Open. That being th e c ase, the final
round of the EA Sports Supercross Series in Las Vegas provided the perf ect o pp o rt un ity for a press conference for the
U .S. Open which will be held October 14 and 15 at th e MGM
Grand Hotel's Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas .
F o r t he May 7 c o n fe re n c e , jou rn a li st s and VIPs were
given helicopter rides above the Las Vegas strip and around
the MGM Grand, on top of which stood Greg Albertyn ,
Ricky Carm ichael , Mike LaRocco , Ezra Lusk , Travis Pas trana . Stephane Roncada and David Vuillemin , dressed in
full mota g ear and waving to the helicopter. Afterwards,
breakfast was served in the Arena, and riders gave brief
speeches to the attendees.
In its short two-year history, the U .S . Open has served
as the debut Pro race for Pastrana. and the debut 250cc Pro
race for Carmichae l, Roncada and Vuillemin. " I probably
crashed where every table is, around here: joked Pastrana .
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Organizers call the U.S. O p e n "the world's richest
motorcycle race: thanks to its impressive $300 ,000 purse.
Of t h a t amount, $100 ,000 goes to the overall winner .
Damon Huffman was the winner of the debut U.S. Open,
and Jeff Emig was the victor last y.ear (Emig's bike was
also on top of the MGM G r.a nd with fue riders) .
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Remember AI Melling and the Norton Nemesis we told you
about last week? Amazingly. Melling isn't the only British
engineer aiming to follow in the tire tracks of Drysdale in
Australia and Italy 's Morbidelli , in delivefing a limited production , street-legal VB motorcycle to the marketplace. Working
in complete secrecy for the past three years in his remote
base in the countryside of Wales. in between pursuing a successful road-racing career now entering Its 42nd season,
Welshman Jo hn Caffrey is now at the construction stage of
the Vendetta VB which he's designed and is now building
himself, with help from some key players in Britain 's benchmark Formu la I racing car industry.
One of Britain's unsung squadron of globetrotting road
racers, Caffrey has carved out a legendary reputation over
the past decade as one of the top riders in the post -Glasnost
era of Eastern bloc road racing , Racing on an Estonian
license, he's the current national champion of the Baltic state
which was formerly a part of the USSR before the collapse of
Communism. and he spends three months each year racing
on successive weekends there and in Latvia. Uthuanla, Russia, Poland and Scandinavia aboard his RI and R6 Yamahas,
against the likes of Russian world ice racing champion Aleksandr Moskova and other riders from all over Eastern
Europe. He also throws in occasiona l forays further afield, to
race in Romania, Bulgaria and the Ukraine . with a pre-season
warm -up at the North West 200 in Ireland. In between times,
Caffrey fuels his racing passion by manufacturing the
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cyclenews.com reader poll question of the week
Which
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th e following
intage bikes wo uld you rather own'?
A. Harley -Davi dson K odel B. S~ Gold Star
D. Norton [om mand oC== = = E. Roya l Enfie ld Fury
92
MAY 24, 2 0 00·
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Four-tim e W orld Champion Eddie Lawson has tossed his helme t into the ring
a nd wi ll no w compe te wi t h Yamah a' s
moto cros s grea ts in the Yamaha Race
of Champions , the feature d event at
the V intag e Iro n W o rld C hampio nships,
Ju ne 24 -2 5, at G le n Helen Race way in
S an B e rn a rd ino , Ca lifo rn ia . For more
info rmation , call 714/ 694 -0066.
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components over the past few years. but now I'm having the
crank made for me by a Formula J engine manufacturer,
which with only l Ornrn-wide webs will be extremely fast revving. I met Ian Drysdale from Australia at the Birmingham
Motorcycle Show last year , and he was very helpful - but
while mine will still be a crossways engine like his, not a
lengthways VB with shaft drive like Morbidelli's, I won't be
using any proprietary components like he does with Yamaha
parts, because production streetbikes are not my first consid eration . I do plan a street spin -off - but this will initially be a
fu ll -race motorcycle which , il they 're serious about lourstrokes in Grand PFix racing, will be ready rlgbt on time for
the 2002 racing season ! Otherwise. I'll race it In Eastern
Europe, where they still encourage creativity witl:l anythinggoes racing, rather than various levels of street bike competition. "
The Vendetta va. is presently an 800cc DOHC 32 valve design, with gear-driven camshafts and, Initially,
a bank of eight carburetors which in due course once
the engine is running on the dyne, will be replaced by
fuel injection. But Caffrey says he's deliberately opt ed
not to cast the cylinders integra lly wit h the upper
crankcase half, as
the Drysdale VB, so as to have
the OptiOIil of v
re and stroke dlm ensloas, as
well as engine
. ." A 1500cc engine is far too
big for a motorcycle;" !he says. "but I want to retain the
option to build a f ull looOcc short-stroke engine, in
case that's the capacity limit that ends up beiQ9 adopted at GP level. •
At this stage, Caffrey's priOrity is first to get his VB
engine up and running, before using his eccumulated
experience as a chassis constructor to build a frame in
which to put it. But chances are that the fire-breathing
Welsh dragon which emblazons the p