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/128617
8w o o o o o o o ElUJc!J Wi lson and Craig Smit h (l-ion) round- A ustralia' s Jason Crump (G M ) rode to victory at rou nd two o f the FIM W o rld Indi v idu a l Champion sh ip Sp eedway Grand Pr ix Se rie s at Linkoping M oto r Stadium in Unkopi ng , Sweden, on Ju ne 3. England ' s Mark Loram was second , fo llowed by a nother A ustralian, Todd Wiltshire . Reign ing W o rld S peedw ay C ha mpio n Tony Rickardsson could only manag e a fourth- place finish in his home country. Hampered by a controversial exclusion during the meeting. A merican ho peful Billy Hamill failed to make The Final, and has now slipped to third in the overall series standings . ed ou t the top th ree ove rall. The th irdpl ac e t ea m w as al so mou n t ed on a n XR650 . Tim Frazier ( H-D) and David Wat· son (Hen) came away with w ins in the 800cc and 540cc wins respect ively du ring round three of the A M AIPac e Americ an Nat ion a l Champ ion ship H ill c limb Serie s at t he Wh ite Ro se M .C . clubgrounds in York. Pennsylvania, on June 4 . W at so n finished se cond to Frazier in the 800c c class, w hile James Large (H-D) wa s th ird. Ted Wilkins (Rtx) fin ishe d secon d in t he 540cc class , and W at son was third. o 8 o Onl y 15 seconds sepa rated the top two motorcy cle team s at th e S CORE Baja 500 that was held Ju ne 3 in Baja Califor nia. M exic o. Jonas Street and Steve Hengeveld ( Hon) ed g ed o ut fel low XR650 ride rs Johnny Campbell and Tim Staab (Ho n). The winning te am finished the race in eight hours, 30 minutes and 30 second s . Phil Veiger , Ron Russell Pe a r so n (Ya m) 'w as the sur- o o o R[S@@[J0 @®D[JDf] W®(ljJ[JD@ pri s e wi n ner a t b o t h d ay s o f th e AMA /FMF' N at io nal Champi on s h ip Endu ro Seri es stop in Idaho Ci ty . Idaho . on J une 3- 4. Pe a r so n be s ted Brian Garrahan (KTM) and Brian Brown (Kaw) on S at urd ay , an d G arrah an and ~ @(J[JD D O @@[JD@ OO@@ @ @ Dyz @ -l The 2000 AMA /Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbik e Championship races originally scheduled to be held May 5 -7 at the Progressive Insurance AMA Superbike Challenge at Sears Point Raceway, but postponed due to rain-;- will not be rescheduled for the 200 season , accord ing to a press release issued by Sears Point Raceway. Both Raceway and AMA Pro Racing offici als decid ed that due to schedule conflicts and facilit y remodeling plans, the best solution would be to formally cancel the event. The race weekend would have been the second sto p on the circuit. "Th e only available dat e on the AMA schedule that didn 't confli ct with previousl y booked dates at Sears Point would be in late August , and that date interferes with the long-awaited extensive remodeli ng at Sears Point ," said Scott Hollingsworth, CEO of AMA Pro Racing . "Over the past few years , Sears Point has gone to great lengths to m ake changes to the motorcycle configu ration of the race cou rse, and we understand that the new construction will only make for a better event in 2001. While we' re sorry to disappoi nt fans, racers and teams, we believe that all will be best satisfied wit h a new date in 200\." Sears Point is one of the country' s busiest mot orsports venues with on-tr ack act ion scheduled 340 days and 50 weekends per year, maki ng rescheduling difficu lt. Moreover, the faci lity will begin work in Augu st on a $35 million Modernization Plan and that construction will potent ially disrupt many of the raceway' s guest -serving amenities. "We are certainly disappointed that we will not be able to run the race and we appreciate the efforts of Cycle World magazine, the AMA and our oth er sponsors in build ing thi s year's Sonoma fest promotion : said Steve Page, President and General Manager of Sears Point Raceway . " We had seen a tremendous turnout for all of this year's Sonom afest activities, and it' s a shame that we were not able to complete the weekend 's raci ng schedule. However, we are look ing forward to Sonomafest 200] and giving our fans the best of what the AMA has to offer." Th e cancell atio n m eans that the AMA /Ch evy Tru cks U_S. Superbike Championsh ip will now consist of ] 2 races at nine venues. Three tracks - Road Atlanta, Road America and Mid-Ohio, host superbike double-headers. Fans who purchased tick ets for the 2000 Sears Point race have two opt ions: They can use their 2000 ticket as a credit toward the 200] AMA Superbik e event at Sears Point Raceway, or they can mail their tick et in for a full refund of the ticket price (not including handli ng) to the following address: Tick et Manager (AMA Superbike Refund ), Sears Point Raceway, Highways 37 and ] 2], Sonoma , CA 95476 . C r -...J C r; L.: U ,--. O O O D O O O O O o [%/][fj) [§)@G!J@O@0 aDD@ 7Jt?D[ff2 D_@ I~ _ The second triple-header GP of the season was played out on the new Georges Jobe track at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit - a well -known faci lity to the Formul a One race car drivers - in Belgium , Jun e 3-4 . The event was good for KTM but not so good for any of the American riders. KTM won two of the three GPs held over the weekend. On Saturday, South Afric an Grant Langston gave KTM its first victory of the weekend with ] -3 mota finishes in the ] 25cc class. Langston topp ed fellow KTM rider Patric k Caps and Ame rica n Mik e Brown. on the factory-back ed Honda, in the first moto, b ut couldn't top winner J ames Dobb , on another KTM, or Caps in the second moto. Langston did finish third which was still good enough to give him the ov erall. Brown crashed early on in the second moto and could only salvage a sixth in the mot o for third overall. As a result, Brown has lost the series points lead to Langston, who now has 20 ] points to Brown 's ]92. Dobb, who finished ] 4th in the first moto after crashing in Belgium , is third with 186 poin ts. follo wed by Caps with ] 42. The 500 and 250 cc rounds where held on Sunday , and KTM grabbed its second win of weekend after Joel Smets ran away with both 500cc motos to extend his series points lead to a commanding 88 points over Mam icq Bervoets , 214-] 53 . Th e win was Srnets' first in his homeland. Bervoets , meanwhile , did not have good luck in Belgium. In the first moto, Bervoets was crashed into by another rider, which left his Yamaha too damaged to continue. But Bervoets came back and rode well in the second rnoto, where he finished second. KTM 's Peter Johansson ende d up taking runner-up hon ors with a 2-3 tally , while Husqvarna's Darryll King finished out the day in third overall , 90in9 5-4 . Honda snatched some of the weekend's glory with a win in the 250cc GP. Frederic Bolley, on the Pamo Honda, traded moto wins with Kawasaki's Pit Beirer. Bolley was credited with the overall victo ry by winn ing the tie-breaking second m oto. Bolley was leading the first mot o before crashing. Third on the day went to series leader Mickael Pichon on th e works Suzuki. The Frenchm an finished behind Boll ey and Beirer in both motos and saw his points lead shrink by seven points to Solley (and Beirer). Aft er seven of 16 rounds . Pichon owns 212 points to Belley's ]80. Beirer is third with 144 points. The lone Am erican in the 250cc class, Ryan Hughes, was a non -factor in Belgium. The Califomian is still bothered by his injured hand, which caused him to with draw from the first mota after runni ng as high as sixth . Th e Pamo Honda rider didn't bother showing up for the second moto. "My hand is simply not getting any better: Hughes said. Des try Abbott ( K a w ) o n S unday . Ch ampi onship con tenders M ichael Lafferty ( KT M ) and Randy Hawkins (Yam) fin ished sixth and fourt h, re spectively , on Satu rday , and fifth and eigh th. respectively, on S unday . Speaking of surprises at th e Idaho City enduro (which also served as an ISD E qualifier), motocross legend Damon Brad· shaw showed up to do batt le on a Yamaha. Bradshaw finished sixth on Sunday. A ustralian Shane Watts (KTM) extended his series poi nts lead with another win in t he G rand National C ro ss C o unt ry Series that was held in Boyers , Pennsyl- vania. June 4. W at ts rode to victory over G re at B r it ai n ' s P aul Edmondson (Kaw) . Fred Andrews ( Kaw) a nd de fe nd ing ch ampio n Rodney Smith (Suz). Watts now ow ns a substantial lead in the se ries po ints standing s. He has 15 1 points to Steve Hatch' s 118. Doug Blackw ell is third with 115 and Edmond son is fou rt h with 105. Rusty Holland (Suzl was the big winner at the opening rounds of t he CM C Pac! West M otocross Series in Albany, Oregon. Jun e 3-4. Rounds one and two were held over the weekend, with Holland winning the 12 5 , 2 50cc and 25 + Pro classes both ' days. 8~ITJ[W[bCB[?~------o 8 c l,; o o 2 JUNE 1 4 , 2000 ' c:: U c I e nevus