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/128619
8 o Continued from paxe 3 o o Year in 1997, and will be named as UEA Sport sman of the Cent ury. Butler is sur vived by his wife . Son ja, t heir three children, Karl, Kathryn a nd Kurt, a nd 11 grand children. o o o Pre-entries fo r th e G F I Team Green Y outh W o rld Nationa l Champi onship MX w ill be available at the GFI bo o th duri ng t he Ma mm o th M o unt ain M X . For m o re inform ati on , ca ll GFI, 909/341 -8009 . o ~o After re achin g agreeme nts wit h bo th manufacturers. th e Formul a US AlWrenchead.com National Road Race Series wi ll be offe ring sp ecia l li cense s that w ill ope n up th e A prilia C up C ha ll e nge a nd B u e ll Li g h tn i n g c las se s t o a gr eat er nu mbe r o f ride rs by ex pan ding the class to ama teu r and novice riders. Applican ts w ill be required to pro vide eviden ce and ve rific ation of their racing history t hrough th eir ho me racing organ izatio n in order to be eligible for the special l icen se . Th o se riders w ill then be ob served during pra cti ce sessi o ns at W re nc he ad .co m National Ro ad Race S erie s events, and must qual ify w it hi n 115 perce nt of the fast est posted ti me in o rder to particip ate in the final event of the weekend . Fo r more information , con tact Fo rmula USA, 8 17/332 -4822 or vi sit www.formula usa.com . o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Eve rythin g fr om "Cadillacs to sidecars" w ill be maki ng t heir annua l ru n to t he clo uds at the Pikes Pea k Int ern ati on al Hi ll cl imb , wh ic h is sche dule d t o t ak e place J une 28-July 3. The Pro mo torc ycle class w ill be divided int o three division s: 75 0cc , 500cc and 250cc . The rider wi ll o nce again lea v e in waves . D a v e Durelle holds the current race record on the fabled Colo rado hill. D urelle pos ted a t ime o f 12 minu t e s , 52.1 2 seco nds aboa rd a 750 in 1999. Tra inin g bu ffs ( pardon the pun) mig ht wan t t o c hec k o ut th e Jul y iss ue o f Men's Fit ne ss magazine , w hich featu res a page devot ed to the training reqimen o f AMA Sup erbike Champion Mat Mla din , compl et e w it h a larg e , co lo r phot o of why he needs to stay in shape. The Ju ly issu e is c urrently avai lable o n new sstand s. L oo k f or b oth th e F M F an d Pro Action box vans to be at selec t ed IM S Stadium Cross and Yama ha D ealer Series races held at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bern ardino , Cal if ornia . The bo x vans are available to sponsored and non spo nso red riders alike . CTi Knee Braces will have a ve hicle at th e M ammoth M o untain M X to provide servic e t o any one with CTi brace s , or • Possible Italian M erger Moto Guzzi' s sale leaves j ust one historic Italian motorcycle marque still in play and ripe fqr takeover: Laverda. As reported in this space six months ago, billionaire investor George Sores' Quantum Fund was set to buy the company outright from its existing shareholders, paying an agreed price of $7 8 o o o o o o 8 o o o o o o informat io n to anyone interested in CTi braces. M uZ is planning to release a new 125cc four- st rok e dual-sport mot o rcycl e targ eted to first -time moto rcycle rider s, and the company is holding a con test to co me up wi t h a name for th e b ik e. It is said to we igh 293 pounds and have a low seat height. To part icipate in the con test, visit www. mo torradna.co m. Forme r AMA G rand Nati onal TT great Eddie Mul der has finalized the dates for his 2000 Eddie Mulder, Ltd . West Coast V intage Di rt Track Serie s. The series opene r is sc hed uled to take place in V ent ura, Cali fornia , on Jun e 24 , and wi ll be followed by eve nts in Castlerock . W ashington . S eptember 7: Po rt land. O regon , September 10: Sacramento , Ca lifornia. September 24 : D el M ar, C al iforni a, O c tober 7 : and the series fina le do ub lehead e r at W illow Spring s International Raceway in Rosamond , California . October 14-15. For more information . call 661 /268-0 105 . Texas motocross heroes Kent Howerton and Steve Wise are all set to ta ke part in the Yamaha Race of C hampio ns that is part of the Vintage Iron World Championships sc hedu led f or Gl e n Hele n Racewa y in San Bernardino , Cali- m ill io n for 100 per cent of th e eq ui t y c urr ent ly sha red between the three groups. with 65 percent heJd by the Spezzapria family's Forind conglomerate. 10 percent by former own er (and now Bimota boss) Francesco Tognon , and 25 percent by the Brazzale family's cheese-m aki ng inte rests. Quan tum had alre ady esta blished a fiv e-year p lan wh ich would fast-forward develo pment of the thr ee-cy linder Jo ta Superbik e proj ect, as the basis for perform ing the same kind of turnaround on Laverda as their TPG counterparts m anaged with Ducati , and ?Iaggio's n ew DMG/T PG ownership is aiming to do with the scooter m anufacturer. The problem with clinching the Quantum deal when flrsts mooted back in December was the $ J5 million of bank debt owed to a consortium of Italian banks . the most exposed of which was reluctant to accept the 45 percent repayment terms on offer. After negotiations had dragged on for some weeks, the Spezzaprias resolved the problem by buying in all the debt themselves, leaving Laverda with that most precious commodity for a company up for sale " a clean balance sheet. Unfortunately , though , by the time this happened, Quantum had back ed away from any further new investments of any kind , aft er losing 22 per cent of its . value around $3 bill ion i ' in th e first thre e months of this year. Soro s, the leg endary hedge -fund manager who forced Britain's pound sterling to devalue ba ck in 1992 and who mad e his mon ey taking huge bets on global financia l markets. over the past 3 1 years, slipped up badly twice in Y2K. first betting on the conti nued rise of technology stocks,and also that the sickly Euro currency would strengthen. Neither has happened, and as a result Quantum has backed away from all new risk investm ents while it solidifi es its equity base , and that includes Laverda. Production has co ntinued at th e firm 's Zane facto ry, though , with 50 percent fewer workers com pared to a year D ,om,yoQ o, Whit of th 96 JUNE 28. 2000' 0: U 0: I e n e vv s The Sout h Caroli na O ff -Road En t h u sia st s ( S C O RE) have anno unce d t hat Hillary Rod ham -Clin ton has design ated all OHV t rails in SC as Millen niu m tra ils . Acco rding the American Hiking Society, Millennium Trails is a jo int pro ject of th e White Hou se Millenn ium Council, t he U .S . D epart ment o f Transpo rt at ion . Rails-to -Trai ls Conserva nc y and pa rt ners lik e AHS f rom t he t rails , co nse rva t io n. pre serva ti on . a nd edu cat i on co m m u n it ies ... As National Trails D ay o rganizer. A HS part ne red with Rails-to -Trai ls C on se rvancy and w ill revi ew Community M illennium Trail app lications , mainta in a trails database , and p rovide g uidance to participating t rails. "This is especially rewarding wi th all th e hard wo rk that has go ne on by S C O RE members and th e Forest Se rvice to maintai n and expa nd op po rt unities for OH V enthusiast s in the state of SC," said public rela tions o fficer Ivan Liechty . eN ago build in g twic e as m any bi kes so far as in 1999 -.Th is quadrupled productivity , plus the clean balance sheet, as well as the deal signed wit h Suzuki for supplies of the SV650 engine powering the accla imed new Lynx 650 (development of which still continues, under the R&D team led by chief designer Alberto Cappella, form erly of Aprilia) makes Laverda an attractiv e catch. This is why..one of the two part ies with which the Spezzapr ias are understood to be negot iating to sell the company includes another Italian manu facturer: yes once a g ail'"! ~ lt 'sAp rllia] There are several reasons for thi s, not least the fact that sever al key Ap rilia engineers and management executi ves began their working lives at Leverda, which is located j ust 40 miles away from .Aprilia's Noale base. The freedom from debt and relati vely low price makes a deal attractive, as do the Suzuki tie-up (remember Ap rilia already buys RGV250 engines from the same source, to power the RS250) and Laverda's dist inct para lle l-twin and three -cylinder hedtage. The latt er would allow April ia to extend its model range even further in terms of produc t variety. Downsides are that the Laverda name doesn't mean so mu ch anywhere outside Italy, Britain, Germany, France and Benelux, and that the Guzzi bailout is going to take up a lot of Aprilia management time and money. On the other hand , it's understood to be likely that Beggio and his team will opt to establish separate distri bution stru ctures for AprHia and Moto Guzz i , just like VW/Audi.. and, . ill recently, BMW/Rover did . Adding Laverda t to the company roster would not only bring another reasonably illustrious Itali an marque on board, but also allow Guzzi dealers to .st ock a range of sportbikes on their showroom floor, quite distinctive from those in the Aprilia bike/scooter dealership on the other side of town. Watch this space - but Laverda is now very definite ly in play, and Aprilia is the favorite to acquire it. " http://www.cycle ne ws .cllm. cyc lenews .com reader po ll q uestion of the week fornia , J une 24 -25 . Rumo r has it that Howerton and Wi se are also planning to drag alo ng f orm er AMA N at ion a l M X ca mpa igne r Steve Stackab le and prop him up o nto a M aico fo r the event. Fo r more in fo rm at io n , ca ll V int ag e Iro n at 714/694-0066 .