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/128621
o [] (l changes we made t o t he machine wi ll help me in the Wo rld Superbike Champio nship as well as the Suzuka B ho urs race : Edwards cont inued. "I'rn looking forward to the Suzuka race . I got on pret ty well with Rossi duri ng the tes t so we sho uld be able t o make a successfu l team . " In a sea son of very divergen t fortun es. the Marlboro Yamaha SOOcc GP team of C arlos Checa and M ax B iagg i com pleted three days of testing at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic as the second half assault beg ins. The pair tes ted improved engine , chassis , and suspension parts. and also rode Yamaha's pro totype SOOcc GP bike. Joi ning the factory te am was t he Red Bu ll Ya maha W CM team of Regis Laconi and Garry McC oy, Yamaha test rider Kyoji Nanba. and Antena 3 d'Antin's Norick Abe . "These three days have defi nite ly been use ful, " said Biaggi, w hose fastes t lap was half a second inside the lap record , in a Yamaha pre ss re lea se . " Especially since we 've had so much rain at the last few GPs that had stopp ed us trying vario us improvements. It' s a shame it's been pretty coo l here , because we've sorted a good setup for this track. but come Au gu st it' ll probably be a lot hotter. I had a bit of time on the prototype a nd it f ee ls muc h improv ed fro m w hen I last t est ed it ." Biaggi has st rugg led th is yea r, ca rding mo re D NFs th an not t hr ough th e fi rst eight of 16 rounds, while teammate C arlos Ch eca find s himself seco nd in the SOOcc W orl d C hampions hip . 14 poi nt s be hi nd Tel efon ic a M oviS t ar S uzuki' s Ke nny Rob ert s J r. "W e' ve made so me steps forward but I always want more. " Checa sa id . "I f ee l that t he next few tracks w ill be good fo r us and we 've found a better directi on with set-up. The proto type was impressive too. and that's good for the future." W ith Bimot a offi ci ally pulling out of the Wo rld Superbike Champion ship. Ant ho· ny Gobert was set free by the team to pursue other offers . And he has. Gobert will ride a Team Proton M odenas KR3 for Kenny Roberts ' team in the Brit ish Grand Prix at Donington Park on July 9. "We're exc ited," tea m owner Kenny Ro bert s, himself a former three-time SOOcc W orld Champion, said in a press release from the team . " We' re developing our new bike during the racing season, and it was alwa ys o ur inte ntio n to put a top -level rid,er on it as soon as we had the teeth ing troub les iro ned out. and had two bike s built. so that he co uld have a pair in the pit s. W e know An t ho ny [Gobe rt] rides anyth ing prett y hard, and we also know that Donington Park is a good type of circuit for our motorcycle. At the same time. the latest version is developing fast. with the best-yet co mbination of hor sepower and handling. It' s a good oppo rtunity for him to show us - and every bo dy else what our new bike is capable of doing. " G obert , w ho ro de a V anc e & H ine s Ducati last year before tak ing a stint at the end of the year on the SOOcc MuZ . had remain ed at his European base in M ona co. eve n t rav elin g t o th e World Supe rbike round in M isano , It aly . The chance to return to SOOcc Grand Prix racing. whe re he last rode for M uZ briefly last year and before that the Lucky Strike Suzuki team in 1997, excited him. "It's turned out really good for me, " the 2Syear-old Australian said from his M onaco base. "They have some good hor sepow er from the bike, and they' ve made a lot of progress with chass is develop ment. Everything is swimming in the right direc tio n. I don't have any expecta tion s - I want to go in with an open outlook. I've bee n tra ining harder this year than ever be fore , and I fee l fit ter and better pre pared. My aim is to adapt to the bike as quickly as po ssible , and go for a strong finis h at D on ingt on Par k - it ' s no t a favo rite track. but I always see m to go we ll t he re . I' d like to prove t o Team Robert s that it'd be worth sticking me on t he bike f or t he rest o f th e s easo n. " Acco r ding t o t e am m an ag e r Ch uck Aks land . t he agreemen t is a one -ra ce deal. Gobert riding as a substitute for regular rider David de Gea, and no decisions have been made beyond Donington Park. This situation wit h Bimota was broug ht abou t because of lac k of fi na nc e s . according to Cycle N ews contributor Pao lo Gozzi. Prince Ibrahim Ma lik. t he man who promised to bring sponsorship to the team. failed to do so, forcing the team to pull out of t he W orl d Superbike Series. At Mi sano. during the San M arino round on June 1B, team manager V irginio Ferrari said that t he team wou ld stop for just two races , but now that has been changed and the team won 't race again t his season. "I said to [Antho nyl G ob e rt t hat he is abso lutely fre e t o choose ot her ways " said Ferrari. " I'm very sad about this situatio n, particu larly fo r Anthony. He is a very strong rider and a nice guy. I hope that our prob lems we wil l be fixed very soon and t hat I wil l be able to organize a stro nger team wit h B im o t a f o r ne xt s eas o n . B ut at the moment to st op is the only thing that I can do ." Gob ert off ered his services to Franci s Batta, the Alstare Suzuk i team manager. The Aust ralian was determined to re-enter the series and asked to subst it ute o n th e t eam' s G SX- R6 0 0 f o r inj ur ed Su per sport W or ld Ch a mp io n Stephane Chambon. Batt a was interested, but he needed permission from Suzuki in Japan. Remember that Gobert was fired from the Suzuki SOOcc Grand Prix team in August of 1997 afte r a bout with @®G!J@D@ @®W DD O fl:iJJ:{ @[JJr;B DD July 1·2 was a wee ke nd of perfection in th e World Championship Motocross Ser ies , with double-mote winners at the 125cc rou nd in Orehova Vas , Slovak ia . and in both the 250 and 500cc rounds i n Kester, Belgium. Th e tidd l e r r ace s aw K TM -moun t ed South Afri c a n Grant L a ng st o n str etc h his l ead i n the points standings by grabbin g two victo ri es - th e first o v e r Caterp illar Ho nda 's M ike Brown and the second over British t eamma t e Jam es Dobb . Dobb earned second overall. In the quarte r- liter cl a s s , i t was d e.f e n d in g c hamp F r e d e ri c B oll e y posting a perfect day an d clos ing in on t he points lead. T he Ho nda -mounted F renchman wo n mota o ne over Pit Belter and mota . two over p o in ts - leader M icka el. Pichon . B a il ey ' s deficit to Pichon is now 24 points. Posting anoth er double win in the b lg-bore d ivision was Joel Srnets , wh o is runni ng out of competition so quickly that it's ru mored he's he aded St at eside in 2 00 1. The KTM rider bested teammate Da rry l K ing in the first m ot o , and Yam aha pilot Marnicq Bervoets in m ot o two and increased his dominating lea d in th e title chase. d rugs and poor re su lt s . " I co nsider Anthony a very grea t talent and a wi nning rider fo r World Superbik e and I was very happy that Suzuki manager s didn' t say 'absol ut ely not,' but ins tead said " W e can talk abo ut it,''' Batt a said. " But now our S uperbike t eam is ful l, wi t h [PierFrancesco] Chili and [Katsuakil Fujiwara. We w ill see as w ill happen at end of season, for sure I'm very intere sted to nego tiate w ith Gobert. but now is to o early to know if Go bert wil l race on a fac to ry Suzuki or not. Altho ugh nothing has been confirmed as of yet (we've been trying for wee ks), it appear s almost ce rtain tha t Jeremy M c Grath wi ll not be a member of Team Chaparra l/Yamaha next year. There has been no sho rta ge of spec ulation as to what team the Supercross champ wi ll ride for next year (he has stated he'll definitely race), but since mos t of it is j ust that, we won't cont ribute to it here. Stay tuned . Th e first -eve r Progre s sive Insuranc e AMA U .S . Fla t Tr ack Ch amp io nshi p t ripleheader will take place at the Spring. field Mile at the Illinois Stat e Fairgrounds in Springfield on Labor Day weekend . and spec tators w ill have the oppo rt unity to ride t he ir ow n moto rcycles aro und t he " faste st dirt t rac k in t he wo rld . " After Saturday's race, Prog re ss ive I ns u ranc e custo mers are invited to ride their bikes around the famed mile oval. To get MOVED: DFW KTM from Bedford, Texas. to Haltom City, Texas. The address is as follows: 2333A Minnis Dr. (Hwy 121l. 817/759-2KTM. AUT O G RA PH S IG N IN G: At Beaverton Honda in Tigard, Oregon. on July 28 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Team FMF IHonda is scheduled to appear. For more nformation. call50 31643-5577 . RESIGNED: Dorina Groves from her public relations manager position at C hapar ral M ot orsport s , to pursue other freelance public rela tions o pp o rt unit ies . Fo r mo re inf or ma t ion , e mail G rov e s a t dg900sssp2@ aol.com. OPENED: Marsee Products' home page on the World Wide Web. The si te can be found at http://www.marseeproducts.com. t he followin g addre ss: eye I e you r t rack pass, all you have t o do is bri ng your Progressive " Gold Card " (or some other proof you 're a current Progressive cus tomer) to th e Progressive tent near the t icket office during Satur day's Hall of Fame race. After the race is over, yo u'II be able to take a lap around the legendary track . Gary Horton and his wife, Tuyet. were both killed in a streetbike accident in Bolzano . Italy, on June 14 while attending t he D ucat i Weekend event there. The Ho rt o ns owned and operated S uzuk i Sportcycle in Elkhart. Indiana. Horton was also an avid dirt tracker and road racer, competing in AHRMA dirt track events. 0 o o o o o b o o o o o o o o o o n u :0 o o o o Tire recall. M e tze le r Moto rcyc le T ires of North America Corporation has determined t hat a defect that relate s to motor vehicl e safety exist s in certai n sizes of the ME BBO motorcycle tire t hat it manufactu res. The sizes affected are the 130170HR1B M /C 63H TL. DOT: EB 1""', OK BOE (we ek 2B 1999 forward) and the 160/BOHR16 M /C BOH RF. TL. DOT EB {", 44COK (week 23 1999 forward) used on t he Ho nd a G o ldwin g M ot o rc y cl e GL 1S00. Test results on these specific tires used on the Honda GL IS00 show instability occu rring at speeds in excess of 60 mph o n ro ad surfaces wit h ve ry high asphalt temperatures in high temperature areas. It is not believed that any operating or oth er co nditions cause the malfunction to occ ur. Avoid operating these tires in ,...., exc ess of 60 mph pending replace ment of them. If you currently have possessio n of above-mentioned MESSO tires, contact M etzeler M otorcycle Tire of North America C orp o rat io n at 6 10 / 52 4 -2 19 0 . 6 10 / S2 4 -2 19 1 (fax) o r e -ma il at metzpir@aol.com. 8 o LJ Yoshimura R&D wi ll b e ho sti ng a Yoshimura Racing Club booth at Laguna Se ca Rac ew ay during th e AM A/World . Superbike doubleheader. July 7-9. ---------'-- Contil1ued 0 11 page 80 n e vv s JULY 12. 2000 3