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/128622
° W EJ[iJcf] 8 0 Tiger S tra nk (Kaw) picke d up his sec on d w in of th e AMA N at io nal Ch ampio ns hip Hillcli mb S erie s at Ro un d 7 in W e irt o n, W e s t Vi rg in ia . S t ran k pu t tog ether a-perfect nun on his first pass to ove rtake ea rly lea de r D av id Watso n (l-ion). the 54 0 and 800 cc points leader. Phil Libhart IT ri) also moved past W atso n w ith a st rong seco nd ride w ith W atson f in ish ing . In t he 8 0 0cc class T im Frazier (H-D) led nearly all day , but the last ride r in t he class , David Watson (Ho n), found a smooth line no one else had tried to set t he day 's fastest time at Rush M o unt ain - a 7.0 81 -seco nd run . W ats on ha s wo n f ou r strai g ht 800c c N ati o nals . Frazie r fi nished seco nd with Jeff Thomas (Yam) th ird . O O O o O O O O o O O D efe ndi ng champ ion Francis Martin (Kaw ) sc or ed a conv incing vict ory in the th ird ro und of the Part s Ca nada Su per bike Championsh ip, the S uzuki Superbike Ch allenge, at Autodrome St-Eust ache on J uly g. W ith the track st ill we t from rain ea rlie r in the day, the facto ry Kaw asa ki rider grabbed t he lead off th e start and led all 20 laps o n his ZX- 7RR to claim his first series w in of the year and his second O O o stra igh t at Autodrome S t -Eu st a c he . M ichae l Ta ylor (Kaw) finished second, 4.74 seconds behind w ith Be noit P ilon (Yam) taking third. Taylo r edged Pilo n and F r ank T rombi no (Yam) to w in t he Op en Sp o rt Bike f inal wh ile Jorda n Szoke (H o n) to pped Owen Weiche l (Yam) in the 60 0cc Sport Bike class. Va lvoline EM GO Su zuki' s John Hopk ins tested a Red Bull Yamaha YZ R500 G rand Prix bike in t he C zec h Republic last week. The 17-year-old road race r got - t he o p po rt u ni t y to part ic ip at e i n t he Yamaha test and was impressive , lapping just a seco nd and a half slower t han team regular Garry M cC oy . It was the Californ ian's first t ime o n a 500cc GP bike, his first t ime at th e racet rack and his f irst tim e usi ng carbo n-fibe r brak es. " It w as aweso me ," Ho pkins sa id . " It w as th e best bike I've ever ridden in my life. The power, the handling, the braking - it wa s just incredible. It wa s like 10 times lighter and two times sm aller th an my Xt re me bike. And the track was the best I've eve r ridden o n. It was so wide and it had elevation change s. It was awesome. I kept it co o l fo r the first three o r fo ur sessions , o dJfffJfiiJDD@ [jJ@l!A!lfiiJDfffJ!JDf} 8 f}@Il@ofd@@@ o o o o o o o Just three weeks after winning the first AMA Pro race of his career, road racer Jamie Bowm an of Tequesta, Florida , died from inj uries suffered as a result of his crash during Superbik e practice on Friday moming, July 7 at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey , Californ ia, The 25-ye ar-old was riding his Hooter's-backed Suzuki GSX-R750 when he crashed in tu rn three and hit an unprotected concrete barr ier. He was flown to San Jose Medical Center in San Jose, Californi a, where he was pronounced dead at 4:30 p.rn. on July 7. Bowman started riding motorcycl es at a very young age, j umping dirt bik es over cows (the famil y owned a dairy farm in Delray Beach, Florida) to hone his kills. At the age of 17 he opted to try road racing , beginning his career at Moroso Motorsports Park, in West Palm Beach , Florida, ridin g in the 600cc Supersport class. He quickly graduated to the 75 0cc class, full -lit er bik es and also 250cc GP bikes. Bowman attended South Fork High School in Martin County, Florida, before starting his Pro career with Vance & Hines Racing. He then raced 125s and 250s for Moto Uberty Racing before an inj ury forced him to miss a year of racing. . Bowman 's come bac k earne d h im a ride with the Hooter's Suzuki team and his career was highlighted by his victory In the recen t 750 cc Su per spo rt fi na l at N ew Hamps hire Interna t io nal Sp eedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. He is survived by his parents , Jim and Ell en , and three brothers. Both Nicky Hayd en and Troy Corser dedicat ed their respect ive Superbike-class victori es at Laguna Seca to Bowman . "I want to dedicate my wi n to Ja mie Bowm an," Cor ser said on Monday, Ju ly 10. "I didn 't kn ow him persona lly , but I k new of him fro m ot her frie nds , We're upset by this tragedy and from the bottom of my heart I want to dedicate my race win to him ." A viewing will be held for Bowm an on Wednesday, Jul y 12 at the Aycock Funeral Home in Jupiter. Florida, with the funeral services scheduled for Thursday, July 13. 8 o o o D- 8 ~ ~QJllil[bG[? o o o o o 2 JULv 19, 2000' c ue ' e · n e ""s "I don't know what 1 did Ito my back!. 1 probably won't find out, eithe r, because if I can ride with it, I don't even want to know." Team Erion Handa road racer Kurtis Roberts after winning the Formula Xtreme race at Laguna Seca, despite having inj ured his back earlier in the weekend. Defendin g Best in the Desert Silver State Series Champi ons Destry Ab bott and Brian Brown took the early lead in the Nevada 2000 , winnin g the first day's 91-mile sprint from North Las Vegas to Mesquite in 1:5 1:03 on their Team Green KX500 . "We pushed a little bit today to get the first s tarting position for the second day, and we accomplished that," Abbott said. "Now, it's basically j ust [trying to] keep the bike together," Keeping the bik e nu nning seemed to be l ess of a concern for day one's runner-up, the Jo hnny Campb ell/Ti m Staab Honda XR650R-mounted team. Their ti me was 1:54:18, but Campb ell didn 't seem worried: "ldidn't expect to win the first day; I j ust wanted to be right there in the hunt," . Their Am erican Honda teamma tes Steve Hengeveld and Jonah Street finished close behind for third in 1:55:3 1 on anoth er XR650 R, Mik e Baxter and Robbie Zimm erman completed the day in 1:!?5:52 for fourth overall, fourth Open Pro , on their YZ426F. Mike Healey and Scott Morris rounded out the top five on their Price Racing KX500, finishing in 1:57: 16 to lead the Over-30 Pros. Among the first day 's casualti es was Team Green's Shane Esposito and Dave Ondas, whose KX500 lost' its gearbox shortly after receiving the green flag In the.prologue, the results of which determined the race starting order. Team Green techni cians replaced the faulty tr anny so Esposito and Ondas were able to race, but they lost quite a bit of time. Ty Davis and Russell Pearson fared a bit bett er on their Montclair Yamaha YZ426F but not for long as the engine broke at mil e 30. They elected to rebuild the motor, but doing so incurs a severe penalty so they'll spend the rest of the week playing catch- up, Mark Kariya and then I dropped it and d ropped it [his lap ti mesJ. I was able to stay w it h M ax Biagg i fo r five o r six lap s . A ll th e g uys were p r etty coo l to m e a nd G a rry [Mc Coyl helped me out a lot. He sho wed me all he cou ld. " Nine-tim e AMA G rand N atio nal Champion Scott Parker wil l race in all three of the dirt track eve nts slated fo r th e Sep temb er 1-3 Springfield Hall of Fame W eekend. Parker wi ll race in the National S hort Track Shoo tout , the Dirt Trac k Hall of Fame National and the Springfield M ile N atio nal. " I am planning on w inning all three races , " Parker said. " W hen they brought back Spri ngfield as a Regional in 198 1, I won it and ever since then I have really liked S pringfield. "W hen someone hasn't se en one of o ur races asks me w hat rac e s hould I go t o , I tell them Spring field is the p lace . It's t he be st track , it produces great racing and it has a lot of history, " The 38-year-old Parker ret ired from full-tim e racing at the end of last seas on . " I don't seem to miss rac ing ," said Parker. "It's sort of like I'm on vacation and I ge t to come to Sp ringfield and have f un rac ing . Harley sa id t hey wo uld provide equi pment for a few races for me th is year, so I wi ll be riding the factory bikes at S pringfie ld tun ed by Bi ll Werne r. I' m excited ab ou t co ming t o Springfie ld , I ha ve wo n some S ho rt Tracks so Friday wi ll be fun , and then two day s o n the mile. I know t he t rac k' and w here yo u need to be to get the chec kered flag . It's goi ng to be great weeken d." Fo r more informa t io n, o r to purc hase t ic k e t s , ca ll t he · IM D A a t 2 17/753- 8866 . Fuel te st s we re carried out by the FIM during th e G e rm an rou nd of the W orl d Sup e rbi k e a nd Sup e r s port S e rie s in Ho cke nheim, G e rm any, on J une 4 wi t h t he Du cat i W o rid S upe rs po rt e ntry of Y ve s Briguet failing the test. Briguet' s test revealed a total oxygen mass rate of 3.1%, above t he maximum limit of 2,7 % spec ified in th e FiM Tech ni ca l Rul e s . According to the FIM , Briguet did not ask for a counter test and he has been fined 1000 Swi ss Francs and disqualified fro m the' German results , The fuel samples of the fo llow ing were in accordance with the nules : J ames Haydon , Aki ra Yanagawa , Troy Bayliss, M arkus Barth, Pao lo Casol i and Piergiorgio Bontempi. The . opening ceremonies fo r t he AMA Women & M oto r cyc lin g Confer ence , to be held J uly 13-16 in A thens. Ohio , w il l fea ture B a rbara Schock, Academy Aw ard-w inning direct o r of " My M oth er D reams the Satan's Disciples in N ew York , " as a f e ature d s pea ke r . Bef ore a sc ree ning of th e film, Schoc k