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/128623
° oW EJcudJ _ o J o hn ny Ca mpbell and T im S t a a b came from behind to win the Best in the Desert Nevada 2000. which too k place in the state of Nevada fro m July 9 through Ju ly 15 . Destry A bbott and B r ia n Brown (K aw ) led t he early part of the rac e, whi ch start ed and finished in Las Vega s, but Abbo tt cra shed heavily, suffered a co ncuss ion, and was helicoptered out. His bike wa s too badly damaged for his teamma te to f inis h the day , tho ugh B ro w n did lat e r re -e nter and ride for points . Campbell's team mate Staab wa s also inj ure d , breaking bones in his left foot in a day-four cras h. That left Cam pbell to finish t he race solo, w hile simultaneously f igh t ing a f l u bug . St ev e Hengeveld and Jona h S t reet ended up t he week ' s ru nners-up , and Ri ck Bozarth and Daryl Folks (KTM ) hung on for third overall and first Over 30 Pro team for the week. Danny C oo pe r and Matt Gosnell (Yam) w on th e 250cc class. All results are unofficial. O O O O O O O O O O O o O O So uthern Cal ifornia speedway fans may have reaso n to rejo ice: C la ss A speedway motorcycle racing will make a retum to the Orange Show Fairgro unds in San Be rnardino, California, on J uly 27. If successful, the venue co uld, once again, become a we ekly sto p for a sport that - at least in South em California - seem ed on the brink of dest ruction, with the eminent c lo s ing o f C o st a Me sa S p e ed w ay in O r ang e C ou nt y . Th e return t o S an Bernardino is th e result o f the eff ort of forme r Califomia State Speedway C hampion Charlie Venegas and British League spee dw ay rider-turn ed-instru ct or Ch arles " Dukie " Erm o lenko , w ho have fo rmed C&C Promotions to handle the running of the events at the Orange Show. "We've jo ined hands because neither one of us co uld have pulled this off by ourse lves ," Ermolenko said. "W e're very happy to say that w e hav e a c o nt ract w it h th e fairgrounds and that w e will be running our first event on Ju ly 27th. The event will be on a Thursday evening, which has affo rded us t he fu ll bl es si ng and support of Costa M esa Speedwa y. They' re behind us 100 percen t, and we have coordi nated our promotional effo rts." Ermolenko said that the Orange Show event will be AMAsanctioned, and will be run on the infield of the cu rrent paved figure-eight stoc k car t rack . The trac k length w ill be approximate ly 1/ 5 of a mile. If all goes according to plan, another meeting will be scheduled two wee ks later. The intent is to build the event into a wee kly Thursday night show . " For sure we want it to be anot her wee kly or bi-weekly show if we can," Ermolenko said. Speedway was a very popular attrac- O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O o the ·80s. The old Inland M otor Speedway there used to attract sellou t crowds for its W ednesday night even ts . Racing beg ins at 8 p.m. for the Ju ly 27 event. For more i nf o r ma ti o n, call D u k ie Erm o le n ko ' s Speedw ay Academy. 909 / 277 -2090 . Harley-Davidson factory dirt track racer Ric h King w as de nied in hi s protest ove r the fact that no championship points we re paid at t he Formula US A / W renchead.co m Nation al Dirt Track Series Indy Mile on M ay 13 . King filed th e pro test we ll aft er the event , but Formu la US A o ffi c ia ls accept ed it o n the basis t hat t here was never an official co mmunique sta ting t hat champio ns hip po ints w oul d not be paid. although all of the riders in the Indy main even t were informed that poin t s w ould no t be paid because t he race did not go past the halfway point. "I reviewed Rich' s pro test and made my ruling i n w ri ting at t h e O kl aho m a Cit y event, ' Formula USA Dirt Track M anager B ob M o ran sa id .• Pe r Fo r mula US A rules . the pro test shou ld have been submitted w ithin 3 0 m inut e s of the fina l result s. C onsidering our officia l po sted results at Indy did not speci fica lly state the .. no point s ', I therefore allowed the submitta l of Rich' s pro test. Aft er review o f th e co nt ent of his protest I s ub sequently denied the co mplaint, stating that the rulebook stipulates 60 percent of the ma in mu st be r un fo r the race to be co unted tow ard the se ries points sta ndings . Fo ll ow in g my ru ling Ric h then info rmed me he w ill be appealing th e decision . ' Form ula USA pr o tocol mand ate s tha t t he iss ue will now go t o a t h re e -me m b e r revie w bo ard for fina l determination. Moran said that he hopes t o hav e t he iss ue re sol v ed be fo re t he Rapid C ity H alf M ile. A lexa nder Harasmisz. 81 , of Hunt . New York, died on J une 21 . The father of H u nt M o t o Par k promot er M ic ha e l Haramsmisz (the facility is located on the fa mily far m) , Al exander Harasrnisz was the first person to greet riders at the pit gat e during eve nts at the t rac k. Harasmisz was an AMA memb er for 24 years. C ards and letters can be sent in ca r of M ic hael Harasmisz, 653 Rob inson Rd., Hunt , NY 14846 . Dennis Stemp, fou nde r and ed itor of IronW orks magazine, died on J uly 7. in M organton, Nort h Ca ro lina. St emp, 49 , ha d u nd e r g o n e ma jor su r gery f o r esophageal cancer in Janua ry o f 1999 . but suffered a relapse earlier thi s spring tha t proved fatal. He is survived by his wife. M arilyn, and his tw o child ren, V in- 8'~m[illtbCB"[?,.e.n.t., .1.' .a n. _ ix. ear-. ld_ e. i .M_rie . 1. d s. -y. . . O. K. nz. a.• 8 o o o o 2 JULY 26,2000' cue I e n B VI' S "McDonald' s, hopefullyl" Debbie Pastrana Imother to Travisl, when ashd where she would be taking Stephane Roncada to dinner. after she lost a bet with the Frenchman as to who would win the srcond 12 5cc mota at Unadilla. M arilyn Stemp will co ntinue as managing editor of Iro nWo rks, w hile sp ort edito r Dain Gingerelli has assu med the role of editor. St emp began his publishing career by launch ing Iron Trade r New s in Pitt sburg h, Pe nn sy lv ania, w hic h . in 19 9 0 , evolved int o Iro nWorks and is cu rren tly ow ned by Hatt on-B rown Publishing. The family re quests th at in lie u o f f lowers , donat ions be made to the Grace EpiSC Opal C hurch Endow ment . Donat ions can be se nt to : G race Ch ur ch Endow ment. 303 S. King si., Morganton. NC . 286 55. Th e 2nd ann ual 24 Hours of Glen Helen w ill take place at Glen Helen Raceway in S an Bernardino, Californ ia. S eptember 9-10, with current champs Johnny Campbell. J immy Lewis, Drey Dircks and Torsten Bo strom set to defe nd their title on their Ame rican Honda entry . Hansy llan Motorsports h as announce d a special promotional offer in conj unction with Tea m Hamm e r Ad v an c e d Rid ing S c ho o ls and Tr ack Rides . Anyone participating in the Team Hamm e r A dv anc ed Rid ing Sc ho ol o r Track Ride at W illow Springs International Ra c e w ay o n S e pt em b er 27 w ill also receive a free th ree -day general admissio n t ic ket to th e AMA/ C hevy Trucks U. S . Superb ike C ham pionshi p Final on Septemb er 29-0ct ober 1 at W illow. The M id- A t la nt ic Roa d racing Club (M A RRC ), in conju nc t io n w ith Summit Po int Racew ay (S PR) in W e st Vi rginia. o ffic ia lly de dic at ed t he Sum mit Point st art / fi nis h Li ne in ho nor o f lo ngti me W ERA sta rter " Airborne" A I Wilcox on Ju ne 10 at SP A. The cere mony included the unveiling of a large steel sign, bolted to the starte r's bridge. lntroducinq the ceremony at the start of the W ERA riders ' meeting was WERA race direc to r George M oo d. w ho int roduced sta rter AI W ilcox and reminded everyone of W ilcox' s racing heritage. Mood then int roduced MAR RC President Roger Lyle who formally made the ded icat ion , th en introduc ed Wilcox. " I'm in the Speedway Hall of Fame w ith a lot of ot her race rs' , W ilcox sai d. " But none of them guys have a start-finish line named afte r them.' W ith so muc h being said and print ed in rega rd to the top-speed performance of Americim Honda's Nicky Hayden was presented the key s to a brand-new Chevy Silverado pickup truck at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, on Jul y 16 after winning the Chevy Trucks Like a Rock Challenge. Hayden was given the truck by virtue of his consistent finishes in the three doubleheader rounds of the AMA Chevy Truck s U.S. Superbik e Champi onshi p. In those six rounds of the series (held at Road Atl anta, Road Am erica and at Mid -Ohio). Hayden won two races, finished second three times and third once. He was presented the keys to the truck by Chevy's John Farris after topping Yoshimu ra Suzuki' s Mat Mladin in the Like a Rock Challenge, 76-68. "I had a look at it; it's nice," Hayden said. "It's really neat to win the truck , The whole idea of having Chevy and everyone behind the series is really cool. I needed the points, but the truck 's nice too. It's a really nice gift . Last week Joe Rocket (his leather sponsors] gave me a gift (a Rolex watch] , and this week to win a new truck is really cool." Ironically, Hayden's father, Earl, owns a used car dealership in Kentuck y. The Chevy won 't be goi ng there, Hayd en said: "My oid tru ck will. An ybody who wants to buy a Ford, I've got one for sale. You can driv e it home.' When it was suggeste d to hi m that perhaps he could giv e his old truck to younger brother Roger Lee, Hayd en said: "Yeah, right. He can ha ve m y oid tenn is shoes , some shorts maybe." _