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/128625
• "Wh at did th ey do, cut the tra ck?" Jeff Emig while spectating al the Washougal Nation al MX, where Yamaha of Troy's 5tephane lionc ada and Casey Johnson had established a huge malo-one le ad. Am eri ca 's Bil ly Ham ill saw his hopes of a second world title take a severe knock when he crashed out of the British Grand Prix on his hom e tra ck at Coventr y, England , on Ju ly 29. Hamill lasted only two races and was clearly too upset to talk to the medi a after the event as he gath ered his thoughts on what was a massive disappo intment. His Am erican colleague and fellow Coventry rider Greg Hancock enjoyed a much more satisfyi ng night with a superb display to work his way thro ugh from the pre -m ain event to the semifinals. The m eetin g was full of sho cks and surpr ises , with England' s wildcard entry Martin Dugard winning in sensatio nal style , ahead of Au ssie Ryan Sulli van, who enjoyed the best GP of his career. A m idweek c ar cra sh kept world number two Tomasz Goll ob in the hospital , with the Pole having surgery on a broken collarbone. Series leader Mark Loram pulled four points clear of main rival Tony Rick ardsson via a hard -fought third. Late replacement Jason Lyons was fourth . John Hip kiss Three-t ime W o rld M otoc ro ss Ch am pion and c u r re n t A M A 2 5 0cc N a t io na l Motoc ros s C hampio n Greg Albertyn has announced that he w ill retire at the c oncl us io n o f t he 2000 sea son . Afte r breaking his right fe mur during the S upe rcro ss se ason and then injurinq his knee early in the outd oo r sea son , A lbertyn has elec te d t o c all it a c areer . The S o uth African w ill have his A C L o perated o n at the end of the seas o n. " A ft er reviewing thi s sea so n. incl ud ing t he re habilitat io n from the broken femur, then injuring the ACL in the sec ond o utdoor race , I have d ec id ed t o re ti re, " Albertyn said in a pre ss release iss ued by Am erican S uzuki. " I have worked very har d over the past 17 ye ars to train and keep in top shape fo r peak performance. To start over wi th reh ab ilitatio n and to dedicate the effo rt needed to co mpete at a successful level is not something I wa nt to do anymore at this point in my career. " Alb ertyn said he is uns ure of his futu re plans, but that he plans to sit down wi th M el Harris . Ameri can Suzuki 's vice presid ent . to discu s s a po sition with the Suzuki motocross team. Nathan Woods. the third-ranked rider in t he A MA Westem Four-St ro ke Nation- Micka el Pichon's titl e hopes are now very much in jeopardy after the Belgian GP tripleheader was played out in Grobbendank , Belgium, July 29-30 . After winning the first 250cc mot a, Pichon crashed and suffered a dislocated shoulder, and then things got worse. Roughly an hour later, Pichon's father was escorted from the track - in handcuffs - by Belgian police after he allegedly struck a medical attendant, who was assisting the injured rider. As a result, Pichon has been banned from racing for 30 days and has been given a 5000 Swiss Franc fine. The riding ban and fine have been imposed on Pichon, because, under FlM rules , a rider is responsible not only for his own actions but also for those of his team . FIM MX Commission secretary Dirk De Neve confirmed on Monday aftemoon, July 31, that the written confirmation of the penalties had been sent in writing by registered mail that day and that Pichon would have five days to appeal against the decision following the certified receipt of the notification. It is not yet clear whether Pichon or Suzuki will appeal the decision. Pichon certainly will miss the 13th round of the World 250cc MX championship Series whether or not there is an appeal. Last year, Pichon left American Honda under similar con troversy. After winning the first 250cc mota over New Zealand's Josh Coppins - Pichon 's Suzuki teammate - Great Britain's J 2 A UGUST 9 , 2000' cue • e Virginia Intemat ional Raceway may host a ro und of the A M A/Chevy Trucks U .S . S uperbike Ch am pion sh ip in 200 1. depending on the outcome of an upcom ing test by most of the fact ory te am s. A M A Road Race M anager Ron Barrick said the A ugust 22 test was "just to make sure the track is suitable fo r our series to run there. If there are so me co ncems. we can sta rt deali ng wi th t hem now. " he sai d . A s to whether or not the trac k will show up o n the 200 1 calendar, Barrick said : " It' ll hinge on the outcome of the test. Aft er that we'll talk abo ut date s and cont racts . If modificatio ns are needed, w e can sta rt wo rking o n them ." The track, located in Danville . Vi rginia. has hosted club events for a number of years and has recently unde rgone a Gordon Crockard, Netherlands' Remy Van Rees and France's Yves Dem aria, Pichon went down in the second mot a and suffered what was first thou ght to be a broken collarbone and back inj uries. Further ex ami na tio n rev ealed a di slocated shoulder. Crockard ended up winning the second 250c c mota over Coppins , Great Britain's Paul Cooper, France 's Frederi c Bolley and Germany's Pit Beirer. Crock ard's 3- 1 edged out Coppins' 2-2 for the overall , with Cooper , Bailey and Demaria rounding out the top five. With four rounds left on the sch edule, Pichon still leads the 250cc series. He has 337 points , while Bailey. in second. has 318 points . Third in the series is Coppins with 249 . In the 125cc class, where the racing was held on Saturday and in wet and rainy cond itions , Great Brita in's James Dobb ran off with the overall win , going 1-2 on the day. In the first mota, Dobb took the win ahead of Belg ian Sven Breuqel mans , Italy 's Thomas Traversini, Norway's Kenneth Gundersen, and Italy 's Christian Stevanini. Afte r DNFlng the first mota, Denmark's Brian Jorgenssen rebounded with a win in the second mota over Dobb , series points leader Grant Langston , Belgian Steve Ramon and Netherland's Erik Eggens'. American Mike Brown had his Honda seize in the first L.J o a l Championship s . w il l be riding a M o tbworld Yamaha YZ426 F at the remain ing six rounds of the series . Woods has been tabbed as the fill-in for injured Motoworld team rider D ustin N elson . the defending series champion . N elson suffered intemal injuries in a crash at the B a k e rs f ie ld round on Ju ly 2 . H e underwent surgery to repa ir the damage, and is now rec overi ng at home. W oods had ca mpaigned t he previous rounds of the serie s abo ard KTM s . ne""s series of major improvements to the facility . The track itself. which can be run in three con figu rations , is 3 6 fee t w ide almost everywhere . and wider in some places . The layout that Barnck feels would work best for the AM A series. the No rth C irc uit , measures 2.25 miles , the middle of the three leng ths . "It's the best fit for spectato rs and possibly race rs as we ll. " Barrick said . The full circ uit co urse measures over three miles and would subject the riders to sp ee ds t hat could present pro blems. and would also be less attractive for spectators. A s fo r t he physical plant . Barrick said the track had a brandnew sco ring and me d ia fac ilit y. a new restaurant/pro sho p. new garages. show ers , and rest roo ms. B rit is h ro ad rac e r S teve Hislo p w ill co mpe te in th e British ro und of the World S u p e r b i k e C h a mp io ns h ip at B r a nd s Hatch o n A ug ust 6 after bei ng given a w ild c a rd en t ry . T he Te am Virg in Mobile Yamaha mem ber said: " I canno t wa it to get o ut t he re . I have good form aro und Brands Hatch on the Virg in M obil e Yamaha R7 . and w ith the batch of modi f icatio ns w e have deve loped ove r the sea so n, I know the bike is well suited to the circuit." W hen t he British Super- mota when one of his bike's radiator hoses was torn . He finished seventh in the second mot a. Langston fini shed out the day second ov erall and Gundersen third overall. In the series points race, Langston still leads with 367 points to Dobb 's 335. Brown is third with 287 . The song pretty mu ch remain ed the same in the 500c c GP, where Belgium 's own Joe l Smets won again . The KTM rider won both motos 46 seconds clear of the second -place riders. In the first mota. Smets took the win over Belgium's Marnicq Bervoets, Sweden's Peter Johansson and Jonas Edbert, and Austria's Erwin Machtlinger, while in the second mota, he won over Italy' s Andrea Bartolini , Johansson , Sweden Joakim Karlsson and New Zealand 's Darryl King . Smets' points lead has swelled to more than 100 points over the second place rider Bervoets , 449-334. Johansson is third with 314 . Husqvama's Stefan Everts retumed to action in Belgium only to suffer arm cramps and a crash in the first mota. He did not start the second mota. Alex Hodgkin son