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/128628
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Continuedfrom page 3
ing out a special grass t ra c k a nd
moto c ro ss t rack t hat w ill make up t he
specia l sec tions . Fo r more information.
call Bart W inters at 50 11646-1168.
for t he 2 0 0 1 season . T he t rac k will
inco rpo rate a 1/ 8-mile drag strip and a
1IS-mile ova l, plus severa l road -racing
configurations .
A ccording to a press re lease from t he
tea m, Cannon Racing has exercised
their optio n to release Aaron C lark from
his con t ract ual ob ligatio ns w ith the road
racing team . effective August 15. In the
release, Cannon Racing thanked C lark for
his admira ble effo rts durin g the A pri lia
C ha ll en g e series, w hich he c urrent ly
lead s . C ann o n Rac ing wi ll conti nue to
participate in the Ap rilia C hallenge series
wi th Brendan C lark e (no relation ) as t he
principal rider .
S FX Motor Sports G rou p has announced
t hat the Wrenchead.com National
Road Race Series event at Pocon o
International Ra c e w ay will b e li v e
online on Su nday, August 27 . The live
webcast is in addition to the tape-delayed
television broa dcast of the events sc heduled to air Su nday afternoon , Oc tober 1
on C BS S po rt s . Th e webcas t pro gram.
ava ila ble at www .fo rmu la usa.com , is
be ing p roduced by S FX M o to r Sports
G roup and will include st reaming audio of
all eve nts on Su nday' s sc hedule. In addition to live audio coverage, fans w ill be
able to access VO D (video o n demand)
o f practice, qualifying ro unds and interv iews wi th t o p rac e r s, according t o
PAC E. The sc hed ule beg ins w ith a prerace sho w at noon . Th e Form ula USA
Spo rtbike final is set to kick off the racing
actio n at 12:30 p.m. fo llowed by the Aprilia Cup C hallenge final at 1: 15 p.m . During
S und ay ' s inte rmissio n at t he track , the
we bcast w ill feature a recap of qua lifying
and practice rou nds sc heduled to start at
2 p.m. Racing res umes at 2:45 w it h the
B ue ll Li gh t ning S e rie s f in al. The firs t
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MX· Tech is c u rre nt ly accep ti ng
res umes fro m all levels of motocross ride rs f ro m t he S ou t he ast fo r t he 200 1
mo tocross season. Resumes can be sent
to G .P.S . Su spension , M X-Tech S out heast, 45 96 Lexingto n Ave.. Jacksonville,
FL 322 1O.
o
Road America w ill o pe n a new 1.8mi l e m u lt i- pu rp o s e r ac e t r ac k o n its
g round s . accord ing t o t he track . Th e
new race trac k wi ll be ca lled t he Brigg s
and St ratt on M otorplex and w ill be open
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ltaljet 's proj ected collaboration with Bimota for manufacture
of the Grifon 900 looks set to be aborted, with the high·tech '
Italian chassis speciali st suffering the latest potentially termi nal "
cris is in its roller-,coaster 27 -year exist ence, after th e
decision was tak en at a board meeting on June 30 to put the
com pany presently controlling the Rimin i-based marque into
liquidation. Th is has meant closing the Bimo ta factory and
laying off all the staff.
Th is mo ve com es about in spite of a promising order
book for the new SB8K street replica of Anthony Gobert's
World Superbike race- win ni ng works racer, the imminent
relaun ch of the EvoD ue carbure tted version of the 'fi rm' s
500cc two-st roke (580 recall ed examples of which are sitting
in a Cesena warehou se 25 miles from the Birnot a factory ,
eating up capital but read y for immediate sale on the back"of
the successful Trofeo one-make series for the EvoDue taking
place in It al y t his y ear), an d t he su ccessful effo rt s of
Francesco Tognon. He is the man spearheading the cornpany's latest revival since two years ago. afte r its last brush
with bankruptcy in the,wak e of the Vvdue disaster, to attract
subcontracted assembly work from other manufacturers, thus
capitalizing on Bimota's reputation as a center of technical
excellence. This has seen Bimota construct the handful of
Corsa produ cti on racers for the Y2K season on behalf of
Ducatlves well as work with creator Pierre Terblanche to turn
the Bologna firm ' s Iimited· editi on MH900 e desmodue showbik e into a viable street -legal moto rcycl e for-s ale- over the
Web. Bimota had also signed a deal with Ducati to construct
Or
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Lo ck hart -Philli ps USA Unlimit ed Superbike leg sta rts at 3 :30 w it h con t inuous
coverage thro ugh the second leg that fo llow s w ith a short break between races .
All times listed are Eastern Daylight Time.
The aud io webcast wi ll be strea med by
i B e a m St reami ng M e d ia w ith le ad
annou nce r M o rgan Broadhead providing
the play-by-play actio n.
Ro un d t h re e of t he Eddie Mulder
We st Coast Vintage Dirt Track
Series, sc heduled for Sept emb er 10 at
Portland Sp eedway, has been ca nce led
d ue to a new ci ty ordina nce re qu iri ng
mufflers o n all ve hicles that race at th e
t rack. The ordinance is strictly enforced.
N oi se waivers we re unavai lable fo r thi s
vintage event, so it has bee n canceled .
All other eve nts scheduled are unaffected
by th is cance llation.
S illy season co ntinues in th e profes sional motocross world, w ith rumo rs and
gossip abo unding. Jeremy M cG rath wa s
rec e nt ly spo tted prac ti ci ng w it h Ryan
Hugh es at S o ut he rn C alif o rn ia ' s G len
H e le n Rac e w ay , w h ere h e s a id th at
th in g s are go ing we ll wi t h hi s new ly
fo rmed team, but that he has yet to land
a title spo nsor. M azda look s like a pos sibility . " I' m busy ," M cG rat h said of his
the 2000 hand-built examples of the MH900e sold so far, and
had either closed or was negotiating similar agreements with
Gilera, ltaljet, BeneHi and two other non -ltali anmanufactur..
ers. And as a means of using up the excess stock of 420
Ducati 900SS desmodue engines purchased by the previous
mana gement, Togn on had fast-forwarded the development of
t he Drako 900 schedul ed to debut at Intermot - a sharp styled alloy -fram ed answer to the Ducati Monster, but using
the alurninium spaceframe from the Mantra.
However, according to some sources within the company,
in spite of this promi sing turnaround, Bimota 's future was
jeopardized by a falling -out between Tognon and other rnem bers of the board involved in the company during its previous
loss,m