Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Cycle News 2000 10 04

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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o ~ c B r y a n Smith (A TK) sco red his f irst ca ree r Fo rmu la U SA dirt t rack victo ry w hen he won t he Pro S ing le s su p port event at t he S ac rame nto M ile on Septe mbe r 23 in S ac ra me nto , C alif o rn ia. D a n Stanley (Suz ) was second , w ith serie s po ints leader Kenny Noyes (Hbg ) th ird. The battle for the lead wa s carried ou t amo ng fiv e riders and fo ur brand s fo r muc h of the rac e. D em o n V int o team , Roland Sands (Hon), finished third in the 250 cc race. c o o o o o o D a v id Watson (Hon ) w rapp ed up the second 540Cc National Hillcl imb Ch ampio nship of his Pro career o n Sep tember 24 in N ashv ille, India na, w ith his fourth . place finish . J o hn Hamilton Jr. (Tri) claimed his second w in of the se ason . coming f ro m be hin d t o edge Richie Sche ue rma n n (Hon), Defending 800 cc Nat io nal Champion J a mes Large (H-Dl put in a great seco nd ride to outrun W atson (Hon) by .00 2 o f a second fo r his t hi rd wi n of t he sea so n in th e 800c c cl ass . Jeff Thomas (Yam ) k ept t he 800cc poi nts race aliv e with his t hird place finish, but W atson need s on ly three po ints to loc k up the 80 0 cc t it le in the next round of the serie s o n October I in York, Pennsylvania. Michael Rutter ( D ue) and Chris Walker (Su z) sp lit w ins in the B rand s H at c h ro und of th e Brit ish S upe rb ik e Ch amp io nsh ip on Septe mber 24 . Both c ha mp io nsh ip riv al s W al k e r and Neil Hodgson (Du e) suffered crashes, w ith W alker crashing out of the first race and Hodg so n c ras hing o ut of th e secon d. Despite having to start the restarted firs t race fro m the third row and with an 8.5seco nd deficit to make up to the leader s o n ag greg at e t im e, Vi r g in Ya maha 's Anthony Gobert finished fourth in the first of two leg s of the Brit ish Su perbike C hampionshi p at Br and s Hatch. On the u track, Gob ert won the restarted race by five seconds . but he cou ldn 't get back the ent ire 8.5 seconds to eam the victory. Gobert. however, was the class of the field in the wet race, lapping over a sec ond faster than the res t of the pack. In u the se cond leg. G ob e rt set the fas test n lap of the race but crashed in oil that was dropped by Hodgso n ' s D ucat i. " I ho pe I ' this silences a few of my cri tics who said I wouldn't be any goo d ove r here," GobL ert said in a Vi rgin Yamaha press release . "The Yamaha is aw esome and so easy to ride in bad co nditions. I didn't feel out of shape at all, but I am pretty frustrated about not bei ng able to start the firs t part o f the race fro m the grid because of a bad ma rs ha lling d eci sio n . I w as p retty fed-up about the first race being stopped at all. Befor e we started it wa s decla red a w et rac e. That meant wh atever tire we went to the line with wa s what we st ayed on . Som e guy s gamb led on it drying o ut and use d slick s - they paid the price when it bega n raining, but so would those of us o n w et -w eat her t ires if condi t ion s had improved. If they hadn 't stopped the race , I am sure w e co uld have won . " M eanwh ile, Ame ric an T o m Ki p p (Hon) finished 11lh in rac e o ne , but didn 't fini sh the second w hen he ran off the t rac k and into th e g ravel. His tea mmate o n the 8 o The SFX M otor Sp o rt s Gro up (fo rm er ly PACE) has ju st announced that the fift h ro und of t he Nationa l A re nacross Se r ies w ill be held at the PalExpo in Gene va. Switzerland , December 1516. The to p 15 q ualifying N atio nal A renacross racers af ter the D es M o ines , Albany and Roc kfo rd events w ill receive airfare and accommodations for two to Geneva to take part in the race . "Taking Are nacro ss to t he worl d is a li f el on g dream achie ved." said SFX M oto r Sports Gro up v ic e pres ident M ik e K id d . the fo unde r o f th e se ries in 1984 . " A nd a chance to fly to Switzerland with a team mem ber and two of yo ur own bikes is a dream 15 Arenacross ride rs w ill envision as th ey lin e up fo r ro un d o ne in D e s M oines this November. " 'I " L C o o o o o o o W o rld Su perb ik e racer Ben Bostrom will definit ely be riding a V ance & Hines D uc at i S u p e rb ike at Wi ll o w S p r ing s Raceway in Ro sam o nd , C alifo rn ia, on O ctob e r I - th e fina l round of t he AMA /Chevy Tru ck s U .S . Sup e rbi k e S eri e s . "I'm totally happy . " sai d the always-smiling Bostro m. " I need the practice. I thi nk it' ll help me because Brands [t he next round of t he W orld Sup erbike Ch ampio nship on October 15] tums right an d so d oe s Willow. I j us t like to rid e more than anyt hing , so the more race s I can do the better. That' s really the whole d e al - I just love t o r id e the b ike ." Bostrom w ill retu m to W o rld S uperb ike Four -time World Superb ike Champi on Carl Fogarty announced his retirem ent from the sport on Thursday , September 21 after realizing that his physical condition would likely not retum to where it needed to be for him to race competitively in 200 I. A test at Mugello in Italy some four days earlier confirmed what many had expected: Fogarty's injured arm was in much worse shape than originally thought. He and Ducati confirmed on September 21 that he would retire. "I'm a long way away from being in the condition I hoped to be in," Fogarty, 35, said after his test. "Even if I speed up rehabilitation work. I don't think I will be able to reach the necessary performance level to be competitive enough next season. "I would just not be competitive enough and I would no longer have the chance of going for victory. I have had a fantastic career and I can be very satisfied with what I have done for motorcycling. I don't think I have to demonstrate anything else. The time has now come to have the strength to leave racing. I knew that it would com e sooner or later. I want to do it now and leave everyone with the memory of a victor ious Foggy . with number one on my Ducati ." . Professor Andrew Carr, backed up by Dr. Fabio Catani, Ducati' s chief medical adviser, gave his authoritative view of Carl Fogarty's medi cal condition: "Carl Fogarty suffered a serious injury to his left shoulder. The upper part of the arm bone was broken into a num ber of fragments and required surgical fixati on with a plate and screws. He also suffered extensive damage to the muscl es and soft tissues around the should er. The fracture fragments have joined but he is left with considerable weakness and stiffn ess in the shoulder . "This injury will leave him with permanent weakness and loss of movement . He has undergone an extensive rehabilitation program but is not at the present capable of returning to motorcycle racing ." Fogarty's retirement mark s the end of an era that has seen the British rider domin ate World Superbik e racing . The Blackbum -born Fogarty won the World Superbike crown in 1994, 1995 , 1998 and 1999, winning 59 World Superbike races in all whil e standing on the podium 106 times in World Superbik e competition. He also won the 1988 and 1989 World FI TT Champ ionships and the FIM Cup F I TT Championship in J99 0. His first World Superbike win came in 1992 at Donington Park in England. Despite his retirement from racing, Fogarty and Ducati will continue to work together. according to Ducati. The living legend of Superbik e will remain a testimonial for Ducati throughout the world with a series of initiatives, which will be defined in the next few months. racing o n his fact o ry -back ed Du cati on October 15 in England. It wi ll be interesting to see if Bo st ro m ' s t ime in W orld S upe rb ik e rac ing has hel ped hone his skills . "I ho pe t hey see a chang e. " Bo stro m said. "I think it'll show in the fast comers. I'm really loo king forward to it. I'll have to ge t used to using the D unlops again, but it shouldn 't be a problem. I' m re all y stoked t hat Te rry [t ea m owne r Vance] and J immy [cr ew chief Leonard] are giving me the ride. They had a lot to do w ith making this happen . " Bo st ro m fini sh ed second in t he W illow Spring s Superbike Natio nal last year. pick up those Supercro ss duties , with the pair also racing the N atio nals. Husky will also field two 250s in 2001 "just to get up to speed. " Larry Ferracci said. In 2002 t he t e a m w ill a lso u p th e an t e in th e 250Cc class. " He ' s [Eraldo Ferra cc il very excited," Larry Ferracci said. " He told me tw o things at the end of the season. 'Let me p ick some ri d ers and g et me the money to pay the m.''' Lam so n is cu rrent ly tes ting the new Husky at G len Helen Racewa y in San Bernardino , Califo rnia. The Califo m ian finished fifth in the 2000 AMA 125cc Nat ional M otocross C hampions hip on a Hond a CR I 25. Tw o-tim e AMA 125cc N ational Champion S te ve Lam so n has signed a multi-year deal t o ride Hu sqvarna C R 125 s in the AMA 125cc Na tional M o tocro ss C hampio ns hip . Lamson w ill rid e fo r the Eraldo Ferracci-run te am in the o ut doo r Nat ionals, but will not compete in Supercro ss , according to Larry Ferrac ci. N ew signees C hris Go sselaar and Jason Tho mas w ill Wh ethe r o r not Do ug Chandler will r ide h is factory Kawa saki i n th e Pro Ho nd a Oil s 600cc S up e rsp o rt race at W illow Spri ngs on Octob er 1 - in an effo rt to help his teammat e Eric Bo strom wi n the serie s titl e - is still unknown . At least that' s what Kawa saki is saying. " There' s no dec ision . " team manage r M ike Preston said . " I'm not saying. W e don ' t really care w hat peo ple wa nt to know. We'll wa it and see w hat happ en s . " Bostrom , w ho rec ently signe d a co ntrac t fo r another y ea r w it h Kaw asa ki. is lead ing th e 600 cc titl e cha se over Erio n Rac ing 's Kurtis Robert s. but it all comes down to who bea ts whom at W illow . Presto n did say that C handler did we ll on his S uperbike durinq their rec ent test at the facility in the high des ert of Southem Ca lifomia. " He [C handl erl really w an ts to w in the S uperb ik e class t here , " Pre sto n said . " He was riding really well - fas ter tha n last year's pole . He' s pretty pumped right now." The number-o ne concem at W illow S pring s w ill be tire wear. " So far. so good. " Pre st o n sa id . "We didn 't have much trouble there prac ticing . but everyone says there w ill be pro blems . It d e pe nd s on how hot it is. It was g O degrees w hen we tes te d th er e and our s tu ff w a s ho ld ing up good . For s u re ev erybo dy is w o rried ab o ut t ire s . But Do ug did 26 laps [race di stanc e] and it was all good - the tires wer e good. " 8!1@[?@!JiJD !1@[fiJ@fB \!i!l@[?D@ @m@@@I!A!l@\V7 o o ~. ~ C @[}i]@!JiJD 0 D@[fiJfBODil O C r-. U r"'. u o o o o o o o ~ England's Mark Loram is the new World Sp eedwa y Champion after yet another night of high dram a as th e Sp eedway Gran d Prix ser ies fo r 2000 cam e to its co nclu sion in Poland on Saturday night. September 23. Billy Hamill of the USA won the Pentel Grand Prix of Euro pe. with countrym an Greg Hancock second and Tony Rickardsson of Sweden third . But Loram's sixth place finish on the night was enoug h to give him his fir st Worl d titl e. Loram fi nished on 102 points with Hamill second on 95 and Rickardsson just one further point adrift on 94. An ecstatic Loram admitte d afterwards that the titl e was a dream come tru e. "It hasn't sunk in yet," Loram said after the event. "I felt under pressure all week and ju st wanted to get onto the track to race. Things didn 't go well early on, but once I settled down and knew what I had to do, I was fairly co nfident that things would work out okay ." 2 OCTOBER 4 , 2000· c u e I .. n e vv s LP U Ha mill sa id h e didn ' t r ea li ze he h ad clinched the silver medal even after winning the Grand Prix of Europe. " I st arte d with a win and fi nished with one," Hamil l said. "It was j ust the bit in the middle! But I am really happy with this result and cannot wait for the 200 1 series to start." Hancock al so fi nished on a hig h. After four rounds this year it looked as though he might have to go to the GP Challenge. But a win , in Denmark , and second here elevated Hancock to fifth place overall. For Rickardsson it was a disappoi nting finale to what has been a frustrati ng campaign for the defending World Champion. "I don't kno w what I feel right now ," he said , with tw o t hird places, in Pol and and overall, to his name. "I will have to sit down and think about next season and how I can regain my title." But the night belonged to Mark Loram, the first English rider to win the World tit le since Gary Hav el oc k i n 1992 . Co in cidentall y . Havelock also won in Poland and was among the first to congratulate Loram . According to the THQ U .S . O pen. wh ich is bill ing itself as " the world's rich e st · m oto rcycle rac e , " rooms are still available race we ekend o n October 1315. That said. hote ls are expecting a sell-

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