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/128635
and December 3 . Severa l cla s se s are being offered including a Pro cla ss with a 1DO-p ercent Pro payba ck . Fo r more information . call 760/723 -4003 d ay s or 909/307 -94g 5 in the evening . S eries. held at Motoc ro s s o f Ma rion C ounty . C harles Duffy (Suz) finish ed in the run ne r-up spot in bo t h classes, w hile Jason Fink (Yam ) took th ird in the 250cc race, and Shane Lusk (l-io n) did likew ise in the 125cc cat egory, A raffle w ith proceeds go ing to the C layton Memorial Foundation w ill be held at Scuderia West in San Francisco , Cal ifornia, on N ovember 4 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.rn, The raffle will be part of Sc ude ria W e s t' s annua l open hou se , Fo r more information, 4 15/ 62 1· 7223. S t. Louis Pow erspo rt s has si gn ed w ith Kaw asak i fo r the 2000-200 1 A renacross season . The team will run under the Team Green banner, with las t year's numbertwo points-earner Denny Stephenson swi t c hing from S uzu ki to join Pedro Gonzalez on the team , Both riders will also be o n Kawasakis for the Octobe r 1415 U .S , Open in Las Vegas. Mike Jones (Kaw) swept two IFM A freestyl e events in a single weekend, top ping the series ' third and fourth round s at Tin gl ey Stadi um in A lb uq uerque , New M exico , O ctob er 6-7. Nate Adams wa s second on Saturd ay, with Trevor Vines third . On Su nday, John Distler was the runner -up, with Mike Mason thi rd . A record number of comp et it ors a nd s pec t at o rs is ex pected w hen the A IIHarley D rag Racing A ssoci atio n pulls int o Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dragstrip for its last eve nt o f the season, the J IM S Las Vegas N atio nals Oct o ber 20 -22 , according to even t pro moters . Jim M cC lure and Bill Furr have co nfirmed the ir entries, along with Johnny M ancuso Tyson Hadsell (Yam) to pped the 125 and 250cc Pro divis ions at round three of the Un lim ited S po rt s Flo rida G o ld Cup , • • KTM Kicking Butt With increased turn over delive ri ng a 38- percent boost in profits for the J999/2000 mo del year (when sales of motorcycles 125cc and up stepped up to 28, 086 units from the 2 1,000 of 199 81'99 ), and a work force now numbering 822 peop le (up too from the 708 staff employed in 1999), A ustria's KTM is undergoing a commercial boom to match its success in competition, with six of the eight din 2000 World Championships won by KTN-mo unted rid ers - two out of three MX World titles, and four out of five End uro World crowns. Sales are now split 60 percent to Europe, 30 percent to the USA and 6 percent to Australia, and with the compa ny now in private hands once again (with 51 percent of the equity owned by the Stefan Peirer-headed management, and 49 percent in the hands of Germ an venture capitalists DC -Part ners of Hambur g) , KTN is now on track to top out its off-road range with three new models due to be launched in the next two years, says Peirer. "T hat' ll complete our dirt -bi ke lineup; then we'll be ready to attac k the street sector," he says. "And the introduction of the LC8 Adventurer [featured in last week 's issue of Cycle Newsj is the first step to wards that goal. Our aim was to produce the smallest, lightest and most powerfu l twin-cyli nder off -road bike ever made, and when the LC8 enduro makes its pub lic debut in the 2000 Dakar Rally, it' ll be the start of a new generation of KTM motorcycles which will go on sale immediately after , with 5000 bikes built in the three years after that. These will includ e tarmac versions strictly for the street - but still comp letely in the spir it of KTM's guid ing philosophy, which is to be focused on fun!" ] and D oug Vancil, who will be mak ing rare AHDRA appearance s, A tota l of 12 d iffe rent racing classes - fro m the pro s of Top Fue l t o the • run what yo u brung' Andrews ET co mpetitors - will c ompete. C oming into the event. se veral po intspaying races are st ill up for grabs ; and with them. a share of the ye ar-end pot o f money the AHDRA will di stribute at its awards banquet. Racing is sched uled fo r two days ; beginning Sat urday , Oc tob e r 2 1, with qu al ify ing beginning at 10 ;3 0 a.m. Racing is expected to continue until about 6 p. m. O n S unday . eli mina tio ns start at 12 :30 p.rn . and are expected to conclude at abo ut 5 p.rn, Gates open at 8 a.m . dai ly. Admis sion is $2 0 per day, or $3 5 for a two-day pass. Fo r mor e information, co ntac t the AHDRA at 336/9 24 2 09 5 or vis it t hei r web si te at www.ahdra .co m. The track phon e at Las Veg as M o t o r Sp ee dw ay D rag s trip is 702 /644 -4443 . After nine months of effort by W M RRA, Cycle Barn , and the Cycle Barn S po rt As part of that strategy , the Austrian k ing of the off-road world unveiled its eagerly-awaited LC8 75-degree V-twin engine in J00 x 60 mm 942cc form at lnterrnot, and in doing so establish ed a new benchmark for all other manufacturers of V-tw in m ot or cycles to aim at. Desi gner Gerald Kiske's avant- garde-looking Adve nturer dual-s port-a dvent ure bike lookin g most like an off- road version of the MV Agu sta F4, with its stacked headlight layout - shows one future application for the new engine, whic h Peirer confirms will initially also power a leadinq-edqe rally machine, a Duke-typ e street rod and a tarmac performance model. Weighing an imp ressively light J23 pounds (i ncl uding six-speed gearbox, DO HC four-v alve heads, forged pistons, a hydraulic clutc h and an electric starter cleverly tucked away in a pat ented position between the vee of the narrow-angle cylinders), the ult racom pact new KTM V-twin engine not only scales 37 poun ds less than, for example, a Suzuk i T Ll 000 m otor, it's also m uch narrower, can be. fitted with eithe r Nippondenso fuel injection or carbs (as on the prototype di splayed ), and is capable of being built in displa cements varying from 800 cc to 1000cc, with different engine dim ensions depending on each appli cation . The quot ed output of 102 horsepower at 8000 rpm for the LC8 in the Ad ventur er guise in which it was launched already gives an impressive power -to -weight ratio in a com plete bik e scaling 4 15 pound s - but the engine's ultra-short stro ke hints at other things, a fact confirmed by its designer Klau s Holweg, who by no coi nci dence headed up the Aprili a RSV Mille 60-degree Vvtwin engine design team for the first two years of its development at KTM's Austrian rivals Rotax, before switching sides to create the LC8. "The bottom half of this engine has been designed to be good for outputs up to 175 horsepower: said Holweg, "And we have applications in mind for this kind of potential." KTM engineering chief Wolfgang Felber - himself a capable 250<:c GP road racer a decade ago - confi rms this: "The LC8 opens the way for a completely new range of products for KTM. We will begin with our traditional off- road markets - cyclenews.com reader poll question of the week o o o o o Rider's Club . an Ara i he lmet worn by Kenny Roberts Jr. in his seco nd-place finish in last year's South African GP was raff led off at the WM RRA season finale on October 1. According to D ave Pre ston. director of marketing fo r Cycle Bam . ' W e have been working on this all year. but the pace really heated up in the last week as we got the word into motorcycle publications. I re c e iv e d c hec ks f ro m Sout h C aro lina and from A rizo na, and a couple of fo lks had left messages on my office phone over the weekend , but were too lat e, ' A ll in all, a total of $ 2124 was rais ed in t he raffle wit h t he pro c e ed s going to Riders for Health. Riders for Health is the intemational cha rity founded by GP stars and now supported by G P and Fl driving stars, fact ory racing team s. the British Royal family, and thou sands of motorcy cle enthusiasts all ove r the globe. Riders for Health sup plies off-road motorcycle training and reso urces manage ment for health care workers in areas of Afri ca in dire need of both health care and trans po rtation capability. CN but I can say that this engine's arrival allo ws me to develop the kind of motorcycles I've dreamed of building ever since I came to work here!" Th e advent of this eng ine from such a strong off- road manufacturer suddenly makes many of the V-twin products of its tarma c com petition look undeniably flabb y, and Felber als o co nfirms the log ical next step. which is to develop a repl acement fo r KTM' s current LC4 family of four- va lve enduro singles, based on using one-half of the LC8 engine. KT M's LC8 m oto r is proof that th e Austrian company's recent racing succ ess is being matched on dealer show roo m s. - Df the following, who do you think will be the 2DDD World Sup ercross Ch ampion? A. Cireg Albertyn (South ric;a, American Suzuki! B. Shae Bentley (USA, SplitFire/Pro Circuit Kawasaki! , C. Joshua Coppins (New Zealand, Corona uzuki! D. Yves Demaria (France Free Time Yamalla) 84 O C TOB ER 18 ,2000 ' e ye I e n e E. Ryan Hughes (USA, Pamo Honda! F, Ciran t Langst n (South Africa, Champ KTM! G. ike aRocco (USA, Factory Connection /. Competition AccessorieslJac in the Box Honda) vv s H. Mickael Pichon IFrance, Corona Suzuki! l, Jeremy McCirath (USA, No Fear Yamaha) J. Rodrig Thain (France, Suzuki!