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/128636
W hit e Brothers THG U .S. O p en F ou r -Stro k e R a c e MGM Gra nd G a r d e n Arena (L eft) Privateer Heath Voss w as im p ressive a ll w e ekend; even a Sund ay start from the second row coul dn't prevent him from fin ish ing fifth In both main s. (Right ) Steve Lamson showed up o n h is n e w Fast by Ferracci Husqvama, and appeared to be q u ite comfortable. Lamson plans t o contest the occa siona l AMAlEA Sports Supercross on the bike. the MGM the same wee kend. making available ro oms hard to co me by. M ore than one Supercro ss fan was witness ed forsaking SX functions to cras h th e vari ous Gap part ies. wh ich feat ure d male/ female ratios more to their liking . BRIEFLY••• KTM held a pres s conferenc e on Sat urday morning in th e MGM G rand to offi cially pre se nt it s team members . and t o anno unc e the signing of new title spo nsor Re d Bull . On hand were KTM USA ' s Scot Harden. Rod Bu sh and Selvaraj Nayarana. as well as Kurt N icoll and Heinz Kinigadner from the European headquarters. In addition. tea m riders David Pingree. Broc k Sellards and Kelly Smith were present. though fourth member Grant Langston was unable to attend. Red Bull already sponsors athletes in Formula 1 and GP road racing. as we ll as freestyl e M X. and by entering the motocr oss and Supercro ss realm. hopes to increase its presence in a mark et w here its sales are already booming . " It's gre at to have a change. " said Sella rds . who rode for FM F Honda in 2000. " I' v e go t a lo t o f adrenaline goi ng rig ht now. I'd have nev er believed it unti l I rode one . but when I rode it. I became a believ· er.. .! wa nt two championships. " Television co mmentator Art Ec k m a n learned the day before the eve nt that SFX and ESPN wou ld not be renewing his con tract for next seaso n, as the network plans to take a new direct ion with the telecast ing of Supe rc ross and motocross. using a new pro duct ion company and new play-by-play talent . Eckman has been invo lved in the industry for a decade. and hopes to continue in some capac ity . " I feel blessed that during my tenure w ith Super. cross and motocross. the sport has experienced unparalleled popularity . I want to thank the greatest fans in the wo rld. " U.S . Open title sponsor THQ held an edito r ' s day on the Friday before the even t. showing some of the games its developers are currently wo rking on. The demo was primarily for journalists of cornputer-qame publications. and many also atte nded the weekend 's racing . THO subs idiary Pacific Coas t Pow er and Light showed a motocross game it is developing (curren tly going by the wo rking titl es "CMX " and "Championship M otocro ss 2002 fea· turing Ricky Carmi chael. " wh ich it hopes will take C hampionship Motocross Featuring Ricky C armichael to the nex t levell . The game appears to be quite realistic in that players can alte r body po sition and slip the clut ch to clear jumps. and National tracks like Glen Helen, Red Bud and Unadilla are port rayed very accurately (PC P&L used sate llite tec hnology to map the circuits). Even the bac kfli p feature is no w accurate. thanks to C arey Hart (l ike C armichael. Hart is a licensed THO rider) . Set to release in the second quarter of next year. the game will launch on th e new PlaySt ation 2 system. Like many Southern Ca lifornians . Cycl e W orld ' s J immy Lew is drove out to watc h the U .S. Op en. The only differe nce was that Lewis drove his facto ry BMW rally b ike off-road. " I'm testi ng tire inserts for Dakar.· said Lew is. who last year finished third in the rally despite melting seve ral of said inserts. "This is the sec and weekend I've do ne it. They send me out a few tires. and I try them out and send them back . Then they send me some more." Lewis. who last year suffered a horre ndo us crash in the Wh ite Brothers four -stroke race . op ted not to enter on his Beemer. Cannonda le was o n hand for th e fo ur-s tro ke race . sporti ng flas hy American flag graphics on its bikes. but thing s did not go we ll for the America n manufacturer. Crashes by tea m riders Keith J ohnson and Jeff Gibson we re the pri mary hindrance. one of them caused by a blown shoc k. St eve Lamson looked quite com fo rtable for having limited time on his new Husqvarna . " Everyone is telling me. 'D ude, w hat are you thinking?' '' Lamson said . "I' m telling yo u. the bikes are fast. " Though he will be focusing on the 125cc outdoor series. Lamso n is consideri ng racing selec ted Supercro sses in th e 250cc class . Sp eaking of Lamson. his wife Camy was expect ing a chi ld around the time of the race. " I was luc ky to get here and race w ithout the phon e ringin g . " Lamson said. Though attendance was decen t on both days of racing. the smallish G rand Garden Are na did not sell out. One reason cou ld be a huge inte rn ational Gap conv e nt io n wh ich was taking place in 10 O CTOBER 25 . 200 0 ' cue e n e industry wit h great peop le. " said an emo tional Narayana. " The best friends I've ever had are in this spo rt . " Beginning as a European Team M aico technician in 1969 . Narayana came to the U.S. in 1972 . and switc hed to KTM in 1987 . Kevin Wi ndham. who was married to longtime girlfrie nd Dottie just two weeks before the race . had only ridd en his new Suzuki three times prior to the U.S . Op en. His mec hanic Alley Sernar, who came w ith Wi ndham fro m Honda. had only been on the job four days. and w hen being int erviewed for Cycle News' " Bikes of the St ars " depa rtment. had to check to see what brand of carburetor was on the RM . "The tea m has a great atmosphere. and I already feel at home. " W indham said. " Most of these guys . I've known for years ." Thou gh te levision cameramen som et ime s have to deal w ith the element s when shoot ing outdoor MX. they usually don' t have to bring umb rellas into encl osed stadiums . O ne v ideograp her may consider doing so next year, how eve r, as he wa s the victim of a fan wh o had c o n sumed far too much free alc ohol . resulting in his vomiting off th e THO party platform . and onto the unsuspecting cameraman. M ates for a week e n d : Wh ile this was the first race for Kevin Windham as a member of Team Suzuki. it was Damon Huffm an's final race on the squad (Huffman has signed with M ot ow orld of EI C ajon fo r 200 1J. This means the pair we re teammates for only one race. The monster truck Gravedigger was utilized in both days' opening ceremonies. with '99 U .S. Open champ Jeff Emig being introduced in it on Saturday. and day -one wi nner Ricky C armichael coming out in it on Sunday. Emig naviqa ted the big truck we ll enough that he could have an option for a new career . Satu rday 's opening ceremonies also featured a salute to the wi nning 2000 U.S . MX d es N atio n s t eam. wi th member s Ricky Carm ichael a nd Ry an Hughes be in g int ro du c e d i n a Hu m me r . T h ir d me m b er Travis Pa st ran a was at hom e with a broken leg. but taking his place deck ed out in full > No Fe a r gear was t i ny acto r Verne Tr o y e r of M i n i-M e fame . Pastrana was shown on the big screen in a home video, apologizing for not being able to attend . Last year's U.S. Open was Pastrana's pro debut. Th e Whi te B ro t hers Fo ur-St roke race fea tured two Kei t h Johnsons doing battle at the same time . New England's Keit h J ohnson was raci ng a Ca nnondale. and N ew M exico ' s Keith J ohnson was racing a KTM . Eaqle-eyed readers of the event progra m may have noticed that P.R. gur u Tim Clark has become so mewhat of a P h o t osho p expert. Last year. Clark st retched the fore head of four-stroke competitor J immy Lew is in his facial pho to . This time around . Clark had fun with a photo of Je ff Emig with his arms aro und two beautiful show girls . Actua lly. they we ren't so beautiful. as Clark had superimposed the faces of Emig's Strategic 3 co horts Tony Strangio and Tim D ixon. As expected. AMA/ EA Sports Supercro ss C hampio n Jeremy M c G r ath was not on hand at the U .S. Ope n. instead elect ing to co ntest a race in England the same weeken d. McGrath said in an interview in the eve nt program that going where he's guaranteed start money "makes mo re sense than to have to go and race guys I race all yea r long and try to kill myself for $ 100.000. " M cGr ath did cat ch a flight back from England to atte nd a Crusty movie premiere at Las Vegas Sunday night. Vi ntage Iron presented its trad itional Lif etime Achievement Award at the U .S . Op en. and the recipient was KTM Vice Presi· dent and U .S . team manage r S elvaraj Narayana. Though iess famous to the typ ical fan than previous winners Roger DeCoster and David Bailey. Narayana is well-known within the mot orcycle indust ry . w hich he ' s been a part of fo r 32 years. " It's a great uv s Evolution: At the pre miere U.S . Ope n in 199 8. Jonat han Shimp was the mini-class champion. This year he was' competing in the 250 cc class . Un fortu nat ely. a prac tic e cras h put Sh imp out of action for day two. R id ing hi s fi na l w e eke nd a s a member of Te am C hevy Tr uc ks/Kaw asaki. J o h n Dowd went down on Satu rday and twea ked his wrist. The New Englander co uld barely pull his socks on S unday morning , so he opted to sit out day two. Dowd says he' s close to signing a deal for next year. but didn' t wa nt to say wi th whom unt il it s o fficial. Also riding in his final race for th e squad was Larry Ward , w ho also says he has a potential aqreement in the wo rks . Following the race. Ward was planning to go elk hunting in the mountains fo r seve ral days . Having los t his De marini Su zuki ride foll ow ing a fight wi t h Phil Law rence at the M illville. M innesot a. National MX. Tyl er Evans showe d up in Vegas weari ng O 'N eal and riding a Honda for Planet Honda . Evans looked impressive in his S unday semi. passing for the lead and pulling away for the wi n. Following a season marred by injury. Phil Lawrence showed up healthy at the U.S . Ope n. Unfortunately. the veteran cras hed his TheEdgeS ports.com Yamaha in Sat urday' s main event . b rea k · i n g h i s colla r b o ne in t he process . To add insult to inj ury . Law rence was run over by Larry Ward, who had been followi ng closely and couldn' t avoid the dow ned rider . Law rence has lined up a non-M x -related jo b managing a sales crew wi th Wow Tech· nolog ies. a pre-paid credit card compa ny. " I still wa nt to race a H ttie bit. " Lawre nce said. " I don't think I wa nt to do a whole season ...IThe job ] is a good op port unity . I've got to look at w hat I'm going to do wit h the rest of my life. " A ft er placing seca nd i n a S at urd ay f ree s ty le co mp e t ition i n Ma ryl and . Mike Jo nes awoke at 5:00 a.m. and caug ht a plane catch the to frees tyle compe ti t io n at d ay two o f th e U .S . O pe n . J o n e s m ad e it worth h is w h ile , edgi ng out homeboy C arey Hart in the final. w hich was j udged based on the volume of the crowd 's cheers . T e a m Y ama h a wasn 't p resent at the U.S . Ope n. though it wasn't tech nica lly a boycott that kept the m away. Frenchman David V uillemin is stuck bac k home with visa pro blems. and new mem ber Tim Ferry · w ho will campaign a fo ur-stro ke in 200 1 . didn't feel the tight track was the best of places for his thumper debut. Though he' s ret iri ng . Jeff Emig is also maki ng so mewhat of a retum to Kawasaki . as the TheEdgeSp orts.com tea m that he owns will be riding green in 20 01 . Though the deal hadn' t actually been signed at the U .S . Op en. yo u can expec t to see team riders C asey Joh nson and Mi chael By rne riding gree n next season .