Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Cycle News 2000 11 08

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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° @ illEJUJCO ow ~ o Dave Schu ltz p il oted his Sun ocobacked Suzuki Hayabusa to a memo rable victory in the Pro St ock Bike class , whi le Angelle S eel i n g (S uz) clinc he d her first NHR AIWinst on Ch ampion ship during the NHRAIMatco Tools Supernationals at Houston Raceway Park in Baytown, Te xa s , on O c t ob er 29. The win o ver Gena Sca li (Suz) in the final came whi le Schultz, a multi-t ime series champion , is in the midst of chemotherapy treatmen t for colon cance r. Do ct ors had cleared Schultz to ride for the event, but he may mis s t he fina l roun d of the s e rie s at Po mo na as he goes t hro ug h anot her ph ase of c hem ot hera py . Bo th S ee ling and defend ing series ch amp ion Matt Hines (Suz) lost in the second round of co mpetit ion, but Seeling clinched the title by outqualifying Hines and thu s earning th e o ne extra poi nt that she needed to elimina te her rival from t he c hase and become t he first wo man to w in t he Pro Stock Bike championship. coveted four-stroke ride has gone to t he likes of Doug Henry and J immy Butt on, bot h o f who m had ne v er ra c e d th e mach ine be fore . Ferry join s Henry and Butt on wit h no prior experience. " I have bee n te sting the bike lately , and I like it a lot , " said Ferry in an SFX press release. " It has a lot more pow er than a regular 250 cc bike. I will continue testing and ge t the se tt ing s just right for th e 2001 EA Sp orts Su perc ro ss season . " Th us far , Henry has been the most successfu l rider aboard the four-stroke in Supercross and mo to c ro ss co mpe t ition. Known mo st ly f o r it s h ig h -e nd pu ll ing p o w e r, t h e Y2 400F too k Henry to the top in 1998, as he wo n th e outdoo r Na tio na l M otoc ro ss titl e, mak ing Henry t he first rider to win an AMA Nat ional Motocro ss title on a four-st rok e. O O D O O O O O O O O Five leading D ani sh Speedw ay Club s : Outrup, Hoist ed, Hem ing, Siangerup and Brovst to get her with Sw edish and G erman rep resentatio n fro m G o t henburg , Gislaved and Gu est ro w have formed a new organization under the name Speedway Euro League. The new league has been established in order to form a European tou rn am en t as early as 20 0 1. A board has bee n elected and sh ortly a press c o nfere nce w ill b e he ld w here futu re pla ns w ill be announ ced , but the move is one that co uld prove to be posllive for the sport in the long run. According to Cy cle News' worl d speedway correspo ndent J oh n H ip k is s , the announceme nt has come pursuant to rumblings that something needed to be done to shore up t he independent league syst ern s (wee kly te am even t s) th at t ake place in the UK and acro ss the European continent, as the talent gap betw een the top riders in the W orld Speedway Grands Prix and so me of the lesser · thoug h no less valuable - organ izations in countries that play a vital role in fee ding rider s to the sport . "This [Speedway Euro League] consists of leagues where there has bee n a min imum of ac t iv ity . " Hip ki ss sai d . " De nmark is like second-divis ion Briti sh League, althou gh they do have a few top riders, such as Nick i Pedersen , who is a ris ing sta r. G ermany is do w n to abo ut eight club s, and they only hold meet ings a few times a year. Sweden is on the upturn but , agai n, t hey d on 't have t hat many teams. It won 't impact the Polish scene , because that 's w here the money is right now , and riders don' t care if t hey miss meet ings anywhe re else to go to Poland. A s for the Brit ish League, this may affec t t he lower-order ri ders but not the t op names. Ov erall, I think that this is a good thing , and if it ultimately can enco mpass all of Europe, inclu ding Pol and and the UK , it w ill be a benefit to the sport . Forming such a league cou ld be an answer to bringing a new att ract ion for the fans of O O O O O D Jason Ra ines and Robbie J enks put toge the r a nearly flawless three-and-a half hours of wo rk to capt ure the 2000 Team Hare Scrambl es Ch ampi on shi p of t he W orld , in A lbany , Oh io, on Octob er 29 . The Yamaha teammate s claimed thei r first Action Sports Racing tit le by a 2-minute, 39-seco nd margin ove r 1998 Ch ampions Doug Blackwell and Barry Hawk, also on Yamahas . Defending cha mpio ns Sco tt Plessinger and And y Shea finished t hird on their KTMs. Older off-roa d stars also finished on top as ISDE riders Mark Hyd e and W ally W ilson won the Senior class in t he mo rning and t he O pen class in t he afte rnoo n w hile fo rme r Nation al Enduro Champion Jeff Russell teamed with D.R. Atw ood to win the Lightw eight division. 8 O A s ha s b ee n re ported earlie r , forme r .125 cc Ea st e rn Re g io na l S u p e rc r o s s Ch amp ion Tim Ferry wi ll pil o t Team Ya ma ha's po pul ar YZ 4 26 F durin g t he 2001 AMAl EA Sports Superc ro ss and AMA/Chevy Tru ck s M ot o cro ss Seri es. Fe rr y' s ne w co ntrac t ma r k s fac to ry Yamaha ' s th ird rider compe ti ng aboard t he t eam th um pe r in American p rofe ssio nal co mpet it ion . In his 10th yea r o f profession al racing, Ferry has been given a second c hance unde r a facto ry te nt. From 1995-1997, Ferry held down a factory 125c c ride for Team Suzuki . This factory experience paid off in 1997 w hen he won his first-ever 125cc Regional Supercross t it le : howeve r, his cham pions hip was n' t enough to grant him anothe r ride w it h Suzuki or any ot her fact ory team . This placed Ferry on the privateer road as he headed int o th e 1998 seaso n on a suppo rt ride with Team Noleen Yamaha. He als o rode alo ngs ide S up erc ro s s Ch ampion J eremy M cGrath on t he now defun ct Chaparral Ya maha squad. The O O O O O O O O O O O "We ll, you know it's in there , and you sort of want to have a look at it." Cycle News European contributor Geoff Meyer {an Australian /, explaining his feelings on his and his wile's overdue baby. speedwa y , and might prov ide a bit of a rebirth . Do me st ic leagu e s are o n the decline, and they cannot continue to keep up w it h the G P ci rc uit , wh ich w ill hol d seven rounds in 200 1 and eight rounds by 2002. This could be a program that w ould compliment the GPs nicely. " Aust ralian road racer D a mon Buckmaster is still without a ride for the 200 1 racing seaso n, desp ite t he fact th at he won three races en route to finishing second in the 75 0cc Supersport Ser ies on his Chaparral/Mazda Suzuki. Buckmaster, who is curre ntly living in C hino Hills, Califom ia, says he is in the process of gett ing ready to return to Austra lia. He is so mewhat miffe d at not getting any offers to stay in AMA racing for 2001 . " I was really expecti ng bet t er from our se ason th an w hat I've got, " Buckma ster said. " I' ve bee n ch ec kin g ou t England , but it' s all pretty hard right now. I think all I can do is hang on th e sideli ne and see what happens. I'm hoping so mething co mes up. " A fire destroyed one of Renthal's manufa c turing faci l ities in S t ockpo rt , England, on Tuesday , acco rding to Renthal. The fire broke out at appro ximately 9 a.m. during normal manufactu ring hours. Al l of the employees escaped unharmed , but t h e b uild ing was co mp le te ly dest royed. The inventory of finished product, kept in an adjacent buildi nq , was undamaged . J im Hale, President of Ren· thai America said, "This was unfo rtunate and there w ill prob ably be a shortage of Renthal sprocket s and Tw inW all hand lebars. Fortun ately , there wa s a great deal of p ro du ct p ro duced in antic ipatio n o f spring 200 1 sales. How ever, we have a b it o f work t o d o i n th e upco ming mont hs. " Product ion will be increased in Renth al' s ot her faci lities to try and avoid shortages t his up coming Sprin g 20 0 1, acco rding to Renthal. Tadayuki Okada has signed fo r the Cast ro l Ho nd a tea m to race alo ngs ide de fen d in g Wo r ld Ch am p i o n C o l in Edw ard s in t he 20 01 W orld Superb ike C hamp io n sh ip , acco rding to a p re ss release from t he tea m. O kada, 33, has r ac ed 25 0 c c an d 5 00 c c Grand Pri x machines in a 1O-year career with Honda. He finished runner-up in the 250 cc W orld C hamp ionship in 1994 and runner-up in t he 5 0 0 c c se ri es in 19 9 7. " I ' m ve ry r!lGfJDOO@[JLJDDfJD [gDfJD(JJ @(J [i3@ [(@[l 0 5J@~&J _ _ _DfJD Yamaha's David VuiJIemin was the undisputed King of Bercy after winning every 250cc race he competed in at the Paris-Bercy Supercross held over the October 29-31 weekend in France. VuiJIemin, the defending Bercy Champion , is the first person to achieve a perfect score at this race, Vuillemin began his sweep Friday night by winning both finals over seven-time AMA Supercross Champion Jeremy McGrath and Honda's Sebastien Tortelli, who reeled in McGrath after a bad start in the second final. Suzuki's Mickael Pichon finished fourth both times. After racing the first night with a standard fork because his factory front suspension was damaged in a race the previous week. McGrath received his new fork for his Yamaha just in time for Saturday night's race, but the new unit wasn't enough to prevent VuiJIemi n from winning again. McGrath started right behind Vuillemin in both mai ns but would end up crashing in each. In the flrst final, Vuillemin won over Tortelli and McGrath, and in the second final, Vuillemin won again. toppi ng Tortelli , Pichon and McGrath. Vuillemin 's bid for a perfect record was nearly broken in the first final on Sunday . Tor tell i led most of the race unti l Vuillemin got him for the win. In the second final , Vuillemin took the holeshot and ran away with his sixth straight win of the weekend. Tort elli again took second. Despite finishing second in his qualify ing heat race. McGrath called it a weekend with a sore thumb , which he injured in one of his previous night's crashes. After all of the points were tallied following the three nights of racing. VuiJIemin was crowned King of Bercy, Second overall went to Tortelli, followed by Pichon, Damon Huffman (Suzuki) and A ustralian Michael Byrne (Honda) , In the 125cc class, American Justin Buckelew claimed the Prince of Bercy crown, win ning five out of nine finals. Overall, it was Buckelew taking the win, followed by last year's Prince of Bercy Rodrig Thain (KTM). and Greg Schnell (Yamaha). 8~QJ[ll)[bG[?---------o o o 8 o o o 2 NOVEMBER 8 . 2000 ' cue I e n e VIl' s

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