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/128638
in appropriate areas of public lands. In additi on to his efforts in this country. Rasor holds two positions with the FIM: He is the president of the FlM' s Road Safety Commission and is a m ember of the Manageme nt Council , which guides the FIM's actio ns in all areas. "In choosing Robert Rasor as the AMA's president, we can draw on nearl y thr ee decades of back ground in dealing with the issues that confront motorcyclists," said Rick Gray, Chairman of the AMA Board, in a press release issued by the AMA. "Rob bring s a wealth of experience to the jo b of running the largest organization of motor cycl ists in the world. " Rasor takes over as president during a period when the AMA has tions. experienced the most rapid growth in its 76 -year histor y. In the past Rasor's tenure at the AMA has included several landmarkJ egislayear alone, the AMA has grown m or e than 12 pe rc ent. fr om tive vict ories, from the battle to stop the federal governme nt from blackmailing states over the issue of helmet laws to AMA victories..... 240,77 2 memb ers in October 1999 to more than 270 ,000 memb ers today. accordin g to the AMA . against bike bans in St. Louis, Missouri ; Springfield. Illinois; Brock "My mal" goal a~ AMA president will be to continue that growth ton, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; and other com munities nationcurve ," Rasor -satd. " A bigger, more or ganized AMA m eans a wide. He also oversaw the AMA 's effort to im pose a federal ban haltstrong er voice for ali·of America's motorcy clists. In addition," Rasor ing health -care discrim ination against motorcyclists on the part of said , " I will wor k to conti nue the growth in Association benefits, com panies and unions that provide insurance to work ers. An d he making AMA membership an eve~ better value than it is today ." led the fight to protect the rights of off- highway motorcyclists to ride The Board of Tru stees of the A merican Motorcycl ist Associ ation (AMA ) announ ced on Octob er 2 7 that Ro bert Rasor ha s bee n named the Association's new president, effective November 1. Th e announcement, made at a meeting of the AMA Board at the Associati on's head uarters in Pick ering ton , Ohio, follo ws the retir ement of J. Scott Thorn n, who had served as AMA president since Novemb er 1999. \ .,. Rasor has been a memb er of-t he AMA staff for nearly 28 years, start ing in January 1973 as a legislative analyst. In the early '80s, he bec am e directo r of the AMA ' s Go.;ernment Relat ions Department, a post subsequentl y titl ed vice president for,,govemment rela- The 'A d el a nto GP , sc hedu led for February 2-3 in Ad elanto , Ca lifo rnia, is no t a BIG 6 Series eve nt. according to District 37, as t he pro moters of the eve nt have chosen to w ithdraw from t he series. Fo r mo re info r mat io n, c all 7 14 / 377 -09 0 9 , 3tO/322-3 6 12 or 56 2/4 23- 1889 . M otocrosser S teve Lucente , 34 , died o n O c tob e r 9 after a s ho rt il ln e s s . Lucente began racing at the age of 7 and f or the past t w o years raced AHRM A motocross and IT events. He is survive d by his sons , Jacob, 5. and Joey. 4. The Bureau o f Land Manag em ent has banne d off -road vehicles f rom 4 8,0 00 acr es of Imperia l County (C alifornia ) d e se rt t o pro te ct an e nda nge re d p lant - the " Pi erson ' s Mi lk -V e t c h , " a plant tha t grows on ly in the Imperial V alley desert . W hile env iro nme ntalis ts are lauding the decision. off-roade rs are up in arm s . " This is like a soc k to the stomach . " said J erry Seave r, chie f fin anc ial off ice r of the 18 ,OOO-me mbe r A meric an Sand A ss oc iation in a rec ent ed iti on o f t he Lo s A nge le s Time s . The c los ure, wh ic h was a nnounce d S atu rd ay , was bro ug ht abo ut by th e BLM avo id ing a trial. An attorney fo r a coa lition of off-road grou p s, how eve r. has filed a motio n in federal co urt see ki ng to block t he BL M fro m cl o sing th e area unt il a ju dge can hear testimony about how much real dange r t he off- roa de rs pose to the p lant, according to the Times. The Women's Schoo l of Motocross w ill be ho lding schools in Cottonwood. Ar izona, on November 11; D ixon , California o n N ovembe r 18; and Ca rson C it y , N eva d a . on N o v em b e r 25. Fo r more inform ation. ca ll 949/ 837-2206 . • Mighty Zealous Like Italy's MV Ag usta/Cagiva facto ry. Germ any' s MZ has both the best and the worst of all problems, caused for pre cisely the same reasons. The Malaysian-owned successor to the motorcycle colossus of the forme r DDR is struggling desperately to step up production in order to meet demand for its back-ordered. RTI25 four-valve single-cylinder family , which has been a sell-out in MZ's home market since its January launch. but still can't yet reac h export customers including those in the USA which are next on the company's list .. until MZ's suppliers get cranked up to meet what has frank ly been for them an unexpected success. "We'll end up producing aro und 14,500 motorcycles In calendar year 2000, but we'd projected 21,000 bikes and have orders for all of them," says MZ boss Petr-Karel Korous. "Many of our suppliers didn't believe we could make a success of our rebirth, and now we're paying the price while we try to source alternatives." Die-cast crankcases for the liquid-cooled single are the biggest ho ldup but, once these are on line, the company's 270 workers will be stepping up RTl25,production to 350 bikes a week, says Korous, alongside the 24-hour triple-shift manu facture of the company 's best-se lling Charly electric bike, 750 of which are being built each month, for 50/50 distribution between the USA and Europe . Two mo re versions of the little street single were launched at Munich 's Interm ot N ew ly c row ned Cana dia n Su p e rbik e Cham pion Steve Crevier wi ll be th e guest inst ruct or at the Southwest Sportbike S c ho ol in D e m ing, N ew M ex ic o , N ovember 4-5 . For mor e info rmation , ca ll 505 / 892-1692 . Eddie Mulder w ill be puttinq o n a twoday dirt track sc hoo l to be held Saturday and S un d ay . N o v e m be r 4 - 5 in Rosamond , C alifo rnia. The first day is half classroom. half bike setu p (bring yo ur dirt tracker) . The second day wi ll feature ontrack inst ruction at W illow Springs Interna- show, the RTI25SX street scrambler and RTI 25SM.superrnotard-typ e spino ffs, eac h using the same 15-horsepower rest ricted versi on of the DOHC eng ine, and weigh ing 293 pound s with full street equipme nt. The RT 125 engine can be stretched all the way to 245cc reliably, says Korous , giving MZ the option of developing 150cc, 180cc, 200cc or 25 0cc vari ants of each RT model, depending on the individual needs of target markets such as Southeast Asia, India .or China - or the USA. But MZ's next-generation twin-cylinder range also made its debut at Intermot, in the form of the 1000S sportbike with New Edge styling by Peter Kaumann, whose, studio was also responsible for the rather less performance-orientated BMW CI half-e-car. The 1000S is powered by a liquid-cooled DOHC eight-valve fuel-injected parallel-twin engine producing a claimed 125 horsepower at 11.000 ' rpm in prototype form, with twin balance shafts and 180-degree one-up , onedown crank throw (which MZ boss Petr Karel Korous says no longer contains any parts in common with the similar engine previously designed for MZ by their erstwhile partne rs in GP racing. Swissauto). It's likely to adopt the Kobra name of the company's acclaimed Yamaha TDM-engined prototype sportbike from the mid -'90s, by the time it reaches the mar ketplace in the spring of 2002 . Thereafter, MZ plans to launch at least one new model every year based on its parallel-twin family. which already exists in 600cc and 750cc engine formats - though the projected supercharged verson has'been scrapped , says Korous. One of these will be a 750cc Supersport contender, as well as 600/750 and 1000cc naked roadster models, and a 1000cc sports tourer. Hong Leong bike boss Ron Lim confirms the funding is in place for this volume of product development. of which the 1000S dislayed at Intermot is the lead-in model. Road testing of this in - j What are your fee lings on the nr:wK obe Brya nt Adidas commercial, in which the Lak ers star is shown riding a Ducati aggressiv ely in traffic? o o A. An NBA World Champion riding a motorcycle is good xposure fo'r the sport. B. The aggressive manner in which Bryant is shown riding wili 'Blm the sport:- ..-- - - : C. No opinion. D. Undecided. " I 72 NOVEMBER 8. 2000 ' cue I EO n e vv s Te am G reen wi ll also be atte ndi ng t he 29 th A nn ua l T ho r W in t e r N at io na l Olym pics in Gainesville. Florida. Novem ber 20-2 5. Full factory support by t rained Kaw asaki tec hnic ians w ill be available to any Kawasa ki racer. Support tru ck s will be on hand, as we ll as the Team Green Sem i with emergency parts. CN prototype form will begin in December. with the first two production mode ls set to be launched at the Paris Show a year from now - a sportbike similar to the 1000S, and a naked bike. And, says Korous . MZ has its own four-stroke Grand Prix project underway and a three-year contract with a major sponsor to help fund the development of a fue l-Injected 990cc V4 race engine set to debut in 2002. But for the 200 I season. MZ is trying to lease a works two-stroke from one of the Japanese manufacturers, in order to get the company's own GP team up and running again. _ _ _ _ _ _....1 To cast your vote, log on to http://www.cytlen ews.com. cyclenews.CDm . r e e d e r poll question of the week -- t io nal Rac eway . C o st is $ 400 fo r bo th days. w hich includes continental br8akfast and lunc h each day. Space is limited . Fo r mo re info rmation . call (66 1)268-0 10 5.