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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AMA /Che vy Tru ck s U .S . Superb ik e Ch amp ion ship Roo kie of th e Year . The aw ard is presented to the rid er w ho , in h i s fir s t f u ll s e a so n a s a S uperb ike license holder, gains the mo st points in the series. Mennen ga, o f Freepo rt , Illi nois, has held an AMA Pro Racing Expert lic e n se si nc e 1997 and receive d his Supe rb ike license in D ec ember 1999 . D ur in g the 2000 season, Menn eng a en te re d f iv e Supe rbi ke events , two of which we re doub leheaders, on his way to earning 22nd place overall in the champio ns hip st and ings . His be st f in is h w as 16th at Daytona. He also co mpeted in the 750cc Supe rsport Seri es, wh ere he finished 11th overall. ppy to be join ing t he Castrol Honda am and maki ng t he sw itc h to Su per. ike, - said Okad a, from Kanagawa, pan. " I know riding along side the W orld hampion will set it s own targets, but I'm nfident I ca n be successful." Okada place s Aaron S light after the N ew ea land er spen t se ve n year s with t he am , fini shing runner-up in the W o rld uperb ike c ha mpions hip in 1996 and 998 . Team manage r Ne il Tuxworth co mented: '" believe Ok ada will be good for e team . He bring s w it h hi m a lo t o f peri ence and has w on 500 cc Grand s rix so we 're confident he will prove to e a st rong teammate for C olin Edwards. kada has twice wo n the Suzuka 8 hours ndurance race , on a Superbike, so his upe rbike po t ent ial is there f or all to ee . - Tuxw o rt h added : "Aaro n S light orked very hard fo r t he team in the ven years he wa s with us and everyone Castrol Honda is very appreciat ive of at. Aaron pl ayed an important part in e developme nt of the RC 45 and VTR achines and is one of the harde st w orkg riders 'I will ever work with. - T he AMA ha s also anno u nced that Jason Tyer is the 2000 AMA Progressive Insurance U .S . Flat Track Ch ampi onships Rookie of the Year, Tyer, of Irving, Texas, plac ed th is year 28th out o f 42 riders earning champio nship points in the series. He began his AMA Pro racing ca reer in 199 6 wh en he became a Pro Sport rider and steadily gained enough points for his Gra nd Nationa l license. He reached that goal by the end o f the 1999 season, finishing fourth overa ll in the 600 Hot sho e serie s and 18th overall in t he Harley-Davidson Sport ster Performance series. efending AMA 250 cc Grand Prix C hamion Chuck Sorensen isn't certai n of is p lans for th e 200 1 raci ng season , ough he' s been busy making sure all his ptio ns are covered . Sorensen re cen tly sted Co lin Jensen's April ia RSV250 at ortl and International Raceway in Port nd , Oregon , and fo und the bike to his k in g . " T ha t tes t went r e all y well. " o rensen said . " The bike had excellent p-end power and good handling. I'm still iking with them now. - Sorensen, how ver , is op timistic of working so mething ut fo r n ex t ye a r with his longtim e acker, Yamaha - the bike he used to win is yea r's title with backing from World ports . So rensen also recently had an uting on a PJ l -backed Yamaha at Butnwillow. " It diffe red a bit from my bike, orensen said, " but it wa s basically the ame. I'm also still co ntemplating riding a ur-strok e next year if th e o pportuni ty rise s. - In addition to prep aring for the 00 1 season, Sorens en is also keepin g usy try ing to finalize his next Advantage aci ng Sch ool ses sion at Ken M aely' s nch in Co ron a, California. The one-day chool, w hic h use s Ho nda XR 1OOs as aining t o o ls, is sc he duled t o run on ovember 4 and there is st ill space availble . For more info rmation on the schoo l, all 408/374-4298 or vis it t heir we bsi te t www. xr100.com . Th i s y e ar ' s A Da y in the Dirt mot o cross eve nt wi ll featu re a separate women' s 45-minute Gra nd Prix-sty le race - th e WML Pro -Am Grand Prix 2000 . Among th ose scheduled to com pete are L o u is e Kenned y, the 2000 British Women ' s M X Ch ampion , who will be rac ing in the Pro Di vi sion whil e 11yea r-o ld Kelly Phill ips , also fro m Grea t B rit ain , w ill compet e in t h e Amateur class . The 2000 A Day in the D irt event will be held November 24 -26 at LA County Racew ay C C Rl in Palmdale, C aliforLA nia. The women will comp et e on Sunday, November 26 at 11: 15 a.m. On Satu rday , November 25 , women vintag e racers will co mpete during the V intage G rand Prix at 8:30 a.m. Accord ing to the AMA, you can sign up for the 2000 AMA N atio na l C ha m p ions Awards Ba nquet right now by logging onto www .am ap roracing .com . Ju st scroll down to the Aw ards Banquet news release and click on the link to the sec ure on-line applica tion form , Tick et s can also be purchased via phone by calling 614 /856-1910, ext. 1232 . M A Pro Ra cing ha s an no unced th at a n d all Menneng a i s th e 20 0 0 W@!JiJD@[}f)@ ffJG!JOO~ u[}f)@ ffJOG!J@ @[fiJ 1!l!l@!lO(j) [BG!J[fJ@!l@il!JI@ Yamaha will no longer field a factory team in the World Superbike Champio nship , it was announced on Saturday, October 28 at the Australian Grand Prix, The team, which has participated in the World Superbike Series since 1995, will disband with star rider Noriyuki Haga signing a contract to race in the 2001 500cc World Championship Road Race Series on a Red Bull Yama ha YZR500 , alongside Aus tralia n Garry McCoy, Haga finished second in this year's World Superbike Championship, despite a one-race suspension and the loss of points from one of the two South African rounds after failin g a drug test, The offic ial announcement confi rmed growing rumors in the Grand Prix paddock in Australia, and will cert ainly be a blow to the produ ction -based four-strok e World Champ ionship Series - a series that is already reelin g in the fresh surge of interest from manufactur ers and car-racing specialist firms in the four-stroke Grand Prix Series that is scheduled to debut in 2002 , Yamaha will continue to develop the YZF-R7 Superbik e for the All-Japan Superbike Champ ionship and for the Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race, and will also continu e to field R6s in t he World Sup er sport Seri es, whic h they won th is yea r with German J orge Teuchert. Yam aha has also pl edged to make updated kit parts available to privateer teams competing in national and intemationa l Superbike Champi onships next year, Michael Scott Racing legend Gary Nixon w ill be the guest of honor at the A MA/Will Stoner Vintage M ot orcycle Swapmeet and Show on November 12 at the Richland County Fairgro und s in Man sfi eld, O hio , A s an added feature, several motorcycles from the M ot orcycl e Hall of Fame Museum w ill be on display. The tw o-time AMA Grand Nati onal Champion will pick the " Nixon' s Ch oice - winner in the bike show as well as sign autographs and visit with the fans from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Fair Haven Hall. Show hou rs are 8 a.m . to 3 p.rn. A mong th e machi nes on display from the Picke rington , Oh io, M o to rcycl e Hall o f Fame Mu se um will be a fact ory Triumph like the one Nixon rode to victory at Dayt ona and the KR750 Kawasak i he used in 1976 . Young Au st ralian road racer C hr is V erme u le n wi ll co ntest t he 2001 W o rld Sup ersport Championship for the Castrol Honda team , acco rding to C astroI Honda. year-otd from Yandina in QueensThe IBv land wi ll rac e Honda' s new CBR600F Sport in the 13-round championship. " It's a great opportunity fo r me and w ith the team th at ' s ju st wo n a W orld Ch ampi ons hip , - sa id V ermeul en . " I had th ree races w it h th e team thi s ye ar and the y are about the best in the business. " Vermeu len re plac ed Shinya Take ishi in the Ca strol Honda team for t he fin al three rounds of this year. He finished a debut sixth at Assen in Holland , was taken out . .......... .... .. .. .. .. . . . .. . . .. . .. . .. .. .. . .. . . . . . . .. . .. .. . .. . . . . . .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . . .. .. .. . . . . .. . .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. . .. .. " . http://www .gbrothersracing.com and will provide coverage of the ISDE in Granada. Spain. according to the Garrahans. A P POINTED : Jamie Elvidge, as editor of emap Publishing's Motorcycle C ruiser magazine. replacing Art Friedman who has moved to emap Digital as content director for the Group's forthcoming Internet sites. OPENED: Steve Hatch Motorcycle Adventures, providing organized NAMED: Melvyn Record, as director of marketing for Sears Point off-road and dual sport tours in Arizona. M exico's C opper Canyon, and For more inf ormati on. lo g o n to th e sou t hwe s tern U .S . Raceway in Sonoma, C alifornia . effe ctive immediately. www.stevehatchadventures.com. or call 480/ 962-7345. OPENED: Dirt Kids' home page on the World Wide Web. The site can be found at the following address: http:// www.dirtkids.com. MOVED: QuickTime Motorsports, to 2122 Parkway Drive, Unit D. St. Peters, MO 63376, 636/44 1·2453. CORRECTION: Our coverage of the Mammoth MX Ii in a recent issue NAMED: Ryan Valade, as wholesale manager for Magnum Distributing. had the wrong finishing positions for the 250cc Pro class. Third place went to Dave Shelton and not Chris Ridgway as reported. effective immediately. For more information, cali 800/783-5859. MARRIED: Racers Heather Smith and Tyler Sandell, on September 23 in Issaquah, Washington. Smith is a former road racer and employee of 1 gOMotorsports while Sandeli actively competes in road racing, SuperTI, dirt track and hare scrambles. OPENED : Brian and Patrick Garrahan' s home page on the World Wide W eb . The si te ca n be fo und at the fo llow ing address : ACCEPTING : Progrip is currently accepting racer resumes for the 2001 racing season. Resumes can be sent to Progrip USA, 13275 Paxton St.. Arleta, CA 91331. RESIGNED: Matt Freeman, as Press Relations Coordinator for American Suzuki M otor C orporation, to pursue a career in teaching and freelance journa lism . Fre e ma n ca n be re ached at the followi ng e -ma il address: Freemanrace@aol.com; mailto:Free manrace@aol.com. ............................. . ................ . ................. . . ................................ . . . . . . . .... ... ..... . . . . . . ....... . ... ... . . . ..... . ... . ...... .............. . . . . . ...... . .... . cue ' e n in a first-corne r crash at O schersleben in Germ any and took 11th place at Brand s Hatch in England after a qualifying crash left him sta rt ing from 32nd on th e gr id. Th e final de tail s for t he 200 1 Ca stro l Honda Supersport te am are sti ll und er negotiation. The S idecar Racers Assoc iation will hold its awards dinner on November 11 at C aesar' s in San Fran ci sc o , C aliforn ia, beginning at 4:30 p.m. The co st is $35 per person. For more informatio n or to RSVP , call Rory O'Connor 415/626-2003 , CCS and WERA roa d rac ers W estley Greenwalt and M ichael Mogus were bo th killed on th eir way to Daytona Internat ional Spe edw ay for the CCS Race of Ch ampions w hen a tracto r-trailer hit thei r va n he ad -on . B o t h were p ron o unce d dea d at th e sce ne o f t he accident ju st out side of Richm ond, Virginia. Both w ere first -year amateu rs from the Wa shington, D.C . area. Now t hat th e U. S. M o t o c r o s s de s Nations te a m of Ryan Hughe s, Ricky C arm ich ael an d T rav is Pa stran a ha s returned from France w ith a victory , the cha mpio nshi p trophy is back sta tes ide once agai n. Fans can see the w ell-trav eled trop hy for themselves at the M ot orcycle Hall of Fame M useum in Pickerington, Ohio. Once a fixtur e in America, the trophy hasn't spent much ti me here in the pa st decade, The A merican M o toc ro ss des Nat ions team domi nated t he annual race beginning in 198 1 when Ch uck Sun , J ohnny O 'Mara, Danny laPorte and Donnie Hansen gave the U.S . team their firs tever v icto ry in Beilstein, Germany . The unprecedented 13-year w in streak co ntinued until 1994 when the U .S . suffe red defe at , falling to the Great Britain team . Alth ough the U.S . te am rebounded with a vic to ry in 19 96 , the mid -t o -late 199 0 s marked an era when there was no longer a guarantee that the Americans wou ld be vic torious in the prestigious international race . "The trophy will be in a case with an interpretive panel in our Hall of Fame on t he low er level, - says M ark M ederski. " For a long time, this trophy pretty much lived with us. It' s good to have it back. " The Di rt Diggers will host the 29 th running of th e Lilliputian Hare Scrambles on Novem ber 4 at the Prairie C ity - -- - - - - - Continued on page 72 e _ so • NOVEMBERS. 2000 3 o o 8 o o o n o o L 8 o o o o o o o o 5 c o '" u " LJ n ,....., \.... 'J CJ o CJ o 1"1 U fl o o 8 o o o o o o

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