Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

cD 8 o o o o o o o o Man ag er of M ot o r cyc l e Sp o rts and Press . " Chuck has an innate understand ing of the racing environment and. together w ith his well- honed knowledge of our bus iness. he w ill be a key to our success in the futu re. " Mill er is best known to raeing enthus ia s ts as a multi -t im e B aj a champion . having earned four ov erall vic tories in t he Baja 500 and Baja 10 0 0 . M iller also eamed a gold medal in ISDE co mp et it io n in 1986. S ince coming to Honda as an ATV Race Team Technician in 1984. Miller rose steadily in the company. In 1990 he joined the Rider Educat ion and Recreat io n D epartm ent as a Z one Act iv ity C o ordinat or. In 1992 he became a supervisor with the Honda Riders Clu b of Am erica. and in 1996 Mill er w as responsib le for all of the M ot orcycle Di vision' s pr odu ct sho ws and logist ic s. Mill er was appo inte d Assistant Manager o f M o to rcycl e Sp orts ear lier this year. Rep ort ing to M ille r will be M oto c ro ss Technical Directo r Cliff Whi te. who will guide the develop ment effo rt of Honda' s 125cc and 250cc two-stroke motocross ma c h in e s, as w e ll as t he recently a nnou nce d 400 c c + / - fo ur-s troke mo t oc ross er. Ro ad racing team crew ch iefs Ray Plumb and M erly n Plumlee. who will be directing Honda's expanded t hr e e -rid er S upe r bik e racing effort in 2001 . will also report to M iller. o o o c o c o o o o o o A hard-fought compromise between environmentalists and motorized recreat ion ist s was finalized on October 31 when an initial st ipulation restricting OH V use in t he Imperial Sand Dunes Recre· ation Area was mod ified to allow addi· tio nal OH V rec reational opportunities . The agreement was com pleted as part of a laws uit filed in U. S . District Court fo r the Nort hem D istrict of California by the Cen ter for Biologic al Diversity and other organizations against the Bureau of Land M anagement. con ten ding that the Bureau had failed to co mply with the Endangered Sp eci es Ac t in managing the C aliforni a Desert C onservati on Area. The aqree ment was signed by these two part ies . as well as a coalition of recreat ional organization s. incl uding the High Desert Mu ltiple U se C o alitio n. De se rt V ipers. S an D ie g o Off- Road C o al it io n. Ca liforni a Association of 4 W heel Drive C lubs and the B lueRibbo n C oalit ion. These recre at ional groups successfully intervened in the act ion in August and part icip ated in final discu ssions on October 30 and 31 in a settlem ent conference conduc ted by U.S . Magistrate J udge Jo seph Spero . 8 o o o c r; I....J r: Newly signed Red Bull/ KTM rider Brock Sellards has signed a long-term aq reement to wear Sidi boots in all his racing activities . Motoworld Yamaha recently sig ned a deal to use and endorse FM F pipes and silencers in its 2001 expanded race effort. Team Motoworld will field Damon Huff man. Greg Schnell. Isaiah Johnson and Keith Johnson. As furthe r evidence of Stan Lee Media' s ability to partner wi th dominan t brands in genre·specific markets (The Backstreet Boys, M ary J . Blige. Gene Roddenberry). a five -yea r agree ment has been forged with Kentucky-based sports managemen t firm OMS Ltd. to crea te superhero alter egos fo r Mike LaRocco . Ben Bostrom . M issy Gi ov e , Sebastien Tortelli . Scott Summers and Lance Isaacs. Under the agreement. the com panies will jo int ly dev elop and own "an imat ed br and ex tensions " of these ath letes for all media exploitation. with Stan Lee M edia retaining the sole right to dis tribute projects for Intemet. hom e video . cab le . sate ll ite and other med ium s . incl udi ng traditional licen sing and merchandising. according to OMS . According to Ken W illiam s . president and CEO of Stan Lee M edia. "Motorcycle racing has million s of fans in the U .S . and abroad . and what better way to reach them than through animated ver sions of the sport's mo st popular sta rs? W e are pleased to partner with O M S to broaden the brand value of these athletes through the imprimatur of Stan Lee . " "The athlete s we've assembled for th is project and the fast paced . colorful racing sports they engage in are a natural fo r animat ion. " OMS Ltd . managing director Fred Bramblett added . " Motorcycle racing has always been considered the original extreme sport and extreme sports are enjoying tremendous growth and popularity worldwide today. Tuming t hese premier racing athle tes into superheroes is a nat ural extension of that popu larity and provides tremendous new medi a and merchandising opportunit ies for our clients . " Team Repsol YPF Honda riders had a two -day test at Phill ip Island al mos t imm ed iatel y after the Australian Grand Prix wit h bot h A le x C r iv ill e and new teammat e Japanese Tohru U kawa riding t he 2001 Honda NSR500. O n day one. C riville lapped at 1:32.8. almos t one second faster than the 1:33.6 he reqis- tered during official practice at the Australian G rand Prix and very clo se to Ap rilia rider and pole-setter J eremy McWilliams (l :32.5). according to the team. 'I'm very happy with t his bike. " C riv ille said in a Honda press release . " It feels really good and I know we 're definite ly on the right path . We all agree on tha t po int . We've now got a lot of wor k to do in the next few mo nths. Of course. being a new bike there are always many more d ifferent things to test. I'm really excited and look ing fo rward to some mo re ." It was Ukawa's first ride on a 500cc Honda. The Japanese rider focused on gaining confi dence on the b ike . after a career of 250cc racing . On the second day o f the test , bo th riders con ti nue d working on the ir new Hondas although bad weather cond itions didn't allow them set faster lap times. " It's a pity it rained on the last day because I only hoped I co uld have co ntinued to work on the b ik e with bet t er weather cond itions. " C riville said . Team Repsol YPF will be testing at the Sepa ng circu it in Malaysia. November 17-19 . and in Jerez, Spain. November 27-29 . W ell-known TNN Motorsports announcer S teve Ev a ns died on November 1 in Las Vegas. Nevada. Evans. a re sident of Mission Viejo . California. wa s in town as part of the TN N M otorspo rt s broadcast team covering the Pennzoil World of Out laws Series fin ales be ing held at Las Vega s Motor Speedway. Evans was 58 years old and is su rv ived by his wife . S andy , and t h re e ch ildren . Evan s had been with TNN M ot orsports since 19 83 , and worked on a number of different raeing se ries includ ing NASCAR . NHRA D rag Rac ing Se ries . W orld o f Outlaws Sprint Car Racing and ASA stock car racing. He wa s also an avid motorcycle-racing fan . and had announced s evera l motorcy cle races for the TNN ' s American Sport s Ca valcade prog ram in t he ' 80 s and ·90s . Accordi ng to Brian Hughes . Sen ior Vice President. Spo rt s and Ou td oors. T N N . the loss is being fe lt t hr o ug ho ut the TNN family. " W e are deep ly saddened by t he lo ss of our friend and coll ea g ue . S t ev e Ev ans . " Hughes said. " He has been an integral part of our TNN Motorsports te am for nearly two decad es and will be sorely missed by the entire TNN family. Our heart s and prayers g o out t o his fa mily an d loved o nes ." Evans ' career beg an in 1966 w hen he served as co mmentato r fo r t he Nat ional Hot Rod Associat ion (N HRA l W intemationals drag race in Po mona. California. .......... . · . . . . . .... .... .... .. .... . . ........ . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . ...... . . . . . .... . . .... .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . .... . . . . : : : : chester Honda's Kevin Kulpa. to his girlfriend. Hilary Fisher. on Septem- : ber g in Manchester. : : ACCEPTIN G : Zero Gravity is currently accepting racer resumes for the : : : 2001 road racing season. Resumes can be sent to Bill Todd. racer sup- : port coordinator. 310 Cortez Circle. Camarillo. CA 93012. : : OPE NED: Brad Wood Racing Suspension. 16302 Laurel Run Rd.. Nel:. sonville. OH 45764. 740/753-4705. www.bradwoodracing.com. • • ACCE PT IN G: DH Racing Product s is currently acce pting racer resumes for the 2001 racing season. Resumes can be sent to: DH Hac ing Products. 1527 Gregg St.. Sparks. NV 89431 . \""..J r MARRIED: M anchester Honda Racing's Scott Carter to his girlfriend. : Heather Frazier. on September 30 in M anchester. Connecticut and M an· : : ACCEPTING: VortexSports is currently accepting racer resumes for : the 2001 racing season. Resumes can be sent 0 Vortex. 36181 East . Lake Rd.. Ste.132. Palm Harbor. FL 34685. • . . · · o· o c c o o· o . RESIGNED : Mario Galasso: Vice President of New Product Development and project leader for the MX and FX rnot or sport s projects. from the Cannondale Corporation. "Cannondale has given me many opportunities over the years. I wish the group that I had the privilege to build. work with. and manage. the very best of luck." said Galasso. who has started a company called Inside Une that will specialize in vehicle product devel - ACCE PTING: SDG is currently accepting racer resumes for the 2001 racing season (late-mode big bike racers only). Resumes can be sent to l SDG. 1627 Boyd. Santa Ana. CA 92705. attn: MX Support. opment consulting (including race machine preparation), and will market HIRED : Paul Harrell. as product development manager. and Chris Kasey. as media manager. of Lockhart Phillips USA in San Clemente. Califomia. For more information. call lockhart Phillips at 800/2 21-7291. .... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. high-performance chassis and suspension components for the motorsports industry. Galasso can be reached at 203/3 64-081 0 (phone/fax). or mrricagalas@ cs.com (e- m ail) . .. ..... 2 NOVEM B ER 15.20 0 0 ' cue • e n e _ s ....... ........ ..... ...... . ........ Evans anno unced events for N BC ·TV·s · " Sports W o rl d " and co -host e d its " S pee dWorld" programs. He also co vered speedway motorcyc le ra ci ng for ES PN and t he USA N etwo rk . He was named M edia Person of the Year in 1989 by the National Sprint Car Poll. rec eived the 198 7 G o rdo n S mil ey A w ard f ro m SCCA fo r significa nt contribu t ion to motorsports and was p resented t h e M o t o r Award for c o mmerc ial work. A memorial fund has been set up in Evans' memory. Co ntribu t ions may be sent to the f o ll o w in g address : S t eve Ev an s M emorial Fund. 27 422 V ia Garcia. M is· sio n Viejo. California 92692 The AMA and AMA Pro Rac ing hav e been nam ed in a lawsuit. along wit h other entities . filed by the family of the late dirt track racer Toby Jo rgense n in D all as C ounty . Texas . Th e J o rgensen family and the motorcy cl ing community suffe red a great loss as a resu lt of Toby 's tragic deat h as the resu lt of injuries suffered in a crash at the D all as Mile in 1999 . At the advice of legal counsel. the A M A and AMA Pro Racing cannot provide any further comment on the matter. Cycle News w ill have more information as th is story develops. Dunlop officials have confirmed that the company w ill sell d irt track t ires for the 200 1 racing season . the news coming on the heels of a successful test at D e v il s B o w l S p e e d w ay in Mesquite. Texas . on October 25 . Reigning Formula USAlWrenchead.com National Dirt Track Cham pion Ch ris Carr and current facto ry Harley-Davidson rider Rich King took part in the test that. according to Dunlop OffRo ad Race Manager B rian Flec k. gave the co mpany a lot of direction as it heads toward a production model. "We tested about 12 different patterns . " Fleck said. " We t e s t ed front and rear patterns . groove w id ths . a whole lot o f diffe rent th ings . Based upon w hat we learned , we have plans to go ahead and order molds so that we can have a tire ready by April 1. Daytona is too soon. but we plan to go the re with molded tires so that we can do so me final testing . Besides . we have to get them A M A-appro ved . which shouldn't be a probl em. Fleck said that the sizes for the tires will be 130/80-19 for the front and 140/80·19 forthe rear. "the same as the Continental s. " and that the tires will be competitiv el y p ric ed . "about $100 each. " Friends of Andy East . the former road racer wh o was killed Sunda y. October 1 in an o ff-road mot orcycle accident in the S am Houston Nat iona l Forest in Texas . hav e organized t he And y East Fun Day Fundraise r . The fundra iser w ill be held on November 19 from 9 a.m . to 5 p.m. at t he Outlaw Trax w ith proceeds to go to East' s family. East is survived by his wi f e. Krist en. daughter M eg an . 6 . and son . Ca rter. 3. A silent auct ion w ill also be held . w it h it em s donated by W orld Superbike Champion Colin Ed w ard s. who was a clo se friend of Easts and who se rv ed as a pall be arer at his funeral. Among t he Edw ard s it em s to be auc tioned off are: 199 2 OTS leather s (race worn during the 1992 AMA 250cc GP Championsh ip: 1992 tail section from the #45 Yamaha TZ 25 0 : a pair of Dayt ona - - - - - - - - Continued on page 90

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