Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

with Ju rgen' s talent. and his technica l ability . My whole team feels rejuvenated. and thrs means that I am personally recommitted to the project - there's enough of the rider in me still that I have to feel motiva ted, and getting Jurgen on the team is more than enough to get us all going in sixth gear once again. We 're goi ng to be on a high for weeks. Since we f ir st bui lt our ow n mach ine, no t everybody has unders tood what we are doing . W e are an independent co mpany deve loping a 500cc Grand Prix motorcycle. a highly co mplex and technical pro duct. Our current partners wi th this program see that it is an invest ment . quite different from going racing with a leased J apan ese moto rcycle w ith their logos stuck on. We are building up our engineeri ng expertise , Ju rgen is very interested in the project. and he is interested in engineering, as all goo d riders are. It' s been a while since we've had a rider of his ca libe r committed t o our project. " Van den Goo rbergh's o lder brother, Patrick, wi ll also join the tea m. A for mer racer, Pat ric k has wo rked close ly on tec hnical deve lopment wit h his brother, bo t h on the fo ur -cyl inder M uZ and in 2000 on his V ·twin Honda. Tommy C lowers a nd C l ifford Adaptante we re the big winners at the SFX Freesty le M otocro ss held at The Spo rt s A rena in San Di ego , California, November 17- 18. Clowers took the win on Friday night and Adap tante on Sat urday night. Newly signed Yamaha factory rider Anthony Gobert raced in a Willow Springs M ot or cycl e Ciub eve nt at WiI· low Springs Raceway in Rosamond, C aliforni a, on Sund ay, November 19, Gobert rode a Yama ha R6 in fiv e races , win ning the 60 0cc Sup erspo rt. 650cc Superbike and Formula Two classes , In the Toyota Cup Unlimited Formula One rac e . Gob ert c hallenged fo r second early on before settling for third. Chuc k Graves, on a Yamaha R1. won the race .- AM A Pro Racing has announced t he addition of Houston Raceway Park in Bayt own, Texas. to the 200 1 A MA P rogress ive I n su ranc e U .S. F lat Track Championship schedule. The new half-mile event, slated to take place unde r the lights on April 21 , wil l run in conjunction with the AMA Prostar weekend being held on the quarter-mile drag st rip adjacent to the clay oval. The event is a first fo r A MA Pro star boss Keith Kizer. as it marks his first effort promoting an AMA Professional Flat Track race. " W e at A MA Pro st ar are pleased to branch out into promoting another type of event t hat will help enhance the overall show and introduce the sport of drag racing to a new audience . " said Kizer in an AMA release , " O ur partners in t hiS eve nt . H ou s t on Rac ew ay Pa rk . are thr illed to be responsible fo r bringing AMA flat-track racing back to Houst on, In the heydays of flat-track racing, Houston was one of the most successfu l and anticipated even ts on the schedule . " M ic hae l Rutte r rode his Level 3 Yamaha to victory in the M acau Grand Prix, held on November 1g , topping fellow Br it David J efferies by 9 .785 sec o nds . Je fferies also rode a Ya maha . American Mark Miller finished thi rd on hi s Att ack Pe rforman ce Yama ha R 1, Former Dayt ona 250cc Lightweight winner John M cGu iness finished fo urt h on a De mon Vim to Ho nda 500cc tw in, with si mila rly mo unt ed G us Scott fin ishing fifth. A me ric an M ike Barn es finished 12th whi le G rav es Yamaha 's Vincent Haskovec retired after 13 of 15 laps . D ut ch road rac er Jurgen van den Goorbergh will ride t he three-cylinder M odenas KR3 500 in next year's 500cc W orl d Champion ship in a move t hat has rider, team engi neers and team owner Kenny Roberts bubb ling wit h rev italized enthusiasm , according to a pre ss release iss ued by the team . The experi e nce d Dutchm an signed the one-year contract with the England-based team o wn ed by f o r me r th r ee - t i m e W o rl d Champion Robert s · on November 17... I am very exc ited," said van de n Goerbergh, fro m his office in Holland. "It's a big achievemen t for me to ride fo r Kenny Roberts. He has put so much into racing, and I t hink I am the rider to give him ba ck w hat he deserves in th e way o f good results," Van den Goorbergh tes ted th e KR3 af te r th e C zech Republ ic GP . and was immediately struck by the machine' s potential. Team Robert s was also impress ed by his sheer speed - settin g ti mes t hat matched those of t he race leaders on the previous day. as we ll as the technical knowledge and int el ligence he and his ex-racer brothe r Patrick brought to the task. " I can 't tell you how delighted I am." Robert s said fro m his hom e ou tsi de of M odesto . Californ ia. "It' s really good to have a rider 2 N OVEM BER 29 . 2000 ' cue Team Repso l YPF Honda riders A lex Criville and Tohru Ukawa recently comple ted a three-day test at the M alaysian circuit of Sepang . Once again. the team didn 't get the best weather conditio ns. with high temperatures and occasiona l rain showers making the first two day s miserable . How ever , o n th e last day , the wea ther stabilized so bot h riders were able to get their laps in. " I'm a bit upset because wea ther cond itio ns haven't let me test as much as I would have liked to , " Criville said in a Honda release , " But all in all. conclusions are pos itive because the new bike is getting close to what we 're looking for. Now it' s only a question of continui ng w ith our work in Jerez, testing more new things and tuning the bike's set-up . I've ridden almos t 50 laps to the circuit and my best times have been close to the other ridI e n e _ s ers ' so I think we 're on the right pat h, Basically. we've focused on the engine and some other new material. It' s very important to count on the new bike at this stage because now we have plenty of time to decide w hat is competitive and what isn 't ." W hile Criville has been testing the 2001 Honda. his new teammate Ukawa continues to adapt to t he NSR500. The Japanese rider is showing some good progress , acco rding to th e team and , although he had cras hed out that morning, his lap times prove t hat he is rapidly adapt ing to t he king class. " I'm very happy because I learn something new every t ime and that mot ivates me. Today my times have been close to Alex and Va lentino' s [Rossi. who also took part in the testl , although l'rn more con cerned about getting a good race pace riding a bike whic h behaves completely different to my usual 250 . We've been doing race tes ts today but unfortunately after 17 laps I've crashed . This means I've go t a long way to go , so in Jerez we w ill have to work even harder." Rossi was the quickest of the three, lapping at 2:07 .0 while Cr iville turned a 2:07 .3 with Ukawa lapping at 2:07.4 . According to the Blue Ribbon Coalit ion, an initial review of the Fores t Service 's Road less Area Conservat ion Fi nal En v ironmental Impact S t atem ent (FE IS) by an outdoor recreation group shows that the proposal wi ll apparen tly a llow for managed use of off-hig hway ve hic les (O HV) on existing trave l ways locat ed in road less areas. The FEIS also appe ars to have shie d away from an unpo pular co ncept of roads and t ra ils th at are" c losed unless pos ted open." Accord ing to the Forest Service rule. this idea forwarded by many preservationist groups was not developed by the agency because "the limited data on off -highway-vehicle use in inven toried roadless areas have not demon s trated that t his activi ty poses Widespread or 'dis pro po rtionate risks of altering nat ural landscap es to the same exte nt as roads and timbe r harves t ing. " According to Don Amado r, the wes te rn representative for th e Bl ue Ri b bo n Coali tion, "I'm glad to see that t he Forest Service has appa re ntly recogn ized tha t managed O HV use can occur o n recreational roads and tra ils that exist in roadless areas . This rule also intimates that various tratt-rnatntenance act ivities wi ll be allowed in t he invent o ried roa dless areas . I hope that the finial rule published in 30 days wi ll reflect t his apparent commitment to mul ti p le- use rec reationi st s an d protecting the t rail syste m. A lt ho ugh th e fina l co llective impact s of the Planning Rule, the Roadless Rule , and th e Road Rule to O HV use rs have yet to be analyzed. I am glad to see that the Forest Service did liste n to the concerns of many t hou sands of off-readers. snowmobilers, and f o urwheel-drive enthusiasts. " Y a m aha Motor Corporation U . S. A. recently signed a deal wit h AMA /Prostar to be the prese nting sponsor of a new motorcycle drag mcing clas s entitled "Hot R o d C r u is e r . " The Hot Rod Cruiser class will feature production based V -Twin cruiser motorcycles with limited modifications permit ted . "T his class was crea ted in response to t he t remendous growth and popularity of cruiser motorcycles in the U,S." said A MA/Prostar' s President Kei th Kize r. "This is virtually an untapped market and we know owners of t his class of motorcycle are anxious to go racing . Yamaha co nt ingencies w ill be posted at eac h even t , i nc luding a yea r -end cha rnpions hip payout." The AMA/Prostar 2001 racing season kicks off on t he weeke nd of M arch 2 , in Gainesville. Florida, wi th an eig ht· race series . For more information , call Kizer at 258 /852 -110 1. Reynard Modifications, of Norman, O klaho ma, will field a three-main team for t he 200 1 S upe rc ro s s/ mo t oc ro s s season , according to owner Robert Reynard. Headlining the squad will be forme r Team Suzuki rider Robbie Reynard , and his t eammat es will be Jonatha n S h imp and Jake Martin. Reynard is curren tly plan ni ng t o co mpete in th e 12 5cc Eas t e rn Reg ion al Su pe rc ro s s Ser ies, as we ll as the wes t coas t 250 cc rounds . He will also campaign the 250cc outdoor Nat ion als. Martin will contest the 125cc east Supercro ss Series and Shimp the west. and bo th riders will compete in the 125cc class in the outdoor Nationals. The team wi ll be Yamaha-moun ted . Josh Demuth bro ke his wris t on Friday , N o v emb e r 17 . duri ng t he f irst 125cc pract ice sess ion at t he National Arenacross Series ro und in Worcester, M assachusett s. He is expected to be out of action fo r four to six weeks , Fly Racing has signed on Team Yamaha's Tim Ferry fo r th e 200 1 Supe rcross and outdoor M X season . Ferry will wear Fly Racing " Li te" C a rb on FiberlKevlar helmets . W ith nea rly o ne-fift h o f the 20 01 AMAlEA Sp ort s Supercross Series taking place at Edison Intern ational Field in Anaheim, Californ ia, SFX M ot or Sports has deci ded to sell a Single ticket for a ll three Anaheim rounds . wi th a 10perce nt discount. The A rrow 93 A nahe im S eas o n Tic ket wi ll be good fo r rounds one (January 6). three (January 20) and five (February 3). and are limited , " Off e ring a seaso n ticke t fo r the t hree A nahei m roun ds is our way of t hanking the loya l Su percr oss fa ns by g iv ing t hem a d i s c ount , " sai d M ar k Abern et hy, SFX's Sup ercross direct or of marketing. "The seaso n ticket also gives t he fans owners hip of the sa me sea ts for all three ro unds . " Tickets are now available at Edison Internat ional Field' s box office or Ticket mast er (7 14174 02000 or 2131480-3232). Speaking of Anaheim, S FX will be holding the 2001 C rossove r Challenge. an even t that invites celebrities and riders from extreme sports to compete on a Supercross track. Some of the riders

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