Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

° w : ][iJCO E QG IJ ill ~ Ty Davis and Kurt C aselli (Yam) took the overall win at Best in the Desert Silver State Series-finale Vegas 200 in Las Vegas, Nevada, December 2, after early LJ leader Shane Esposito reportedly broke just past the halfway mark. It marked the L.i first win fo r Davis on his YZ426F in the I, 2000 series , and it was C aselli' s Yamaha debut. Davis ' reg ular pa rtner, Russe ll ,...., Pearson, sa t out due to upco ming eye s urgery . S teve Hengeve ld ( Ho n) ~ soloed to take seco nd ove rall, with third going to defend in g s erie s c ha mps I Destry Abbot an d Bri an Brown (Kaw ), Joh n ny Ca m pbe ll and T i m Staa b (Hon) rode to fifth overall, enough to wrap up t he series championship. S up erb ike , S ho rt Tr ac k and Half M ile wins] and keep active in dirt t rack as two reason s wh y . " To win th e G rand Slam would be a big deal, " Hayden said. "The guys who did it befo re, like Doug C handler and Kenny Robert s, those guys were my heroes. They 're the hard-core guys . It' ll be to ugh to do . I still wish that I had gotte n t hat win against Scotty Parker at Del M ar a co uple years ago. But eit her way, dirt t rack racing is j ust so met hing that I love to do. I believe it helps me with my road racing, and we only run 12 road races a year. That' s not enough racing for me . I lo ve t he t hrill of winning , and 12 t imes ju st isn 't enough . I'm j us t real ly exci ted to be with the Corbin pe op le. Leavinq TC A. wel l. those people are like my family, but this is just a chance for me to try something new . I'm looking forward to the challenge." Burks will take on the role of team manager while continuing to foc us t he majo rity of his effo rt s in th e direction o f the Corbln / H-D of Mi ssou ri team, wh ic h wi ll conduct bu sine s s as us ual in 200 1. Kopp w ill r ide Denn is Town-prepared XR750s while maintaining his long assoc iat ion with Denny Lopp at the 60 0cc events . Bill LePage w ill join Burks in preparing C oo lbeth ' s 600 and 750cc machines. As for the team's Suzuki Sup erTrac ker prog ram? Expect act ivity, althoug h it is unlikely that Kopp will defen d hi s Su pe rTrap p S upe rT rac ke r t itle in 200 1. "We have been try ing to put this toget her for a few week s," Burks said. "The way we've got it figured, Nicky will be able to run betwee n 12 and 15 races next year. Our goal is to get him a Grand Slam, but none of this will affect our current team with Joe and Kenny. We look forward to t he 2001 racing season, with a spe c if ic goa l i n m ind , t o exceed the acco mplishments of the previous seasons and set the basis for this season and seasons to co me. The entire group here at Corbin would like to extend our thanks to everyo ne in this outs tanding association." Team Repsol YPF Honda had to cance l the third day of testing at Jerez in Spain last wee k due to bad weather conditions and rain. M eanwhile, former 500cc W orld O Il n U IJ J O n >=: LI Jeff Willoh (Hon) swep t both the 125 and 250cc classes at th e Roc kford, lIIinois, ro und of the Nat ional A renac ross Series on Satu rday , December 2, wi th B u d d y Antunez (Suz) and Denny S t e p h e n so n (Kaw) spl itting th e 125 and 250cc class wins on Friday, Decembe r 1. Will oh fi nished seco nd in the 125cc class with Rusty Holland (Hon) th ird . Wi lloh t he n fi nish ed third in the 250 c c c lass o n Frid ay night behind St e ph en s o n an d Pedro Gonzalez (Kaw). On Saturday night , W illoh topped J eff G ibson (Hon) and Gonzales in the 125cc class prio r to beating Gonzales and An tunez in the 250cc class. D i ,..... L! r- l.......I" 1 n U U, C c C f\ U n U Corbin Racing has issued a press release, stating that Nicky Hayden and Roge r Lee Hayden have been named as the riders for a new Co rbin-backed dirt t rack team that will cont est a limited number of 200 1 AMA/Progressive Insurance U .S . Flat Track C hampionship events independent of the current Corbin Pacific/HoD of Mi ssouri team that field s reigning A MA Grand National C hampion Joe Kopp and former Grand National Rookie of the Year Ke nny C oo ibeth . The com mo n li nk is Burks M oto rsports, as Dave Burks will manage the new team , which will have primary backing from Samson Exhaust Systems and Cor bin M otors (Cor bin' s elect ric car divi sion). The Haydens w ill ride Harley-Davidsons - not Hondas - on the miles and half miles, wit h the usual brace of Rotax-powered equipment coming into play at TIs and short t racks. Early rumors had included information that Honda might be involved wit h a Nicky Hayden dirt track campaign in 200 1, but sources say that Honda's inability to offer a 600 cc machine t hat wo uld be c o mpet it ive agains t t he Rotaxes was a major sticking point. The Samson/ C orbin Mot ors team will feature the tuning expe rtise of Carl Patrick, with former Shaun Russell mechanic Kenn y Mohler havinq also been hired on to the team. Hayden is excited at the prospe ct of the new team, citing the chance to win the Grand Slam [one win each in all four disciplines of dirt track along with an AMA O O O O O O O O U O O O o n "I always go with 'w ell" because I fjgure at least it's a real word. It' s in the dictionary." Jeremy McCirath on the merits of beginning ans wers to tel evision interview questions with the words "well" and Hum. " Champion Alex Criville was hos pitalized in Dexeus C linic in Barcelona afte r being operated on for an injured tendon in his right hand 's fifth finger. "Alex Criville need s to rest for four we eks and t hen have two more weeks to recover, " C rivilIe 's docto r sa id in B arc e lo na. " This means he w ill be ready to te st by midJ anu ary. He we nt through surgery last night aft er slashing by one centi meter and a half a tend on of his right hand. W e first cleaned this injury with antibiotics with a 24-hour effe ct , and then we fixed the tendon with so me need les. W e've done a skin t rans plan t fro m h is wris t t o his injured finger. The rider will remain in the hospital today so as to co ntrol the infect ion th at he co uld have . How ev er , we e xpe ct him to leav e t he hosp ita l by tomorrow (De cember 1] midday." Tohru Ukawa and ot her Honda riders , including Vale ntino Rossi and Loris Capirossi, wa ited for a break in the weather, but it never came, and the remainder of the tes t was scuttled . Be ne lli has announced its intentions to compete in the Wo rld Superbike C hampionship beginning in 200 1, according to a press release announcing the signing of r ac ing mana ge r M a t il de Tom ag ni ni . B ene lli says t hat Tom ag nini w ill" be respo nsible of the organ ization of all the racing activity that Benelli decide to take part in next season 200 1. Tomagnini has managed teams t hat have won the ParisD ak ar Rall y , fo ur mo tocro ss W orld Champ ion sh ips and fi ve ro ad ra c ing W o rld C ha mp io nsh ips. I beli eve th at M at ilde Tom agn in i ' s wo rldwide ra c es experience will allow Benell i to prese nt itself as favorite to the Superbike World Ch ampionship," Benelli president A ndrea Yamaha is offering two commemorative limi ted edition motorcycles in 2001. The Champions Limit ed Edition YZF-Rl and YZF- R6 pay homage to the riders wh o have represented Yamaha in international competition for 40 years. The limited-edition bik es feature a special "Champions" edition paint scheme. The "bumblebee" stripes pay tribute to three-time 50 0cc World Champ ion Kenny Roberts and also to th e likes of Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey, who also won three 500cc Championships apiece aboard Yamaha 500s. Lawson won in 1984 , '86, '88, and Rainey won in 1990-'92 _ Fewer than 1000 copies of each model will be produced, and will be indivi dually numbered to identify them as authentic , one-timeonly mod els, ac cord ing to Yamah a. The YZF-Rl will retail fo r $10,799. and the YZF-R6 will retail for $8499. The bikes are now available. Contact your local Yamaha dealer for more details. M erloni said. "The Tornado 's race debut represents the first relevant goal since I joined Benelli. Today th e seco nd part of t he challenge sta rts , which is expected to bring back our brand _ n the top of the o pod ium as soon as po ssible." Kel Carruthers won Benelli' s last W orld C hampionship in 1969. Accord ing to repo rts in England's Mot or C ycl e Ne w s, Brit Chris Wa lker has changed his mind again and has inked a cont ract that w ill see him ride a Honda NSR 500 in t he 200 1 500 cc World C hampionship - thts after Wa lker had reporte dly signed a lett er of intent to race factory Suzukis in the W or ld Superbike Championship. Wa lker has agreed to a two-year deal with t he Shell Advan ce Honda team that wil l see him not only switc h to Grand Prix racing, but also to Michelin tires afte r spen ding his ca reer on D unlop s. " The Honda deal is one of the those chances t hat yo u dream about havi ng, " W alk er to ld M oto r Cyc le News. " I had a WS B factory Suzuki or a GP ride w ith a factory Hond a. It just doe sn't get any bett er than tha t . But it's bee n a night mare at t he same time simply because the decis ion was the bigges t in my life and pivotal in my c are er . It was prett y impo rtant to make the right one. I suppos e ti me will tell on th at one. GPs is somet hing that I have always wanted to do . It is still the blue riband class . In England, W SB is so big because of people like Foggy and the natural progr ession is to go th ere. That' s w hat I was plann ing to do . Thi s year I Sig ned a contract w ith Suzuki that meant if I'd won the British t itle I'd go to either GPs or W SB, wherev er t here was space. But before the season had even finished I was let down, be cause the Suzuki GP 8[5~~6]~G'[?------------------o o D- O o o o 2 DECEMBER 13,2000' cue I e n e vv s

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