Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Zero Gravity has ink ed a deal w ith AMAiProstar to be the presenting sp onsor of the sanctioning body" s 600cc drag racing class. wh ich w ill now be known as the NZ e ro G ravity 600 SuperSport S eries. The class. in whi ch Marty Ladw ig won his seco nd straigh t cha mp io ns hip at t h e s e as o n- e nd i n g Z- Max World Fina ls in Gai nesvi lle . Flo rida. two weeks ago . feat ures all brands of prod uctio n-based 6 00cc moto rcycles wi th limit ed modifications . Z ero G ravity is a leadin g man u f act ure r of aftermarket windscreens and carries a wide variety of N With a few exceptions. all of the factory teams and riders sho wed up on Monday . Decembe r II for the first day of the three-day annual Dunl op Dayto na tire test. with new faces on new teams gettin g used I....J " I d to new gear. " ( 8 C es • the cla ss of the field. Kawasaki, with a year under its belt, cam e to Dayt ona better organized and with more personnel, and a year's worth of data. It paid off. Second fastest were A m eri ca n Honda 's N ick y Hayd en and Yoshim uraeSuzuk t' s J am ie Hacking . Both turned laps of 1:55 , tho ugh Hack ing's cr ew got him at 1:54.8. "A bike's a bike to me," Hacking said when asked to com pare it to the Yamaha 600 he's ridd en the past few years. "It's a little bigger for m e. I really like the way it turn s. You point it and it got where you want it. I'm really happy. Th at 54 .8 is faster than I ever went around here on the Yamaha." Because it's a totall y different motorcycl e, the news GSX· R600 tak es totall y diffe rent setti ngs than his Yamaha, and he spent the afternoon trying to get comfortable with both the bik e and his new _ n ~ .. - - -,, , - \ , John Kocin ski was back for a second go on a Ducati , but he'd traded in his Vance (, Hines mo unt for the Competition Accessories Ducati . Kocinski quickly acclimated. unofficially sett ing the fastest time of the Superbike riders on the weather-shortened day. Kocin ski's best was a hand-tim ed I :50.69, not a bad cloc ki ng considering how lit tle track time everyon e had. A light mi st and fog had dam pened the track overnight and the ride rs di dn't turn a wheel until aft er I :30 in the afternoon . Next fastest, unofficially, was Yoshimura Suzuki's Mat M1adin, the 2000 Daytona 200 winner, with a time of 1:50.8 . Mladin , who was on the newest GSX·R750 . wasn't happy with the bik e, having turned better times during a Yosh test here in Decemb er. Anthony Gobert was anoth er rider m ak ing his debut on a new bike. Th e former Vance £, Hines Ducati rider, who raced for three different teams in 2000, turned his first laps on a Yamaha OW-OI , this one a very special bik e th at had been raced at the Suzuka Eight -Hours. Gobert said he was happy with his lap times, but had " In one of the most important motorcyclist sa fe ty in itia t ives launc hed in decades . federal officials have unveiled a Nationa l Agenda for Motorcycle Safety. according to the AMA. Released by the Na tional Highway Traffic Saf ety Administration {N HTSAl and the private M otorcycle S afety Fo undatio n {M S Fl at a news con fere nce o n D ec e m be r 8 . the 1 10 page document is a blueprint for re sea rch and actions to improve mo torcycling safe ty into the fu tu re . The officials unvei led t he plan at the Int e rnatio nal M oto rcy cl e Show in Long Beach. C aliforn ia. " This is the firs t ti me in decades tha t t he fede ral gove rn me nt' s Nationa l Hig hw ay Traffic S a fe ty A d m inistrati o n - in co nj unc ti o n w ith th e mo to rcycle indu st ry -sup po rt ed MSF - has set a co urs e for motorcycling safety . " said Sean M aher. AMA legislative affairs spec ialist and a memb er of the l Ovmernber tech nical w orking gro up that he lped shape th e plan . A MA Pr esident Rob ert Rasor also se rved on the wo rki ng group . The agenda' s sta ted miss ion is to " poi nt the way to t he mo s t prom ising av e nue s for futu re mo torcyclin g sa fety effo rts in the Un ited States. - The docu me nt was created to provide guidance to t hose see king to impro ve mo to rcycling safety at the nat ional . state and loca l lev els . Tw o years ago. the N HTSA and M SF put toge ther a techn ical working group made up of represent at ive s o f safe ty o rg anizations . moto rc ycli ng group s. law enforcemen t agenc ie s. t he ins ura nce industry and the motorcycl ing pres s to de ve lop the nat ion al agenda . M oto rcyclists and others w ith expe rt ise in insurance. research. train ing . educati o n. law enforcement and o the r field s me t for a two-day con ferenc e last year to fine-tune a draft of the document before the final version was released. The blueprint covers such technical topics as rider edu ca t ion and licensing. moto rist awareness . mo to rcycle design and roadway charac terist ic s . But the plan also includes discussion s of less scie ntific areas . such as motorcyclist s ' attitude s toward sa fety. A mong its mo re than 80 recom me ndations . the N at iona l Ag enda fo r M otorcycle Sa fety says ther e' s an urgent need for govemment and the mot orcy cle indu st ry to suppo rt studies int o the causes of moto rc ycle c ras hes . The mo st detailed stu dy done in the United St ate s is almost 20 yea rs old - " M o to rcycle A c c id e nt Ca use Fact ors and Ident ificati on of C o untermeasures. - c ommo nly called the Hurt Repo rt . done in 1981 • and the AMA has pushed for an update of the Hurt Report fo r years . Y ou c a n v ie w t he N at io nal Agenda for Motorcycle S af et y by go ing to the AMA website at www .AMADi rec tlink.com and clicking on the " National Agenda for Motorcycle Safety " ico n. crew. "I need to figure out what they want and they need to figure out what I need," Hack ing said. Because the day was cut short, Hacking concentrated on the 600 , eschewing the Superbike. Missing from the test was the third memb er of the Yosh team, Aaron Yates. The Georgian broke his right tibi a just above the ankle in a motocross accide nt the previous Saturday . Yates' m anager, Cliff Nobles, said that Yates would be operated on on Friday, Decem ber 15, by Dr. David Kie ffer at his cli nic in Lar amie. Wyo m ing. No ti metable has been set for hi s return, but Nobles said they were shooting for a Laguna Seca test at the end of January . The break was a clean one with no vascu lar problems, Nobles was told by the emergency room physici an, who speculated that there should be no complications in the surgery or recovery . . Missing from the test wa s the Har ley -D avidson team , which issued a statement last week essentially saying they weren't ready. That didn't stop the newest memb er of the H-D team . Mike Smi th, from driving down to see what he'd be up against th is year. Henny Ray Abram s to re-adju st to riding a four-cylinder machine after spending the past three years on V-twins. "I'm not quite the quic kest, I'm not the slowest," said Gobert , who 's been work ing out in Californ ia . Gob ert had been riding a Yamaha R6 in California. but this was his first tim e on a Superbike in a while and the rust showed. "I spent the afternoon re-adj usting to the Superbi ke and the power of the Superbike . I've ridden a V-tw in the last few years and I'm a litt le lazy in my riding style. It wheelspins a lot. Th e more laps I do, the more I get used to it." Wheelspin Is a probl em at Daytona. where you have to learn how to conserve your tires, especially the rock -hard tires needed to last between pit stops. "It's crucial what part of the ti re yo u put it on: Gobert said, adding that you have to wait until you're on the fat center part of the tire to app ly the po wer. "My style has never been that way . I' ve always burnt my ti res up whenever I was here." Except for crashing while running second in the 1995 Dayton a 200, Gobert hasn't had m uch luck in Florida, tires or mechanicals putting him out every year since then. This year, Gobert said chang ing his ridi ng style would alleviate the tire problems. Gobert had ridden a Yam aha in the British Superbike Championship. but that bike 8 o o o o o o " w CJ II '-' 'I u " I J " G Q I I --.J o " I was a m uch lesser version of this one . "This is a full factory bike ," Gobert said of the bike that sported trick radia l front brakes. One of the two machines still had the Suzuka inspection sticker on it. Fastest among the 600s was Kawasak i' s Eric Bostrom . T he cham pionship runner- up turned a best of I :54.37 on the stopwatch windscreen s fo r toda y 's popular spo rt bikes . In addition , Zero G rav ity plan s to announce soon its new line of cruiser and touri ng w indscreens des igned for Harley Davidsons as we ll as a variety of Japanese models . Zero Gravity's spon sorship o f the 600 SuperSpo rt se ries w ill als o include a year-end championship pay out and contingency money for use of Zero Gravity w indscreens in Pro Stoc k. Superbike and 600 Su perSport. The 2001 racing seas on kick s off on the weekend of M arch 2 . in Gainesville. Flo rida. w it h an eight -race series. American Ho nda M otor C o . Inc ' s Motorcycl e Di visio n has announced a unique H onda Racing Team spo n sorsh ip motocross riders Sebast ien To rt elli, Ezra Lusk and Ryan Hughes. and road racers Nicky H ay d e n and Migue l DuHamel. Feat u re -le ng t h U niversal Studios fi lms w ill be showcased w ith spec ial designs o n th e bo dy w o r k and un iform of one Honda Rac ing Team bike and rider for each of the selected races. Al though the specific races hav e no t b e e n d e t e r mined . J urassic Park III, the third cha pter of one of t he most successful film franc h is e s in U n iv e r s a l Studios ' h ist o ry {scheduled for re lea se o n J uly 18 . 20 01 l w ill be featured on the 200 1 Hond a Rac ing Teams . The development and imp leme ntation of the gl obal merchand is ing program fo r The J urassic Park franc hise has to da te resu lted in over $ 2.5 billion and exclusive representatio n agreement w ith Universal S t udios Cons umer Products G ro up {USCPG l . according t o a p r e s s r e lea s e f r om American Hond a. The companies hav e formed an inn ovative motorsports relati onship. The m ulti -yea r partnership creates a spon so rs hip tha t w ill feature Unive rsa l S t ud ios ' characte r Woody Woodpecker as Team Mas c o t f or both the H o n d a M otocros s Rac ing Team and the Hond a Road Racing Team . U ni ve rsal S tu d io s wi ll be c ome t he prima ry raci ng t ea m sp o ns or f o r t w o motocross and two road -racing events in 2001 and 2002. Additionall y . Universal S tudios w ill represent th e merchandising and promo tional right s t o Honda R a c i n g Team 's c u e I .. n .. _ S • JAN UARY 3 , 200 1 1 L.J "I ' .......J LJ o o n u I u r:l u

• Cover