Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128644
o •• • Elm 0 0 ' G'[bce in retail sales and over $250 mill ion in promot io nal medi a sup po rt . " We are very pleased to brin g Un iver sal Studi os into the Honda racin g fam ily , " said Ray Blank. vice pres ident o f Honda' s M ot or cy c l e D iv i s ion . " As leade rs i n o u r respec t ive industries, Honda Racing and Universa l S tud ios w ill see 'Perfo rmance First' reach new heights in the co ming years . " The selec t ion of th e feisty redheaded W oody Woodpecker as the off ic ral te am mascot is a perfect co mp liment to the Ho n d a Rac ing Team s fea tu ring the Re d Rid e rs . Duri ng th e 2001 and 2002 raci ng seasons, W oody W oodpecker will be featu red in AMAsanctio ned Honda factory raci ng effort s in Supe rcross, nat ion al mo tocross and nat ional road racing co mpetitio n. A special W oody W oodp ecker/Honda Racing Team lo go has been deve loped and will be feat ured on the CR250R , CBR600F4i and RC51 racing bike s , the racers' uniforms. the Racing Team tru cks and pro motional materials . D ·0 O Yoshimura Suzuki rider Ma t Mladin garne red the prestigious AMA /Sp eedvision Pro Ath lete of the Year Award duri ng the 26t h Annual AMA Pro Racin g Champions Awa rds Banquet at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 8. The Australian, who eamed his second straight AMA Superbike title during the 2000 season, was awarded the honor by Speedvision's Dan Murphy during the final presentation of the night in which all AMA Pro Racing and AMA amateur champions are honored. "I'm always happy to get an award, especially when it's in such ill ustrious company," Mladin said. "It' s great to get it - it's a bit of a shock." By Mladin's own account, retaining his num ber-one plate thi s year required that he be more of an athlete than in hi s previous championship season. "The biggest difference was that it was a more competitive season as far as the guys I was up against and had to race with ," Mladin said. "But we did pull off a lot more race wins this year, and we won another champio nship. We've won two now, but that doesn't mean in any way that we're going to lay down and not try and get another O O O 8 D O one. O o Joe Parkhurst, founder of Cycle W orld magaz ine and th e man w ho ush ered in the modem era of motorcycle journalism , passed awa y Dec ember 5, at age 74 . Rec ent ly dia g nosed w ith lung ca nc er, Parkhurst died of complicati on s aris ing from chemotherapy tr eatm ent. Following a s ti nt a t Ro ad & T ra c k mag a zi n e , Parkhurst started Cycle World on a shoestring budg et in 1962, claimi ng simply to be "a guy w ho worked on magazin e s , loved motorcycles and could never find anyt hing wo rthwh ile to read about them. In one of his last co lumns for M ot orcyclist magazine. the late Gordon Jennings w rote of his own early days as Tec hnical Ed it or at the f le dg ling C y cl e W o r ld . " Par k h u rs t t al ked t he prin ters i nt o extending a line of credi t. sold his sailboat and Porsche, drove arou nd in an old Ford station wago n with matchin g holes in its floor and exhaust system and, on a couple of occa sion s, borrowed eating mo ney from me. It was hollow-belly time for him, and things stayed that way for many lean mo nt hs . I t hink mo st men would have tossed in their cards . He did n ' t , an d Cycle W orld became Am erica' s first modern -era motorcycl e magazine . - At th e t im e of hi s death he was pu blis hing M oto rcy c le Bu s ine s s N ew s le tt er , an industry bi-w eekly, and had just sta rted Gre y W olf , an off-roa d clothi ng co mpany. Parkhurst is survived by Claire, his wife of 22 yea rs . Per his wi shes . he will be cremate d, his ashes scattered at Cat alina 8 o 8 o o o o ~o o o o o .. .. ~ Dirt-tra cker Will Davis earned another of the three mar quis awards of the evening when he was presented with the Professional Sportsman of the Year Award in recognitio n for his work in promoting not only the Progressive Insurance U.S. Flat Track Series, but also for his involvement with the Racing for Kids program , an organization that unites racers with termi nally ill children. "This was totally unexpected, but this is great," Davis said. "I'm definitely going to stay involved with Racing For Kids, even after I finish racing. This is something that I want to do. People who know me know that I can get pretty emotional, but when I go in and spend O ...... Is lan d off t he coas t of C ali f o rn ia. A mem oria l servic e is bei ng pla nne d for January. Jason Pridmore an d Richard Alexander Jr. wi ll be tea mma tes in 20 0 1, riding Attack Suzukis in t he AMA Formula Xtreme and 600cc SuperSport classes . The team wil l be backed by W renchead .com . ac co rdi ng to Pr idmor e. "This is my fifth ye ar with Suzuki and my third year with the scho ol [Star Motorcycle School] wit h Suzuki - they've show n a real comm itment to me with the schools and everything, - Pridmore said. " Fo r awhile it lo o ke d like I would be putting my own team toget her. but now we 've put this together with Richard over at A tt ack. I'll be doing Formula Xtreme and 600 s and Richie will be do ing Formula Xtreme and we're not sure wh at else yet. Rich ie has some ties wi th Wrenchead and was able to put that tog ether. Suzuki has really been awe some. I wan ted t o st ay w it h t hem at all costs and that' s what happened. The two new bikes should be really good and I'm looking for ward to get ti ng on t hem. Rich ie wi ll be moving out here in Ja nuary to trai n and we hope to have so me tests before Dayto na. We 'll be surrounded by people who ca n do t he job for us. " Pr idm o re also . . 10 .. · " 8 o o o o o· {] • •• cD \Xl o· o o .. OPENED: Adrenaline MX Park. in Victorville. Califomia, for MX practice on Fridays. Saturdays. Sundays and Mondays. from 8:30 a.m. to dusk. for an entry fee of $1 0. The track is also hosting a free. Barstow Motorcycle Center-sponsored grand opening on December 16. For more information. call 760/ 868·441 1. ANNOUNCED: An Eddie Mulder Dirt Track and n riding school date in Florida. The school is scheduled to take place at the Oak Grove Motorsports facility in Baker, Florida. January 27-28. 2001. For more information, call 661/ 268-0105 or 850/ 626·7442. . MARRIED: Former AMA 750cc Supersport Champion Richard Alexander .Jr., to Lynda Innocenzi. a club road racer. in Hastings. New York, on November 18. BORN: A baby boy, Logan Tyler. to Staci Hall and her boyfriend, Kevin Sydlowski, on December 1 in Scotsdale, A rtzona. LoganTyler is also the grandson of Carol and Frank Stacy. ...... . ...... .......... ........ .... ,. .. ,. ., ,. ." 2 JANUARY 3 , 2001 • cue I e n e vv s time with those kids, well, someone is giving me the strength to do that. I want to thank Benson Ford for getting me involved with Racing For Kids. He supplies the money and the time to get racers such as myself and [Indycar driver] Robby Buehl involved with the program, and it's very worthwhile ." The pro hill climb ranks were gratifed when 2000 AMA 540 and 800 cc Natio nal Hill cl imb Champi on David Watson and his father Daniel received the Award of Mechanical Excellence. The Watson' s developed all-new Honda CBR-powered motorcycles in the quest for David Watson to become the first man in AMA history to win both the 540 and 800cc national crowns in the same year. Watson was successful in doing so. Six-ti me and reigning AMA/NATC National T ria ls Cham pion Geoff Aaron was the recipient of the AMA Amateur Athlete of the Year Award. Aaron earned his sixth title in seven seasons during 2000 , and he represented America in Tri als des Nations competition for the 10th successive year, helping Team USA win its group at this year's event. This was also a night in which America 's FlM World Champions were honor ed . Newly crowned 500cc World Champ ion Kenny Roberts Jr . was on hand and took to the stage with brother Kurtis and father Kenny Sr. to accept the F1M Gold Medal that celebrates his accomplishment. Previously, the Motocross des Nations-winning USA squad of Ricky Carmichael, Travis Pastrana and Ryan Hughes received their medals along with the Chevy Trucks NUke A Rock" Award in recognition of their perform ance at the event. The "Like A Rock" plaques were distribu ted by Chevy Silverado assistant brand manager-marketing John C. Farr is J r. While all award recipients were warmly app la uded , Roberts Jr. and the des Nat ions team received the only two complete standing ovations of the evening. repo rts that his riding schools have been busy , w ith a few top-level motocrosser s taking part . A mong tho se w ho have taken the school lat ely are mul t i-t ime Are nacross Natio na l C h am p io n Buddy Antu nez and f reest y lers Mi ke M et zger and Seth Enslow . Larry Ward and Travis Past rana have also been Pridmo re students. " B udd y [Antunez] really rides we ll," Pridmore said. " He' s made a real connection with it and he will do a dea l w ith us next ye ar to do a cl ub race on one of the Suzukis .· Apri lia is expected to announc e the signing of 25-ye ar-old Regis Laconi to its 200 1 W orld Superbike team . acc ording to Cycle News co ntributor Paolo Gozzi . Th e fo rm er Red B u ll Ya maha 5 0 0 c c Grand Prix rlder will test the Italian V-tw in this we ek in Jerez, Spain. along wit h his teammate Troy Corser. Although nobody at Aprili a headquarters wou ld either con f irm o r deny the s t ory , an off ici al announcement is ex pec te d short ly. The Italian daily newspaper. La Gazzett a Delio Sport, published the news in its December 2 issue. Apri lia is also expected to field a second satel lite te am wi t h Euro p ean 2 50 c c GP Champ ion Ric c ard o Chiare ll o , but no announcemen t ha s come on that front eithe r. Lacon i wa s cho sen over former Ap rilia 250cc GP riders Ralf W aldmann and Franco Battaini. Harley-Davidson has announced the signing of dirt tracker Jennifer Snyder to its fac to ry te am. S ny der , of G rand Saline, Texas, w ill jo in Rich King as t he newest member of the Harley-Davidson factory squa d, after sig ning a deal th at wi ll see her race in t he 2001 AMA and Fo rmula USA dirt t rac k racin g series. S nyder, 17 , finis hed six th in t he final points standi ngs of the Formula USA Pro Singles Se ries . Although she com peted in only seven of the races on th e 2000 schedule, Snyder displayed her po te ntial with a fo urth -place finish at Texas M otor Speedway and a seventh-place finish at M anzanita Sp ee dw ay . Sh e also came from the back of the pac k to finish sev- enth at the serie s finale in Del M ar. Snyder began her racin g ca ree r at age 11. Her fath er. Joe Snyder, created a track on their propert y so she co uld t rain and race . Th e Pro S ingles S erie s is w here she will spend mos t of her time in 2001 , but she wil l a ls o hav e o ppo rtun iti es aboard the Harley-Davidson XR750 in the AM A se ries. as she becomes more familiar with the equipmen t. "This is a dream come true for me," said Snyder. " I grew up watc hing Scott Parker race and I followed his career clo sely . We bot h started racing at 11 and he 's been a huge influence on me as far as my racing career is con cerned . I'm really excit ed to be a part of the factory team and race with Rich King as my teammate. Lots of peop le te ll me I'm pretty good for a girl. Hopefully afte r next season they 'll drop the girl part and recognize me for my racin-g ability. period ! " In addition to her racing career, Snyder will be fini shing her nigh school studies th is year and plans to go on to co llege . B rit ish roa d racer Chris Walker, the man who narrowly lost the British Superbi ke Cha mp io ns hip to N eil Hodg son , signed a two-ye ar cont ract with the Shell A dvance Hon da te am th at will see him ride a factory Honda N SR 5 00 in t he 2001-2002 500 cc W orld Championships. W alker told England's Mot or Cycle News that he cou ldn't wait to get his firs t ride on the factory NS R nex t mont h. " Now I've signed its really sunk in that I' m a factory Honda 500 GP rider," W alker said. Walker had earl ier signed a letter of intent to join his curre nt Suzuki team as they made the jump to the W orld Superbike Series. The 2001 AMA/EA Sports Supercross Series just got bigger, wi th more than $1 million up for grab s in the 16round tour. Entering its 27th year of co mpet itio n, the Supercross Series offe rs the la rges t purse in hist ory - $1 ,08 1.850 and a record -b reakinq $2 ,1 09 ,350 of com bined purse and bonus money. SFX M otor Sports Gro up has upped the ante - - -- - - - - Continued on page 134