Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

3D YEARS AETI.-. April ,3, ,976 Slowe Too Fast at Atlanta Prostar Drag a - Motocrosser David Taylor shared the cover with the "Mann" himseli Dick Mann. for the 1976 edition of lssue # 14. lnside, Cycle News served up a wvo-pa8e interview with Mann, who lamented that the flat trackers of the day were all cut from the same mold; they looked alike, ulked alike and raced alike. Hmm, sound famil- iar?... lssue #14 also brought coverage of the AMA 125250cc National MX open- er at Hangtown, where reiSninS AMA Supercross Champion limrny Ellis (C{) won the 250cc class via l-2 scores, while future legend Bob Hannah (Yam) went l-l to sweep the 125s. zo WARS AEO.-. Aprtl 16, ,9f,6 That's a very young CN off-road edkor by the name of Kit lmer pulling a wheeli€ on our proj- ect Honda Cnl25R enduro The bike was built with the ISDE in mind. l( per- formed well, but we Velociq/ Racin8 team boss Barr/ Henson reeks of intense competitiveness. When Henson practically had his ankle sheared off in a high-speed testint crdsh two ),,ears ato, he came back quickb/ from his injuries and - with an lV drip attached at the track - still won the aSgressively competitive Mickey Thompson Pro Street class championship. After win- ning it again last year, Henson needed more surSery on his bad leg. That sur8ery is keepinS Henson off the bike in '06, but his drive is undiminished- Henson received additional support from Suzukiin the oll season and is workin8 it hard- He rehired "Pinks" superstar Mikey slowe, built two new bikes, and enlisted Richard Gadson (tuckey s nephew) to ride his Lockhart Phillips USA 1000 Supersport class GSX-R. After beinS disqualified for illetal fuel at the season open- er, Gadson fought his way back to the top oI tie Superspon (lass at the MTC Elmer Trett Nationals at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, GeorSia. on April 2. Gadson lought his way through the field to face Valdostawinner and Atlanta number-one qualifier Vince woska. The normally cool-headed woska wen! way red at fie !ree, and Gadson laid down his besr-of-the-weekend 9.262-second pass for the win. Slowe had two brand-new Hayabusas to run in Atlanta, one for Prostar's hot new HelpMeRide Super Street class. Sort of a Pro Street-lite, Super Street takes away some of the power and con- trols thar have allowed turbo bikes to rip up the pavement in the senior class. Teamed wilh Henson to take on the challenSe of the category, it was no s!rprise when Slowe rose to the top of the qual- ifying charts with an 8.31. But on race day, the whole field seemed to be running .30s, and the class was off the hook. Just as rules mak- el5 would have it, Slowe faced Daniel Burchett on a nitrous'Busa in the linal. Slowe got the jump at the tree and planted his Velocity Turbo Systems power to the pavement to take the win. Similarly, Slowe took a brand-new, next-generation Pro Stre€t 'Busa from a shaky, teething qualifyinS performance to the final round aSainstVelocity customerTim O'Neil. O'Neil has been stuck in the 7.50s, and this final was no different. O'Neiltot the holeshot, but Slowe drove him around for the win with a 7.41 at 199.15 mph. ln other news, Larry "Spiderman" McBride made a stirring, twi- li8ht 5.870 Top Fuel qualifying pass, which was iust .@4 off of his record. l'4cBride made it pay on race day. beating teammatelimm/ "Huik Brantley in the llnal. Ashley Owens won his second straight Fast By Gast Pro l"lod race, this time over low-budtet hero]ames Rester- Rick Mcwaters continued his domination of Hot Rod Cruiser presented by Star Motorcycles. beatint Patrick Racing teammate leremy English in the final. Mike Hall won Schnitz Ra.ing Top Gas. Tony Zabukovec took MTC Super Comp, Mark Coulson won RC Components Super Gas, and it was 'Fearsome Andy" Baumbach in Pingel Pro ET and Brandon Teasley in Schnitz Racing/Srraightliner matazine Street ET. The AMly'Prostar series races next at lhe Lucas Oil Spring Nationals at virginia llotorsports Park near Richmond, l"lay 6-7. Tim Hoiley had to admit that it wasn't easy to seMce quickly. a crucial element at the Six Da),s. By the way, Palmer recalls (hat this story marked the first CN photo shoot for a young, unheralded photographer named Kinney Jones... The Hangtown National, round $vo of the Ali'1A National Champiorrship MX Series, was also featured in the issue... Rick lohnson (Hon) went l-l for tl|e 250cc win, while Erik Kehoe (Suz) went 2-l for the l25cc win, lronicalt, lohnson now works for Team SLzuki, while Kehoe works for Team Honda- ,O YEARS AEO... April ,O. l!196 It w?s all about the GB on this cover of lssue #14. and lrrca Cadalore (main irnage) and Ma, BiagSj (irEet) wer€ the men to beat at the Malaysian Grdnd Prix on llarch 3l- Stefano Perugini Mees Does Harley Deal t"lees said that he is especially lookinS forward to a stronger mile protram in 2006. "l've strugSled on the mile a bit, but with the new parts from Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson... They build one of the f-stest Harley-Davidsons out there. so if they'll Eive us a few secrets, I think that we will delinitely be moving forward." F1ees said that the difficulty in signinS the deal until after the Daytona Short T.ack had more to do with rumors beint spread by people who weren't even ctose to the deal. "These things take a while, and we all had to be happy - Randy Texter of lancaster Harley-Davidson, Johnny Goad and myself," Mees said. "Right after Daytona, I drove back to l-ancaster Harl€y- Davidson lin Pennsylvania], andJohnny Goad drove up there. We had a three-way meetinS and hashed eveyhing out, and we all shook hands, and nowwe're allexcited to to forwird. Eefore, we were all hearing different thints from different people. and the best thing (o was to sit down and hash eve.ything out. Now we're rea4/ to 8o. We've got the real deal in front of us- lt's goinS to be a lot of fun." l'4ees will head into battle for the flrst time with his new Screamin' Eagl€ support at the opening round of (he 2006 Al''1A Ford Quality Checked Certi0ed GNC Twins Championrhip at the Springfield 14ile in Springfield, lllinois, May 28. Lancaster Harley-Davidson GNC rider Jared llees phoned Cycie Nev/s last week to announce that he has finalized the much-talked- about deal that will see him become the fourth rider on the 2006 Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson wrecking Crew. l''lees joins full factory-backed riders Rich King and Kenny Coolbeth and fellow suppon rider Brfan Smith on the roster. The lg-year-old l'1ees, who finished founh in the 2005 Ford Quality Checked Certified Flat Track Championship and scored two GNC victories - the Lima Half Mile and the Sedalia Half Mile - said that he is looking lorward to the new deal, which he believes will fortify an already strong proSram. "l'm really pumped," Mees said. "Like everyone else out there, l've always dreamed of being a factory rider, but lwanted to be able to keep the tuner that I've had since day one. This deal is like tetting cake and pie at the same time. Lancasrcr Harley-Davidson is toint to be our number-one dealer that is supporting us, and Johnny Goad is still goinS to be turning the wrenches for us- h is pretty much going to be identical to ,ast year, with added support from Screamin' Eagle Hadey-Davidson. Saddlemen is also on board with us again as well." OPENED: The new 2006 Jordan Suzu- ki home page on the World Wde Web. The site can be found at the following address: www,23RACE.com. lt can also be accessed from AOL at http://spons.aol,corn/racing. AUTOGRAPH SIGNINGT At Lynn- wood l'4otoplex in Lynnwood, Wash- ington, on April 28, from 6 to 7 p.m. The Red BulIKTM Sutpercross Team's Nathan Ramrey and Mike Alessi are scheduled to appear. OPEN HOUSET At lrv Seaver BMW f4otorcycles in OranSe, California, on Saturday, April 8, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., featuring the new BMW Rl200GS Adventure- ln addition. BMW world traveler Glenn Heggstad will be on hand, and demo rides will be a\rail- able to qualilied riders. HIRED: Damien and Marie Dekens, by the National Promoters Group (NPG), to handle the media and counesy/will- call credentials for the following rounds of the 2006 AMA National Motocross Championship: Mount Morris, Pennsyl- vania; Budds Creek, Maryland; Unadil- la, New York; ThunderValley, Col- orado; Washougal, Washington; Broome-Tioga, Nerv York; and Steele City, Pennsylvania. HIRED: Steve Atlas. as associate edi- tor of Cycle News. effective immedi- ately. For more information, call 7 t4l75t -7433. ETtr. CYCLE NEWS . APRil. 12, 2006 13 won *re l25cc GB while srxth place wert to another young ltalian, narned Valentino Rossi... lererny MtGrath (Hon) upped h's Al'1A Supercros win stre.ak to I 0 at the RCA Dome in lndianapolE, but this one was in serious doubt. letr Emig wis l€adirg the race cornfonably when he crdsM, handing the win to Mccradl. EmiSgot up and finished second. Ezr: Lusk (Suz) w6 third... We previewed the 1996 World Superbike Cham$onship, a series that would be piv- oEi for reiSning charnpion Carl Fogarty, who had l€ft Ducati to join Castrol Honda. Taking his place on ttle Ducati team was for- mer world 250

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