Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Mike Goodwin, the man accused of orchestrating the 1988 murders of auto- racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife, Trudy, will likely stand trial September 11 in Pasadena (California) Superior Court, a judge said last week. Goodwin, 61, has been held without bail since 2001 for allegedly coordinating the murders of Thompson, 59, and his wife, Trudy, 41, who were gunned down in the driveway of their Bradbury, California, home. Los Angeles County public defender Elena Saris said the last possible day for the trial to start is Sep- tember 21. It has not yet been determined which judge will hear the case. The next hearing will be at 8:30 a.m. on July 26. Erin Normoyle will join MDK Motor- sports as a support rider for the remainder of the 2006 season. The 23-year-old is a former Australian Women's Supermoto Champion and international model, named by FHM as one of the 100 sexiest women in the world. Normoyle will contest the WMA Amateur class aboard an MDK Honda CRF250R and also plans to race selected rounds in the Pro class of the AMA Supermoto Series. ESPN announced the first wave of X- Games Supermoto's invited riders. Supercross, Supermoto, Flat Track and Freestyle are all represented in the lineup that so far includes Doug Henry, Juergen Kuenzel, Jeremy McGrath, Johnny Mur- phree, Travis Pastrana, Chad Reed, Eddy Seel and Jeff Ward. X-Games all-star Travis Pastrana is also slated to race in the first- ever X-Games Rally Car event. Kurt Nicoll has been announced as the racing director for KTM North America. Nicoll will oversee the U.S. Supercross and Motocross efforts for an initial period of two years, including the 2007 and 2008 seasons, and will additionally oversee the Off-Road Racing divisions in the United States and Canada. "This move represents an exciting opportunity for me personally and a substantial benefit for KTM across the globe," Nicoll said. Pit Beirer, who has worked closely with Nicoll for the past two years, will fill the Brit's shoes in Europe, overseeing KTM's off-road racing efforts, including motocross, enduro and supermoto. For the rest of the 2006 season, and in the 2007 Supercross Series, KTM will focus on the Lites division, according to the Austrian company. Beginning with the 2007 AMA Motocross Series, KTM plans to contest the premier class with its new 450 SX-F, slated to make its Supercross debut in the 2008 series. After being held for several years at Cop- per Mountain, the Fay Myers Suzuki Supermoto Classic will be held at Invesco Field at Mile High in downtown Denver, Colorado, August 25-26. Promoted by M1 Entertainment and sponsored by American Supercamp, the race will be a doublehead- er and will comprise rounds six and seven of the AMA Supermoto Championship. "We are excited about bringing the race down from the mountains of Copper and having it in our back yard," said M1 Enter- tainment president and owner Cameron Gray. "This venue will be awesome." AMA Pro Racing issued a press release on Wednesday, June 21, regarding the cancella- tion of the Syracuse Mile. "AMA Pro Racing regrets the cancellation of the main event of round two of the AMA Ford Quality Checked Flat Track Championship, AMA Grand National Twins Championship on the Syracuse Mile on Saturday, June 17. A dete- riorating track condition and poor visibility due to inadequate lighting were the reasons for the cancellation." According to AMA Flat Track Series manager Bruce Bober, the safety of the riders was paramount in his decision to suspend the event. "Unbe- knownst to us, the wrong chemical com- pound was used by the event promoter as part of the track prep," said Bober. "Once that was discovered, we did everything in our power to fix the problem and salvage the track. Ultimately, that proved to be impossible." Bober added that even had the track been salvageable, the lighting situ- ation proved to be insurmountable as well. AMA Pro Racing officials proposed running the event the following day during daylight hours, which would have eliminated the lighting issue and given ample time to reprep the track, but that option was declined by the promoter, according to AMA Pro Racing. Bober said he sincerely regrets the inconvenience to all competi- tors and fans of the AMA Flat Track Cham- pionship. Bober added that steps are being taken to ensure this type of situation does- n't occur again. Points and purse were awarded based on each rider's pre-main event qualifying result. Michael Jordan Motorsports' Jason Prid- more shot an 80 on the second day of the California Amateur Golf Championships in Monterey, California, on June 21, a day after he shot a 74. Unfortunately, the cut was 152, and Pridmore missed it by two strokes with his 154. The promoters of the 84th running of the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb have announced that Bobby Unser will drive a Porsche Cayenne, the official pace vehicle of the event. "Pikes Peak is a different race, because it goes up to 14,110 feet and has 156 distinctive turns and all types of weather," Unser said. "The Porsche Cayenne, as the pace car, can handle all of those problems - 450 horsepower and the turbo-charger compensates for the altitude as you travel to the summit." KTM's 125cc Grand Prix road racer Julian Simon underwent a seven-hour operation to repair a broken right femur last week. The 19-year-old Spaniard suffered the injury on the third lap of the Catalunyan 125cc Grand Prix on June 18. Simon is expected to return to action at Brno in the Czech Republic on August 20. H&H KTM of Douglasville, Georgia, one of the oldest and largest KTM dealers in the country, is being relocated to Highland Park Resort, near Cedartown, Georgia, on July 1. Paul Wright, owner of Marietta Motorsports, 1888FASTLAP.com, and Highland Park Resort, a 1000-acre off-road riding park in northwest Georgia, reached an agreement to purchase H&H KTM, along with the KTM website - ktmworld.com. "Highland Park has only been open about four months, but it has already established itself as a top destina- tion for riders in the Southeast, and we are still in the early construction phase," Wright said. "In a year, Highland Park will be a top destination for riders over the entire eastern U.S. The North Georgia Mountains offer a very scenic and excep- tionally fun riding experience. Highland Park makes it even better. KTM and High- land Park complement each other. High- land Park is on track to become the finest riding destination around, and KTM has the finest off-road motorcycles on the planet." For more information, call 770/748-0771 or visit www.highlandparkresort.com. M1 Entertainment, which is promoting the Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals featuring the AMA Superbike Championship at Vir- ginia International Raceway over the week- end of August 18-20, is offering an innova- tive ticket package, with a chance to win a bunch of stuff. In order to be eligible, a fan must purchase two three-day passes for the Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals. Fans will get one chance for each two three-day passes purchased during the month of July, so if one person buys 10 three-day passes, they get five chances to win. Tickets must be purchased by July 31. The winner and their guest will receive the following: two event programs; two official Big Kahuna T- shirts; two sets of Speed Channel gear; two trackside suite passes; two drink pass- es each; two laps of the track (if they ride their own bikes); one pace-car ride for two; one hotel room at the track for Friday and Saturday night; the right to present trophies on the podium for Saturday races; two Pit Crew Weekend Warrior Passes for the Jordan Suzuki Team; one helmet auto- graphed by all the top racers at the Big Kahuna Nationals; one seat in the Suzuki Big Kahuna Nationals Superstars Kart Enduro Challenge on Thursday; and one lap on the Road Racing World two-seater superbike with Chris Ulrich on Thursday. To purchase tickets, visit www.m1event.com or www.gettix.net. MotoCzysz has chosen the 2006 Red Bull U.S. GP, July 21-23, for the official unveiling of its next-generation C1 factory road-race bikes. The new MotoCzysz C1 race bikes that will see competition in 2006, according to MotoCzysz, will be displayed at the MotoCzysz GP exhibit located in the manu- facturers' area of Mazda Laguna Seca Race- way. "There is little time to appreciate what you have designed; once a design is com- plete, you immediately start work on how to make it better. It is a relentless but seductive process," said chief designer/CEO Michael Czysz. "MotoCzysz has now real- ized a significant part of our dream. It will be my honor to present our first official race bike at the U.S. GP. This motorcycle will be the most advanced and capable motorcycle ever made in America." The 15th annual Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show Weekend will be held July 15-16 at the Queen Mary Event Park in Long Beach, California. Promoters of the show call it the biggest custom and per- formance streetbike show in America and possibly the world. The show focuses on the custom, cruiser and high-performance sport/streetbike markets, and many of the world's top Pro and Amateur Builder streetbike builders will be on hand to com- pete in the Performance Machine Calendar Show Bike Building Championship, with a chance to win $70,000 in cash and awards. For more information, visit www.fastdates.com/BIKESHOW.09Motor- cycleAuction.HTM. Yamaha Motor Corporation USA is offering free intake-valve replacement on all 2006 YZ250F models after discovering that some of the titanium valves fail at high rpm. YZ250F owners were all mailed let- ters explaining the recall and free replace- ment. The letter issued by Yamaha's Ser- vice Division reads: "Yamaha has determined that some intake valves manu- factured for the YZ250FV and FSPV have experienced fatigue at the neck area when operated at maximum rpm, causing loss of power and possible engine failure. To ensure that your YZ does not experience this problem, Yamaha will replace all three intake valves on your YZ250F free of charge for parts and labor, even if the motorcycle is out of warranty." Apparently, this is in effect worldwide, not only in the United States. The recall affects all 2006 YZ250F models (not just within a certain VIN range), and has reportedly been issued by Yamaha in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK as well. Cowboy Kenny Bartram has announced that, beginning in 2007, he will focus the majority of his time on rally-car racing. "As I have made very well known for a while now, rally car is a big passion of mine," Bartram said. "Right now, my focus is on the Dew Action Sports Tour, Summer X Games, and the LG Action Sports Champi- onship, but I am also currently leading the production class in the U.S. Rally Car Championships, and my focus is being split. Although it can be draining, I am pretty confident that I can win this Rally Champi- onship while still keeping my focus on FMX this season, but that just tells me that I have more to give to rally than I am giving right now. For 2007, I have decided to concentrate my efforts on rally-car racing. And to do it right, I am going to have to back off a bit on FMX. I am not retiring from FMX, but my main focus next year will be on racing rally car." In its first year, ScorpionExo Helmets scored 813 points, just one point behind the number-one-ranked helmet in the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Motorcycle Helmet Satisfaction Study (SM), according to the company. "New to the study this year, Scorpion follows Arai in the rankings with an overall satisfaction index score of 813," says Todd Markusic, senior director of the Powersports practice at J.D. Power and Associates. "Scorpion has made an impressive debut this year. In particular, the company offers a helmet that provides a high level of satisfaction at a price that is $20 below the industry average." For more information, visit www.scorpionusa.com. JULY 5,2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 10

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