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/1545477
Y amaha's MotoGP lineup for next year is still undecided, with three names in the frame for the two factory machines. Valentino Rossi, of course, will stay put. The other bike will be decided between Casey Stoner and the present incumbent, Colin Edwards - for whom a win at Assen would have been a power- ful gambling chip. Stoner's father/manager Colin Stoner was in the Donington Park paddock for the British Grand Prix but was tight-lipped on details. Ditto for Yamaha. Another important question concerns their sponsors for next year, with rumblings from Camel-brand owners JTI that they intend to withdraw at the end of this season. This leaves the second Yamaha satellite team up in the air. Currently backed by Dunlop in its quest to regain lost ground in MotoGP, team owner Herve Poncharal has no idea what will happen next year. The Dunlops have improved a lot, he said, but still had a lot of catching up to do. "I would be happy to work with Dunlop again, if that is what Yamaha wants. I will do what they tell me," he said. Michael Scott Is Casey Stoner headed for Yamaha's MotoGP team? Yamaha: Edwards Or Stoner? T he KTM team of David Pearson, Kurt Caselli, Mike Corder and Matt Gosnell won this year's running of the HYR 12-Hours of Glen Helen at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California, July 1. Held in triple-digit temperatures, the KTM team got out in front early, opening up a one-minute and 10-second lead by the end of the first 13- mile lap. From there, the team steadily pulled away to score a wire-to- wire victory. Pearson, Caselli, Corder and Gosnell recorded 43 laps, which was two laps better than the second-place Yamaha-mounted team made up of Greg Jones, and Brad and Robbie Goolsby. Third place went to Honda-mounted riders Freddie Sanchez, Brice Oxley, Colton Udall and Luke Orr. In the Ironman division, Suzuki rider Benny Breck took the win after completing 27 laps. Breck also won the HYR 6-Hours of Glen Helen ear- lier in the year. Yamaha-mounted Bill Dornnan finished second in class, putting in 25 laps. In all, 93 teams started and 86 finished. The race, however, was marred by the death of participant Gary Krueger, who reportedly suffered a heat-related heart attack. Mike Corder was a member of the winning KTM team at the 12-Hours of Glen Helen. KTM Dominates 12-Hours of Glen Helen C Y C L E N E W S • JULY 12, 2006 9 Trachy Sets Pikes Record The records fell in the morning and the snow fell in the after- noon at the 84th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on July 1. Of the nine classes of motorcycles that competed in the morning session, five saw new records set. Since two others are new classes this year, a total of seven best times were recorded Saturday in Colorado. Gary Trachy set a new overall record with his run of 11:46.841 on his 750cc machine. That time blows away the previous record, set by Micky Dymond last year, by nearly 26 seconds. Dymond finished second this year, just 1.005 seconds behind Trachy. Davey Durelle set a new 450cc record and collected his 10th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb victory - this time on a borrowed bike. "I'm happy with any time," said Durelle, who finished with a run of 12:10.477, more than 12 seconds ahead of the former record. Durelle's bike dropped a valve during Friday's practice. He had to rely on the kindness of an adversary to make the race. "The bike was running great and just broke. My competi- tor Greg Chicoine loaned this one to me. He's been such a great friend. He just loaded this bike out of his truck and said, 'Here you go. Let's go race.' " Chicoine finished second, more than 30 seconds behind Durelle. Greg Tracy set a new Supermoto record, but was slightly upset. His time of 12:00.007 left him less than a blink of an eye away from breaking into the 11-minute range. "Son of a gun, that kills me," Tracy joked. "How could you be unhappy with a new record? But the .007 off of the 11- minute mark is kind of hurting. It was a real solid run. The course conditions were a big part of it." This marked Tracy's third win in 10 visits to Pikes Peak. Eddie Mulder set a new record for the Vintage class with his time of 13:32.454. He broke Scott Dunlavey's previous record of 13:39.590, set in 1997. "It felt good," Mulder said. "I'm not a pavement guy. I think they're taking a little history away by putting the pavement on it. But in all honesty, one of the reasons that we did break the record is because of the certain amount of pavement. We had a good, clean run." AMA Supermoto Lites racer Casey Yarrow had the best time for Exhibition motorcycles with a run of 12:20.951 on his BMW. "I'm pretty happy with that," Yarrow said. "There was a couple of corners where it was pretty slick and I overshot it a little bit." On his first visit to Pikes Peak, Yarrow took some advice from a fellow AMA Supermoto rider who has a lot of experi- ence on the mountain. "Before the run started, Gary Trachy came over to me and told me, 'Just keep the thing on the groove and you should come up with a good run.' " PHOTO BY GOLD & GOOSE PHOTO BY JOHN BETHEA