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/1545725
E very year on the Thursday before the British Grand Prix, fans flock to meet the stars of MotoGP along with a few exemplars of World Superbike and some other road-race-series stars thrown in. And this year's Day of Cham- pions raised a record $346,000-plus on the day, with more money expected to filter in by the time Dani Pedrosa led Valentino Rossi, Marco Melandri, Casey Stoner and Kenny Roberts Jr. to the wire in the British Grand Prix on July 2. The money will fund Riders' for Health's work in Africa. The amount is 12 percent more than last year's take, and, allowing for inflation, is three times the cash raised at the first Day of Champions from 14 years ago (Cycle News, November 11, 1992). What else is new? It was a good time to ask Barry Coleman, joint chief executive, who, with wife Andrea Coleman, founded Riders' with GP racer Randy Mamola in the late 1980s. "What's new is that Day of Champions has become part of the culture of motorcy- cle sport," Coleman said. "The sport owns it in a way. The riders want to do it. Guys like Colin Edwards, Shinya Nakano, and Casey Stoner's team owner Lucio Cecchinello [Cecchinello donated $9100 for fuel in Zimbabwe], don't even have to be asked. They surprise us in the off-season, with big checks from home, selling their leathers, or whatever, for work in Africa." Coleman recently returned from Kenya where CNN was filming a story about AIDS orphans called, "Where have all the par- ents gone?" "There's a lot of sand between villages," Coleman said. "I'm used to riding in sand, where the rear fishtails from side to side. But I have CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour on pillion, and she's not used to it. She thinks it's all over and lets out a little squeak. Suddenly, it dawns on me that CNN have quite an investment in their top woman and I almost pan- icked. My arms froze and then... [we won't reveal the denoue- ment of this thriller so you can see it yourself on CNN worldwide on July 19 and in the United States in September]. MOTO PARTY Perfect weather made Day of Champions 2006 (DoC06), the GP circus at its best. A host of activities kept the crowds enter- tained from 10 a.m. until past 9 p.m. There were sidecar and coach rides for paying spectators, and a GP trivia quiz officiated by Keith Huewen and Steve Parrish pitted IRTA, Motorcycle News, TV commentators and Team Suzuki against each other. Between trivia rounds, for- mer World Superbike Champion James Toseland sang and played keyboards as his band Crash played perfect racetrack music. Toseland is a trained pianist and has played with legendary boogie pianist Jools Holland. Crash covered rock standards, such as ZZ Top's "Tush," but were also impressive on Sting's "Fields of Gold." On the stage screen they showed Riders' for Health film. The Uhuru ("free- dom" in Swahili) sidecar was featured with Barry and Andrea Coleman, and Mohale Moshoeshoe in a film shown on PBS last fall, and in a Time magazine issue on "Global Health Heroes" (November 5, 2005). Spectators also enjoyed an extreme JULY 19, 2006 • C Y C L E N E W S 32 Former World Superbike Champion James Toseland sang while the gui- tarist from his band, Crash, jammed. As always, Valentino Rossi was the star of the show, the World Champion showing up to lend his services to Riders' for Health at Donington Park. As always, Valentino Rossi was the star of the show, the World Champion showing up to lend his services to Riders' for Health at Donington Park. Donington Park June, 29, 2006 Day of Champions The GP Fundraiser! Bigger and better than ever, the Day of Champions continues to raise money BY BRUCE SCHOLTEN Nicky Hayden gave the shirt off his back to Zoe Coleman. trials show. Those with special tickets toured the paddock and pit lane, where 125cc star Mattia Pasini, MotoGP Suzuki pilot John Hopkins and others signed autographs. There was much carbon and titanium to see, but one of the best was watching former Suzuki RG-500 hero (and recent European truck-racing champ) Steve Parrish take Kenny Roberts Jr.'s Honda V-five-powered KR211V around Donington. Enduro.Africa.com debuted at DoC05, and this year director Simon Smith and crew drew a crowd at their afternoon press conference. Briefly, the first cohort of people will tour South Africa this fall. Smith says proceeds to Riders' will be about $75,000 and 120 slightly used motorcycles for health outreach. This is such an innovative way to tour Africa that requests are pouring in from the United States and other countries, according to Smith. Several volunteers at DoC06 plan to join tours next year, after each saves about $7300. Have you seen the "Hairy Bikers" TV show and cookbook? Friendly man Dave