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/1545838
C Y C L E N E W S • JULY 26, 2006 7 AMA Hall of Fame Legends Gary Nixon and Jay Springsteen will compete in the Triumph Thruxton Cup Challenge. A concours d'elegance, sponsored by Motorcycle Classics Magazine, will be held on Saturday and a custom-bike show will take place on Sunday. For more information, visit www.bonnevillevintagegp.com. Young dirt tracker turned Supermoto racer Frankie Garcia will compete in the X Games Supermoto race in August, becoming - at age 15 - the youngest rider in the field. "It's a little bit intimi- dating to be competing with such an incredible field of riders, but I'm looking forward to the opportunity to show what I'm capable of," Garcia said. Though he's not old enough to compete in AMA Pro Racing, Garcia has been hon- ing his skills in the Southern California- based STARRS series and has won a 250cc-class championship there to show for his efforts. "I think it's really cool to have the opportunity to compete at X Games and I feel very privileged," Garcia said. "It's been a dream of mine and lots of other kids so, hopefully, they are inspired to know that it's possible." Young Australian dirt tracker Luke Gough is scheduled to make his Ameri- can dirt track debut on August 5 at the Castle Rock round of the Gene Romero West Coast Flat Track Series. Gough, a 19-year-old from Hill Top in New South Wales, Australia, will then race in the AMA Grand National round August 12- 13 at Castle Rock. "This whole deal has come about very quickly and it's always been a dream of mine to travel overseas to make a full-time career out from rac- ing, and this is my perfect opportunity to do so," Gough said. "I cannot wait to get over there and hit the track, and to be honest I don't know a lot about the rid- ers I'll be running up against, so it's going to be very interesting to see how I per- form." Without the support of Keith Johnson and Harold MacDonald from Johnson Cams, Gough admits that this entire trip wouldn't have been at all pos- sible. Gough will be taken under the wing of MacDonald, who he is going to be staying with. Renthal support will be on hand at the Loretta Lynn's Ranch during the 2006 Amateur National Championships. Ren- thal will have a booth set up on vendor row from July 29 through August 5 and will offer a complete stock of handle- bars, grips, sprockets, chains and acces- sories to all its support riders who are racing the national event. For more information, call 800/749-2890 or visit www.info@renthalsupport.com. David Bailey and ONE Industries have teamed up to offer an AMA 2006 MXDN Tour for Two to one lucky hel- met owner. ONE Industries' limited edition Maggiora-MXDN 1986 David Bailey Trooper helmet sold out in one week, and each is being shipped with a contest-entry postcard. Postcard entries will also receive a limited-edi- tion DVD Dream Team showcasing the U.S. team's domination at the 1986 MX des Nations. The 1986 Maggiora Motocross des Nations DVD is also available for pre- order now at ONE Industries for $25.95. All proceeds go to www.FullCircleFoun- dation.com (David Bailey Fund). See a trailer of the DVD at www.oneindus- tries.com. Travis Whitlock and Bret Peterson shared the spotlight at the Idaho Hillclimb National, round three of the Racer X/Suzuki N.A.H.A. Pro Hillclimb Series in New Plymouth, Idaho, on July 16. Nearly 8000 spectators turned out for the two- day event to watch riders attempt what has been called the most-treacherous hill in American competition. Utah's Whit- lock won the 0-700cc class topping Jason Smith, who won the World Trophy two weeks ago in Decazaville, France. Peter- son claimed third in the class and then came back to win the Open Unlimited and the King Of The Hill Shootout. American Honda has announced a new and innovative way for enthusiasts to get race-day updates at the U.S. Grand Prix at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, July 21-23. Race attendees or anyone else with a cell phone, or other device that allows text messaging, will be able to receive periodic updates on Honda-spon- sored events (autograph sessions, historic motorcycle demonstrations, etc.), quali- fying times, race alerts, "Nicky News" and other insider information, according to Honda. All they need to do is text HONDA to 42627. For more informa- tion, visit hondaredriders.com/text. The Maxxis FIM World Enduro Championship (WEC) made its first-ever trip across the pond when the series headed to Ontario for the GP of Canada for the first of two North American rounds at Parry Sound, about two hours north of Toronto. The sandy course was broken up with technical, challenging special tests with tight cor- ners, ruts, and tree roots, including one extreme test among the rocks on the shore of Lake Huron. Ultimately, it was Isle of Man's David Knight who con- quered the course and the humidity to claim the overall win in what was round five of the series. E2-class winner Samuli Aro presented the biggest challenge for Knight in the overall victory. "I knew that I had a good lead in the E3 class," Knight said, "But things were pretty close between myself and Aro for the overall." The two also set the fastest-overall test times in 15 of the 16 special tests. Australian Yamaha rider Stefan Merriman, riding in the E2 class, claimed the remaining special-test victory. Merriman ended up fifth in E2 behind Aro, Honda's Mika Ahola, Yamaha's Johnny Aubert and KTM's Fabien Planet. The deciding factor during the two-day enduro was a rocky extreme test that quickly separated the top riders. A challenging 1K test led riders over rocks along the eastern shore of Lake Huron, and it was here where Knight's domi- nance surfaced in the E3 class. He set the fastest pace en route to claiming a three-minute, 32-second victory over fellow KTM rider Marko Tarkkala and Spain's Sebastien Guillaume (Gas), who finished third both days to Knight and Tarkkala. "The extreme test was really different," Knight said. "It evolved throughout the race. My background in trials really paid off." Despite his characteristic dominant performance, Knight admitted he wasn't feeling very well coming into day one. "I hadn't been on a bike since the last World Championship race in Italy so I felt a little rusty early on day one," he said. "The enduro test was really difficult. I also felt a little groggy during the first half of day one, which I think was because of the heat. I still managed to win all of the tests in the E3 class, which was good." Day two went better for Knight, and at the end of the day he had only praises for the event and the course. "I think the event was great - one of the best races we've had this year. It was a lot more enjoyable that the event in Italy. Three laps each day was plenty and the mix of challenging special tests with a not-so-difficult course was great." The E1-class win went to Italian Honda rider Simone Albergone, who kept KTM from making a clean sweep. He won day-two over Spain's Ivan Cervantes after finish- ing second to him on day one. American riders Kurt Caselli and Nathan Kanney competed in the World round, finishing 11th and 12th on day one in the E2 class, respectively. They both one- upped their results on day two, finishing 10th and 11th with Kanney finishing within five seconds of Caselli. "Like a lot of riders, I struggled on the enduro test," Caselli said. "I got caught up behind some riders on the extreme test as well, which cost me some time. I learned a lot, and have to thank Samuli Aro for helping me out with my lines and stuff, but I just struggled on the condi- tions that I'm not used to riding on. It was a good week- end, though. Hopefully I will be able to do better next weekend at the race in the states." "I had my problems on both days, just like I'm sure everyone else did," Kanney said. "Day one I broke my shifter off. I ended up drilling a hole in what was left of the shifter and putting a bolt through it so I had some- thing to shift gears with, but it wasn't too accurate! In day two, I had my chain come off twice. But I think with that terrain, in a race like that, I wouldn't have been the only one to have those problems." The WEC will continue next weekend with the sec- ond North American round taking place in Hancock, New York. Steve Berkner PHOTO BY D. AGRATI David Knight con- trolled the Canadian round of the World Enduro Championship. Knight Takes Canadian World Enduro