VOL. 53 ISSUE 23 JUNE 14, 2016 P23
out waiting to see if he'd
need to defend his spot
on the Unlimited class
podium. No one could
touch him. Koester bet-
tered himself by a tenth
of a second and Libhart
scratched, leaving Sall-
strom with his second
win on the day and, as
in the Xtreme class,
Libhart was second and
Koester, third.
Exhibition Hill-Cross
featured single elimi-
nation between the
top 12 Expert Singles
riders. This side-by-side
bar-to-bar action is a
crowd favorite. Koester,
Sallstrom and Rusnak
advanced to the final
with Koester taking the
win followed, by Sall-
strom and Rusnak.
Jeff Whitehead
UNLIMITED
1. Jay Sallstrom (Yam)
2. Phil Libhart (Tri)
3. John Koester (Hon)
XTREME
1. Jay Sallstrom (Yam)
2. Phil Libhart (Tri)
3. John Koester (Hon)
EXPERT SINGLES
1. John Koester (Hon)
2. Jay Sallstrom (Yam)
3. Bryan Rusnak (Suz)
ERV BRAUN
SUFFERS STROKE
S
upercross announcer Erv Braun, known as
"The Voice" of Supercross, recently suffered
a massive stroke on the left side of his brain
that has him fighting for his life. Braun, who was
recently honored by the 2016 Legends & Heroes
Motocross Tour, has been a fixture in AMA Super-
cross for over 20 years. His friends and family are
asking for support as Braun is in critical condition
with a blood clot still in his brain. Friends have
set up a GoFundMe page for Braun requesting
contributions: https://www.gofundme.com/
ervbraun.
"As you can imagine, his fight has just begun,"
reads the GoFundMe page. "Let's rally around
Erv and take the stress off from his family so that
they can concentrate on getting Erv healthy again
so he can get back to doing what he does, enter-
taining us all!" CN
FABRIZIO PIROVANO PASSES
L
egendary Superbike racer Fabrizio
Pirovano, nicknamed The King of Mon-
za—passed away following a long battle with
cancer. He was 56.
Pirovano, from Biassono in Lombar-
dia, Italy, was part of the first years of the
WorldSBK Championship, winning 10 races
and taking to the podium 37 times, finish-
ing second in the title in the inaugural 1988
season and again in 1990.
His final year in the Superbike ranks
came in 1995, where he scored a single po-
dium at the season opener at Hockenheim,
the following year switching to the Open
Championship—a series that later morphed
into the World Supersport Championship.
His greatest triumph came in 1998 when, riding
for the Corona Extra Suzuki squad, he took five
victories and clinched the WorldSBK Champion-
ship. He also took four Superbike championships
in his native Italy.
He continued racing right up until 2008, where
he won a one-off race at the Suzuki GSX-R Cup at
Misano in Italy. CN
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
