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Transworld has the low-down on Suzuki's 2004 models. Here's the link. Also, check out more 2004 4-stroke MX bike pics here: Chad Watts left American Honda. Racer X has an interview with RC's former mechanic and he talks about what happened this year. Here's the link.
This old Answer ad shot was done by Chris Hatounian. Here's his Vintage Moto Gallery, which gets occasional updates so check back. when you can
For years video game makers doing moto games for systems like Playstation have disappointed buyers with one weak game after the other, while the informed gamers have always asked just one thing (pretty much), why can't they make a game with realistic graphics like Motocross Madness and Motocross Madness 2? THQ has finally, it appears, listened. The next THQ moto game, MX Unleashed, looks like it may be even better than MCM2! Check out this cool preview video. Business: AMA Reports 60 Minutes 2 Piece on SX/MX Wil Air Wednesday
Mototalk: Woodford wins wet Penton GNCC in Ohio Mototalk: What happened at the Italian GP Everts won two classes! Business: Sponsorhouse.com Hits the Road
Business: Take another look at the status of "Silly Season, 2004." This is the latest buzz on who's going where, or staying, for 2004. Saturday's ATV races at the Penton GNCC in Ohio were all mud due to heavy rain that started about the first lap. Attendance looks really good. People racing bikes tomorrow are expecting better weather. Team Green's newest GNCC rider Scott Sheak was spotted already and is looking forward to tomorrow.
Is Carsten 40 yet? Barry Carsten for a "Factory for a Day" guest ride on Sobe Suzuki? Hey why not? The oldest pro rider on the circuit is still doing fine, and it would be really cool to see what he could do on a full-on Sobe Suzuki factory bike! DC even said in his Racerhead column that it's good for a cover, which should make it worthwhile.
Racing:
125
Racing at High Point (photos added)
Engine Ice Life Section: People Photos from High Point!
The AMA Museum is looking for MX memorabilia... Click here to read more. What's RC do on a week off? RC made an appearance for Fox at a dealer in South Carolina this week and had over 600 people show up!! The crowd was pumped to get a chance to meet the champ. He also did a morning radio show that was awesome and funny...the "Will and Will" show.
Mototalk: Tortelli will be out for 6-8 Months.
Bubba was back on the track Wednesday night at CMC's minibike race at Starwest! Bubba rode a KLX110. He went with his mechanic Jeremy Albrecht and Jeremy's brother Joel, who makes fast minis.
Cycle News this week features an action shot from the second moto at High Point with RC and KW doing the uphill triple side by side!
Check out the MX Posters.com "Poster of the Month," Timmy Tyler, Pro Circuit truck driver!
Engine Ice Life Section: People Photos from Hangtown!
Racing:
125 Racing at High
Point
Mike Alessi, Chris Pourcel, and Adam Chatfield. (Alessi photo) Mike Alessi back: He was supposed to take it easy at a Loretta's qualifier in Georgia due to an injured leg, but Mike swept all four motos of both super mini and 14-15 /85 cc mod classes at Lazy River MX Ranch. His brother Jeff was solid as well with a pair of wins in both 12-13 and 9-13 mod classes and second in the super mini classes.
Check it out! MC's Smooth Industries old-school metal lunchbox is now listed here: http://www.lunchboxes.com/ Saturday practice was a little muddy at High Point, but Sunday looks good! Cycle News reported that Langston banged his wrist and had it checked out in the Asterisk Mobile Medical rig. If you aren't going, follow the webcast on www.mxnationals.com, the scoring on www.usmotocross.com, and the text on www.cyclenews.com.
Weather for High Point is looking better. Friday amateur races went pretty well until late in the day, went rain came. The Motorcycle Product News Minibike Nationals presented by Motonews.com were well-enough attended but a muddy mess! Parts Unlimited's Rob Buydos opened up a can of "shock and awe" in the mud and went 1-1. Here's a Mototalk version of what happened Friday at the Motorcycle Product News Minibike Nationals
Elvis was sighted as a starter and finish flagger.... Photos: MPN Minibike Nationals at High Point
Photos: In case you missed it, Here's a huge stash of photos from the Road 2 Recovery Golf Tourney. Business: Fall IFMA Tickets on Sale June 7 JAMES STEWART SET TO APPEAR ON "BEST DAMN SPORTS SHOW PERIOD"
Glen Helen Raceway Continues
to Benefit the Emergency Trauma Care Center at Loma Linda
University’s Medical Center by Auctioning MX Collectibles on their
Website: San Bernardino, CA – Thanks
to the generous donations from Troy Lee
Designs, C.L. Simmons, Michael Simmons, Ogio Golf, L.A. Sleeve,
theGaragePeople.com, Warrior Custom Golf, Malcolm Smith, California
Speedway, MauiJim.com, and numerous professional riders,
Glen Helen Raceway continues to benefit the Emergency Trauma Care
Center at Loma Linda University’s Medical Center. Please visit their
website at www.GlenHelen.com
and see all the available items on their auction page. Place
your bids now because the auction closes on June 15, 2003.
(V-mar photo) Racing: Hangtown 125 Racing, with Photos Racing:
Here's another look
at Glen Helen's 125 Racing, with photos Life:
4 Questions with Jason
McCormick
Photos:
Hangtown's Celebrity
Race
Life: 4 Questions with Davey Coombs (High Point Preview).
Photos:
Glen Helen's
Celebrity Race
New Section!: Here's one just for the MPN Minibike Nationals! Here's an update from our man Cole Boutwell, the rider that Motonews sent to the 2001 US Open for the mini class: http://www.coleboutwellmx.com/ His sister Kaisey made this site for him and keeps it up.
Suzuki team boss and MX legend Roger DeCoster broke his collarbone on a mtn bike after Hangtown. Sheesh. Best wishes... Business:
Top SX
Privateer Takes Home Nissan Frontier
Engine Ice Life Section: People photos from Glen Helen!
Racing:
125 Racing at
Hangtown
Brian Gray was so impressive at Hangtown, (8th overall), Suzuki is putting him on Jesseman's bike for High Point. A little silly season buzz (so far). As of this update, Team Honda is not expected to change for 2004 RC, Ernie and Ramsey will be back. Langston is KTM's 250 guy for 2004. Check here for the latest so far...
Tortelli cranked out the fastest time in the second practice session at Hangtown Saturday. He had a 2:23.489, RC's time on the AMA transponders was 2:23.841, but he said he wasn't pushing for a fast time until the end and Honda was measuring times from a spot 1/2 lap away, and he just sprinted for them once with a time under 2:23. Either way, it will be close and Tortelli looks ready for a very strong day. Third according to the AMA transponders was Ferry, then Windham, Reed and Ward.
1997 again? KW and RC spent some time sparring at Hangtown also. Will KW's fresh start help him hang with RC all summer?
Ricky Johnson (above) is doing the ESPN helmet cam this weekend since Cameron Steele is in Texas for Global X. He already jumped the uphill double on the far side of the track. This afternoon is pro practice at Hangtown. Watch www.USMotocross.com for the lap times, and check in www.MXNationals.com later tonight for some photos. New Site! Check out Larry Roeseler's "Motozone." http://www.lrsmotozone.com/ Get KTM parts on line from that famous off road racer guy. Mike Alessi, who had been out with an injured leg, took it easy at a Ponca City qualifier and still made it. His brother Jeff won supermini and schoolboy.
New Poll!: What should Travis Pastrana do now? It's hard to believe, but in less than a week we went from happy to see Travis back on the track to people seriously considering if he should just stop racing SX/MX and get on with life. What do you think?
WML Racing: 100 WML Photos from Glen Helen! Casey Johnson was released from the hospital today.
Visits: Here's a tour of the coolest gadget place...Works Connection
Rumors are kicking around that artist Troy Lee is forming a Supermoto team of himself, MC and Jeff Ward, on Honda 450s or KTMs. People sections are back! These feature our-all-new "Life Section" sponsor, Engine Ice... Engine Ice Life Section:
People Photos from
Pontiac! Cool site to check out: Look at Chris Hatountian's Vintage MX Photos!
Racer X is reporting that
Travis Pastrana is out for the season. Major
bummer. Will he ever return to motocross/supercross?
It's too early to tell, but maybe not. He might do rally cars
and freestyle.
Eric Sorby signed with Pro Circuit for another year. RC can tie MC's career win record of 89 combined nationals and 250 supercross if he wins Hangtown this weekend. Moto XXX's Troy Adams broke his collarbone at GH.
Business: R2R Golf Tourney Raises over $21,000. All the 2004 Honda CR's and CRF's will be coming stock with Renthal 7/8" handlebars. Most people thought that they might be coming with fatbars...but Honda opted for the "more flex" of the 7/8" Renthal handlebar. The stock bend is Renthal 971 (Carmichael bend). and it comes with a black Renthal Pad.
In case you missed it, a Honda Mtn bike.
Racing:
125 Racing at Glen
Helen
As if last summer never ended, RC swept both motos at Glen Helen. Reed (2-3) was second but not really on RC's pace, and Ferry (3-5) third. Brown won the 125 class with a 1-2, Langston was second with a 3-1. The second 125 moto was a wire-to-wire battle with Brown. Ryno was third with a 4-3. KW was awesome in his first race since Atlanta 2002 on the Factory Connection Honda 450. He passed DV for the lead in moto 1 and checked out, forcing RC to wait and see if his endurance would hold out or if he would make a mistake. KW made a mistake twice. He hit a rut and fell just before the announcer's tower and had trouble starting his bike, then he fell again at the top of Mt St. Helen. KW held of RC for 4 laps in moto 2 until RC went by and he settled for second. Honda was well-prepared for Glen Helen with new (normal) bars on RC's bike, a regular seat, and suspension changes. Yamaha may have been the best prepared team at Anaheim since they had warmed up in Europe, but at Glen Helen they were still changing things.
Pastrana tore his knee up in moto 1 without even crashing, was in considerable pain, and went for an MRI. The knee is pretty bad and he will be out indefinitely. Also injured was Casey Johnson, who crashed hard in the turn after the mechanic's area and went to the hospital. He has a compressed lung and vertebrae. Just before that Johnson was totally on the gas, leading 2 laps of moto 1 and hanging on to second after Sellards past him.. Sellards lost the lead and crashed too, but he is OK.
Michael Brandes was the surprise of the day (besides KW's strong return) with a 7-5 for 5th overall.
The nationals have a new stage for podiums, and the ceremony is done right after the second motos, not 30 minutes later like in the past. Skip Norfolk is now at Kawasaki as a test supervisor, and Chad Watts is still at Honda, but he's rebuilding 4-strokes for the race team during the week.
Photos! Here's 200 photos from Glen Helen
Other riders we haven't seen in supercross that showed up for Glen Helen (besides the ones returning from injury on Bodnar's list): Antunez, Laughridge, Hadseth, Lange (may not race), Blair Morgan, Chris Wheeler, Reynard, Casey Johnson, John Dowd, Keith (east) Johnson (Dowd and Johnson on Cernic's KTM's), Albee (just for Glen Helen). Bobby Bonds is now riding for Thousand Oaks Kawasaki.
Stefi Laire is amazing. She wins every WML moto she goes out for. She is from Germany and hasn't been racing the whole WML series. Stefi Laire won both motos of the WML nationals at Glen Helen. Sara Whitmore was second on Thursday and Jessica Patterson, who gave Laire a pretty strong run the second moto, was second Friday. AMA Pro Racing (www.usmotocross.com) is breaking in a new reporter this weekend, long-time friend of Motonews Jim Kimball!
Racing: Motorcycle Product News Minibike Nationals at Glen Helen!
Business:
Ratings for SX
Finals on ABC
Business:
AGP Graphics WML
Team Ready for 2003 Season Racer X is reporting that Grant Langston is switching to the 125 class for the nationals, starting this weekend at Glen Helen.
Fox Sports will be airing the 54321 golf episode with Leeann Tweeden on Wednesday May 14 at 5:30pm 7:30pm and 10:30pm pacific time on Fox Sports Net.
Dr Murphy in San Diego operated on Bubba's broken collarbone today and it reportedly went really well. They put a plate in it, which isn't that common for collarbones unless it is a situation like this. So, he is out for Glen Helen for sure. Expect Bubba to keep an eye on who wins what when he decides when to try and get some points. He won't be healed up enough for Hangtown, so he won't just go out there and ride around for points, will he? Scott Sheak was hired by Team Green to race GNCCs and WORCs.
Racing:
125 Racing at Las
Vegas
Some news bits from the banquet: CCE is working on getting supercross on ESPN2 the next day instead of the following Friday. CCE's Charlie Mancuso said it was "One step closer to live television."
Here's a quick review of the Supercross Awards Banquet on Mototalk
Here's a preview of the MC nacnac statue CCE announced at the banquet. There will be two put up, one at the AMA Museum in Ohio, and the other at Edison Field! Roncada confirmed that he is racing 125 nationals instead of 250s. The rest of Suzuki's 250 crew will be ready: Hamblin, Tortelli, and Pastrana. Check out Damien Plotts' web site at www.plottsmx.com. Bubba will be having someone look at his collarbone to see about plating it, and he will for sure miss Glen Helen and Hangtown.
Reed won the Vegas final SX with a holeshot and sweep of every lap. RC was not far behind and gave a strong chase, but a few bobbles in the whoops kept him back-plus he had to think about riding smart and winning the title. Fonseca passed Ferry for third. The three finished Reed 1rst, RC second, and Fonseca third for the last 6 races. The race was pretty much a snoozer, but with the title on the line, you can bet no one involved had time for a nap. When MC finished his last farewell lap, RC and Reed were waiting for him and shook his hand. Keith Johnson was top privateer (including world SX rounds) and drove out of the stadium after the main in his new Nissan truck. Heath Voss (just three points ahead of Ferry) was second overall in world SX standings and for that he got a $30,000 points fund bonus!
Lecture time. Motonews not invited. Before practice Saturday, the AMA's Duke Finch took RC (and boss Chuck Miller) and Reed (and boss Jim Perry) into his motorhome for a meeting on, well, you know. The last time we saw this was at Binghamton when Mike Brown and Grant Langston were knocking each other over too much. Motonews tried to sneak in and listen to the meeting but was politely turned away. :)
Andrew Short won his first main by taking the Dave Coombs East/West Shootout. Bubba was clearly the fastest guy on the track, and was working the crowd by jumping a 70 ft quad that event the 250s wouldn't do. Just when you thought Bubba's only thing left to do (since no one could race with him) was see how much he could work up the crowd and try and set lap times faster than 250s (his best heat race time was just a second slower that Reed's), Bubba went off the track and dropped a few spots. He tried to catch back up quickly and totally wadded in front of the mechanic's area. Watch it on ABC Sports Sunday. Sorby led 4 laps but fell, then DNF'd with a bike problem. Short won it, Tedesco was second, and Michael Byrne was third, even though Byrne was riding with a thumb still recovering from a nasty break. The latest on Bubba, unconfirmed, is that he went to have his shoulder X rayed, and has a broken collarbone. Again that is unconfirmed. With Glen Helen next weekend, this could cause him to miss the outdoor series opener, but no one is saying anything yet.
RC and Fonseca wore black armbands in honor of the Japanese road race GP racer Daijiro Kato that died from racing injuries recently.
Reed's parents flew in from Australia to watch Chad race vegas. They love listening to supercross on www.sxgp.com!
It seemed everyone wanted to show up at Vegas with different gear. Bubba and RC had camo gear. Jesseman and Lalloz had Fly gear that looked like "Lost in Space" costumes. It was way cool. Subway racing had all white ear like DV's at Daytona.
THQ's newest MX game "MX Unleashed" was announced at Vegas, available January 2004.
The post-race press conference was a full house! Bauer reports that Honda signed Billy Laninovich right after the show Saturday night. That must mean Honda wants a factory 125 guy. Stay tuned for details.
Racing: Art Eckman's notes for the Las Vegas supercross finals
Greg Primm's team. Thursday the 4th annual R2R Golf Tournament at the Badlands course in Vegas again brought a good turnout of riders and celebs. RC and Reed both golfed, also there were Fonseca, Byrne, Gossellaar, Ivan Tedesco, Brock Sellards, Josh Hansen, Emig, MC, Carey Hart, Nate Adams, Denny Stephenson, Shane Trittler (who says he is riding this weekend), Button, and the free beer cart manned by two Mototalkers. Broc Glover played too and made the required trip to the scorekeeper and made sure his team got a fair deal. Bob Moore and The Familie agency were there with Reed. Most of the goodies came from Ogio, Thor, Sobe, Oakley, and CCE, which sent cool wind vests.
Business: AMA Confirms Long Term Plans for Nationals Discussed with Promoters Business:
2 Ways to
Follow Nationals Live on Web
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