From a press release:

Spectrum Motorsports Bike Night

Spectrum Motorsports’ monthly bike night is Tuesday night, August 31st starting at 5:30 PM till 8:00 PM. All bike nights will be the last Tuesday of each month.

The “THEME” is Honda XR & CRF 50 best custom. Spectrum will award a $100 gift certificate to the judged by the audience as the best 50. Second place will receive a $50 gift certificate.

The August bike night will include the usual chili dogs and soda, a DJ, and an exhibition by Factory Mini Racing will be racing and performing stunts on Honda XR/CRF 50’s in the parking lot.

Be sure to mark the last Tuesday night of each month as bike night at Spectrum Motorsports in Irvine, California.

From a press release issued by Castle Combe Circuit:

QUICK CHANGE TO FAST CORNER

One of Castle Combe Circuit’s fastest corners is to be slowed down for the forthcoming Superbike Grand National meeting which takes place over the weekend of Saturday 25thand Sunday 26th September 2004.

The change to CampCornerfollows a visit to the Wiltshire venue by the works Virgin Mobile Samsung Yamaha Team, including team manager and ex Grand Prix rider Rob McElnea and riders Steve Plater and James Haydon.

The team expressed concern that the predicted entry speed to the corner of some 160 mph would be excessive and therefore the circuit has enlisted the help of Stuart Michael Associates of Newbury to design a new corner complex. This is intended to slow the riders into second gear on the approach to Camp, yet retain the character of the famous bend.

Stuart Michael Associates were responsible for the design changes at Silverstone’s Grand Prix circuit over the last decade and for the corner complexes introduced at Castle Combe for the 1999 season, both receiving much acclaim from riders and drivers alike.

The biggest challenge facing the circuit however, is finding enough time in its busy calendar to complete the work in time for the meeting.

Circuit Chairman Howard Strawford explains: “The only window of opportunity for us to get the job done is to begin work immediately after the Classic Action Day finishes at 5 o’clock on Saturday the 11th September, with it being fully operational by 9am on Tuesday the 14th September. You could say it will be the fastest slow corner in British motorcycle racing history.”

The military style operation will be undertaken by local contractors, Ford Brothers of Cheddar.

Current British Superbike Championship leader and title favourite, Rizla Suzuki’s John Reynolds, will be out to set a new outright lap record in September and commented: “Safety is obviously of paramount concern and it’s great to find a circuit willing to listen to riders’ concerns. I’m sure the new corner will present additional overtaking opportunities too which is great for the riders and spectators.”

The change to the corner will only come into effect for bike meetings, with cars continuing to use the existing track.

Castle Combe Circuit Ltd, Castle Combe, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 7EY UK
T: 01249 782417
F: 01429 782929/782392 www.castlecombecircuit.co.uk

From a press release issued by SPEED Channel:

SPEED CHannel’s pinks adds new twist to reality tv

contestants put ‘pink slips’ on the line in classic drag racing format

Until now, reality shows have been all about what contestants win — $1 million, a renovated home, a tricked-out car, a new mom. Other than varying degrees of dignity, there has been absolutely no risk of losing anything.

SPEED Channel is changing all that with its new show PINKS, set to debut in February of 2005.

Using the setting of a classic 1950s drag race, PINKS will pit contestants in a best two-out-of-three format, with the loser handing over the title (pink slip) to his or her vehicle. The rules are simple: two vehicles show up and drivers negotiate any head-start distance (vehicle lengths); vehicles line up, the flagman drops the flag and the first one down the quarter mile wins. After each round, the drivers have the opportunity to re-negotiate lengths.

“This is the real deal, so the faint of heart need not apply,” said Robert Ecker, SPEED Channel VP of Programming. “This is real racing in a controlled setting and the stakes are high. Anyone not prepared to walk home had best not show up.”

“The response to the show has been overwhelming,” said Rich Christensen, host and creator of PINKS. “We have three guys building cars from the ground up, the town of New Hampton, Iowa is sponsoring and racing a car, one of the hottest bands in the Mid-West bought a car just so they could compete on PINKS and three Shifter Kart racers are putting their $10,000 karts on the line in a winner take all competition in San Francisco. And NOTHING about this show is fake. If you lose the race, you lose your vehicle …period.”

The extreme format got the attention of Chicago resident Dustin Bassi, who noticed a link to the Pinks casting call located on a Chicago racing Web site.

“It was old-fashioned street racing,” said Bassi, who will bring an ’89 Pontiac Formula 350 to the show’s first taping in mid-October. “Not many people have the balls to do this, so I wanted to at least try it once.”

Bassi will put his American muscle car against the tricked-out import of Steve Taylor from Los Angeles and the trash talking is already flying.

“I’m not sure what I’ll do with his junk when I win it,” Bassi said. “I’ll probably just take some pictures of it and sell it on e-Bay to rub it in.”

Editorial Note: According to SPEED, PINKS will not be limited to cars.

From a press release issued by Galfer:

Galfer Performance Brakes is now accepting Race Resumes for the 2005 racing season. We have revised and improved our sponsorship program to better support the privateer racers. Our program includes our steel braided lines, performance race pads and our patented Wave rotors. Please send all resumes to:

Galfer Performance Brakes
Attn: Sponsorship Dept.
310 Irving Dr.
Oxnard, CA 93030

From a press release issued by Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha:

Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team Test
Brno, Czech Republic
Monday, 23 August, 2004

YAMAHA’S WORK CONTINUES IN BRNO

The Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team continued working today at the Brno circuit in the first day of a two-day test, joined by most other riders in the 2004 MotoGP line-up. Within twenty-four hours of claiming their respective second and sixth places in yesterday’s Czech Grand Prix, riders Valentino Rossi and Carlos Checa were again lapping the picturesque Brno circuit with their YZR-M1 machines and ended the day faster than the rest of the pack.

Rossi made the fastest lap time of the day (1’58.247s) after putting in an arduous 82 laps. For around 20 of those laps the World Champion tested a newly designed front fairing on his Yamaha machine but then switched back to his current M1 fairing. Rossi’s team-mate Checa was also on form today, finishing with the second fastest time of 1’59.016s and around 80 laps under his belt. Both riders took advantage of the warm and sunny conditions to work on their dry weather settings, as well as testing Michelin tyres and working on electronic mapping.

“There wasn’t so much time during the weekend to work on set-up in the dry”, said Team Director Davide Brivio. “So this was a good chance to improve, and the times today were good. The Michelin tyres they used today were very good, again this showed in their lap times. The track temperature was much higher today as well which of course helped.”

Of his new fairing, Valentino Rossi commented, “I made some laps with the new fairing but couldn’t really feel a difference, although the nose of the bike looks very different. The engineers will analyse the data and decide when we will use the new fairing again. For sure it won’t be in the next race in Portugal because it was our first test with it.”

Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha continues testing at the Brno circuit tomorrow.

LAP TIMES:
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1’58.247
2. Carlos Checa (Yamaha) 1’59.016
3. Makoto Tamada (Honda) 1’59.120
4. Marco Melandri (Yamaha) 1’59.413
5. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 1’59.429
6. Colin Edwards (Honda) 1’59.431
7. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 1’59.459
8. John Hopkins (Suzuki) 1’59.475
9. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1’59.486
10. Max Biaggi (Honda) 1’59.608
11. Sete Gibernau (Honda) 1’59.609


More, from a press release issued by Telefonica Movistar Honda:

BRNO – TEST DAY 1

First Day of testing for the Team Telefonica Movistar Honda MotoGP.

After the incredible win of the Czech Republic GP, the Spaniard Sete Gibernau started testing today around 15.00. He totally lapped 37 laps, 1.59.6 his best time.

Sete worked together with the team on comparative test: he tried the new parts brought to Brno by HRC and compared the performances of the new bike with the old one. Tomorrow another important test session in order to know better the new bike and to decide what kind of bike to use in occasion of the next GP to be held in Portugal next 5th Sepetember.

Sete’s team mate Colin Edwards tested different rear tyres in order to solve the problem found during the race of yesterday. He lapped the whole day, 1.59.4 his best time


More, from a press release issued by Fuchs Kawasaki:

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2004
FUCHS KAWASAKI RACING TEAM DEVELOPMENT TEST
23RD AUGUST 2004 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GRUELLING TEST FOR FUCHS KAWASAKI’S NAKANO AND HOFMANN

Less than 24 hours after finishing in the points in Sunday’s Czech Republic Grand Prix, Fuchs Kawasaki riders, Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann, were back on track and racking up the laps as they continued the development of the Ninja ZX-RR during the first of two days of testing at the Brno circuit.

Determined to solve the front end chatter problems that plagued him during yesterday’s race, Nakano completed more than 70 laps as his crew worked to find a combination of suspension and geometry settings that would eliminate the chatter. A change to the latest Öhlins forks towards the end of the day brought about a definite improvement to the front end of the bike, as well as offering better stability under braking and more feedback from the front tyre.

Nakano will continue to work on refining the chassis balance of his Ninja ZX-RR tomorrow, before moving on to test the latest front rubber from Fuchs Kawasaki’s tyre partner, Bridgestone.

There was no rest for Hofmann’s crew after yesterday’s Czech Republic Grand Prix, as the 24-year-old German’s race bike had to be stripped down immediately after the race to allow the latest engine and chassis components to be fitted ready for today’s test.

With so many new components and settings to test and evaluate, Hofmann’s crew set a gruelling pace as they worked their way through an intensive test programme. After completing 73 laps by time the red flag brought an end to today’s session, Hofmann’s feedback on the new components was positive and he was confident that further improvements could be made during tomorrow’s final day of testing.

Shinya Nakano: 70 Laps/1’59.73
“We were all disappointed after yesterday’s result, and that definitely provided the motivation we needed to get through today’s test schedule, as well as trying to find a solution to the front end chatter that caused me so many problems in the race. For most of the day we didn’t seem to be making much progress with the chatter, but a change to the new Öhlins front forks and some modifications to the chassis balance for the final hour of testing made a big improvement. The new forks definitely feel more stable under braking and they also give more feedback from the front tyre. We’ll continue with these forks tomorrow, when we’ll be working to refine both the suspension settings and the chassis balance.”

Alex Hofmann: 73 Laps/2’01.11
“It’s been a long, tough day, not just for me, but for my crew as well. We completed more than 70 laps around one of the longest circuits on the MotoGP calendar working our way through today’s test schedule. It’s tiring, but the fact that we had such positive results from the new components we tested today made it all worth while. The changes to the engine have made a noticeable improvement, as have the latest Öhlins forks we tried for the first time in the bike today. We know where we need to be in terms of lap times and, while we’re not quite there yet, the progress we’ve made today has certainly brought us a lot closer to our goal. Overall, it’s been a good day and I’m looking forward to getting back on the bike tomorrow and improving things further.”

Naoya Kaneko: Technical Coordinator
“Both the riders and crew have had to work really hard to get through what was a pretty intensive test schedule today. While Alex started the day testing new engine and chassis components, with encouraging results, Shinya and his crew concentrated on eliminating the front end chatter he experienced during yesterday’s race. The latest Öhlins forks Shinya tried towards the end of the day certainly reduced the amount of chatter, but it’s not just one thing that is causing the problem; we need to find a compromise between tyre, suspension settings and front end geometry if we are to eliminate this chatter completely. This is what we’ll concentrate on with Shinya tomorrow, while Alex continues to work on the balance of his bike while tyre testing for Bridgestone.”

From a press release issued by Aprilia Racing:

100 victories for Aprilia in 250 world championship racing

APRILIA celebrated another milestone today in Brno, the famous Italian manufacturer claiming a 100th victory in the world 250 championship. Argentina’s Sebastian Porto had the honour of notching up the century of victories for Aprilia in the Czech Republic GP, the first of which was won by Loris Reggiani back in 1987 at the Misano circuit. A distinguished list of riders have won 250 races for Aprilia, including Valentino Rossi, Max Biaggi, Marco Melandri and Manuel Poggiali, all who went onto win the world championship riding for the Noale manufacturer.

Aprilia’s 100 victories have been shared between 17 riders :

23 Max Biaggi
14 Valentino Rossi
11 Tetsuya Harada
10 Marco Melandri
6 Toni Elias
5 Fonsi Nieto, Manuel Poggiali, Loris Reggiani
4 P.F. Chili, Randy De Puniet
3 J.P. Ruggia, Sebastian Porto
2 Loris Capirossi, , Ralf Waldmann
1 Marcellino Lucchi, Jeremy McWilliams, Anthony West

History of Aprilia’s 100 250 wins:

1987: 1 – Reggiani (Misano)

1991: 2 – Chili (Assen), Reggiani (Le Castellet)

1992: 6 – Reggiani (Jerez), Chili (Hockenheim, Assen), Reggiani (Magny Cours), Chili (Donington), Biaggi (Kyalami).

1993: 3 – Ruggia (Donington), Reggiani (Brno), Ruggia (Misano).

1994: 6 – Biaggi (Eastern Creek, Shah Alam), Ruggia (Jerez), Biaggi (Assen, Brno, Barcellona).

1995: 8 – Biaggi (Shah Alam, Nürburgring, Mugello, Assen, Donington, Brno, Buenos Aires, Barcellona).

1996: 9 – Biaggi (Shah Alam, Suzuka, Jerez, Mugello, Le Castellet, Donington, Brno, Barcellona, Eastern Creek).

1997: 3 – Harada (Le Castellet, Assen, Nürburgring).

1998: 13- Harada (Johor), Capirossi (Jerez), Lucchi (Mugello), Harada (Le Castellet, Jarama), Rossi (Assen), Capirossi (Donington), Harada (Sachsenring, Brno), Rossi (Imola, Barcellona, Phillip Island, Buenos Aires).

1999: 9 – Rossi (Jerez, Mugello, Barcellona, Donington, Sachsenring, Brno, Phillip Island, Welkom, Rio de Janeiro).

2000: 2 – Waldmann (Jerez, Donington).

2001: 2 – Harada (Mugello) , 1 – McWilliams (Assen) , 1 – Melandri (Sachsenring).

2002: 9 – Melandri (Welkom, Mugello, Montmelò, Assen, Donington, Sachsenring, Brno, Phillip Island, Valencia) 4 – F.Nieto (Jerez, Le Mans, Estoril, Sepang) , 1 – Elias (Motegi).

2003: 4 – Poggiali (Suzuka, Welkom, Mugello, Rio) , 5 – Elias (Jerez, Le Mans, Estoril, Motegi, Sepang) , 1 – Puniet (Montmelò), 1 – West (Assen) , 1 – Nieto (Donington), 2 – De Puniet (Brno, Valencia).

2004: 3 – Porto (Mugello, Assen, Brno), 1 – De Puniet (Montmelò), 1 – Poggiali (Rio)

From a press release:

Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th August 2004 – Classic Racing Motorcycle Club Meeting

WORLD CHAMPION HEADS CLASSIC ENTRY LIST AT CROFT

Croft Circuit near Darlington will echo to the sound of yesteryear once again when the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club hold their annual meeting over two days next weekend (Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th August).

Throughout the weekend, there will be plenty of action with no less than 21 classes, both solo and sidecar, set to be fought out over 30 races around the 2.13 mile full circuit and with a host of top riders in the entry list including World Champion Glen English, the racing is bound to be fast and furious.

As well as the sights and sounds of the machines of the Classic and Post Classic eras ranging from the 1960’s to the 1980’s, the meeting includes a round of the 350cc and 500cc National Championships as well as a parade of historic machinery including Mike Hailwood’s 1961 World Championship winning Honda-4.

Other attractions include the opportunity to ride the circuit in a spectator parade for just £15 (road legal bikes with documents and full protective clothing required) whilst members of motorcycle clubs will be able to gain two for the price of one entry upon production of a valid membership card.

Practice starts on Saturday at 9.30am and 12.00 noon on Sunday with racing immediately afterwards. Adult admission costs £10.00 on each day.

For further details please contact Claire Jones at Croft Circuit on 01325 721815

Croft Circuit
Croft on Tees
North Yorkshire DL2 2PN UK
T: 01325 721815
F: 01325 721819
www.croftcircuit.co.uk

From a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist:

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR KIRK McCARTHY
November 18, 1968 – August 15, 2004

With the blessing of Kirk’s family, his closest friends are organising a Memorial Service for Kirk in the UK on Tuesday 31st August at 3pm in St Margaret’s Church, Stoke Golding, Warwickshire.

No flowers.

Donations can be made to The Royal Childrens Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC 3052, Australia.

Cards and written tributes are being collected and sent out to Kirk’s family using the following address: Mr & Mrs McCarthy, c/o 3 Fox Hill, Guilden Morden, Royston, Herts. SG8 0JJ. England.