Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

(Listed in chronological order)

APRILIA CHALLENGE (All Aprilia RS250)
1. Patrick Tracey
2. Kris Provost
3. Jamie Lenore
4. Robert Gosney
5. Peter Esquivel
6. David Steinhoff

VINTAGE HEAVYWEIGHT DINOSAURS
1. James Dobson (Yam)
2. Scott Fabbro (Suz GS750)
3. Russ Lomanto (Hon)
4. Ed Milich (Moto Guzzi)

BATTLE OF THE TWINS LIGHTWEIGHT
1. Jim Rau (MZ)
2. Michael Gougis (Kaw EX500)
3. Tom Nichols (Kaw EX500)
4. Steve Baker (Yam)

GRAVES MOTORSPORTS 650cc SUPERBIKE
1. Will Eikenberry (Kaw 636 ZX-6R)
2. Michael Beck (Yam YZF-R6)
3. Marc Palazzo (Yam YZF-R6)
4. Mickey Lane (Yam YZF-R6)
5. Chad Lewin (Suz GSX-R600)
6. Sam Carnibucci (Yam YZF-R6)

SANTA BARBERA MOTORSPORTS BATTLE OF THE TWINS MIDDLEWEIGHT
1. Richy Headley (Duc 749R)
2. Michael Sirolli (Duc 748)
3. Kurt Spencer (Suz SV650)
4. Bradley Adams (Suz SV650)
5. Tim Martinez (Suz SV650)
6. Kurt Whittington (Suz SV650)

VINTAGE LIGHTWEIGHT DINOSAURS
1. Clinton Whitehouse III (Yam)
2. James Dobson (Yam)
3. Warren Spradlin Jr. (Yam)

From a press release issued by WCM:

‘shoutingdog’ join the push for success with the Blata V6 project

International multimedia development company ‘shoutingdog’ have formed a partnership with WCM to capitalise on the marketing potential of the Blata V6 MotoGP machine.

As development of the V6 continues in the Czech Republic the interest in the unique V6 project continues to increase. Not surprisingly the exciting Blata machine has sparked considerable interest in the USA where more of everything including cylinders is always considered an advantage.

With particular skills in developing transatlantic media potential ‘shoutingdog’ will help capitalise on the interest being expressed.

Following meetings between, WCM’s Director of Racing Peter Clifford and ‘shoutingdog’ Marketing Manager Steve Hawthorne the two companies have laid out an agreement and strategy that should bring a lot of exciting ideas not only to the Blata V6 project but to the whole of MotoGP.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

WSMC racing started at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time Sunday at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, California, but as of 12:20 p.m. local time, only one race had been completed due to delays caused by weather and oil clean-ups.

The track is being hit by intermittent light rain and snow flurries, which have caused crashes and hindered the clean up of oil from crashes–with riders falling not only during scheduled races but also on a warm-up lap preceding the start of a race.

After reaching 47 degrees F, the temperature at Willow Springs slipped back to 42 degrees F. The winds, however, have not diminished and continue to blow at 25-30 mph with gusts of up to 40 mph.

Meanwhile at the Roadracingworld.com offices, the weather is even worse. The area of Southern California known as the “Inland Empire,” about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, was hit by a major rain/snow storm early Sunday morning. Snow covered low foothills in the area that rarely see snow and heavy rains have caused flooding and mudslides.

The National Weather Service has issued snow, wind and flood advisories for the area.


Update: After red-flagging the third race of the day, WSMC officials decided to cancel the remaining races scheduled for Sunday at Willow Springs due to poor track conditions.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

A large quantity of race fuel was stolen from storage containers on the property of KWS Motorsports, in North Charleston, South Carolina.

In an e-mail to Roadracingworld.com, KWS’s Kevin Hunt wrote that late this week thieves cut the locks off of the storage containers and stole the fuel and nothing else.

Local police are investigating and are optimistic that the thieves will be caught, according to Hunt.

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

A racer-autographed copy of C. Edward Link’s popular children’s book The Little Motorcycle has sold for $415 in an eBay auction to benefit the Roadracing World Action Fund, which promotes the use of soft barriers to reduce racetrack injuries.

The book was autographed by several top stars of AMA road racing during the 2004 season finale at Virginia International Raceway. Riders who have signed the book include: Mat Mladin, Miguel Duhamel, Jake Zemke, Ben Bostrom, Eric Bostrom, Aaron Yates, Doug Chandler, Roger Lee Hayden, Freddie Spencer, Kevin Schwantz and more.

Link has also offered to autograph the book, if the winning bidder so requests.

For additional information on the Roadracing World Action Fund, go to:

http://actionfund.roadracingworld.com

Copyriught 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Saturday was a rare perfect day at Willow Springs Raceway with temperatures reaching the 70s and no wind. However, Sunday of this WSMC race weekend dawned cold, with the ambient temperature at 34 degrees F when practice started at 8:00 a.m., and the wind kicking up at 9:00 a.m.

At post time, practice was delayed due to clean-up of an oil spill on the front straightaway and into turn one.

More to follow…

From a press release issued by Team Wurth Honda BQR:

Report on today´s second round of the Spanish Formula Extreme National Championship held on Sunday, November 21, 2004 at Jerez de la Frontera (Jerez, Spain)

Kenny Noyes Ninth in Spanish Formula Extreme in Jerez

Jose Luis Cardoso (Laglisse – d´Antin Yamaha R1), won his sixth consecutive Formula Extreme race today at Jerez de la Frontera in the final round of the 2004 Spanish National Championship season. The 29-year-old from Seville, a former 500 and 250 Grand Prix regular, had already clinched the title last week in Valencia and has also signed with the DFXtreme Yamaha team in the World Superbike Championship for 2005.

The top three places were swept by past and current GP riders, with former 250 GP rider David Tomas (Yamaha R1) taking second. José David de Gea (Honda CBR1000RR), current 250 GP and former MotoGP and 500 rider, just got the best of a scrap for third over Carmelo Morales (Suzuki GSX-R1000).

“This is what we needed to do,” said Cardoso. “At 29 years old a lot of people considered me finished and I knew it wouldn´t be enough just to win the title, I needed to win races and break records everywhere if I wanted to get back into the World Championship. I had a couple of 250 offers, but I´m a four-stroke rider now and I´m headed for World Superbike. When I was in the Grand Prix back when I was a teen-ager I didn´t really appreciate how lucky I was, but getting this chance to go back at this point in my career is really something I intend to make the most of.”

American Kenny Noyes (who is Spanish-born with American parents and actually holds dual American and Spanish nationalities) came back from 13th at the end of lap one on his Honda CBR1000RR to finish in the middle of a three-way scrap for eighth, just a bikelength back of another former GP regular, Josep Sardá (Kawasaki) and the same distance in front of three-time Spanish Supersport Champion José Oriol Fernández.

“I got a good start but lost a lot of time when there was a lot of fairing banging in turn one. Then it took me a couple of laps to get my pace back. At the end I caught Sardá and Fernández and was running the same pace as the guys fighting for fifth, but I was a little too conservative on the last lap because after four DNFs with a combination of crashes and bike problems I needed to finish this race on two wheels. I passed Sardá and Fernandez on the last lap but Sardá just got me back,” said the former Formula USA Pro Singles Dirt Track National Champion who has now completed three years in the premier Spanish National FX class and is considering a return to the U.S. to compete in the AMA National Series.

Cardoso´s race average of 149.489 kph (or 92.908 mph) would have placed him fifteenth in MotoGP in 2003 (the last time the Spanish GP was run at Jerez in the dry), just back of Colin Edwards on the Aprilia RS Cube and in front of Andrew Pitt on the factory Kawasaki and three other riders, Hofmann, Melandri and McCoy. In general the Spanish FX races now are being run at the speeds of the 500s of the Mick Doohan era–very fast for 375 pound production machines running under Superstock-type regulations compared to the old 285-pound two-strokes.

Michelin dominated the championship this season, using last year´s MotoGP 17 inch fronts and a new 17 inch rear based on MotoGP experience with the 16.5s. Dunlop, off the pace at mid-season, brought a new and very effective 17 inch rear to the final two races, but by then Cardoso and teammate Ivan Silva has already pulled out insurmountable points leads.

With World Superbike exclusively using Pirelli tires, both Dunlop and Michelin have concentrated their development in the British, American, Spanish and German production-based national championships.

Cardoso will test his new Yamaha DFXtreme at the World Superbike winter tests at Misano on November 29 and 30, his first opportunity to try the control Pirelli tires.

Noyes, a tester for Spain´s La Moto magazine, will have the opportunity to compare the championship-winning Yamaha R1, Morales´ GSX-R1000 Suzuki, Sardá´s Kawasaki ZX-10R, his teammate De Gea´s Honda CBR1000RR and the importer´s Ducati 999RS at Albacete on Wednesday, November 24.

“They wouldn’t let the magazine test until the season was over and then I had some minor wrist surgery to remove a screw from an old dirt track crash on Thursday, but I’m really looking forward to getting the feel of the Suzuki and the Yamaha on Michelin and the Kawasaki on Dunlop to see how they stack up against what de Gea and I had this year. You don’t often get a chance to ride your rivals’ bikes,” said Noyes.

Results Spanish National Formula Extreme
(Production-based machines up to 1000cc)

1. José Luis Cardoso (Yamaha R1-Michelin) 30´10.757

2. David Tomas (Yamaha R1-Michelin) 30´16.709

3. José David de Gea (Honda CBR100RR-Dunlop 30´20.340

4. Carmelo Morales (Suzuki GSX-R-Michelin) 30´20.342

5. Lucas Oliver Bultó (Suzuki GSX-R-Michelin) 30´23.855

6. Dani Ribalta (Yamaha R1-Michelin) 30´26.232

7. Ivan Silva (Yamaha R1-Michelin) 30´26.878

8. Josep Sardá (Kawasaki ZX-10R-Dunlop) 30’39.751

9. Kenny Noyes (Honda CBR1000RR-Dunlop) 30´39.914

10. José Oriol Fernández (Suzuki GSX-R-Dunlop) 30´40.140

11.Josep Monge (Yamaha R1-Dunlop) 30´42.604

12. Paco Ruiz (Yamaha R1-Dunlop) 30´53.839

13. Antonio Salom (Yamaha R1-Dunlop) 31´02.137

14. Victor Casas (Yamaha R1-Dunlop) 31´16.434

15. José Nion (Honda CBR1000RR-Dunlop) 31´16.989

total starters 36
finishers 31 (26 riders finished on lead lap)

Winner´s race average speed 94.244 mph (FX Record)
Pole: Cardoso 1´44.093 (FX Record)
Fastest lap: Cardoso 1´45,144 (FX Record)

Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

CCS officials today confirmed that Mark Ledesma set a new motorcycle lap record for Chandler, Arizona’s Firebird International Raceway during a CCS race event November 14.

Riding his Honda CBR1000RR on a revised layout of the “East” course during qualifying for the Unlimited Grand Prix race, Ledesma recorded a 55.619-second lap on CCS’ electronic timing system to set the new official record.

Ledesma later backed up his fast lap with a 55.763 lap during the Unlimited Grand Prix final.

According to CCS Southwest Regional Race Director Randy Stem, the Firebird East course revision included eliminating a “busstop” section and utilizing a “sweeper” between turns four and six, which riders liked because it allowed “the track to flow,” Stem wrote in an e-mail to Roadracingworld.com.

From a press release issued by Fastrack Riders:

John Barr Memorial Fund Ride A Thon

Fastrack Riders will be staging a Ride-A-Thon for the John Barr Memorial Fund at their November 27th & 28th California Speedway AMA Track Day event.

All riders are challenged to get sponsorship for the day they ride and make contributions to John Barr’s fund. The Memorial Fund was established by the San Diego Harbor Police to assist family members and officers in times of need.

Sunday, November 28th Fastrack Riders will be running their Yamaha R1 bike in every session of the day to raise money as well. Several sponsors will be sponsoring the bike including Cycle Parts of Los Angeles, Dunlop Tires & Sport Tire Services, Road Racing World Magazine, Shoei Helmets, L & L Motorsports, Erion Racing, and Yamaha. Chatterbox is providing food for all the riders.

All motorcyclists or any individual that wants to assist is welcome to visit the Speedway to watch the activities and make contributions as well.

From a press release issued by Ducati North America:

PUPPIES ARE COMING

The ultimate Italian stuffed animal, the Ducati Cucciolo, a collaboration between Ducati and Accademia creates a collectable animal that celebrates the first Ducati sport motorcycle, the “Cucciolo” of the 1940s and 1950s.

It all started with a little puppy. In 1926, the Ducati brothers founded an appliance business in a suburb of Bologna. Their motorcycle breakthrough came in 1946. The Cucciolo or “Puppy” was no more than a 48cc four-stroke engine bolted to a bicycle frame. But Italians loved it and more than a quarter of a million were sold over the next decade. These early scooters, fast, reliable, efficient – with a robust little engine – laid the groundwork for a motorcycle revolution that led to high performance sport bikes like the 916 and 999 and cult motorcycles like the Ducati Monster and Multistrada.

Today, Ducati celebrates the birth of the Cucciolo with a range of children’s stuffed animals manufactured by Accademia. Designed to closely resemble the original puppy that appeared in Ducati advertising for the Cucciolo, the animals are made of fine plush material with a stuffing of 100% polyester. Puppies come with Ducati bandanas and tee shirts or logo caps with the Ducati Corse symbol and race graphics. The Puppies are available in four sizes, 15 centimeters, 20cm, 30cm and 60cm. In addition, there is a keychain version.

Beginning in April of 2005, a range of vintage Puppies will be launched, dressed in the historic “Meccanica” logo and graphics that celebrate Ducati’s heritage which dates back to the founding of the company in Bologna in 1926.

Founded in 1995, in the span of just a few years, Accademia has become a European leader in the back-to-school business. Since 2001, the company has been expanding in the gift business with noted success in stuffed animals. The collaboration with Ducati began in 1999 with a collection that includes stationery and back to school items – segments in which Accademia is a European leader. Distribution of the line is strictly controlled to only the best boutiques and distribution outlets.

“Ducati is thrilled about its first-ever collection of stuffed animals,” said David Gross, Ducati’s Creative Director, “The Cucciolo is one of the most beloved of Ducati icons and the first sport motorcycle produced by the company.”