Thanks to Herod Lowery for sending the link to the story today on Valentino Rossi in the Wall Street Journal.
Archive for July 15th, 2010
(News Release)
MX Sports Pro Racing Presents Mid-Season Statistical Report for 2010 Lucas Oil Motocross Championship
Series boasts overall increase in attendance, TV and web numbers
Fans have come out in droves in 2010 to support American motocross. (Courtesy Steve Cox)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (July 15, 2010) – As we reach the halfway mark of the 2010 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, MX Sports Pro Racing is pleased to provide our fans, riders, teams and various stakeholders some important statistical figures for the series thus far. With six more races to go, the three prestigious championships are still wide open, but early indicators are showing strong results when measuring the impact and reach of the series.
The midseason report contains several vital pieces of information, looking inside the numbers as well as getting the perspective of the progression of American motocross from the riders themselves.
To review the 2010 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship Midseason Report, follow the link below:
http://www.mxsportsproracing.com/articles/2370_2010-lucas-oil-ama-pro-motocross-championship-season-update
MX Sports Pro Racing is continuously striving to grow the fan base while presenting an exciting and safe racing platform, which showcases the world class sport of motocross in the highest and most professional degree.
With the inclusion of new sponsors like Rockstar Energy, signage at the track has increased. (Courtesy Steve Cox)
This Saturday’s Rockstar Energy Spring Creek National from Millville, Minn., airs with back-to-back same-day coverage this Saturday on SPEED. The exclusive broadcast of the 250 Class kicks off the two hours of excitement beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern, while the 450 Class follows at 9 p.m. As always, a live stream of the first motos of each class can be seen at www.allisports.com/motocross.
For tickets and fan and racing information on the 2010 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, log on to www.allisports.com/motocross.
(New Release)
AMAZING ROSSI EYES SPEEDY RETURN TO MotoGP JULY 18 IN GERMANY
INDIANAPOLIS, Wednesday, July 14, 2010 – After just one more quick medical check, Valentino Rossi should be back home this weekend – skimming inches above the asphalt at nearly 200 mph on his Fiat Yamaha Team MotoGP motorcycle.
Seven-time MotoGP World Champion Rossi announced July 14 that he intends to cap an amazing comeback from a compound fracture of his lower right leg June 5 in the Italian Grand Prix by competing July 18 in the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring. Rossi must pass one more medical scan July 15 to be cleared to ride.
“I’m really excited that my doctors think I can ride this weekend,” Rossi said. “Tomorrow I will see the medical officer and then we will have the final decision.”
(Update: Rossi has received clearence to race for the medical officer)
SPEED will televise the German Grand Prix at 8 a.m. (ET) Sunday, July 18 in the United States.
The race return of “The Doctor” will come just 43 days after he suffered the serious fracture in a vicious, high-side crash. It also means that Rossi will ignite MotoGP fans by racing in the Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He won the inaugural MotoGP event at Indy in 2008.
Rossi has tested twice on a Yamaha World Superbike machine during his incredible recovery. He lapped quicker than both this year’s Superbike World Championship pole time and race fastest lap during testing July 12 at Brno, Czech Republic.
“I felt good on the R1 but I know my M1 at the track is a different thing and it will be hard for me, but I miss my bike and my team and I want to try,” Rossi said. “I am really looking forward to seeing everyone and being back in the paddock; I was tired of being at home!”
Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha teammate, 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner Jorge Lorenzo, has won three of the four races during Rossi’s absence and leads the World Championship by 52 points over Dani Pedrosa. Rossi has slipped from second to seventh in the standings.
There are three American riders in the top 10 of the MotoGP point standings: 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden is tied for fourth, rookie Ben Spies is eighth, and Colin Edwards is tied for 10th.
***
IMS tickets: Tickets for the 2010 Red Bull Indianapolis GP are on sale now. A new structure offers additional value and flexibility to fans attending the annual MotoGP event.
Among the highlights of the new ticket structure are lower prices and single-day reserved and general admission tickets for Race Day, Sunday, Aug. 29.
Fans can order tickets online at www.imstix.com, call the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-6700, or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area or visit the ticket office at the IMS Administration Building at the corner of Georgetown Road and 16th Street. Online orders can be made at any time. Hours for phone orders and the ticket office are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday-Friday.
General admission tickets provide access to the grounds and to the viewing mounds along the infield section of the circuit, which provide excellent angles to see the greatest riders in the world.
Tickets for groups of 20 or more also are on sale. Contact the IMS Group Sales Department at (866) 221-8775 for more information.
Udo Gietl in 2002. (Larry Lawrence photo)
The early years of Superbike racing in America were known for racers with colorful personalities and builders with innovative minds. Originally called Superbike Production racing, it didn’t take long for the builders of these powerful 1000cc Superbikes to forget about the “production” part of the name. One of the primary innovators of the early Superbike era was Udo Gietl. In the mid-1970s Gietl helped transform a gentleman’s touring motorcycle, the BMW R Series, into a championship winning Superbike.
Preferring to be a behind-the-scenes kind of guy, Gietl somewhat reluctantly became a celebrity of sorts in Superbike racing. His name was one reason. Udo – it had a certain ring to it and was easy to remember. But more than that was the coverage he got on the pages of Cycle magazine for turning a mild-mannered touring machine into a Superbike. Rider Cook Neilson and tuner Phil Schilling and their Ducati 750SS were competitors against Gietl’s BMW crew, but it was a friendly rivalry and Gietl’s very-trick Beemers got a lot of ink in the pages of the very influential Cycle and other motorcycle magazines of the day.
After success with BMW, Udo went to Honda and later retired to build sailboats. Today he lives in North Carolina, and is still sailing.
If BMW ever decided to return to AMA Superbike one naturally wonders if Gietl’s services might again be needed. “I seriously doubt it” he said. “There is a certain amount of national pride in these things and I would guess Motorrad would bring their own people to do it their way. Would I be honored and would I respond to it? I think I would, but I wouldn’t go out of my way.”
As it is now Gietl stands alongside Superbike builders/owner like Rob Muzzy and Eraldo Ferracci as larger than life personalities that became as well known as the racers who rode the machines they built.
I’m only seven years late, but I finally watched the controversial movie The Brown Bunny. It was in the two-for-a-dollar rental bin. The story is about an L.A.-based 250 Grand Prix racer who travels cross country and has short encounters with women along the way. Most people I talked to who saw the movie back when it came out hated it, but surprisingly it garnered some decent reviews.
The movie mainly consists of rambling road scenes from the driver’s perspective, bug splatters and all. The scary part for me was when I realized I recognized nearly all of the stretches of highway shown in the film (one is I-70 entering the downtown section of my hometown Indianapolis). There’s virtually no dialog.
It was an odd movie to say the least, but not without redeeming value. For one Chloë Sevigny is in the movie and I’d happily sit through a movie of her watching paint dry.
For racing purist a couple of things made no sense in the movie. The racer lives in L.A., but he comes all the way to Loudon, New Hampshire, for what looks to be a club race (no fans to be seen). Maybe it was one of the AMA rainout races that ran on Monday. He then has to make it to L.A., presumably Willow Springs, for another race five days later. Strangely though when he pulls out of Loudon he turns north on Highway 106. He would’ve saved time heading south towards Concord.
Former supermodel Cheryl Tiegs makes a wonderful cameo and still looks beautiful in her 50s even without makeup.
Of course there’s the controversial explicit sex scene near the end of the movie that the movie is known for, but I think the hype was overblown.
The racing footage from Loudon was probably from a club race and was generic and unexciting. That was about it as far as racing goes. There’s another scene where the racer unloads his bike (a Honda RS250) at the Bonneville Salt Flats and runs up through the gears fairly slowly. You can hear him trying to make a shift after he’s already in sixth, but who hasn’t made that mistake. Then back in Los Angeles the bike was tested on a dyno and that about all she wrote for motorcycle scenes.
If you see the GP bike on the cover at your local DVD store and think you’re going to see a motorcycle racing movie, you’ll be disappointed.