“Motorcycles racing into Millville this week - Atlantic City Press” plus 4 more

Motorcycles racing into Millville this week - Atlantic City Press
Motorcycles get MotoGP fans' motors running - Indianapolis Star
Favourite Cancellara takes Tour of Spain opening stage - Reuters India
Strong body builder - Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Just For Fun column: Motorcycle competition provides lots of ... - Fontana Herald News

Motorcycles racing into Millville this week - Atlantic City Press

Posted: 29 Aug 2009 09:26 PM PDT

MILLVILLE - New Jersey Motorsports Park hosts its first major motorcycle races next weekend when the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) arrives for its season finale.

The park, which opened last summer, has hosted several major racecar series, including the Grand-Am Rolex series and the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA).

There have been minor motorcycle races at NJMP before, but none the caliber of the AMA, the nation's premier motorcycle racing organization. Its top series, American Superbike, will have practice and qualifying Friday, followed by races Saturday and Sunday. There also will be four other minor races.

Next Sunday will be the last AMA race for Mat Mladin, who already has wrapped up his record seventh career American Superbike championship and announced his retirement from the series. The 37-year-old Mladin has won 10 of the first 18 races this season, despite having skipped two due to safety concerns. He has won a record 82 career races, 50 more than anyone else.

AMA riders tested at NJMP's Thunderbolt Raceway in July. Since then, the park has made changes in response to some riders' safety concerns. A 5,000-square-foot gravel trap was added outside the first turn, and the runoff area was expanded outside the final turn.

The AMA races are the start of a busy month for the park. ARCA comes to Millville for the second straight season Sept. 13.

The park hosts the Ferrari Challenge the following weekend.

E-mail Jason Mazda:

JMazda@pressofac.com

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Motorcycles get MotoGP fans' motors running - Indianapolis Star

Posted: 29 Aug 2009 07:45 PM PDT

Fans attending MotoGP qualifications Saturday expressed optimism about the sport's future at Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- though they predict the sport's fan base will remain mostly those with a specific interest in motorcycles rather than crossover fans from IndyCar and NASCAR events.

As motorcycles grow more popular, so will the sport of racing them, one fan said.

"There are so many people who ride (motor) bikes now, from kids to older people," said Fred Berndt, 51, Tipton. "That really feeds the interest in MotoGP."

Berndt accompanied his daughter, Amber Berndt, 29, to qualifications. She was the reason, in fact, that he came to the event.

"She rides a lot and is real interested in it," he said as the pair entered the gates. "I'm just a good dad."

MotoGP fans enjoy greater camaraderie than other types of race fans, Amber Berndt said.

"It's more close-knit than IndyCar and NASCAR."

She recently bought a Kawasaki Ninja.

"I'm just starting out," she said. "The fastest I've had it, probably, is only up to 70."

Fans passionate about motorcycles seemed to outnumber those coming to watch the qualifications out of pure curiosity. The featured 28-lap race begins at 3 p.m. today.

A 14-year Indianapolis Motor Speedway safety patrol employee said she doubted many MotoGP fans also attended IndyCar and NASCAR events. "It's three different crowds with three different interests," said Karen Lafuse, 73. "There's no question."

Derick Sanders, 32, and his wife, Misti, drove their motorcycles up from their Martinsville home. Asked about his interest in the bikes, Sanders launched into an explanation of his RS250 Aprilia motorbike's two-stroke engine and the fact that it runs on a gas-oil mixture.

"They run like a dirt bike, but they're geared like a street bike."

He became interested in motorcycles when he was 18, he said, and his enjoyment has only grown. He wants to get into racing. He once reached a speed of 175 mph on a Yamaha WZF 600, he said.

On a racetrack?

"Nah, it was on the street," he said. "It was a long time ago."

One fan makes his living with race cars. Stephan Gregoire has driven in seven Indianapolis 500s, with a best finish of eighth. Most recently he has driven in Le Mans- style races.

He rode his motorcycle to the track. Despite his obvious interest in both cars and motorcycles, he agreed with Lafuse that the MotoGP crowd is different from the auto racing crowd.

"It's really people here who love motorcycles," said Gregoire, 40, Carmel. "I've got neighbors who always come to the race, and I asked them if they were coming this weekend. They said no, because they just don't relate to motorcycles. So I think it's motorcycle enthusiasts here."

That includes Gregoire.

"I love motorcycles," he said, "so it's exciting for me."

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Favourite Cancellara takes Tour of Spain opening stage - Reuters India

Posted: 29 Aug 2009 09:04 PM PDT

By Alasdair Fotheringham

ASSEN, Netherlands (Reuters) - Pre-stage favourite Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland secured victory in the Tour of Spain's opening time trial on Saturday.

The Saxo Bank rider completed the 4.8-km course on Assen's motorcycle circuit nine seconds ahead of Belgian Tom Boonen, with American Tyler Farrar in third spot.

Cancellara also won the opening time trial in this year's Tour de France.

"I wouldn't have betted on me winning because I haven't raced much since the Tour," the 28-year-old told reporters.

"But when I was doing my pre-stage warmup I said to myself I had to go out and do my best regardless."

After averaging 54-kph for the opening prologue, Cancellara said: "I didn't go as fast as [motorcycle champion] Valentino Rossi when he won the grand prix here but I still went pretty quick".

The winner of the 2008 Olympic time trial and world time trial champion of 2006 and 2007, Cancellara added the huge crowds that lined the route acted as extra motivation.

"Racing in an arena like this motorbike circuit doesn't happen very often in cycling and when the crowds are as big as today's it spurs you on," said the Swiss. Continued...

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Strong body builder - Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Posted: 29 Aug 2009 10:44 PM PDT

Strong body builder

published on Saturday, August 29, 2009 11:45 PM MDT

By SEAN FORBES Chronicle Sports Writer

Whoever claims romantics are hopeless evidently has not met Bozeman custom bicycle frame builder Carl Strong.

ERIK PETERSEN/CHRONICLE Loretta and Carl Strong, owners of Strong Frames, pose with a pair of their custom-made bike frames in their office. Strong, 45 and owner of Strong Frames, has had plenty of time to learn about bikes and riding. He started racing BMX at age 8, tried motorcycles for awhile, only to return to the pedal-powered two-wheelers.

And as with any passion or obsession, Strong's experiences have taken him through all the various facets of the sport.

"I got back into bike racing and I wanted to build myself a frame for the fun of it, because it was the most romantic thing you can do with bikes," Strong said. "Most kids like me would go and they'd work at a bike shop and learn how to be a bike mechanic. But I'd been a bike mechanic since I was 10 years old.

"My mom took me to Goodwill and bought me three broken bikes and said, 'here, make one out of it.'"

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To some, the rest might just be history. But for Strong, and those who appreciate high quality, the years of practice - building frames in garages, barns and a shop with 12 employees producing 1,000 frames per year - were essential.

"That's kind of what gave me probably the experience I needed to qualify," Strong said. "I've been doing this for 16 years. So it's just taken a lot of repetition before you can produce these types of 'welds' consistently."

Strong's consistency was recognized at the North American Handmade Bike Show, when one of his titanium TIG welded frames received the year's best award.

"Basically the award was a group of my peers too, that was in the panel (of judges), so it's a big honor," Strong said. "A person that knows what they're talking about, that's saying you do the best or your bike is an example maybe of the best this year.

"TIG welding is one of those things there's no shortcut to doing well," Strong said, while pointing to the dull gray tubes of a partially completed frame. "This might look sort of unimpressive to a person, unless you've tried to do it."

TIG (Gas Tungsten Arc) welding - one of three custom bike construction methods n is considered the epitome of high-tech welding and is used in industries like aeronautics and auto racing for its precision and light weight.

"Not everybody walks up to a bike and looks at the welds," Steve Bjorklund said, owner of Summit Bike and Ski. "But the kind of people who would buy one of Carl's bikes will definitely look at the welds first."

And so did the judges.

Delving into the little details, Strong's frame was examined for color, perfectly spaced beads of the filler material added during welding and the overall appearance of the joint, "that makes the bike look like it's almost melted together."

But some of the precision features escape the sense of sight altogether.

"One of the keys to really, really fine bikes is perfect alignment," Strong said. "These bikes are aligned to a couple thousandths of an inch ... typically less than the thickness of a paper.

"And that's just because it's part of doing something as well as it can be done."

In the custom market, that quality is not produced with the random hope that the frame will fit someone somewhere. Instead each frame is created to the exact specifications of the body that will be riding it.

Years of riding and building experience has resulted in Strong breaking a bike down into four elements: fit, handling, feel and configuration (parts, stickers, color).

"When you buy a bike off the rack, you're probably going to have to compromise one or more of those four elements," Strong said. "With a custom bike you don't compromise any. You get it all."

For $4,000 to $7,000, getting it all is what's expected.

"In the world of bicycling, there is this underground willingness for people to spend a lot of money on pretty high-end stuff," Bjorklund said. "They get pretty into the sport. They ... I'm trying to find words that don't say geek out, (but) people will just get so into it, that they search for the finest frame they can find.

"The ride quality is definitely better."

"All" also describes the effort that Strong has put into his craft, in which art and function are fused as to be indistinguishable.

With a basic set of fabrication skills and the money from selling a condo in Bozeman, Strong bought some tools and went to work in the small confines of his grandmother's garage. Teaching himself the specifics along the way, Strong has occupied some interesting spaces, adjusting his shop along the way, from that garage to a severely weathered-looking barn just down the alley from his current shop at 701 East Mendenhall St. (the building that used to house his store, Stark Raven Cycles).

"A couple of years ago, he up and decided to learn how to do wood working. And he didn't know zilch," Bjorklund said, likening Strong's personality to his method of work. "He bought some fairly nice tools and re-did a whole kitchen, bath, counter tops ... in his house that is just amazing. He just kind of learned it as he went along."

Using that same method, Strong will be adding to his repertoire by offering a carbon fiber option - in addition to the current titanium, steel and aluminum - in the near future.

So it's not just Strong's customers who are getting everything they want out of his work.

"For me this isn't the job," Strong said. "I didn't go to school to learn it and I don't ever plan on retiring. This is what I do. This is who I am.

"It's like if you ever watch Diehard, the movie with Bruce Willis, and you ever ask yourself, 'why does he care so much to go run through the building and through the glass?' And I never see him do anything fun, he's always working ... It's kind of the same thing with frame building, you just do it because it becomes what you are."

Sean Forbes can be reached at sforbes@dailychronicle.com.

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Just For Fun column: Motorcycle competition provides lots of ... - Fontana Herald News

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 08:59 PM PDT

For Terry Heard, the pursuit of happiness through motorcycle racing has certainly been one wild ride.

Motorcycles have led Heard on a path from South-Central Los Angeles to Fontana, where he has become a winner in top competitions.

This past weekend was a particularly eventful one; on Saturday, he crashed during a practice session for the WERA event at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, but on Sunday, he came back to achieve some good finishes.

Oh, and he also had some friendly conversations with the people who happened to occupy the trailer in the garage area next to his: actor Dean McDermott (who was one of the competitors) and his wife, actress Tori Spelling.

It's all part of the exciting life which has accompanied Heard's employment at John Burr Cycles in Fontana, in addition to his service as a safety instructor for Fastrack Riders at the speedway.

In his instructor role, he teaches people how to correctly maneuver bikes (on the street and on the track), and he also emphasizes the proper protective gear — knowledge which came in handy for himself when he endured the crash. Fortunately, Heard, wearing the required full leather suit, suffered only a few scrapes on the arm. Still, he said he needed to overcome the psychological effects of crashing.

"It took me a while to get back up to speed, but by race time, I think I was ready to go," Heard said after finishing his four races on Sunday. He came in fourth, fifth, eighth, and 10th against tough competitors in the expert (top level) categories.

His biggest accomplishments, however, came earlier this year when he gained two victories at Willow Springs, one of the toughest places to triumph.

"I had been racing at Willow Springs for six or seven years and never won," he said. "It's weird — the magic just started coming together. I got a win -- and then I got another win."

His success was the culmination of a long-time appreciation for bikes which began when he was growing up in L.A. After high school, he came to the local area to play a year of basketball at Cal State San Bernardino, but he ended up getting immersed in the motorcycle world instead.

"I've always been fascinated with bikes, but it really took off out here (in the Inland Empire) because there are so many tracks out here," said Heard, who has been riding for 16 years and racing for the last seven. "I started out on a dirt bike, but when I started getting on a street bike it came easier, and I started rolling, and here I am."

And this is just where he wants to be.

"It's amazing," he said, and then he pointed to his famous neighbors in the next-door trailer. "Some of the people you meet here on the track -- Tori Spelling and her husband came out today. It's amazing."

TRIVIA TIME:

Here's our trivia question of the week: Tori Spelling was one of the stars on which TV show throughout the 1990s? If you know the answer, send an e-mail with your name and address to ringold@fontanaheraldnews.com and you could win free movie tickets.

Last week's trivia question was: Who is older, Nick Cannon or Mariah Carey? The correct answer was Mariah Carey, and our contest winner was Symantha Daniels.