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Tuesday, October 31, 2006

In the Spirit of the Holidays...

The Universal crew likes to have a good time, and when the Holiday season comes around it is no different... and really just an excuse. This past weekend had Mike D and Amanda celebrating Halloween and demonstrating the costume pros that they are. Amanda had the guys under her spell, while Mike D just really wants to grow his hair and make the mullet cool again... if that is possible.

Rock on.

Lightning Mike Alessi wins in England.

In preparation of the 2007 Supercross season Mike Alessi usually visits European Supercross races to get into the swing of things. Mike made the trip to Sheffield, England and took on the competition on the Dirt Wurx designed track. Japan GP winner Billy MacKenzie (UK), Colton Falcotti (Canada) and South African Nevil Bradshaw were his main competition but Mike showed good speed and won the Lites class. Congrats # 800!

Monday, October 30, 2006

Jarno Verhorevoort wins mini-GP of Lierop

The Lierop MX circuit is considered one of the heaviest race tracks on earth. The 2004 Motocross Des Nations took place on this track and it also hosts an annual Grand Prix race that is feared by those riders who love hard pack tracks. Mike D. walked one lap when he was over and had to puke when he crossed the finish line. Oh wait, that's when we went for a mountainbike ride... Back to racing. A mini GP was held yesterday and both Jarno and Erwin were racing in the same class. Erwin Robins grabbed an early lead in moto one followed by UMX mounted Christian Mandigers and Jarno Verhorevoort until Erwin had a taste of the Dutch sand and dropped back a few positions. Jarno was chasing Christian Mandigers for the lead and passed him at the end of the moto. At this time Erwin had come back to third making it a true Universal sweep in moto one. Heat two saw MX Jarno and the MON champ (Robins) battle it out for the lead. After a couple of lead changes it was Erwin who crossed the line in first on his YZ250 with MXJarno in 2nd on his CRF450. Jarno's 1-2 was just a little better than Robins' 3-1 so the overall of the Mini GP was for Verhorevoort.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Universal Motocross Desktop Photo

We shot this photo yesterday and thought it might work well as a computer desktop background.

If you're a Universal Motocross fan, click your right mouse button and make it happen.

Jarno finishes 12th overall at KNMV MX1

Universal MX rider Jarno Verhorevoort was planning on finishing in the top ten in the Open Dutch standings going into the last championship race in Mill. Although one-lap time practice isn't his specialty, Jarno clocked the 14th time that gave him a decent spot on the gate.

In heat one Jarno dove into the first corner in 15th place and stayed around that position during the race and wasn't able to come near the top 10. He finished 14th.

Jarno wanted a good result in moto two. When the gate dropped the rider from Helmond grabbed the holeshot!!! De Reuver, Verhoeven, Priem, they were all in this MX1 race and had to catch the UMX rider. Jarno didn't find his rhythm though and finished in 14th for 12th overall in Mill.

The end result was that MX-Jarno finished 12th for the season, 2 points short of a top 10 classification. Thanks for all the support Jarno.

Photo by: Paul de Jong

Universal MX sponsored FAN OF THE WEEK!

Hmm what can we say? The folks at Race-X keep finding them; the Universal Fan of the Week. With girls like these we're confident that the money that Universal Motocross Engineering invests in this part of their killer website is well spent.

Bookmark the following link if you fancy more motocross fans like these.

Racer X Illustrated





Perfect season for Erwin Robins!

The move from the National Federation (KNMV) to the MON this year has turned out well for Erwin Robins. The competition might be a little less but it doesn't hurt to win week in and week out. The Dutch championship series is 11 races long, meaning the riders have 22 motos to score points. Once the MON MX1 title was in the pocket for Erwin, he had another goal to reach; a perfect season!

In a mechanical sport, anything can happen and just cruising to a win wasn't the case. The Universal rider fought for every win and had to battle with UMX mounted Christian Mandigers at the last race of the season to make it all work. The first moto was won with a 30 second lead over Christian and also the last moto of the season was for Robins.

Everyone at Universal MX is stoked on the perfect 2006 season of Erwin. For next year Robins will be defending the Dutch title on his trusty 250YZ with Universal parts as a member of the Sigmans/V.d. Laar team.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Free Universal gear at Vital MX

Universal has been a believer in the concept of Vital MX from the beginning. If you have not signed up for an account, you could be missing out. They are into rewarding members by handing out gear to those that help keep content relevant and, ummm... Vital.

This time around, member Tiki scored a Universal Monocoque stand and T-Shirt. Your stand will not be kitted out quite like the Deegan stand to the left here, but we are sure your bike will look more professional than ever next time at the track. Make us proud by wearing that t-shirt wherever you go, knowing that we have made it machine washable so you can wear it every day.

Congratulations Tiki.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Intermot 2006 Cologne, Germany

A quick thanks to the Universal International distributors who took the time to sit down with us at the Intermot show in Cologne, Germany. We met up with Madison (UK), JTR (Australia), Paul's Boutique (NL), TNT Offroad (Germany), Sano Europe (Belgium), Set-Up racing (Spain) and Speedfreak (Portugal).




































We found the ultimate motocross bike at the booth of a Chinese vendor; THE PEACE. American flags and all. Can't we just all get along?
















The Intermot show had a lot more than MX and Quads going on. Mike D. fell in love with this particular ride. Instead of driving the pick-up truck with all the gas and broken bikes, he'll be cruising on this ride in the 2007 El Diablo Run.













The Sano Europe crew had their mini-bikes parked on Black Universal Monocoque mid-size stands. If you're in the mini-scene you should contact these guys, they know what's up. The following link will take you to their Sano-Europe WEBSITE

Monday, October 16, 2006

Fab and Busty FMX show





























Fabian Baersachs and Busty Wolter did some great shows with the Upforce crew during the Intermot motorcycle show in Cologne, Germany last week. Doing four shows a day is a bit rough but none of the UMX riders showed any slack. They just used it to get ready for the IFMXF Night of the Jumps that was taking place in the Cologne-Dome on the weekend. Enjoy the photos of Fab and Busty.

Pics: BdJ

Eye of the Tig...errr.... FMX rider

If you are contemplating becoming a professional freestyle motocrosser, you might want to think again. Universal rider Busty Wolters demonstrates the mindset you must have before heading off to attempt the level of tricks that are being performed these days... take a close up shot of yourself in the mirror and if you dont look quite as crazy as Busty... you are probably like most of us, and should stick to turning laps on the track.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

lost in Hu'ffelhockendusseldUrf

Well, it turns out that our Brand Manager Mike D is out partying with the Europeans this week, possibly celebrating the victory of Erwin or learning some freestyle maneuvers from Busty. Either way, he will likely come back with a palate that appreciates a finer lager than he is used to here. It is unlikely that he will beat the record of 4 - 8.6s by McGoo, but will probably be giving it a go.

If you happen to see him, please stop, say hi, help him to his feet and let him know he is doing 'nicht sehr gut' and still has 2 remaining.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Have you entered a beach race lately?

Universal MX dealer Jan Heusschen (JH Service) over in The Netherlands is one of the main sponsors of Jarno Verhorevoort. Jarno rides as much as he can and entered a beach race in Vlissingen this past weekend. The rider from Helmond finished 5th in both heats. The race was a good way to prepare for the second to last Open Dutch MX National championships race this upcoming weekend in Harfsen.

We stole this rad photo of Jarno from MXZeeland.nl so if you fancy studing how beach racing is being done on the beach in Holland, you should check out that site for a better overview of the race.

Salty sand and MX bikes don't mix though, we can tell you that much. Telling from the photo that was less of Jarno's concern during the race but more of JH's Service MX shop.

Busty flips big

Busty Wolter from Germany just stuck his second big flip on dirt. The first one happened over a year ago. It's such a mental trick that it takes the right settings to go for it. Busty reports that he's going to write this trick on his Universal bar pad for the upcoming comps.

Next few shows will be at the Intermot show in Cologne, Germany next week where Mike D. and Bart de Jong will meet up with him and UMX FMX rider Fabian Bauersachs and all the Universal distributors.

On Saturday Busty will participate in the Night of the Jumps, a huge event over there.

We stole this photo from Busty's website. It was taken by Christoph Leib. Hopefully they're not preparing for an aggrassive "welcome" when we arrive next week.

Yeah we've been advertising our Universal product in the big mags and we hope you've been checking them out. The latest ad shows a Tig welded and heat treated white Monocoque stand that has a MSRP of $ 99.95. Team Red Bull/KTM parks their bikes on these beauties so why shouldn't you?

Three more products are shown in the ad.

-The Samson Bed Rack (MSRP $119.95) is one of the best inventions. It takes 15 minutes for a person with terrible mechanical skills to drill three holes in the back of the pick up truck or van. You'll appreciate your time for the rest of your life. Hauling your bike hasn't been easier.

-If you want to carry a third bike and don't want to use your monocoque stand, we have the Treo Bed Extender (MSRP 49.95) that does the job fine. Use it in combination with the Samson Bed Rack and get the most out of your set up.

-Of course you need some Solution Tie downs to make sure everything is tight (MSRP $ 29.95). The carabineer safety hook doesn't leave ship and the soft straps won't scratch your Solex handlebars.

These products won't make your bike faster but they will make sure you arrive at the races.

Racer-X FAN of the Week




















Here are two good reasons why you should check out the Universal Motocross -sponsored FAN OF THE WEEK over at Racer X's website.
They're back at it week in , week out. Don't miss out.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Universal Hot Start

If you have not yet had the priviledge to use our new Hot Start Button for your 4 stroke then you should take a close look at the thought that has gone into the one product that truly stands out from the rest. The OTP design that replaces the bracket on your front brake lever and includes a nylon rotator sleeve are only two of the points that make it ultra trick. The aggressive knurling on the thumb lever eliminates slippage while simultaneously and purposely removing your hand from the throttle to prevent an 'accidental' twist when firing back up. With your clutch hand only needing to operate the clutch, the thought process has been simplified. The less you need to think about, the more you can focus on what you need to do... and that is get back in the mix.

You can bet that the 4 stroke guys riding against Erwin Robins want every advantage they can get and if he moves to a thumper, you can bet he will be running the Universal Hot Start to help keep him out front.

Monday, October 02, 2006

We've got a champion!

If you've been following the Universal News section you have noticed that we do sponsor Erwin Robins. The Dutch Yamaha rider has been winning all championships races in the 2006 season. With three races to go Erwin had to finish with a 1 - 9 in Horst to claim the MX1 title.

Erwin rides a 2-stroke 250YZ and the bikes are supposed to be slower on the first straight coming out of the gate. In Moto one Erwin got out of the first turn in second place and it didn't take him too long to claim the lead. He held on to it till the end of the race.

With moto two coming up and the title in sight Erwin opened up the throttle again to finish at least in the top 9 (which would give him the MON MX1 title). But Robins wasn't going to settle for anything less than first and passed three guys in the first lap which gave him the win in Horst and the championship title. Congrats!

With two races to go and 16 moto victories in the pocket, Erwin has set his mind on a perfect season.



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