Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

conflicting events that would have prevented participation by invited European riders. BY P41P~ Wf~LfY The AMA has announced that thev've commissioned engineer~ngstumes to examine the performance of a variety of single-cylinder and twin-cylinder engines currently in use in theAMA's Expert and Junior din track programs. Pending the results of these studies, ajr intake restriction. via carburetor restrictors, are contemplated-for all twin-cylinder machines effective with the 1987 season. Detail~ next week. Doug Polen and Onis Lance took the Team Texas Suzuki GSXR11 00 to victory in the October 18 Paul Revere 250, the final round of the AMA/CCS National Endurance Road Race Series, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. They edged out Teem Lockhart's Glenn Miller and Wendell Phillips, who finished on the same lap with the team's Suzuki GSXR1100. Team Lockhart's runner-up performance was good enough to clinch the series , championship in the GTO class. , Taylor Roadracing and Team N_ Haven Suzuki finished second and third, respectively, with both teams also fielding Suzuki GSXR 11 oos. Paul Smith Racing's Yamaha FZ600 finished first in the GTU class and also won the GTU series championship. KTM's Kevin Hines won the October 19 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, round of the AMA National Championship Enduro Series. Team Hu~varna's Terry Cunningham, the defenmng ational Champion, finished second. CANCELED: The International Invitational Speedway Championships scheduled for November 1 at Long Beach, California, due to HosPITal STOP: AMA District 36 enduro and cross country rider Mark Lu 'as remains hospitalized due to severe burns he suf(ered in a hop accid nt on October 3. Card and letters can be sent to Lucas at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. Burn Unit, 751 South Ba com. San Jose, CA 95 I28. Blood donations are needed and can be given at Red Cros Blood Banks nationwide. HIRED: J.B. Norris, 36, to the position of dirt track manager for the AMA 's professional racing department; Norris served as executive secretary of the Illinois Motorcycle Dealers Association for the past four years and while in that position was involved in the promotion of Camel Pro Series races at the Illinois and DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. A total of 52 riders from 13 countries competed in the 1986 Trial des Nations in Austria on September 21. Four-man teams competed in the event with their three beSt scores counting for overall team points. The U.S. riders were Beta-mounted Ryan Young and Kip Webb and Fantic-mounted Steve McNeal and Mike West. They"'placed ninth overall and Young was the top American rider, finishing in 21st place with a score of 148 points. The U.S. team was sponsored by Cosmopolitan Motors, TMI, and Dyna Tour. MOVED: Acerbis Plastica USA, to 10911-H Wheatlands Ave., Santee, CA 92701, 619/562-1440, (telex) 697-954/ACERBIS. Honda-mounted Craig Adams won the 250 and 500cc classes in the October 19 La Playa GP which took place in Rosarito Beach in Baja California, Mexico. Kawasaki's new Ninja 750 made its world production race debut at Surfer's Paradise International Raceway in Australia during a threehour race late last month. The bike finished a promising second in the hands of Paul Feeney. but in the Here's a look at the 1987 Kawasaki Vulcan 88 we mentioned in this section last week. The Vulcan 88 has a 1470cc liquid-cooled V-twin engine with four-valve heads and a 102.0 x90.0 bore and stroke. Claimed dry weight of the new holder of the "World's Largest V-twin" title is 562.2 pounds. More details will appear in next week's eyde News along with a look at other 1987 Kawasakis, including the Ninja 750 we showed you earlier this year. October 12 Castrol Six-Hour at Australia's Oran Park, the Team Kawasaki Australia entry crashed and DNF. The privateer team of Roger Heyes and Tod Hamilton, however, went the distance aboard a Ninja 750 and finished sixth. international riders during the eightrace series which takes place next January and February. If you are interested in having a foreign rider live in your home during the series, contact CMC's Dan Skahill, lBO(9 Skypark Circle, Suite F, Irvine, CA 92714,714/261-6116. An w 9O-minute video is available at Harley-Davidson dealers. The video features din track and road racing with Team Harley-Davidson tars Jay pringsteen, COll Parker, Chris Carr and Gene Church the featured stars. Behind the scenes sequences take you along while the stars fish, water ski and play golf (againsl the likes of Camel Pro champ Bubba Shobert and former champ Ricky Graham). Team Yamaha's John Kocinski, who hails from UttJe Rock, Arkansas, will soon be heading to Hickman, California, where he'll be staying at the ranch of three-time World Champion Kenny Roberts. According to Kocinski, Roberts will be helping him out with fitness and nutrition advice. Lynnwood Yamaha in Lynnwood, Washington, will be starting its winter series of road racing movies on October 29. The first four rounds of the 1986 World Championship Road Race Series will be shown on the opening night, starting at 7 p.m. at the Lynnwood Landmark Inn Hotel. team Husqvarna's Dan Smith, riding a 510 four-stroke, won round six of the AMA National Championship Hare and Hound Series in Reno, Nevada, on October 19. Can-Am's Ron Naylor finished second, with privateer Paul Krause (Suz) third. Cagiva's Duane Summers finished eventh overall to top the 125cc class. Smith virtually wrapped up the series championship with his win in Reno; mathematically, the only rider whocan beat Smith is teammate Dan Ashcraft, who reportedly will not ride the remaining rounds of the series. Team Kawasaki MXers Jeff Ward and Ron Lechien will be on hand for autographs and bench racing at Kawasaki of Riverside in Riverside, California, on Saturday, November 1, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Yamaha riders swept all three Pro classes at the final round of the CMC/Dodge Dakota Trans-Cal MX Series at Gardena, California's Ascot Park on October 18. Bader Manneh scored the 125cc Pro class win over Kyle Lewis (Hon) and Willie Surrall (Hon), while Jeff Stanton won the 250cc Pro division, and Russ Wageman topped the 500cc Pro class. Yamaha riders Brian Myerscough and Doug Dubach finished second and third. respectively. in the 250cc Glass, whjle Stanton and Tommy WallS (Kaw) took second and third, respectively, in the 500cc class. Manneh claimed the 125cc Trans-Cal title, while Stanton won both the 250 and 500cc titles. Buddy Antunez scored the 80cc Expert class win at Ascot, but .runner-up Jimmy Gaddis (Suz) wrapped up the series title. Suzuki has announced that they have signed Kevin Schwantz for the 1987 season. Schwantz will contest the AMA National Superbike Series and he will also compete in as many road race GPs as possible on a new Suzuki V-4. Suzuki also announced that they will give the Team Hammer endurance road race team factory support next year with Doug Toland the lead rider on the team's GSXR1100. 2 Now .thal the Continental Motorsports Club(CMC) California Golden State MX Nationals will be AMAIFIManctioned, CMC is introducing its International Hospitality Program. CMC is asking CMC members to temporarily "adopt" one or more Team Green and Kawasaki of Riverside(California) will be manning pit stop areas at the Novem ber 29 Barstowto-Vegas race. Gas and mechanical help will be available. Reservations are required if you want to take advantage of the service and there'll be a limit on the number of riders accepted and it's the old Slory of first come, first served. To rClgister, call Dave Callaway at Kawasaki of Riverside, 7141683-8839. • O'Mara joins Team Suzuki By Kit Palmer RENO, NV, ocr. 14 During the introduction of their , 1987 motorcycle lineup in Reno, Suzuki officially announced its motocross racing team for the upcoming searon. While other major manufacturers are cutting back their factory and support motocross racing efforts, Suzuki is building up its forces as evidenced by the signing of Johnny O'Mara and a number of young and up-and-coming riders to its factory and support teams. Suzuki will field a five-rider factory motocross team and have three support riders in 1987. O'Mara has ended his five-year stint with Team Honda to compete in the 1987 250cc Super«;ross and AMA 250cc National Championship Series for Suzuki. With the AMA's new racing format, though, O'Mara will be left without a ride during the 500cc National Championship Series since Suzuki doesn't have a big-bore motocrosser. When the 250cc Nationals conclude, and the 500cc NationalS begin, o 'Mara will head for Europe to campaign the 500cc World Championship MX Series on a prototype RM500 • Suzuki. This will basically be a race and development period for a possible production RM500 in 1988. O'Mara's first race aboard a Suzuki will be in late October in a Japanese supercross. His U.S. debut will take place in January at the CMC Golden State Nationals. AJrosigned by uzuki is 1986 West Coast AMA 125cc Supercross Champion and NMA Grand National Championships of Motocross winner Donny Schmit. chmit, 19. will concentrate on the AMA 125cc Supercross and National events in 1987. George Holland, 21, who finished second in the 1986 AMA 125cc MX National Championship Series, and Erik Kehoe, 22, who finished third in the same series both for Suzuki, will compete in the 125cc Nationals and 250cc Supercross series. Multi-time champ Bob Hannah rounds out Suzuki's factory MX racing team effort, but Hannah will ride in only selected races. At 30 years of age, Hannah's primary function at (Continued to page 4)

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