Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Kevin Schwantz (Suz) and Wayne Rainey (Hon) led the American road race team to victory in the Easter weekend Transatlantic Match Races in England. Schwantz, the top scorer with 165 points, won four races and Rainey won the other five races of the nine-race series. Three races were run at Brands Hatch on Friday, April 17, and six races were run at Donington Park, three on Sunday, April 19, and three on Monday, April 20. Rainey was the second highest point scorer with 161.5 points, and American team member Gary Goodfellow (Suz) was third with 146 points. Richard Scott (Hon) was the top point scorer for the Brits with 123.5 points. American team member John Ashmead suffered a chipped bone in his neck, a broken left thumb and a laceration of his left palm in a get-off in one of Sunday's Match Races at Donington Park. Grand National Champion Bubba Shobert suffered a broken index finger on his right hand and a bruised right elbow in a Thursday, April 16, practice session get-off at Brands Hatch. Shoben flew home to California the next day and has been receiving treatment from trainer Dean Miller. "We'll be ready for San Jose (May 3)," Shoben said on Monday, April 20. "So there's no problem there." Washington dirt track ace Randy Green was a spectator during the Transatlantic Match Races in England. Green says he has switched to speedway racing for 1987 and will compete in the British Leagues. AMAICamel Pro Series Road Race Champion Fred Merkel (Hon) finished second in his 1987 road racing debut in the Italian round of the TT Formula One World Championship Series in Misano, Italy, on April 19. Heron Suzuki's Paul Iddon won the race with Joey Dunlop (Hon) £inish~ ing third. Fred Merkel rode a Team Alliance RVF750 Honda in Misano and will continue to compete in the TT Formula One World Championship Series which are held on homologated circuits; Merkel will not ride on tracks such as the Isle of Man which help make up the TT Formula One schedule. Merkel has indicated that he may return from Europe to ride in the Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca Nationals. Merkel's Honda is reportedly the same as the one campaigned by Honda factory rider Joey Dunlop. The Team Alliance Honda was purchased by Englishmen Bruce Cox and Glen Harris; Merkel is also receiving support from Arai and Dunlop. 2 Dominique Sarron, John Louis Battistini and John Michele Mattioli combined to win the April 18-19,24 Hours of Le Mans in France. The Rothmans Honda-mounted team completed 730 laps for a total of 1931 miles. . HosPITal STOP: Doctors at Uttle Company of Mary Hospital are still unsure whether they will perform surgery on Shorty Seabourne, or place him in a body cast to allow saveral crushed vertebrae in his lower back to heal on their own. The 49-year-old, dirt track veteran was injured in a solo crash during a comeback bid at the April 11 Ascot Han-Mile in Gardena, California. The Harley-Davidson XR750 Seabourne was riding during Expert practice landed on his back when Seaboume lost control of the motorcycle coming out of tum two. Saaboume is out of intensive care and undergoing physical therapy. He is able to move his legs and arms, but is unable to sit up on his own. Doctors feel there is little chance of paralysis. Cards and letters may be sent to: Shorty Seabourne, Uttle Company of Mary Hospital, 4101 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, California, 90503. cial support from the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation. Scheduled for complation in the fall of this year, the retail price has been tentatively set, at $29.95. For more information, contact Talbott-Van Barriger Productions, 258 Cross Wind Drive. Westerville, OH 43081. The Ariwna Desen Racing Association (ADRA) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will conduct a joint conservation project over the April 25-26 weekend near Bouse, Arizona. Volunteers will construct a fence around a desert intaglio that is located near the Parker 400 course. For more information, call 602/2521900. INJURED: Continental Tire sales rep Greg Tysor suffered a broken shoulder socket in a road race practice session at West Virginia's Summit Point Raceway on Saturday, April 11. Tysor says he forgot to tighten the gas line when he remounted the gas tank and gas dumped on his bike's rear tire, causing him to go down. Cards and letters may be sent to 6683 Langtry Lane, Norcross, GA 30093. Privateers Paul Krause and Mike "Downhill" Alexander piloted their Honda CR500 to victory Sunday, April 19 at the Las Vegas 300, the second round of the three-race, Best in the Desen Series. The Husqvarnamounted team of Scott Morris and Kevin Welch took first 250, second overall, while brothers Kevin and Sean Steele rounded out the top three on an Open class Honda. The first 125 was ridden home by John Braasch and Eric Hallgath, who claimed sixth overall aboard a Yamaha. Scott Gray won the 750 and '6oocc Stock Production classes at Sears Point International Raceway on April 19. Gray rode a Suzuki GSXR750 to the win in the 750cc class and later took his Honda Hurricane to the 600cc class win. The Open Production class was won by New Zealander lain Pero (Suz). The Open Production class win at Sears Point was lain Pero's first in the United States. The New Zealander rode for Team Honda Australia in 1986, but turned down the ride for 1987 in order to come to the U.S.; Pero is hoping to campaign the inaugural Superbike World Championship Series in 1988. Perry King, the star of TV's Riptide, competed in the La Carrera Mexican Road Race on April 11 in Baja California, Mexico; King rode a Ducati 900SS to 32nd overall and 10th in the Open class. ACQUIRED: Maico National Parts Dist., by Cycle Service of San Pedro, California; according to Bob Ruesch of Cycle Service, they have purchased Maico USA and its parts inventory. Cycle News has become the primary sponsor of a video documentary entitled Glory Days: A History of Early American Motorcycling. The full-length videotape focuses on pre-World War II motorcycling and is being produced by TalbottVan Barriger Productions, Inc. of Westerville. Ohio. Featuring footage and rare stills of Gypsy Tours, board and dirt track racing, hillclimbs, enduros and road reliability runs, motorcycle polo, stuntand-drill teams and boardcrashing daredevils, the documentary also contains colorful interviews with a number of racers who were instrumental in the formation of the aport. The documentary hu also received finan- as supportin~ events to '87 World ChampionshIp Road Race Series rounds. Scheduled Historic GP dates are: April 25, Spanish GP; May 24, Italian GP; June 25, Dutch GP; July 19, French GP; and September 12, Portuguese GP. The events are open only to riders with current FlM International licenses, riding machines built up to 1972 and of a type raced in GP events before that date. Worth noting is the fact that the Historic GP events will be the only races at '87 GP road race meets to feature the traditional dead engine push start, now that clutch starts are used for the modern classes. For more information, contact Alan Cathcart, lHRO, Suite 2, London House-42, Upper Richmond Road West, London SW 14, England. To help support the' American team in the 1987 International Six Days Enduro in Poland this fall, the AMA is selling colorful ISDE T-shirts ($8 each), patches ($4 each), stickers ($2 eech), and a videotape of the 1986 ISDE in Italy ($50 each). All proceeds witl go directly to the ISDE Support Fund. For more information or to order items, write to: ISDE Fund, c/o AMA, P.O. Box 6114, Westerville, OH 43081-6114. Continental's Conti Ultra TKV road race tires will be available at dealers in the very near future. They were available in limited quantities at Daytona and Continental sales rep Greg Tysor, riding a Honda 600 Hurricane, finished third in the Daytona Super Sport race using the Conti Ultra TKV tires. Of course, the regular Conti TKV Sport street bike tires are readily available. BORN: James Peter Ryan IV, 9 Ibs., 9 oz.. son of Jim Ryan. national sales manager of Motorcyclist and Dirt Rider magazines. and wife Jenny, in Huntington Beach, California, on April 10. The 24th Annual Widowmaker Hillclimb will take place at the famous hill in Draper, Utah, on May 17. For more information contact Jack Carlton of the Bees M.e. at SOli 943-5303. ENDED: Association with Sportbike magazine by Larry Lawrence, due to "disagreement with editor;" L.wrence covers the WERA/EBC Brakes National Endurance Road Race Series and other events for Cycle News. The London, England-based International Historic Racing Organization (IHRO) has announced they've reached agreement with five organizers to stage Historic GP road races The first-ever Supercross in Florida's Tampa Stadium will take place on Saturday night, April 25. Bill West, of SuperSports Promotion, said plans for a Tampa Supercross have been in the works for five years. "We're committed to making this an annual happening in Tampa Bay," said West. Dennis Dorbemeck, superintendent of the California Department of Parks and Recreation's Huntlry Valley State Vehicular Recreation area, and Trinidad H. Juarez, district ranger of the Los Pad.... National Forest's MT. Pinos District, have jointly announced the formation of a Joint Volunteer Off-Road Vehicle Patrol. They are actively seeking dediceted ORV enthusiasts to assist rangers in patrol and public contact actMties in the popular ORV riding area near Gorman. The organizational meeting will be held on May 9 at 3 p.m. at the main entrance to Hungry Valley SVRA, approximately one mile north of Gorman. For more information, call 805/ 248-6477 or 246-3731. The fifth and final round of the AMA ISDE Reliability Qualifier Series will happen, according to AMA's Hugh Fleming. The Me Baker Motocycle Club will host the twoday event, June 27-28, near Bellingham, Washington. Road America in Elkhart Lake, WISConsin, has installed a national toll-free telephone number for tickets and information in response to increased ticket sales nationally. Fans may now dial 8oo/942-RACE to place ticket orders. Road America will host the AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series Honda Super Cycle Weekend over the June 26-28 weekend. Steve Aseltine, winner of the Junior National at the April II Ascot HalfMile in Gardena, California, and fifth-place finisher at the Sacramento (California) Mile on April 4, currently is second in the Junior National Point Standings, not third as listed in our Ascot report. We (Continued to page 4)

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