Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1987 07 01

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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·~ VfH» ~ 6YP4IWIWf~LfY 1:' 00 0') ..... .. ..... - >- ::::s ~ With no pomp or circumstance. Kawasaki 's Jeff Ward was declared the 1987 Supercross Champion by AMA vice president Bill Amick on Monday. June 22. "According to the agreement between the AMA and Insport (Supercross, Inc. and Pace Managemen t/SRO. p romoters of Supercross events), the headline for sanction applications for 1987 was June 15 and seeing as how that dat e has pa ssed and the Sacramen to Supercross, whi ch was scheduled for July 25. has been cancelled, Ward 's the cha mp." said Amick in a phone conversation on Monday . June 22. Going into the final AMAIlnsport Supercross, the Los Angeles Col iseu m Coor s Superbowl of Motocro ss on June 27. Wardhasaninsurmountabl e po ints lead over Honda's Ricky Johnson . Reached via phone a t his Mission Viejo , California. home, Ward said . " I' m disappointed in the way it was handled. I'm glad I'm the champion but it sure would have been better to have that announced at a race. People have been talking about how Johnson can catch me in th e point standings if I got hurt and things like that. I knew I was the champ but it 's good to get the official word. Thanks for calling." Team Suzuki (Suz). with Mike Harth, Thomes Stevens and Glenn Taylor handling the riding chores, won the June 20 WERA/EBC National Endurance Series roed race round at Alabama's Talladega GP Racetrack. Scheduled for six hours, the race was run a total of two hours, 43 minutes and was stopped three times due to lightning, an oil spill and accidents. Team Racerback (Kaw) finished second and Team Gamma (Suz) was third. The win was Team Suzuki's fourth of the series and third straight and it gave them the series point lead over Human Race Team, 403 to 400. Human Race 'Tea m (Yam) finished ,f o u rt h at Talladega. Steve Morehead (H- D) cont inu ed his w i n ni n~ ways in the AMA Regional Ch ampionship Dirt Track Series by toppi ng the Expe rt main even t at the June 20 Greenville (Ohio) H alf Mile. Sammy Sweet (H -D) was second and Dou g Davis (H -D) took thi rd. The J un ior final was won by Darrel Davis (W-R). and the Pro-Am main went to Mike McDonnel (H-D). Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw) won the June 20 Ultracross event at the Seattle, Washington, round of the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Gran Prix Series. Matiasevich's win extends Kawasaki's points lead in the race for the MTGP Manufacturers Cup. 2 The Yamaha YSR50 Cup Challenge has changed ven ues from Willow Spr ings International Raceway in Ro samond, California, to Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernadino, Californ ia. The June 28 date has been changed to July 26 to allow for the completion of an all-new $25,000 GP- styled race track. The follow in g three rounds will be held on Augu st 9. Augus t 23and August 30. For more informa tion con tact SMX at 714/ 582-3482. Pete Johnson won the F-760 and Premier 500cc classes during American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA) action , at the Bryar Motorsport Park in Laconia, New Hampshire, on June 20. Johnson (Tril beat Dave Roper (BSA) in the F-7S0 class and Kurt Liebmann (BMWI in the Premier SOOcc class. The race was held in conjunction with the AMA/Camel Pro Series round. ESPN will begin telecastin g Speedway America this week. The show. whic h will feature speedway racing from Ascot in Gardena, Cal ifornia. will air at 9:30 p.m.• Pacific time, and at 12:30 a.rn, Eastern time on Friday evening/ Sa turda y morning, June 26/27. The show is ho sted by La rry Huffman. form er speedway World Champion Bruce Penhall and David Stanfield. ESPN will telecast 13 straight weeks of speedway racing and repeat programing will bring the total of speedway telecasts to 39 shows. ISDE supporter Ted Schwartz of Chicago, Illinois, tells us that he's heard from officials of the Polish federation who will be hosting the Six Days this year. Schwartz says the American team and support crew members will be housed in the Wolczyn Boarding House, a first class facility according to his contact in Poland. The boarding house, which will offer guests two beds per room and private bathrooms, is 1 0 miles from the Six Days start area. In addition, Schwartz says he's told the course will be muddy and rocky and that the special test MX races will be held on virgin terrain. The AMA has moved one step closer to choosing a three-rider team to co m pe te in th e Mo to cro ss des .Nations at New Berlin . New York's Unadilla Vall ey Sports Center on . Sep tember 12. The six fina lists for the team that will represent the U.S. are T eam Honda 's Rick J ohnson and Micky Dymond, ' Kaw asak i 's J eff Ward and Ron Lech ien, and Suzuki 's Bob Hannah and Johnny O 'Mara. "T here is so mu ch talent in this country, it is a real cha llenge trying to narrow the list down ." said Ned ' Redway. ' the AMA Nat ional MX man ager. " We trimmed the list to six based on current perfo rma nce and experience. We'll keep a close eye on a ll the candi da tes from now until August I, when we will 'announce the three-rider U.S. team and one a lternate. " Kawasaki KX250 wide-ratio kits, including transmission and ignition parts, are now available at Kawasaki dealers. A new videotape, Maintenance The Team Green Way, is now available at Kawasaki Team Green dealers. The tape was produced to assist shop mechanics and KX owners in - maintaining Kawasaki KX models. Eigh teen -year-old South Afri can Rob Herr ing (Yam), ridin g under a British li cense. won the World Championship 250cc MX GP in j astrebarsko. Yugosl avia . June 21 , with a 1-1 sweep. Second went to Jorgen Nilsson (Hon ) who went 32. fo ll owed by It al ian Mich ell e Fanton (Yam. 2-4) and Belgian Erik Geboers (Hon, 5-6). Diego Bosis (Apr) dropped 9S points en route to the overall victory at the U.S. round of the World Championship Trials Series in Bodine, Pennsylvania, June 21 . Second went to Frenchman Thierry Michaud (Fan] who dropped 1OS points. Pascal Couturrie (Mer) took third with 112 points, while Jordi Tarres (Bet) and Donato Miglia (Gar) finished fourth and fifth. Top placing Americans were Bernie Schreiber (13th) and Ryan Young (14th). Johnny Anderson (Hon) captured rou nd seven of the AMA/NATC Nat ional Ch am pionship Trial Series in Bodines. Pen nsylvan ia, June 20. Anderson dropped ju st nine poi nts for the overa ll victo ry. beating series poi nts leader Ryan Youn g (Bet) by six poin ts. Third went to Bernie Schrei ber (Fan). who dropped 18 poi nts, whil e Jack Stites (Yam) and Andy Saum (Beta) tied for fourt h overall with 33 po ints. Larry Roeseler (Kaw) edged John Nielson (Hus) to capture the overall victory at the Trask Mountain Motorcycle Club, ISDE Two,-Day National Reliability Qualifier in Yamhill, Oregon, June 20-21. ,Third and fourth place finishes went to four-stroke riders John Haaker (Husl and Dan Smith (Hus). Mark H yde (H us) clai med the overa ll victory at the Blackwater 100 Cross Country, the eight h rou nd of the AMAI Wiseco Grand Nat ion al Series, in Davis. West Virginia. June 21. Second place went to Wally Wilson (Hus) fo llowed by Tom H a rr is (Yam). Applications to hold off-road vehicle even ts on specially-design ated public lands admi ni stered in the desert by the Bureau of Land Management may be filed now for the 1988 racing season. Perm it applications must be su b mi tted to BL M's Cali forn ia , Desert District Office. 1695 Spruce St., Riverside. CA 92507, no later 'than J ul y 31. Application forms for the special recreation use permits are avai lable at BLM offices in Riverside. Palm Springs. Barstow. Ridgec-: rest. Needles and EI Centro. To ensure fairness to all applican ts, a lottery will be held in the Distri ct Office in Riverside at 10 a.m.• August 19. Each orga nization that submi ts an application will be guaranteed a date for at least on e event. Dan Hanebrink and Bob Lebo will try to break a 31-year-old record when they attempt to surpass the 125cc motorcycle land speed record of 152 mph set by NSU in 1956. The Hanebrink/Lebo combination will use a HMC/One Mix-sponsored Cagiva 125cc WMX engine in their streamliner at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, August 23-29 . Cal ifornia Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-Ch ula Vista) recent ly introduced AB241O. a bill whic h wou ld reverse a recent directive by the State Departmen t of Parks and Recreation banning off-road vehicles from Anza Borrego State Park . The measure is scheduled to be heard July 8 before the Assembly Wa ter. Parks a nd Wildlife committee. Letters supporting the measure sho uld be sent to the comm ittee c/o Assemblyman Steve Peace, State Capita l. Sacramento, Cal ifornia, 95814. Former National MX Champ Kent Howerton made another one of his occasional National appearances at Good Times MX in San Antonio, Texas. Howerton piloted a Kawasaki KXSOO to 18th overall on a track that he helped design. Earlier this year Howerton rode a Honda at the Gainesville 250cc National. Cycle City, the Santa Ana, California-based Metzeler road race tire reps, will be at track side at Laguna Seca Raceway on July 11-12. Metzeler Comp K tires will be available in all sizes. T he July 5 Middl etown (New York) Governor's Cup Half Mile, a round of the AMA Grand Nat ion al Cha mpion ship Dirt Track Series, will be sponsored by Cir cle Bell , whose owner is former dirt track racer Bob Bell ino. Circle Bell sells souvenir apparel and other items at National Ch ampion sh ip dirt track.races across the country . AMAto sanction L.A. Coliseum Supercross Harley-Davidson. Inc. has an nounced that net sales for the first quarter of 1987, for the period ending March 29, totaled $162.4 million compared to $70.4 million reported in the year-ago quarter. Consolidated net income was up $S.4 million, earnings per share up $.93 and motorcycle export shipments up 39.S%. The Am erican Motorcycl ist Association (AMA) has confinned that it wi ll sanc tion the June 27 Coors Superbowl of Geoff J ohnson used Avon's new AM22 and AM23 "Track Formula" tires to win the 750cc Production class at the Isle of Man TT on June I I. Johnson averaged 109.98mph on his Yamaha FZR750 in the three-lap event; it was Johnson 's third TT win. The June 7 Open Production class wa s ca nceled du e to fo u l weather. Avon 's AM22 front and AM23 rear tires are expected to be ava ilable in the United States in Sep tember. RESIGNED: Lee Hall, president and general manager of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin's Road America; . Hall will continue as a member of the board of directors of the road race facility; the 12-man board and staff will continue the track's day-to-day operations until a replacement is announced. WESTERVILLE. OH , J UNE 22 Motocross in the Los Angeles Col iseum. The a n nou nce me nt was made following nego tiation s with Supercross. Inc. (SXI). the prom oter of the event. concerni ng a downhill starting area that SXI had developed for the race. SXI. whic h had already advert ised the new start area. relu ctantly agreed to move the start to its trad itional locat ion on the Coliseum floo r whe the AMA refused to gra m a sanctio if the downhill start was used. AMA's position was ba sed o n sa fe ty considera tions. The Coors Superbowl of Moto cross track will feature severa l unique challenges for competitors. The Superbowl of Motocross was originated in 1972 and set the stage for expa nsion of AMA motocross racing into man y premi er sports stadiums and arenas. . The L.A. Coliseum gates will open at 4:00 p.m.• with the first race se for 8:00 p.m. Rid ers will compete for a guaranteed $30.000 purse plus bonuses. •

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