Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127123
\I~HD fiY p~p~ Wf~LfY Tea m Lucky Strike Rober ts' Wayn e Rainey a nd Kevin Magee took pan in test sessio ns on th e team 's new Yamaha YZR 500 roa d race rs at Sp ain 's J a ra ma circ uit near Mad rid on February 25. Ra in ey's fastest lap wa s a I m inute, 28. 1 seco n d tour o f jarama , wh ile Ma gee's fa stest was a 1:28.4. Former team m ember Randy Mamola was fast qualifier for last yea r'sGf' at J arama with a 1:27.67 , a n d W orld Ch amp ion Wa yn e Gardner cu t th e fast race lap a t 1:27.99. Both Rainey a n d Magee ran with 18-in ch wh eels as th e 17-in ch wheels they had hoped to test with . fai led to a rrive in time from Portugal where T eam Marlboro Yamaha was testing a t Estoril. Three-time World Champion Kenn y R o b erts , obviousl y pl eased with Rainey and Magee's test results, sa id, " I can' t stand still th at fa st. Sometimes it scares me to sta nd arou n d a nd wat ch - gu ys go th at fa st. " Reports fro m Europe say the May 1 Portuguese ro und of the World Championship Road Race Series might be canceled. FIM-required safety i m prov em ent s at Portugal 's Estoril circuit have reported ly not been made. Spain's Jerez circuit requested pe rmission from the FIM t o hostthe race , but we're told that req uest was denied due to a new FIM rule that li mit s a country to a single round of any World Championship Series. - The Am eri can Motorcycl ist Association Co rp o r ate Member ship Annual Meetin g i n Cincinnati , Ohio, February 20, saw co rp ora te m embers re-elec t J im H an sen (Cycle / Cycle ' World), Tim H oelter (H arley-Davidso n ) a n d Bob Moffit (Kawaskai ) as trustees, The Board of Trustees re-elected John Hasty as chairman, Bill Bai rd vice chairman, Hansen treasurer, H oelter assistant treasurer an d Dal Smilie secre ta ry. The Harley-Davidson Motor Company has contributed $21,153 to the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation (A M HF) in the name of Carl Kish, a M ilwaukee, Wisconsin-area Harley-Davidson owner and enthusiast . . Kish, 53, a lifelong motorcycle en thusiast, died of inj uries he rece ived in a June 18, 1987, accident when his motorcycle struck a deer. It was subsequently discovered that his estate incl uded a lif e insurance policy naming Harley- Davidson as its benficiary. Company officials decided to donate the entire proceeds of the policy to the AMHF. The money w ill be used by the Foundation to establish a living legacy fea turing Harley-Davidson motorcycles and memorabilia in memory of Kish . That display w ill be on permanent public exhibit at the headquarters of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in Westerville, Ohio. Speaking on behalf of Harley-Davidson, Vice President and General Counsel Tim Hoelter sa id, "Ca rl Kish clearly loved motorcycling and his Harley-Davidson motorcycles . We are touched by his loyalty in naming our company as his bene f ic iary, and we bel ieve he would agree w ith our decision to pass t he funds on to an organization that will perpetuate his love for motorcyling ." The AMHF is a non-profit foundation established to create a motorcycle museum , hall o f f ame, and archives. It is 'spo nsored by the AMA. Bi ll Amick, head of th e AMA 's professional racing department, says it 's "85-percent go" on Canada's Mosport circuit hosting an AMA Superbike road race on May 22. If th e race does come o ff, it 'll be co sa nctioned bv the AMA and th e Canadi an Mo torcycl e Associatio n (C MA). Amick also sa id th ere's a " 6040 chance th at Minneso ta 's Bra in erd circui t m ight return to th e AMA Su perbike schedu le. " . Two -time National Champion Ricky Graham's debut on the Rob Muzzy-prepared 600cc Kawasaki dirt tracker will not take place during the March 5 Budweiser 600cc National Short Track at Daytona Beach, Florida, accord-. ing to Muzzy. "We're not going to make Daytona," Muzzy said . "The motor was approved by the AMA .in time for Daytona, but the chassis is not ready. " Muzzy said Graham will r ide the 1986 KLR600B-based motorcycle " at Ascot for sure" during the 600cc National TT, scheduled for April 23 in Gardena, California. Kawasaki is supporting the Graham / Muzzy 600cc effo rt w ith equipment. HIR ED : Brian Catter son, 26, b y Cycle News, In c. as associa te editor o f Cycle News an d Mot orcycle R oad R acer Ill ust rated; Ca tte rso n's work has a ppeared in Cycle News, City Bik e and Free-2-Wh eel. The California Gophers will be holding an old-timers reunion in Overton, Nevada, over the Apri l 15-16 -17 weekend . Headquarters for the reunion is Overton 's Sportsman's Bar and motels are next door and free camping (no hookups) i s . available nearby . . Overton is located on the shore of Lake Mead, approximately 30 miles north of Las Vegas. For more information, call 702/394-4076. T he 3rd Annual La Carrera Cla ssic ta kes place in Baja, M exico , o n Saturday, March 19, Registra tio n tak es pl ace on Thursda y, March 17, a nd Friday, March 18, a t th e Bahia H otel in Ensenada. Th e ra ce ' s " pa ra de stan" get s under wa y in down to wn Ensen ada a t 9 a.rn. Saturda y a nd will ta ke p articipan ts out to th e 10K mark o n th e hi ghway to Sa n Felipe fo r the o fficia l stan th at will see two bikes per minute flagged o ff, The race headquarters in San Fel ipe is th e La Fi esta H otel a nd a vic to ry party wi ll be h eld there Sa tu rday night. Entry fee for th e race is $250, For more information, or to enter, ca ll Loyal Truesdale at 213/ 464-5720. . Mechanic Kenny Tolbert, who took the 1987 dirt track season off after handling tuning chores for fellow Texan Sammy Sweet in 1986, will turn the wrenches for Harley-Davidson factory ri d er Chris Carr in 1988, "It's true," To lbert said when asked to conf irm rumors that he will work with Carr. this year. " Har ley- D avi d son called me and offered me a j o b and I took it, Hopefully we'll have a real good year together." Carr and 1969 National Champion-turnedturner Mert Lawwi ll r ec en t l y ended their two-year association when they cou ld n't come to terms for the 1988 season. Tolbert has been tuning for "10 or 12 years" and .worked with Ricky Graham's mechanic, Tex Peel, in 1982, the year Graham and Peel combined fo r ces to w i n Graham 's fi rst Grand Na tional Championship. H arley-Da vidso n a wa rded prelimina ry contracts for th e 1988 d in tra ck season to factory mechan ic Mert Lawwi ll and to factory rider Chris Carr, but fina lly ended u p gi ving th e tu n in g chores to Kenn y T olbert w h en Carr a nd Lawwi ll co u ld n ' t reach an ou tside agreeme n t, accordin g to H arl ey-D a vid son Racin g Manager Bob Co n way . " 1had o ffered co n tracts to Mr. Lawwill a n d Mr. Ca rr , as th ey requested, " said Co nway. " T h a t' s ge tt in g a way from policy; usuall y we co n trac t with just th e rider. T hey were happy with both co ntrac ts but wer e unabl e to co me to terms o n their o wn p er sonal agree me n ts. Since th ey co u ld n' t reach agreeme n t, I chose another tun er - th at's where Mr. Tolbert ca me into th e pi cture." Team Marlboro Yamaha tested at t he Estoril circuit in Portugal on Monday, February 22 through Wednesday, February 24. The three-day test sess ion saw the . t eam spending the majority of its t ime testing M ichelin tires on the 1988 Yamaha YZR500s. In addit ion to 500cc riders Edd ie Lawson and Didier de Rad igues, 250cc pilot Luca Cadalora also rode, although his testing was done on t he 1987 factory 250. On Mon. day, de Radigues was the only 500 rider on t he wet track, testing M ic he lin rain tires on last year's 500. Tuesday and Wednesday, however, were dry and the team used t he 1988 bikes, A lso present at the test ยท were West German Martin Wimmer o n hi s 1.988 pro duction Yamaha 250, Gaulouises' Christian Sarron and Patrick 19oa on 1 9 8 7 Yamaha YZR500s and Loris Reggiani on t he 250cc A pri lia . Derb i also debuted t heir 125cc single'du ring the test sessio n. Fast man at t he session w as two-t im e World Champion Eddi e Lawson, b u t n ew teamm ate D id ier de ' Radigues also i m p r e sse d on lookers. Despite rumors saying o the rwise, th e 1988 Yamaha YZR500 is still a twincra n k V-four. Al ong wi th so me engine design chan ges, . th e frame geometry has been cha nged for 1988 a nd th e rear su bframe now wraps around th e to p two exha us t pi pes. The swingarm has a lso been changed to vallow th e bottom two exha us t p ip es to co me o u t o f th e right side of the bike; in .1987 th e bouorri two exha us t pipes exited th e r ear of the bike with o ne o n eac h side. Pete Johnson (Hon ) won the 500cc Premier class during Vin tage road race action at Daytona Internationa l Speedway on February 29 . Johnson topped Craig McLean (Nor) and Charles Kalko (Nor) to take t he w in. In the F750 portion of the event, Paul McM illan (H o n) took the w in followed by Dave Roper (BSA ) and John Long (Hon) . Amol Precision 's Kurt Li ebmann will be celebra ting his 30th year of raci ng d uring Cycle Week at Da yto na International Speedway. L iebm ann will ride a Fast By Fa rraci , Phil Seib erl ich-prepared Honda CR750 in th e Vin tage race, a H onda VF'Z50R in th e 200 an d a Du ca ti 750 in the Ca lifornian Randy Mamola jetted off to Spain in February to test this prototype of t he Cag iva V -588 that he'll ride in the Wo r ld Champions hip Road Race Series th is year. The test session took place at Spain 's Jerez circuit and Mamola also turned in laps on last year's Cagiva V -587. His t imes on the V-.588 prototype were a second faster than those on the V-587. The V-588 f eat ures a .com plet ely new .frame, and newly designed cylinders, pistons, exhaust pipes and swingarm. Cagiva says the V -588 is pumping out 150 horsepower at 12,000 rpm and the prototype's weight with water and oil is 273 pounds, a figure they hope to have down to 264 by the opening round of the season, t he March 28 Japanese GP .