Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

McKenna, was second. Third overa ll went to Dean J oyn er (Yam), h ile Curtis Dice (H o n ), Duk e Dow ell (Ho n) a n d Da ve Bertram (S uz ) ro unded ou t th e top six. Series points lead er T ony H endon (AT K) was di squalified for riding offco urse. 00 00 O'l .-; Scott Plessinger (Kaw) won the April 17 Brownsville, Pennsylvania, round of the AMA Wiseco/Suzuki Grand Nationa l Cross Country Series. Ed Lojak (Hus) was second a nd Scott Su m mers (Hon) finis hed third. Team Suzuki 's Wes Cooley, M ike Harth and Jamie James (Suz) won round two of the WERA Tsubakil GS Battery National Endurance Road Race Series, a six-hour race held April 16 at Rosamond, Cali fornia 's Willow Springs Raceway. Solmax Rac ing USA (Suz) f in ished second, and Human Race Team (Yam) was third. The team of Da n Smith/Garth Sweetland (H us) won the Ap ri l 16 Hacienda/Duralube Las Vegas (Nevada) 300, ro und two of th e Best in the Desert Seri es. Larry Roeseler (Ka w) soloed to second overall to win th e Over-30 class, and Carlos Serrano/Greg Zitterkopf (Yam) finished third overall, first 250. The 125cc class win went to Eddie Arnet (Kaw). England 's seven-man speedway team topped the Americans, 5733, in the first test match of the D iamond Jubilee Speedway Series in England on April 17. Eng land was led by Chris Morton's 14 points while Shawn Moran and Lance King each scored 10 po ints to lead the U.S . " sq uad. Team America was w ithout the services of its number one r i der', Sam Ermolenko, who was rac ing in southern Californ ia . Eri c McKenna (Hon) was the overa ll winner a t th e Shas ta Dam Grand Prix, th e fourth rou n d o f th e N at ional Champi onshi p H a re Scrambles Series, in Redding, California, April 17. Fritz Kadl ec (Ya rn), who fin ished 26 seco nds behind Engla nd's Dave Thorpe (Hon) swept both motos in the ope ning round of the World Championship 500cc MX Series in Sittendorf, A ustria, April 17. Second place went to f ell ow countryman Kurt Nicoll (Kaw) who went 2-4, while th ird place went to Dirk Geukens (Kaw) w ith a 5-5 tally. American Billy Liles (Kaw) placed third in the second moto after fin ish ing 11 th in t he f irst moto to t ak e fifth overall. Ameri can Goat Breker placed out of the points a t th e 500cc MX GP in Austria after fin ally tieing up a deal , with th e Italian Honda importer to campaign the 500cc ,G P MX Seri es. " I haven't been a t th e races (in Europe) because 1 d idn't have any bik es," said Breker. "I only pi cked these up in midweek and I hav e had to come here (AustrianGP) with virtually no riding practice." The opening round of the World Championship 250cc MX Series in Salindres, France, April 17, was won by Britain 's Jeremy Whatley (Suz) who went 1-4, beating Holland's John Ven den Bark (Yam) and Yannig Kervella (Hon). Gu iseppe Andreani (Hon) won the second moto but DNF the -first . Californian Rodney Smith (Suz) finished second in moto two, despite ri ding w ith a possible broken ankle. ' Holland 's Davey Strijbos (Cag) went I-I to capture th e overa ll victor y in round three of th e Wor ld Ch am pi onsh ip 125cc MX Series in Mill , H o Iland , April 17. Frenc hman J ean Mich el-Bayle (Hon), who pos ted a 2-3 score, fini sh ed second overa ll, and thi rd p lace' wen t to H oll and' s Ped ro T ragter (Hon ). Bayles leads the poi nt sta ndings over Strijbos, " 109-107. T h ird is T ragter with 67. Rya n Young (Bet) and Jonny Andersson (Hon) t raded wins at Here we see our Daytona 200 and Japanese GP he ro Kevin Schwa ntz and his Pepsi Suzuki RGV500 being captured on film by a camera carried on a specially-rigged bike ridden by Kevin's teammate, Rob McElnea. The two were invol ved in a t hree- day Pepsi -Cola commercial shoot at Daytona after Cycle Week. Th is shot is but one of 38 separate ' scenes that w ill be seen in the fast-paced 30-second commercial. By being featured in a Pepsi commercial, Schwantz and McElnea join much slower company such as Michael Jackson, Tina Turner and David Bowie. the opening two rounds of the AMA/NATC National Champion ship Observed Tria ls Series i n Pampa, Texas, April 16-17. Young won on Saturday, wh ile Andersson topped S unday's event. Steve McNeal (M on ) finished th ird in each round . ' An I Ith -hour agreement betw een th e AMA , sta te o f Ca lifornia a n d Horizon Entert ainment G roup ' of Sea ttle, Washington, will save the U.S. GP round of the World Champi onship 500cc MX Seri es, according to AMA Vice Pr esid ent of Professio na l Competition Bill Ami ck. The event, sla ted for J u ne 26 in Hollister, California, was in danger of cancellation after original promoter Pacel SRO notified th e AMA in early May tha t Pa ce would not promote th e event. T he AMA quick ly negotiat ed an agreement with H or izon Entertainment President Rich Winkler, a form er Pa ce/S k O em p loyee, a nd although th e con tracts had not been signed at press time, Amick was cert ai n the ag reeme n t would be finalized. " It loo ks like everyth ing's a go, " Ami ck said. " We were real happy we were abl e to keep this thing together. " The California Senate voted 29Apri l 11to confirm Henry R. Agonia as the • new Director of Parks & Recreat ion for the state' of California. Agonia, who was appointed tentative parks director in early 1987 by Governor George Deukmejian, came under fire from off-road user groups when he closed Anza Borrego Desert State Park to offroad veh ic les shortly after taking office. The California Off-Road Veh ic le Association (CORVA) mounted a state-wide campaign to block Agon ia's confirmation in t he senate, then .w it hd rew it s opposition when Agonia agreed to a perm i t system that wou ld reopen the park to ORVs. o without discussion T he 24 Rangers a t Ariza-Borrego are a ng ered by th e ag reement to reo pen the nat ion 's largest sta te park to offroad veh icles, according to a recent rep ort in ,the Los Angeles Times. Sho rtly af ter the ag reemen t to allow ORVs in the park was mad e betw een sta te Parks Director Hen ry Agonia and COR VA, th e ran gers sent a 'pro test lett er to Agonia, and vowed to meet on th eir own time 'to decide, " what we're go ing to do abo u t this ." Agon ia rep ortedly told th e rangers, " It's a little lat e to be objecting to i t. " " . W illow Springs International .Raceway has added a9 April 30May 1 date to the. Formula USA Series. The two F-USA road race classes (Unlimited and lightweight) will run in conjunction with the Valvoline Gold Cup American Indy Car Series. Entries are still availab le for th e Ma y 7-8 Virgina Ci ty (Nevada) Grand Pr ix, according to the Western States Racing Association. , For information , phone WSRA at 702/ 322-8084. " I' m all set to get back in action, " said defending National Enduro Champion Kevin Hines (KTMI, who broke his collarbone in the opening round of, the National Championship Hare Scrambles Series in Plante City, Florida, February 26 , Hines missed round two of the National Enduro Series in Maxeys, Georgia, but plans on returning to action at the Little Polecat National Enduro in Twain Harte, California, April 24. Hines has used up his allowed two "throwaway " events (Hi n e s scored poorly in the opening round in New ldria, California, February 21) i n the 12-round National series, which is currently led by South Caro lina 's Randy Hawkins (Suz). "I've reall y got to perform now," said Hines, " but I did it last year, and I can do it again this year." T eam Su zuki 's Keith T u rpi n is rest ing com fo rta bly , at his Forest Park, Georgia , hom e a fter breaking h is right femur in a heat race cras h ' a t the Pontiac, Michigan, Supercross o n Saturday April 9. " I'm finally getting around a litt le bit bett er. bu t it's (th e leg ) still rea l sore," said T urpin in a phone conv ersation the day following his arrival back home, Thurday Apri l 14. "T hey opera ted on me Sunday (April 10) and put a rod in . I' ll be on cru tches for four to six weeks, a nd the docto r said I won't be able to rid e for at least six months to a year. " Team Suzuki's Donny Schmit missed the April 16 Dallas Supercross after hurting his back when he landed too far off a j um p during press -day, practice on Thursday, April 14. " I didn't notice it until about 10 minutes later when it stiffened up, " said Schmit in a phone conversation on Monday, April 18. " I th ink I'm going to take Ta mpa (Florida, round eight of the Supercross . Series) off and get ready for the 125cc Nationals since I'm third there. " Ano th er Suzuki team ster , Ronnie T iche nor , keep s bu sy with hi s sen ior year of hi gh school in hi s tim e off from racin g. Tich en or is enro lled in co m puters, eco no mics, En gli sh and psych ol ogy classes and carr ies a 3,7 g rade poi n t average . " I think it' s impo rta nt to fin ish sch ool ," he says, " beca use you can't race forever." I . Fans hoping to get Rick Johnson's ' autograph d uring t he p re -race session at the Da llas Supercross may have been dissappointed t hat the Honda star wasn 't t here. " It was a last m inute dea l and I wasn 't read y," exp lained Joh nso n. "We have Honda stickers to sign, but the stadium wou ldn ' t allow stickers because CIt Houston t hey were stuck around the stadium . ' I' ll stay around after the race and do my homework, though ." Johnson also said security problems prevented him from attending the autograph session . Despite winn ing th e 125cc Western Regi ona l Supercro ss Champ ionship a t Dallas, Kawasaki 's Jeff Ma tiasevich was not ackno wledged as the cham p ion in front of th e 32,814 spectators, j ust as teammat e J eff Ward's 1987 250cc Supercross Ch ampionship wasn't celebrated at the race in whi ch he clinched the ti tle last year. Only 125cc 'main even twinner Ty Davis received a trophy and , post-race inter vi ew in the winner's circle a t Dall as. , . ' During int ermission at the Dallas Supercross PACE/SRO, promo" ters of the event, and Coors p resented Love for Kids, a local charity benefitting needy ch ildren, a check for $500, A Fren ch co m pa ny , Paris-based Hachette, has agreed to pay $712 million for Diamandis Communications , th e New York-based fir m form ed by a group of CBS magazine division managers to purchase the division from CBS last year. Among (Con tinued to page 4)

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