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/127141
be sent to Cardillo care of Vance & Hines Southgate. 5861 Firestone Blvd . Unit A. Southgate. CA 90280. fiY PliPli WfliLfY i Aust ral ian Wa yne Gardner (Han) wo n round n in e of th e 500cc World Championship Road Race Ser ies a t Francorcha m ps, Belg iu m , on Jul y 3. G a rd ne r topped Edd ie Law son (Yam) by 29 seco nds in th e even t wh ich was run in th e rain. Third pl ace went to Randy Marnola (Cag ) with Didier de Radigues (Yam) a nd Wa yne Rainey (Yam) rounding o ut the top five. Kevin Schwantz (Suz) crashed o n th e 15th lap while hold.' in g fifth pl ace and was sched u led to have hi s kn ee cap wired in Bologna o n J ul y 4; fast qualifier Chrisuan Sarron (Yam) crashed on th e 13th lap whil e battling with Ga rd ne r for the lead . Lawson leads th e cha m p io nsh ip over Gardner, 159-125, with • Ra in ey th ird a t 116 points. The 250cc GP in Be lgium saw Spaniard S ito Pons (Hon) take the win for h is second victory of the season . Pons beat Jacques Cornu (Hon ) by 1 .09 seconds in the race that was stopped after three laps . and then restarted . Th ird place went to Toni Mang (Ho n) w ith Reinhold Roth (Ho n) and Carlos Lavado (Ya m) rounding out the top five . The race was stopped on la p three when Marti n Wimmer and Loris Reggiani crashed; t imes fo r the final 12 la ps were then combined with the times from the first three laps. Pons now leads the championship. 129-128. over Juan Garriga (Yam). who finished s ixth in Belgium . Cornu is third w ith 112 points. In the 125<;c GP in Belgium, J or ge Martinez (Der) took th e win over Ezio Gi an ol a (Ha n) . Juli an Mirall es (Hon ) fin ish ed third. The sidecar duo o f Rolf BilandlKurt Waltisperg (LCR ) co nt in ued their perfect 1988 season by win n ing th eir fifth sideca r G P. Defending World Ch ampions teve Web ster a nd T on v H ewitt (LCR) fin ish ed seco nd. . Ita lian Marco Lucchinelli (D uc) won t he Austrian round of the World S uperbike Champio nship on July 3. Lucchinelli beat fe llow Ita lian Fabrizio Pirovano (Yam) and Australian Mal Cambell (Hon). Californ ian Fred Merkel (Hon) was involved in a collision on the opening lap w ith Davide Tardozzi (Bim); Tardozzi fin ished fifth and Merkel DNF. . Randy Marn ola's third-place finish in the Belgi an Grand Prix on July 3 marked th e first top-three fini sh for the Italian V-fou r in th e 500cc class. Marnola's previous best finish o n th e Cagiva was hi s seventh in th e Ita lian G P a t Im ol a. \ 2 Solmax Racing (S uz ) won the J uly 2 WERA Tsubak i/GS Battery • National Endurance Road Race Series round at Michigan 's Grattan Raceway. So lmax's Scott Russell and John Eidenberger turned in 309 laps to finish two laps ahead of the runner-up team. The Human Race Team (Yam). Finishing third with 306 la ps in the eight-hour race was Team Suzuki (Suz). Frenc h ma n J ean-Michel Ba yl e (Hon ) won bothmot os a t th e July 3 Fren ch 125cc MX GP to close to with in four poin ts of cha m p io nsh ip lead er Da ve Strijbos (Cag) o f Holland. Strijbos finished third in th e first rnoto , but cras hes , reportedl y ca used by Bayle's fell ow Fren chmen , relegated him to 16th in th e seco nd mo to. Pedro Tragter (H on) was third in th e ope n ing mot o , a nd th e seco nd mot o saw Alessandro Puzar (KT M) ta ke seco n d behind Ba yl e wit h Massimo Co ntini (Ca g) th ird. Strij bos lead s Bayle in th e point sta ndin gs, 330 to 326. T ra gter is a dis ta nt third with 192 poin ts. Some of the teams tha t will compete in the July 30 Suzuka 8Hour Endurance Road Race in Suzuka CitY. Japan. are a s fol lo w s: Japan 's Tadahiko Taira and Australian Mick Doohan will ride a Tech 21 -sponsored Yamaha; J immy Filice and Bubba Shobert will ride a RS Taichi-sponsored Honda; Wayne Gardner and Niall Mackenzie will ride a Rothmansl HRC-sponsored Honda; Kevin Schwantz and Doug Polen will be aboard a Suzuki; and Wayne Rainey and Kevin Magee will ride a Lucky Strike-sponsored Yamaha. The National Motosport Association ( N MA) will hold th e Yam ahaspo nso red YSR World Final s Ch ampi onsh ip in Ponca City, Okl aho ma, Au gust 4-6, on a new 1I3-mile circ uit built especi ally for Ya maha Y R50 roa d races. A multitude of classes will be run in both Stock a nd Modified di visions as well as various weigh t di visions. The fin al s wi ll feature a Race of Ch ampions mad e up o f the 10 best YSR riders from arou nd th e world, racing on stock YSR s p rovided by Yamaha. To race a t Ponca Cit y, riders must participate in one o f the 10 remaining regi onal qualifi ers in Alabama , Ca liforn ia , Flor ida, Iowa, New York, T exas or Ut ah . during Jul y. See th e Cal endar sectio n or for more information ca ll the ' NMA a t 213/868-8112. HosPITal Stop: Road racer Steve Cardillo suffered a broken leg. which will require surgery. in a crash at southern Ca liforn ia's Riverside International Raceway on June 26 . Ca rds a nd le tte rs can The AMA has a n no u nced the rider s who ha ve q ualified to rep resent the Un ited rates in the Intern ational Six- Day End uro in Fran ce th is fall. The y are J ohn N iel sen , Jo hn Haak er, Terry Cu nn in gha m, Aaron and Ku rt Hou gh, David Rh od es, Randy Ha wkin s, La rry Roeseler, R ick Da niel. J oe Zierman , Dwig h t Rudder , Gary Hazel , Ch arl es H a lcomb. Jeff Irwin , SCOll Drafs, Fri tz Kad lec, Brian -Mu ll, Dave Bertram, Jeff Fredette; Ch arl ie Kouba, Rob ert Nee ley,. Sco tt La throp , Grant Pal enske, Mau Stavich , T od d H arris, Duke Dow ell , Kevin H in es, Fred Hoess and Drew Sm ith. T he U.S. T roph y team h a s n ot ye t been fin alized. but the U.S. Jr. World T eam will , for the second year in a ro w, co ns is t o f Aaron a n d Kurt Hough, Hawkins and H oess, The FIM has granted MotoMedia S ,A .• a Swiss company. the exclus ive TV marketing rights to Grand Prix races on the World Championship Road Race Series schedule. The FIM previously delegated TV rights to national federations or to GP organizers. but effective January 1 . 1989. only MotoMedia will be entitled to negotiate with the national TV corporations for the broadcasting and retransmission rights for GPs , MotoMedia was founded by the International Road Racing Teams Association (IRTA) and the Roadrace Organizers & Promoters Association (R O PA). The compa n y is managed by an 11 mem ber exec u t ive comm ittee w ith fou r members designated by IRTA. fo u r by ROPA. two by the FIM. a nd one by the World Championship Sponsor's Association , The president of MotoMedia is M ichel Metraux. who is a lso presid e nt of IRTA. and the vice president is Jaap Timmer. president of ROPA . The So u the rn Florida Timin g Associa tio n is being formed to p romote AMA -san cti oned " £lyin g mile" spe ed tri al s for motorcycles. Sp eed runs will take pl ace at th e 10,000fo ot Dade-Coll ier Training and Transition Facility jet strip west of Miami. Those interes ted in joining _ th e SITA sh ould contact Jim Reed , 8701 North Blvd. , Ft. Pierce. FL 34951, 407/466-6231. Bridgestone (U .S.A;). Inc, will initiate a general price increase of 3 to 5% on its t ire and tube products effective September 1. it was ' announced on June 27 by executive vice president James P. McCann. McCann cited increased costs of raw materials and the cost of doing business as the reasons for the price hike. (Con tinued to page 52) Wilson speaks out on 57, supports vehicle access WASHINGTON , DC, JUNE 30 The day after Sen. Alan Cranston accused California 's Republican Serio Pete Wilson of failing to cooperate on Cranston's desert bill, S7, the Sierra Club endorsed Wilson 's De m o cr a tic oppo nent, L t. Governor Leo ' McCarthy, in this year 's Senate race and . ~lls~n sent Cranston a. l e tt~.r 1!1 which he clearly sl;'lled. his U ~? on the c~m troverslal bill. POSI- Let. me first o f a ll sta te to y~)U unequlv?call~: I · want a d~er~, bl~I, bu.t th e n.ght kind of desert bitl, sa id ~llson III th e !etter to . Cranston. . The p roblem with S7 as introduced IS th at It seeks to protecl th e desert for present and future Californians by effectively locking them o u t of it. " Wilson also said th at " wh ile th ere are some irresponsi ble hunters, offroa d veh icle riders and campers" he found that th e maj ority o f individual s a nd gr oups wh o want contin ued access to th e desert care as much for it as en viro n me n talists. " S7 proposes to save th e desert from the people of California. I propose to save th e desert [ or th e people of California," sa id Wi lson. " I do no t beli eve that it is possible to protect the desert environment only by locking it up." Wilson a lso told Cranston that he felt that if the two co u ld reso lve their differences and would work together to present a "workable, manageable pi ece o f legislation" that suc h a bill cou ld be passed by th e Sen at e this year " in August or Sep tem ber." The Sierra Club 's endorsement of M~Carthy ~me ,as no surprise to Wilson. Wil son s press secretary, Otto Boss. told th e Los Angeles Times , " T h is (e n d o r se m ent) is clearly more of a co m men tary on Sierra Club internal politics than it is on Pet e's record." Although th e Sierra Club commended Wilson for his sponsorship of th e 1984 California wilderness bill a nd feels tha t Wil son is sensitive to . . the envuo~T!It;nt, III McCarthy the.y have a pohucla? wh o ha s charnpio ne d Cranston s S7 , rather than question portions of it as Wilson has done. . . T estifying before the U .S. Sen ate Committee on Energy and Natural Reso urces Subcommittee on P ublic Lands, Nationa l Parks and Forests on July 21,1987, McCarthy endorsed S7 as written while Wilso n said he wanted " to hear those many claims - those ma ny voices to be heard. T hose who love the desert for wi lder ness , those for whom it provides economi c sustenance, and those who seek it as a m uch -needed respite from urban congestion. I am here to listen carefull y before render i ng judgem ent." Th e co m p lete text of Wilson's letter to Cranston ap pears on page 4, th e Voices pa ge.