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/127144
road race on October 9 as a member of multi -time World C hampion Angel Nieto's Ducados-sponsored team. Team Pepsi-Suzuki 's Kev in Schwantz sent tenn is star Gabriela Sabatini 500 red roses after her early round loss to Zina Garrison at Wimbledon. " I wanted to go watch Wimbledon. but I had to race. " said Schwantz. "I sent her the f low ers because I felt sorry for her." Ironically. • Garrison. like Schwantz. is f rom Texas. MOVED: AMA District 38's Fudpucker Racing Team , to 250 Kennedy #2, Chula Vista, CA 92011, phone remains the same, 619/4275759. Fifteen-time World Champion Giacomo Agostini did a lap of honor around the Rijeka circuit on Team Marlboro Yamaha rider Didier de Rad igues' Yamaha YZR500 before the J ul y 17 Yugoslavian Grand Prix. Wind (Continued from page 2) 713 riders competed. For further information on the ' 88 series. call 714/261 -6116. Spectro Oils h a s published the George, Egloff-penned Tour Guide to America. Egloff is a former Iron Butt winner and participant in the ' 18,000-mile Ride for Sight las t winter. The tour guide is laid ou t, page by page, to coordinate with the 1988 editon of the Rand McNally Road Atlas for ease in planning tours. Copies of the 'gu ide may be obtained by writing to Spectro Oils of America, P.O. Box 208, Brookfield, CT 06804. The Mark 205 Motor Inn in Vancouver. Washington. has been chosen as race headquarters for the final round of the AMA 125/ 500cc Na t ional Championship MX Series. to be held in nearby Washougal. and is offering special $40 single. $45 double rates in conjunction with the event . Reservations ca n be made through Marilyn Wa ltmire of ' Aloha Tradewind Travel at 206 / 485-0147. or by calling toll-free 800/426-5110 or 800 /5622205 (in Washington). You must mention the AMA for the discounted rates. CORR ECTIO N: Results for ninth to 11th place in the 125cc class in our coverage of the July 10 Binghamton, New York, AMA National Championship 125/5OOcc MX are incorrect, Dale Spangler should have been credited with ninth overall followed by Rick Pinney and Barry Carsten. 48 A three-man AMA appeal board met in Parkersburg. West Virginia. on July 16 and they den ied Ricky Graham's appeal of his disquali f ication in the June 5 Camel Challenge race at the Louisville (Kentucky) National Half Mile. Graham was 'd i sq ual i f ied for bumping into race leader Chris Carr on the third lap of the f ivelap race . Two-time Grand National Champion Graham f in ished f irst in the race but after AMA offic ials viewed a vi deotape of the inci dent. he was disq ual - ified. First place in a Camel Challenge race pays $10.000. w hile sixth place pays $500. The disqualification thus cost Graham $9500. BO RN: Mallory Ann Hamilton, daughter of longtime District 5 (Pennsylvania and West Virginia) motocrosser Mark Hamilton and wife Ann; Mallory ,An n went through her first tech inspection on July 2 and weighed 3 pounds, 1.5 ounces. MARRIED: Mike Sixbery. southern Ca liforn ia desert rider. to Dawn McGin n is. Ju ly 16 in Agoura Hills. California; Sixbery recently opened a machine shop. S&S Engineering. in Simi Valley. Cal ifornia. Yokohama Racing Services has announced a new tire conti ngency program for WERA National Sprint and Endurance races. Any racer purchasing a set of Yokohama 003 series radials, 110 series or 600 series racing slicks from the Yokohama racing series support trucks and , finishing first, second or third in any class will receive one free set of Yokohama tires at no charge. For more information contact Yokohama representatives at 201/5269207 or see David Graham trackside. The re is a strong possibility that sidecars will compete at the April 16. 1989. running of the U.S. GP at Laguna Seca International Raceway in Monterey. California. The FIM has pressured Japan. Australia and the U.S . into running a third class at the road race GPs next year. Japan and Australia have opted to run 125s. but SCRAMP's Lee Moselle h as reportedly asked for sidecars. Due to the large expense of transporting the rigs and the passengers in addition to the drivers. the top sidecar teams are seeking sponsorship packages to help defray expenses. U.S. GP 250cc winner Jimmy Filice will test Aprilia's V-twin 250cc road racer at the end of th e Grand Prix season, The testing will be conduc ted in Ital y. Filice will rid e a H onda NSR250 in a Spanish International Team Green will have parts and t echnical assistance available for all Kawasaki racers at the NMA and AMA Amateur National Championships at Ponca City. Oklahoma. August 3-7. and Hurricane Mills. Ten nessee. August 10-13. Technica l assistance and emergency parts will be ava ilable after practice . Tires will not be ava ilable from Team Green. The 1989 Kawasaki KX line and the " all new" KDX200 w ill be on display at both Ponca City, and Loretta Lynn·s. In add ition to the race support. Team Green w ill be conducting a trivia contest at Ponca City and a f ishing tournament at Loretta Lynn·s. Team Green will also be co -sponsoring. along with Scott USA and Gear Racewear. a horseshoe pitching tournament. volleyball champion ship and tug-of-war contest at Loretta Lynn ·s. J eff Ward, the 1988 250cc MX National Champion, will make a guest appearance at Ponca City on Saturday, August 6. Ward will give away Team Green posters, sign autographs and puton an exhibition ride on the '89 Kawasaki KX250 during intermission. According to the AMA. Don Estep. who suffered a fractured skull in a time trial crash at the Camel Pro Series Parkersburg (West Virginia) Half Mile on July 16. expected to be released from a Columbus. Oh io. hospital on Monday. July 25. When a group of fans gathered around the fence in front of Bob Hannah 's pit area at Unadi lla nobody was asking him for autographs. Instead it was more like a friend ly chat between old friends as Hannah casually sat o n the hood of a box van while wailing for the first rnoto. One fan shouted out, "How do you feel?" , to which 31-year-old Hannah quickly replied, "ald." Hannah says he will attend a couple of the remaining 125/ 500cc Nationals to watch his Suzuki teammates. particularly Erik Kehoe. "Kehoe's in the points so I'm curious to see if I can help him." Hannah w ill also compete in a race in Anchorage. Alaska. on September 4-5 before heading to Europe later in the month. And speaking of Europe. Hannah expressed an interest in riding a full GP season following the U.S. GP. "If Suzuki really had an effort I'd ri de 'ern, but t hey rea lly don't want me to do that. I'm hired out ' of the States. and they want me to t est here. bes ides. they've go t new ki ds co m ing up to race. I t hi nk I could win the Gh; there's no Ricky Johnson there. everybody's human. plus I l ike 45-minute motos and big tracks. But I'm working for Suzuki for 'the next three years so I 'm going to do w hat they tell me; I 've got a good job." American Billy Liles (Kaw) was the overall winner in the 10th round of the World Championship 500cc MX Series in Baldesserona, San Marino, J ul y 24. Li les wo n the' first moto and took third in the second moto to nail the overall. Second place went to series points leader Eric Geboers (Hon) of Belgium with a 4-1 tally. Frenchman Jacky Vimond (Yam) finished second in the first moto, followed by Australian Jeff Leisk (Hon). Following Geboers in the second moto was Great Britain's Kurt Nicoll (Kaw) . Geboers has the series points lead with 312, followed by Nicoll (252), Dave Thorpe (251) and Kees Van der Ven (183). L iles is eighth with 113, AMA critical of Washing'fon sfudy WESTERVILLE, OH, JULY 19 The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) issued a statement today questioning the conclusions reached in 'a Seattle, Washington, study of motorcycle accident victims. Resul ts of a 1985 study of 105 motorcycle accident victims at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center was published in the July 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical , Association. Several implications are made throughout th e text of the article that motorcyclists are irresponsible because Medicaid benefits were billed for over half of' the medical expenses incurred by the injured riders, The study further suggests that the presence of a compulsory helmet law would have reduced these "costs to socie ty." Dr. Frederick P. Ri vara, co-author of the study, acknow ledged that motorcyclists' private. insurance or personal funds paid for at least 23 percent of all charges. In an interview with the AMA, it was conceded by a contributor to the study, Dr. Abraham Bergman, that he did not know if all possible means of collecting from others responsible for these accidents have been exhausted. In addition, Dr. Bergman revea led that it is not known to what extent other motorists relied on public assistance for injuries in vehicular crashes. "This st u dy, while seemi ngly valid, casts do ubt upon its credibility . It does not provide comparative information of societal costs of automobile crashes to motorcycle crashes," said Robert Rasor, AMA vice president for government relations. "Only 61 percent of the victims studied sustained head injuries and the authors did not disclose whether riders were wearing helmets at the time of their accidents. " Until all the releva n t circumstances are reveal ed by the doctors at the H a rbo rview Medica l Center, the AMA remains skeptical that mo to rcyclists represent a greater bur den to the public than other members of the American society. The Association continues to encourage all motorcyclists to practice established safety techniques, including wearing protective a pparel and accepting responsibility for th eir actions when appropriate. •