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/127152
Edd ie Lawson's win in Brazil gives him 26 career 500cc GP wins. and he trails only Giacomo Agostini (68) and Mike Hailwood (37) on the all-time win list . Australian Wayne Gardner's four w ins in 1988 moves him past Randy ' Mamola and into eighth on the all time GP win list at 14. Recently-crowned 1988 500cc World Champion Eddie Lawson (Ya m ) won his seventh Grand Prix of the season at the final ro u nd of the 1988 World ' Championship Road Race Series in Goiania, Brazil, September 17. Lawson topped second place finisher Wayne Gardner (H on ) by 13.36 seconds. Third place went to Kevin Schwantz (Suz) with Niall Mackenzie (Hon) and Christian Sarron (Ya m) rounding out the top five. Wayne Ra in ey (Ya m) retired on the 24th lap with a fla t front tire and Randy Marnola (Cag) crashed on the 14th lap while ba ttl in g for seventh p la ce. The f ina l 500cc World Championsh ip point standings read : 1 . Lawson (252). 2. Gardner (2 2 9 ). 3. Rainey (189). 4. Sarron (149). 5 . Kevin Magee (138). 6. Mackenzie (12 5) . 7 . Didier de Rad igues . (12 0 ). 8 . Schwantz (1 19) . 9 . P.F : Chili (1 10). 10. Rob McElnea (8 3). . Si to Pons (Hon) became th e" first Spaniard to win th e 250cc World Championship with a third pl ace fin is h in the Brazilian Grand Prix. The race was won by Fren chman Dominique Sa rron (Hon) with Ven ezuela 's Carlos Lavado (Yam) fin ishing seco nd . West G ermany's Reinhold Roth (H o n) and Spain 's juan Garriga (Yam ) ro u n ded o u t th e top five. Pons' 231 po in ts earned him th e titl e ' over G a rr iga 's 221. j acques' Cornu (165) wa s third in th e final 250cc p oint standings, Sarron (158) fourth an d Roth (158) fifth. Larry Roeseler (Kaw) was the overall winner at the AMA National Championship Hare & Hound in Maybelle, Colorado; September 18. Roeseier finished the event in two hours and 31 minutes. Second place went to defe nding National Champion Dan Smith (Hus), while Fritz Kadlec (Yam) was third. Points leader Tony Hendon (ATK) captured his fourth overall win of the '88 AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series in Lynville. Indiana. September 18. Finishing second overall was Pennsylvania's Duane Conner (Yam ). while Scott Summers (Hen), Ed Lojak (Hus) and Tim Shephard (Yam) finished third through fifth . Road racer Kevin Schwantz has signed to ride for Team Pepsi Suzuki aga in in 1989, en din g silly seaso n spec u la tion th at th e T exan ,would switch to either H onda or Yamaha. Schwantz, who won two G rands Prix in 1988, inked th e deal p rior to go ing to th e Brazilian Grand Prix. At press time th e len gth of th e agreeme nt was n ot known. Three -time Wo rl d C h ampion Freddie Spencer w ill make his car rac ing debut at Elk h art Lak e. W isconsin 's Road America over t he September 24-25 weekend . Spencer. w ho is being coached in his new profession by th e Skip Barber Racing Sc hool; w ill make his debut in a Skip Barber Formula Ford Race Series event. Next on Spencer's schedule is the October 23 Barber Saab Pro Series race at De l Mar. Californ ia. on October , 23 . According to Skip Barber Rac ing School Instructor Jeremy Da le. Spencer was impressive in his first practice sessions at Florida's Sebring International Raceway. August 24-25. " There's no question about it . Freddie has an enormous natural talent and it will not be long before he's an auto racing champion." said Dale. Spencer! was the 1983 500cc World Champion and won both the 250 and 500cc GP titles in 1985. The second round of the CM C Dodge Truck Trans-Cal MX Series saw Chris Young (Yam) , Ty Davis (Suz) and Mike Fisher (Kaw) claim the 125, 250 and 500cc Expert class wins at Sandhill Ran ch in Brentwood, California, September 18. Other winners included Ro n Turner (Hon) in the Vet Expert class, and Buddy Antunez , (Suz) in the 80cc Expert division. Tyson Vohland (Kaw) was the overall 250cc Ultracross winner at the M ickey Thompson OffRoad Championship Grand Prix in Denver. Colorado. September 17. Second place went to Denny Stephensen (Kaw). followed by Tallon Vo hland (Kaw ). Jim Holley (Yam ) and A .J_Whiting (Hon). T h ree-ti me AMA G rand National Champion Bubba Sh obert is close to in king a deal with American Honda to contin ue hi s racing ca reer in the U n ited States. " We've reached a n agreeme nt," Shobert said via phone fro m San Francisco Interna tional Air port on Monday, September 19. " It wo uld be to stay here an d do th e Ca me l Pro circu it an d I'd be running the tea m again. It looks like it will be a three-year thing with a seco n d a n d third .yea r o p tio n to go to Europe: It may a lso give me a ch ance to ride.in a co u p le o f GPs next year, like j ap an a nd Laguna Seca . T h is way I can find o u t if I like riding the 500s." In the same con versa tio n, Shobert talked more a bou t hi s di s- ' See ing as how this iss ue contains coverage of the 1988 International Six Days Enduro. we thought we 'd take you back to the 1973 ISDE via' this photo. In the fa ll of '73 America hosted the eve nt for the f irst and only t ime. W hen the competition came to an end in Dalton. Massachusetts. America had won the Vase tea m competition. That. too. was a first (and only) for the U.S. See n here in that victorious year is Team Husky Six Days: (left to rig ht) Coach Ro lf Tibblin. Dick , Burleson. Ed Schmidt. Carl Berggren. Ron Bohn, Jake Fischer. Jim Piasecki. Malcolm Sm ith. Dave Eames and team manager Jack Lehto. Burleson. Schmidt. Bohn and Sm it h were the members of t he w inning Vase team . 4 q ual ifica tio n fro m the recent Syracuse Mile. "We weighed the , bik e three times (at the rained out Hagerstown H a lf Mile) and it read three different things. Everybody saw it. I've appealed the thing and they'll go over it before Sacramen to. It could go either way ." Team Vance & Hines Motorcycle Centers (Suz) won the 24-Hour West. a round of the WERA National Championsh ip Road Race Series. at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond. California. September 17- (Continued to page 59) Hagerstown National Half Mile canceled By Ralf Pansch HAGERSTOWN, MD, SEPT. 18 " We have canceled this race as of 5:25 p .m. in the in terest' of safety," annou nced AMA National Dirt Track Referee . Du ke O lliges to the field of riders who had come to Maryland's Hagerstown Speedway to compete in round 16 of the AMA Grand National Championship Series as well as round 17 of th e AMA 600 National ' Championship Dirt Track Series. What wa s to have been the final eastern showdow n for th e Grand National riders never materialized as th e competitors wer e gr eeted by an ugly quagmire of a tra ck o n Sunday morning. T he tra ck crew watered down th e h alf mile o val Friday night in preparation for Saturday night' s Ea stern Regi onal ra ce. H owever , unexpected rain for th e better p art o f th e day on Sa turday turned th e cla y surface into a muddy mess. ' Su n day's weather wa s eq u a lly uncoope rative. With no sunshi ne in sigh t, no wi n d bl owing an d very hi gh humidity, th ere was bleak hope of being able to dry th e track o u t in time fo r th e first scheduled practice session at noon. ' Earlier in th e day th e track main-. tenance crew had tried to pack the su rface bu t' th eir effort s were to no avail. The track was just too wet. In addition, according to track main,'te n a n ce m en, j ohn and R a n d y Grove, " b la din g" the track would o n ly m ake th e surfa ce ball-up, crea ting a n even more unrideable su rface. Promot er Fra n k Plessinger sh owed his class co nti n ua lly throughout th e da y. With th e running of th e event rem aining a questi on mark, Pl essinger a llowed th e fans wh o had ma de th e trek to western Maryland into th e stan ds free of charge until " a final decision was rendered. It was o b vio us that after last weekend's Syracuse Mil e, weight was on th e minds o f th e riders a n d their mechanics. In th e wake of Bubba Shobert's di squalification at Syracuse for hi s bike being under the minimum 320-pou n d weight limit for Iou r-val ve ma chines, th e AMA 's sca le was getti ng a workou t Sunday morn ing. One of th e [irst on th e scal e was th e Bill Wer n er -tun ed facto ry H arl ey-D avidson XR750 of Sco tt Parker. T he two-va lve per head H arley ca me in a t a svelte 305.5 pounds. Slim , bu t co m fo rt a b ly o ver th e alloted 300 pound m inimum C twoor va lve p er h ead m achinery. As Werner noted, "Tha t's as light as I want it to be." By n oon, th e su n had still not shown itself a nd th e slig h test breeze never materialized. In addition, th e humidity was announced to be 102%1. Any hopes of Mother Nature (Continued to pag e 60)