Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1988 12 14

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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Am eri ca n s R i ck J o h n son , G uy Cooper a nd Ron Lechien wer e a ll wi n n ers at th e three-day Paris Supercro ss held in Berry Stadi u m in Pa ris, France, Novem ber 30 a nd Decem ber 1-2. On the open in g day, J ohnson (Hon) topped Am erican riva l J eff Ward ( Ka w), Fre nc hman J ea n Michele Bayle (H on) , a nd Ameri ca ns J eff Stanton (Ho n) and Co oper (Hon). Cooper came back to win the second day's fina l, fo llo wed by Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw), J ohnso n , Bayle a nd Ron Lech ien (Kaw). The fina l day saw Lechi en take th e wi n o ver Br ae Gl over (Yam), Ward, Mati asevich an d Holland 's J o h n Van den Berk (Yam). Australian Mich'ael Dowson (Y am ) won the Swann Insurance Road Race Series with a win and a th ird place finish in the final round. held at Phillip Island in Victoria. Austral ia. Dowson topped Peter Goddard (Hon ) and Malcolm Campbell (Hon) in the f irst leg and f in is hed b eh in d Campbe ll and M ichael Doohan (Y am ) in th e second leg . Dowson t opped 000han in the f inal stand ings after three rou nds. 98-86 . Campbell fin ished th ird with 78 points. Da n Smith (Hus) was the overall winner at the Laughlin Hare Scrambles in La ugh lin, Nevada , Decem ber 3. Seco nd place in the fourth and fin al ro und o f th e Best in th e Desert Series went to Paul Kra use (Kaw), wh o was foll owed across th e finish line by Kevin H in es (KTM) a nd first 125cc Bryan Folks (Cag), Dary l Fo lks (Cag) finish ed first 250cc in eigh th overa ll. Sm ith cl inc hed th e 500cc class cham pi ons h ip , Carlos Serrano topped th e 250cc class a nd Sean Steele (H o n ) wo n the seri es ti tle in th e 125cc d ivi sio n. Kenn y P a rr y (H o n) wrapped up the Vet class cha m p ions h ip, w h ile Monte G erber topped th e Seniors. Mark Manniko (Fan) won the December 3 EI Trial de Espana and came back the next day to win the Schreiber Cup in the doubleheader observed trials meet at Lucerne Valley. California . Kip Webb (Fan) was second and Tom Hamann (Bet) third in Saturday's competition. Hamann was second on Sunday with Cesar Ramos (Bet) of Chili third. Check o ut th e Calendar sectio n for th e 1989 AMA Camel Pro / G ran d Na tional Championsh ip Di rt Track Series sche d u le. All 17 events will earn co m pe titors Camel Pro Series p o ints, a lt hough o n ly II o f th e rounds will fea ture Ca me l Challenge races . New to th e sched u le is th e series ' opener, th e Mar ch II sh ort tr a ck ro u n d at N ew Mun icipa l Stad iu m in Daytona Beach , Florida. T he event will m ark th e first time Daytona Cycle Week ha s hosted a Gran d Nationa l Championship dirt track race: T he short track will tak e p lace on Saturday ni g ht (the nigh t before the Da yto na 200) 'in th e allnew stadium west of th e Speedway. 2 The AM A has announced that a 12-race Junior National Cham pionship Dirt Tr ack Series w ill be r un in conjunct ion with sele ct 1989 Grand National Championship Series races and 600 National Championship Dirt Track Series events. Junior class riders will be allowed to compete on single or twin-cylinder equipment at TT. half mile and mile events. In addition. 600 National race meets which do not host a Junior Na tional program will have a $600 minimum purse and a Junior f inal for the top 12 Junior qualifiers. While it appears as ' though AMA Superbik e races will no t be Camel P ro Series ro unds next year, we're told that sel ected eve nts will be su p p orted by. Camel. Superbike racin g will move closer to p roduction road ra ci ng in 1989. More stringent h omo logation procedures are bein g implem ented to address the areas o f "cos t li miting factors" and " ma in ten ance of co m pe titive ra cin g " a nd in su m ma ry th ey ar e: hom ol ogatio n of ca rb uretio n systems will be required effective J an uary I, 1989 (the previ ous claim in g ru le cover in g carburetio n system s h as been eli min ated ); a nd homo logation o f ca m sha fts is req uired effective January .1, 1989. Wh ile no m in imum weig h t cha nges a re b ei n g impleme n ted prior to th e 1989 season, with 30 days adva nce not ice, minimum weigh t requ irements fo r various models may be adjusted, Major changes in t he books for Superbike racing in 19 90 include in creasing the all owable engine d isplacement fo r twin-cyl inder machines to 120 0 cc. no all ow ances for overbore above cla ss displacements. requiring m ain t ain ing of stock compressio n ratios. restrictions on cyli nde r head modification. a claiming rule for ignition and /or engine management systems. and homologation of front forks and swing arms will be required. Road racer Scott R ussell tested a Yosh imu ra Suz uki Superbi ke a t Willow Sp rings Intern a tio na l Raceway in Rosam ond, Californ ia , on Frida y, Decem ber 2, a nd is now nego tia ting for support in the 1989 AMA Superbik e Seri es.' Resu lt s o f the test wer e favo rab le, with Russell saying. " I d id everyth in g th at was expected of m e." The 24-yea r-o ld Georg ia resident fini shed 10th in th e '88 AMA Superbike Ser ies, a nd wa s voted AMA Road Racin g Roo kie o f the Year. Road racer Wayne Rainey recently returned to his California home after some extensive Dunlop tire testing in Brazil. The Team Lucky Strike Roberts rider completed 290 laps of the 2 .38-mile Goinia circuit. the equivalent of just over nine 32-lap GPs. "We're happy with it. " Rainey said. "The tires are better than they were. now we'lI just have to wait and see." The test session saw Yamahamounted Rainey turn a 1 :27.2 lap while three-time World Champion team owner Kenny Roberts donned leathers and logged a fast lap of 1 :28.9. The September running of the Brazilian GP saw race winner Eddie Lawson turn a 1 :2 7 .8 1 while Wayne Gardner qualified on the pole with a 1:26.93. Ro ad racer And y Leis n er , w h o fin ished n inth in the 1988 Cas tro l 250cc Grand Pri x Seri es, recently signed a contract with Ta kazu m i Katayama to contest th e 1989 250cc G Ps and select J apan ese races suc h as the Suzuka Eight H o u r and Fuji Superspri nt. T he 2 1-year-o ld south ern California n wi ll ri de production Honda RS250s for a' team based in Bel gium a nd m ana ged by Chas Mort im er . H e 'll be lea ving fo r Europe in Feb rua ry with testin g to begin in Spain in March, an d th en o n to J ap an to test the week before th e J apanese G P a t Suzuka. Leisn er wi ll b e joi n ed on the team b y Spaniard Dan iel Amatriain , a lso 21, who fin ished 25th in th e ' 1988 500 G Ps 'with a best fini sh of II th at J erez. Ama triain wi ll b e ridi ng NS R250s. La Carrera. the biannual south-ofthe-border Mexican "real" road race. will not include motorcycles at the March 4. 1989 event. According to race organizer Loyal Truesdale. there are 150 to 160 cars pre-entered. and there's a problem finding enough hotel rooms . "Justsaythatthe car guys have forced us out." he said . a board o ne o f ' h is three HarleyDavid sons, an d ho pes to put together a ride for Eu ro pe ans who want to a tte n d th e a n n ua l Black Hills Mo tor Cla ssic th at ta kes pl ace in Stu rgi s, South Dakota. The fact that last spring's delayed telecast of the Laguna Seca U.S. Grand Prix on ABC had a higher rating (2.8) than car races such as the Long Beach Grand Prix (2.2). the Monaco Grand Prix (1 .5) and something called the Phoenix Checker 200 (2.3). not to mention the U.S. Open men's and women's tennis finals (2 .3). makes one wonder why we don't see more motorcycle racing on the tube. Truesda le d id say th at he's cu rrent ly plan n ing a 14·day off-road " Ra id " from Cancun to Tijuana, wh ich wi ll be held in the spring of 1990. T he race co urse will incl ud e sections used in th e Baja 1000. For more in forma tion, co n tac t T ruesda le at 3049 Laurel Canyon Road , St udio City, CA 91604, 213/464-5720. PURC HASED: Monarch Helmets by Monarch Sports Systems. Inc.• with new company headquarters locat ed in San D iego and the fa ctory rem aining in Tijuana. Baja Ca li f o rn ia. Mex ico; Monarch Sports Syste ms ' address is P.O . Bo x 262369. San D iego. CA 9 2 126 . 800 / 4 5 1-2 2 8 3. . MOVED: U.S. Tsubaki, Inc. to a new larger western regiona l headquarter s facility loca ted at 18031 Co rtney Court, City of Ind ustry , CA 91744. ACQUIRED: Acme Chain Co . of Holyoke. Massachusetts. by U.S. Tsubaki, Inc.; Acme. formerly the largest U .S. manufacturer 'o f chain. will now operate as a division of U.S. Tsubaki and provide Tsubaki a domestic base for manufacturing. MOVED: Kayo Corp. to 50 Division St. , Suite 200, Somerville, NJ 08876, new toll-free (dea lers on ly) p hone nu mber is 800/678-YO KO. H ere's o ne of th e spikes that were scattered on the Barstow-to-Vegas race course over the Than ksgiv ing Da y weekend. Discovered the night before the event whe n the spikes fla tte ned the tires o n several BL M 4x4 vehicles, doze ns of th em were pi cked up p rior to th e sta rt o f the race. Ea rt h Fi rst ], th e radical enviro n me n talist grou p, a n nou nced th a t th ey had pl aced th e sp ikes o n th e co u rse. Speaking of Earth First], although we'd rather not. Los Angeles radio station KLOS will broadcast a callin show on December 11 with Frank Sontag. an Earth First! and AMA (!) member. as the guest. The show will be on the air from midnight to 1 a.m. and listeners can call in one-half hour after the show begins ' (818/520-5567. 213/520-55.67. 714/9775567. 805/629·5567. 619/ 570·1556): With technology taking giant steps forward it was inevitable that sooner or later our advertising department would lose a FAX message. It happened last week - for the first time - and here's a list of the sponsors that weren't list ed in the ad for the Brad Lackey Christmas Gran Prix at southern California's Carlsbad Raceway: Answer Racing. Pro Circuit. Sports Racing Gasoline. Motul USA by Yoshimura. Acerbis. Race Caps. Axo. Thor. Granada Yamaha. Aloe up. Life's A Beach. Maier Mfg. Co.• Sunline. DMC. O'Neal USA; Sunstar and Kal-Gard. Now we know the event has already taken place. but you've got to keep those advertising sales guys and their clients happy - they buy editorial types lunch every now and then. You owe us one. Ron! BORN : Colin Robert Hickman son of KTM dealer Jim Hickma and his wife Tina. November 24 in Des Moines. Iowa. Lackey served as th e gra nd m arsh al a t th e December 4 Christm as G ran P rix, co n du cti ng th e rid er 's m eeting, ac ting as th e official starter an d making a n ap p ea ra nce dr essed as Sa nta Claus to sta rt th e Seni or classes. T he 1982 500cc MX World Champio n said, " I ca n' t rem ember th e la st tim e I'd ridden in th e d irt, before I checked the co urse yesterday." La ckey does a ll of hi s riding o n th e street now, T he AMA/ Forest Serv ice Trail Ride P ro gram , in itiat ed in 1987, giv e recreational motorcyclists an organ i zed , federa l progra m to hel en han ce th eir rel atio n sh ip wit Fo rest Servi ce person nel. T he p ro gram wa s co nce ived by Francis Sen a Dep a rt m e nt o f Ag ri cultur em p loyee a nd AMA member, a n (Con tin ued to page 38 • 4 • • • • .. • • • • • ~ H osPIT a l STO P: Ron Magers of Diam o nd Ch ai n is h osp italized and awaiting o p en he art su rge ry to rep lace a heart valve destroyed by a bacterial infection; the In dia napol is home o f Magers a n d hi s wife Barb ara has long served as a " h ome away from home" for dirt track racers su ch as former G rand National Champio ns Mert Lawwill a nd G e n e Romero and curren t 600 National Champion Chris Carr; cards and letters ca n be sent to SL Vince n H osp ita l, 2001 W. 86th si., Room 2421, In diana polis, IN 46260.

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