Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Wind (Continued from page 14) Amsoillnc. has insta lle d a toll-free telephone line - 800/777-8491 - which w ill be answered 24 ho urs a day, seven days a week for added convenience to anyone s ee king more info rm at ion o n Amsoil lu brica nt s a nd Ult ra -Fine Filters. The number can be used .in all of t he U.S., inc lud ing Alaska and Hawaii. H eartland Park Topeka is offer ing a seaso n ticket for all 1989 motorspor ts events to be held o n th e new 2.5-m ile roa d race co urse - AMA motorcycle races an d SCCA, IMSA, and Vin tage car races. T he seaso n " ticket will include general admission tickets, paddock passes and a program at all six events. The seaso n ' ticket costs $100, saves 50%over ga te prices and will be sold u p until th e firs t event o n May 27. For more ' informa tion con tact H eartland Park Topeka, 7103 Sou thwest Mon tara Pk wy., T o peka, KS 66619, 913/862RACE. ' P e p s i Suzuki GP sta r Ke v in Schwa nt z w ill join Team Cagiva's Ra nd y Mamola at the S ave The Ch ildre n Benefit at t he Comedy & Ma gi c Club in Hermosa Beach, Ca lifornia, o n -Fe b rua rv 20. For in formati on c ontact 2 13 /37211 9 3 . Word fro m Italy is th at former 250cc World Champion Carlos Lavado has tested Birn o ta Super bi kes a t th e Mugello , Ital y, ci rcu i t, a nd may co ntes t th e Wor ld Superbike Ch am pionship for th e Italian firm . The last time th e diminutive Venezuelan rode a ma chine larger th an 250cc was th e 1983 Italian Grand Prix at Irno la, where he was ente red o n a 500cc Yam aha in th e hopes of helping Yam aha 's Kenny Roberts ward off th e adva nces of H onda' s Fredd ie Spen cer. In stead , La vado cras hed spectac u larly in 'practice and did no t compe te. Spencer went on to finis h second in th e race a nd win the first of hi s three World Ch ampionships. , Ita lian road racer Loris Reggiani will wear number 13 on his Honda NSR250 in the 250cc Grands Prix, indicat ing the posit ion he fi nis he d in the 1988 point standings. He is not co ncerned , however, about wea ring the un ive rsa lly unlucky number. Ac cording t o Regg ian i, his un lucky number is s ix - t he number he raced with in ' 8 8 . Raymond Roche wi ll ride a Cagiva V-four at seven rounds of th e 1989 500cc World Cha mpionship in addi tion to rid in g a Du cat i 851 a t all 14 ro u nds o f th e Wo rl d Superb ike Series. T he soo n-to- be-Sz-vear-old French ma n was previo usl y thought to be off the Cagiva G P team , but will return fo r a third year in th e Cag iva fold. Testing at Phi llip Island, s ite of t he Apr il 9 Austral ia n G ra nd P rix, s hows that Tea m Lucky Strike Ro be rts' Wayne Ra iney is now t he q uickest of t he pre -season testers , re portedly tu rn ing la p t imes just u n d e r Peps i S u z uk i's Kevin S chwantz ' 1 :35 .9 . Marl b oro Yamaha 's Fredd ie S pencer ( im press ed many wi t h his 1 :36.9 t imes, half-a -second q uicker than his teammate, Sco t tsm an Niall Mackenzie and a lso faster than Frenchman Christia n Sarron . Of the 250cc testers thus fa r, the Gauloises Yamaha of Frenchman Jean -Phillipe Rugg ia is fastest w ith a 1 :39.6. Marlboro Yamaha's Luca Cadalo ra managed a 1 :39.8 and Ducados Yamaha's Juan Garriga clocked a 1 :3 9 .9 . The new 1989 250cc V-twin Yamahas feature a single-crank design rather than the twin cranks used in previous models. Gi oania in Brazil has been ano ther busy test in g ground with T ea m Cagi va testing o nce and T eam Lucky Water-cooled twin-rotor rotary-powered Nortons will contest the 1989 World Championship Formula One Road Race Series with s ponsorship from the John Player Special (JPS) cigarette brand. No other sponsor id e ntity will appear o n the black, grey and gold machines which will be rid de n by Brits Trevor Nation and either Steve Spray or Steve Cull, depend ing on which JPS Norton press re lease one is to bel ieve. Nation is a double Isle of Man \IloIifmer, having won the 1984 750cc Production n and the 1986 1000cc Production TT. Spray is a re lative newcomer to ro ad racing but impressed Norton officials in late-1988 test sessions a boa rd t he ro ta ry Norton . C ull is the fastest rider ever on t he Isle of Ma n TT circuit . The 34-year-old resident of Northern Ire land, t urned in a 11 9.08 m ph la p of t he 37.73-mi le course in last year's Senior TT wh ich he wo n . S ix ro unds comprise t he ' 8 9 Formula One Series and the ra ces w ill be held in Japan, Ho lland, Portugal. Finland a nd Ire la n d and on the Isl e of Man . The Norton team w ill also contest the e ig htro u nd Brit is h Formula On e C ham pionship Series a nd Eng la nd 's S upercup Series. ' Strike Rober ts already visiti ng twice during the off-season. Italian Pie r-Francesco Chili has also used the Gioan ia ci rcuit to test his Pirelli tires. Chili simulated a fu ll 32-lap Grand Prix on the new tire s , end ing up 20 seconds qu ick e r than the time he posted during t he 1988 Brazilian GP. Ital ia n road racer Ezio Giano la has been testin g Oh lin s, Wh ite Pow er and Marzocc h i su spens io n co mponents o n hi s 125cc H onda, contrary to beliefs th at Hon da would req ui re he use co mponents made by,H onda sub sid iary Showa. Gia no la finished seco nd in th e 1988 125cc World Championsh ip , and .was the o nly rider o ther th an World Cha mpion J orge Martinez to pos t a victory (Giano la wo n two ). The Washi ngton Mo t o rcyc le Road Racing Associatio n is .hoping to rai s e $ 15,000 th rough its Roadcourse C halle nge ' 8 9 prog ram to b e u s e d for im pro v e m e nt s at S e a t t le International Raceway. Th ey're asking racers, sponsors a nd friends to make donatio ns, which WMRRA w ill t hen match, effe ct ively doubling the amount. S e nd checks to WMRRA, 17029 Thi rd Ave . N .E ., Seattle, WA 98155. T he Washington Mo tor cycle Road Racing Association ha s sched u led a Sunday, March 5, work day at Seatt le Intern at ion a l Ra ceway. P la n s incl ude tra ck cleanup , runoff gra din g and genera l freshening up of th e facilites. Lunch will be prov ided. Interest ed parti es sho u ld co ntact WMRRA President R icha rd Wasch er a t 206/2 42-3289. A s ix-date, interstate road race series has been proposed by Washington's WMRRA, Oregon's OMRRA and California 's AFM North. Tentative dates are May 21 at Portland, June 4 at Sears Point, June 18 at Seattle, August 27 at Sears Point, September 10 at Seattle and September 24 at Portland. For more infromation contact WMRRA at 206 /2423289, OMRRA at 503 /655 7266 or AFM North at 415 /3270908 . . Georgia roa d racer Paul Bray's recent sig ning wi th Team Suzuki Endurance to co mp ete in the WERA Natio na l End ura n ce Seri es en ds spec u lation th at he wo ul d ride for defendi ng A M A I CCS Endu rance Ch allenge Series Champi ons H yperCycle. " I g uess i t's ju st J am es (Do may) a n d m e," co m me n ted Hyper-Cycl e ow ner Carr y Andrew, who had pr eviou sly planned to retire from active' com petitio n to co ncert. trat e .o n managing hi s tea m's titl e defense. Headin g t he expected 500-strong ' e nt ry list for t he Ma rc h 6 AHRMA Da yto na vintage road ra ces are Au stralia n vintage racing champs Tony Gill a nd Bill Snelling. Tea m Obsolete' s Rob Iannucci says a New Yor k Ap peal s Co urt ' has recently rejected Je ff Elghanayan 's a ppeals of five sepa rate co urt decisions, denying h is applications to stop Dave Roper and o thers associa ted with T eam Obs olete from racing. Iannucci says Elgh anayan is con tinui ng h is legal assa ult on T eam Obsolete a nd its members despite a series of adverse co urt decisions. " In my opi n ion , the lawsu its are withou t merit. So far the co urts seem to ' ag ree," said Iann ucci. Reportedly, Yamaha's Toshihiko Honma has tested a fuel-injected Yamaha 250cc V-twin road racer in Japan. The bike is not expected to appear, however, unti l the Spanish round of the 250cc World Championsh ip on April 30. " Pro fessor" Gary Bailey will have a bit of famil y help in designing the track for th e March II Daytona Su percross. Hi s son , David Bai ley, will make h is first trip to Daytona since a crippling injury ended hi s racing career j ust over two years ago. David Bail ey was the winner of the 1984 Daytona Supercross. Roger Edmonson, head of the AMA Championship Cup Series program, is looking for a recordbreaking entry for the March 3 5 AMA/CCS road races at Daytona International Speedway. " We 've grown in numbers every year since the first Cup race at Daytona in 1984," said Edmonson. " I think we'll break 1 000 total entries; that's what I'm shooting for. I also think we~1I see a lot more of the Pro riders using j the CCS ra c e s for tun ing up, dialing in and getting trac k time on their bikes: ' The raci ng program, wh ich incl ude s 1 0 class finals, concludes with the opening I round in the U,S. Endurance Championship Series. The three- ; hour race starts at two p .m ., i Sunday, March 5. The annual BSAOC-sponsored AlI". British Swa p Meet in Canoga Park, California, will take p lace on April 23 from 8 a.m . to 2 p.m . It will again be held at National Papers, 7870 Deering Avenue in Canoga Par k. The Swap Meet is limi ted to British and European motorcycles and par ts only. This year th ere will be no onsite parking; una ttached trailers may stay on site. For mo re in forma tion , call 805/529-1270. T ake a tip from Pa pa - get there early! . Motor Sport Marketing of Studio C ity, California, has reached an agreement with Yamaha Motor Corp . . to campaign a 1989 Yamaha FZR1000 in the AMA/ CCS Endurance Challenge Series as Team Motor Sport. The riders wi ll be Richard Arnaiz and Ph il Kress, w ith Ma lcolm Hill serving as alternate. In addition, Arna iz and Kress will compete in AMA Nat ional Superbike events on Yamaha FZR750s . Both riders have re po rt edl y been train ing with physiotherap ist Dean Miller in prepa rat io n f o r the upcom ing season , Ano ther team to receive Yama ha backin g is Salinas, Ca lifornia-based Caz Ra cin g , w ho wi ll fi eld a n FZR600 in the WER A Nati o na l End urance Series. The team will also receive support from Hein Geric ke Leat hers, wh o are breaking into the roa d race ma rket wit h a lo w-cost, goa tskin suit called the Chi cane, wh ich will be avai lab le thro ugh Kawasa ki dea lers on ly. BMW tea ms fr om both -Germany a nd Japa n will fi el d 1000cc horizo nt a lly-opposed Boxer twins in t he .March 10 AMA Pro Twins Grand Prix a t Daytona Internat io na l Speed w ay . Th e Japanese effort, AMS Fujii, will featu re rider Seigo Kiku c hi, 32, of Hac hioji City, Tokyo. The Ge rman Ha ndri ch a nd Mayer (HM BMW) t ea m w ill ente r t w o bikes, one to be ridden by He rbert Enzin ge r, 2 7 , of Ainring, West Germany, an d the second to be ridden by Ame rican David Emde, 30. of San Marcos, Ca lifo rn ia .

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