Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Wind (Con ti nued from page 4) Multi-time AMA Formula One Mike Baldwin helped i Richard Chambers, Chris Carter, Ben Cheatwood, etc. with the announcing duties for the Daytona 200. The Darien, Connecticut, resident reported that although he negotiated for a World Superbike ' r id e with an unnamed ' firm (Sim o t s . .. Editor), he was unfortunately unable to secure a ride for the 1989 season. Pepsi Suzuki Grand Prix star Kevin Schwantz a lso spent some time behind the microphone at Daytona. I I Champion Another road racer who was spotted o n the wrong side of the trac k at Daytona was m ulti-time endura nce raci ng cha mp Larry Sho rts. Sho rts , wh o rode R o b Muz zy-p repared Kawasakis for T eam T arga during 1988, was workin g for Team Tour, Ka wasa ki 's de mo r ide program. Sh orts was jo in ed by Ma rt in Ca rn ey, wh o last year tuned for Kor k Bal lington's effort in the Castrol 250cc G ra nd Prix Series. Canadian road racer Steve Crevier 'w a s involved in a car accident which left him w ith an injure d le g just weeks before Daytona . Though he was seen in the pits sporting a serious limp, Crevier rode a Frank Ciampini-backed Aprilia to 10th place in the 100kilometer Internationa l Lightweight event. Unfortunately, his Suzuki Superbike broke early in the 200. Suzuki is offering $95,000 worth of Suzuki gift certificates in its off-road con tin gen cy progra m for R MX250 riders durin g th e 1989 season. The program wi ll in clude a ll AMAsa nc tio ned Na tional Championsh ip end uros, hare scrambles; and hare and hounds, plus ISDE quali fiers; the ISDE, SCORE desert . races a nd the Casey Fo lks' Best in th e Desert Series. A win in the AA, A, B, a nd C cla sses in a National enduro , hare scra mbles or ha re and hound wi ll earn $300, second ' place $200 and thi rd $ 100. In the ISDE Qualifier Series, Intent, A, B, a nd C class win ners wi ll collect $500; second $300 and third $200. If yo u qualify to rid e the ISDE yo u a utoma tica lly get a n extra $250, a nd a go ld medal in th e ISDE will ea rn anothe r $250. The SCO RE even ts th a t will be included in th e program wi ll be the La s Vegas 250, the Baj a 500 a nd 1000, a nd th e O ff-Road Championshi ps. A win a t a ny of these races (250cc Expert and Class 21) will tak e home $750, second $500 a nd th ird $250. Pro cla ss wins in the Best in th e Desert Series a re wo rth 750 in cash. Southern California's American Road Racing Association (ARRA) has cancelled its Willow Springs Off-Road Grand Prix Series due - to a lack of available water to use for dust control. The club will, however, run mini (YSR50) road ' ra c e s on the short Streets of Willow Springs course on the originally scheduled GP dates. For more inf o r m a t io n contact the ARRA at 805 /966-5700. Canadian roa d racer Gary Goodfellow suffered fra ctur es to h is upper left arm .ar ig h t foot a nd ribs wh en ' he cras hed while lead in g the March 12 Daytona 200. Goodfellow spe nt the.night in a Day tona hosp ital , but o pted to retu rn to Canada for surgery ra ther than hav e it performed a t Florida 's H al ifa x Medi cal Center. The Viewfinders M/C Team Hare & Hound race in Lucerne Valley, California, will take place Saturday, March 25, not Sunday the 26th as listed in American Motorcyclist magazine. Although Talladega Cycle Sales in Talla dega , Alaba ma, was destroyed by a tornado March 5, the shop is co nt in u ing to o perate fro m a house across th e street, o n Route I, Highway 21 North. After making his final U.S . s upercross appearance of the year at the Houston Camel Superc ross, March 18, Frenchman Jea n Michel Bayle will head back to Europe, March 21, to campaign the World Championship 250cc MX Series, wh ich begi ns in Payerne, Switzerland, April 16. When asked if he was loo king forward to going back, the 125cc MX World Champion rep lied , "No, not really." It seems that Bayle likes racing in the U.S . and feels there's more "team spirit" here. :' Ba c k home it's just me and my mechanic and that's it," said Bayle. "Here, it's a whole team effort, so there's more motivation in going fast ." Wh ile he was racing in America, Bayle was receiving help from the factory Honda team. Bayle will return to the U.S . on July 9 for the 250cc MX GP at Unad illa near New Berlin, New York. RK Cha in and Miku ni of Am eri ca a re the las test sponso rs to p o st co n t i ng i nc ies for , th e WE RA sa nctioned Toyota /Dunl op Formula USA Seri es. Mikuni wi ll pay 250 to th e wi nner, wi th $150 to second, 75 to th ird and fourth a nd 50 to fifth. R K will pay $200 to th e winne r, 100 to second and 50 to third th rough fifth. T he rider must use th e p ro du c ts to coll ect th e a war ds. Austra lia n road race r Pa ul Lewis , after fin ish ing second t o Dale Q uarterley in the AMA Pro Tw ins Grand Prix race at Da yto na, headed to Europe w here he 'll ride a Franc is Ne ill /Luke Ta y lo r backed , Ron Gra nt -pre pared Honda RC30 in the FIM World Superbike C hampionsh ip. Lewis' teammate w ill be Ne w Zea la nde r Robert Ho lden. T he first-ever Cabo 1000, a 1059-m ile Mexi ca n sport ride (end ur ance to ur ) from Tij ua na to Cabo San L ucas, was " won" by Ray Roy o n a Yamaha FJI200, wh o completed the ri de in 12 hours a nd 32 mi nutes. Previous to the March 6 event, the un offi cial record for the fastest run down the Baja peninsula was held by Parnell i J ones in a Ford Bro nco, who co m p leted a sligh tly short er course in roughly 14 ho urs. Nin e riders co mpeted .in th e in augura l Ca bo 1000, whi ch will now be held biann uall y in th e La Ca rr era tra d itio n (La Carrera no longer allows motorcycles). T he nex t event will be held Octob er 16; 1989. Fo r furthe r in for mation con tact Ray Roy at 707/7788205 or Ceferino Lamb a t 415/7483507. AMA Pro Twins Grand Prix Champion Dale Quarterley's response when asked what put his Ducati 851 out of the Daytona 200: "It came unstarted." The Eraldo Ferracci-prepared Italian machine retired from Daytona with suspected electrical problems. Quarterley plans to campaign an 851 in the entire AMA Superb ike Series, and says, "Wait till we get to the short tracksl" T o err is hu ma n, to forg ive ... A typo was made in the AMA/CCS adverti sement that ap peared in last week's news p aper. " Yo ko ha m a" appeared j us t th at wa y five tim es, bu t it also a ppeared as " You koharna" once. We made o ur typesett ers a nd proofread ers stay after school a nd write " Y-O- K-O -H -A-M-A" o n the ad vertisin g depa rt ment's blackboa rd 1,000,001 tim es. Then we had them ro ll Yok oha ma tires from our office to the Queen Mar y in Lo ng Beach H arbor a nd back. As of Friday, Ma rc h 17, Cagiva North America ha d all but completed it s m o ve from Gardena, California, t o Fairfield, New Jersey . According to Cagiva's Er nesto Vittore, they 'll release 1990 Husqvarna and Ducati mod els in July o r August. " We are moving to New Jersey to be closer to our supplier, Cagiva in Italy. We have regrouped and will market only s ix or seven Husqvarna models and a small number of Ducati models. We will not be marketing bikes bearing the Cagiva name in the U.S. We realize that our parts situation was intolerable in the past and have taken the steps to rectify that problem." Connecti cu t's R ich a rd Schlachter fin ish ed eigh th , not 17th as repo rted in OllT Dayto na 200 co verage. After Sch lachter a n d AMA offi ci al s chec ked with Dayto na scorers the morni ng fo llow ing th e race, it was found th at th e tw o -time AM A Nati onal winne r was scored twi ce o n lap 44 - in fourth and 11th pl ace. " I felt rea l go od," Schlachter sa id rega rding h is racing co mebac k o n a George Vicensi-prepared H onda. " I wish I' d had more practice, but o ur prolVess was good. My ti ming kep t ge ttmg be tter and be tter. I would like to do some more rac ing befo re th e nex t Natio nal, b ut the re's nothing goi ng on around here - th e new track a t Lo udon is un der co nstruc tio n. It loo ks like Road Atlanta (May 7) will be the nex t one." The Santa Clarita (California) City Council will meet at 7 :30 p.m., March 28, at 23920 Valencia Boulevard in Santa Clarita and the proposed Whitney Canyon OHV Park is on the agenda. It appears that the city will oppose the project and Disney Studios has claimed that they will file suit against it . Los Angeles County off-road riders are urged to attend the meeting and be heard. T rave lSta r of Naples, Florida, has been appoi nted th e officia l travel agency of Mi nn eso ta 's Bra inerd International Raceway for the J u ne I I H onda Worl d Classic, th e U.S. round of th e World Ch ampio nship Superbike Road Ra ce Series. TravelSta r is offering co m plete pa ckages wh ich include di scounted a irfa re, hotel rooms right in Bra in erd , and car rental. Based o n double occupa ncy , package deals can be had for as little as $319 fro m Boston, $339 from New York, a nd $42 1 fro m most West Coast cities. Ho tel roo ms ma y be reserved separately. For more informa tion, call 800/54 1-1223. Stop by your nearest Metteler tire dealer and check out the Metzeler Sweepstakes in wh ich you can win a 1 6 -day Desmond Adventures Alpen Tour that will take you across the German, Swiss, Austrian and Italian Alps on two wheels! The sweepstakes end on J une 30. T he Ameri can Federation of Mot orcyclis ts (AFM) orth Chapter will implem ent a new safety measu re a t th e first race/practice day a t Sears Po int Racewa y in So no ma. California , o n March 18-19. A new chicane will be posit ioned at turn 12. forcing rid ers to make a righ t-hand turn before the left in a n effor t to slow the ir speeds thro ugh turn 12 a nd the follo wi ng turn o ne. The AMA has posi tio ned a chicane a t turn o ne du rin g the last few years Nat io nal road races . The ne w Beta Alp is a d ua l purpose/trail mach ine based on t he Worl d Cha mpionship -winn ing Beta TR34 t rial s motorcycle . The Alp 's c hrome moly s teel c hass is is virtua lly ident ical to the TR34 's . S us pension is provided by a Marzoc c hi fo rk and a Corte Cosso monoshock. Hyd raul ic d isc bra ke s fro nt a nd rear provide the stopping power. Power is provided by a s ing le-cylinder, two-stroke, ree d valve 260cc m o t or, and a Dellorto carb uretor and Motoplat elect ro nic ig niti on provide the fu e l m ixture and s park, respectively. The Alp has a new seat/tank unit, pro vid ing a larger fuel capacity and a more confortab le seat than the tria ls m od e l. Seat height is 29 inc he s and c la imed dry weight is a lo w 185 pounds. Suggested retail price is $3295 . For more information, see your Beta dealer or contact: Cosmopolitan Motors , 301 Jacksonville Rd ., Hatboro, PA 19040, 215/672-9100. . . 41

• Cover