Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Wind (Continued from page 2) Veteran, Open and Vet Pro, plus a "run what ya brung" mini bike class, the Adult Mini division. Classes for both vintage and modern-day four-stroke bikes will be conducted in the TT scrambles portion of the day's activities. Frae camping will be available for those arriving befora 8 p.m. the night befora the event. For additional information, call 714/5549442. Ed Doering of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is the winner of the Cabin Racing Team stickies Papa offered to the first reader who could tell us what form of product carries the name Cabin (cigarettes), who the crew chief of Bubba Shobert's Cabin GP road race team is (Dieter Mayer), Bubba's given first name (Don), how many National road races Bubba's won (5), and where Bubba finished in last year's 250cc U.S. GP (fifth). Doering was also a winner in Papa's Aussie GP stickie contest. ESPN will telecast the recent Daytona 200 on Sunday, May 7, at 12 noon (Eastern time) and again on Wedne~ay, May 10, at the seme time. Check your local listings. The '89 Camel Supercross Series is currently being shown on ESPN. The next scheduled show will air on Friday, April 21, at 12 a.m. (Eastern time) - that's Thursday, AEril 20, at 9 p.m. (Pacific time) and will cover the recent San Diego Supercross. The series telecasts continue each week through June 30 (same day and time). On Julr 3 repeat telecasts of the series wi I start. The Camel Supercross Series promoters, who are paying for the air time, are interested in obtaining comments from readers who have viewed the telecasts. Send us your comments (Cycle News, ATTN: Editor,P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801) and we'll see that" the promoters receive them. According to auctioneer Jerry Wood, the recent Daytona Antique and 'Classic Motorcycle Auction sew a Vincent C Repide bring $11,250, Rapides "that needed some finishing" $6600 to $8300, a Norton OHC International ("not run in a while) $10,000, and a "beautiful" 1940 Triumph $12,000. Road racer Danny Ray of Tulsa, Oklahoma, should appear neatly trimmed at races this season since he tells Papa he's picked up sponsorship from SuperCuts, a national chain of hair styling salons (Papa calls 'em barbershops). Camel Supercross Series promoters Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group, SRO/Pace and SuperSports have signed a contract with John Bradley Entertainment Group for world-wide home video rights to the '89 supercross races the trio promotes. The video series, called The Road To Gold, will feature nine one-hour videoa. The first tape will document the ..ason-opening Anaheim Supercross and it will be aveilable leter this month. 54 BORN: Tyler Martin Smith, son of two-time AMA 125cc MX National Champion Marty Smith and his wife Nancy, in San Diego, California, April I!!. North Carolina's Joey Hopkins, who recently won the Alligator Enduro in Florida, is the newest rider to join Kawasaki's Team Graen. HoPkins is scheduled to compete in the entire AMA National Championship Enduro Series and the National Reliability Trials Series on a specially prepared Kawaseki KX250. .In order to provide daytime lighting conditions for television coverage, the date for round 14 of· the 15-race Camel Supercross Series at State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, has been changed. from Saturday June 3 to Sunday June 4. The race will be a part of the H-week Camel Supercross Series c;overage which airs Thursdays on cable network ESPN. And according to Pace Motorsports' President C.E. Altman, promoter of the event, the supercross will have a fun, carnivaltype atmosphere with exhibits and games near the track which is located on the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. Several thousand general-admission bleacher seats are planned for the outdoor arena which will enable fans to move to view different areas of the track. Sunday's races will begin at 2:00 p.m.. Since Team Honda's Jeff Stanton broke his centerca... near the countershaft sprocket at the' Tampa and Dallas Supercrosses, his CR260 was fitted with a trick brace at the April 15-16 Pontiac Supercross. The brace is mounted .to the awingarm pivot. the output shaft via an external bearing and the two C8S8 guard bolts. Stanton's bike also featurad a white frame and orange/red p!astic. Multi-time National and Supercross Champion Bob Hannah was presented a Mr. Supercross award by Pace Motorsport's C.E. Altman at the Pontiac Supercross in recognition for his nine wins in Pontiac. Hannah also announced that the July 9 U.S. MX Grand Prix at Unadill8 in New Berlin, New York, will be his last race on a motorcycle. "It's about time (to retira)," seid Hannah. "I don't race enough anymore to race." Hannah still rides for Suzuki and will continue to do so to help development, and he will also maintain his public relations role with Suzuki. Hannah will race three times before Unadilla; in Englishtown, New Jersey, April 23, a major local race in Idaho, April 29-30, as well as the May 21 250cc National in Southwick, Massechusetts. "I'm not ready for Southwick because I haven't been riding. I'm using it for training for Unadilla. I plan on winning Unadilla, the track is tough and I have as good a chance as anyone. Plus I want it." Team Suzuki riders Erik Kehoe and Ty Davis missed the April 15-16 Pontiac Supercross so that they could do special testing for the following week's 125/25Occ National in Sacramento, California. Team Yamaha's Micky Dymond has pledged a new com'!litment to Yamaha for the rest of the Supercro.. and MX season. After breaking his wrist early last season Dymond never got back on track. then he suffered a broken hand at the fourth round of this year's Cllmel Supercross Series and didn't return until round 10 at Da..... where he CI'IIshed while doing well. ""ve made a commitmentto Yamaha to work hard, and thet's something that I haven't done. Rome wasn't built in a day, and my puzzle is almost done." Dymond finished sixth and 15th at the Pontiac Supercross doubleheader. Portable compact disc players are the current rage for, rider entertainment before, during and after the races. At Pontiac, Saturday's main event winner Ron Lechien was spotted listening to the latest Metallica release before Sunday's race until teammate Jeff Matiasevich took over with the latest from Skid Row. Honda's Larry Ward was across the pits listening to the Bangles while teammate Guy Cooper cranked country music. The craze even rubbed off on Kawasaki Team Manager Roy Turner as he relaxed to the tunes of Robert Palmer on the flight back to Los Angeles. Team HoiKIa's multi-time Supercross and National Motocross Champion Rick Johnson, who severely injured his wrist in a practice crash at the Gainesville, Florida, National Championship ,260cc MX Serias opener March - 3, recently had the pins removed from his wrist and is no longer wearing a cast, according to Johnson's accountant Dave Stephenson. Johnson, however, is still required to wear a plastic brace. He can u.. his fingers but 'his doctor doesn't want him bending the wrist yet. Johnson plans to return to action on June 10 for the final round of the Camel Supercross Series in Los Angelas, California.' • The Swedish round of the World Championship Road Race Series, scheduled for August 13, is in doubt. The modifications to the facilities that have been promised will have to be completed by the end of May if the circuit is to be homologated, according to IRTA (Irrternational Road Racing Teams Association). If the modifications are not satisfactory the race will be cancelled. IRTA is also discussing the possibilities of using unleaded fuel in future Grand Prix racing seasons. Representatives from the major teams met at Laguna Seca on the Saturday morning prior to the U.S. GP to discuss the race distance which many felt would cause fuel consumption problems. The Yamaha and Suzuki teams voted to shorten the 500cc GP, but Honda voted no. Since the vote was not unanimous, the race went its scheduled 40 laps and more than one top rider encountered fuel shortage problems. Thursday's (April 13) untimed practice sessions for the U.S. GP came and went without the motorcycles. The shipment of bikes coming from the Australian GP were originally delayed by an air traffic controllers strike in Australia. Most of those made it to the circuit by Thursday, bu t another shipment had to be taken off the airplane because head winds made the load too heavy for takeoff. The last container arrived at Laguna Seca on Friday at 6:00 a.m. The sidecars were able to practice on Thursday, however, since this was the first round of their series and they were not en route from Australia. Laguna Seca U.S. GP winners Wayne Rainey (6OOcc) and John Kocinski (26Occ) received stand. ing ovetions at a Yamaha victory celebration held the evening after the U.S. GP. Each gave brief speeches, with Rainey vowing to win the 500cc World Championship, but first expressing his sorrow over the injuries sustained by his good friends, Bubba Shobert and teammate Kevin Magee. "It's hard to celebrate when your friends are in the hospital," he said. Kocinski, who spoke following Rainey, expressed his desire to expand on the two 250cc Grands Prix he's scheduled to contest this season. "Who knows? The way my schedule is, maybe I'll manage to do a few more races and win the World Championship. " said the 21-yearold. Team Lucky Strike Roberts owner Kenny Roberts, however, quickly brought Kocinski back down to Earth. "Sorry, John. You're not going to win any championship this year; you'll have to wait." Roberts also took a turn at the microphone, and gave much of the credit for his team's success to their rigorous off-season testing program. Roberts told the party-goers that Rainey had done the equivelent of 13 GPs in preparation for his asseult on the 1989 title. "Dunlop showed up in Brazil with 300 different tires:' he seid. "And they all needed to be tested. Even this old man did some laps. But I couldn't tell them anything; when I rode all the tires ware (crappy); there was just different degrees. When they couldn't give me a tire to make me go as fast as Wayne, I retired," The Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Club (MARRC) will host an open practice day at Summit Point Raceway, West Virginia, on Friday, August 18th (an incorrect date was printed in the MARRC newsletter), the day preceding the WERA six-~our endurance race. The track will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; cost is $35 for MARRC members and $50 for nonmembers. Riders must hold a racing license of proof of graduation from a racing school. For more information contact Roger Lyle at 30119332599 or Steve Harrison at 703/6902699, Tyson Vohland (Kaw) was the overall winner in round five of the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Gran Prix Series in Houston, Texas, April 15. Second place went to Lowell Thompson (Suz), while third place went to the defending 250cc Ultracross Champion' Jim Holley (Yam). The May 14 (sixth) round of the AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles in St. Johns, Pennsylvania, has been cancelled. For more information call, 614/891-2424. CORRECTION: Last week's·wind item about American John Kocinski making his 500cc road racing debut at the German round of the World Championship incorrectly listed the Nurburgring as the site of the German GP; the May 28 event will in fact be held in Hockenheim, West Germany. Kocinski will also contest the June 4 round at Salzburg, Austria. Incidentally, the circuits are two of the fastest tracks in Europe. "It will be easier for John to go fast on a 500 than it would for him to go slow:' seid Kocinski's teem manager Kenny Roberts. "It's harder to ride a 600 at a slow circuit."

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