Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ -e" ~ ' 11) ..0 o ..... u o At the end of th e first da y of the Intern a tional Six Days Enduro in West Germany, Monday, Septemb er 25, France led the Trophy T eam compe tition with a score of 41.92 points. Italy was second "with 54.94, Sweden third with 87.60, West Germany fourth a t 121.80 and th e U.S. team fifth with 162.87. France al so led the Junior Team co mpe ti tio n, Ital y was second, Sweden th ird , and the U.S. team last (13th ). Aaron Hough (Kaw) fin ished the ISDE's first day with the best score of the American contingent. Hough was 13th in the 125cc class. According to our man on the scene. Kit Palmer. "The course th~y ran on the opening day can best be described as simple. It consisted mainly of twotrack tra ils . The weather is cool and overcast and rain is predicted for later in the week. " Palmer said that 125cc MX World Champion Trampas Parker of Shreveport. Lou isiana. who was scheduled to ride for an Italian club team. was a no-show on Monday morning. Chris Ca rr (H -D), who had already clinc hed th e series titl e, won th e Ca stle Rock TT Steepl echase, th e fin al ro und of th e 600cc National Dirt Track Series, at Castle Rock , Washington , September 23. Mickey Fay (H -D) was second a nd rooki e Rex Fisher (W-R) finished third. Raymond Roche (D uc) and Stephane Mertens (Hon) spl it w ins in the Sicil ian round of the World Championship Superbike Road Race Series in Pergusa. Sicily. September 24. Defending World Champion Fred Merkel (Hon) f inished second in both legs with Fabrizio Pirovano (Yam) finishing third in the first leg and Baldassarre Monti (Duc) finishing third in the second leg. Merkel leads Mertens in "the po int standings. 226-224. with two rounds remain ing . At th e recent Brazilian GP, Cagiva announced th at the y'd signed 18year-o ld Alexandre Barros to a twoyear co nt rac t to contest the World Championship 500cc Road Race Seri es. The Brazilian had ea rlier tak en part in a test of th e Cagiva at Rijeka in Yugos lavia. Meanwhile, Ra ndy Mamola said that hi s manager Jim Doyle will be going to Italy this week to discuss Mamola's future wi th the Ital ian bike manufacturer. Apparently, Cagiva would lik e . to keep Mamola, whose two-year contract expired after the Brazilian GP, but at 70%of his current salary which is beli eved to be $1.25 million. Two-time 250cc World Champion road racer Sito Pons stayed in Brazil an extra day following the GP to test a Honda NSR500. Pons. who plans to race in the 500cc class next year. borrowed Rothmans Honda's Michael 000hans' factory bike. Pons last raced 500s in 1986 when he finished 13th in the championship on a Suzu~ . " 2 T eam Pepsi Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz said in Brazil tha t h e wou Id decide by the end of the month wh o he would race for next year. Apparently, the Texan has th e choice of staying where he is a nd riding Suzukis again in 1990, or switching to Giacomo Ago st ini 's Marlboro Yam aha team. One o f th e more widely circu lated rumors in Brazil was that if Schwantz stayed with Suzu ki th ey wo u ld ge t Marlbo ro sponso rsh ip, but if he went wi th Agostin i, Ago's team wo uld retain the Marlboro sponsorship they've enjoyed for mo st of th e decade. Australian Wayne Gardner said at Brazil that he had offers from f ive d if fe rent teams fo r the 1 9 9 0 season and took three " q ui t e seriously. It came down to Marlboro Yamaha and Rothmans Honda ." Gardner op ted to re- ink a contract w ith Rothmans Honda. he said was for more than one year. A Honda spokesman explained that because Rothmans only signs one-year contracts w ith Honda he couldn 't say that Gardner would be w ith Rothmans Honda in 1991 . Oll e Ohlsson, a Swedi sh ISDE rider and finisher of the In cas Ra lly in Peru, is seeking a teammate for th e November 9-11 Baja 1000. Anyon e interested in teaming with th e Swed e should contact Lars La rsson at 619/ 287-5437. Honda int roduced its 1990 model lineup to press and dea lers in Da llas. Texas. September 20-21 . w ith six new models leading the way. The Gold W i ng SE. an upgraded Gold Wing; t he ST11 00 sport tourer; the return ing. allnew VFR750; the NS50F entrylevel street bike ; the Cub. a 90cc two-stroke entry lev el off-road bike; and the RC30 superbike are featured in Honda's new lineup. In addition. Honda has added 1 0 horsepower to i t s CBR600 . Honda also announced that it will be holding the li ne on most 1990 model prices and will drop the price on the GB600 and the CB1 . street bikes by $500 and $400. respectively. Look for details on the 1990 Hondas in next week 's issue. According to the AMA's Bill Ami ck, the 1990 rules for AMA Superbike racing will be released in the next week or two. Although Amick was tight-lipped a bo u t th e co m i n g anno uncemen t, it is expec:ted that the AMA will go to rules Similar to those used by the World Superbike Series and all ow the use of non-street-going motorcycles. Accord ing to Yamaha 's Ken Clark. Yamaha's 1990 AMA road race plans. or lack thereof. are currently "under d iscussion . " Apparently there is a chance that the Yamaha FZR750RR (OW 0 1) may be brought into the U.S . if AMA rules allow the use of nonstreet-going motorcycles into the 1990 Superbike Nationa l Championship. In regards to a rumor of a Dunlopbacked, fu ll Yamaha factory effort in th e AMA/Castrol 250cc Grand Prix class for 1990, Clark responded: "Thereis no truth to that at all. " England's David Thorpe. the 1989 500cc MX World Champion. has signed a three-year contract with Kawasaki to contest the 500cc GPs and British Championships next year. "I need a new cha llenge and riding for Kawasaki will give me new determination and motivation." Thorpe. a long- time Honda rider. said "The company has never won the 500cc title and I'm very confident that I can be the f irst person to win the crown for them." With Thorpe's departure from th e Honda camp, Belgian Eric Geboers will reportedl y stay in th e 500cc class and not move to the 250cc class as he had planned earlier. Au stralia 's J eff Leisk will join Geboers on th e 500cc HRC squad . Holland's Gert-Jan van Doorn has signed with KTM to contest the 1990 World Championship 250cc MX Series. There is no official word of who his teammate w ill be as 125cc World Champion Tram pas Parker has repo rted ly signed with Suzuki for 1990. Parker is working to fina lize a deal w ith Benetton (clothing manufacturer) for sponsorship. Americans Mike Healey and Bob Moore will stay with KTM to ride the 126cc GPs. while Jacky Martens and Kees Van der Ven will return to ride the 500cc GPs on the Austrian bikes. According to European sources. American Broc Glover will .not return ,to KTM in 1990. Leo n Backus of Palm Harbor, Florida, was kill ed in a road racing accident at Moroso Motorsports Park in West Palm Beach , Florida, September 4. H e is survived by his par ents and hi s sister , Rose. Godspeed , Leon . Accord ing to a press release from Keith Code's California Superbike Schoo l . Code and Wintertree Production's Paul Winters have secured a two-year. 20-race TV commitment f rom Prime TIcket and i t s affil iated networks to telecast the WERA Formula USA Road Race Se ries. plus selected additiona l races . beg inn ing in 1990. Code and Winters are currently soliciting sponsorship . West Coa st British Racing is loo king for a replacement for the retiring Bret Morshead for their vintage road racing team. The team will co nsider " a new rider who's willing to learn , but wou ld prefer an experienced AH RMA/CV RG (American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association /California Vintage Ra ci n g Group) rider." For more information contact WCBR at 415/829·6091. The battle for the 600 and 750cc AMA/CCS Supersport National Championships heads for the Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega. A labama. on October 14-15. Scott lampach leads the 600cc po int standings and can wrap up the title with a victory or second place finish at Talladega. With Cam Roos sideli ned w ith injuries. John Ashmead is the only rider w ith a mathematical chance of topping Zampach in the championship . The 750cc Supersport Championship is a five-rider fight. Yoshimura Suzuki's Jam ie J am es lead s the champions hip from Kawasaki' s Doug Cha nd ler, 115-94. J a m es ' teammate Scott Ru ssell is third with 91 points; Mike Harth (86) and David Sadowski (86) are also in the h unt for the ti tie. OOPS: Cagiva's 1990 125cc WXE Enduro/Cross Country motorcycle will retail for $2750 and not $3300 as we printed in issue number 37. AMA District 37 and SCORE offroad racer Patrick Rice, 57, died of cancer o n August 28. Godspeed " Coyo te." ' The Spanish trials team of Jordi Tarres (Bet ). Andreu Codina (G G) and Amos Bilbao (Fan) won the Trials des Nations in Belgian on September 17. Tarres posted the low score of t he trials. 59. as the Spanish team f i nished w ith a score of 242. six marks less than runner-up Ita ly's 248 . France finished third. Finland fourth and Belg ium fifth . The 2nd Annual Veteran's World Championship' MX will be held at so u thern Cal ifornia's Perris Ra ce(Con tinued to page 43) AMA announces J990 Nat'l MX/Supercross schedules WESTERVILLE, OH, SEPT. 25 A schedule of 32 major motocross and supercross races has been announced for 1990 by the America n , Mo torcycli st Association (AMA). Incl uded in th e calendar ar e 18 , even ts in th e AMA Camel Supercross Seri es, which will open January 27 at Anaheim, California, Stadium and wrap up June 23 at th e Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. A total of 13 AMA National Motocross Seri es races ar e schedu led, with the series o pener set for March 4 at Gatorback Cycle Pa rk in Gainesville, Florida. America's traditional 250cc Grand Prix, one of 12 events in the World Championsh ip Seri es, will be hosted on July 15 by th e Un adilla Vall ey Sports Center in New Berlin, New York . Meanwhile, the 500cc U.S . Grand Prix wh ich had tentatively been sched u led for June 24 in Hollister , California, will not be held. AMA is negotiating possible replacement sites for that international even t. Supercross racing has been a fixture on the AMA's professional racing calendar for nearly tw o decades, and 1990 promises to be " a particu larly exci ting season. Ca mel cigarettes return for the second year as the ma jor corpora te sponsor of the series, which will visit five new venues. J oin ing the series will be races March 17 at the Silver Bowl in Las Vegas , Nevada; March 24 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Ca lifornia; May 12 at Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina; June 2 at Sullivan Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts; and June 16 at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California. The 1990 Camel Supercross Final in the Los Angeles Memorial Col iseum will again feature the Camel Shoot-Out, a special race for 125cc class riders from th e AMA's Eastern and Western Regi ons. On the National MX Series scene , the 1990 format and venues are identical to 1989. All 13 National even ts will include rounds of the AMA 125cc National Championship Series. Featured along with the 125cc bikes at the first seven events will be the AMA 250cc Na tional Motocross Series . And th e final six races of the season will showcase the 500cc AMA National Motocross Series. Team H onda 's Jeff Stanton will defend h is AMA Ca mel Supercross and 250cc National Championships in 1990. T he 1989 l 25cc and 500cc National Champions have yet to be determined, but virtually all top performers from the 1989 AMA season are expected back in 1990. (Contin ued to page 55)

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