Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Race Series h ave been rescheduled . The n ew dates are Nove m ber 12 a t Ora n Park , Austral ia , a nd November 19 at Mansfield, Ne w Zeal and. David Sadowski (Su z) won the fina l ro u n d o f th e AMA/CCS Yok ohama 750cc Su persp ort Ser ies ' at Daytona International Speedway, O ctober 29. Kevin Blai s (Kaw) nip ped Dou g Chandler (Kaw) a t the fini sh line for seco n d. J amie J a mes (Suz) finished fifth a nd in do in g so won th e 750cc Su persp o rt Ser ies Cham p ionship. Michael Barnes (Yam) topped Jeff Farmer (Yam) and Canadian Jacques Guenette (Yam) in t he AMA/CCS Yokohama 600cc Su persport race, a ra in-sodden event which saw a number of top riders crash or choose not to race . One of the crashers was David Sadowski (Y am) , w ho suffered a broken collarbone . Dutchman Racing II 's Donald Jacks an d T om Kipp (Suz)' won the rain and darkness-s hortened final ro u n d of th e AM A/ CCS EBC Brakes En d urance Challen ge Road Race Series a t Daytona , Oct ob er 29. H yp er-Cycle's T ommy Lyn ch and J eff Farmer (Suz) were second with j ohnso nSe Wood 's Lee Sh ier ts an d Bob Rentzell (Suz) third. T eam OTS (Yam) scored th e GTU class wi n . The f inal round of the AMA National Championship Enduro Series i n Red ding, California, October 29, was cancelled due to snow. The enduro w ill be rescheduled b ut not as a ch ampionship po ints-paying eve nt, on ly as an AMA District 36 event. The ser ies ' f inal point standings will stand as of the last Na t ional Enduro in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, on October 15. Randy Hawkins (Su z) clinched his second straight title in Rhode Island w ith 261 points, followed by Kevin Hines , (KTM) w ith 197 and Jeff Russell (Yam) with 189. Rounding ou tthe top five in the series are Kurt Hough. (K aw) , 1 6 8 , and Terry ' Cu nningham (Kaw), 152. Sco tt Su mmers (Hon) wa s th e overa ll wi n ner a t the final ro u n d of th e A MA / Wiseco/ Ya ma ha Gra n d Na tio na l C ha mpio ns h ip C ross Co untry Series in Mt. Morris, Pen ,nsylva n ia, O ctob er 29. Kevin Brown (KT M) took secon d fo llowe d b y , Duane Con ner (Yam), T im She p hard (Ya m) a nd G en e Onai l (Yam) . Ed Loj ak (Yam), who h ad a lre ady cli nc hed th e cha m p io nsh ip, d id n ot co mpete in the even t. Steve McSwa in (Hon), who was in second place going in to th e Mt. Morris Na tiona l, had his race bike sto len o u t o f h is van the n ight before th e event a n d h ad to ri de a borr owed bike. H e fin ish ed II th in th e ra ce and third in th e. series. Loja k en ded up with 118 points, Sum mers wi th 112, a n d McSwa in wi th 11 0. Texa n Doug Polen (S uz) finished fifth in the final round of the Japanese Formu la One Road Race Se ries in Tsukuba, Japan, on October 29, and in the process wrapped up the Japanese F-1 C hampionship. Po len had clinched the Formula 3 Championship two weeks earlie r. The fin al two rounds o f th e World Champi on ship Superbi k e R o a d east of the Bay Area. " M y w ife was at a ba ll field w ith the kids and she sa id it shook pretty Multi-time AMA Formula 1 Road Race Champio n M ike Baldwin , seen spectating at the October 27-29 Daytona Race of Champions, said that Bi mota is pla nn ing to skip t he two f ina l World Superbike races, and in st ead will use that t ime for t est ing at Daytona. Baldwin is slated to ride a Bimota Superbike in the 19 9 0 Daytona 200, before head ing to Europe to contest the World Championship Superb ike Series. Erv K an erno to , wh o lives in Sa n Jose, California , reported tha t " everyth in g in th e h ouse was th ro wn arou n d, bu t we di dn' t s uffer a ny s truc t u ra l damage." , Four-time 500cc World Road Racin g C h ampion Eddie L a wson ( Ha n) defea ted Fren chmen G iles Salva dor (Barigo) and Pa tri ck Dem ari a (KTM) to win the in au gura l Su pe rm otards Internation a l, a S u perbi ke rs-type race h eld in France, O ctob er 8. Multiti me U.S. Nat iona l MX Champio n Bro c G love r (KT M) fin ish ed fourth. M ike Hea ley (KTM) prevailed in a close Pro class battle with 250cc World Champion Jean-M iche l Bayle (Hon) at t he 2nd Annual Commotion by the Ocean MX at Carlsbad Raceway in Carlsbad, California, October 28 -29. Jeremy McGrath (Kaw) f in ished third. Regarding th e rumored sw itch o f World Champion Eddie L aw son fro m th e Erv Kanem ot o Rothmans H onda G P road race team a nd the swi tc h o f Ma rlb o ro sponsors hip fro m th e Giacomo Agostini Yamaha tea m to th e Kenny Rob ert s Yamaha tea m , Rob ert s, u po n h is return fro m Asia' la st wee k, sai d: " I ca n 't say anythi ng abou t the sponsorship or La wson because of existin g contracts." Asked if h e wo u ld field a 250cc road race team in the U.S. next year if in deed h e does have Marlbo ro sponsorship in Europe, Ro bert s said , " T ha t wi ll p robabl y be di ssol ved." Viceroy, a co m p e ti tive ciga re tte b ra n d , spo nsored R o berts ' team wh ich co ns isted o f Castrol 250cc GP Seri es cham p J ohn Kocinski a n d Thom as Stevens th is yea r. When reference was made to the powerhouse team it appears Roberts w ill have next year with re igni ng champ Lawson and number two rider Wayne Rainey, Roberts sa id , "I t r ied to get (basket ball player) Magic Johnson bu t he won't leave the (Los Angeles) Lakers." , In addition to the team 's sponsorsh ip cha nge, it appears Rob erts' sq ua d will a lso be ch anging tir e bran ds for 1990, although Robert s is being tigh t-lipped regardin g th e change. "That's th e fir st I' ve heard of it," Rob erts sa id. "Until I see a piece of paper from a co m pa ny that says so , I assu m e it's nothing but spec u lation. " As ke d a ga i n wh en more informa tion regardi ng th e Marlbo ro sponsors hip, a nd sig ning of Law son wou ld be available, Roberts said: " If we h ad made a deal with Edd ie, we'd be look in g at th e firs t o f th e year before anything would be release d. It's a ll spec u lation until th en ." Roberts said he was in a meeting at Yamaha in Japan when the w ife of an executive called to tell t hem there had been an earthquake in San Francisco. " I told t hem they happen there all the time, " said Roberts. " Only lat er did I find out how bad it was." Roberts said there was no damage at his Hickman, California, home, which is located approximately 75 miles go~d." Gary Nixon, the 1967-68 Grand National Champion who nearly won the World Championsh ip Form ul a 750 road race title in t he mid-seventies, commenting on the amount of money GP ,road racers m ake today: " I was born 20 years too soon." Riding Kawasak is prepared by Erv Kanemoto in t he Formula 750 ser ies in 1976, Nixon would have won the t itle if the resu lts of the Venezuelan ' round hadn't been thrown out due t o Ii scoring dispute: "Erv and I did that on a shoestring budget and now I hear about t he millions of doll ars be ing tossed around. " The Marylander, w ho is now 48. also said , "I quit drinking and then I quit smoking . Now they tellme I ' ll have to quit eating'some of my favorite foods because my cholesterol count is too high ! What's next?" Forme r l25cc MX Nat ional Champ io n G eorge H o ll and is retiring fr om raci ng du e to a recurrin g shou lder inj ury. ''I' m done," says the 1988 cha mp. " I do n' t th in k my shou lderwi ll ge t a ny better racing." H olland underwent surgery on h is sho u lder before the 1989 season began , but still encou ntered p roblems wi th it "popping ou t" throug ho ut th e seaso n. T he 24-yea r-o ld wi ll manage his a lmon d farm III h is h om etown o f Kerman , Ca lifo rnia, and says there is a possi bili ty that he may do some testing for H on da. "Everybody is signed and everybody is happy." said Honda moto.cro ss race team manager Dave Arno ld on Friday , October 27 of hi s ,19 9 0 motocross team . Earl ier in t he week b ud get restructuring j eo p ar d i ze d newly-crowned 125cc National champ Mike Kiedrowski and 250cc World Champion Jean -Michel Bayle's con t ract s. A lthough they had already signed for the 1990 season. 't heir contracts were still ' unfinished because Honda management hadn 't yet signed them, according to Arnold. Management later gave the approval for the two riders, who j oin Rick Johnson and 250cc N ational and Supercross champ Jeff Stanton who have multi-year contracts. Arnold says that Honda's CR Support program, which pays contingencies to amateurs and pros in va rious events, and Honda 's road race program w ill be on hold until a f ina l budget is approved. Acco rding to G ary Mathers, director o f H onda 's U.S. roa d racing effo rts , American H onda h as no p la ns to ru n a factory road race tea m in 1990. "There h ave been so me p roposal s from o u tside tea ms fo r our support," Mather s sai d on Monday, O ctob er 23, " but as yet ' n o fin al decisions h ave been made." Mather s declined to co m me n t o n w hic h team s h a ve req uested assis ta nce , but did co nf irm t hat Com mo n wea lt h H onda 's Randy Renfrow a n d T wo Brothers Racing's Kevin Erion were on th e li st. Renfrow a n d Erion a re the reig n ing champs on H onda s in the two AMA Pro Twins classes, but both are h oping to race H onda RC30s in AMA Su pe rbike co m pe ti tion n ext year. Damon Bradshaw and Doug Dubach have re-signed w ith Yamaha to contest the 1990 250cc Superc ross and 250cc outdoor National , Championship MX Series. Bradshaw and Dubach will be the on ly factory Yamaha MX riders racing here next year. Bob Mo ffit , Kaw a saki Vice Presiden t, Mark etin g , has inf o rm ed J ohn H asty, chairman of th e AMA Board of T rus tees, th at effective Novem ber 1, J ohn H oover , Kaw sa kak i Ma rketing Serv ice Manager, wi ll ass u me re sp on sib il i ty for , serv ing th e re ma inder o f Mo ffi t's term o n th e AMA Board. Moffi t, an AMA Board ,mem ber for th e pas t seven years, cited th e n ecessity of rea lig ni ng priorities wi th regard to h is job workload a nd participa tion o n severa l in d ustry boar ds as th e reason for na ming H oover to serve ou t hi s term . The FIM announced at it s annual congress, held last week in Maastricht. Belgium. t hat the U.S. GP at Lag una Seca will be t he second round of the 1990 World Championship Road Race Series, and will be held April 8 , following the , season opener in Japan on March 25. The th ird event will be the Braz ilian GP. moved f rom the end of the season to t he beginning in a dat e-sw ap w ith the Australian GP . This will give the Australians t ime to build an all -new race track at Eastern Creek outside Sydney, after- they abandoned the specially-rebuilt Ph illip I slan d ci rcuit as a result of new rules concern ing tobacco advertising by the local Victorian state government. The other new venue is the Hu ngaroring in Hu ngary. The provisional ca lenda r is as fo llows : March 25 - Suzuka. (Con tinued to page 51) HR780 opponents turn out in force at Bishop By Mike Bishop BISH OP, CA, O CT. 28 O ver 1000 m ulti pl e use advoca tes and preservati oni sts co n verged o n the Bish op T riCounty Fairgrounds for th e "first o f two field h ea rings o n th e co ntrovers ia l Desert P rot ection Act, HR780, the H ouse o f Represen tatives version of S 11. T he Desert Pro tection Act proposes to designa te 9.5 mill ion acres o f Ca li fo rn ia's dese rt as wilderness wh ich wou ld elim in a te en try by any means o the r th an foo t. No t o n ly wa s inpu t h eard o n HR780, bu t th e H ouse Su bco m m ittee o n Nat ional Parks an d Public La nds a lso took input o n Congressme n J erry L ew i s (R- Re d la n ds), Will iam T ho mas (R- Ba ke rs fie ld) a nd Duncan Hunter's (R-Co ro na do) proposed HR3460 w h ic h wo u ld adopt the Bu reau of Land Ma nagement's Desert P lan. T ha t p lan h as bee n in the m akin g for five years an d wo u ld o n ly sh ut down land tru ly su ita b le for wi lde rness designa tion. Before the hea rings, m ore than 600 o ff-roaders an d o ther anti-H R 780 forces gathe red outside the fairgrou nds, ca rry ing signs and chanting "Jus t say n o to 7-8-0" 'as p reserva tio n ists arri ved by bus. A Sierr a Clu b flier sai d "Come on o ut an d be co u nted. You don't h ave to know a ny th ing abou t th e desert ," a nd it ap peared as though many of th e p rese rva tio nist ,su ppo rters were h omeless transients. (Co n tin ue d to page 2) 1

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