Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1989 12 06

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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Renard Fiscus' Track Riders Association has added a two-day open track session to its 1989 schedule of open track days at W illow Springs International Raceway in Rosa mond, Californ ia . The new dates f all on New Year's Eve w eeken d, December 30-31 . For more inform ation, call 818 /365 8038 . fiY P~P~Wf~LfY Fou r-tim e Na tiona l H are & Houn d Champion Dan Sm ith (KT M) . wa s th e overa ll winner o f th e Bar stow to-Veg a s H are & H ound, wh ich started o n th e U.S. Army's Nati onal Tra i n i n g Center a t ' Fort Irw in , Ca l ifo rn ia, a n d e n de d a p proxi mat el y 140 miles later at th e Ca lifo rni a /N evada bo rd er n ea r La s Vega s, Nov emb erYs . Fini shin g seco n d ov era ll was 1984 B-to -V win ner C hris Cr andall (AT K), whi le Larry Roeseler (Ka w), last year's Bto -V win ner Bruce O g ilvie (H a n) a nd th e 250cc class win ne r Mike Ba ker (Ya m ) ro u nded o u t th e to p five, T aking th e 125cc class victory in eigh th overa ll was Eric H a llga th (Ya m). Riders f rom 33 different states made for 3 160 entr ies in the November 21 -25 Florida W inter National O lymp ics at Ga i nesv ille 's Gatorback MX Park . Ohioan Josh Steel (Hon ) earned the Scott Go lden Goggle Award for the top Amateur performance. The Bronze Boot, wh ich is presneted to the top minibike rider, went to Louisiana's Kevin Wind ham (Kaw) who reg istered the event's on ly perfect performance w ith wins in all four types of competition. Ca na d ia n Ricky j oseph, 16, di ed on No vem ber 25 as a result o f h ead in juries s us ta in ed in a p ra cti ce sess io n a t th e F lorida Wint er Na tion al O lymp ics. j o seph had to p ped th e 125cc B class in th e event's o pe n ing event, a TT p rogram o n November 22. Expressions o f sym path y ca n be sent to h is parents , Richa rd and Elli e j oseph, RR #1, Ohsweken , On tario , Ca na da , NOA 11\10. G ospeed, Rick y. Irish road racer Robert Dunlop (H o n) won the November 26 Macau Grand Prix in Macau, a Portuguese territory on ma inland China . Dunlop topped Phill ip McCallen (Ho n) and Steve Hislop (Hon). 2 Road race tun er Kel Ca rr u thers will work d irect ly, w ith th e Yamah a Mo to r Co rpora tio n as a n engi n eer durin g th e 1990 Gra nd Pri x sea son. : The Au str a lia n. who wo n th e 250cc Wor ld C ha m p io ns h ip in 1969, wa s ron rra rted to Ya ma ha in the la te '70s and ea rly '80s, win ni ng th ree Wo rld C ha m pio ns h i ps w i th Kenn y Rob erts, b efore worki ng fo r th e Gi aco mo Agos tin i-o wned Marlbo ro Ya maha team wh ere he Iiad a han d in Ed d ie La wson 's three World Cha m p ions h ip .ritles. "For several y,'a rs now I' ve had th e opport unit y to ~o work wit h Yamaha , but a stro ng comm itment to m y riders a lways p reven ted me fro m ma kin g th e cha nge:' Carruthers sa id from h is EI Caj on, Califo rni a , home o n Monda y, November 27. "Th is yea r I felt obliga ted to Agostini an d th e rest of the team , but now I feel it's tim e to move o n." Carruthers sa id more in for ma tio n rega rd ing h is job wo u ld be released by Yamaha in j a nuar y. Although no official word has been released, it now appears certain that Suzuki 's Grand Prix road race team w ill be sponsored by Lucky Str ike and not Peps i in 1990, Lucky Strike backed Kenny Roberts ' Yamaha team p rior to it s change to Marlboro for 1990, and w ill now sponsor t he two -r ider t eam of Kevin Schwantz and an as -yet -unnamed teammate i n next yea r's GPs , although Austral ian Kev in Magee is the ma n most likely to join Schwantz on the Suzuki team. According to U.S. Ro ta x im porter Tony Mu rphy, Apri lia ha s orders for 30 1990 250cc roa d racers in Europe, but the re will be none imported into th e U.S. " T h ey just cosr too much ," Murph y sa id . " T h ey' re n ear l y 40,000, including sh ip pi n g; it just doesn ' t m ake sens e for th e U.S. Yo u ca n bu y th ree Yamah as for tha t much ." Murph y's advi ce to th o se who wo u ld co nside r ca m paig ni ng a n Ap rilia is to bu y a used tandem twin : "Th e ta n de m tw in m akes abo u t th e sam e pow er as the V-tw in, a nd some of th e European riders say the tandem actua lly handles bett er :" Keith Code's California Superbike School will use Kawasaki ZX6s in 1990. In addition, the school has added a new feature to selected sessions in 1990 - Line Technique is the name of the new classes which will concentrate on finding, using and understanding the four basic types of lines currently in use in racing and riding. The Linetech sessions w ill be held on t he Streets of Willow Springs circuit in Rosamond , Cal ifornia, on Apri l 21 and October 20. " The fir st a n d last o f 10 WERA Formula USA roa d races sched u led for television in 1990 will tak e p lace a t Will o w Sp rin gs Intern a tion al Racewa y in Rosa mond. Ca lifornia. The ope n i n~ a nd clo sing shows o f th e series will be 90 mi nutes lon g with th e remai n ing .eight sho ws set a t 60 m in u tes. T he ex tra 30 minu tes o n th e two shows wi ll be used to air a Ra ce o f Cha m p io ns using th e Ca lifornia Su pe rbike Sch ool's Kawa sa ki ZX6s. " I h ope th at a ll o f th e top riders will be able to work o u t ridi ng our bikes for th is event like the car gu ys do fo r fR O C," 'school owne r Keit h Cod e sa id . " So me riders will have Suzu ki o r Yam aha co nt rac ts, bu t I hope we ca n gei it acros s th a t thi s isn ' t a Ka wa saki promot ion but a sho w featu re fo r th e a ud ience." Innovation Sports will award CTi or MVP knee braces and cash to the top -five finishers in 1990 AMA National and Supercross events . First place i n a 250 / 500cc National will pay $250 in addition to a knee brace, while the the 125cc class winner .w ill receive $225 plus a brace; cash awards for a Camel Supercross Series w in will be 10% higher t han for a National win . In order to qualify for the contingency, riders must display CT i, MVP or Innovation Sports stickers on their (Contin ued to page t ) Wh a t abo ut Pepsi, you a sk? Loo k for th e form er Suzuki G P team sp o nsor to back a H onda tea m ru n by form er Elf boss Serge Rosset with Sco tla nd's Nia ll Mackenzi e a nd Ital y's P ierFra ncesco Chi li as th e team 's riders; Mackenzi e rode for T eam Marlboro Agos tin i in 1989. a nd Chi li rode HB backed H ondas. Randy Renfrow will ride an American Honda-backed RC30 for Commonwealth Racing in the 1990 AMA National Superbike Road Race Championship . According to team owner Martin Adams, Renfrow w ill ride the RS750 -powered Pro Twins machine on which he won the '89 Pro Twins GP title at Daytona in March, and then give that bike an . " hono rabl e retirement" in order to concentrate on the Superbike crown . American Honda employees Ray Plumb and Brian Uchida w ill continue to provide technical assistance. If Renfrow can win the Superbike t itle, he will become the first rider ever to w in t itles in all four of the AMA 's road race categories - Renfrow pre viously won titles in t he F-1 (now defunct), F-2 (now called 250cc GP ) and Pro Twins classes. Kevin Schw a n tz wi ll be a bu sy ma n in th e mon th of Decemb er. T he T exan , who fi n ished fo urth in the 1989 500cc World Cha mpion shi p , is ' sch ed u led to receive a rid er of the yea r a wa rd from a n Ital ian mot orcycle magazin e early in th e month before a ttendi ng a Pep si p ress co n ference in Aus tri a o n December 6. He will th en go snow skiing in Au str ia o n th e 9th before goi ng to Spai n for the Suzu k i Worl d C up a t J erez o n th e ยท 15th. "They're letting me co me ho rn e for Christmas ," Schwa n tz said. Birnota unveiled four new models at the November 21-27 M ilan, Motorcycle Show in Ita ly : The Yamaha FZR1000-powered YB8 (above); the FZR600-powered Bellaria (below ), Bimota's first two-seater; the Tuatara (no t shown) w hich features a fuel -injected FZ1000 powerplan t producing a claimed 1 5 2 bhp at 9500 rpm; and t he YB4EI (also not shown), the street-going version of Bimota's World Superbike, powered by a fuel- injected FZ750 motor producing 121 bhp at 10,500 rpm . All may not be ava ilable in the U.S .

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