Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cal iforn ia-based advertising/public rela tio ns firm . . ~ o ....... (Continued from page 3) 'year at Laguna Seca. In 1989. Doohan finish ed th e year as the n inthranked 500cc GP racer. despite ha vin g to rid e most of the year with a steel p in inserted in o ne of th e fin gers of hi s left hand. H e's expec ted to be sidelined for a t least six weeks. Other news from Japan/Australia . has Aussie Mike Dowson, 29, signing a two-year contract with Kawasaki to develop a 250cc GP road racer. Dowson, who ended a 13-year association with Yamaha by signing with Kawasaki, will serve as a test/ development rider for Kawasaki in 1990. He'll probably ride the new twostroke in selected All-Japan Championship races and a fourstroke Kawasaki in All-Japan Formula One races. If Kawasaki feels the 250 is competitive Dow- . son will possibly compete in the closing rounds of the World Championship Road Race Series. In 1989, Dowson won both the opening round of the Formula One World Championsh ip and the Japanese round of the World Championship Superbike Series at Japan's Sugo circuit, as well as the second leg of the Australian round of the Superbike Series at Oran Park. Mot orcycle road racing o n cab le television is a go. says Keith Code of th e Californ ia Su perbi ke School. . " Pa ul (Wi nters of Wintertree Pro d uc tions) a nd I have sig ned a twoyear cont ract with Prime Ticket to present a series featuring WER A Form ul a USA. 600 and 750cc Superstock races. plu s endura nce racin g highl igh ts•. to be sho wn as part of Th ur sday Nig ht Lig htn in g (a gro u ping .of mo tor sports sho ws to r ival ESPN ' s T hu rsday Nig ht Thunder)." Cod e said on December 19. " For th e series to fall a pa rt now, th e sponso rs would hav e to stop payment. We ha ve eno ugh money to shoot all th e shows. a nd to do a good jo b. but we want to use some nice gr aph ics. ch ip (rem o te/on- board) ca meras . a nd maybe a hel icopter a t so me loca tio ns. We want 'to do a n up- to -the-m inute. 1990 s-t ype o f show." At pr esent. th e l O-event TV series will begin a nd end with 90minute shows. with th e ba lance bein g 30 mi nutes eac h. H el p ing Cod e with the com ment ary wi ll be Ni ck Jenat sch, Motorcyclist magazine's feature edi tor and part-tim e cohost of Centerstand, a mo torcycle talk show on sou thern California's KPFK radi o. Two-time AMA Pro Twins Modif ied Production Champion Kevin Erion will ride his Two Brothers Racing Honda Hawk in the Jap. anese Twins Series season opener at Tsukuba, Japan, on January 15. Erion is being helped in the endeavor by Honda R&D of Japan and an undisclosed Japanese motorcycle accessory company. 42 RE SIGN ED :' Rick Spill ma n from hi s positi on with American H onda' s motorcycle com mun ica tio ns department; Spill man. wh o was in charge of th e CR Support program . is now wi th Ph elps Group. the Brent wood . Following the December 11 announcement by the BlM of the cancelation of point-to-point races in the California Desert Conservation Area, the Check Chase M .C. has announced that the River Run National Championship Hare & Hound (J ohnson Valley-to-Parker) that was scheduled to take place in the effected area on March 24 has been rescheduled . The event will now take place, if a land-use applica tion is approved, in lucerne Valley on March 25 . " Obviously we were shoc ked a nd very disappointed wi th th e Bureau 's decisio n ." sa id Ch ecker M.e. Vice Presiden t Bill Fu entes. " Whe n o ur race was ap proved back in Ma y. the BLM ass ured us th ey wanted th e River Ru n to survive. In fact. just three days before their a nno unce ment they had set up a meeting for us to meet with officia ls of the Marine Corps in Twenty nin e Pa lm s to plan a ro ute aro und some enviro nment all y sensitive areas. T he n th ey ca lled to cance l the meeting and o ur race. We co u ldn' t believe it !" Fu entes concl uded. " We're goi ng forward with a quality event even if we ca n't fin ish in Parker th is year. Rest ass ured th ough . we'r e not going to tak e this la yin g dow n . T here will be another Ri ver R un." The second round of the southern portion of GFI Rac ing's Cal ifornia Winter Series North-South Showdown, scheduled for January 7 at Carlsbad Raceway, has been moved and will take place inst ead at Barona Oaks in nearby Romona. The February 4 Perris Raceway round will qualify riders for the GFI Amateur Supercross that will take place at San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium on Sunday, Feb ruary 11 . The entire ser ies will serve .as a qualifier for the March 9-11 GNC race at lake Whitney Cycle Ranch in Texas. Kevin Ell iott, AMA/ CCS di'rector of com pe ti tio n, tell s us th a t the fir st two AMA/CCS road race meets a t Fireb ird Intern ati onal Raceway in P hoen ix , Arizona, will be two-day events wi th practi ce a nd racing o n bo th days and a new riders school o n Saturday at both even ts. Road racer Thomas Stevens has signed a one-year contract with Vance & Hines to campaign their Yamaha OW01 superbike and Yamaha FZR600 in the 1990 AMA Superbike and 600cc Supersport National Championship events. "I 'm real happy," Stevens said. "I 'm looking forward to working with everyone at Vance & Hines; Steve Johnson and the whole crew. I think the Superbike class is growing and I'm glad to be a part of it." Stevens, who finished fifth in the AMA/Castrol 250cc Grand Prix Series in 1989 aboard a Team Viceroy Yamaha, will be teamed with David Sadowski on the tworider squad . Tea m T oomer tell s us they forgot to name two important peo p le in th eir " thank yo u " ad whi ch ran in issu e . #50. Belat ed tha n ks to Bob Applegat e a nd Dorsey·Bennett from th e Bartow . Florida-b ased roa d rac ing tea m. Motocrossers Clayton Blood and Greg Zitterkopf will be the recipients of 1 990 Dodge t rucks wh ich will be presented to them at the fourth round of t he Co nt inental Motosport Club's (CMC) Golden State Motocross Nationals at southern California's Carlsbad Raceway on January 28. Blood accumulated the most points in the northern reg ion of the 1989 CMC /Dodge Truck Pro Points Chase Awards Program, while Zitterkopf was the top pro pointsearner in the southern reg ion. Pho tographer Vic Ebb utt suffered a conc ussio n a nd a broken leg whi le tak in g photos a t a recent indoor race. Ca rds a nd letters can be sen t to 1821 N. l49 th St., Sea ttle. WA 98133. Dana Bell, the AMA District 37 legislative officer and an avid offroad rider, has been appointed to the Cal iforn ia Desert District Advisory Council by Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan . Bell, one of five new appointees, will fill one of two positions on .the council representing recreation interests. Bell, who has an undergraduate degree in biology and resides in long Beach, replaces Marie Brashear who served on the council since 1981. She and the other new appointees will serve from January 1990 through December 1992. " My prim ary motiva tion for serving on th e co uncil is to demonstrate to the genera l p ub lic that the desert can be used in a responsibl e manner," sa id Bell. "There is so much mi sunderstand ing by th e gene ra l public concern i ng th e m an a gement o f pub lic la nds." The California Desert Advisory Council consists of 1 5 members, including six representatives from the public-at-farge and nine representations from the following interests, recreation , renewab le resources, non -renewable reso urces, wildlife, environmental protection, and transportation and rights-of-way. The council provides advice and information to the Bureau of Land Management's California Desert District manager, Gerald Hillier, on a variety .of issues related to the management of public lands in southern Ca lifornia. Baj a 1000 winners Larry Roeseler , T ed H unnicut and Da nny La Porte were each presented Ka wasak i 550 J et Skis a t a victory party. December 15. The J et Ski s were cu stom-pai nted with carica tures of th e riders wear ing Mexican garb and som breros. World Superbike Champion Fred Merkel has opted to stay with HRC Honda for the 1990 season. Merkel. who will be seeking his th ird consecutive t itle, has not ru led out racing in selected GPs that do not conflict w ith his World ' Championship Superbike Road Race Series schedule. According to R ick . Bogdan of AAR-BEE Management Enterprises, Merke l 's 1990 North American appearances, in addition to the June 3 Canadian Superbike round and the June 10 U.S . round at Brainerd, could possibly include the Daytona 200, the laguna Seca GP and an international superbike event in Mexico late in the year if "proper backing and first-rate machinery for those events were to be arranged." An ag reeme n t that establishes a n American dis tr ibutor of Husaberg motorcycles was signed by Husaberg Motor AB o f Swe de n a nd Gary Surdyke o n December 13. Surdyke, who is a form er Six Da ys rider a nd o pe ra tes Gary Surdyke Yamaha/ H arley-Da vidso n in Festus, Missouri. will serve as president of th new corpora tion. H usa berg America , Inc. " I am proud to be a par of th e reintroducti on of fin e Swedis motorcycles to the U.S.... said Sur dyke. " It is o ur goal to establish dea ler netw ork th at is ou tstandin in every resp ect. " Husaberg America In c. will be located a t 1305 H wy. 61 Festus. MO 63028, and its phon number is 314/93 7-9166. Roy Rainer, the owner of a Comp ton, California, Yamaha sho from the 1950s through the ' 7 0 s died of cancer on December 16 Godspeed, Roy. T he trustees of th e AMA have con ferred on Sta nley and Dorothy Mil e of Owings Mills. Maryland, th AMA Dud Perkins Awa rd. which i the Associati on's highest award fo servic e to motorcycling. Mr. and Mrs Mi les have devoted their li ves t motorcycling a nd service to AMf District 7 where Sta n serves on it boa rd of directors and Do roth manages th e district office. ' T he both have been recipients of th e AM District 7 Hall of Fame Awa rd, Sta in 1979 a nd Doro thy in 1980. Th award was present ed by AMA P res ident Ed Youngblood at th e A District 7 an n ua l awards banquet 0 December 2. MOVED: Maier' Manufacturing manufacturers and distributors 0 plastic items and other acces sories. to 416 Crown Point Circle Grass Valley, CA 95945; phon number rema ins 916 /272·9036 FAX 916 /272-4306 . Louis "T he Phantom Duck" McKey a nd Rick ' "Super H unky" Siema n ha ve formed the Sahara Club, a club th ey say will " fig h t for savi ng th la n d, ra ther th an retr ea t. " In a \ membershi p so lici tat ion rel ea se, McKey and Siema n say, " Your o wn m o torcycle indust ry lead ers hav been o n the defens ive for so long, that they're making you feel like you' re destroying th e universe when you 're o ut having so me in nocent fun. Stand up to the wimps a nd to the ene m y . . . j oin th e Sa hara Club a nd tell th em all to kiss you where th e sun don 't sh ine!" A one-year membership cos ts $20 a nd incl udes a membership card. Sahara Cl ub bumper sticker, a nd newsletters. For m ore i n fo r ma t io n. co ntac t The Sahara Club. 17939 Chatsworth St.• Su ite 525. Granad a Hills. CA 91344. Road racer Kenny Kopecky will be busy during the next few months. The six-time American Road Racing Association class Champion will again serve as track announcer at the ARRA's 1990 Willow Springs race dates. when he's not competing in the 750cc Superstreet and Formula One classes. In the meantime. Kopecky will switch from asphalt to dirt and tackle the CMC Golden State MX Series on a Suzuki RM250. In a letter sent to Harley-Davi dson, In c. stoc kho lders on December 22, R ichard F. T eerlink, H ar ley's ch ief execu tive officer, president a nd chief financial officer, listed achi evem ents th e firm made over the last decade, suc h as reven ue risi ng fro m $ 124 mi lli on to $757 mi llion (1988 yearend). net in come rising from a loss of $4.8 mi lli on to $24 million (' 88 year-end) . tot al assets grow ing to m o re tha n $4 00 m illi on ; stoc kholders' eq ui ty go ing from a deficit to more than $ 121 mi llion; mo torcycle ma rket share mo re tha n dou(Continued to page 54)

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