Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ .,;TND ~ 6Y~~WtJILfY O"'l O"'l ,......; LAST REMINDER : Your presence is needed at Saturday's (Februa ry 10) H R780 hear in g in Beverly H ills. HR 780 is Con gressman Mel Levine's bill th at is a twin to Senator Alan Cra nsto n's Sll and calls for over 9 million acres of Californ ia's desert to be designated as wilderness whic h would ban off-road vehicle use. T he hearing starts a t 10 a.m. a t Beverl y H ills H igh School, 241 Moren o Driv e, Bever ly Hi ll s, Cal ifornia. Com e ou t early; coffee and donuts will be provided by AMA District 37. Greg Zitterkopf (ATK) was the overall winner at the ' open ing round of the AMA National Ch r:mpionship Hare Scrambles Series in Crane, Texas, February 4. Rounding out the top three spots were former National Hare Scrambles Champions Tony Hendon (Yam) and Ed Lojak (Yam). T he fourt h and fifth rounds of the six-round AMA Invi tation al Ind oor Pro Ice Race Series prod uced a twoway tie a t the top in the series po in t standings going into the final round at Erie, Pen nsylvan ia, on February 16. The February 3 round in T roy, New York, saw Don Estep (Hon) emerge as the night 's top poi nts scorer with a total of 13 points. Estep also won th e non -point s pay ing main event . Bryan Hardin (Ha n), Tim Mertens (Ho n), Larry Pegram (Hon) and Bryan Villella (Han) each scored I I points. The followin g day saw the action take pla ce in Syracuse, New York, and veteran Garth Brow (Ha n) was top poi n ts scorer wit h 13 points and th e main event winner. Villella and Mark Wyskiel (Han) tied for second with I I points each. The poi nt standings show Mertens and _ Villella tied at the top with 52 poi nt s each, Ed Morris and Dan Ingram are tied for third at-49 each, a nd Brow and Wyskiel are tied for fifth wit h 48 points each. The 'Hu ma n Race Team's Andy Fenwick and Paul Bray (Yam ) defeated WERA National Endurance Champions Team Suzuki Endurance's Mike Smith and Kurt Hall (Suz) in a WERA two-hour regional endurance road race at Roebling Road in Georg ia . The race was the first confrontation between the two a rch -rival teams since Bray and Hall traded camps, and saw HRT take the overall and Heavyweight Superbike class w ins while Team Suzuki suffered mechanical problems. America Spirit's Jay Denham and Gene Burcham (Ya m ) finished second overall and first in the Heavyweight Production category on an ex-HRT Yamaha FZR1000. Action Suzuki (Suz) claimed third. Eri k Kehoe (Hon) was the 125cc Pro class winner at the final rou nd of the GFI Cali fornia Win ter Series Sou th at Perris, Californ ia, Febru ary 4. Don Patt on (Yam) won the 250cc Pro class, Gordon Ward (Ho n) topped the 500cc Pro class, and Mike Shoema ker was the Vet Pro win ner. In round four of the GFI California Winter 'S e rie s North at Brentwood. California, February 4, Ray Crumb (Kaw) topped the 125cc Pro class, Jim Clay (Yam ) won the 250cc Pro c lass, Richard Mythen (Hon) aced the 500cc Pro class and Rod Nordstrom (Kaw) was the winner in the Vet Pro class. Mike Healey (KT M) was the big winner at rou nd five of the CMCI Dodge T ruc k Go lde n St ate Nati onals in Marysville, Californ ia, February 3-4. Healey won the 250 and 500cc Pro classes and was the runner-up to T yson Vohland (Suz) in the 125cc Pro class. Rex State n (Hon) won the Vet Pro class. Greg Searle (KTM) was the overall and 250cc class winner at the Best of the West Series' Gold Strike Hare & Hound in Caliente. Sculptor Steve Posson (left) of San Luis Obispo. California, and BillAmick of the AMA flank Posson's sculpture that depicts a 1919 Indian dirt track motorcycle at full throttle. The work will be placed in the lobby of the new American Heritage Motorcycle Museum in Westerville. Ohio, in t ime for the museum's grand opening in August. The sculpture. which was funded by Mike and Margaret Wilson of Cedar Rapids. Iowa, was unveiled last week at a restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Prior to being placed in the museum. Posson's work w ill be d isplayed at motorcycle trade shows, beginning with the February 9 -11 San Francisco International Motorcycle Show. Nevada. February 3. Second place, went to Danny Hamel (KTM). while third place was filled by Open class w inner Scot Harden (KTM). First 125cc was Jimmy Lewis (KTM) in 11th overall. nia, on January 28. La Dou ceur is survived by hi s wife Donna, four children, and several grandchildren and great-grandchi ldren. Memorial services were conducted in Arcadia on J anuary 3i. Although it's reported that TransPacific, the holding compa ny whose interests include Malcolm Smi th Racing, has filed bankruptcy, MS Racin g's J im Lewis said, " Malcolm Smith Racin g has not filed bankru p tcy." Lewis did admit that the accessory distributor may be sold. "O ffers are bein g considered." said Lewis in a phon e coversation on Monday, Februa ry 5. Lewis denied that one of the interes ted purchasers is founder Malcolm Smith, as has been ru mored. Team Honda's Rick Johnson , Roger DeCoster and Brian Lunn is will be on hand to s ign autographs at Tacoma Honda in Tacoma , Washington, on Friday, February 16, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 :30 p.m . Appearing in conjunction with the next night's Camel Supercross Series round in the Seattle Kingdome, their appearance is being co-hosted by Ready to Ride, Tacoma's off-road vehicle program, the only urban program of its kind. A special maintenance session is planned with Team Honda mechanic Lunnis. For more information, call Ready to Ride at 206/591 -3690, extension ORV, or Tacoma Honda at 206/5648678 . Noted Ducati tuner Eraldo Ferracci of Fast By Ferracci will build three 851 Superbikes for the Daytona 200 - one for 1989 AMA Superbike Champion Jamie James. one for Australian Paul Lewis and another for an unknown Frenchman. "I don't even know who the French guy is, but the factory called me up and said, 'Eraldo, do us a favor: " Ferracci said on January 30. Ferracci added that Michelin's withdrawal from the U.S . motorcycle tire market has put a damper on his 1990 plans: "I was really excited, but now I'm a little disappointed because of the t ire disaster. You have a deal with a guy and then he closes down, and now you have to buy tires. If I knew it would happen like this I don't know if I- would have even asked the factory for the bikes." Due to the expected late arrival of the Ducati 851 Superbikes from Italy, Ferracci says that it is unlikely that he will have time to do any testing prior to the Daytona 200 on March 11 . " It's terrible for our industry," said Nate Jon es of Internation al Cycle Racing T ire (ICRT), a Michelin racing tire distributorship in Lon g Beach , Cal ifo rni a, in regard s to Mich elin 's withdraw al fro m th e U.S. motorcycle ma rket. "T hey're (Michelin ) abandoni ng people, and the guys back in Greenville (Sou th Carolin a) aren' t getting any flack about it. I feel that Michelin was getting ready to have a good year; it's just in san e. T hey don't seem to understa nd the commit ment. T here area lot of people out there who want that product. T here's j ust a lot of ominous bad in this thi ng." J o ne s u rg e s motorcycl ists to wri te or call Michelin headquarte rs in the U.S . to protest the f irm 's decision to stop selling mot o rcycle t ires in this country (Michelin Tire Co rp .• ATTN: Public Re lations Dept .• P.O . Box 1 9 0 01, Greenville. SC 29602, 803 /458 -5000 ). " Thi s is a serious consumer iss ue . There are o nly a few d istributors in t his cou nt ry w ho w ill be affected, and we can a ll find other products to se ll to our c u s t o m e rs. But Mich'e lin is the wo rld 's la rgest t ire company , it makes a great product t hat has wide consumer acceptance. and its faithful cust o m e rs are owed something besides a curt announcement that the company will no longer make its products available to them." Jones said . J. 2 Evart La Douceur , fou nder of American Raceways Inc. and Inlan d Motor Speedway (lMS ) in San Bernardi no, California, passed away at his home in App le Valley, Cali for- T he Four Aces M.e. has announced that there will be no bomb ru n pra ctice the day before the February II Nati onal Cham pion ship Hare & Hound Series race in Red Mountain , California, and that sign-up for the event will not open until 7 p.m. Saturday evening. The club has made these moves to enable those who pl an to compete in the National to attend th e Saturday, February 10, HR780 hearing in Beverly Hills. Defending National Hare Scrambles Champion Scott Plessinger has inked a deal with KTM for the 1990 season. "I'll be riding a KTM 250 E/XC in both the National Hare Scrambles and Cross Country Series:' said Plessinger, who rode for Kawasaki's Team Green last year. Joining Plessinger on the KT M team for the National Hare Scrambles and Cross Country Series will be former Nati onal H are Scrambles Ch ampion Mark Hyde, Kevin Brown and Steve McSwain. Four-time National Hare & H ou nd Champion Dan Smith, Dan ny Hammell and J immy Lewis wi ll head KT M's 1990 hare and hound effort, Cagiva North America is offering a $150.000 off-road contingency program for Husqvarna riders in three AMA National Championship Series events - enduro, hare scrambles. and hare & hound. If a Husqvarna rider takes first place in the final standings of the three championship series, the rider w ill rec eive a $50,000 cash award. An extensive contingency program will be offered in Expert, Amateur and Novice classes at certain recog nized off -road and motocross events. Fo r more informa t ion , c a ll Cagiva North America 201 /882 -9141 . MOVED: Suzuki of Corp us Christi to 1833N. Padre Islan d Dr. in Corpus Christi, Texas, 512/289 ,6844. The organizers of the February 17 Amate u r Na ti o n a l Supercross Championship Series ro und at t he Seattle Kingdome tell us there are still a few openings in selected classes. -There will be no postentries, so if you'd like to compete. contact Pat Browning at 503/543-6028 or Marcia Washburn at 503/761 -6042. Fo r Brookl yn , New York' s Rob Iannucci there's no off-season. Mr. Team Ob solete tells Papa that he and ride r Dave Roper are headed for New Zealand with the AJS 7R3 "T riple

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