Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

9~.!ti~~b'~~'~Ypa~:~,:~e~uddY ~ ing tobacco advertising at th e Phillip Island venu e. Apparently, the Victorian go vern ment's offer of- a partial ex empti on from th at sta te 's antitoba cco legislation is exclusively with promo ter Bob Barnard. The problem now is that Barnard ha s not yet Q') co nfirmed wh ether or not he will be ,.....; prom ot in g the GP at Phillip Island. '" If a no the r promoter is used , th e -.::l'" ' exem p tio n would have to be ,.....; ren egotiated. §; Dave Despain, hos t of TV's MotorWeek IIIustrated, will be conducting intervi ews with " Race rs of Yesteryear" at the Dayton a Arm ory during Cycle Week. Despain, wh o moonlights as a video producer, says the in terviews will De videotaped and vintage footage added for a video he 'll release as soon as possible. " We have great riders like Dick Mann, Bart Markel and Gary Nixon already lined up, and should hav e more, " said Despain. Bill West, promoter of last Sunday's Gatorback 125/250cC National MX at Gain esville, Florida , said the turnout of BOOO-plus spectators was a record for the facility. "Coming on the heels of our (SuperSports/ Wor ldSports -promo ted) Atlanta Supercross that drew 43,000 and the large crowds at the Anaheim, San Diego and Seattle Supercross events, it looks like we're heading into a great season," said West. " Ent husiasm is high and the majority of spectators at Ga torback were true MX enth usiasts, not just peop le attendi ng a hap pening in the area." Exciti ng news for trials fans broke in England last week. Former Sco ttish Six Days Tria l win ners Martin Lampkin and Malcolm Rathmell will compet e in th is year's SSDT. T he pair dominat ed the SSDT in the seventies, with La mp kin wi nni ng in 1976, '77 and '78 and Ra th mell in '73 and '79. According to the SSDT committee, Lampkin, 39, and Ra thmell, 40, will start th e May 7 event as the first and second riders. Both will be aboard Beta tria ls bikes. Hopefully, they will be joined by 1980SSDT winner and three time World Champion Yrjo Vesterinen of Finland. If he accep ts the co m m i tte e's invitation, Vesterinen will also be aboard a Beta , and at the age of 37 will be th e "youngster" of the trio. According to Yamahamotocross team man ager Keith McCarty, Zack Bradshaw, the younger brother of Yamaha factory rider Damon Bradshaw, suffered a broken left leg during th e Mar ch 3 amateur day preceding the G a in esville 125/250cc Motocross Nation al. Pizza-powered Multi-time National and Su percross Ch ampion Jeff Ward has secured o u tside industry sponsorship with Nike, a n i n terna tio n a lly kn own a thletic shoe manufacturer. According to Ward , a few o f th e to p Nike execu tives were on hand to watch him win th e recent Atlanta Supercross; it was th e first tim e they'd seen him ride . The next time you see MotoWorid ho st Larry Maiers and multi -t ime National and Supercross Champion Bob Hannah stro lli ng through the pits together, they may be playing a game. H annah told Papa at Gainesville the pair team up to see who gets the most acknowledgment - the loser has to bu y dinner. So, if you see them , say hello to yo ur favori te and ignore the o ther guyl Papa pl an s o n say ing, "Hi, Bob. Wh o's the guy with the beard?" Honda m otocro ss team manager Dave Arnold had a rat her unusual exp erience the ni ght befor e the Ga inesvill e MX National. According to Arnold, he was sto pped by po lice for speeding while en ro ute to a dinner eng ageme nt with 250cc Wo rld Ch ampion J ean-Michel Bayle. Arnold later found him self in ja il after the officers reminded him of a ticket he go t in Florida on a bicycle a few years earl ier. Apparently, the authorities had suspended Arn old 's driver's licen se in Florida when Arnold neglected to pay the previo us fine , whic h Arn old clai ms had been tak en care of shortly after the origi nal inci dent . Kawasaki has expanded the 1989 Big Events, whi ch featured motor cyclist ga therings a t four popular riding spo ts featured in Kawasaki advertisements , to nine gatherings for 1990. The first will take place April 22 at Marcus Dairy in Danbury, Connecticut, fol lowed by events at Alice's Restaurant in Woodside, California, June 3; Old Spanish Trail in Bandera , T exas , July 14; Lake Pepin, Minneso ta, August 12; W ildberry Inn i n Mt. Raini er, Washington , Augus t 19; Steamboat Springs , Colorado, September 16; Giuseppe 's Depot Restaurant in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Sep tember 30; Main Street in New Hope, Pennsylvania, October 7; and at Ra inbow Inn in T emecul a , California, November 4. p .=..::...riv .:..=at.:..=..::ee =:..=.-r _ he Domino's Pi zza box van you may see at some motocro ss Na tio na ls and supercross event s th is year won 't be delivering ho t p izzas. First-year privateer Chris Bens e, from St. Peter, Minneso ta, is being spo nsored in his first attem pt at the big time by a Dom ino's Pizza franch ise o wne r in Mi nn esota who h as provided him wi th th e van, an expen se accou nt a n d a North Shore Racin g- mod ified Honda Chris Bense CR250. Bense says he was insp ired by Surf detergent-backed J eff Gl ass, ano th er privateer who so ug ht and received spo nsorship from outside the motorcycle industry. T 4 Ant.... io'n<' Suzuki teammate Jimmy Gaddis on the inj ured list wh en , according to team manager Ron Heben , Ant u nez cracked a bone in hi s right hand while practicing in Florida for the Mar ch 4 AMA 125cc National in Gainesville. Antunez is expec ted to return to action at the Hangtown National in Sacra rnento, California, on April I. MosDort uDgrades safety- standards --- osportPark, site of the June 3 I I Canadian round of the World :g .0 Championship Superbike Series, is undergoing major safety . , im pro veme n ts in the hopes of ;--;-_<_ 0 being ho mo loga ted for Grand [!! Prix motorcycle road racing. _ . According to Mosport President Harvey Hudes, the improvements =.- ...are in respo nse to "a philosophical cha nge in the thinking related to motorsports safety." MOSPORT PARK ONTARIO ' CANADA Wh en Mosport opened in 1961 , auto rac~ng sta ndards dictated that Canada's Mosport Park guardrails be placed close to th e track's edge . However, today's emphasis is on tir e walls, large runoff areas and grav el beds that slow vehicl es quickly . And though riders at last year 's inaugural Canadian World Superbike round enjoyed Mosport's challenging layout, few cared for its overabundance of guardrails and concrete walls. They vowed not to return unless major safety improvements were made to the 2.459-mile, 10-turn circuit. Among the improvements (wh ich will not result in an y modifications to the track 's configuration) are: the removal of guardrails and a hillside to increase runoff room , and the installation of a gravel bed outside of tum one; moving a concrete wall adjacent to turn two to a point 70 feet off the racing surface; the removal of a hillside for increased runoff room at the exit of turn three; ins talla tio n of a gravel bed at the outside of turn eigh t; moving a guardrail fro m its present loca tion 10 feet off th e track to 105 feet off the track, and the installation of a gravel bed outside of tum nine; and moving a hillside 27 feet back fro m its present location bordering turn 10, 600 feet along the tra ck to the finish line. T he dirt removed will be used to smooth runoff areas and to level spe ctator viewing locations; several large trees are also being removed to improve viewing. T he work is scheduled to be co m pleted by May 19. M ~ // ._ :::. --- O' ~.--:. =:- b Kawasaki T eam T our will be o n hand at most of the event s providing demo rides. Brian Swink (Kaw) was th e big win ner of the three-race Triple Crown mot ocross series th at conclud ed o n Mar ch 5 at Daytona International Speedway. Swin k wrapped up both the 125cc A and 250cc Aclass cham pio nships, to ppi ng Gary Paul (H on) and Bill y Silvero le (Kaw) in the I25cc cla ss, and J oe Rogers (H on ) and Mike Roth (Suz) in the 250cc divi sion. An estima ted 650 amateur m o t ocrossers compe ted in th e Gatorback Park round of th e Triple Crown Seri es on March 3 with 600 doing battle at Daytona on March 5. B a r r y Higgi ns (KT M) won the Vintage MX in Gatorback Park, Florida, March 3. Higgins beat Dennis Deck er (H o n) and T odd Gardner (H on) in cap turing the win. T he California Sup e r bik e School went to Australia recently. The Aut o Cycle Union of Victoria ho sted its first in a series of schoo ls, and over 80 student s sho wed up for six days of trai ning at the Broadford track near Melb ourne. Keith Code an d AMA 250cc co m pe ti to r Donnie Greene handled the majority of the teaching chores. Motocrosser Eddie Warren of Michigan , wh o for the last few years has co ntested th e Australi an Motocros s Cha mpio nships for Kaw asaki , has in ked a cont ract th at will see him aboa rd 125 and 250cc KTM s in 1990. Warren wi ll be spo nsored by Ca stro l, Ha rd Rock Cafe and KT M Australia. Kenny K eylon, a fo rm er p rof essio nal MXer an d two-time Florida H are Scra mb les Champ ion . has his family , fr iends a nd fans sm ili ng. Keylo n passed o u t the ni ght before a n en d u ro last May and the foll owi ng day hi s fat her too k him to a hospital where i t was disco vered th at hi s he art , a ltho ug h healthy, wa s not maintaining a regu lar beat. A pa cemaker was ins ta lled a nd he was told he could resume no rm a l activiti es. incl udin g racing. At th e AMA Amateur/ Yo uth National MX at Loretta L yn n 's last Au gust, Keylo n 's arms p u m ped up i n practice a nd he suspected so meth ing was wrong. Exam ina tio ns revealed a blood clot, ca used by the wires fro m th e pa cem ak er, wa s restr ictin g the bl o od su p p l y ba c k to his hea r t. Doctors prescr ibed a b lood - th in n er a nd later a new med icine, ut the clot rema ined. T old that the body would adapt to th e clo t and the bl od wou ld be re rou ted a ro u n d .t , Keylo n returned to raci ng a fter a sevenmonth layo ff i n J an uary an d was the o vera ll winner . o f the Flo rida Tra il Riders Azalea City Hare Scra m bles. Welcome back, Ken n yl A P P OINTED: Denn is Hendrix to the position of director of the Orl ando, Florida, cam pus of th e Mot orcycle Mech anics In stitu te; H endrix wa s form erly di rector o f program development; an d Bill Bailey to the position of director of ed ucatio n at the Orlando ca m pus; Bail ey was formerly chief instru ctor o f th e Harl ey-Dav ids on elective. H I RED: Dirt track racer Rob Hassay as the western regio nal sal es representative of S.O .S. Manufacturing, a Florida-based watercra ft co rnpan y.. Ha ssa y's wife, Laura, will handle telemarketi ng for S.O .S in the same region. .CORRECTION: We erre d in last week's i tem about road racer And y Leisner wh en we said that he q ua lified for j us t o ne 250cc G rand Prix last year. H e f in ished o ne. Leisner actua lly q ua lified for fo ur G Ps, but crashed in o ne race and twice missed races du e to inj uries suffered during q ualifying. H is best (and o nly) fini sh was 23rd in the Austrian rou nd. CORRECTION: Larry Hu ffman is ho sti ng live comedy every T uesday ni ght at Casey's Back Alley Bar & Grill in Orange, Ca lifornia, not in Cos ta Mesa . s we reported last week. a C:N

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