Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

INTHEWIND _ _ _ __ _ B!-~ Wealey . yPapa . The th ird round o f th e AMA Nationa l Ch ampionship H a re & H ou nd Seri es sa w Larry Roeseler (Kaw) ca p tu re th e overa ll a nd 250cc class victory in Lucerne Vall ey, Ca lifornia, Mar ch 25. Finishing second o vera ll a nd first in th e 500cc class was defending National H ar e & Ho u nd Champion Da n Smith (KT M). Chris Cranda ll (AT K), Dan R icha rdso n (Hon) a nd Chuck Mi ller (Hon) ro u nded o u t th e top five. Scott Plessinger (KT M) won th e seco nd ro u nd o f th e AMA Na tional Champion sh ip H are Scrambles Series in Ca diz, Kentucky, March 25. j eff R ussell (Yam) fini sh ed seco nd ahead of Ed Loj ak (Yam) , Sco tt Su m me rs (Hon) a nd Greg Ziuerkopf (AT K). A hear ing in the Ca liforn ia Assembly T ransporta tion Co mmi ttee on Assembly Bill 3007, whi ch .wo uld prohibi t lane splitting by motorcycl ists o n California hi ghways, has been sch edu led for Ap ril 2. Mot orcycli sts shou ld voi ce thei r o p pos i tio n to th e bill by wri tin g to th e chairma n o f th e T ra nsportatio n Co m m itte, Richa rd Ka tz (3 146 Sta te Ca p ito l, Sacrame nto, CA 95814), th e a ut hor of th e bill, Assemblywo m a n Ma rian L aFoll ette (3 132 Stat e Ca pi to l, Sacrame nto, CA 95814), a nd th eir loca l assem blyperson. LaFo llete's (R-Nort h ridge) bill is similar to AB2560 which was authored by Gw en Moore (D-Los Angeles). BELI EVE IT OR NOT DEP T : T h reeti m e W orl d C hampion Freddie Spencer is reportedly set to ink a co ntract to ride facto ry Bimo tas in the 1990 Worl d Superbike Cham p ionship . Word from the opening Grand Prix in Su zu ka, j a pa n, is th a t it's a done dea l a nd that Birno ta will a n nou nce Spence r's sig n ing th is week. We ra n a Wind item last we<$ a bo ut th e rumor that began a t the openi ng ro u nd o f th e World Su pe rbike Series in j erez, bu t Bimo ta officia ls den ied th e rumor in Spain. Road race r D oug P olen , recu perating a t hi s T exas home fro m th e loss o f fo u r toes in a p ractice sessio n cras h in .February, sa ys he's anxious to get back in the sadd le. " I' m even thi nking abou t getti ng a street bike here in Texas and do in g so me riding rig ht now, and probabl y wou ld be toda y if it wasn 't 35"degrees a nd raining." Pol en says he pl ans on co mpe ting in the seco nd ro u nd o f th e All -j apan Ser ies on April 22. H e says he' ll specta te at the U.S. GP a t Laguna Seca, a nd th en £Iy to j a pan the next day. H e a lso said th a t Yosh im u ra wants hi m to co m pe te in th e May 6 Road Atla n ta ro u nd o f the AMA Nation al Ch am pionship Road Race Series. Central Ya maha o f P la no, Texas, will hol d its 3rd Annual Open House o n T h ursday, April 5. H eld in co nj u nction with th a t weekend 's Dall as Supercross, the event o ffers fans a chance to ge t au tographs fro m Team Ya ma ha's Damon Bradsh a w a nd Do ug Dubach from 6:00 to 8:00 p.rn. In addi tio n, doo r prizes will be gi ven a way a nd free refreshments will be a vaila ble. A H onda Fun Days sessio n will be held a t so u the rn Ca li fornia 's H ungry Va lley SVRA o n Sat u rda y and Su nday, March 3 1-Ap ril I. Dem o rides will be availa ble o n H onda XRs, the Pilo t and the new entry- level C ub. A family trai l ride will be co nduc ted on Su nday for th ose wh o bring th eir own off-road bi kes. T he Hungry Va lley SVRA is loca ted .8 mi le west of th e 1-5 Go rma n exi t, wh ich is approximately 100 miles north of Los Angeles. Rainey wins bPanese GP op--=- en-=--er--,---- r ea m Marlboro Ro bert s Yamaha's Wa yn e Ra in ey wo n th e ope n ing ro u nd of th e World Ch ampionsh ip Road Race Series in Su zuka, J apan on Mar ch 25. Rainey led fro m sta rt to fin ish , topping Ro th ma ns H o nda's Wa yne G ardner by 3.237 seco nds as he averaged 98. 108 m p h. T exan Kevin Schwantz fin ished third desp ite cra sh ing th e Lucky Strike Suzuki in th e last corner wh ile battling Gardner for seco nd pl ace. Schwan tz' tea m ma te Kevin Magee fin ish ed fourth wi th 250cc World Champion Sito Po ns (Hon) ro u ndi ng out th e top five. Defend ing World Ch ampion Eddie Lawson (Ya m) was inv o lved in a acci dent wit h Au stra lian Mich ael Doohan (Hon) on th e fourth la p as the two raced for seco nd al ong wit h Schwantz a nd Gardner. La wso n su ffered a slig h tly in jured ankle Wa yne Rainey in th e mi shap. Team Ma rlboro Ago sti ni Yamaha's Luca Cadalora wo n th e 250cc G P, lead ing Spain 's Carlos Card us (Hon) acro ss the line by 3.70 seco nds. H olland's Wileo Zeelenberg (H o n) finis hed thi rd with Dominique Sarron (Hon) a nd j acq ues Cornu (Hon) round in g o u t the top five fini shers. Po le-sitter j o h n Kocins ki (Yam) was in volved in a co llision early in th e race a nd, after pitting to repair damages, fin ished 14th . T he 125cc G P was won by H onda-m ounted Hans Spaan. Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) a nd Chambers, a n Italia n clothin g manufacturer , hav e agreed to a co ntract th at will see Ch ambers back HRC' s 500cc MX GP team for th e next two years. It 's th e first time th e HRC motocross tea m has been associated with an outside sponsor. The HRCI Chambers tea m co nsists o f 1989 500cc runner-up j eff Leisk from Australia and Belgian Eric Geboers, the o n ly rider to wi n worl d titles in a ll th ree displacement classes. Former Team Suzuki and 1988 125cc Eas tern Regi ona l Su percross champ Todd DeH oop will co ntes t th e 125cc G Ps a boa rd a Kawasaki p ro vided by BiC ro ss o f Pado va. DeH oop is co mpe ting with a San Ma rin o license. Former 125 a nd 250cc MX World Champion John v a n d e n B e r k recently broke h is ankle wh il e co m pe ting in a n Italia n Na tio nal Ch a m pio nshi p MX. T he Dutch man 's m isfortu ne may ca use him to miss the 250cc Wo rld Champions hip MX Seri es o pe ne r in Au stri a o n April 22. After severa l seasons o f raci ng mod ified production ma ch in ery in the 250cc MX G Ps, Yamaha will reported ly p ro vide Finland 's Pekka Vehkonen with a full- works 250 for 1990. According to En gl and 's T rial s a nd Mo tocro ss News, th e on ly p roducti o n parts o n Veh kon en 's Yamaha will be th e pl asti c. A works engi ne will be hou sed in a handmade fra me with handmade swi ngarm. The April 8 Argentinian 125cc M X GP has been canceled, no doub t partia lly due to the fact th a t th e BrazjlianGl", which was scheduled to ru n on April I , was previously canceled. The 125cc World Championship MX Series will now beg in wi th the Itali a n G P o n April 22. ' in Henderson, Texas, a nd will ta ke p lace April 14-15. If yo u a re a ' family active in AMA amateur MX a nd wou ld like to host a young Spanish motocrosser this summer, co ntact AMA P resident Ed You ngb lood, P.O . Box 6114, Westerville, OH 4308 1-6114. Papa had to stretch h is mem ory to rememb er whe n he last saw a half mi le race or a n o ut door short trac k run o n a paved oval whe n he heard th at $21,000 will be up for grabs in a pair of upcomin g paved oval races. A $6000 short tra ck meet for Pro- Am , j u n io r a nd Expert class ri ders on 600cc ma chinery will be held o n th e o nethird mile asp halt ova l a t Rich mo nd , Virg inia's So uths id e Speedway o n Wed nesday n ight, Ma y 16. It ' ll be foll owed by a $10,000 J unior a nd Expert cla ss half mi le for 750cc bikes on the as p halt o va l a t Myrtl e Beach , So u th Caroli na, o n Frida y n ig ht, May 18. The Myrt le Beach meet will also ho st a Pro -Am , junior a nd Expert class 600cc program o ffering a $5000 purse. Papa th ink s he remem bers a ha lf mile race being co nduc ted o n a paved ova l in Mississippi in th e ea rly sevent ies. Is he right? T he organ izers a nd sponsors o f th e AMA Wiseco/Yamaha /Yoko· hama Grand National Cross Country Series a re givi ng a wa y some u nique p rizes to the series ' competi to rs th is year. The hi ghest placi ng motorcycle ri der in eac h class at the end of th e series usi ng Yok o h am a Ti res wi ll recei ve a n a ll expenses-paid cruise to th e Caribbean in J anua ry 1991, co u rtesy o f Yok o hama and th e Kayo Corporation. Also, the top th ree overall A class riders will be invited on the Caribbean cruise, courtesy o f Sco tt Goggl es. The Maryland House Economic Matters Committee recently vot ed 2 1 to I agains t a bi ll , H B1193, that wo uld hav e forced Mar yland m otorcyclists to p ur ch ase special ca tas tro p h ic health insu rance. The defeat of th e bill was achieved th rough the efforts o f th e AMA and a host of o ther mot orcycling groups. A $ 1 0 0 0 bounty is being o ffered by T eam G reen a nd Western Sta tes Racin g Association for th e rider wh o ca n bea t five-t im e Virginia Ci ty G ra nd Prix win ner Larry Roe s e ler a nd finish first overall Expert a t th is year 's runni ng o f the 20th An n ual VCG P in Virg in ia City, Nevada, May 12-13. T he $ 1000 reward wi ll be paid off in silver. Fo r more informatio n ca ll 70V7867600. T he Central R o ad Racing Club ' s April 7-8 race date at R ed Ri ver Racewa y in Shr eveport , Louisiana , has been switched to Oa k Hill Raceway Vance & H ines Yamaha Superbike roa d ra cer a nd Da ytona 200 winner D a v id S a dow s ki has bee n o ff-ro ad ridin g in h is spare time with facto ry Sure, using the street for a racetrack is illegal. But there's a bigger issue at stake here: safety. Responsible riders know just obeying the law isn'tenough. They wear helmets,eye protection and protective clothing. They have a proper motorcycle license, read their owners manuals, and none of them would even think of riding under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Nobody wants to paya speeding ticket But responsible riding practices can help save you a lot more than just money. HONDA Come ride with us. C IWOAmf'ricanHonda Mowr Co.. Inc.(4f90) @~ W~~ CAN SAVE THE DESERT I

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