Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

it. It hun real bad , so I' m takin g th is weeked o ff an d lett in g th e wr ist h eal. I' m h op in g it' ll be o kay for th e nex t N a tional in Uta h (Ap ril 8)." Smi th is c u r re n t ly ·t ied for seco n d in t he N at iona l C ha m p io ns h i p H a re & H o und Series po in t sta ndin gs. as a four-w h ee l p a vem en t ra c i ng studen t? Pretty darn good , accord ing to SCCA driv in g in stru cto r J im Snel lin g, who to ld u s tha t H a nnah wa s " pe rha p s the fastest d river - pros in cl u ded - th at we've ever had a t th e schoo l." Le d by former 500cc MX Worl d Cham p io n Brad Lacke y , a group o f mo tocross stars of th e past will co mpe te in th e Past Masters Race w hi ch will be ru n in co nj u nc tio n wit h th e AH R MA Na tional Vint age MX a t Sa nd hill Ra nch in Bren twood, Ca li fornia , April 22. J o in in g Lackey in th e Dick Mann -h osted race wi ll be the lik es o f Jimmy Weinert, J im Po meroy, J ohn DeSot o a nd Buck Murphy. Tom M cGill, 63, a member of the AH R MA board o f trustees, di ed o n Ma rch 27 in Detro it, Michi gan. McG ill pl a yed a key ro le in the developmen t of vinta ge ro ad raci ng in Ca na da a nd the U.S. over the past decad e. H is father was a Norton im porter from 1936 to 1959, a nd T om worked in Nort on 's race shop whi le a tte ndi ng a un iversi ty in Eng land. In the early '80s, he fo rm ed T ea m Ecurie Classic wit h T o m Faulds a nd p layed an ac tive part in developin g vin tage roa d race rules. McGill is s urviv ed b y hi s wife , Robert a , three da ughter s, a nd a fos ter so n. Funeral serv ices took pl ace in Wat erdown , O ntario, Ca na da , Ma rch 30 . Don a t ion s ma y be m ad e in McGill 's mem ory to th e Ca nad ia n or Ameri ca n Heart Associa tio n . Art ist Paul Jamio l will crea te a 40-foo t mura l dep icting th e history o f women in motorcycling for th e American M otorcycle Heritage Muse u m wh ich is sch eduled to o pen in Wester vill e, Ohio , lat er th is yea r. J amio!'s work has been co m m issio n ed by Road R ide r magazin e, wh ich will utilize o rig in a l illust ra ti ons as p art of a special feature o n women in motorcyclin g in its July issu e. T he feature wi ll be ill u stra ted by J amiol a n d th en the illustrations will be reproduced for the museu m mura l. Wh ile th e H eri tage Mu seum is sched u led to op en o n Au gust 16, a specia l previ ew sh ow in g wi ll tak e p lac e on July 12 o n th e occas io n of th e 50th Mot or Maids Convention, Multi -time MX cham p Bob " Hurricane" H annah a tte nded a two -da y ca r road ra cing school a t Will ow Springs Raceway last week in prepara tion for hi s participation in th e Toyota Pro/Cel ebrity R ac e a t th e Long Beach Grand Prix on Saturday, April 21. Just h ow good was Hannah Mo tocrosser Rodne y S mith , wh o is now co m p eting in th e U.S. o n th e AMA Nat ional Champio nship 125cc MX Se ries ci rc u it a ft er raci n g in Europe for th e p ast three years, says he is interested in qual ifying for a International Six Days Enduro soon. " My main co n cern righ t now is the motocros s National s, but I pl an o n rid ing tw o ISD E qua lifier s thi s year ," , sa ys Smith. " I wa n t to ge t so m e experience rid in g th e qualifiers this yea r a nd the n rid e th e ISD E next yea r." Bob H annah 's advertised a p pea ra nce as guest instructor a t th e T ony D Mot ocross Sch ool a t Camp Coker MX Park in Societ y Hill, South Carolina , April 14, has been canceled due to New timing device debuts in Japan GP O n -bike computerized timing wa s used for th e first time in th e March 25 Japanese road race GP at Su zu ka. Each GP motorcycl e now has a box mounted ~ n der its sea t. T he box (rou gh ly th e size of ' -o ld 8-tra ck tape rem ember those?) ha s)its wn signature code a nd eac h tim e th e bike crosses th e start/finish line a beam is broken and a n exact -lap time is recorded an in stantan eousl y, The devi ce (shown here o n John Kocinski 's Yam aha YZR250 - to th e left o f hi s o n -board co m p u ter diagnosti cs box ) has been developed by Longines and Olivetti, the companies th at already p ro vid e the co m p u ter servi ce to Formula One car ra cing. As the motorcycles cr oss th e sta n / fin ish line th e lap times instantly flash on monitors in 'the con tro l tow er and at each pit; th e times are a lso being used for TV broadcasts. The new timing device will be used at all th e 1990 G Ps. Tortoiseputon " r th eatened "list he U .S. Fish an d Wildlife Ser vice a n nou nced o n Wednesday. Ma rch 28. th at th ey pl a n 10 pu t the Mojave Desert popu la tion o f desert to rto ises o n the na tion 's list of threa tened spec ies. T h e actio n , which makes perm a n ent the emerg ency listin g tha t went into effect in August of last yea r. wi ll severely res tr ict co m mercia l a nd recr eationa l use o f th e Mojave Desert , includ in g . o f co urse, o ff-road rid ing a n d o ff-road events. Even go vernment agen cies wi ll be effected by th e list ing ; the U.S . Army's p la n ned ,exp a nsio n o f Ft. Irwi n. which is loca ted near Ba rsto w. Ca liforn ia . w ill proba b ly no t ta ke p lace. , Ca lli ng th e dese rt torto ise " a sym bo l of the desert So u th west ," Secre ta ry o f the Inter ior Ma n uel L uj an a n nou nce d the move in a p re pared sta tem ent de liver ed in R iverside, Cal iforn ia , L ujan sa id ih e goven ne nt wou ld " ma ke every fea sible effo rt" to save th e torto ise. . Whi le th e threat en ed list in g ca rr ies less im pact th an ali enda ngered listi ng , o p pone nts o f the listin g say th e impart will be sim ila r. Oppo ne nts have co n tin ued to deliver their message to th e government th a i rather th an bei n g threa tened by co mmercia l a nd recrea tio na l use o f th eir habitiat, th e desert torto ise's ra nk s ha ve been dep leted by a respi rat or y disea se a nd d rought. T he di sea se has been seen for q ui te so me time in ca p tive tortoises but now is in fecting tortoi ses in th e wi ld . T he esti ma ted nu mber o f desert to rto ises, th e o ffica l sta te rep ti le o f Ca lifornia a nd Nevada , in th e a rea effecte d by the listin g is 60,000. Official s say th e population has been decli ni ng a t a n an n ua l ra te o f 10% or mor e for severa l yea rs. P ro ponents o f the listing clai m th at ca ttle a nd sheep grazing ha s reduced th e p la nt s th e to rtois es requ ir e for food , o ff-road , vehi cles cru sh .to rto ises, ma n y a re ta ken from th e wildas pets, and a large number d ie from g u ns hot wou nds. T he listin g excl uded tortoises in Arizona 's So nora n Desert , wh ich is sepa ra ted fro m th e Moj ave by th e Co lorado Riv er. Federa l o fficia ls sa id th ey lacked su fficient dat a o n the torto ises in th e So no ra n Desert . T schedu le sh ift ing of facto ry testing by Suzu ki. T ea m Su zu ki's Larry War d will fill in for H annah . Metzeler Tires will be th e titl e sp o nsor o f th e 18th Annual WERA G r and National F ina ls a t Road Atl anta in Braselton , Georgia, O ctob er 3 1-Novem ber 4. T h e 1990 Metzeler WERA GNF w ill be the fin al ro u nd of th e lfl-event WERA Pro Series . Road ra cer A ndy Leisner, inj u red in th e 250cc In terna tio n al Lightweight race a t Daytona , March II , returned to h is home in La Canada, Ca lifo rn ia , where h e a n nou nc ed hi s retirem ent. " It (the in jury) was a lot more serio us th an th ey o rigi na lly thought ," sa id L eisner o n March 23. " I' ve got three long pins in m y femur a n d a plate with I0 screws holding m y h ip together . They say I ca n 't walk for three months, a nd if everything goes perfect I'll be heal ed in six. If not, I ma y have to h ave a n a rt ificia l hip in stalled. Ei ther wa y, I just can 't cha nce fall ing on it aga in ." Le isner said that h e plans to fin ish co llege, aft er which he hopes to work with a race tea m . Dunlop has entered into a n excl u sive e n do rs e me n t agre e m e n t with th e Motor c y cle M e c h anic s I n s t i t u t e to p rovide th e institu te with th e.latest ·tire information a nd training aids. Pete Meier, a chi ef instructor in th e Career Program at th e Motorcycle ...... ..... ..... 0.. ~ Mech anics In stit u te's Orlando, Florida , ca m p us , a n d T om Dahl , a Sen ior In stru ctor a t th e Phoeni x, Ari zo na , ca m p us , recently a tten ded tr aini n g sessio ns a t Dunlop 's headquarters in Buffal o , New York. T hese sessions wer e th e fir st part o f a co m p le te Dunlop train in g progra m , wh ich wi ll incl ude period ic sem ina rs for stu dents a t both ca m p u ses by Dunlop Motorcycle T ire Product Manager Tony Mill s. Hangt own 125cc'National MX winner G uy Cooper p romi sed h is Team Suzu k i mech anic M arshal Plu mb a stereo system for hi s box van if he wo n th e 125cc Na tiona l th a t da y. Co oper was overhea rd telling Plumb to p ick o ut a ny " j u kebo x " he wanted a fter th e race. The proposed purchase o f fin anciall y tro u b led Malcolm S mith, I nc. by T u cker Acquisit ions, In c., a su bsid iary of Ed Tucker Distributor, In c., d idn ' t co me o ff. Accordi ng to J im Le wis , Malcolm Sm ith vice-president sales and marketing , " T ucker chose not to purch ase th e co m pany . We're now looking a t ou r a ltern a tives. Present ly, th er e are tw o prin ci p al s who a re th e co n s id e r i n g p u rc ha s i ng co mpa ny ." Team Green S u p port crews will be on h and a t th e foll owing MX events - - -- - - Continued on page 51 .----------------------~--------------------------------------------. i SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM . I I I I I II I Address 0 This is a renewal 0 Plea se bill me 0 Bill 3 payments of $11.67 City E n cl o sed is my check or money order ~ .~ ~ Charge my 0 Visa 0 Mastercard _. . . . . I Order Date I I I II P lease start m y su bscriptio n to Cycle N ews: 0 Every week for one year (50 issues) fo r $35.00 (can be billed 3 monthly payments) 0 Every week for two years (100 issues) for $65.00 0 Six months second class (25 issues) for $18.00 l I • Name I I I 0 State One year (50 issues), 2nd class Can ada or Mexico and all oth er foreign First class and airmail rates available upon requ est, ' Signature Zip countries $75.00 (U.S. funds). I I I MC/Visa # Expiration Date Send to : Cycle News, Inc., P .O . Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801 -0498 213/427-7433 I II I I I I I • 3

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