Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v Lettersto the editor 0ICES INSIDE Cherry pic kin g FEATURES HARE SCRAMBLES Kentucky National to Plessinger .. . . 20 ROAD RACE Rainey rules500cc GP opener in j apan 6 DEPARTMENTS MOTOCROSS jeff Ward, Cooper scor e winsat Hangtown National HARE &HOUND Roeseler rocks and rolls to CheckChase National win. , 18 22 23 CALENDAR 33 WANT ADS 16 22 LOCALRACING DRAG RACE Myers outduels 'em all at Gainesville Gatomationals WORKBENCH EDITOR'SMEGAPHONE 12 39 RESULTS : .50 ON THE FRONT PAGE: Team Marlboro Roberts Yamaha's Wayne Rainey showed the other racers nothing but his back en route to winning the opening round of the World Championship 500cc Road Racing Series in Suzuka, japan; a full race report begins on page six. To learn how Rainey won, see the mini interview on page 10. Photo by Henny RayAbrams. America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXVII Mik e Klin ger , Pub lish er Caroline Gen dry , Execu tive Secretary to th e Pu blish er Editorial J ack Man gu s, As socia te Pu blisher/ Edito r Kit Palm er, Associa te Editor Pa u l Carru the rs , Associate Edito r Na te Rauba , Associate Editor Bria n Ca tte rso n , Associate Editor Ken Fa ug ht . Assistant Edi to r Edwi na Mangu s,. Calendar Edi to r . Adve rtisi ng Terry P ratt, Na tio na l A ccounts M anager Mar k T ho me, Western Sales Manager Ro n Davidson. W est ern Sa les Man ager T homas R. Gon ter, ~Vesl e m Sales M anag er Mark Mi tch ell. Eastern Accou n ts M ana ger Greg Mi tch ell , Eastern Sales Man ager Cu rt is Ca mpbell , Eastern Sales Man ager J oan R ussi an, Western A d Coo rdi nator Ca rla Borden , Eas tern A d Coordina to r Graphics and P rod u ction Ree J ohnson, Prod u ction Supervisor Ma ndy Loa, Pro du ction "'I anager Dennis G reene , L ab. T ech. Stacey G uest, Grap hi c Artist J im m ie O 'De ll , G rap h ic Artist Carolyn Bran ham, Typ ese lt ~r Circu lation Rh eba Sm ith , M an ager Sarah Tay lo r, Assistant Alma Anguia no, Assistant H erl ane Ri chmond, Ass istan t : Ca ro l Maggi o . Assistant Deal er Sales Eric Reece, M ana ger Wan t Ads Debbie Well er , Want Ad S ales Ma rke ting &: P romotion Ma rk T ho me Accoun ti ng/Data Processing Don na Bryan, A / R Coordinator Gen eva Repa ss, A ssistant Li sa G i ll, Credi t Service a nd Support Chris Ait cheson , H eadquarters R ecept ionist Leonard H err in g , Service and S u p po rt Na tio nal Headqua rters 2201 Cherry Ave., Long Beach. CA 90806, 1'.0 . Box 498. Long Beach, CA 90801 ·0498 4190 First Ave., T ucker, GA, 30084; mailin g address P.O . Box 805, Eastern O ffice T ucker, GA 30085-0805. (404) 93 4· 7850. FAX (404) 934 ·3 112 (2 13) 427·7433; 2 13/ 636·8844. . FAX (2 13) 427· 6685 Cycle New s (USPS 14 1-340 ) is publ ish ed weekl y exce p t the last two week s o f the ca len da r yea r for S50.00 per year by Cycle New s, Inc., 220 1 C herry Avenue, Long Beach , CA 90806. Second class postag e paid a t Long Beach , CA, and addi tio na l mailing o ffices. POST MASTER: Send address changes to Cycle News, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801-6498. T o determine the ex p iration da te of your su bscri p tion . chec k the fo u r numbers on th e fi rst li ne of yo ur address la bel. T he first two digits indica te the last issu e number yo u"II receive and the la st two ch a racters in dicate th e year of the last issue . Su bscrip tio n ra tes: Rat es for the Un ited States a n d its possessio ns for o ne year , (50 issues ). S50.00; tw o years (100 issues), S95.00; six mo nt hs, (25 issu es), S26.00; tri al su b ( 15 issues), $ 19.00 . Ca na da a n d For eign, o ne yea r (50 issu es), $90 .00 ; two years (100 issue s), $ 175.00; six mo n ths (25 issues), $45 .00; tr ia l su b ( 15 iss ues), $38.00. Cycle New s welcomes u nsol icited editorial ma terial incl ud in g sto ries, ca rtoon s, pho tos, etc. Suc h ma terial , if publi shed, becomes th e excl usive properly o f Cycl e News. Su ch accep ted materi a l is subject to revision as is n ecessary in th e so le d iscretion of Cycle News. Unso lici ted mat erial which is no t used wi ll be return ed if accom pa nied by a self addre ssed sta m ped en velo pe . All unso licited mat eria l will be ha nd led with reasona ble ca re. ho wever, Cycle News assum es no responsib ility Ior the safety, loss or dama ge to su ch ma terial. Rep rinting in who le o r part o n ly by perm issio n of th e publ ish er. Advertising rat es a n d circu lation in format io n will be sen t upon req ues t, See S.R .D .S. W/BnA 'if rt'l AUDITED CIRCULAT iON CopyrightS Cycle News, [nco1990. Trademark Cycle News registered U.S. Patent Office. All rights reserved, 4 I wou ld like to thank Len P uckett and the Dayton a Dirt R ider s fo r ano ther great Alligator End uro. T he o nly gr ipe I have ' is abo ut A riders signi ng up in the B an d C classes. I can't un derstan d how B and Criders drop fewer po ints than many of the to p A riders in all classes. Co mi ng to Daytona to cherry pick the Band C classes sh o ws bad sports ma ns hip . These peop le hu rt a sport that has been hurt a lot already. Please gi ve us sma ll g uys a cha nce. Jim Frizzo Mt. Olive, IL DRS test I wo u ld li ke" to re quest a test / impression of the 1990 Suzuki DRS " dual sport" bik e. In qu iring minds want to know. motocrossi ng o n Su nd a y morning. Ta lk abo ut dual purpose bikes . . . Jim Gianatsis Gianatsis Design Canoga Park, CA G iaruusis, w ho was a m ember of th e Cycle News East editorial staff in th e early 70s, sen t us the above in formation after reading the In Th e W ind item in last week's issue about th paved oval races schedu led to be held in R ichmond, Virgi nia , and My rtle Beach , Sou t h Caro lina , nex month . . . Edi tor. New look The new look is an improvement, bu t consistency is your rea l forte. That's what separates th e pros from the also-rans, on pa per or on the race track. Gary Winn Morgantown, WV J eff Mill er Kentwood , MI We 'll see if we can accommodate you , jeff. In the m ean lime, check out nex t wee k's issu e fo r a Su zuk i RMX250 / DR350 . . . Edi tor. Missed th e sideca rs I can 't tell you ho w disa ppointed I was when I read the Laguna Seca GP preview issue. The GP at Laguna Seca will feature three classes. Those classes are 500, 250 and Sidecar . You cho se to co mp letely omi t any menti on of th e sidecar event in yo ur preview article. Wh y is 'this? T he Sideca r class is an integral part of th e GP road racing series. The Si deca r class h a s a fo ll ow in g o f spec tators and fan s around the world. On Iyonce a year do the American mo to rcycle GP racin g fan s have a chance to see three classes of world class G P rac ing, and you ap pea r to have decid ed to o mit on e of th ose wor ld level classes. Wh y? Mutual bionics Wh ile reading th e March 14 issu e, I too k persona l no te of the In T he Win d item abo ut Kenny Keylon. . In june of 1989 I competed in the Cal ifornia Po lice Ol ym p ics, winning a go ld medal in MX. Five days la ter I was in the hospital having a pace mak er implanted in my chest. I have since returned to raci ng desert and enduro even ts on a limited basis. T h e reason for this letter is th at I wou ld like to comm u ni cat e with Kenny Keylo n ' ab o ut . o ur m u tua l " b io n ic s." Alt ho ug h pace maker implants are q uite common in gen eral, I find th ey are a rari ty in our sport. I would find it very interesti ng to talk to so meo n e else who sha res thi s medi cal conditio n. Any help you could give me In co ntac ting Ken n y Keylon will be appreciat ed. Dick Sout hw ick Ventura , CA Larry Coleman Sep ulve da, CA Th e GP season p revi ew you refer to covered only the 500 and 250cc GP classes becau se around the world th e» are recognized as the main classes. In addi tio n , th e 500cc class has been do minated by A me rican riders and th e 250cc class has featured an American Wo rld Cham pi on as recently as 1985 (Freddie Sp encer), and riders like 1988 U.S. GP w inner j im m y Fil ice and th e 1989 U.S. GP win ner j ohn Kocinsk i, w ho also won th e on ly other 250cc GP he entered last year. We wi ll cover th e Sid ecar GP at Laguna Seca, w hich to th e best of our knowledge is th e on ly sidecar road race run in lhis coun try each year, and we'll be th ere w hen you race the clock with your sid ecar at th e Bon nev ille Sal t Flats th is su m mer . . . Editor. Asphalt oval racing Yours truly repo rted on (for Cycl e N ews) as well as competed in ha lf mi le races on the paved and banked oval at Mobil e (Ala ba ma) In tern at ional Speedway in 1969and 1970. It was " ru n wha t ya brung" wi th road racers o n Yam aha TD2 and 3s trading pa int in th e corne rs wit h ' steel shoe-equipped ' flat trackers on Triumphs and kid s like myself o n Yam a ha DT -l s with road race tires and low bars , We raced o n Saturday n ight d uring int ermissio n between th e late model NASCA R stock cars and tu rn ed lap tim es eq ua l to the 350 cubic-inch Ch evy powered cars under 30 seconds . When we got home, we'd bo lt o ur wheels wit h knobby ti res and stock handlebars back on and go While we were never able to catch up to th e obvi ously very bu sy Kenn y Keylon , we spoke to his mother and his 'w ife and th ey bot h 'said he'd li ke to hear from you. H is addr ess is on th e way to you . . . Edi tor . Hotlanta thanks T hanks to all o ur frie nds a n d · customers who turned ' o ut for our. February 23 Atlanta Supercross Celebration at H onda of Atlant a, especially Team Honda's Roger DeCoster, Rick j ohnson a n d j ean-M ich el Ba yl e, T ha n ks to H onda 's Rick H an ey, Steve Carter and Harold Pugh, and extra thanks to Ben Ch eatwood wh o acted as o u r ma ster of cere mon ies . We congratulate Mr. Chris Deutche n , winner of two paddock pa sses for Daytona Cycle Week, and j ason Osborn who won two reserved grandsta nd tickets. A special note of ap preciatio n as well to a ll the company reps who turned o ut to show their latest products and/or sup p ly us wi th great door prizes, Th ose co m panies incl u ded T ucker- Rocky , KK Mo to rcycl e Su pply, Bo yesen Engi neer ing, Sco tt USA, Malcolm Smi th Racing, Kayo Corp.lKMX Distributi ng, Bridgestone Tires, EBC Brak es, Renthall Han dl eb- _ ars , Oakl ey, Cycle News, AMA and American H ond a. Martha M. Rodi President Al Rodi Motorcycle Sales Tucker, GA

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