Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v 0ICES INSIDE Daredevil j ump ing FEATURES LAG UNA SECA U.S. GP Rainey stomps 'em in 500cc GP Kocinski mokes 'em in 250cc GP Michel/Birchall top Sidecar GP SUPERCROSS Bayle lassoes Dallas RIDI~ G 6 12 16 18 ROAD RACE Team Suzuki shinesin Talladega Six-Hour 22 HARESCRAMBLES Summers sails in Tennessee 26 IMPRESSIO:,\ uzuki's 1990 ell-road RMX250 and DR350 32 ULTRACROSS Holley hauls in the Astrodome .. .. . 36 DEPARTMENTS NEW PRODUCTS 31, 37 WORKBENCH 38 EDITOR'S MEGAPHONE MOTOCROSS Liles shines in Dutch 500cc GP opener 39 LOCAL RACING 28 .40 30 CALENDAR 50 WANT ADS DRAG RACE Drake streaks to Lone Star Nationals win ONTHEfRONTPAGE: 55 RESULTS I just read th e Rose Bowl Supercross coverag e in the April 4 issue a nd had to write regarding th e safety o f su pe rc ross tr a cks. I have attended the Anaheim. San Diego and Rose Bowl rounds this season. Anaheim was the safest I hav e seen in years, but at San Diego there were more crashes than I ca n ever remember. I want to communicat e to the track builders that they are wrong to build kill er doub les and tripl es with the la st jump being peaked. requiring the jump having to be cleared or the resulting impact so brutal that rid ers suffer injuries, It's a shame for th e relatively small a mo u nt of money avai lable to professiona l motocrossers t hat there is unnecessary danger with the potential for perma neni injuries bei ng so great. I thought supercross was supposed to be motocross in a stad ium a nd n o t daredevi l exh ibitio n jumping. 66 Michael Rigdon Hermosa Beach. CA Team Marlboro Roberts Yamaha's Wayne RaineyandJohn Kocinski each won their respective class in the United States CrandPrix at Laguna Sera. Photos by Henny Ray Abrams. America's week ly motorcycle newspaper Volume X X VII Michael Klinger. Pub lish" Ca ro line Ge nd rv. Executive Secretarv to th e Publish er Editorial Graphicsand Production Jack Man gu s. Associate Pu bl ish er/ Edi tor Ree J ohnson, Prod uct io n S u pervisor Mandy 1..00. Producti on Man ag'" Dennis Greene. Lab. T ech. Stacey Guest. G rap h ic Ar tist Jimmie O 'Dell . Grap hic A rtist Caro lyn Branham. T ypeseu er Kit Palmer. As.w eiale Edi tor Paul Ca rru thers. Associa t~ Editor Nat e Rauba . A ssociat e Editor Brian Ca tterso n, Associate Edi to r Ken Fau ght. Assistant Ed itor Edwi na Ma n gu s. Calen dar Ed itor Advertising T erry Pr att . Na tio nal Acco u nt s Ma nager Mark T home. Western Sales Man ager Ron Davidso n . fVest em Sal es M an ager T ho mas R. G enter. Westnn Sa les Alan aga Mark Mi tchell . Eastern Acco unts M atlag a G reg Mi tch ell . Eastern Sales Man ager Curti. Campbell. Eastern Sales Mana ger J oan Ru ssian , W~st ern A d Coo rdin ato r Carla Borden , Eastern Ad Coordin ator Marketing &: Promotion Mark Thome Accounting/Data Processing Donna Brya n, A I R Coordinator Geneva Repass. Ass istant Lisa Gill. Credit Circulation Rh eba Smith. Man ager Sarah T ayl or , Assistant Alma An gu iano , Assistant Herl an e Richmond, Assistan t Car o l Maggi o, Assistant Dealer Sal es Er ic Reece. i\lanager Want Ads Debbie Weller. Want Ad Sal es Service and Support Chris Aitcheson, Headquarters R ecep tion ist Leonard Herring. Servi ce and S u p po rt Ollice National Headq uarters Eastern 220 1 Cherry Ave., Long Beach . CA 90806. P.O. Box '1 Long Beach , CA 9Ol10 1-(H98 98. 4190 First Ave., Tucker, GA. 300s4 ; ma ili nl(: add ress P.O. Box 805. Tucker . GA 30085·0805. (2 13) 127·71 33; 213/636-8811. FAX (2 13) 127-6685 (104) 931·7850 . FAX (101) 931-3112 Cycle New s (USPS 111·310) is published weekly except the last two weeks of the calendar year for $50.00 per year by Cycle News, In c., 220 1 Cherry Avenue, Long Beach. CA 90806. Second classpostage paid at Long Beach. CA. and additional mailing of fices. POSTMA STER: Send fonn 3579 to Cycle News. P.O. Box 498, Long Beach. CA 90801-0498. To de termine the expiration da te of your subscription, check the lo u r numbers o n the (irs . lin c or your address label. The first two digits indicate the last issu e nu mber you'll receive and the last two characters indicate th e y~r or th e last issue. Su bscr ip tio n rates: Rat es for th e Un ited Sta tes and its possess io ns fo r o ne year, (50 iss-ues). $50.00; 'WO years ( 100 issues). $95.00; six months. (25 issues). $26.00; trial sub (15 issues). $19.00. Canada and Foreign. one year (50 issues). $90.00; t w o years (100 issues). $175.00; six months (25 issues). $15.00: trial sub (15 issues), $38.00. Cycle News welcomes unsol icited ed i toria l mat eria l includin g stories. ca rtoo ns. photos, etc. Such materi al , if published. becomes th e excl usive property of Cycle News. Suc h accep ted mat eria l is subjec t to revi sion as is necessary in th e so le discretion o f Cycle News . Un sol ici ted ma teri a l wh ich is not used will be returned if accompanied by a sel f addressed. sta m ped en velope. All unsolicited materi al wi ll be hand led with reaso nable ca re, how ever, Cycle News assu mes no responsibility for the safety, loss o r damage to suc h mat erial. Reprinuug in wh ole o r pan o nly by perm issio n of th e publisher. Adverti sin g rates and circu la tio,!'I in for matio n will be sen t upon request . See S. R.D.S. W/BPA V AUDITED CIRCULATION Copyright e Cycle News. Inc. 1990. Trademark Cycle News registered U.S. Pa tent Office. All rights reserved. 4 Letters to the editor R eaders wh o wrote Californ ia Assemblyman Katz regarding Gwen Mo ore's AB2560 received th e above letter in reply . . . Editor. Ain 't no desert in Georgia In response 10 your editorial in the March 7 issue, I think you're forgetting to "Dance with the girl that brung ya." As me ntioned in your article, you have been wi th Cycll! N I!WS for the past 18 yea rs, back when District 37 desert racing and other cross country races had entries ranging from 400 10 600 on a n average weekend. All this prior to the present day " big bucks" motocross, supercross a nd ro undy-round circle races. In these early years , a la rge portion of you r paper consisted of real off -road cross country and desert racing. The point o f this reb utta l is I feel yo u did a great in justice to a lar ge co ntingent of early and p resent day Cycle News su bscribers by no t mentioning even one o f the many great o ff-road desert racers. Alligator Enduro The Daytona Dirt Riders Associatio n would like to tha nk everyone who took pa rt in the 40th An nual Daytona Dirt Riders Alliga tor Enduro. Unlike yea rs past, we were b lessed with beautiful weather and everyone seemed to enjoy th e endu ro . Our main purpose has always been to promote a quality event th at's enjoyable to everyone with the riders' safet y in mind. We would like to thank th e following companies for th eir generous co n tinge ncy donations and their support o f motorcycling; Malcolm Smith, Scott USA, Boyesen Engi neering, and Spectre Oils. We would al so lik e to thank th e AMA for the use of their trailer, and last but not least, Consolidated Tomo ka La nd C o. and Georgia Pacific for th e privilege of usin g th eir land for th e event . Daytona Dirt Rid ers Assoc. Holl y Hill, FL Dear Motorcyclist: Knowing of your interes t in AB2560 (Moore) regarding motorcycle lan e sp litt ing, I wanted to bring you up to dat e on th e bi ll. As yo u know , th e bill prohibits driving a motorcycle between veh icles next to eac h o the r in traffi c. T he bill exe m p ts law en force me nt officers from thi s prohibition. T he bill had been set for hearing in th e Assem bly Transportati on Committee for Mar ch 5. H ow ever , th e a u thor took th e bill o ff th e age nda for th at dal e a nd has not set a new dat e for co ns iderat io n. I a m op posed to thi s measure for th e sa me reason th at the California Highway P atrol ci tes in it s lett er o f o pposition: --Lane sp li tt ing is alread y addressed in c u rren t law, suc h as un safe lane cha nge, foll owin g too closel y, or unsafe speed. These pr ovisions allow a traffic o fficer to use indep endent judgem ent in determi ning if a crime ha s occurred. -- Mo to rc ycle safet y organiz ations advocate " la ne sharing" as a tactic to help so lve tr c congestio n. This bill affi appears to be in direct confl ict with that policy. For th ese reasons, I oppose AB2560. I will keep yo u informed of the status of th e bill. Thanks aga in for your interest. Rich ard Katz Chairman Assem bly Transportation Co m m ittee Sacrame n to, CA Corky Behrle Chino Valley, CA I spent the [irst 14 of my years with C ycl e News working out of our A tlanta-area offia as editor of Cycle News East, T he only memories I haue of the desert during thai period werl! the long hours I spent crossing it on my cross counlry trips on super-slabs and back roads. Lack of space preuen ted my ml!nlioning many, many notables, including on e of my I!arly [auorites and [riends, desert ace turned " roundy-round" racer Eddie Mulder . . . Editor. Consummate professionals Kudos to Henn y Ray Abrams. His interview of master tuner Erv Kanemoto in th e April 4 issu e was a masterful stro ke of penmanship in bringing together a ll the elements of such a ta lented and modest individual. In . the Ka nemo to fea ture. H RA . a no ther "consummate professional," has produced - in road racing terms - the per fect la p. G ary Van Voorhis Ormond Beach, FL High praise from an individual who earned si m ilar kudos for his work as a Cycle News editor from I9721hrough 1985. Van Voorhis is now publicit y direct or af Do yt ona Int ernat ional Speedwa y . . . Editor. GPs on the tu be Is ESPN going to carry a ny o f the FIM World Championship motorcycle GPs or World Championship Superbik e rac es in 1990? If not, why ? Norm an Gain es, Jr. Hartsdale, NY ESPN unlltelecast last weekend's U.S . GP 's 250cc race on T uesday, April 24, at 10:00 p.m. Pacific time. Beyond thai, they have no plans thai we know of to telecast any of th e European GPs or World Superbike races. Why? They sell those S,lOIS to producers, suc h as the promoters of the Su percross races, and th e fo lks who own th e TV rig hts to GPs don't buy time, Ihey sell the rig hts . . . Editor. Letters to the editor should be sent to: Voices, Cycle News, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach , CA 90801-0498. Published letters do net necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Letters should not exceed 200 words and all letters are subject to edi d ng.

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