Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1990 05 30

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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eINTHEWIND ~ B Papa Wealey y Californian Wayne Rainey (Yam) won his third 500cc Grand Prix of the season in ro und four of the ~Vor!d Cha m pio nship Road Race Senes m Misano, Ital y, May 20. Rainey beat Kevin Schwantz (Suz) by 2.121 seconds in the race whi ch was stopped and restarted after 24 of the 36 laps du e to rain. Third place went to Australian Mi cha el Doohan (H o n) with hi s teammate Wayne Gardner (Hon), wh o suffered two broken ribs in a practice crash th e day before the GP, fini shing fourth. Niall Mackenzie (Suz) rounded out the top five fini shers. Rainey now leads Gardner in th e points sta nd ings, 77-50. Sch wantz is third with 47 poin ts. The 250cc ro und of the cham pionship saw J o hn K ocinski win hi s second GP of the year. Kocinski topped West Germ an Helmu t Bradl (Ho n) by 14.410 seconds; third place went to Dutchman Wilco Zeelenb erg (Ho n). Kocinski's win gave him the points lead over Lu ca Cadalora, wh o DNF in Italy, 62-54. Itali an A d rea Bartolini (Han) was th e o verall winner with 2-1 moto fin ish es at ro und three of the World Ch ampionship .l 25cc MX Series o n May 20 in Hol ice, Czechoslovaki a. Ameri can Mike H e a le y (KT M) finished second overa ll with a 9-2 tally and Austrian Erwin Machlinger (Ho n) rounded o ut the top three. America n Bob Moore (KT M) won the first moto but fail ed to score points in moto two. D onny Sch m it (Suz), who fini sh ed fourth overall, increased his points lead over Pedro Tragter, 87-69. Heal ey is third with 66 points. Alessandro Puzar (Suz) continued his dominan ce of the World Championship 250cc MX Series with a I-I sweep of the fourth round at Kuopi o, Finland, May 20. Dave Strijbos (Kaw) fin ished seco nd overall and Cert-jan van Doorn (KT M) was third. American T rampas Parker (KT M) fini shed 13th in the first moto but didn 't score points in the second and dropped to thi rd in the po int standings beh ind Michele Fanto n (Suz). Puzar leads Fanton , 153-96. M ik e H a rth (Suz) won ro und two of the WERA Formula USA Nat io na l Road Race Seri es at Sea ttle Intern ationa l Raceway in Kent, Washington , Ma y 20. Scott Ru ssell (Ka w) h ad fini shed first on the track, 27 seconds ahea d of Harth , but was docked a lap for passing under a red flag co nditio n and credited wi th fifth place. Rich Ol iver (Yam) fin ished secon d wit h Mike Smit h (Suz) third . T e am S u z uki Endur anc e 's Mike Smith, Kurt Hall and B ritt Turkington (Suz) won ro und fo ur of the WERA Kerker/SBS National Endurance Road Race Seri es, a six-ho ur even t held at Seattle Intern ational Raceway, May 19. The Human Race T eam 's Andy Fenwi ck and newlysign ed Ri ck Kirk (Ya m) fini sh ed second, two lap s in arrears, with loca l rid ers Dou g Renfrow and Steve Littl ej ohn (Su z) takin g thi rd. Tea m Suzuki 's undefeat ed sta tus no w gives them a 40-point lead in the standings over HRT . Tea m Green's Larry R oe s eler (Kaw) was the overall and O pen class winne r at the th ird ro und of th e AMA Na tio na l Champi o nsh ip Rel ia bili ty End uro Series at Idaho City, Ida ho, May 1720. Rounding o ut the top five were 250cc class winner Kurt H ou gh (Kaw), Bo humi l Posledni (Suz), defending National Enduro Cha mpio n Randy Hawkin s (Suz) a nd Dave Bertram (S u z). Aaron H ou gh ( Kaw) , who fini sh ed sixth overall, topped the 125cc class, while Charles Halcomb (Suz) and Greg Surdyke (H bg ) won the Lightweight and Heavyweight FourStroke classes. Gr eat Britain 's S t e ve Saunde r s (Bet) edged fellow coun tryma n Rob Crawford (Bet) by one point (47-48) to win SiX-Riston brakes: Four is not enouglL W 2 hen Dutch chassis-bu ilder Nico Bakker fitted the first six-piston brake caliper (of hi s o wn manufacture) to his avant-garde, hub cente r-steering QCS roadster three years ago, it was dismissed as a marketing gimmick that was unlikely to catch o n. Four pi stons were quite eno ugh , said the cyn ics. Now , trends in the World Superb ike and Grand Prix Seri es are disproving that as J apanese giant Nissin ha s followed Sweden 's ISR along th e six piston route. But are there any rea l advantages? We p ut tha t qu estion to Yam aha Sweden rider And ers Andersson, who has developed the ISR brakes on h is factory-backed OWOI, leading perhaps to Yamaha 's own decision to be th e first to fit Nissin 's Swed ish ISR six -p iston brakes six-piston cali pers in the 1989 Suzuka 8-Hour. "T he improvement in braking performan ce is really fantast ic," answe red And ersson, " but it takes a circu it lik e J erez (Spa in) wh ere o ne hard-brakin g corner follows ano the r before you reall y understand th e tru e ben efit. I could brake with two fingers even late in the race wh en a four-piston brake would have started to go aw ay. But that 's not th e o nly reason . You can act ua lly save .5 kg. ( 1.1 Ibs.) unsprung weight by using the six -pi ston caliper, compared to a Nissin or a Brernbo , even using ISR' s 320mm cast-iron rotor. But becau se th e braking performance is so good, it's possible to save furth er weight by .reducin g the diamet~r of the brake disc, to at least 300mm and maybe 280mm. This also has the benefit of reducing gyroscopic effect and improving the steering, just like carbo n brakes, but wit ho ut their different feel and other problems like wet-weather use." Sounds like the braki ng equivalent of th e upside-down telescopic fork , in terms of prolonging th e effectiveness of an existing concept. What pads do th ey use? "At present we use six separa te machined-down Ferodo pads for th e small twin-piston rear Brembo, whi ch last for ages. I did th e whole practice and qua lifying at J erez, plus both races, on th e same set. But nowFerodo are making special pads for the calipers whi ch we'll have very sho rt ly." Made from lightweight aircraft a llo y of a type used in manufactu re of the Saab fighter plane, ISR boss Acke Rising 's products are grabbing th e Worl d Superbike scene fast! Alan Cathcart Honda reveals 1991 dual-PJITROSe bike A merican Hon da held a press conference and riding session recentl y to introduce its 1991 prototype XR250L dual-purpose motorcycle whi ch is designed to be "an XR with lights," according to Honda' s Jim Bates. The XR250L pro totype is po wered by a 249cc aircooled, fou r-stroke, single-cylinder engi ne, whic h is identical to the powerp lant of the strictly off-road XR250R excep t for mod ifications to meet U.S. federal noise and exhaus t emissions regul ati on s. The bike also XR250L is Hon da's answer to Suzuki DR250SL features a headli ght and taillight, . . . . blinkers, mirrors, steel gas tank , Pro-Link single-shock rear suspensio n and 41lll:m conventio nal front fork (both with 10.2 inches of wheel travel),.front and rear disc brakes, and a claimed dry weight of 253 pounds. The target pnce for the XR250L is $2998. Honda markets a similar du al-purpose motorcycle in Japan called. the.XL R250, but Bates says that the XR250L is not based on the XI.:R250, whi ch IS a more street-oriented d ual -purpose bike. However, some parts are m terchangea.ble. . The protot ype XR250L is now on its way back to Japan wher e It will soon be put into prod uction. the Scottish Six Days Trials, May 712. Wayne Braybrook (Bet), Steve Hole . (Bet) and J ohn La mpkin (Bet) ro unded ou t the to p five. No t o nly did Betamo unted riders finish in the first five pos itions, but the Spa nish manufactu rer also won th e Manu facturers Team T ro phy with Saunders, Crawford and Lampki n. Four-ti me National Hare & Hound Cha m p io n Dan Smi th (KT M) clai med top honors a t round three of the Casey Folks' Best in th e Desert Series a t Ely, Nevada , May 19. Danny Anderson (KT M) and Carlos Serrano (Yam) rounded out th e top three. T he World Championship Superbike Road Race Series round originally scheduled for May 20 in R io de Janiero, Brazil, ha s been canceled, this in spite of the fact that series organizers SBK had denied that it wou ld be canceled as late as the Apri l 16 series round in Donington Park, England. The Brazilian Grand Prix, originally scheduled to be held September 29 at th e Sao Paolo circuit, was previous ly canceled because the track did not meet FIM standards within th e speci fied time fram e. Chris Agaj anian has anno unced that he has secured the Howard Johnson Plaza H otel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as the official hotel of the June 17 Camel Pro Series Albuquerque Mile. A discount room rat e will be offered to participants and fans at the motel whi ch is located at 6000 Pan Ameri can Freeway N.E.; call 505/ 821-9451. According to a report in the May 7 issue of the Orange County Business Journal , the financial mess which drove Malcolm Smith Inc. to file for Chapter I I recent ly - after parent com pa ny Transpac ific Holding Co. had earlier filed for Chapter 7 liquidation - is a complex one. Three Norweigian banks have filed a $15 mill ion fraud suit against Transpacific. The report says the thr ee banks claim that they "were taken in a scam that had the banks basically loaning mon ey to themselves a t interest through a Tran spacifi c subsidiary." In addition, Marvin and Sherr i Winkl er of Gardena, California, have a .$2 million secured claim against Transpacific. The claim invol ved a loan for all stock in Malcolm Smith Inc., secured by real estate property owned by specu lator Lore Corp. and b~ a blanket lien against the assets of Design Look lnc., firms whi ch Transpacific holds interests in . The report also says tha t Malcolm Smith " d um ped $1.6 million into the firm (Lore Corp.)." The first money race of Cliff Carr's CARR -AR RA (p rono u nc ed "Carrera") Harley-Davidson Spor t ster .Ch a m p io n s h ip will be held June 17 at W illow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, California. The race will feature a S1000 purse. provided by Carr's promot ions company, SPM , and event spo nsors, which include Bartel s ' Harl ey-D avidson. Subsequent even ts will be held o n the third Sunda y o f every month in conj unctio n with ARRA club road races. Because of persistent scoring problems , AHRMA road racers will begin u si n g a uniform number plate co lo r co m b i n a t io n for a ll cla sses. T he cha nge, to black numbers on a white background, becomes effective at the June 16-17 AH RMA Historic Cup Series round at Loudon, New Hampshire. AH RMA previously used six different color co mbinations for its I I vintage road rac ing classes. American Honda's field staff will be increased nearly 30%, and the number of sales zones will jump from five to eig ht. " We' re proud to say we're flying in the face of year s of declining motorcycle industry sales, and lay-offs and cont rac tio n by our major co rnpe titors, " said John Peta s, senio r vicepresident of the motorcycle di vision. There will be 45 district sales man agers', up from the current 35. The zone realignment will see four zones tak ing the pl ace of the present two zones west of the Mississippi, while th e eastern U.S. will have four zones ra ther than three. According to road racer Dale Quarterley, Moriwaki Japan ha s a full team: for rent for the July 29 Suzuka 8Hour featuring a Honda RC30-based VX7, two motors, complete spares and crew. Int erested parties should contact Graem e Crosby at 011-81-9-64-2672305. The nationwide tour of motorcyclin g's The Glory Days bronze s culp t ure ยท has been extended through June 24 to include a n a ppearance at th e 3rd Annual San Buenaventura Antiq ue

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