Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ IN THE WIND T exan Kevin Schwantz (Suz) won h is first 500cc G P of the seaso n in the fifth ro und of th e World Ch ampionsh ip Road Ra ce Series a t the Nurburgring in West G ermany . Ma y 28 . Sch~antz topped cha m pio nship leader Wayn e Rainey (Ya m) by 11.868 seconds with Scotland's Niall Mackenzie (Suz) finishing third. Christian Sarron (Yam) and Sito Pons (H on) rounded o u t the top-five finishers. Rainey leads Schwantz, 94-67, in the point standin gs, and Wayne Gardner is third with 50 poin ts. e The 250cc West Germ an GP was won by Dutchman Wilco Ze e lenberg (H on). Zeelenberg and Spaniard Carlo s Cardus (Ho n) passed J ohn · Kocinski (Yam) in th e final co mer on the last lap to fini sh first and second. respectively. Kocin ski held on for third with West Ge rmans H elmet Brad l (H o n) and Jochen Schmid (Hon) rounding ou t the top-five finishers. Kocins ki leads Ca rd us by seven po ints," 77-70, in the point standings with Zeel enberg third a t 65 a nd Lu ca Cadalora, 10th in Germ an y, fourth with 60 po ints. Aust ralian W ayne Gardner suffered nine broken bones in four toes during a practi ce cras h at the Nurburgring and did not race in the Grand Prix. Four-time World Ch ampion Eddie Lawson was originally scheduled to make his return to racing in West Germany aft er suffering a broken heel in the U .S. G P, but he will now likely return at the Austrian G P on June 10. A specia l aluminum insert for his boot is being fashioned for hi s p lanned return. Kevin H ines (KT M) was the overall winner of round four of the AMA National Championship Enduro Series in McArthur, Ohio, May 27. Kurt H ough ( Ka w) finished o ne p oint behind in second, T erry Cunnin gham (Kaw) fini shed third, J eff Russell (Yam) fourth and Randy Hawkins (Suz) rounded out th e top five. . Holland's Dave Strijbos (Kaw) won the firs t rnoto and was declared the overall winner of round five of the World Championship 250cc MX Series held May 27 in Dalecin , Czechoslovakia. The seco nd rnoto was stopped after four laps when Strijbos crashed and was dragged off the track un cons cious. There is no provision in FIM rules for a restart once a race ha s been sto pped. Strijbos beat Italy's Alessandro Puzar (Suz) in a photo fini sh for the firstmot o win , wh ile Pekka Vehkone n (Yam) finished third. Puza r leads Strijbos in the point sta ndings, 170103. Ameri can Trampas Parker fractured his left shou lder during practice for the Czech GP. T he 125cc World Ch ampion attempted to ride the first moto after receiving a pain-killing inj ecti on , but pulled o u t aft er three laps. Parker is already o n medi cation for an intestinal infectio n whi ch ha s affected h im since March . Also o n ttie inj ured list is American Shaun Kalos, who had to have an o pera tio n after injuring his knee at th e second round of the Wor ld Championship 250cc MX Series in Italy . H e's expected to ret urn for the sixth round • of th e series on J une 10 at Marke lo , Ho lland. Larry Ward (Suz) won the T or ont o Supercross held May 25 in th e Skydome in Toronto, On tari o, Canada. J erem y McGrath (Ka w) finished second and Canadian Carl Vaillancourt (Ho n) was third. Barstow-to-Vegas back on track o tor cyclists scor ed a maj or victory tod ay as Judge J. Spen cer Letts of the Federa l District Court in Lo s An geles, Ca liforn ia, ordered the Bureau of Land Man agement (BLM) to reconsider AMA District 37's pe rm it appl ication fo r the 1990 Barstow- toVegas desert race. The ruling came o n the heels of a lawsuit jointly filed by the AMA . and its Distr ict 37 orga n izatio n aga inst the BLM to halt the implementation of a pol icy barring pointto-point races in the Ca lifornia desert. T he BLM had used its policy to reject app lications for this year 's Bars tow-to-Vegas race, as well as the AMA's Check Chase. Although the court rul ing does not guarantee that the Barstow-t o-Vegas permit will be granted, its instructions are twofold. First, the court has ordered the BLM to reconsider the app licatio n under the assump tion that a permi t can and will be issued, prov iding the event can take place in an enviro nmen tally responsibl e manner. The BLM will make that determinat ion follo wing an extensi ve environmental assessment to certify wheth er the event represen ts any da nger to the environment. Second, the court has denied the Sierra Club and o ther preservat ion gro ups from entering the case "on the grounds that the proposed intervenors do not have an interest in the subject matter of th is litigation whi ch canno t be adequately represented by the existing parties." In o ther words, the court, in effect, told the Sierra Clu b that their opin ions were not welcome or needed in deciding the issues of the lawsuit. "This is a tremendo us victory for off-highway motorcyclists," said Robert Rasor, AMA vice president of govern ment relati ons. " It sends a stro ng message to o ur critics, both inside and outside the motorcyclin g commun ity, that we can play hard ball and win within the system." According to Rasor, the BLM was pushed into rejectin g the perm it applicatio n for the events by the frenzied hysterics of the preservation groups. " Ra ther than responding with crazy ant ics, the Sports Committee of Distri ct 37 set o ut on a course to defend their riders' interests in an aggressive, bu siness-like manner," he said. " Hopefu lly, this victory will encourage desert riders in southern Ca lifornia to provide the needed moral and financia l sup portto enable the District to cont inue fighting for the rights of off-highway motorcyclists." Riders interested in suppo rting the legal effor ts of Distriet 37 may send contributions to the AMA District 37 Legal Defense Fund. P.O. Box 526, Pearblosso m, Californ ia 93553. M 2 Honda threatens GP road race pullout I n a strongly-worded statement sig ned by H RC din;etor Yasuo Ike~~lOya, Honda has threa tened to withdraw from 500cc Grand Pnx road raang if a proposal they 've submitted to the FIM isn't accep ted. Honda's proposal calls for a downsizing of two -strokes co mpe ting in th~ 500cc class to just 375cc, with weight limitations based ? n the !1u~be~ ?f cyltn~ers. Twins, triples, and four -cylinders wou ld all b.e permt~ted , wit h individ ual weig ht limits to ensure that all had a power-to-weight rauo of one to one-and-a-half horsepow er per kilogram. Four-strokes displacing 750cc wou ld also be allowe,d in the 500cc class, although there is dissension in th e H onda camp over their in clusion. The proposal was submitted to the FIM the week bef~re the Italian . G~nd Prix in Misano in response to requests by the FIM for soluu o ns to the dwindling 500cc field s and the recent spate of accident s and resultant injuries to 500cc rid ers. Honda also said they would produce a 375cc three-cylinder machi~e for sale to privat eers in various packages including spares. Base price for th e bike would be 62,000; a bike and spare parts for a year would be $120-125,000; and two bik es and spa res would be $200-250,000. The thoroughly researched proposal based th e redu ction of en gine size o n Honda's belief that most accidents occur exiting corne rs. The final paragraph of the sta tement read s: " H o wever, i~ th.e pr?posal is not accep ted. we co nsider the fu ture of the 500cc class to be m rrnrrunent da~lgel of collapse. T here wo uld be " participants ou tside the factory -supported n~ers no and no priva te teams. In ' these circu msta nces Honda would hav e to co nsider withdrawal from the 500cc class." The FIM ha s already increased the minimum weight limit for 500cc four- cylinder Grand Prix road race machines by 15 kilograms (33 lbs.) to 130 kg. (286 lbs.), effective January I, 1991. A weight limit change in th e 250 and 125cc classes is a lso being considered with the 250cc weight lim it likely to be increased to 100 kg. (220 Ibs.) and the l25cc limit upped to 70 kg. .( ~54 Ibs.) The 250 a~d 125cc limits will go int o effect on January I, 1992. Addi tionally,.cue l type WIll be restri cted to un leaded gasoline as of January I, 1992. according to a press release issued by the FIM at the West German GrandPrix o n May 26. American Richard Arnaiz (Hon) won round three of the European Formula O ne Road Racing Championship at Rijeka, Yugoslavia, May 27. The win, Arn aiz' second in a row , moved the Californian into third place in the point standings, just on e point out of seco nd. American Chris D 'Aluisio (Yam ) defeated Canadian Jon Cornwell (Yam) and former AMA F-2 cham p Donnie Green e (Yam) to win the Pro . 250cc Grand Prix class in round one of th e Canadian National Pro Motorcycle Road Racing Championships at San air Speedway in St. Pie, Quebec. A record purse of $100,000 has been set by New Hampshire Internat ional Speedway for the J u ne 1517 AMA National Road Race series ro und, dubbed the 67th Annual Kawasaki Loudon Classic. "This is just one indi cation of our co m m i tme n t to motorcycle road racing in the Un ited States," sa id T om Elljman, NHIS gene ra l manager. " Wi tho u t maj or roa d raci ng programs such as th e Kawasak i Loudon Cla ssic there would be no training ground for Ameri can riders." The Kawasaki Superbike final 's purse totals $55,000 with $7900 go ing to the winner; other purses are: 250cc Grand Prix, $27.500; Pro Twins, $10,000; V :S. Twin Sports. $2000; Mon sterbike Shoot-Out, $2000; and Endurance Challenge. $3500. KTM motocrosser Mike H eale y was first a hero and then a wanted man at the 125cc GP in H oli ce, Czech oslovakia, May 20. Durin g free practice the day before the race Healey leaped from hi s mach in e and ran to a n adjacent part of the tra ck to help Fren ch rid er Fabi an Cuene, wh o lay . motionless on the course. " I wou ld like to think that someone would do the same for me if I were lying there," said Healey. " I sto pped to help Christian Bayle a coup le of years 'ago here in Czec hos lova kia a nd I kn ow from experience tha t it is very wo rry in g when you wak e up in a Czech ambu lan ce. Unfortuna tely the services at th e hosp itals are also not what we are accustomed to in the West." Guene wasn't seriously injured, but that night Healey was being sought by Dutch rider Edwin Evertsen after the family poodle had been given a " n at-top" hair style by Heale y. Evertsen reportedly wanted to give the long-haired Healey a sim ilar cut. Cornerworkers are needed for the June 16-17 AMA/CCS road race at Michigan 's Grattan Raceway . Interested parties should ca ll the AMAlCCS at 704/684-9480. Cornerworkers are al so being sought by the Utah Sport Bike Associatio n (USBA) for their road races at Bonneville Raceway; call 801/7532378. Both Suzuki and Yamaha hav e posted contingencies for the June 23 AMA/CCS road ra ce a t Road A tlanta in Braselton , G eor gia . Yam aha will pay in the Unli mi ted and Lightweight Grand P rix, and Heavyweigh t and Middleweight Su perb ike classes, wh ile Suzuki will pay in the Middl ew eight, H eavyw eight and Un limited Supersport categories. James E. Robbins, wh o in 1966 opened the first Husqvarna dea lership in th e eastern half of the co untry in Pontiac, Michigan, passed away on May 21. Robbins was al so a 17-year veteran of the Jackpine Enduro and for man y years sponsored MX and enduro riders o ut of Robbins Sportcycle. H e is survi ved by hi s wife. Dorothy, and sons Cary , Ri chard and J am es. Cards and letters can be sen t to Betty Robbin s, 29271 Schoe nherr. Warren , MI 48093. D emo ride s o n electr ic-start ATK 604 and 350 dual-sport model s are cu rre ntly being arranged in conjunction with select District 37 Dua l-Sport events . T o schedule a test ride, call T om Van Beveren at 805/581-1843. The rumo r m ill is a t it ag ain , and this tim e it has three- time World Road Racin g Cha mpion F red die S pencer slated to mak e yet another comeback. Spen cer is reportedly set to ink a deal to ride a H o nda R C30 su pe rbi ke

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