Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ IN THEWIND By Papa Wealey e O n Mon day, J une 25, Steve Eklund, who suffered head inj uries in the June 17 Albuq uer que Mile ro und of the Camel Pro Series, remained in cri tica l but sta ble condi tio n, still comatose. Accord in g to Eklund's tu ner , Frank Nye, wh o was in Albuquerque over the weekend, the 1979 Grand Na tio nal Cha mpion is respo nding to sti muli and hi s attending doctor said they wou ld begin wea ni ng h im off medi cine. The doctor said that Eklund had been through an uphill /downh ill battl e last week , bu t was exhi biting po sitive sig ns. A reli ef-trust fund has been established to assist Eklund in defrayin g mountin g medical ex penses. Anyone wh o wishes to cont ribute, should send their donati ons to: Steve Eklund Relief Fund , Bank of th e West, Pruneyard Bran ch #31, Account #03 1-2509-36, 1999 S. Bascom Ave., Ca mpbell, CA 95008. If do na tio ns are sent by wire, the routing number is 121100782. A benefit rid e will be held o n Sunday, Jul y I, in Albuqu erque, New Mexico, to rai se funds for Steve Eklund. In additio n, a bank acco un t has been esta blished to whi ch donat ions from the Albuquerq ue area can be sent to hel p Eklund wit h hi s medical expenses (Steve Eklund Fund, Sunwes t Bank of Albuq uerq ue, P.O . Box 25500, Albu q uerque, NM 87125-5500). Fo r more informa tio n o n th e ride, contact M&M Hon da by calling 505/203-1860. Iris hman Ala n Morrison (Hon) was the overall winner of rou nd six of Worl d Championsh ip I25cc MX Series o n J un e 24 in Na ntwich, England. Mo rrison ta llied a 1-6 score whi le American Bob Moore (KT M) combin ed 5-3 fini shes for secon d overa ll and Donny Schmit (Suz) took thi rd wit h an II -! score. Sch mit lead s Moor e in th e po i nts sta ndi ngs, 172-149. Ameri can Mike Healey (KT M) is thi rd wit h 126 points whil e Andrea Bartolini mo ved past America n Tyson Vohl and for fourt h. Fin land 's Pekka Veh konen (Yam) wo n both motos in ro und eight of th e World Ch ampion sh ip 250cc MX Series in Lommel, Belgium , J un e 24. Peter Dirkx (Hon) fin ished second overall an d Alwin Van Asten (Kaw) was third. Cha mp ionshi p po int s lead er Alessan dro Pu zar (S ill) com bined 4-6 scores for fourth overa ll. Kurt Hough (Kaw) was the overa ll and 250cc class win ner at the Tras k Mountain ISDE Qual ifier, the fifth round of the AMA National Cha mpionsh ip Reli ab ility Enduro Series, in McMinn vill e, Oregon , J une 23-24. Second overa ll went to the 500cc FourStroke class winner, Dan Smi th (KT M), whil e Open class winner Dave Bertram (S ill) fin ish ed third . Jim my Lewis (KT M) topped the 125cc class, whi le Ran d y Hawkins (Sill) wo n the 350cc Fo ur-Stroke d ivision. H ou g h a lso un officiall y wrapped up the series title. Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz) won ro u nd six of the Kerk erl SBS WERA National End ura nce Champ ionsh ip at O klah oma 's Hall ett Motor Racin g Circu it, June 23. T he Human Ra ce T eam (Yam) fin ish ed seco nd with Excell Racin g (Suz) th ird. Cana dia n Jon Cornwell (Yam) won the Pro 250cc Grand Prix class heat race in round two of th e Cast ro lMotoplan Ca na dia n National Cha m pi onship Road Race Series at Atla ntic Mot orsport Park in Sh u benacadie, Nova Scot ia, June 23. Ameri can Chris D 'A lu isio (Yam), the series poi nts lead er going in to th e ro und, finished secon d, with Can adian Darr ell Coo ney (Yam) third. Poor wea ther o n Su nday dictated that the final be cance led, so half points were awarded based o n th e heat race. results; Cornwe ll now leads 0 ' Alu isio by just one-ha lf po int. T hree-time Grand Nati on al Cha mpi on Jay Springsteen, w ho appeared to have the stomach ailment that p lague d him for years under con tro l for the past 10 months, became ill o nce agai n the n ig ht before the Albuquerque Mile round of the Camel Pro Series. Spri ngs teen, who bega n a charge fo llow ing th e Alb uq uerq ue Mile last Aug ust, is curren tly fifth in th e Ca mel Pro Series poin t sta ndings, despi te sitting ou t the Albuquerq ue race. 1£ you have unique p h o to s of the Dayt o na 200 , primar ily sho ts of racing action from the beach days of the cla ssic race; and would like to see them published, contac t 1972 Daytona 200 winner Don E mde. " T he H istor y of the Dayton a 200" is th e titl e of a book Ernde is curren tly working o n and amo ng o ther things it 'll conta in comp lete records of the ann ua l road race, including the nam e a nd fin ishing posi ti on o f every racer wh o ever competed in th e event. Emde can be reach ed by ph on e at 714 /2 48-7260, or by ma il at: Infosport, 30100 Town Cent er Dr. , Sui te 0-425, La gun a N ig uel. CA 92677. _ Suzuki unveils "camouflaged" 1991 RMs S 2 UZUki unve iled its 199 1 RM . lin eu p at America n Suzuki headq uart ers in Brea, Ca lifornia , o n May 19. In an effort to attract you nger buyers, th e new motocross bikes feature radical new color sche mes and gra phics, as well as ma ny in ternal mod ificatio ns. Citi ng the success of Kawasaki 's 1990 rolo rb urst graphics a nd the influence of fash ion trends o n bikes and riding gea r, Suzuki's new co lor sch em e features a yello w tank , .. . fenders and fram e with wh ite radi ato r shrouds and side pan els with a swath o f orange an d pink. The seat is biege with yello w patches, resembling the camo uflage used on mi lit ar y desert eq uipment . For the first tim e Suzuki will fit Showa suspens ion compo nents to the RM lineup, rather th an Kayabas . Other changes include more durable pistons, revised cylinder porting, strengthened fram e with differ ent geom etry, composite swinga rm and stronger transmis sion gears. The R M80 will be avai lab le at deal ers beginning in July, with the 125 foll owing in August and the 250 in September. C ousted from Team Yoshimura revier C anadian Nati on al Road Race Cha m p io n Steve Crevier has been fired from Tea m Yoshi mura Suzuk i, acco rding to a Yoshimura press release da ted June 22. Crevier, wh o suffered a broken right ankle d ur ing a heat race crash at Daytona in March , appa rently has not made a speedy eno ug h recovery to sa tisfy Yoshim ura . and he wi ll be repl aced at th e Jul y I Road Amer ica (Wisconsi n) AMA Superbike Nat ion al by 26-year-o ld Richa rd Kirk of Oklah om a. . Crevier (at rig ht ) fini shed sixth in hi s return lO racing at the Jun e 17 Loudon , New Ham pshire ro u nd o f the AMA S u perb i ke Na tio na l Cha mpionsh ip. " We are deeply saddened by the loss of Steve to the team , but we have an impo rta nt respon sibi li ty to ou r spo nsors lO do o ur best lO put our motorcycles in the winner 's circle of each a nd every race we en ter." Sus hi ro Wat-anabe, vice presid ent of T eam Yoshimura said in a prep ared statement. "W e had every reaso n lO believe that Mr. Crevier cou ld cont in ue with hi s winn ing reputat ion for o ur team th is year, but tha t acc ident a t the beginning of th e year pro ved to be mu ch mor e of an o bstacle than we ant icipa ted." T he release also sti pulated th at the door is 'o pen for Crevier to return to the team ill the future. Crevier was not availab le for comment a t presstime. In additio n to Kirk , Ca liforn ian Scott Gra y wi ll a lso join Cana dian team member Migu el DuHamel a t selec ted rounds of the AMA Superbike National Ch ampionship , according 10 the release. Mu lti-time AMA MX and Supereross Champion R ic k J ohn son compe ted in hi s first-ever triathlon (l- kilo meter swim , 30-kilo meter bicycle race, 10kilometer run ) Su nday, June 24, the San Diego (Ca liforn ia" In tern at ional Triathlon. "[ do n' t know how I finished," Jo hnson sa id from his ho me in EI Cajon, Ca lifornia. on Monday, June 25. " But I finis hed in under two hours and th at was my goa l." J ohnson said the recent X-rays of hi s broken hand: " Loo ked good. I'm go ing to start riding aga in this week. Right now , I'm shoo ting for Unadilla (the Jul y 15 U.S. 250cc MX G P).'· Fonn er WERA En duran ce Cham pions The H uman R a c e T e am say th ey'll co n tes t th e AMA/CCS End uran ce Ch all enge Series rou nd a t Road America in Elk ha rt Lake, Wisconsin, June 30, to cha llenge defending AMA/CCS series cha mps Dut chman R a cing. The impetus for this decision ma y well be the $ I000 bounty posted by the series spo nsors, ERC Brakes, pa yabl e to th e first team that ca n beat bo th Dut chman Racin g and Dut chman II, beginning with th e Road Ameri ca round. T he 68th Annua l B arbara Fritchie Classic H a lf Mile will tak e p lace at the Frederick Fairgrounds in Frederick, Mar yland , o n Ju ly 4. T he purse has been increased from $3000 to $5000 for th is year's running of the oldest cont inuo us AMA half m ile in the count ry. In add it io n, there will be a $1500 Smitty Memor ial XR750 Dash for Cash , and a $ 1300 Honda RS750 rnain even t cont ingency pr ize has been posted by Maryland H on da deal ers. O ther awards incl ud ing lap lead er mon ey, wi ll see approxi ma tely $9000 up for grab's a t the Fourth of Jul y even t. Ameri can roa d racer Ch ris'Crew rode a Yam ah a FZR750RR OWOI to a 28thpl ace fin ish in the June 8 isle of Man Senior TT, comple ting six laps of the 37.75·m ile pub lic road s circu it a t an average speed of 96.12 mph. The San Francisco , Ca lifo rn ia , resident also contes ted the June 2 Formu la I race, but a blown electrical fuse halted hi s charge on the third la p after he'd lapped at 101.66 mph . Crew reports that there were no deaths during ' this year's TT week, a marked improvement over last year which sawa halfdozen riders lose thei r lives. Bo th the Sen ior TT and F-I races were won by Honda Britian -backed En gli shman Carl Foga rty. A speci al prom otiona l track media day will be held a t Blackhawk Farms Raceway in Sout h Beloit, Ill in ois, o n Sunday, Ju ly 8. Featured alo ng with sports car and kart raci ng wi ll be 20mi nute moto rcycle road races. Entries are $40 and are open to all licensed ' roa d racers o n all bikes that pas s tech inspectio n. Ca mel Pro Series Cha m p ion Scott P a rke r a nd h is H arl ey-David son factory team teamma tes, Chris Carr a nd Kevin Atherton, will be at the Har ley-Davidson of Mt. Vernon (Ill inoi s) open hou se from noon to 5 p.m. on Satu rday, Jul y 21, 10 gr eet fan s and sig n autograp hs. T heir ap peara nce is in co nj unc tio n with the following day's DuQuoin Mil e round of the Ca me l Pro Seri es. ;\ live band will provide ente rta inment during the open house and free refreshments will be served. The co nditio n of road racer Paul Bray is con tin u ing to improve follow in g hi s seri ou s cras h in a WE RA Formula USA Series round at Firebird Raceway in Cha ndler, Arizona, o n June 10. Bray has been moved from St. J oseph' s H ospital in Phoenix, Arizon a, to Geor gia Baptist Hospital in hi s home sta te of Georgia, wh ere he is expec ted to remain hospitalized for an ad ditio na l two to three weeks. Bray is recovering from emergency open heart surgery to repa ir a damaged ao rta , and was sched u led to un dergo an operat io n to inser t steel pins into his lower righ t leg, broken in some 10 pl aces, as well as a skin g raft opera tio n th e week of Jun e 25. In add ition to his heart an d leg injuries, Bray suffered a crus hed left heel, two da maged lu mb ar vert ab rae a nd a broken tai lbon e. He is ex pected to make a full recovery. Cards and letters can be sent to Bray care of hi s mother: 303 Ell iso n Road, Tyrone, GA 30290. T here were on ly five works V-Iours running at th e end of the recent Yugoslavian road race GP, but things should get better at the next G P in HolI?nd. Wayne Gardner hopes .to be ' fit fo r the Du tch TT; Eddie Lawson is also expected to race. P.F. Chil i is li kely to be fit for Assen, but it is un likely tha t Sito Pons, inj ured

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