Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

in the sa me accident, will be read y to race again this seaso n. H is injuries in cl u de d I I br o ken rib s, interna l bl eed in g in o ne lu n g , a n d ot h er int ern al in j uries. Christ ian Sarron , meanwhile. who suffered a conc u ssio n in hi s pract ice crash, will require a CAT-sca n to be pa ssed fit for the race. Mystery surro u nds th e fut ure o f th e Cagiva Gra nd Prix team , w ith rumors flyin g that they a re on the verge o f quitting. It is not the fir st time su ch rumors have surfaced , bu t one of th e b rothe r s w h o ow n the co m pa ny, Claudi o Castig lioni , has not on ly been mak ing th reate ni ng rem ar ks in th e vocife ro us Ital ian pr ess. but is reported to have fired eigh t me n. incl ud ing th e ch ief designer. from the race shop. T ea m man ager V ir~in i o Ferra ri a nd number o ne ri der R a ndy M a mola hav e deni ed it a ll. Austra lia n Peter Godda rd, meanwhile, has been testing for th e team. In response to the decli ning fortunes o f th e SOOcc ro ad ra ce class , th e organizers o f th e im porta n t Span ish post-season Super- Prestigio ra ce have dropped th e to p class in favor o f 125s. The shock decision ca me wit h negotiations alrea dy in progress with top 500 riders in cludin g Wa yne Rainey, Kevin Sch wantz a nd Eddie Lawso n. One reason is clea rl y th at Spa nish hero Sito Po ns will p rob abl y no t be fit eno ug h to race . Another is th e lack of avail ab ility o f halfway competitive mach in ery for privat e teams to corn pe te with th e wo rks riders. Three-tim e Wo rld Sid ecar Champio n Ste v e Webster a n d .h is form er passen ger Tony Hewitt joined a d istingu ish ed co mpan y o f Bri tish motorcycl e race rs when th ey were awarded th e MBE (Mem ber o f th e British Empire) medal in this year 's Queen 's Birthda y honors list. Previou s winners in clude Stanley Woods, Freddie Firth, Mik e H ailwood , Barry Sheene, J oey Dun lop , Phil Read , J ohn Surtees, Geoff Duke a nd fell ow sideca r champi on George O 'Dell. Was John K ocinski unconsciou s after cras hi n g in the final 2S0cc practice sessio n at th e Yugosla vian GP? H e denied it, a nd said th at rumors that he had swa llowed h is to ngue were fals e. " I'go t a mouthful of din is a ll ," he said. Hi s team claimed th e reason he had la in quite mot ionless by th e track was th at he was awaiting medical attenti on in case so me t hi n g wa s bro ken , a nd sim p ly denied wh at many people had seen - th at he receiv ed resuscitative ch est or heart massage in the a m b u la nce. H owever , he was conscious by th e tim e he reac he d th e mobile clinic, whe re he was giv en oxygen. Liles hurt,Geboers lashes out at FIM G Am er ican Alan Scott had a typ ically dram a tic tim e in th e 12Scc Yugos la via n G P wh en he was el imi nated fro m th e ra ce when his monocoq ue Gare lli sp lit its fra me and sp ra ng a fuel leak . In th e inte rva l before th e resta rt, th ev switche d th e engine to hi s spare frame, then with th ree la ps to go the swi ngarm brok e. He carried on b u t then cras hed withou t inj ury . eorg ia n Billy Liles, the World Ch ampionship 500cc MX Series points lea der. cras he d during pract ice for the Ita lian G P in Ci ngoli o n J une 23 a nd suffered a brok en femur bo ne in his right leg. T he 26-year-old Kawasaki rid er (a t right) wi ll m iss the rema inder o f th e seaso n after undergoing surgery o n the leg in Bol ogna, Ita ly. Li les' acci dent prompted th e riders to tak e maners into th eir own hands a nd th ey sto p ped p ractice u ntil he received medi ca l.ca re a nd th en made demands for safety im proveme nts. Eric C eboers, who pos ted I- I finish es to win the Ita lian ro u nd of th e cha mp io ns hip , lashed o ut at the FIM after pondering th e co nseq ue nces o f Liles' cras h. " If th e factor ies do no t ge t togeth er to defend th e riders. then I will quit racing a t the end o f th is year, " the factory H on da rider said . " T he riders are th e ones riski ng th eir necks, b u t th ey are th e ones bein g p us hed arou nd like paw ns. We ha ve stupid regulat io ns whi ch ban double jumps a nd 'a llow ta ble to ps . As a trac k builder , I can tell you that I ca n bu ild a do ub le jum p tha t is pe rfectly safe, but th ere are some tab le tops we have to face where they a re just wai ting fo r so meo ne to break hi s neck. And what is this stupid drop-off here? It has fini shed Billy's (Li les) season . Wha t are we su p posed to be? Stu nt men ? It is 10 times more dangerous than a double. T he FIM trea t us like p igs, sendi ng us to race in So uth Amer ica in co nd itio ns no civilized person shou ld have to end ure ." Geboe rs has sugges ted that for mer Wo rld Cha mp ion H ak an Carlqvist beco me a fu ll-tim e riders' rep resentat ive. Kurt Ni coll (K aw ) finis hed second in Ita ly wit h Da vid Thorpe (Kaw) th ird . G eboers no w lead s Liles, 189- 156, in the cha m p ionsh ip. Thorpe is third wit h 136 points. Accord ing to AMA District 37's Dana Bell. Barstow-to-Vegas 1990 .is back o n track. Fo llowing th e recent co u rt d eci si on , Sports Co mmittee District 37 AMA, In c. has resubm itted a 'pe rm it request to the BLM. T hi s req uest will necessita te a n env iro nmenta l assessme nt by th e BLM a nd a public co m me nt pe ri od. Entries for Bto-V '90 wi ll be availab le a p proxi mat ely th e first of August . T he Dutch D ucati Club is loo king for American Pro T w in s racers to co m pe te in the 12th Annual Intern atio na l Ba tt le o f th e Twins roa d rac es a t Assen , H oll and . Septem be r 8-9. In terested parties should send a selfaddresse d, stamped envelope to Annen Ami ria n, 74 Fenner Ave.. Cl ifton , NJ 07013. As a clari fication of Michel in Tire Corpora tion 's December, 1989, stat eme nt, regardi ng its dis tribution of motorcycle tires in No rt h Ame rica , Michelin has co nfirmed tha t it is phasing o ut its bias -pl y mo torcycle tir e line in North Am er ica . H owever , Mich el in will continue to offer its radials including th e T X23, TX II , AS9X a nd M59X. A M iami National Warm-up Road Race will be held a t Mo ro so Motorsp ort s P a rk i n West Pa l m Bea ch , Florida, J u ly 14-I S. T he AMA/CCSsanctioned event wi ll feat ure a 6000 p urse . FOI' mo re informat ion , co ntact p romo ter H en ry DeGouw a t 40717933394. Now that th e International Six Days Enduro qualifying seg me nt o f the AMA Natio na l Ch a mp io nshi p Re lia b il it y En d uro Ser ies is o ver, fo llowing th e J une 23-24 Trask M o u n tain T wo-D ay Qual ifier in O regon , rumors a re flying as to who wi ll be ' selected to rep resent th e V .S. o n the six-ri der World Trophy a nd fo ur-rider Jun ior World teams at th e ISD E in Vast era s, Swede n, this fall. Top ca nd ida tes for th e World Trop hy tea m ar e Kurt H ou g h , Aaro n H ou gh , J eff Fr ed ette, Da ve Bert ram , def endi ng Na tio nal Endu ro Ch am pio n Randy H awkins, Charles H alc omb a nd Kevin H ines. Top ca ndida tes Ior the J unior World tea m incl ude Kelby Pep pe r, Steve H at ch , Da vid R hod es; Scott Drafs, Jim my Lewi s, Man Stavish a nd J oe Zier man. T he official teams wi ll be a n no u nced in the next couple o f weeks. Fo llowing th e 12Scc Ca m el Sh ootou t a t th e J une 23 Los An geles Su percross, winn e r Jeff E mig a n d Budd y Antunez were fined $200 eac h by AMA referee Ron Crandall for not using ca u tio n wh en jumping a double j u m p under a yellow flag. The yell ow flags were for Doug H enry, wh o had cras hed and required medical a ttentio n before walking away under h is own power. Vet eran m oro cro sse r J e ff Ward received a $5000 chec k from th e Coors Brew in g Co m pany a t the L.A. Su percross for winning th e most Coors Extra Effo rt Award s du r in g th e Ca m el Su percross Series. Ward took th ree of th e a wards, which are g iven to the rid er' voted by media as puttin g fort h th e most effort in a heat race, th e sa me as Damon Bradsh aw . Wa rd won th e tiebreak er , winning the most heat ra ces duri ng th e seaso n. When th e V.S. Trop h y a nd J unio r World team riders a re nam ed, th ey wi ll be in vited to anend a three-day ISDE training ca m p . sponsored by th e ISD E R ide to Win program. The J ul y 27-29 training camp wi ll be taught by multi-time Superrross a nd Nati on al MX Champion Bo b H a nn ah a nd eigh t-time Nat ional Endu ro Ch ampion Dick Bur leso n. Accord ing to th e ge nera l man ager of Ride to Wi n, Dave Bert ram. a irfare, food . a nd lodging fo r the selected rid ers a nd their mechan ics will be paid for by R ide to Win . T he ca mp wi ll be hel d in northern Ca lifornia, a lthough the exac t loca tio n has not yet been decid ed. The T r a s k Mountain Motorcycle Club celebra ted its 20th an n iversary at th is yea r 's r u n nin g o f th e Tras k Mounta in ISDE Qualifier by in cluding a n O rigi nal Rider clas s for th ose who rod e th e first Trask Mounta in event in 1971. Ap proxi ma tely 20 ride rs entered th e class, including J ohn, T om a nd J acki e Pento n , Carl Cranke, J ack Lehto , Lars Larsson a nd Da ne Leimbac h . Leimb ach was the cla ss wi n ner. Fritz Kadlec, the off-roa d racer a nd to p America n finishe r a t th e 1986 ISDE in Ita ly, has bee n hou se sitting for former In dy 500 wi n ner Danny Sullivan at hi s Aspe n, Co lorado, home. Su llivan is a n a vid o ff-road mo to rcvcle --~--- Con tinued on page 4 ~-------------------------------------------------------------------, ISUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM ' I I I I II I I I I I. ~II I I I I I I I I I I Address City State Zip ~ fuk P lease start my subscription to Cycle News: 0 Ever y week fo r o ne year (50 iss ues) fo r $35.00 (can be billed 3 mo nth ly payments) 0 Ever y week for tw o yea rs (100 issu es) for $65.00 0 Six m o nth s second class (25 issues) fo r $18.00 exico and allotherforeign co u ntries $75.00 (U.S. funds). l one year (50 issues ), 2nd classCanada or M ~ Firs t classandairmail rat es available upon req uest . I This is a re newal Plea se bill m e 0 Bill 3 p a ym ents o f $1 1.67 0 Enclos ed is m y check or m oney o rd er Cha rge m y 0 Visa 0 Mas ter card ~. _ . 0 0 Name VISA I S~ture MC / Vi sa # Ex p ira tio n Da te Se n d to : Cycle News, Inc., ·P .O . Bo x 498. Long Beach , CA 90801-0498 213/427-7433 I I I I I I I I I I J 3

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