Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

BINTHEWIND~~p_aW_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_ ry Eric Geboers (Hon) led a Belgian sweep o f th e to p three positions in round seven o f the World Championship 500cc MX Seri es held July 8 in H awkstone Park, En gl and. Geboers won bo th motes whi le Dirk Geuken s (Hon) co mbined 3-2 scores for second overall and Jack y Marten s (KT M) ro u nded o ut th e top three with a 23 score. Geboers leads Ge uken s in the po in ts sta nd ings, 229-168. En gl and 's Kurt Ni coll (KT M), who fi n is he d fourth overall in En gl and, is th ird wi th 158 po ints. e .. ~ Ed Lojak (Ya m) wa s th e o verall winner in round six of th e AMA Na tion al Ch ampion ship Hare Scram ble s Series in Millville, Minneso ta, July 8. Lojak edged out runner-up Du ane Conner (Kaw). Ron Naylor (AT K), J eff Russell (Ya m) and Scott Summers (Hon) rounded out th e top five. ' J apan 's Ta tsuro Arata (Yam) won ' ro u nd four of th e WERA Formula USA Nati onal Road Race Seri es, held a t H eartland Pa rk T opek a in T opeka, Kansas, July 8. Team Suzuki Endurance' s Mike Sm i th (S uz) fin ish ed seco nd with Team Marlboro Roberts Yamaha 's Rich Ol iver (Ya m) thi rd. T ea m Suzuki Endur a n ce to ok ' th eir six th win o f th e seaso n in ro und se ven of t he W ER A Ker ker / SB S Nati onal Endurance Road Race Series, a six-ho ur event hel d a t H eartl and Par k Topeka, J uly T. Boulder Ya maha Racin g (Ya m) finished second wi th H all 'n Still Racing (Su z) thi rd overall a nd fir st in the H eavyweight Production class. There has been no a pp recia ble cha nge in th e condi tio n o f St e ve Ekl und sin ce he sustained cr itica l head inj u ries in th e June I i Alb uquerq ue Mil e. Eklund rem ains in inten sive care, has not reg ain ed co nsc io us n ess a n d rem ai ns in critica l but stable co nd ition . Hi s wife Anne rema ins a t hi s side at th e Un iver sity of New Mexico Hospital , 2211 Lomas Blvd . N.E ., Albuqu erqu e, NM 8il31. Eklund suffer ed a clo sed head injury and surgery ha s been performed to relieve pr essure on th e brain. He has no o the r inj uri es and he ma y be transported to a hospital close to th e Eklu nd's San J ose, Ca lifornia, home in th e near fu ture. A Steve Eklund Re lief Fund has been esta blis hed to help defray the co nsiderable medi cal cos ts associa ted wi th Eklund's care. Donat ions ca n be ma de to: Steve Eklund Reli ef Fund, Account Number 031-2509-36, Bank o f • the West, Pruneyard Branch , 1999 S. Basco m Ave., Ca m pbell, CA 95008. . Dirt track racer J es s Roed e r suffered more th an th e brok en leg we reported in ou r coverage of th e J une 30 AMA Junior Na tional Ch a m p ionsh ip Series race a t th e Lim a Half Mile. In additio n to th e broken leg , Roeder su ffered a broken ar m and a co llapsed lung. H e underwent so me six hours of orthoped ic su rge ry o n July 2 at Lima Mem orial H osp ital, 1001 Bell efontaine Ave., Lima , OH 45804. T he Ameri can Motorcycli st Association (AMA) continues to enjoy r ecord membership growth, gaining2520 new members in June to bring its total membership to 183,689. Camel Pro Series 'Cha mp io n Scott Parker scored th e 33rd AMA National dirt track victory o f his career in th e June 30 Lima H alf Mile. T hat victory moved him into a tie for th ird wi th th e leg en d a ry Kenn y Robert s for co m bi ned career Nat ion al victories in d irt track a nd roa d race. O nly J a y Sp ringsteen's 40 wi ns, a ll o n d irt , a nd Bubba Sh obert 's 38, five of which came o n paveme nt, exceed the totals turned in by Rob erts, who is retired, a nd Parker. The Ohio Nat ional victory a lso pu t Pa rker in a tie wi th Shobert for the seco nd most d irt track Na tion al victo ries a t 33, seven beh in d th ree-time c ha mp Sprin g st een , w ho rem ain s ac tive but has not wo n in five seasons. Going into th e July 14 H agersto wn (Maryla nd) H alf Mil e ro u nd o f th e Ca me l Pro Ser ies, Parker is two behind ' Ste ve Morehead in ca reer triumphs o n half mile dirt tra cks. Mo reh ead currentl y ranks third with ' 12 wins wh ile Parker has to. Springsteen head s th e list o f all- time half mile winners with 19 victories and Bart Markel , wh o is retired, is second with 18. The Hagerstown event is th e fourth half mile race o f th e 1990 Cam el Pro Ser ies and interesting ly eno ugh, Mor eh ead a nd Parker have eac h won o nce in th e three half mile Na tional s run thi s year . Chris Carr , wh o leads th e poin t sta ndi ngs going into Ha gerstown , is also a half mile winner th is year. Parker goes into the H agersto wn race as the defe ndi ng win ner , havi ng wo n FIM boss shakes u~ establishment F 2 1M President Jos Vaesse n annou nced that th e FIM has set up a permanent six-ma n com m ittee which will rul e G rand Prix road ra cing - all but eliminating the jury system that has been in effect since th e World Championships began in 1949. The new system went into effect July I, 1990. Vaessen 's su rp rise an nou nceme nt came at the Dutch GP on Friday, J une 29, following th e disastrous Yugoslavian GP which sa w an apparent breakdown in FIM procedure. "The organization has failed and a lso the FIM and its officials have made serio us mi stakes," Vaessen said in a written statement. "I would like to stress that I do not accuse anyone pe rsonally and I remain loo-percent confident that everybody ha s tried to do their best. In total, however, we must conclude that it has not been eno ugh." Vaessen will now lead a si x-ma n group that will be present at each GP. This team includes FIM road race committee president Joe Zegwaard ; starter/safety officer, Hans Bahmer; p resident of the executive committee of IR T A, Paul Butler; a doctor responsible for GP medical faci lities and the judgement of rider fitness (to be assigned by the president of th e FIM medical committee; and th e clerk of th e course of the Grand Prix co ncern ed. " In my direct consultation with FIM deputy president Mr. F. Zerbi , he has giv en his full su p port to th ese measures tak en by me and he will tak e over a number o f my o the r duties," Vaessen added. " May I exp ress the wish that these measures will co ntribu te to a correct con tin ua tio n of this season and ask you for you r understanding for th e difficult task o f this team. " T he move which was welcomed by those acti vely in volved in GP ra cing, will no doubt br in g Vaessen under fir e with in the FIM . Raine~, Kocinski take wet Belgian GPs r ea m Marlboro Rob erts Yamaha 's Wa yn e Rainey and J ohn Kocinski scored wins in the ir respect ive classes during th e rai n-sod den Belgi an Grand Prix o n July T. Rainey led from sta rt to finish in th e 500cc GP , beating Fren chman j ean-Philippe Ru ggi a (Yam), in hi s best-ever 500cc GP per forma nce, by 4.552 seconds. Th ird pl ace went to Ra in ey's teammate, def ending World Champion Eddi e Lawson. Ruggia 's Gau lo ises Blon des Yam aha teammate Christ ian Sarron finished fourth wi th Ca gi va 's Alex Barro s fifth. Ran dy Mam ol a had hi s Cagiva as hi gh as third before Crash ing o n th e 11th lap of th e 18la p GP ; Kevin Sch wa ntz (Suz) fin ish ed sevent h. The 250cc GP saw Kocinski (a t right) run a way to a 11.041-second win over April ia -m oumed Belgian Did ier de Radigues. Th ird p lace went to Sp aniard Carlos Cardus (H on) . Champio nshi p co ntenders Lu ca Cada lora (Yam) and Wilco Zeelenberg (Hon) both suffered cra shes. Dutchman H ans Spaan (Hon) won the 125cc GP with the du o of Egb ert Streuer and C era l de Haas (LCR) taking the sid ecar wi n. After nine rounds, Ra iney leads Schwantz by 35 points. 168-133 in the 500cc World Ch ampion ship point standings. Kocinski, meanwhile. lead s Cardus by 2i, 149-122, in th e 250ci: sta nd ings. For complete covera ge see next week 's issue . th ere last year. Markel . Randy Go ss a nd Moreh ead a re th e o nly two-t im e wi n ne rs a t H ager stown. The odds would seem to favor Parker this year as Markel , Go ss a nd Moreh ead 's wins came back-to-back . T he AMA has a n nou nced that th ere wi ll be a manda tory pit sto p during th e nat ionall y-tel evised AMA Miami Su perbike National o n Jul y 2 1. Each rider wi ll begin th e race with 2.5 . ga llons of fuel. a nd wi ll be requ ired to mak e a p it sto p during th e 40-la p, GOA-mi le race. In addition, th e Superbike Nat ional will be a o ne-day sho w with p racti ce, heat races a nd th e fin al to be held on Sa tur day ra the r th an Su nday, in order to accom modate CBS. There will, how ever , be an in vitational Su pe rbike Challen ge race o n Sunda y to accompan y th e rest o f the da y's racin g whi ch includes Pro T wins , i 50 and 600cc Super sp ort, U.S. Twin Sports a nd 250cc Gra nd Prix. Spe aking of road racing o n television. American Sports Cavalcade will a ir selec ted events from th e AMA Nation a l Road Race a t Mid-Ohio Spo rts Ca r Course in Lexington , Ohio . August 4-5. The two 9O-minute sho ws, to be produced by Diamond P Spo rt s, will featu re th e \Viseco Su pe rbike 100 a nd Mon sterbike Shoot-O u t, a nd wi ll be aired o n T he Nashville Network (T N N) o n th e following dat es/ti mes: Septem ber 9, 3:00 p.m .; Octob er t , i :oo p.m .; February 10, 3:00 p.m.; Mar ch 3, zoo p.m. In an effort to save th e 500cc Grand Prix class , Ya ma ha a n no u nced its pl ans to mak e avail abl e up to 4 0 500cc GP bikes for th e 1991 season. The surpr ise a n nou ncemen t ca me durin g a n FIM T echn ical Comm itt ee meeting wh ich too k pl ace durin g th e Dutch GP on June 30. The 30 to 40 bikes wi ll in clude new-spec mach in es, a nd a possible com binatio n of used 1990 bik es built to the 1991 specs. Rumors from th e Dutch G P say th at H onda will debut its 250cc, fuelinj ected two-s troke C P bike in J apan this month. H o nda works rid er Sh in ich i Ito is th e man expec ted to race th e electronically-injected 250. Since 125cc Eastern Regiona l Su percross cham p Denny Stephenson was forced to spec ta te a t th e June 28Jul y I Mammoth Mountain Motocross in Mammoth Lakes, California, du e to th e brok en wrist he su ffered a t th e Oklah oma Su pe rcross. The T eam Suzuki rid er kept himself bu sy serving as Jeff Matiasevich's mech ani c. ~ Besid es g iving Mati asevich pit signals, th e o n ly work Step he nson was spotted doing was a pplyi ng number s a nd st ickers to Ma tiasevich's bike. Kawasa ki's Ma tiasevich , wh o was a t Mammoth o n his ow n time , d ropped o u t o f th e I 25cc Ex pert fin al with carburelion tro u bles but wo n th e 250cc Expert final the next day . While Kawasaki's Johnny O'Mara was o u t o n th e tra ck wrapping up th e $5000 Sh oo t-Out bonus for th e mo st ' co ns istent finish es in th e Ex pert classes j a t Mammoth, someo ne sto le th e perso nali zed " O'SH O W" front li cense pl at e from his tru ck in th e pits. The thief was kind eno ugh to put th e screws , back in th e bumper, however. Former factory mot ocr oss sta r Marty Tripes ca me o u t of retirement to ride the Vet Expert class a t Mammoth. Tripes said he'd o n ly ridden a few tim es in th e last 10 years, and aft er 810 finish es in hi s qualifying heats, Tripes pu lled o u t early in the fina l sa ying, " I' m beat up. It 's not fun wh en you r hands fall o ff th e bars." N ewl y-crown ed 125cc West ern Regi onal Supercross Ch ampion T y Davis showed up a t Mammoth with a tri ck On the Line Ra cing Honda. The bik e featured magn esium hubs a nd a lu m in u m frame, gas ta nk a nd airbox, Davis will ride th e mach ine in th e 250cc U.S. CP MX a t U na di lla . Ame rica n m o toc ro sser Bill y Lil e s co ul d be back in action by th e end of August. Liles, who led th e World Championsh ip 500cc MX Series point sta nd ings until he broke his righ t femur a t th e June 24 Italian G P, had hi s leg surg ica lly pinned a nd will return to hi s base in Belgium as soon as he's fit to trave l. In Belgium. Liles will undergo inten sive physical therapy and specia lists say that it's possible he co uld race again by lat e August and even co ntest th e August 26 U.S. MX GP in San Bernardino, California, if all goes well. Au stra lian motocrosser Jeff Leisk returned to acti on a t th e Bri tish G P after sitting out severa l rounds with a broken fin ger. Leisk, wh o rod e two da ys before th e event, had difficulty with grip in hi s ri ght hand; he was unable to full y bend th e index finger. After racing throughout th e year for th e past severa l seaso ns, Leisk says he I I

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