Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ IN THE WIND By Papa Wealey Th e Ha gerstown H a lf M ile , a round of th e Camel Pro Seri es that was schedu led to take pl ace in western Maryland on July 14, was r a in ed out. It has been rescheduled for Sunday afternoon , August 19. e The Joe Weathe r ly Memorial Classic , a flat track race that was to have taken pl ace on the paved threeeigh ths-mile South Boston Speedway ova l in Virginia on July 13, was al so rained out . It has been rescheduled for Friday night, Ju ly 27. For more information, call 804/266-0076. Luxemburg 's Jacky Martens (KT M) wo n both mo tos in round eight of the World Championship 500cc MX Series in Goldbach, Germa ny, J ul y 15. In the first moto, Martens led Belgium 's Eric Geboers (Hon), England's Pa u l Mal in (Kaw), Holla nd's Dietrnar Lache r (H o n ) and Eng land 's Ku rt Nicoll (KT M) across the finish li ne. In ro und two, Martens led Nico ll, Eng land 's Mervyn Ans tie (H o n ), Geboers and Holl an d' s Kees Van der Ven (KTM) to th e checkered flag. Defen din g World Champion David T ho rpe (Kaw ) of Eng land DN F the firs t mo to and fin ished 12th the second time out. Geb oers no w has a co mma nding 73 poi nt lead in the series o ver Nicoll, 259-186. T hird is Martens with 173, while Thorpe is six th wi th 156 points. Team Suzuki Endurance (Su z) took their seventh win of the seaso n in th e 24 Hou rs of Nelson Ledges, ro und eight of the WE RA Kerkerl SBS Na tional En durance Road Race Series, held at Nelson Ledges in Ga rre ttsville, O hio, J ul y 15. Team Suzu ki comp leted 1732 laps to beat T he Human Race Team (Yam ) by 42 laps. Hall N' Still (Suz) fin ished third. . Ameri ca n Bobby Moore (KT M) clinc hed his second consecutive Ger man 125cc MX Natio na l Ch ampionship via back-to-hack moto wins in the 125cc Support class race tha t was ru n in co njuctio n with the World Championshi p 500cc MX ro und in Germa ny , July 15. For mer Grand Nati on al Champion Steve Eklund, who suffere d serio us head injuries in the J uly 17 Albuq uerque Mile, has been upgrad ed fro m critical to serious condition. Eklund, who is in the Universi ty of New Mexico Hospita l in Albuq uerq ue, is still coma tose. Michelin Ti re Fran ce, in pre pa ra tio n for the March 10, 1991 ru nn in g of the 50th p aytona200, spe nt J u ly 15-16 tire testing a t Daytona International Speedway. The rid ing cho res were ha nd led by Rueben McMu rter and Dale Quarterley. Aim e Ch ata rd and Thierr y Casalis Cazala from Michelin 's research and development depa rtment, were o n hand, alo ng with Ken Williams of Michelin U.S. " We' re testing tires for th e Daytona 200 an d th e en d u ra nc e series ," ex p la i n ed Williams, " wi th the main focus o n tir e compounds." Michael Hackbarth of An n Arbor, Michigan , and Lonny Feigitsch of Elgi n , No rt h Dakota , were the winne rs in the Vocationa l In du strial Clubs of Am erica U.S. Skill Olym pi cs Motorcycle Service Technology competition which was held in la te J une in T u lsa , Okl aho ma . Th e co ntest encompassed a wide assortme nt of entry level skills. T he competition is held annuall y to recognize the achievements of vocat ional students and to encourage them to strive for excellence and pride in their chosen professions . Hackbarth was the win ner in the High School division in wh ich Randall Gi llette of Broken Arrow, Oklah o ma, fin ished second, and Bill Steen of Horace, North Dak ota, finished third. Feigitsch topped th e Postsecondary div isio n while Alvin Bertram of Paynesvill e, Minneso ta was second and Patrick Ewert of Bell wood, Nebraska, was th ird . T he Motor cycle Service T ech nology Con test was incorpora ted into the U.S. Skill Ol ympics for th e first time, tha nks to the efforts of Ann Hutchinson and Candace Mead of America n H ond a. In a dd i tio n to H onda , Yamaha, Sna p-on Tools, and Motorcycle Mech an ics In sti tute (MMI) served on the Na tio na l Tech nica l Commi ttee which developed the han ds-on competiti on. Represenrati ves cof H onda, Yam ah a , Kawasaki , Suzuki, an d BMW presided as j udges in ad dition to local deal er principals, industry publicat ion edi tor s, and memb ers of the AMA and the Gold Win g Road Rid ers Association. The winners were awarded over $30,000 in prizes, in cluding scho larshi ps to MMI in Phoenix, Arizona; four week Amer ica n Honda internshi ps in Torrance, Ca liforn ia , and im p ressive assortments of Snap-O n too ls .' Bot h H on da a n d Yama ha awarded mot o rcycle fo r classroom· tr~ining to the schools of the first p lace winners. If you're pl an nin g on attending the openi ng ro und of the AMA National Championship 500cc MX Series (which runs alo ng with the ninth ro und of the 125cc Ch ampionsh ip Road racers make acting-=.de.=..:..:...b..::.:....:.ut=--s_ _ R 2 oad ra cer Sco tt G ra y wa s recent ly seen moonlightin g, q u ite literall y, a t northern Ca liforn ia's Sears Point Internatio nal Raceway. Gray, the winner of two WERA Formula USA Series rounds so far this season, was typecast as a mo torcycle road racer in a sho rt film to be sho wn before feature films in theaters throughout Eu rope. Directed by Rob Nilsson , the film is a pilot for a series of short features that will highlight America n athletes. Filming often went on through the night and required dozens of production assistan ts and crew members, three semi-trailers full of eq uip ment, and a number of motorcycles, including " Big Papa," the In-horsepow er Yoshimura Suzuki Gray rides in the F·USA events he attends. Among the cast members was AMA and AFM road racer Phil Kress, wh o played the villain in a three-minute dream sequence. MX stars make fan's wish come true P a tr i ~k Lease, a 15-yea r-ol d Hodgkin 's disease patien t from Newburgh , New York, is interview ed by Mo to Worl d 's La rry Maiers (left). Lease, wh ose dream was to meet motocross star J eff Ward (center), was flow n to California courtesy of the Make-a-Wish Foundati on to attend the fina l Camel Supercross Series race of the season at the Los Ange les Coliseum. Kawasaki arranged for Lease to meet Ward an d hi s Team Ka wasaki teammat es (fro m righ t) J ohnn y O' Mara and Jeff Mati asevich. The Make-a-Wish Founda tion wh ich fu lf ills th e dream s of terminall y ill yo u ngs ters. Series) at Washougal, Washington, August 12, discounted hotel room rates are available through Aloha Tradewind Travel. Ca ll 206/4 85-0147 an d ask for Mari lyn Waltmire. While on the subject of the Washougal National MX,entries for a ll cl a sses are still av ai lab le for th e Ama teu r Day MX the day befor e th e 125/ 500cc Nati o nal , August I I. Fo r more in form ation ca ll R alph o r Carolyn H uffm an at 503/ 673-1671. Steve Stackable, th e 1975 500cc Supercross Cham p ion , underwent surgery to repa ir the crushed upper leg and hip he suffered in an auto acci dent in Texas, July 2. Accordin g to Stac kable's sister , Stac kable was a passenger in a van th at was struck by a car driven by a dr unk dri ver; both th e drunk dri ver a n d th e driver o f the va n Stackab le was in were killed in the acci dent. A medical relief fund has been established and donations can be sent to: Steve Stackabl e Medical Relief Fund, clo Gibb in s, Win ckler & Bayer, P.O . Box 1452, Austin, TX 78767. Cards a n d letter s ca n be se nt to Stac kable at Midl and Memorial H ospital , Intensi ve Care Unit, 2200 W. Illinoi s, Midl and, TX 79701. T he recen tly ra ine d-o u t Discover Women's MX has been rescheduled for Augu st 12 a t Barona Oaks, Cal ifornia. It 'll run in conj unctio n with the opening round of the CMC TransCa l MX Series. For mor e information o n the Discover Wom en 's MX, call 7141734-2278. Congressma n J ohn Kasich (R-Ohio) has been added to the list of dignitaries who will attend the grand open ing of the Motorcycle Heritage Museum at th e AMA's headquarters in Westervill e, Ohio, August 16. Kasich , the rep resenta tive for th e congressio na l district covering Westervill e, will join comedia n J ay L eno and publish er Robert Forb es, son of th e lat e Malcolm Fo rbes, at the dedication ceremo nies for th e museum. Kawasaki will unveil its lineup of 1991 KX motocrossers a t th e . Mickey Thompson Off-Road Champ ionsh ip Gran Prix at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, July 21. T he AMA ha s officially named th e 10 riders who will make up the U.S. World Trophy and Junior World teams at the International Six-D ays Enduro in Vasteras, Sweden, September 3-8. The six rid er Trophy team . will consist of defending Na tional Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins, former Na tional Enduro cham p Kevin Hines, Jeff Fredette, Charles Halcomb, Jimm y Lewis and Dave Bertram. 1S an Selected for the Junior World team are David Rhodes, Kelby Pepper, Steve H atch and Matt Stavich , Yo u mi ght ' ve noti ced that a few prominen t names are missing from the U.S. T rophy and Junior World ISD E . teams , such as recen tly cro wned AMA Nati onal Championsh ip Reliability End uro Ch ampion Kurt Hough, h is yo unge r brother Aaron Hough and multi-time ISD E go ld medalist Larry Roeseler. Although all three of th ese Kawasa ki Team Green riders easily qual ifi ed to represent the U.S. o n I either team s, they' re op ting to stay home this year. " I mai nl y wanted to win th e Nat ional Championship," said Kurt H ough . "Jacky (Hough 's wife) just had a bab y; I' ve been gone a lo t th is year, and I just can't afford . to fork out $5000 to go to the Six Days. I hate to sit it o ut, but . . . Aaron is prett y much in th e same boat. Maybe some thing will change next year. " Roeseler is currently testing in Japan and was unavailable for commen t. As far as what class each rider o n th e U.S. Trophy team will compete in, it is n early certa in that bo th Randy H awkins and Charl es Halcomb will ride in th e Lightweight Four-Stroke class on Su zuki DR 350s, Dave Bertram' will ride a modified Suzuki RMX2 50 in the Open class, Kevin Hines, on a KTM 250 E/ X C, will be in the 250cc class , wh ile Jimmy Lewis, riding a KTM E/ X C, and J eff Fredette, o n a modified Kawa saki KXI 25, will challen ge the 125cc di vision. At least four of th e total six classes (80cc, I25cc, 250cc, 500cc, Li ghtweigh t Four-Stroke and He avyweight Fou r-Stro ke) at the Six -Days must be represented by a rider from each country's team in th e World Trophy divi sion. The August 26 Vintage Iron Invitational GP, which will run in conj unc tio n with the U.S. 500cc MX GP at Glen Helen in San Bernardino, Cal ifornia, will feature a wealth of stars of yest er year. Former World Champion Brad Lackey, Barry Higgins, Marty Sm ith, Gary Sernics , Kent H o werto n , Jim P om er o y, Bruce McDou ga l, Chu ck Bow er , Jimmy Weinert, J ohn DeSoto, Gary Jones, Marty T ripes, T om my Croft, Bryar Holcomb, Goat Breker , Rich Thorwaldson , Morris Malone a nd J im Fishback Jr. hav e all said they'll be th ere, Multi-time World Champion Roger DeCo ster, who is promot ingthe U.S. GP, will not com pe te in th e Vintage Iron event, but will tak e a lap of honor on a vintage bike . The promoter of the Vintage Iroa Invitational GP is tryi ng to co n tact th e following "retired" racers in hopes . that they 'll participate: Billy Clements,

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