Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Billy G rossi, Kenny Zah rt , Lars La rsso n, T im H art, Rex Sta ten, Edd ie Cole, Jim Hal e a nd Gun nar Lind strom. If you' re o n the list, give Rick Dough ty a call a t 209/252-9053. Former facto ry tea m MXer , road racer a nd TT race r Steve W ise called Papa to tell hi m tha t he'll co nd uct a twoday MX school in Memp his, Missouri, 0!1 July 27-28. For more information, ca ll J ohn j effers at 319/878-3723. For more information o n fu ture Steve Wise MX School sessio ns, ca ll 211/963-561I. hile thej ul y 29 10th Annual Bevrly Hills M o t o ring Accessories harity Car Sho w primarily features lassie, sports, muscle, hot rod and race ars, motorcycles a re also featured. i kes displayed in th e two-wheel ection of this year's southern Califoria show include Tea m Suzuki's SXR 1100 ' ch a m p io n sh ip -win n in g en du ranc e road racer , Steve Johnson 's awasaki ZX7 Pro Stock drag racer, ommy Bolton's Suzuki-based Top uel dragster, Steve Rice's Kawasaki I-based Funny Bike dragster, Lance idw ell's 1928 Harley-Davidson hilllimber, a n d Tom White 's 1967 reeves MXer. The show takes place ti the Beverl y Hills High School at 4 1 Mor eno Drive, one block north of Iympic Boulevard and eas t of Cen m y City. Admission is $10 for adults nd $3 for chi ldren and all proceeds o to the Blind Children 's Center of os Ang eles, D.A.R.E., Beverl y Hills ire Department CPR Un it, a nd th e everly Hills Educational Fund. arley-Davidson has been named he officia l titl e sponsor of all AMA h amp ion ship Cup Seri es Tw in ports (883cc Sportster ) road races. ccor ding to th e agreernen t., which is etroactive to the beginn ing of th e eason, AMAlCCS will establish the arne of the class as H arle y avid s o n Twin Spo rts. Harleyavid son and AMAlCCS will jointly o nt ribu te tow ard a per even t purse of 883 whi ch will be offered a t each club a~e; p urses a t th e AMA Nationa l vents, which ar e paid by th e promters, will var y. o arley-D avidso n ha s a lso posted a ch a m pi o nshi p bonus fiich will be paid to th e top-five ini shers a t the AMAlCCS Ra ce of ham pions a t Daytona International peedway in la te Octob er. To qualify or the final, a rider must have co mled in a clu b- or National-level Twin ports race. The sla te will then be riped clean a nd a champion crowned ased on .the resu lts of that o ne race. 5000 ew England Sp orts Network's initial e~st of th e Loudon Classic , round J four of the AMA National Champion ship Road Race Series , drew a ra ting of four and a share of eight in th e Bosto n ADl, accordi ng to a press release fro m P M Communica tions, promotiona l arm of the AMA/CCS. T he survey, conducted by Arbitron , placed the show fourth in the a rea market o n J ul y 2, the da te of th e in itia l broadcast, traili ng o nly the three maj or networ ks. The two-hour program will be aired repeatedly on Prime Network affiliates throughout July. Last week we reported tha t Amer ican B illy Liles, wh o was lead ing the World Champ ion sh ip 500cc MX Series point sta ndi ngs before brea kin g his femur bone in hi s righ t leg a t th e Italian GP, June 24, would try to ride the August 26 U.S. 500cc MX GP a t th e Gl en Helen ORV Park in San Bernardino, California. He has since decid ed that he will not attempt a co meback until he is co mp letely healed and is a definite no n-starter for the U .S. race. Although T rampas Parker di slocated his sho u lder while racing at the Unadilla U.S. 250cc MX G P, th e 125cc World Champion hopes he'll be able to return to the New Berlin, New York, facility to com pe te in the fin al ro u nd of th e National Championship 125/ 500cc MX Series in October. " I' d lik e to ri de the 500cc class," Parker told th e Una dilla cro wd, " bu t it will depend on wha t happens wi th th e shou lder." Unadilla GP winner Jeff Stanton raced with a protot ype 1992 cylinder o n hi s factory Honda CR250. Honda team manager Dave Arnold wouldn 't co m me nt on what was ins ide the lar ge cha mber a t the front of th e cylinder, bu t he all uded that it perhaps con tains a multi-stage, revised ex ha us t power valve. Wh en asked how it performed, Sta nton said, " It's not as good as our current race engine (used in th e 250cc Na tional s), but we'll be wo rking o n it. 0' Motocro sser K eith Johnson wa s help ing o u t in th e KTM p i t a t Unadilla a nd said he expec ts to be back in action at th e the July 22 Southwick 1251250cc National. After reco vering from torn tendons and ligaments in h is wr ist su ffered in April at th e P onti ac Super cr o ss, he broke h is tailbone the first da y he returned to riding a nd that sid elined him aga in. GFI Racing will host a Vi n tage M X class at its Saturday night MX meets at so u t h ern California 's Pe rri s Rac ewa y , star ting July 21. They'll contin ue to offer the cla ss if the turnout merits it. TeamObsolete retires aclassic r eam Obso lete has a nno unced the sem i-ret ireme n t of their num be r o ne machin e, th e ex-Al Gunter 1959 Ma tchl ess G50, serial number 1709. Most of #1709 has already been retired, over the years, piece by piece, The rem aining bits, all of whi ch have been saved, will be rebui lt as the machine appeared for the 1984 Isle o f Man Histori c TT. Th e machi ne will then be loan ed ou t o n spec ial occasio ns to guest riders of prior acco mplishment . Number 1709 was raced by Team O bsolete from '77 th ro ugh '89, d uri ng wh ich it ach ieved 47 wins, 13 seconds, and five thirds. Its finest hour was a victory by Ro per in the afore ment io ned '84 Isle of Man 500cc Hi storic TT, run that year over th ree laps of the world-fam ou s 37.75-mi le Moun tain Circu it. In the U.S" #1709 wo n Dayton a three lim es, a nd won four Ameri can Hi sto ric Ra cin g Motorcycle Associa tio n (AH RMA) 500cc Premi er Championships. During its Team Obsol ete tenure, the bike was raced by Ro per, Rob Iannucci, John Wiman , Richard La m m, Mar co Polo a nd Yvon DuHamel. Dick Mann also did a track test for England's Classic Bike magazin e. In '86, Roper was twice victorious over form er World Cha mp ions John Sur tees a nd Hu gh Anderson at Circuit Paul Ri card in Fran ce, and Roper also won the Cla ssic Racin g Motorcycle Club's (CRMC) Race of the Year a t Donington Park in En gland, leavin g beh ind Bob Newb y's four-valve Mul arney Manx. Number 1709's successor, #1708, debuted a t the CRMC Brands Hatch Su perprix o n Jul y 13-14. Bike #1i08 uses a few bi ts from #1709, but it is primarily a carefully selected assemblage of the team 's best G50 components spa n ning the four years tha t the mach ine was in production. With #1708, the team wi ll conti n ue their practice of competing agains t mor e mo dern Seeley " replicas" and simi lar mac hi nes. T odd W insett (H on) earned number one plates in six classes a t last week 's AMA A m a t e u r D i r t Track National Cham pionships, which cons isted of half mile races at H en ry, Illino is, a nd sho rt tra ck and 'IT events a t Peoria. J ames Dunleavy top ped four cl a sses , wh i le T omm y H a yd en , J ohnn y Murphrey, Robert Miller , Gl en Schna bel and J ohn Lowe fin ished first in three classes. NAME D: J im Foster , by International Speedwa y Corp. as president of Da ytona Intern ation al Speedw a y (ISC). Foster, who joined ISC in 1967 a nd serves as a d irector of the corpora tio n , will continue as execu tive vicepresid ent, with responsib ili ties for ISC mark e tin g , co m m u n ica tio n s a n d publicati ons. . NAM E D: J ohn Cooper, by ISC to positi on of d irec tor o f co r porate development, Coo per joined ISC in 1987 and serves as a director of th e co rpora tio n, as well as its Arizona su bsidi a ry, Great Western Sports, In c. Cooper will be based in Indianapolis, wh ere he lives. Cooper had served as presid ent of Da ytona International Speedway. In add itio n to Da ytona, ISC o perates tracks at Talladega , Alabama; Darlington, South Ca rol ina; Tucson, Arizona ; and is a partner in New York 's Watkins Gl en Intern a tional. The Superbike race of the July 21-22 M iami Motorc ycle Grand Prix, a round of the AMA National Championship Road Race Series, will be featured on CBS Sports Sunday on Sunday, July 22. To accomodate TV , the AMA has schedul ed t h e Superbike National for Saturday, while the 250cc GP , P r o Twins, Supersport and Twin Sports classes, plus a Superbike Challenge, will run on Sunday. Check local listings . H IRED: Steven Brown, by Yoko Racewear of Ranch o Cordova , California, as director o f marketing. Brown's main focu s will be the introducti on and promotion of Yoko' s 1991 line of racewear. Brown was previously under contrac t with CBS Enterta inment in Lo s Angeles , as producer of the "S potlite" promotional series . C O R R E C TI ON: Bla ck wat er 100 winner Thom as Norton is sponsor ed . by Scott Goggl es. PROMOTED: Mark Dwyre, of Bell Sports In c., from Midwest regi onal sa les man a ger to n at ion al sal es manager. ------------------------------------------------------------------, SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM o This isa renewal o P lea se bill me o Bill 3 payments of $1 1.67 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Sta te Zip _ o Enclosed is my check ormoney order Charge my 0 Visa 0 Mastercard Signature Me/Visa # Please start Diy subscription to Cycle News: o Every week for o ne year (50 iss ues) for $35. 00 1 .1 ~~ _ _~ ....,..._ ....:... ......:. 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