Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

; IN THE WIND ByPapa.Wealey Italian 250cc MX World Champion Alessandro Puzar (Suz) wop. both motos at the final round of the World Championship 250cc MX Series in Bielstein, Germany, on August 26. Sweden's Peter Johansson (Yam) ' cap tured second overall and Holland's Dave Strijbos (Kaw) completed the top three. Finland's Pekka Vehkonen (Yam) wrapped up second behind Puzar in the final point standings, while Holland's John Van den Berk (Suz) fin ished the season third. Floridian Scott Guthiie posted the fastest.of 20 new motorcycle land speed records set during the August 21-25 Bonneville Speed Week on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Guthrie, who · currently holds 35 Bonneville records, joined the 200 Miles Per Hour CIub by averaging 201.168 in the two required record runs 'o n his 1974 Yamaha TZ700 in the APS-AG-750 class . Californian Doug Meyer of Dublin Kawasaki set a Production class record on a Kawasaki logging a 180.163 mph standard for the P -1300 class. zxu, . Sam Ermolenko came through to win the final race in the August 25 World Speedway Team Cup qualifying round in Sweden to clinch a surprise place for the U.S. team in the final. Led by maximum point earner ' Shawn Moran and Ermolenko, who was beaten only once before sealing the victory in the final heat, and aided by Kelly Moran, Rick Miller and Ronnie Corey, the American team totaled a winning 43 points. Sweden was second with 40 a nd Australia third with 36. The U.S. team now joins teams from England, Denmark and host nation Czechoslovakia in the final on September 16. Kurt Hall (Suz) won round seven of the WERA Formula USA Road Race Series held in conjunction with the Pocono Cycle Jam at Pocono International Ra ceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, on August 27. Hall 's Team Suzuki teammate Mike Smith (Suz) recovered from a Friday practice crash to finish second, with Mike Harth (Ya m ) third. Smith continues to lead Team Marlboro Roberts Yamaha's Rich Oliver (Yam) , who finished fourth here, in the point standings, 107 to 94. Bubba Shobert, the three-time AMA Grand National Champion who has been out of racing since suffering serious head injuries in an accident on the cool-off lap of the 1989 U.S. GP road race at Laguna Seca, will return to racing when he takes part in both the Steamboat Vintage MX and Steamboat Vintage Road Ra ce in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Septemb er 14-15. Shobert · will compete on bikes provided by Team Obsolete. Rob Iannucci, head of Team Obsolete, says he 's also trying to round up a trials bike for Shobert to ride in the AHRMA Vintage Trials at Steamboat Springs on September 13. On August II, Randy Goss, th e 1980 and 1983 AMA Grand National Champion, added a road race victory to his career stats, Goss was a t New York 's Watkins Gl en Int ern ational road racing circuit celebra ting his first victory in auto racing - as crew chief for SCCA Trans-Am Seri es Chevrolet Beretta driver Chris Kniefel of the ICI I Olivetti team. " Winn ing as a team member instead of being the rider or driver isn't the same," said Goss . "Nothing beats doing it yourself." The Southern California HarleyDavidson Dealer Association will be the official sponsor of the U.S. Twin Sports road race which will be held in conjunction with the AMA National Championship Road Race at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, California, September 14-16. The association will add $2000 to the purse. In addition to the monetary support, rid es to th e event are being organized by Los Angeles-area Harley dealers. Mark Manniko (Fan ) was th e overall winner of the 22nd Annual Ute Cup Two-Day Trials which took place in Fairplay, Colorado, August 18-19. Manniko finished the event with a score of 8, topping runner-up Bruce Carver (Fan) who logged a 47, and third place finisher Steve Clark at 50. Euro Sport International's Manniko, Bill Burgener (Hon) and Dale Higginbotham (Yam) won the team award. Chris Economaki reports in his weekly auto racing newspaper, National Speed Sport News, that Daytona International Speedway'"has been told it can 't build anymore skyscraper grandstands. " The one towering structure now . in place causes interference with air traffic radar at the Daytona airport, wh ich 'is located adjacent to the track. Road racer Dale Franklin suffered a concussion and a broken wrist in ' a crash at the Westwood, British Columbia round of the RACE Canadian National Championship Series, August 19. The Bellevue, Washington resident had finished second to Canadian Darrell Cooney in Saturday's Chandler surDrise winner in Jav-'--'-.-an_ K 2 awasa ki's Doug Chandler (right) turned in a 3-1 tally to .emerge from the Sugo, Japan, round of the World Championship Superbike Championship as the high point scorer. Chandler rode his ZX7 to a third place finish behind Ducati's Raymond Roche and Hondamounted Baldassarre Monti in the first leg, and th en came back to top Marlboro Yamaha Australia' s Peter Goddard and Monti in the second leg. Ch andler 's win was more impressive considering it was the Californian 's first-ever race at th e Japanese circuit. AMA Superb ik e Champion Jamie James finished seventh in both legs on his factory-backed Du cati '851. Yoshimura Suzuki's Doug Polen crashed in the first leg, causing a red flag, but was credited with eig h th place. The T exan bruised his foot and didn 't com pete in the second leg. Roche still leads th e cha m pi onship point standings over Stephane Mert ens, 253-208, after eight rounds. Mertens tallied 11-8 finishes in Sugo. Way-ne Rainey-: World Chamn--=-ion_~ . C alifornia n Wayne Rainey (right) won his first-ever 500cc World Championship with a n impressive victory in round 13 of the World Championship Road Race Seri es in Brno, Czechoslovakia, on August 26. The Team Marlboro Roberts Yam aha rider topped Rothmans Honda's Wayne Gardner by two seconds with 1989 World Champion Eddie Lawson finishing third on the second Marlboro Yamaha. Lucky Strike Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz, the only rider with a mathematical cha nce of beating Rainey in the championship going into the Czechoslovakian round, crashed on the second lap. Rainey's 67 point lead over Schwantz, ' 240173, is now insurmountable with two rounds remaining in the cha m p io n sh ip . Australia's Michael Doohan is third in the title chase with 142 points. The 250cc Grand Prix ' saw the Repsol Honda of Carlos Cardus take th e: win over the Marlboro Yamaha of John Kocinski, thus extending the Spanish rider' s lead in the championship to 10 points, 193-183, with two rounds remaining. Third place in Czechoslovakia went to West Germany's H elmut Bradl on the HB-ba ked Honda. 250cc GP heat race, but collided with Canadian Andrew Trevitt on the first lap of Sunday's final; Trevitt was uninjured. BMW Motorcycle Owners Association (BMW I MO A ) News editor Stan Haring, 54, passed away on Monday, August 13, in Iowa City, Iowa, following a bout with cancer. Haring's ent h us iasm and dedication to BMW motorcycles helped bring the BMWI MOA News from a club newsletter to a n excellent, full-color magazine. In addition to his journalism skills, Haring was a noted painter and poet, and enjoyed drawing artist's renderings from architectural blueprints. Haring is survived by his wife , Barbara, and three so ns. originally been set- tentatively 0 October. Candlestick Park was to hav served as th e site of the season fin I last year but the earthquake that stru during baseball's World Series cause the event's cancelation. Road racer Jeff Harder underwent hand and ankle surgery on Monday, August 20, in Georgia. Harder sustained injuries at Road Atlanta on . August I L Cards and letters can be sent to Harder, clo N.E. Georgia Medical Center, 743 Spring N.E. , Room #190, Gainesville, GA 30501. The Ohio Supreme Court recently ruled that people who participate in sporting events cannot collect damages for injuries unless they were hurt intentionally or reck- . lessly. " Where individuals engage in recreational or sports activities, they assume the ordinary risks of the activity and cannot recover for any injury unless it can be shown that the other participant's actions were either 'reckless ' or 'intentional,' "wrote Justice Alice Robie Resnick. "We canno t provide a single list of actions that will give rise to tort liability for recklessness or intentional misconduct in every sport, " wrote Justice Craig Wright. Enrollment is now being conducted for th e fall motorcycle repair class at Citrus College in Glendora, California. Instruction in four-stroke and two-stroke engine theory, carburetion, electr ical diagnosis and chassic systems ar e part of the course, and beginning and advanced classes are available. For more informa tion, call 818/914-8511 or 714/596-6409. The 10th and final round of the 1990 Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship Gran Prix Series will be held at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, November 3. The site a nd date was announced following the finalization of other sports schedules at Candlestick. The series finale had In addition to the full slate of Expert and Junior class racing at the september 9 Syracuse Mile round of the Camel Pro Series , two Pro-Am heats and a final will be run. The top 2 Pro-Am riders out of the Syracus Speed Week events at Middletown, Geneva and Weedsport will qualify for the heat races on the mile oval at the New York State Fairgrounds. The top six riders from each heat will qualify for the Pro-Am main event. According to AHRMA MX Coordiriator Mark Brown, response to the October 13 AHRMA Vintage MX at New York 's Unadilla Valley Sports Center has been overwhelming. Brown encourages riders to pre-enter if they intend tocompete on their 1974 or earlier motorcycles at Unadilla. For an entry form , send a SASE to Brown at 15 Parker Rd., Brookline, NH 03033. Riders who aren't AHRMA members can join and sign up for the event over the phone (by using Visa or Master-

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