Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eIN THE WIND Sweden's Per Jonsson scored a n u p se t , vi w ry in the 1990 Wo rld Speedway Champio shiQ at Bradford , England , on Septemoer I. American Shawn M o r an was tied for the lead with J onsson at the completion of the 20-evem program, but lost to the Swede in a four-lap runoff. Australian Todd Wiltshire finished third. The other two Americans in the final, Rick Miller and Ro n n ie Correy, finished eigh th and 14th , respectively. Spaniard Jordi Tarres (Bet) wo n his third Wor ld Observed Trials Champi onship by winning the August 26 Po lish round in Myslice. Tarres won his first title in 1987 a nd was the defending champ. WE RA Form u la USA Series points leader Mike Smith (Suz) fina lly won an F-US A race, tasting victo ry in round eig ht of the series at Memphis Mot orsports Park in Mill ington, Tennessee, on Sep tem ber 2. Donald J acks (Suz) finis hed second, 3.3 seconds beh ind Smi th, with Smi th's T eam Suzu ki teammate, defending F-USA cha mp Kurt Hall (Suz), th ird. Smith now lead s Rich Oliver of Team Marlboro Rob ert s Yamaha, who finis hed fourth here, in the point standings, 127 to 107. Team Suzuki Endurance's Mike Smith, Kurt Hall and Britt Turkington (Suz) scored a record-sell ing 10th win of the year in ro und II of th e WE RA Kerk er/ SBS Endurance Series, held at Memphis Motorsports Park on September I. Hall ' N Sti ll Racing (Suz) finished second overall and first in the Heavyweigh t Pro duction class , with Royale Racing (Suz) third. According to a WERA press release issued on September 2, "Team Marlboro Robert s has indicated that they will bring 500cc GP bikes for Oliver to ri de at the remaining Formula USA ro unds." Those-rounds are sched uled to be hel d a Indiana 's Indianapolis Racewa y Par k on October 6-7, a nd in co njunction with the WERA G ra n d Na tional Finals at Braselton , Georgia 's Road Atlan ta o n October 31November 4. Disregard the item that ra n in this section last week regardin g the participation of Bubba Shob e rt in the September 14-15 S t eamboat Vin· tage Road Race and M X in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. According to race director Robert Sti ckler of the Timberline Trailriders, "Bubba has reconsidered and will not be attending the Steamboat Vintage Races. Evide n tly, Bubba does no t feel he's ready q ui te yet, but ho pes to auend next year's races . Sor ry for any confusion this may have ca used ." Rob I a n nucci, whose Team O bso lete bi kes were reported to be wh a t Bubba wo u ld ri de at Stea m boa t Spri ngs, sai d, "There was never a commitment fro m Bubba to rid e our bikes at Steamboat. I' m upset tha t such an a n nounce me nt was mad e. Of course, we'd welcome the chance to pro vide bi kes for Bubba if, in the future, he expresses an interest in competing in vintage races. " Camron Bussard, execu tive edi tor of Cycle World magazine, also expressed dismay over the misinformation co ntained in the original release from St ick ler: " T he whole th ing wa s a project for a magazine art icle, but Bubba never really agreed to ride at Steamboat a nd bo th of us are upset that the information was primed like it was. " T he AMA's Boar d of Trustees has a pproved a plan to move a sta ff member or-the AMA Government Re lations Department to Washington, D.C., to help deal with the deluge of federal legislation affect- Twenty- new records set at Bonneville S 2 peed Week on the Bonnevi lle Salt Flats near Wen dover, Utah, August 2125, sa w 20 new motorcycle lan d speed recor ds set. Leading the way with II new records was Scott Guthrie of Tallahassee, Flor ida. Guthrie now holds 35 Bonneville recor ds , most if not all set on wha t started li fe as a 1974 Yamaha TZ700. Guthrie join ed the 200 MPH Club by turni ng in a 201.168 mph average of two record runs in the APS-AG- 750 (APS ind ica tes Unlimited Partial Str eamlining and AG a modified engine ru nn ing o n gasoli ne) class. Doug Meyer of Du blin (Ca liforn ia ) Kawasa ki established an impressive Production-1300 class record on his Kawasaki ZXII, first esta blishing the record o n the o pening day of the mee t at 177.865 m ph, a nd then upping it the fo llo wing da y to 180.163. Meyer returned to the Sa lt Flats on day three a nd posted aMPSAG-1 300 record with the bik e at 180.270 mph . T he final two days saw Meyer up the MPS-AG-1300 record to 190.940 and the n esta blis h an MPS-AF-13oo class record at 191.797. The meet was the 42nd to be presented by the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) on the Salt Flats. A-AF-loo 92.612 mph August 21 Belen Wagner 154.637 SCOll Guthrie APS-AF-250 193.351 SCOll Guthrie APS-A BG-750 177.865 Doug Meyer - Dublin Kawasaki P-1300 155.729 August 22 Scott G u th rie APS-AG-250 167.824 Sco tt G uthrie A-AF-750 197.965 SCOll G uth rie MP S-AF-750 180.163 P-1300 Doug Meyer - Dubl in Kawasak i 154.137 August 23 Scott Guthrie MPS-AF-250 195.520 Scott G u th rie MPS -AG-750 195.536 Becker - Lyon Streamliner S-AB-lOoo 180.270 MPS -AG-1300 Doug Meyer - Dubl in Kawasak i 161.30 1, SC-AG-1300 Kal Gard - Barnett Special 155.418 SC-ABG- 1300 Bakker-» Ryan Special 156.511 August 24 Scott G uthrie MP S-AG -250 121.852 Chase - Mab ry M-VG-650 167.076 M-AF-750 SCOll G uthrie 201.168 APS-AG-750 Scott Guthrie 190.940 MP S-AG- 1300 Doug Meyer - Dub lin Kawasaki August 25 Scott Gu thrie 171.550 A'AG-750 176.207 A-ABG- 750 Scott Gu thrie 191.797 Do ug Meyer - Dub lin Kawasaki MPS-AF-13oo Doohan, Kocinski score in HungaryA ustra l ian Michael Doohan (ri gh t) wo n h is first-ever 500cc Grand Prix in th e 14th ro und of the World Championship Road Race Series in Hungary on August 30. Doohan, who started fro m the pole position, rode his Rothmans Honda to a 25.442-seco nd win over the Marlboro Yamaha of Eddie Lawson. Third place went to Luck y Strik e Suzuki 's Kevin Schwantz with Rothrnans Honda's Wayne Gardner a nd Ducados Yamaha's Juan Garriga rounding out the top five finishers . Newly-crowned World Cha m pion Wayn e Rain ey dropped out of the race with mechanical problems whi le running secon d behind Doo han with two la ps to go. With one ro u nd remai ning, Rainey leads Schwantz, 240-188, in the cha mpionship ' with Doo han third at 162 points. Marlboro Yama ha Rob ert s' J ohn Kocin ski kept h is championshi p ho pes aliv by winning the H ungaria n ro und of the series. Kocinsk i topped HB Honda ' Helmut Brad! by 3.986 seconds to ta ke the win while champions hip leader Carlos Cardus finished third. Card us leads Kocinski by five points, 208-203, with on race remain in g in Australia on September 16. If Kocinski wins a nd Cardus finishe thi rd the two would tie o n points - Kocinski, how ever , would win th e tie-breake beca use he has more race wins than Card us. Fren chman Alain Michel won hi s first-ever Sidecar World Ch ampionship i H unga ry wi th his fifth- place fin ish. The race was won by Paul and Char ly Guede with Rolf Biland a nd Kurt Waltisperg fin ish in g second. The 125cc GP was wo by Ital ian Lo ris Capirossi over Hans L ue thi and Bruno Casa nova. Stefan Prein six th in Hungary, leads the title chase over Capiro ssi, 169-162, with one roun remai ning. Hans Spaan is third with 160 points . ing motorcyclists. T he nationa l office , based in Westerville, Ohio, will continue to direct the AMA's government rela tio ns efforts, but the Washington office will allow the Association to respond more q uickly to federa l issues. The AMA has named Jim Bensberg, the department 's senior legislative affairs specialist, to staff the new Washington office which will open th is fa ll. Bensberg, who joined the AMA staff in 1987, has focused his ener gi es o n motorcycle safety and tra nspo rt a tio n related iss ues. ' 'I' m excited about the opportu nities this new venture presents for the AMA and for me," said Ben sberg. " Our members have ma de it clea r that the Government Rela tions Department is o ne of the main reaso ns for belonging to ·the AMA. T he esta blishment of an office in Washingto n is just o ne more exa m p le of the AMA's ded ication to protecting the rights of motorcyclis ts." Enrollment is n o w o pen for the motorcycle mechanics program at West Valley Occupational Center in Woodland H ill s, California. T he classes , which consis t of up to 30 hours per week of in-depth theory and hands-on experience, begi n on Sep tem ber 10 a nd cost $30 per semes ter. For more information, ca ll 818/3463540. Two AMA Championship Cup Series road races have been ca nceled "due to their close proxim ity to the year-end AMA/CCS Ra ce of Ch ampions" which takes place on Octob er 25-28 at Daytona Intern a tional Speedway . T he Octo ber 13-14 events at Alabama Motor Speedway and Las Vegas R a cewa y have bo th been dropped fro m the sched ule. " Hopefu lly, this will allow competitors a lill ie mo re preparatio n ti me for the Ra ce of Cha mpions, " said a spokesman for the A MA/CCS. Alt hough o nce the seaso n go t well underway there was little doubt in a nyone's min d that he'd pull it off, it's now officia l - Mike Hale of Carro ll to n, Texas, is the 1990 Ca mel Pro Series Rookie of the Year. With o nly five rounds remaining in the series, Hal e clinched the ti tle at the August 25 Hager sto wn H alf Mile, wh ere he finished 14th , earning o ne point fo a total of 126 points. Da ve Camlin Rob ert Lewis, Jr. a nd Ted T aylor ar tied for second with 21 points each a nd all three have been mathematicall el iminated fro m the ti tle. For winnin the title, Bob Hale/ Sa m L ine/ Bieffe Tsu ba ki / Red L in e-sponsored Hal will receive $5000 fro m Camel. Severa riders besides the th ree who are cur rently tied for third have a shot at bot the $1500 second place prize and th . $1000 third place prize. The San Diego Antique M.C. wil stage its 19th Annual Concour D'Elegance for class ic and antiqu mo torcycles o n the in fiel d of Del Ma Race T rack in Del Mar , California Sep tember 29. T he theme of this year' show is A Salute to Harley Davidson. A four-col o r bro ch ur wi th co mplete detai ls a nd a n entr form is availa ble. For mor e in forma tion, call Theresa Wor sch a t 619/ 753 0105 or 755-3424. With only one ro und remaining in th 250cc World Championshi p (see Win box ), th ings are heating up betwee Am eri can John Kocinski and Spa niard Carlos Cardus. With Cardu lea di ng the champions hi p by fiv points, Ko cinski need s to win in Australia on September 16 with Cardu fin ishin g no better tha n th ird in or d to wi n the ti tle. Although that wo ul tie the two riders, Kocinski would tak the title based on race wins, 7-4. The closeness of the title chase ha prompted the riders and their respec rive factories (Kocins ki /Yamaha, Car dus/ Honda) into actio n. Word fro Hungary says tha t Kocinski aske newl y-crowned 500cc World Ch am pi on Wayne Rainey to ride a 25 in Austr al ia in or der to help him wi the cham pionship. Rain ey declined but now fo rm er 250cc cham pionshi runner -up Juan Garriga has sine step ped into the picture. Wi th a di slik for hi s fello w countryman Card us an his sponsor Rep sol , Garriga may rid a Yamaha YZR250 in Austral ia i order to help Kocin ski . There are no two YZR250s available d ue to the a inj ury sustained in Hungary by Spaniard Albert o Pui g. Word of Garriga ' pos sibl e involveme nt has p rompt

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