Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

1989 250cc World Ch a mp ion Sito Pons into releasing a press release that says if anyone goes to Australia to help Kocinski, hellI ride a Honda NSR250 to aid his friend Cardus. Stay tuned. R ick Dough ty of Vintage Iron in Fresno, California, says, " Due to th e verwhelmin~ succss of the Vintage Iron Invitational at this year 's U.S. (500cc MX) G P, Vintage Iron will be xpanding its servic es to include promotion of similar events. " Do ugh ty says promoters from five ountries have expresse d interest in hosting a vintage MX featuring former MX stars and he wou ld specifically like to see a European vs. American matchp at the Masters " race in Namur, Belgium, later this year. For more in formation, call 209/252- 9053, extenion 06. e Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing ssocia tio n (OM RRA) will host th e final ro und of the Northwest Vint a ge Triple Crown a t Portland International Raceway on Saturday, ep tember 22. Seven classes of vintage o inpetition will be held on Saturday fternoon, with vintage handicap races Iso included in OM RRA 's regular unday sprint race program. Competitors shou ld note that there is a 103 b noise limit at PI R. For more information, call 503/221-1487. S and Matchles s enthusiasts e invited to gather a t the Tin"Horn FIats Bar & Grill in Bur ban k, Califoria, on Sunday, September 16, from oon to 4 p.rn, In addition to tire icking and bench racing, a meeting ill be held to discuss the possi bility f forming a local AJS/Matchless club. e meeting p lace is located at 2623 est Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank. For more information, call Gordon mith at 818/842 -9721 (days, Monday tlirough Friday). e Track Riders Association has added two dates to its 1990 schedule Honda I10sts record MX con(ingencies A of open practice days: Monday, October 8, at Las Vegas Raceway in Las Vegas, Nevada; and Fr ida y, November 23, at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. A 92 db noise limit will be enforced at Laguna Seca. To regist er, call Renard Fiscus at 818/ 365-8038. merican Honda 's 1991 CR Contingency Program will be the biggesr ever with over $3.5 million avai lable to professional and amateur motocrossers who rid e Honda CR80s, 125s, 250s or 500s in a wide variety of classes. Fin ish ing in first, second or third place at selected events will earn pro riders $500, $300 and $150 in cash, respect ively, while amateurs will earn gift certificates in comparable amo unts good for purchase of Honda parts and accessories. The doll ar am ounts increase at larger local even ts such as the CMC Golden State Nation al s or AMA Florida Winter Am Series, where a win in a pro class will earn the rider $3000, with second paying $1500 and third $500. Additionally, a win in an AMA Supercross or National MX will earn the rider $5000, wi th secon d through fifth earn ing $4000, $3000, $2000 and $1000, respectively. Claudio Cas t iglione, one of the owners of Cagiva, held a press conference at th e August 26 Czechoslovaki an road race GP in Brno to discuss the com pany 's ra cing future. The immediate future was the debut of the carbon-fiber frame that Randy Mamola rode to an II th-place finish in th e 500cc GP. He also said the company wou ld be out of raci ng for 1991 , but didn 't rule out a return at a later date. All three riders competed in the Hungarian GP, bu t it is still up in the air as to whether or not they 'll race in the season -ending Australian GP . did show up in Hungary, racing to a second place in the 500cc GP . Not showing up in Hungary also wou ld have da maged Lawson's chances of getting a ride with another team . With Cagiva pu lling out, that avenue is gone. No Yamaha team cou ld take him and Suzuki didn't seem interested . He'd like to get back to H onda, but th ey'r e still angry about an article he did in th e Japanese press a t the end of last season where he said severa l unflattering things about them. Word also got back to Suzuki that he was planning to run his own team on private S uzukis next year, but th is " was news to them. Ru mors in the Brno pits had a few teams leaving the GP racing scene next year. ROC Honda's Serge Rosset has said that he won 't be back, which comes as no su rp rise. According to a Honda insider, H RC fronted Rosset th e $800,000 cost of the lease bikes and they haven 't seen a significant return. Because o f a ban on all tobacco advertising in France in 1993, the Gauloises Blondes team said there is a good chance th ey wouldn 't be back. One way around th e problem would be to base the team in Belgium, but th ey would still be denied any advertising benefits in their home coun try. Bel ieve it or not: Eddie Lawson ha s been seen courting team owner Giacomo Agostini, th e man Law son shun ned to go to Honda a t th e end of th e 1988 season. There are now rumors of a n Agostini-owned team with La wson riding 500s and Brazilian Alex Barros , who is about to lose h is Cagiva ride , riding 250s. Where goest Eddie Lawson? That was th e imponderable after the dethroned World Champion left the track at Brn o. He had a reservation at a Vienna Airport hotel , but can celled it in the afternoon, according to a receptionist there. More importantly, he'd told "one journalist that he wouldn 't be riding in Hungary , though no one believed him. Lawson The 500cc twin movement for th e 500cc GP class appears to be picking up steam, though it's almost universall y condemned by the riders. "If one cylinder seizes it 's going to throw you a lot farther," Wayne Rainey said . "T h is is the wrong time to change the rules," said Eddie Lawson. "If they th ink that a twin is going to cut the cost in half, they're behind in their thinking. It's goi ng to cost as much to develop a twin as a four-cylinder," said Kevin Schwantz. Schwantz's teammate N iall Mackenzie said he thinks that if you red uce the power of the 500s too much there will be tra cks where the 250s would be real close in lap times: " It 's go ing to be difficult to different iate between th e tw o classes," he said. .S. Trophy- team out of Six Day-s contention s this issue went to press on Tuesday, September 4, a cold and muddy day two of the 1990 ISDE in Vasteras, Sweden had been completed and the U.S. T rophy team was a lready out of contention. Trophy team member Randy awkins (Suz) houred out with a broken piston, while club riders Darr en San ford Suz) and Wayn e Keezer (KT M) were also out du e to a top-end seizure and a sh, respectively. Trophy team rider Jeff Fredette did not even start the even t, aving injured his hand two days before th e start; he was replaced by Junior orId rider Kelby Pepper, who had his original berth filled by Scott Drafs. Currently, home team Sweden leads th e Trophy standings with 90.91 points, while Czechoslovakia (1022.18) holds second and France (1301.74) lies third. Ital y 621.86) leads the Junior World standings with Sweden (994.29) second and Finland 1443.49) third. The Italian Trophy team won last year's even t, but is al so out f conte nt ion du e to a broken transmission on one team membe r's bike. Junior class dirt tra c k e rs interested in riding at the last three rounds of th e Cam el Pro Series - San Jos e , Ascot and Sacramento - should contact Bill Spencer at 408/436-8228 for information on the invitation-only Junior races. An auction to raise money for Steve Eklund will take place after the ' Sep tember 16San Jose Mile. Interested parties should br ing iterns to San Jose and give them to Scott Pearson or Jerry Kenned y, who will conduct the au ction . Eklund, who was injured in th e June 17 Albuquerque Mile, remains in a comat ose sta te. Yamaha MX team members Damon B radshaw and Doug Dubach will miss the AMA 125cc National MX Series ro unds at Delm ont, Pennsylvani a , an d Budds Cr eek , Mar yland. Bradsh aw has been competing in the series to prepare for the T rophee des Nati ons whi ch takes place in Vimmerb y, Sweden , on September 16. Dubach has been helping sort out th e Yamaha YZ125. Bradshaw and Dubach w ill co m p ete in th e final 125cc Nati on al at Unadill a on Octob er 14. Retired motocross racer Bob Hannah was tracked down while on vacation and flown to the September 2 Binghamton MX Na tion al to help Suzuki's Guy Cooper cope with th e pr essure of the Nat ional Championship 125cc MX points chase. With three rou nds remaining, Cooper has a 19 point lead over Honda 's Mike Kiedrowski, who won both motos at Binghamton to narrow the gap on Cooper, who posted 6-9 moto fin ishes. As for what Hannah can do for him, Cooper said , " He's been there (in a titl e fight ). If th ere is on e person you can listen to, it 's Hannah. I have a lot of respect for him, but you can' t tell someo ne ho w to win . He just gi ves advi ce." PROMOTED: La rry Naston from national tel em a rk eter to so uthe rn California sal es acco unt manager at --'-- - - - - Contin ued on page 4 ---------------------------------------------------------~---------, SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Mail D This is a renewa l tOday! D Pl ease bill me Bill 3 p ayments of $11.67 En closed is m y check or money order . ~ ~ ~ Charge m y D Visa D Mastercard __ D D State ~C i t y '-- Zip _ Signature O rder Date _ Please start m y subscription to Cycle Ne ws: Every wee k for o ne year (50 issu es) for $35.00 (can bebilled 3 monthly payments) D Every week for two years (100 issues) for $65.00 D Six months seco nd class (25 issues) for $18.00 " . " " One year (SOISSUes). 2nd class Canada or MeXICO and all other for eign co u n tries $75.00 (U.S. fund s). D _ MC /Visa # '--_ _ I I Expiration Date Send to: Cycle News, Inc., . P.O. Box 198, Long Beach, CA 90801-0498 Fin, class and airmail rates available upon request. 213/427-7433 ______________________________________________________ I II I . -------------~ 3

• Cover