Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GIN THE WIND lIy Papa Wealer ~ Reigning 250cc MX World Champion Alessandro Puzar (Suz) of Italy was the overa ll winner of th e opening round of the Masters of Motocross, a six-race series bringing many of the top Europeans arid American s toget her at one race , in Magg iora , It a ly, o n Sep tember 23. Americans Jeff Stanton (Han) fin ished second overa ll and Trampas Parker (KT M) rou nded out the top three. Alex Vieira, Jean -Michel Mattioli and Stephane Mertens (Han) completed 580 laps to win the red Ilaginterrupted Bol d'Or 24-hour endurance road race at Paul Ricard in the sou th of France, Sep tember 22-23. T he th reesom e to p ped T h ie rry Cr ine , Pierre Boll e and J. Ba ttistin i (Kaw) by three laps with Adrian Morillas, Eric Delcamp and C. Laviei ll e ( Ka w) fin ishin g third. The win by the Rothm ans Honda team at the Bo l d' Or was th e French team's sixth consecu tive 24-hour victory, and gave them th e FIM Coupe d 'Enduranee Championship. Scott Summers (Ha n) was th e overa ll winner in the final ro und of th e AMA Na tio nal Cha mpions h ip Hare Scra mbles Series in Lynville, . Indiana, September 23. Summers , who had already cli nched the series championship titl e in July, fini shed ahead of Duan e Conner (Kaw), Aaron Hou gh (Kaw), J eff Russell (Yam) and Ed Lojak (Yam). . Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz) with riders Mike Smith, Kurt Hall , . Britt Turkington , Wes Cooley, Don Canet and Nick Ienatsch won the 7th An nua l WERA 24-Hour at Willow Spri ngs In ternational Ra ceway in Rosamond, Ca lifornia, Sep tember 2223. The Human Race Team (Yam) finis hed second, 25 laps beh ind Team Suzuk i, while T eam Hawaii (Ha n) finished third overa ll and first in the Mediumweight Production class, a further 42 laps behin d. In winning th e race, T eam Suzuki En d ura nce se t a new 24-hour mileage record , covering 2207.5 mi les at an average speed of 91.9 mp h, despi te a 22-minute red £lag period du ring the first hour. The win was the team' s I I t h of the seaso n in 12 attempts. Danny Hamel (KTM ) topped the field at the Casey Fol ks' Best In the Desert Mesq u ite Grand Prix in Mesq ui te, Nevada, September 22. Garth Swee tla n d (ATK), Greg Zit terk op f (AT K), J immy Lewis (KT M) and Scott Morris (Kaw) ro unded out the top five. Kawasaki has been awarded the contrac t to sup ply police motorcycles to th e California Highway Patrol. The pu rchase order calls for Kawasaki to deliver 238 KZIOOO-P police motorcycles, which will be manu factured in Linco ln , Ne b ras ka . T he coveted contract was also pursued by Harley-Davidson . Kawasaki earned the cont ract, worth approxima tely $1 million, by meeting a rigorou s series of specifications and performance tests, in addition to bein g the low bidder. Awarding of the contra ct was postponed earlier this year when Harl eyDavid son put forth a dep artmentbacked arg ument that their bikes ' had a high er resale value. Kawasaki has had a supplier relationship with the Californ ia High way Patrol since 1978. A star-studded lin eup of motocrossers will compe te in the 14th Annual Kawasaki MX Race of Champions at Engl ishtown, New Jersey's Raceway Park , October 20-21. Confirmed en tries include Johnny O'Mara and Jeff Matiasevich of the Kawasaki factory team , Honda's Mike Kiedrowski, Suzuki's Ronnie Tichenor, a n d forin er T eam Honda and ·T eam Yamaha rider Micky Dymond. Kawasaki's Jeff Ward will also be on hand and whil e he says he'll be there to assist O'Mara and Ma tiasevich a nd sig n autographs, the folks at Raceway Park are hop ing he will compe te. FedsthreatenOHV funds I 2 n spi te of pro tests by the American Motorcyclist Associa tion (AMA) and other off-h ighway recrea tio n gro ups, the Cal ifornia Legi slature has taken th e first step toward adop ting a proposal that could wreak havoc on the state's offh igh way vehicl e (O H V) fund, bett er known as the Green Sticker program. And now, all th at remains is for Gov. George Deukmejian to sign the con troversial proposal into law. The thr eat comes in th e form of Assemb ly Bill 3727. The measure would, amon g other things, seize $3 mi llion fro m the Green Sticker program to help bail out the sta te's Depa rtment of Fish and Game, whi ch is facing a budget deficit becau se of a declin e in the number of fishing and hunting licenses bein g sold each year. Ori gin all y, the bill had nothing to do with the Gr een Sticker fund. In stead , it was introduced in May to increase revenue for Fish and Game. Then , after th e measure had already been approved by the Assembly, it was amended in the Sena te Appropria tio ns Committee to include a provision req uiring the tran sfer of th e fun ds. The am endmen t, wh ich was added to the bill in July, also in cludes a stip u lation mandating th at the sta te repay the mon ey with interest by 1993. After numerou s comp lai nts from the AMA's Government Relati on s Department , AMA's District 36 and 37 affilia tes, the Cal ifornia Off-Road Vehicle Associa tion (CO RVA) and a host of other off-highway user groups, irappearedOl-lv en th usiasts had won a reprieve on Augu st 16, wh en the bill was sent back to the Sena te's Natural Resources and Wildl ife Committee for further debat e. But the Committee, under pressure from the governor's office, suddenly approved the bill on Augu st 28. Then, in th e closing moments of th is year's legi slat ive session, the bill was passed by full Senate and th e Assembly. And now, it is awaiting the sig na ture of Gov. Deu kmejian, who has until October I to decide the fate of th e OHV fund. "S ince the ear ly 1980s, the state has effectively stolen millions of doll ar s from th e OHV program," said Robert Rasor, AMA vice president of govern ment relation s. " And once again, there is no gua rantee that the. sta te will uphold its part of the bargain and reimburse these funds." Accord ing to Eric Lundquist, AMA legislative affairs specia list, in addition to furth er alienating the state's off-highway ent husiasts, the bill could also have an adverse effect on the enviro nment. " Many people aren 't aware that th e Gr een Sticker program funds a large number of conservation and land rehabili tation projects," said Lundquist. " Iron ically, the transfer of the funds to Fish and Game could have the effect of lessening the state's spending on environ men tal concerns." Carr claims 600cc title atCastle Rock H arley-Davidson's Chris Carr (right) wrapped up his third stra igh t 600cc Nationa l Dirt Track Cha mp ionshi p wi th his win in th e Castle Rock TT in Castle Rock, Washington , on 'Sep tember 22. Carr, 23, topped Rotax-rnounted Kris Kiser and Rex Fisher in th e 600cc Na tio na l. Mike Hale, Carr's cham pionship rival comi ng in to the Castle Rock roun d, failed to quali fy for the Na tio nal. Carr, who current ly lies second in th e AMA Camel P ro Ch ampi onship, q ua lifie d seco n d behind Bryan McDowell in time trials, won his heat race and then came from behind to win th e final. T he Cali fornian a lso wo n th e $3000 Budweiser Shootout , a IO-Iap das h for cash tha t fea tured th e six fastest qualifiers. Former Grand Nat ion al Champion Gene Romero is back in the Chris Agajanian Presents ca mp , helping pro mote the October 6 Sacramento Mile round of the Camel Pro Series. Romero says th ere'll be a sha kedown session for rid ers at the Cal -Expo facil ity on T hursday, Octob er 4, from noon to I p.m. After the tra ck rid in g session, all riders are inv ited to remain for a press conference that will be follo wed by lunch. In addition to th e Nationa l on Saturday ni ght, October 6, a Junior race will be held and it' s open to all Jun ior riders. Came l Pro Series compe ti tor Will Davis led a foursome to victory in the 12th Annual Hap J on e s Invitational Golf Tournament a t the Sunol Golf Course in Sunol, California, September 17. Mark Smith, Marty Lewis and one of Davis's sponsors, Z Galleries' Danny Malfatti, joined Davis on the winning foursome. . AT K will provide pit support for all ATK four -stroke riders a t th e November 8-11 B a ja 1000. There will be a nominal fee for fuel and a refundable deposit for broken parts: Contact ATK for details by call ing 2131722-8880. Italian Donato Miglio (Fan ) won th e final ro und of the World Championship Observed Trials Series in Switzerland, September 9. Spaniard J ordi . Tarres (Bet) , wh o had alread y clinched the World Championship, finish ed second and Finn T ommi Ahvala (Apr) was third. T arres finished the season with 224 points, Italian Diego Bosis (Apr) was second with 193, Migl io third with 180, Ahvala fourth at 161, and Frenchman Ph ilippe Berlatier (Bet) was fifth with 123. The win in Switzerland wa s Migli o 's swan song as a Fantic factory rider; he will ride for Aprilia next year. The 1 9 91 World Championship Superbike Roa d Race Series calendar is o ver-su bscri bed and delegates at the upcoming FIM Con gress in Budapest, Hungary, will have to turn down several app licatio ns. The spo rt's govern ing bod y has received 18 app licatio ns to run even ts next season with a likely schedule of 14or IS events to be ra tified in Hungary. In addition to coun tries that hosted th e event this year, app lications have been received from Brazil, Holland, Mexico, San Marin o and Sweden . Speaking of th e World Champion ship Su perbike Series, defending champion Fred Mer kel is expected to return to actio n a t th e Octob er 7 round at Mama, It al y. Californian Merkel suffered a broken vertebra a t the Suzuka Eight-Hour in July which forced him to sit out the Japanese and French rounds, effectively ending his cha nces of comp leting a hat trick of World Championship titl es. Brian Tillson o f Laconia, New Hampshire, is the 1990 AMA J unior . National Champion dirt - tra cker . T illson, who won one round of the l l -round series, made the main even t at every event and never placed o ut of th e top 10. H is season-long consistency produced 133 points, 18 more than the series runner-up, Steve R asmussen of Turlock , Californ ia, who finished with liS points. Jason Fletcher of Warr en, Connecticut, fini shed third with 104 points. Tillson campaigned a Wood-Rotax, Rasmussen a HarleyDavid son and Fletcher a Wood-RolaX . I ntersport Fashions W est (IFW), th e North American importer of Hein Gericke motorcycle apparel, recently surveyed over 2500 motorcyclists to determ ine future trends in the marketplace. The survey will assist IFW in designing future motorcycle apparel and products. While most of the survey resul ts 'will not be made public, IFW reports that 26% of the respondents have participated in a Mot orcycle Safety Foundation Rid erCours e . Cycle News has an opening for an a ssistant e ditor. Applicants will preferably have a journalism degree, experience in motorsports journalism, and an abi lity to meet demanding deadli n es. Applicants should sent resumes and copies of publ ished material to: Editor, Cycle News, Inc., P.O. Box 498, Lon g Beach, CA 90801-0498. Hey, kid sl T ell your father to load your 5 0 cc S t ock clas s minibike in the trail er, hook it up to the motorhome and head for Colorado becau se you want to take part in the intermission race at the Sep tember 29 Mickey T h om p s o n Off-Roa d Ch a m p io n ship G r an Prix in Denver. Oh, before you leave, be sure and call GFI Racing at 7141788-5853 and let them know you' re comi ng. A California Desert Coalition conference scheduled for October 6 in Irvine, California , ha s been can celled, with a new date set for sometime in spr ing 1991. Several proposed rule changes for th e 1991 MX season were di scussed between AMA Professional Motocross Manager Roy Jan son and several of the factory MX team managers a t the Motocross des Nat ion s in Sweden. One would all ow P r o -Am riders to cont est th e Region a l Ch a m p io n ship 125cc S uperc ross Se rie s longer by increasing the number of advancement points from 180 to 250. The proposed rule cha nge is designed to allow racers more time to develop,

• Cover