Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

BIN THE WIND ByPapa Wealey ; Ita lian F a b r iz io P irovano (Yam) won both legs of the ra in-sodden Italian round of the World Ch ampionship Superbike Series in Monza, Italy , on Octob er 7. Pirovano topped Stephane Mert ens (Hon ) and Raymond Roche (Due) in the first leg, and then beat Baldassarre Monti (Hon) and Rob McEl nea (Yam) to wi n the second leg. American Jamie James (Due) , fin ished sevent h in the first leg and eigh th . in the second. After 10 rounds of the l-l ' 13-ro und series, Roche leads Mertens, -V ,.D. 318-255, in the championship point sta ndings. Th ird p lace is held by Pirovano with 244 po in ts. o .... u o \ Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz) won the October 6 WERA Kerker/ SBS National Endurance Road Race Series round, a six -ho ur race at India napolis Raceway Park. Hall N' Sti ll Racing (Suz) finished second, six laps behi nd the wi nners. Indian apolis-based T BA Racin g (Suz) edged out sister team T BA Racin g II (Suz) for thi rd place by 27 seconds, giving Suzuki a sweep of the top four places. T he October 7 WERA Formula USA , road race at In di anapolis Raceway Park was canceled du e to heavy rains and track flooding. The round will be made up by a Formu la USA race bein g run at Roa d Atlanta on November I. T he tenth and fina l round of the series will be held as sched u led at Road Atla nta on Novem ber 4. Scott Summers (Ho n) scored ' his sixt h AMA Grand Natio na l Cro ss Cou nt ry Ch ampion ship Series win of the year wi th a victory at the Forest Festival 100 National at Elkins, West Virgi nia, October 7. Second pl ace went to nine-tim e Na tio nal Cross Country Cha mpion Ed Loja k (Yam), foll owed by J eff Ru ssell (Yam), Kevin Brown (KT M) and Tim Shephard (Yam). ' Randy Hawkins (Suz) extended hi s series po ints lead over Kevin H in es (KT M) with the overall win at th e secon d-to- last ro und o f th e AMA Nati on al Championshi p Enduro Series in Forest Hi ll, Lou isian a, October 7. H in es fin ished second, while Allen Gravitt (KT M) rou nded ou t th e top thr ee. Mike Faria won the U.S. Nation al Speedway Cha m p ions hip a t the Orange Co unty Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California, October 5. Faria 'defeated' Alan Chr istia n in a four-lap runoff after th ey en ded the regular program tied for first with 13 po ints ' each . Silly seaso n G P ru mors are sta rting to run ra mpa nt. Reportedly, for mer 500cc World Champion Franco Uncini will field a Yama ha -mo unted 500cc GP team in 1991. T he Ital ian has a major spo nsor, althoug h he is not saying who tha t sponso r is at th is time. and riders bein g mention ed are AMA Superbi ke Natio na l Champion Doug Chandler and Itali an Su perbike racer Giancarlo Falappa; head li nes in , England 's Motorcycle News, however, say that Eddie Lawson will be the team's number on e 'rider. Uncini is apparently working closely with Marl bo ro R oberts tea m own er Kenn y Roberts, and published reports from Europe say that th e Rob erts team will hel p Uncini's team with technica l advice. 2 Doug Chandler, however , kn ew no thi ng of th e proposed Unciniteam when q uestioned on the sub ject at the Sacramento Mile on Octob er 6. "I haven 't ta lked to anybody lately," Ch andl er said . " I hope to have things figured ou t some tim e th is month." Other r u m o rs from Europe. ha ve former 125cc World Champion and current 250cc G P compe titor Alex Criville leaving Gi acom o Agos tini 's Marlboro Yama ha team and joi ni ng a Marlboro-backed Aprilia team with West G erm a n Martin Wimm er. Crivi lle was scheduled to race in the Septem ber 30 Superpres tigio event in Spain, but hi s Yamaha never made it to the circu it. Also ru mo red is Brazilian Alex Barros signing with Lu cky Stri ke Suzu ki to team with T exan Kevin Schwa ntz. Barros, who rode for Cagiv a in 1990, is also scheduled to test a new Cagiva in the next few weeks, even thou gh the ' Itali an team has said they wou ldn't be fielding a team in '91. Ita lia n PierFrancesco Chili h a s also been invi ted to the test session. Kevin Magee is current ly under contract ' with L ucky Stri ke Suzuki, but it is not kn own at th is time wheth er the Australian can come back from the head injuries he suffered at the U.S. G P ' in April. Niall Mackenzie, who rode the Suzu ki in place of Magee in 1990 and finished fourth in the cha mpion ship , may end up withou t a ride in 1991. Wh at 's Randy Mamola doing in 1991? Reports say that th e Cal ifornian is high on Gaul oises Yam aha' s shopping list for a 1991 500cc GP ride. ' General Jerry Ralph Curry , adm in istrator of the Nation al Hi ghway Traffic Safe ty Admi nistratio n, graduated from a Motorcycle Safety Foundation RiderCourse in Alexandria, Virginia, Septemb er 30. Cu rry, a h ighly deco rat ed co m bat veteran, enrolled in th e course wit h Skipp Ca lvert, h is p ress secre ta ry . Bo th gra duated without any of the other students kn owing who their classma tes were - or why they were takin g th e course. Genera l Curry's MSF-certified instructor was Domini c Wasielewski , and he was assisted by Chuck Stewart, both of the Virgi nia Ri der Training Progra m, operated u nder the auspices of Virginia Depa rtment of Mo tor Veh icles. Robert Rasor , AMA vice pres ident of govern ment relations, said he was delighted ' by the news. " We have enco uraged General Cu rry to take a Riderflourse for some time. T his can h av e very pos i tive eff ects fo r mot orcyclin g:" Su zu ki's Larry Ward suffe red a partially dislocated right shoulder as the result of a practice cras h and was una ble to compete at the Oc tober 7 Natio na l' Cha mpions hip 125/500cc MX in Budds Creek, Maryland . Factory KTM rid er Keith Johnson had two bikes and a complete tool set sto len from his truck prior to the Budds Creek Nat io na l MX. KTM 'sent a not her bike to Maryland wh ere J ohnson finished eighth in the first 500cc moto and retired from moto two wi th a broken wheel. Anyon e wi th information on the bik es sho u ld call 617/826-8050. Bill R. Myers, 66, passed away on Sept ember 25 a t h is hom e in Wichita Falls, Texas. Myers was one of the top Expert racers in the nation in the year s a fte r WWII, raci ng out o f Harry Steltze r's Ha rley-Davidson shop in Houston and his father's Harl ey sho p in Wichita Falls. As a field rep for Beck Distribut in g Corp. in the '50s, he helped set up ma ny firm s including Yamaha unveils 1991 WR200R &WR500 amaha recentl y unveiled two new 1991off-road mo dels. Joining the already existing WR250 in Yamaha 's off-roa d lin eup will be the WR200 and WR500. The WR200, whi ch will be in direct competi tio n wi th Kawasaki 's popular KDX200, features a wa tercoo led, reed- va lve in d uc tio n , a exhaust power-va lve, and a twostro ke motor whi ch is tucked ins ide a YZl25-based fram e and chassis . Suspe nsion com po nents include a (above) 41m m inverted fork an d a n ew Delt abox swingarm . It a lso co mes complete wi th an odo meter, ligh ts, and U.S. For estry-app roved .spark arrester. Un like the 200, the WR500 is almost all-new. Except for some minor modificati on s, th e air-coo led 487cc motor is the same mill as used in the discon tinued YZ490 mot ocrossers. T he frame and chassis" however , use basically th e sam e componen ts as th e YZ250, in cluding the Deltabox swinga rm , the inverted 43mm Kayab a fork, shock, rea r ~ suspension linkages, brakes and wh eels. O ther features include a remova ble a lumin um rear sub- frame section, lighting capability,and a five-speed, wide-rat io transmission. ' 1 o Both the WR200R and WR 500 are expecte d to be released in J anuary, 199 L • Y • );11 Florida Cycle Su p p ly, N ich ol s of Chicago, and KK Motorcycle Sup p ly. In th e '60s, he was invol ved with American Eagle motorcycles and later, along witli H arry Crook and Frank Harrison , formed Nortex Distributing, whic h distributed Bridgeston e motorcycles. Myers, a Ch art er Life Member of the AMA, was an active memb er of the Kickapoo Kowb oys'M .C. until h is death. H e is survived by his wife Evelyn , mother Dolly. brother J ack. dau ghter Debra Sanders. and stepsons Will iam Myers and J oe McBride. Cards and letters can be sent to Evelyn Myers, 4208 Em ers on , Wi chita' Fa lls, T X 76309. Donations in his mem or y may be sent to th e Elks Hosp ital , Ottine . T X 78658. T he U.S. 500cc MX GP. wh ich took pl ace at Gl en H elen OHV Park in southern Californ ia on Augu st 26, will be tel eca st n ati onwide o n Sports Express the weekend of November lOll. Sports Ex press is a na tio na lly syndicated sports program featuring a wide varie ty of event coverage. Viewers sho u ld consu lt their local listings to determ ine the exact date, tim e and channel th at Spo rts Exp ress will air the America n H onda -funded GP sho w. T he fou rsom e of Doug Schopieray, Steve Faraci, John Parker and Marty Lewis shot a 68 to win the 6th Greater Camel Open in Sacra mento , California, October 5. T he scramble go lf tournam ent is an annua l event sponsored by R.). Reynolds and held prior to the AMA Ca me l Pro Series Sacra mento Mile seaso n finale. The formentioned foursome beat the team of Will Davis, Aaro n Hill , Dan ny Malfatti a n d Brya n Rob erts in a pl ayo ff. AMA Superbi ke Champion Doug Chandler won the lon gest driv e contes t and Larr y Parmeter took th e clo sest-to-the-pin competition. What will Scott Parker do to relax after winni ng hi s third stra igh t AMA Grand Na tio na l Cha mpionship? " I' m goi ng up to Reno (Nevada ) to ga mble," Parker said. "Not the who le $100,000, just a few doll ar s, T he n I'll have a week at ho me to relax an d then we' ll (Pa rker and friends, incl ud ing' J ay Sp rin gsteen ) go up to St. Helen (Michigan) for our end-of-the-year bas h. After that I go deer hunting and I th en I'll go to Ital y to race in Decemb er. T hat sho u ld be fun because I've never been ou t of the coun try. except for Ca nada. Then it' s back to ice .raci ng and before you kn ow it, it's tim e: to get read y for next year. " Eastern Creek. th e new roa d racing , facil ity near Sydney, Australia, whi ch ' will host th e upcoming Apr il 7 Aus- > tra lian Grand Prix, ' will nam e three of its corners and one strai ghtaway ' after four of Australi a 's motor racing ' World Ch ampions. Sir Jack Brabham, Kel Carruthers, Wayne Gardner and Alan Jones will have po rtio ns of the circu it nam ed after I· them. Road race rs heading to Daytona International Speedway for th e , Octob er 26-28 AMA/ CCS Cha mpionshi p Series final e will find a " new" chicane on the 3.56-mile road circuit. T he chicane hasn't been moved i or cha nged, only resurfa ced. ~ 11 Garage spaces for the AMA/ CCS event at Dayton a are on a first co me," fi rs t ser ved b:fsis. Riders will be ' allo wed in to the speed way sho rt ly after regis tra tion opens at 8 a.m , on T hursday, October 25. T ech inspectIon . begi ns at 9 a.m. ' Friday, October 26 is a free day for gra nds ta nd spectators at Dayto na. T hose spectators will be given the op port un ity to watch th e GTU and GTO finals , beginn ing a t 2:30 p .m ~ T he fina l ro und of the AMA/CCS EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge Series has been rescheduled to a I:30 p.m. sta rting time on Sunday , October 28, at Daytona Internati onal Speedway. T he Middl eweigh t Supersport and H ea vywei ght Superbi ke Expert final s will now close out th e , 12th edi tion of th e AMA/CCS Ra :e of Cha mpions. ' T he 9th Annual True Grits Fun Run , an event lim ited to 50cc street- .

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