Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTHEWIND e o 0") 0") Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle (Hon) was th e overall win ner at round two of th e Masters of Motocross Series held at Villars-Sou s-Ecot , Fran ce, on October 21. Americans Jeff Stanton (Hon) a nd Donny Schmit (Su z) finished seco nd and third overall, respectively. Marty Walden (Hon), Wood'" land, California, was from ov erall th e eo ~ 11) ..c o ..... u o winner in th e fin al round of the AMA National Champion ship Enduro Series at Redding, Cal iforn ia, Octob er 21. Fellow northern Cal ifornian Dan Nielsen (Suz) finished second, wh ile ' Randy H aw kin s (S u z) was th ird . Hawkin s clinched his third consecutive National Enduro Championship titl e at , Redding, whil e Kevin Hines (KT M), who was Hawkins' on ly threat for th e champ ionship, was slow ed by mechanical problems. New England's John Dowd (Kaw) topped the 250cc Pro class after a furious battle with runner-up Ron Tichenor (Suz)and Micky Dymond (Kaw) at th e 14th Annual Kawasaki Race of Champions MX at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, ' October 21. Tichenor returned to win the 125cc Pro class over Barry Carsten (Suz) and Johnny O 'Ma ra, while Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw) was the 500cc Pro class winner over Dowd and Dymond. Michael Craig (Kaw), I25cc National MX Champion Guy Cooper (Suz) and Doug Dubach (Yam) were the big mon ey winners at th e inaugural running of th e Sacramento 50,000 Supercross at th e Arco Arena Stadium in Sacramento, California, October 2021. Craig took home the biggest share of the $50,000 purse at $12,000. Cooper earned $9000 and Dubach $6500 . Cooper topped the 125cc class Friday and Saturday nights and th e 250ccclass on Frida y, while Craig cam e out on top of the 250cc class Saturday. Kawasaki has announced th e details of its 1991 race contin gency program whi ch will mak e over $1.7 million available to riders compe ting in MX, , o ff-ro ad, drag race and road ra ce events. Over $380,000 will be up for grab s in th e AMA 125 and 250cc Super cross Ser ie s, with a n o th er $165,200 po sted in the AMA 125/ 5OOcc outdoor Nati on al MX Series. Other maj or MX series included in th e program are the CMC Golden Sta te National s, N ESC , Fl orida Winter AMA Series and the GF I Californ ia Winter Series. Off-road racers will vie for $124,000 at AMA Nat ion al Har e Scra mbles Series, ISD E Qualifiers, AMA Na tion al Enduro Series, 100Mile Series, SE&T RA Enduro Seri es and SCO RE even ts. A total of $328,000 is available to road racers who ride Kawasaki mot or cycles. T he WERA , Sp rint Series and Formula USA Series have been added to the 1991 contingency program . Facto ry support will aga in be given to riders on Team Kawasaki, T eam Gree n and Team . Muzzy/Kawasaki. 2 T he U.S. Bankruptcy Court for th e Central Distr ict of California will hold a hearing on November 7 on th e motion by debtor Malcolm Smith, Inc. for an order au thor izing the sale of substan tia lly all of th e deb tor's assets to Malcolm Advent ures, Inc., a corpo ration wholl y owned by Malcolm Smith, th e pri or ' owner of Malcolm Smith, In c: Accord in g to the not ice of moti on, Smith will pay $1,450,000 in cash to purchase the firm which earlier in the year filed for protection from creditor s under Ch apter II o f th e federal bankruptcy code. Malcolm Smith, In c. is currently losin g approx- . ima tely $100,000 per month wi th $35,000 of that monthly loss attri butable to the sale of "stale inventory." Its man agement does not feel it can avoid liquidation if the sale is not mad e. First Int erstate Bank ha s negotiated th e blanket lien it holds against th e firm 's assets to secure a loan of $1,275,000 and will release the firm from any further claims and release th e collatera l by paym ent of $950,000 from the proceeds of the sale. The November 3 AMA Professional Awards Banquet whi ch takes place at the H yatt Newporter in Newp ort Bea ch, California , will in cl u de an no u ncement of the recipients of the prestigious AMA Professional Athlete of the Year and Professional Sportsman of the Year awards. The Pro Athl ete award was inaugurated in 1976 and the Sportsman award in 1986. Past winn ers of the Professional Athl ete of th e Year award are: Gary Nixon, 1976;Tony DiStefano, 1977; . Bob , H a n n a h , 1978; Kenny Roberts, 1979; Kent Howerton, 1980; Co-winners: Donnie Hansen, Danny LaPorte, Johnny O'Mara, Bruce PenhaU and Chuck Sun, 1981 ; Steve Wise, 1982; Co-winners: David Bailey a n d Freddie Spencer, 1983; Eddie Lawson, 1984; Freddie Spencer, 1985; Cowinners: Rick Johnson and Bubba Shobert, 1986 a n d 1987; Scott Parker, 1988; and Jeff Ward, 1989. Past winners of th e AMA Professional Sportsman of th e Year award are: Dr. David Kieffer, 1986; Roger DeCoster, 1987;Freddie Ephrem, 1988; Randy Mamola, 1989. Limited seating at the AMA Professional Awards Banquet is available at $100 per couple. If you need details on banquet reservations, giv e Pat McCoy a call at 614/ 891-2425. Alan Isley, president of the Motorcycle Safety Foundati on (MS F) , accep ted a $3200check for the National Motorcycle Safety Fund, donated by motorcycle industry representat ives at Lak e Arrowhead in southern Californ ia durin g the recent FundRaiser '90. The event was a com bined motorcycle industry effort to sup port the ' MSF, and provided the 99 industry repr esentativ es who parti cip ated with a full weekend of rid in g and enjoy ment at Lak e Arrowh ead Burnt Mill Beach Club. Event s in cluded road, dual -sport and off-road rides. By winn ing the AMA Grand Nati on al Champi onship titl e for th e thi rd stra ight year, Scott Parker moved . int o first place on the list of Cam el Pro Series riders who have received Camel Pro point fund mo ney. Park er earned $100,000 for wi nn ing the titl e and added $57,500 in earn ings from Camel Ch all enge races. For his career, Parker now leads all riders in Ca mel bonuses with a whoppin g $474,000 from th e $3.3 million th at has been paid by R.]. Reynolds since 1974. Another thr ee-tim e champ, Bubba Shobert, picked up $465,700 from Camel during his remark abl e domestic career before embarking on his ill-fated Gr and Prix career: Chris Carr, who fin ished second in the fina l 1990 Camel Pro Series point standings , ran ks th ird all-time with $223,000. Other Cam el Pro Series riders who went to the bank with sizeable hunks of money include Steve Morehead who earn ed $35,500 from th e series ~o nsors , all-time AMA win leader Jay Springsteen with $29,000, Ronnie Jones with $28,500, and Rookie of the Year Mike Hale with $18,000, whi ch in clu des a $5000 bonus h e received as the top roo kie, Spea king . of dirt track raci ng, Ken "Mr. Hot Shoe" Maely tells Papa th at due to " to o many" ov ers eas co m rnittme n ts for 1991 , he'll on ly have eigh t weeks of work ing tim e between now and Dayton a to cra nk out steel shoes for next season. So, if you want to be slidi ng that left foot next year , you'd bett er hook up with Ken now . He can be reached at 714/277-8989. Car raci ng legend AJ. Foyt, who has been spo tted on a motorcycle more than a handful of tim es and who on ce ow ned a Kawasaki dealership bearing h is nam e in Hou ston, has been released from the Indianapolis hospital where he spent the last few weeks recuperating from sur gery to repair th e leg and foot injuries he suffered in a crash at Road America. Papa, who remembers seeing a motorcycle "race" th at pitted th e four- tim e Indy 500 winner against Joe Leonard at the Indy Mile more than a few years ago, and all of us at Cycle N ews wish A.]. a speedy recovery. Remember Ontario Motor Speedway? If you do recall the superspeedway that was located east of Los Ang eles and opened in 1970, then you also probably rem ember it being demolished. Just recently, on the 20th anniversary of the first-ever race at Ontari o, an elemen tary school was constru cted next to the track site. According to Nat ional Speed Sport News, th e school building is circular in design and features a checkered nag pattern throughout, including the doors and an atriu m' s floor. At a dedication ceremo ny, the young stu dents wore shirts with the Ontario Motor Speedway logo and an inscrip- ' rion " Win n in g Through Educati on. " Quick! Who won the first Nat ion al Championship motorcycle race run at Ontario Motor Speedway? If you said John Cooper, you 're right. The rid er from England rode a thr ee-cylinder BSA to victory in the 250-mile (two 125-mile legs) race that took pla ce on Octob er 17, 1971. Another Bri t, Paul Smart , .w o n th e 1972 Ontari o Nati on al aboard a three-cylinder T riu mp h. In 1973 th e race was won by Canadian Yvon DuHamel wh o kept th e three-cyl inder win strea k alive. riding a Kawasaki . The fin al On tario Nati on al was run in 1974 and it was Gene Romero takin g hom e the winner 's check. Romero rode a four-cylinder T Z700. The 19th Annual Griffith Park Sidecar Rally will take place a t the Min eral Wells area of the Los Ange les park o n Octob er 27-28. For more informa tion, call Dou g Bingh am at 8181780-5542. T he Baltimore County T ra il Riders will host th e 15th Annual Timonium Indoor Short Track Series at the Timonium State Fairgro unds in Mar yland. The five-round series gets underway on Saturday ni ght, October 27, a n d will run o n co ns ec u tive Saturday nights through November 24 in th e Cow Palace at the fairgrounds. Austra lia n motocrosser Jeff Leisk .recentl y anno unced his retirement on Australian television. Leisk raced in the U.S. for several years before moving , to the World Ch ampionship 500cc MX Series, where he finished second in his first year of co mpe ti tion in 1989. Inj uri es plagued Leisk in 1990 and h~ dropped to l Oth in th e final standings. A team o f five riders from the U.S. ana Canada has been selected to p articipate in next month's Macau Gran Prix road race through the streets of the Portuguese terri tory on the mainland o f China. Mike Barnes, Mark Chin, Kurt Hall, Donald Jacks and Canadian Jacques Guenette will handle th e riding chores on a team managed by Henry DeGouw and sponsored by Federal Express. The Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Club raised $308 for injured road racer Paul Bray by way of a modified 50/ 50 raffle a t Summit Point Raceway recently. Twenty-five percent of the pot went to th e winner and the remaining 75% went to Bray, who suffered serious injuries at the WERA Formula USA event at Phoenix in June. Courtney Caldwell, publisher of American Wom an Road Riding magazin e, will represent Bell Helmets in the Race Against Drugs program. This new drug educa tio n and pr evention program, sponsored by 17 motorsp orts organizations, th e National Child Safety Council and th e FBI, is designed to inform ch ildren of the dangers of drug use. If your winter plan s cen ter arou nd esca'pin!l Old Man Winter by heading " to Florida to race, take note of the following: Two centra ll y lo cated campgrounds - Wayside RV Park at Wildwood (9041748-6007) and :rurtleback RV Pa rk at Lake Panasoffkee (9041793-2051) are recommended, by WorldSports, pr omoters of a host of racing events in the Sunshine S iat~ including th e Winter National Olympics and the Flor ida Winter AMA MX Series. ATK has anno unced a contingency prize program that will put $7500 up for gra bs at each rou nd of therAMA Natio n al Ch a m pi onship Enduro Hare & Hound, Hare Scrambles and Cross Country Series. An overall win by an ATK rider is worth $3000, second $2000, third $1000, fourth $500, fifth $400, sixth th rough 10th $300, II through 15th $200, and 16th through 20th $100. The pri zes are awarded for overall fini shes, not placement in class. A series cha mpion sh ip will earn an ATK rid er a $10,000 bonus. For more informat ion, contact your ATK dealer. On Sep tember 29, Walter Peterson suffered a fatal heart attack I wh ile marking th e trail for the Cowbell Enduro in northern California. Peterson was a member of the Hayward M.C. The Nov emb er 3 Cowb ell Enduro will be dedi cated to his memory. Peterson is survived by his

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