Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GIN THE WIND B ~ Rex Staten was the Vet Pro class winner a t th e 3rd Annual White Bros. Veteran 's World Mot ocro ss Cham pionship held November 3-4 in Perr is, California. Multi-time Nati onal and Supercross cha m p ,R ick Johnson topped the 25-29 year-old.Pro class and rode a Honda Elsinore to the Vintage 250cc & Up class win. Larry Brooks (Kaw) topped T allon .... V ..0 S V ;> o Z Vohland (Kaw) and Steve Lam son (Hon) in the 250cc Ultracross class at the final round of the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Ch ampionship Gran Prix Series held November 3 in San Francisco, Cal ifornia. Newly-crowned U1tracross cha mp Mike Craig didn' t compete in the event, A 10·race schedule for the 1991 Off-Road Championship Gran Prix Series has been anno unced by th e Mickey Thompson Entert ainment G roup. The '91 series will o pe n J anuary 19 at Anah eim Stadium in sou thern Ca lifornia, and tra vel to five o the r states before co n cl u d ing at Candlestick Park in San Fran cisco in October. All but on e of the venues froin the 1990 sch edule will be visited again next season, the excep tio n bein g the Houston Astrodome wh ich has been replaced by T exas Stadium in Dallas, a first-time venue for the series that features Ultracro ss motorcycle racing as part of a program . that predom inatey consists of off-roa d truck races. A co mp lete series schedu le can be . found in the Ca lendar sectio n. The , exac t dates for the fina l three rounds will be announced later, pending the fin alization of foo tba ll and baseball schedu les at those locations. In addition to the Off-Road Cham pi onship Gran Prix schedule, MTEG will also produce five of the 17 Camel Supercross Series even ts listed o n the AMA calendar for 1991. All five will be titled Coors Light Challenge event s, and will be held at Anaheim Stadium and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in sou thern California, Sun Devil Stadium in T empe, Arizona , and the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl in La s Vegas. ' Tony Hendon, the 1988 National Hare Scrambles Champion, ha s resigned with ATK and will contest the 1991 AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles and 100-Mile Cross Country Series aboa rd an ATK 406XC. The California Off-Highway M otor Vehicle Commission will meet at the Red Lion Inn, 7450 Hazard Center Drive, in San Diego on Saturday , November 17. The meeting will begin at 8 a.m . On Friday, November 16, commissioners will tour the U.S. Forest Servi ce Sunshine Trail p roject and then proceed to Ocotillo Wells Stat e Veh icular Recrea tion Area for a dedi cation . For mor e informati on on th e meeting, call Bonnie Mullen at 916/ 324-8767. Th e 1991 Camel . Motorcycle Week at Daytona will get underway on Friday, March I, with AMA/ CCS spri nt races wh ich wi ll contin ue on the foll owing day. Sunday, March 3, a ro und of the U.S. End ura nce Cha llenge will take p lace as will more sprint races.' Ama teur su percross and AHRMA vintage road raci ng will take pl ace at the Speedway o n Monday, March 4. Tuesda y, March 5, will be devoted . to p rofessio n al roa d race practice. Practi ce for the p ros and qualifyin g for the Dayton a 200 by Arai will take place on Wedn esday, March 6, as will a Junior /Pro-Am sho rt track race at Dayton a's Mu ni cipal Stadi u m. The Alli gator Enduro will take place on Thursday , March 7, as will 600 and 750cc SupezSport and International Lightweigh t heat races. An Expert/ Junior sho rt track race tak es place that evening in Mu ni cipal Sta dium. Fri day , March 8, will see the Pro Twins Modified, Pro Twin s GP and 750cc SuperSport finals run at the Speedway alo ng with two Superbi ke heat races, while in th e eveni ng Mu nic ipal Stadium will host th e opening ro und of the AMA 600 National Din Track Series. The Dayton a Camel Supercross will take pl ace o n Sat u rday, March 9, and th e opening ro und of th e Camel Pro Series will get the gree n flag that even ing in Municipal Stadium. T he fina l day of Camel Motor cycle Week, Sunday, March 10, offers attendees the 600 cc SuperSpo r t, Intern a ti on a l' Lightweight, U.S. T win Sports and Daytona 200 by Arai. T he 50th run. ning of th e Daytona 200 is sched uled to get the green flag at 1:30 p. m. In our report (Oc tober 24 issue) on the death of th e California Desert Protection Act as far as this year's Congress was concerned, Rob Rasor , AMA vice presiden t of governmen t relations, said, " . . . we had better be ready for battle again next year." Rasor was spot on. The October 31 edition of the Los Angeles Times carried a letter from Judy And erson, director of the California Desert Protecti on League, in which sh e sa id, " T he Senate committee agree ing to take up the bill absent consensus by Sens. Alan Cranston and Pete Wilson was an unanticipated acti on; we applaud the effort. Senators both on and off the co mmittee who have th eir head s stuck in the sand (du nes) over vague access arguments hav e missed the roar of th e vehicles. Sen. James McClure (R - Pirovano takesMalaysianSB win , I 2 talian Fabrizio 'Pirovan o rod e hi s Yam aha OWOI to a double win in the l l th ro und of th e World Championship Su perb ike Series in Shah Alam , Mal aysia, on No vem ber 4. Pirovano' topp ed Austra lian Rob Phillis (Kaw) in bo th rounds ' wi th Belg ian Stephane Mertens (Ho n) finis hi ng third in the first leg and Frenchman Raymond Roche (Duc) finishing third in the second leg. . A reported 40,000 spectators attended the race, the first Worl d Championship ro und to be held in the southeast Asian country. Pirovan o's two wins moved him to second in the World Cha mp io nshi p point standings behi nd Roch e, 346-284, with two ro u nds remaining. Third p lace in the sta ndings belon gs to Merten s with 283 points. Kawasakiunveils its ZX7R SURerbike K awasaki unveil ed its raceready ZX7R to members of the press in Newport Beach, Ca liforn ia, o n November 3. The a ll -new, limited edi tio n 750cc superbike featu res an in creased com pressio n ratio over its sib ling ZX7 (u p fro m 10.8: I to 11.5:I ), a close-ra tio six-speed tra nsm issio n, an alumin um gas tan k, and 39mm Keih in FVK-D carbure tors with accele rato r p um ps a n d fue l enricher. The ZX7R also featu res a gas -cha rge d rea r shock with remote reservoir and 12-wa y adj us table co m pression da mpi ng, seve n-way adjustable, 41mm male-slider front fork, and a mor e aerodynamic fairing. The ZX7R will carry a suggested reta il price of $8499. Idah o ) wo n th at ro und but he won' t be th ere next year and Sens. Dal e Bumpers (D-Arkansas) and J. Bennett J ohnston (D-Lo uisiana) will be. T he tac tic in creased and solidif ied o ur stre ng th for next year's battles. We anticipa te total victory next year." T he fin al AHRMA Regional Vintage MX of th e year will take pl ace on Sunday, Novem ber II , at Arvin Ra cewa y in Arvin, Californi a. AH R MA membershi p is required; oneday me mbershi ps will be available at the Tu lare Kawasaki/Suzuki-sponsored event where ga tes open at 7 a.m . and the first race gets the green flag at 9:30 a. m. For more information call 209/686-4040 (days) or 209/688-3949 (even ings). Randy Warren o f TravelStar, th e Naples, Florida-based travel agency , warns that hotel/motel rooms will be in hi gh demand for nex t year's Camel Motorcycle Week at Daytona Beach , Florida. Warren said the 50th an ni versa ry of Cycle Week is expected to draw a ma ss influx of motor cyclists from aro und th e country and overseas. "The hotels smell blood and many are gougi ng," Warren said. "We had to drop some of our regular hotels because th e pricing go t obscene." TravelStar has secu red blocks ' of rooms and condos in th e Daytona a n d Ormond Beach areas a n d is offer ing them separately or as part of Cycle Week pa ckages including airfare. For hotel reservations or special airfares, call TravelStar at 800/5411223. The Los Ancianos M.C. celebra ted its 30th anniversary with a party on October 20. A drawing for starting positions for th e December I Tecate 250K Enduro was co nd ucted and to the surprise of nearly everyone on hand, row two went to Team Green's Larry Ro eseler and Kenny Parry" Thor's Mark Phares and Acerbis' Ken Mallow. According to Ra y Abbott, president of Los Ancianos M.C., " It was an honest draw with over 200 witnesses, but there were still some doubters!" The 1991 World Championship Road Race Series calendar underwent severa l cha nges durin g the recent FIM Congress in Budapest, H ungary. The historic Belgian G P a t Spa-Franco rchamps has been taken off th e calendar for the '91 season and has been replaced by the San Mari no GP which will be held o n August 18 at a yet to be determined site, alt ho ug h it appears that Misan o will be a likely host with th e Italian GP taki ng pl ace a t Monza, In ad d it io n, th e Hun garoring in Hunga ry lost its GP after hosting the event for the firs t tim e in 1990. World Championship rounds t be held in the U .S. in 1991 include th e World Championship Road Race Series at Laguna Seca in Monterey; Ca liforn ia, o n April 21; World Superbike Series in Brainerd, Minnesota, o n June 9; th e 250cc MX World Ch ampi onship at Unadill a in New Berl ii{, New York, o n July 14; and the 500cc MX World Ch ampionship a t Gl e H elen ORV Park in San Bernadin o, Ca liforn ia, on Augus t 25. The Motocross des Na tions will take pl ace in Valk en swaard , Holland, o n Sep tem ber 15. The worldwide TV rights to the World Championship Road R ace Seri es will cha nge hands in 1993. The Sp anish gro up Dornsa outbid five other groups with its $ 30 million bid for the five-year contract. Dornsa will hold the rights to the GPs until 1998./ One surprising cha nge' to com e fro m th e FIM Co ngress in regards to Grand Prix road racing is that all riders will be abl e to throw out their worst two results a t the season's end. In effect, this mean s tha t for the 500 and 250cc classes on ly the best 13 resul d will count for th e cham p io nsh ip while o nly th e II best will cou nt in the 125cc and sidecar classes. ,'IT ,'1 A proposed rule th at would have made GP road racers use lead-free gaso~ li ne was dropped for 1991" but ma y resurface for '92. I Other matters that may change ilfthe fu ture for G P ra cing incl ud6 the po ssibility of making the 500cc class for twin-cylinder motorcycles o nly: The FIM is apparently sticking with the co ncep t with a possible change in th e works for the 1993 season. The FIM may also introduce a homologation rule for th e 125 and 250cc classes' in 1992, effecti vely making the class for production racers only. The FIM is al so co ns idering the possibility of allowing sidecars to use 750cc fourstro ke engi nes beginning in 1993. Two Brothers Racing has inked a co ntrac t with America n Honda to contes t th e AMA Superbike N ational Cha mpions hip and AMAlCCS 600cc Su persport Series in 1991. The team wi ll recei ve a works RC30 and a CBR600 a long wit h spa re parts and spare engi nes, accord i ng to team owner Crai g Erion, and th e bikes will be ridden by Flor ida 's Jeff Farmer. T wo Brothers will join Commonwealth H on da in receiving Honda su pport in 1991 , wi th Randy Renfrow ca m p a ign i ng th e Commonwealth Honda RC30 in the supe rbike series. Erion says the 600cc cham pionsh ip will be the team's number one priority

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