Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127289
GIN THE WIND By Papa Wealey ~ Sahara Club president Rick Sieman, Louis "The Phantom Duck" McKey and eight other motorcyclists were arrested on Saturday, November 24, while protesting the cancelation of this year's Barstow -toVegas race and the temporary closure of public lands in sou thern California 's Mojave Desert that are traditionall y used as the course for the race. Although th e Los Angeles Times reported that those arrested faced sentences of up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine if convicted of violating the land closure order, Sieman said he and four others were released from the San Bernardino County Jail in Barstow, California, after signing for "what amounted to a traffic ticket." Sieman also said , "The Sahara Club pl ans to file charges for fal se arrest, improper procedure, violation of civil rights and police brutality in conjunction with their con current legal suit with the BLM." In nearby Lucerne Valley, California, the AMA Di strict 37 Battle-toVictory hare and hound race, condu cted in th e Johnson Valley OHV Area with BLM authorization, drew 400 riders. Danny Hamel (KT M) was the overall winner with Dan Richardson (Hon ) finishing second and Robert Laughlin (Hon) third. Rick Johnson (Hon) was the overall winner at the final round of the Masters of Motocross Series, a doubleheader supercross in Maastricht, Hoiland, November 24-25, while Jeff Stanton wrapped up the series titl e with a third overall finish. JeanMichel Bayle (H on ) topped Johnson and Stanton (Hon) on the first day of action, but on day two Johnson was the winner ahead of Stanton and Bayle. Bayle was the runner-up in the final standings for the five-event series and Johnson finished third. Road racers Steve Hislop (Hon) and Peter Rubatto (Yam) split wins in the Macau Gr and Prix in Macau on November 25. Rubatto topped Hislop an d David Leach (Yam ) to win the first race with Hi slop beat in g Rubatto and Leach in the second race. American Donal d J ack s (S uz) fini shed fifth overall wit h Kurt Hall (Suz) sevent h overa ll. Michael Barn es (Suz) ended up 15th overa ll. : Jeff Dement (Suz) an d Ezra Lusk (Suz) were the top riders at the 19th Annual Winter Nati on al Olympics held November 19-24 in Gainesville, Florida. Dement won the Bronze Bike Award for being th e top minicycle rid er at the event , whi ch consists of motocross, su percross, TT and grand prix competition, while Lusk won the Scott Golden Goggles Award. given to the top amateur rider, for his wins in the 125cc (12-15) and 125cc B classes. Dement had a perfect record in 85cc (14-15) class competition, while 85cc (7-11) class winner Ricky Carmichael (Kaw) was the only other rider from a total of 2780 entrants to compile a perfect record. Ryan Hughes (Kaw) was the Dunlop Silver Tire Award winner, having compiled the best score in the Expert classes. 2 Rothmans Honda has announced their four-rider team that will contest the 1991 250 and 500cc World Championship Road Race Series. Australians Wayne Gardner and Michael Doohan will ride Honda NSR500s in th e 500cc GP s wh ile Ital ian Luca Cadalora a n d Fren chman JeanPierre J eandat will contes t th e 250cc series on Hondas. Cadalora -will ride an NSR250 with Jeanda t riding an . RS250. Tuner Erv Kanernoto, who last year worked with Gardner, will be Cadalora's tuner in 1991. Who is Jean-Pierre Jeandat? The 20-year:old Frenchman finished 12th in his first GP appearance in 1990 at the French GP, and he is the current ' French 250cc National Champion. Most thought the second Honda 250cc GP ride would go to Australian Daryl Beattie, who finished fourth in the Australian GP at th e end of the '90 season on an NSR250. Beattie. however, has signed with Honda to contest the 1991 All-Japan Formula One series. There is a chance, though, that Beattie will have the opportunity to ride in selected 500cc GPs aboard an NSR5oo. Newly-crowned WERA Formula USA Champion Mike Smith will ride Yoshimura-prepared Suzuki GSXR750s in the 1991 AMASuperbike National Championship. The Georgian joins Californian Tommy Lynch on the two-man team . Smith and Lynch will also compete in selected WERA F-USA events in '91 with Smith riding T eam Hammerpr epared Suzukis in that series. Road racer Kurt Hall will com pete in th e WERA F-USA Series and endurance series with T eam Suzuki Endurance again in 1991. Hall will team with Mich ael Martin and Britt Turkington on the six-time WERA National Endurance Championship winning team . The Women's Motocross Association will present the 15th Annual Women's Motocross Nationals at southern California's Gl en Helen OHV Park on Sunday, December 9. To be run as part' of a regular CMC event, the Women 's Nationals will feature racing in the 125and 250cc Pro classes, with a Grand National Champion determined by total points accu mulated in both classes. Novice, Intermediate, Mini and Vet classes will al so be run as well as a Pit T ootsie class. For more information , call 714/7342278. A gro up of Amer ican s just returned from a Kayo Corporation-hosted trip to' Japan. Kayo, the exclusive importer of Yokohama tir es an d EK chain, presents the Japan Goodwill Tour to reward riders who used Yokohama -ires. AMA Amateur MX National Champions Bill Cantrell, Tim Ferry, Kevin Foley, Greg Krienbrook, Jimmy Mechem and Danny DIven took part in th e November 14-21 trip. Also making the trip were Gary Peak, who took the place of Senior class champ Steve Lewis who was unable to make the trip, Yokohama Pro Rookie of the Year Shane Lawson and Davey Yezek, winner of the Most Impressive Effort Award. Highlights of the trip included VIP seating at the Tokyo Supercross, a tour' of the Yokohama factory , the Honda showroom, and a guided tour of Tokyo. American Suzuki's 1991 MX team lineup has finally been completed. Guy Cooper will defend his 125cc National title and compete in th e Camel Supercross Series alongside 125cc Eastern Regional Supercross champ Denny Stephenson, Mike LaRocco, and Larry Ward. LaRocco and Ward will contest· the 250cc National Championship MX Series, whil e Stephenson will compe te in the I 25cc National class. Suzuki will tr y to ca p tu re the 125cc Western Regi onal Supercross cro w n with Buddy Antunez, while the only newcomer to the team, Tallon Vohland, will compete in the 125cc Eastern Regional Supercross Series. Both riders will also contest the I 25cc National Championship MX Series. Former 500cc Supercross champ Gary Semics has moved his motocross school to southern California for the win ter and will hold a special session at the Brad Lackey Christmas GP on December 9 in Carlsbad, . California. Riders who sign up for the session will be analyzed during practice, then a special seminar will be held later in the da y. Semics can be reached at 34888 Antelope Rd., Sun City, CA 92355, 714/679-1519. Perris Raceway in Perris, California, will host the $10,000 250cc Pro Invitational outdoor supercross on December 29 as part of the opening round of the GFI California Wimer Series North-South Showdown. Immediately following the 250cc Pro race, to be held on a supercross track specially-prepared for factory MX team testing, promoter Goat Breker plans to run a Pee Wee class main event on a special track with the pros handling the flagging chores. The next day, December 30. will feature a $2000 125cc Pro class supercross as well as other pro class racing on the regular Perris course. Perris Raceway will also be open on December 26-27 from 93 for practice. SCORE International issued revised results of the 23rd Presidente SCORE Baja 1000, November 9-10, which showed that the Class 22 ATK team of Greg Zitterkopf and Ron Naylor were disqualified for illegally towing their motorcycle. The team was originally scored in seventh place in Class 22 and 12th overall. This action moves the class finishers from eighth place through 21st to a corrected seventh th rou gh 20th finishing position. The AMA District 36 Benefit Motocross that was orignially scheduled to be held at the Prairie City OHV Park in Sacramento. California, December 16. has been moved to Altam ont Raceway in Tracy, Califor nia. The date remains the same. Sources in Europe say th at Kevin Magee has been given medical clear ance to compete in the 1991 500cc World Championship Road Ra ce Series. The Australian, who suffered head 'inj uries at the U.S. GP in April, recently participated in .a test session at Don ington Park in England. Magee reportedly rode well and was given the oka y to compete next year by the neurologist in attendance. Magee has an other year remaining on his contract with Lucky Strike.Suzuki. Cycle Gear Concord in Concord, California, will host a free enduro seminar with three-time National Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins, National Reliability Enduro Champion Dave Bertram, and multi-time ISDE gold medalists Larry Roeseler and Charles Halcomb. December 5. The seminar will concentrate on such topics as training, motocycle prep. clothing, riding tech n iq u e and timekeeping. Rider autographs will take place between 68:00 pm, with the seminar beginning at 8:00 pm. For more information call 415/680-8018. Stan Fox, a member of the family that owns LeMans Corporation whose subsidiary Parts Un limited distributes aftermarket motorcycle products, won the final race at Ascot Park, the November 22 USAC Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix. Cary Agajanian denied rumors that the track would receive a reprieve from the wrecking ball, saying that although demolition of the famed facility isn't scheduled to begin until January I, "developers have asked how soon we can vacate." Both the Thanksgiving day midget car race and the previous Saturday's sprint car finale drew less than 9000 spectators, while the Camel Pro Series half mile race in September drew over 11,000. . Motocrosser Billy Liles has renewed his contract with Johnson Kawasaki to compete in the 1991 500cc World Championship MX Series. Liles won the first two 500cc GPs earlier this year and led the series until he was sidelined for the rest of the year due to a broken leg. Team Suzuki rnotocrosser Mike LaRocco withdrew from the final round of the Masters of Motocross Series in Maastricht, Holland, November 24-25, due to a wrist injury. LaRocco originally hurt his left wrist several weeks ago while testing,. then aggravated the injury at the November .( 18 Tokyo Supercross in Japan. Kawasaki 's Jeff Matiasevich sprained his wrist when he crashed while testing at Kawasaki's supercross track in southern California on November 21. Matiasevich will still compete in the November 29December 2 Paris Supercross in Paris , France. This winter's AMA Invitational Indoor Pro Ice Race Series has turned into a one-event affair, according to promoter Staton Lorenz. "A combination of poor date selection, bad routing and other factors beyond our control leave us with (just) Muskegon , Michigan, on Friday ; January 4," Lorenz said. "We hope to have a genuine series next season as three of our favorite venues will make ice again." Ra cers set to participate in the Muskegon race include defending champ Dan Ingram, Don Estep. Larry Pegram, Ed Morris. Chuck Springsteen, Br yan Villella and Bryan Hardin. Road racers Rob Phillis, Rob McEInea an d Fabrizio Pirovano all tested the factory Ducati 881 prior to the last round of the World Champion. ship Superbike Series in Mansfeild, New Zealand. Pirovano was the fastest of the three. "How much?" was McElnea 's question to the bike's . regular pilot Raymond Roche when he stepped of the bike, reaching for his wallet. Joking aside, McElnea found the bike to be less of a world beater than he 'd expected: "The power's very good in a small area but it doesn't rev quite as much as my Yamaha (OWOI). It's really nice shifting though, just bang, bang. bang through the gears and the power's right there. ': Two-time World Superbike Champion Fred Merkel was a spectator at the New Zealand round of the series. Merkel brought his grandparents out from California for a fishing trip. Merkel 's Rumi Honda team skipped the final two rounds of the series in Australia and New Zealand. A new FIM rule governing all team championships, such as the Motocross des Nations, will change eligibility requirements for riders. In recent years, a rider's national license