Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eter m ined hi s eligibili ty, ' mea n ing ha t severa l American racers competed or European countries. T he new rule tipulates that the rider's na tio na li ty III determine what team he is eligible or. ormer AMA Na tio na l Road Race hampion Mike Baldw in has been ed into the second round of the limination seri es leading up to th e !ggl World Ice Racing Championhips o n March 9-10 in Hollan d. aldwin will attempt to qualify o n anuary 19-20 in Deventer, Holland. he FIM's b an o n Sou t h African thl etes was dropped at the recent FI M ngr ess in Budapest, Hunga ry. Since 1985, Sou th Africa has been ban ned ,rom h o st in g FI M cha mpion ship ven ts and Sou th African riders have 'ee n banned from i nternationa l ompeti tio n. e AMA has announced tha t it will dopt th e F IM points scale for the 1991 road raci ng ch am p ions h i ps . Po ints will go to the top 15 finishers as'follows: 20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-54-3:2-1. In previous years th e AMA R~id points using th e system sti ll reta ined by the AMA Camel Pro Ser ies: 20-16-13-11- 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3·2-1. Chris Economaki reports in National Sp eed Sport News th at fo ur-ti me World Cham pi on Eddie Lawson was spotted at a November 3-4 IMSA car race meet in Del Mar, Californ ia, and said that he was scheduled to drive a' TWR Jaguar in a test sessio n and after doing so would deci de whether or not to switch to car racing. Laws o n also specta ted a t the Thanksgiving Day Ascot midget race a nd th ere he said he still hadn't decid ed wha t he was going to do in 1991. International Cha-mpionshi p Events (IC E) will h ost B u d w e i s e r S p e edway I c e Racin g Wor ld Cham p i o n s hip II in Tu cson , Arizona, J a n uary 11-12. The event is no t FIM sanc tio ned and participation in last year' s race resulted in a co u ple of European racers bein g su spended by the FIM . Add road racer Scott Russell ro the lon g li st of riders represented by International Road Racers, In c.'s Gary H oward. R u sse ll joins World Champions Wayne R ainey" Edd ie Lawso n , Jo h n Kocinski a nd Kenny Rob erts as Howard clients. Dbn' t m iss our upcoming end-~f-the year issue which wi ll feature our ann u al buyer's guide , a complete lis"ting o f 1991 motorcycl es from American , Eu ro pea n and J a pa nese AMA BOARD REPORT .T he Ameri can Motorcyclist Association Board of T ru stees conducted its year-end mee ting in Orlando, Florida, on Novemb er 3-4. The site was selected so memb ers of the board could also participate in the Internationa l Motorcycle Safety Conference for which the AMA was a host sponsor. AMA Treasurer Bob Perkin s reported th at unaudited yea r-end financi als indicate that the Associa tion exceeded its target for retained earnin gs a nd tha t the Herit age Homecom ing had been p ro fi tab le. H e reported that th e accou nti ng firm of Ern st & Young had begun its custo mary ann ual audit of the Associa tion's accounts. The trus tees reviewed the activitie s of the 23rd AMA Congress held in Columbus on Octob er 10 th rough 12, 1990. T he mi nu tes of the Con gress were approved with no cha nges and the boa rd rat ified a recom mendation of the Congress to extend the terms of elected ATV delega tes to two years, consistent with o ther delegat es to the Co ngress . The Boar d ap proved a cris is response plan ai med a t hel pin g the Associat io n act promptly and efficiently in the face of unforeseen cha llenges . The plan calls fo r the mob ilization of emerge ncy policy and stra tegy teams on bo th the board and staff levels. The trustees reviewed a list of Associa tio n insurance coverages a nd not ed th at th ere will be no increases in . pr em ium for profession a l rid er med ical coverage during 1991. The board had previo usly accepted a 10% in crease in pu blic a nd participant liability coverage prem iums, and had taken actio n to raise the required minimum coverage on sanctioned events from $100,000 to $300.000. AMA President Ed You ngb lood reported on the FIM Co ngress held in Bu dapes t, Hun ga r y, O ctober 20 through 27, 1990. H e reported that the 1991 World Cha mpionsh ip calendar had been confirmed, in cluding four events in the United States, an d that the FIM had ap pro ved a p lan that will provide financial relief for roa d racing gra nd prix orga nizers outside Europe, includin g theround held in Am eri ca. Trustee Paul Dean reported on the activit ies of th e professional racing str a tegic planning co m mi ttee. The trustees a pproved a proposal for Mr. Dean to attend a motorsports conference in Decemb er that will include rep resen ta tives from most U.S. rnot ors port s sanctioning bodi es. Trustee Pa tty Mills delivered a report fro m the American Motorcycle Poli tical Action Comm ittee. She stated that ' AMP AC h as co n tribu ted approx imately $36,000 to selected candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Represen tatives for the current election cycle. ' Mr. Youngblood reported that the Dayton a International Speedway had announced there would be no ama teur man ufacturers, as well as a host of feature a rti cles. Issue #50 goes to press on Mo nd ay, December 10, and will be ava ilable at dealers shortly thereafter. If the a bove isn' t reason enou gh to mak e you want a copy of that issue, consider this: members of o ur ed itoria l staff will take part in the Decem ber 9 Christmas Grand Prix a t so uthern Cal ifornia 's Ca rlsba d Ra cewa y a nd a co u p le of them a re talking about " kickin g so me butt" in tha t race. Yo u'll find o ut ho w they did in the end-o f-the-year issue. Ken F a u gh t recently ret urn ed fro m Spain where he covered the Barcelona , Supercross. Pa pa gave him some tips o n good restaura nts in Bar celo na , but o n hi s return Faught said the closest he go t to a ny of those resta uran ts was a P izza Hu t. Ahh, you th . CHANGED : The Inte rnatio nal Ho t Rod Associa tion Mo tor cycle Division has cha nged its na me to P rostar . T he ch ange, acco rd ing to a press release, will e na b le the group to run moto rcycle dr ag race mee ts a t both IHRA and Nati on al H o t Rod Associatio n (N H RA) affi liate tracks. P rosta r a lso a nnounced that th ey will publish T he P rost ar R epo rt, a new spaper based o n the N H R A's National Dra gster format. New offices h a ve been es tab lis hed at 60 06 Caldicot e, Humble, T X 77346, 713/ 852-2000. MOVED: Zero Gravity, manufacturers of sport bik e windscreens, to 53 12 Derry Ave., Unit D, Ago ura Hills. CA 91301 ; 818/ 597-9791, FAX 818/ 5979527. M OVE D: California T rail R ide s. organizers of du al sport rides, to 1261J La keview Ave. #431, Anaheim , CA 92807, 714/970-8666. A P P O INTED : West Racing Products, as West Coast race tra ck representa tives for Sunsta r Sproc kets and VP Racing Fuels. P URCHASE D: All assets of Malcolm Sm ith In c. by Tucker-R ocky Distributing on November 21. Malcolm Smith, who was the origin al founder o f Malcolm Sm ith In c. and sold it to a holding company in 1987, had filed a motion in the U .S. Bankruptcy Cou rt for th e Central District of Ca lifornia to repurchase the fir m, which ea rl ier . this year filed for protection from cred i tors under Chapter I I of the federal bankrup tcy code. However , Tucker-Rocky, wh o earl ier thi s yea r withdrew an offer to purchase Malco lm Smith In c., ou tbid Smith to purchase the firm . ' supercross at Dayton a during the 1991 event and tha t the schedule of vintage races would be expanded. Mr. Youngblood also reported that the staff ha d begun p lan ning for the AMA Heri tage Ho mecoming in August 1991, since the inaugural event in 1990 had been such a success. , American Motorcycle Heritage Founda tion Chairman Dal Smilie reported that the museum' grand opening in August had been a big success, and that the facility continues to receive good pr ess and visitatio n n, He said pre liminary sta tisti cs indicate that over ' 20,000 people a year are expected to tour the mu seu m. Sm i lie reported th at th e AMHF board will meet in Westerville o n December 7, 1990. T he AMA board awarded the Dud Perkin s Awar d, its highest hon or for serv ice to motor cycling, to fo rm er trus tee a nd Road R ider Ma gazi ne founder Roger Hull. In additio n to his service to the Associa tio n , Hull is credi ted with ha vin g been a formative influence in iden tifyin g and promoting the interests of touring riders th rou gho u t America. Alo ng wi th Malcolm Forbes, he was oneof the first Americans to cond uct a goodwill tour of the Soviet Union aboard motorcycles. The trustees approved cha nges to the AMA Code of Reg ul a tio n s th a t inclu ded the follo wing: ·A provision' in case of di ssolu tion of the AMA to contrib ute its assetss to the Am erican Mot orcycle Heri tage Foundation. . • A provision tha t the retiri ng pas t chairman of the board can be invited to stay o n for one year as a nonvoting memb er of the boa rd. • A prov ision to gran t voting rights for the electio n of trustees to only individuals who have jo ined the Association by Sep tember I of the election year. and to require tha t an individual must hold full membership for at least three years before he or she can serve on the boa rd. • A provision excluding em ployees of the Associatio n from bein g elected to the board. • A provision that would prohibi t the em ployee of a corpo ra te memb er alrea dy holding a seat o n the board fro m ac q u i ri ng a seat throu gh election as a n in dividual memb er. • A provision prohibiting a n individual from simu lta neously holding seats on the AMA Board of T rustees and the AMA Congress. ' All of the above proposals were ap proved by at least three-quart ers of the AMA Board of T rus tees and will be placed befor e th e Associati on 's a n n ua l meet ing for ratification in , February 1991. The AMA Board of Trustees will next meet . in Cincinnati durin g the third week of February 1991 on a date to be announced. . ~------------------------------------------------------ -------------I' rSUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM " I I • I I I I Address I C. I lry Sta~ ~p I~ I I I Please start m y subscription to Cycle News: I 0 Every week for one year (50 issues) for $35.00 (can be billed 3 mon thl y pa yments ) I o Every week for two years (100 issues ) for $65 .00 I 0 ., , Six months second class (25 issues) for $18.00 0 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I T h is is a renewal 0 Please bill me 0 Bill 3 payments of $11.67 0 Enclosed is m y check o r money o rder r:;;" ,iJ . Charge m y 0 Visa 0 Master card ",, _ ~I VlSO Signature MC/Visa # Expiration Date Send to: Cycle N ews, Inc., P.O. 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