Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v Letters to the editor 0ICES INSIDE Bro therhood FEATURES SUPERCROSS Matiasevich scores Tokyo victory 6 CHRISTMAS BUYER'SGUIDE Gift ideas for the motorcyclist in the family 17 ROAD RACE DEPARTMENTS Rymer rules World Superbike finale at New Zealand 10 Hot laps at Road Atlanta on 1991 Suzuki GSXRs 12 Norton RCW588 rotaryroad racer . . . 14 20 CALENDAR TESTS LOCAL RACING 26 WANT ADS .. : 30 RESULTS 43 ON THE FRO NT PAGE: Factory Ka wasa ki rider Jeff " Ch icken " Ma tia sevich added the T okyo Supercross to h is ever-i n creasi n g lis t of Supercross victo ries, by edgi ng ou t Camel Supercross Cha mpi o n Jeff Stan ton a n d 125cc Na tiona l MX Champion Guy Coo per. See p age 6 for rac e co verage. P ho to by Alex H od g ki nso n . America 's weekly m otorcycle newspa p er Volume XXVII Mich ael Klinger. Pu blisher Carol ine Gendry , Executive Secretary to th e Pub lisher Editorial Jack Ma ngu s, Associate Publis her! Edi tor Kit Pa lmer , Asso ciate Edit or Paul Carruthers , Associate Editor Na te Ra ub a, Associate Editor Ken Faug ht , Assistant Editor Edwina Mangus , Calendar Editor Graphics and Production Ree Johnso n, Production Supervisor Mandy Loa, Prod uction Manager Den nis Gr eene, L ab. Tec h. Sta cey Guest, G raphi c Ar tist Amy Harris, Grap hic A rtist Carolyn Branham, T ypesetter Accounting/Data P rocessing Do n na Brya n , A IR Coo rdina tor Geneva Rep ass, Assis tan t He rla ne Lew is, Credit Advert isin g Terry Pratt, Nat ional A ccounts Manager Mark Thome. Weste rn Sales Manager Ro n Davidson, n'cstern Sales Manager Thomas R. Gonter, Western Sales Manager Mar k Mitch ell , Eastern A ccoun ts Manager G reg Mitch ell , Eastern Sal es Manager Curtis Ca mp bell, Eastern Sal es Manager Joan R ussian , Westt'rn Ad Coordinator Carla Borden Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Circulation Rh eba Smith, Manager Sarah Taylor, Bill in g Coordinator Alma Anguia no , Processing Coo rdinator Gab rie lle Gi llia m , Processing Assistant Want Ads Debbi e Weller, Want A d Sales Marketing &: P rom otion Mark Tho me, Ma nager Dea ler Sales Allen Den n ison, Dealer R epresent ative National Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave.. Long Beach, CA 90806, P.O. Box 498, Long Beac CA 908 h. 01-0498 (213) 427-7433; 213/636·8844. FAX (213) 427·6685 Service and Support Ch ris Ait cheson, Headquarters R ecept ion ist . Leon ard Herri ng, Service and Su pport Easte rn Offi ce 4190 First Ave., T ucker , GA, 30084; ma ilin g address P.O . Box 805, T ucker, GA:lOO85-0805. (404) 934-7850. . FAX (404) 934·3 112 . Cycle News (USPS 141-340) is pu blished weekly except th e last two weeks of th e ca lendar year for $50.00 per year by Cycle News, Inc., 2201 Cherry Avenue, Long Beach , CA 90806. Seco nd class postage pa id at Lon g Beach , CA. POSTMASTER: Send addresschanges to CycleNews, P.O.llox 498, Long Bea CA 90801-0498. ch, T o determ in e the exp ira tio n da te or you r subscription , check th e Iour numbers on th e first line or you r address label. T h e first two digits indicate the last issu e number you 'll receive and the las t two cha rac ters in dicat e th e year or th e last issu e. Subscription rat es: Rat es fo r th e United Stat es a nd its p ossessions Ior o ne year, (50 issu es), $50.00; two years (100 issues). $95:00; six months, (25 issues), $26.00; trial sub (15 issues ), $19.00. Ca nada and Foreign. o ne year (50 issues), $90.00; two years (100 issues), $175.00; six months (25 issues). $45.00; trial sub (15 issues ), $38.00. . . Cycle News welcom es unsoli cit ed ed ito ria l mat eri al includin g sto rie s, cartoons, ph otos, etc. Suc h ma.t eri~ I , if p ublished• ~ecome~ th e exclusi ve property of Cycle News. Such ac. cepted material IS subject to reVISIOn as IS necessary 10 th e so le discretionof Cycle News. Unsolici ted mat eria l wh ich is not used will be returned if accom pa nied by a self addressed sta mped envelope. All unsolicited mat eri al will be hand ted with reaso nable care, however, Cycl e New s assu mes no responsibility for the safety, loss or damag e to suc h material. Reprintin g in whole or part o n ly by permission or the p ublish er. Adve rtising rates a nd circu la tio n information will be sen ~ upon request. See S.R .D .S. . W/BnA AUDITED _ V r/'\ CIRCULATION Copyright8 Cycle News. Inc. 1990. Trademark Cycle News registered U.S. Patent Office. Allrigbtsreserved, 4 Las t weekend, while touring the Baja 1000 on di rt bikes, everyo ne' s worst n ightmar e occurred . My buddy. : J erry T enge, was hit hea d-on by o ne of.the locals near Chec kpoint 8A. J erry , m y bro th er- in -l a w, Bri an Kelly and I had been preparing wi th exci teme nt to spend th ree days bi kin g around Hi ghway 2 checking on the grea t raci ng througho u t Baja. O ur p lan was to start out of Ensena da a t 5 a.m. (to catch the first mo torcycle racers o ut of Ojos Negros) and end the da y at Mike 's Sky Ra nch. We never made it to Mike's. Just as . we were abou t to head th ere from San Matias. a T eam Green van's crew met up with us a nd asked us to deliver a message to Team G reen' s Mark Joh nson regard ing o ne of the ir riders who ha d crashed be tween Borrego and San Matias . O n o ur way back, just after passing the flag crew at the race co ur se cro ssing, Jerry was nailed and th ro wn over the ca r a t least 30 feet. I hav e been to every major motorcycle event in sout hern Ca lifornia a nd I have never seen the brotherhood of motorcycling instan tly co me together. As horrible as the acci dent was, we were fort u na te to have it occu r in front of such gre at peop le. Coincidentally, several paramedics a nd firefi ghters (four unsung heroes still unknown to us) were on the scene and at J erry's side before Brian and I skidded to a stop. J erry , wh o had, su stai ned a bro ke n hum erus , hand, ch i p ped pelvis a nd still unknown damage to a recently repaired left kn ee, received immedi ate medi cal attention. Anne and T om Van Beveren , wh o wer e co vering th e event fo r Cycl e News, were the next to assist with their calm dem eanor and he lp ful delivery of Jerry's bent bike back to Ense na da . In the chaos, T eam Green a nd other personnel from Kawasak i came to the rescue. It was immed ia tely apparent, after Mark J ohnson tri ed everyt hing possible that we were not going to be a ble to ge t a rescue vehicle to th e scen e in the ne xt several hours. Sh aro n Ri char ds, a T eam Green secreta ry. co m ma ndeered a van from Jim Whi e to tra nsport Jerry and the in jured Kawasaki rider , Do yle Kin g, to Ensenada for an evac fli ght to San Diego. . J erry, Brian a nd I are very gra tefu l to have met such a terr ific and caring grou p of people incl ud ing T ed Hunnicut who was in the middle of his race a nd stopped a t the scene to ask abo u t J erry . Also incl uded are Shawn Norfolk from Mary land who drove th e van through the streets of Ense nada trying to find the pla ne (Jerry says Sha wn cou ld race a Yugo in the 1000 and win overall) a nd Robert a La Velie of SCORE who directed us to Harry _ R. Metz of Cri tical Air Medicine who actually flew Jerry to San Diego . J err y's ou t of the hospi tal and home now. He is busted up pretty good, but happy to be alive and grateful to all of you. Many thanks. Brent L. H ensley En cinitas, CA Motorcycle Institu te for allowing me and many other racers to use the school's facili ties (in cl u d ing dyn o tim e) free of charge to prepar e our bikes for the Daytona event; TYD Yamaha of Or la ndo for having an SRX base gas ket in stock a nd sta ying open la te o n a Frid ay n igh t to make an $8 sa le to a n o ut-of -town racer; Jim Murphy, a local spectato r a nd enthusias t, for offering me the use of his street SRX to scavenge parts from to re pair m y race bi ke after I cras hed; and Kushi ta n i .and Del Amo Mot or s for providi ng logistical support for me and five other racers, mak ing the whole tri p possible. Thanks to all of you ! Kevin Johnson Venice, CA I Crystal ball After read ing a bout Eddie Lawson 's im pressive Cagiva test in the In The Win d section of yo ur November' 14 issue. I decid ed to bring m y trusty crystal ball o u t of r tirement. Please inf or m Ed die to stick wi th a Japanese com pany as Cagiva will fail in 1991 wi th massive mech anical problem s. Please no te .th e reaso n I retired my crystal ball back in 1985: It to ld me Freddie Spencer would leave the Wor ld Championship Series in 1991 for a chance to com pete in th e AMA Su perbike Series with a team headed by a co u ple brothers! Jay Da vidson Grand Forks, ND Downhill I wo uld lik e to let you know what a piss-poor job of coveri ng pro hillcl im b you 've been doing sin ce your Georgia offi ce moved. You should 'be able to do a better job. Lou Gerencer Elkhart, IN 8 We sho uld and we will do a better jpb 13: in '91 . . . Edi tor. Camping in Daytona :;\ With all th e heavy prices for hotel/ mo tel rooms during Cycle Week at Daytona, is there a place wh er ~ a co u p le of guys co uld ·Iay down thei r sleep ing bags and personal tents? I William C. Scofield Denv er, CO W e suggest you call Dest in atio n Daytona!, the conven tio n and visitor's bureau for th e Dayton a Beach area. T heir toll -free num ber is 800/8541234 . . . Edito r. Letters to the editor shoul d be sent to: Voices, Cycle News, P.O . Box 498, Long Beach, CA 908010498. Published letters do not necessaril y reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Letters should not exceed 200 words and all letters are subject to editing. Asp halt vacation I recently return ed from a terrific vaca tio n; I raced my Yamaha SRX at theAMA/CCS Race of Champions in Da ytona a nd a tte nded th e WERA G rand Na tio nal Final s at R oad Atlanta. Amost two solid weeks of great racing actio n - I had the time of m y life! I wo uld like to pub licly tha nk so me very generous folks I met durin g m y trav els: Bru ce Brahms a t American ,.

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