Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND B Papa Wealey y D o u g Dub a ch (Yam) swept both main events at the Geneva Supercross doubl eheader in Switzerland, December 7-8. Jean -Michel B a yle (Hon) finished second on the first night over Ron Lechien (Kaw), while Greg Alb ertyn (Ho n) grabbed the runner-up spot ahead of Edwin Evert sen (Kaw) the next da y. Bayle head ed south for another su per cross race in Genoa, Italy, where he beat Stefan Everts (Suz) and Larry Ward (Suz) on Sunday, December 10. Doug Pole n made his race debut on th e Fast By Ferracci Ducati a winning one. The T exan won both legs of the Superbike Masters race at Mexico City, Mexico, before an estimated 20,000 spectators. Fast qualifier Arped Harmati (Hon) of Hungary crashed while leading in both legs. Polen won the , first leg by passing Worl d Champion R a ymond Roche (Duc) on the last lap after a three-riderbaule that also included Pascal Picotte '(Yam) who finished third. Frenchman Roche retired in the early stages of th e second leg and Thomas Kipp (Yam ) made it an American 1-2 by finishing second to Polen. Kipp had finished eighth in th e first leg. Defending Daytona 200 cha mp io n D a ve Sadowski will most likely miss the 50th running of th e event in March. Sadowski was scheduled to undergo bac k surgery in November, but problems with his insuran ce company has forced him to delay the operation. "I flew to San Francisco for th e surgery," Sadowski said. "But th e insurance company balked at the last minu te and I had to fly back home (Buford, Georgia). Right now I'm just continuing my physical th erapy and I can't mak e any plans for next year yet. I guess I'm ou t of comm ission until I find out more from the insurance company. At this tim e, everything is on hold. " Sadowski recently took part in a car racing school at Road Atlanta. ' European Superbike Champion Rich Arnaiz may end up racing in the 1991 AMA Superbike National Championship aboard a second Commonwealth ' Honda RC30. Reportedly, Arn aiz and Commonw ealth Honda 's Martin Adams have spoken and th ere is a strong possibility of Arnaiz joining the team. Arnaiz is currently in Italy as a g ues t of Honda at th e Bologna Motorcycle Show. The no rth ern Californ ia native ha s also mov ed h is family sou th to Palm Spri ngs , California. Kenny Roberts recently returned fro m J ap an, but there's still no word on wh o will be riding what on T eam Marlb oro Roberts Yam aha in 1991. Newl y-crowned 500cc World Champ ion Wayne Rainey is a definite to return for the second year of his thr eeyear co ntract, and 250cc World Ch amp ion Joh n K ocin s ki is also set to return. The big question mark still hovers around four-time World Ch amp ion Eddie Lawson, however. " We do n' t kn ow yet," Roberts said in regard to La wson 's 1991 pl ans . "Everything _is j ust ru nni ng late this year, and it's just too early to say right now." AMA Superbike Ch ampion Dou g Chandler is still keeping qui et regarding his 1991 plans (see Chandler in terview on page 16). The northern Californian seems set to compete in th e 1991 500cc Grands Prix, but reportedly - no cont racts have been signed. Christy DelIo, 51, of Norco, California, was awarded $5.5 million in punitive damages on December 5 by an Orange County Superior Court jury. Delio, who also stands to collect $1.2 million in compensatory damages, had acc used Harley-David son Motor Co. of stealing his design for an exha ust pipe, and of committing fraud by ceasing to do business wi th him after they had promised him a percentage of the profits from sales of th e exhaust pipe in a 1980 verbal agreement. Harley-Davidson's a tto rney said they would file an appea l. The Northern California Ch apter of the Over The Hill Gang and Altamont Raceway in Tracy, California, wi ll host a Vet, Over The Hill Gang and Old Timers race on January I. Entry fee includes overnight camping in the pits at Altamont Raceway and breakfast on New Year's Day. For more information, call 209/435-7299 or 415/ 447-4610. For Over T he Hill Gang (Northern California Chapter) membership information, call Bob Clark at 209/435-85 73. And whi le we're speaking of even ts at Altamont Raceway, th e track will host the final round of the Toys For Tots Christmas Series M X on December 23. Everyone who brings a new toy for th e Toys For Tots program will be admitted free. The inaugural run ning of the FIM reco~nized Pan Pacific Supercross Senes will take p lace in 1991 wi th the opening ro und scheduled to take place in New Zealand, J anuary 26. Subsequent rounds will take place in Australia, Hawaii an d J apan during the summer, and in India, Thailand and Malaysia in December. Former pro motocrosser J ohn DeSoto is behind th e organization for the June 29 Hawaiian round. Three-time Grand National Cha mpion Bart Markel was re cently honored as a new inductee to th e Great er Flint (Michiga n) Area Sports Hall of Fam e. During hi s stellar career, Markel won a th en-record 28 National events. He won the tide in 1962, 1965 and 1966. Walter Beute , of Helen, Georgia, pa ssed away on November 28. Beute was a popular Harley-D avidson mounted dirt track compe titor in the '50s. Godspeed, Walt. A raffle that will award the winner with a $350 gift certificate from Macy's is being conducted to ben efit th e Steve E klu n d R e li e f Fund. According to th e ra ffle's organizer, J ohn Dohn, the winning ticket will be dra wn on Super Bowl Sunday. " I'm hop in g to sell 500 tickets . . . I ha ve sold abou t 150 so far," Dohn sa id. Tickets are available for $5 each; mak e checks out to the Steve Eklund Relief Fund and mail to Dohn a t 48 Yosem ite Rd. , San Rafa el, CA 94903. Eklund, wh o suffered critica l head injuries wh ile lead ing the Albuquerque Mile in June, is stilI in a coma. Roger Hull, who has devoted mu ch of his life to promoting the causeof touring motorcyclists in this country, is the latest recipi ent of the AMA's Dud P e rkins A ward, the membership orga nization's , most prestigious individu al award. Two years after he started riding in 1960, Hull and two other enthusiasts founded Road Rider magazine. Hull served as the publication's editor and publisher until 1982 and continued to con tribute articles until 1984, when he joined HarleyDavidson as a public relations representative. Hull also served on the AMA' s Board of Trustees from 1978 through 1980. Th e Dud Perk ins Award , pi on eer ent ed to since it 1970. named after motorcycl ing Dud Perkins, has been pres28 outstanding motorcyclists was creat ed by the AMA in The annua l World of Motorsports wi ll tak e place at no rthe rn Californ ia 's Santa Clara Convent ion Center, January 10-13. The sho w features all forms , of motorsport racing. Keith T urpin , the former Suzuki factory tea m motocrosser, underwent surgery for a benign growth on his vocal cord on December 5. Cards and letters can be sent to: Keith Turpin, C layton Gen eral Hospital, Room 3381, II S.W. Upper Ri verdale Rd., Riverda le, GA 30274. Harley-Davidson of Glendale, one of the largest Harley dealershi ps in the country, has just finalized a major renovation of their faci lity at 3717 San Fernando Road in Glendale, California. Owner O liver Sho kouh had the 1921 12,000-square-foot building's art deco motifs, col umns, and o ther ar chitectural features restored. The building housed a Ch evrolet dealership from 1921 to 1951,and later served as a furniture ma nufacturing p lant and cosmetic labora tory . Sh ok ouh, who bo ug ht the building in 1979 and opened Harley-Davidson of Gl endal e that year, encou rages anyone interested in viewing the renovated facility to drop by for a tour . Tune in SportsChannel America on Sunday evenings, at 6:30 p.m. PDT and 9:30 p.rn. EDT, for the cable netw ork 's t elecasts of AMA National Championship MX races . On tap for the rest of the month are th e Steel City National on December 16, th e Budds Creek National on December 23, and the Unadilla National on December 30. New York State residents can catch a repeat of the Road Atlanta round of the WERA F o rmula U S A Road Race Series on the Madison Square Garden cable network on Christmas Eve at 8:30 p.m. EDT. Two notable motorcyclists are now involved in th e mo untain bike (as in bicycle) busi n ess. Former Grand National Champion Mert Lawwill is working with pioneer mo untain bike racer Gary Fisher (no, not mo torcycle raci ng's Gary Fisher of Penn sylvania) and has come up with a rear suspension design that appears on 1991 Fisher mo untain bikes. Paul Turner, David Bailey 's mech anic in the ear ly '80s, is the ow ner of Rock Shox a n d is supply i ng a u n ique mo untain bi ke front suspension sys. tem to manufacturers. The 19 91 P o lic e Motorcycle Road Racing World Champion. ship wi ll be held at the Circu it Carole in France, September 25-30. Police officers fro m 25 nations will compete on Yamaha FZR600s supplied by P fastest at DaY----:...ton-Ca' ---olen ---' D oug Pol en assumed the mantle of "early favorite" for the March 10 running of the 50th Daytona 20Q by Arai after unofficia ll y breaking th e Daytona Internati onal Speedway lap record durin g Dunlop's December 5-7 tire test. T he Denton, Texas, resident is no stranger to Daytona. Polen, a four-year memb er of Yoshimura/ T eam Suzuki, finished third in the -'87 running of th e Daytona 200, too k second in '88, a nd posted a DN F in the '89 race after mechan ical problems ended hi s ride on the 24th of 57 lap s wh en he was ho ldi ng a 39-second lead. _ >- ~ S '" 1;; . ..J ~ 0 ~ Doug Polen. r-t- > --" - ~ ~ --, ~ ~ 0 !;: ~ By Ferracci team , will ra ce a C5 Du cati supe rbike in '91. Hi s first >rid e on the red mach in e showed ~ just how quickl y he could adapt. S 8 Polen turne d in a l -minute, 53.9second lap, whi ch eclip sed the Vl : Speedway' s officia l lap record of 0 I:54.561 set by T hom as Stevens in ~ wi nn in g the pole for th e '90 ;;: Daytona 100. Thomas Stevens. . Du nl o p's th ree days o f tir e testin g in preparation for the March 1-10 Ca mel Motorcycle Week inv olved five teams and II rid ers. In ad dition to Pol en , th e test ma rked the first rides on new teams for J amie J ames of Van ce & Hines T eam U.S.A. a nd T eam Muzzy Kawasak i rider jacques Guenette of Ca nada. Stevens joined James and Larry Schwarzbach on th e Vance & H in es Yarnah as, while Scott Russell is the lead rid er for Kawasaki . Yamaha rider Chris D'Alusio of DavHar Racing, Commonwealth Honda' s Randy Renfrow and Team Suzuki's Mike Smi th, Bri tt Turkington and Mich ael Mart in rounded ou t the rid er crew. . "T he testing cente red on our raci ng slicks for the Daytona 200 and the Internat ion al Lightweight (250cc) race," said Dunlop's Coordinator , Motorcycle Road Racin g, U.S. " In additio n, we tested our DOT tire, th e Sport Max , which is used in the SuperSport classes and in mos t divi sions of the AMA' s Championship Cup Series. A " moc k" Dayton a 200 - complete with pi ts sto ps for refuel ing and tire changes - was ru n during the tire test session with Vance & Hines riders , Stevens on one bik e and James and Schw arzba ch sp litti ng tim e on another. Stevens ran the ent ire distan ce at a I:56 lap average. Allen , a form er Daytona 200 competitor befor e join ing Dunlop a decade ago, was joi ned by Englishma n David Watkins, Dunlop's chi ef designer, tire engineer T om WeIch and David Buck, Dunlop's technical manager, Motorcycles U.S. Pol en , now a member of the Fast ° 1

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