Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GIN THE WIND ByPapa Wealey ~ _ O'lO'l _ __ (.0 - a major race facil i ty bei ng proposed for a location along 1-10 in Palm Springs. That proposal , presented by developer' Frank Aciero, call s for th e co nstruction of a 50,OOO-seat facility fea turin g a 1.6-m il e paved oval and a 2.5-m ile roa d race cou rse. Chris Agaj an ian to ld the Riverside Press Enterprise, "T here's a race to th e fin ish on this. He (Aciero) kn ows that if we ge t one in, hi s proj ect is o ver. And if he gets one in, ours is over." Another proposed race facility near Hem e t is in th e planning stages, bu t the people behind that proposal, Larry Min or, presiden t of th e Agri-Empire busin ess, and Jim Williams, pr esident of Golden State Foods, sa y the y hav e loo se ends to tie up and won 't announce anything until th e proj ect is set. T he race faci lity being proposed by A gajanian Ent e rtainment would co nsis t o f a 1.25-mile paved ova l, a quarter-m ile dr ag strip a nd a half -m ile dirt oval. The add itio n o f a roa d race co u rse in sid e th e pav ed oval is a possibility. An other sou the rn Cal ifornia facility will be lost to mot orcycle racing whe n th e Long Beach Veter a ns S tad i um qu arter-mile dirt ova l ge ts ch anged over to a n "all weather world class running tra ck" in March. The facil ity will host its last rnotorsports race on March 2 with the running of th e Ame rican Speedway Final. The Long Beach track hosted two o f th e three World Championship speed way events held in Am erica with bo th th e 1985 and 1987 World T eam Cup Ch ampi onship s ta ki ng place th ere. In 1982, the World Individual Champ io nship was held at Los An geles Coliseum. Promoter Harry O xley o f In iernational Speedway, In c. says he's actively pursu in g a no ther ven ue for the 1992 America n Speedway Final. Road racer B ert S tuckert succ u mbed to th e head inj uries he su ffered at th e WERA G rand Nat ion al Finals a t Road Atla n ta in October . Stu ckert di ed o n December 27. L ongtim e road r ace announ ce rs R ichard Chambers and Bob A p p leg a te will team up not o nly for the AMA National a t Road Am eri ca in June, but also for both th e IMSA and CART even ts at th e Wisconsin facility. Trading cards featuring road racers? Team T ac has a n no u nced plan s to produce baseball card-like item s featuring both professional and club level road ra cers, as well as endurance racing teams. K e vin E rion will ride a Two Brothers Racing Honda Ha wk in th e J apanese National Battle of th e Twins Champi on ship a t th e Tsu ku ba road race .circui t on J anua ry 15. Road racer Lee Shierts recentl y brok e hi s l l th vertebrae in a n o ff-roa d accide nt, but is alread y back to work despite bein g in a body she ll. Shierts , wh o is based in San Diego , Ca lifornia , is hopin g to make it to th e 50th ru n ni ng o f th e Daytona 200 in Ma rch. Ar ge ntina's President Carlos Menem wa s recen tly giv en a red Ferra ri as a gift from Duca ti. Men ern says he will turn th e car 's keys over to the sta te wh en he leaves office in 1995. 4 Yo u say yo u wanna go speedway slidi ng but there isn 't a proper trac k handy? Well , dude, J ohnny Gibso n ha s wh at you need. It 's a portab le of VIP passes for admission to th e track 's VIP lounge "where refresh men ts will be served by lovely ladi es." For more information, call 916/487-9120. speed w ay tra c k, no kidding. Cas t in sectio ns of a plaster of paris-like material , your track can be any len gth or shape tha t you want. G ibson , winner of the 1956 Daytona 200 and th e fourth-ranked rider in th e 1955 AMA Grand National Championship Seri es, tested his new tra ck in vention a nd says th e tra ction is always idea l, and excep t for th e absence of flying di rt , works just like any good speedway track shou ld. A small Gibson Portable Speedway T ra ck, th e size of O range County Fairgrounds' tenth-mi le oval , ca n be transported in sections o n a sing le tra iler and set u p in a few ho urs, indoors o r o u t, G ib son says. Rooster tail effect can be added to th e track by spri n kling sa wdus t o r glitte r o n th e su rface. T o m ak e sponso rs happy, G ibso n reckons he ca n cast th eir logo s in co lor permanently o n th e track su rface. Prices for the cus to m-bu ilt tracks begin a t $10,000. Co ntact J ohn G ibson, Sports Speedwa y Enterprise, 5692-C Fernhill Circle, Huntington Beach , CA 92649, 714/ 840-6468. Nine-time Grand National Cross Country Champion Ed Lojak has inked a deal with ATK to campaign th e 1991 National Championship Cro ss Country and Hare Scrambles . Seri es. Returning to ATK for a no the r 'yea r will be form er National Hare Scrambles Champion Tony Hendon and Ron Naylor. ATK '~ hare a nd hound team will co nsist o f Chris Crandall and John Rudder. Willie Musgrave will head ATK's motocros s effort. Motocrosser Greg Zitterkopf and desert racer Paul Krause left AT K following th e 1990 season. Ziuerk opf will campaign th e 250cc Camel Supercross Series a nd 500cc o u tdoor MX Nationals aboard a priva teer H onda, while Krause will return to th e desert riding a Team Green Kaw asaki. Walter Neas, 78, di ed on December 6 after a long ill ness. Neas served as a mech anic for BSA for over 20 years a nd was a member o f that co m pany 's raci ng teams during th e '50s a nd '60s. He is survived by his wife Fri eda, and two so ns , former BSA national serv ice manager H erb eas o f New York a nd H ans Neas of Virginia. Expressions of sym pa thy can be sent to Mrs. Neas at 701 Bollinger, Dr. , Shrewsbury, PA 17361. WorldSport's J erry West says th at preentries a re now a vailable for ' a nyo ne intere sted in ra cing th e H ouston Amateur Supercross o n J anuary 19 a nd/or th e Seattle Amateur S u per c r o s s o n February 2. Both events are part o f th e Amateur Nat ion al Ch ampi onsh ip Supercross Series tha t is being held in conj u nc tion with th e AMA Camel Supercross Seri es. For more in fo rmatio n, call WorldSports at 813/822-8929. Papa sends o ut hi s apolgies to P J . Jackson wh o was referred t o as " him" in o u r January 9 issu e. It 's Ms. P.]. Jackson and she' s requested Papa give her "a hug a nd an 'oops I'm sorry' " at Dayton a. Will d o. If you're planning on attendi ng the Seattle Camel Supercross, Februa ry 2, special discounted rat e s are available a t th e Holiday Inn Sea-Tac Hot el. Co ntact Mari lyn Waltma re a t Aloha Trade wi nd Travel, 206/ 485-0147. The Phoenix Cyclerama, part of the 199 1 Intemational Motorcycle Sh ow ser ies, has been canceled, accordi ng to Mik e Webster of Edgell Expositions. " We feel unfortunat e to have to cancel thi s event a t su ch a late date," said Webster. " However, due to last minu te ca ncela tio n s o f som e major motorcycle manufacturers, we felt it wou ld be in the best in terest of the other exh ibi tors and co nsu me rs to cancel the Phoen ix Cyclerama. The Autorama wi ll continue as planned." Harley-Davidson is still planning on exh ib iting at the Au torarna which tak es place J anuary 11 -13 a t th e Phoenix Civic P laza. Dayton a 200 winner D a v e Sado w ski a nd former tuner Mich ael Far gnoli have ope ned a high-performance road racin g and personal wat ercraft bu siness ca lled th e Atlantic Mot orsports Group. The p erform ance shop is located at 884 Gainesville Highway, Buford, GA 305 18, 404/ 27 1-0453. Sadowski is still waiting for in surance problem s to be sorted o u t so he ca n undergo su rgery o n hi s back. The Georgian will sit o u t the 1991 seaso n and is hopeful of a co meback in 1992. Kawasaki of Pasadena in th e Lone Star Stat e will host a n open house o n J anuary 18, th e da y before th e Houston round of the Ca mel Su percro ss Series in th e Astrodome. The festivities will take p lace betw een noon a nd 6]l.m. and Kawasaki facto ry rid ers Jeff Ward, Jeff Mat ias e vich and M ike Kiedrowski will be o n hand betw een 4 p .m . and 6 p .m. to sig n a utograp hs and benc h race as will T eam Green su pport riders Tyso n Vo hla n d and R yan Hughe s . For more information, ca ll 713/ 472-3694. Following th eir appearance at Pasad ena, th e Kaw asak i factory riders will head to a no the r H ou ston-ar ea deal ershi p, Kawasaki o f S t afford , where th eir arrival is ·expected a t 6:30 p.m . They'll join th e lik es o f S te v e Lamson, J eremy McGrath, J eremy Buehl a nd Brian Swink in ca p p ing Kawasak i o f Stafford's o p en h ouse which runs from I p.rn , to 8 p.m . For more informat ion, ca ll 713/ 261-2273. T he J anuary 20 north ern ro u nd o f th e CMC Go lden S t a t e Nationals has been moved from the "E" Street tra ck in Marysvill e, Ca liforn ia, which will host th e pr evious weeken d 's round, to Altamont Ra cewa y in Tracy. Alta mont is offering for sa le a limited nu mbe r Ro ad ra cer Andy Fenwick of the Hum a n Ra ce Team will ride for Harl ey-Davidson/Kawasaki o f Mis so u ri at AMA Nationals. Fenwick will ca m pa ig n a Harley 883 and a Kawasaki ZX7 for the Columbia, Missouri-based deal ership. 7 Ken " M r . Hotshoe" Mae l y spent part of th e holidays mak ing h is a n n ual tr ek to ce nt ra l Mex ico wh er e h e d istributed bicycles a nd clothing to th e poor. " Th is year we took over 30 bicycles and 40 big box es o f clo th ing a nd we handed o u t th e item s personally. T ha n ks a re du e everyo ne wh o do na ted item s th roughout th e year," said Maely. And while we're talking abou t Mael y, be advised that we erre d in o ur Janua ry 9 issue regarding th e price of a custo m -bu ilt Mael y steel shoe. T he dirt tra ck/ speedway hotshoes cos t $135. Four-time World Champion road rac er J orge Martinez, who won three 80cc titles a nd o ne 125cc titl e with Derbi, has had to cancel th e first part o f hi s winter testin g program with JJ Cobas d ue to a mot ocross acci dent he su ffered in h is hometo wn o f Aleira , Val en cia, Spain. Martinez suffered a broken left shoulder on December 30 that required a plate a nd six screws. The Spaniard will race a JJ Cobas fitted with an Honda RS engine in th e l25cc G P class this season . As o f J anuary 4, 1991 , Randy Mamola still doesn 't have a co n tra ct for the co m ing seaso n. Mamola's manager, Jim Doyle, is currently working on obta in ing a sponso r for the Francebased Sonauto Yam aha team that will enable Mamola to join ]. P. Rugg ia o n the team. " We' re working on it now, " Doy le said. "Sonauto wants Randy, but with Gauloises pulling out they lost th eir main sponsor and their money. We've got a smaller offer (fro m Sonauto) that we're looking a t, but I've got representatives in Europe talking to d ifferent sponso rs. Right now we have nothing firm. Randy's just at home training and he's checking with me dai ly to see what's ha p pening." Jim Doyle, Marnola 's manager a nd a former captain for United Air li nes , has retired from flying and has opened a Mitsubishi automobile dea lersh ip in northern California. Reports from Australia tell us that Ro thrna ns Honda's Michael Doohan recently cra shed his speedboat at close to 95 mph when th e steering mechanism fai led. Both Doohan and a female friend of his were reportedl y thrown fr om the boat , although neither were seriously injured. The boat, however, was destroyed in the accid ent. Husaberg AB Sweden rec entl y ann oun ced th e co n cl us io n o f its financial re-o rga n izatio n, which consists of a managem enr buyout led b y Husaberg pre sid ent Sivert Westlund a nd o ne o f th e co mpa ny's origina l fo under s Thom as Gu st av sson. In cluded in the buyout ar e th e following new partners: Swed ish industrial co m pa nies AIdell P ro d uctio ns and Albin Compon ents, and Husaberg Italia, th e Ita lian importer of Husaberg. Pa rtnersh ip discussions with Husaberg America - the H usaberg importer for th e U.S . - are cu rrently underway. KT M Am eri ca will field a five-ma n team for the 1991 AMA Nationa l Championship Enduro season. The team will cons ist of Allen Gravitt, Jeff Rus sell, Kelby Pepper, Jack Lafferty Jr. and Alan R a n d t . Former National Enduro Champion Kevin Hines has left KTM after a four year term with th e team and rumors have it that Hines is currently negotiating w ith Husqvarna and Suzuki. Duralube Oil Co. has signed a co m p r ehens i ve two- year su p p o rt agreement with KTM America. Duralube will provide product, co ntingen cy and technical assista nce in su p port of KTM 's National Off -Road Racing effon. Mot ocrosser Johnny O 'Mara underwent surgery on January 5 to repair a broken co lla rbo ne su ffered in a crash a t th e GFI 250cc In vitational Supercross in Perr is, California, December 29. The inj ury for ced the 1983 125cc National and 1984 Supercross Champion into ea rly retirement from reg u lar competition as O 'Mara had planned to hang up hi s boo ts fo llowin g the January 26 Ana he i m Super cross. O'Mara sa ys h e'll race m ountain bicycles and selected European su percross races. - -- - - - Co ntinued on page 46

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