Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTHEWIND e Commonwealth Racing' s Randy Renfrow su ££ered severe inj uries to hi s right hand and vertebrae damage in a test session crash at southern California's Will ow Springs Int ern ation al Raceway on J anuary 24. The acciden t ground o££ the tips of Renfrow' s second and third fingers, and he was scheduled to undergo his third . sur gery on Monday, January 28, to have hi s right thumb ampu ta ted. In a few months, surgeons will att empt to recon struct a thumb' on Renfrow's hand using one of hi s toes. Though it ap pears the Virginian's season ma y be lost, he remains op timistic: " I' m just goi ng to work real hard and see what ends up happen ing," Renfrow said on Monday, J anuary 28. " It 's all I can do. At the worst, I'll be able to live a normal life. I j ust may not be able to do th e extrao rdi nary things I've been able to do . All I can do is give th e surgeons th e oppo rt unity to do their job." Renfro w was ridi ng a Hond a RC30 when he crashed in the fastest section of the course, tu rn eig ht. H e is currently at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Ange les, Califorriia . Ren fro w's teammate Rich Arnaiz a lso crashed an RC30 fat Will ow on the same day as Renfrow, bu t he was not injured. " He (Arnaiz) contin ued on with testing the (Honda ) CBR600," . team owner Martin Adams said . "It was Black Thursday out there." Martin Adams now faces the unenv iable task of finding somebody to fill Renfrow's shoes in h is absence from racin g. Top candidates for the rid e, according to Adam s, are Dale Quarterley, Tom Kipp and Miguel ' DuHamel. " I hope to make a decision thi s week," Ada ms said on January 28. "When Randy (Ren frow) is recovered and ready, he has a bik e. Even if that mean s ru nn ing three su perbikes. He's earned it." Danny Hamel (KT M) was the overall winner at th e opening round of th e AMA Nati on al Championship Hare &: H ound Ser ies a t Lu cern e Vall ey, California, J anuary 27. Paul Ostbo (Kaw) fin ished second, foll owed by Chris Crandall (ATK), Don Griewe (H us) and Paul Krause (Kaw). Brian Swink (Hon) was th e overall winner in the 125cc Pro class at round four of the Florida Winter AMA Series held January 26-27 in Reddick, Florida. Brian McElroy (Suz) topped the 250cc Pro class. The Larry ROeseler and Ted H unnicutt (Ka w) team narrowly beat Garth Sweetl and and Paul Krause (Kaw) for the overall win at th e SCORE Parker 400 in Parker, Arizona, . January 26. The Roeseler/Hunnicut du o finished less th an on e minute ah ead of the runner-up team. Derr ick Paiement and John Si lva (Kaw) fin ished third overall, while Mike Baker (Yam) finished fourth overall, wmning the 250cc class. Ron Naylor (ATK) won th e opening round of the Casey Folk's Best in the Desert Series, th e Whiskey Pete's Casino Hare &: Hound at Statelin e, Nevada, January 26. Jimmy Lewis (KTM ) and Greg Searle (KTM) fin ished second and third, respectively. 2 Rick Ryan (Suz) topped the 250cc Pro class at round five of the ' northern portion of the GFI California Winter Series held January 27 in Sacramento, California. J on N e lson (Suz) was the 125cc Pro class winner, Carlo Huls en (Hon) won the 500cc Pro class and Jim Ellis (Hon ) was th e winner in the Vet Pro Class. According to h is m an ager, Gary Howard, Eddie Lawson has still not sig n ed a contract w ith Cagiva, alt hough he is still expected to do so. "Not as of yet," Howard said on Monday, J anuary 28. "We're workin g on it . The delay is nobody's fault; it's just communication. But it's reall y just a formality at th is ' point." Reports from Europe indicate there is a cha nce . that four-time World Champion Lawson will have outs ide sponsorship with Marlboro . Wh en qu estioned on a Lawson /Marlboro deal , Ho ward said: " We' re having di scu ssion s with them , and th ere co u ld be an association there." Quiz time answer: La st week we asked you to nam e the oldest. rider to wi n a World Ch ampionshi p Road Race Series title. German Herm annPeter Mueller won the 250cc G P title in 1955 at the age of 46. Quiz time: T he AMA Grand Na tiona l Championship Series title has been decided by on e point four times . Name the years, the champions and the ru nner-up riders who fell one point short of the number one plate. The Camel Pro Series schedule tha t we published last week is officia l, bu t we're now told that the information we were given regarding whic h events wo uld have Camel Challenge races was p remature. T he officia l list of the 1'1 even ts that will feature the six-rider, six-lap S17,500 Cam el Ch all en ge races that reward the winner with SI0,000 will be released in early February. Dave Despain, who hosted MotorWeek Illustra ted whi ch is now off th e air, has been nam ed ho st of MotoW o r ld, replacing the show's original ancho r, Larry Maiers. Despain ha s been hired by ESPN as a st aff anno uncer and th ey requested that he ' be used on MotoW orid. MotoWorld is scheduled to return to the air on ESPN . on Friday, March I. In answer to many inquiries , Camel S u p e r c ros s Series races are not being telecast live via satellite to J apan as they were last year. Each round is being taped for future telecasting with Larry Maiers as the announcer. No schedule is available at thi s time. Four-year-old Jos h ua Averill att ended the Anaheim Supercross as a special guest of Yamaha and the Make a Wish Foundation, which fulfills terminally- ill children 's dreams. Yamaha public relations director Willie Amaradio introduced Averill to Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw and many other supercross stars, and the next day Averill received a Yam aha PW50 YZinger motorcycle. Japanese' motocrosser Tadakazu Ot suka suffered a fractured elbow and broken collarbone when he crashed in a practice session at the Anaheim Supercross , January 26. The board of directors of Brainerd International, Inc. , owners and operators of Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota, elected not to renew the 'employment contract of David Ames, who was the comp any 's president. Ames' contract expired on December 31. " It was a cost-saving decision," said Gene Snow, the company's chairman and CEO . Snow also said the day-to-day operations will be handled by D ick Roe , who will Cranston brin sback desert bill , s promised, Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Ca liforn ia) has introduced a new version of his controversial California Desert Protection Act in the early stages 0 th e 102nd Congress. . The desert bill, designated this year as Senate Bill 21 (S21), contains some minor changes from Cranston's previous o££erings, but would.still lock out motorized access and other uses from more .than eigh t million acres of the 12.5 million acres of public land in the desert . It would also expand and upgrade two national monuments to national park status and create ano ther new national park. The cha nges made to the 1991 bill result from a belated attempt by Cranston to appease the military by all owing a 170,000 acre expa nsion of the Fort Irwin Military Reservation near Barstow, California. On the heels of Cranston's decision to reintroduce the desert bill, AMA Legislative A££airs Specialist Eri c Lundquist said, " We are certa inly in favor of rational wilderness designations in th e California Desert , but Cranston's bill ignores a 10-year investment of public involvement in the California Desert Con servation Area man agement pl an ." Years ago, that plan, developed after inte nsive publ ic input and congressiona l debate , specificall y rejected man y of Cranston 's previous proposals for the desert . Lun dquist add ed that it also rep resents an end-runaround th e Bureau of La nd Man agement's (BL M) proposed wild erness plan for the desert , whi ch is exp ected to be introduced in Congress later thi s year. In recen t years, the working People of Cal ifornia have repeatedl y stopped Cra nsto n 's bill by convi nci ng th eir elected represen tat ives that it fails to provide adequate access to the desert . And, accordi ng to Lundq uist, it's tha t kind of effort tha t's go ing to be needed again this year. . "The AMA will work closely wi th other multiple-use advocacy groups to oppose this legisla tion and notify members of any action related to Cra nston's bill." In the mea ntime, riders are encouraged to contact their elected officia ls in Washington to express their views regarding the desert bi ll. Write to congressmen at th e U.S. H ouse 'of Repr esen tatives, Washi ngton, D.C. 20515; and to sena tors at the Uni ted States Senate, Wash ington, D.C. 20510. A contin ue as general ma nager of Brai nerd Int ern ational Raceway. T he Northern Ohio Classic Cycle Club 's February 24 Vintage B rit ish! European Swa p Meet & Show sc hed u led fo r th e Chagrin Fall s National Guard Arm ory has been relocated to the Burbank Auction Bam in Burb ank, Ohio. The move was made du e tt> the fact that becaus e of the war in the Middle East , all armories in Ohio have been d osed to the public. T en-time National Hillclimb Champi on Earl Bowlby wi llbe the event's special guest of honor. The first two A TK four -strokes eq uipped with electronic fuel injection have been sold to a Japanese ATK dealer who will exh ibit them at the T okyo Motorcycle Show, March 14-17. Regarding th e itern we ran in th is section last week about the Shortcours e U nite d D river s Ser ies (S.U.D.S.), the April 20-21 round at southern California 's Glen Helen OHV Area is not, repeat not th e opening round of the series. That will take place March 9-10 at the Santa Veronica Off-Road Park &: Raceway near Tecate in Baja. For more information, call 818/340-5 750. The Cologne I n t e rnational Bicyc1e and Motorcy cle E xhibition which is staged every other year will next take place September 30-0ctober 4, 1992, in Germany. Vic Fasola , a member of the Rob Muzzy road race operation last year , has inked a deal with Da llas, Texasbased Team Mad Dog. Fasola will be the crew chief of the team that will . co ntest the AMA /CCS Endurance Road Race Series with riders Mike Harth and Rick Kirk, The A MA/CCS r oad r ace schedu led for Charlotte Motor Speed. way in February has been canceled and, according to a press release, " reschedu led for 1992." The AMAI CCS race originally scheduled at Road Atlanta in September has been rescheduled for the weekend of May 4·5 to avoid a confl ict with the SCCA car race run-offs at the Georgia track, The May event will be a triple. Regional even t for riders from th e Southeas t, MidAtlantic and Florida regions. • P I " . The 1990 AMA/CCS Sout h east Region champion s will be honored at an informal banquet in Savannah, Georgia, on Saturday night, February 9. The banquet at Carrie Hilliards Restaurant is being held in conju nction with th at weekend 's AMA/CCS meet at Roebling Road. Texas promoter Bob Bagwell will present th e 1 1 t h Annual P reDay tona H alf M ile on Sunday, February 24, at Devils Bowl Speedway in Dallas. O ther AMA-sanctioned half mil e races scheduled for Devils Bowl thi s season will tak e place on May 5 and October 13. For more information, call 817/488-9133 or 214/216-5520. .. According to tuner J oh n Lassak, Miguel DuHamel will ride a Lassaktuned 1991 Yamaha TZ250 in AMA 250cc Grand Prix Series races that don 't co n flic t with hi s European racing schedule. The conversation with Lassak, however, came prior to Randy Renfrow's injuries and the subsequent opening on the Commonwealth Honda' team. DuHamel is being considered for the .open in g. Lassak feels that DuHamel will only be forced to miss two Nationals, and will make the season opener at Daytona in March. " I' m thrilled to death," Lassak said . "I think he's trying to get o££ riding the big bikes, and will try to prove himself with a year of racing 250s." La ssak couldn't comment on what DuHamel's racing p lans in Europe will consist or. Last year , DuHamel rode Yoshimura Suzukis in th e AMA 'Na tiona l Championship Superbike Series. No matter what you might have seen in this section a couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca will take place on Sunday, April 21. Chalk up our error that had the GP taking place on the following day to brain fade. Pat O wens, the former Triumph

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