Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ~ IN THE WIND By Papa Wealey Road racer Randy Renfrow has been re leased ' from th e · U CLA Medical Cente r and is stayi ng at a ho tel near th e faci li ty wi th h is mother a n d brother. Renf row , wh o suffered severe hand inj uries in a testing cras h at Will ow Springs Intern at ional Raceway on j anuary 24, was schedu led to . return to th e hospital on Monday, Febru ary 3, to h av e h is inj u ries rechecke d. Renf row lost th e tips to two of his fingers in additio n to hi s entire thumb on his right hand, and vertebrae damage. The Virginian is aw ait in g maj or reconstruct ion tha t will see doctors take one of hi s toes and make him a new thu mb. " I'd like to thank everybody," Renfrow said. "T he o utpouring of concern has been alm ost overwhe lming . I kn ow I'v e got a long, tou gh road ah ead, but I'm th ankful. It cou ld hav e been a lot worse." Micky Dymond (Yam) top ped th e 250cc Pro class at round five of th e sou thern porti on of th e GFI California Winter Series held February 3 in Perris , Calif ornia. Dana Wiggins (Yam ) was th e 125cc P ro clas s winner, Craig Zitterkopf (Kaw) won the 500cc P ro ' class and Coli B e r e n yi (Suz) wa s th e winner of the Vet Pro class. Ryan Hughes (Kaw) swep t both th e 125 and 250cc Pro classes during round fiv e o f th e CMC Go lde n State , Natio nal s Sou th in Ramona, California, on February 3. Mike Healey (KT M) was th e winner in the 500cc Pro class , wh ile Broc Glover (Hon ) topped the Vet Pros. Tallon Vohland (Su z) scored th e 125cc Pro class wi n at th e northern po rti o n of the CMC Golde n Stat e Nat ionals held in Marysvill e, California o n Februar y 3. Willie Surratt (Hon) stole th e show in both the 250 and 500cc classes whi le Dave Coupe ca p tured the Vet Pr o win. John Dowd (Hon) wrapped up his second successi ve 250cc Winter AMA MX Series with a win in the fin al ro u nd in Gainesville, Florida , o n Feb ru a ry 3. Dowd to p p ed Vi nce DeVan e (Hon) a nd Ro ss Pederson (Suz) in taking the win. Mike Brown won the 125cc Pro class in Gainesvill e, beat ing Dowd (Hon) and Ezra Lusk (Suz). The seri es titl e, however, fell to Barr y Carsten (Suz), wh o finished fourth in the final round. Dirt tra cker Steve Morehead rode a modified Husaberg MC501 to a clear victor y over Spanish enduro ace j ord i Alca rons (H us) and roa d racer Albert o Puig (Yam) in the Sant j ordi Palace Olympic Indoor Stadium in Barcelona, Spain , on February 2. Close to 15,000 fan s had their first taste of American-style dirt track racing as Mor ehead and the rest raced on a 230yard , hard-packed clay ova l in an event spo nsored by the Spanish mot or cycle magazin e Sol o Moto, 2 Mor eh ead, 35, is looking forward to hi s 17th season on the AMA Grand , Na tional Cha mpionsh ip circui t. T he Oh io resident, wh o won two Nationa ls last year a nd finished fifth in the final Ca mel Pro Series point standings, sa id: " H a n k Scott will do my X R 750 engines again a nd I hav e a new major sponsor in th e Shepard Chemica l Company of Cincinnati. KK Motor cy. c1e Supp ly, John Dragoo , F&S of Dayton, Sto rz and Bell Helmets will continue to support me. I' ll also be riding a Harley-Davi dson 600 that belon gs to Taylor White IV and Mike Wh eeler will help me with th at bike." Moreh ead 's two half mil e wins (Hagerstown and Ascot ) last year moved him ' to withi n two vic tories of th e 19 National dirt track wins pos ted by J oe Leon ard, who is sixth o n the all-time win list. Suzu ki's Buddy Antunez and Mike LaRocco were absen t from th e Sea ttle round of the Camel Supercross Series o n February 2. Accordin g to Suzuki team manager Ray T eth erton, Antunez is recovering fro m the separa ted right sho ulder he suffered at the Anah eim SX and is expected to be sideli ned for three week s. LaRocco m issed the Seattle event becau se of a sprained wrist; he is scheduled to remain in a cast for four weeks. Accord in g to h is manager jim Doyle, road racer Randy Mamola is still without a ride for the 1991500cc World Ch ampi onship Seri es. " We h av e noth ing working at this point," Doyle said on Monday , February 4. Wh en questi oned abo ut rumor s from Europe that have Mam ola o n a Came l-backed Honda, Doyle said: " It 's just a rumor. There's never been anything to it." I The li st of for eign entries for th e upcom in g Dayton a 200 is beginn ing to look impressive. Headl ining th e co n firmed li st is th e fourth place fini sher in last year's 500cc World Championship Series Niall Mackenzie; Mackenzi e wi ll ride a H ond a RC30. Also H onda moun ted will be Bri ts Carl Fogarty and Steve Hislop. For eign entries o n Yamah as in clude Brits Rob McElnea, Brian Morrison and David Leach and German Peter Rubatto. According to Commonwealth Racing team owner Martin Adams, Canadian Miguel DuHamel has been sig ned by the H onda team to contes t the 1991 AMA Superbike Nat ional Ch ampionsh ip as a replacement for th e injured Randy Renfrow. " He 'll make a good co m p leme nt to th e team and I'm happy to have him, " Adam s said. " I think it w ill be a good sq u a d. " DuHamel joins European Superbike Champion Rich Arn aiz o n the Commonwealth team. DuHam el, however, is likel y to mi ss two ro unds of the series, Mid-Ohio and Will ow Springs, due to a conflict with hi s co n trac t with Kawa saki to co ntes t the World End uran ce Series. Road racer Kurt Hall had hi s van , tra iler and motorcy cles sto len from an Atlanta, Georgia , sho pp ing mall on 'january 27. Among the stolen goods were a 1991 Suzuki GSXRlloo and GSXR750 , a s well as Hall's 1977 Honda CB400, leathers, helm ets, spare wheels, tool s, and ca no py. The fram e numb er o n th e GSXRIIOO is JSlGV73A6M2100542 and the engine number is 112567; the 750's numbers .are jSIGR7AA7M210500 for the fram e and 110134 for the engine. " Ho pefu lly o thers wi ll learn fro m o ur experience and racers will be bet ter prepa red via th eft protectio n eq u ip ment an d not believin g, as I did, it won' t ha ppen to me. It did an d we kn ow better now," Hall wrote in a letter to Cycle Ne ws. Hall ca n be contacted at 803/68 1-9372. T he pre-season testing schedule for the maj or ity of the Grand Prix road race teams is goi ng ahead as plann ed , despite the war in th e Persian Gu lf. Alt ho ug h reports have indi cated that the Suzuki, Yama ha and Honda test sessions in Australia had been cancelled, a ll have gon e on as planned: Some of the teams will be testi ng , ho wever, without japan ese engineers, who have been told not to tak e int ernational fligh ts by th eir resp ecti ve factories. All -th ree factory efforts ar e Helmetbills on legislative agendas 'T he ~n~w ~egisl~tive season is underway, and already six state 'legisla,tures are consi dering bills that would mandate helmet use by all motorcycle riders. T hat's the word from the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), which has begun the job of responding to this year's motorcycle-related legislation. In California, Assemblyman Richard Floyd (D-Carson ) has reintroduced his co n tro versia l ~elmet bill in the . state's General As~embly. That bill, designated as Assembly Bill 7, would require helmet use by nders of all ages . As it stands, the cu rre nt law calls for helmet use only among passengers under the age of 15 1/2. Even though Floyd's a ttem p ts to pass a mandatory helmet law were blocked by vetoes from then-Gov . George Deukmejian in 1988 and 1989, AB7 is expected to get earl y attention in this year 's legislature. .' In Connecticut, Sen. Thomas Upson (R-Waterbury) has introduced legislation that would broaden the state's helmet law, which currently applies only to riders ' u nder age 18. Upson 's proposal, Senate Bill 26, would require that motorcyclists of all ages wear protective headgear. In Illinois, o ne of three states that do not have helmet laws for any motorcyclists, Sen. Howard Brookins (D-Chicago) has introduced Senate Bill 22, a measure that would require mandatory helmet use and eye protection by all riders. At the same tim e, Brookins introduced House Bill 23, which contains a provision mandating the use of eye protection among all riders and helmet use for only riders under 18. ' . Early in th is year's legislative session, Delegate Theodore Levin (D-Baltimore) Introduced two measures that would expand Maryland's helmet law, which curre ntly calls for helmet use by riders under age 18. Under the terms of House Bill 31, all ,motorcyclists would be required to wear safety helmets. House Bill 32, Levin's other helmet proposal, contains an unusual provision which says that failure to compl y with th e helmet requirement would not be cons idered a moving violation for which points may be assessed. Meanwhile, Sen. Arthur Dorman (D-An na polis) has introduced a measure in the Maryland Sen ate that would also require the mandatory use of safety helmets. In New Mexico, current state law also calls for helmet use for riders under age 18. But that could soon change because Sen. Gloria Howes (D-Gallup) has introduced legislation, Senate Bill 43, wh ich would require all road motorcyclists in the state to strap on a safety helmet. Finally, in South Carolina, Sen. Douglas Hinds (D-Georgetown ) has introduced a measure that would affect all road-riders in that state. Hinds' bill, Senate Bill 284, calls for riders of all ages to wear helmets. The AMA supports the belief that adult riders should have the right to make a pers onal decision regarding the use of protective equipment.' The Association emphasizes rider-education, licensing laws , alcohol awareness and voluntary helmet use as mea sures that can be implemented to enhance the safety of motorcyclists. Motorcyclists in these states who agree are encouraged to make their views kn own on these important issues and can obtain the addresses of their elected representatives by calli ng the AMA's Government Relations Department at : (614) 891-2425. testing at bo th Phillip Island and Eastern Creek in Au stral ia. Italian GP road racer Luca Cadalora tor e ligaments in his foot during a testing cras h at P hill ip Island in Au stralia recently. Rothmans Honda's Cadalora, who finished third in th e 1990 250cc Wor ld Championship o n a Marlboro Agostini Yamaha, was forced to sit o ut the rest of th e test. T eam Lucky Strike Suzuki 's D idie r d e Radig u e s was also injured during test sessions in Australia. The Belgian crashed at Eastern Creek, th e sit e of the 1991 Australian Gr and . Prix, and suffered a broken bone in hi s wrist. Australian Kevin M age e , wh o is attempting a co me bac k from th e serio us head injuries he sus ta ined a t the U.S. GP last year, reportedly had been turning lap times I.5-seconds qui cker than de Radigues when th e Belgian crashed. Magee's tim es ar e al so not far off those turn ed by the team's riumber o ne rider, Kevin Schwantz. Schwantz cloc ked a l-rninut e, 33.9second lap usin g Michelin rubber o n his Suzuki, and a I:34.6 using Dunlop ti res. T he T ex an cl aim s th e new Suzuki is easier to ride, tha nks to its added weig ht and stiffness. Quiz time answer: Last week we asked you to nam e the four riders wh o wo n G rand National Cha m pio ns hi p Series ti tles by the margin of o ne point and to also name the rid ers who lost o ut and in wha t years. The first rider to win a GNC ti tle by o ne point was Ca rro ll Resweber , wh o in 1958 det hro ned j oe Leon ard, 36-35. In 1963, Dick Mann edged out George Roeder, 114-11 3. Randy Goss topped Hank Scott for the '80 titl e: 208-207. And most recently, Ricky G raham won the title by o ne point, 285-284, over Bubba Shobert in 1984. Q uiz time: j eff Stanton can tie two o ther rid ers for the record of threestraight ' 250cc MX National Champ ionship titles if he wins the championship this year. Name the two rid ers wh o hold the record. The ap pointment of Rosce tti Corpora t ion of Som erdale, New jersey, as the exclusive distributor of B imota motorcycles in th e U.S. has been con firmed by the Italian bike manufacturer. According to Bimota, Roscetti will receive 140 motorcycles this yea r, co n sisti n g o f the Yamaha FZR 1000-powered Diec i and ' t h e Du cati-powered T esi ID . Roscetti can be reached by calli ng 800/437-4494 . The 1 5 th Annual G NC Int ernational M X Final which will take place at Lake Wh itney Cycle Ranch in Whitney, Texas , March 8-10, will aga in host a W omen's class. Multitim e Women 's class cha mp io n Mercedes Gonzal ez will com pete in the even t. For more information, contact Nad in e Holbert a t 713/530-3755 in T exas, o r .T arni Ri ce, president of the Wom en 's Mot ocross Association, at 714/734-2278 in Ca liforn ia. T he open ing event of the six-ro und AHRMA Nor -Cal ' Vi n t a g e MX Series will take pl ace at Sandh ill Ran ch in Brentwood, Cal ifornia. The event is for vintage bikes o nly and all nor mal AH RMA classes will be run. For more in for matio n, call 415/6343328,

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