Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

th e third race of the NHRA Winston Drag Race Seri es, th e Ap ril 18-2 1 Atlanta ro u nd, Schultz will debut the team's 1991 Suzuki GS XR-based bike, featurin g a 68-inch Sandy Kosman chassis and a Vance & H in es-prepared 1260cc Suzuki mo tor. " We' ve decided to figh t fire with fire, and to do th at we needed a Su zuk i," said Byron Hines, referring to the fact tha t a . Suzuki has won the NH RA Pro Stock ti tle the last two years. He lpin g H ines with engi ne development will be Greg Cope, wh o helped wrench the Suzuki that carried John Myers to the 1990 NHRA tit le. GS International is a new club for BMW GS o wne rs. Acco rd i n g to found er Tom T hom pson, it's the first BMWMOA-chart ered club with th e pu rp ose o f p romoti n g dua l sport riding. Thompson says th e club wi ll sponsor a National Du al Spo rt R ide and publish a newsletter featuring art icles of interest to GS o wners and int erna tio n al touring in fo rma tio n . For an ap p lica tio n form, write: GS In tern a tio nal , 216 Mt. Zio n R d., Ferguson, NC 28624. For the second straight year, Maryland riders have defeated a bill proposed by the slate's Depart ment of Health a nd Ment al H ygiene wh ich wou ld have for ced all road -riding motorcycl ist s to p urchase a p roh ib i tiv ely expensive fo rm of " c a t ast r o p h ic health insurance" before th eir bikes co uld be regis tered. Go ing down fo r the count was Senate Bill 27, whi ch was identical to a measure Mary lan d mo torcycli sts managed to knock dow n d uring a House Commi ttee hearing one year ago. T he 1991 legisla tive seaso n is shap ing up to be one of the bu siest in recent years, and the AMA in wor kin g to keep members infor med of the im po rta nt issues affecti ng motor cycles cond uc ted a record number of legislative alert mailings in January. Over 50,000 riders in II states were not ified of motorcycle-related legislation currently under consi dera tion. Mai li ng s were received by AMA mem bers in Ar izo na , Ca lifornia, Co n n ecticut , Illinois, Maryland, Mich igan , New Hampsh ire, New Mexi co, New Yor k, Rhode Island and South Carolina. T eam Honda's Jeff Stanton, JeanMichel Bayle and Rick Johnson will join team manager Roger DeCoster in signi ng au tographs and ben ch racing with fans at an open house co n d ucted by Honda of Atlanta on Friday, February 22, from 6 p.m. until 7 p.m. The open house' is being held in conjunctio n with the followi ng even ing's Atlanta Supercross, Bieffe USA, Inc., the North American represen tat ives of Bieffe helme t s , is p o sting $231 ,465 in conti ngency mo ney for the AMA-sanct io ned Camel P ro Series, Na tio na l MX and Camel Su percross Series a nd Na tional Champi onship Roa d Race Series , and the WERA Formu la USA Series, En du ran ce Seri es, and Formula II, Superstock "A and Superstock B classes. For information o n the contin gency progr am, ca ll Mar k Handelman at 408/ 436-8098. The new regulations, signed January 16, will be effec tive 30 days af ter pu bl ica tion in the Federal Regi ster. Anyone in violation could face a fin e as h igh as $ 1000 and/or im priso nment up to 12 months. Forme r Honda factory mechanic Ron Wood has been hi red by T o yota Racin g Development as an engi ne builder. Wood, who wrenc hed for Guy Cooper and Mike Kied ro wski, will assist T R Din bui lding and maintainin g en gines for off-roa d dr ivers .Ivan Stewart and Rod Mill an. The March 2-3 AMA/CCS road race meet a t La s Vegas International Raceway ha s been canceled due to a sched ule change made by the track. Martin Ada ms' Commonwealth Racing team of Richard Arn ai z and Miguel DuHam el will be sponsored by Camel a t th ree AMA Su perb i ke Nationa ls th is seaso n. T he H onda RC30-m ounted team 'will be painted in Camel go ld for the Daytona 200, Mid -Ohi o an d Mi a mi S u perbike Nati o na ls. Ray Plumb will be th e team 's crew ch ief, Ray Farrow will turn the wrenches o n Arn aiz's bikes with Sha wn Smi th doing likewi se for DuHam el. An n Kell er will again keep th e team orga nized an d will als.o handle the tim e-keeping du ties whi le Honda's Brian Uch ida will make an occasiona l tri p to th e races to assist. AMA 250cc G ra n d P rix Nati onal Cha m p io n Doug Brauneck is wi thout a spo nsor for 1991. " At thi s po int I have no sponso r," Bra uneck said. " I've tried everybody a nd have sent resu mes. We're goi ng to ru n Daytona , but af ter that we need a spo nso r to cont in ue." Brauneck wi ll ride a J ohn Hasty-owned 1990 Yam aha T Z250 at Dayto na. Hasty, a Ch arlotte, North Ca ro lina -based atto rney wh o h a s served on the AMA Board of Trustees for I I years and as its chairma n for eig h t years, has all but totally funded Brauneck's 250cc raci ng effort in th e ' pa st, but has op ted to pu ll back o n th at su ppo rt th is year. " At one tim e I'd considered droppin g the 250 and go ing into the Superbike class, but I had no success wi th the top teams; yo u need a top tea m and a top motorcycle to do the series rig h t, said Brau neck. " Brau ne ck is cu rrently residing i n Ormond Beach , Florida , and can be contac ted at 904/677-6997 or 904/4236225. The June I Foxboro, Massachusetts, ro und of the Camel Supercross Series has been cance led. The switching of the turf from an arti ficia l surface to grass in Su lli van Stadi um cau sed the cancelation. SRO/Pace Pro motions, the event sponsor, appears set ·to replace the event wit h a round in Oklah oma Ci ty o n J u ne 8. Eng land's Kurt Nicoll (KTM) was the overall winner of the Beaucaire In ternationa l MX, the first major international mee tin g o f th e seaso n held February 10 in Beau caire, Fra nce. Ni coll won the first two motos and finished third in the fin a l race. American s Donny Schmit (Suz) and Billy Liles (Kaw) fin ished 2-3 in th e first mo to, L iles fin ished second in rnoto two ahead . of Alessandro Puzar (Suz) and Schmi t wo n the fina l mota over Georges Jobe (H o n). Camp Co ker Motorsports Park in Socie ty Hill, Sout h Carol ina, will host the Tony D Motocross School o n Fri day, Febru ary 22. Multi-tim e MX cham p Bob Hannah will be a specia l guest ins truct or and the Team Suzuki Support crew will be o n hand. The school fee is $75, ho wever, riders who - partici pated in the first three events of the Camp Co ker One-T rack Series will be a d m i tte d free . Co mplementary passes are also availab le fro m Suzu ki deal erships for Suzuk i riders. Riders who are inte rested in attendi ng the school shou ld ca ll ei ther Ton y D Motocross School s at 30 11676-8234 or the track at 803/378-4700. Cl ose ca ll: As he was leavin g the February 9 San Diego Supercross, Jeff Matiasevich wa s p u lled over fo r speeding in the Jack Murp hy Stadium parking lo t. " T he cop gave me th e drunk test, so I had to explain tha t I was a racer and had just finished th ird and had been doused wit h champag ne in the winner's circle, " said Matiasevich. " He fin ally let me go and to ld me to keep the ra cing inside th e stadium, on the track." . T he Bureau of Land Management (BL M) anno unced on February 4 that it will proh ibit the possess io n of open containers , co ntaining an alc oho lic beverage, by a ny one operating or ridi ng in or o n a mo tor vehi cle or offhighway veh icle on all public lan ds under its jurisdiction in Ca lifornia . Paul Schlegel, a member of the AMA Board of T rus tees, has been named to th e Motorsports Hall of Fame Na tional Board of Advisors. The-Hall of Fame is located in Nov i, Michigan. The first inductees were named last year and included Kenny Roberts. Cycle N ews editor Jack Mangus is a member of th e 23-man no mi na ti ng commi ttee. This year's nominees in the mo torcycle division are Roger DeCoster , J oe Leonard, Dick Mann, Carroll Resweber and Malcolm Smith . ANNOUNCED: T he Heartl and Park Topeka track sta ff for the 1991 seaso n at th e roa d race/ drag race facil it y in Topeka, Kansas. Bob Wilber has been h ired to serve as general man ager of sales and ser vice, Tim Schu ler as acco unt execu tive for sales an d serv ices, and Kirk Shi ney as direc tor of acco unting services. Karen Brockman has been nam ed accou nt execu tive, sales and services, and will continue as coordinator for track credent ia ls and competitor regi stration. T eresa Covert will serve as the director, testi ng and opera tio ns, and also co nti n ue as a dm in istrat i ve assis tant to Bi ll Kentl in g, Hear tland Par k presi den t. J im T o mes has been named facility director , J ad e Gurss director of p ublic rela tio ns , an d George Morr ison coo rdinator, special projects. CO R RECT I O N : Last week we inco rrectly credited roa d racer Bruce T ebo with a runner-u p performance in th e WERA For mula USA Series. Tebo was the runner-up in the AR RA Form ula One Ser ies. JOINED: Chris KaIl£e1z, the staff of th e AMA G ov ernm ent R elations Department in th e position of legislative a ffai rs sp ecia li st. Ka11£elz, a grad ua te of St. Mary's College of Mary land, fill s a vacancy at th e AMA nat ion al head q uarters in Ohio tha t was creat ed wi th the o peni ng of the AMA's n ew gover n me nt relations oHice in Washi ngto n, D.C. JOINED: Sev en -time Nati onal Enduro Champion Dick Bur leson is now associ ated with YOKO Racewear as a design consultant. . CORRECTION: T wo motorcycles were stolen at the J anuary 13 round of the GFI Winter MX Series in Perr is, California, and not one as reported las t week. Altho ugh G FI's Goat Breker recovered one, a 1991 Yamaha YZ250 is still m issing. The bike has Kawasaki Iootpegs and the fra me number is JY A3XK W03 MA009394. If a nyo n e has in formation on the bike, contact Bret Leef a t 714/ 678-6350. --------------------------------------------------------------------------SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Name _ Address -,State Cit y Order Date _ Zip _ ---'- _ Please start my subscription to C ycle News: o Every week fo r one yea r (50 issues) fo r $35.00 (can be billed 3 monthly payments) o Every week for two years (100 issu es) for ,$65. 00 o Six months second class (25 issues) fo r $ 18.00 One year (50 issues), 2nd cla ss Canada or Mexico and all e ther foreign cou ntries $75.00 (U.S. funds ). 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