Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

BmTHEwmD~~_aw_~~q~~~~~~~~~~~~_ mTrials area oRen in Rhode Island ~ ;:; r-.: ........ . .... .... 0. ~ fter a nearly two-year effort by tr ials enth usiast Bill Mathewson of Exeter, Rh od e Island, a n approved tria ls practice area is no w ope n in the Arcadia Managem ent Area, which in the past has served as the si te of two World Champio nshi p Observed T rials Series ro unds a nd many National Ch ampionsh ip events. " It 's uni q ue," sai d Mat hewson, who operates Bill 's Mot orcycle Shop in Exeter. " It too k nearly two years of workin g wi th officials to obtai n the permission to use the a rea. A permi t is req uired and can be obtained from me." The sole requirem ent is that all users of the Arcadia Managem ent Area ride tr ials bikes. No ot her type of mot or cycles are allo wed in the area. A pa rk in g lot is provided and th e trai ls and trial s sections are mar ked with red a nd blu e £Jagging tape. For further information or to obtai n a perm it, con tact: Bill Mathewson, 155 Black Pl ain Rd ., Exeter. RI , 401/397-9075. A Continued from page 3 Other Amer ican GP rid ers who were injured while practicing in Olmen , Belgium, on April 4 were Billy Liles a nd Rick Ryan. L il es suffered a concu ssion a nd burned hi s forearm while practicing in Belgium, a nd Ryan crashed and broke hi s collarbone . Defending National Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins, who broke his hand February 10at a local enduro, had the pins and cast rem oved April 3. " It (the hand) is feeling pr ett y good," Hawkins said in a telephone co nversatio n on Friday, April 5. " Bu t it' s a littl e weak ri ght now, becau se it 's been in the cast for so long, but I'm go ing to sta rt riding again Monday (Apri l 8). I'm pr etty sure I'm going to be abl e to ride the next National in Ohio (Apri l 14). My goal is to finish in the top five; I'll be real happy if I can do that. " KTM'sJeff Russell, who is cu rrently leadin g the Na tiona l Ch ampionship Enduro Series and is tied with Scott Summers for the lead in the National Cro ss Co untry Series, says he has no plans in tryin g to qualify for the 1991 Intern ati onal Six-Days Enduro in Czechoslovakia this fall. " I' m o nly co n trac ted by KTM for th e n ine Na tion al Enduro rounds, so if I wanted to ride the Six Days, then I would have to pay for it o ut of m y pocket. I just don 't have a stro ng eno ugh desir e to do it again." Ru ssell is a multi-time ISDE go ld and silver medalist. . Mot o cro sser Derek Natvig, wh o sustained serio us damage to h is sp ina l cord in a cras h at southern California's Sun rise Cycle Park in J anuary, is u p and abo ut. After suffering tem porary paral ysis a nd loss of feeling in parts of h is body , Na tvig has amazed doc tor s with his recovery. " I on ly weigh about 125 po u nds now ," said Nat vig in a phone co nversatio n from hi s Pacific Pal isades, Ca li fo rnia, home. " Bu t o ther than that I'm stylin '." Natvig expects to be back o n a motorcycle by the end of the year. Motocro sser Mike LaRocco sprained hi s left a n kle in a press da y cra sh prior to the Ap ril 6 T ampa Bay Su percro ss in St. Petersburg, Flor id a. The incident occurred after LaRocco lost hi s rear brak e and looped his bik e off a jump. According to his father, Mike LaRocco, Sr., the younger LaRocco is ex pec ted to m iss the April 13-14 Pontiac Supercross doubleheader. Larry Ward, wh o tor e ligaments in h is ankle at the Atlanta Supercross and was expec ted to return to action th is past weekend in St. Petersburg, will instead rejo in th e Camel Su percross Seri es a t Pontiac. 66 Mor ocr osser Jean-Michel Bayle showed up a t the Tampa Bay Super- cross with four small leather bombs sewn o n the front of hi s rid in g pants. The bombs have the nam es of the Supercross races the two -time World Champion has won this year, a nd his victory in St. Petersburg means he will ha ve to make room for at least one mor e before the season 's finished. The way he's riding, Papa predi cts he'll run o u t of room on his pants. The Cal Pol y Penguin 's High Mountain Enduro, which was schedu led to take place on April 14 a t Turkey Flats near Pozo, California, ha s been postponed du e to a n appeal of th e U.S. For estry Service perm it that was filed by the Santa Barb a ra Bio Diversity G roup, a n envi ron me ntalist grou p . For informat ion call 805/5 28-5583 or 805/546-9912. Auto Parts Plus, an autom oti ve a nd mot or cycle parts a nd accessories sto re north of Los Angeles, Ca lifornia, will host a free coffee and snac k sto p from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on April 18-20 for mo torcyclists traveling to the U.S. GP at La guna Seca . The sto re is located a t 38918 Frazi er Mountain Park Road , just off the 1-5 freeway at the Frazier Park off-ra m p. Santa Maria Speedway, in Santa Mar ia, Cal ifornia, will host an AMA Distr ict 36 short track race Friday night, April 12. A $1000 purse will be offered in th e Pro-Am class, and a bikini co ntest will be held during intermission. T he orga n izers of the April 27 Sea ttle ro u nd o f th e MTEG Off-Road Championship GP Series are looking for eig ht 50cc Stoc k class rid ers wh o wish to perfor m durin g inte rmission. T here are also a few slots open for 50cc Stoc k rid ers at the Ma y 18 Dallas ro und. Interested a pplica nts shou ld co ntact G FI Racin g at 71417885853. Cagiva an no unced that since they will be usin g technical facilities at Fiat Auto, the Fiat logo will a ppear o n the Cagivas of Eddi e La wso n a nd Alexandre Barros. Riders who would lik e nothing better than to qual if y for U.S. Junior World team for the 1991 66th International Six Days Enduro in Brezova , Czechoslovakia, September 27, will be interested in what Ride to Win (RT W) is offering. This year the four se lec ted Juni or World team members will receive from RTW , a non-profit organization, a free ISDE tour (airfare and .Iod ging ) package, plus free instruction at RTW's ISDE train ing camp in July. To qualify, yo u must be 23 years of age or less a t the time of th o: Six-Days; ride a minimum of six individual days within the Na tional Championship Reliability Enduro Series (Q ualifiers), send in race a nd training reports to RTW, and a ttend training sessions at selected Qualifiers. Selection for the team will be based upon all of the above, Qualifier resu lts and prior ISDE record. If yo u are selected for th e team, to receive funding you must attend the July training camp, and yo ur motorcycle sponsor must participate with su p p o rt at th e ISDE. If yo u are intendi ng to qualify, you must notify Dave Bertram of RTW at 415/236-7384 (day), or 7071746-7708 (eve), no later th an April 25. The FIM has confirmed that Australia will host the 1992 ISDE. However, the date of the event ha s been cha nged from September 7-12,1992, to August 25-30. Unlike traditional ISDEs that start on Monday and end on Saturday, the Australian ISDE will . begin on Tuesday and wrap up on Sunday. The Motocross des Nations will also be held in Australia in 1992, on October 6, in Western Australia. American Suzuki has announced the formation of the Suzuki DualSport Riders Club, which is designed to bring back - in Suzuki's words - " the grass roots" of motorcycle riding. Ch eck o u t next week ' s iss ue for co m p lete information on what Suzuki has planned for club members. Harley-Davidson and AMAlCCS have announced the addition of a new round o f the Harley-Davidson Twin Sports National Championship Series for Road Atlanta on May 5. This event will replace the race that had been scheduled for the weekend of May 18-19 at th e Braselt on, Georgia, .track as part of the AMA National Championship Road Race Series. That event was canceled by the AMA. The race for 883cc Sportsters will round out a full weekend of AMAlCCS Pro-Am racing and will be the feature event on Sunday afternoon. Southern California's Willow Springs Raceway will host a full sla te of road racing over the April 1214 weekend. Action starts when the 24 Hours West , a round of the SBS/PM National Endurance Seri es, gets th e green £Jag on Friday at 3 p.m. That demanding race will con ti n ue until Sa turday afternoon. Sunday will see the running of three Du nlop Superstock races, the Air T ech Formula II go , th e new WERA Future Stars class race, a nd the feature event, the Interstate Batteri es Formula USA race. The latter race will feature T eam Marlboro Rob erts rider s Rich Oliver a n d Robbie Petersen, 1990 F-USA cha m p Mike Smith of Team Yoshimura Suzuki, Scott Russell of T eam Muuy Kawasaki, a nd Alan Scott and Kenny Roberts Jr. of T eam Otsuka . Electro nics . An eleventh hour effort to keep WERA Formula USA telecasts on the air for the 1991 season netted producers Keith Code, Paul Winters and David West a reprieve from what looked like a no-show. La st minute involvement from Yamaha , Honda and Bridge Publ ications, publishers of the bestsell ing book Dianetics, saved the show, accor ding to Code. "It was really close. We were going to have to say ' tha t' s it ' on Tuesday, March 19, just three days before the season opener a t Road Atlanta, but at II p.m. on Monday night, we got Bridge," Code said, " Kenn y Roberts had some input too . After Yamaha turned us down, he got on the lin e and they reversed that decision." The Formula USA shows will air on Prime Network, starting later th is month. Australian Superbike rider Scott Doohan, the brother of Rothmans Honda 's Grand Prix star Michael Doohan, suffered ligament damage to his knee when he crashed his Yamaha OWOI during the Superbike Challenge at Eastern Creek in Australia , on April 6. Doohan crashed on the second lap of the support race held in conjunction with the Australian GP, and slammed into an unprotected concrete wall. New Zealander Aaron Slight (Kaw) won the race ahead of Australian Malcolm Campbell (Hon), Former 125cc World Champion Jorge Martinez crashed during practice for the Australian 125cc GP and broke his left wrist. The Spaniard, however, still raced and finished lOth, despite crashing again on the final lap while battling for sixth place. Martinez was sporting a cast on Sunday evening, but should be ready for the next round of the 125cc World Championship in Spain on May 5. The majority of the Grand Prix teams headed directly for Los Angeles and San Francisco on the Monday following the April 7 Australian GP, but Kevin SChwantz took his Lucky Strike Suzuki crew to his home in Austin, Texas. Schwantz plarmed to entertain his mechanics, the majority of whom are British, with some Jet Skiing, golf and a Texas-style . barbecue. Rumors circulated at the Australian GP that Bimota had contacted Kevin Magee about riding their Tesi in the World Superbike Championship. Magee , however, said he hasn't spoken to Birnota and is intent on staying in Grand Prix racing. Many say the numerous rumors surrounding Magee's future were started within the Suzuki camp to take the pressure off the company for apparently wanting to rid themselves of the popular Australian. Good news came to the likeable Aussie just prior to the Australian GP when Tooheys Beer announced that it was sponsoring him. " We won't know what is happening for sure until the bosses at Suzuki talk in Japan later this week," Magee said after finishing 11th in the GP. " Bu t Tooheys are interested in continuing with m y career and it's great to have gained the support of a well-known Australian company. Tooheys are looking at the longer term, and that's good because I'm still trying to work my way back.." When asked if he'd be sampling his new sponsors product the night after the race , Magee replied with a typ ical smile: "I reckon I'll be able to slide back a couple tonight. " News on a potential sponsor for Doug Chandler and his 500cc Grand Prix effort is expected to come prior to the U.S. GP at Laguna Seca, if at all. Until a sponsor is found, journalists were instructed to call the team Team Chandler Yamaha, even though it is well known that Kenny Roberts is paying the bills. A Spanish concern is reportedly interested in sponsoring the team. The rotary-powered Roton made its 500cc Grand Prix debut in the Australian GP and finished 15th in the hands of Brit Steve Spray. The FIM is allowing the rotary to participate in selected GPs, and Australia was one of them.

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