Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1991 04 24

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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BIN THE WIND By Papa Wealey ~ ...... 0") 0") ...... Assembly Bill 7, the California helmet bill has passed from the California Assembl y to the Senate. A hearing on the bill has been scheduled for Tuesday, April 16, in the Sena te Transportation Committee. Despite short notice, staff members of th e AMA's Government Relations Department hav e made arrangem ents to testify against th e ma ndatory helmet bill, which is sponsored by con troversial California Assembl yman Richard Floyd (D-Carson). T he 'AMA strongly supports the volu ntary use of helmets for California riders , but opposes mandatory hel met laws on the grounds that an exclusive focus on these laws tends to reduce the com mitment to the .o ther componen ts of a comprehensive motorcycle safety progra m. Concern ed ride rs in California are urged to wri te . till; members of the State Sen ate to express thei r views. Mail for sen ators sho u ld be sent to: The State Ca pitol, Sacra mento, CA 95814. Frenchmen Jean Pierre Monneret, Bruno Bonhuil and Racuel Nicolle (Yam) teamed to win th e 24 Hours of Le Mans in Le Man s, France, April 13-14. Thierry Crine, Brian Morrison and Cal ifornian Richard Moore (Kaw) finished second, on eminute, 24.40 -seconds beh ind the win ni ng team . Alex Vieira, Miguel DuHamel and J.L Bauistini (Kaw) fin ished th ird overa ll, four laps beh ind the winners. England's Kurt Nicoll (KTM) was the overall winner at the opening round of the Wor ld Ch ampionsh ip 500cc MX Series in Payern e, Switzerland, April 14. Fe llow Englis h ma n Mervyn Anstie (H on) fin ished second overa ll an d American Billy Liles finis hed thi rd. Form er World Cham p ion David Thorpe cras hed in the first mo to and broke his arm. T ho rpe says he won 't race again th is year, an d wi th h is Kawasaki cont rac t du e to expi re at the end of the season he ma y very well have ridden his last race. Larry Roeseler (Kaw ) .wa s the overall and 250cc class winner at round four of the AMA National Ch~mpion ship Hare & Hound Series in Delta, Utah, April 14. Garth Sweetland (Kaw) finish ed second overa ll and sco red th e Open clas s wi n, wh ile Jimmy Lewis (KTM), Greg Searle (KT M) and Corky Maughan (Suz) rounded ou t the top five overall. Series po ints leader Danny Hamel (KT M) did not finis h the race du e to mechanical prob lem s. Four-time National Enduro Ch am pi on Terry Cunningham scored th e overa ll win at round three of the AMA Wiseco / Yamah a / Yo koha ma GNC Cross Country Series in Boyer, Pen nsylvania, Apr il 14. Duane Conner (Kaw) was the runner-u p , and Doug Blackwell (Kaw), Steve McSwain (KT M) and Frank Keegan (ATK) finished third, fourth and fifth , respectively. Defending National Ch ampion Scott Summers (Hon) fini shed 10th. 2 The third ro und of the AMA Nati onal Champi onship Enduro Ser ies in McArthur, Ohio, April 14, saw Canadian Blair Sharpless (Suz) score the overa ll win , and series points leader Jeff Russell (KT M) finish second. Mark Hyde (KT M), Allen Gravitt ( KT M) a n d Kurt Hough (Ka w) rounded out the top five. Defending Na tio nal Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins (Suz), who compe ted for the firs t time si nce under going hand surgery in February, fini shed 16th overall. David Shaw, whose byl ine firs t appeared in a mo torcycle publica tio n in 1959 whe n he worked for Scrambler - a forerunner to Cycl e News - and then 30 years later in this publication in 1989, was awa rded the Pu litzer Prize for criticism last week. The Pul itzer Prize is the hi gh est honor a journalist can receive. Shaw, 48, was honored for his stories examining th e media 's coverage of the McMartin Pre-Sch oo l chil d molestation case. Shaw's analysis and criticism of th e medi a appear regul arl y in the Los Angeles Times, where he's worked sin ce 1968. The 1989 article he wrote for us was en ti tied, " Headlines & deadlines: A journalist recalls those bold 'n ' go lden days when type was hot and so was he." Shaw was a lso a fina lis t in the beat reporti ng category. A tip of Papa 's duckbi ll to Mr. Sha w. Mo to crosser Rick Johnson , wh o ret ired from ra cin g in Fe br u a ry, comp leted a two-d ay Bob Bondurant School of H igh Performan ce Driving a t Firebird R aceway i n Phoen ix , Arizon a, April 8-9, in prepara tion for a car racing career. J ohnson drove a modified Ford Mustan g on the road course and said that it was "a blast. " J ohnson , who ho pes to race off-road cars before reach in g h is goal of raci ng NASCAR stock cars, added that he has yet to ink a deal wi th a spo nsor and said, " You don 't want to sign with th e first compa ny who offers you a car." T hirteen on e-h ou r Speedway America show s will begi n airing on Prime Spo rts Network on Thursday, June 6, at 9 p.m . Pacific time. The Agaj anian Entertainme nt- produced shows will be taped at the speed way track at Costa Mesa , Cal ifornia 's Orange Co unty Fairgrounds, beginning Friday, April 26, with former World Ch ampion Bruce Penhall and Larry HuHman serving as hosts. Anyone planning on auending th e July 13-14 250cc U.S. MX GP at Unadilla Valley Sports Center in New Berlin, New York , or th e September 22125/500cc National MX a t Broome Tioga Sports Center in nearby Binghamton sh o u ld make motel accommodations immedi ately du e to other even ts occurr ing on both of th e race weekends. For those at tending the Unadilla GP, specia l ra tes are avai lable at the Hol iday Inn, New Hartford, 3151797-2131 , or Howard Johnson's, 3151724-414I. The Bin ghamton National organizers have had a block of rooms set aside for race goers at the Johnson Cit y Best Western Hotel. Racers and fans sho uld call 607/ 729-9194 and mention th e race to reserve a room. Exotic Motorcycle Imports (EMI) of T orrance, Cal ifornia, a firm tha t imported "gra y market" motorcycles, has apparently gon e out of busin ess a n d bi l ked at lea st a h alf dozen customers. According to Carso n Sheri ff's Department Detect ive Rob ert Stratton, six cus to me rs ha ve filed complain ts that they had given EMI down payments and never received motorcycles. EMI's ph on e and FAX numbers are no longer in service. Oops l At the March 1-3 AMA/CCS road race meet at Daytona, the AMA/ CCS mistakenly listed cash awards in the Top. Expert division for Shoei Helmets and th en reported th ose awards to rid ers and to Shoei, AMAI CCS n ow says that Sh oei is not responsibl e for those awards as it was not th eir intention to offer th em . However, AMAlCCS feels it has an Bev 'm eshadow of hisformerself oa er con USA represen tative Bevo Forti didn 't want to q ui t attending mo tocro ss races, so he q uit eati ng . Well , not completely, bu t a lot less and a lot better. Using a doctor-prescribed diet and exercise program, Forti, who weighed 350 po unds j ust six months ago, has shed 130 pounds and 22 inches off hi s waist. " I got tired of sitting around and wa tch ing the world go by," said Forti, who has been a fixture on the MX circuit for ma ny years. He made th e decision to lose weight when he attended th e Motocross des Nation s in Sweden last Sep tember. It was an event he nearl y missed because he says he cou ld barely fit in an airl in e seat. " I di dn 't have eno ug h freq ue nt flier mil es to upgrade to first class," he jokingly added. " If I was go ing to miss motocros s because of food , I had to decide to put food behind me." Forti now weigh s 220 pounds and wears size 36 pants. H e says to reach 190 pounds and be abl e to wear pants with a 34-inch waist. S obligation to its rid ers and is going to pa y the aw ard s which totaled $850. to Europe - these guys could be future World Championship competitors." T he si xth round of th e AMA National Championship Hare & Hound Series in Craig, Colorado, Septemb er 15, has been canceled. According to th e AMA, the event was canceled du e to a lack of manpower needed to put on the race. Australian 250cc road racer David Evelyn, who wa s i nv o lved in a practice co ll is io n with Rothmans Honda's Luca Cadalora during the first da y of practicefor the Australian GP in Eastern Creek on April 5, su ffere d two cr us hed vertebrae, a broken left wrist and ankle and a brok en right collar bone. According to Australian GP event medical director Dr. David Vissenga, Evelyn suffered no spi nal damage. Dual sport bike owners are invi ted to rid e th eir bikes to sou th ern Cal ifornia 's Perris Ra ceway and then compe te in a special race at the May 18-19 White Bros. World Championship Four-Stroke TT Scrambles & MX. Every dual spo rt rider who rides to the track and races will receive some speci al prizes just for ente ri ng. KTM America has joined Gators Sport Optics and ATK Motorcycles as major spo nsors of the an nual four-stroke event. JT Racing says its $500,000 Winter Jackpot cont ingency award program wh ich was conducted during the recent CMC Golden State Nationals and GFI Winter MX Series in California, was a great success. Papa knows of two riders who will agree. Jimmy Varis, who competed in the 60cc Novic e class in the CMC series, and Joey Cirocco, who rod e in the 125and 250cc Beginner classes in the G FI series, accumulated th e most points in their respective series. Each will be awarded a full factory JT clothing contract and their ch oice of a 1991 MX bike plus one day of practice riding with T eam Honda's J ean -Mich el Bayle. Varis and Cirocco will receive their bik es at the June 22 Los Angel es Supercross. Road racer Robbie Petersen and Rich Oliver will join World Champions Wayne Ra iney and John Kocinsk i on th e Marlboro Team Roberts squad for the U.S. GP at Laguna Seca on April 21. Petersen and Ol iver will ride ex-R a i n ey 1990 Yamaha YZR500s with Rainey and Kocinski aboard '91 models. " We want to give th em the best experien ce po ssible and there's no other place where you get to ride with guys with that kind of talent," team owner Kenny Roberts said. " Peop le expect riders to just jump on a 500 and race GPs and that's wrong. That's what WERA's doing - setting up a system so guys can race them before (they compete in GPs). Rich (O liver, age 29) and Robbie (Petersen , 27) aren't the youngest guys on 500s but we go on experience, not age. Remember, I was 27 when I came Former U.S . GP winner Jimmy Filice wasn't too happy even before his lowly 25th place firtish in the Australian round of the 250cc World Championship. Filice, returning to action after suffering serious injuries in an automobile accident over a year ago, rode a production Yamaha TZ250 for Team Gallina in both Japan and Australia, but the association will end after Laguna Seca. A lack of off-season testing has left Filice and the new Yamaha way behind the rest of the field, and the Californian said in retrospect that he probably should have accepted Wayne Rainey's offer to ride in his WERA 250cc team. Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz) won the WERA 24-Hour Endurance race at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, California, April 12-13. Riders Don Caney, W Cooley, Dave Deveau, Kurt Hall Donald Jacks, Michael Martin an Britt Turkington set a new 24-ho record by completing 2215 miles whil finishing a record-setting 37 laps ahea of second placed Hall N' Still Racin (Suz); third place went to Roswel Racing (Suz). Team Suzuki now lea the championship by 81 points ov Hall N' Still, 534-453. Rich Oliver (Yam ) heat his teammat Robbie Petersen (Yam) in the secon round of the F·USA championshi during WERA Pro Series action a Willow Springs International Race way in Rosamond, California, 0 April 14. Chuck Graves (Suz) finish third. The Formula II race went N ick Ienatsch, (Yam) ahead of AI SCOtt (Yam) and Kenny Roberts, Jr (Yam ). . Sprint race action at Willow Sprin saw Chuck Gra v e s (Suz) win the Superstock class over David Devea (Suz) and Michael Martin (Suz). In Superstock, Martin topped Graves an Brad Hazen (Suz), Thomas Montan

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