Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GIN THE WIND ~ the hosp ital where Magee was treated follow ing his accident last April. " It was great," Julie Magee said. "T he ' nurses had tears in their eyes. They' couldn 't believe he was standi ng there in fron t of them again." Other n otables ,in attendance for th e U.S. GP: multi-time MX champion Rick Johnson; Grand Marshall Bubb a Shobert; Daytona 200 win ner Miguel DuHamel, road racers Dou g ' Pol en, Thomas Stevens, Scott Russell and J am ie James ; AMA G rand Nation al Champion Scott Parker; 600 Nati on al Ch ampion Chris Carr and Kevin Atherton, like Parker and Carr a member of th e Harley-Davidson factory team ; and former dirt track great Skip Van Leeuwen. Former Grand National Champion Mert Lawwill was hired by Kenny Rob erts to crew ch ief Doug Chandler's 500cc Grand Prix effort at La gu na Seca. Apparently, Lawwill was trying out for the job and it was unknown at pr esstime whether or not it was a on e-time deal or if Lawwill will be going to Europe for the season. An emo tional Randy Mamola held a press conference on Friday, April 19, at th e U.S. GP to dispel rumors of his retirement, " I don't have a lot to say," Marnola, who was left without a GP rid e for 1991 , said while fighting back tears. " I don 't want to com e here and put th e sport down becau se it 's \ given me travel and everyth ing else I have in life. I have no plans to retire. I plan on retiring when I'm completely bald." Mamola realizes th at the chances of him racing in '91 are now slim: " I'd love to be racing, but I don 't think it's go ing to happen." At one po int du ring the pr ess conference, Mamola was angered when hi s departu re from Cagiva was brou ght up: " I read in the newspapers that I was fired. I wasn' t fired. My con tract ran out a nd th ey didn 't renew it. Marlboro didn 't renew Eddie's (La wson) contract, but nobody said he was fired . Maybe my mistake was no t being critica l enoug h of Cagi va. It's not my job to tell you that the bike's a piece of $#@%. It's not a piece of $#@%, especially for th e people wh o ar e work in g on it. I just don 't believe in sayin g negat ive th ings. I'm happy Cagiva is still raci ng. The two brothers who ow n th e co m pany are grea t people." One journalist brought up Eddie Lawson's two sixt h place finishes in the opening rounds of the GP series. Mamola responded with: "If I, Christian (Sarron ), and (Niall) Mackenzie were still here racin g they'd be ninth place fin ishes." 1 OOOth BMW ,OO, O motorcllk-Ilroduced O A meeting on Frida y, April 26, prior to the April 28 Spanish ro und of the World Championship Superbike Series between FIM Road Racing Commission President Jo Zegwaard and SUBRA (Superbike Racing Associa, tion ) should determine wheth er or not the June 2 Can adian round of the series at Mosport takes place. But even if the even t goes on, the entry of the top teams is not gu aranteed. Rider represen tative Rob McEln ea recen tl y inspected the circui t and found li ttle in the way of safety improve ments from last year. n Monday, Mar ch 18 at 12 noon, the I,ooo,oooth BMW motorcycle to be produ ced since the start of production in 1923, came off th e assembly line in Berlin, Germany. BMW Cha irma n of the Board Eberhard von Kuenheim was on hand for the historic celebration. " It takes us a bit less than two years to build a mill ion cars, even though our equally exclusive cars on ly make up for a small share in worldwide prod uction ," Mr. von Kuenheim said. "Still, , hardl y anybody could imagine the BMW marque wi tho ut its historical trinity of motorcycles, engi nes and automobiles." The I,ooo,oooth BMW was a specially-equipped K75RT . It was donated to the East Berlin Chapter of the German Red Cross, to be used in providing first ai d in accidents. BMW air- cooled flat twin models, built from 1923 to the present, account for an add itional 230,000 units. K·Series, three- and four -cylinder, liquid-cooled mod els, produced since 1983, account for the remaining 136,000 motorcycles. While it took BMW 50 years to produce the first 500,000 motorcycles, the second 500,000 took less than 18 years. It is estimated that half of the one million BMWs produced are still on th e road today . French road racer Dominique Sarron ha s been confirmed as the rid er of the factory Bimota T esi ID at the Spanish round of the World Championship Superbike Series at Jarama in Spain on April 28. The 31-year-old Frenchman replaces the injured Vittorio Scarola, who has a broken pelvis and will be out of action for at least two months. Also joining the series at Jarama will be former Cagiva GP rider Masimo Broccoli on the Italian Kawasaki importer's T eam Velmotor 2000 ZXR750R. Davidson, H o n d a , K awasaki, Moto Guzzi, Suzuki and Yamaha will disp lay their wares and set up demo test ride 'sta tions in the parking area of the university'S Convocation Cente r daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m . "It 's the first time that seven manufacturers have participated at on e time at an activity such as this," said Andy Sho w, associate director of the AMA's to uring and transportation department. " World Superbike Cham p ionship leader Terry Rymer will mak e his car racing debut in a 5OO-kilometer 'Group N race at Donington Park in England on May 12. His teammate will be former racer and Loctite team manager Steve Parrish. The pair will dri ve Ford Sapphire Cosworths in class A. New for Heritage Homecoming Road racer Doug Polen has withdrawn from the May 5-6 T ransatlantic Match Races becaus e of a sho rtage of fresh motors for his Fast By Ferracci Ducati 888 Superbike. Polen 's withdrawal weakens th e Freddie Spen cerled American team, which has taken o n an internat ion al ai r with the indusion of a New Zea lander (Robert Holden ), an Austral ian (Pau l Lewis) and a Spaniard (Luis Carlos Mau rel ) to bring the total of riders up to 12. '91 will be four days of dual sport ridi ng activit y, improved dorm room ra tes, a lar ger indoor 'trade show location , one arena dedicated to th e display of vintage/ classic bikes , and near by pa rking for self-contained RVs and mo torho mes. T hose wh o pr eregister for the conven tion by June I will save $5 off th e regular fee of $43 [or AMA members and $50 for nonAMA members. In addition, the first 2500 participants who pre-register will receive a limited-edition com memora tive cerami c til e upon arr iva l at Heritage Homecomin g '91. H arley-Davidson MotorClothes will spons or the 10 one-ho ur ESP N television p rogr am s of Cam el Pro Series races whi ch are scheduled to air nationally on Thursday eveni ngs from June th rou gh October at 9:30 p.m. PDT. D ou g D uba ch (Yam) scored the win at the Molson Export Toronto Supercross held in the Skydom e in Toronto, Canada, April 20. Former Canadian Supercross Champion R oss P ede rs on (Suz) was the runner-up, while J im Holley (Yam) finished third. Dubach recentl y returned to action after recovering from a knee injury su ffered at th e San Diego Camel Supercross, February 9. A record seven man ufacturers will be showcasing th eir la test street -lega l models and offering demon stration test rid es at this year's 2 n d Annual H e ritage H omecoming ' 9 1 National Convention on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, August 14-17. BWM, Harley- R EMINDER: The Laguna Seca United States 500cc Grand Prix will be telecast on Saturday, May 4, at 1:00 p .rn. Pacific Daylight Time on CBS. The 250cc GP will air on June 9 at 10:00 a.m, on ESPN and the Sidecar GP will be telecaast by Prime Network on May 16 in a time slot yet to be announced. A P POINTE D: Hiro~hi "Henry" Noda; 53, to th e pos ition of president of Kawa sak i Motors Corp., U.S.A. (KMC). Prior to his appointment, Nod a was based in Kobe, Japan, as the sen io r m anager of the co ns u me r products and compon ents group 's sales department for Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. He has previou sly served in a variety of capaci ties at KMC headquarters in Irvine, California, including dealer placement manager, nati onal dea ler pr ocurement manager, and vice president, corpora te office, and vice pr esident, mark eting. Noda succeeds Misao "Lyndon" Yurikusa, who returns to Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan as associate director . A P P O IN T E D : Mark Johnson, 35, to vice pr esident of Kawasaki 's Good T imes Owners Club . Johnson will also re tai n h is res p o ns ibi li ti es as th e manager of T eam Gr een, Kawasaki 's amateur racing program. F ORMED: L&M Ra cin g Supply of Chesnee, Sou th Carolina, by David La vender and Ga ry Michaud, to sell road raci ng products and sport bike accessories. 813/578 -5240. ----------~--------------------- - ------------------------ ~----------- -- ~--I I I I SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Name_-'- _ Address _ City Order Date State Zip _ Please start my subscription to Cycle News: o Every week for one year (50 issues) for $35.00 (can be billed 3 monthly pa yments) o Every week for two years (100 issues) for $65.00 o Six months secondclass (25 issues) for $18.00 On e year (50 issues). 2nd class Canada or Mexico and all oth er foreign coun tries $75,00 (U.S. lunch ). First class and airmail rates avai lable upon req uest. 4 _ i o This is a renewa l o Please bill me o Bill 3 payments of SI1.67 o Enclosed is my check or money order Charge my 0 Visa 0 Mastercard .~ Signature --'- _ MCiVisa# _ Expiration Date Send to: Cycle News, Inc., P.O. 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