Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1991 05 22

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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RmTmMW~~~aw~~~q ~ ......... g; ......... ~ C'J C'J ~ "'::::" .~ Defending 125cc MX World Champ ion Donny Schmit (Suz) swept both motos at round three of the World Ch ampionship 125cc MX Series in Markelo, Holl and, May 12. Stefan Everts (Suz) foll owed the American across the finish line in both motos for second overa ll, wh ile Pedro Tragter (Suz) scored third overa ll with 5-3 moto finishes. Schmit leads Everts in the point standings, 112-94, with American Bob Moore (KT M), who finish fifth overall, third in the standings with 80 points. American W illie S urratt failed to score any points and dropped from fourth to seventh in the standings. American Trampas Parker (H a n ) was the overa ll win ner in round four of the World Championship 250cc MX Series held in Mantova, Ital y, May 12. Defending 250cc Wo rl d ' Champion Alessandro P u zar (Suz) fini shed seco n d o vera ll and Peter Dir k x (Han) ro unded o u t th e top three. Parker has a nine-po int lead over Puzar in the standi ngs , 114-105. Marniq c Ber voets (Kaw) lies th ird wit h 87 poi nts. Amer ican Mike Healey (KT M), who finished second beh ind Pa rker in the second mota but failed to score any points in mota one, is . seventh in the standings with 61 points. Eng land's Paul Malin (Kaw) won round four of the World Championship 500cc MX Series with a two-mota sweep May 12 in Castelnau de Levis, Fra nce. Georges Jobe (Han) finished second overall with 2-3 moto finishes and Kurt Nicoll (KTM) ro unded out the top three wi th 4-2 finishes. American Billy Liles (Kaw ) failed to score points in eithe r mota California helmet bill goes to governor aliforn ia Assembly Bill 7, legislation au thored by Assemblyman Rich ard Floyd (D-Ca rson) that calls for mandatory helmet use by all motofl;: clists, passed y the Califoria Senate by o ne vote on Thursday, May 9, and IS now ht;a?ed to Gov. Pete Wil son. The governor will hav e 12 calendar day s after recervmg the bill to either veto it or sign it into)aw. If he does neither, it au to~aticall.y becom es law . Wilson has been an advoca te of mandatory helmet laws since hIS days as a California state senator when he co-sponsored similar legi slat ion. His aides say they expe ct him to sign the bill into law. . , This is the third tim e that a mandatory helmet bill has reached the governor s desk. In 1988 Gov. Deu krnejian vetoed a Floyd-authored bill and did so again ~ful~~~ ~ . . . As of Monday morning, May 13, Gov. WIlson had no t received the .blll and his office said it was still in the " en roll ment process." Although the bill could be vetoed or approved by Gov. Wi lson immediately a fter he receives it, representatives of the AMA's Government Rela tio n s Department have an appointment to meet with Gov. Wilson on Tuesday, May 14. "We don't feel he would schedule a meeting wit h us for Tuesday if he plan ned to act on the bill before that time ," said Christopher Kallfelz of the AMA. California law currently requires motorcyclists 15 1/2 years of age and younger, and all off-road vehicle riders, to wear helmets. T wenty-two states have mandatory helmet laws . Floyd's bill would require all motorcycle, scooter and moped riders to wear state-approved helmets and sets a maximum fine of $100 for those convicted . . . of breaking the law. It is imperative that all opponents of the bill contact the governor immediately, There are two hotlines to Gov. Wilson's office; in nort hern California call 916/ 445-2841 and in southern California call 2131736-2373. Mai l and telegrams should be sent to: T he Honorable Pete Wilson , Office of the Governor, State Capitol, 1st Fl., Sacramento, CA 95814. The foll owing is the letter the AMA sent to Go v. Wilson on Fri day , May 10: C Dear Governor Wilson: On behalf of our 27,902 California mem bers, we urge you to veto Assembly Bill 7. There are serious problems with both the drafting of AB-7 and the method by wh ich it was passed through the state senate. AB-7 is a poorly drafted bi ll. If passed , the bi ll would have . no provision for eye. protection and the fin e for a violation would be sustantially greater than that for a seat belt violation, with which it is oft en compared. The absence of the eye protection provision, whi ch is a virtual b?i ler ~I ate e~ti~n in most state helmet laws , is indicative of the hasty method In whi ch this bill ~a s dr afted. T he ineq uita ble fin e prescribed by the bill futher exacerba tes the .n~u o n that the purpose of AB-7 is not to promo te motorcy~le safety so. m ~ch. as It IS an .a ue~ pt to target Cal ifornia's mo torcycl ists for arbitra ry and discrimina tory legis la tio n. AB-7 was poorly' dra fted and its applica tio n will be unfair. AB-7 passed the state senate by o ne vote. At the same ti ~e , Ca lifornia motorcyclists in the Ist and 35th dis tricts were unrepresented; then senate seats were vacant with elections schedu led for May 14. A margin of a single vote does not rep resent a mandate from the state senate, particularly given that many of California's motorcyclists were unrepresented in its passage. Arbitrary fines, carel ess drafting of the bill,unrepresented constituents a~d an extremely close vote to a bill which was rushed thro ugh the system all give at least the appearance of an unfair and inequitab le process. If Californ ia is to have a helmet laW' let it be enacted in a manner whic h is not procedura lly suspect. Let the law be eq u itable in its applicati on and enac ted by a legislat ure that represents all of Cal ifornia's motor cyclists. AB-7 is non e of th ese things. We respectfull y' urge that yo u veto AB-7 and restore equity to the system. 2 Christopher P. Kallfe lz Legislative Affairs Specialist American Motorcyclist Association Westerville, O H ~ Doohan wins Spanish Grand Prix A ustralian Michael Doohan (ri ght)' took over the lead in the 500cc Wor ld Championship po int standings after an impressive win in front of 225,000 fans at the Spanish Grand Pri x in j erez, Spain, on May 12. The Rothmans Honda rider topped Marlboro Rober ts Yam aha' s john Kocinski by 9.92 seconds to win the second 500cc GP of h is career. Third place went to defending 500cc World Champion Wayne Rainey. The fast starting Rainey put his Marlboro Yamaha ou t fro nt early, setting the fastest lap of the race o n lap two, but eventually came under attack from bo th Doohan and Kocinski. Fourt h p lace went to Spaniard juan Garriga (Yam) with J. P. Ru ggia (Yam) rounding out the . top five. Cagiva's Eddie Lawson finished sixth with fellow Californian Doug Chandler (Yam) finishing lOth. Texan Kevin Schwantz pulled ou~ of the ~p ear ly af ter encoun teri ng mechanical problems on the Team ~ucky Strike Su~uki. Doohan now leads the title chase from Rainey, 71-70, with Sch wantz third a 46 points. Kocins ki lies fourth with 45 points while Wayne 'Gardner, seventh in Spain, is fifth with 42. West German Helmut Bradl (Han) won his firs t-ever GP an d stopped Italian Luca Cadalora's run of three straight wins by win ning the Spanis.h.25Occ GP. HB -backed Bradl topped Rothmans Honda's Cadalora (H a n) and Aprilia-mount Loris Reggiani. . Cadalora leads the championship by 22 points over Carlos Cardus (H a n), SIX in Spain, 77-55. Bradl moves into th ird place in the po int sta ndings with 5 po ints. The I 25cc GP saw j apan's Noburo Ueda (H a n) tak e the win over Fausto Gresin (Ha n) and Loris Capirossi (Cob). The Sidecar GP was won by Steve Webst and Gavin Simmons (Kra). and slipped to II th in the standi ngs. Nico ll leads j obe in the point standings, 132-113, while Malin moved into third wit h 94 poi nts. Aaron Hough (Kaw) sco red the overall win in round five of the AMA National Cross Country Championship Series in Beckl ey, West Virgin ia , May 12. T he run ner -up was Duane Conner (Kaw), while former National En d uro Ch ampio n Terry Cunningham (Kaw), Jeff Russell (KTM) a nd Steve McSwain (KT M) rounded out the to p five. Scott Richardson ca me up the win ner at the Cycle N ew s People's Choice Motorcycle Show at the Orange County Fairgroun ds in Cos ta Mesa, California, May 3. Richardson 's 1948 Whizzer got th e most vo tes, . followed closely by Dav e R eese 's cus tomii ed Harley-Davi dso n XR750, Bri an Williams 's 1988 H a r leyDavidson Soft Tail, Dale H abermann 's 1991 Harley -Davi dson FLHS, and Heidi T hompson's Harley-Davidso n Servi -Car. The Sheraton Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New j ersey, will be th e race headquarters for the May 18 Meadowlands round of the Camel Pro Series. If you' re an entrant in the May 19 Mead owlands Amateur Supercross, you must pick up yo ur rider pa cket at the hotel o n Friday, May 17, between 6 p.rn. and 10 p.rn., or on Saturday , May 18, between II a.m. and 5 p.m. in order. to get your ticket voucher for Saturday night's Camel Pro Supercross. The hotel is located at 2 Meadow lands Plaza, phone 201/896-0500. Speaking of the Meadow lan ds Supercross, the event could decide the 1991 series cha mpio n, as Honda 's JeanM ichel Bayle, wh o won last year's event , needs on ly to score two or mo re points than Yamaha's Dam on Brad sha w to secure hi s first-ever Supercross title. The French ma n already has two MX World Ch ampionship titles to his ' credit. H e wo n the 125cc title in 1988 and the 250cc in 1989. According to the AMA's Bill Boyce, th Mosport round of the Superbik World Championship will be sane tio ned by the FIM and will awar World Championship point "They've (Mosport) fixed (made improvements) what the FIM ask them to fix , so there's no basis to can the race. " As for the boycott of man of the top international riders, Boy said: " Each rider will have to mak his own decision. We can 't stop the from canceling their entries, but th FIM can take action if they don't can their entries and then don't race. Notables entered for the june 2 ra are Wo rld Champion Rayman Roche, Spaniard Daniel Amatriai German Edwin Weibel, American Tom Kipp, Jimmy -Adamo and Mik Baldwin, and Canadians Reube McMurter and Steve Crevier. The i nj u ries former 250cc Worl Champion Sito Pons received durin a testing crash at Jerez prior to th Spanish GP are more serious ~ originally thought, and the Span~ will now be o ut for two months WI a broken wrist. Reportedly, Rand Mamola co ntacted Campsa to ask he could replace Pons, but the Spanis co m pany is only interested in usin a Spanish rider. The civi l unrest in Yugoslavia has p a question mark on the Yugosla Grand Prix. The FIM will make decision on whe ther the event will ta place at the West German G P on M 26. They have said. however, that ra ce will n o t be replaced on t calendar if it is indeed cancelled. WERA has ann ou nced th ey wi extend any military person 's license the am ount of time the y took part the recent war in the Persian Gulf. Entrants in the j u ne 8 Port lan Oregon , round of the SBS WE National Endurance Series should ta no te of the 105 decibel noise . in effect at Portland Internatio Raceway. Bikes will be tested f noise levels du ring the practice sessi on Friday, june 7. Owners of bi

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