Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127382
eIN THE WIND By Papa Wealey Steve Hatch (SUl) scored the overall win in round two ofthe AMA Nat ional Championship Reliability Enduro Series a t Trout Lake, Michi gan, May 18-19. Three-time National Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins (Suz) was the runner-up, w hi le Chris Smith (KTM), Kurt Hough (Kaw) and Scott Summers (Hon) ro unded ou t the top five: m Defending 600 National Ch ampionsh ip Dirt Track Ser ies cha mp Chris Carr (H-D) won the May 18 San Jose 600 National IT. Dan Ingram (H on ) was second a nd Rodney Farris (HD) th ird. , . Ty Davis (AT K) was the O pen Expert clas s winner in both the MX and IT events at th e Ma y 18-19 White Bros. Four-Stroke World Championships in Perris, Cal ifornia. Team Suzuki Endurance (SUl) won the fifth round of the WERA National Endurance Series at Grattan Raceway in Grattan, Michigan, on May 19. The defending series champs completed 294 laps to top B.H. Racing (Yam) by six laps in the eighthour race . Third place went to Hall 'N Still Racing (Suz). A few weeks ago, we reported that ' Mike Baldwin would be the rider for a new AMA 250cc Grand Prix team owned by Tom Knowlton, the owner of an oil exploration company in Long Beach, California, and managed by Maurice Murray. The team couldn't come to terms with Baldwin, and they have since signed former U.S. GP winner Jimmy Filice to a contract.. Filice will contest the rest of the AMA Nationals on the team's 1991 Yamaha TZ250. " We' re ' real happy to have Jimmy riding for us ," Murray said. The team will run under the L.A . Motor Works banner, Knowlton 's automotive development company. The ~id-Atlanti~ Road R acing Club (MAR RC) will host a track da y at Summit Point Ra cewa y in West Virginia on June 21. The tra ck will be ope n from 9 a.m. to 4 p .m. to any li censed road racer with a raceprepared motorcycle. The MARRC safet y crew and an a mb ula nce will be on hand. MARRC will charge $40 for MARRC members and $60 for nonmembers, which in cludes a one-year $20 membership. For more information co ntact Rog er -L yle a t 301/9332599 or Steve Harri son at 703/6902699. Aus tralia n road racer Kevin Magee will be aboard a factory Kawasaki ZXR750R a t the Am erican round of the World Championsh ip Superbike Series in Brainerd, Minnesota, on June 9. It is not known yet wheth er Magee, who suffered seri ous head injuries in April of 1990 in the U.S. GP, will ride the entire series or not. Road racer John" Kocin ski was scheduled to test drive a Ferrari F-40 on May 20, the da y aft er th e Italian Grand Prix. Cagiva's Eddie Lawson; meanwhile, is scheduled to test his 500cc Cagiva V·four at Mugello in Italy prior to this weekend's German GP at Hockenheim. R.G . H onda/Yamaha in Clark sburg; West Virginia, will host a n open house on Saturday, May 25, in conjunction with th e following day 's AMA National Championship 125/ 250cc MX at Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania. Team Honda's J e ff S tant o n , JeanMichel B a yle a nd Roger DeCoster will be on hand to sign au tographs and bench race with fans. Activities get underway at 4 p.rn. and there'll be free refreshments and draw ings for race ti ck ets and pit passes. For more , informati on or directi ons, call 304/ 623-0853. Gary Kidd, brother of 1981 Grand National Champion Mike Kidd, tells Papa that he now holds the lease on W signs helm bill into law ilson et G 2 ov. Pete Wilson signed th e controversial California Assembly Bill 7 into law on Monday, May 20. As a result, effective J anuary I, 1992, all mot orcyclists in California will be required to wear protective headgear. Mo tor cycli sts failing to co mply with the law will face fines of up to $100 for th e first offense, a nd h igher fin es for subsequent vio la tions, even though a utomobile dri vers receive on ly a ,$25 fine for failure to wear seatbelts . ' Assemblyman Ri chard Floyd (D-Carson) a utho red the bill tha t is now la w and it is nearly identical to two previous measu res that were passed by the California Legi slature, only to be 'vetoed by then-Gov. George Deukmeji an in 1988 and 1989. The bill had passed th e State Sena te on Monday, May 9, by a vot e of 22-10, and it was sent to Gov. Wilson on Monday" May 13. The gove rn or had until May 28 to either veto th e bill, sig n i t, or let it pass into law without his signature. Ca li forn ia becom es the 24th sta te to require helmet use by mo tor cycli sts. T he District of Columbia also requires helmet use. Senator s vo ting in favor of the helmet bill were: Alfred Alquist (D-Sa n J ose), Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach ), Daniel Boatwright (D-Co nco rd ), Will iam Cr aven (R-Ocean side), Ralph Dills (D-Gardena), Cecil Green (D· No rwa lk), Bill Greene (D-Los Angeles), Gary Han (D-Sa n ta Barbara ), Pa trick J oh nston (D· Stockton), Lucy Kill ea (D-San Diego) , Quentin Kopp (l nd-San Francisco ), Dan McCorquodale (D-Sa n J ose), H en ry Mello (D· Monterey), Reb ecca Mor gan (R-Los Altos Hills), Ni cho las Petr is (D-Oa kland), Rob ert Presley (D-Riverside), David Roberti (D-Hollywood), Herschel Ro senthal (D· Los Angeles), Mike T hompso n (D-St. Helena), Art Torres (D·Los Angeles), Rose Ann Vuich (D-Din uba) a nd Diane Wa tson (D-Los Angeles). Voting against th e bill were: Robert Beverl y (R-Man ha ttan Beach ), Ed Da vis (R ·Cha tsworth) , Wadie Dedd eh (D· Bonita), Frank H ill (R-Whittier ), Barry Keene (D-Benicia) , Bill Leonard (R-U pla nd), Bill Lock yer (D-San Leandro ), Kenneth Maddy (R-Fresno), Don Rogers (R -Bakersfield) and Newton Russell (R· G lendale). Six senators ab stained from vo ting. A crowd esti mated by state police as numbering 500 staged a pro test ra lly a t the State Capitol in Sacramento the da y before Wilson signed th e bill in to law. The protest rally was sponsored by the American Brotherhood Aimed Towar d Education (ABAT E) a nd Bikers Against Manslaughter (BAM). Pa ul Lax, the ABATE state coordinator, urged a ttendees to vote the lawmakers who voted for the bill out of offi ce arid to reelect those wh o voted against it. An estima ted 4000 motorcyclists attended an anti-helmet law rally in Los Angeles th e previo us weekend. Boyd Raceway in Boyd, T exas, a nd will be holding short tra ck and IT races every Saturday night through Octob er. T he Los Angeles ,Poli c e Department has issued a warrant for the arrest of Jack K. Calof, wh o opera ted Exo tic Mo tor cycle Im ports (EMI), the T orrance, Cal ifornia-based gray market motorcycle importer. Cal of a ll ege d ly a bsco n ded with deposits fr o m severa l cus to mers . Detecti ve Rob ert Stra tton of the LAPD says when Ca lo f is a pprehended, bail will be set a t $100,000. If you have a ny inform ation o n Cal of 's wh ereab outs, call Detective Stratton a t 213/ 830-1123, extens io n 280. Mammoth M ountain has lifted the 5 p .m. curfew for the Saturday, June 15, L.A . Old Timers MX, and that will ena ble the club to run three motos in each class. Former Grand National Champion a n d Da ytona 200 winn er G e n e R omero , who co-promoted the May I I Pomona H alf Mile round of the Camel Pro Series, tells Papa th at he's still floating over the success of the event. " Bu t I'm particularly pleased with how well the riders , crew , members and offic ials coopera ted with us regarding our tim e restraints. We , had to vacate the Pomona Fairplex by midnight and we did it with time to spare," said Romero. "Please, ex tend my thanks to all involved. And please let the fans know that we wish we could have let them into the p it area after the National, but we just co u ldn' t do it." Romero said he's looking in to the possibil ity of holding so me sort of prerace autograph session prior to the October 5 Pomona Half Mile, the nextto-l ast round of the 1991 Camel Pro Seri es. Speak ing of the P omona Half Mile , it' s scheduled to air o n E SPN on Thursday, June 13, at 9:30 p.m. Pacific time. It will be the first of 10 Camel Pro Seri es races that ESPN will telecast this year on a delayed tape basis. Check your local lis tin gs. If you plan to compete in th e AMAI CCS Pro-Am road race meet a t Roebling R oad R a ceway in Faulkville, Georgia, May 25-26, your sto mach will be p leased to hear of the cookout that will tak e pl ace a t the end of Sa turday'S racing. The coo kout is free to rid ers and their crew and family members, but all are encouraged to bring a side di sh. Also note th at the event is not a Mid-Atlantic points paying race. Points will be awarded a t the August 31-Septem ber I Ro ebling Road event. Due to the availa bility of the newly refurbi shed T exas World Speedway, th e Central R oad Racing Club has a n nounced a maj or sh uffling of its race sched ule. The Jul y 7 riders school a t Oak H ill Raceway has been canceled and the J uly 20 endura nce race a t Oak Hill has been cha nged to a riders schoo l, YSR race, and open practice. A six-hour end ura nce race will take pl ace a t T exas World Speedway on August 3 with Regi onal sprin t races being conducted the follow ing day. The August 18-19 Oak Hill meet has also been canceled, instead there will be an event a t T exa s World on August ' 24-25 wi th a school, YSR race, a nd .open practice taking place on Saturday and National sprint races on Sunday. Fin all y, the Sep tember 14-15 Wheels Racewa y even t ha s been moved to Texas World, with a n eight-hour end ura nce race running o n Saturday and Regional sprints on Sunday. A full day of vintage-only r oad r acing will be on tap Thursda y, June 13, a t New Hampshire Internati onal Speedway as a new add itio n to the AHRMA Historic C up Series. BMW will spo nso r th e Nation al Championship event wh ich will serve - as ' a prelude to the Sunday , June 16, AH R MA Show ca se Crown Series ro und that will run in conj unctio n with AMA National Champion ship events . While Histori c Cup events offer a to tal of I I classes for th e earlies t mach ines to those built up th rough the mid-1970s, the Showcase Crown races are ope n to o nly Class C, 500 Prem ier and 750 Grand Prix mach ines. As a t Dayt ona, BMW will provide trophies for the Historic Cup races and will have its trav eling showroo m on hand a t Loudon. A new R otax d irt track engine will be submitted to the AMA for homologa tion as early as mid or late summer, according to Elliot Iverson of Ron Wood Enterprises, the Costa Mesa, California-based Rotax importer. According to Iverson , the Austrianmade single-cylinder 600cc motor will feature " dou ble overhead cams, two carbs, with a water-cooled cylinder and air-coo led head." Iverson says the new engine will sell for $3675. The current 600cc ROlaX engine being used in dirt tra ck racing ret ails for $3100. Bill Amick of the AMA said they'll have to " wai t and see" how the engine com pares - performance-wise - to existing engines before deciding if they need to restrict it in any way (weight a nd/ or manifold restrictor plates). AMA rules curre ntly call for a minimum weight of 223 pounds for sing lecylinder 600cc machines, and 3 I5 pounds for 750c c twin machines. Twin-cylinder 750cc machines a re req uired to use 33mm manifold plates'. AMA homolgation ru les require that one co m p le te motorcycl e and 24 identical engines a nd transmissions be avai lab le for in spection and purchase within the United States. Due to the cancelation of its April 21 event a t Ra ceway Park in Englishtown , New J ersey, East e rn Vinta ge M otocross R a cin g (EVMR) will host its season opener at Ra ceway Park on June 9. Hold everything ! If yo u went to G a tor b ack Cycle P ark in Gainesvill e, Florida, on Sunday, May' 19, expecting to see th e gates open for practice a nd racing, you know the y weren 't . But do n 't blame Papa. As far as the item thatran in this section last week , we were given the wrong date by WorldSports. The correc t date is Sunday, May 26. For mor e informatio n, call 813/ 822-8929. A tip of Papa's helmet to southern Cal ifornia 's P lonke r s T rials Clu b . T hey offered rid ers a $5 di scount off the en try fee fo r the May 5 Cin co de Mayo Trial in Lucerne Valley for presenting a persona l letter to newlyap pointed Sen. J ohn Seymour (R-CA) voicing th eir oppositio n to the so ca ll ed California Desert Protection Ac t, S2 1. Ov er 40 rider s got the discount. The club is challenging o ther gr ou ps to offer similar in centives to participants bringing in letters op posing S21. T uf Ra cin g in DeKalb, Illinois, will hold a n o p e n h o use o n June 29, where 125cc MX National Ch ampion Gu y Cooper and La s Vega s Supercro ss winner Mike LaRocc o , along with Tuf Racing's Ron Tich e nor , Keith B o we n , Todd D e H o o p, Da v i d B e c k i n g ton a n d Andy