Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

until the day before the race and causing al l sorts of hassles. Everything works much better with the Luxembourg federation." Schmit still shows his American patriotism an d was very upset a t the pre-ra ce presen ta tion in Hungary at which an American flag was not displayed. When he decl ined to stand by the Luxembourg flag, the Stars and Stripes flag wa s ra pidly located for him. 1 Aaron Hough, th e 'overall winner at the la st two ro u n ds of the AM A National Cross Country Series, suffered a knee inj ury at the J une 2 West Virginia National. Hough will be sidelin ed fo r a p proximately three weeks. Dirt tracker Wink Freitas, who was treated for a suspected broken neck at the San Jose Mile, May 19, ha s been released fro m the hospital and is well on th e road to recovery. Luckily, Freitas su ffered only a concussion and multiple bruises in his crash, and hopes to be back in action at the June 22, Lake Odessa 600cc National. " I' m still real sore," said Freitas in a telephone conversation from his home in Newman, California. " I' Il be ready to go in a couple of weeks, no problem . All I can remember is going to the starting line, then waking up on Wednesday. The only th ing'that bums me out, is that they cut my leathers to shreds l" Dariny LaPo rte , the 1982 250cc MX World Champion, signed a contract with Husqvar na mo torcycles to compete in off-road ra ces hel d in the United States and Mexico. He al so signed on . wi th the Lucky Strike Cagiva/Ducati team to compete in European rall ies. LaPorte 's first appearance aboard Husqvarna under the new contract will be at the June 8 SCORE Baja 500. LaPorte and teammate Randy Rodriguez will ride a 610cc four-stro ke in Baja. LaPorte, with Kawasaki Team Green team mates Larry Roeseler and Ted Hunnicutt, is a two- time (1989-'90) winner of the Baja 1000. Italy, he sai d: " I will be back again for the rest of th is season, and next year." Rothmans Honda, however, has not renewed his con tact . . . yet; and h is manager Harris Barnett sa id: "Things are fluid at th e moment, with a co up le of possibilities on th e cards." Gard ner's statement reinforced rumors that he and Barnett are planning their own , team next year . .The pop ul ar scenario puts fellow Australian Darryl Beattie in with Gardner for an allAustralian 'effort, probably with a new sponsor. Assuming Rothmans continue with their involvement with GP racing, th is wou ld leave a vaca nt place .. a longside Michael Doo h an in the official HRC sq uad, and already the name of Kevin Schwantz is being . mentioned. a Due to drought condi tio ns, th e eighth round of AMA National Cross Country Series i n Charlotte , North Carolina, June 29-30, has ' been cancelled. The event will not be rescheduled, making the best nine out of 13 rounds count tow ards the National Championship title. World Chamyionship rivals Helmu t Brad! and Luca Cadalora left the Italian GP with teeth bared af ter th eir elbow match on th e way to th e finish line, but in Germany Bradl issued a sta te me nt defusing th e situa tion, without with drawing any threats. "I'rn happy the matter has been settled Luca and I shou ld not bear a grudge any mor e. It was to be expected that it would be grist to the media mill, bu t we are not bulls turned loo se, as 'was written in some papers. T h is is nonsense, and I shall prove that I for one am a fai r sportsman. Luca has apologized - I .have accepted. But I am honest enough to admit th at th is is the las t' time I will pardon him. I am pretty guileless, and I class myself as a harmless person. But I find I can get pretty angry - you sometimes find new sides to your character." But the German public were not so forgiving. One of the politer impromptu trackside banners stat ed : " Ca dalora Go Home" , while h e was reportedly esco rted out of a loca l restaurant afte r his fellow diners started to behave in a threatening manner. German road racer ' Helmut Brad! had a technical advantage that baffled most observers at the Ital ian and German GPs - he was usirig three ca rbureto rs on h is twin-cyl inder Honda NSR250. The reason was secret: he was testing Mikunis for improved top-end, bu t the Honda has an electronic trigger in o ne of the Keihins inform in g the ignition system of th e throttle ope ni n g. Thus he carried a single Keih in attached to the en gi ne only by an electronic wire. . After suggesting befor e the season that if he was injured d uring this year, he would probably retire, 1987 500cc World Champio n Wayne Gardner spoke out to sq uelc h "rumors in the press writing me off." Speaking in, Kawasaki's Illinois eventcancelled '. K aw.asaki Motors Corp., U .S.A. announced the cancellation of its " Get Together for Good Times Event" planned for Sunday, June 23, at the Highland House restaurant in H ighland Park, Illinois. . Plan ned as part of an o ngoing series of ride-in s for area motorcyclists, the even t was expec ted to attract up to 5000 tourists to 'the area. Kawasaki representatives met with City of H igh land Park officials as early as last December to plan the event, but a permit app lication was den ied by the City Manager's office on May Top Dutch sidecar driver Egbert Streuer doubtless now regrets hi s decision to dispense with the services of his passenger Geral de Haas, who he replaced in acrimonious circumstances at' the start of the year with a' near neighbor Harry Hofstenger. The ne w passenger fell out of the chair in . the firs t race of the season at Laguna Seca and was replaced by Ameri can cham pio n P e t e r Essaff while he recovered from his injuries. Hofstenger returned in Germany, bu t fell out of the chair again in the firs t practice session. Essaff again took his place, and Streuer now expects to finish the season with the American. 22. In 13 prior events organized by Kawasaki since 1989, funds genera ted from the sale of souvenirs donated by the co mpany went to benef it loca l charities. At events across the country, i~ such diverse areas as Danbury, Connecticu t; Woodside, California; New Hope, Pennsylvania; and Colorado Springs, Colorado; funds were raised for volunteer fire departments, hospitals, town libraries, terminally ill children, disabled workers and other worthy groups. "We are disappointed in having to announce the cancellation of all corporate Kawasaki activities and events previo usly planned for the Highland House area," said Jodie Mu nden , public relations manager. " Thirteen prior such events have been held safely, have run smoothly, and have provided wholesome recreation an d economic benefits to the 13 communities." . Kawasaki's detailed even t plan, submitted to th e City of H ighland Park, outlined traffi c and crowd management and provided for added security, the costs of which were to have been borne by the company. Overfl ow parking was to be accommodated in nearby lo ts rented by Kawasaki for the da y. '. The FI M has finalized details of the long-awai ted post-race drug test- ing procedures, to be introduced in July from th e French Grand Prix onwards - and have added a few wrinkles especia lly fo r wayward mo torcyclists. In general, the FIM has followed the list of banned and permitted substances of the Internatio nal Olympic Committee. The additions are an alcohol test, and another test for marij uana. The drug tests will be ca rried ou t after each race, to a minimum of two classes a t each GP, and with a minimum of th ree riders per class - the race winner, an d two o thers to be nominated by the trackside jury. T he alcohol tests are at the discretion of individual organizers, and can be carried out at any time during .the event. The permitted level of alcohol in the bloodstream is 0.0 percent, but this need not rule out a glass of wine with dinner the night before a race. " After one glass of wine, th e alcohol level is between 0.2 and 0.4 percent," sai d Dr. Hand-Robert Kreu tz, the head of the FIM's medical co mmissio n. " O n ave rage it takes about one hour to lose 0.1 of a percent. We do no t in tend to stop all riders from drin king at all, bu t we did not feel we could set a limit higher tha n zero percent when some coun tries set that as their li mit for driving on th e public roads. " Concerning the surprise inclusion of marijuana, he said: " Some unofficial tests last year gave us the impression that this will no t be a problem in G P racing, but that it might be i n drag racing a n d . speedway." . The Kevin Schwantz t o Honda rumors resurfaced at Hockenheim in the wake of his disappointing Italian G P, and probably have a s much sub stance now as they ever ha d in the past - that it is impossible to predict th e fu ture, but that Schwantz (like most other riders) keeps all his options ope n. He tol d a Swiss journalist: " My dad is talking to people including . HRC, and we must wait and see what Suzuki come up with . But if they don't change their program, I might have to leave. The team is old-fashioned in the lack of on -bike computer diagnostics. It would be a big help to the mechanics. There is a limit to the a mo u nt of feedback the ri der ca n provide." . Tuf R acing, th e Dekalb, Illinois, dea ler specializing in Su zuki RM and Kawasaki KX pe rformance parts, has a dded KTM to its li ne up . Tuf will stock a complete line of parts and performance modifica tions for th e Austrian macliines and will also ba ck Andy Stacy and Keith Bowen in the 500cc National Championshi p MX - - - - - - Cont inued on page " r--------------~----~-----------------------~~-----------~------ SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Name --,- _ Address --'-- City Order Da te Sta te Zip _ _ Signature _ _ .:...._ _--' _ Please start m y subsaiption to Cycle News: o Every week for one year (50 issues ) for $35.00 (ca n be billed 3 mont hly payments) o Every wee k for two years (100 issues ) fo r$65.00 o Six m onth s seco n d class (25 issues ) for $ 18.00 ~ ~ On e year (SO issues), 2nd class c:anada or Mexico and all other foreign countries $75.00 (U.S. funds ). 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