Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ IN THE WIND ByPapa Wealey ~ St e fa n E v e rts (Suz) was the overa ll win ner of rou nd six of the Worl d Cham pionshi p 125cc MX Series in Gen k, Belgium, June 9. Yves Dem aria (Suz) finis hed second overall and Pedro T ragter (Suz) was third. American Bob Moore fin is h ed second in moto two but DNF the first moto when he dislocated his sho u lder, and compatriot Willie Surra tt (Hon ) posted 12-7 moto fini shes. Everts leads Moore in th e point standings 208-164, with th e in jured Donny Schmit third. "' ~ Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz) , moved closer to a record seventh title with a win in the six-hour round of the SBS/PM WERA National Enduran ce Champio nship at O regon's Por tla nd Interna tio nal Raceway, June 8. Team L.P.S. (Suz) finished second, four laps behind the winnin g team , wi th Force Racing (Yam) finishing third, on the same lap as th e runnerup team. Defend in g Na tio nal Hare Scrambles Champion Scott Summers (H on) scored the overa ll win in round five of the AMA National Championshi p Ha re Scrambles Series in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, J u ne 9. Terry Cunningham (Kaw) was secon d overall and Kevin Bennett (H on) thi rd overall. ' , Tne Open class team of Garth Sweetland, Paul Krause, Greg Zltterkopf and Larry Roeseler (Kaw) scored the overa ll win at the SCO RE Baja 500 in Baj a Califo rnia, Mexico, June 8. Ty Davis and Ron Naylor (AT K) finis he d seco n d ove ra ll, approximately two min u tes behind the winning team, and Danny Hamel and Jimmy Lewis (KT M) ro unded out the top three. The Larry Roeseier and Ted Hunnicutt (Kaw) entry failed to fin ish the race due to mecha nical problems, and Roeseler rode mos t of the last 80 mi les on the winni ng team, replacing Zitterkopf, who bro ke h is foot early in the race. Roger Hurd and John Braasch (Kaw) topped the 125cc class; Alfie Cox and Keith O'Neal (Kaw) won the 250cc class; Kenny Parry and Scott Forward (Ka w) Class 30; Chris Haines and Jim O 'Neal (Kaw) Class 40, and AI Guzman (Kaw) Class 50. The Mint 400 will return to the racing calenda r after an absence of two years, th anks to the combined efforts of Baja Prom otions ' Lou Pera lta and Bill Kiser and Ron Feiss, of Las Vegas 400, Inc. Accord ing to Peralta, the event 's organizers missed the BLM deadline for filin g for a permi t to hold a fu ll -b lown des ert race, so the November 21-24 even t will be held at Las Vegas Speedway Intern ation al and will feature a' three to five-mile race cour se on the raceway's property. For the first time in many years, motorcycle classes will be included in the race. For more informa tion, contac t Baja Promotions at 818/34 0-5750. Team Noleen will be on hand at both the J une 14-16 AMA Nationa l Cham pionshi p Road Ra ce Series meetin g at New Hampshire Internationa l Speed. way in Lo udo n, New Hampshire, and the June 27-30 Mammoth Mountai n MX at Mammot h La kes, California, to provide suspension service ,for all competitors. Noleen owner Clark Jon es invites compe titors who need help to stop by the Nol een van at either event. 2 P apa recentl y spotted a "help wanted" ad p la ced in Nat iona l Speed Sport News, the car racing weekly newspaper, by the AMA, and then came across mention of th e job ope ning in th e J u ly issue of American Motorcyclist magazine. The AMA is lookin g for a person " to fill a key new position (vice president of sports marketing) in its reorganized profession al racin g division. " The ad says an app lican t "should have an adeq ua te' knowlege of motorsports operations, but the main emp hasis will be placed on _the applicant's education, experience, and knowl edge of mar ketin g, sponsorship sales and television ." The ' perso n who gets th e job will "report to the president (Ed Youngblood) and be resp onsib le for planning and adm inistration of a $2 million budget and a staff of 20." According to th e , minutes of the May 3-4 AMA board of trus tees meeting, Youngblood has been authorized to "exceed budgeted salary limits by 20 percent to 30 percent in order to hire th e kind of individual he and Mr. Dean (chai rman of the board Paul Dean, editorial director of Cycle and Cycle World magazines) had concluded was required to head the , professional racing department." The recent Triple Header Weekend (21st An nual Old Time Newsies AMA Regional Champi onship Half Mile, 18th Ann ual Old Time Newsies TV Auctio n and 19th Annual Motorcyclists for Muscular Dystrophy Ride) in Dayton, Ohio, r aise d a record $92,000 for Miami Valley chari ties, according to Tim Wourms"president of KK Motorcycle Supply of Dayton. Or igin all y inspi red by J. R. Kelley, chai rman of the board of KK, the T ri p le ' H ead er Weekend, saw th e auction raise $15,000, the race $30,000 an d the ride $47,000. T he overa ll amo unt of mon ey raised for cha rity , since 1971 now stands at over $932,000. Team Mad Dog (Yam) averaged 97.993 mph to win th e second round o f the 10-r ound AMA/CCS EBC Brakes Endurance Championship at Bra in erd Interna tional Raceway in Brainerd, Minnesota. Gold Hill Racing (Yam) finis hed second, with th ird . going to Dutchman Racing II (Suz). The GT U class win went to K&N Racing (Yam ). WorldSports members raised more ' than $3000 for the Tony Haynes fund by do na ting portions of their entries at the recen t Ta mpa Bay Amateur Supercross towards Hay nes' me d ica l expenses. Haynes, a top amateur competitor from Florida, was paralyzed from the waist down when he crashed whi le pr acticing in Febru ary . H a yn es h as been in Tampa General H ospi tal since the incident , an d accord ing to J erry West of World Sports, is curren tly undergoing therapy so that he can be released in a few weeks. Limi ted edi tion T -shirts with Haynes' picture sold out at the Tampa Bay event and more shirts are being printed for those who sti ll wish to help defray h is medica l costs. T he shirts will be avai la b le fo r a mi nim um $ 10 donation and can , be ordered from WorldSp ort s, P. O. Box 13246, St. Petersbu rg, FL 33733. With the namin g of Shoei Helmets as the title sponso r of the 1991 U.S. 500cc MX Gra nd Prix, th e official title of the August 24-25 event that will take place at Gl en Helen Off -H ighway Veh icl e Park in San Bern a rd in o , Ca lifornia, is as follows (take a deep br eath ): Yamaha, ' Honda and Suzuki Present the 1991 500cc Shoei Helmets U.S. GP. Tickets for the World Championship event are no w availab le a t particip ating Honda, Doohan niRs Rainey- in Austrian GP ustra lian Michael Doohan (righ t) rode his Rothmans Honda to a thrilling .185-of-asecond-win over Mar lboro Yamaha's Wayne Rainey in th e Austrian Grand Prix at th e Salzbur gring on June 9. The pair led another ba ttle between Lucky Strike Suzu ki's Kevin Sch wantz and Rothmans Honda's Wayne Gardner across the line by som e lfiseconds wi th fifth place fin isher Eddie Lawson another 22 seconds behind on the factory Cagiva. Marl boro Yamaha 's John Kocinski was running fifth when he was forced to pit for a new rear tire . He finish ed nin th. Californian Doug Chandler, aboard his Roberts-backed Yamaha, finished seven th . Doohan now leads Rainey in the championship by 15 poin ts, 126-111. Schwantzis third with 90 points. The 250cc GP in Austria saw German Helmut Bradl win a second straight GP on h is HB Honda, as he topped Repsol Honda's Carlos Cardus by almost eight seconds. Third place went to Sharp-Sampson Honda's Wileo Zeelenberg with Apri lia 's P.F. Chili and Rothmans Honda's Luca Cadalora rounding out the top five finishers. The win puts Bradl closer to Cadalora in the championship point standi ngs, but he still trails the Italian by 10 points, 121-1I I. Cardus is _ th ird in the standings with 99 points. T he 125cc GP was won by , Italian Fausto Gres ini (H on) over German Ralf Waldmann (Hon) and Japan's Noburo Ueda (Hon), All three finished within the same second. Gresini takes over the championship lead from Loris Capirossi, wh o crashed in Austria, 91-84. Brits Steve Webster and Gavin Simmons teamed to beat Rolf Biland and Kurt Waltisperg by 15 seconds in the Sidecar GP in ' Austria. Webster leads Biland, 80-50, in the cha mpi onsh ip standi ngs. A Yamaha and Suzuki deal erships and Ticketmaster lo cation s throu gh out sout hern Californ ia. Former 125cc MX Na tional Champion Ron Lechien has signed wi th Tuf Ra cin g to co mp ete in th e AMA Natio nal Champion shi p 500cc MX Series as well as 'the U.S. 500cc MX GP. Lechie n will ride a Tuf-prepared Kawasak i KX500 tuned by former Kaw a saki R&D tec h n ic ia n G ary La dderman. Team Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw, Doug Dubach an d Jeff 'E mig will visit northern Cali fornia' s Concord Yamaha on Frida y evening , June 14, the even ing pri or to the San Jose ro und of theCamel Supercross Series. They'll be signing au tographs and ben ch raci ng with fans fro m 6:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m . at the dealersh ip in Con cord. For more in formation, call 41517982580. Just when Papa and a lot of other Am er ican roa d ra ce en th u siasts though t it was safe to relax after the ' Chris Carter invasio n of Dayto na , th e slim-line Engl ishman was back on ' th e publ ic address system at Brainerd for last weekend's U.S. ro und of the Worl d Cha mpionshi p Superbike Series. If that wasn 't bad eno ugh, ' those n ice people at Loudon 's New Hampshi re Internationa l Sp eedway ha ve boo ked the Lim ey for the announcin g work for their June 14-16 round of the AMA National Championship Road Race Series. But there is more bad news, and perha ps it' s best that it arrived too late to garner much atten tion in New England from thi s mention: Carter will also have a radio sho w at Lo udon. T hat will take place at the Ramada Inn in Con cord from T h ursday , June 13, to Satur day , June 15, on WKXL-AM/ FM. It will be a two-hour show from 7 to 9 p.m. and the first hour will be a ben efit for lounge patrons with th e second hour being broadcast live. Motocrosser Jeremy McGrath, who broke his lower left leg ill the Mt, Morris 125/250cc MX National in Pen nsylvania on May 26, will attempt .to ride the June 15 San Jose Supercross . McGrath, the 125cc Western Regional Su percross Series points leader, will be fitted wi th a special brace made by Innovation Sports. " I want to clin ch th e cha m p io ns h ip before th e Los Angeles Supercross and don't think tha t sh ou ld be a problem ," sai d McGrath, who was spectating at th e IJSBA National Jet Ski Tour in San Diego, California, June 9. "I won ' t be able to ride until then, but all 1 hav e to do is fin ish in the top 10, and I don 't see that bein g a p robl em." Five-tim e National Hare & Hound Champion Dan Smith, who retir ed after th e 1990 season to pursue a career in off-road car/ truck racing, scored the Class 3 (short wheelba se, four-wheeldrive trucks) win at the June 9 SCORE Baja 500. Smith won the Baja 500 twice as a factory-backed motorcycle racer. Tuf Racing has secured outside-theindustry sponsorship for its MX team from the rema nu factur ed parts division of Ford Motor Company. According to Tuf owner Dave Antolak, Ford Remanufactured Parts will back th e team for the remainder of this season and next year as well. " It works out goo d for th em, since th ey have severa l plants that are located in cities where there are Camel Supercross races," said Antol ak a t th e June ' 8 Oklah om a Supercross. Several of th e top motocross riders plan to get married at the end of the National Champion ship MX Series season. Oklahoma City Supercross winner Jeff Ward will tie the knot with Candice Deleo on October 20, then on October 26 Doug Dubach will marry Shell y Welton, and on the same day Mike Fisher will march down the aisle with Diane Sievers. Off-road veh icle operators shou ld stay on marked routes in California's Rand Mountain/Fremont yaney area or they may be banned from the area, says the Bureau of Land Management. Only those routes designated with numbered brown Carsonite signs are open to OHV use, according to BLM 's Ridgecrest Resource Area Manager Lee Delaney. "Since we lifted th e year -long 'quara nt ine in this

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