Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

area last Thanksgiving, many of the riders con tacted by our rangers in th e area have told us th ey heard the Rands were open aga in and they can ride anywhere. That 's simp ly not tru e," . Delaney sa id. In recent mon ths, numerous off-t rail violations a nd negative med ia reports have resulted. Because the ar ea is importan t desert tortoise habitat, violations are especia lly harmful. " Con tin ued violatio ns may mean we have to close th e area to OHV use aga in," Delaney said. "We have worked with a variety of interests to design a n extens ive legal route network that provides an excellent recreational experience as well as protects the na tural resou rces of th e area. We hope our visitors will allow that network to work." Pass the word l Members of AMA District 3 7 have volunteered more than 2000 hours of la bor to help BLM contact users distribute informati on , in stall signs, and map the Rand Mountains/ Fremont Valley area. More help is needed , and volunteers are encouraged to con tact the BLM at 619/375·71 25. World Superbike road racers Niall Mackenzie and Carl Fogart y intend to deliver an ultimatum to H onda Bri tai n boss Neil Tuxworth when they return home from the June · 9 U. S. round of the series in Brainerd, Mi n n eso ta: Give us com petitive ma ch inery or forget it. In Mackenzie's case that means he's prepared to quit th e . team a ltogethe r. Fogarty isn 't go ing that far, bu t he can ' t see any point in continuing in the Worl d Championship with the current H onda RC30s th ey're runnin g. "Now . it 's just ge tting ridiculous," sa id Mackenzie. "It's no t doing H onda an y good, it's no t doing me an y good, an d it 's b een the same since the first race excep t for Donington." The Donington Mackenzie was referring to was not the World Championship round but a Bri tish Na tional where he was able to rid e th e '91 factory bike he was p ro mised for .the entire season - and he tallied a 1-3 scor e. It was pro mp tly taken away for th e Isle of Man where " four different riders rode it during the meeting. spa ced th em up five millim etres so they fitted, bu t that mea nt the front and rear wheels were out of align ment: " It's good in left-b an de r s," Fogar ty rema rked . "What we need," add ed Mackenzie, "is some thi ng th at works. Everyone is else is using proper Ohlins suspension and brakes, we just want to be the same as everyone else. " Neith er rider was exactly sure what they were riding at Brainerd, a"combination of '90 and '91 machi nes by the loo k of it. Trying to mak e them go fast was a di fficult task though: "Like pushing shit up h ill 'with a fork," was how Lee describ ed it. Problems at Brainerd were multiple for both Macken zie and Fogarty. Firs t off, th ey were given only three Michelin rear tires apiece to get thro ugh the entire event becau se of the team 's huge commitment to the Isle of Man, and Fogarty had to us e one o f the m th rough the practice session and both qualifying sessions when his original tire split on the rim. Mackenzie's RC30 had its cam tim ing altered by tuner Tony Scott , but the bike ran like a dog Thursday, unable to pass a Supersport 600 in a straight .line. H is mechanic Nick Lee co uldn' t fix the problem because he didn 't know exactly what Scott had done. " We've moved the ign ition rotor a tooth on the spline which is a really crude th ing to do ," explained Mackenzie. " It' s given it some mid-range but it still has no bottom end." Generally both bikes wouldn't handle, stop , or go. One of the reaso ns they didn 't handle, the riders explained, was because the team h ad been supplied Marvic wheels which didn 't fit properly an d rather than sending them back, had simply 'CO SUm.=....::..::lCl=-=-=OS::..=...:....St }} Team Kawasaki had severa l new parts to try at the Brain erd round of the World Cha mp ionshi p Superbike Series. Firs t-off was a new factory engine wh ich, according to team manager Peter Doyle, was expected to: " G ive more horsepower righ t throug h the range." Also being tested was a rear suspension link which offered a completely different , more linear, rate of progression than the on e used in th e first two rounds of the championship. Doyle believes th at link was a t least partiall y responsible for th e tire troubles enco u nt ered in England and Spain. There were a lso two ne w . exhausts to try , alt hough without Kawasaki 's version of EXUP, Doyle believing they won 't see that system until after Suzuka. A new double radiator already tested in Australia was on a bike , while the team still had not made th e move to the com p lete ISR brake setup, usi ng ISR discs and Nissin six-pot calipers as in Spain. As promised, Dunlop had their latest tech nology tires at Brainerd for their two develo pment riders, Doug Po len and Terry Rymer. Fitted to a six-an da-quarter -inch rim, the rears were Grand Prix tires running a harder compound in deference to the weight of the superbikes. It was on this tire that Rymer had his big crash and separa ted h is shoulders. Dunlop would on ly con cede th a t th e ti re deflated but refused to offer any further co m ment until a fter the tire was exami ned back at the factory. All other examples of the tire were withdra wn after the crash. Dunlop also brough t a new version of th e s ta ndard tire to test as well as a new construct ion front tire. The latter was unlikely to be tried in the race because th ere were no t enough exam p les availabl e for bo th riders if they bot h wanted to use them. _ hat's this policeman doing jumpi ng a stripped-do wn Kawasaki police motorcycle in the dirt? That's what we wondered when we spotted several policemen roo sting over a dirt mound near the Cycle N ews office building in Signal Hill , California. The officers weren 't practicing for the Lo s Angel es Supercross, but were participating in a twoweek tra ining course for motorcycle patrol officers conducted by the Long Beach Poli ce Department. According to LBPD motor officer Rick Mon toya, the dirt excercise was used to help the trainees, who come fro m vario us pol ice agencies th roughou t California and don't a lways have prior motorcycle ridi ng experience, learn just what the big police bike can and can ' t do. Ear lier in the day the trainees were taken on a tra il ride in a nearb y canyon, and after the jumping excercise they were headed for the concrete-lined banks of a local river. " It's the hardest two weeks of training th e mot or officers go throu gh," says Montoya, "yet most consider it th e most fun. " We don 't think it would be too much fun trying to emula te Jeff Stanton or Jean-Michel Bayle on a police bik e, but th e smile on the rider 's face says otherwise. W Pirelli, me anwhile, was offer ing nothing significantly new to try while Michelin h ad a new rear on hand a longside the standard 1423 and the 1861 wh ich has proved something of a disappointment in rounds one an d two. Roch e was testing th e new tire when he crashed as well. Brainerd is ra ted as the hardest circuit on tires in the Su perb ike Series; the banked tum one, th e almost as quick tu rn two, and the abrasive circuit producing stresses equivalent to Hocken heim in West Germany. For Doug Polen a full Wor ld Cham pionship season is not necessari ly guaranteed, particularly his visit to Australia for th e final round of th e World Championship. " I'm looking for money to do Kangaroo Land, it's a big trip," explained his entertaining ltalo-American tuner an d team ow ner Era ldo Ferra cci. Polen 's early season forays have been guaranteed wi th the hel p of Ducati factory team boss Marco Lu cchinelli and Adr iano Narducci, wh o is rid in g th e second .Ferr acci mac hi ne. Lucchi nelli believes that th e resou rces will be fou nd to get the championshi p leading team to Phillip Island. He also ventured the opinion that for Ducati the best option would be tha t Polen wins the championship ra ther than Roche because it would aid the fac to ry' s awaren ess in North Ameri ca. Although cons idering th e sta te of th e championsh ip tabl e at the momen t, it seems a moot point righ t now. Rumi/RCM T eam Man ager N orris Farrow did not make the trip to Brainerd because of a coup le of projects team owner Oscar Rumi wanted him to concentrate on back at the workshop in Bergamo, Italy. That left Merlyn Plumlee in charge for the weekend and just lik e Farrow he was straight into the work, putting a new develo pment cylinder head onto one of Merkel's engines for testing. Pl umlee explained that a lot of work had gone into the RC30s sin ce Spain: " We haven't p rog ressed in lea p s and . bounds, but we've done a little in carburetion, exhaust pipes and cylinder h ead, and h opefully it' s enough to show up on th e racetrack." T he team has been doi ng a lot of dyno testing recently and has seen 140 horsepower using one p ipe , unfortun atel y using a le gal silencer i t' s knocked back to abo ut 136 ho rsepower: "That's a little too m uch bu t there is still more po wer in there, " he said. Oscar R umi became so frustrated as the weekend progressed, first the bi kes arriving late, then Baldassarre Monti missing his flight an d also turning up with little time to spare. Add the problems both bikes encountered over th e weekend and he was loo king for a good lu ck symbol. What he came up with was the Diesel Je ans emblem, figuring that the native North American Indian should give him luck in the U.S.A. - - - -- - Con tinued on page" r - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- - - - - - -~- - - - - - - - - - - - - -----~- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM -r- Name --' Address _ City O rder Da te _ State Zip Signat ure _ Pl ease start my subscription to Cycle News: o Every week for one year (50 issues) for $35.00 (can be bi lled 3 mo nth ly payments) o Every week for two yea rs (100 issues) for $65.00 o Six months second class (25 issues ) for$ 18.00 L _ o This is a re newal o P lea se bill me o Bill 3 paym ents o f $1 1.67 o Enclosed is my check or money orde r Charge m y 0 Visa 0 Mastercard .~ One year (SO issues). 2nd class Canada o r Mexico and all other foreign countries $75.00 (U.S. funds ). 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