Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

or Good Times event is free, while ickets for the speedway racing prom are $8.00, or 6.00 with a discount oupon available from participating wasaki deal ers. Commonwealth Honda 's R ic h aiz and Miguel DuHamel will signing autographs at MAC Honda in Mansfield , Ohio, on Friday, August 2, from 5:30-7:00 p.m ., prior to the Mid-Ohio round of the AMA Superike Nat ional Championsh ip on ugust S, intage Cross will spo nsor a vin tag e otocross th at will be held at halftime of the Commotion by the cean MX in Carlsbad , California, on ugust 17-18. The vintage program ill ru n on the 18th , but over 50 i mage bikes will be on di splay bo th ays. e Brazilian r ound of the Wor ld hampionship Roa d Race Series ow a ppears to be on the verge of bein g celed , after the leadin g ride rs in II classes, including the si decar i vision , voted not to go to th e nt erlagos circuit in Sao Pau lo. The ecision was made, according to the .ders, purely on safety grounds, after Itera tions requested and promised to fast comer had not been made. The urn in question is a high-speed leftander directly before the pits, lined n the outside by a concre te wall and ndstand, Las t year 's Brazilian GP canceled because of thi s hazard, nd it seems likely it will happen gain. ere was a plethora o f new chassis t the French road race Grand Prix on uly 2 1. West German Martin immer had received a pair of new rames for his sole works 250cc Suzuki, hat he said improved handling and orner speed; Wayne Gardner had second new frame to add to the one e received for J ara ma; Juan Garriga eceived th e latest Yama ha frame \ready su p p lied to th e French o nauto sq uad and Doug Chandler; ' h ile it was revealed th at th e Team oberts works rid ers had been using different new frame sin ce Assen. e Honda riders also had new uspension - a new type of front ork for Michael Doohan an d Wayne ardner with revised damping via an ltered system; while Doohan was also sing a specia l long-travel rear uni t upplied by Showa (he opined that if e had had it at J ara ma , he woul d ha ve een able to win). Ohl ins reintroduced h e elec tro ni ca lly co n tro lled rear mper on Wayne Rainey's bik e. H e id it was not necessarily bett er, but he advantage was the much quicker rate of adjustment . "They had to strip the old unit to adj ust the damping characteris tics - now yo u just plug in th e computer and set it how you want. It may not be quicker, but it is the future, and we have to develo p it," he said. some misunderstanding about rider eligibility req u ire m e n t s for the Septem ber 29 and O ct ob er 20 AHRMA Vi ntage National Half Mile races. Rid ers need not have reached at least Junior class pro sta tus; ins tead, they must be able to ride up to that level of performance. Sponso red by, Evansvill e Brewery, the Septem ber 29 event takes place at Hend erson , Kent ucky's R iverside Downs. T he October 20 race will be held a t Devils Bowl Speed way near Dall as, Texas. Michelin's threatened full -scale return cam e a step closer at th e French GP, with a number of new development tires in both 500 a nd 250cc cla sses. However, th e team of engineers has yet to be reassembled - a number of last year's bike tire men were visiting the French tra ck in mufti, and talking abo ut their new jobs with car raci ng tires. North Caroli na's Asheville M oto r Speedway will hos t th e $ 1 7,0 0 0 Great S m o k y Mou nta i ns H a lf Mile on Sat urday, September 28. T he aspha lt oval event is being spo nsore d by , th e No rt h Caro l i na H arl eyDavidson Deal er s Asso ciation. In addition to 600 and 750cc class es, an 883cc Harley Sp onster cla ss will be , run. For more informa tion, con tact Pooch ie Co x at 919/629-2415. As usual , th e game of musical saddles began in earnest at the French GP. T his time Kevin Schwantz held the key, and when he signed a second twoyear contract for 1992 and 1993 with Lucky Strike Suzuki he set the next round of tal ks in motion for the other ride rs. J o hn Kocinski had been the hot tip to take h is p lace if he 'd found another o ptio n, and his increasingly adverse com me n ts a bou t Yam a h a suggested he ma y be p lanning a move . Kocin ski 's name has also been li nked with Erv Kanernoto 's H onda team. Suzuki is also leading the charge in the 250cc class, with a stronger effort on the cards for next year. Wileo Zeelenberg 's ma nager revealed he was having discussions with the Lucky Strike team. Motocrosser John Dowd, th e privat eer ,who won the 250cc class at th e Hangtown National MX earlier this year , is currently recuperating at his home in Ch icopee, Massachusetts. following sur gery to repair hi s lower right leg whi ch he brok e during pra cti ce for th e July 7 R ed Bud National MX in Michigan. " I' m bored , bu t my friends are happy because I'm always read y to pull th em wh en it 's time to water ski ," said Dowd in a phone conversation on July 25. "T he doctor told me it would be three months before I can rid e agai n, but I want to consu lt a spo rts doctor a nd see if I can get back into actio n soo ner. I would like to ride the last Nati onal ' at Una dilla (Oc tober 13), and I reall y hope to be able to ride the Kaw asaki Race of Champion s in English town, New J ersey (Oc tober 20-21)." Dowd says he will be a specta tor at th e Augu st 4 125/ 250cc Nat ional MX in Sou th wick, Massachusetts, a nd tha t he wa nts to co ntes t the ent ire Nati onal Championship 250cc MX Series next year. Fri ends and fans can help Dowd fight hi s boredom by sending cards and letters to 70 Providen ce St., Ch icopee, MA 01020. Niall Mackenzie is expected to make his G P return at Donington Park for the August 4 Bri tish G P on a Yamaha. . The deal was finalized during th e French GP after some weeks of dillydallying by Team Ro bens over the p rice of the machine for a one-race lease. The spur that closed the transaction was news that Cagiva was co ns ide ri ng recruiting Mackenzi e, who was fired by Suzuki after finishing fourth in the World Ch ampionship last year, to ride the injured Alexandre Barros' machine for the rest of the year as teammate to Eddie Lawson. Mackenzie will ride Doug Chandler's spare Yam aha YZR500, with Donington Park believed to be providing most of th e financing. But th e Scotsman might still ge t a deal with Cagiva for the races after the British GP. Barros is not expected to be fit until nex t year, and the Italian firm sa id that Mackenzie's nam e was on the top of th eir list . T he BLM is about to conduc t a study on the effects of sheep trampli n~ desert tortoises by "p la ci ng a r ti ficia! desert tortoise models at selected sites" in Ca lifornia 's Mojave Desert a nd " determ in in g the res po nse of dom estic sheep to the presence of live tortoises vs, artificia l models of tor toises ." Radio controlled models? We ca n't a nswer that, but we do know that th e study will also include the BLM "cont racting for the services of a herd or her ds of sheep." T he in forma tio n whi ch appeared in the Business Daily, Duca ti has come on board as the event titl e spo nsor for th e 6t h Annual Pocono Cycle Jam on August 23-25. The main race at the event will be th e WERA Formula USA Series ro und. AH R MA reports tha t there has been a Departme nt of Commerce publication , was relayed to us by Tom Carter, who operates Carter Engineering in Franklin, Tennessee. Carter said, " As a forme r southern California resident and desert racer, I've always kn own it was th e sheep that did it l" Papa wo nders if we'll soo n be accused of runnin g over tortoise models. The 1991 U .S. 250cc MX GP , wh ich took pl ace at New York 's Una di lla Vall ey Sports Cente r on Jul y 14, will be televised on ESPN . Pr oduced by Seal s Com m unicat ions, th e tapedela yed p ro gram is sc he d u led for broadcast at 3:30 p.m. (Eas tern time) on Saturday, August 10, and will be repeated on Monday, Aug us t 19, at4:00 a.m . (Eas tern tim e). Ch eck yo ur local listings. Archer T ravel of Both ell , Washington, has discounted room rates ava ilabl e for the Sep tember I Washougal National Championship 125 / 500cc MX. For reservations, call Mari lyn Waltmire at 800/ ARCHER6 before August 14. T eam Suzuki motocrosser Tallon Vohland is back on the injured list. Sh ortly after he returned to ac tio n after recuperat ing from sho ulder surgery, Vohland crashed during practice for th e July 21 Axton, Virginia, National MX and crac ked h is other sho ulder. Vohland ma y retu rn to action at th e Au gu st II Mill vill e, Minn esota , Nati onal MX. The AMA is close to fina lizing a 1992 Supercross and N at ional MX sc he d u le . Th e propo sed sche d ule includes 16 supercross events a nd includes a new venu e at Indianapolis, Indiana 's Hoosierdorne, wi th events being drop ped in Ph oen ix, Arizona, and th e Meadowlands in Eas t Rutherford , New J ersey. In addi tio n to the supercross races, there will be 10-12 Nat ional Ch ampionship MX events, the U.S. 500ci: MX GP in sou thern Ca lifornia will be the ope ning ro und of the World Ch ampionshi p 500cc MX ' Series and an " inte rna tio na l" event in July at the Una dilla ' Va lley Sports Center-in New York, site of the U.S. 250cc MX GP. CORRECTIO N : Severa l sha rp-eyed read ers, including Cycle News founder Chuck Clay ton and Unigrafix owner Dave H ol ma n , both form er Cycle magazine editorial staff memb ers, have pointed out,an error we made last week regardin g the merger of Cycle and Cycl e Wo rld magazin es. R o bert Petersen founded Cycle, not Floyd Clymer. Petersen , chairman of th e board of Petersen Pu bl ishing Co., sold the magazine to Clym er. 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