Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

tragic news on Friday, just two da ys before th e August II Spring Creek National MX in Millville, Minnesota. Dubach , who was already in Minnesota for the National , immediat ely flew back to California and attended Donn elly's fun eral on Saturday, August 10. Following th e services, Dubach flew back to Minnesota and arr ived in Millville lat e that n ight. In last week's coverage of the August 4 Southwick 125/250cc National MX, we rep orted th a t defending 125cc National Champion Guy Cooper was injured in a pr ess day practice session th e Thursday before the race. Cooper cra shed on th e other side of a blind jump and Suzuki test rider Bob Hannah landed on him. According to Cooper, who still spo rts lar ge black and blue bruises on hi s lower back, Hannah had no way of knowing th at' he had crash ed and Cooper has no hard feelings to wa rd s Hann ah. " He shou ldn't have been laying down on th e job!" joked H annah . The 1992Honda and Yamaha off-road motorcycles will mak e their West Coast debut at the August 17-18 Commotion By The Ocean MX at so u the rn Californ ia's Carlsbad Raceway. Accordin g to Two Brothers Racing team own er Craig Erion, road racer Jeff Farmer has quit th e team. Fa rmer, who was riding a Two Broth ers Racin g H on da CBR600 in the AMAlCCS 600cc Su persport Series, will be aboa rd hi s own CBR600 for th e remain der o f th e . series. Two Brothers will contin ue to field bikes for Canadi an Steve Crevier and Freddie Spencer for th e rest of the series; Crevier competes in both the 600ccSupersport an d Superb ike classes whi le Spencer concentra tes his efforts on the Superbi ke class. T he WERA Cycle Ja~ at Pocon o Internation al Speedway will feature a n a ll-Ducati class, called the Ducati Challenge, on Saturday, August 24. T he Gh ost Motorcycles and Blackman 's Mot orcycles-spon sored race will h ave classes for both Novice a n d Expert s a nd will feature an $1100 purse. For more informat ion cont act WERA at 803/ 681-9372 or Gerry Alden a t 207/ 582-8851. After scor ing his th ird Camel Pro Series Nat ional win of the year at the Rapid Cit y Half Mile, dirt tracker Ronnie Jones is enjoyi ng a huge boo st in popularit y. Foll ow in g his most recent win, Jon es resorted to handing out au togra phed stickers after running out of photographs. Bob Corray, part of th e Garvi s Honda team tliat backs J on es joked, " Hey, Ronnie, if you keep riding like th is, maybe we w ill ha ve to order more of those pi ctures!" New Berlin, New York 's U nadill a Valley Sports Center isn 't the only pl ac e forced to ban overnight camping at motocross events due to unruly ca m pers. The Cita del i n Namur, Belg ium, also banned camping for this year 's Belgian 500cc MX . GP following unruliness at last year's event which left on e spectator dead. An altern ative campsite was offered a few miles from the Citadel , but many spec tators turned their festivities to th e city cen ter the night before the GP and . there were clashes with the police, who didn 't hesitate to use tear gas on the crowds. Georgia's Billy Liles has agreed on terms to contest the 1992 World Championship 500cc MX Series aboard Kawasakis backed by Johnson , the Belgian cigare tte manufactu rer. Willow Springs International Raceway has announced that the Del Amo Motors/Solid Gold Four Hundred will replace the cancelled AMA National on September 20-22. The ARRA-sanctioned race will con- ' sist of four , loo-mile races. The first will be limited to motorcycles up to 5OOcc; the second is for motorcycles up to 600cc and 250cc two-strokes; the third will be for motorcycles no larger than 750cc and th e fourth race will ha ve no limita tions on engine size. Entry is open to any and all club members and th e entry fee will be $75 for each race. There will be a manda tory pit stop for fuel and repairs in the loo -mile race. In addition, a 45mile sidecar race and two 30-mile Superkart races will be held. For more informa tion contact the ARRA at 805/ 966-5700 or 805/966-261 I. Road racer John Choate was awed by hi s first trip to Japan where he and teammate Andrew Stroud finished an impressive 13th in the Suzuka 8-Hour. "The whole thing was just awesome," the 23-year-old Choate said. " It was a thrill just being there and then to finish as well as we did .. . I definitely want to go back. " Choate learned of the ride through an advertisement in Cycle News; he applied and was later chosen. Nick lenatseh was originally slated to take th e ride, but when he declined, the ride was Choate's. " It was destin y or something," Choate said. " It was an awesome experience." Rid ers interested in com peting in the Junior Invitational races at th e Sep tember 15 San J ose, Octob er 5 WERA to allow methanol in F·USA tarti ng wi th the Augus t 23-25 Pocon o Cycle Jam, the Western Eastern Road Racers Association (WERA) will allow the use of methanol-based fuel blends . in fou r-stroke mo torcycles competing in Formula USA even ts. Only blen ds of methano l and at least 15% raci ng gasoline or racing gasolin e components will be a llo wed, and the fuel must contain enough gaso line to produce a visible flam e. T he flames must be able to be extinguished with conventiona l fire exti nguishers, and nitro-methane and related compo u nds are prohibited. T eam s and riders must pass fuel tech in spection, in which flam e tests will be conducted, before they are allowed onto th e race track, and additional samples may be taken at any tim e to assure compliance. Methanol-burning motorcycles will have to di spl ay specia l stickers on both sides of the fairing and on the gas tan k. . Of course , absolutely no smoking will be allowed in or near the pi ts of team s usi ng meth an ol , and " No Smoking" signs will be required to be posted. . On th e heels of WERA 's decision, Team Hammer has announced that it will enter three Valvo line-sponsored, methanol-burning Suzuki GSXRIIOOs at th e Pocon o Cycle Jam. "Valvoline is a maj or supp lier of racing methanol and Valvoline chem ists have developed a very effective methanol-based fuel that is visible when it bums and can be put ou t with conventional fire extingu ishers," said Team H ammer crew ch ief Keith Perry. " We hope to be at the track with bikes producing over 200 horsepower at th e rea r wheel. The real challenge will be to get that pow er to the ground and hooked up, but if it works, this could be the boo st we need to beat the (Team Marlboro Rob erts) Yamaha YZR5oos." The th ree motorcycles will be ridden by T eam Hammer's Donald J acks, Britt . T urking ton and Kurt Hall. S Pomona and October 12 Sacra me nto rounds of the Camel Pro Series sho uld call Bill Spencer at 408/ 436-8228. year's team , and Mike Kiedrowski are the favorites for the 500, 250 and I 25cc classes, respectively. " We have finally gi ven up," was th e hea ding on a p ress release we received from Yoshimura this week. It con tin ued, " Yosh imura R&D of America has given up its policy of refusing requests from race rs for co mp lete Yos h im ura R&D-prep a red race engines and complete race motorcycles. " Pri ces for complete race bikes range from $28,995 for a Yoshimura Suzuki GSXR 750-based superbike to $31,995 for a GSXRllOObased Yos hi mura 1340 Big Pap a Repl ica Stage II model. The latter incl udes such items as a $3999 dry clu tch kit, $2999 close rati o transmi ssion, and $2450 front fork kit. Yoshi mu ra has begu n a waiting lis t for th e lim ited number of race engines an d bi kes th at will be prepared. Mor e informa tio n is avai lab le from Yoshim ura R&D of America, ATTN: Race Section, 4555 Carter Cou rt , Chin o, CA 91710, 714/ 627-9249. Although no official annou ncement has been made, word from Europe says it's a done deal as far as Mike Kiedrowski rep resenting the U.S. in the 125cc class at the Septe mber 15 Motocross des Natio ns team event in Valkenswa ard , H oll a nd . Donny Schmit, the 1990 125cc World Cham pi on , was reportedly the first choice for the class, but he had tro uble wi th the thu mb he broke at the May 26 H ungari an G P when he retu rn ed to action a t the German G P on August 4. According to our source, Kawasaki Eu ro pe ha s been' asked to provide mach in ery for 1989 125cc National Champ ion Kiedrowski, who is curren tlylead in g this year's National Championship 125cc MX Series and was a member of the 1989 Amer ica n MX des Nations team that won in Germany. America n team man ager Roger DeCoster and AMA profession al mot ocross/dirt track manager Roy Janson met dur ing the August II 125/ 500cc Nat ion al Champion sh ip MX in Millvill e. . Minnesota, to discuss which riders wo u ld be chosen for the American Motocross des Nations team . Jeff Stanton, a membe r of tile 1989 and 1990 wi n n ing Am eri can teams, Damon Bradshaw, a member of last We contacted Jeff Stanton the day after the Millville meetin g. Asked if he had heard whe ther or not he'd be a memb er of the Motocross des Nations team, Stanton said, "T hey haven' t told me anything. I'd like t? find out. " I W a~ne Ga'r(}nei~dd Michael Doohan, both fresh from- victory in the Suzuka Eight-Hour, raised question s of wheth er GP stars sho uld be - - - - - - Continued on page 4 r-------------------------------------~--------------- - - - - - - - - - - SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Name _ Address _ City Order Date '-- State Zip _ Please start my subscription to Cycle News: (non-California residents ) . o Every week for one year (50 issues) for $35.00 (can be billed 3 monthly payme n ts) o Every week for two years (100 issues) for $65.00 o Six mon ths second class (25 issues) for $18.00 (California residents - includes sales tax) o Every week for.one year (50 issues) for $37.75 (can be bill ed 3 mon th ly payments) o Every week for two years (100 issues) for $70.00 o Six months second class (25 issues) lor $19.40 o This is a renewal o Please bill m e _ o Bill 3 payments of $11.67 (n on -Cali fo rn ia residents) o Bill 3 p ayments of $12.59 (California residents sa les tax in cluded) . o En closed is m y chec k or money order 0"'".1111!!!!11 Charge my 0 VIsa 0 Mastercard , ~ .• I ~ Signature --:.. 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