Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v ICES Letterstothe editor 0 INSIDE Class act FEATURES MOTOCROSS · Thorpe wins battle, lobe wins war at Luxembourg500cc GP Reynard, Luskshine at Ponca City 6 IO ROAD RACE Polen powers toSwedish W orldSuperbike win 8 DIRT TRACK Pegram storms toSturgis ShortTrack win .. : NEW BIKES Kawasaki's 1992 off-road lineup Yamaha's 1992 YZ motocrossers 20 22 DRAG RACE Schultz smokes M at yers ProStar Summemationals 24 DEPARTMENTS LOCAL RACING 25 1 4 CALENDAR 34 PREVIEW LS.D.E. travels to Czechoslovakia in '91. . . . . . . . .• . . . 16 WANT ADS 38 RESULTS 50 ON THE FRONT PAGE: Kawasaki T eam Green rider Robbie Reynard (67) chased down Mike Metz&"er (15) and scored the win in the Super Mini (12-18) class. Reynard was crowned the Mini cycle Grand Nationa l Champion after topping the 80cc·Stock (1213) and 80cc Modified (12-13). For race coverage, see page 10. Photo by Ken Fau ght. America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXVIII Michael Klinger, Publisher Ca roli ne Gendry, Executive Secretary to th e Publish er Editorial Jack Mangu s, Associate Publish er/ Edi to r Kit Pa lm er, Associate Ed itor Pa ul Carru thers, Associate Edi tor Na te Raub a, Associate Edi tor Ken Fau ght . Assistan t Editor Do n n Maeda, Assistant Edi to r Edwina Man gu s. Calendar Editor Craphics and Prod uction Ree J ohnson , Prod uc tion Supervisor Man dy Loa. Prod uction Man ager Dennis Greene , Lab. T ech. Stacey G uest, G raphic Art ist Amy H arris, Graphi c A rtist Carolyn Branham . Typesetter Circulation Rheba Smith, Manager Sarah Taylor, Bill in g Coo rdinator Alma Anguiano. Processing Coordinator Gabrielle G ill iam . Processing Assistant Debb ie Weller , Dealer Coordina tor Want Ads Li nda Von de Veld, Wa nt Ad Sal es Advertisi ng Terry Pratt, N at ion al Accounts Man ager Mark T home, Western Sales Manager Ron Davidson, Western Sa les Manager T ho mas R. Gen ter, Western Sal es Manager Ma rk Mi tch ell , Eastern A ccounts Manager G reg Mitch ell . Eastern Sales Manager Rick Mathen y, Easte rn Sale s Manager Joan Bell . Western Ad Coordinator Carla Borden Allen . Eastern Ad Coordinator Dea ler Sales Steve Ootoski, Dealer R ep resent ative ' Marketing Be Pr om ot ion Mark Thome, Manager AccountinglData. Processing Don na Brya n-Diam on d. A / R Coo rdin ator Geneva Repa ss. Assistant H erl an e Lewis, Credit Servi ce and Support Chris Aitch eson , H eadq uar ters R ecept ion ist Leo nard H erring, Serv ice and Support National Headquaners Eastern Office 2201 Cherry Ave. , Lo ng Beach. CA 90806, ch, P.O . Box 498. Lo ng Bea CA 90801·0498 4190 Firs t Ave.• T uc ker, GA , 30084; mailing address P.O . Box 805. T ucker. G A 30085-0805. (213) 427·7433; 213/ 636·8844. FAX (2 l3) 427·6685 . (404) 934-7850. FAX (404) 934-3112 Cycle News (USPS 141·340) is p ublished .weekly except the last two weeks of the calendar year for $50.00 per year by Cycle News, Inc , 2201 Ch erry Avenue, Long Beach , CA 90806. Second class postage pai d at Long Beach, CA. Canada Post International Publi cations Mail #546615. POSTMASTER: Send addressehangts to Cycle News, P.O. 80. 498 Long llta ch, CA90801.(J498. , T o determine th e expiration elate of yo u r su bsaip tion, check th e Iour n umbers o n the first line of yo u r address label. The first two digits indicate the last issu e num ber you 'll receive and th e last two characters indi cate th e year of th e last issu e. Subscription rates: Rates for th e United States an d its poss essio ns fo r o ne year. (50 issu es). $50.00; two yea" (100 issues ), $95.00; six months, (25 issues), $26.00; trial sub (15 issues), $19.00. Canada a nd Fo reign, one -year (50 issues). $90.00; two yea" (100 issues), $175.00; six months (25 issues), $45.00; tria l sub (15 issu es), $38.00. Cycle News welcomes unsolicited editorial materia l incl udin g sto ries, car toons. p hotos, etc. Su ch material, if p u blished, beco mes th e exclu sive property o f Cycle News. Suc h accep ted material is su bject to revision as is necessary in the sole di scretion o f Cycle News. U nso licited material whi ch is no t used will be returned if acco mpan ied by a se1£ addressed sta mped en velo pe. All u nso licited ma ter ial will be handled with reason abl e care. however, Cycle News ass u mes no responsibility for th e sa fety, loss or damage to such material. Repri ntin g in whole or part o nly by permission o f th e publisher. Advertising rates and circu lation inform a tio n will be sent u pon request. See S.R. D.S. W/BD'A, 'If r , 4 Copyri gh~ AUDITED CIRCULATION Cydt News, Inc. 1991. Tndtmu k Cyd. Ntws rtgistmd U.s. Pa'tnt Off All rights reserved, ict. In an ag e where man y professio nal ath letes have developed selfish and self-cente red attitudes, it is refreshing to enco unt er a Na tio nal Champion who is down to earth, gen uinely friendly and gracious to h is fans. Twice during the week prior to the Troy, O hio, 125/ 250cc Na tiona l MX, Guy Cooper an d fello w Oklah om a rider Cli ff Pal mer practiced at the nearby Dayton M.e. trac k. On both occasi ons, Cooper was gracio us and open to everyone presen t. Much to everyone's surprise and p leasure, wh en Guy and Cli££ were fin ished practicing, they sat down and visited for over an ho ur. As a direct result, on Sunday at the Na tiona l, th ere were severa l new Suzu ki and Guy Cooper fans who were th rilled to see him win the 125cc National overa ll. On Sunday night, after th e race, Cooper ca lled a very su rprised member of the club and in vited him to come for a visit at his mote l. After a coup le hours of friendly conversation , Cooper autographed hi s jersey from the T roy Natio na l for th e man's two sons, th en autographed his Number One plate for the club's tro phy case. These are th e act ions of a fine gent lema n and a gracio us champ ion. Suzuki in particular , an d motocross in gener al , sho u ld be proud to have a man like Gu y Cooper represen ting them . I watch careful1yover those my sons choose as heroes , and th is fat her cou ld no t be more p leased, becau se it's Gu y Cooper's pictur e that hangs in th eir room, and he has proven himself to be a class act. Mark Mon tgomery Dayton ,OH Funding the figh t We apprecia te your rep orting our victory wit h Ca lifornia's state budget. Governor Pete Wil son 's " bl ue pencil" of $8. 1 million was a com plete victory for on-trail recreationists th rou gh out the state. He liste ned to our concerns, and kept a promise to this commun ity. The govern or shou ld be commended for his actions. This victory, however, was orchestrate d by th e memb ers of the Off-Road Veh icle Leg islative Coalition. The member organiza tions fund the pres ence of the Adelante Corp oration's Bob H am. Under a yearly con tract , he provides us with rep resen tat ion, an d wor ks hard to represent our concern s, Someti mes' we are not as su ccessful as we wo uld like to be, but overa l1 we win in the California legislat ive arena more tim es than we sho uld. Thanks, Bob I Bob 's services do not come cheap. Although h e provides us wi th hi s services at a greatly reduced fee, we still have to " p ony up " a su bs ta ntia l amount of money. As the treasure r of th e Coalition, th e California O££-Road Veh icle Association (CO RVA) is in a constant searc h of funding to meet our obliga tio n to Ade1ante Cor p. If yo ur read ers wou ld lik e to he lp the Coa lition, they can send a con tri b u tion to : CO R VA, ORVLC Fund, 1225 8th St., Sui te 570A, Sacra mento, CA 95814. Steve Kuehl President, CORVA Sacramento, CA Don 't count us out In your coverage of the Brainerd WERA Pro Series race, you printed comme n ts , attri b uted to Chu ck Graves, which ma ke it sound like we don 't know wh at we're doing. That 's pretty ha rd to understand, since he 's asked to joi n our team for 1992 and since our rid ers beat him at the Atlanta and Seattle F-USA races this year and jus t about everywhere in 1990 and 1989. You q uoted Graves, who is Yoshimura R&D of America-sponso red, as saying, "They (mean ing Team Suzuki) thi nk it 's all speed, bu t it is all in ho oking up a nd carburetion. The Yoshimura carbs and . exhaust give more midran ge th an borin g it out (Team Suzuki bik es are ru mored at I260cc). The best thing to do is try to save weight.. . . " What we ' real1y think is that the unobtainab le close-ratio six-speed in the engine su p p lied to Graves by Yoshimura R&D was a critica l advantage to him at Brainerd . And we think that you printing a rumored displacement of 1260cc for o ur bikes without even asking us abo u t it is bad - th ey're 1186cc, and if you think otherwise: com e to th e next race and we'll let you tear them down and measure them yourself. And that comment about " trying to save weight" is pretty stupid since our bik es are as light as possible without spending $5000 per bike on titanium axles, swinga rm p ivot , bolts, rods and valves (we priced it) and who kn ow s wh at on carbo n-fiber Yoshimura KYB forks. We th ink Graves is a very good rider and that Yoshimura R&D, using al1 th e J apanese race sho p connec tio ns on ly it enjoys, supplied h im with an excellent engine. But in presuming to tel1 a reporter wha t we th ink , downgradi ng our tech nica l ability, and cla im ing our engines are bigger than his, Graves was j ust pl ai n out of line. The seaso n isn 't over, and it' s way too, earl y for Chuck Graves to co un t us ou t. Keith Perry Crew Chief , T eam Hammer Athens, AL Th e Chuck Graves quote w as in response to a q uest io n from o ur reporter as to how he does so we ll against other four-stroke teams . Graves has acknowledged that he was quoted accurately. Th e com men ts in paren-. th eses are our reporter's..We apol og ize to both Graves and T eam Ham m er if th ey were in terpreted as being otherwise. T eam Hammer Inc. fields bikes in th e W ER A Endurance Series under the name 9f Team Suzuki Endurance, but when th ey com pe te in other even ts th ey reta in th e name T eam Hammer . . . Editor. 00, Smitt y! Alright, you guy s, eno ugh' s enough. Where are al1 the new Team Smitty comics? Without my pals Socr at es, Moe and, of course, Smitty, my whole existence has gone in the toilet. I am constant ly in a foul mood now , and life seems hardly worthwhile anymore. So you tel1 Smith to get off his lazy du££ and draw up some new comics. And I don 't want to hear any lam e excuses like, " He 's an airl in e pilot now, and he doesn ' t hav e the tim e anymore." Everyone knows that ai rline p ilots don 't do anything but p lay cards and look at girlie magazines anyways. Wes Kaiser La Habra, CA A surprise awa its you on page 51, Wes ... Edi tor. Leuers to the edi tor sho uld t.t' sem to: Voices. C'Yd~ NnIIs, P.O . Box. 498, Lo ng Beach , CA 90801-0498. Pu blished leuees do nOI necessari ly reflect the position o ( Cycle News , In c. Letters sh o u ld ne t exceed 200 words and all leuers ar t su bject to t'diting.

• Cover