Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v Letters to the editor 0ICES Carefree Sun O ff -R o ad wants to a dv ise friend s and associa tes of the untimely dea th of its president, Lester Ruffner J ones, Jr. On th e evening of October II. Les was driving a little too fast . I gu ess. But that was Lester's style. He leaves Sylvia, his wi fe of a lmos t 20 years, a lot of adven tures, and a passel of friends th rough out Arizona and California. T he memorial service, held a t th e Greasewood Flats Ch apel with a wake a t the adj acent bar, was att ended by scores of off-road ent h usia sts, including such Arizona motorcycle icon s as J immy Halford, the "da d ' n lad " duo of Leo and Marty St. Martin, and Ascot's Brian LaPlante. After the traditional toast of Rumpl eminze, a Lester favorite for those chilly Parker 400 morn ings , and th e "he-wou ld-ha ve-wa n ted-i t" firing of a multi-sma ll arms sal ute, the only th in g mi ssing was a flyby of 390.Huskys. Jones turne d 41 just days p rior to the destr uc tion of his GMC pickup in rural Carefree, Arizona, an d Les was just that - carefree. Tony Tellier Scottsdale, AZ Double my pleasure I have a comme nt on th e sho rtened 1992 Supercro ss and National MX sched u les. Wh y not go to a two-race format like th ey do at Pontiac every year? This would double th e number of points ra ces, yet not affect th e amount of tra vel required by the participants. As a fan , it would also double the number of races I could attend and or see on television. Pat Harrington Seattle, WA There are many reason s w hy doubleheaders can 't be held at most su pe rcross ven ues. According to Jerry West of WoTldSports, most stadiums are not available fo r the amount of time required to stage dou bleheader even ts an d stadiums with n atu ral g rass surfaces lim it th e tim e that the grass can be cove red. ': p'ontiac is su p po rted by a strong dealer gro up and grass roo ts su p por t th ere is ex tremely strong," West said. " T hey rely on a strong repeat turnout from motorcycle en thus iasts, w hereas at most even ts we have to draw a large number of nonmotorcyclists - in dividuals who are not mo torcyclists but sports fans w ho li ke exc itement. Tha t's hard to do on back-to- back days. Plus the factory team m anagers don 't like th e added expense of their person nel staying in a, let's say, high-price cit y another ay." ... Ed itor. Aprilia turnaround? At the recent T exas round of the AMA National Ch ampions hi p Road Race Series , man y of you asked why Al Salaverria and I were not compe ting. We had spe n t two weeks trying to ob tai n spares fro m th e Aprilia factory in Ital y and were waitin g for th em to reach AI. T he pa rts arriv ed aft er th e T exas ro und, so we didn 't race. In the pa st, other team s in th e U.S. have had similar probl em s with the Aprilia factory or fro m previous parts su ppliers. At T exas, the first person to ask m e hat the problem was , wa s Ri ck ripody. H e had just become the orth American dis tribu tor of Apri lia arts and race bik es a day earlier. He as very concerned and not ha ppy that e had the problem s we did. His first uestion was wh at co uld he do to try to help us and get the item s we needed . He offered to call th e factory in Ita ly from the race trac k, but I conv eyed to him that pa rts were on the wa y. Rick and I had a conversa tion about his p lans for the Aprilias. H e realizes that in th e pas t ma ny teams and individuals had enco untered the sam e problems (we ha ve) with the factory. He is de teri ned not to a llow the problems of the past to resu rface. I found him to be honest and I beli eve him to be sincere in thi s effort. He reall y wish es to servi ce hi s raci ng customers in th e mo st timely and efficient manner poss ibl e. If you had a ny reservat ions abou t purchasing an Aprilia race bik e in 1992, p lease reco nsider your reservations and realize that Rick is there to hel p. Things are different from the past. I am n o lon ger affil ia ted wit h Sa laverri a Racin g. but if I had the opportu nity and the finan ces to ru n my ow n team in 1992, I wo uld defin itely procur e Aprilia race bikes. I feel that the motorcycles are just that mu ch more developed and the parts su p ply and di stributor are working to my adva ntage. If you want to step up and own /race as close to a factory racing motorcycle as possibl e, th en contact Rick T ripody/ RST Promotions either at the Miami round or in Canada. INSIDE FEATURES NEWS MOTOCROSS FIM turnaround leads to two"GP" road raceseries 2 REVIEW Looking back at the 1991 Supercross and National MX seasons 6 The MX season in pictures 10 INTERVIEW French phenom Jean-Michel Bayle 16 ROAD RACING Dutchman winsthirdstraightAMAlCCS Endurance title at Daytona 18 Edwards.racks up titles in Daytona sprints 20 MOTOCROSS Bayle wins French Masters of Motocross Seriesopener 26 Tichenor returns with Englishtown victory. . . . . . • . ...... 28 Higgins takes Unadilla Vintage MX by storm 34 CROSSCOUNTRY Summers moves to the top with High Point win Hough scores in Illinois 32 36 DEPARTMENTS EDITOR'SMEGAPHONE 23 NEWPRODUcrS .... : ·. . 31 LOCAL RACING ... .... ... . . . . . . •38 POINT STANDINGS 45 CALENDAR 46 RESULTS 50 WANT ADS 52 ON THE FRONT PAGE: J ean-Michel Bayle sailed to an unprecedented three Nationa l titles in 1991. A summary of the season begins on page 6. Photo by Ken Faugh t. David Ray Merced, CA And the winner is .. . Cycle News does an excelle nt rob o f coveri ng races, especia lly the AMA Circle Bell Pro Twin s Series races. But I was surp rised at the headline (Meister ma kes history wi th Texas Twins win) on th e October 16 issue's coverage of the T exas World Speedway Pro T win s rac e. What is the big dea l of a GP· 2 rid er win ning? Wh y should Pablo Real , a n independent rider, risk his equipment wh en he is leading hi s race, th e G P- I class, and is also lead ing the G P- I po int sta ndings? When you don ' t have a factory or other heavy sponsor, you save your equipment for the next race (Miami). Keep up th e good reporting, but remember th at there are two races in the Circl e Bell Pro Twins race - G P1 and G P-2. They do not race each ot her ; th ey race in their class. Gregory McCarthy Yorktown, VA Go back and read the report again . Overall winner and, of course, GP-2 winner, Bob Meister said, " I won m y class at T opeka an d was second overall. That's w hat motivated me to win overall. " Sounds to us like Meister likes to beat everyone, not just th e riders in his class . . . Editor. Letters to th e ed itor sh o u ld be sen t to : Voices, Cycle New s, P.O . Box 498, Long Beach, CA 9080100498. Publish ed Ieu ers do not n ecessaril y reflect th e posit ion of Cycle Ne ws. In c. Letters sho uld nOI exceed 200 wo rd an d all lett ers are su bject to td iring. America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXVIII Mich ael Klin ger , Publish", Ca roline Ge n dry. Executive Secre tary to the P u bl ish a Ed itorial J ack Man gu s, Associate Publisher ! Ed it or Kit Palmer , Associate Ed itor Pa ul Carruthers. Associate Editor Nate Ra u ba, Associatt' Editor Ken Fau ght. A ssistant Editor Donn Maeda. Assistan t Ed itor Edwina Man gu s. Calendar Editor Graphics and Production Ree Johnson , Prod u ction Su pervisor Mand y Loo, Product io n M a.nager Dennis Greene, Lab. T ech. Sta cey Ouest, Grap hi c Artist Amy H arr is, Graph ic Artist Carolyn Branham . T ypesetter Ci rculatio n Rheba Smith , Ma nag", Sarah T a ylor, Billin g Coo rd inator Alm a An guia no, Processin g Coordi nato r G ab rielle Gilliam . Processin g Assistan t Debb ie Well er, Deal", Coo rdi na to r Want Ads Linda Vo n de Veld. Want Ad Sales Advertising "T erry P ra tt , National Accoun ts Alana g~T Mar k Thome. Western Sales Ma7lager Ron Davidson. lJ'estnn Sal es Afana gt'T Thomas R. C omer, Westt'Tn Sales AtanageT Mark Mi tchell , Eastern Accounl.l Manager Greg Mitchell , Eastern Sales Manager R ick Ma then y, Eastern Sales Manoger J oa n Bell , M'estt'Tn Ad Coo rdi n atoT Carla Borden Allen , EasteTTl Ad Coordinator Dealer Sal es Steve Go toski . Dealer R epresen tat ive Marketing Be Promoti on Mark T home. Man ager Accounting/Data Processing Don na Brya n- Diamond. A I R Coordinator Geneva Repa ss. Assista nt H erl ane Le wis. Credit Service and Sup port Chris Aitcheson, H ead quarters Re ception ist Leonard H erring, Service and S up po rt Na tio nal H eadquarters Eastern Office 220 I Ch crry AYe I.ong Beach . CA 90806 . ., P.O . Box 498.l.ong Beach . CA 90801-0498 4 190 Fin e A ve•• Tucker . GA. 30084; maili ng address P.O . Box 805. Tuc ker, GA 30085-080 5. (2 13) 427-7433 ; 213 / 636-8844. FAX (2 13) 42 7-6685 (404) 934 -7ll5O. FAX (404) 931 ·3112 Cycle News (USPS 141·340 ) is p ublished weekly excep t the last two weeks 01 the cal endar year lor $50.00 per year by Cycle News. Inc., 2201 Cherry Avenue . Long Beach. CA 90806. Second class postage paid at Long Beach, CA_ Canada Post lnt ern ational Publ ications Mail #5466 15. POSTMASTER: Send addresschanges to CycleNews, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 908O t-0498. To de termine the ex piration dat e of yo u r su bscr iption, check th e four numbers on the firsl line 01 yo u r add ress label. The lirs' IWO digi lS indicate the las l issue n um ber you 'll receive a nd th e las t two ch a rac ters in dica te th e year o f the last issue. Subscr ip tio n rat es: Ra tes for the Uni ted Sta tes a n d its possessions for o ne year. (50 issu es). $50.00; two years ( 100 issu es), S95.00 ; six months. (25 issu es). S26.00 ; tria l su b (15 issues), S I9 .00 . Ca nad a and For eign, one year (50 issues), S9O.00 ; two year s (100 issues), $ 175.00 ; six mo nths (25 issues), $45.00 ; trial su b ( 15 issues). S38.00 . Cycle New s welcomes un soli cited ed itorial material in cl ud in g sto ries , ca rtoo ns , photo s. etc. Suc h ma teria l, il p u bl ished. becomes the excl us ive p roper ty 0 1 Cycle News. Suc h accepted ma terial is su bjec t to revision as is necessa ry in th e sole d iscreti o n o f Cycle New s. U nso lici ted ma terial which is no t used will be ret urned il acco mpa nied by a sell addressed sta m ped envelope. All un solicit ed material will be han dled with reason abl e care. ho wever , Cycle New s assumes n o responsibi lit y fOf'the safety. lo ss or da mage to such mat er ial. Rep rin ting in whole or part on ly by pe rm iss io n o f th e p ublisher . Advert isin g ra tes a nd ci rcu lation inform a tion wi ll be sen t upon reques t, See S.R. D.S. W/BD'A, VI r J AUDITED CIRCULATION Copyrigbt8 Cycle News. Inc. 1991.TndemarIL Cycle New. ttgUtcrrd U.s. PateDt OfIitt. Allrigbts ...ereed . 3

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