Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

close to it, an d it 's the only opportunity for fans here to see these guys race. I'll do what I can to save it. I was racing when there weren 't an y GPs here, so I know what it 's like." Two-time World Champion Wayne Rainey returned to the hospital the first week in December to ha ve m in or surgery o n hi s right kn ee. Rainey was operated on by the same doctor who operated on his broken right femur in September, Dr. Arthur Ting. "This was a simple procedure," Rainey's , phys iotherapist Dean Miller said. " Wa yne wa s a naes thetized for 10 minutes while Ting forged the joint's ra nge of mo tion, breakin g up the snap, crackle, adhesions pop.. . Befor e he went back into the hosp ital we were maybe one to two weeks ahea d of schedule. The treatment put us behind for a short wh ile, but soon we' ll be th ree weeks ahead." Rainey p lans totest the new Marlbo ro Yamaha YZR500 at th e end of January at Shah Alam in Malaysia. The Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport has co n fir me d that 15-time World Champion Giacomo Agosti ni has sign ed a two -year co ntract as manager of the Cagiva Corse raci ng team, replacing Virg ini o Ferra ri. Agostini will be reunited wi th four; time World Ch ampion Eddie Law s o n . During the association, Lawson won three 500cc World Championships. H is leaving th e Agostini-led Yamaha team and taking the number one p la te to Ho nda following th e 1988 season was a con troversial episode. The Italian factory was stung by the news that Marco Lucchinelli, the manager of their Ducati Corse team in th e World Championship Superbike Seri es, has been found guilty of cocaine trade and the decisi on to sign the very popular Agostini has already do ne much to restore the Cagiva image in Italy. On Friday, December 13, Eddie Lawson broke the lap record at Wi llo w Spri ngs Intern atio nal Raceway while testing the V -four Cagiva. Lawson's fastest lap was a 1:25.34, breaking the existing record by over half a second. On Sunda y, December 15, Scott Gray se t a n ew 750cc Superbike lap record at Willow , turning a 1:25.70 while winning the final round of the Del Amo/Miller High Life Grand Prix Series. Gray was riding the ex-I991 Scott Russell Muzzy Kawasaki he purchased recently. The financial costs now required to run a round of the FIM World Championship Road Race Series have eliminated the event originally scheduled for Anderstorp, Sweden, and have made it now almost certain that the United States will not have a Grand P rix in 1992. Other events that are proba ble but not yet confirmed because the organizers have not yet found the funds necessary to assure themselves of a G P ar e th e Italian GP (probably at Mugello), the Belg ia n G P (Spa Francorchamps) an d the Austrian GP (Sa lzburgring). T hese events will fill slots in May and June if confirmed. The Czechoslovakian G P (Bmo) may be replaced by the H ungarian G P (H u ngaroring) on August 23, bu t at present th e Bm o or gan izers are trying to find fu nds to allow th em to retai n their G P. The Grand Prix scheduled ,for th e new Catalunya circuit near Barcelona, Spa in , may be called the G rand Prix of An do rra, the GP of Catal unya or the European Grand Prix and looks like being a fixture for the next five years, as are most of the already confirmed events. T he policy of Bernie Eccelstone is to sign five-year deals. According to various organizers, the fixed price payable to Two Wh eel Promotions in order to organize a GP is close to $1 million and in addition, that local promoter will face costs between $300,000-$500,000 in actually running the event. It 's been said th at if, in fact , Laguna Seca does not host a GP, a round of th e AMA National Champ io nsh ip Road Race Series will be held at the northern California facility over the April 25-26 weekend. Aus tralia n road racers Kevin Magee and Peter Goddard will be riding factory Yamaha YZR500s for a Japanese team in the 1992 World Championship. The team's major sponsor will be na med later. ~ According to reports from Europe, French Ca nadian Miguel DuHamel will join Scot Niall Mackenzie on factory Yamaha YZR500s for Sonauto Yamaha. Former World Champion W a y n e Gardner has finall y agreed to a con trac t with Honda and Rothmans and will rid e alongside Mich ael Doohan in the 500cc World Champion sh ip under Ro thma ns colo rs. ETV Kanemoto will be in charge of 250cc Worl d Champion Luca Cadalora's NSR250 and also Gardner's , 500. Doohan 's effort will again be run by crew chief Jerem y Burgess. Doohan and Gardner tested early last week at Phillip Island in Australia, where condi tio ns were good and Doohan turned a best time of one-minute, 36 seconds and Gardner lapped in 1:37.1. The track record set during the 1990 Australian Grand Prix by Gardner stands a t I:34.560 and th e best overall practice time, set at the same event, is 1:34.788 by Doohan. Michael Doohan had expressed a desire to test Dunlop tires on his Honda but, according to ' the , Ro thmans press office in L ondon , he did not test Dunlops at Phillip_Island and the decision t o stay with Michelin in 1992 has alread y been made. With Lucky Strike Suzuki apparently set to return to Michelin for the - ' 1992 season, Team Marlboro Roberts hav e a major decision to make. Wayn e Rainey, who rode a dirt bike for th e first tim e recently at th e Kenny Roberts ranch, is struggling to be fit in tim e for the first Yamaha test sessio ns sched uled for .Malaysia and Australia in mid-January. If Rainey is not fit for the vital decision as to wh ether to continue with Dunlop or return to Michelin, th e choi ce would have to be bas ed o n th e op inions of John Kocinski. Kocinski, who won the 250cc World Championship in 1990 o n Michelins, won his first 500cc GP at the end of last season on Dunlop tires in Shah Alam, Malaysia. Team Lucky Strike Suzuki's Dou g Chandler tested Michelin tires a t Eastern Creek in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, December 9 and circu lated at a best of one-minute, 32.5 seconds. Wayne Rainey qualified on the Pole for the 1991 Australian Grand Pr ix at Eastern Creek with a time of 1:30.948. Chandler, meanwhile, q ua lified 13th for the Australian G P in April, with a time of 1:33.424 o n a Yamaha YZRSOO with Dunlo p tires . Although the final decisio n regarding what ti res Cagiva will use will be made by Eddie Lawson , new team manager Giacomo Ago sti ni is said to BMW's biggest ever - the KIIOO LT B MW will in troduce the KIIOO LT (L uxury Tourer) in the \ spri ng of 1992, the largest di splacem en t BMW motorcycle ever produced. By increasing the cylinder bore of the lfi-valve, fourcylinder 987cc motor used in the KlOO series, the KIIOO LT's engine will fea ture a displacem ent of 1092cc. Other than the change in bore a n d d ispl a cem en t, the KIIOO motor is identical to the 987cc engine used in the rest of the K-Iine. The new engine develops a claimed 100 horsepower at a relatively low 7500 rpm; torque has also been increased. The KIIOOLT will feature Digital Motor Electronics for optimum fuel efficiency a nd a three-way catalytic converter and ABS will be available as options. The most conspicuous features on the new bike are the electricall y adjustable windshield, and the expanded rider's seat. ' Although it will be introduced in the spring, the KIIOO LT will be a 1993 model, and th us is -not included in our 1992 Buyer 's Guide. hav e been in recent negotiations with D unlop. even ts with the P romot e r of the Year Award. World Superbike Champion Doug Polen recentl y was awarded the " Casco D'Oro"by Italian magazine Mo tosprint, Polen fin ished fourth in the voti ng for Rider of the Year behind Luca Cadalora, Loris Capirossi and Kevin Schwantz, ye t su rp ri singl y fini shed wi th mor e votes than 500cc Worl d Champion Wayne Rainey. The December 15 Big Guys Promotions CMC Golden Sta te Tune-up MX at H uron Cy cle P ark in Huron, Ca lifo rn ia, was ina dvertently left out of our Ca lendar section listings in bo th last week's issu e and this week's. 'For more infor ma tion ' o n the event, call 2091734-8772. Tuner Merlyn Plumlee ha s rejoined T eam Muzzy Kawasaki for the 1992 seaso n aft er spending the '91 racing season with the Oscar Rumi World Superbike team working on Fred Merk el' s Honda RC30 . Plumlee will jo in forces with Gary Medle y on Scott Russell 's Kawasakis while Larry Kano and Bill Oliver share the tuning duties on new recruit Thomas Stevens' bikes. J u ly I and August I, 1992, dep arture dates hav e been set for the Can-Am 10,000 Motorc y cle Tour t o Ala s ka. The 28-day tour is designed so tha t riders co m plete 10,000 miles, and th os e wh o receive n o tr affic viola tio ns and have no accidents are declared winners of the event. The tour costs $995 an d entry is by invitatio n o nly. Those interested in receiving an invitation should con tact Great American Mot or cycle Adventures, 3575 S. Fox St., En glewood, CO 80110. Road racer Michael Barnes will ride a Rob Muzzy Ra ci ng Kawasaki in the AMA/CCS Endurance Series in 1992. Bames and Team Toomer won th e GTU Championship in 1991 aboard a Kawasaki ZX600. J eff Heino is another wh o will be aboard a Muzzy Kawasaki; Heino will ride his Kawasaki in th e 1992 AMA /CCS 750cc Supersport Series and selected WERA even ts. ' Wa yne Rainey's Hook and Slice II golf tournament on December 6 was won by three-time World Champion Keriny Roberts and his teammates Gary Howard, Sparky Edmons t o n and former Los Angeles Raider T im Rother. Rainey, the tournament host, al so played , despite his still heal in g brok en right leg . " It ma y hav e helped my golf ga me," Rainey said. " It (the leg inj ury) slowed m y swing down." American M o t orcycle I nstitute of Daytona Beach, Fl orida , h a s an no unced that Colin B ixb y of th e BMW T echnician Training Program has won the ShoeiSafe t y Helm e t A w a rd for o u ts ta n d i n g st u dent achie vement. Bixb y not o nly ach ieved th e highest grade point average in his class, but also helped tu tor other st udents . A new awar d is in the works for the AMA's 1992 year-en d banquet. In ad di tio n to honoring the-top professio na l racer and spo rtsman with the AMA Professional Athelete and Professio n a l Sports ma n of th e Year Awa rds, t he AMA will recognize excellence in promotion of motorcycle CORRECTION: The fax number for Arai Helmets Professional Service Headquarters th at was previousl y listed in this section was in correct. The cor rect number is 916/989-5114. ENGAGED: Off-ro ad racer Larry Roeseler to Li z Scott. The couple will be married on January II in Victorville, California. ENGAGED: Off-road racer Ted Hunnicutt o f T eam G reen to Cheryl Sh ockley, The date for the wedding has not yet been determin ed. SIGNED: Larry Roeseler to use FMF product s during the 1992 sea so n . Roeseler, a Kawasaki T eam Green rider, will campaign National Championship Hare &: H ound Seri es, as'well as defend his titl e in the National Championsh ip R el iab ility Enduro Series. F O RME D : Extreme Lean Racing Mach in es, by Steve Biganski. The firm will special ize in roa d race and MX engine development, and is loca ted at 4415 I68th St., Suite #4, Lawndale, CA; phone 310/214-2812. . CORRECTION: In the advertisement p laced by motocrosser Gene Naumec in issue #48, "a special thanks to Ross Maeda's Enzo Racing " was inadvertentlyomitted. BORN: Emily Ann Gruber, daughter of National #37 dirt tracker Erick " Rick" G ruber and his wife Laura, in Wau kega n , Illinois, November 19.

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