Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v ICES 0 INSIDE Letters tothe editor The ol d guard FEATURES MOTOCROSS Swink, Ferry star a t Catorback . . . .6 NEW BIKfS 1992 Moto-Guuis 28 Healey, Snellingen score in Gl en Helen mud 12 . DEPARTMENTS Bradshaw bags big bucks at GFI Series South opener 14 NEW PRODUCTS Fowl er, Paladin o tops a t Sand hill GFI North 16 LOCAL RACING .30 CJ\LENDAR 37 WANT ADS : 40 RESULTS 54 RIDING IMPRESSION Suzuki RMX250 23,27,29 20 TECH Aprilia 's 250cc GP conte nder . . . .24 Looking at th e past few issu es of Cycle Neuis, 1 noticed that a few of the larger su perbike teams, su ch as Co m mo n wea lt h Racing, Fa st By Ferracci, Two Brothers R a c i n g a n d Yoshim ura Suzuki, a re looking for a fast an d ca pable rider. It seems to me that Randy Mamola would be a n ex ce ll ent cho ice. He is avail ab le , expe rien ced a n d as fast if not fast er tha n any o f the current riders in the series , a nd with h is popularity he s ho u ld p ut a ny spo nsor In th e limelight, Randy Mamol a in the AMA Superbike Series would g ive Am erican road raci ng the shot in th e arm it needs , pi tting the old guard o f former Gran d Prix stars - Mamol a a nd Fred die Spen cer - against th e u pcom ing stars of tomorrow, suc h as SCOll Ru ssell an d Thomas Stevens . Paul T. End Norristown, PA ON THE FRONT PAGE: Hundreds of rid ers kicked off the new motocross season at the o pen ing round of th e Florida Winter AMA MX Seri es, held at Gatorback Cycle Park in Gai nesvill e. For race coverage, see page 6. Pho to by An ne Adair. Mamola is available, ex perienced and [ast, bUI he's also ex pensive, Mam ola en jo yed years on th e GP circu it, where annual salaries for lap 500cc class riders are in th e seven -digit range, tha t is, a millio n m ore dollars per year. It's repo rted that Wayn e Gardner will receive over 13 m ill ion for his effo rts wit h the R othmans H onda team in '92. In con trast, it's ou r understanding th at non e of the lop AMA S uperbike Series com petitors cam e even near making $100,000 in salary last year . . . Ed ito r. o r America 's wee kly motorcycle newspap er Vo lu m e XXIX Michael Klinger, Pub lish" Caroline Gendry, Executive Secretary to the Pu bl ish" Editorial Jack Mangus, Associate Pu blish er! Ed itor Kit Palm er . Asso ciatt' Editor Paul Carruthers. Associate Ed itor Nat e Rauba , Associate Ed itor Ken Faught, Assistant Edito r Donn Maeda, Assistan t Edilor Edwina Mangus, Calen dar Editor Graphics and Production Ree Johnson, Prod ucti on Supervisor Mandy Loo, Produ ction Mana ger Dennis Gr eene. Lab . T ech. Stacey Guest, G rap hic A rtist Am y H arris, Grap hic Artist Carolyn Branham, T yp eseu cr Circu la tio n Rh eba Smith, M an ager Sarah Taylor, Bill in g Coordinato r Al ma Ang uiano , Processin g Coordinator Debbie Weller, Deal" Coordinator Advert isin g Terry Prau, Na tional Accounts .Wanagn Mark Thome. Western Salt's Mana ger Ron Davidson. We,s tern Sal es Mana g~r T homa' R. Gomer, lVestern Sales Manag" Mark Mitchell, Eastern A ccounts Manager Greg Mitchell, Eastern Sal es Ma nager Rick Matheny, Eastern Sal es Man ager Joan Bell, lVest"n Ad Coordinat or Carla Borden Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Dealer Sales Steve Got os ki , Dealer R epresen tative M:ar ketin g 8c Pro moti o n Mark Thome, Manager Accounting/Data Processing Donna Bryan -Diamon d. A I R Coordina tor Ge neva Repass. Assista nt H erlane Lewi s, Credi t Wanl Ads Linda Von de Veld, IVant Ad Sales Se-rvice an d Support Chris Aitch eson , H eadquarters R ecept ionist Leonard Herring, Service and Suppo rt Na tio nal H eadquarters Eastern orfice 220 I Cherry Ave.. Long Beach , CA 90806. P.O . Box 498, Long Beach , CA 908OI-Oi98 4190 Firsl Ave., T ucker, GA . 30084; ma iling address P.O . Box 805. T ucker, GA 30085-0805. (3 10) 427·H33: (3 10) 636-8844 . FAX (3 10) 427-6685 (404 ) 934-7850 . FAX (404) 934-3 112 Cycle New, (USPS 141-340) is published weekly except the la I two weeks of the calendar yrar for $50.00 per year by Cycle New " Inc., 2201 Cherry Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90806. Second class po,tage paidat Long Beach, CA and a t additional mailing office. Canada Post International Publications Mail 11546615. POSTMASTDl: Send address changes toCycle News, P,O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 9080 1-0498• . To determine the exp ira tion date or yo ur subscription, check the four num bers on th e first line or your address label. The first two digi ts indicate the last issue number you 'll receive and the last two characters indicate the year or th e la st issue. Subscription rates: Rates for the United Stales and its possessions for one year, (50 issues), $50.00; two years (100 issues), $95.00; six months, (25 issues), $26.00; trial sub (15 issues), $ 19.00. Canada and Foreign, one year (50 issues), $90.00; two years (100 issues), $175.00; six month, (25 issues), $45.00; trial sub ( 15 issues), $38.00 . Cycle News welcomes unsol icit ed editorial ma teria l including stories. cartoons, ph o tos . etc. Such material, if published, becomes the exclusive property of Cycle News. Such accep ted mat erial is su bjec t to revision as is necessary in the so le discretion of Cycle News. Unsolicited material which is not used will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed stamped envelope. All unsolicited material will be handled with reasonable care, however, Cycle News assu mes no responsibilit y for the safety, loss o r damage to such mat erial. Rep rin ting in wh ole o r part o nly by permissio n o f the publisher. Adver ti sin g rates a nd circ u lat io n in forma tio n will be sent u pon request. See S.R .D.S . 4 W/BOA A UD ITED V rl CIRCULATION Copyrighl8 Cyd. News.Inc, 1.992. Trademark CydeNew' rtgiSlmd U.s. Patent Olfia:. All rightsreserved, Open letter to Bayle, Matiasevich P lea se for g ive me if 1 a m off-base, but th e repon in th e December II issue on t he AMA P rofessio n a l Awards Banquet reall y put both o f yo u in a very bad light. On page 22 o f th at same issue, yo u - J eff Mat iasevich - were head lin ed for winning a local MX a t Pe rris , Ca l iforn ia . 1 agree th ere I S nothi n g lik e a go od day of raci ng, how ever, don 't yo u think th at Tom Karr, J im Karins and J ill T hompson of Coors, th e com p a ny w hi ch sponsored th e Coors Ligh t Silver Bullet Showdow n , would have a p p reciated yo u r p erso na l a cce p ta nce o f th eir 25,000 ch eck? Not to mention vo ur saying th a n k yo u to th em in person with a few kind words a n d so me publicit y for Coors? And to yo u, J ea n- M ich el Bayle, don ' t yo u th in k it wou ld have been a bit more pala tab le for th e Am eri can MX pub lic to acce p t you if you would have shown up to collect a record three American cham p io ns h ips? Or possibl y sent an acce ptance video or a close relative o r so me th ing? J eff an d J ea n -Mich el, as long as yo u are accep ting sponsorship o f yo u r sport a nd co m pe ti n g in tha t sport for cha mpion sh ip s, you had better th in k about ta kin g care of your basic responsib ilities to th e en d. R emem ber, guys, even th e brightest stars can become falling stars. Wally Tunison Rumson , NJ Missing the boat 1am wr iti ng in regards to a si tuation whi ch has been bu gg ing me a n d perhaps o ther rea ders . 1 a m referring to th e fact th at a lt hough th e in door short tra ck ra ces a t th e T imon ium Fa irground s In Ma r ylan d rece ive exce lle nt covera ge, 1 never see th ese races listed in the Calendar section. The sto ries mak e me drool, and I'd love to go see the acti on in person, but a sched u le is lacking. As 1 understand it, Calendar listings are free, and it seems like th e promot ers a re missing th e boat by not tak ing th e time to mail you a schedu le of events. If there is a way to remedy th is situation, you ca n bet 1 (and probably others ) would mak e th e ride to Mary land to catch the action. Joe Wilson Crewe, VA Calendar listings are [ree and we even provide a Calendar listing form (see Calendar section ). Pro m o ter s can photocopy th e blank if submittin g more tha n one date , .. Edito r. Living in the past The co m me nts bet ween letter writer Gary Lozan o an d th e ed ito r co m parin g J ay Sp ringstee n a nd SCOll Parker's records wi th King Kenny Roberts ' record are a lilli e ridicul ous, Neither Springsteen nor Pa rk er ever wo n a National Ch am p ionship race that lasted 30 m inutes. If 1 a m wrong, advise me as to w he re and whe n it was staged. Springsteen has 633 miles of racing National events, Parker has a total of 390 m iles. King Kenny raced at much h igher spee ds in the fast la ne wi th th e world 's best. His engines ra n top speed for o ne a nd one-half to two h ours and he co vered 2435 mi les in a ll types of ra cin g. Compa r i ng hi s achievements to these two riders ta kes me back to th e leuer from Cecil Golden in issu e #44. Well , 1 was not born yesterday , bu t by following Na tional raci ng for over 50 years, 1 do know that Parker wou ld nOI mak e a good patch o n Resweber's pants. Parker n ever won o ne Nationa l th at la sted more than 20 minutes, It does not require much stam ina or stress to run a 20-minule race, nor does it require a h ighly-tuned engi ne. So , don't try to co m pare a ny of ou r 20m inute racers th at are o n ly din tra ckers to ou r top racers o f yesteryear, like Kretz, Campanale, Rayborn , Reima n , etc. They u sed to ru n the La nghorne 100-mi le race, a verage over 90 mph and nev er make a pit stop on Ha rleys, not Bill Werner -tuned. This year th ey gave Werner a factory award for hi s tec h ni cal managem ent in tu ni n g facto ry racers . H e is a spin -off o f the Dick O'Brien er a. T hey have not had an engin e o r a rid er tha t would be co m pe ti tive In all typ es o f worl d competition s ince th e mid-sixties. Werner 's 20-minute engines and riders would never survive the 1940 to '70s era. You a ll should know that. John Hilliard Salem,OH Usi ng yo ur logic, can we no w say tha t Carroll R esuieber would not make a good pat ch on Joe Petrali's pants or the pants ofJim Davi s, R ed Wo lverto n , etc. because R esuieber never rode 300mile or 200-mile dirt track races and five of his 19 National w ins came in 1O-lap races on half-mile tracks. By the way , we have no idea how you came u p wi th the total miles you credi t each rider with. For exam p le, you credit Springs teen with 633 miles, H e has more than thai al [ust one track, hav in g turned in 701 m iles in five starls in the Daytona 200, , , , Edit or. Letters to the editor should be sent to : Voices, Cycle News, P, O, Bo x 498, Long Beach, CA 90801 -0498. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the posi tion of Cycle News, Inc. L etters sh o u ld not exceed 200 words and all letters a re subject to editing.

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