Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v 0ICES INSIDE FEATURES SUPERCROSS INTERVIEW laRocco scores at Orl an do season ope ner 6 Dirt trackers Steve Morehead and T erry Poovey 24 MOTOCROSS DEPARTMENTS DeVane, H enry hau l at Diamondback 10 Snellingen, Vohland on top at Marysville 14 Radzin ski rail s to Perris win . : 16 PREVIEW A look at the upcoming 18 Supercross season NEW PRODUCTS W ORKBENCH LOCAL RACiNG CALENDAR W ANT ADS RESULTS ' 23 27 28 '.'..33 .37 50 M o r e co g s than o n e I read wit h interest the story abo ut National End uro rid er Steve Hatch in issu e #50. Steve is such an outstanding sportsman in additio n to being the best young ta lent in th e sport , and it 's good that you ga ve your read ers this op portu nity to get to kn ow him better. One im po rt ant not e, however: I think th e story ga ve the im pressio n tha t I was a one- m an band when it co mes to building Steve' s wi nning Suzukis, and that is far from the truth. Everyo ne a t Moos e Racing ha s a hand in bu ildin g the RMXs th at Steve raced so success fully thi s seaso n. In particul ar, thanks shou ld go to Neil H ores (sus pe nsio n technici an ), Jim Pa tterson (mac h in ist a nd chassis bu ilder ), and J oe She dron (engine builer ex tra ordina ire). I' m just a little cog in th is grea t bi g wheel; th e cred it belongs to the wh ol e Moos e team . Peter V. Denison President. Moose Racin g Sedalia, CO ONTHE FRONT PAGE: Team Kawasaki's newest member, M i ke LaRocco, scored the second Supercross win of his career in front of 37,918 spectators at the Orlando Citrus Bo w l. For race coverage see page 6. Photo by Kit Palmer. America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXIX Michael Klinger, Publish" Caroline Gendry. Executive Secretary to the Publisher Editorial Jack Mangus. Asso ciate Publisher ! Edi tor Kit Pal mer , Associate Edito r Paul Carruthers. Associate Editor Nate Rauba, Associate Editor Ken Faught, Assistant Editor Donn Maeda , Assistant Editor Edwina Mangus, Calendar Editor Graph ics and Production Ree J ohnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Loo, Prod uction Manag" Dennis Greene, Lab . T ech. Stacey Guest, Graphic A rtist Amy Harris. Grap hic A rtist Carolyn Branham, T yp esetter Circulation Rheba Smith, Manager Sarah Taylor, Billing Coordi nator Alma Angu iano,' Processin g Coo rdina tor Debbie Weller, Deal" Coo rdinator Want Ads Linda Von de Veld, Wa nt A d Sales Adver tising Terry Pratt . National A ccounts Manage-r Mark Thome, Western Sales Manager Ron Davidson. Western Sales Mana ger Thomas R. Genter, " 'est ern Sales Manager Mark Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Manager GregMitchell, Eastern Sales Manager Rick Matheny, Eastern Sales Man ager Joan Bell, Western Ad Coor dinator Carla Borden Allen. Eastern Ad Coordinator Dealer Sales Steve Oo toski, Dealer R epresent ative Marketing &: P romo tion Mark Thome, Manager Accoun tin g/ Da ta Processin g Donna Bryan-Diamond, A / R Coo rdin ator Geneva Rep ass, Assis tant Her lan e Lewis, Credit Serv ice an d Support Chris Aitch eson, H eadq uarters R eception ist Leonard Herring, Service an d Support National H eadquarters Eastern Office 2201 Cherry Ave.. Lo ng Reach . CA 90806. P.O . Box 498. Long Beach, CA 90801·0498 4190 Firs t Ave.• T ucker , GA . ~OO8 4 : ma iling add ress P.O . Bo x 805. Tucker, GA 30085·0805. (310) 427-7433; (310) 636·8844 . FAX (310) 427-6685 (404) 934-7850. W BPA 4 Letters to the editor FAX (404) 934-3112 YZR500 fan Your recent repo rt of the demise of Marl bo ro T eam Roberts as far as American racing goes is very disappointing. Last June, I had th e op portu nity to see their Yam a ha YZR500 GP bikes u p close during round fou r of th e WE RA Pro Series a t Sea ttle International Racewa y. Because of th e exci tement a nd quality of th e racing, I la ter rode to Brai nerd for round five. At both races I observed tremendous fan inte res t in Marlb o ro Tea m Roberts. At Brainerd, I recall seeing a specta to r' s im promptu sig n that read, "Long Li ve 2-Stroke GP ." T hese ma chi nes a n d this tea m prod uce d exci teme nt wherever th ey went. O n the o the r hand, I agree wi th WE RA spokes man Doug G onda 's assessment tha t new teams will be a ttracted to F· USA racing wi th th e d omin ating a nd ve ry ex pens ive YZR500 mach ines on the sidelines. Never th eless, it was the exposure to the 500s tha t com pell ed me to rid e 4762 miles to wat ch a race. T hese are very exci ting motorcycles. H opefu lly, Kenny Robert s ca n arrange conti nued sponsorshi p and a format th at w ill benefit a ll co ncerned. I apprecia te his effort s. Please keep us informed o f further developments . Jerry York Aberdeen, W A Thanks for nothing, Berni e H a ving been a road race fan for almos t 15 years, I was excited tha t Two Wh eel Promotions would be handl ing th e World Champion sh ip Road Race Series. After all th e bickering between th e FIM and th e G rand Prix teams and riders over th e past severa l years, it seemed that a Bernie Ecclest one-run pro mo tion al orga nizatio n wo uld do noth in g but add to th e spo rt . After all , Kenny Roberts su p ported him 110% a nd the teams and riders a lso seemed to su p po rt the idea. . So here we ar e, not two month s la ter , and th e Laguna Seca Grand Prix has been canceled. Priced out o f busin ess. Wh at a grea t stan Two Wheel Pro mo tion s is o ff 10; Depriving th e U.S. race fans of seeing Eddie Laws on in his last raci ng seaso n, and depriving us of seeing America n riders Kevin Schwantz, Wa yn e R a i n ey, Dou g Chand ler, J oh n Kocinsk i, Ra n d y Mamola and Jimmy Fi lice, as well as the top ri ders from the rest o f the world. Wh y ca n 't T wo Wh eel Promotions be more workab le wit h the race director s fro m La guna Seca a nd o ther tra cks during th is rran siu on perio d? Who ga ins from pricing La guna Seca out o f the G P business? The riders? The fans ? The sport? I don 't think so. Thanks for no th ing, Bernie! Shame on you, Kennyl You hav e really giv en Am erican race fans a lot to look forward to in the New Year. Paul Ge d. Santa Monica, CA Robber baron I have read (wi th di sgust ) th e reports of th e fiasco with the FIM, Dom a and th e modern ver sion of the ro b be r barons, Bern ie Ecclestone. Are we all powerl ess? Whe re is the backbone o f th e various national organizations? Is the Fren ch federa tion th e o nly one with enough co urage to say no to thi s blat ant greed? Now that Bernie co n tro ls the G P series, as you have noted , he is a lso th e promoter o f two of th e even ts. Does the term " co nflict of interest" ring a bell? For tho se of us wit h a "foot" in both motorcycle a nd a u to racin g, we ha ve a lrea dy seen th e results of allowing Bernie to contro l an organiza tion. Enough is enough., The U.S. has produced II of the last 14 World Champions in GP road rac ing, and the majority of a ll of the top th ree fin ishing po sitions in th e last 15 years. And we don ' t get a Worl d Champ ionship event? All beca use we wo n' t kow to w to the sur ly Mr. Ecclestone , a nd put an ex tra $1 m ill ion di rectl y into his pockets? B.S.! For th ose o f you who do n' t kn ow , Lagu na Seca events are a ll run for th e ben efit of children's chari ties. Lee Moselle and the people at SCRA MP , while enth usias ts, basically do it for free. I a p p la ud Mr. Mosell e's stand, a nd hi s loyalt y to the people he has dealt with in not go ing bac k o n longst andin g a rra ngements . We a ll need to mak e it known that we wi ll not sta nd for the sort of selfdealing crap that Mr. Ecclesto ne ha s pulled on the car racing world . I hope th at th ere is so me thi ng that ca n be done to get mot orcycle road raci ng ba ck in to th e hands of th e people who love th e sport , no t just the mone y. Richard T . Haight Burbank. CA Right o n ! At th e ope ning round of the CMC Golden Sta te Nati onals a t G len Helen on December 28, there were a co u p le of riders co mpe ting in th e 125cc and 250cc J u nior classes who were co mpletely out of cla ss. They were smoking any a nd all o f th e co mpe tition in their races. It was so irri tating. that wh en th ey lin ed up for th eir final rac-e th ere was a con fro ntation between th em and another rider. T he starter, Rex Sta ten , came over to see wha t the problem was a nd to ld th e two rid ers th at th ey would ha ve to go to th e sig n- u p trail er a nd straigh ten it O UI. T hey did. And th ey were disqual ified. Su per. Right o n , CMC I Greg Lamb Saddlebad. Suz uki Lag u na H ills, CA Letters to the editor should be sent to: Voices, Cycle News, P.O. Box 498. Long Beach , CA 90801-0498. P u blished letters do not necessarily reflect the posit io n of Cycle News , Inc. Letters shoul d no t exceed 200 words and a ll lett ers are su bject to editing.

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