Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTHEWIND e By Papa Wealey Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, . aboard th e Team Yamaha Motor France Mobi l I YZE850,won the Paristo-Cape Town Rall y. Farmer MX World Cham p ion Danny LaPorte of Redon do Beach , Cali forn ia, fin ished second, 24 minutes behind the 26-yearold Frenchman. La Porte was ridin g a Cagiva sponsored by Lu cky Strike. The 7800-mil e rally started in Ro uen , France, on December 22 and took participants th e length of th e African cont inent - through Lib ya, Niger, Chad, Central Afr ican Republic , Cameroon , Gabon , Congo, Angola and Namibia - to the finish in Cape Town, th e cap ital of South Africa, on J anuary 16. The event replaced the Paris-to-Dakar Rally, an event tha t Peterhansel won in 1991. AMA National Hare & Hound Champion Danny Hamel (Kaw) won the Best in the Desert- p romoted Gold Strike World Championship Hare & Hound in Jean, Nevada, January 19. Garth Sweetland (Kaw) finished second and Over 30 class rider Darin Cartwright (Yam) was third. AMA Amat eur MX National Champion Timmy Ferry (Kaw) swep t th e 125and 250cc Pro classes at ro und four of the Florida Win ter AMA MX Series at Dade City Raceway, January 19. Canadian Ross Pederson (Su z) top ped the Vet Pro class and was runner-up to Ferry in the 250cc Pro class. Kyle Lewis (Yam ) won the Ultra cross fina l at th e opening round of the Mickey Thompson Off-R oad Championship GP Series a t southern California 's Ana heim Stadium, January 18. Mike Craig (Kaw) was second, and Gene Naumac (Kaw) third. T h e expected debu t of Rick Joh nson in an off-road tru ck failed to ma terialize. Johnson 's truck wasn 't fin ish ed in tim e for the race. T he day after he won the Ultracross fin al, Kyle Lewis swept th e 125 and 250cc .Pro classes durin g round four of the GFI California Winter MX Seri es Sou th held a t Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale. Willy Musgrave (AT K) topped the 500cc ' Pro class a n d Joe Waddington (Yam ) was th e Vet Pro class winner. After fini shing second behind 125cc Pro class winner Allan Dyck (Yam ) at th e third round of the GFI California Winter MX Series North a t Hollister Hills, January 19, D ean M atson (H on ) came back to win the 250cc Pro class. Eric Sand s trom won the 500cc Pro class and Jeff Watts (Hon) topped the Vet Pro division. Tallon Vohland (Suz) was the overall win ner in th e 125 and 250cc Pro classes at round four of the CMC Golden State Nation al s held Janu ary 18-19 a t Glen Helen OHV Park in San Bernardi no, California. Carlo Hulsen (Hon ) scored th e - 500cc Pro class win and B ria n Myerscough (AT K) was th e Vet Pro class winner . Dou g Chandler (Ya m ) wo n th e January 19San Jose Endurothon at th e Santa Clara County Fairgrou nds in northern California. Chris Carr (Suz) finish ed second. Both Chan dler and Carr lapped the field. R ob Damron (Yam) was third. The Ca lifornia Off-R oad Veh icle Association (CORVA) has pledged its support to ensure that southern California' s D e A n z a Cycle Park is reopened and will hold a meeting to discuss th e issues and concerns of park users at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, February I, at th e Honda Training Center in Colton, California. DeAnza Cycle Park, locat ed on the edge of Moreno Valley, was closed January 2 so th at the Riverside County Park s .Depar trnen t ca n b egi n making improvements to the facility. Off-road users are skep tical that the park will be reopened sin ce th e Parks Department doesn 't have a contract to begin constructio n and h ave schedu led a meeting with Riverside County and State Park official s for 10 a.m. on Saturday, February 8, in Rubidoux. Fo r m o re info rm ati on , co n ta ct CORVA at 714/ 841-3756. In conjunction with th e February I Seattle Kingdom e round of the Cam el Supercross Series, Team Yama ha 's Damon Bradshaw, Doug Dubach an d Jeff Emig will be on hand to sig n au tographs and meet fans at Federal Way Cycle Center in Federal Way, Wa shington , Fr ida y, J anu a ry 31. They'll be at the shop from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p .m. For more informa tion call 206/838-3290 or 1-800/422-2 381. The sam e night, Team Suzuki's Guy Coope r and Larry Ward will be sign ing autographs at Auror a Suzuki in Seattle. You can catch the pair from 6 p.m. to 7 p.rn, For more informati on , call 2061783-2323. You 'd better hurry if you want to be road racing a: 1992 Honda RS25 0R thi s coming season . Honda says they have "a coup le" of th e road racers available. They'r e ,$17,000 each and come with a comprehensive spares kit. Want one? Call Dirk Vandenberg at . 3101783-3747. KTM Ameri ca has anno u nced its '1992 Ten races on taD forWERA in '92 he 10-race WERA Pro Series will get underway on April 5 at Willow Springs . International Ra ceway in Ros~ond, ~Iifornia, and will c? mmence on November I with the Grand .National Final at Road Atlan ta m Braselton, Georgia. In between will come the Road Atlanta Nationals on May 16-17; the F-USA vs Canada Challenge at Shannonville Motors port Park in Ontario, Canada on May 30-31; the Pacific Nationals at Seattle Int ernatio na l Raceway in Kent, Washington on June 13-14; the Northwoods Nation als at Brainerd Intern ational Raceway on July 18-19; the Indy Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park on August 8-9; the Pocon o Cycle J am at Pocono Internation al Raceway on August 22-23; th e WERA 24-Ho urs West.at Willow Springs on September 12-1 3; a tenta tive race titled th e Sunshine State Nationals at Moroso Motorsports Park in West Palm Beach , Flor ida on September 18-19 and the series final e at Road Atlanta on October 28-November I. In addition , WERA has an nounced th at Air T ech Streamlini ng returns this year as title sponso r for the WERA Formula II class while Metzeler will also return as title sponsor for the 600cc Novice class - the Metzeler Future Stars - as well as the Grand Nation al Final. T 2 AMAroad race Nationals set for TV he AMA anno u nced its eight-race 1992 Nation al Road Race Championship Series schedule on January 20, and also confirmed that seven of the eight races will be televised nationally. T he television package will consist of five, 60-minute shows as part of Prime Network's Thursday night rnotorsports lineup. Camel Motorcycle Week and the Dayton a 200 will be televised by the Nashville Network (TNN). In addition, a na tion al broadcast of the third round of the series at Laguna Seca International Raceway will be announced in the near future. Foll owing the March 8 running of the Daytona 200, the series moves to Texas World Speedway on April 11-12 before heading to Laguna Seca on April 2526. T he fourth round of the series at Charlotte Motor Speedway will be held on May 2-3 and will be broadcast on TNN as will the fifth round at New Hampshire International Speedway on June 20-21. The final three rounds of the series will all be part of the TNN package; June 27-28 at Road America in Elkhart Lake; August 1-2 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Oh io; and the series fin ale on October 3-4 at Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas. All the Nationals will feature Superbike , 250cc Grand Prix, SuperTwins (a new class for '92), 600 and 750cc Supersport and the Harley-Davidson Twin Sport class. In addition, most of the Nationals will feature a three-hour AMAICCS U.S. Endurance Series race and some will have vintage races run by the American H istoric RacingMotorcycle Associat ion (AHRMA). T Nat ion al Off-Road Ra cing team. Na ti ona l Enduro Champion Jeff Russell will return to defend his title, joined by Kelby P e pper . Pepper will also cont est the National Champion shi p Reliability Enduro Series and other selected events. Former Na tional Hare Scra mb les Champion Scott Plessinger will be back for an other season, and he'll concen trate on th e Nat ional Championship Cross Cou n try Series and other selected Na tional and Region al Championship events. KTM , ho wever, hasn 't confi rme d its plan s for the Nati onal Champions h ip Hare & Hound Series, but look for Jimmy Lewis to head KTM 's effort. In an effort to enco urage more 500 Premier class motorcycles to take part in AHRMA vintage road race me ets, AHRMA h as crea ted a $10,000 poin t fund . T he class, open to 1968 and earlier 500cc OHV/ O HC and 750cc sidevalve GP-type machin es, incl udes some of the rares t and mo st desirabl e competition motorcycles Matchl ess G50, BSA Gold Star, BMW Renn sp orr, H arl ey-Davidson KR , Vincent Gr ey Flash , Norton Manx, and MV and Benell i multis. The fund will be sp lit even ly at seaso n 's end amo ng th e top 10 point,scorers in AHRMA's Historic Cup Series and Showcase Crown Series. Glendora, Cal ifornia' s Citrus College will offer amot orcycle r e p air cla s s ' during the spring semester. Beginning and advanced classes are available. Enr ollment is now open; call 818/9148511. For more information on the class, call 714/596-6409. The first-ever Ride for Kids b y Honda in southern California will take place on Sunday, February 16. The rid e wil l start at the Old Dana Point Cafe and proceed south to th e Del Mar Fairgrounds. Par t of a series of siin ila r events held across the country, the rid e will raise money to fight pediatric brain tumors , th e number one cause of death of children by disease. A min imum don ati on of $35 all ows participation in the rid e and addi tional don ation levels earn premiums like T -shirts and hats. A $300 don at ion earns en try in a drawing for a 1992 Honda Gold Wing. Rider magazin e will provide awards to top fund ra ising individuals and clubs. Riders an d passengers of all motorcycle brands are in vited to join the ride. The Dana Point Merchants and Professiona l Associa tion will host a free brea kfast. T eam Honda's Jean-Michel Bayle an d Jeff Stanton will be at Del Mar to sig n autographs and lunch will be supplied by Ralph's Grocery Company. Participating Honda dealers in California have soli citation kits and more information. Three on e-hour grand prix races will compose the 1 9 9 2 Glen H e len GP Winter Serie s , held at Gl en Helen . OHV Park in San Bernardino, CA. Race dates are February 2, February 9 and March I. For more in formation, call 714/ 261 -5329. T r a v e lCr aft, the motorcycle travel agency, has a cure for th e Grand Prix blues . While yo u' re justified in bemoaning the loss of the U.S. GP at Laguna Seca, you can bri ghten up your summer by attendi ng one of two roa d ra ce GPs tha t TravelCraft is conducting tour s to thi s su mmer. The Gr and Prix of Spai n at Jerez will be th e hi ghl ight of a May 4-11 tour, while a June 21-29 tour will take you to the Dutch TT at Assen. T ravelCraft's tours in clude airfare, car or bike rentals, h ot els and race tic kets. For more informa tion call their California office at 800/241 -1223. The ' FIM Management Council has decided to r etain the time d practice q ualifyin g s yst e m a t World Championship MX 'Se rie s events. The decision overturns a proposal made at the autumn FIM Congress meetings in New Zealand that called for qualifying races to be held the day before the GPs. Increased costs and tire supply problems for qualif ying races were cited for keep ing the qualifyin g practice system. Except for two riders named by the promoter,'a ll other riders must now qualify for a MX GP, unlike the past where the top eigh t riders in th e previous years ' point standings were automatically seeded. Two timed qualifying sessions, whi ch redu ce the field to 40 riders, and a timed practice session, wh ich determines a rider's pick on the starting ~te, will now be held the day prior to the GP. Previou sly, timed practi ce was held the morning of the GP . Helmet paint er Troy Lee designed a special helmet for multi-time National a n d Supercros s Champi on J e ff Ward, who plans to retir e at the end of the 1992 season. The Kawasaki factory rider 's newest helmet has every National number that he's ever ear ned painted on it. Under the visor are the .words, " Farewell Tour ." Dirt tracker Ronnie Jon e s and his expectant -wife, Trina , were on ha nd to spectate a t the January 18 Houston Supercross. "I came to root for my

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