Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v 0ICES INSIDE Letters to the editor Al Baker update FEATURES RIDING IMPRESSION T aking a ride on the Honda NR750 SUPERCROSS Bradshaw blasts off in Hou ston Astrodome 6 McMillen, Ferry score in the Citrus Bowl 10 MOTOCROSS McGrath, Metzger shine at Sunrise GSN 12 Schmit sails to Carlsbad wins 16 Vohland top dog at Prairi e City 18 20 ARENACROSS Palmer scores twice in Lazy E Arena 24 DEPARTMENTS LOCAL RACING CALENDAR WANT ADS RESULTS 26 29 32 46, 47 ON THE FRONT PAGE: Yamaha:s Damon Brads.haw romped to a 14-second victory in the Coo rs Ligh t Challenge In the Houston As trodome. See page 6 for the complete story. Photo b y Kinney Jones. America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXIX As we begin a new year and 1991 fades to history, my wife and I wou ld like to thank all of you for yo ur prayers for our son Al and the su pport you are cont in uing to give hi s bu siness XR's .only. It. is helpin g to pay for hi~ o ngoing medical care and costs, which have been asto norni cal .: His medical . insurance quit payin g for hi s care some time ago, and without your ongoing support of his compa ny, we would not have been abl e to provide the financial sup port whi ch is so vi tal to hi s cont inuing survival.. AI's conditio n remains much the same a~ it ha~ been over the past two years, si nce hi s plane crash in Arizona o n Augu st 15, 1989. H e is semicomatose in a vegetative state with modera te brain dam age. His pulse is ~trong and his breathing good, and he IS not on any life-support ma ch ines. We can o nly hope for a miracl e in 'fu ture days, as there is nothing tha t medica lly spea king, can be done. We co n ti n ue to h ope, a n d it is o n l y th ro ugh all of your prayers, wishes and goodw.ill ~h~t we find th e streng th to f~ce this difficult task and these pain ful um es on a da il y basis. T ha nk you for c~u i n g: and thank you for no t forge tung him. Thank you, enth usi asts, and tha nk you, industry I . Cards an d letters ma y help to revive AI's memory and mob ility (tho ug h it 's hard to say to wh at degr ee). If you wish to stop by or write, Al is at the Riv erside Drive Convalescen t H ospital 12750 Ri verside Dr., Room 25, Nor;h Hollywood, CA 91607. better . No way, j osel Let's go one giant step further and ask who is the best motorcycle racer ever? Now, I probab ly have your curiosity stirred up. . No one motorcycle racer is the best ever, in my opinion. How can you even com pare the eq ui pmen t or th e riding ta lent o f cha m pion s lik e Carroll Resweber to Bubba Shobert? I canno t imagine any present day rider o n a rigid-framed motorcycle with swayb ~ck handl ebars slidin g sideways WIthout brakes and setting tra ck records on a dusty, pot-holed race track I ~k~ th? se common in years past, or nding m a 2oo-mile road race, let alone a 20-mile di rt track event. If th ere is on e thing I have learned in my sho rt 36 years, it is that you can usu ally learn more by listeni ng than by flapping your gums abo u t how good you think you are . Wh at I want to do is really com p li ment all the past racers for being the best motor cycle racer ever. I no t o nly mean the past G rand Na tio na l Cha m pio ns, but great racers wh o ha ve won a race wh ether it was a fla t track race, motocross roa d race, hill climb, end uro, ha re scra~ble, etc. I know of a few very talented motorcycle racers wh o co u ld hav e becom e Grand National Ch am pion if only th ey had n 't broken their leg so ba~ly , blown up their motorcycle, go t ~ divor ce, got involved with drugs, died in an acciden t on or off the race track or just ran out of money. ' R iders today are not any better than ri~ers. in t~e pa st, in my opi nion . Any wm m ng rider, past or present, is the best motor cycle racer ever. Al &: Betty Baker Hesperia, CA Gary Scott Clinton, TN Michael Klinger , Pu blish er Caroline Gendry, Executive Secretary to th e Publisher Editori al J ack Man gu s, Associate Publisher /E ditor Kit Pal mer, Associa te Ed itor Paul Carrut hers, Associate Editor Na te Rau ba , Associate Edi tor Ken Faug ht , Assistant Editor Don n Maeda , Assistan t Editor Edw ina Mangu s, Calen dar Edito r . Graphics and Production Ree Jo hnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Loo , Produ ction Manager Den nis G reene, L ab. T ech. Stacey Gu est, Graphic Artist Amy H arris, Graphic Artist Carolyn Bran ham, T ypesetter Circulation R heba Sm ith, Manager Sarah T aylor , Bill ing Coordinator Alma Anguiano, Processing Coor dinator Debbie Well er. Dealer Coordin ato r Wan t Ads ' Li nd a Von de Veld, Wan t A d Sales National Headquarters 220I Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA 90806, P.O. Box498, Long Beach, CA 90801-0498 (310) 427-7433; (310) 636-8844. FAX (310) 427-6685 Advertising T err y Pratt . Nation al Accounts Manager Mar k Thome, Western Sales Manager Ron David son , Western Sales Manag er Tho mas R. Ganter, Western Sal es Manager' Mark Mitchell , Eastern Accounts Manager G reg Mitchell , Eastern Sales Manager Rick Ma theny, Eastern Sales Mana ger J oan . Bell , Western Ad Coo rdinator Carla Borden Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Dealer Sales Steve Gotoski, Dea"ler R epresentative Marketing &: Promotion Mar k Thom e, Man ager Accounting/Data Processing Donn a Bryan -Diamon d, A / R Coordinator Geneva Rep ass, Assis tant Herla ne Lewis , Credit Service and Support Chri s Ai tch eson, H eadquarters R ecep tionist Leo nard Herrin g, Service and Support Eastern Offi ce 4190 Fir st Ave., T ucker, GA. 30084: mai ling add ress P.O. Box 805, Tu cker, GA30085-08 05. (404) 934-7850. FAX (404) 934-3112 Cycle News (USPS 141 -340) is published weekly except the last two weeks of the calendar year for $50.00 per y.ear by Cycle News, Inc., 2201 Cherry Avenu e, Long Beach, CA 90806. Second class p"s?ge paid a t Long Beach, CA and at additional mailing office. Canada Post Intern ational Publi cation s Mail #546615. POSTMASTER: Send addresschanges to CycleNews, P.O. Box498, Long Beach, CA90801-0498. ~o d~tennine the expiration date of your subscription. check the four numbers on th e first hne of your add ress label. The first two digits indicate the last issue number you'll receive and the last two ch arac ters indicate the year of the la st issue. Sub scrip tio n rat es: Rat~s for th e Unit~ States and its possessi o ns for one year, (50 issues), $50.00; two years (100 lSS~es) , $95.00; SIX m.onths, (25 issues), $26.00; trial sub (15 issues), $.19.00. Canadaand Foreign, o ne year (50 issu es), $90.00; two years (100 issues), $ 175.00; SIXmonths (25 ISSUes), $45.00; tri al sub (15 issues), $38.00. Cycle Ne ws we~co~es uns~liciLed ed ito ria l ma terial incl udi ng stori es, car too ns, p hotos, etc. Su ch ma teria l, If pub hs hed,. becom es the exclus ive p ro pert y of Cycle News . Such accep ted. ~a tenal 1s . subJ e~t to. revi sron as 1.S necessary in th e sole d iscreti on of Cycle News. Unsolicit ed material which I.S !lo t used ,",:111 b~ retu rned if accompa nied by a self addresse d stam ped enve lo pe. All un soli cited n:~tenal WIll be handled wit h reaso nable care, however. Cycl<: ~ews . assumes no responsi bili ty for .th~ safety, loss or dam age to suc h ma terial. ~epflnt~ng .m whol~ or part o nly by pe rrmss io n of th e publisher . Advert ising rates and circu lation in formation will be sen t upon req uest. See S.R.D.S. ViI/BnA. 'if r, AUDITED CIRCULATION Copyrighl e Cycle News, Inc. 1992. Trademark Cycle News registeed U.S.Pattol Office. Allrights reserved, Scott was th e 1975 Grand National Champion . . . Ed itor . Wrong! You guys are full of it. The last MX Grand Prix ri der to win on a fou rstroke was th e legendary Bengt Aberg on the H allman 500 Yamaha at th e Luxemburg Grand Prix in 1977, no t Kurt Nicoll o n a BSA in 1969. This li ttle ma tter of historical inaccuracy is why Cycle N ews would be wise to publish a real moto historian lik e yours truly. . Kenneth Dunn Spring Valley, CA Every " real m ota historian" knows that Dave N icoll (not his son Ku rt) ~ost certain ly was the last four- strok e rider t o Win a m oto cross Grand Prix . BSA- m ounted N icoll won th e Luxem burg 500cc MX GP at the Mont du Coq track in Ettelbruck on August 10, 1969. A berg, riding th e HallmanEne quist Yamaha 500cc fou r-stroke / w on the first m ota at the 1977 Lux: em burg GP, but fin ish ed th ird overall on time, behind He ikki M ikkola and R oger DeCoster. As for Kurt N icoll he. campaigned a tw o-stroke KTM i~ the. Wo rld Champion sh ip 500cc M X Series last year, and was n in th in th e [inal point stan din gs. We'll present a feat ure, " T he 40 years of 500cc GP MX , " in an upcom ing issue . . . Editor. Who's the best? .In. respo":s~ to ~he letter from John Hilliard (L~vmg In the past) in your J anuary 15 Issue, th e foll owing is what I wrot~ in 1988 for the KK quarterly magazme and I still belie ve that i t app lies toda y; Wh o is the fastest motor cycle racer ever? Well , that is simple, isn't it? Just ask who holds the track record. Chris Carr and Bubba Shobert have stated that riders racing today are just getting Hit the greedhead For .m o n th s, m otorcycle ra cing en th usiasts have been reading, with great anticipation, about th e political drama being pl ayed out between the FIM , IRTA, Dorna and Bernie Ecclestone. Bernie seemed to be the good guy in sup porti ng the riders' co ncerns by wrestling the power from the old far ts in th e FIM. There was even a rumor that two Ameri can GP dates would be scheduled. Wh at manner of lunacy o r strange drug tra nsfor med our hero into the p ower -m ad megal omania c who !nsulted I..:ee Moselle and every GP fan m the United States? Upping the price to $1.5 million and changing the dates . with little to no warning was a real punk stu n t. All Am eri can enthu sias ts should join me in boycotting any and all products that result from the 1992 GP season. Hit th e gr eedhead wh ere he'll feel it. . And wh ere was Kenny Roberts and Co m pa ny wh en Bernie was buggering us all? The on ly statemen ts from them I hav e read hav e been a non-sta tement " Gos h, ain 't it a sh ame " limp-wri sted kind of cra p . Well, my friends and I, who hav e been atten ding th e GP at Laguna Seca the past three years, hav e just become AMA Superbike fans. Michael A. McNamara Culver City, CA Letters 10 the editor should be sent to: Voices, Cycle News, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801·0498. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Letters should not exceed 200 words and all letters are subject to editing.

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