Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

and advi ce, p up ils will take part in int erviews with their effor ts recorded . and played back. The $200 course will be held at th e Days Inn South at Daytona Beach Shores and will begin at 2:00 p.m. and conclude at 9 or 10:00 p.m. For more information con tact Carter at Daytona International Speedway at 904/254-6745. WERA Formula USA Champion Rich Oliver will ride a Red Line Oilbacked Yamaha TZ250 with a 350cc kit in the 1992 WERA Pro .Series. Oliver, who lost his Team Marlboro Roberts ride when Marlboro pulled its sponsorship, will also ride a 250 in WERA Formula II or the AMA 250cc Grand 'P rix Series. " I still don 't completely know- wh at I'm goi ng to do:' Ol iver said on Monday, February 3. " I've go t the 250 here now and the 350 kit is on its way from Europe, so I'll be putting .that together. I'll be doing F-USA with the number one plate and I've en tered Daytona, I have a hotel room and a plane ticket, bu t I'm not totally sure if I'm going yet." Robbie Petersen, th e second former memb er of Team Marlboro Rob erts, is ready to put some serious miles on a van , "racing everythin g I can." Petersen will ride a Del Amo -backed Yamaha TZ250 in bot h the WERA an d AMA series. "It's disappointing not to ride a 500, but as the seaso n gets closer I' m reall y startin g to get excited: ' Petersen said. The Zimbabwean tested the factory (Kawasaki 250cc road racer during the off-seaso n, but when they decided to spend the season testing in Japan he opted to stay stateside and race a Yamaha. "T hey (Kawasaki) don 't think they 're ready for a full series and they indicated they'd just test in Japan, but I really want to race. It's a good bike , though, and I think they'll be the guys to beat at Da ytona." Kawasaki will run the new motorcycle a t Daytona . in a Kork Ballingtonheaded team featu ring South African Trevor Crooke and Japan's Yoshi Takahashi. California Superbike School will back the 1992 Rookie/Expert Challenge to be held during all classes of the Willow Springs Motorcycle Club's Del Amo /Miller High Life Series at Willow Springs International Raceway. The class within a class will recognize the top three finishing first year Experts in th e Rookie/Expert points with the winner receiving a full, two-day California Superbike School session, plus a full set of riding gear . The rider who finishes in second place will receive the on e-day school and th e third place rider will get a chance to take the half-day Keith Code-taught school. The WSMC races are held on the third Sunday of each month at the raci n g facility in Rosamond , California. Dr. Bob Meister, the racing dentist, will team up with Scott Zampach on the Yamaha of Jacksonville (Florida) Yamaha FZRIOOO in the AMA/CCS Endurance Road Race Series. "I feel 'Scott 'and I have an excellent chance of winning the National Championship:' Meister said. , The opening round of the FRT Budweiser-sponsored Superstition Championship Desert Race Series, the King of the Desert Race, will take place on Saturday, Feburary 15, at Lake Superstition, California. The race is located 90 miles east of San Diego (I5 miles west of EI Centro) and pre-running the 30-mile course is enco urage d. Na tio na l Hare & Hound Cha mpion Da n n y H am el is the defend in g champ. For more information on the race or series, call 619/42 75759. On e of th e more popu lar swap meets in the greater Los Angeles ar ea, the a nn ual All British Swap Meet will take place on Sunday, March 15, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Southern California BSA Owners Club-hosted even t takes pl ace in the parking lot/ loading zo ne o f Nationa l Pa p ers a t 7870 Deerin g Avenue in Canoga Park . Only British and European motorcycles and parts are allowe d. For more in forma tion , call Barry Smi th at 805/273- 7005. T he la te Joe Petrali, th e multi-ti me di rt track and hillcl imb Nationa l Ch ampion wh o was arguably th e greates t mot orcycle racer of the '30s, will be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in ceremonies to be held thi s summer. Petrali , the top vot e-getter in th e motorcycle division, will join pr evious inductees Kenny Roberts and Joe Leonard. Promoter and Indy Car sponsor J.C. Agajanian was elected in the at -large category. Car racers who will be ind u cted in clude Ca rr o ll She lby, Bill Vuckovich Sr., Bobby Allison, Parn ell i Jones an d Ra lph DeP al ma. The Motorsports Hall of Fame an d Muse um is in the process of moving into a new ly constructed . 50,000 sq uare foot facility in Novi, Mich iga n. Riding for the Harley-Davidson factory team , Joe Petrali set several alltim e board track records, including the 100-mile record - 100.36 mph, the fastest IO-miles at 111.18 mph, and the 25-mile record at 106.08, all set in 1925. Petral i had his best season in 1935 when he won every National Cha mpionship dirt track race and was also th e National Hillclimb Cham p ion in two classes. He repeated as Nat iona l Champion in both form s of racing the following year. In 1937, Petral i reached 136.183 mph aboard a 1000cc Harl eyDavidson on the beach at Dayton a Beach , Florida. While shy of a world record, it was a new American record and a t the time th e highest speed re co rded b y an u n supercharged machine. Team Yamah a's Damon Bradshaw an d the Florida Motocross Club will co-hos t the in au gur al Mother's Day MX a t Motoflross of Mario n County in Reddick, Florida, on May 10. The event will benefit the Muscula r Dystrophy Association. In addition to th e MX, tha t will incl ude "a sizeable Pro purse:' a full sla te of activities are' planned and the da y will be called District 8 AMA Motorcycle Fun Day.· For more inf ormation , call Ken Rudd at 904/399-0213 or Ken Blackburn at 904/591- 2050. The Willow Springs Motorcycle Club has announced that Maxim a Racing Oil and W.A.. Thompson, the Antelope Valley area Coors distributor, will sponsor the Maxima-Coors Formula Two Grand Prix Series which is open to 250cc "GP" two-strokes and 600cc four-stroke production bikes. Maxima Racing Oil owner Dick Lechien will provide $9500 in contin gency and point fund awards, while Gary Simpson, general manager of W.A.. Thompson, the Coors beer distributor in the Antelope Valley area, has agreed to provide $2500 in point fund awards. The races will be run every thir d Sunday at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, California. Camel Pro Series Rookie of th e Year Ian Segedy has yet to secure a major sponsor for the '92 season, but is geari ng up for the March 7 seaso nope n in g Daytona Short T rack. " I' m really looking forward to Dayton a ," said Segedy, wh o finished fourth at last year's event. "Being named Rookie of the Year sure boos ted my confidence, and I'm gonna campaign the who le series, spo nsor or no spo nsor." As th in gs stand now , the Akron, Ohio, rid er will ca m p a ign his p er sonal Harley-Davidsons. Parties inte rested in sponsoring Segedy can reach hi m at 216/ 644-1828. A chain letter th at says bad luck will come to the person who fail s to pass on a copy to four people has been circu la ting thro ughou t the motorcycle and car racin g industry. One C ycl e News editor was co n tem p la ti n g whe ther or not to break the chain whe n he spotted a copy of th e chain letter from motocrosser Steve La mson, dated Jan uary 9. " I don't need any bad lu ck this year. I' m not going to take any cha nces (and am pass ing it on ):' was Lamson 's comment. Ni ne days la ter, Lamson broke hi s left femur while competing in the H ouston Supercross. After returnin g home to Poll ock Pines, Ca lifornia, on J anuary 29, Steve Lamson discovered th at he had also broken a rib in th e crash. "I was in traction for three days, so I didn ' t ever stand up. T hen, when I got home my side started to hurt. So I went to the doctor and they found ou t I'd bro ken a rib, too... I got all jacked up. " said Lamson. "The doctors said the th igh bon e wou ld heal in a bo ut three months, and from there I cou ld start to bui ld it up. I want to be 100 percen t when I come back, none of th is halfway stuff. Seeing Chicken (Jeff Mati asevich) come back so soo n has helped me to 'stay positive. I kno w I can do it." Missing from the February I Seattle Supercro ss was factory KTM rider Mike Fisher. Fisher" who ha s been nagged by a longtime sho u lder injury, was advised by his doctor to take the weekend off to let the inj ury heal. Fisher .is expe cted to return to action a t the Feb rua ry 8, San Di ego Supercross. Immediately after the checkered n ag was waved at the Seattle Supercross, the wife of fifth place fin ish er Guy Cooper had a brush with the law . "Jayna, who helps me in the pits, was go ing to greet me after th e race, but th e securi ty gu ar d/police stopped her when she hopped the railing into the pits," said Team Suzuki's Cooper. "She showed him her pass but he still wouldn't let her in , and he wouldn't let go of her arm, which he was forceably holding! He took her address and said they were going to throw her in jail. Even AMA officials cou ldn 't conv ince the security guy to let her go. It was a half an hour of him saying he was going to take her to jail. He eventually let her go , but it was totally uncalled for, very unprofessional. I kind of got involved and that probably didn 't help matters much. He must've had a bad day or somethin~. " What recession ? Spectator attendance at 1992 Camel Supercross Series events is way up. Four rounds of the series have been held thus far and all have attracted sign ifican tly more fans than last year 's sam e events. So far , 186,212 sp ecta to rs have attended Camel Supercross races this year, as compared to 160;589 after the same amount of events last year. That 's an increase of 25,623. H opefully the trend will continue at the Febr uary 8, San Diego Super cross. For your information , the number to beat in San Diego is 32,862. Now th at Team Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw h as won three Camel Supercro ss events in a row, many feel th at he ha s fin all y found th e consistency th at h ad been eludi ng hi m. Bradshaw thinks so, too. " T h ere's al ways goi ng to be that th ing in your mind, 'Sho u ld I take th is chance?' " said Bradshaw sho rtly after winning die Seattle Supercross, " La st week at Anaheim, I coul d've gassed it harder in the first turn and maybe have go tten the holeshot, Instead I wai ted and everything came out okay. That's th e kind of decision I' m talking about. The experience has come in now. " A special seven- day " Su p ersa ver " Advance Paddock Tag is bein g offered to th ose plann ing to a tten d Camel Motorcycle Week in Da ytona Beach, Flori da, March 2-8. The pass provides admission to the infield and unreserved grandstands, and walk-in admission to the paddock an d ,AMA garage areas from Monday, March 2, through Friday, March 6, and on Sunday, Mar ch 8, plus unreserved grandstand adm ission for the Saturday, March 7, Daytona Su percross by Honda. The ticket will be sold for $90. For more information contact Daytona In ternational Speedway at 904/2546782. Dunlop has re-inked a con tract to rema in the titl e sponsor for th e WERA Pro Series Superstock Series. The series is made up of the 600,750 and lloocc Su pe rs tock classes which fi eld production-based motorcycles. NAMED: Gr eg Blackwell as president and chief executive officer of Metzeler Motorcycle T ire Nor th America Corp. Bob G regg , fo rmerl y p res ide nt , remains as chairman of the board. NAMED: Cathy Hulett as Metzeler's road race contingency program admin istra tor, rep lacing Sue Fiscus wh o left Metzeler to take a po sition out of th e motorcycle industry. BORN: Jason Le~n Langford Jr., son of National Arenacross Ch a mpion J ason Langford and wife Rik in a, in Dall as, T exas , January 27. FORMED: Ame rican Mini Road Racing Association (AMRRA) by Rick Degan, who was formerly with Nati onal Motorsports Association and Cycle Town/CT Racing. AMRRA will promote . Yamaha YSR50 races with a meet featuring international riders scheduled for Batavia, New York, in July. AMRRA is located at 4120 Birch, Sui te 121 , Newport Beach, CA 92660. CORRECTION: In issue #3, we reported that the August 5 Sturgis National Short T rack was ch anged to a 600cc National, when in fact it was the Rapid City Half Mile, a Camel Pro Series event in 1991 , that has been changed to a 600cc Half Mile National. That event will take place on August 5 in Rapid City, South Dakota, and is not to be confused with the August 7 Sturgis 600cc Short Track National wh ich is promoted by the Jackpine Gyps ies M.C. and will once again take place during the Black Hills Motorcycle Classic (Sturgis Week) in Sturgis, South Dakota. 3

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