Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Larry Roeseler ( Kaw) wa s th e overa ll winner a t the second ro u nd of the AMA Nati onal Championsh ip Hare & Ho und Series in Ridgecrest, Ca lifo rnia , February 9. Ted Hunnicutt (Kaw) was th e runner-up, whi le Paul Krause (Kaw), Dave Ondas ( Kaw ) a nd Don Griewe (AT K) ro unded o ut the to p five. Defen ding Nationa l Hare & H ound Ch am p io n and openi ng ro und . winner Danny Hamel (Kaw) did not fin ish. Denn is Hawthorne (Kaw) swep t th e 250cc Pro class ma in events at round 4 of the AMA Nat ional Championship Arenacross Series held February 7-8 at th e Cow Pal ace in San Fra nci sco, Califo rnia. Cli ff P almer (Suz) was th e runner-u p in both 250cc mains but to p ped H aw th orne in Friday 's 125cc Pro main. Rodne y S m ith (Suz) was th e I25cc Pro class winner o n Saturday. The February 9 final round of th e GFI Californ ia W inter M X S e r ie s N orth in Sacramento, Ca lifornia, was cance led because of rain and will be mad e up on Febru ary 15 at southern Ca liforn ia 's Perri s Raceway. The GFI Winter Series No rth -Sout h Sho wdo wn will tak e p lace a t Perri s the foll ow in g day. Sugge s t ed retail p rices o n so me 1992 mod el Hond a motorcycles ha ve been increased effective February I. " Changes in th e yen/ dollar relat ionshi p for ce us to make the change," said J o hn P e t a s , Am er ican H onda 's sen ior vice president, motorcycle sales. " T he good news is tha t the price increase on a weighted average basis is o nly 1.53 percent, while the dollar has falle n 4 percent aga ins t the yen." Five mo torcycle mod els will not be affected by increases. T hese are the VF R 750F, Ni g h th a wk 250 , Cub , CR500R and CR250R. Increases ran ge from a $20 increase o n the Z50R ($929 to $949) to a $200 in crease o n th e Go ld Win g SE ($14,199 to $14,399). ' 'I' m p umped abo u t the Daytona 200," sai d three-tim e Grand National Ch am pi o n J ay Springsteen in a phone conversa tio n fro m hi s Lapeer, Mich igan, hom e. " I've go t a rid e o n a Team Muzzy Kaw asak i for the 200 and I think I ca n fin ish right up there ." Springsteen was just as upbeat abo ut his ride in the BMW Legen ds o n Legen ds race wh ich takes pl ace o n Monday, March 2, of Ca mel Cycle Week at Daytona Int ernational Speedway. " It 's goin g to be great to be ou t there wit h Gary Nixon, B a rt M arkel, Dick Mann and the rest. It sho uld be a blast. " Sp rin gsteen went o n to say he's been do ing a lot of ice racing with Grand Natio nal Ch a mpion Scott P ark e r , D a n I n gram and - a nam e from the past - Corky Keen e r . " Keener has been helping me wrench on the bikes, but he' s gotten the ridi ng bug aga in. He'll probab ly bu y a bike and I'll lose a mechan ic." 2 T he Camel Pro Series rid ers vyin g for th e $20,000 in Dirt Track Achieve m e nt Awards bonus pool mon ey in the Daytona 200 include, in additio n to Sp ringsteen , S tev e Mor ehe ad , Rodne y Farris and Larry P egram. Dav e Durelle is also working ha rd o n having a bike for the March 8 running of the Dayton a 200 by Arai. Mor eh ead will aga in ride a Su zuki backed by Dutchm an Racing. J imm y Adam o will provide Pegram with a " ren t-a-Ducati," wh ile Rodney Farris will ride a Suzuki out of the Pen n Sta te Cycle deal ersh ip of former di rt tracker Jim Varnes. Last year Papa noted that if you picked a Harl ey-David so n 883 Sportster to wi n th e March 8 opening round of the Harl ey-Davidson T win Sports race at Dayton a, you cou ld n't go wrong. Your cha nces are just as good this year, but the odds o n picking the name of the win ni ng ride r may be longer. The entry sheet shows 45 riders , including series cha mp Scott Zampach, 1991 Dayton a race winner Nigel Gale and Yvon DuHamel, the father of 1991 Dayton a 200 winner Mig uel. And don 't forge t Nancy Delgad o , th e only female to hold an AMA profess io na l roa d race licen se. Ken ny Ro ber ts will be racing a t Daytona in th e March 8 Intern ati o nal Li ghtweight 100-kilom eter race. Better ma ke. that Kenny R obe rts Jr. " Li ttle Kenny" will be ridi ng for Wayne Rainey Racing, a team man aged by Bubba Shobert. Now, if Ra in ey and King Kenny sho w up to lend a hand , that would tally up five 500cc World Ch ampionship road racin g titles, four Daytona 200 victories, p lus five Grand Nat ional Championship di rt tr ack tit les. And th at doesn ' t co unt the mem ori es! Foll owing a lengthy ill ness, Kathe rin e Milne succumbed o n J an ua ry 31 in Pasadena , Califo rn ia. Accor din g to Bill Bagnall , she passed aw ay peacefull y in her sleep at hom e, j ust a day away from her 90th birthday. She is survived by her husb an d, form er Wor ld Speedway Cham p ion Jack Milne, daughter J anie and a gra ndd au ghter. God speed, Kather ine. The 2nd Annu al Black wat e r 2 00 Dual S port Ride will be held June 13-14, o ne week prior to the infa mo us Blackwat er 100. The two-da y event will o ffer different 100- m il e rides th rough the hills, valleys, backroa ds and trails of West Virginia via courses design ed b y Dav e Coombs a nd National Enduro Cha m p io n J eff Russell. T he ent ry fee of $50 in cludes g u ided rides, co u rse maps, secret rendezvo us lunches, participation pin and cont ingency prizes. Bikes must be street legal. For more informatio n, call 304/ 594-1157. B renda Moselle, wife of Lagu na Seca's Lee Moselle, passed away o n J an uary 14. AMA Distr ictS? will host the Right to Ride Run/Fundr a is e r in Barsto w, California, o n February 15-16. The weekend 's activi ties include a po ker run , auctio n, swa p meet and ente rtainment on Sa turday an d an o rrroad race and raffle on Su nday. a tu rday's a uc tio n is bein g ca lled The Distri ct Dozen. Twelve of the best area racers - includi ng Nat ional Hare & H ou nd Ch am p ion Dan ny H amel a nd N at io n a l Re lia bil i ty End uro Champi on Larry Roeseler - will be "auctio ned" to th e highest bidder and successfu l bidders wi ll receive two and o ne-ha lf hours of perso nalized trai ning. All proceeds go to the Distr ict 37 Legal Defense Fu nd. Fo r mor e informatio n, ca ll 310/ 438· 6527. Produ ction class D u c a t i riders competing at New Hampshire Int ernational Speed way in Lo ud o n , New Ham ps hire, and at the Bridgeh amp ton course o n Lon g Islan d are eligible for D u cati D e alers Grou p c o n t inge ncy a w a rd s . Th e prog ram rewards riders in th e LR RS and G P/ Pro Middleweight Prod uction T wins class. A first place fini sh in either th e Expert/Junior combi ned class o r the Amateur class earns a Ducati rider 150. Second place pays 75 and thi rd pla ce 50. To be eligible for th e awards , riders must file conti ngency forms with their local participa ting Ducati dealer. Most North east area Ducati dealers are pa rticipating. For more informat ion, call teve Keega n o r Dou g Booth at 508/922-3707. H onda and three-time Gr an d Na tio nal Champion Bubba Shobert have parted ways as far as his bei ng paid to appear a t ope n house affai rs at Honda dea lershi ps. A press release issued by Sho ber t says th e arrangement came to an end after "e xtens ive negotia tio ns" and that he " wo u ld like to extend h is gra titude and apprecia tio n to a ll H o nda fran ch ise dea lers wh o he was invo lved wi th at o pe n house p ublic rela tions visits in th e pa st year. " Sho bert wi ll now be avai lab le for o pen house appeara nces at all dealerships. Deal ers inte rested in having Shobert mak in g an appeara nce at their sho p can receive detailed information by faxing a request to Bubba Shobert Ra cing at 408/659-5568. The date for th e openi ng round of the A M A National Championship 500cc MX Series at Washougal, Washington , has been cha nged from fro m August 9 to August 2. For more information, call 206/695-9221. The BLM has issued a permit for the Barstow-to-Laughlin Dual Sport Ride to the event 's promoters, Tour N T ra ils and the AMA District 37 rid e will take p lace as scheduled on February 22. The event will serve as a fund raise r for District 37's legal defen se! offense effo rts to keep public lands open for mo torized recreation use. Entries are limited and ma y be obtained by calling 818/353 -5409. Based o n the success of the lour-stro ke exh ibi tio n race held at last year's U.S. 500cc MX G P at Gl en H elen O HV Park in San Bernardino, California, White Bro s. will host the FourStroke World Classic in conj unc tio n wi th this year's Ap ri l 4·5 G P. The AMA-sanctioned four-s tro ke race will feature two rno tos of top-name riders . Sponsorship opportun ities are open and mor e in formation can be obtained by ca lli ng 602/949-4137. Pro riders seeking entry informa tion for the Four-Stroke World Classic should call 714/ 554-9442. Wh ite Bros. is a lso see king two ' profes s ional m o tocrossers to ride speciall y-prepared H u sq varna 6 10 WXCs in the M.O .R .E. ' Fo ur-Stro ke Pro MX Series, at selected CMC and G FI event s, and ot her events. Interested riders sho uld contact Donnie Lu ce at 714/ 554-9442. The 17th Annual Three Flags Clas sic will take p lace Sep tember 47. The Southern Ca lifornia Motorcycling Association -promoted ride tak es participants from Whi stl er, British Columbia, Canada, to Tij ua na , Mexico. For more information, call Mike Strager at 805/274-4804 . Shoei has po sted over $229,999 in co nt ingency and cham pionsh ip bonus awards for th e '92 ra cing sea so n . According to the Japanese helmet manufacturer, over $99,000 has been posted for AM A, AMA/CCS and WE RA National road race events. ' Almost $30,000 has been posted for th e AMA Camel P ro and 600cc Nati onal Championsh ip Dirt Track Series, and over $102,000 is up for grabs in the AMA National Championship MX Seri es, Camel Supercross Seri es and MTEG U1tracross Seri es. Officials to consider reopening DeAnza R iverside Co unty Parks Department officia ls said th at they wi ll cons ider reopen ing so uthern Ca liforni a's DeAnza Cycle Park wh ile preparati ons are made to improve the facil ity, and possibl y keep ' the park open wh ile reno vat io ns are in progress. T he Park s Department closed DeAnza Cycle Park, a popul ar of f-road riding faci li ty whi ch is located j ust eas t of Mor en o Valley, o n J a nua ry 2, the date its co n tract wi th co ncess io na ire Do ug Hall exp ired, to mak e im pro veme nts. Approx imately 4 mi lli o n in im pro vemen ts are p lann ed , and mo ney fo r those impro vements was granted from th e sta te's " Green Sticker" fund several years ago. . However, work isn't sched u led to begin unt il Aug ust, and severa l DeAnza supporters me t wit h Riverside Co u nty officials and mem bers of th e off-highway divisio n of th e Ca lifornia Department of Parks and Recreation , incl uding Dep ut y Director Lee Ch aubet, in Riverside on Febr uary 8 to find o u t wh y the par k mu st be closed duri ng tha t time. During th e sometimes heated disc ussion, Riverside Cou nty Parks Director Paul Ro mero ad mi tted tha t his departme nt shou ld' ve give n mor e not ice of DeAnza's clos ure, ad ding , " I have no contract a nd no liabil ity pro tection, that 's why I decided to close the park ." Liabi lity is the primary issue surro undi ng the clos ure . R iverside Co unty is selfinsured and Romero doesn 't want to subject the county to potentia l lawsu its. Accordi ng to Cha uvet, there is a fund in g mechani sm for th e state of Ca liforn ia to provi de ins urance. " We co uld bu y S I mi ll io n of in su ran ce, that 's no problem," said Ch au vet, Hall has cont rac ted wi th the count y for the past 20 years and was responsib le for obta ini ng his o wn $500,000 liabil ity insura nce po licy. T wo mu lt i-mill io n do llar su its were recentl y filed agains t DeAnza. " We ca n' t a llord the liab il ity," said Riverside Co unty Supervisor Norto n Younglove, wh ose district includes DeAnza. " I wou ld like to see it (peA nza) reopen ed tom orro w. If it's no t there, we'll have people riding illega lly." DeAnza' s clo sure has already crea ted problems wit h illegal ridi ng in Younglo ve's district, and Hall po int ed o ut th a t peo p le were probabl y riding ill egall y at DeAnza wh ile the meetin g too k p lace. Romero ag reed to in vestigate the possi bi lity of reopen ing DeAnza , if o nly on a lim ited basis, unti l construction begins. T ha t investiga tion is expected to tak e two weeks, and Rom ero promised to release a report with the Parks Depart men t's in tents a nd goa ls. Yo un glove added that it would ta ke addit io na l time to renegotiate and draw up a new con tract with Ha ll. " T h is is o ur th ird try at getting the park expa nded," said Hall. " Is thi s just ano ther method of appeas ing the peop le?"

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