Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Shoei also. an nounced the signing of Camel Pro Series competi tor Larry Pegram. The Eake n-Sponseller Racing Team rid er bounced back fro m a broken femur suffered in 1990 to finish second to perenn ia l cha mp Chris Carr . in the '91 AMA 600cc Nationa l Championshi p Dirt Track Series and fifth in the Ca me l Pro Series. He scored h is first Cam el Pro victory at th e Hagerstown Half Mile and fin ished second at the O klah oma City Half Mile. Forme r Triumph factory race team mechanic Pat Owens, who is now .3 memb er of the Los Angeles Com m unity Colleges board of trustees, invites everyo ne to attend the Edu catio n Awaren ess Ban quet at the Spo rts man 's Lodge in Studio City, Califor n ia , on February 22. Represen ta tives fro m Sacram en to wh o suppo rt th e p ropo sed 10% increase in fundin g for co mmu nity college edu ca tion via a state bond measur e wi ll be on hand. A don at ion of $25 covers a cocktail hour and dinner. Make checks payable to : Citizens for Community College Ed ucati on and mail to 6722 Na gle Ave., Van Nu ys, CA 91401. An y funds remain ing after the ban q uet will be used to help for m al umni associat ions. For more information, call Owens at 213/89 1-2044 (da ys) or 213/225-1687 (evenings and weekends). is 1987 Na tio na l Enduro Ch ampion K evin Hine s . Hi nes, who swi tched fro m KTM to Suzuki after the 1990 seaso n , doesn' t figu re into Suzuki's '92 plans. " We only had the bu dget for four riders and of, those fou r, two of th em had to ride four-strokes," sai d Su zuki's o ff-road mar keting supervisor Charl es Hal comb , j ust before h e switched to a district sales man aging position for the com pany. " Hawkins an d H atch were our first cho ices to ride the two-strok es, and that left Hines to ride a four -stro ke, and he wouldn 't have liked th at." It was also widely known amo ng insiders that Hines and H awkins, wh o 's begin ning his fift h season at Su zuk i, aren't exactly " best o f friend s," havin g been long tim e rivals before Hines joined the team last year. H ines finished second to KT M's J eff R u ssell in the 199 1 Nationa l Enduro Ch ampion sh ip Series. Shortly before th is issue went to pres s, we con tac ted Hines who said he had just inked a deal wit h H u s q v arna for the 1992 season. " I' Il be riding th e 350cc four-s tro ke mostly," said Hi nes. " I'm rea lly happy with the deal ; I th ink Husqvarna/Cagiva is a grow in g com pa ny again, while som e of th e others are sinking. I' ll be competing in the Champ io n ship AMA Nation al Enduro and Nationa l R el iab ility Series ." W ink Freitas, the 1991 AMA Jun ior National Dirt T rack Champion , ha s yet to secure a ride for the 1992 Camel Pro Series. Freitas, a former Expert, ran away wit h the J u nior Na tional titl e by winn ing eig ht of the 15 ro unds. "I 'm going to ride my own 600 at Daytona (the openi ng round of the Camel Pro Series)," said Freita s. " Hopefu lly, if I ca n turn in a good ride ther e, someone will offer me som ething for the rest of the year. " Janet T ho mpson Trade Show Management has announced it will produ ce a trade show during th e 52nd Annual Sturgis Rally in Sturgis, So uth Dakota , August 3-9. T he sh ow will take pl ace a t the Sturgis Comm un ity Center, which offers 8200 sq ua re feet of air-condit io ned spa ce inside and 38,500 square feet outside, just one block north of Main St. Man ufactur ers, who lesalers and retailers wishing to di sp lay their goods should con tac t Phil Kunde at 805/259-0587. Jeff M atiasevic h spent th ree days in a Seattle hosp ital followin g the February I Seat tle Supercross. " I th ink I got food poisoning," said Ma tiasevich at the San Diego Supercross. " After the race I got really sick. I tried to sleep but I was shaking so badly I had to call Jeff Ward to bring me som e blankets. He too k me o ut in th e hotel ha llway and I passed ou t. The paramed ics ca me and took me to th e hospital wh ere I had a 103-degree temperature and low blood pressure. " Mich igan 's Brian S w ink came to California bu t sat ou t the February 8 San Diego Supercro ss after he came down wi th strep th roat. "Swink is defendi ng his 125cc Eastern Regional Supercross titl e, so we need him to be healthy when that series resumes," said Suz uki MX T ea m Man a g er R a y Tetherton. Swi n k has been competi ng in the 250cc class at supercross events in the Western Region. Team Suzuki Off -R oad will consis t o f fou r ride rs for the 1992 National Championsh ip Enduro season, and o the r selected off-road events. Two of th e riders will compete on Suzuki's two-stroke RMX models, and the othe r two on the compa ny's four -stroke DR models. Three-time National Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins and ISDE go ld medal ist Steve Hatch will ride the two- strokes, and Czechoslova kian Jan Hrehor and a yet-to-benamed fourth rider will com pete on th e four-strokes. Rumor has it that th e fo urth rider will be former Na tio na l Hare Scr ambles Champi on Mark H yde. ' Motocrosser Ray Crumb was disqual ified from .San Diego 's 125cc Western Regiona l ma in event for unsportsma nlik e conduct. Crumb and Tommy Clowers co llided in a turn an d bo th riders went down. Clowers' arm was trapped between th e swi ngarm and rear tire of Cru mb's bik e, and as he struggled to free himself , Cru m b jumped up and down, waved his arms and shouted at him, then tried to resum e the race on Clowers' bike. T he incident was sho wn on Jack Murphy Stadium 's scoreboard video screen . " He sho wed no th ou gh t for his fellow rider, and we (the AMA) do not tolerate that kind of behavior," said AMA referee Ron Cra nda ll. It comes as a surp rise that two of Suzuki's " factory" off-road team riders wi ll be com peting on four-stroke DRs in 1992. Suzuki feels th at in the nea r futu re, all manufactu rers will be forced to produce q u ieter, more efficie nt a n d less " environmentdamagi ng " four -stro ke motor cycles for off-road use in the U.S. Accordin g to a Suzuki spokesman, " We need to get started on develop in g the DRs, so we' ll be read y for th e fut ur e." T he J an uary 19 San Diego A mate u r Supercross scheduled to take place the day after the Camel Supercross event was canceled du e to th e threa t of rai n. " It woul d be too expe nsive if it started raining and we had to stop the event," said ama teur day promoter Go at Breker. " Plus there was concern that if it ra ined and we ran it, th e bi kes wo u ld dig th rough the course and damage the stadiu m floo r." Missin g from T eam Suzuki O ff-Road Tickets for all even ts held at Daytona International Speedway DickBetten rt,1923-1992 cou F ollowi ng a len gthy battl e with leu kemia, longtime motorcycle dealer and ent hus iast Dick Bette ncourt, 68, pas sed away on Sunday morning, February 9. He died at hi s West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, hom e. He had been hospital ized since becoming ill d uri ng a tra il ride in Baja , Mexico, in early J anuary. but was released fro m the hospital just a few days before his dea th. Betten court ow ned Betten court's H onda-Suzuki in West Brid gewa ter. He rema ined active at the dealership, which obtai ned a Honda franch ise in th e earl y sixt ies, up until h is recent ill ness. H is son David will continue to ope ra te the dea lersh ip . " I've kn own Dick a long time. I sold him a steel shoe 40 years ago ," said Ken " Mr. Steel Shoe" Maely of Corona , California. " H e knew how to ha ve fu n. We once p ut up a sign at my ran ch that read , ' Bettencourt's West.' He left on man y a Baja trail ride from th e ranch and over the years we spent many a day riding mo torcycles and enjoying life together." Bettencourt, hi s wife Sandy, and a group of friends - Honda dealers Larry Liley of Pal mdale, California, and Bert Irwin of Ca nada, Irwin 's wife Marn ie, Mike Sullivan of Brockto n, Massac hus etts , and Art hu r Butlar of Boston - departed Maely's ranch and headed to Baja in eary J an uary. " He didn 't feel all tha t well and when the group arrived in Loreto, a day sho rt of La Paz, his wife Sandy had a med-evac pl an e bri ng him back to the States," Maely said. It was Bett encourt's 22nd and last Baja trip. Bettenco u rt is survived by h is wife, sons David and Mark, and daugh ter Caroline. Hi s first wi fe, Elaine, passed away several years ago as did son J oh n, wh o had . mad e a name for himself in racing circles. God speed, Dick. during Camel Motorcycle Week are available from the sp eedway 's ticket office, as are tickets for the week's Cam el Pro , 600 National Championship and Pro-A m sho rt track races at nearby Mun icipal Stadium. Call 904/ 253-7223 an d have your Visa or MasterCa rd read y. Bored? If so, you might consider tak ing part in th e La Carrera d e la paz - The Race of Peace. The April 29May 3 five-day, 1300 mi le rally will take participant s from Mexico Ci ty to San Sal vado r, the cap ita l city of EI Sal vad or , via Acapulco, Huatu lco and Guatemala City. The rally is ope n to cars, utility veh icles and street legal dua l sport motorcycles,' arid will be cond ucted ma inly on highway s with approxima tely 10% taking part on dirt roads. Speed tests will be conducted at the conclusion of ea ch day's leg . Int erested? Call 800/666-2302. Cycle Park is a one-day meet and it takes p lace on Sunday , February 16. Ga tes will be ope n a ll ni ght p rior to th e race. T he February 22 Atlanta S upercro s s will be th e last supercro ss ru n in Atla nta-Fu lton County Stadiu m. According to Su perSports Promot ions, a con tract has just been signed that will see the event ta king place in th e new Georgia Dome, sta rting in 1993. The new in doo r faci lity seats 70,O O-p lus. O STOLEN : A 1991 Kawasaki KX250 at the AMA Nat ion al Arenacross at th e Cow Pal ace i n Sa n Fran cisco o n Februar y 9. Th e bike , VIN IIJKAK XMHIOMAOI I003, had 11 17 on its number plates and is stock excep t for a Bill 's exhaust pi pe. There is a reward for in forma tio n leading to its recovery. If you have an y in formation , call David Booth at 510/786-1264. If you 're p lannin g on competing in either the March 15 Charlotte or Marc h 22 Indianapolis ro unds of the AMA Amateur S upercross Series, we rem ind you that class structu re is limited and your pre -entry must be po stmark ed 10days prior to each event . For mo re i n for mation , call WorldSpons at 813/822-8929. CO R RECTION: R ider #25 in the p ho to of 65cc 7-11 class act ion tha t ran as part of our coverage of the third round of th e Florid a Winter AMA MX Series in our January 29 issue is J essie Ballard, not Aaron Lindsey, who is #29 in the photo. Ball ar d went on to finish second in the class tha t day and in the fin al series point sta ndings, T he American Motorcycle Institute's 3rd A n n u a l Brut e Horsepower Shootout will take p lace March 3-6 during Camel Motorcycle W eek in Daytona Beach , Flor ida. On ce again, entrants will run thei r mo torcycles on th e AMI dynom om eter to determine whose machine has the most horsepower. Over 2000, plus trophies and co nti ngency awards, will be awarded in five H arl ey-Davidson , seven Impo rt and one British class. The event is held fro m 10:00 a.rn. to 3:30 p.rn, dai ly at the American Motorcycle In st itu te ca m p us , loca ted west o f Da ytona Int ern ationa l Speedway at 3042 Vol usia Avenue, and there is no entry fee. For more in formation call 800/8740645. HIRED: Erv Bra un , by T he. Challenger Raceway in Clarksburg, Pen nsy lva nia, to expand the fac ility 's motocross agenda. The Holiday Inn Utica, in Utica, New Yor k, has been designat ed as the official race headquarters for the J ul y 18-19 Unadilla U.S. 250cc MX Grand Pr ix. Special ra tes are avai lable. For more informa tio n ca ll 315/797213I. Ro und six of the CMC Valvoline Golden State Nationals a t H uro n DESTROYED: Brown Motor Works, a lon gt ime BMW dealership in Pomona, California, by fire. Motorcycles in the showroom were saved as were a cou ple of racks of leathers, however , near ly everything else was destroyed. The Brown family is operat ing out of two bu ildings adjacent to the destroyed building while awai ting a new larger facility to be com p leted. Friends and customers are req uested to contact the dea lersh ip to help the Browns rebuild the mai ling list tha t was lost in ,the fire; call 714/ 629-2132. CORRECTION: Jim Kon kel of Marquette, Michigan, discovered two more erro rs in the 1992 Motorcycle Buyer' s G uide. Get ou t your 1992 Buyer 's Guide (the J anuary 8 issue ) and mark down the Kawasak i KLR250 as an aircooled, fou r-stroke ins tead of a liquidcoo led ma ch i ne , a n d cha nge the ' displ acement on Suzuki's VX800 fro m 1360cc to 805cc. 3

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