(Left) Kenny Roberts. Jr. rode his
brand new Wayne Rainey Racing
Yamaha TZ250 at Laguna Seca.
The youn gster looked fast, but
crashed late in th e session on the
second da y.
Nobl es, last y;ar's AMA/CCS Top
Expert , earned himself a slo t o n the
team a nd will do th e ent ire 750cc
Su perspo rt Seri es on o ne of Muzzy's
Kawa sakis,
" TIl j ust wa it and see, but th ere may
be a cha nce that I'll get on a Superbike
before the seaso n 's over," Nobl es sa id.
The Georgian will not co mpe te in
th e H arl ey-D avidson Twin SP Ort
Ser ies thi s season and will instead
devo te all his efforts tow ards th e 750cc
Su perspo rt Seri es. " We made the deal
right at Christmas," Nobl es said. " I
haven 't had a Christmas this good in
a long, long tim e."
Gra y was a lso Muzz y Ka wasa ki
mounted. The northern Ca lifornian
purchased Scott R ussell 's 1991ZXR750
a nd will do the ent ire AMA Superb ike
Series after a brief retirem ent from th e
spo rt.
In ad di tio n to the lo ur-stro kes, th ree
250s a nd thei r respective riders took to
th e tr a ck througho ut t he session.
Defend in g AMA 250cc Grand Prix
Natio nal Champion Jimm y Fi li ce
spent the maj or ity of his tim e sorting
through teethin g pr ob lems o n the new
H onda RS250 he'll cam paign in '92;
Fi lice a nd h is mec ha nic Bru ce Maas
didn 't take delivery of th e RS250 unti l
o n ly days pri or to the lest.
J oining Fi lice o n 250s were WE RA
Formula USA Cha m p ion Rich Ol iver
a nd Wa yne Ra in ey Racin g' s Kenny
Robert s, J r.
Rob erts, Jr. ended up the fast est of
th e 250cc men , circula ting in th e low
I;33 range, but he al so joined G ra y a nd
Smith as the sessio n 's o nly cras hers.
Fortunatel y, the trio esca ped inj ury
and even the on look ing Kenny Sr.
survived the trauma of seeing hi s so n
cra sh.
In stark co nt ras t to last yea r's full
Marlboro-sponso red F- USA effo rt ,
Ol iver drove to Laguna Seca in hi s own
pick up tru ck wi th his bran d new
TZ2 50 in th e bed. Now a privateer, the
likeable Ca lifornian was also doubling
as th e team's mech anic whil e trying
to co me to grips with riding a 250
aga in.
e"
(Above) Tom Kipp had his first
ride on a Honda ROO. The new
Commonwealth Honda rider spent
the majority of his time testing the
team's Honda CBR600, but
ven tured on to th e ROO on th e
second day. Note H onda's new
bod ywork. (Left) J immy Fili ce
spent most of his time breaking-in
the new 1992 Honda RS250 on
which he wiII defend his 250cc
National Championship.
3
