Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·eIN THE WIND ~ B Papa Wealey y class in both the Championsh ip Cup Series race and the National Championship event. "I'm en tered in the wh ole en chilada," Ren frow said. " But I'm only going to race the 600. It 's my bike, but I've had lots of help from Two Brothers Racing. I decided to do this very late and they helped me o u t tremendously. I'm reasonably healthy - I just wanted to try it again. I didn't think Superbike was th e appropriate p lace because of the backing you need . It' s very much an experiment. " Stephane Peterhansel, one of the foremost off-road racers in the world, has expressed interest in racing at .Daytona and has received a release from the Fren ch federation to ent er both the March 6 600cc National Championship Sh ort Track and th e March 7 Camel Pro Series opener. The 26-year-old Fren chman won the 1991 Paris-Dakar Rally and the 1992 ParisCapetown Rall y. H e has also been th e top o vera ll fini sher in the ISDE three of th e pa st five years. T eam Yamaha 's D amo n Bradshaw is o n a roll. The teenager from North Caro lina head s into th e Daytona round of the Came l Supercross Ch ampio nship with five stra ig h t wins. Can he make it a record-setting six straigh t? Or will Jeff S t anton, the master -of Daytona for the past three years, ma ke it four in a ro w? The race will be held on Saturday, March 7. Among those ente red for th e AMA/ CCS road races that begin o n February 28 a t Dayton a are Dave Sadows ki, Tom Kip p , M ik e S mith, Randy Renfrow , J a m ie J ame s , Larry Schwarzbach, Jacques Guene tte a n d rei gning AMA Su pe r b i ke Nation al Ch ampion Thomas St e vens. The sprint even ts have dra wn 1031 entries whil e th e th ree-hour endurance race will ho st a field of 80 team s. T he opening ro und of the AMAlCCS EBC Brakes Enduran ce Challenge set for Sunday, March I at Dayto na Int ernational Speedway has a n umber of inte resting teams entered. Among those with testing rather than winning on their mi nds are : Freddie Spencer Racing, Kawasaki Racing Team #1 and Kawasaki/Muzzy #2. The most interesting entry is Yamaha France. Defen din g Daytona 250cc Internationa l L ig h tweig h t lOOk winner Harald Eckl and last year's runner up Eskil Suter are missing from th e Daytona entry sheet. The two , who both ride for the Italian Aprilia factory, did not receive their new bikes in time and have pa ssed up Daytona for test sessions in Spain. The " First Racer T o Arriv e At Dayton a " award goes to Brent Van de Stadt. The South African racer arrived at Daytona Internati onal Speedway on February 16 with his bik e, his girlfriend and plenty of ent husiasm. Van de Sta dt predicts he will finish in the top three in th e 250cc International Lightweight lOOk on March 8. 2 John Britten, the mind and moving force behind the Britten V-1000 SuperT wins machines, has a new bike for this year's race on March 6" Britten 's hom e may be half a world away in New Zealand, but hi s designs and technol ogy are cu tting edge. According to Bri tten , " the new creation is a tru ly u n iqu e , 170-pou'nd carb on fi be r wonder you'll have to see to beli eve" Being unique and fro m New Zealand ha s its price - namely alm ost $10,000 in round trip airfare alone. Britten is looking for sponsors to help defray th e expenses. He can be reached at 904/ 254-6729. Four-time World Champion Eddie Lawson, who announced last year that he would retire from motorcycle racing at the end of 1992, confir med his plans to hang up his leath ers a t the end of th is season. La wson, while testing his '92 Cagiva at th e Eastern Creek circuit in Australia, told Australian Motorcycle News, " I'm en th usiastic about this year, but I'm definitely retiring at th e end of the season. I've had eno ugh of airplanes, hotel s and journalists. There's no way I will be ba ck racing bikes." Laws on said th at he wants to go car racing. " Providi ng I get a decent drive, I want to go either open-wheel o r closed-wheel racing - o n asphal t. I' d like to give it a go." That mak es Papa wonder if Steady Eddi e rea lizes that ai rp lanes, hotels an d journalists are just as mu ch a part of th e car raci ng scene as they are in motorcycle racing. The pur ses for 250 and 500cc MX GPs hav e been r educ e d from previo us levels. Wh en the FIM change d the GP format to th ree mo tos in stead of two, most rid ers expec ted in creased prize money to offset th e resu ltant increased mecha nica l costs. Bu t' acco rdin g to Cycle N ews European correspondent Alex H od gkin son, a draft copy of th e 1992 MX ru leboo k sho ws an overa ll red uction. The total prize fund for a 500cc GP is now 21,840 Swiss fra ncs (appro ximately $32,400 at the prese nt rat e of exchange), 300 fran cs less than last year. A mo to winner's share was lowered fr om 1340 to 89 0 fra nc s ($1320), and if a rider were to win all three motos, he wou ld receive 10 fran cs less than he wou ld have if he swep t bot h mo tos in last year's format . T he 17,280 fran c ($25,680) 250cc GP purse was reduced 320 francs, while the l25cc GP purse has been in creased 110 fra ncs to 13,110 (abo u t $19,402). The rule for calcu la ting th e over all results at motocross GPs has been cha nged. Overall GP results are determined by the riders ' scores in each of the GP motos, with the rider scor ing the most declared th e overa ll wi nner. Riders accu mulating th e sa me score will now be separated by the most wins , seco n d -p lace fini sh es, etc . Although there is no prize mon ey or bonus po ints award for the overa ll sta ndings, they are impor tant to man y rid ers as spo nsors use them to determine bonus paymen ts. T eam Bieffe Suzuki, the official factory effort in the 1992 250cc Wor ld Cha mpi onship MX Seri es, unveiled a lln e w "wo r ks" RM250s a t the February 16 Beau caire Intern ational MX in Fran ce. Design ated the RM250WS, the new machine is said to be th e fore runner to the '93 production RMs, which if produced would represent th e first comp letely-new 250 fro m Suzuki since 1989. Alt ho ugh the machi nes ridden by l25cc World Ch ampion Stefa n E v e rts and M ike Healey are sim i la r i n appeara n ce to the ' 92 production models, the factor y prototypes have ~ new comp u ter-designed fram e, which .appears similar to th at found o n th e '92 RM 125, a- d a n co m p le te ly n ew motor and tran smission. Kur t Nicoll 's 500cc factory KTM showed few chan ges fro m h is '9 1 machine at Bea uca ire, th ough th e convent io nal Marzocchi forks are now in mass production aft er last year's extensive testing. The KTM features a new cylinder which reta in s the twin spa rk p lug system introduced last year, and a new suspension linkag e system tha t was develo ped for the Ohlins rear shoc k. Defending 500cc MX World Ch am pion Ge orges Jobe is testing two H onda CR500s for his assault on th e World Championship 500cc MX Series, which begins April 5 in San Bernardin o, Ca lifornia. One is full y modi fied by Honda Racing Corporation , while the o ther features an H RC motor in a production fram e. " I must decide wh ich I prefer .and I will then return o ne and receive a second version of the bike I want to race th is year, " sai d J ob e, wh o injured hi s sho u lder at the Beaucaire race. California 's Cal P oly Pen q u i n s M.C. will hold a reunion a t the U.S. 500cc MX G P at Glen Helen OHV Park in San Bernardino, Ca lifornia, the first weekend in April. For more in fo rmatio n, ca ll Ken Du rr at 805/ 5490879. . Yam ah a ha s anno u nced a nation al demo nstra tor program to coi ncide wi th the lau nch of the new Seca II 600. Four, fu lly equipped tractor trailer un its will be mak in g scheduled visi ts at se lected Ya mah a dea lers throug hou t th e co u ntry to a ll ow ' prospective customers an opport unit y to rid e the new Seca. Each tr uck will contai n a dozen bikes, a fu ll comp lement of Yam ah a accessories, and all the tools necessary for each of· th e approxima tely 100 deal ersh ips to ru n the dem o ride program. For more informa tio n, check with yo ur local dea ler or call 714/761-7547. Enumclaw Suzu ki-Kawasaki -Yama ha of Enumclaw, Wash in l::ton, will host an off-road ridin g c linic on Friday, March 6, begin n ing at 5 p.m. T eam Kaw a sa ki's Larry Roe s eler a nd Team Suzu ki's Dav e B e rtram will be specia l gu ests. For mor e inf ormation , call 206/825-4502. South East Harley -Davidson of Cleveland, Ohio, has been named the " best lookin g motorcycle dea lership in America" by Dealern ews ma gazin e, th e motorcycle industry trade maga zine. T he deal ership was selected from close to 200 ent ries in the Dealernews Top 100 co nt es t. " So u th East Harl eyDavid son was chosen for th e ' award becau se of their creative and unique la yo u t, wh ich features an in-stor e din er, a Harl ey-Davidson motorcycle o nce owned by Elvis Presley, and man y o ther attractio ns, " said J ohn Mu rp hy, publisher of Dealernews. Parti cipa nt appli cat ions a re n ow being accep ted for th e Ju ly 4 Colorado 500/ P ik es P eak HilIclimb Scrambles. T he AMA-sancti oned event will, as i t was last year, be o rg a n ized by Wall y Dall enbach' s Colo rado 500, In c. The motor cycle races will be compa nion event s to th e Chevro let Pi kes Peak Auto Hill climb's 70th Race to the Clo ud s. A $15,000 purse is up for grabs in the motor cycle division. Entry is limited to 120 riders. All appl icatio ns will be cons idere d, but accept ance to pa rticipate will be cont ingent o n the required resume. For more infor ma tio n, call 303/ 927-40 10. According to Marc Ph ares of the Los Ancianos M.e., en tri es for the March 14 T e cate 250K Enduro in Baja Ca liforn ia , Mexico, are still available. However, the field is limited to 240 riders. For more in formation, call 619/ 281-1400,465-7569 or 460-1700. Th e Kawasaki Good Times Owners Club (KGT OC) will ho ld its " Only First Ever Good Times Own ers Club National Event" in conjunction with the Daytona Cycle Week festiviti es, Mar ch 1-8. An array of activities are planned for both members and non-members, including street rides , a dual spo rt ride, three days of field event com pe titio n, complementary breakfast, and a complementary welcome buffet for a Il KGT O C, Concours Owners Group and American Voyager Asociation members . Headquarters wi ll be the KGTOC Hospitality Tent in the Jai-Alai parking lo t off U.S. 92, directly across the street from Daytona Intern atio nal Speedway. California T rail Ride s will host a dual spo rt ride a nd GP weekend pac kage in co nj unction with the April 5 U.S. 500cc MX G P at G len Helen O H V Park in San . Bern ardino, California. T he $50 package includes a discounted two-da y GP ticket, Friday and Saturday n'ight campi ng (o nly dua l spo rt entra n ts/ fa m i lie s a re all ow ed to camp at the U.S. G P), a du al sport ride o n Sat urday, April 4, lunch and aft er-ride barbeque. Plus, you 'll be ab le to take a la p around the U.S. GP course. For more info rmatio n call 714/ 846-1241. Den n is Thompson, president of the Plonkers T rials Club , won 't for get this year's President 's Day weekend . H e su ffered a brok en wrist on Sa turda y, February 15, while prepa ri ng for the next day's President's Day Trial. New guidelines for the management of the north e rn s p otted owl in parts of the nort hwestern U.S. will have li ttle e ffe c t o n off-highway veh icle u s e , accordin g to the AMA. The gui delines , whic h came in the form of a Fin al En vironmental Impact Stat ement rel eased by the U .S. Fo rest Service, were developed as a means of p rotecting th e o w l, a threa ten ed sp ecies, in natio na l forests located in north ern Californ ia , Oregon and Washington . The report determined tha t the man aged use of motor vehicles, incl uding off-hig hway motorcycles, does not enda nger th e o wl's habitat. TravelCraft, th e Corte Madera , Ca lifornia -based travel agency, has posted $5000 with th e AMA for a contingency sponsorship program that will reward com petitors in the National Ch ampionship Super. bik e and 250cc GP Series. For displayin g a T ravelCraft decal o n th eir bik e, the winner of a Superbike race will receive $250, wi th second pl ace receiving 100, and th ird $50. The 250cc GP awards are $50 for first and second place fin ishes. " Road racing has been very good to us. And we have wanted to find a way to put some mon ey back into the sport, " said TravelCra ft owner Randy Warren. " Plus, as a contingency spo nsor, I now have a bogu s excuse for havin g to go to all th e races and my wife will never see through it." Jimmy' L e w is , a member of th e winn ing U.S. Jun ior World T eam at the 1991 Czechoslovakian ISDE, will be laid up for at least two weeks with a foot injury. Lewi s smas hed th e foot o n a rock during the February 9 Moose Run National Hare & H ound and broke a toe and a bone in the foot. The toe twice required surgery and - - - - - - Continued on page 58

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