Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eIN THE WIND e ,.......; II! PaE_a _eal-L-ey W Defendi ng National Hare & Hound Champion Danny Hamel (Ka w) scored the overall victory at the Check Chase National Championship Hare & Hound at Lu cerne Valley, March 22. Hamel crossed th e fini sh line approximately 15 seconds ahead of runnerup Larry Roeseler (Kaw). Rou nding out the top five overall were Ted Hunnicutt (Kaw), Garth Sweetland (Kaw) a n d Dan Ashcraft (H o n). Scott Summers ( H o n) was th e overa ll winner at the Moons hine Na tional Ch am p ionship H are Scrambles in Ca diz, Ken tu cky, March 22. The defending Natio na l cha m p, Summers, finished ahead of fou r-tim e National Endu ro Ch a mp ion Terry Cunningham (Kaw), Duane Conner (Kaw), Jimmie Ericksson (Hbg) and Jan Hrehor (Suz), respectively. Flor idian Gene Naumec (Kaw) won the Ultracross race at the Seat tle ro un d of th e Mickey Thompson O ff-Road Gran Prix Series in the Kingdo me, March 21. Ca lifornia ns Lance Smail (Ya m ) and Ryan Carlisle (Kaw ) finis hed second an d third, respectively. T he Wor ld Champ io nshi p Road Race Series is set to begi n on March 29 with the season openi ng GP at the Suzuka Circuit in japan. T wo-time World Champio n Wayne Raine y will begin his 500cc titl e defense in less than perfect health. The 31-year-old Californ ian broke the femur bone in his right leg in September and another cras h in early March left him with a hand injury and a broken bone in his right foot . 'I'm pretty surprised how well I felt during testing," Ra iney said. " But that's testi ng. Racing's a differ ent dea l - you 've got to p u t 20 or 30 laps toge ther. I've still had problems. It takes me abou t three laps to get going an d get comfortable on the bike. Even the n I can 't bend my right kn ee to the maximum so my foot runs forward on the foo tpeg and drags o n the gro u nd . I've been wo rki ng real hard on streng th and there's progress, bu t I kn ow I won't be full y fit at Suzuka - I'm ai ming for 90 percent. I pl an to get throug h th e first coup le of races and then start cha rgi ng ." Beginnin g his . fifth season of G P racing, Rainey expe cts his toug hes t competitio n will come fr om Ro thm an s H onda 's Michael Doohan, L uc ky 'S tri ke Suzuki 's Kevin Schwantz, and h is Marlboro Rob erts teamm at e John Kocinski. Kocin ski may be the ma n to wa tch in 1992. T he soo n- to-be 24 year old came of age in Malaysia last Sep tem ber wh en he won his first 500cc Grand Prix after ea rn i n g th e fin al tw o po le posi tio ns of the seaso n at Le Mans in France and in Ma laysia. " We've got . as good a cha nce as anyo ne this year, " the 1990 250cc World Champion sai d. ' 'I'd like to start off the new season from where I left off last September, but that' s going to be difficul t as always." Kocin ski won h is first-ever . Grand Prix at Suzuka in 1989, and last year he ran with the lead ers in the 500cc race, event ua lly fini sh ing fourth; o n ly .05 of a second behind th e winner, Kevin Schwa n tz, During th e race, Kocin ski established a new lap record. " I seem to do reasonabl y well at Suzu ka," he said. " It 's just a case of keeping everyone fro m bumping into ' me. T hi s year I'm go n na take it o ne race at a time an d be as consis tent as possible. I did n' t fin ish all the races in '9 1 and this year I want to make sure I do finis h them all. " 2 T eam Marl boro Roberts has added former Formula On e car racing tech ni cian John Gentry to its sta ff. Gentry will be the tech nical cre w ch ief for j ohn Kocinski. Last year, Kocinski a nd hi s crew spent mu ch of the seaso n ada p ti ng to th e Yama ha YZR5QO. "This tim e we've go t a bike that 's real close to what I need. " Kocinski said. " We' ve done a lot of work in the run up to Suzuka while trying not to get too far off the pa th we were o n last year. The whole team works so ha rd and I'm relyi ng on Bud (Aksland T eam Roberts' engine tu ner) and th e japan ese technicians to give me th e mo st rideable engine specifi cation at each track." Wh ile the 1992 Yamaha YZR500 has changed very little over last year 's World Ch ampionship winning motorcycle, Roberts ' team will run speci al accelerometers onRainey and Kocinski 's bikes. These units, developed in the world of mis sile gui da nce, will crea te a picture of the bike's behavior every second it's on the race track. The o ther cha nges are on ly detail cha nges, acco rding to team development ch ief Warren Willing. " The engine position has a different range of adj ustment ," Will ing said. "This allow s us to adj us t the grip of the front and rear tires by moving the engi ne back or for war ds." The team will also use Ohl ins Comp uter Electro n ic Su spension full -time this year ' afte r p ioneering the use of semi-active rear suspen sion last season. In addition to the o ther cha nges, the Marlboro Roberts Yam aha will be fitted with Michelin tir es this seaso n after winni ng the titl e last year o n Dun lops. Ba rt el s' H a rl ey-D avidso n 's Nigel Gale , who had been disqualified from his second place finish in the March 8 Harley-Davidson Twin Spo rts race a t Daytona , h as been n am ed th e provisio na l winner aft er his disqua lifica tio n for eng ine mo difications was reversed by an appeal board. Ro y janson, the AMA's Director of Professiona l Competi tio n, said the AMA had "received informat ion from Harl eyDavidson wh ich ga ve us dimen sion s and we were able to substa n tia te tha t hi s cylinder head s fell within th ose limits." Sample cylinder head s from the Harley-Davidson factory sho wed th at cylinder head deck heights varied from .826 to .8382 of an inch (measured from a cont rol point), but that , based on further engi neering review, ma ximum tolera nces cou ld vary all the way to .822. Gale's deck height was measured at .823. . T he appea ls of race-winn er Scott Zampach (T ill ey's H -D) a nd third p lac e finisher Chuck Blackmon (Lo w Country H-D) have yet to be heard. "We're putting the logistics together," j anson said. "We'd like to hear 'rhe appeal in the rid er's home region if possible. It 's possible that we'll do them at Laguna (Seca). ' Of the remain in g machin es, Zampach 's 883 Sportster had a discrepancy in cylinder head deck height (.797) and Chuck Blackm on 's was found with " visible tool ing marks on the head surface" but with a lega l height of .826. T he racers had 14 da ys from the race date to submi t sta tements and witnesses and the appeal mu st be heard wi th in 45 days, tho ugh it can go longer wit h the approval of the riders. T he cha n ge m o ves R on al d McG ill to second and Randy T exter to third. Altho ug h we correc tly lis ted Shawn Higbee as fin ish in g th ird in o ur pro visio nal resu lts fro m the Harl eyDavidson Twi n Sports race at Dayton a on Marc h 7, we did n ' t do H igbee ---,-j ustice in the story, reporting the third pl ace fin isher as Eng land's Fra ncis Williamson. With Nigel Gale's recent disqualification reversal, H igbee, wh o is pl anning to co ntest the ent ire series o n his Ha rley-Da vidson of jamestown 883 and will also take part- in th e SuperTwins class aboard a Modified l20cc Harl ey, is currently listed as the fourth place fin isher. Road racer Phil Kress will team with Dale Quarterley on the New York Moto rcycle/ Roscetti-backed Bimota in the AMAlCCS EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge beginning wi th the Laguna Seca Internat ion al Spe edway ro und on Apri l 25. Kress will also cam paign a Rob Muzzy-pr epared 1992 Kawasaki ZXR750 at La gu na in the Na tio na l Superbike race. T h e Bob MacLean- o wn ed , Wo rld Championshi p Motor sports-b acked ROC- Yamaha 500 th at will be ridden in th e 1992 World Ch ampionsh ip Road Race Series by Peter Goddard will be spo nsored by Valvoli ne. The 27-year -old Australian will begin hi s firs t full seaso n of GP racin g on th e Team Valvoline entry at Suzuka o n March 29. . The National 4-H Council is offerin g five $2000 college scholarships and two $5000 internships. College j uniors and seniors are eligible for the college scholar ships. Co llege jun ior s and sen ior s as well as graduate students are eligible for the int ernships. Applicants must be pursui ng academic degrees which will prepare them for careers as land managers in the public arena. Appl icant s must also be expe rienced off-highway vehicle rid ers and act ive members of an offhi ghway vehicle club or o rga nizatio n . The scholarsh ips and intern sh ips are sponso red by American Honda. The deadline for submitting applicatio ns . is May 15. For application forms, write to: Nationa l4-H Council , Educa tio na l Ince n tives Un it, 7100 Co n necticu t Ave., Ch evy Ch ase, MD 20815. The Minneapolis Star T ribune reports that Gov. Arne Carlson of Minnesota says he will veto any legislat ion that would require adu lts to wear helmets. " I support the current Minnesota law that gives ad ult opera tors an d pass engers the right to decide wh eth er or not th ey choose to wear a he lmet," Carlson said. " I will veto any bill tha t attem p ts to take away th is freedom of choice. " Minnesota repea led its mandato ry helm et law in 1977and now on ly req u ires helmet use by ride rs under 18. Carlson 's commen ts were a react io n to th e " blackmail portion " of the recen tly passed federa l highway bill that woul d force Minnesota to divert up to $9 mill io n in h ighway const ruction funds to safety programs and make the sta te inel igible for ano ther $2 million in federal grants ' if it does not enact an across the board helmet law in 1993. • 1986 is now a member-owned associa tio n of more th an 1800 vintage racin g ent hu siasts. AH RMA Executive Director Jeff Smith noted that in accor dance with Ian nucci 's request, the position o f speci a l advi sor to the AH RMA board of trus tees has been abolished . Open motocross practice at San Bernardino, California 's Glen Helen OHV Park has resumed. The stadium trac k is open Monday eveni ngs from 4:30-10:30 p.m ., and riders can practice on the main trac k on T hurs days from 8:00 a.m. -4:30 p.m. For mor e informa tio n call 714/ 880-0016. The WERA Pro Series and Dynojet will host a hor sepower contes t for spectators at each ro und of the series this seaso n, beginning with the WERA Pro Series event at sou thern California's Will ow Springs Raceway, April 3-5. Th e Dynojet Horsepower Shootout will take place on Saturday and Sunday at each round, giving spec tator s a cha nce to hook their bik e up to th e Dynojet dyno to find out how much ho rsepower it actua lly produces. No disassembly or mod ificat ion of bikes is necessary. Dynojet will award valua ble prizes, including helmets , tir es and WER A Pro Series VIP tickets, and a certi fica te suitable for framing to th e " H o rsepo wer Kin g of the Week end ." Each participa nt wi ll receive a com pu ter pri ntout showing the horsepo wer his or her bi ke produ ces. For mo re information , see th e folks at the Dynojet booth at any WERA Pro Seri es ro und. . For th e third year in a row , riders in Maryland have succeeded in blocking a blatan tl y un fair proposal that would have required all road-riding motorcyclists to purc hase special catastrophic health care insurance. At a Febru ary 6 hearing cond ucted by the H ouse Econo mic Matters Committee, a coa litio n of motor cycli sts representing th e AMA, ABATE of Maryland, th e Motorcycle Rid ers Foundation and th e BMW Bik er s of Met ropolitan Wash ington testified th at th e public health care costs used by suppo rters of the bill were gross ly exaggerate d and that mo torcyclists were just as responsible as o ther memb ers of society. As a result of th at testim ony, th e cont roversia l . bill was stop ped in ' its track s o nce again . On March II , when the measure came to a vote before the committee, it received o nly four affirmative votes, compared to 18 agains t. Gary Cowan, the No rthern Ireland racer wh o was paral yzed in the 250cc International Li ghtweight roa d race at Dayton a in 1990, is now in a cli n ic in Moscow . Wh ile watch ing British TV, Cowan saw a news item o n the Russian clini c wh ich has had a degree of success with spina l inj ury victims. According to Australia n Motorcycle News, Cowan , wh o is in the middle of a three-month stay at th e Ru ssian clinic, has been able to sta nd upright by locking h is kn ees and ankles. That is cons idere d a maj o r advance for someo ne wh o is paralyzed from the ches t down, American Hi storic Racin g Mo torcycle Associa tio n (AH R MA) founder Rob Iannucci ' resigned hi s positi o n as special advisor to the vin tage racing o rga nizatio n on March 16. Iann ucci, Harley-Davidson seized more than a Brookl yn , New York, atto rn ey and 150 pounds of contraband merow ner of T eam Ob solete, said, "For kh and is e from II vend or s du ring some time I have been conte mp lating .:'Da yto na Cycl e Week in Dayton a a reductio n of my invol vement in the ~ Beach , Flor ida. Acting on a Federal in ternal affairs of AHRMA. After 15 - District Court or der, and working in years of invo lvement in the orga nizaconj unct ion with private investigators tional aspects of vintage raci ng, it ~ and the Dayton a Beach Police Departtime to cu t th e umbilical cord. I ,. ,8:) meru, th e compa ny located, identified, so wit h the confidence that AHR:" rA and seized a varie ty of merchandise is hea lthy and in capa ble han ds. '':'The found to be infring ing o n Harl eyorganizatio n Iannucci helped found in Davidson tradema rks and logos, as

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