Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eIN THE WIND By Pa~_a e W y-e _eal----'- ~ c-r c-r chec k area, com plimentary issues of the club 's newsletter, and an HRCA memb ersh ip events boo th . T here will also be a special autograph session wi th H onda tea m ri ders Fr eddi e Spencer, Mike Smith, Steve Crevier, T om Kipp an d Rick Kirk, as well as a Sat urday night barbecu e with the Commo nwealth and Two Brothers teams. Fo rmer . profession al roa d racer Richard Chambers , wh o is still o n the roa d race scene as an an no uncer, an d Paige Cary will tie the knot in Las Vegas on April 18. Ron Mass, wh o like Chambers campaigned aYamaha TZ750 in th e seventies and early eighties and fin ished 10th in the 1979 Daytona 200, will serve as best ma n. " We' ll honeymoon at the Laguna Seca National where I' ll be announcing, " said 45-year -old Chambers. Mult i-ti m e Supercross and MX National Champion Jeff W ard was forced to sit out the April 11-12 Pontiac Sil verdome Supercross doub leheader du e to comp lications in the hea ling _ of his right arm. Kawasaki's Ward, wh o says he will retire at the end of th is year, recently had a spo t of skin cancer surgically rem oved, but th e incision beca m e infe cted a nd has dela yed his return to racing. AMA sanctions Charlotte paved ST C harlotte Motor Speedway is th e setti ng and May 2 the date fo r a first in the modern era of the American Mo torcyclist Association: a professiona l race featuri ng di rt trac k riders and machin es on a paved oval. With the quar ter-mile asphalt " Legends" track of Charlotte Moto r Speed way as the backdrop, a stro ng field of riders will tackle the pavement as a featured highligh t of th e May 1-3 AMA National Champio nship Road Ra ce Series event at th e North Carolina raci ng facility. In addition to being a first for the AMA, the Saturday even ing , May 2, race will also ma rk an his tori c first for Charlotte Motor Speedway as the first night race since lightin g was install ed for the 1992running of NASCAR 's "T he Winston " later in May. Promo ted by On T rack Pro mo tions in conj u nct io n wi th In ternational Cycle Events , th e short track race will be sanc tio ned by th e AMA and will also pa y po ints toward the 1992 Motorcycle Asphalt Racing Series (MARS) staged by On Track Pro motions. MARS is in its second fu ll season of activity and brings extensive experience with dirt track-style racing on pavement to th e event. The race will carry a $10,000 purse with $2,500 paid to the win ner of a feature race ope n to Expert and J u nior di vision AMA pros. The program will also feature Pro-Am racing. " We've been taki ng a close loo k at ru nn ing dirt track bikes on selected pa ved ovals," commented AMA Vice Pr esident Dick Maxwell , " And this was an ideal opportuni ty to take a first step in that directio n. We'r e loo king forward to working with MARS o n Saturday evening , and wi th Interna tional Cycle Events and Charlotte Motor Speedway on the ent ire weekend of AMA racing that wi ll he lp kick off the excitement of the 1992 World 600 Festiva l." Maxw ell is ent hus iastic about the po tentia l for opening up new venues to sho wcase AMA flat track riders who have trad iti onall y plied their trade only on dirt tracks. • "The bik es lend the mselves well to pave ment, and riders seem to adj ust q uickly," he pointed out . " T rack operators are intriqued by th e possibili ties and, frankl)': so are we. But we'll just take it one step at a time and see how th ings develop." The Charlotte will be open to mach ines powered by single-cylinder engines of up to 600cc in di splacemen t. Several past winner on th e AMA's p restigious Camel Pro Series circuit hav e committed to compete. Kawasaki's M ike LaR occo wore a brace to support his left wris t at the Po nt iac Supercross. La Rocco injured the wrist Jan uary 25 a t the Ana heim Supercross an d, according to Kawasaki MX Team Manager Roy Turner, was abo ut 80% fit at Pontiac. To hi s credit, La Rocco, wh o finished fourth and th ird in the Sil verdo me do ub lehea der , has never ment io ned the injury. Motocrosser Mike F is h e r was sched u led to undergo surgery Apri l 15 to repai r a torn rotator cu ff in his right shoulder. "I told KTM it wouldn't be wort h go ing to the G Ps if it wasn' t fixed ," sai d the KTM factory rider at the Po ntiac Su per cr o ss. After th e Camel Supercross Series ends J une 20, Fisher is sch eduled to con test th e remaining rounds of the World Championship 250cc MX Series for KTM. Doohan wins again in Oz GP A ustralian Michael Doo han (right) won his second successive 500cc Grand Prix o n the Rothmans Honda , th is one corning in his home GP in Eastern Creek, Australia, on April 12. Doohan, fresh off a win in the seaso n -ope ning J apan ese GP two weeks ago, tra iled Wayne Rai ney in th e early stages bu t went o n to take a 6.822seco nd win over the defen ding 500cc Wor ld Champion. Third p lace went to 21-year-old Daryl Beattie in wha t was o n ly th e second 500cc GP of th e young Australian 's career; Bea ttie was filling in for the inj ured Wayn e Gardner on the second Ro th mans H onda. Fo u rth p lace went to Lucky Strike Suzuki's Kevin Schwanu wi th hi s team mate Dou g Ch andler ro unding out the top five finishers. Ca gi va's Edd ie La wson finished sixth wi th Bud weiser Yamaha's Randy Mamola sevent h. Fren ch Canadian Migu el DuHamel scored his firs t-ever 500cc World Championship points with a 10th place finis h on th e Yamaha France ent ry. J ohn Kocins ki didn 't race in the Australian GP after crash ing in qua lifying and damaging the little finge r o n hi s right han d. T he Mar lboro Yamaha rider underwent skin graf t surgery at a Sydn ey hosp ital o n Saturday, Apri l II , and won' t return to action until the Spanish GP on May 10. Doohan now leads the World Ch am p ionship point sta ndings by 17 points over Chandler, 40-23. Schwan tz (22) is third wi th Ra iney (15) and Mam ola (13) rounding out the top five. . Ro th mans Honda 's Luca Cadalora won h is second straight 250cc GP after a race-lo ng battle with Rep sol Honda's Carlos Card us, who raced o nly 12 days aft er undergoing surgery for a broken co lla rbo ne suffered in practice at the Japanese G P. T he Ita lian bea t the Spa n iard to th e line by .2 l5-of-a-second. West German Helmut Brad! finis hed th ird , eig ht seconds beh ind th e leading du o. Cadalora lead s th e cha mpionship, 40-27, over Bradl. Lucky Strike Suzuki's Wileo Zeelenb erg, fourth in Australia, is th ird with 18 points. Ano ther rid er winning hi s second stra ight race was RaJ£Wal dmann. T he German rode his Zwafink Ra cin g H on da to a .Ol l -of-a-second victory over Aprilia-m ou nted Italian Alessandro Gramign i in the 125cc G P. Apri lia-rnount ed Bruno Casan ova finished th ird. Fisher expects to be sideli ned for at least four weeks and plans to' return to 'a ction as early as the May 30 Dall as Supercross. Wh en anno uncer Larry M aiers ha d th e rid ers introduce themselves befor e Sa turday night's 250cc main event in th e Pontiac Silv erdome Supercross do ubl eheader, privat eer Jeff Glass said, " My na me is J eff Gl ass and I' m go ing to kick some ass!" A few laps into the mai n, Glass cras hed over a tri ple jump while running sixth and retired. Wh en the riders in trod uced themselves before the following day 's main, Gl ass quipped, " Las t night I said I would kick some ass but ended up o n my ass!" H e fini sh ed 19th . Yamaha 's Doug Dubach head s the list of America ns o n the entry list for the May 2 Molso n Export Su percross to be held in the Skydo me in T oronto, Canada. Other American s who appear in the eve nt program' s en try lis t include Suzuk i's Ezra Lusk, DGY Racin g teammates Jimmy Button and Doug Henry, Fred Andrews , fo rm er U l tracross Champion Jim Holley, M ike Jone s , and Keith Turpin . On Friday, April 17, southern Califor ni a 's Willow Springs International Raceway will hold a special open testing and tu ning da y for all road racers wh o are licensed mem bers of the Wi llow Sp rings M.C. The cost per rider will be $50 and all proceeds will be given to th e fami ly of Todd Heming , 'who lost hi s life raci ng last year. In addition to _Will o w Sp rin gs donating use of the facility and the club 's officia ls and work ers don ating their tim e, o the rs wh o have contribu ted to th e benefit day are MedStar wh o provides a mbu la nc e service at th e track, and K&K In surance who has donated insurance coverage for the day . Midtown Kawasaki in Rocky Hill , Con necticut, will hold an an ni versary celebration on May 15 and May 16. On Frid ay eveni ng , May 15, Team Kawasa ki 's Jeff Matia sevich a nd Mik e La Rocco will be o n ha nd to bench race and sign au tograp hs. T he event is bein g held in conj unc tio n with the May 17 Southwick Nati on al l\4X. For more informa tion, call 203/72 1-0193. 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