Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127550
Larry Roeseler (Kaw) ro unded out the to p five, in that order. Smith 's victory ended Roeseler's five-year win streak at the Virgin ia City G P. Roeseier has won the race a total of seven tim es. Three-time Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen practiced at the Pomona Ha lf Mi le with a special ti m in g de vice mounted on his Bartels' H ar ley-Davidson. Th e unit, manufac tured by St. Augusti ne, Florida-based Unipro, in corporates a sta tionary, infield-mounted unit that em its an infra-red beam of light, and a sensor and clock mounted on the mot or cycle. " It 's gr eat , I can mon itor my lap times while I'm riding, " said Springsteen. " I could try different lines and know right a way whi ch were fastest. It keep s track of my time s and wh ich la p I'm on. " Steve Mor ehead sho wed up at the Pomona H alf Mile in a new Ilou rescen t red, yellow a nd bl ack set o f leathers, but missing from his o utfit were his fam iliar Ken Maely boots. Alo ng with Will Davis, Mor ehead was o ne of the last riders to use laceup boo ts, as most have switched to mo dern motocross boot s. " I had to get rid of my MaeIey boots,' laughed More head. "Everybody kept making fu n of me. So now , I have my Bru ce Penh all speedway shoes. T hey 're coo l. " Fo rmer l25cc Na tio nal and Supercross .Ch arnp io n J ohnny O 'M a r a was a ยท in a British Championship MX and withdrew from the Czechoslovakian GP after practi ce. " It is bumpy and I am in gr eat pain wi th my ribs every time the sea t sends a shock up my back ," sa id Thorpe, who was also still healing from two finger injuries. Defending 500cc MX Wor ld Champion Georges Jobe has pi cked up support from th e Cinti Hon da team and began riding in the Italian Yokohama importer' s colors at th e Ma y 3 Czech oslovakian GP. " Cint i is a spo nsor in nam e o n ly and I will not be using any of his p roducts," said J ob e. After compe ting in the U.S. 500cc MX GP aboard th e Ameri can Honda prepared CRSOO th at Je ff Stanton used last year, jobe was back on h is earlysea so n ma chine which features a n HRC motor in a standa rd fra me. ''I' m talking with Ameri can Honda abo ut the possibi lity of getting some hel p wi th factory sus pension, but I am happy with the way my bike is worki ng at presen t ." J abe said. America n Ho n da MX T eam Manager Dave Arn old said he would like to he lp j ob e, but tha t America n Honda co uldn' t lease hi m the parts. LITTLE KNOWN FACT: AMA 250cc Grand Prix roa d racer Marcello Del Guidice sa ng the Nationa l Ant hem at the AMA Na tio na l Championship Road Race at Charlotte Motor Speedwayan May 3. T exan B illy H ernd o n decided to sit ou t the May 9 Pomona H alf Mil e rather than mak e his p lanned comeback from the kn ee injury he sustained at the seaso n-o pen ing Dayton a Sho rt T rac k. Herndon hoped to be healthy enough for Pomona but will ins tead wai t for th e May 24 Springfield Mile to ret urn to com peti tion. " I would have reall y been ru shing it," sa id H erndon. " I don 't have as much flexib ili ty as I want, I'm n ot rea l comfortab le wi th it yet." Two-t i me 125cc Eas tern Regi onal Supercross Champion B ria n Swink will permanently move up to the 250cc class beginning wi th the May 30 Dall as Supercross . Swink will a lso pass up the opport unity to compete in the 125cc East -West Shootout a t the Ju ne 20 fin al ro und of the Ca mel Su percross Series in th e Los An geles Memorial Co liseu m so that he can concentrate o n the 250cc class . Swin k has com pe ted in a few 250cc supercross even ts th is season and his best fin ish was eig h th at the Las Vegas ro un d. T hree-time 500cc MX Wo rld Cha mp ion D a v e Thorpe su ffere d two crac ked ribs, a cracked shoulder blade and compressed verteb rae on Ap ril 19 Polen nerfect in GermanYD Laguna Seca Raceway o n Ap ri l 25. The person who can describe the wheel can claim it from the tech people at the Texas Wor ld Speedway ro und of the series o n May 29-31, or they can call Speedy at AMAlCCS at 704/6844297. Belgi an Jack y Marte n s was aboard the latest versio n of his facto ry fourstroke Husqvarna at the Czechoslovaki an GP. Ext ensive use of titanium has brought i ts weigh t down to 237.6 pounds. T he FIM mimimum for 500cc machines is 224 pounds. spectator at the Po mo na H alf Mile. " I like watching these wh en I get a ch ance," said O 'Mara, who now races mountain bikes. " I com e ou t to watch Ri cky Graham ; we both rode for' Honda at the same time, and I met him then." When asked if he ever had the urge to throw a leg over a flat tracker, O 'Mara replied, "Well , I know I coul d do it. .. I raced th e Superbikers a few ti mes, but I didn't reall y like tha t. Maybe that's an indication ." _ Accord ing to a spokesperso n at the Carolinas Regional Medical Cent er in Cha rlo tte, North Carolina, roa d racer Mike Harth was released from the hospi tal on May 8. H arth crashed at high speed during the AMA/CCS EBC En d ura nc e C ha lle nge o n Ma y 2, suffering facia l i nj uries, a broken sho u lder and a broken finger. Harth is curre nt ly in Wyoming visiting Dr. Dave Kieffer to see if surgery on hi s bro ken sho u lder will be necessar y. efending Worl d Superbike Champion Doug Po len (rig h t) scored hi s fir st win of the threerace old World Ch am p io nsh ip Superbike Series by sweeping both legs in Ho ckenheirn, Germa ny, on May 10. In doing so, the T exan mo ved into a tie with Raymond Roch e for the cha m pio nshi p po ints lead . The Fast By Ferr acci Du cati rider beat Kawasaki Austra lia 's Rob Ph illi s by five seco nds to win th e ope n ing leg, wi th Kaw asaki-mounted Aaron Slight th ird. Muzzy Kawasaki 's Scott Russell was cha llenging Po len early in the race befor e running off th e track; the Georgian fough t back to finish fourth ahead of Ducati's Ro che . In the seco nd leg, Polen led flag-to-flag with Ph illis aga in second ahead of th e Ducatis of Gi an carlo Falappa and Roche. Slight was fourth with the Yamaha of Fabrizio Pirov ano fifth. Ru ssell finished seventh in the second leg. Former World Ch ampion Fred Merkel attempted to practice for the German ro un d of the series, but th e Ca lifornian was o n ly able to complete six laps becau se of pa in in hi s recently bro ken wri st. Polen and Roche are now tied for the cham p io ns hip points lead wi th 90, 10 po int s clear of Ph illis' 80 points. Slight is fourth with 67 points with Pi ro van o ro un ding out the top five with 66 po int s. Despi te rumors to th e con trary, the AMA National Cha mp io nship Road F.ace sche d u led for Ma y 29-31 at T e xas W orld Speedway in College Sta tio n, T exas, ha s not been canceled. "The T exas World race is alive and well and living in College Sta tion," AMA Vice President Dick Maxwell ' sa id, o n Friday, May 8. A comp lete wh eel with tire wa s left on the pit wall after the AMA /CCS E BC E n d u r a n c e Challenge at Flor ida-b as ed road ra cer James M urph y will a ga i n sponsor the Memorial Day Cookou t at the May 2324 AM AlCCS Pro-Am road race at Roebl ing Road Ra ceway in Georgia. Murphy and th e CCS staff will attempt. to feed th e ent ire paddock population, including racers, work ers a nd staff. T he M id -Atla ntic Road Racing Club (MARRC) will host a tra ck day a t Summit Point Raceway in West Virg in ia on June 19: T he track will be o pen from 9 a. m. to 4 p.m . with a o ne -hour break for lun ch .. The practice sessio ns are open to a ny licensed road racer with race -prepa red mo torcycles; the MARRC safety crew an d am bulance will be in attenda nce. For more in formati on contact Roger Ly le at 3011933-2599. Fo r those wo n dering if Michael D oohan is getting close to a record after scori ng his fourth stra ig h t 500cc G P win in Sp ain, on May 10, the answer is no . Dooh an would have to win 16 more in a ro w to match the 20 succ essive 500cc GP wins po sted by Ital ian legend Giaco m o Agostini in 1968-1969. Do ohari 's four stra ig h t wins, though, mat ches the II th best successive-win record set by Gary Hocking (1961), E ddi e L awson (1986), F r eddie S p e n c e r (1985), and John Surtees (1958). B ill Spe n c e r reports th e foll owing ph one call : " H i, this is Kenny (K e nny R o berts .Jr.), Can I come to th e (San J ose) Mile next week?" Wh en Spen cer told him he co uld ta ke care of passes, K.R. Jr. said, " No, I mean can I ride in the San J ose Mile?" Good question! The youngster is an AMA Expert via hi s road raci ng and wh ile he says he . wants to co m pete in the San Jose J unior race, the rules say he must compete as an Expert. Will they be cha ng ed by nex t Sunday, May 17? One thing's for sure, Papa will be there. RESIGNED: Nate Rauba from his posit ion as Cycle N ews associate editor to become man ager of co mmunicatio n s fo r th e Motorcycl e Sa fe ty Foundation. . .... r- -~ ------ - - -- -- -- - --- ---- --- - ----- -- -- ---- -- - --- -- ---- - - - - -- --- SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM N am e _ Address _ C ity O rder Da te Sta te Zip _ _ Please start my subscription to Cycle News: o Every week for one year (50 issues) for $35.00 (can be billed 3 monthl y pa yments) (California residen ts add $2.75 sales tax) o Every week for two years (100 issu es) for $65.00 (Califo rnia residents add $5:00 sales tax) o Six months secon d class (25 issues) for $18.00 (California residents add $1.40 sales tax) O ne year (SOIssues), 2nd class Canada o r Muico and all e the r Ioreign cou ntr ies $75.00 (U .S. funds). ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~:~~ ~ o This is a renewal o Please bill me o Bill 3 payments of $1 1.67 (Ca. residents $12.59) o Enclosed is my check o r money order Charge my 0 Visa 0 Mastercard . . . V .! 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