Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ IN THE WIND By Papa Wealey Donald Jacks (Suz) won the secon d rou nd of the WER A Formula USA Series a t Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, o n May 17, by postin g a 2l tall y, T he Flor idian topped Michael Martin (Suz) and Lee Shierts (Suz) in taking the. overa ll wi n. F-USA cham pionship lead er Chuck Graves (Suz) finis hed fourth overa ll. The Air T ech For mu la II race was won by Bruce Baldus (Yam) over defendi ng class cha mp io n Donnie Greene (Yam) and Kurt Hall (Yam). e Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz ) won the WER A V anson/PM Nati on al End urance Series race at Road Atlanta on May 16, topping Cycle Motion (Suz) and Team Suzuki Endurance GSXR600 (Suz). Sweden 's Jimmie Eriksson (H bg ) scored the overa ll and 500cc FourStroke class win at the secon d round of th e AMA Nati onal Ch ampionship Reli ab ility Enduro Series in Speedsville, New York, May 17. Eriksson also won the opening ro u nd 'of the series. Seco nd overall was 250cc class win ner Steve Hatch (Suz), while th ird went to 350cc Four-Str ok e class win ne r Kevin Hines (H us ). Alan Randt (KT M) scored the 125cc class win, wh ile Chris Smith (H us) to pped th e Open class. Defen ding Cross Country Natio nal Champion Scott Summers (Ho n) record ed his fifth overall win of th e year in round six of the AMA Grand Nat io nal Cross Country Seri es i n Boyers, Pennsylvan ia, May 17. The ru nn er-u p was Duane Conner (Kaw), wh ile National End uro Champi on Jeff Russell (KT M) was th ird, Frank Keegan (AT K) fourth, and Doug Blackwell (Kaw) fifth. Defendin g series cha mp Rusty Rogers (H-D) was th e winner of the Expert main even t at the Myrt le Beach (Sout h Ca ro lina ) Ha lf Mile ro u nd of th e Motorcycle Asphalt Racing Association Series (MARS), May 15. Form er MARS cha m p Will Davis (H- D) fini shed second, with E ric Graybeal (\V-R) th ird. James Hart (W-R) won the Pro-Am/Juni or main , and Chuck Blackmon (H -D) won the Harl eyDavidson 883 feature. T y Davis (AT K), Mike Young (H us) a nd Rex Staten (AT K) were some of the big winners at the Wh ite Bros. Four-Strok e MX Wor ld Cha mpi ons h ip s a t sou the rn Cali fornia 's Perri s Racewav, Mav 17. Davis scored the 500 and '350cc' Pro class wins, Yo un g topped the Open Pro class, an d Sta ten aced the O pen Pro TT final. 2 The American Speedway Final, the first of severa l qualifying ro unds tha t lead up to the World Championship Speedway Fi na l, has been canceled. Acco rdi ng to Internat ional Speedway, Inc., the promo ter of th e ca nceled event whi ch was to have taken place in Ventura , Ca lifornia, on May 30, the AMA " has p ull ed a doubl ecross." After years of ru nn ing their weekly speedway races a t .Costa Mesa , Ca lifornia, under AM A san ctio n, Internat ional Speed way , In c. had recent ly begun ru nning the even ts wi tho ut AMA sanction , opting ins tead to function as pa rt of th e newly formed Speedway Racin g Associati on (SRA). T he AMA, the American rep resentative of the FIM whi ch con tro ls all Wo rl d Ch a m p ions h i p eve nts, informed International Spe edway that th ey and their insurance carr ier had taken a look at the app lication for the single AMA- sanctioned even t and, citing hi gher costs for sanctioni ng o ne event rather than a series of events, would have to charge a $5000 sanc tio n fee for the American Speedway Final plus a $4000 in suran ce prem iu m. In tern ati on al Speedwa y's Harry Oxley said , "The AMA has raise d our event fee from un der $900 to $9000 for an event wh ich they don ' t even provide officia ls. We wanted to sta y with the AMA this year, but they j ust cou ld not compete with the SR A. No w th e AMA is holding a g un to o ur head and we have no cho ice but to cancel the event ." In a letter inf ormin g Ox ley of the in creased sanctio n and insuran ce fees, Dick Maxwell, the AMA vice president, spor ts marketing, said, " T he formatio n of th e SRA in Ca liforn ia has grea tly redu ced th e AMA's invo lvement in dom estic speedway racing. T ha t makes it fin an ciall y not viable for the AMA to sanctio n and provide licen sing services for a sing le event. It is also not viabl e for o ur in su rance carr ier to provide in suran ce for a single event . Therefor e, the costs for that sing le even t are go ing to be mu ch h igher tha n norm al. " Regarding the increased in suran ce fee, Maxw ell said, " O ur insurance carr ier has look ed at their losses over the last two years for Division O ne riders . . . Based o n their loss expe rience and their abil ity to amo rti ze the losses over a series of event s, the insu ran ce premium for the North America n Q ual ifier (American Speedway Fin al ) will be $4000. Wh ile you may consider th e in su ran ce 'premium high, you should be awar e tha t the 1990-9 1 Division One i nj uri es averaged $ 1800-$2000 per claim ." In hi s cl o sin g , Ma xwell tol d Oxley, "Gi ven th e cos ts th at would be invo lved in th is sing le event , you may want to review yo ur desire to have a North American Qualifier." Shoei Kako Co., Ltd., th e J apanese manu facturer and expo rter of Shoei helm ets, petitioned T okyo 's bankruptcy co urt fo r protection during corporate reorganizati on on Wedn esda y, May 13. According to a press release from J apan, the decision to make the mo ve - similar to filing for Chapter II protection in American ba n kr up tcy co u rt s - fo ll owed a recommendation from the co m pany's banks tha t du e to a colla psed econo my, h igh overhead, and increased labor and produ ct liab ili ty cost s, a comp lete reorga niza tio n fo r th e d omesti c (Japan ) market is necessary. Cha nges wit hi n the organ izatio n wi ll include facto ry consolidat io n, restructur ing of the man agem ent, and overhead cost red uction. According to the J apa nese media, Shoei , whic h was founde d in 1959, ha d sales of approxi mately $100 mill io n in 1991, an increase of 18.8% over 1990, wi th debt tota lling $115 mi llio n. It was also reported tha t plant and eq uipme nt inv estment was excessi ve an d th at stock o n hand had increased, the latter a result of decl ining motorcycle sales. Shoei said th ere would be no " remarkable changes" for the No rth American market. Harley-Davidson anno unced that its board of directors has approved a two-for-one stock split affecting sha reho lders of record as of June 5. T he additio nal stock will be pa yable on June 26. The anno unce ment was made a t the compa ny's ann ua l meeting of shareho lders on Saturday, May 9, in York, Pennsylvania. At th e New York Stock Exchange closing the day before the meeting, Harley-Davidson 's stock traded at $59 l2 per · sha re. H arl ey- Camel Pro T Vcontroversy- extinguished t the April 18 Sacramen to Mil e riders' meeting, a letter addressed to AMA Director of Marketing Dick Maxwell from the For ever Blue Entertainment Group , a con trac tor for th e Nashville Network (T NN), surfaced, raising man y question s amo ng the riders. The lett er, dated October 30, 1991 , pres ented an offer to the AMA that included 8 to 12 free-of-charge broadcasts o f Camel Pro Series races in 1992. Li ke last year, 10 rounds of the 1992 Camel Pro Series are scheduled to air on ESP N, with production fees comi ng from th e riders' entry fees, and the mechan ics' p it pass fees, as well as from the promoters' sanction in g fees. " Last year, racer entries went up abo u t $20, and the mech anic's fee went up about $10. Also, becaus e my race is going to be televised , my sanctioning fee goes up $3,000," said Arrow Promotion's Ronnie Jones, racer and promoter of the Oklah oma City H alf Mile. " Even promoters whose races aren 't going to be on TV have to pay an additio nal $1500, becau se the televised events advertise their events." Ra cers were up set that the AMA would turn down a sup posedly "free" deal in favor of ESP N's costly package, but in reality, th ere really was no " cho ice." " We had a meeting with the AMA, but cou ldn't come to an agree ment. We cou ld o nly give them six races, and th ey needed more tha n th at ," said Jasen Majors, President of Forever Blue. "T he reason that we could've done the deal for free, is that we have a stra ig ht-licensing deal with th e networks, and they pay us. ESPN doesn 't operate that way." . Accordi ng to Maxw ell , though, the story was a b it different. "We were in terested and met with Forever Blu e, and no, we couldn't -agree on the number of races to be broad cast ," said Maxw ell. "T hey said they cou ld on ly do six and were trying to hold ou t for the season fin ale. Then it turned ou t that they didn't even have an agreement with TNN, and couldn't get the air time. For ever Blue was tryin g to get the deal with us first, th en approach TNN with the proposal. " Question ed abo u t such a situa tio n , Maj or s would only rep ly, " I can't divulge such con fident ial information. " As it stands, the San J ose Mile will be th e first of 10 one-ho ur broadcasts, and will air o n ESP N o n T hurs day , Jul y 9 at 9:30 p.m . (Pacific time). Nine mor e rounds will foll o w on consecu tive Thursdays th rough August 6. Like last year, the shows' will be produced by Dave Despa in and Associates, wit h Despain handl ing the nar ration duties. When asked what the approxima te cost of th e ESP N television packag e was, Max well rep lied, " I don 't have those figures, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you." A Davidso n cu rre nt ly h as 17,884, 716 co m mo n sha res o uts ta ndi ng. The announceme nt of th e board's actio n followed shareholders' approval of an . incr ease in au thorize d shares of common stock fro m 25 mill ion to 100 million and preferred stock fro m I mi llion to 2 million. " We believe tha t, by sp litting our stock, we'll attract more individual inv estor s into th e Harley-Davidson famil y," sa id Richard Teerlink, president and chief execu tive officer of Harley-Davidson , In c. "We're pleased to be able to prese nt them with this opport un ity." Dur ing a review of Harley-Davids o n's Motorcycle Division o pera tions, Jeffrey Bleustein, execu tive vice president, said the com pany expected the transi tion fro m its old to . new paint systems to be com pleted by the end of the second quarter, in time for the new mo del ch angeover in early J uly. By tha t time, he said , the company also p lans to have achi eved a production level of 320 un its per day . Wh ile he sai d the compa ny mi ght not in itia lly achie ve that ra te on an every da y basis, it intended to ma ke up any sho rtfall in producti on throug h o verti me. Dayton a 200 winner Scott Russell and Dale Quarterley will be the guest instructor s a t th e Kawasakispo nsored Pen guin Racing School Two-Day Advanced . Pro Road Race School at New Hampshire Intern atio na l Speedway in Loudon o n June 16-17. T he cost - for what is described as " two days o f intense per sonal instruction " - is $400. For mor e inf ormation or to regis ter, call 2071 548-2100. S u zu ki contin ge n c y m o n e y and p oin t s will be awarded at the July 45 AMA/CCS regional road race a t Bridgehampton, New York. The Br idgehampton meet replaces the Ap ril 11-1 2 club event at New Hamp:; shire Internati onal Speed way which was canceled due to adve rse weather conditions. Lusting for track time at Laguna Seca? DP Enterpr ises will h ol d safety schools a t the Monterey, California, circu it o n J une I, July 2 and November 25. Sessio ns for A, B and C clas s riders last 20 minutes each and each group gets at least two hours on the famed cou rse. Novice riders . receive in d ivid ual ins tructio n. T he en try fee is $175.. For more information, call 8051772-8301. Motorcycle Stories is a new video magazin e now in production by Santa Margarita, California-based MotorSports Medi a. "Actua lly it's mostl y stories by and about people who ride motorcycles, " says director Tod Raf- . ferty. , a former Cycle N ew s editor. Crafted as a panorama of a year in the , spo rt, the first two-hour editio n is slated for November release. Freelan ce "rnoto-videographers" lookin g for an ou tle t fo r their work can reach MotorSports Media at 805/ 461-1103. T he 1992 GFI Night MX Series will get underway on May 30 a t sou thern Ca li forn ia 's Perr is Raceway. Once aga in, the overa ll series win ner will win a pi ckup truck. La st year's series winner, Erick B e in ge s s e r , a 250cc No vice class rid er, dr ove away from the series finale in a 1991 Ch evy S- IO GFI's . Go a t B r e k e r says mor e lights have been added, 50cc cla ss competitors will be com peti ng for a Yamaha PW50 , and 60cc and 80cc entrants will be shooting for a full set of AXO riding gear. For more information, call 7141788-5853. D e an Hensley, 43, a noted vintage ' bik e co llector, died o n Monday, May II ; as a result of in juries he received wh en he reportedly lost control of his van and it rolled over on a freeway near his home in Pasadena, California, on

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