Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND ByPapa Wealey T he Ma y 30 Camel Pro Series Parkersburg Half Mile at West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineralwe lls , West Virginia, was rained out a nd rescheduled for July 18. The race is one of 10 Camel Pro Series events sched uled for telecast on ESPN,· and the resched uled even t will no w be broadcast on July 30. Filling th e o pe n July 23 air date will be th e June 14 Syracus e Mil e. ' Larry R oes e ler (Kaw) scored th e overa ll a nd 250cc class wi n at th e fo urth ro u nd o f th e AMA National Championshi p Reliability Enduro Series in Idaho City, Ida ho, Ma y 3031. J immy Le w is (Kaw) topped th e 125cc clas s, while T om Webb won the Open d ivision. The Los Angeles Supercross, the fin al ro u nd o f th e Camel Supercross , Series that was sche duled for J u ne 20 a t the Los Angeles Mem orial Co li se um, has been rescheduled fo r Saturday afternoon, July II, In additio n , th e foll owing Saturday 's Mi ckey T h o m pso n Off-Road G ran Prix, that includes an Ult racross class, will a lso ta ke pl ace in th e afternoon ra ther tha n a t ni g h t as previously ' sched uled. The changes by the promot er , th e Mickey Thompson Entertain m ent Group, were mad e in light o f th e recent riots in th e ar ea su rrou ndi ng th e Coliseum. In delaying th e running o f the eve nt, the p ro mo ters are a llow ing th e a rea more time to co ntinue its ho peful ret u rn to norm al, a nd by mo vin g it to the afternoon they hope to a lleviate a ttendees' fears a bou t being in th e area at ni ght. Ca nada's RACE a nd Amer ica 's W ERA com b ined to h o st ro ad ra cin g at Sh annon ville in Canada o ver th e May 30-31 weekend. Combin ing th e WE RA F-USA and Castrol Motoplan 750 SS Pro divisions, a special 20-lap match race, which awarded F-USA points, was run o n Sunday: Canadian Steve Crevier (Kaw) scored th e win wi th America n Ch uc k G raves (SUl) secon d. Both Crevier and Graves turned in a full 20 laps, bu t th ird p lace fin isher Benoit lion (Ya m ) o f Canada was a full th ree lap s down a t th e finish. A co mbine d WERA Air-Tech Formula II a nd Castro I Mot oplan 250cc GP race was also run with Canadian Jon Cornwell (Yam) sco ring th e win o ver Rick Tripodi (Ap r) a nd AI Sala v erria (Apr ). After th ree ro u nds of the W ERA F-USA Series, G ra ves leads Lee Shi erts in th e point sta ndings, 53-41. Do nald Jacks is third with 35 points., Don G r een e , eig h th a t Shannonville, lead s the WERA Formula II Serie s point sta nd ings over Kurt Hall, 5045 . H all fini sh ed fourth a t Sh annonville. Au strali an P eter Goddard wa s forced to sit out the Ma y 24 Italian Grand Prix by injuries he suffered at the IR T A test at the, Catalunya road race circu it in Barcelona, Spain , th e previous week. "T he throttle stuck; I don't kn ow wh y," Goddard said. By the time he realized it was stuck he was a lready down. " I was just clocked a 287 k's (178 mph) and I had abo u t a th ird of a second to do someth ing abo u t it. " Goddard su ffered ligament da mage in his righ t thum b, as well as a brok en rig h t p inkie. Goddard rod e th ree laps in Friday morning 's wet p rac tice a t Mu gell o before packin g it in . " I co uld've ridden, bu t I cou ldn' t have raced." Dr. J o hn Wittner jo in ed hi s fo rm er rider Doug Brauneck in working o n the HE K Racing H arris Yamaha of Dutch rider Cees D o o r a k e r s at Mugello. Wittner was he lp in g wi th th e rear suspension, installing a stiffer sp ring, but Doorakers al so su ffered a carburetion problem which caused the bik e to leak fuel. Ward conclu esSupercrosscareer d , inks dealto race cas r L ucky Strike Suzuki 500cc ride rs Kevi n Sch wan t z and Doug Chand l e r tried th e team's 250s during th e IR TA test in Barcelona. Sch wa n tz was tied for unoffi cial fast time with Reps ol H onda's Carlos Card u s and was a seco nd faster than L ucky Strike's 250cc ca m pa igner Wilco Zeelenberg. Schwantz rode th e bik e which Zeelenberg had said was too slow. Ch andler , who had a ha rd er time tu cking in on th e 250, was 0.8 seconds behind Schwantz, th ough' still fast er th an Zeelenberg. fter spending th e last 14 years p il oting facto ry Kawasa k i rnot ro crossers, m ulLi-t i m e Nat io nal and two-time Supercross Champion J eff Wa rd most like ly has co m peted in the las t Supercross race of his illustrio us career. Ward announced at th e Dall as Supercross tha t he'll soo n undergo s urger y to repair a lon gtim e shou lder inj ury, whi ch ha s hampered hi s performance all yea r. " I'm havin g th e surgery next week a nd I'll p rob ab ly mi ss th e J eff Ward will ra ce Ind y Li gh t cars in 1993, fin al two rounds of th e series," said Ward, wh o finished 11th in .Da l las and is currently 11th in th e series point standings. "Since I'm out of contention in th e Su pe rcross Series, I want to ge t ready for th e 500cc outdoor Nationals (which begins August 2 in Washougal, Washi ngto n ). "I'm sti ll going to try to make th e last round in LQS Angeles (July II ) if I , ca n ," said Ward. "I sur e would like to make it for L.A . in front of the horne crowd and all." Wa rd, who is the only rider ever to win all four maj or U.S. mot ocross titles, says he will mi ss supercross, especially th e fans. " I rea lly have to thank all o f m y fa ns who have su p po rted me a ll th ese years, a nd even th e o nes who haven 't, beca use they've su p ported th e sport of su percross." T he 30-year-o ld Ward , who lives in Sa n Juan Ca p istrano , Cali fornia, will officially retire fro m the sport of mot ocro ss a ltoge the r following the 500cc Nationa ls in O ctober, however, Ward won 't retire fro m raci ng completely. Recently, War d sig ned a contract wi th P.LG. (Pacific In vestors Group) Racing o f Long Beach , Ca lifo rn ia, to campaign an Ind y L ig h ts ca r in the 1993 Fir estone Indy Lights Championship Series. H e began testi ng wi th th e team in ea rly Ma y, a nd will co nt in ue to test at various tracks throughout 1992 in order to be up to speed when the 1993 series opens. The P.LG. Racin g team is head ed by former Long Beach police officer Norm Turley. T he tea m is act ively involved wi th the Say No to Drugs program. "I've always p reac hed th at message," sai d Ward. " I tell kids that ther e's no way they can acco mplis h an ything in life if they junk up th eir mi nds a nd their bodies wit h drugs." Though he wo uld do a nyth ing to get o ut of it, it appears that Rothrnans Honda 's Mick Doohan will defend his Suzuka 8-Hour title, teaming wit h fellow Aus tra lia n Darryl Beattie on th e only H o nd a facto ry entry. Due to ' budget cuts, and the lack of a sponsor, th ere wi ll likely be o nly o ne factory entry this year. Oki, wh o sponsored last yea r 's winning effort, hasn't co me forw ard as of yet. It remains to be seen if H onda will decid e th a t th e 500cc World Championship, which th ey last won in 1989 with Edd ie Lawson, is m ore important tha n Suzu ka a nd a llow Doohan to sit it out. Dooha n 's team ma te Wayne Gardner, who has yet to score a poin t in the 500cc class t h is year, wo u l d be th e sens ib le replace me n t. R oth m ans H onda ' s 250cc Wo rld Champion a nd series points leader Luca Cadalora spent co nsi derable ti me o n Gardner 's NSR500 du ring the IRTA test a t Barcelona. Ca da lora, who last tested a 500 at th e Rijeka circu it in Yugoslavia in 1990, rod e th e bik e in th ree o f the four sessions over th e two-day test. His best lap times were abou t 2.5 seconds slo wer th an Marl boro Ro berts Yam aha 's Wayne R a i ney , who was unofficially th e fastest rider a t th e test. Depending o n the 250cc World Championship, Cada lora ma y get a cha nce to race th e bike before the end o f the season. Suzu ki has reacted to H onda' s stunning su ccess in the 500cc GP class by building a n ew e ngine wh ich th ey'll test in early June. Though no o ne on the team will say anything abo u t th e eng ine, Lu cky Strik e Suzuki 's Kevin Schwantz did say they would be testing a t Donington Park in England o n June 8. Meanwhile, various details are emerging about the Honda engine Michael Doohan is using so su ccessfull y. Apparently there is about a two inch gap between the left and right cylinders, sugges ting it 's a pair o f twins, with separate cra n ks ha fts, geared together. According to Honda R aci n g Corporation ( H RC) h ead Yoichi Oguma, it was cons idered th e best o f seven engine designs submitted by H RC engi neers. Peter Ingley, the highly respected tire eng ineer wh o worked with Dunlop a nd Pirell i, as well as th e Tyre ll Form u la On e car team , prior to joining Yok ahama to ta ke ch arge of a n extens ive new tir e development program, worked hi s way to the top. Ingley began as a ti re fitter w it h Dunlop in 1972 and withi n 12 years had been promo ted to chief designer. In 1984 he was chosen to head Du n lo p 's tech nical department, a position he held until the beginning of 1988 when he went to Pirell i as a develop- A m en t en g ineer respon sib le fo r a ll aspects o f mot orcycle sp ort s. Ha rold Hagi , fa th e r of form er Yam aha Motorsports District Manager Brad Hagi wh o is curren tly a marketin g manager in Yamaha 's person al wa tercraft division, died o n May 26 a t hi s Illinoi s hom e. H agi was d iagnosed with term inal brain ca nce r nine weeks prior to hi s death. Hagi, an a vid mo torcycl ist since th e mid-seventies, had purch ased a new mo tor cycle a nd whi le riding it felt ill a nd rod e d irect ly to a hospita l where th e ca ncer was diagnosed tha t eveni ng. H ag jis su rvived by his wi fe Linda , daughter Betsy, a nd Brad . Co ndo lences may be sent to 305 So ut h Park St., Streator, IL 61364. Du e to a less th an expected p re-en try , th e group headed by Col orado 500 orga ni zer Wall y Dallenbach has turned th e orga nizatio n o f th e motorcycle portion of th e July 4 P ikes Peak Hillclimb over to loca l Col orado Springs, Colorado, enth usia sts. Primary orga n izers ar e Bill Brokaw, th e past presid ent of AMA District 37 Sports Committee who now operates a motorcycle dealership in Co lorado Springs, and Sonny Anderson , father of Brian Anderson who has won th e las t two races he ld at P ikes Peak. Bro ka w ca n be reached fo r fu rther in for mation at 719/ 473-3277. En try dead line is June 20, Tickets for th e June 18-2 1 Loudon Camel Classic, a round o f the AMA National Ch a m p io nsh ip Road Race Series, at New H a mpsh ire Internati onal Speedway are availabl e at no rt heast Ticketmaster outlets. The T icketmas ter number in New H amp- shi re is 603/626-5000. Tickets a re a lso ava ila ble fro m Ticketrn aster outlets in Ma ssa chu se tts, R h od e Isl an d and Ma in e. ' Looking for a diff erent sort of way to spe nd a midsummer nightrH you are, check ' o u t th e Au gust 8 M oonlig ht Madness Dual Sport N ight Ride that will take pl ace i n so u t hern Ca liforn ia's Sa n Bernard in o National For est in and arou nd the town of Big Bear. The Ca li fornia Trail Rid es event starts at 7 p .m . a nd w i ll e n d at approxima tely m idnigh t to 2 a.m. For more information , call 714/846- 1241. T hen send in your entry form a nd sta rt co ns u m ing a lot of ca rrots. Although Papa know s there are ma ny wh o feel th at nostal gi a is a n o ld man's di sease, he a pp recia ted th e followi ng from th e dean of tria ls journalis ts, Brit Ralph Venab les, in a recent issue of En gl and ' s Trial s & MX N ew s (1' & MX ): " For th e past 30 years I have been sa yi n g jus t what Malcolm Rathmell admiued o n April 24 (in an article that appeared in T & MX ) - that sponsorship a nd professionalism have undermined the real enjoyment wh ere motorcycle sport is co nce rn ed . . . Hu nd reds perhaps thousands - of T & MX readers will tell you that without sponsorship, tr ia ls and scramb les would not ha ve su rvived th is long. Don 't you believe it! Enjoyment and pressure seldom go hand- in-ha nd . . . As professional ism comes in ," sportsmanship goes ou t." The co m ments 'ca me in a co lu m n devoted to the Scottish Six Days Trial. Whe n d id Venables firs t a tte nd th e Sco tt ish? " The answer is 1937 a nd I wo n 't bore you wi th a description of th e at mosphere which prevailed in those ha ppy days ." 1

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