Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

_ _ _ _ _ _ yP~apa Wealey B t--..'" rl ,. - ~ ctl ~ round of the Ducados Spanish Open road race series at A1bacete the previous weekend, Luis D'Anlin (Hon), Kenny Roberts Jr. (Yam) and Manuel "Sete" Gibemau finished 1-2-3 in the second round at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, March 7. Spaniard D'Antin's winning II)argin over Roberts was 4.769 seconds. Also scoring his second straight win was German Dirk Raudies (Hon) in the 125cc class. Italian Stefano Perlugini (Apr) finished second and Spaniard Carlos Giro (Apr) third. In the previous round, Giro had finished second with Perlugini third. The May 15 Camel Supercross Series round that was scheduled to take place in the Los Angeles Coliseum has been moved to the nearby Rose Bowl in Pasadena. According to the event's promoter, the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group, an extensive renovation project at the Coliseum has caused the location change. "Coliseum officials had been discussing renovation plans for some time," said MTEG President Gary Campbell. "We had intended to hold our event around the construction, but over the past few weeks, that proved to be impossible. We feel that the Rose Bowl is an ideal location for us. The stadium has undergone multi-million dollar renovations in their suite and press box areas since 1990 (when the last Camel Supercross Series race was held there), which gives us another opportunity to produce a firstclass event in the greater Los Angeles market." Scott Russell has joined Doug Polen in purchasing fifth-wheel trailers for living quarters while at the race track. World Superbike Champion Polen's 36-foot trailer apparently made an impression on Russell at the opening round of the AMA National Championship Road Race Series at Phoenix International Raceway, so the defending AMA National Superbike Champion went out and purchased one. Russell will be shipping his trailer to his European base just outside of Frankfurt, Germany, in late April so he can use it in his first attempt at winning the World Championship Superbike Series. "We're going to float around and see all of Europe. We may just go from race to race," Russell said. Polen, on the other hand, will keep his stateside as he attempts to win the AMA Superbike crown. According to Russell, his Muzzy Kawasaki teammate Aaron Slight is also looking into purchasing a similar trailer. Four-time World Champion Eddie Lawson had the press room laughing at Daytona with his dry humor. When asked by a reporter what he thought the strong points of Scott Russell were, Lawson replied: "He's fast in the straights and he's fast in the corners." The relaxed and happy Lawson was apparently happy to be at Daytona: "It's nice to be home. Everybody speaks pretty much the same language. It's fun:' Eddie Lawson was also trying to bait Frenchman Raymond Roche into saying in his best broken English "chicken". rather than "chicane." One of Roche's more memorable quotes came after a crash he had back in his 500cc Grand Prix days. Roche, who crashed in a chicane and broke some toes, said, "I crashed in the chicken and broke the fin: gers of my feet." 2 Raymond Roche announced at Daytona that the Daytona 200 was his last race. The former World Superbike Champion will concentrate his efforts on managing the Ducati team of Carl Fogarty and Giancarlo Falappa in this year's World Championship Superbike Series. "It's my last race. I am pre-retired," the Frenchman said, adding that he wanted to make Daytona his final race because he'd never raced there. "It's a dream. I'm very happy to be here:' The two Ducatis that Roche was riding will be given, one each, to Fogarty and Falappa. Scanning the grid sheets for the Arai Twin 50s, Roche was curious to see where Eddie Lawson was gridded, then offered a prediction after seeing that he was on the back row. "From there, he can win. Or at least second or third:' So what's dirt track racer Terry Poovey going to do when he retires? The Texan told Daytona radio show host Chris Carter on the air that he plans on opening up a day care center for children. Brit Carter, always the comedian, replied: "You're a dirt tracker, don't you eat your children?" Scott Russell was joined at Daytona by his trainer/road manager Jeff Haney, and both sported goatees, though Haney's looked to be a tad more matured than Russell's. The two had just completed an off-season of intensive training. "We've hammered it," Russell said. '1'm really ready to race. Training so hard has helped me mentally because I know I'm so much better physically than I've ever been. My goal is to still go Grand Prix racing and I know that has to happen next year. I've just got to devastate those guys (his World Superbike competitors) this year and catapult myself to the next level" The last person to win the Daytona 200 by Arai after starting from the pole position was current Lucky Strike Suzuki 500cc GP star Kevin Schwantz. The Texan and his Yoshimura Suzuki qualified on the pole in 1988 and followed that up with a win in the 200. 5chwantz topped Doug Polen and the man who now manages Wayne Rainey's Otsuka Electronics-backed 250cc GP team, Bubba Shobert. Australian Michael Doohan, runner-up in last year's World 500cc Championship 500cc Road Race Series, crashed his Rothmans Honda NSR500 during a test on Tuesday, March 2, in Shah Alam, Malaysia, and suffered a broken wrist. Meanwhile, three-time World Champion Wayne Rainey just returned from a press conference in Hong Kong and will resume his preseason testing at Laguna 5eca in Monterey, California, this week. The Grand Prix season opens at E.astern Creek in Australia on March 28. Bubba Shobert and Rueben McMurter weren't the only former racers managing race teams at Daytona. Former Grand Prix rider Marc Fontan is in his first year of managing a team of young French 250cc riders and former 250cc World Champion Carlos Lavado is here managing the Venezuelan Lucky Strike Yamaha team which his brother Luis rides for. Luis Lavado, 30, finisi)ed third in the International Lightweight lOOk and said the team would like to do more AMA races if their schedule allows. The Team Equipe de France Honda squad which Fontan manages is.led by 17year-old Regis Laconi, who finished ninth in the Daytona International Lightweight lOOk. The second rider at Daytona was Cristy Rebuttini, an 18year-old who was a late replacement for 19-year-old Oliver Jacque; Rebuttini finished 19th in the 250cc GP. Fontan, though, still has a longing to race: "It's no fun to watch because I still want to race:' The team will compete in the 250cc European Championship and also in the Ducados Open Series in Spain. Swede Anders Andersson is a former racer who doesn't miss racing. The former World SUperbike and Daytona 200 competitor now works for Ohlins: "It's not a problem to watch. I raced for 14 years." WERA National Endurance Champion Team Suzuki Endurance made team captain John Ulrich especially pleased when they won the Daytona AMA/CCS GTO 9O-minute endurance race. "There is a myth propagated by certain elements of the media that there are two types of endurance racing in the United States· WERA racing in which the participants drone around at a slow rate of speed and somehow manage to drag their worn out bikes across the finish line, and the second part of the myth which alleges that AMA/CCS threehour and 9O-minute endurance races are populated by better teams with faster riders and bikes that are 20 mph faster than the other guys. It's all a lie. We can and will run as hard as necessary to win any type of endurance race in the United States, and we're happy to have done so today:' After finishing second in the Daytona 90-minute GTO race former Daytona 200 winner Dave Sadowski said during the post-race press conference that it was time to look for a way to slow down the top bikes at Daytona. "A couple of Superbike guys and I are trying to cut down on the speeds. Instead of the motorcycles, we're thinking of messing with the circuit some. Make an infield turn somewhere between the existing chicane and NASCAR (turn) four. It would seriously cut down the speed and tire temperature. The majority of the temperature is generated from the chicane to tum one. Each year the milesper-hour increase by three or four. The tire companies make harder and harder tires for the heat and when you get in the infield the tires don't grip as well. Dunlop has done the most with durability. If you come to the tire tests down here in December you see thousands and thousands of dollars worth of tires to test. If they put in an infield comer over there and lined it with some bleachers it might be an advantage for the Speedway," Sadowski said. Steve Patterson, who teamed with Chuck Graves to finish third on the Team Suzuki Endurance II bike in the' Daytona GTO race, was nursing an ankle he'd sprained during the previous weekend's AMA/CCS Expert Middleweight Supersport race. "I crashed on the banking in the 600 race coming into the wall. I'd like to think . the air fence helped, but the people out there said I slid under it and hit the wall. I wasn't sure because I was knocked out when I went down:' Rich Oliver, winner of the 1990 Daytona International Lightweight lOOk, is teaming with fellow Californian Chuck Sorensen on the Performance South Racing team this year. Formerly Team Vicious, they plan to initially concentrate on the WERA series. "We're kind of starting over with the team. We're running a fairly stock Yamaha TZ250. We've kind of decided to run WERA as a starting point. We're going to run four or five AMA races and maybe the whole championship next year. I haven't raced since last November, so I'm a little rusty," said Oliver, who finished second in the AMA 250cc Grand Prix Series round, the International Lightweight race, at Daytona. TNN's American Sports Cavalcade will air the activities of Daytona Camel Cycle Week at various times throughout the year and even next year. The Daytona Supercross by Honda will air for the first time on April 4 at 7:00 p.rn. Eastern time, and will be re-broadcast on May 9, October 10 and February 13, 1994. The Daytona 200 by Arai will be shown initially on April 18 at 7:00 p.m. and will be shown three more times: on June 20, August 15 and January 1,.1994. The 125cc Supercross show makes its debut on April 25 and will be shown twice more after that, on May 30 and January 1, 1994. The AMA/CCS 600cc Supersport race and Harley-Davidson TwinSport class will air initially on May 2; those races will air twice more, on August 15 and February U, 1994. To see Kawasaki Team Green's Larry Roeseler and Ty Davis paired up in Baja isn't such an unusual sight, but at Daytona? Motocrosser-tumed off-road racer Davis couldn't resist the temptation that the supercross presented, and with a little persuasion, Roeseler was conned into the act as well. With Roeseler spinning the wrenches, the duo converted Davis' off-road machine into a motocrosser. "We had to take the Bark Busters off and change the tires, gearing and suspension components," said Roeseler. Davis' time away from a track didn't seem to affect him, as he ran up front in the last chance qualifier and looked well on his way to qualifying. But what stopped him? "The chain snapped," said tuner Roeseler, shaking his head. "We were stopped by a chain. I think I'll stick to racing." Defending AMA National Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins was on hand as a spectator at the Daytona Supercross by Honda. When asked if he had any desire to compete, Hawkins laughed and replied, "Well, if they added a few trees here and there and cut down those jumps, I might consider it." While others were glued to the edge of their seats watching the action at the Daytona Supercross on Saturday, Team Vance & Hines Yamaha road racer Colin Edwards was spotted catching up on his sleep in the Arai Helmets hospitality suite. Papa gu~ that Edwards, a former motocrosser himself, was most likely dreaming about the Daytona 200. Matt Shue, who crashed in the second 125cc Supercross heat race at Daytona, was held overnight at Halifax Medical Center for observation. The Georgian suffered a concussion. In our March 3 issue, associate editor Donn Maeda predicted that defending Grand National Champion Chris Carr would "finish his last season on oval tracks in third," in our Rating the Hot Shoes feature. Carr confronted Maeda at Daytona and said; "Over a dozen people have come up to me and asked, 'Are you really retiring next year?' and I have to keep telling them that I'm not. Retirement is definitely not in the near future. I never said that I was going to quit dirt tracking, I only hinted that I wanted to go road racing in the future:' We stand corrected. Sorry, champ. And how did Chris Carr feel about Maeda's prediction that he would finish third? "If that's your opinion, then that's your opinion," said Carr. "That's fine. It only makes me want to win more than ever:' Carr finished fifth at the Daytona Short Track series opener. One dirt tracker that has proved our predictions wrong so far is veteran

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