Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

South African Greg Albertyn (Hon) was the winner of the third round of the World Championship 250cc MX Series, held April 4 in Valkenswaard, Holland. Belgian Stefan Everts (Suz) was the runner-up, ahead of Belgian Marnicq Bervoets (Kaw). Americans Bobby Moore, Donny Schmit and Billy Liles finished eighth, ninth and 20th overall, respectively. Former champ Trampas Parker of Louisiana failed to score a single point. Albertyn leads the series points chase with 157, just ahead of Everts (124) and defending champ Schmit (117). Italian Pedro Tragter (Suz) scored the overall win at the World Championship 125cc MX Series opener in Bra, Italy, April 4. Frenchman Mikael Pichon (Hon) was second overall ahead of German Fredrick Werner (Hus). Tragter and Pichon are tied for the series point lead with 30, while Werner boasts 23 points. Rodney Smith (Suz) was the overall winner at round four of the AMA ational Championship Hare Scrambles Series in Redding, California, April 4. The runner-up was Scott Summers (Hon), while defending series champ Scott Plessinger (KTM) was third. New Zealander Andrew Stroud will ride a Weekend Warrior/Cruz Racing Team Ducati 888 in the AMA National Championship Road Race Series superbike race at Laguna Seca on April 18. Stroud, who competed last season on a Dutchman Racing Suzuki in selected endurance rounds and also rode the Britten at Laguna Seca and Daytona, will ride a bike prepared by Dave Moon. Stroud had earlier been tipped to join Eraldo Ferracci's Fast By Ferracci team, but the budget wasn't there to run a three-rider team. Stroud had already turned down the Valvoline Yamaha 500cc Grand Prix ride, thinking he was getting the ride with Ferracci. In addition to riding the Ducati in the superbike race, Stroud will also team with Nick Ienatsch on the Weekend Warrior Honda CBR600 in the AMA/CCS GTU Endurance Challenge round the day before the National. . Mark Cruz has announced that he, along with Motowear and Grand Prix Apparel, will be selling caps with a depiction of Jimmy Adamo and his Duca ti on the front. All proceeds from the hats, which will be on sale starting with the the Laguna Seca National on April 16-18, will go to the Jimmy Adamo Benefit Fund. "We thought this would be a nice way to honor Jimmy," Cruz said. "And to provide some much needed cash to jimmy's wife Melanie. We'll be selling the hats for $20 each, with the profits going straight to Melanie. This is something we will continue to do throughout the year at the Nationals and through mail order. Jimmy was loved by a lot of people, and I feel confident that we can count on the fans and the racing community. We may even add T-shirts." For more information contact Cruz at 818/284-6198. Don't forget to stop by the Cycle News booth on manufacturer's row at Laguna Seca Raceway during the April 17-18 National road race meet to register for a shot to win the giant blowup Cycle News cover poster of Colin Edwards. Yep, Edwards has autographed it! Motorcyclist and Sport Rider magazines performance tires, and- high-performance riding. For more information contact Jamie Elvidge at 818/760-4775. The World Championship Superbike Series has a new title sponsor for 1993 Victors, a throat lozenge produced by Procter and Gamble. In addition, the series will be backed by the Ford Motor Company. The 14-race series gets underway on April 9 at Brands Hatch in England. The series was previously sponsored by Diesel Jeans. A group of Ducati owners in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, are planning a motorcycle ride on Sunday, May 16 to raise money for the family of Jimmy Adamo. According to Mark Dillon, the ride will take place on May 16, beginning at 10:00 a.m. at TopLine Cycle in Richfield, Minnesota. The ride is open to anyone willing to make a contribution; a raffle is also planned with TopLine Cycle providing the prizes. For more information contact Dillon at 612/531-5724 (days) or Randy Kallevig at 612/522-8930 (evenings). Commotion by the Ocean VI, the Racing Enterprises-promoted annual motocross race held at Carlsbad Raceway in Carlsbad, California, will be held May 22-23. This year's two-day event will also host a round of the Sound of Thunder four-stroke series on Sunday. Pre-entry isn't required, but riders who pre-enter will receive a free pair of Gatorz sunglasses. For more information call 619/484-1441. After a successful 1992 performance, motorcycles will again be part of the July 4 Pikes Peak Hillclimb. This year's climb up the Colorado mountain will mark the 71st running of the predominately auto hillclimb. Sonny Anderson and Bill Brokaw are again in charge of the motorcycle portion of the hillclimb and they're looking for a major sponsor. lntertested parties can contact Anderson at 719/596-5454. Tony Bell, the creator of the cartoon strip Motocross Cat, suffered a fatal aneurysm at his home in Caulker Cay, Belize, in late March. Details are forthcoming and we'll pay tribute to Bell next week. A motorcycle art show is being planned for the July 12-13 weekend in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. This is the same weekend that Road America in Elkhart Lake will host a round of the AMA National Championship Road Race Series. The art show will be held at Seibkens Resort. Artists wishing to display their work should contact Gordon Lunde Sr. at 414/871-5682 for more information. Brandon Davidson of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, tells Papa that Summit Point Raceway's tum nine has been repaved. "Bill Scott has done a great job of repaving the fast turn... the turn has been completely repaved from side to side, from about halfway between turns eight and nine. The job was so well done you cannot even feel the transition into or out of the new pavement, and the dip has been smoothed out nicely. All you notice is gobs of traction." Davidson took to the track early last month, cour. tesy of Watkins Suzuki's Jim Runski, who had rented the West Virginia road race course for preseason testing. In addition to the repaving of turn nine, a new tower and scoring/timing building has been constructed. will hos t a series of free seminars at Laguna Seca on April 17-18. The five seminars will feature panels of experts and cover helmets, street survival, issues confronting motorcyclists in the '90s, Jeremy McGrath, the sensational young Team Honda motocrosser, has agreed to star in a video production titled "Showtime," which just happens to be IN THE WIND e ~~~~g~O~~~~o~aw~~ Rainey (right) rode his Marlboro Yamaha to a convincing six-second victory in Shah Alam, Malaysia, on April 4 in round two of the World Championship Road Race Series. In securing his 21st career 500cc Grand Prix win, Californian Rainey topped Rothmans Honda's Daryl Beattie in the 31-lap, 67.366-mile race, which was held in searing heat in the southeast Asian country. Third place went to first-round winner Texan Kevin Schwantz on the Lucky Strike Suzuki with Beattie's teammate, fellow Australian Michael Doohan scoring his first points of the season in fourth place. Marlboro Honda Pons' Alex Criville of Spain rounded out the top five finishers. The third American in the race, Californian Doug Chandler, finished ninth on the factory Cagiva after suffering a wrist injury in a qualifying crash; Yamaha France's Freddie Spencer did not compete due to a vision problem caused by his Australian GP crash on March 28. The win also moved Rainey in the championship points lead over Schwantz, 45-41. Beattie, in his first full season of GP racing, is third in the points chase with 33 points. Chandler and Criville complete the top five with 23 and 21 points, respectively. The Malaysian 250cc Grand Prix saw three of the top 10 finishers docked a lap for jumping the start, resulting in a late-hour change in the official results. The race was won by Kanemoto Racing Honda's Nobuatsu Aoki over fellow Japanese rider Tetsuya Harada on the Telkor-Yamaha Valesi entry. Third place across the line was Marlboro Team Pileri Honda rider Loris Capirossi, but the Italian was later relegated to 12th after jumping the start. With Capirossi being penalized, Japan's Tadayuki Okada on the Rothmans Honda made it an all Japanese winners' rostrum with his third-place finish. HB Racing Honda's Dorlano Romboni of Italy finished fourth with Lucky Strike Suzuki's John Kocinski of California rounding out the top five finishers. Rothrnans Honda's Max Biaggi and Cardus Honda's Carlos Cardus were the other two riders penalized, dropping the Italian and Spaniard from fifth and eighth to 17th and 18th, respectively. Harada, who won the opening round in Australia, leads the 250cc World Championship point standings with 45 points, nine more than Aoki's 36. Kocinski is third with 31 points. German Dirk Raudies of Team Europa Raudies kept his perfect season intact with his victory over Kazuto Sakata in the 125cc GP. Sakata's F.C.C. Technical Sports teammate, fellow Japanese Taakeshi Tsujimura, finished third with the top three all mounted on Honda RSl25s. Raudies leads Sakata, 50-40, in the championship with Spaniard Herri Torrontegui, ninth in Malaysia, Tsujimuia and Japanese Masafumi Ono, sixth in Malaysia, all tied for third with 23 points. his nickname (check out the back of his riding pants). The Motovideo production will be co-sponsored by Sinisalo and it will highlight McGrath's racing career, including footage from as far back as Ponca City in 1987 and as recent as this year's outdoor National and Supercross Series races. Release date has been tentatively set for September. Speaking of videotapes, Cosmopolitan Motors has about 50 different titles of observed trials videos they're selling for $15 each. For a free list, call 800/5232522 The Motorcycle Asphalt Racing Series (MARS) returns to South Carolina's Myrtle Beach Speedway for the fourth running of the Grand Strand Championship Half Mile on Saturday night, May 15. The Carolina HarleyDavidson Dealers Association-sponsored event's $20,000 purse should attract a large field of Expert class flat track racers. If the thought of sidecars racing on oval tracks excites you, check out Super Sidecar Thunder, a series of six races that got underway last weekend in Madera, California. Upcoming races will take place in conjunction with car races at Ukiah, California; on May 8, Lakeport, California, on June 19; Eureka, California, on July 10; Carson City, Nevada, on August 14; and back at Madera on September 18. For more information,call916/577~ If you join the AMA at an AMA membership booth at any of four AMA National Championship Road Race Series meets this season, you'll receive a Superbike Series bandanna at no extra charge. The four races where the ban- e Cf) 0\ 0\ ~ .... ~ ~ :-::::l .7 $-< ~ dannas will be available are Laguna Seca, April 17-18; Road America, June 12-13; Mid-Ohio, August 7-8; and Sears Point, August 28-29. The bandanna features full-color superbike action graphics and the entire 1993 AMA National Championship Road Race Series calendar. There were three Japanese riders competing at the second round of the 250cc World Championship MX Series in Jerez, Spain. Tatsuyuki Motoki was the only one to qualify, but the 17-year-old Honda rider crashed after setting his qualifying time. Motoki damaged ligaments in his left knee and was unable to compete. Takamasa Takagi, Motoki's teammate, and Tomoyuki Kawasaki are the other two Japanese riders contesting the GPs. Kawasaki is riding a basically stock Yamaha YZ250, though he does have factory Ohlins suspension provided by Yamaha Europe. Speaking of suspension, conventional (right-side up) forks are definitely the latest. fashion in European MX GPs, if the Spanish round is any indication. In addition to the massive conventional Ohlins units used by defending champ Donny Schmit and several other Yamaha riders, Trampas Parker, Kurt Nicoll and Gert Van Doorn have conventional Marzocchis fitted to their machines. Greg Albertyn, the 125cc World Champion who is currently leading the 250cc points race, is using a conventional Kayaba fork, though he and Rob Herring are considering switching to conventional Marzocchis. Meanwhile, Marzocchi is rumored to be preparing Parker a set of conventional forks that will not project so far below the axle; the long axle underhang of most conventional forks often causes them to drag in ruts. 1

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