Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTHEWIND By Papa Wealey ~ Five-time 600 National Champion Chris Carr (H-D) won the May 22 Castle Rock TT, round two of the AMA 600cc National Championship Series, held in Castle Rock, Washington. Dan Stanley ~ (Rtx) was second, while Andy Tresser 0'\ (Rtx), Aaron Hill (Rtx) and Bryan 0'\ McDowell (W-R) rounded out the top ~ five finishers. Grand National Champion .. Carr leads the series point standings with C"I a perfect 40 points. Hill is second with 21 Q) and Ricky Graham, who did not compete at Castle Rock, and Stanley are tied ~ for third with 16 points each. ~ • Former World Champion ]ordi Tarres rode his Gas-Gas to victory in the German round of the World Championship Observed Trials Series, May 23. The Spaniard topped Italian Donato Migli, who was also aboard a Gas-Gas, by 12 points, 26 to 38. Betamounted Spaniard Marc Colome was third with a score of 40. Defending World Champion Tommi Ahvala of Finland was seventh aboard his works Aprilia. Tarres leads the series point standings after three of 12 rounds with a total of 51 points. Colome is second at 46 and Amos Bilbao, the Montesa-mounted Spaniard who.was fourth in Germany, is third with 45. Ahvala is fourth with 41 points. Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz) won the six-hour WERA Power Mist/PM National Endurance Series round at Putnam Park in Meridan, Indiana, on May 22. Team Suzuki's Kurt Hall and Chuck Graves combined to beat HNS Racing (Yam) and Force Racing (Yam). Team Suzuki Endurance completed 257 laps to win by 52 seconds. ~e Healey (Suz) was the big winner at the Racing Enterprises-promoted Commotion by the Ocean VI, held at Carlsbad Raceway in Carlsbad, California, May 23. Healey won the combined Pro class, which was open to riders on all machine sizes. Steve Lamson (Hon) finished second ahead of Mike Fisher (Kaw), while Larry Brooks (Yam) and Ryan Hughes (Kaw) rounded out the top five. Hughes was the higheSt-finishing 12Sec rider, as Healey, Lamson, Fisher and Brooks were all aboard 2505. Mike Young (Hon) won round two of the Sound of Thunder Four-Stroke Series, , held in conjunction with Commotion by the Ocean VI, May 23. Greg Zitterkopf (KTM) was the runner-up, while Terry Fowler (Hus) rounded out the top three finishers. Steve Hatch (Suz) notched the overall win at round five of the AMA National Championship Enduro Series in Perkinston, Missouri, May 23. Defending champ Randy Hawkins was second, with Jeff Russell (KTM), Kelby Pepper (KTM) and Allen Gravitt (KTM) completing the top five overall finishers. Kevin Hines (Hus) was sixth. 2 Cliff Boswell, 87, a literary legend in the annals of motorcycling journalism, passed away quietly on May 20, following a massive stroke. The stroke came at his home in Arroyo Grande, California, on May 15. He was quickly hospitalized but never regained consciousness. Boswell's earlier career was as a high school teacher. In addition to teaching, his second love was motorcycling coupled with an equally strong affection for photography. What he was also able to combine with his two wheels and camera was a talent for expressing himself in the written word. He became a motorcycling photo-journalist, whose niche was touring and camping, and who will perhaps be best remembered for his monthly columns in Motorcyclist magazine and later in Road Rider magazine. Several books by Boswell were published, the first being Two-Wheeled Touring & Camping published by Bagnall Publishing Co. A later book on camp-out cooking was self-published. Boswell leaves his wife, after over a half-eentury of marriage, daughters Ellen and Susan, and son Carl Godspeed, Cliff. Bill Twigg, 80, died as a result of leukemia on Tuesday, May 18. The founder of Twigg Cycles in Hagerstown, Maryland, he was a friend of racing and racers throughout his adult life. His son Don campaigned Triumphs as an Expert flat track racer in the sixties and seventies. Twigg's shop started out as an Indian dealership in 1936, and over the years carried 20 different brands of motorcycles, Now, the dealership sells Yamahas, Suzukis and Kawasakis, and is currently being run by Twigg's grandson, Mike Twigg. He is survived by wife Kathryn, sons Marvin, Don and Bob, and six grandchildren. Services were held Friday, May 21. Godspeed, Bill. Garth Brow, who suffered a broken femur and cracked kneecap in a getoff at the MARS Half Mile in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on May 15, underwent three and a half hours of surgery the day following the race. He was then admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit after bone marrow entered his blood stream and decreased the supply of oxygen to his lungs. He was released from the intensive care unit on Friday, May 21. As a result of the injuries and loss of work plus the fact that he has limited medical insurance, Brow is, according. to his sponsor Tom Cummings of Cummings Harley-Davidson, "in a real financial mess. As of last Wednesday, May 20, Garth's medical bills were at the $15,000 mark. We are starting a benefit fund. People who care and would like to help Garth and his family should send what they can to the Garth Brow Benefit Fund." Donations should be sent to the fund, c/o Cummings Harley-Davidson Sales, 1515 S. Saginaw St., Flint, MI 48503. Led by former National MX Champion Mark Barnett, a contingent of 10 American motocrossers will compete in the first-ever motocross races on Curacao, the largest island (182 square miles, 57,000 population) of the Netherlands Antilles. The supercrossstyle races will be held in conjunction with a three-day monster truck/mud bog show during the first week of June. In addition to Barnett, J eft Frisz, Jeft Lampe, Lonny Bishsoft, ].R. Miller, Mike Marconi, Scott Taylor, Alan Andrew, Qoug Harvey and John Page will be going to Curacao, which lies 60 miles off the coast of Venezuela. According to Page, the team coordinator, the team's expenses are being taken care of by a mulitude of sponsors, including Tuff Racing, Oakley, CTI, Quik Ski Performance, Cycle Riders Suzuki, PitStop Racing, Cons Kawasaki, Beach Sportcycles, AXO, Yamaha of St. Augustine, Cycle Sports Center and ProAction. The 8th Annual British in the Blue Ridge National Rally will take place on August 20-21 at Bald Mountain Park in Hiawassee, Georgia. The event is co-promoted by the Triumph International Owners Club, the Greater Atlanta British Motorcycle Association and the British International Motorcycle Association. The pre-registration fee is $25 per person and includes a rally T-shirt and pin, tent camping Friday and Saturday night, endurance run, touring ride, swap meet, poker run, bike show, movies, field, events, tech sessions, and more. The Californiadesertbill awroaches showdown S en. Diane Feinstein apparently isn't .interested in negotiating with motorcyclists over the terms of her controversial California Desert Protection Act. For the second time since inviting input from the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and other motorcyclist groups, Feinstein has sidetracked a proposal to modify her desert bill, known as S21. ~e AMA, its District 37 affiliate covering southern California and other motorized recreation groups had been working to amend the bill because it would ban motorized travel throughout the vast areas of the California Desert. But as of May 12, Feinstein had stalled any review of the AMA's concerns over the issue of motorized access in the desert. Aides to the senator had indicated that she was "open to making changes" that would address a limited number of issues of importance to motorcyclists and others with an interest in the future of the desert. As a result, the AMA and its District 37 organization drew up a list of specific areas to be saved for motorized recreation. That plan added up to a small amount of the more than 8 million acres that would be closed to all motorized travel under the bill. In spite of that, though, motorcyclists were told that the senator would not accept their original proposal. Then she took no action on a second modification plan that was even more conciliatory. "We presented a very reasonable plan," said Robert Rasor, AMA vice president of government relations. "We asked only to protect a limited number of motorized recreation corridors within the desert. But so far, Senator Feinstein has decided to ignore our legitimate concerns. As a result, we find ourselves facing legislative warfare over this issue." Meanwhile, the unmodified desert bill, which also has the support of Sen. Barbara Boxer, the other member of the California Senate delegation, continues to move forward. California riders interested in maintaining access to the desert are urged to make their views known to both Feinstein and Boxer now. Riders outside California should write to their own senators. The Feinstein bill embodies the same close-minded approach to public lands being fostered by preservationist groups in other states. The precedent of a victory for those groups in California would speed up the process of closing riding areas elsewhere. Motorcyclists should also write to members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, asking them to oppose the California Desert Protection Act. They are Sens. J. Bennet Johnson (LA), Dale Bumpers (AR), Wendell Ford (KY), Bill Bradley (NJ), Jeff Bingaman (NM), Daniel Akaka (HI), Richard Shelby (AL), Paul Wellstone (MN), Ben Nighthorse Campbell (CO), Harlan Mathews (TN), Robert Krueger (TX), Malcolm Wallop (WY), Mark Hatfield (OR), Pete Domenici (NM), Frank Murkowski (AK), Don Nickles (OK), Larry Craig (10), Robert Bennett (UT), Arlen Specter (PA) and Trent Lott (MS). ' Concerned motorcyclists can write to the senators listed above and to their own senators at the United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510. grand door prize is a 1971 Triumph TR6C. For more information, call Dan Boyer at 706/886-7754 or James Hiter at 404/482-4268. A belated thank you to Brian Church for the use of Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California, for our recent 125cc MX shootout. For anyone in the southern California area looking for a place to hone their skills, Glen Helen offers open MX practice on their prepped and watered Grand Prix track every Thursday from 8 a.m. until dark, and on most Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Speedway practice is also available on Thursdays. For more inforrna-_ tion, call 909/880-1733. The Georgia Recreational Trail Riders, a non-profit off-road vehicle club which was formed recently in the Atlanta area, will conduct a trail ride in conjunction with the 10th Annual Ride for Kids street ride. The trail ride will take place in the Oconee National Forest ORV Area near Greensboro, Georgia, on Saturday, July 5, the day before the Ride for Kids street ride. All funds collected at both rides will benefit the Brain Tumor Foundation for Children. The annual Honda-sponsored Ride for Kids events, the brainchild of Atlanta's Mike Traynor, have raised $1.2 million for pediatric brain tumor research programs. For more information, call Peter Horst of American Honda at 404/442-2402. Friends of the late Jimmy Adamo and his family are organizing an auction to raise funds for jimmy's wife and two little girls that will take place in conjunction with the AMA National Championship Road Race Series round at Loudon, New Hampshire. The auction will be conducted by Jerry Wood and will take place in the paddock area of New Hampshire International Speedway on Friday evening, June 18. Among the items that will go to the highest bidder include jimmy's dual sport bike, a Cagiva Elephant, plus helmets and other personal items as well as items donated by companies and individuals. To donate items, contact Manfred Hect at 718/782-6636 or Wood at 207/548-2113. Speaking of Loudon, a ProTwins class will be run during the AMA National weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway. The race will take place on Saturday, June 19, and any four-stroke two-cylinder bike is allowed (watercooled bikes over 750cc must have been sold as U.S. street legal models and not be modified beyond Supel'sport rules). For more information, call the Penquin Racing School at 207/548-2100. Four-time World Champi~n Eddie Lawson did not show up for the Austrian Grand Prix, as many had expected, leaving Michael Doohan and all the other Honda riders feeling more secure for his absence. Doo,han was moved to joke about the story. When asked about the Jarama (Spain) tests after setting provisional pole position in Austria, he grinned, and said, "Well, luckily Eddie Lawson didn't tum up, so I was able to get a lot of laps in." But the spectre has not gone away, with Erv Kanemoto still very keen to get at least some Grand Prix rides for Lawson. "Erv's keen, and so is Eddie," said Lawson's manager Gary Howard, present at the Salzburgring (Howard also works with Kenny Roberts, Wayne Rainey, Doug Chandler and John Kocinski). "The situation is really politically sensitive - not only with IRTA concerning his entry, but also with Honda and their riders." Lawson now plans to finance his own entry into car racing, as a way of proving whether or not he has talent, while still leaving him the freedom

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