Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

_ Bmm~D~~_aW_~~9 Spaniard Jordi Tarres (G-G) scored his fourth straight win in World Championship Observed Trials Series competition, topping the fifth round of the series in Poland, June 6. Fellow countryman Marc Colome (Bet), who won the opening round, was second, three points behind Tarres, 27-30. Italian Donato Miglio (G-G) was third ... with a score of 33. Tarres leads Colome \0 in the series point standings, 91-80. ~ Spaniard Amos Bilbao (Mon), fourth in CIJ Poland with a score of 36, is third in the standings with 68 points. Joan Pons (G,.J G) finished fifth with a score of 42 to l--, give Spanish riders four of the top five positions. Defending World Champion Tommi Ahvala (Apr) of Finland was sixth with a 46 point performance and is fourth in the point standings with 66 points. Washington, June 6. Martin won the first leg and finished second in the second race to take the overall victory. Chuck Graves (Suz) finished second overall with Lee Shierts (Kaw) third. Joe Pittman (Due) won the second leg and finished seventh in the first race to claim fourth overall. Kurt Hall (Yam) topped Adam Faussett (Yam) and Mike Sullivan (Yam) in the Formula II class, and Rodney Fee (Hon) carne out on top in the Formula ill race. Jacky Martens (Hus) scored the overall win in round five of the World Championship 500cc MX Series in Faenza, Italy, June 6. Martens won the second moto and finished second in the other two. The runner-up was homecountry favorite Franco Rossi (KTM), who won the first and third motos, but finished out of the top six in the second moto. Third overall went to Italian Attilio Pignotti (Hon), while Great Britain's Jeremy Whatley (KTM) and Sweden's Jorgen Nilsson (Hon) rounded out the top five. The win moved Martens, who is campaigning a fourstroke Husqvarna, to the top of the series point standings with 179 points. Nilsson dropped to second with 169 points. . French Canadian Pascal Picotte (Due) kept his perfect record in the 1993 Motoplan-eastrol Canadian National Road Race Championship intact with a victory at Race City Speedway in Calgary, Alberta, on June 6. Picotte topped defending champion Steve Crevier (Kaw) and Michael Taylor (Kaw) to extend his championship points lead to 17 points over Taylor, 4932. e = The team of Danny Hamel, Larry_ Roeseler and Ted Hunnicutt (Kaw) scored the overall and Class 22 (Open) win at the Tecate SCORE Baja 500 that started and ended in Ensenada, Baja, California, Mexico, June 5. The trio completed the 266.1-mile race in 5 hours, 20 minutes and 59 seconds, averaging 49.74 mph. The runner-up Class 22 team of Chuck Miller, Mike Young and Dave Donatoni (Hon) finished the race in 5:38.45, at an average speed of 47.13 mph. Third overall went to the winning Class 21 (25Occ) tearn of Tim Morton and John Flores (Hon). The Darren Sanford/Jeff Martinez/Danny Anderson (Suz) team finished fourth overall and second in Class 21. Rounding out the top five was the Class 21 team of Brian Schmuck1e and Todd McKay (Kaw). Robert Prayther soloed to victory in Class 20 (l25cc), completing the race in six hours and 12 minutes. Rodney Smith (Suz) earned the overall win at round four of the AMA National Championship ReIiability Enduro Series in Idaho City, Idaho, June 5-6. Steve Hatch (Suz) was the runner-up, and David Rhodes (Suz), Jason Dahners (Suz) and Patrick Garrahan (Hon) rounded out the top five overall. Smith and Hatch are now tied for the series point standings lead with 78 points each. Fred Hoess (Hus), who did not compete in Idaho, is third with 58 points. Scott Plessinger (KTM) earned the overall win at the sixth round of the AMA Grand National Championship Cross Country Series in Millfield, Ohio, June 6. Second was Czech Jan Hrehor (Yam), and third went' to Doug Blackwell (Kaw). Rounding out the top five overall were Fred Andrews (Yam) and Robert Patterson (Ka~. 2 Michael Martin (Suz) won the third round of the WERA Formula USA Road Race Series at Seattle International Raceway in Kent, Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz) won the four-hour WERA Power-Mist/PM National Endurance Series race at Seattle International Raceway, June 5. Team Suzuki topped HNS Racing (Yam) by five laps with Arclight Racing (Hon) finishing third, another five laps behind. Tom Reiser (H-D) and Ted Wilkins (Rtx) scored the victories in the 800 and 540cc classes, respectively, at round two of the AMA National Championship Hillclirnb Series in York, Pennsylvania, June 6. Tim Frazier (Tri) was second in the 800cc' division, with Harry Schreiber (H-D) placing third. In the 540cc class, Scott Everett (Tri) was second, and Paul Pinsonnault (Hon) collected third. Lucky Strike Suzuki's John Kocinski and team manager Herve Poncharal are apparently at odds. The Spanish motorcycling press has reported that Kocinski announced while spectating at the Spanish round of the World Championship Superbike Series in Albacete on May 30 that he may leave the Suzuki 250cc GP team immediately if Poncharal continues to manage the team. Kocinski, who finished second in the opening round of the 1993 250cc World Championship in Australia, has been complaining since the first round that the Suzuki RGv250 is down on performance, and has told journalists that he is unhappy with the preparation of his machines. The Spanish reporters also said that Kocinski indicated tha~ his contract with Lucky Strike Suzuki includes a clause which allows him to leave at any moment to join another tearn. Sources close to Kocinski say the Little Rock, Arkansas, native denies saying any of this to the Spanish press, and that he will definitely be riding a Lucky Strike Suzuki at the next round of the series in Germany on June 13. Those same sources say there is no such clause in Kocinski's contract which would allow him to join another team. According to at least one of the Spanish journalists involved, the Kocinski comments were taped on an audio cassette. . Stay tuned. The Spanish magazines have also reported that John Kocinski has spoken with Sito Pons about riding for Pons in 1994. Pons runs a Honda 500cc GP team sponsored by Marlboro and Repsol with Alex Criville as its rider, and a' Honda 250cc GP team sponsored by Ducados with Alberto Puig as its rider. Kocinski rode a Team Marlboro Roberts Yamaha YZRSOO in 1991 and 1992, scoring two 500cc class wins and finishing fourth and third in the World Championship in those two seasons. Much talk about the new Honda superbike circulated prior to the Spanish round of the World Championship Superbike Series in Albacete, Spain, on May 31. The bike, which is referred to by the internal code name RC45 and is scheduled to be released at the end of the year, will eventually be called RVF750R and is expected to sell for roughly $30,000. In standard-trim, the injection-fed V-four engine will produce some 115 hp; a first kit will take that to 135 hp and a second kit - to be produced in a very limited number will provide some 160 hp to selected riders. The frame is based mainly on the RC30 - with overall dimensions very similar to those of a 250cc Grand Prix bike. The formidable power will corne partly from the PGM-injection, which is reportedly an even more advanced system than that used on the Ducatis. The Japanese engine management system will also take into account parameters such as the position of the throttle and possibly the compression. To achieve this, NGK has developed a compression sensor. Word on the street says that only two or three teams will receive official factory bikes next year, and the ItaIian Team Rurni and Belgian Hondaspecialist Jean D'Hollander (who entered a CBR600 in the European Supersport race for young Michael Paquay) were surprised to see how often they had to pour coffee for several riders, "just dropping in." Rumor has it that part of the Honda superbike squad in 1994 will consist of people who currently ride Ducatis. It caused Ducati team manager Raymond Roche to joke that he has started to look for sponsors, in order to ride a factory Ducati again next year. Or was it really a joke? It also looks as though the Ducati racing department in Bologna is having some trouble keeping up with the demands of the superbike teams. Which is not so surprising when you know that a lot of work has been done on the Roche Replicas, and that some parts for the 1994 Ducati have already been tested. In Hockenheirn, some factory riders \'{ere said to be riding around with parts from the bigger engine which will be used in the Italian bike next year. In addition, Italian Baldassarre Monti did not show up at Albacete. Ducati wasn't pleased with Monti destroying their test-bike at Hockenheim. But 'Sarre' is already covering his bases: apart from doing some testing for Team Ducati Grottini (led by Davide Tardozzi), he also did some laps aboard the 250cc GiJera GP bike in the weeks preceding the Spanish round. Parkersburg Half Mlle winner Kevin Atherton plans to make his road race debut in the 750cc Supersport class at the fifth round of the AMA National Championship Road Race Series round at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, June 12-13. Atherton will compete aboard his personal Suzuki GSXR750, and is excited about the event. "I still don't have a good rear shock for the bike, but the rest of it is ready to go:' said Atherton. '1t's funny, unlike most dirt trackers who go road racing, I'm not exceptionlly better at turning left. I can really bake it through the right-handers, but I have to really concentrate in the lefts. I keep wanting to flick it in." Once again, established road racers had little to say about the top finishing positions a t the third round of the AMA/Continental Tire HarleyDavidson 883 National Championship Series, held in conjunction with the Parkersburg Half Mile Grand National. While former Grand National Champions Ricky Graham and Jay Springsteen, along with fellow dirt tracker Jason Fletcher, ran away with the top three positions, AMA National TwinSports Champion Scott Zampach sat in the pits after failing to qualify. "I don't even know where to sit on the bike to make it slide," said Zampach, who finished last in his heat race. Chuck Blackmon was the only road race-reguIar who qualified for the main, and he finished a distant 13th after being lapped by most of the top finishers. Grand National Championship Series regular Terry Poovey was-not present at the Parkersburg Half Mile, opting to stay horne in Euless, Texas. "After I missed those two races (Sacramento and Pomona) earlier in the year, I figured that it would be better to stay home and wait for Dallas than to go all the way out there (to West Virginia):' said Poovey prior to the Parkersburg race. Also, I got hurt at a rough half mile (Pomona) last year, and I'm not too anxious to ride on those types of tracks." Poovey's predictions were correct, as the banked half-mile oval at West Virginia developed holes in all four turns that caught more than one rider off guard. In fact, before the start of the main event, former Grand National Champion Scolt Parker walked the track and marked the holes with flour. HI just want everyone to remember that they are there," said Parker. "The lighting wasn't real good and it's real easy to not see them at the speeds we're going." H At the Parkersburg Half Mile, Bob Conay asked us to correct a mistake that we made in our May 26 issue. We listed Corray as the tuner of the Loral Lake Racing Honda RS750 that Ronnie Jones campaigns at the western rounds of the Grand National Championship Series, when in fact it is Rick Canode who spins the wrenches. "Rick deserves all of that credit:' said Corray. HI'm just one of Ronnie's old buddies that helps with all of the other stuff at the track." Mike Young Jr., winner of the FourStroke Pro class at the May 23 Commotion by the Ocean, held at Carlsbad Raceway in Carlsbad, California, dropped Papa a line to add to his list of sponsors that we included in our coverage. "I'd like to make sure that all of the people who help me get their due credit:' said Young. "You'll also help get me ou t of some serious trouble." According to Young, his racing efforts are backed by IT USA,.Shoei, Maxxis Tires, K&N, 100%, Showa, Motu!, WOR, RK, HRD and Innovation Sports. The Radisson Inn in Oklahoma City will be the official race hotel for the July 31 OklaholJ'la City Half Mile, and a special room rate is available to those who mention the AMA Grand National Championship Series race. Racer and co-promoter Ronnie Jones and his partner Keith Brewer suggest that fans planning to make the trip reserve their rooms early, as the U.S. Amateur Dirt Track Nationals will take place in Oklahoma City just prior to the Grand National. To make a reservation, call 800/333-3333. A reminder that if you're in the vicinity of Seattle International Raceway in Kent, Washington, on June 13, Papa recommends you take in the 3rd Annual Tom Walther/Shawn McDonald Challenge Race for Safety. Funds raised at the special road race meet will

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