Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

The Glen Helen Dealer MX Series round that was to have taken place at Glen Helen OHV Park in San Bernardino, California, on June 6 but was rained out, has been rescheduled to Saturday, July 17. Team Pearls Suzuki, a WERA endurance road race team, recently performed exhibition laps at the Champion Spark Plug 500 NASCAR race at Pocono International Raceway. Team Pearls' Darryl Saylor did the riding on the team's Suzuki GSXR600. Road racer Rodney Burr, who was disqualified after winning the Yamaha Seca 11 Challenge event at the WERA Pro Series round at Moroso Motorsports Park on May 30, has been reinstated following an appeal. Burr's Yamaha was deemed illegal by WERA because the cylinder head had been machined. Following the appeal, however, Yamaha's Tom Halverson measured and compared Burr's head to a stock model ~d said that it was acceptable by their standards and revealed no advantageous modificiations. He did, however, reveal that "the finish of the gasket surface was the only thing that stands out as not being standard, as comes from the factory..." The corrected results are as follows; 1. Rodney Burr; 2. Gerry Hasher; 3. Kelly Drew; 4. Steve Doolin; 5. Kenneth Todd Cleveland. At the same WERA event at Moroso, Marc Conti finished second in the Future Stars race. Conti was participating at the event with a temporary WERA weekend competition license and told the WERA registrar that he was a Novice.. After an inquiry following the event, it was verified by the AMA/CCS that Conti had held an Expert license since January of 1993. Based on his Expert status with AMA/CCS, Conti has been disqualified from the Future Stars race. The WERA Pro Series round scheduled for July 23-25 at Indianapolis Raceway Park has been canceled and replaced by a WERA Regional race. The PowerMist/Performance Machine National Endurance Series race will take place as scheduled on Saturday, July 24, and Sunday's program will feature 1100, 750 and 600cc Superstock racing as well as WERA's regular races and the Yamaha Seca II Challenge. Formula USA, Formula IT, Formula ill and Future Stars races have been cancelled because of a lack of sponsorship support, according to WERA's Doug Gonda. At the recent Belgian 250cc MX GP, South African Greg Albertyn confirmed that he has had discussions with American Honda to ride the 1994 Camel Supercross and National Championship 250cc MX Series. The 125cc World Champion is currently leading the 250cc MX GP point standings. ~ussian Gennady Moiseev, the 1974, '77 and '78 250cc MX World Champion, attempted a comeback at the Belgian GP. He failed to qualify. American Bader Manneh was left without a ride when his Franciacorta Honda team disbanded at mid-season due to poor results. Italian Massimilliano Gazzarata, Manneh's former teammate, is now campaigning a Yamaha. 4 Yamaha's lack of a sand-riding expert in the 250cc MX GPs this year was once again emphasized in Belgium, as the manufacturer had only one rider, American Donny Schmit, in the top 10 in any moto. (Schmit failed to score in the first two motos, but finished eighth in moto three.) Their reliance on the defending champ - on sand and other surfaces - is such that the eighth-place performance of Swede Peter Johansson at the German GP is their only top-10 moto score not registered by Schmit. While American Billy Liles was recognized as the sand king in the 500cc GPs, his success has not transferred to the 250cc class. As his Johnson teammate Marnicq Bervoets was scoring the win in Belgium, Liles registered a zero, even worse than his two-point tally at the sandy Dutch GP in April. Crashes put Liles out of all three motos, but he admitted having difficulty adapting to the sand on quarter-liter machines; "The technique on a 250 is completely different. On the 500 I could brake into the tum and (still) have the power to accelerate around it, but on a 250 you have to keep the gas on going into the tum and use the momentum to keep you going." " Johnny Issacs of the Vintage Dirt Track Racing Association sent Papa a list of umpteen dirt track races - 17 events in 18 days - that are scheduled to take place in the Midwest in late July and early August. The short track, half mile and TT events take place in Oklahoma, Kansas and at Sturgis, South Dakota, and include AMA Pro-Am events plus Vintage Pro Tw~ Nationals. For information on the vintage races, give Issacs a call at 918/445-0671. The FIM has an'nounced that the 1993 World Championship Supercross Series will consist of eight rounds at five venues; October 9 at Goteborg, Sweden; October 30-31 at Amsterdam, Holland; November 20-21 at Barcelona, Spain; November 27-28 at Tokyo, Japan; and December 3 at Geneva, Switzerland. SuperSport's Bill West recently met with Adriano Costa, a member of the European consortium hosting the series rounds, and agreed to host an American round of the 1994 series at Atlanta in late October. Jeff Ward, the only rider to ever win titles in all four professional AMA motocross classes, will join the Walker Evans Off-Road Racing Team to compete in the remaining scheduled events in the Mickey Thompson Stadium OffRoad Racing Series. Ward, 31, who retired at the end of the 1992 MX season to pursue a career in auto racing, will drive a Craftsman-sponsored Dodge Dakota truck in the Grand National Sport Truck division. His first appearance will be at Rice Stadium in Salt Lake Gty, Utah, June 26. "At this stage in my career, I want to take advantage of every driving experience I can," said Ward. "When you think of off-road racing, you think of the name Walker Evans, and the opportunity to drive for him and to learn from him, will give me additional fourwheel driving experience toward my career goals." Ward will maintain his commitment to his 1993 Indy Lights Series program. Much was made of the fact that Scott Russell won his third straight Loudon Classic road race at New Hampshire International Speedway on Sunday, June 20, but Mike Baldwin reminded the press corps in attendance that he had w0!1 four straight AMA Nationals at Loudon in 1982, '83, 84 and '85. All Baldwin's wins came on Hondas when the Formula One class was the National. In addition, Baldwin, who was on hand at Loudon as a representative of Spectro Oil, won two Superbike races at Loudon. Road racer Mike Harth has been given clearance to return to racing after the serious injuries he sustained in an AMA/CCS Endurance race last May at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Harth took part in an open practice session at New Hampshire International Speedway on June 17. "I went as fast as I ever had," Harth said. 'Tm going to give it (a return to racing) some gerious thought." Vance & Hines Yamaha's Jamie Bowman will return to action at the Road Atlanta round of the AMA National Championship Road Race Series after missing two races due to a broken collarbone suffered while dirt biking. Bowman rides the Vance & Hines Yamaha FZR600 in the 600cc Supersport class. The June 20 Hangtown 125/250cc National saw Honda of Troy's Johnny O'Mara make a second attempt at a comeback. The '83 125cc National Champ announced at the beginning of the year that he would be making a comeback in the 125cc class, but an injury to his heel delayed his return. O'Mara was the victim of a first-turn pileup in moto one, and another crash a few laps later left him with a sore wrist. O'Mara opted to sit out the second moto. "It's a shame to get it started this way," said the former factory Honda and Suzuki rider. "I felt pretty good except for those crashes. If I was in the points hunt I'd probably have ridden the second moto, but I have nothing to gain, so I'll just wait until Red Bud." Kawasaki's Ryan Hughes, who missed the early part of the season with a broken leg, is back on the disabled list. Hughes jammed his thumb in a qualifier at the San Jose Supercross three weeks ago, and he opted to sit out the main event. A visit to the doctor revealed ligament damage to the thumb, requiring surgery. Hughes missed the Las Vegas Supercross and the Hangtown National. As if losing the Camel Supercross crown this year wasn't bad enough, Honda's Jeff Stanton will also be losing his mechanic, Dan Betley. Betley joined Honda with Stanton in 1989, but has announced that this will be his final year as a factory wrench. "I'm just tired of the travel schedule," said Betley. "I can't drive these trucks anymore, and I need to do something that will let me spend some time with my family. I'll miss the relationship with Jeff but there's a lot of it I won't miss. I'd like to' stay on with Honda in-house, but to be honest, I'd be surprised if that happens." Mike LaRocco Sr., father of Kawasaki factory rider Mike LaRocco, was negotiating the Kawasaki pits at Hangtown with the aid of crutches. LaRocco had twisted the knee in a volleyball tournament at the previous week's Camel Supercross post-season party in Las Vegas. He was scheduled to undergo surgery on Monday. Suzuki's Jimmy Button was back in action at Hangtown after breaking his collarbone in a crash a t the Dallas Supercross on March 27. He posted 1512 moto finishes for 13th overall in the 125cc class. Dave Bertram's Cycle Gear, a chain of motorcycle accessory stores in northern Ca lifornia, will sponsor French riders Alain Olivier and Thierry Magnaldi in the Nevada Rally this August. Olivier, a five·time ISDE gold medalist, rides for Kawasaki of France and will compete on a KLX650 four-stroke. He posted secondplace finishes in the 1992 Tunisia and Atlas Rallies. Magnaldi is a five-time French Enduro Champion and the winner of the 1992 Atlas Rally, and will contest a Honda XR600. Both riders should be threats for the overall. Scott Sweetman of Post Falls, Idaho, suffered fatal injuries in a street bike accident while riding home from his place 'of employment, Howard's Motorsports in Spokane, Washington. Sweetman, w,ho served as as a service technician at White Bros. in Yorba Linda, California, prior to moving to the Northwest, was an experienced road racer and trials rider. He is survived by his wife Pauleen, and two sons, Matthew,7, and Kenneth, 4. According to Dan White of White Bros., Sweetman was uninsured and donations to assist the family through these troubled times would be appreciated. Donations can be sent to: Pauleen Sweetman, 7350 E. Hauser Lake Rd., Post Falls, ID 83854. Randy Renfrow will team with Canadian Steve Crevier on a Honda VFR750 in the Suzuka Eight-Hour in Suzuka City, Japan, on July 25. ''I'm pumped," Crevier said. "It's always been a dream of mine to go to Japan." A horde of other Americans· are also set to compete in the World Championship Endurance Road Race Series rpund. Scott Russell will ride a factory Kawasaki along with his Muzzy Kawasaki World Superbike teammate Aaron Slight; Eddie Lawson is set to ride a factory Honda RVF750 with Japan's Satoshi Tsujimoto; Scott Zampach and Mike Hale will ride a Kawasaki; and Mike Smith will join Takuma Aoki on a Honda RVF750. Among the teams also expected to be strong for the eight-hour race is the number one Honda team of Daryl Beattie and Michael Doohan, although Shinichi Itoh is expected to replace Doohan for the race; the number one factory Suzuki team of Peter Goddard and Alex Barros; and the number one Yamaha team of Kevin Magee and Waturu Yoshikawa. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Buck's Cycle in Valparaiso, Indiana, Team Suzuki's Brian Swink, Damon Huffman and Jeff Matiasevich, on Friday, July 2, from 5 to 6;30 p.m. Info: 219/462-6911. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At M&M . Motor Mall in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Team Honda's Jeff Stanton, on Friday, July 2, from 5 to 7 p.m. Info; 616/3815800. HIRED: Jay Valdovinos, by Wiseco Piston Inc., as head of race and technical assistance. Valdovinos will work out of the Ohio-based company's Riverside and Santa Paula offices in southern California, attendIng major racing events. MOVED: Clean Racing USA, Steve Searcey's suspension-tuning company, to 2980 McClintock Way, Unit C, Costa Mesa, CA 92626; 714/957-3920. BORN: Kendall Marie Kaiser, daughter of Dave and Patty Kaiser of Answer Products, on June 14, in Mission Hills, California. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Cycle Country of Salem, Oregon, Suzuki OffRoad Racing Team's Rodney Smith, Steve Hatch and David Rhodes, on Thursday, June 24, from 6;00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Info; 503/378-0532. BORN: Jordan Doyle King, son of Kawasaki Team Green's Jeff and Beth King, on June 9, in Irvine, California. (;N

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