Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

B Chu ck Graves (Suz) was th e ov era ll Fo rm u la US A w in ne r a t the WERA California Cycle Jam at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California, July 11. Graves finis hed th ird in the first leg and won the secon d to top his Valvoli ne Suzuki teammate Michael Martin (Suz) an d Paul Harrell (Su z). Perfo rm an ce Sout h 's Rich Oliver (Ya m), who w on th e first F-USA leg b ut crashe d in th e second leg, wa s the Formula II winner, n ar rowl y defeatin g Chri s 0' Aluisio (Yam) a n d Danny Walker (Ya m) . Tommy Hayden (Hon) slip p e d p ast Rodney Fee (Hon) to win the Form ula III race b y inc hes . Tommy's brother Nicky Hayden (Hon) was third . Defe ndi ng champion Scott Plessinger (KTM) won the fifth ro und of the AMA C ha m pionship H a re Na tio na l Scra mb les Se r ies . a t H o oksto wn, Pe nnsylva ni a, Jul y 11. C ze c h Jan H re h o r (Ya m) was second a hea d o f local riders Jeff Lauth (Ka w ), Robert Bennett (Kaw) and Rick Kresic (Yam). Scorching temperat ures forced several ' r id ers to drop o u t, in clud ing Duane Co n n er a nd series point s le ade r Rodney Smith, who spen t the nig h t in the hospital. Loui s D. Ge rencer (H- D) and Lou ie Gerencer (H- D) m ad e the July 11 Log a n , O h io , ro u n d of th e AMA Nat ional Cha m pionship H ill cl im b , Series a Gerencer family affai r by finishin g 1-2 in the 800cc cla ss . Glendall Pe tt y (Tri) p r e v e n ted a HarleyDav idson sweep of the top five positions as Ha rley riders Harry Sch reiber an d Tim Frazi e r finished fo u r th an d fifth beh in d Pe tty. Ted Wi lkins (Rtx) topped the 540cc cla ss. Scott Eve re tt (Tri) and Michael Pul ver (Kaw) we re secon d and third, resp ectively. The AMA has filed suit in the Superior Cou rt of Ca ba r r us C o u nty, North Ca roli na , agains t Th eodore Franklin Cummings and Ka thryn Cumm ings, officers of Internationa l Cycl e Events In c., wh ic h promoted th e AMA National Road Race Series event held at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 1-2. The su it a lle ges fal se rep res en ta tions a n d co nc ea l me n t of fac ts b y the Cummingses, who presented the AMA with a $78,000 ch eck w hen they knew th ere w ere in su ffi ci en t fu n d s in th e bank to cover the check . The check was in p ay me n t o f rid e r purse and rid er medical insurance fees and w as reportedly accepted at the track on April 30 by Dick Maxwell , wh o was then AMA vice presid ent of sports marketing (he r esi gned that p os it ion o n July 8), d espite the fact that AMA p olicy states th at p a ymen t by ch eck be made tw o weeks pri or to an event (a safegua rd to ass u re that a check clears ). The AMA ha s paid the purse and insu rance pa yments and has sued for recov ery of the fun d s and tr eble da mages. The lega l action do es not involve Charlotte Mot or Spe ed w ay, which In terna tional Cycle Even ts had rented as an indep en den t pro mo ter. Due to scheduling confl icts at the CalExpo Sta te Fa irgr ound s, the Sa cra m en to M ile ro und of th e AMA Grand Nationa l Champ ionship Series has been rescheduled . Ori ginally scheduled for Oct ober 2, the race will now be held Satu rday night, Sep tember 25. Shoemaker Productions and th e CMC has asked us to spread th e word tha t so u th e rn Californ ia ' s Te m e cu la Motors ports Compl ex is "not now nor ha s it ever been closed." Th e original Temecula MX trac k was located on the alleged site of an Indian burial ground s and it will be closed until excavation of th e s ite is completed, hop ef u ll y in Au gust . While excavating is going on, a n ew , temporary track has been bu ilt a n d the 1993 sch e d u le is b e in g fo llowed. The track will be open for practice on August 13 and August 14 and a ra ce will be cond uc ted on August 15. Fo r more in fo rma ti on, ca ll 619 /2467262. The South African Grand Prix, which was to have taken'place on October 3 as the fin al ro u n d o f the 1993 Wo rld Championship Road Race Series, has been canceled for reasons of "politica l ins ta bi li ty, " according to th e FIM . In m aking th e a n no u ncement, the FIM s ai d, " In for ma tion regarding it s repla ce men t w ill be co m m u n cia t ed later." If a replac ement is not fou n d, the re would b e only five rema in in g rounds with the September 12 U.S. GP closin g ou t the se ries. As rep orted last week, Rothmans is set to p ull ou t of motorcycle racing, and switch all their sponsorship to Formula One car racing. They will ba ck the'dominant Willi ams-R en au lt team in 1994 - an d 1995, and w ill with d ra w not on ly . from motorcycle GP racing but also all invo lve men t w it h Mi tsubishi in th e rally-raid series . The decision came as a s hock, a fter ni ne years in which th e British-based Sou th African -ow ned cigarette firm was a ma jor sponsor, and won seven GP World Cha mpions hips as well as one IT Fl title and one World Endu ra nce Cham pi onsh ip. They a lso set the tone for the new luxurious padd ock life. Th eir withd ra wa l leaves the officia l works Ho nda team to find new backers for next yea r. However riders including Michael Doohan and Daryl Beattie - are contracte d directly to HRC ra th er than Rothman s. Rot hm ans came in to b ike racing with Hond a in 1985, ba ck ing t he works H RC team . They wo n the 250cc and 500cc titles firs t time out w ith Freddie Spencer tha t yea r, the 500cc title wi th Wayne Gardner in 1987 and with Eddie Lawson in 1989. They al so wo n th ree more 250cc titles, one with Anton Ma ng and two more with Luc a Cadalora, w ho is still re ignin g champ ion. Thei r pull-ou t is likely to have a seriou s affect w ith in bike racing , where worried faces were to be seen on all sid es. Alre ady rumors link ed Team Robe r ts , rid er W a yne R a i ne y and me ga-bucks s ponso r Marlboro, with a move to Honda fo r 1994. Other ea rly repor ts lin king Camel with HRC turned ou t to be w ishful th inking. Camel ha s been displaced from the Team Williams cars b y Rothmans, but durin g th e Fourth of Jul y week end a nn oun ced a fu ll-scale wi thdrawal from all forms of mo torsport ove rseas . Ano ther po ssibili ty is Can on, also di splaced from the W illiams team b y Rothman s . Th ey announced their withdrawa l fro m Fl raci ng also during the week end, and have old associa tions w ith Honda. Wayn e Rainey ha s finally rejected the 1993 Yamaha chassis tha t has trou bled him all seaso n, and swi tched to a pa ir o f Roc chassis as used by the new-genera tio n Yamaha privateers. The th reetime World Ch amp ion belie ves the switch ma y mark the turning point in h is so- fa r troubled tit le d efen se . It echoes last year, wh en he found himse lf apparently out of con tention, but closed up a huge po in ts defi cit on the in jured Mi cha el Doo h an to win the title by the year's end . Now he is 28 p oints b e h ind Ke v in Sc h wantz, and sa id, " If Kevi n d rops on e race, I'll be r ight with him -.rr Ra in e y h a s comp lained about th e lack of response of th e fac to ry chass is since it w a s fi rs t te sted in Aus tra lia in February, bu t th ou gh the team is now on the third IN THE WIND ~ ~;=~~~~;~~~ ~~~~AMA ~ p rofessional ride rs and A class amateurs, complemented by fu ll sla tes of AMA amateur racing. The 12Sec and Open classes will be run under AMA professional racing rul es, with any d isplacement machine eligi ble for the Open class. Amateur support classes will be a t the option of the promo ters. Each race will offer a $7000 purse, with ano the r $6000 to be d istributed to the top riders in the final po int standings. Sala ried factory rid ers will not be eligible for the po int fund awams. Riders contesting the AMA Fall Classic MX Series w ill compete in two point-paying motos at each eve nt, with overall race winners based on total points earned. The even ts for 1993 have been confirm ed at six of the best-known motocross facilities in the east, including three which host AMA National Championship MX Series events. 1993 AMA Fall Cassie MX Series . September 25-26 Red Bud Track 'N Trail October 2-3 Raceway Park October 9-10 H igh Point Raceway October 16-17 Birch Creek Motor Sports & Recreation Pa rk October 23-24 Mu ddy Creek Raceway October 30-31 Ga torba ck Cycle Park version, he has con tin ued to complain and his results have su ffered. "W e jus t don 't ge t the ·feedback fro m tha t chassis - we 've bee n s truggling all th e time. It doesn' t rea ct to settin g cha nges in the norm al way. It' s bee n real hard on my mec hanics, and Dunlop have built something like 49 different fron t tires to try and co mpensa te. The Yam aha factory d idn't respon d to ou r com plaints - I th ink the wo rst th ing I did w as to win the Japa nese GP. It was only because the o ther guys screwed up, but the factory thought it showed their bke was good eno ugh in spite of what I said . I tried the Roc ch assis for two laps o n race morn ing at Assen. I wanted to race it there, bu t the team fe lt there were too ma ny unknown quan ti ties . I t ri e d it again h e r e (in Spain a t the GP of Europe) on the firs t day of practice, back to back with the factory chassis, an d after that I told my mechanics to bol t me up another Roc. Both my b ikes are no w Roc chassis we've struggled for long enough w ith the other one." After struggling to finis h fifth at Assen after qu alifying on th e second row o f th e grid , in Catalunya-he wa s back and com pe ting for pole po sition , and hoping th at th e w riting was on the wall for early title leade r Schwantz. John Kocinsk i to ri de Aprilia ? Very p ossibl e, from the next ra ce onwards. But the affa ir had not been fin alized during the GP of Europe, less than one week after he found himself without a job. In the wake of the forme r 250 champ ion ' s acrimon ious s p li t wi th Team' Lu cky S tr ik e Suzuki, 'h is name wa s linked with any nu m ber of possi ble rid es for the GP of Europe - bu t the former 250cc World Champion was a nons ta r ter, and issued a press sta te me nt saying he regretted missing wha t was almost his home GP (he spe nds most of h is t im e w ith g ir lf ri en d Tot i in Catalunya) , a n d promising: "l Tl b e back." He watched th e rac e incognito amo ng the VIPs and crisp tablecloths in the $175 hosp itality su ite on top of the pits, where he was the gues t of Dorna. Th ere had bee n a sma ll scramble to secure hi s services for the res t of th e season , most of them wishing he cou ld rid e for them right away. O ne offer is sai d to hav e come Kocinski 's wa y from Cagiva, who cou ld have let him use the bikes in Spain that are usually ridden by the inju red Mat Mladin, but are sa id to have wanted a quick decision and a commitment for next year as well. 0\ 0\ 'l"""'l .... 'l"""'l C'l >-. ~ ;::l -.. Buchanan, MI Eng lishtown, NJ Mt. Morris, PA Danville, VA Blou ntv ille, TN Gainesville, FL Anothe r po ss ib ility was on th e H B H on d a 250 cc team w here he w o u ld have fille d in for the inju red Doriano Romboni, bu t the team decided against re pl aci n g the ir star, who will be back later in the season. The likeliest scenario puts Kocinski on a factory-backed full works Aprilia. Early rumors suggest ed Ches te rfield backing , m a kin g h im at leas t a na tional tea mm ate of motocrosser-turned-road racer Jean-Michel Bayle. Ko cin sk i' s price for this year was unde rs tood to have drop pe d sharpl y, though he hoped to make up lost ea rnings w ith big bon uses for race wins and e ven a title wi n . But he is said to be re lucta n t to co mmi t h imself for n ext year. Kocinski's pl a ce on th e Suzuki 250cc te am w e n t to 24-y e a r-o ld New Zeal an d er Simon Crafar, who moves from the 500cc class where he was riding the Tea m Peter Graves Harris (to an excellen t nin th at Assen). Crafa r tested the bi ke a t Paul Ricard , mainly to get the control po sitions adjusted and the sea t m o ve d back, and made a good impression w he n he ro de th e bike in anger for the first time at Catalunya, placing 13th 'fas tes t in the first (wet) un timed session , and 15th the next m orning in th e d ry. "To be honest, it felt (like) crap at first," Crafar said afte r the firs t day. "The bike is still on much softer springs than I need, because John is much ligh te r than me. He also rid es with his weight forward , and ran very quick stee ring geometry. I like to ride fu r ther b ack, and to h a ve m ore trail w ith flatter triple clamps. But ev erything I said to the team they immed iately adjusted th e bike, and it is better eve ry time I ride it. They're d oi ng a really good job." Crafar ha s virtually no 250cc GP class experience, but is a successfu l supe rbike rider w ho admits his ultimate goal is a 500cc GP rid e. " But I' m rea lly gla d I'v e had this chance on a wo rks bike," he said. GP 500cc class new co mer Yoko hama con tinued to lose ground in th e so lo cla sse s, with their la st 500cc rider Andrew Str oud switching to Dunlop tires at Catalunya. Stroud, another New Ze al ander, took over from American rid er All an Scott in chassis constructor Ha rris's own team at Hockenheim. an d ra ced twice on Yokohamas b efore following other 500cc rid ers Sean Emmett and Cees Doorakkers over to Dunlo ps . It seems while the Yokoha ma front .tires . are acceptab le, the rears a re still fa r from the required standard. In the 250cc class, lo ngtime loya l Yokohama use r 1

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