Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

in the sixth round of the Victors Superbike World Cha mpionship in Brno, Czechoslovakia, July 18. Fogarty Cf') topped Russell and Aaron Slight (Kaw) in the first leg with Russell turning the ~ tables on Fogarty in th e second race. r l Stephane Mertens (Due) finished third ... in the second leg . Giancarlo Falappa 00 (Due), the championship leader going N into Brno, finished fifth in the first leg >-. before crashing in the second. Russell ,........j now leads the title chase with 167.5 ;::l points to Fogarty's 146.5 and Falappa's t---, 146. Swede Jorgen Nilsson (Hon) scored the overall win in round eight of the World Championship 500cc MX Series at Mill, Holland, July 18. Nilsson recorded 5-2-1 moto finishes, while fellow countryman J ohan Boo n en (Kaw) tallied a 2-1-6 moto score to ea r n second ov eral!. Rounding out the top five were firstmoto winner J ack y Martens (Hus), Carlos Hu lsen (Hon) and Marcus Hansson (Hon). By winning the Dutch GP, seri es points leader Nilsson no w has a s li m three point lead ove r Martens, 302-299. Joe l Sme ts, sixt h overall on the da y, is third with 269. In round nin e of the World Ch amp io n ship 125cc M X Series in Laguepie, France, July 18, home country favorite Yves Demaria (Suz) scored the overa ll win via 3-1-3 moto fin ishes, whi le Pedro Tragter (Suz) finished second with a 1-5-6 tally. Mikael Pichon (Hon) fi nis hed th ir d, whil e Joakim Karlsson (Suz) a n d Ita lian Alessio Chiodi (Hon ) rounded out the top five. Trag ter still leads the series points chase with 347 points, and Demaria is second wit h 322. Davey Strijobs is third with 285. Two Brothers Racing (Ho n) exte nded their cham pionsh ip poi nts lead by winning the attrition a n d heat-plagued AMA/CCS EBC End urance Challenge at Road Atlanta, July 17. Tommy Lynch and Nic k lenatsch team ed up to complete 121 laps (304.92 miles) of the 2.52mile circ u it a t a n av erage s p eed of 101.835 mph on a day that the temperature and humidity were both in the mid 90s. Second place, 55.261 seconds back, was FastlinelMCM Suzuki (Suz). Scott Zam pach teamed with Michael Barnes, who was making his return to racing after a five-week injury induced lay-off. Barely Human Racing (Yam) finished third, the team of Mark Brubacher and Neil Jenkins teaming up for the first time in Brubacher's first race of the year and first AMA race. Afte r eight of 12 rounds, Two Brothers leads Fa stline/MCM Racing, 259-230. Dutchman Racingis third with 205 after fini shing )7th when the ir Ya m a h a FZRlOO Ooverheated on the 76th lap. 2 Moto Liberty/Nankai II (Suz) mo ved into a tie for th e GTU championship points lead with their second win of the year with Takahito Mori sharing the ride at Road Atlanta with Mike Harth, who was mak in g his re tu rn to AMA racing followin g his near fata l crash at th e Cha rl ot te Nation al in 1992 . The team comp leted 119 laps (299.88 miles) a t a n ayerage speed of 99.602 m ph. Yamaha of Lee sburg (Yam) finis hed second with Mike Taylor and David Estok at the h elm , 13.612 seconds beh ind. Northwest Racing (Hon) fin ished third with riders Andy Fenwic k and Dea n Mizdal three laps down in th ird. Moto Liberty / Na nkai II is now tied wi th 4& 6 Ra ci ng, form erly Hornblower Racing, with 204 points . Bill Hornblower retired from racing and sold the team's Honda CBR600 to Jim Rashid of 4&6 Cycl es. Former Hornblower Racing teamsters Jon athan Cornwell and Owen Weichel rode the 4&6 Racing Honda to sixth place after running in to m ech a n ical problems early. Ame rican Flyers (17th) and Sou th wes t Mot or sp o r ts, w ho d id n ' t race, are tied for third with 173 points . Mike Goodwin, 48, the form er promoter of supercross races, wa s arrested in Santa Ana, California, on Wednesday, July 14, on s us picio n of bankruptcy fraud. The arres t wa s mad e by FBI agents in a fed eral bankruptcy courtroom in Santa Ana where Good win had appeared to question a judge' s handling of a $3-million p ensi on fu n d t ha t Goodwin says he has from a company he was formerly invol ved with. A federa l judge ordered tha t th e 14-count ind ic tmen t against Goodwin rem ain sealed until Goodwin's ex-wife, Diane Seidel, was arrested . She surrendered to au thorities on Friday, Jul y 16, after flying to Cali fornia from Florida. Later tha t sam e day, both plead ed not gu ilty in U.S. District Court in San ta Ana to two counts of bankruptcy frau d and 12 co u n ts of m on e y la u nde ri n g . Th e indictment alleges tha t Goo d wi n and Seidel fraud ule ntly transferred and concea led "criminally derived property" ($58 0,000 ob ta ined from re al estate transaction s) by purchasing cas hier's checks with the mon ey in one week in May, 1988, andthen used the majority of the money to buy 'g o ld coi ns. An ass ista n t U.S . attorney said that Goodwin faced three to five years in prison if con victed . His trial is schedul ed to begin on Sep tember 7. According to re ports in area newspape rs, Good win 's arrest is not conn ected with th e unso lved mu rder of Go odwi n ' s form er partner Micke y Tho mpson and Thompson 's wife Tru d y in March, 1988. The Thompsons were slain outsi de the ir Los Angeles area home in what authorit ies said was a professional sla ying. A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide investiga tor sheriff' s spokes ma n told the Oran ge County Reg ist er tha t Goodwin has "never been eliminated as a (m u rder ) suspect. " Good w in a n d Tho mp son ended th eir bri ef (five month) partnership in 1986 and sue d each other. As a resu lt of the lawsuits, Go od win w as ordered to p a y Thompson $768,733. Goodwin , who never paid Thompson, the n file d for bankruptcy . Goodwin wa s o rde re d back to jail after th e July 16 hearing, pend ing ,th e posting of a n $850 ,000 bond. Se idel was relea sed on the promise that a $50,000 bond be posted by July 23. For mer 250cc World Ch a mpi on John Kocinski ha s ch anged ma nage me nt companies follow ing his dismissal from the Lucky Strike 250cc Gra nd Prix team. Kocinski has ended his long associa tion wit h Gary Howard and Intern a tion al Racers, Inc. and his business ventures will n o w be h a ndl ed b y Dave Stevenson, w ho is best known for manag ing s uch m o tocr oss stars as Jeff Stanto n and former motocrosser and current off-road truck racer Rick Jo hnson. Stevenson also manages former Gra nd National Champion Bubba Shobert. Accordi ng to Stevenson, who is based in Sa n Diego, California, Kocinski will be working on securing a place on a team in an effort to win the 1994 500cc World Championship and is ready to sacrifice the remainder of the '93 season if necessary . Stevenson said the first pr iority is to contac t Kocinski's Doohan back on trackin Italian GP othmans Honda's Michael Dooh an (right) won his first Grand Prix since suffering the badly broken leg that ruined his chances of a SOOcc World Championship last year, topping Lucky Strike Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz in the San Marino GP at Mugello, Italy, July 18. ' Doohan led fr om th e s ta rt but was p ressu red throu ghout by Schwantz, who slowed in the final laps becau se of a vibration to finish 9.953 seconds behind the A u stra li a n. Third plac e we n t to Marlboro Yam aha's Wayne Rainey after he struggled with his Yamaha YZRSOO to finish a fu rther 21.748 seconds beh in d Schwan tz. Rothmans Honda' s Shinich i Itoh a nd Raine y's Marlboro Ya maha teammate Lu ca Cadalora rounded out the top five finishers. Californian Doug Chandler missed the race after crashing the factory Cagiva and suffering a concussion during Saturday's qua lifying session. Sch w an tz 's seco nd place allowed him to e ~tend h is le ad in the World Cha mpio ns hip point sta ndi ngs to 23 points over Rainey, 192-169, with four races remaining . Doohan's win moved him to third in the standings wi th 120 poin ts, just four clear of his teammate Daryl Beat tie, who finished sixth in Italy after crashi ng hard in qu alifying. Italian Loris Capirossi rode his Marlbo ro-backed Honda NSR250 to a narrow .118of-a-second win over the factory Aprilia of countryman Loris Reggiani in the 250cc Gran d Prix of San Marino. Champions hip lead er Tetsuya Ha rada finished third on the Telkor/Valesi Yamaha with Aprilia's J.P Ruggia and Rothm ans Honda's Max Biaggi rounding ou t the top five finishers. Hara da leads Capir ossi in the champi onship point standings by 45 points, 151-106. HB Honda's Doriano Romboni, who is out of action with a broke n leg, Biagg i and HB Honda's Helmut Brad l, seventh in Italy, are in a three-way tie for third with 96 points. German Dirk Raud ies won his sixth 125cc GP of the seaso n to further extend his championship points lead. Raudies and his Team Europa Ho nda topped the F.C.C. Technical Sports Honda of Kazuto Sakata and the Elf Team Kepla Honda of Akira Saito in taking the victory. Raudies now leads Sakata, 177-165, with Takeshi Tsujirnura, ninth in Italy, third in the standings with 110 points. ' . R many loyal sponsors to see what he can do in order to "do right by them " for the current year and to assure them tha t his future holds great op po rtunities for all involved. Kocins ki is the second rider this year to leave International Racers Inc., joining Scott Russell, who broke his contract wit h Howard prior to the start of the 1993 World Championship Superbike Series. After sweeping both Syra cu se Mile races, Ricky Graham was overcome wi th emotion as he stood atop the winne r ' s p odium on Sunda y, July 18. "Every time that 1sta nd on the box after a race, 1 think ab out where 1 was two years ago," said Graham in reference to his rollercoaster 1991 season. That year, Graham scored his first win after a fouryea r dry spell, but later in the season was a r res te d fo r dri ving und er th e influence of alcohol and fired from the Eaken/Sponseller team as a result. "I can rem ember wa lking through the pits and feeling as if everyone was looking down on me. I was ready to reti re a t that' po int, but now look where 1 am. I'm a whole d ifferen t man now, attitude is every thing." After h is two most re cent wins at Syracuse, Ricky Graham now sits only one wi n away from ty ing his form e r fac tory Ho nd a te ammate Bu b b a Shobert for third on the all-time Grand National wi n list. Shober t scor ed 33 wins, while Gra ham has upped his total to 32 with his mid-season tea r. "I'm only one win away from 01' Bub," said Graham with a smile w hil e fli pping through a media gui de. "Looks like my old teammate might have to come out of ret irement pretty soon." Four-time Grand National Champion Scott Parker maintains first in the record books with 56 wins, while the lege n d a r y Jay Springstee n holds dow n seco nd wi th 40 victories. With 11 rounds down and 10 to go, the AMA Gra nd Na tio na l Cham pi ons hip Series has reached the halfway po int and is un doubted ly the most interesting in recent years. After dominating the past five series, TeamHarley-Davidson riders find themselves scrambling to keep up with former Team H o nda r ider, two-time Grand Nationa l Champion Ricky Graham . Defending Grand National Champion Chris Carr finds himself 37 points behind Graham 180-143, while four-time cha mp Scott Parker is even further back - 57 beh ind Graham with 123. "I can't worry about Scott Parker now," said Ca rr, who in the pas t three seasons h ad become accustom ed to battling with Parker for th e champions hi p . "I ha ve to se t my sights on Ricky. Everytime he beats us, it's a step backwar ds. I'm going to have to go for the wins now, not the consistency. I've raced wi th Ricky plen ty, it's jus t that I've never had to deal wi th him bein g thi s strong." After Syracuse, Pa rke r seemed to lack his usual " no worries, I can 'c a tch u p" a tt it u de. " I hav e to do somethi ng to ge t goin g," sai d Parker . "Ricky is hot right n ow. I've been on streaks like that before and 1 know how it is. We have to stop him soon." After turning in fou rth and third-place finis hes at the Sy racu se Mile d ou bleheader, form er Team Ha rley-Dav idso n ri der Kevi n Atherton h opped o n a plane and headed for Japan, where he is sched u led to co mpete in the July 25 Suz uka 8-Hour End urance ro ad race. Atherton will compe te a bo a rd a Yamaha TDM850-powered road racer, fielded by Team O ve r Pro je ct . ''I' m tea med up with a Japa nese guy, but don't ask me his name, I can't remember it," said Atherton. "The bike has a TDM850 twin-cylinder mo tor in a handmade frame. 1 tested it a few weeks ago, it goes pretty good." Texas Harley-Davidson 's Larry Pegram was back in action at the Syracuse Miles after a five-mo nt h layoff with extensive injuries suffered in a roa d race cra sh.

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