Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Pegram ran strong in his heat race on Saturday night but fell victim to a blown engine. On Sunday, Pegram simply failed to qualify, missing the last transfer position in his semi by one place. Normally outspoken, Pegram was quite humble after the race, saying simply, "I suck." It seems as if it weren't for bad luck, Ronn ie Jones would have no luck at all. Mechanical gremlins slowed his charge at the Saturday night leg of the Syracuse Mile doubleheader while he was running a strong fourth, and setup proble ms caused the series veteran to si mp ly pull off the track in Su nday's Nationa l. "I w a s slid ing all over, I couldn 't control the bike," said Jones. "I figured that I'd ride around and see who broke an d hope to get some points, bu t I didn't even feel safe d oing that." Jones hop es that his luck will change at the July 31 Oklahoma City Ha lf Mile, a race that he has prom oted for the past two years in his hom etown. It's official! The fee fo r non-reserved camping sites for motorcycles at the Se pt embe r 10-12 U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca Raceway has been cut in half. The new price is $30 pe r night pe r motorcycle. According to the press release announcing the price cut, anyone who has already purchased a camping permit and will be arriving on a motorcycle will receive a refund. N oah Kirkland, a Pro-Am dirt t rack racer, won't be strapping on a steel shoe from July 29 through August 8. Instead, Kirkland will be wearing spikes and playing centerfield fo r the Olympia (Wash ington) Pepsi Stars baseball team in the Junior Olympics at Memphis, Tennessee. AHRMA Assistant National MX Coordinato r Rick Dough ty has annou nced that a s pecial "industry ra ce " will ta ke place at the AHRM A / Vin tag e Iro n Nation al MX Series round at Glen Helen OHV Park in San Bernardino, California, July 31. The one-moto exhibition race wi ll be for members of the motorcycle industry. The entry fee is a $50 donation to the AHRMA benevolent fund for injured riders and the fee includes a one-year AHRMA membership. Bikes are limited to pre-1975 models with maximum suspension travel of four inches in the rear and seven up front. Doughty says he may be able to arrange for loaner bikes. For more information, call 209/2529053. The industry's first $5000 mot ocrosser fro m Jap a n is here! No, the 1994 Yamaha YZ250F doesn't carry a manufacturer's suggested retail price (you know, MSRP) of five .big ones, but if you live in a state with sales tax (and most of us do) the new YZ250 with its MSRP of $4899 plus tax equals - well, over five big ones! One helluva support program that features what was in '93 the best MX contingency program (it returns and offers over $5 million), a spare parts ("works") kit that is worth over $500 and includes things like a piston and a pair of Dunlop tires, p lus the op portunity to attend a Ricky Johnsonconducted MX school relieves some of the pai n of s helli ng o u t $5000. H ey, d on't forget, thisis the '90s and the 21st cen tury is jus t arou nd the corner, so quit whining and q uit telling us that yo u remembe r when 250cc dirt bik es cost less tha n $1000. You do remember life before cable television an d far-out custom -p ai nted h elmets, d on 't yo u? You kno w, when snea kers came in any colo r you wanted as long as that color was black and if you wore them to work you were some kind of freak unless yo u were a professional basketball player? Do you wanna go back to that? Papa doesn't. Kenneth C ra n e, president of the Pilgrim Sands Trail Riders of Massachusetts, has announced that "due to an unreconcilable set of circumstances between the trail boss and the Pilgrim Sands Trail Riders" the Di ck Betten court Memorial Trail Ride that was scheduled for Octobe r 9-10 has been canceled. Crane says that on July 6 club member s "unanimously voted on this ma tt er (and) an y event tha t will run in place of the ride will in no way be s ponsored or sanctioned" by the club. "The Pilg rim Sands Trail Riders wants to assure that this decision does n o t reflect a ny ne g a ti ve feelings tow a rds the m emo ry o f D ick Betten cou rt ," Crane said. " Dic k was and st ill is an impor ta n t p a r t of our club. Few peop le have (contribu ted) what Dick d id to our sport. The (club) members felt tha t allowing this ride to con tinue in the direction it was hea ded cou ld cause irrepaira ble damage to their relations with the p ublic and private lan d ow ne rs as well." For more information, call Crane at 508/564-7787. As a show of confidence in their team, sponsors Cycle Parts West and T W Racing are putting up a $500 bo u n ty that will go to anyone who can beat the Open class team of Tim Morton and J o h n Flores in the July 23-25 G r an Carrera de Ensenada, the fifth round of the Baja Promotions Golden Crown of Baja Off-Road Desert Series. The bounty will be paid to the tea m that can beat the d uo by ta king the overall win. If Mo~n and Flores score the ove rall win in the 300-plus-mile eve nt, the bounty will carry over to the , Gra n Carrera de Campeones that takes place in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico, Septembe r 17-19. The July 31-August 1 MotoFest at Glen Helen OHV Park in San Bernardino, California, that features the fina l round of the AMA National Championship 125/250cc Series on Sunday .will also feature a full d ay of ama teur racing on Saturday. A late change has been made in the amateur schedule and two clubs, the Over The Hill Gang and the Old Timers, will host races for riders 30 years of age and over. In order to accommodate the two club races, the Vet (30+) and Senior (40+) races have been dropped. Riders who planned on competing in either of the two canceled races are welcome to join either club and take part in their races. For more information, contact the Over The Hill Gang at 909/985-2954 or the Old Timers at 714/633-9503. Another change is the addition of an Intermediate division to the 85cc class for riders 12 and over. For more information on the amateur day activities at the MotoFest, call Motolink at 602/526-4598. Road racer Juan Garriga confirmed the rumors of his retirement at the July 11 Austrian round of the World Championship Superbike Series. The Spa nia rd a rrived at the Zeltweg track an d explained the grounds of his withdrawal. "During last winter, I had lost a lot of time and energy in order to find the b udget to con tin ue my Gra nd Prix ca m paign," Garriga ex plained. "Unfortunately, it d id not work out and it was o n ly very late that I got the op po rtunity to ride a wo rks Ducati in th e World Su perb ike Champion shi p. Many people, including mos t Spa nis h journalists and fans, expected me to win the championship with my eyes closed. But it just does not work that way. The incomprehension only got bigger when I had only a second place to show as a best result after four races. I have always admitted that it would take me some time to get used to riding a four.s troke again, but some people just would not understand. Two weeks ago, when I got a wild-eard to participate in the Grand Prix at Catalunya, another Spanish team even sent a fax to the organization trying to convince them not to accept me on the entry list. According to that team, I had told bad th ing s about Gra nd Prix racing and defended this new, yo ung su perbike category . I a m very d isapp ointe d to ' have to lea v e this cha mpio nship, beca use, unlike in Grand s Prix, I have found here people who are interested in racing motorcycles more than in making money. But I do not want my team (Tardozzi's Grollini Ducati Team) to lose any mo re time trying to make me go faste r. Thei r aim is the title, and I have got the impression that I can not help them with that. In addition, it has been so demoralizing to go back to Spain after every superbike race, to find only incomprehension abo ut my results. I will stay loya l to Ducati, but I will not participate anymore in any motorcycle race this year. I will try and promote the image of Ducati and superbike racing in my country." Rodney Sm ith is back ho me in California and is taking it easy after suffering from hea t prostration while leading the AMA National Hare Scrambles round in Hooks town, Pennsylvania, July 11. Smith passed out just before the finish line and was airlifted to a hospital in Pittsburgh. He was released five days later on July 16. "A lot of people think I crashed and hit my head, and that's what led to me ge ll in g too hot" said Rod ney, July 19. "I think I did crash but did n' t hit my head; after I crashed that's when I sta rte d to ge t dizzy and sick. That's all I can re mem ber. 1 fee l real good right now; but yesterday I had a headache all d a y ." Smi th curren tly leads the Na tional Ha re Sc rambles Series point standings by just one point over the defending champ Scoll Plessinger wit h four rounds remaining in the series. "I think I'm going to ride the next race in New York (July 25), but my goal is just to finish around fourth and go for the points there. I really don't want to use up a throw-away round if I don't have to." The two 250cc GP wild cards for the ' September 12 running of the United States Grand Prix have been decided on and there a re no surprises. Ken n y Roberts Jr. will be riding a Marlborobacked works Yamaha and Wayne Rainey Racing/Otsuka Electronics Jimmy Filice will be on his 1993 Yamaha TZ250 with a works engine. Southwest Motorsports ' Chris D' Aluisio had hoped to secure a place in the 250cc field, then turned his sights on the 500cc class. The cost of leasing a 1992 ROC Yamaha was around $15,000, a price tag D' Aluisio fou nd too steep. Now the Connecticut rider is looking at the 125cc class, possibly borrowing one of the Honda RSI25 's belonging to the road racing Hayde n fam ily . If he gets the bike he'll join Cana dia n Jonathan Cornwell w ho ha s a confirmed en try in the 125cc class . Cornw ell will be aboa rd the Honda RS125 tha t h e's been successfully cam paigning in Canada. Southwest Motorsports' Dave Harold ex p la ined th at the AMA/ CCS GTU endurance road racing team would not be contesting most of the remainder of the championship due to the cost of fieldi ng the team's Yamaha TZR250. "It just came down to a question of money. It was mo re or less a side thing for the 250 team. The bike, at this point of the season, needs a good rebuild and a fair ' amount of parts. Even if we won the rest of the races, with all of the contingencies, it would still cost us about four or five thousand dollars. We 're better : off concentrating on the 250 stuff. We'll probably run Mid-Ohio because it's a one-hour event," Harold sai d. Sou t hwest Motorsports Chris D' Aluisio is second in the 250cc Grand Prix cha mpionship, fou r points behind Jimmy Filice , and Danny Walker is in fifth place, six points down on fourth. Thomas W. Boyce, 44, son of longtime AMA competition department employee Bill Boyce, d ied as a resul t of a massive heart atta ck shortly after compe ting in an H RMA/Classic Bike Dirt Track Series race at Ho nda Hills in Linnville, Ohio, July 17. He is survived by his wife, a son, and a grandson. Funeral services we re scheduled to take place in Dayton, Ohio, on Wed nesday, July 21. Both Je ff Stan ton and Damon Bradsh aw opted to si t ou t the U.S. 250cc MX GP at Budds Creek, Maryland, July 18, in orde r to let injuries heal. Stanton is recovering from a sore back, while Bradshaw has an injured wrist. Both riders hope to compete next week at the National in Troy, Ohio. Bradshaw, who spectated at Budds Creek, plans to contest the 125cc class during the four-round 500cc Series. The 12Sec support race a t Budds Creek marked the return to action of Kawasaki's Mike Craig and KTM's Keith Johnson. Craig placed third afte r missing much of the season with a broken ankle, while Johnson placed 23rd in his first race back from an inju red wrist. AUT OG RAPH S IG NIN G : At Rice Honda-Suzuki in Rapid City, South Dakota, two-time Grand National Champion Ricky Graham, on Wednesday, August 11, from 10 a.m . to 1 p.m. Info: 605/342-2242. AU T O G RA PH SIGNING: At San Bernardino Sportscenter in San Bernardino, Californ ia, Team Kawasaki's Mike Kiedrowski, Mike laRocco, Mike Craig and Ryan Hughes, on Friday, July 30, from 5 to 7 p.m. AUTO G RA PH SIG N IN G: At WaIter Bros. Harley-Davidson in Peoria, Illinois, Team Harley-Davidson's Grand National Champion Chris Carr and three-time Grand National Champion Scott Parker, on Saturday, August 7, froml to 4 p.m. Info: 309/674-1917. AUTOG RAPH SIGNING: At Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, South Dakota, Chris Carr and Scott Parker, on Tuesday, August 10, from 3 to 5 p.m. AU T OG RAPH SIGNING: At Texas Harley-Davidson in Bedford, Texas, Chris Carr and Scott Parker, on Friday, Aug ust 13 , from 6 to 9 p.m. Info : 817/267-2646. • AUTOGRAPH SIG N IN G: At Hinds Yamaha in Columbus, Ohio, Team Vance & Hines rid ers Jamie James and Colin Edwards, on Th ursday, August 5 from 6 p .m. to 7:30 p.m. Info: 614/2670318. 3

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