Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.. v0ICSLetters to the editor E INSIDE Adamo benefit FEATURES 6 OFF·ROAD Plessing er out lasts 'em at Hookstown National Hare Scrambles scorch er 28 10 HILLCLIMB Wilkins, Gerencer Jr. score National wins in Ohio 30 TRIALS Young sweeps Washington National doubleheader 32 MOTOCROSS Everts w ins Bud ds Creek U.s. 250cc GP ROAD RACE Polen sizzles again at Road Atlan ta , Falappa, Mek1au 1-2 a t Austrian World Superbike Graves battles to Willow Springs F-USA victory 22 24 DEPARTMENTS DIRT TRACK Graham makes it five in a row at the twin Syracuse Mile 16 NEW BIKES 1994 Yamaha YZ MXers 26 EVENTS CALENDAR RESULTS WANT ADS .3 • 2 40 4O 46 ON THE FRONT PAGE: Ricky Graham continued his winning ways with his fourth and then record fifth-stra ight victory at the Syracuse Mile. See page 16 for race coverage. Phot o by Dan Mahony. ( ~t l~ ~ f1 -- ~ America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXX Sharon Clayton, President M ichael Klinger, Publis/zer Editorial Jack Mangus, AssociatePublisher/Editor Kit Palmer, Associate Editor Paul Carruthers, Associate Editor Donn Maeda, Associate Editor Chris [onnum, Associate Editor Edwina Mangus, Calt:nd4r Editor G raphics a n d Productio n Ree Johnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Loa, ProductionMaPUlger Dennis G ree n e, LAb. Tech. Sta cey Guest, Graphic Artist Amy Faught, GraphicArtist Victoria Vaus, Graphic Artist Ad ministratio n Jud y Klin ger, Coordinator Peggy Rivera, Secretary 10 the WanlAds Kelly Branscom e, Publisher Want Ad Sales Accounti nglDala Processing Do nna Bryan-Diamond, AIR Coord inator Ge neva Repa ss, Assistant Herla ne Lewis , Credit N ati ona l Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave., Lon g Beach, CA 90806, P.O . Box 498, Long Beach,CA 908OH)498 (310) 427-7433; (213) 636-8844. FAX (310) 427-6685 Advertising Terry Pratt, National Accounts Matulger Mark Thome, Western SalesManager Th omas R Conter, Western Sales MJltulger Steve Go toski, Western SalesMJltulger Ma rk Mitchell, Eastern AccountsMJlnager Greg Mitchell, Eastern SalesMJlnager Rick Matheny, Eastern SalesMatulger Rhonda Crawford, Western Ad Coordinator Carla Borden Allen, Eastern Ad Coorditultor Marketing & Promotion Mark Thome, MJltulger Dealer Sales To ni Kerr, DealerRepresentative Circulation Rheba Smi th, MJltulger Sarah Ta ylo r, Billing Coordinat r o Alma Angu ian o, Processing Coordi'Jator Debbie Wel ler, Dealer Coordinator Pa m Klein, Assistant Service and Support Chris Aitcheson, Headquarters Receptionist leona rd H erring, Serviceand Support Eastern Office 4190 FIrs t Ave., Tu cker , GA, 30084; mailing ad dress P.O. Box 805, Tucker, GA 30085-0805. (404) 934-7850. FAX (404) 934-3112 Cycle News (USPS 141-340) is pub lished weekly except the last two weeks of the calendar year for S~.OO per year by Cycle News, Inc, 2201 Cherry Avenue , long Beach, CA 90806. Second c1ass postage paid at long Beach.CA. Canada Post Interna tional Publications Mail #546615. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cycle News, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach. CA 90801-0498. To dete rmine the expiration date of your subscription, check the four num~ers on the first line of your address labeL The firsl two digi ts indicate the Iast issue number yOU'll receive and the last two characters indicate the year of the last issue. Subscription rates: Rates for the United ~ta tes and its ~ions f?r one year, (SO issues), $50.00; !'V0 years (100issues), $95.00; six months, (25 lSS~es), $26.00; trial s~b (15 ISSUes),~19.00. Canada.an. ForeIgn, d one year (SO issues), $90.00; two years (100 ISSUes), $175.00; SIX months (25 ISSUes), $45.00, trial sub (15 issues), $38.00. Cycle News welcomes unsolicited editorial material including stories, cartoons, ph ot?s, .etc. S~ch ma te~. al, if pub lished . becomes the exclusive prope rty of Cycle News. S~ch accep~ mat:na.11S subject to revision as is necessary in the sole discretion of Cycle News. Unsolicited material which IS not used will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed stamped envelope. All unsolicited material will be hand led with reasonable care, however, Cycle News assumesno responsibility f~r the safety, l~s or damage .to such material. Reprinting in whole or part only by penn ission of the publisher. Advertis ing rates and orculation information will be sent upon request. SeeS.R.DS. AUDrIED CIRC1JI-o\TlON 4 Printed in U.S.A. Copyrigh" CycleNew.. Inc. 1993. Trademark CycleNews rogisleml U.s. Palenl Office.All righ.. ..-.ed. We would like to thank all the people w ho do na ted items to sell and the folks who came to buy at the auction to benefit Jimmy Ada mo's family at the Loudon National. Riders, tuners, spo ns o rs, busin es s people a nd friends participated and were very generous. Many of the folks who gave items for us to sell also stood there and bought other items . The list of people is too long to print here, bu t you all know who yo u are. Almost $16,000 was generated a nd Melanie Ad a mo, who was there, was quite moved by yo ur generosity. It was also good to see the big sign in the stands on Saturday honoring Jimmy. We ha d an excellen t sho wi ng for th e first Jimm y Adamo Memorial Pro Twins race. Thank you all very mu ch. Happy motorcycling. Jerry Wood Searsport, ME Woodwas the auctioneerat Loudon...Editor. Definitely not a Harley fan Concerning the AMA and their pr otection ist p olicies tow a rd s Jura ss ic Par k...oops, I meant the AMA Grand Nationa l Harley Show, as far as I can remember, the AMA has always tweaked the ru les of our favorite dyno every time an · off brand" wins a championship. Please excuse my memory, but aren't the Honda dirt trackers still carrying an extra 25 pounds of penalty weight from a ru le ins talled about five years ago for overhead cam motors, after they took a coupl e of championships? (Excu se me, AMA , but you might want to ad d 10 pounds - Ricky's still too close!) Before then , did they not ban engines with more than two cyli nd ers back in the seventies? That put ou t Tri ump h's an d BSA' s fire. Even before then, d id they not limit overhead valve motors for years to SOOcc whi le they plu gged along with the KR cas t-iron sidevalve 750cc until 1968 wh en the XR motor wa s finally halfway reliable? It was amazing how fast that ru le changed. Hello, AMA, wa ke up! Dirt track racing may go the way of the Grea t Lizard if yo u con tin ue to pu nish achievement. Look at other forms of racing wh ere the compe ti tion of b ra nds keeps peopl.e com ing . I woul d g uara ntee th at If Harley..Davidson lost the title for a coup le of sea sons, a nd th e AMA d id n ' t inte rvene, that they would fina lly come up w ith that over head cam motor that has been rumored to be righ t around the co rner. Whe n th ey do, I w onder ho w long tha t weight penalty w ill cont inue. Not very long, I wou ld wag er . Until then, a lot of us di rt track fans ha ve our eyes and ears on you, AMAAs far as th e 600cc Harleys go, we also kn ow th e o nl y thing :' Ha rley" ab out th em is th eir ora nge and bla ck paint. I personally feel tha t the na me of the motor should be used somew here when trumpeting your victories everywhere. Tony Nadratowski Lakeview, CA The Honda RS750 does not carry a · penalty weight.· The minimum dry weight fo r all 750cc twin-eylinder motorcycles in Grand Na tional Championshi p races is 315 pounds. Tile AMA limited Grand National Championshipdirt track motorcycles to two cylindersfollowing the 1974 season during which severa l riders, most notably Indianapolis Mile winner Kenny Roberts, fi elded four-cylinder Yamahas and others competed on three-cylinder Kawasakis. It was in November of 1968 that the fi rst-ever AMA Competition Congress replaced the 500cc overhead valvef750cc sidevaive rule with a straight forward 750cc displacement lim it f or the 1969 season. Harl eyDavidson's Mert Launaill won the 1969 Grand National Championship aboard a sidevalve KR in competition with Triumph and BSA riders who were aboard overhead valve 650 and 750cc machines. Keep in mind that Gary Ni xon, riding a 500cc Tr iumph had been th e Grand Nat ional Champion in 1967 and 1968. The iron barrel XR made its debut in 1970 and the alloy XR didn't appear until 1972. Tile title went to Triumph's Gene Romero in 1970 and to BSA's Dick Mann in 1971. Mark Brelsford returned the title to the Milwaukee marque in thealloy XR's debut Yellr...Editor. Riders of the future I'm concern ed abo u t your lack of mention of the 60 and 80cc riders as often as should be in big events. Seeing as how they are the riders of the future, it is my belief that the y should be given more recogn ition. You list all the' pro riders in the 125, 250 and SOOcc classes, but not a word ab out th e yo u ngs ters. I believe (re p o rti ng o n th em ) w ould be a big boost for the little guys. Do n Bates Valley Springs, CA If they are indeed the riders of the f uture, what do we do in the f uture? Ignore them? We certainly do me tion minibike riders and n we certainly do cover the "big events" such as the ann ual Ponca City and Loretta Lynn's outings. Kids will grow up to be pro riders, but pro riders certainly aren't going to return to the mini ranks. Like yO Uflgsters in all sports, young racers should fi rst and foremost be enjoying racing, and not be ~r ried about how much press they are receIVing. Their day will come, if- and it's a big if - they have enougll natural talent and devote e1.>ery available hour to practice and ~ondi tioning. And all parents shouldsee to It that their children devote as much energy to scJwolwork as they do to racing. There is life after racing, be it minibike racing or professional racing...Editor. Letters to the e d ito r sho uld be sent to Voi ces. Cycl e News, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 908()6.. D498 or faxed to ) ] 01427.-6685. Pub lished lett ers do not necessarily reflect th e po sitio n of Cycle News. Inc . Letters s hould no t exceed 200 w ords and ,111 lett~ n ar e s ubject to ed itin g. An on ymous le tters will not be co ns idered for r.ublic.lti o n. All lette rs sh ould conta in th e w rit er I name, address and daytime phone number .. . Editor.

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