Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

B~~i~~~--~r-~-~-:~~-fu-at-I'-l -P-t~-c-a~ -e-------~--~----------: -fu e Cf) ~ 'l"""'l .. Lf) N ..... :!3 ,.J bO ;::J < Championship Speedway Semi -Final in Vetlanda, sweden, . August 6, Californian Sam Ermolenko advanced to the World Championship Speedway Final which will take place in Pocking, German y, on August 29 . Fellow Californian Ronnie Correy was not as fortunate, finishing ninth in a meet that advanced the top eight finishers. Ironically, if Correy had won his final heat, he would have taken part in a runoff with Brit Jo e Screen to determine the top rider of the meet. Instead, he finished last and now will go to Germany, but only as a reserve. . Michigan's Fritz Kling (Yam) won both legs of the Formula USA class during WERA Pro Series action at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, August 15. Kling topped Dave Sadowsk i (Hon) and Rich O li ver (Yam) in the firs t leg and then Chuck Graves (Suz) and Oliver in the second race. Oliver (Yam) w on the Formula II eve n t, beating Chris Taylor (Yam) and Danny Walker (Yam) . The Formula III wi n went to N ick y Ha yden (Ho n) over his brother Tommy Ha yd en (Hon) and Rodney Fee (Ho n). . Road racer Andre Ma tterson was killed during a prac t ice session at Pocono In ternationa l Raceway on Frida y , August 13. The Massapequa, New York, res iden t was one of seven riders who crashed in spilled oil; Ma tterson was p ro nounced dead at the scene by Monroe County Deputy Coroner Daniel J. Spallu to. S co tt Shea k (Kaw) and G reg Rand (Suz) were big w inn ers at the 12th running of the AMA National Amateur MX Championships a t th e Loretta Ly nn' s D ude . Ran ch in Hurrica ne Mills, Tennessee, August 11-15. Shea k top ped both the 125 and 250cc A Modified classes, and Ran d won both the 125 and 250cc A Stock divisions. In the Minicycle category, Dustin Ne lson (Kaw) wo n the 85cc Senior (14-15) Modified cla ss; Charlie Bogard (Suz) topped the 85cc Seni o r (14-15) Stock div isio n; Shae Bentley (Kaw) sco red the 85cc Juni or (913) M o difie d class win , an d Ricky Carmichael (Ka w) earned th e 85cc Jun ior (9-13) Stock division victory. 2 Former 250cc World Cha m pion John Kocinski h a s reached an agreemen t with Cagiva to ride the next two rounds of the 500cc World Cha mpio nshi p Road Race Serie s for the Italian ma nu facturer. Kocinski will join reg ula r factory rid ers Doug Chandler and Mat Mladin for the Czechoslovaki an GP on August 22 and the Italian GP on September 5 . Kocinski's mana ger Dave Stevenson travelled to the British GP at Doningt on Park on August 1 to negot iate the deal with Cagiv a team manag er Giacomo Agostini. Provid in g both parties are in agr eem ent the tw o-race con tract can be extended to include the fina l two GPs of the season, the U.S. GP at Laguna 5eca on September 12 and the final ro und in Spai n on September 26. Kocinski test ed the factory Cagiva tw o weeks ago at the Cata lu nya circu it in Spain and reportedly bettered the race tim es se t by '93 Spanish GP w inner Wayne Rainey. "I was in the p os ition o f h avin g offers from three of th e bes t te a m s in the world and ha d to d ecide between rid ing in 250cc or 500cc, and be tween rid ing for a Japanese factory or an Italian facto r y, " Kocinsk i s ai d to th e Sp a n is h pr ess follow ing the signing. " Now tha t I have made my d ecision I can concentrate on riding the Ca gi va in th e rema inin g GPs whil e my manager works on getting me the best possible ride for 1994. One good thing about rid- number three that I earned last yea r: ' The last time Kocinski competed in a 500cc GP, he won the 1992 South African GP at Kyalami. . John Kocinski tested the Cagiva for two days at the Mugello circuit in northern Italy recently and was pleased with the b ike and his performance: "Th e track temperature was 50 degrees centigrade and that made it ha rd to get the sa me grip that riders had a t the San Marino GP," Kocinski said. "But I la p p ed in 1:54.5 and was able to strin g high 54s to g e th er without too much trouble. (Michael) Doohan was the only guy to get into the 53s when he won here, but with the aid of slipstreams, cooler track temperatures, and the mot ivation that you get from running with the leaders, I think I could be on th e pace. But you never know what a bike is like until you really race it. I am confi dent that I will be somewhere near the fron t:' Th e fina l ro ad ra ce G rand Prix of the se as on is be ing call ed the FIM Grand Prix. Th e race, which will be held a t Ja ra ma on Sep te mber 26, w ill be th e third GP hel d in Spain d uri ng the 1993 s easo n . The Spa n is h GP was held a t Jerez on May 2 and the European GP Was held at Ca talunya on July 4. Th is is the first t im e s in ce the FIM World Ch ampionship Road Race Series began in 1949 tha t a cou n try has hosted thr ee GPs . This isn 't the first time tha t [arama has step ped in as a substitu te for can celled events. In 1987 the Po rtug u es e GP was held a t the circuit near Mad rid, and in 1991 Jar a m a hos te d the Yugoslavian GP when poli tica l even ts in tha t country forced the FIM to cancel the even t scheduled for Rijek a . The Royal Automob ile Club of Spa in, th e owners of [a ra ma , are cu rren tly buil ding ga rag es and a new media cen ter as well a s resurfa ci n g th e ra ce track in preparation for the FIM Grand Prix. Wor rie s p e r s is t ab o u t th e traction offered by the recen tly resurfaced and modified Misano Circuit, the venue for the Septem be r 5 It a li an G ran d Pri x. Du nl op-Rob erts GP tes t ri d er Randy Mamola tes ted at th e track on August 11-13 and reported that it was slick and dirty on the first day. On the third da y, how ev er, Mamola was ab le to ru n the sa me times that Wayne Rainey tu rned in when he last tested th er e. The real concern is ho w the tra ck w ill fa re if it happens to rain. Doug Ch and ler tested a Cagiva there in the we t earlier in the season an d s aid th e tra ck is "a lmos t unraceable " in the wet. Vance & Hines Yamah a tea m ma nager Steve Johnson h a s prop os ed a rule ch an ge to th e AMA th at wo uld see a . combined rid er /motorcycle minim um weight lim it used d uring the 1994 AMA Su p erb ik e N a ti ona l Ch amp ionship Road Race Series. Joh nson 's p ropos a l, which he announ ced durin g a roundtabl e d iscussion at the AMA headqua rter s in Westervill e, Ohio, on Au gu st 9, ca lls for a co m bi nation of th e average rid er we igh t (158 pounds) and the aver age four -cyli nde r superbike weigh t (363 pounds) along with a ga llon of fue l (6 p ounds), giving a minimum com bined weigh t limit of 527 pounds. The proposal came at the request of the AMA as it looks for ways to even the compe tition in a season dominated by Dou g Polen and his V-twin Fast By Ferracci Ducati 888. Johnson sai d tha t the lighter up- to 1000cc V-tw in motorcycl es ge t be tter fuel mileage, can ru n softer compou nd tir es, turn better and stop faster th an up-to 750c c four-cylind er su p e rbikes and h is proposed rule change w ould help even the playing field . Johnson was really the on ly person who had a legitima te proposal on the issue of Superbike class rule changes. Tile AMA is seriously considering changing the weight for mula for th e class, and likely will end up with rules similar to the proposed changes the AM has put forth for the Worl d Ch a m p io n s h i p S u p e rb i k e Seri e s in 1994. The .FIM changes will likely see the m inimum weight limit of V-twin motorcycles raised to 319 pounds and the four-cylinder weight limit lowered to 352 pounds. The current AMA rules allow twincylinder motorcycles to weigh a minimum of 309 pounds with four-cylinder motorcycles carrying a minimum weight of 364 pounds. Johnson said the Vance & Hines crew currently put 4-8 p ound s of ballast on th e Yam aha YZF750SP in order to safely pass the li mits a t 367 pounds. The AMA said they w ill likely have a decision prior to the next AMA National at Sears Point on August 29. The main co ncern th e AMA ha s with changing the rules regard ing weigh t is the add itional cost that will be inc u rred by privateers trying to take we ight off th eir four-cylinder su pe rbikes . Muzz y Kawasa ki' s Rob Muzzy, who was n ot present at the mee ting because h is team was competing in the World Superbike round in Swed en, d oesn't think the cost to remove weigh t from the Kawasakis ZX7s wo uld be that great. Mu zzy said the major ity of the weight co u ld be removed in a mach ine sh o p and n o t wit h the use of exotic mater ials. O ne of those opposed to a n y r u le cha nges regard ing superbike weigh t is, of cou rse, Erald o Ferracci, team ow ne r of th e cha m p ions h ip-w inn ing Fast By Ferra cci Duca ti. "Si n ce 1988 I h a v e spent $3 million on these mot or cycles," Ferracci said . "Now yo u g uys p u nish m e. Ducati d id n't do th is - I d id this with m y m on e y . A t Da yt o na I g o t humilia ted . I wen t back to wo rk on this mot or cycle. Now I' ve d on e all I can I'm a t th e to p of the line wi th this m otorcy cle. " Fer racci h a s gone o n record as saying that if he finds the rule changes to put the Duca ti at a disa dvantage, he wi ll co n tes t the All -Jap an Championship next year. The Japan ese ser ies will no lon ger ru n Formula On e mo torcycles beg inning in 1994, instead opti ng to run FIM -sp ec superbik es . Ferra cci also says that there may be two or th ree ad dition al Du ca ti su perbi ke te am s co m in g ov e r fro m Eu ro pe to compete in the AMA Superbike Seri es in 1994 - a scena rio that he says will be les s lik ely if the rules are ch anged to h inder th e competitiveness of the Vtw ins. Harley-Dav idson was in atte ndance at the AMA road race meeting, with team ma nager Steve Scheibe rep resen tin g the comp an y tha t is planning to introduce their new 1000cc V-tw in su perb ike a t Daytona in Mar ch of 1994. "I have to be abl e to tell my bosses that we will be competitive," Scheibe sa id at the meeting. "A 1000cc twin w ill mak e 5% less horsep ower than a 750cc four-cylinder. With 18 pounds less weight, we w ill be competitive:' Also presen ted a t th e AMA road ra ce meeting was a tentative schedule for the 1994 season . The sched ule is as follows: March 13 - Daytona International Speedway (Florida); March 27 - Pho eni x International Raceway (Arizona); April 10 - Pom ona Fairplex (California); May 1 - Road A tlan ta (Georgia) ; Ma y 22 Lagu na Seca (California); June 12 - Road America (Wisconsin); June 19 - New Hampsh ire International Speedway (Ne w Hampshire); July 17 - Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Ohio); July 31 Brainerd In te rn atio n a l Raceway (Minnesota); August 28 - Sears Point Raceway (California). There are also three circuits listed for consideration: Watkins Glen (New York); Virginia Mo torspor ts Park (Virginia); and Illinois SuperSpeedway (Illinois). A lack of run-off areas is the major hurdle with Watkins G len; Virginia Motorsports Park is currently under cons truction; and Illinois Superspeedway has yet to be built, although the AMA reports that the sta te of Illinois has approved bond money to get the project started. The race scheduled at the Pomona Fairplex is likely to be held, but th e AMA is waiting for re sults from a sound test scheduled to take place this month. The Superbike series is likely to fea ture a name change for 1994, becoming the Unite d States S u p e rbi k e Championship. Th e AM A is al so looking at chan gin g th e actual sche d ule for the three-d ay roa d races. The major cha nges will see a 60-mi nu te GTU end ura nce even t held o n Saturd a y a nd a 60- mi n u te GTO en d uran ce rac e held on Sunday (p rior to the lunch br ea k). The ot he r changes will see Harley-Davidson TwinSport r id e rs qualify in a timed session on Saturday. The po ssibi li ty th a t the World Cha m p ionsh ip Superb i'ce Series wi ll retu rn to the Un ited States is beginnin g to look stronger. Th e Flam mi n i Group is co n sid erin g h o ldin g th e ev e nt a t Road Am e rica in El kh a r t La ke, Wisco nsin, so metime in August of 1994. The race would be held in conjunction wit h the AMA suppo rt classes (600 and 750cc Supersp ort, and Ha rley-Davidson TwinSpo rt) with the ex cep tio n of the 250cc G ra n d Prix cla ss. Th e trac k is w aiting for an official FIM inspection which w ill likely take place this winter. Dirt Shirts will be the presenting sponso r of the inaugural AMA Fall Classic MX Series. The Florida-based company will post a $7200 poi n ts fund for the sixro u nd series that s ta rts on Septem be r 25 -26 at Re d Bu d in Buchanan , Michigan, and concludes on October 3031 at Ga torbac k Cy cl e Pa rk in Gaines ville, Florida. Th e Wom en 's Mot orsp ort Associa tion (WMSA) will hold their 1993 Women's MX Championsh ips a t so u th e rn Califo rnia's Per r is Ra ce w a y on Sa turd ay , September 4. The even t w ill benef it the neon at al intensive care un it a t Parkview Community Hospital. In addition to the funds raised via a raffle th a t w ill be condu ct ed at th e ev en t, GFI's Goat Breker has pled ged $1 from each male en try at the Su p er Saturd ay MX races held in conju nction w ith the WMSA event. For more in for ma tion , call 909 / 734-2278. In ternational Sports Promotor AB, promoter of the August 1 Swedish round of th e Wo rld Champ ionshi p 250cc MX Series, lias d em an ded that the FIM susp end fou r ride rs - 1992 250cc World C ha mpio n Donny Schmit, n e w ly cro wned 250cc World Ch ampion Greg AIbertyn , fo r me r 125cc Wo rl d C ha m pio n Stefan Everts a n d Kurt Nicoll - for allege d ly orga n izing a boycott of the event. The promotion grou p claims that the four refu sed to race and encou rage d others not to becau se of a d ispute with the FIM over a TV. co ntract, rather than, as th e riders cla im, that the track wa s dangerous. In a widely circulated press release, the promoters said, "Our goal was to market the sport of motocross and, considering the weather conditions, we were successful.

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