Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

• Belgi an Jacky Martens (Hus) became t he fi rst ri de r to w in th e 500cc MX Wo rld Championsh ip on a fou r-s troke bike si nce Jeff Smith won the cro w n aboa rd a BSA in 1965. Martens w on the title at the Bout du Monde circu it in the outskirts of Gen eva , Sw itzerland, in the las t race of the series, August 29, by finis hi ng second in b oth motos b ehind double winner Jorgen Nilsson (Hon) of Sweden. Swede Ma rcus Hanss on (Hon) was third in the opening moto and that position went to Belgian Johan Boonen (Kaw) in the second moto. By shadowing Nil sson across the line in both races, Martens won .the title by three points, topp ing Nilsson 504-501 in the fi nal point standi ngs . Belgian Joe l Smets (Hbg) finished third on the year a fter posting a 5-3 moto tally in Switzerland. Brit Ca rl Fogarty (Due) won the firs t leg of th e Ja pa nese round of the World Champ ionship Superbike Series at Sugo, Augus t 29, bu t then crashed in the seco n d leg while ba t t li n g with Georgia n Scott Russe ll (Kaw) w ho went on to win. Russell finished eighth and his Team Muzzy team ma te Aaron Sli ght of New Zealand wa s sixth in the opening leg, prompting the team to bo rrow en gines from the Kawasaki Japan team for both rid ers to use in the second leg . Sli ght improved to fourth in race tw o . Keiichi Kita g a w a (Ka w ) and Sc ho ich i T s uka moto (Kaw) finished second and third, respectively, in both legs. Russell now leads Foga rty in the series point standings, 2595-246.5, w ith Slight third at 196. Fred Andrews (Yam ) re corded the overall w in in the AMA W iseco/ Yamaha/Yoko hama National Cross Country Series round at Laurelville, Ohio, August 29. Scott Summers (Hon), the defending se ries cha mp, was the runner-up, w hile Ja n Hrehor (Ya m), Tom Norton (Kaw) a nd T e r r y Cunningham (Kaw) rounded ou t the to p five overa ll. The win was Andrews' thir d of th e se ason, and he mai n ta ins his series point s lead w ith 122. Hreh or is second with 96, Norton is third wi th 94, and Sum mers fourth with 9I. T eam Labelle Racing (Hon) won the GTO portio n of th e AMA/ CCS EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge ro und at Sears Poin t In ternationa l Ra ce w a y , August 28. Labelle's Dave Sadowski teamed with Joe Brett Williams to top the p airi ng of Calvin Rayborn II and David Deveau on the T .P.M Racing (S uz) e n t ry. Fastline/MCM Racing (Suz) fin ished th ir d with S cott Zampach a nd Michael Barnes riding. Two Brothers Racing (Hon) wrapped up th e GTO champion ship with N ick l en ats ch and Tommy Lynch finishing fourth. The GTU race was won by Moto Liberty/Nankai II (Suz) over 4&6 Racing (H o n) and Fas tline/MCM Suzuki II (Suz) . Team Suzuk i Endurance (Suz) clinched the WERA National Endurance Road Ra ce Championship fo r th e fifth straight year by winning a six-hour race at Tennessee's Memphis Motorsports Park, August 28 . K urt Hall and Mi ch a el M a r ti n took turns on the team's Suzuki GSXRll00 and crossed t h e finish line three lap s ahead of Virgi nia Breeze Racing (Yam). Arcl ight Racing (Hon) was third . The win at Memphis was Team Suzuki Endurance's 91st rac e victory and gave the team its ninth WERA title. Six-time Su percross and N atio nal Champ ion Je ff S tanton has resigned with Team Honda for the 1994 season. "I'm just g lad to get it don e," said Stanton. "I 'm glad to say that I'll be here with Honda for at least one mo re year. This is where I wanted to stay and I'm happy." It looks as if Team Kawasaki' s Ry a n Hughes will be making the switch to the Hot Wheels/Splitfire/Pro Circuit / Kawasaki team in '93. "It' s pretty much for sure," said Hughes at the BroomeTioga National MX. "Mitch Payton and Roy Turner are working th ings out right now . I hope it goes th rough, because the Pro Circuit team concentrates solely on 125s and that's what I ride best. Hopefully, th a t' ll be the change tha t will finally see me win the Wes tern Regional 125cc Supercross and Nationa l tities." Kawasa ki ha s announced that eighttime Baja 1000 winner Larry Roeseler, 36, and la st yea r's Baja 100 0 wi nner Danny Hamel, 21, will team up for an ass a u lt on t h is y ear ' s Ba ja 1000 in N ovemb er . The pair will race a KX500 in th e Open class, ai ming for Team Green's sixth-consecutive victory in the grueling race. T he A MA's American Motorcyclis t Poli tical Action Committee (AMPAC) is hosti ng a fund -ra ising b runch for Senator Ben Nighthors e Ca mpbell of O ier victorious in N a aRally liv ev d __ r en ch m a n Alain Oliv ier (Kaw) ca me fro m behind to score the overall win a t the Nevada Rally, which started in Las Vegas on August 22 and finished there August 28. The 2QOO-mile event included timed special test sections and non-timed sections, and had overnight layovers in the towns of Mesquite, Ely, Elko and Tonopah. The eve nt attracted 111 entrants. Olivier's acc umulated special tes t time w as 18 hou rs, 31 minutes and 17 seconds, w hic h was 17 m inutes less than the runner-up rid er, American Charles Halcomb (KTM) . Italian s Angelo . Ca vandolIi (Yam) and Davide TrolIi (Hon) were third and fourth, res pectively, w ith Daryl Folks (KTM) of Nevada completin g the top five overall. California n Dan Ashcra ft (Hon) won the first four specia l tests and led fo r th e firs t two days before ge tting lost in a special test on day three and crashing on d ay four, slipping back to third place. With one day to go, Ashcraft had climbed to second place with less tha n a four-minu te d eficit on Olivier, but ignition troubles dropped him to 13th overall in the fina l resu lts. Trolli led days three and four, bu t go t los t in a special test on the nextto-last day. The even t was ma rr ed by the death of Australian Geoff Eldridge, who colli ded w ith a car in a special test section on d ay four. Eldridge, 43, was the p ublisher of Australian Dirt Bike magazine. F INTHEWIND ~ ~~;~~~~~;~~~:~~:~~~ :~~::'"~ ~ execu tives have been promoted to ne w positions. In an effort to increase productivity and efficiency, the gro up's snowmobile an d motorcycle divisions will be combined, effectiv e September 1, according to Jim Gen tz, senior vice presid ent, motorsports group. "W e are confident that combining snowmobiles and motorcycles, ATVs and scooters into one d ivision will strengthen our sales and marketing efforts to both dealers and con sumers," Gentz said. Previously ge neral manager of snowmobiles, Rit Lefrancois wa s promoted to general manager of motorsports research and product planning. Lefrancois will be responsible for all research, product planning and testing functions for motorcycle, snowmo bile, ATV, scooter and outdoor power equipment (OPE) products. Ed Burke will be responsible for research and development, product planning and testing for motorcycles, ATVs and scooters. Greg Marier will handle those responsibilities for snowmobiles. Mark Speaks was promoted to general ma nager of mo torsports sales and marketing. He will be res ponsible for field sa les, advertising, sales pro motion and program planning for motorcycle, snowmobile, ATV, scooter and OPE/kart p roducts. Jerry Nadeau w ill conti nue as sales ma nager for OPE/ kart p roducts. Dennis McNeal has bee n named field sa les manager for mo torcycles, ATVs and scoo ters. He was previou sly reg iona l manager, northeast. Formerly sales manager for the sno wmobile division, Jack Schulz will now serve as regional ma nager, northeast. Bob Starr has been promoted to assistant di vision manager of adverti sing and sales promotion for all motorsports products. Dave Byer will continue in his position in snowmobile advertising and sales promotion. As part of the restructuring, Paul Kellen, who had served as marketing coordinator of the motorsports group, wa s terminated. "Our new staffing structure adds resources and capabilities to our group," Gentz sa id. "It will also allow us to better coordinate marketing programs between product lines." C olorado. Sen. Campbell is the only devoted motorcycle enthusiast in the U.S. Senate. The brunch will be held at The Dudley Perkins Co., 66 Page Street in San Francisco on Sunday, September 19, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. The brunch is $50 per person and a ttendees are requested to R.S.V.P. to Robert Rasor, AMA vice president, government relations, by calling him at 614/891 -2425. If you're unable to attend but wo uld like to contribu te to Sen . Ca m pbell 's continued success, yo u can send checks made payable to "Campbell Victory Fund" to A MPA C, c/o AMA, P.O . Box 6114, Westerville, OH 43081-6114. ~ "- 00 ;..; il) ...a 8 il) -4-' ~ il) If) tion, and sa ying: "I d on' t know why I ever got put down to the 250 class." His fee fr om Cagiva wa s rumored to be $100,000 per race , but there were other costs to the existing team: regular rider Do ug Chandler suffered a loss of face when a highly motivated Kocinski wa s faster in p ractice; while s econ d rider Mat Mlad i n was left wi th o n ly one bike, while Kocinski had two. Kocinski th r ew o ne of them away in the fi rst untimed practice, highs iding just fee t ahead of Kevin Schwantz. But he was not h u r t. The Li ttle Rock, Arka nsas na tive was still tight-lipped about his future plans. N e w Yo r k Gov. Mario Cuomo h a s vetoed a measure that wo uld hav e pro vided ince ntives for new motorcyclists in that s ta te to ta ke rider-education clas se s. The bill w as designed to p ro mote mo torcycle sa fety by si m plifying licensing p roced ures for ri ders w ho pass training cou rses. In ad d ition, it would have created an advisory committee to examine method s of developing a statewide sa fety program funded entirely by motorcyclists. The pla n was passed by both houses of the New York legislature, bu t was opposed by Cuomo on the basis that it could be implemented by state transportation officials without enacting special legislation. 0'\ 0'\ Kev in Schwantz was involved in several close enco un ters w ith Kocinski on the track, and aft er the final practice at Bmo stopped and argued w ith him in the pit lane after he felt he'd been needl essly carved u p on the slow-down lap . " I don't think he cou ld see m e ," said Schwantz, which some too k as a reference to the eye muscle problems for which Kocinski had minor surgery in the late 1980s. Kocinski's reac tion to the Italian press was succinct. "Don't take tha t too seriously . He's watching th e championship slip away." . Archer Travel Service still has space available on its 1993 Vi ctory Cruise. The Norwegian Cruise Line cruise will featu re AMA Superbike Na tio na l Champion Doug Polen and AMA 250cc Grand Prix Champion Jimmy Filice among the vacationers and will dep art San Ped ro, Californ ia, on November 7. The cruise w ill visit the Mexican p orts of Cabo Sa n Lucas, Ma z at la n and Puerto Valla rta before ret urning to San Pedro on N ovember 14. Prices start at $649 per per son. In o r der to sec ure bo oking, in teres ted parties mu st res po nd b y Septe m ber 7. For m ore informa tio n co n tac t Arch er a t 800 AMA -DESK. Joh n Kocinski was back a t the Czech Republic Grand Prix at Bm o af ter missin g four races, riding a Cagiva in the 500cc class with th e raci ng number 3, refl ecting his 1992 cham pionship posi- Strong p add ock rumors at the Czech GP had Doug Chandler quitting Cagiva next season to move b ack und er th e Kenny Roberts umbrella. The laid -back American, who quit the Lucky Strike Suzuki tea m this year for a big -mo ney Cagiva offer, is the prime candida te to take over Luca Cadalora's slot alo ngside fellow-Californian Wayne Rainey in the Marlboro-backed squad. "That's what they say, is it?" Chandler sa id. "I signed with Cagiva for two years, an d that's pret ty m u ch sure. Up until thi s deal w ith Johnn y (Kocins ki ), I was h app y w ith the team . I' v e a lw ays believed in the motorcycle. But I think bringing Kocinski in won't se rve any purpose in improvin g the b ike . I was a lways against it, and th e way th ey wen t about it re a ll y upset me. " St ill recovering from injuries s ustained a t Mugello, he d id a llo w th at Kocinski's p resence m ight "help m e to get back int o it qu icke r. He's go t a big point to prove, and he 's prepared to take risks that I' m not h appy to take. I'm better 1

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