Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

racing for almost 20 years, have thr eatened to pull out in 1994, blaming a lack of French talent and a conseq uen t lack of French fina nce. The firm is the d escendant of Son auto Yamaha, who backed Christian Sarron to his 250cc World title, and before that Patrick Pons, a m on g others. The team lost their long-standing Gau loises backing as a result of Fren ch government restrictions on ci ga ret te ad vertising, but were able to continue because of a scheme whereby the government compensated those who had lost as a result of the new rules. However a lack of French road racing talent meant that the team was forced to look elsewhere, and signed Fr ed di e Spencer this year. As a result, chief coordinator Sarron said it was very difficult to secure the money for this year, and it would be harder still next year. The team has Bern ard G arcia and Jose Kuhn on strength, both of whom are French, but neither is considered fast enough. It is thought that the threat is part of a' campaign to try and secure the services of Jean-Michel Bayle. ' The long-awaited 500ce V-twin fro m Bimota was still long-awaited after this yea r's It alian GP. The factory had hoped to debut the machine as a wild card, but the plan came to nothing. The V-twin has been under going tests for more th an two yea rs, a nd has in fact been r aci ng in the National Championships this year. Di rk Raudies, who is currently leading the Wo rld Championship 125cc Road Race Series, has been offered sponsorship by HB. But the little German remembers well how the tobacco giant dropped him at the end of 1990, leaving him to found his own indep endent team. Now he is s tr inging them a lo ng, having a lso received offers of backin g from two o ther German sources as we ll as from Spain. "Whatever happens I want to continue to run my own team, not to join a ma jor sponsored team," he said. American Suzuki has announced details of the 1994 Suzuki RM Contingency Program. Suzuki's total posted MX con- Raine~ badl tingency will reach an unpreced ented $3,375,025 for the '94 race season. Changes to the program inclu de dou ble payo u ts to winners of AM A Nati onal Cha mp ions hip MX Series races, which have been changed from a two-mote format to a supercross-s tyle sin gle-moto format. The total nu mber of events for which Suzuki RM contingency prizes have been posted remains constant a t 287 events. The AMA 125 /250ce Nationals lead the lis t with $604,50 0 being posted for those races. Next is the AMA Supercross Series at $523,125, followed by the New England Sp orts Committee (NESC) Cham p ionship Series at $262,000, the GFI North-South Showdown at $252,300 and the CMC Golden State Nationals at $170,000. All told, the 287 events at which contingency prizes are available are either part of 32 separate series or one-event championships. Suzuki also has announced the con tinuation of the Good Scholar con tingency program for 1994. Th is revolutionary contingency program allows any 1994 RM purchaser to receive a $500 savings bond good for their college ed ucation if they do the follow ing : purchase a new '94 RM80, 125 or 250 from an authorized Su zuki d ealer shi p, complete and se nd application form to Suzuki, compete in five MX events, maintain a 3.0 (B) or better grade point average, and supply Suzuki wit h the official transcript prior to July 15, 1994. To date, Suzuki has paid nearly 200 Good Scholar recipients for the '93 school year1race season. Camel Honda's Mike Smith will race a Camel-backed Honda NS R500 in the final three rounds of the All-Japan Road Racing Champio nship s, acco rding to Camel Honda . tea m owner Martin Adams. Smith will ride on the Scuderia Okumura-owned team that ba cked Daryl Beattie in las t year's All-Japan 500cc cla ss, bu t the team will fea ture Camel sponsorship. "It's a joint venture to e nco u r age R.J.R. (R.J. Re ynold s Tobacco) Japan to join with Scud er ia Okumura in the hopes that we could do the same for next yea r's Su zuka 8- in'uedin Italian G r P h r ee-tim e Wo rld Cha mpion Wayne Rainey (r ig h t) su ffe red serious back injuries in the Italian Grand Prix on September 5, and was flown to a hos pi tal from the Misano circui t in danger of permanent paralysis of the lower part of his body. At press time on Tuesd ay, September 7, Rainey had bee n upgraded to stable condition and has been taken out of the intensive care unit at a hospital in Cese na, Italy. Accord ing to a press release issued by Marlboro on September 7, the Monterey, California, resi de nt has d amaged his thoracic vertebrae, causing pa ralysis from the middle of the chest down. Rainey also suffered a punctured lung in the acciden t. The crash occurred on the 10th lap of the 29-lap race, whe n Rainey was leading. He fell alone at the first comer, and slid w ith the bike in to the grav el trap . Although conscious, he was said to be un able to move his legs. He receiv ed eme rgency trea tm en t a t tr ack side, and was flown to a hos pital in Cesena near Bologna. Marlboro Yamaha team owner Kenny Roberts went to the hosp ital with Rainey. Rainey's w ife Shae, wh o was at home in Monterey, Californi a, flew to Italy as soon as po ssible, along wi th Rainey's parents and his manager Gary Howa rd. According to a press release issued by Marlboro, Rainey is expected to remain in Italy until the weekend of September 11-12 and then will be flown to a ho spital in California. Rainey, who turns 33 next month, has won 24 GPs in a Grand Prix career that began in the 500cc cla ss in 1988, after he had claimed two AMA Superbike National Championships. He was second in the World Championship in 1989, but seized control in 1990 to win it for the next three straight years. He had just taken the points lead again this year at the last race at Brno, from Kevin Schwantz, who regained the lead by finishing third in Italy. Michael Scott T Hour," Adams sai d . Adams also confirmed th at his AMA Su pe rbi ke tea m will aga in be s po nso red by Camel in 1994 and will defini tely include Sm ith, who will be in the second year of his two-year contract. The team will use the new Hond a RC45. "This yea r I' m jus t going to the Bercy (Paris, France) Sup ercross and the Tokyo Supercross, and probably some other races in Jap an wh ile we're testing. But basically I'm going to take some time off." Stan ton recen tly signed a one-year contract with Honda. Accord ing to sources close to the team , there is a good cha nce that Dutchman Racing will com p e te in the 1994 AMA /CCS End urance Challenge Series on Du catis . Apparently Ducati is eager to show the durability of their 888 Vtwins and feel the 9O-minute endurance races would do just that. The team is likely to consist of Ray Yoder and Pascal Picotte. Donny Schmit, who finished second place to South African Greg Albertyn in the World Champ ionship 250ce MX Series, says he plans on re turnin g to Europe next year and hopes to take back the 250cc World Championship . "I jus t had a lot of bad luck and injuries th is year, " said Schmit at the Steel City National MX. "It looks like I'll again be with the Chesterfeild Yamaha Team next year. Apparently, Albertyn was hoping to come here (U .S.) next year but couldn't get the suppo rt he needed here, so he'll return to defend h is title ." Following the World Champ ion ship 250cc MX Series which concluded three weeks ago, Schmit has been compe ting in th e las t three round s of th e AM A N ational Championshi p 125cc M X Series, but without much luck. "I've had a good time here and I've learned a lot," said Schmit, wh o hails fro m Bloo mi ng to n, Minnesot a. Schmit also p la ns to m ar ry long-ti me girlfriend Carrie Ca rl son in Anoka, Minnesota, Sep tember 18. Kiwi Darryl Kin g was slated to ride a . Husaberg in an international MX in Italy on September 5, and is considering racing the thumper when he represents New Zealand at the MX des Nations in Au stria, September 12. The bike is prepared by the Italian Vertamati brothers, who prepped the bike s of Joel Smets, who fin ished six th in the World Championship 50 0cc MX Se ries thi s year. "We are interested in signing a second top rid er to race alon gside Smets, beca use it is too risky to have a team with only one rider," Guido Vertama ti said. "We have been lucky this year, but it only ta kes one injury to d est roy an entire season." Vertamati also confirmed that Smets had been offered a new contract for next yea r. Belgian Jacky Martens is the seventh ride r to win a 500cc M X Worl d Cha mpionship on a Husqva rna, though he is the first to do so since the marque was p u rchased by Cagiva . Othe r Husqvarna -mounted world cha m ps in the big-bore division include d Swedes Bill Nilsson (1960), Rolf Tibblin (1962'63) a nd Bengt Aberg (1969-70), and Finn Heiki Mikkola (1974). Martens is th e first rid er to wi n th e 500cc World Cha mpion on a non-Japanese mach ine since Mikkola. The Ontario Flat Track Championship Half Mile which was scheduled to run at the Hiawatha Horse Park in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada , on August 29 was rained out. It has been rescheduled for Sund ay, Sep tember 12. Practice begins at 11:30 a.m. and racing starts at 3 p.m. For more inform a tion, call 519/ 892-3604. Kevin Austin, owner of the cus tom helmet pain ti ng fir m H amme rh ead Graphics, suffered a b rok en left w rist while riding at the firm's private track in Yadkinville, North Carolina, on August 30. According to Aus ti n, the crash occured on the same set of double jumps where Hammerhead's Jeff Shore broke his right collarbone on July 29. Noted motorcycle journalist Roger Hull has donated his first mo torcycle, a 1960 Harley-Davidson FLH, to the Motorcycle Heri tage Muse um, whi ch is located at the AMA headquarters in Wes terville, Ohio. Hull also donated a selection of his personal moto rcycle memorabilia to the museu m . One o f the co -fou nders of Road Rid er magazine, Hull also served as an edi tor of that pu blication for many yea rs , a nd often wrote o f hi s tra vel s aboa rd the '60 Harley, which he nicknamed "Houndawg." Jeff Stanton, the mu lti-time Sup ercro ss and 250cc National MX Champion, said a ft er the fi n al round of the AMA Nati onal Championship 500cc MX Series at Steel City Raceway in Delmont, Pennsylvania, that he's going to take it easy d uri ng the off-season. "I rode too many races last year in Europe and I just go t burned out this year," said Stanton. Scott Summers, the defend in g AMA Gran d National C ross Crountry Champion, suffered a should e r inju ry resuIting from a crash whil e doing suspension tes ti ng near h is home in .Petersburg, Ken tucky. "It was a freak accident," said Summers. "We were testing th e suspension on my b ike o ver some rocks, when this one rock flew off the front tire and nailed the back tire. The next thing I knew I was flying over the ba rs and landed righ t on my shoulder. I tore ligaments that holds the clavicle (collarbone) to the sho ulder. The doctors say that recove ry time w ill be a t least six weeks. If that 's the case, then th at's it for me th is yea r. I just can't believe it!" Jeff Russell, th e 1991 AMA National End uro Champion, was forced to sit out the September 5 round of the National End uro Series in New Waver ly, Texas. Russell had h op e d to compete afte r breaking his collarbone at the last round in La nsing, Michigan, August 8. The injury hadn't hea led enough for Russell to compete. While scheduling conflicts were the official re ason given by the AMA for the exclusion of the Sea ttl e Kingdom e round from the 1994 Camel Supercross Series, it is also widely known that the 1993 event was nearly canceled due to a new King County (Washington) ordinance against cigare tte advertising. This may have been a contributing factor to the decision, as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is the series' title sponsor. Jeff Creager suffered a severed sp inal cord in his racing accident a t th e O ld Timer National MX in Fernley, Nevada, September 5. Creager crashed in the first moto of the Masters Class and is currently recuperating at the Wash oe Med ical Center, 79 Pringle Way, Reno, NV 89520. HIRED: Gary Ga llag he rof Mot orcycle Racing Service and Imports (MRSI), by Performance South Racing Team owner Nate Lundy. Gallagher will man age the team 's public relations and sponsors hip support programs during the 1994 road race season. Lundy also ann ounced that Rich Oliver and Chuck Sorensen w ill rema in with Performance South and will contest both AMA Na tional and WERA Pro Series races next year. fl' 3

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