Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eIN THE WINDB ~ ... C1') ~ l-; Q) o ... ...0 u o Georgian Scott Russell (Kaw) won both legs o f th e World Champ ionship Superb ike Seri es ro u n d h eld in Donin gt on Park, England, October 3. Russell toppe d his championship rival Carl Fogarty (Duc) and teammate Aaron Slight (Kaw) in the first leg before bea ting Slight and Jamie Whitham (Yam) in the second race. Fogarty crashed out of the second race while disp utin g the lead with Ru ssell, scoring no p oin ts and all ow ing th e Georg ian to stret ch h is points lead to 32 points , 361.5-3295, with two rounds remaining in the series. Loris Capirossi (H on ) w on all three 250cc ra ces at th e Superpres tig io Inte rnational Road Race in Barcelona, Spain, October 3. Capirossi, who finished seco nd in th e 1993 250cc World Championship, topped fellow Italian Dori an o Romb on i (Hon) in all three races wi th German J o che n Sch mid (Yam) finishing third. Ken ny Robe rts, Jr. (Yam) finished four th overall with three four th-p lace finishes. The 12Sec portion of the Superprestigio was won by German Ral f Waldmann (Hon). The fifth round of the Open Ducados Cup Series was held the da y prior to the Sup erprestigio and the 250cc class win went to Kenn y Ro b erts, Jr. (Yam) . Rob erts beat hi s teammate Se te Guibernau (Yam) and German Bernd Kassn e r (Ap r). With champ ionship lead er Luis 0' Antin (Hon) crashing out of the ra ce, Roberts Jr. takes over the lead in the Spanish National Championship, 105-95. With his second plac e finish in the 12Sec class, recently crowned 125cc World Champion Dirk Raud ies (Hoo) wrapped up the 125cc Span ish title. Raudies was beaten in Barcelona by Australian Garry McCoy (Apr). The 125ee race was won by Jo rge Ma rtinez (Ho n), but the Span iard was disqualified for using an illegal ignition system. Mark Colomer (Beta) was the winner at the fina l round of the Wo rld Cha mp ionship Observed Trials Series, hel d in Patel ey Bri dge , Eng la nd, Sep tember 26. Amos Bilbao (G-G) finish ed second wi th recen tly crowned World Champion Jord i Ta rres (G-G) finishing third . Mi ke Kiedro w ski (Kaw) was the 250cc/Open Pro Class winner at round two of the AMA Dirt Shirts Fall Classic MX Series, held at Raceway Park in Engli shtown, New Jersey, October 3. Joh n Do wd (Kaw) was the runner-up, . and Ke ith Joh ns on (KTM) was third. Tim Ferry (Yam ) topped the 12Sec Pro class, edging out Barry Carsten (Suz) and Todd DeHoap (Hon). D avid Al da na (Bul)' won the Modern Vintage 250cc class at the AHRMA Days of Glo ry dirt track in Weedsport, New York, October 3. Aldana topped Donnie Warf (Ossa). In the Modern Vintage 601+ class, Aldana (BSA) finished second to Arnie Mah ne (Nor). Form er MX and Supercross Champion Jimmy We inert (Hon) edged Craig Breckon (BSA) to win the Modem Vintage 600cc class". Sco tt Summ e rs (Ho n) wo n the 11th round of the AMA Grand Natio na l Cross Country Series in Elkins, West Virginia, October 3. Doug Blackwell (Kaw) was second ahea d of series points leader Fred And rews (Yam), Jan Hrehor (Yam) and Terry Cunningham (Kaw). Three rounds remain in the series. 2 Three-time World Champion Wayne Rain ey und erwen t spinal surgery at Centin ela Hospital in In glewood , California, on Thursday, September 18. The su rgery, performed by Dr . Robert Watkins, was a reduction and fusion of the fractured and d islocated thoracic vertebrae at T6-7. The reduction was carried out using the TSRH internal fixa tion system in which met al rods are used to obtaina red uction of the dislocation and to main tain the position of the reduction until the fusion heals; the spinal column has also been realigned and held in place. The Californian, who suffered paralyzing spi nal inj u ries when he crashe d h is Marlboro Yamah a wh ile leadin g the 500cc Italian Grand Prix at Misano on September 5, is in stable condition and remains paralyzed from the chest down. Accord in g to a press relea se from Marlboro, Rainey has begun an extensive rehabil itation program desi gned to return him to as high a functional level as possible. Those wishing to send cards or letters to Rainey should send them to: Wayne Rainey, c/o Internationa l Racers Inc., 1633 E. 4th St., Suite 132, Santa Ana, CA 92701. French Cana dian roa d rac e r M igu e l DuHamel has not signed a contract with Harley -Davidson, according to his man ager A lan Labrosse . Con tac ted on Monday, October 4, Labrosse, however, did confirm that he is talking to HarleyDavidson abou t the possibility of DuHamel riding the long-awaited Harley-Davidson V-twin superbike in the 1994 AMA National Championship Road Race Series. "It's a po ssibili ty," Labrosse said. "I won't hide the fact that we 've been talking to Harley-Davidson." Labrosse said that he and DuHamel have declined offers from both Rob Muzzy's Kawasaki team and Martin Adams' Camel Honda squad for next season. " We are still negotiating with some teams and we'll make an announcement when somethi ng happens ." Though Labrosse wo uldn't name specific teams, he d id confirm tha t DuHamel has both World Supe rbike and Grand Prix offers for 1994. Rothmans, the tobacco concern which is pulling out of the World Cham pionship Road Race Series af ter nin e years, 77 G ra n d Pri x w ins, and seven Wo rl d Cha mpio nshi ps, threw a farewell party at the FIM Grand Prix in [ararna, Spain, September 26, whic h was attended by most of their forme r World Champions. Edd ie Lawson , who won the last of his four 500cc Worl d Champ io nship s aboard a Rothmans Kanemoto Honda in 1989, was one of the form er champions in attendance. Contrary to recent speculation, Lawson said he was not seeking a GP ride for 1994 . Also in attendance were An ton Mang, 250cc World Champ ion in 1987, and Marlboro Roberts Yamaha's Luca Cad alora, who finished the season in fifth place in the 500cc class, and who won the 250 World Championship in 1991 and 1992. The only former champions missing were Yamaha Motor France's Fre d die Spe n ce r, 250 and 500cc World Champion in 1985, who was recovering from injuries suffered at the U.S. GP and Australian Wayne Gardner, the 1987 SOOcc World Champion, who was testing a car in A us tra li a for the October 3 Ba thurst 1000 end urance race. Honda has yet to announce a sponsor for 1994, though a n um ber of nam es have been mention ed . Am ong them are Sega, the video ga me co m pa ny, Fos ters, th e Australian beer company, and, as a last resort, Honda Motor Corporation. HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) will field a GP effort next year, regard less of whether they find a sponsor, an d work on next year's factory bikes is continuing. Helmut Bradl has lost hi s HB Honda The 're the Is · N ew ly-crowned 500cc Wo rld Cham pion Kevin Schwantz (left) was given th e ' op po rt u n ity to s how off his ne w number a t th e fin al round of th e Worl d Championsh ip Road Race Series in [arama, Spain, September 26. Schwantz was joined by 250cc World Champion Tetsuya Harada (center) and 125cc World Champ ion Dirk Raudies (right). works bike to fellow German, and 125cc competitor, Ralf Waldmann. Bradl is hoping to stay in the World Championships and holds out a small hope of getting on with the Lucky Strike Suzuki 250cc team as well as an Aprilia team. Aprilia has a great interest in the German market. If no Grand Prix ride surfaces, Bra dl will likely ri de a Honda RC45 backed by the German Honda importer in the Worl d Superbike series. The 32year-old German has spen t his entire career with Honda. Part of Bradl's fu tu re is dependent on whe ther Aprilia goes forward with their 400cc twin project for the 500cc class and whether they elevate current 250cc rider Loris Reggian i. But the project appeared less likely at the final GP in Spain. Aprilia team manager Carlo Pernat said there is . an engine on a test bed, though no chassis has been bu ilt. He gave the project a 50/50 cha nce of reachi ng fruition. Reggiani said, " If Aprilia would like to d o it and they as k me to develop the bike, I would be happy to do it." FIM Safe ty Director Hans Bahmer recently inspected the Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, in anticipation of a World Championship Superbike race, but found it lacking. "In this version , it's not okay for bike races," the former racer said . "The problems are the surface has many cuts, is very slippery, and is very, very bumpy. All the curbs are so high and they continue on well around the corners. That's okay for car races, but not for bikes. If you hit one of them it's like a trampoline. They must remove Armco from aro und the carousel. It's a very dangerous zo ne. They said they will remove it 45 meters from the track and ins tall gravel pits . They sai d t hey ca n do the work by the end of March . Ther e w ill be a n inspectio n in March and, later, a final inspection. The track is in a very good position for a crowd, near Milwau kee and Chicago. We prefer and we support this. But I w ill not homologate for two gro ups of people. I won 't say it's good for superbike, but not good for Grand Prix." Bahmer said the FIM calenda r will be set in the middle of Octob er and he did not expect that Elkhar t Lake would be on the World Sup erb ike calendar for 1994, though he said he didn 't set the calendar. "This is a decision of Mr. F1ammini (the organizer of the World Superbike Series)." New Zealander Andrew St roud , who contes ted both the AMA Superbike series ana the SOOcc Grands Prix, continues to be the busiest racer in the world . Hell be ridi ng th e same La Croix Motorsports Duca ti 851 tha t he's campaigned on in the AMA series at the final World Su perbike r ou nd in Mexico City on November 7. Before that he'll be riding in in te r na tiona l races in Maca u an d Indonesia on the Ha r ris Yamaha he' s been on much of the season. "The last three or four GPs it's been getting better," he said. "I've always had a front end cha tter. We foun d every time we were doing the front axle up, it would bind the forks at the bottom and p ull it together eve ry tim e th e forks moved . Now it's m uch easier to ride ." Strou d sai d he'd like to do ano ther year on the 50Ds, bu t would like more power. "I ha ven' t been hap py with the speed of the bike. We're 10 Ks (6 mph) down on the slowest privateers, 20 Ks (12 mp h) down on the good p rivate bikes like (Niall) Mackenzie and (Iua n) Lopez Mella, and 30 Ks (18 mph) down on the factory bikes." The FIM Constru cto rs Championsh ip has been won by Yamaha in the 500cc GP road race class, 269 points to 264 for Suzuki, though much has been made of the fact that the Marlboro Roberts Yamaha team has been using a ROC chassis for the second half of the season . S e rg e Ru sse t, who builds the ROC fra mes, anticipated the problem. "My contract with Yamaha is clear. When they order something from me, it's a Yama ha. I am a sub-contractor. I suppli ed th e fi rst frame. Af ter the first fra me, I d eli ver e d frames to Team Roberts. We ma de an agreement where th ey co nsider me a sub-con tractor to build these under the Yamaha nam e. It's the ir nam e, their p la ns, their wishes. Eve ry thi ng is bu ilt with orders fr om Ya maha. I th ou ght this was a go od opportunity to have a good position in the championship. You must never forget that without engines I cannot do anyth ing ." IRT A's Paul Bu tler said he understood the problem, adding "It's not as definitive as in Formula One. We continue to define it on the basis of the en trant until you get a genuine construe-

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