Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

9IN THE WIND ~ o ... rl l-I Q) ~ Q) :> o Z B Michigan's Fritz Kling (Yam) won the final roun d o f the WERA Fram / Bendix/ Autolite Formula USA Series a t Road A tlanta in Bra s el ton, Geo rgi a , October 31. Kling finished seco n d to Dave Sadowski (Hon) in the first leg and then we nt on to win the second leg to secu re th e o verall v icto ry . Chuck Graves (Suz) wrapp ed up the se ri es championship after finishing th ird in the first leg and second in the seco nd leg. Sadowski added a third-place finish in the second leg and ended up second overal l. Th e AirTech Formu la II class win and championship went to Rich O li v e r (Yam) over Chuck Sore nson (Yam) and Kurt Hall (Yam). In WERA Formula III action, Rodney Fee (Han) took the win over Thornton McP heeters (Apr) and Nicky Hayden (Hon). Ku rt Hall, G e ra l d Rothman Jr. and Steve Patterson emerged as the big winners from th e Suzuki Na tional C up Series fina le at Road Atlanta. Hall won the 1l00cc Suzuki Cup, Rothman Jr . won th e 750cc Suzuki Cup and Pa tterson took home th e w in in th e 600cc all-Suz u ki class. Ro thman Jr . added a second- place finish in the 600cc class and a thi rd-place finis h in th e 1100cc class, makin g th e New Englander the most successful racer of the day. Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz) won the fi na l rou nd of th e WERA Na tional En du rance Championship a t Road Atl an ta in Braselton, Georgia, Oc tobe r 29. Team Suz u ki Endurance's Kurt Hall and Michael Martin finished 34 seconds ahead of Virginia Breeze Racing (Yam) after four hou rs of racing. Recently crowned AMA Grand National Cross Co u ntry Champion Fr e d Andrews (Yarn) scored the overall win at the Hi-Point National Cross Country in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania , Octobe r 31. Andrews, who clinched the tit le at the previous round in West Virginia, finishe d ahead of Do ug Blackwell{Kaw) and Jan Hreh or (Yarn). Todd De Ho op (Hon) sewed up bot h the 125 and the 25Occ/Open class titles with run n e r- u p an d third -place fin is h es, respectively, a t th e final ro und of the AMA Dirt Shirts Fall Classic MX Series in Gainesville, Florida, October 31. Kevin Windham (Kaw) was the winner in bo th classes. In the 125cc division, Barry Ca rsten (Suz) was third ahead of Neese and Jim Chester (Yam ), and in the 250cc/Open class, Jim Neese (Kaw) was second, with Vin ce DeVane (Suz) and Steve Childress (Suz) fou rth and fifth, respectively. Team Suzuki End ura nc e 's 92n d endurance victory at Roa d Atl anta marked the end of the ro ad for longtime team member Kurt Hall. Ha ll, 32, announced h is retirement from racing on the winner's rostrum at Road Atlanta. Team captain John Ulrich said that Hall was "the best motorcycle endurance racer of all time. Nobody has won so many races, gone so many racing miles, and crashed so few times. It will be very difficult to fill his boots." Michael Martin will take over as lead rider for the team in 1994. Australian Kel Carru th ers has reached an agreement with Cagiva and will become crew chief for Doug Chandler in the 1994 500cc World Championship Road Race Series. Ca rruthers, who now resi des in El Cajon, California, worked as Albe rto Puig's crew chief on the Sito Pons-owne d Ducados Honda 250cc GP team in 1993. Signi ng with Cagiva will reunite Carruthers with team manager Giacomo Agostin i, with whom Carru thers worked whe n Agostini ran the Marlboro Yamaha team from 1983 to 1989. Wit h riders Kenn y Rob erts and Eddie Lawson, Carruthers has won six Worl d Championships as a crew chief, a nd o ne as a rider - the 1969 250cc World Championship. "I've ta lked to Agostini and we've come to an agreeme nt for next year:' Carruthers said. "I'm looking forward to renewing my relationship with Ago. The res ults this year have shown Cagiva's potential, and I'm hoping I can he lp them gai n even better results next year. I'll be working with Doug Chandler and I'm excited about tha t. Dou g turned in so me good performances befo re he got hurt and I'm confident in his ability. We'll do a lot of testing th is winter and we'll get him back to where he was befo re his injuries. When the season starts, we'll be ready." There were a few incorrect dates listed fo r th e Worl d Championship Ro ad Race Series in last week's issue . The season star ts on March 27 - not February 27 - in Australia before movi ng to Malaysia on Ap ril 10 and then Japan on April 24. The Spanish round at Jerez is House Committee passes helmet-law dela Ian he federa l govern ment's a ttemp t to p un ish states th at d on ' t pass ma ndatory mo torcycle helmet laws may be pu t on ho ld for a year, according to the AMA. On October 25, the U.S. House Public Wo rks and Tra nsportation Committee ap proved a bill tha t would postpo ne imp leme ntation of a fed eral law to impose penalties on 27 sta tes beginning in fiscal year 1995. Cu rrently, those states are ou t of compliance wi th a mandate that required them to pass motorcycle helmet laws (and sea t-belt laws for automobile d rivers ) by Octobe r of this year . The penalty provision, which would take effect on October 1 of 1994, was approved two years ago as part of a federal high way funding measure, known as the Intermodal Surface Transportati on Efficiency Act. Recently, tho ugh, the House committee considered a bill to correct pa rts of tha t hig hway package, and than ks largely to the Motorcycle Rid ers Fou ndation and the AMA, lan gu age was added to the bill calling for a one-year d elay in federal sanctions over the helmet-law p rovision. "This was a team effort," said Jim Bensberg, AMA Washington representative. "We have many individuals from both grou ps to thank for their help in getting this delay lan gu age approved. Now we need to continue that effort as the bill moves forward." The helmet-law delay p lan was considered as part of a technical corrections bill design ated H .R. 3276 - which no w goes to the full House for approval. Motorcyclists interested in supporting this effort are ur ged to contact their congressmen, asking the m to support H.R. 3276 in its p resen t form . Letters sho uld be addressed to congressmen at the U.S. Ho use of Representatives, Washing ton, D.C. 20515. T 2 Camel now Smokin' oe's Racin sing an elaborate Egyptian motif as a backdrop in Phoenix, Arizona, October 29, the R.J. Reyno lds Tobacco Company unveiled its p lans to back no t only Martin Adams' AMA National Champio nship Road Race Se ries team, but also a NASCAR team, and a NHRA funny car and top-fuel entry in 1994. And the teams will feature new colors and a new na me for '94 - Smo kin ' Joe's Racing. A sponsor of mo torsports since 1971 with the Winston Cup Series, R.J. Reynolds will use the Came l bra nd to add "a new and exciting d imension" to current sponsorship packages thr ough the spo nsorship of racing tea ms . "We've heard the ru mor s of us backing ou t of mot orsp orts," said James Schroer, RJR's executive vice presiden t of marketing and sales, at the press conference. "But we're not backin g ou t - we're going up." In addition to team ow ner Ma rtin Adams (above lef t), dirt-tracker-tu rned-roadracer Mike Hale (above righ t) was also in attendance. Hale is currently the only rider under contract for next season, but Ad ams expects to ha ve the three-rid er team in place wi thin tw o weeks. Hale will compete in the AMA/CCS 600cc Supersport Series as well as selected AMA Superbike Nationals on the team 's RC30. The othe r two riders will compete in the enti re AMA Superbike National Cha mp ionship on 1994 Ho nda RC45s. The team is also expected to have closer ties to American Hond a in '94 and it is likely that Gary Mathers will serve as the team manager. Gone are the familia r gold and blue Camel colors for 1994. The bikes on display at th e press conference fea tured purple, gold and yellow graphics with Srnoki n' Joe's Racing taking the place of the standard Camel logo on the bike's fairings. Smokin' Joe's Racing's effort in NASCAR w ill be owned by Travis Ca rter, and the team's Ford Thunderbird will be driven by Hut Stricklin. The two en tries in NHRA drag racing will be a top fuel dragster driven by Jim Head and a Ford funny car driven by Gordie Bonin. The two-car team will be owned and opera ted by Paul Can dies. Pau l Carruthers U on May 8. The only othe r inco rrect en try was the Unknow n GP - w hich will be held on June 12, not June 6. That race, by the way, will m os t lik el y be h eld in Hockenheim, Germany . Triumph w ill unveil all 10 of its 1994 m o t o rcy cl es a t th e Canad ian In te rn ati onal Mo to rcycle Supe r s how o n Ja n uary 7-9, 1994 a t th e To ronto Internationa l Centre in Ontario, Canad a. . The expo r t m ana ger for Tri um ph Mo to rcycles Ltd ., Darren Payne , h as announced tha t th e final sa fety ch ecks have bee n comp leted to ena ble Triu mph to sell mot orcycles in Canada next yea r. Triumph's John Bloor is cu rrently fina lizing America n dis tri b u tion pl ans paving the way for the much-anticipa ted launch of Triumph to the U.S. ma rket in 1995. on Octob er 25 in Dublin, Ireland , with FIM Presid ent Jos Vaasen paying a tribute to in jured three-ti me World Ch ampion Wayne Rainey. "Ever yon e involved in mot orsports was shocked by the outcome of the accid ent in Misano," Vaasen said . "However, the courage he has shown is unbelievable and demon stra tes on ce mor e Wayne's unique personality and strong cha racter." The FIM announced at the Con gress that the 1994 World Speedway Championsh ip will be decided via the usual oned ay World Final and not through th e p r o p o s ed Grand P rix series. "After ample consultations with the po tentia l con tractual partners for 1V and ma rketing rig hts, it has been deci ded not to sign a contract for speedway in 1994: ' FIM President [os Vaasen sa id . " It is useless to head towards a rift with some of the speedway countries and thereby allow th is new se t-up to s tart badl y." Th e Ice Racin g Wo rld Ch am pions hi p, however, wi ll use the Grand Prix sys tem in 1994. Hallmar Video will again host a trip to the Isle of Man IT races in 1994. The two-week packa g e will run fr om Monday, May 30 to Monday, June 13, allowing' visitors to see all p ractice ses sions, th e v inta g e ro a d ra ces in Cast letown and the full IT program on the fam ous mountain circuit. Prices are expected to be aro und $700 pe r person, double occupancy - no t including the Tra nsatlantic air fare . For more informa tion contact Harold or Mary Cosgrove at 905/356-6865 or fax 905/358-0797. The FIM General Assemb ly admitted two new National Federations into the FIM in Dublin, th e Czech (DMF) and Slovak (SMF) Rep ub lics, bri nging the nu mber of National Federations present or re presented at the Con gress to 58 the highest number in FIM history. The five-day 1993 FIM Congress began The FIM also announced a cha nge in the

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