Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

YZf750 in the series. "The relat ionship we ha ve with Van ce & Hines and ou r ri d e r s is exce p tio n a l," sai d Torn Hal verson, race techn ici an for Yama ha 's Mo torsports Group. "Terry, Byron, Ron , Jim and th e enti re crew bring dedication and d esire to the track every race. Colin's window of opportunity is limitless - his performan ce d urin gthe 1993 season proved that he won't be intimidated by an y of the riders on the circuit and he de fin itely has the will to w in. We can always count on Jamie to be up front giving 110 percen t, and his racing savvy is invaluable to the race set -up of the motorcycles." Terry Vance will continue to lead the team, and Byron H in es will dedicate hi s fu ll attention to engi ne d e ve lopment. Ron Foster will overse e d ay-toda y activities as m ar ketin g manager, wh il e Jim Leonard will co n tin u e as crew chief and Steve Derksen will join the team as head eng ineer. "Vance & Hi nes is ela ted to renew our co n trac t with Yamaha," Vance sai d. "The results from the 1993 season are just the beginning of wh at you can expect from this team . We have th e be st cre w, rid ers and eq u ip me n t. Wh en you comb ine tha t w ith the s u p po r t w e have from Yamaha's management, our team will be .v ery competitive for this season." The race results for the H onda CBR600 Series final h eld a t the O ctob er 24 AMA / CCS Race of Cham pions a t Daytona International Speedway were decla re d officia l on Novembe r 4 by nationa l re fe r ee Je r r y McHale. The res ults were p ut on hold when ra ce winner Owen Weichel and third-place finisher Danny Roberts were d isqualified af te r post-race tea rd ow ns fo und illega l cam modifications to th e ir Ho nda CBR600s. Both riders no ti fied o ff ici a ls th a t th e y in tend ed to file appeals. Acco rd ing to the CCS rul ebook, w ritten a ppeals must be postmarked wi thi n 48 hours of th e event and a protest fee of $300 in cash or money orde r must also accompany the ap pea l. Althou gh both riders sub mitted ap peals, both missed the d ead line and both submitted checks ra the r than the approved met hod of payment. The officia l top five are as follows: 1. David Estok; 2. Mike Murphy; 3. Jam es Leslie; 4. Brian Gibbs; 5. William Knox. It now looks as though Australian Daryl Beattie will join Team Ma rlboro Rober ts Yamaha for the 1994 500cc World Championship Road Race Series. Beattie finished third in the 1993 500cc World Championship on a Rothmans Honda in what was his first full season of GP racing, b u t lost his ride when Rothmans p ulled its sponsorship fro m the tea m. Beattie will join Italian Luca Cadalo ra on the Kenny Roberts-own ed team. The Foste rs' Australian Grand Prix has been vo ted "Best Grand Prix" by Internationa l Racing Teams Association (IRTA) for the 1993 season. The event held at Eastern Creek n ea r Sydney, Australia, on March 28, was awarded the most points in the annual poll cond ucted by teams competing in the World Cha mpionship Road Race Series. The Aus tralian event top ped the Italia n GP at Mugello by just two points in the voting with three circuits tying for third place - Ca talu nya (Spain) , Donington Pa r k (Engla nd) and Suzuka (Japa n) . Eastern Creek joins the following past winn e r s of the award : Silvers to ne (Engl and), H ock en he im (Ge r m a ny), Nu rb urg r in g (Ger many), Ass en (Holland), Suzuka (Jap an), Don in gt on Pa rk (Eng la n d) , Jere z (Sp ain) , Catalunya (Spain). Don ington Park has wo n the award tw ice, in 1989 an d in 1991. Fre nch man Yves Demaria will join Italian Alessandro Puzar and American Tallon Vohland on the Vecchis/Pepsi Honda Team for the 1994 World Champ ionship 250 cc MX Series. Demaria, who fini shed second in the World Championship 125cc MX Series th is year, turned d own a d eal to compet e on the Eric Geboers' HRC Ho nda team. That spot is now rumored to be filled by former 125 and 250cc World champ Trampas Parker of Shrevep ort, Louisiana. Anyone interested in joining AMA Grand Na tional Champion Ricky Graham and his friends in a barbecue celebration of his third Grand National Championship ar e welcom e to do so. The event will be held at the Swiss Rifle Club on LaG loria Street in Gonzales, just a few mil es south of Salina s, California, on Highway 101. The barbecue (bring a $5 donation) will run from noon to 4:00 p.m. on Satu rda y, November 13. For more in fo rmation co n ta ct Chris Bu ckne r at Sa linas Yamaha at 408/422-3232. Ro dn e y Fe e, Ch r is Rogers a n d Christopher Waller will ri de Ho nd a RSl25s for the Sammy Tan ner-mana ged Grand Pr ix Imports tea m in the 1994 WERA Pro Series Formula III class. Fee also plans to compe te in several WERA Pro Series Formula II and selected AMA 250cc GP eve n ts aboard a '94 Yama ha TZ250, p repared by Harry Okuda. Accord ing to Joel Smith, general ma na ge r of San Bernard ino, California's Gl e n H el e n Ra ce w a y , th ree- ti me Nati onal champion Ma rty Sm ith is in the process of d es igning a n all-new motocross track in a previously unused portion of the par k. Plan s for the track includ e jumps, whoops and a lighting syste m for night use. As always, both existing MX tracks are open for p ractice on Thursd ays and Sat urd ays. For more information, call 909/880-3090. Televis ion p rod ucer Pete De Lash o has been named the latest recipient of the A MA Haz e l Kol b Br ig ht e r Im a ge Award, whi ch is bestowed on ind ividuals and businesses that portray mo torcycling in a pos itive Hght in the media. Del.asho p roduced " Road ho g," a 30minute documentary that explores the attrac tion of motorcycling to you ng people through the views of motorcycling musicians like Jon Bon [ovi, k.d. Lang and Lou Reed . " Roadhog " was broadcast seve ral times on· MTV. "The program's u se o f m us ic and imag es addresses the 20-som ething crowd very effectively, and that is an audience m otorcycl in g has h ad a hard time reach ing in re ce nt yea rs," sa id AMA president Ed Youngblood . "We applaud Mr . DeLash o 's po sitive and insight ful view of motorcycling." With th e absence of the now-defunct Barsto w to Vegas Hare and Hound, what's a mo torcycle racer who's eaten too much on Thanksgiving to do? Race in the 3rd An nual Fall on to Love lo ck Hare and Hound, w hat else? For mo re in forma tion ab ou t the November 27 point-to-po in t race through northern Ne vad a, call 702/ 358-5905 or 208/3423910. Joe Scalzo, th e man behind ou r Time Remembered feat ures, was a busy man du r in g th e recen t fi res that engu lfed so uthern California. Scalzo is a lO-year member of the Sierra Madre volunteer fi re fighters, a nd he helped fight the National Hare Scrambles title toSummers ond a's Scott Summers (right) tied up his third National Ha re Scrambles Championship w ith an ove rall win a t the final round in Wickenburg, Arizona, N ov ember 7. Sportcycle Yamaha' s Ja n H re hor ac tuall y held the overall points lead coming into the race, but with "throwaway" finish es take n into account, the real po ints battle was between Summers and defending champ Scott Plessinger. Summers, on a Honda XR600, took over the lead on the third of five, 20-mile la ps on the fast and dusty course, and held it to the end to secure the title. KTM riders Destry Abbott, Leigh l.ettelier and Plessinger fin ish ed second through fourth, respectively, with Hrehor completing the top five. Summers pu t on a late-season charge to ea rn the crown, after missing races with separate injuries to his shoulder and wrist. "This (title) feels about the sa me as the first one I got," said Summers. "It was a really tough season w ith all the injuries and everything, and I'm just ecstatic to be there in the end." H de vastating fires in Lag una Beach and Sierre Madre. Armando Carrasco of Too Much Fun Promo tion s has annou nced the d ates for the 1994 LaPlaya GP Series, held in the sa nd d unes near Cantamar, B.C., Mexico. The five -round series w ill be held February 27, May 22, Augus t 14, October 2 a nd December 4. For mo re informatio n call 011-52-661-2525. For mer 250cc Wo rld Cha mpion John Kocinski vis ited the Bell Helme ts office in Irvine, California, on Nov ember 5 to discuss, a mong other thi ngs, the ne w M1 Series Jo h n Kocinsk i rep li ca. Kocins ki, w ho helped in the design of the helmet, cited air lea ks, w ind noise and fogging as his three major concerns with helmets. He says the Bell, which is mad e in the compa ny's 50,OOO -squ arefoot facility in Luca, Italy, does a good job with all three: "It 's the only helmet I've eve r worn tha t does n 't ha ve air coming in to ·distract my visio n. An d I've neve r had a fogging problem with th is helmet. Another thing I like about the Bell is that if I ask for four helme ts, I get four helmets that are all the same." According to Bell, the Kocinski replica helmet weighs 1400 grams (49 ounces) . Th e Ke vlar /fibergl ass helme t in a Kocinski replica will retail for $329; the helmets are cu rren tly in p rod uction and w ill be available in late December, early January. Kocinski also d iscus sed his recent signing with Ca g iva and the addition of tuner Kel Ca rruthers" to the team . "I'm happy; they're a good bunch of people ," Kocinski said . "I did four races, or three-and-a-half races, with them this year and they ma de me feel really wel com e. I' ve never ex p e ri e n ce d tha t before in a team. When I ask them for something, they never ask why. Th ey did thi ngs I've never seen people do befor e. At th e second test session, the gas tank wa s too long. I told them and a guy took it out in the parking lot and sawed it in half and re-fiber glassed it. He even painted it - righ t then, in two hours...it was great. For a while th e Cagiva went through a stage where the reliability wasn't there. The importan t th in g n ow was that the Cagiva w as th er e eve ry week when I rode it. The bike never broke. I think this year we really s urprised a bunch of peop le . Now Cagiva is not sa tisfied w ith ju st wi nning races. We've got to w in more ... r-, rl H Q) ~ Q) :> o Z than races - we've go t to be there all the time. I'm confident. We're competitive now and they're lookin g forward to next yea r as much as I am. I talked to Kel (Carruthers) thr ough out the yea r a fair amo un t. I think he really wa n ted to come back to the 500s. Unfortuna tely, as it t urns out, Kel will be wo rking wi th Dou g (Chand ler). But it all helps. He was with Yamaha for a long time and he was also w ith Honda for a few yea rs . I th ink fo r s u re if we've go t a p r ob lem, he'll be ab le to fix it a lo t quicke r." Accord ing to Kocinski, there is no friction between himse lf and teammate Doug Chandler. "When I first cam e to the team for the four races, I just took wha t they ga ve m e," Kocins ki sa id . "How they structured the team wasn't up to me. I said ' he llo' a n d s h oo k Doug ' s han d beca use I was the o ne coming into the team. I made the effort c he jus t never talked to me fro m then on . I never sai d anything, I just went about my bu siness. I'm 1 00kIDg forward to havi ng a good year with him next year. H opefull y, we can ge t on better communication terms this year and work together." According to Kocinski , te a m boss G iacomo Agostini recently had a ride on the Cagiva at Mugello in Ital y. "I asked him if he dragged a knee and he said n o," Ko cins ki said. "I fi nd Ago very helpfu l. He's not s t u p id or he wou ldn't ha ve won 15 Worl d Championships. He su rp rised me wi th what he knows. He takes care of things and he' s very help fu l. I ha ven 't had m u ch fun with p r evious teams I'v e worked with, but I do with this one." Kocinski has also made the transition between his former management compa ny, Internationa l Racers Inc., and his presen t manager D ave Stevenson. "I jus t wanted my things back and th ey wouldn't give 'ern back," Kocinski said. "Afte r so me tim e p asse d a n d some pressure was ap plied, they tu rned my th ings over. I do n't have any hard feelin g s o r ' anim osity to w a rd s anyone. I wis h them all luck. It's all in the past." CORRECTION: In a headline in ou r "Even ts" section last week, we inadvertently had Terry Poovey winning a half mile race in "Wichita," wh en it sho uld ha ve read " De vi l's Bowl Speedway," w hich is located in Mesquite, Texas. ~ 3

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