Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

John Surtees, th e on ly ma n to ha ve won World Championship s on bo th tw o and four wheels, will ta ke part in the BMW Battle of the Legends during Camel Cycle Wee k at D aytona International Spe edway in March. The 59-y ea r- o ld Englishman won sev e n World Championships, including both the 350 and 500 cc titles in 1958 and again in 1959. Four years after retiring from motorcycle racing, Surtees won the Formula One World Championship in a Ferrari. Surtees will be am on g six past s ta rs known as the Legends Em er it u s . Unlike the 10 other BMW Legends, the Emeritus gro up will not compete during AHRMA Vintage Day on March 7, but will be available for photos, autographs and reminiscing. Joining Surtees as Legends Emeritus will be D ick Klamfoth, Dick Mann, Bart M arkel, Georg e Roeder and Walter Ze ll er. Competing on the full speedway circuit in a pair of fiv e-lap races aboard identically prepared BMWs will be 1993 Da ytona Legends winner Jay Sprin gs teen , 1992 w inner Yvon D u H am el, David Aldana, Don Castro, Don Emde, Gary Nixon, Reg Pridmore, Roger Reiman, Don Vesco a n d first-time Legend s r ider Kurt Liebmann. Races three d ays apart in early Mar ch at Geo rgia's Roebling Road Raceway and Dayt on a Int ernati on al Sp ee dway will start off AHRMA' s 1994 Battle of Twins season and will make u p a series within a se ries - the International BOT Twin Crown. " Day to na Bike Week has beco me known w orl d w id e for twins racing, and this year we wi ll br ing back tha t proud tr ad ition w ith these tw o e vents," sai d Jeff Smith, AHRM A ' s executive director. " It will also provide an exciting start to our first full-fledged national BOT series." AHRMA will also san ctio n the Interna tional SOS Twin C r o w n , featuring Sound of Singles, -aga in at Roeb lin g Road and Daytona. "We are committed to providing a first ra te Sound of Singles series for 1994, a n d one look at th e innovative SOS machinery in Europe and Japan gives an exci ti ng g li m pse of w h a t w e ca n expect on these shores," Smith said. For more information contact AHRMA at 715/842-9699. American Flyers won the AMA /CCS Pacese tter Award, an honor based on th e team's professionali sm during th e .1993 AMA /CCS Enduran ce Challenge Ro ad Race Series. Ameri ca n Flyers en ded up fourth in the GTU class championship . Former AMA National MX Ch ampion Ron Lechien has been confirmed as an entran t in the La Playa Mot ocross GP, December 5, at the Cantamar Dunes in Baja Cali fornia, Mexico, by his sponsor MM F Racing. Lech ien will race in the 500cc Pro class in an attempt to thwart th e s tring of four st raig ht wins a t the event by Rex Slaten. Cycle News contributor Alan Cathcart won the Sound o f Sin gles rac e at the Tsukuba circuit near Tokyo, Jap a n , November 21 on h is Ducati SuperMono. Cathcart d efea ted a field which incl u d ed fac to ry suppor te d entries fr om Suzuk i, H on d a a nd Yamaha; becoming th e firs t European rid er and Europ ean motorcycle to win an 50S race in Japan. According to a press release from his team, road racer Tray Batey established a new track record at Talladega Grand Prix Raceway in Talladega, Alaba ma, on November 13. Batey rode his Team Kinko's Copy Centers Yam aha YZF750 around the tr ack in 57 .65 seconds to eclipse the previous mark set by Kurt Hall in 1990. The Costa Mesa Speedway Fall Classic scheduled for December 4 has been can celled. Promotor Harry Oxley was hoping to use the classic as a team competition p itting overseas and U.S. based rid ers against each other, but with the current inju red status o f Wor ld Cha mpion Sam Ermo l e n ko, D u k ie Ermolenko, Ronnie Co rrey and Greg Hancock, i t was im p os sib le to p ut to g ether a n ove rseas squad. "We could n't put together an overseas team because the overseas riders are all hurt. We could ha ve put together an international team, but tha t wasn 't really what w e wanted to do," O xley said. " I' d rather ha ve a first-class show with all the Americans. The AMA ha s an no unced th eir tentative National Ch amp ionsh ip off-road schedules for 1994, inclu ding dates for the Hare & Houn d, Reliability Enduro, H are Scrambles and En d u ro Seri es . Events of note in the Hare & Ho u nd Series includ e n e w ra ces in Ren o, Nevada (October 2) and Ca rson City, Nevada (November 6). Ne w Reliability Enduro e vents in cl u de Fayetteville, Arkansas (M arch 19-20), C rosb yton, Texas (April 16-17), Minden, Neva da (Ap ril 23-24) and Tillamook, Oregon (May 14-15). The International Six Days En d u ro w ill be Sep tember 20-25 in Tulsa, Okl ah oma. Round s in Holli ster, . Califo rnia (February 6), Sil ver City, Idaho (Octob er 9) an d Ly n nv ille, Indiana (November 6) have been ad ded to the Hare Scrambles se r ies, and the Wickenburg, A rizona, race has been removed from the schedule. The enduro series has new rounds in Lake Pleasant, Arizona (February 13) , W rentham, Massachusetts (Ju ne 5) a n d Lu cerne Valley, California (October 16). See next week's calend ar section fo r th e co mple te sched ules. The dates are a lso s e t fo r Acerb is Adventure 's 2nd Annu al Nevada Rally, w hic h will run in the opposit e di rec tion th an it d id in '93, covering a total of 1712 miles. After tw o d ays for technical in spect ion in Las Vegas, th e rally will start on Augus t 14 and head to Tonopah. Day 2 will tak e riders to Fallon, a n d Da y 3 w i ll go to Elko . Riders will get to spe nd a da y rela xing before head ing to Mesq uit e, and th e fin al da y will end in Las Vegas. The course is d esigned to be sl ower a nd less dusty, w ith 35 per cent more specia l test mil es . In ad diti on , course m arkings w ill be all but e li m ina te d , putting th e rid er s' naviga tional s kills to the test. Longer single sp ecial tests will rep lace multi ple tests on any given da y, and pit crew log istics ar e a lso said to . be s im pler. A min im um $25,000 purse will be u p for grabs , and hotel and food packages will again be availab le . For m or e information , ca ll 619/562-1440. Those consid ering purch ase of a new 1994 KTM s hou ld be interes ted in the Austrian company's Customer Care Kit, which provid es a "care packa ge" w orth over $300 to those who buy a new KTM before December 31, 1993. For example, kit contents for a 250 SX or E/XC include a spare ai r fil ter, muffler pac ki ng, Fla mbeau too lbox, clutc h an d th rot tle cables, chain gu ide block, top-end gasket set, decal sheet, spark plug, Scott grips, Du ra lube two-stroke and transmission oil, ca rb ureto r je t kit, s poke wrench, socket wr ench, replacemen t parts booklet, owner's handbook, tie-downs, ha t, and T-shirt . Ch eck ou t our test of th e new KTM440 E/XC on page 14. World Champion Kevin Schwantz has started his hectic off-season testing progra m . The Texan is c u r re n tly in Australia whe re he will complete fou r days of testing at Phill ip Island before heading to Eastern Creek for thr ee more days o n the Lucky Strik e Su zu k i RGV500 . Since end ing h is c ha m p ionshi p-w inning season, Schwan tz has been spend ing most of his time working on restoring an old ranch house that he purchased th is yea r. AMA Grand National Champion Ricky Graham recentl y joined four-lime Grand National Champion Scott Parker and former Supercross an d National MX Champion Jeff Stanton as a Team Yeti support rider. The Durango, Colorado, bicycle manufacturer fields one of the Nat ion 's m o st s uccessfu l d ownhill mountain bike racing teams , and apparently, pr esident John Parker is a forme r motorcycle racer himself. "I met John at the Sacramento Mil e," said Graham. "He was really excited abo u t p rovi d ing me with a bike, and I'm just as excited about incorporating mountain biking into my tr a;ining regimen." Acc ord ing to Graham, he took his first spin on his new Yeti A.R.C. recently, and a ltho ugh he spent a considerable amount of time on th e ground, was quite impressed wi th his new toy. "The bike has these special clip-in pedals on it," said Graham with a laugh. "It's kinda hard to get you r feet out real qu ick and I fell quite a few times . I can only imagine what it would ha ve been like if I had them on my BMX bike when I was little!" . ... 00 ~ Q) ~ Q) U Q) Q BORN: Brandon Thomas, to Chec kers M .e. m emb er a n d 1986 Barstow to Vegas overall w inner Cliff Tho mas and his wife Do nna, on November 28 in Valencia, California. STOLEN: A 1989 Ho nda XR600 fro m the G ood N it e In n , in Le n woo d , Cal iforn ia, Friday, Novembe r 26, during th e Bar stow to Vegas Dual Sp ort Rid e . Th e VIN n u m ber is JH2PE0405KK4 and the license number is llY8362. For more informat ion contact Russ Taylor at 909/595-0384. APPOINTED: Michael Ma rx, to he ad Continental Tire's tw o-wheel di vision wh ich en co m p asses m ot orcycl e a nd bicycl e tires . M arx most r ecent ly wo rked as Continental' s d istrict BMW p asseng er tire sa les ma na g er in Germany. Marx, a form er bicycle racer, w o n a b ro nze m ed a l a t th e 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, California. MARRIED: No rthern Califo rn ia profess io ria l motocro sser Sco tt M yers , to Stefani Pettigrew , in Lake Hava su City, Arizona, October 16. ENGAGED: AMA 250cc Nati on al MX Cham pion Mike Kiedro wsk i to lon gtime girlfriend Wendy Moore. A wedding date has not yet been set. r- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -------------- ----- --- - - - - - - - - - - - - ---- -- - , ([lID ~ SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Name _ Address City _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ State _ _ Z ip Order Date _ Please start my subscription to Cycle News: o Every week for one year (50 issues) for $35.00 (can be billed 3 monthly payments) o Every week for two years (100 issues) for $65.00 o Six months second class (25 issues) for $18.00 On e yea r (50 issu es), 2nd class Canada or Mexico and all other foreign countries ~ ~~~~~~~:~~~~~ ~~~~:~~~:~n~~~~ • SUbscribe No w and Sa ve 65 'X>! o This is a 0 New Subscription 50 Weel

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