Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v ICS 0 E INSIDE L to the editor etters Baja thanks FEATURES ... TESTS 1994 Yamaha YZF750R street bike 1994 KTM 440EXC off-road machine DEPARTMENTS 6 14 HOUDAY GIIT GUIDL : .18 EVENTS..: .22 CALENDAR 11 00 ~ (]) ~ ROAD RACING Hislop wallops the competition at Macau GP 12 WANT ADS __ .30 (]) u (]) Q ON THE FRONT PAGE: We rid e Yama h a's YZF750R "Superb ik e" a t Georgia's Roeb ling Roa d Raceway. See page 6 for a full test. Photo by Geo rge Roberts. KTM has introduced yet ano ther Op en-class off-road bik e, the 440EXC. How does it work? Tu m to page 14. Pho to by Kinn ey Jones . America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXX Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher Editorial Paul Carruthers, Editor Kit Palmer, Associate Editor Donn Maeda, Associate Editor Chris [onnum, Associate Editor Scott Rousseau, Assistant Editor Graphics and Production Ree Johnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Loa , ProductionManager Dennis Greene, Lab. Tech. Stacey Guest, Graphic Artist Amy Faught, Graphic Artist Victoria Vau s, GraphicArtist Adm inistration Judy Klinger, Coordinator Peggy Rivera, Secretaryto thePublisher Want Ads Kelly Branscome, Want Ad Sales AccountinglData Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond, AIR Coordinator Geneva Repass, Assistant Herlane Lewis, Credit National Headquarters Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA 90806, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801..Q498 2201 (310) 427-7433; (213) FAX (310) 427 -6685 63~ . Advertising Terry Pratt, National Accounts Manager Mark Thome, WesternSalesManager Thomas Gonter, Western Sales Manager Forrest Hayashi, Western Sales Manager Mark Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Manager Greg Mitchell, Eastern SalesManager Rick Matheny, Eastern Sales Manager Rhonda Crawford, WesternAd Coordinator Carla Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Marketing & Promotion Mark Thome, Mana ger Dealer Sales Toni Kerr, DealerRepresentative Circulation Rheba Smith, Manager Alma Anguiano, Processing Coordinator Pam Klein, Bi11ing Coordinator Carol Begovic, Dealer Coordinator MissyPierson, Data Entry Coordinator Service and Support Chris Aitcheson, Headquar Receptionist ters Leonard Herring. Service and Support Eastern Office First Ave., Tucker, GA, 30084; mailingaddress P.O. Box 805, Tucker, GA 30085-0805. 4190 (404) 934-7850. FAX (404) 934- 3112 CycleNews (USPS 141-340) ispublished weekly except the last twoweeks of the calendar yearfor $50.00 peryear by CycleNews, Inc , 2201 CherryAvenue, Long Beach, CA 90806. Second classpostage paidat Long Beach, CA. Canada Post lnternational Publicati nsMail #546615. o POSTMASTER: Sendaddress changes to CycleNews,P.O. Box498, Long Beach,CA 90801-0498. Todetermine theexpirationdateof your subscription,check the four numbers on the firstlineof your address label. The first two digits indicate the last issue number you'll receiveand the last two charactersindicate theyear of the lastissue. Subscription rates: Rates for the United States and its possessions forone year (SO issues), $SO.OO; two , years (100issues), $95.00; sixmonths, (25 issues), $26.00; trial sub(15 issues), $19.00. Canada and Foreign, one year (SO issues), $90.00; two years (100 issues), $175.00; six months (25 issues), $45.00; trial sub (15 issues), $38.00. Cycle News welcomes unsolicitededitorial material'including stones, cartoons, photos, etc. Suchmaterial, if published, becomes the exclusive propertyofCycle News. Such accepted material issubject to revision as is necessary in the sole discretion of Cycle News. Unsolicited material which is not used will be returned if accompanied by a selfaddressed stamped envelope. All unsolicited material will be handled with reasonable care, however Cycle News assumes no responsibility for the safety, loss or damage to , suchmaterial. Reprinting in wholeor part only bypermission of thepublisher. Advertising rates and circulation information will be sent upon request SeeS.RD.5. . Printed in U.S.A. 4 Co pyrigh ~ Cycle News, Inc.1993 Tra . demarkCycleNews ~gi5teftd U.s. Patent Oflia. All rights reserved. I would like to tak e this opportunity to thank the people and companies who helped ma ke our team's victory in the 250cc class at th e Baja 1000 possible. This was the ninth Baja 1000 in which I've participated , an d I can't reme mber ever wanting to win so ba d ly. Our main s ponso rs a r e: To m Wimberly, TnT Racing, J&R Key an d Hardware and Telev id eo Sa n Diego . The support offe red by them is unparalleled . O ther sponsors include FMF, w ho help ed with a sp eci a l p ipe and silence r; Cycle Parts Wes t; Alba Honda in Encin itas; Trick; Scotts Performance for a super reliable motor, plush suspension and Unic stee ri ng s tab ili zer; Songdog Packs and the Back Canteen; and the Godfather Restaurant. Ou r v o lu n t ee r crew cons isted of Richard Large, Dave Thorton, Jeff Hart, Ross Greg ory, Dave and Frank Chase, Pau l Os tb o, Reg ina Reese, Ad am Johnston, Dave Dixon, Greg Reyn olds, Eric Hja lm arson, Los Locos MC, Mark Girsch, Jo hn ny Cambell, a n d a ve ry special thanks to Brian Salley for th e time h e pu t in to the race bi ke and pit organization. Ou r team's Honda CR250, ridden by John Flo re s, Freddie Willert, Billy Mc Clin tock a nd myself, performed flawlessly and we had an almost perfect ride. This is the same Honda that John and I rode to the class win in the Baja 500. I'm sure w ithou t the help of these co m p an ies and individuals, we wouldn't have been successful. Thanks a million. Tim Morton Solana Beach, CA And again I would like to take this opportuni ty to pub licl y express m y appreciation to Mark Johnson, Jose Gonzalez, Sh aron Richards and the e n ti re s ta ff of Kawasaki Team Green. I recently competed in the Baja 1000 for the first time and could not have done so without their support. . Comin g from a motocro ss ba ckground, attending this race was a total ed uca tion in d esert riding and racing. Fro m p re -run n ing my respective section o f the course to finish in g second in Class 21 on race day, the en tire Team Green s ta ff a n d off-roa d ri d er team went out of thei r way to p rovide assistance and d ir ection to m e. The Baja motorc ycle experience truly opens your eyes to a very d ifferent type of mot orCycle racing. La rry Roeseler, Danny Hamel and Ty Da vis a re tr ue champions as th ey not only wo n the event bu t p rovided a ra cer from a different world an in trospective look into their unique type of racing. Tha nks again for the opportunity. Kev in Foley Titusvill e, Florid a Good n ew s, bad news Ta lk abou t a "good news, ba d new s" racing season. Ricky Graham w ins the number o n e pl ate in the Gra n d National d irt track se r ies - that's th e good news. He wins it the year tha t R.J. Reynolds doesn ' t h ave a p oint fund tha t's the ba d news. More good new s he wins the H arl ey-Da vidson 883 dirt track series an d th e Contin ental Tire 883 National Championship Series. The bad new s - he (a nd a couple of other race rs) didn' t ha ve the right stickers on hi s b ike so the fo u rth-pla ce finishe r takes home the $8000. I'm kind of confused. A tire compa.. ny sponsors a racing series and very few of the competitive riders used the ir tires. I' m not s u re if th ey had to use th ei r tires to q ualify fo r the championshi p, but they d id have to have the company 's decal on their bike s and lea thers . If thei r product doesn't work an d you are not using their product, why would you have their stickers on you r b ike? Th e top three in the po int standings got sq uat. That doesn't seem fai r. Were the y d isqu a li fied ? How cou ld the AMA allow this to happen? More good news - Ricky Graham is the AMA MotoWorld Pro Athlete of the Year . No bad news here. His record sp ea ks for itself. I hope he does th e same thing next year and hopefully he will be properly rewarded. Mike Morio Redford, MI The dictionary gives the follO Wing as one of its def initions fo r the word cont ingency: some thing or event tohich depends on or is incidental to anot her , In the case of Continental's contingency program f or tile 883 series, getting tile $8883 definitely depended on haoing their decals and patches on you r motorcycle and leath ers, In Graham's case, one of his major sponsors in 1993 was Dunlop. Thus, tile absence of Conti nental st ickers and patches and, of course, tile money. Welcome to the worldof contingency sponsorship... Editor. Discontinued The news of the decision to discontinue the production of Ins ide Motocross has jus t reached our office and I must say that on behalf of my entire staff, it was not the mo st popular decision rendered recently. For whatever reason the decision was made, I am sure that the "powers that be" have ju s t cause. It seems so unfortunate to see such a positive influence on both the sport, and the industry as a whole, co me to an e nd so abruptly. It's a shame tha t a publication which showed that it is poss ible to encom p as s the entire s p or t, from the amateur ranks to the top-level professionals, and include a technical aspect (wh ich few others have ever enjoyed) withou t creating controversy will be no more. M o re i mpo r ta n t a re th e p eopl e involve d with Ins ide Motocross. Knowing th e amoun t o f energy it to ok to co m pose each issue, it is w ith grea t sad ness we see it come to an en d. My th anks go to Fra n Kuhn, who I kno w poured his he art and so ul in to each and every issue to achieve a level of pe rfectio n no on e else has ev er been able to do. Fran, you should be very pro ud of your accomplishments and move forward knowing you left at the top. I had also had the p leasure of wo rking with Carol Hodge on tw o separa te occasions . He r artistic and photog ra phic talents elevated otir sport 'to a lev el not seen be fore a nd not likely to be see n again any time soon . In closing, I'd like to thank eve ryone involved w ith Ins ide Mot ocross for the evenin g s sp ent rea d i ng a bo u t o u r spo rt. Inside Mot ocross, yo u'll be missed . Mark Johnson Team Green manager Irvine, California AXO Sport America president Jim Hale . anno u nced last week thaI his company would cease pu blicati on of its quarterly magazine, Inside Motocross, one year af ter its debut...£ditor.

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