Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Jeff Em ig (Yam) was th e 250cc class w inner at the·GFI $10,000 Invitational Supercross, held at Perris Raceway in Perris, California, January 2. Steve Lamson (Hon) finished se cond, ahead of Ryan Hughes (Kaw), Jeff Matiasevich (Yam) and Larry Brooks (Yam). Damon Huffman (Su z) won th e 125cc clas s, de feating Hughes, Craig Decker (Hon), Donald Upton (Yam) and Bader Manneh (Suz). John Dowd (Yam) and, Ezra Lusk (Suz) topped the Pro ranks in the opening round of the Fl orida Winter AMA Motocross Series at Gatorback Cycle Park in Gainesville, Florida, January 1-2. , Brian Swink (Suz) finished second to Dowd in the 250cc d ivision with Tim Ferry (Yam) third, Ron Tichenor (Suz) fourth and Mike Brown (Hon) fifth. In the 125cc ranks, Lusk topped Brown, Scott Sheak (Kaw), Paul Currie (Kaw) and Ferry. Over 700 riders were on hand from 27 states and five countries. Team Honda's Doug Henry suffered a firs t-d egree shoulder separati on while practicing in southern California w ith teammate Ste ve Lam son on Tuesday, December 28 . "I ju st fell in some whoops and landed on my shoulde r," said the 125cc National Champion, on Monday, January 3. "I was bummed, because I really wanted to ra ce that supercross at Perris. I migh t race there n e xt w eekend ju s t to g e t ready for Orlando." Team Undo d irt tracker Larry Pegram has joined forces with Drew Wolfe of Action Sports Promotions, and will copromote an Indoor Professional Ice Race at the Ohio State Fairgrounds in Columbus, Ohio, February 19. The race will feature two classes: a 250cc Pro fourstroke class and a 50cc Pee Wee Exhibition class. "It seems like a good thing to do in the winter," said Pegram, who lives in nearby' Baltimore. "I' m not. that interested in racing myself, so I'd like to get into the job that's on the other side of the fence. I'm not trying to be a Ronnie Jones, though, I'm just trying to keep busy ." For more information call 614/594-MOTO. The AMA U.S. Superb ike Championship Series has undergone a date change. The Road Atlanta round in Braselton, Georgia, has been moved from April 22-24 to September 16-18 . Road Atlanta is currentl y the fi n al round of the lO-race series, but an additional event is being negotiated and may be added to the sched ule, according to theAMA. ~ Other AMA schedule altera tions includ e three ch anges in the AMA Grand National Championship Series. The addition to the sch edule is a ha lf-mile National to be held at the Tulsa (Oklahoma) Fairgrounds on August 28; the race originally scheduled for September 25 in San Jose, California, has been cancelled; and the spring event at San Jose's Santa Clara County Fairground s has been moved from the facilit y's m ile track to the half-mile oval and will be run on Saturday night, April 30. e C1. 0\ ..... A 12-event AMA National Hillclimb N" Championship Series calendar has been ..... released by the AMA. The '94 series will visit seven states, featuring 800 and 540cc lIS classes. The schedule is as follows: May 15 - Middlebury, Indiana; June 5 - Jefferc: son, Pennsylvania; June 12 - Freemans~ burg, Pennsylvania; June 19 - Avoca, New York; July 30 -.Haydenville, Ohio; August 7 - Norton Sho res, Michigan; C ::s 2 Sep tember 1 - Monson, Massachussetts: Sep tember 11 - Freemansburg, Pennsylvania; September 18 - Middlebury, indiana; September 25 - Jefferson, Pennsylvan ia; O ct ob er 1 - Asheville, Nor th Ca rolin a; October 9 - Oregonia, O hio . The July 30 event in Ohio will be a night race and the August 7 event in Michigan will be the All-Star Invitational. Th e Willow Springs Mo torcycle Cl ub (WSMC) has announced that they have retired the number 26 in honor of road racer Jimmy Adamo, w ho was killed during the Daytona 200 in March, 1993. Ad am o still holds th e Su pe rTwins lap record at Willow Sp rin gs Raceway in Rosamond, California, a record he set during the AMA Na tio nal Cha m pionship Road Race Se ri es round held there in September of 1990. dP Safety Schools will be cond ucting classes at Sears Point International Raceway in Sonoma, California, for the first time beginning with their March 14 session. Sears Point joins Laguna Seca Rac eway in Monterey, California, as ins truction sites for dP Safety Scho ols. The dP staff of instructors includes Don Can et, David Emde, Don Greene, Dennis Pegelow, Tim Tillman, Roqu e Torres, Al Salaverria an d others. For more information ca1l805/m-8301. The San Diego Antique Motorcycle Club will present the second ann ua l display of antique and classic motorcycles at the San Diego (Californi a) Automotive Museum on February 5-13. There will be roughly 100 motorcycles on display. In addition to the di splay, 1948 Daytona 200 winner Floyd Emd e will be ind ucted in to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame at the museum, and a banquet will be held in his honor on February 5. For more in formation con tact the San Diego An tique Motorcycl e Clu b at 619/299-9222 . Th e 5th Annual Northern California Motorcycle Festival will be held at laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California on Sunday, Ju ne 12. The festiva l w ill include a ride-in motorcycle show, field ev ents, fa shion show, ve nd ors, swap meet, live music, and kids' activities. For more information call 408/ 972-8063. Two of the top road race teams in the AMA National Champ ion sh ip Road Race Series, Fast By Ferracci Ducati and Camel Commonwealth Honda, have switched to D.LD Chain for th e 1994 road race season, according to a release fromD.LD. Twenty one hours of broadcasts fro m the 1993 AMA Grand National Championship ha ve bee n sc h ed uled for rebroadcast on the ESPN and ESPN2 networks between Ja n uary 31 and March 4, accordin g to the AMA. The one-hour shows, which originally aired on ESPN, include broadcasts originating from ten 1993 Grand Na tion al even ts, and a season-highlights program. The ESPN air dates (all 4:00 p .m. Eas tern Standard Time) are as follows: January 31 - San Jose Mile; February 1 - Sacramento Mile; February 2 - Sp ri ngfield Mile; February 3 - West Virgin ia HalfMile; February 7 - Syracuse Mile; February 8 - Oklahoma Half Mile; February 9 - Peoria TT; Februar y 10 - Sp ringfield Mile; February 14 - Sacramen to Mile; February 15 - Pomona Half-Mile; February 16 - season highlights. Th e ESPN2 schedule is as follows: March 1 (3:00 p.m.) - Sacramento Mile; March 2 (1:00 p.m.) - Springfield Mile; March 2 (2:00 p.m.) - West Virginia Half-Mile; March 2 Hond amandates "d resscode" R emember a few years ago when Honda attemp ted to force th eir fact ory team rid er s to wear Hondal ine riding gear? The ultim atum caus ed a legal battle between Fox and Ho nda, as the tw o com panies argued over who had th e right to out fit Rick Johnson. Johnson eve n tua lly nullilfied the argu ment by signi n g w ith JT, but Honda has changed tac tics for '94. Now, th ey're demanding that a large percentage of the rider 's gear (the front thigh area of the pants and the chest and forearms of the jersey) be de voted to d isplaying the Honda logo. A ride r is still free to wear whatever brand of gear he chooses, as long as he comp lies w ith Honda' s logo requirements. Sinisalo has decided to comply, and has already d esign ed new gear for Jeremy McGrath; but Fox Racing (Doug Henry's clothing sponsor) is fighting the ultimatum. Yoko will heed the proposal by supplying Steve Lamson with gear that features one-off Honda logos . Axo, Jeff Stanton's sponsor, isn't complaining about the mandate. Honda pays much of Stanton 's clothing contract, and Axo is the only company that is actually licensed by Honda to use their logo. "My main complaint is that they d idn't tell us un til November 11," said Yoke's Scott Link. "We alrea dy had our gear designed, and it was too late to change it We don't want to get Steve in trouble, so we had some special gear mad e up just for him , but I think they should have told us ea rlier." "We have a con tract with Dou g, and we' re not pa yin g him to wear someone else's gear," said Fox Racing's Geoff Fox. "Basically, what Honda is trying to do is mak e our gear look just like Axe's, I ha ven 't seen Doug's contract (with Honda), but I've seen others, and they' re usually p retty vague in regards to clothing requirements. When something's vague like that, you'd assume that things would just continue on like they had in the pas t, because a precedent had already been set." " Hones tly, I'm su rprised tha t this has attracted so much att ention," said Honda tea m manager Dave Arnold. "Nothing has really changed very much from the past, excep t for the fact that maybe now we ' re enforcing it a little bit more. Basically, with the way the money situa tion is right now, we're just looking for wa ys to attract outside-the-industry sponsors. If we have more of a team look, it makes us more presentable to companies that might be interested. It's not that different than what Team SplitFire is doing: ' Honda has reportedly stated that riders will be fined for the first two races at which they don't comply, and possibly terminated after the third infraction. Apparently, even National Champions have to live with dress codes. (3:00 p .m.) - Syracuse Mile; March 3 (1: 00 p .m. ) - Okl ahoma H alf-M ile; March 3 (2:00 p.m.) Peoria TT; March 3 (3:00 p.m.) - Springfield Mile; March 4 (1:00 p.m.) - Sacramento Mile; March 4 (2:00 p.m.) - Pomona Half-Mile ; March 4 (3:00 p.m.) - season highlights. The 1994 AMA National Amateur Dirt Track Championship will be held at the 1-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Michigan, on July 5-7. The annual competitio n, w hich incl udes sh or t track, TT scrambles an d half-mile racing, will take place as pa rt of the race track 's "Michigan Bike Week " promotion. A full week of AMA-sanctioned events will get underway the weekend of July 2-4 and will be highlighted by the m idweek amateu r championships, then cap ped off by an AMA Grand National Championship race on Saturday night, July 9. A ll amate u r riders who pre-enter th e Amateur Nationals will be guests of 1-96 Speedway for the Grand National race. Dutchman Edwin Evertsen will campaign an HRC-kitted Honda on the 1994 250cc MX Grand Prix tour. Evertsen rod e a Kawasaki in '93. Swed e Jorgen Nilsson, who was injured in a cras h at a German supercross, has been transferred to a hospital near his home and is said to be recovering well. It was initially feared that Nilsson had been pa ralyzed, but tests ha ve shown no damage to the spinal column. Joel Sm ith, general manager of San Bernardin o, California's Glen Helen Raceway, called to in for m us that a whoppin g 810 riders showed up for their free practice day on December 26. Smith also said that he has designed a new ISDE-type terrain-test course, com- plete with an electronic timer . The course consists of berms and tight enduro-style turns, and takes between 30 and 45 seconds to complete. The fastest time so far is 33.7 seconds, turned in by Suzuki test rider Chris Young. The course and timer will be in operation on all Thursda y and Saturday practice days. Also, the 1994 Glen Helen Contingency MX Series will be held January 15 and February 5. Series sp onsors w ill donate prizes to top fini shers at both races. Canadian Alexander P. Mayes, 41, the longtime mechanic for fou rth-ranked AMA 250cc Grand Prix racer Jon Cornwell died of a mas sive heart attack at his home on December 22. Ma yes is survived by hi s wife Renate and a son, Devon. If you're planning to attend a round of the National Championship MX Series th is year, be sure to check this week's Calendar section for the AMA's revised schedule. Several changes were made so th at the Ma ryland round and the U.S. Grand Prix - both of which will be held at Budds Creek MX Park - will not be so close together. It should also be noted that the Troy, Ohio round will be held on July 24, the sa me weekend as the Lima, Ohio, National Dirt Track and the popular Dayton, Ohio, Air Show. Consequently the AMA National MX headquarters hotel is already sold out. For help in locating a hotel for the event, call the Dayton Area Visitors Bureau at 800/221-8234 (in Ohio) or 800/221 -8235 (outside of Ohio), or fax them at 513226-8294. Brit Kurt Nicoll will be forced to miss the early part of the MX GP season after breaking both bones in his right fore-

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