Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I:.-INTHE WIND ... . Ryan Hughes (Kaw) swe pt the 125 and 250cc Pro classes at round one of th e GFI Win ter Series, held at Perris Raceway in Perris, Cali forn ia, Ja nuary 9. Craig Decker (Hon) and M ike Chamberlain (Yam) rounded out the top three in the 125cc division, while Ste ve Lamson (Hon) and Jeff Matiase vich (Yam) filled the rem ainin g spots on the 250cc class podium. Te rry Parsons (Kaw) was the 125cc Pro class winner at the op enin g ro und of the CMC Gold en State South series, held at Sunrise Cycle Park in Adelanto, California, Jan uar y 9. Cory Keeny (Kaw) was th e runner -up , finis hi ng ahead of T y Davis (Kaw ). Kyle Lewis (Yam) topped M ik e Healey (Ho n) and Parsons in the 250cc Pro div ision . John Dow d (Yam) and Kevin Windh am (Kaw) scored the 250 and 125cc Pro class wins, respectively, at the seco nd round of the Florida Winter AMA MX Series a t th e Flo ri d a Motorsports Comp lex in Ocala, Florida, Jan uar y 8-9. Dowd won b o th 250cc m o to s, wh ile W in d h am shared moto wins in the 125cc class wi th Tim Ferry (H on), who ended u p fifth overall. Ferry also finished second overall in the 250cc class , while Jim Neese (Kaw) , Chad Pederson (Yam) and Jeff Curry (Kaw ) ro unde d out the top five. Not only d id Dowd win the 250cc class, he also finished second to Windham in the 125cc div ision . Mike Brown (Kaw) finished t h ird , fo llo wed by Bar ry Ca rs t e n (Suz) and Ferry. R ick y Carmichael (Kaw) topped the 85cc (1415) and Super Mini classes . Jimmy Gaddis (Kaw), Mike Jones (Suz ) and Doug Dubach (Yam) were the top Pro class fini sh ers at AM A ProLi te Nati onal Arena cross Series round at the Cow Palace in San Fran cisco, California, Janua ry 7-8. Ga d d is wo n both the 125 and 250cc Pro classes on Frid ay n ight, wh ile Jon es and Dub ach split w ins in the 125 an d 250cc Pro classes, respectively, Saturd ay night. Gaddis finished fifth in the 125cc class on Saturday, but while competing in the 250cc class, he was in v o lv ed in a crash wi th Bre t Ham il ton (Hon) . As a precautio nary measure, Gaddis wa s ta ken to the hospital and was later released. With the Daka r '94 Rally one-half completed on Wednesday, January 5, an d th e rid ers ta king a sched u led day off before returning from Daka r, Senegal, to the start/ finish in Paris, France, Ita lian Edi Orioli (Cag) had secured the ove rall lead . Spain' s Jordi Arcarons (Cag) held do wn second while countryman Carlo s Mas (Cag), who earlier held the overall lead , was third. Spaniard Paolo Gall ard o an d Russ ia 's A. Nifo n t ov (Cag) ro u n d ed ou t th e top five. Fre nchma n Jea n-Christophe Wagner slip pe d from fou rth overall to eighth place when he suffered a high-speed crash in the sa nd. The rally has been marred by the death of Belgian Michel Sa nsen, who crashed on Ja n uary 5, w h en the riders were heading to the start of a tran sfer section. Sansen lost control when he hit a strip of sand tha t crossed the paved road. The ra lly began its re turn stin t on Friday, January 8, with the second half of th e race expected to be eve n more challeng.ing than the first. 2 Dirt tracker Davey Cam lin and bike owner/tuner Skip Eaken have reached an agreement for the upcoming AMA Gra nd National Champions hip Series. "Unfortuna tely, we haven't been able to sec u re a major spo nsor yet, but we' re still plannin g on going raci ng," said CamJin. "My fathe r is going to loan us ou r '93 race bike to use as a spare, and we're go ing to use Skip's bike as th e ma in racer." According to Camlin, the team pla ns to con test the season-opening Daytona Short Track and the following west coas t stint in California before evalua ting th eir res u lts a nd decid ing wh ether to complete the series. Ohian Scott Stump, the 1989 Camel. Pro Rookie of the Year, will contes t the 1994 AMA Gra nd Na tio nal Cha mpionship Series aboard the M&M Racing Honda RS750s ow n e d and tun ed by M ik e Morr. "I finished out the last few races of '93 aboard Mike's bikes, and I'm realIy exci ted to be racing them in '94 as w ell," sa id Stump. "Th is w ill be my ye ar; I' m mor e motiva ted than ever. I have a personal trainer to help me prep a re for Da y tona . So fa r, I've los t 28 pounds, an d I still have five more to go. Peopl e are gonna d ie when they see me at Daytona." Van ce & H ines Perf ormance Prod uct s co-owner and ren owned engin e bu ild er, Byron Hi nes , was called a hero by the Los An geles County she riff's dep uties after sa vin g a man's life on January 6. Hines pull ed 73-year-old Norman Henshaw from his car, which was stuck on railroad tracks in San te Fe Springs, California , onl y seconds before the car was s tru ck by a mov ing Amtrak train. "We carri ed him from the car. We were about 30 feet aw ay wh en the train hit the car," H in es told the Lo s An ge les Times. "Motorcycle ra cing is kind of se da te compared to wha t happ ened ." Accord ing to a press release issu ed by team ow ner Craig Erion, Two Broth ers Racing will not field an in-house team in 1994. According to Erion, the move will all ow Tw o Bro the rs Ra cin g to spe nd needed cash on ne w product development, research an d development, and adver tising. T wo Brothers Raci ng won the AMA /CCS EBC Brakes Endurance Challeng e Champ ionship last year on a Honda CBR900. "I invested heavily on the premise of being Ho nd a 's ou tside race tea m. It mad e sense to me a t one time, bu t Ho nda's failure to reward our success with their prod uct wasn ' t consiste n t wi th their massive spe nding on th eir in -ho use tea m, Co mmonwealth (Racing) ," Erion sa id . "It became obvious th a t I was fighting a n uphill bat tle...a ba ttle I could not make sense of. I'll kind of miss the glam our of the team, but on the other hand I look forward to becom ing involved, sup port-w ise, w ith o the r rac e teams . Th is p ositio n w ill a llow TBR to es ta blish a broader custom er base ins tead of being limited to H ond a products." In add i tio n, Tw o Broth ers Racing h as mo ve d to a new lo ca tion a t 1842 Windsor Lane, Santa Ana, CA 92705. The new phone number is 714/832-5504. PM Communicatio ns has been retained by the AMA to coordinate and manage publici ty and med ia rel a tions for the 1994 AMA U.S. Su p erb ike Champ ion ship Seri es . Pat M urphy, the presiden t of the Sacrame n to , Ca liforn ia based marketing and p u blic re lations firm, w ill at tend all rounds of the series and will work with the AMA and even t p romoters in providing media serv ices throu ghou t the season. With Camel Cycle Week in Daytona Bea ch, Florida, s ta rti ng a week la te r than normal, the even t now features a 100-percen t overlap with Spring Break, thus m ot orcycl is ts a n d s tu d e n ts are com pe ting for hotel roo ms . Acco rding Honda"collec M ts" el as teams o r nso O ne expense Honda's motocross team wo n' t have to worry about for a while is high ph one bills. That's becau se the success fu l tea m ha s signed MCI, the long-distan ce telepho ne company, as an official team sp onso r for the 1994 season. Th ou gh deta ils are still sketchy, sources say that MCI will be the team's primary spo nsor, and will use team ride rs in adv er tisemen ts for their new 1-80o-COLLECT service. The commercia ls are expected to appear nationwide on network television someti me in the near future. This ma rks the first time that a factory motocross team has been able to land major ou tside-the-ind us try sponsorship for an AMA series, though Honda and Kawasaki ha ve been try ing for several years. Until now the teams have been funded, for the most part, from w ithin, with minor sponsorsh ips from afterma rket product ma nufa cturers. Pro Circuit has had the most success in securing outside sponsorships, including Peak Anti freeze, SplitF ire spark plugs and Ho t Wheels toys. Outside sponso rship is an integral part of many ot her forms of mo torsports, including Formula One, NASCAR and Ind y car racing. Team Honda w ill consi st of defending AMA Camel Sup ercross Champion Jeremy McGrat h, forme r Supercross and National MX Champion Jeff Stanton, 125cc National MX Cham pio n Doug Henry, and Steve Lamson. to TravelCraft, room s a re sca rce b ut they do have some. For more information call TravelCraft at 800/ 241-1223. Rumors that the AMA will ho ld a 125cc Grand Prix exh ibition class during the 1994 AMA N a t io na l Champions hip Road Race Series are apparently n ot true . "There isn' t a 125cc class on the AMA sc he d u le for the N ationals in 1994," sa id Tom Mueller, the AMA vice p resid ent of sports ma rketing. "There is some time open in the program for exhibition races at some even ts, much like the Twins race tha t was held at Loud on las t yea r. We're jus t sp ecu la ting on it righ t now. It's been discussed." Although th e AMA says th ere is n o 125cc Grand Prix exhibit ion cla ss cu rrently sc h ed u le d fo r the 1994 AMA National Champ ionship Ro ad Ra ce Series , M o to Lib e rty is accepting resumes from ride rs who inte nd to particip a te in the class. The support program will include a discount on the pur chase o f a 1994 H ond a RS125, pl us su bsta ntial discounts on tires and par ts. The b ike a nd s pa res kit will se ll for $9700. Fo r m or e in fo rmation conta ct Moto Liberty at 214/242-6440. According to Southwick Motocross 338, the Holid ay In n at Bradl ey International Airp ort in Co nnecticu t has been d esigna ted the officia l race headquarters for th e AMA 125 and 250cc MX N at iona l sc he d u led fo r June 26 in Sou th w ick, Massa ch usetts. Fo r reserv ati ons call 203/ 637-5171 and mention MX338. The Broome-Tioga Sp ort Cen te r , a Nationa l-level motocross racing facili ty in Binghamp ton, New York, is for sale. The owner is relocat ing and is look ing for a buyer. For more information call 607/648-9 626, fax 607/648-4997 or wri te to Jack Skutnik, 7 Charmel Dr., Bin ghampton, NY 13901. The California Mi ni Mo to rcycle Club (CMMC) recently elected an ll-me mber board to guide the m in 1994. Former treasurer Gracie Buscemi was elected p resident of the organization w hich is ente ring its 21st year of racing at Barona Oaks Raceway in San Diego Cou nty. For more informa tion con tact Bus cemi at 619/ 467-()474. Pro Stock d rag racer Ji m Bern ard has signed a contract w ith the Star Racing Team and will join John Mye rs on the team for 1994. Bernard w ill ri de th e Georgia-based team 's Suzuki GSXR an d wil l begin tes ting in lat e Ja n u a ry in Florida and Texas. "I'm very honored to be part of Star Racing," Bernard sai d . "George (...Bryce - Star Racing's ow ner) called me before Ch ristma s and asked if I'd be interested in joinin g the team and, to be truthf u l, it caug h t me off guard . I'm re a ll y ex ci te d ab ou t th e te am ' s prospects for the new season. " D&S Ka w asa k i/ H ond a in Arlington, Texas, is hosting a Suzuka 8-Hou r Chal lenge on January 10-16. Th e challenge w ill pit pa rti cipants against each other an d gu est stars like M ike Ha le, Doug Carmichael, Jim Sab in and Doug Polen on the four-bike vid eo ga me . All proceed s will be d onated to the Children's Miracle Network. For more information call 817/ 465-5454. Jeff Matiasevich, wh o wa s let go fro m Team Suzuki at the end of the '93 season, w ill contest the 1994 AMA Ca mel Supe rcross Se ries aboard a Yamaha YZ250, w ith support from Esco ndi d o, Califo rnia ' s No rth Coun ty Yama h a. "Ch icken" go t a dea l on bikes and p arts, and NCY w ill pro vide transportatio n to the wes t coas t roun ds (whe re their 125cc team riders will be competing). The former Western Regional 12Scc Supe rcross Cha mp ion has hired veteran tuner Ron Hebe n to transport and prepare his race bikes. Forme r 125cc Na tional MX Champion Ron Lech ien is looking for spo nsors hip to contest the 1994 MTEG Stad ium OffRoad Series . " We were w ork ing on a deal with Zima (clea r malt be verage), but it fell th rou gh a t the las t minute," said Lechien . "Right now, I d on ' t eve n kn ow w ha t kin d of bike I' m going to rid e. It's the mi ddle of Ja n ua ry and I don't even have a '94 bike ye t. If something doesn't happen soon, it migh t be too late." Lechien added tha t he wo uld consider ca mpa igning the Gra nd Pr ix circu it if an offer came his way. If you're planning to attend the Tecate 250k Enduro on Saturday, March 26, in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico, you may want to conside r s h ow in g up a day ear ly. On Frid ay, off-road legend Larry Roeseler will host an en d u ro sch ool, covering riding techniques, timekeeping , bike maintenance and training. For more in fo r m a tio n on the class, ca ll 619 /948-7435 . For information on the end u ro, ca ll 619/ /281 -1800 (days) or 619/ 465-7569 (eve nings) . The AH RMA award s dinner for th e

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