Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1994 01 26

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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I:· ~]. N ·:"H.E: ~WIND·~ : .:·: : · : · ' · : ;·: · :· .~· I . . . . ' . . ' .' . . ." . ' . Texans Billy Whitley (H on ), Grayson Goodman (Hon) and Clint Latham (Hon) we re the big winners du ring the AMA ProLite National Arenacross Series rou nds at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, O kla h oma, Janua ry 14-15 . Goodman swep t Friday night's racing action by winning both the 125 and 250cc Pro class main events. On Saturday night, Goodman scored th e 250cc class w in, while Latham finished ahead of Goodman to win the 125cc main . With only one 598-mile special test (from Spain to France) remaining in the ParisDakar- Paris Rally, the overall win was still up for grabs on Friday, January 14. Italian Edi Orioli (Cag) remained in the top spot, w ith Spain's Jordi Arcarons (Cag) just one minute, 47 seconds back in second . Arca ron s has been s tead ily closing in on Orioli, gaining 1:47 on the leader in a single 43-rnile Spanish special test. Orioli has filed a protest, however, accusing Arcarons of taking a short cu t. Italian Fabrizio Meoni (Cag) had moved up to third p lace, w ith countryman Angello Cavandoli (KTM) and Frenchman P. Sirbyjol (Cag) rounding out the top five. Jason Fletcher w ill again con tes t th e AMA Grand National Championship Serie s abo a r d a p air o f Moroney ' s Harley-Davidson XR750s, with Gary Edmunds spinning the wrenches. Fletcher will al so follow th e entire AMA/Harley-Davidson 883 Dirt Track Championship Series, as well as the AMA Harley-Davidson 883 TwinSport Road Race Nationals as his schedule permits. Georgie Price will also compete under the Moroney's banner, racing his personal Harley-David sons with support from the Newburgh, New York, dealership. Yeti Cycles President and former motorcycle dirt tracker, John Parker, dropped us a line to announce his team of Yetisupported motorcycle racers for 1994. Once again, Gra nd National Champion Ricky Graham, four-time Grand National Champion Scott Parker and multiple National MX and Supercross Champion Jeff Stanton will be training aboard Yeti mountain bikes. New additions include the entire Splitfire/Hot Wheels/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team, consisting of Ryan Hughes, James Dobb and Pedro Gonzalez. Round one of the LaPlaya MX GP Series has been rescheduled. Originally scheduled for February 27, the race will now take place March 6. All five rounds of the series are held in the Can tamar Sand Dunes, just south of Rosarito Beach, in Baja California, Mexico. For more information contact Too Much Fun Promotions at (001-52-661) 22525. ' -::t< 0\ 0\ r-I 2 A motorcycle trials exh ibition will be featured during intermission ~t the January 29 Anaheim Supercross. Six-time National Trials Champion Ryan Young and fellow National riders Lonny Halsted and Oliver Clamgirand w ill be on hand aboard th eir Tr yal s Shop-sponsored Mon tesa Cotas. Also on han d will be extrem e mountain biker Hans Rey. Former factory Harley-Da vid son teamster Kevin Atherton, 22, will contest the AMA Grand N a tional Championship Series aboard a pair of Total Control Racing, Ltd. Harley-Da vidson XR750s. The team will rece ive its parts supply from Cumming's H arley-David so n, a Flint, Michigan, Harley dealership, and will be funded by Benson Ford, grandson of Ford Motor Co. founder Henry Ford. Atherton will recieve ad ditiona l sponsorship from MSR, Arai, Joe Shmoe Graphics an d Motion Pro. "We 're sta rtin g th e year ou t with a pair of b rand ne w bikes, and th a t, alon e, definitely ' gives yo u an ed ge in the co nfid ence departm en t," said Atherton, a two-time National winner. Kevin Atherton also repor ted that he and fou r-time Gra nd National Cham pion Scott Parker have been taking advantage of the cold Michigan weather by firing up their ice-racing Harle y-David sons daily. "We've been rid ing on a frozen lake up in Flint," said Atherton. "Scotty' s bu tt is all healed up from his Pomona crash. Hell, he's fallen off h is bike and landed on it at least twice every day that we 've ridden. He 's okay." Th ree- tim e Gra nd Na tional Champion Jay Springsteen recently s pe n t a few weeks in southern California awaiting a test session at Hollywood Park, a horse racing facility in Los Angeles . Apparently, Springsteen and fellow Bartel s' Harley-Davidson rider Rick Hutchins, were to take to the mile-long dirt oval in order to test it for possible use in a Gene Woods-promo ted outlaw ra ce in the future. The test session , however, was po stponed twice and finally cancelled. "Things were all set, but the Director of Horse Racing caught wind of it and compla ined to the track's owner," sa id Woods, whose company, Speedway U.s.A. promotes weekly rac es at Victorville Speedway in Victorville, California . "As of no w, the test sessions are simply postp oned. We're hoping to take to the track within a few weeks, and hopefully have a race planned for sometime later in the year." According to race promoter Chris Agajanian, rumors about the cancellation of the October 16 Del Mar Mile in Del Mar, California, are untrue. "I've heard that rumor also, and it's comp lete ba loney," said Agajanian, who also promotes the Sacramento Mile and Pomona Half Mile Nationals. "As a matter of fact, things are really rolling. At the moment, we' re trying to work out a deal with Amtrak to get a "race train" deal going, 'so th at northern Californians can just hop on the train and ride straight to the track. " According to Agajanian, the mile oval will be prepared by Gene Romero and Steve Wood . Marcus Hansson, the Swedish National Motocross Champion who placed fourth in the '93 500cc World Champion sh ip Motocross Series, has signed with Hu saberg to contest the '94 GP circuit. Hansson, who last year rode Hondas, will join Belgian Joel Smets and American Billy Liles on the four-stroke squad. Australian Michael Doohan has returned to Au stralia after havin g the surgical frame removed from his recently repaired broken leg on December 30 in San Francisco, California. "The operation w as a g rea t s uccess," said Jon McGillivray, Doohan 's Australi an-based manager. "Mick is now working on his general fitness, att ending the gym for a co u p le of hours each day . Th e leg is straight, strong and the bone is almost fully knit." Doohan is scheduled to begin his pre-season testing on January 26 at Phillip Island in Australia. On Monday, Jan uary 3, approxima tely 5000 motorcyclists from throughout California turned ou t to welcome politicians back for a new legislative sessio n at the State Capitol in Sacram ento. The Freedom Rally wa s int ended as a show of Schwan tzequals lap reco rdin Australia W o rl d Cha m p ion Kevin Sch wa n tz e nd ed th e Lucky St ri ke Suzuki team's second Au stralian preseason tes t in sizzlin g style by unofficially equalling Mich ael Doohan 's lap record a t Eastern .. Creek, the site of the upc oming Austra lian GP on March 27. Schwantz clocke d a o nemin ute, 31.4-second lap on January 14, equa lling the time set b y Doohan in the 1992 Australian GP. The Texan 's best lap Kev in S chwantz to ok time out o f hi s testing time was almost a second faster schedule to meet go lfe r Greg Norm an. than th e 1:32.2 lap he turned during the team's first Eastern Creek session last December . Schwantz also lowered Wayn e Gardner's Phillip Island lap record during those December tests. "I'm really pleased with how the' tests here in Australia have pr ogressed ," Schwantz said. "We haven 't had any problems wha tsoever. We got throu gh a lot of things this time around . We had a lot of tires to try, plu s a number of aspec ts to test with the bike as well. Everything is just progressing so well." The two-day session on January 6-7 at Phillip Island saw the team encounter rain storms, which cut the session short: "The weather at Phillip 'Island mad e everything, including lap times, pretty irrelevant which was disappointing," Schwantz said. "Fortunately, it was fine at Eastern Creek." Schwantz completed close to 400 laps of the 2.41-rnile Eastern Creek race track, with teammate Alex Barros turning around 350 lap s. Barros crashed his RGV Suzuki just after lunch on the second day, slightly injuring his righ t foot. "It was my own fault," the Brazilian said. "The tires were okay. I just lost feeling in the front brakes coming into tum five. It is a very fast comer, but I wasn't hu rt that mu ch - only my foot. I don't think I'll go water-skiing for a wh ile. Barros' best lap was a 1:32.1, slightly off the lap times he turned during the December tests. Barros, who was married on December 23, is pleased w ith the progress even so. "Everything on the bike seems to ha ve been improved that one step better than when I rod e the bike before Christmas. I am happy with the way Suzuki has everything going so well ." Bernie McGuire strength an d unity for California motorcyclists. Former National Hare Scrambles Champion Sco tt Plessinger recently broke a bone in his right ankle when he crashed in a local hare scrambles in Alabama. Plessinger was negotiating an off-eamber hill when his rear wheel caught a tree, and his foot hyp er-extended. Plessinger, who will again be riding for KTM, will have a screw inserted in his ankle and should be out of commission for approx- · imately six weeks . "It looks like I'll have to miss the first two rounds of the hare scrambles series , so there go my two throw-away rides, " said the oft-injured Plessinger. "I should be back for the first cross country though." Am erican off-road racing's favorite Czech, Jan Hrehor, will not be returning to th e States in '94, at lea st not fo r a while. Hrehor's wife, Eva, has been diagnosed as having liver cancer, and Hrehor will remain with her at their home as she fights the disease. "We already had contracts signed, and were looking forward to having Jan back this year, " said Yamaha's Mike Guerra. "He was very apologetic, but we told him that racing is secondary, and that he should stay with his wife. He still wants to race, and is working on a deal to ride the World Championship Enduro Series on a 125. There's a chance that he might retu rn to the Ll.S, halfway through the year, and he'll be welcome to the team if he chooses to do that. " Guerra add ed that Yamaha has no plans of rep lacing Hrehor on the Sportcycles Yamaha team, but said that ad ditional sup po rt will be given to Duane Conner, who last year rod e Husq varnas. Na tional Cross Country Champion Fred Andrews will return to the team, and plans to contest selected National Relia- bility Enduros, the Gainesville National . MX and the Da ytona Supercross, in addition to defending his title. Former 125cc National MX Champion and Team Suzuki rider Guy Cooper will be donating a Suzuki RM250 to the legend 's Restaurant & Sports Bar in Costa Mesa, California, January 28. The bike, a replica of Cooper's ' 93 factory team Suzuki machine, will be d ispla yed alongside an Al Unser Jr. driving suit, a factory Toyota truck racin g team bod ywork, numerous NFL h elmets a n d dozens of autographed photos of famous sports figures. In celebration of the happening, the Mickey Thompson En terta inment Group will be award ing 12 tickets to the Anaheim Supercross taking place the next da y. Cooper will also be signing autographs. The act iv ities a re sched ul ed to beg in at 6:00 p.m.. For more information, call Todd Baldwin at 714/646-2428. The schedule for the Span ish in te rnational road racing cha mpions hip, th e Open Ducados Series, h as been announced. The seven-round series will begin on Febru ary 27 in Albacete before mo ving to Catalu nya on March 6. Th e next five rounds are at circuits tha t will be annou nced la ter , b ut th e dates a re firm: Ma y 15, May 29, Ju ne 5, Jul y 10 and October 23. According to American Suzuki, the 1993 WERA Suzuki Cup Finals will air on ESPN on Saturday, Feb ruary 5 at 9:30 p.m. (Eas tern Standard Time) . The 30minute show will fea ture racing highligh ts from the event which was held a t Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, on October 29-31. Kevin Schwantz fans listen up: The 1994

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