Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

S ch w a n t z Racing Club is read y to accept members. For $60 Schwanlz fans will receive a new T-shi rt, a club cap, a ke y ta g , a signed Sxl0 p hoto of Schwantz with his number one p la te, s ticke rs , a pen, a m a gn e t a nd thr e e n ew s le tt er s which will be ma il e d throughou t the '94 racing season. For m ore informa tio n or to joi n th e club, write to Schwanlz Racing Club, P.O. Box 34, Paige, TX 7S659. Team Chafong owner Bruce Fong says he mad e an error in the team's press release regarding the hiring of mechanic Mike Rockwell . Th e relea se gave the imp ressi on that Rock well was hired to tune David Esto k's Honda CBR600, but Rockwell will se rve as ch ief mechanic and will work on bo th Esto k' s and Randy Renfrow's Hondas. The AHRMA West Regional MX events in southern California will be held on March 6 and October 9 at L.A. County Raceway in Palmdale, but on different courses, according to So Cal MX coordinator Terry Pratt. On Decem ber 29, 1993, th e AMA and three individuals filed a lawsuit in the Rivers id e (California) Superior Co urt against the Canyo n Lak e Property O wners Associa tion. The lawsuit challenges a rule the association has been enforcing which prohibits the operation of motorized two- and three-wheel vehicles on streets wi thin the Canyon Lake d evelopment. Residents who violate this rule, by riding their cycles within the development, have been issued citations and are the n prohibited from using the common facilities within Canyon Lake. For more informat ion contact the California Mot orcycle Dealers Association (CMDA) at 909/883-S701 . U. S. T subaki and Mu zzy Ka wasaki have signed a multi-year contract tha t will see the team using Tsubaki chains beginning with the 1994 racing season. In addition to fitting his motorcycles with Tsubaki chains, team owner Rob Muzzy w ill appear a s a Tsubaki spokesman at trackside and in international advertising. Ohio-based road race r T om Kipp is se t to sign a contract with Suzuki to contest the 1994 AMA U.S. Superbike National Championship and the AMA/CCS r:XJcc Supersport Series on bikes prepared by Yos hi m u ra . Kipp w ill jo in Th o m a s Stevens and Don ald Jacks on Yoshimura -prepped Suzukis in nine of the ten rounds of the AMA U .S. Superb ik e National Championship, and will team with Bri tt T urk ingto n on the team's GSXR750 supersport entries. "I'm real happy," Kipp said on Frid ay, January 14. "It's only been confi rm ed for a couple of da ys. It's just a ma tter of going forward. The d eal is for 750cc s upers p ort a nd superbike as welL Right now it's for nine of th e ten s uperbike rou n ds, but I'm working on so mething for Dayt ona right now . Th ey ' v e (S uzu ki) tre ated m e extremely well." At Daytona, Kipp will be returning from a six-mon th absence, afte r break ing a le g a t th e Bra inerd ro u n d of th e se ries la st yea r whi le a member of the Ca mel Commonwealth Honda team. "My health is good. The leg's rea lly comin g a lo ng. I' ve been doing a lot of physical therapy an d it's nearly 100 percent. I'm just working on getting m y s tre ng th ba ck . I'm happy about my condition and I'm happy to be in a new environment." According to the AMA, the 53rd running o f th e Daytona 200 b y A rai will be broadcast li v e from Dayton a Bea ch, Florid a , o n Th e Nashvill e Netw o rk (TNN) . The telecast will begin at 1:30 p.m . (Eas tern Standard Time) and will end a t 4:00 p .m., featu ring flag-to- flag co verage of the opening ro un d of the AMA U.S. Su perbike National Championshi p. Every race in the AMA road race series will be telev ised in 1994 , w ith TNN also sc he duled to broadcast the Lo u don Classic. Prime Network will pro v id e cover age of the other eight rou nd s, wi th full detai ls and broadcast dates to be announced in the near future. Co ntra ry to a pres s release issued by Sh o e i a n d printe d in th is space last week , Doug Polen has signed a two-year co nt rac t with AGV Helmets. The contract continues the seven -year relationship between Polen and AGV. Polen will be wearing the 1994 Quasar helmet and AGV is selling a Quasar Polen repli ca. The Houston Supercross will be held on January 22 at the Houston Astrodome, just as planned. There was a possib ility that the race would be affected by the NFL p lay offs, but with the Houston Oilers having been eliminated, the series will continue on schedule. Team Hon d a / 1-800-CO LLECT's Doug Henry experienced his first ea rthquake during the January 17 trembler that hit southern California. "It was fun!" said Henry. "It didn't really shake around that much; it was more like a wave. We were just sitting on the bed, enjoying the ride." The drawing for the 1993 Cycle News Daytona Sweepstakes was held on January 14, and the grand prize package was won by Ed w a rd Mu n ie r of Fairport, New York. Munier will receive a TravelCraft package that includes airline travel, ho tel accommodations, a ren tal car, a one-year subscription to Cycle News and VIP tickets to all th e championship events held d uring Camel Cycle Week . The infamous Ka w asa ki te st track in Corona, California, claimed its first victim of the year on Tuesday, January II. Team Spli tFire/Hot Wheels/Kawasaki 's Ryan Hughes fell in a section of whoops, landing on his head and knocking himself unconscious. Hugh es al so required 20 stitches to close a cut to h is face. "I don't really know ho w I got the cut, but I'm fine, now," said Hu gh es. "In fact, I raced this weekend at Perris, so I should be fine for the Hous ton Supercross ." AUTOGRAPH SIG NI NG : A t O ra nge County Su zuki (OCS) in Cost a Mes a, California, on January 29 fro m 10:0011:30 a.m. Team Suzuki's Gu y Cooper is scheduled to appear. For more information call 714/646-2428. AUTOG RA PH SIGNING: At Honda Kawa saki Sportcenter in Lake Fo rest, Californ ia, on January 28 from 6:00-S:00 p .m . Team Kawasaki's Mike La Rocco and Mike Kiedrowski, an d Team Spli tfire /Hot Wh eels/Pro Circui t/Kawasaki' s Ryan Hughes, Ja m es Dobb a nd Pedro Gonzalez are scheduled to appear. For more information call 714/859-3186. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING : A t Sa n Diego's House of Mo tor cycles, on Febru aI:y 4 from 4:00-7:00 p .m . Tea m Honda's Jeremy McGr ath, Jeff Stanton, Ste ve La m s o n a n d Do u g Hen ry a re sched u led to appear. Free p osters will be available and supercross passes will be ra ffled off. For more information, call 619/229-7700. H n aannounces new sRonsor od A s expected, Honda announced a t the January 15 Orlando Supercross that their factory team will be sponsored by l -8OD-COLLECT, a service offered by long-distance telephone compan y MCI. The company will be a title sponsor for the squad and, ac co rding to te am mana ger Dave Arnold, will sha re "equ al billing," though an official tea m name still hadn't been decided upon at Orlando (for lack of a better name, most simply referred to it as Team Honda/l-8OO-COLLECT). According to Arnold , Honda ha s been trying for several years to attract an outsid e sponsor, even going so far as to hire several ma rketin g compani es. "That didn't reall y work out so well ," said Arnold. "They seemed a little slimy, and we had a couple deals fall through at the last minute. I know Jeff Su rwall from No Fear, and I've always noticed tha t he's had good luck with stuff like this. He has professional athletes wearing hi s clothes, and he's the one who arranged Jeff Glass' deal with Surf. I basically begged him to see what he could do for us, but I was pretty much thinking in terms of next year. He was working with l-SOQ-COLLECT on an Indy car deal, trying to get the logo on the wing or something. That fell through at the las t minute, and they asked Jeff if he ha d anything else they could do. He mentioned us, and said it would be a good opportunity for them to get involved in a new sport. They went through the demographics and everything, and I guess they liked it. They said, 'If you can get it together in two weeks, let's do it:" With such short time for p repa ra tion , getting everything done wasn 't a n easy accomplishment. The team only had a few special 1-8OO-COLLECT stickers made up (one team mechanic was seen desperately attempting to clean off a sticker he had accid entally blown off with a pressure washer), and the clo thing manufacturers had to scramble to make special gear. Team riders Jeremy McG rath, Jeff Stanton and Steve Lamson sported the black-and -yellow 1-8OO-COLLECT logo on the ir jersey sleeves and front, as well as the ir pant legs, while Doug Henry wo re standard Fox gear with a 1SOo-COLLECT sticker on his chest protector. Fox initially wanted to fight Hond a' s requirement of giving up logo space, but Henry was optimistic that an agreement would be reached. "The main reason I d idn't have all the logos was that it was such a las t-min u te deal," said Henry. "I wasn' t fined, because Ho nda understood that it would be hard to get eve ryt hing done for the first few races. I'm pretty sure tha t everyone w ill come to terms and I'll have the logos on there:' The rid ers and other tea m personn el also wore team apparel (hats and shirts) that included the I-SOQ-COLLECT logo, and the race bikes featured the logo on the radiator shrouds (below the tra ditional Ho nda wing), and on the fork protectors. The team's box vans were also adorned with large I-SOD-CO LLECT stickers. Arnold sa id he hopes the deal will attract other outside companies in to the sport. "After trying to do it for a couple years, I can tell you tha t these companies m ust get approached by thousands of people every year," he sai d. "I think when the y see someon e else ge t involved, it might catch their attention. It's going to help us a lot. Lately the Japanese have been pressuring us to save money, and this will help take off some of . the load:' In their first race with the MCI sp onsorship, Team Hond a / l -S00-eOLLECT took home four of the top five positions. AUTOG RAPH S IG N I NG : At Cycle Shack, in Stafford, Texas, on January 22 from 6:00-s:00 p.m. Team Yamaha's Jeff Emig and Mike Craig are scheduled to a p pea r . Porrnore information, call 713/ 530-9337. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING : At Mid Cit ies Hon da /Kawasaki in Paramount, California, on January 28 from 6:00-7:30 p .m. Team Honda's Jerem y McGrath, Jeff Stanton, Steve La mson and Doug Henry a re scheduled to a p pea r. For more information, call 310/531-1225. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Z Racing in Anahe im, Californi a, on January 2S fro m 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Team KTM's Cliff Palmer, Greg Zitt erkopf and Scot Harden are sched ul ed to appear. For more in formation call 714/449-1371. OPENED: Pro Cycles & Accesorie s, Inc., a H onda d ea lership in Houston. Fo r more information, call 713/467-2426. HIRED: Matt Pritchard, as marketing coo rd ina to r for the rnotorsports gro up, by Yamaha Motor Corp. , U.s .A . Pritchard will be respon s ib le for supporting marketing, public relations and ad vertis ing for m otorcycle s, ATVs, scooters and snowmobiles. PROM OTE D: Vince Iorio, from editorial projects coordinator to managing editor of Mo torcycle Consumer News. Motorcycle Consumer News w as formerly Road Rider ma gazine. CO RRECTION: American Honda's Bob Oman's name was spelled incorrectly in our 250cc MX Shoo tout article (Issue #2, January 19). FORME D: B&B Racing, by WERA offici a l and road ra cer Ra y Sandoz and Steve Burkett. The team will compete on a Honda CBR600 in the 1-44 Challenge Series and selected WERA events. MOVED: Dan Mah on ey's Wizard Racing Photography, the com pany that specializes in dirt track photos from the 60s, 70 s, SOs and 90 s, to P.O. Box 139 , Ur ba n a , MO 65757, 417/993-579S or SOO/ 277-5037. - - - - - - - - Continued on page 47 -a:. 0\ ...... 3

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