Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127657
record he set in the 1992 Aus trali an
Grand Prix. Doohan comp le ted some
300 laps duringthe test, accordin g to
Cy cle N ews correspond ent Bern ie
McGu ire. "I'm really looking forward to
this season," Doohan said . "1 wouldn't
star t the year setting my sights on any
other p ositi on exce pt finishing first. It
would be a waste of time. It's going to
be a tough yea r and there are a lot of
guys out there who think the same way
as well. How ever, all 1 know is that 1
d on ' t wan t any of them to beat me . I
will be concentrating on doing my own
job." Lucky St r ik e Su z u k i' s Ke v i n
Schwa n tz and Marlboro Yamaha's Luca
Cad aIora bo th lapped Eastern Creek in
1:34.1 in pre-season tests w ith Ca dalora 's teamma te Daryl Beattie clocked a
1:31.6.
No ted tuner Erv Kanemoto was in
attendance at the HRC test in Aus tralia,
w ork ing with 250cc Grand Prix r id er
T adayuki O k ad a of Ja pa n. Kanemot6
only recently signed a deal with H RC,
but there is still som e question as to the
team completing the enti re season. "The
HRC budget we have for Okada to com pete as present will only allow u s to
complete abou t 60 to 70 percent of the
season," Kanem oto sa id. "So I am hoping to o rga nize a s pons o r soon."
Okada's best lap at Eastern Creek was a
1:33.5.
AMA /CCS Ha rley-Davidson U.S. Tw in
Sport Na tional Champion Scott Zampach w ill again team w ith tu ner Don
Tilley in an effort to win their fourth
RC C
olato back HarleyDavid dirt track team
son
R
Twin Sport championship in 1994. "1 am
very excited abo ut this upcoming racing
season, " Z amp ach sa id . "Don a n d I
work so well together and I am reall y
h a p p y that we can compete in the
Ha rley-Davidson Ll.S, Twin Sport Series
again. We will also campaign a Harley
VR1000 superbike as soon as the factory
releases one to us . I was definitely upset
that I was not offered the factory ride;
however, everything is meant to be and
I am confident that Don and I will have
even better results while still having fun
and enjoying the races."
C Cola has signed a one-year contract to sponsor the factory Harley-Davidson dirt
track team of 1992 AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr and four-time
Grand National Champion Scott Parker, according to Harley-Davidson Manager
of Racing Promotions Art Gomper.
"We are very excited about the new association between RC Cola and HarleyDavidson," said Gomper of the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida-based company that also owns
the Arby's Roast Beef restaurant cha in in addition to producing RC and Diet Rite colas.
"The people at RC Cola are very excited about Harley-Davidson, and this pairing will
definitely generate more exposure for our team. I hope that their involvement will
attract more outside sponsors into the sport of dirt track."
Though the traditional team leathers will remain the same - black pants and a white
jacket with an orange stripe - RC Cola logos will be prominently displayed on the jacket and also on the motorcycle's tail section.
"I went to an RC Cola bottler's convention on Febr uary 19 and 20th," sa id Carr,
when questioned about the team's new sponsor. "But tha t's all I can tell you right now."
Gomper also alluded to a possible deal between RC Cola and the AMA. "The guys
at RC are considering meeting with the AMA abo ut possibly putting up some money
to sponso r some challenge races," said Gomper. "I hope that it happens, but we'll have
to wait and see. The loss of sponsorship from Camel was a big blow to the sport. We at
Harley-Davidson have kept up our interest, I just hope that some new things are on the
horizon."
' ''We are emerging from a decade of neglect," Don Lenehan, senior vice president of
Royal Crown, said in an interview with the Milwaukee Sentinel. "What sets us apart
from Coke and Pepsi is that we are adapting the attitude that Harley-Davidson already
has : We will not battle them with a checkbook, but will attack their weak points."
Royal Crown's sponsorship will include a summer sweepstakes in which a Harley
Heritage Softail Classic will be awarded to the winner. Three other motorcycles and
assorted Harley gear will also be given away.
Th e T railblazers, a fraternal or gan ization of early d ay motorcycling enthusias ts, will host their 50th anniversary
banquet on Sunday, April 10 in Alhambra, California. In addition to the banquet, the event will also include a dis p lay of antique and classic motorcycles.
For more information call Ed Kretz Jr. at
818/285-6666, Don Emde at 714 /2492270 or Bill Bagnell at 714/786-8183 .
Best in the Desert's Casey Folks, who
also serves as the course official for the
Nevada Rally, is planning to ride the
Tunisia Rally in April. Folks will pilot a
factory-backed KTM 620 LC4 in the
nine-day rally. "I'm mainly going over
there to gain some more experience with
rallies," said Folks. "I think I'll learn a
lot, and that will help the quality of our
event (the Nevada Rally) this summer."
Apparen tly, the rides of Bill y Liles and
Joel S me ts a re safe for th e '94 500cc
World Motocross Ch amp ionship Series.
Last week, we reported tha t the FIM
was considering not issuing a constructor 's license to Vertemati, manufacturers
of the trick one-off four-st rokes that
Liles and Smets will campaign. We have
since learned th at refusal to issue the
license would affect only the manufacturers' championships, not the individual riders. In order to avoid paying an
entry fee, it is not uncom mon for a
smaller ma n ufacture r to vo lu ntarily
decline participation in the se ries, bu t
Vertem ati wan ted to compete and ma y
not get the opportunity. The small Italian m anufacturer s ta n ds a re a listi c
chance a t w inning the ma nufacturer's
title if they are given the chance.
Bell shows off"flat"look
B
ell Helmets showed a new "Seven Degree Helme t" at Daytona Intern at ional Speed way durin g th e AMA /CCS Sprint ra ce w eeken d on
March 4-6. The helmet is basically an M-1 with the
back flatte ned at a seven-degree an gle.
Among the Bell Helmet users trying it at Daytona
w ere Yamaha ' s Eddie Lawson, Vance & H ines '
Jamie James, Lucky Strike Suzuki's Tom Kipp, John
Ashmead and Greg Esser.
."It's not lifting and it's not buffeting," said Jack
Jarboe, a Bell custom pa inte r and race rep. "People
are sharing them because they wo rk so well."
As to how the y cam e to the proper angl e, Jarboe
said: "We just hit it. In Ind y cars (where the helm et made its d ebut ), we have d ifferent
fairings for different chassis." Jarb oe said that wind- tunnel testing wasn't needed since
it can be simu lated on a computer .
"This was really a stab in the dark to get input," he said .
The only downside to the helmet is that the flat sp ot on the back acts like a wind foil
if you look back to see who's behind you.
More sched ule changes from the FIM th is time to the World Championsh ip
Superb ike Se ries . Th e third rou n d of
th e series in Misano, Ita ly, h a s been
mo ved from May 22 to May 29; the sixth
r ound of t he se ries sc h ed u le d fo r
Au gu s t 21 will b e held in Se ntul ,
Indonesia, inst ead of [ohor, Malaysia ;
the 10th roun d o{ th e se r ies in Je rez,
Spain, has moved fro m O ctober 9 to
October 2; and the 11th round of the
series scheduled for October 30 will be
held at Phillip Island in Australia
instead of Sentul, Indonesia.
The other major schedule change to
come from the-Fl M is that the 12Scc
World MX Champion sh ip round scheduled on May 1 in Argentina will now be
h eld in Vila Santa Cruz, Cordoba, on
May 1.
There is a chance that Inside Motocross ,
th e qu art erley publication that folded
after just four issues, may make a comeback. Editor Fran Kuhn has pa rted ways
w ith AXO, t h e p ubli she r s o f Insi d e
Mo tocro ss, and h as join ed for ces with
Mo tor Trend 's Jeff Karr. The p air are
currently feeling the waters to see if the
industry would be recep tive to continuing the magazine w ith a different p ublisher. If the plan takes off, the p ublication w oul d likely use a different title.
Intern at ional Sp e e d w a y h as announ ced tha t Bruce Flan ders wi ll be
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