Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Belgian Stefan Everts (Kaw) won round 10 of the 250cc World Championsh ip MX Series in Uddevalla, Sweden, on July 10. South African Greg Albertyn (Suz) was second, with Brit Kurt Nicoll (Hon) taking third place. Rodney Smith won the eighth and final round o f the National Reliab ility Enduro Series in Speeds ville, N ew York, on Jul y 9-10. Unofficially, Smith won both days of the event for the overall, while Fred Hoess (Hus) , Chris Smith (Hon), Scott Summers (Hon) and Guy Cooper (Suz) finished second through fifth, respectively. Smith, the defending champion, had wrapped up this year's title at the previous round. The AMA has still not released their choices for the World Trophy, World Junior Trophy and Club Teams, but plans to do so later in the week. Team Suzuki Endurance finished first and second in the fifth round of the WERA Sunoco/Performance Machine National Endurance Series at the Putnam Park road course in Mt. Meridian, Indiana, on July 9. Following the two Team Suzuki Endurance bikes home in the six-hour race was Virginia Breeze Racing (Yam). The WERA Formula III National, which was held in conjunction with the endurance race, was won by Kevin Murray (Hon). Murray topped John Ulrich (Yam) and Chris Rogers (Yam). Adrien Morillas, Jean-Louis Battistini and Denis Bonoris (Kaw) teamed up to wi n the 24 Hours of Liege endurance road race, held at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium on July 10. Defending World Endurance Champion Doug Toland qualified 14th, but was forced out of the race when his teammate, Andre Lussiana, crashed the team's Honda. Four-time World Champ ion Eddie Lawson captured his first career victory in the PPG-Firestone Indy Lights Series during the Buick Challenge of Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 10. Lawson beat Canadian Greg Moore by 2.530 seconds after taking the lead on the 26th lap of the 35-lap race. Series points leader Steve Robertson, Lawson's teammate, finished seventh. Lawson picked up $20,000 for winning the race. Canadian riders have traditionally made a great showing at the North American World Championship Trials rounds. This year, however, only Mike . Guns, aboard a Montesa, held up the Maple Leaf honor at the June 25-26 Donner Pass World Round, held in Norden, California. Guns, a fixture on the NATC/ AMA circuit, showed his steadfast Canuck patriotism by shaving a maple leaf design into the back of his scalp. Seen watching in section six was former Canadian Champion Steve Fracy . The last five years have seen more change and progress in the sport of observed trials than in the previous 20 years! The motorcycles themselves have kept pace with the technological ~ advances of every other form of motor0'\ sport, both four- and two-wheeled. The ~ introduction of disc brakes, water cooling, inverted front forks, and tubeless tires have all had an impact on the manner in which the bikes are ridden. The new Honda/Montesa has a changeable microchip which enables a rider to choose a mild or wild power band. The development of tires by IRC, Michelin, 2 Dunlop and Pirelli has created compounds that quite literally feel st icky and adhere to rock and logs. The 1994 Beta Techno has a gas tank shroudmounted cyclocomputer that indicates th e time, speed, average speed and duration of time a rider has been in a section. According to Andreu Codina of Gas-Gas, their 1995 model will ha ve a si m il a r feature, though it will take things further by also ·telling a rider when to change oil, fluids , etc. While most trials riders eschew any typ e of full-eoverage helmet, jean-Luc Nictou wears an abbreviated chin bar on his helmet to protect a prior injury. Looking similar to a NASA space helmet, Nictou cuts a flashy figure in his IPONE sk in suit . Nictou was 14th at Donner. Attending the Donner Pass World Trials Round were several top American bicycle trials riders. National #3 Aaron Faust, Steve Blick, Cevin Quitoriano, Kenny Stroub and Swiss/German expatriate Hans Rey were on hand as spectators. Though spectacular in their own right, the bicycle trialers were absolutely blown away by the skills of the top Europeans. Apparently following the trend started in the mountain bike world, the bikes of Scorpa rider Bruno Camozzzi and GasGas mounted Donato Miglio featured many anodized-purple parts, ranging from handlebars to fork braces and disc brake parts. The Montesa of Spain's Amos Bilbao featured extensive manipulating and reshaping of the twin-spar aluminum frame . Th is was done in an effort to more personally fit the bike to the tiny Bilbao, who is having difficulty matching his '92 performance with Gas-Gas. It is interesting to note that almost all of the foreign riders are able to converse, . at least marginally, in .English. Perhaps the most fluent in English is Finn Tommi Ahvala, with Jordi Tarres and Takumi Narita following closely. Our American athletes might try as hard when traveling overseas. Unfortunately, poor sportsmanship can occur in trials also . Witnesses to a tantrum thrown by Marc Colomer in section 12 at Donner Pass on Saturday expressed outrage at his behav ior. Upon receiving what he thought was an undeserved dab, Dougie Lampkin had a couple of choice words (that started with an "F" and a "Y") for the checker. As the pressures to perform increase, this type of incident is probably bound to occur more often . Certainly the days of Frenchman Philippe Berlatier berating and hitting checkers is not forgotten. ' Spectacular display of outside sponsor logos plays a major role in the sponsorship of European trials competitors. Spaniard Amos Bilbao rides for the Montesa factory, but receives major backing from Marin Mountain Bikes and Ducados cigarettes, while Jordi Tarres, Marc Colomer and Joan Pons are supported by Fortuna, a rival tobacco company. Additionally, Garibaldi and Brema clothing manufacturers have changed the face of trials with the skin-tight, one-piece "body condom" skin suits favored by all of the top rid ers. Local bicycle trials rider Cevin Quitoriano noted, "I sure wouldn't want to take a tumble wearing a thin lycra suit." In any event, it seemed Three Americans through to World S eedwa Final a m Ermolenko (r ight) will have the opportunity to defend his World Individual Speedwa y Champ ionship in Vojens, Denmark, on August 20, after qualifying at the World Championship Semifinal at Prague, in the Czech .Re p u b l ic, on July 10. Ermolenko didn't win' the event, however. As expected, Poland 's Tomasz Gollob rose to the occasion and scored 14 points for a popular victory in front of the adoring Czechs, and Sweden's Tony Rickardsson scored 12 points to finish second. Denmark's Jan Staechman and Tommy Knudsen, Ermolenko, and Sweden's Stephen Danno tied with 11; Staechman topped Ermolenko, Danno and Knudsen .for third place. The final qualifiers were New Zealand's Jason Crump and American Greg Hancock with nine and eight points, respectively. American Billy Hamill failed to qualify at Prague after scoring eight points and losing out to Hancock in a run-off for the final qualifying spot, but Hamill will be first reserve at Vojens. At the second World Championship Semifinal, held in Bradford, England on the same day, British rider Mark Loram also scored 14 points to top Denmark's Hans Nielsen with 13 and Sweden's Henrik Gustafsson with 12. American Josh Larsen finished a strong fourth, scoring 11 points to tie Germany's Marvyn Cox. England's Chris Louis scored nine points, while Poland's Piotr Swist and 'Australian Craig Boyce took the last spots to the World Final with eight points each. Polish rider Roman Jankowski scored seven points to earn the second reserve position at Vojens. Absent from the World Championship Semifinals was 1990 World Champion Per Jonsson of Sweden. Jonsson had qualified for the World Semifinal in Bradford but suffered a horrible crash at a league race in Poland two weeks earlier that has left him paralyzed. Considered one of the safest riders in international speedway, Jonsson was forced to lay his bike down as part of a three-man accident when he was struck in the back by a competitor's motorcycle, breaking his fourth and fifth thoracic vertebrae and damaging the spinal cord. Jonsson underwent emergency surgery in Sweden where latest reports indicated that he still has no feeling from the chest down. S unlikely that any of the top riders would feel the sting of the rough Donner granite, for, without exception, the top riders felt that the sections were on the easy side. Once the dominant force in world trials, France entered only 2 riders at the Donner Pass World Round: Bruno Camozzi aboard the new Scorpa, and Betamounted jean-Luc Nictou. Clearly, the World leaders are . the Spanish, their dominance achieved by simple growth in Junior program numbers. The Spanish Dream Team of Jordi Tarres, Marc Colomer, Joan Pons and Amos Bilbao has dominated the Trial de Nations for the last three years, displacing its perennial champions, the French. Road racer Aaron Lanningham has . been transferred to a hospital near his home in Utah, according to a friend. Lanningham, who crashed during the AMA U.S. Superbike National Championship round at New Hampshire international Speedway on June 19, was originally paralyzed from the knees down after suffering broken vertebrae in his lower back, but has since started to regain feeling in hi s feet. Lanningham has started walking with the aid of crutches. He can be reached at his room in the Health South Rehab in Sandy, Utah, at 800/ 888-3401, ext. 6668. New Jersey motocrossers Barry Carsten and James McIlvaine will compete in a supercross in Landshut, Germany, on August 14-15, according to Roulette Racing. Roulette's Edward Volkov is offering discounted airline tickets for anyone who would like to make the trip with the team. For more information call609/53D-1138. Frenchman Cyril Esquirol, winner of this year's Gilles Lalay Classic, is the latest name to be added to the Nevada Rally entry list. Esquirol will ride a Husqvarna 610 four-stroke, and joins the likes of former Paris-Dakar wirmer Stephane Peterhansel, last year's Nevada Rally winner Alain Olivier, former Incas Rally winner Fabrizio Meoni, Germans Herbert Schek and Jurgen Mayer and Frenchman Thierry Magnaldi. Peterhansel will ride a Sonauto Yamaha, and will be joined in the race by Sonauto owner Jean-elaude Olivier. Meoni will ride a Honda prepared by XR'sOnly. Word has it that FMF is preparing to launch a two-rider squad to contest the 250cc MX GP series in 1995. "They will both be contenders," said European agent Dave Grant. "They will ride Yamahas - and one of them could be racing at this year's final round (Gaildorf, Germany, September 4)." No confirmation has been made on who the two riders will be, though the name of Jeff Matiasevich has popped up in some rumors. FMF is attempting to expand the company's European sales, and is also planning to field a "Euro" squad for the Baja 1000, consisting of Davide TrolIi, Danny LaPorte and possibly Alain Olivier. As previously reported, Kevin Windham has signed a letter of intent with Yamaha, though he will give Kawasaki the chance to exercise their right of first refusal. Windham recently suffered a

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