Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Jimmy Lewis (Hon) was the leader after the Las Vegas , Nevada, to Tonopah, Nevada, portion of the Nevad a Rally '94 on August 14. Lewis le d Chuck Miller (Hon) by five minutes, 44 seconds at the end of the s t a ge w ith last year's winner, Alain Olivier (Kaw) th ird . Cycle News a ss ocia te editor Chris Jonnum (Hon) wa s running 21st after the first day of action. Kevin Windham (Kaw) was the big winner at the 13th Annual AMA Amateur National MX Championships, held at Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, on August 11-14. Windham topped the 125 and 250cc A Modified classes. Other double-class winners included Ricky Carmichael (Kaw), who topped the 80cc 14 to15-year-old Stock and Modified classes, and Josh Sweat (Kaw), who aced the 125 and 250cc Modified B d ivisions. Cynthia Cole (Kaw) was the Women's class winner. Britain has announced that Steve Saunders, Dougie Lampkin, Graham Jarvis and Steve Colley will fly the Union Jack at the September 3 Trials d es Nations in Andorra, and the quartet is considered to be the strongest team that the country has ever fielded. As always, though, the Spanish team, consisting of six-time World Champion Jordi Tarres, Marc Colomer, Joan Pons and Angel Garcia, he favored to win. The Italian team of Diego Bosis, Donato Miglio, Piero Semben!nl and Dario ReDelGandine will likely give the Brits a run for second. Upholding American honor at the event wiII be Jess Kempkes, Lonny Halstead, Andy Saum and Matt Moore. In two hearings held in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 27 and August 10, the FIM 's International Disciplinary Court ruled in favor of the appeals from World Superbike riders Aaron Slight and Andreas Meklau "a n d 600cc Supersport rider Rachel Nicotte against the decision of the International Jury on June 14 - which disqualified them from the results of the World Superbike round at Donington Park in England for using illegal fuel. The COl has considered the appeal"admissable and well-founded" and the decision of the International Jury has been "quashed." The FIM says that the procedure followed during the fuel sampling was not correct, and therefore the results from Donington Park will stand. With Aaron Slight getting the 34 points returned to him for his two second place finishes at Donington Park, the Kiwi now leads the World Superb ike Championsh ip point standings. Slight has 139 points to Carl Fogarty's 128 . Scott Russell is third with 118 points after 5 of 12 rounds. - eJ:. 0\ T'""'i According to Protac's Doug Gonda, the WERA Pro Series wiII consist of five rounds again in 1995, with three of those rounds being billed as the Triple Crown. Gonda says the Triple Crown will feature the same format a s this year 's inaugural series, but with double the purse money. Winners of the team challenge"in 1995 will earn $40,000, with second place paying $20,000 and third place $10,000. The purses in the other classes of the Pro Series are expected to sta the same; accordin to Gonda, SX promoters form new sanctionin~ upercross event producers - Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group (MTEG), Pace/Supersports and SRO Motorsports - announced at an August 11 press conference, held at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California, that they have formed a new Florida-based sanctioning body, dubbed American/International Racing (AIR), to oversee motorsports events. The governing association will focus solely on supercross racing. Simply put, the supercross promoters have broken away from the AMA and are planning to sanction and promote their own supercross series, hoping to attract all of the major racing teams. In effect, this could possibly mean that there will be two supercross series next year, if the AMA decides to continue on with their own series. The promoters banned together with the purpose of "taking supercross racing to the next level in motorsports." "We believe this will allow us to better the sport, expand the exposure our competitors and teams will receive and increase the marketing opportunity for all of us involved," said Bill West of Pace/Supersports. "Each of the event producers have made a long-term commitment to supercross racing. We're confident the U.S. Supercross Series, now being sanctioned by AIR, will continue to be the world's premier motorcycle racing series. "All of us have spent a great deal of time, money and heart trying to increase the quality of supercross racing, today's announcement is just one further example of our commitment to the sport," said West. "As we move forward, we'll continue to operate in our traditional venues, while also exploring other opportunities to continue to foster growth in the U.S. Supercross Series. We are confident the same quality of competitors that have entered our event for the past 20 years, will continue to do so and we will put the best possible product on the race track for S our fans." The new sanctioning body will be guided by Executive Director Roy Janson, formerly American Motorcycle Association's Director of Professional Racing . Janson will oversee all of AIR's day-to-day operations, while working with the Policy Committee, made up by representatives from MTEG, Pace/Supersports and SRO Motorsports. "I feel fortunate to be given the opportunity to join this team and move forward with the growth of supercross," said Janson. "The U'S, Supercross Series will maintain the same consistency that these producers have provided over the past two decades. AIR will focus, as a sanction organization, on being a service to the competitors and to the companies that support those competitors. AIR is an independent organization that wi!! be self-sustaining in its resources. "Yesterday (August 10) we met with three of the five manufactures that have participated in the events produced by these companies in the past - we sought no commitment from the companies and no commitments were given. We fully expect that this program - because of its consistency, because of the prestige that has been associated with the supercross program produced by these companies - that we will enjoy the participation of all the world's best riders as we have in the past. although the Formula III class may see an increase. In wha t Gonda calls, "a complete opposite to the guys in Westerville (the AMA) " , the WERA races will run all Pro Series even ts in con ju n ction with the National Challenge classes and regional events . "They will be huge events with huge rider turnouts," Gonda sa id. In addition, Gonda say s that WERA is currently working on putting together a "steering committee" which will be made up of riders, teams and sponsors. According to the AMA, the Fall Classic Motocross Series is set to return in 1994 with backing from three industry sponsors . The six-event series will be presented by Dirt Shirts along with KTM Sportmotorcycle USA and Honda of Troy. The opening round of the series will be held on September 18 at Red Bud Track 'n Trail in Buchanan, Michigan. AMA "In addition, we extended an invitation to those companies to participate in the formation of the program through participation and an advisory committee,.and we expect that those companies will take the opportunity to join in that effort to create this new direction for supercross in the United States. "I think this announcement today is the start of great opportunity, great new growth," said Janson. According to Janson, the AIR-sanctioned U.S. Supercross Series will be run nearly identically to that of the previous AMA Supercross Series. "The rules will be similar to those in place for previous supercross competition," said Janson. Neither the AMA or AIR have locked up a series sponsor for 1995, but Janson said that the Ll.S, Supercross Series will at least match the 1994 Supercross series points fund as well as the event purses. "These (purses) will most likely go up with a series sponsor," added Janson. The promoters also said that ESPN will cover all 15 events of the 1995 U.s. Supercross Series. So why did the promoters decide to go their own way? "The supercross promoters and the AMA were negotiating a potential agreement for the past six months," said AMA's Vice President of Sports Marketing Tom Mueller. "Initially, the supercross promoters wanted complete marketing and TV rights for the supercross sites and series. The AMA was close to conceding to those terms, but the supercross promoters then requested final approval of scheduling, format, rules and other sanction issues. " It was at this time that the AMA reviewed its position in supercross, and decided that giving the promoters complete control of the spo rt was not possible. An impasse was reached that was never resolved," said Mueller. The AMA has not yet decided what it plans to do about a 1995 AMA Supercross Series . "At present, the AMA is reviewing numerous options for its supercross properties in 1995," said Mueller. "We will convene an AMA Board of Trustees meeting at AMA headquarters on August 26. At that meeting, the AMA's direction for supercross will be determined," said Mueller. Perhaps the determining factor as to which Supercross Series will prevail, assuming the AMA goes on with its own series, will be the manufacturers' decision as to which series they decide to compete in. Obviously, if anyone series is to be successful, all of the five major teams will have to band together. At this point, none of the manufacturers have committed either way. Honda's race team manager Dave Arnold did say, however, "We really don't know that much about the whole thing yet, but we are going to assess the situation and make a decision by September 1." The following is a tentative schedule of the AIR-sanctioned, U.S. Supercross Series: Orlando, Florida January 14 Citrus Bowl Minneapolis, Minnesota January 21 Metrodome January 28 Anaheim Stadium Anaheim, Cal~omia Seattle, Washington February 4 Kingdome San Diego, Cal~omia February 11 Jack Murphy Stadium Atlanta, Georgia February 25 Georgia Dome March 11 Daytona International Speedway Daytona, Florida Indianapolis,lndiana March 18 Hoosierdome March 25 Astrodome Houston, Texas April 8 Pontiac Silverdome Pontiac. Michigan Charlotte, North Carolina April 22 Charlotte Memorial Dallas, Texas . April 29 Texas Stadium Tampa, Rorida May 6 Tampa Stadium Denver, Colorado June 3 Mile High Stadium Las Vegas, Nevada June 10 Sam Boyd Stadium licensed professionals and top-level amateurs will compete for $5000 purses at each event, plus a $10 ,000 series bonus and numerous contingency awards. Defending champion Todd DeHoop is expected to compete in the series which will run as follows : September 18 - Buchanan, Michigan; October 2 - Englishtown, New Jersey; October 9 - Casey, Illinois; October 16 - Danville, Virginia; October 23 - Blountville, Tennessee; October 31 - Reddick, Florida. Round five of the Motorcycle Asphalt Racing Series (MARS) will be held in conjunction with the Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealers Association 's 54th Annual Fall Rally & Races in Asheville, North Carolina on September 30-0ctober 1. The MARS race will be held on Friday night, September 30. Former Team Downer's Grove Yama- ha racer Jeff Dement gave us a call to let us know that he recently underwent surgery to both of his knees, to repair torn anterior cruciates and cartilage damage. The Texan has been plagued by knee problems throughout hi s career, but after hurting both joints at the AMA MX National in Budds Creek, Maryland, he decided it was finally time to go under the knife. Dement, 19, finished ninth in the Eastern Regional Supercross Series despite missing several rounds due to his bad knees. "I 'm going to wait until I'm 100% before I come back," said Dement. "That should probably be around February or March." Speaking of Dement, the motocrosser had been dabbling in road racing prior to h is surgery, and will probably be able to get back on a road bike before resuming MX . Dement has been hanging out with fellow Texan

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