Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.INTHE WIND Frenchman Yves D emaria (Hon) won yet another 250cc World MX GP at Round 14 in Suzuka, Japan, on August 21. Demaria posted perfect 1-1 m oto scores, and second overall went to Brit Kurt Nicoll (Hon), wh o went 3-4 on the da y. Belgian Mamicq Bervoets (Suz), Itali a n Andrea Bartolini (Yam) a nd South African Greg Albertyn (Suz) completed the top five overall. Belgian Stefan Everts (Kaw) was seventh overall, and trails Albertyn by 17 po ints in the standings, with one round remaining . Canadian Jon Cornwell (Hon) won the 125cc Grand Pri x exhibition cla ss a t Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, California, on Aug ust 21. Cornwell topped Randy Renfrow (Hon) and Masahiro Iizuka (Horuin the 10-lap, 25-mile race that was run in co nju nction with the AMA U.S. Superbike Nationa l Championship round. The Aug us t 20 Indy Mile rou nd of the AM A Grand Nationa l Cha m pion ship Series was rain ed out, and rescheduled for the following weekend, Sa turday night, August 27. The race will serve as the first leg of an Indiana double-header, as the series resumes the next da y, Sunday, August 28, at the 4-H Fairgrounds in Goshen, Indiana , for the Goshen Half Mile. Australia;' Michael Doohan has signed a contract that will see him on factory Hondas aga in in 1995. The newl y crown ed World Champion fi nalized neg otiations while attending the Suzu ka 8-h our. "I' ve been with Honda for a long time now and it's been a good partnership ," Doohan told Australian Motorcycle New s. "The Honda has been a good bik e for quite a few years, and I'm su re it wi ll be compe titiv e aga in in 1995." Olivier rules Nevada Rail A Anthony Gobert, the curren t leader of the Au stralian Superb ik e Na tiona I Champions hip, w ill rid e a facto ry Honda RC45 in the Japa nese round of th e World Ch amp ion ship Superb ike Series at Sugo on August 28. Accord ing to sources in Australia, the 19-year-old fo rmer mo tocr osser has r ep o r tedly sho w n interest in racin g in the AMA U.S. Superbi ke Series in 1995. Gobert and form er Cagiva Grand Prix ri der Ma t Mladin w on a leg a piece in the most rec ent round of the Au s tr ali an Superbike Championship at Lakesid e on August 7. Gobert increa sed his lead in the ch a m p ions hi p to 29 points over Scott Dooha n, wh o finished third overall. Moto Liberty's Sam Yamas hita said he would enter three tea ms in the Road Atlanta Middleweight Team Challenge to help the tea m retain their title, with two riders doi ng double duty. Michael Barnes, currently racing in the German Superbike championship, will team with the soon-to-return Takahito Mori on the number "1" bike, Masahiro Iizuka will team with Mori on the "16" entry, with Barnes joining Doug Carmichael on the third bike. Carmichael had injured his left hand and right foot when he totalled the team's Honda RS250 in p ractice on Friday, snapping the steering hea d off the bike. "That's the third one we've lost this year," Yamashita said . Sam Yam as h it a also said th at he 'd helped Mori clear up his visa probl ems. As a Japanese citizen, Mori has been in the U.S. on a three-month tourist visa. He was denied entry in Detroit, and sent back to Jap an last month when he told the customs officials that he was a professional motorcycle racer . He now has a P-l, mu ltipl e entry per form an ce visa w hic h he 'll retain 'as lon g as he has a valid contract with Mot o Liberty . lain Oliv ier (right) remain s the onl y rid er to hav e won a Nevada Rally, as the Frenchman sewe d up another victory on August 20, th e final da y of the 17OD-mile event. Olivier, 29, used a consistent ap proach to win last year 's innaug ural running of the competition, and this yea r defend ed his crown d espite w inn ing just one of the event's seven special tests. Ridin g for the powerful American Honda squad, Cycle World magazine edi tor Jimmy Lewis used a strong 'first special test to lead after the first two days, but Olivier dominated the 300mile-long test of Day Three to take over the lead. Mounted on a Moose /FMF-sp onsored Kawasaki KLX650, Olivier rod e cons istently from that point on, winning w ith a five-minute, 25-second margin over Am erican Honda ' s John ny Campbell . Lewis slipped to third overall, 22 minutes off the pace of Olivier. Former 250cc World MX Champion Heinz Kinigadner was fourth overall; the Austrian piloted a KTM 620 LC4, and was the only rider to win more than one special test. Kawasaki KX500 ride r Scott Morris was fifth overall , followed by Honda XR628 rider Charles Halcomb - last year's runner-up. Frenchman Richard Sainct piloted a Honda XR to seventh over all ahead of countryman Stephan Peterhansel, the factory Yamaha rider who has won Paris-Dakar and the ISDE. Italians Fabrizio Meoni (Honda) and Davide Trolli (Kawasaki ) completed the top 10 positions, overall. , The rally star ted in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 14, an d routed riders aroun d a -.::t< clockwise loop of the state. Overnight stops were made in the towns of Tonopah, Fal~ Ion, Elko, Ely and Mesquite. .--I Due to his overall win, Olivier was taken out of the class results, leavin g Campbell with the Four-Stroke class victory. Other class winners included Morris in the Open division, Japa nese KTM 250 rider Ishbashi Akira in the 250cc division, Honda XR250mounted Gary Alexande r in the 12Scc division (also open to four-strokes up to 250cc), Honda XR250 pilot Lori Conway in the Women's class, Hon da XR628-mou nted Chuck Miller in the Over 30 category, Honda XR600 rider Jan Prichard in the Over 40 class and Kawasaki KX500 pilot Sam Bass in the Over 50 competition. Along with the overall win, Olivier also earned a victory in the team competition, a new featur e in the Nevad a Rally. Olivier teamed with Morris and Trolli on the Moose/FMF squad, and scored the win over the American Honda team of Lewis, Halcomb and Miller. Michael Doohan ~ 1994 SCOcc World ChamRion A u s t r a lia n Mi cha e l Doo ha n (rig ht) rod e hi s H RC-backed Honda NSR500 to victor y in the Czech Republic Grand Prix in Brno on August 21 to cl in ch th e 500cc World Champion ship with three races remaining in the 14-race series. The 29-year-old gra bbed the lead from Spaniard Alberto Puig on the 10th lap and was never headed as he rode to a 3.322- second win over HRC's Shinichi Itoh . The victory was Doohan's eighth of the season, maki ng him the first since Giacomo Agostini in 1971 to .win eight 500cc GPs in a single season - and his points lead over defending World Champion Kevin Schwa ntz has grown to an insurmountable 87 points, wi th Schwa ntz finishing a distant seventh at Bmo. "On the last lap I just tried to keep it on two w heels an d take the checkered flag," said a relieved Doohan, who came back from a career threatening leg injury in 1992. "I really wa nt to thank the doc tors and everyone who supported me at the end of '92. Witho ut them I wouldn't be racing a bike, let alone being the 500 champion." Third place in the Czech GP wen t to Mar lboro Yamaha's Luca Cadalora, with the Italian finishing comfortably ahea d of HRC Honda's Alex Criville. Early leade r Puig eventually finished fifth on the Ducados Honda, nine seconds clear of Marlboro Yamaha's Norifumi Abe, who was substituting for the injured Dary l Beattie. Lucky Strike Suzuki's Schwantz was seve n th w ith his teamma te Alex Barros eighth. Slick 50's Niall Mackenzie and Team Millar's Jeremy McWilliams filled the top 10 positions. "I'm really disappointed ," Schwantz said. "M ick's got the title. Now my whole focus is on trying to win it back next year ." The Cag ivas of John Kocinski and Doug Chandler both su ffered mechanical failures at Brno, with neither rider finishing the Grand Prix. ' The 250cc World Championship took a strange twist at the top in Bmo. Pole sitte r Max Biaggi rode his Chesterfield April ia to victory, finishing some nine seconds ahead of German Ralf Waldmann on the HB Honda. Third place went to Chesterfield April ia's Jean-Philippe Ruggia with Honda Rheos [h a Racing's Nobu atsu Aoki and Tadayu ki Okada roun d ing out the top five finish ers. Former National and World MX Champi on Jean-Michel Bayle finished sixth on the Chest erfield April ia. Kenny Roberts [r ., in his return to Grand Prix racing after spe nding the season recuperatin g from a brok en arm, crashed the Marlb oro Rainey Yamaha on the fourth lap after qualifying 16th. I The cha mpionship leader going into the Czech roun d, Loris Capirossi, fell from his Marlboro Pileri Honda on the final lap while battling Rugg ia for third place. The crash left Cap irossi without any po ints, and allowed Biaggi to take over the points lead - bu t only by a single point over his Italian rival, 169-168, as the series head s to Lagun a Seca for the United States Grand Prix on September 11. Okada is third in the series standings with 163 poin ts. The 125cc Grand Prix was won by championship lead er Kazut o Sakata on the Team Sernprucci-Krona Aprilia. Sakata topped Noboru Ued a' s Givi Racing Honda by 2.6 seconds with Stefano Peru gini finishin g thir d on his Aprilia. Sakata now leads the championship by 51 points over Ueda , 208-157. Yamashita said he'd been tra ining in Japa n and had los t 19 pounds (155 to 136) to carry less weight on the HondaRSl25 that he'll be racing as a Wild Car d in the U.S. GP on September 11. "He p romised to be at 132 for the race withou t losing s trength," Yamash ita sa id . Barnes may also be on a 125 for the GP, though not as a wild card. He recen tly had a two-da y tryout in Germany with an established 125cc GP team that may want him for the U.S. GP. They also ma y keep him for th e remain ing tw o GPs in Argen tina and Spain . Performance South Racing's Rich Oliver may be the bu siest racer in the Ll.S; despite w inn ing his fir st AMA 250cc Grand Prix title . Th e week after th e Sears Point National he was off to Portland , Oregon, for the WERA Pro Series race. After a weekend off, he was to be a Wild Ca rd in the U.S. GP, th en he ad back east for the final AMA 250cc GP race at Road Atlanta - his fourth race in five weeks . At Portl and he'll be trying to pad his po ints lead in the WERA Formula II class wh ich he's lead ing. Teammate Chuck Sorensen is cu rre n tly second. The AMA 250cc GP Ch amp ionship was Oliver's third pr ofessional title. He won the WERA Form ula USA crow n aboard a Marl boro Roberts Yamaha YZR500 in 1991 and last year wo n the WERA Formula II title. H is 14 win s in the AMA 250cc GP class ran ks hi m third beh ind Jimmy Filice's 19 an d John Kocinski' s 17. Oli ver 's firs t wi n ca me in 1986 at Loudon . Ric h Oli ve r attributed h is success at Sears Point to some street racing. "We w ent to Ave. 9 in Fresno tha t ru n's through the orchards," said Oliver. "We ran with this gea ring and did 26 pl ug chops. It was 107 degrees when we did it. It really helped both Chuckie and I." Road racer/dirt tracker Tommy Hayden has had his competition privileges revoked by the AMA for falsification of d ocuments that wer e used to secure a professional competition licen se before Hayden reached the requ ired minimu m age 0('16, accord ing to the AMA. The s uspension incl udes a ll na tio nal and in ternational events under sa nction of the AM A a n d FlM. In ad di tio n, th e AMA has fined Ha yd en $2500 and has revoked all points earned since issuance of a license to Hayden in July of 1993. "The AMA takes a very firm pos ition in

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