hat
Wayne Rainey participated In a lap of honor at Laguna Seca, the site of his three United
States Grand Prix victories. Laguna Seca also announced thatlum nine would now be
named Rainey Corner in honor of the three-lime World Champion.
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coniin~ to make' , , 'return , but noth ing 'came 01 it. Instead, his had ~lIed the Ecisi 'G~rman Sachsen team '
' racing bikes.. In the past, manufacturers would ,' place was taken by Germ'an ,MaikStiel. who , " lor trying tochange iiders more than once. But
negoliille, indivi dually wiih the FIM and later rode a 125ccGP,'bike l. star.on the track. there was an undercurrent 01
Now the lormer Tum Nine _ the downhill left- same voiing power as a major manatacturers ' ', Hamish Jamieson, crew chiel lor Lucky Strike , complaint at the blatant rule-bendinq, Team
bander lollowing Ihe Corkscrew - has been olli- , , team, Cas tig lion l ad mitted they hope d th is, ' Suzuki riderAlex Barros; can now' claim 10 be . Roc were also allowed an illegal thir d rider
.c ~allyn ame d ,Rainey Co rner: "We ar e very
posliion might change. But this statement was • laster than Barros and also teammate Kevin
change, wilh Amerlcan Chuck Graves riding
proud to hav e Wayne Rainey; thr ee limes
rap idly modified by aJapanese spokesman , Schwantz; after breaking the '200 'mph barrier ' the ex-Miralles"ex,Ma rk machine, iRTA offi·
World Champion, as our neighbor: saJd Lagu. " saying: "IRTA has the righl tornake their own ' on' a streei'bike. This Is laster than GPbikes
ctats cited "exceptional circumstances," posslna Seca 'genera l ma nager .ScottAtherton . : structure, and it is not lor the GPMA 'IO discuss , ever tra vel, though ilthey were 'geared lor : :' bly arelerence to the fact that Roc boss Serge
"Wayne has been an integral 'part 01,racing 'at' ' it. We ,are confident ,thatlRTA has Ihe best ", speed rather than GP circuits,il mighlbe ,a dif· ' , Rosset is vice-president of IRTA,
Ih e track for many years .rand has played a
interesls 01 racing at heart." Concerning' pro- . terent story. TheScoisman's machine is a ' ,'
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major role in establishing this race course as a, posals lor just one machine per rider, Nakamu, .slock·looking Kawasaki ZZR1100 lilled with a ' Luca Cadalora has been ollered a 1995 conpremier racing venue in Ihe world." Apart from
ra said: ~e exact numbiir has not been set: Mr . Turbo turbocharger; fue l injecti on and
tract tostay with Team Marlboro Roberts, but
earlier successes In AMA racing; Rainey won
bU we believe two bikes"per rider would 00 the ' , water injection kil, producing,225 .rip compared ' , the Ilalian has nol yelsigned up. He is believed
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' three U.S. GPsat Laguna'Seca.
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', ' , besl." He , added » :The manufacturers have " with the standardtas. Jamieson was timedat to bii waiting to see if he can gel a Honda with'
nev er had any power in racinq ." Aga in, the
200,5 mph at Bruntingthorpe airfield in Britain, , Erv Kanem'oto, the tuning guru who tooli him to,
On e of the most hi gh-powe red 'groups of '_unspoken threa t wasthe re - becau se , 01 , in a test for a magazine. It was raining at-me two 250 imes. as well as winning 500 tlnes with
, molorcycle manufacturers ever assembled in , cou rse. they have the power to withdraw.
,time, and a rnisfire. meant the bike was not al . Freddie Spencer and Eddie Lawson.
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full potential. "I was happy to stop after breakpublic addressed the media at Laguna Seca.
And while they didn't say mech, there-was conScott ncenan .was supposed to be a 'Wild
ing 200: said Jamteson, who then rode the , More,rumors linked Team Ro bert s and Yama- :
siderable menace lor those prepared 10- read
Card al the U.S. GP, but the proposal to ride a bike home. : .
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ha with the F-l carteamjactaren, who share
betwee n the lines. The group was the 'GPMA, -, Harris Yamaha ,foundered on finance. BU the
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: ' Marlboro sponsorship. Officers of the learn and
Hans SPaan confirmed Ihal he intends to 'retire , of Yamaha have been in touch w ith the team
(Grand Pr ix Manufacturers 'Association) , ' Australian superbike rider, brother 01 the new
and presenl at the lO table were Claudio CasP
World Champion; was present at Laguna, and atthe end 01 this season; The veteranDutchbo th at ca r' GPs and at McLaren's base ' in
tiglioni; owner of Cagiva and chairman cttne will ride in the AMA U.S. Superbike Series ' man was a co nte nder torthe 125 cc World
Waking in Bmain.
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, ~PMA; Kensuke Fukatsu, Honda Motor Ccirpo- " finale,at Road Atlanta on September 18. " ,
Champ ionship in '1990; but since then had -, .
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Wayne Rainey 'hoPes tei run 'a two-man 250cc
ration director and chief operating ollicer 01 ,
leam next year; but while he has approached
, motorcycle .operations; Yukfo Nakamura, gen· ' Dan Gurney was an illustrtcus GP vlsitor.: a ,
erat manager ol Suzuki's' racing operations; guest of Team Roberts and the driver 01 the
Kazu to 'Sakata has 'signed to stay wiih the
Marlboro for sponsorship, has so far not made
and Kazuhiko Nomura;' executive .director of .Toyota pace car. Gurney is atormer F-l ,car
works Aprilia team for next season. nie Japan- . any fir m plans. Rum ors 'suggest that '1993
Yarnana.,Not only was it remark abl e to see ' ' World Champion, and the only American to win
ese Wo rld Championship leader had bee n . champion -Tetsllyli' Harada Would be a prime
these men together, it was also amazing to see . the titleln acar of his own ,manufacture, the , approac hed by Jo rge Martine z' lo switch to candidate' for wha l may be the on ty works
them all in agreement: while other lesser facto- 'All-American Racing' Eagle; :
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, , Yamaha team in Ihe Class Rainey has appolnt-.
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ry luminaries sat alongside nodding ' sagely.
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ed US·based Briton TIm O'S ulli van asteam
The lop men look 1ums to speak.
anodyne
Australian ,125qc upstart Garry McCoy was
Suzu kl ' s hopes 10' rejoin the ,2 50 class manager for 1995; O'Sullivan will artend the.
' address Ihat 'amounted to lillie more tha n absent from Laguna Seca after quitting his . remamee up In the air at Lagu na . but were , ', final two Gps in Argentina and Spain. . " "
announcing their forma tion (two yea rs ago). ' berth in the Ge rma n AGV~Alla kteam. Bu t" ' dealt a blow by tneposslbltltythat 125 star : .
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. But question time revealed' a lillie more than ' 'there,' were doubts whether ihe youngster, had · Takeshl TsujlmLira, favorite for,the team, may
Dir k Raud les had retained HB sponsorship' for
jumped, or been pushed. According to new ' be offered a 250 Honda for next year, by his , ', 1995 in spite 01 an erratic season on his 125:
, simply a .wlsn to stand up and be counted, and
to state a commitment 10 GP rac ing . The , .t eam manager Mart in 'Wimmer, McCoy had . current FCC Techriical Sports team. ' '
Honda. Raudies swept to'overan victory in the
GPMA Is known 10 be at logger heads with , told the team he lacked conlidence in their
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class in 1993, bui has won only two races this
learns' assOCiation IRTA over proposals ,to cut
ellorts and in his own riding, and 'wished to ,be ,' Nlall 'Mackenzle had a lucky ~scape on Friday , season, along with several bad results and
when a rear-suspension link broke as he lined ' , non-linishes. "
, costs - nolably suggestions to ban works bikes ' ,', released for'the reSlol lhisyear and Irom his
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from the 125 class, and limit riders 10 one bike : option for 1995. They agreed 10 this. However, ,up,for ,I he ' Ietl-hand ' bend' lol lowing , t he
apiece . They referred 10 it onlY'obliquely,. with they diScovered later from 'IRTA Ihal Ihe orga' ' CorkScrew: The bike dro'pped onto Ihe' bumfr ' ' AUstralian rider Tro y Corser. currenllyballiing '
' Nakamura saying: "We have had discussions ' ,:,nizalion had been' approached lor McCoy to ' ' stop, but he was ablato save i t and rida back with Lou is ianan Jam ie James in the U.S.
,with IRTA and Dorna . and Ihose with Dorna ' take' over the works Ap rilia 125 of injured 'I o' the pits:'Accordirigto Roc; this compomint · Superbilie Series, hopes to ride the remaining
, have beenlruillul." Veleran jaPaneSe walchers 'Spaniard He rri Torrontegu i: Inconvenienlly , . ' had n ever broken before ; The y suspecled a , rounds in 'the World SUPerbike Championship
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after:Ihe close of the AMA season at Road
understood this as a'clear slatemenl thaI lATA ,however" Torronlegui (who broke his leg ina ' poor piece 01 melal: '
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Atianta.Corser rides a Fast by Ferraci Ducatl.
, are the current enemy. Castiglioni was the firsl ' ' start-line craSh In Bmo) decided to trfand ride "
10 sPeak. "It is not usual tor riVais ' l o form an ' ' ,wearing a plaSler casl.The leam had tried to , IRTA's ,f1exible approach 10 the rule book was
and tias approached Ihe Ducati factory ,conassoc .
iallon : . he, said. "Bul we manufacturers
approach McC oy . see if he wou ld lik e 'to .".much in evidenCe at. Laguna. shortly after they , ceming his world ambitions:
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