Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

jiNTHEWIND ' ... Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz) won its lOOth career endurance. race with a victory in the WERA National Endurance Series round at Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas, on October 8, with Michael Martin and Tray Batey leading the team to victory in the eighthour event. Team Suzuki Endurance also clinched its lOth WERA Endurance Championship with the victory. Mike Brown (Hon) turned in a 2-1 tally to take the overall victory in the third round of the AMA Fall Classic MX Series, held in Casey, Illinois, on October 9. Robbie Skaggs (Kaw) finished second with James Dobb (Hon) third. Ty Davis (Kaw) continued his hotstreak with a first-place ride at the National Hare Scrambles round in Silver City, Idaho, October 9. The runner-up was Rodney Smith (Suz) who was followed across the finish line by Tom Norton (Kaw), Jason Dahners (Hon) and Eric Mashbir (Hus) in that order. Kyle Lewis (Yam) scored the overall win at the final round of the MTEG Ultracross Series at the Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado, October 8. Finishing second was Larry Brooks (Yam) followed by Robert Drew (Kaw), Andrew Atkins (Kaw) and Ray Crumb (Yam). Lewis also wrapped up the series title, topping Brooks by 61 points, 489428. Third in the series went to Crumb. Mike Dent (H-D) and Ted Wilkins (Rot) won the 800 and 540cc classes, respectively, at the AMA National Hillclimb in Oregonia, Ohio, on October 9. Dent topped Rodney Williams (H-D) and Steve Dresser (Suz) in the 800cc class while Wilkins beat Alan Hoskins (Hon) and Paul Lowe (Kaw) in the 540cc class. Lou Gerencer Jr. (H-D) clinched the 800cc class championship with his fourth-place finish, joining Paul Pinsonnault who wrapped up the 540cc title at the previous round. Will Davis (H-D) wrapped up his third Motorcycle Asphalt Racing Series Championship at the October 1 Asheville Half Mile series finale, held at Asheville Speedway in Asheville, North Carolina. Davis finished second behind Mike Hacker (Rtx) in the 600cc class, and rebounded to win the 750cc division. His combined finishes were good ' enough to wrap up the championship. Donnie Krusinski wrapped up the Harley-Davidson 883 class championship. A tentative schedule for the 1995 World Championship Road Race Series has been released, subject to confirmation at the FIM congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in November. The tentative 14-round schedule is as follows: March 26 - Eastern Creek, Australia; April 2 Shah Alam, Malaysia; April 9 - Suzuka, Japan; April 30 - Jerez, Spain; May 14 Nurburgring, Germany; May 28 Mugello, Italy; June 24 - Assen, Holland; July 16 - Magny Cours, France; July 23 Donington Park, England; August 6 U.S. GP (site to be announced); August 20- Brno, Czech Republic; September 17 - Argentina (site to be announced); September 24 - Brazil (site to be announced); October 8- Catalunya, Spain. Though no race track has been designated for the August 6 running of the United States Grand Prix, the two tracks that appear to be in the running are Road America and Mid-Ohio. The promoters of this year's U.S. GP released a statement at the final round of the World Championship Road Race Series in Catalunya, Spain, on October 9 stating that there was a 50-SO chance that the GP would return to Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. Because of a smaller than anticipated crowd - less than 30,000 - and the high costs of running a temporary race, the U.S. GP lost money again this year and there appears to be little hope of making substantial financial improvements. Both Mid-Ohio and Elkhart Lake would need circuit modifications and the FIM safety officer Hans Bahmer inspected Elkhart Lake last year, making specific recommendations. Among them was a complete resurfacing, which Road America is currently undertaking. Wherever the race is held, it will likely Desert shut down by U.S. Senate · T he battle over the California Desert Protection Act went down to the wire, but on Saturday, October 8, one day after its scheduled adjournment, the U.S. Senate approved this controversial plan for public lands in Southern California. In a last-minute voice vote, the Senate approved a compromise version of the desert bill. That version, which wi1l now go to President Clinton for final approval (which he has already said he would Sigt;l), includes hard-won amendments proposed by the AMA, but it would still close millions of acres of public land to off-highway riding enthusiasts. Going into the final days of the legislative session, it appeared that time might run out before Congress would get a chance to take action on the desert bill. But Democratic supporters of the legislation were able to pull together the 60 votes necessary to end a Republican filibuster, setting the stage for passage of the bill. With presidential approval expected quickly, the process of dosing down roads and trails in nearly eight million acres of the desert coUld begin almost immediately. ~ "We have fought vap.ous forms of this legislation for the past eight years," said 0\ Robert Rasor, the AMA' s vice-president of government relations. "While we are ~ pleased that our compromise amendments have been included in the final version of the bill, we are gravely disappointed that this restrictive act is about to become law." Preserved in the AMA amendment package are the following are":s and roads: .South Algodones Dunes, 62,000 acres; Rattlesnake Canyon, Bighorn Wilderness area; Blackwater Well road, Grass Valley Wilderness; Kingston Cutoff route, Kingston Range Wilderness; Horse Thief Canyon and Chocolate Mountain Pass, Piper Mountain Wilderness; Box Canyon corridor, Rodman Mountain Wilderness; Cortez Spring road, Brightstar Wilderness; Mclvers Spring road, Kiavah Wilderness; and the Saline-Eureka corridor through Death Valley National Park Wilderness. Also, three popular scenic trails in the Old Woman Mountains were preserved partly because they will allow access to wildlife watering areas. Biaggi crowned 250cc World Cham ion I talian Max Biaggi (right) won the 1994 250cc World Championship in style by taking his fifth win of the series in the Grand Prix of Europe, held at the Catalunya Circuit in Spain, on October 9. . The Chesterfield Aprilia rider ended up topping fellow Italian Loris Capirossi by 1.940 seconds to take the win, and with it the World Championship. Biaggi's main rival heading into the final round of the series was Japan's Tadayuki Okada, but the Kanemoto Honda rider could only manage a fourthplace finish. HB Honda's Doriano Romboni finished third. Californian Kenny Roberts Jr. came through from last place on the opening lap to finish an eventual 11th on the Marlboro Rainey Yamaha. The final championship point standings have Biaggi with 234 points, 20 points clear of Okada's 214. Capirossi ends the season in third with 199 points. The SOOcc Grand Prix of Europe was won by Marlboro Roberts Yamaha's Luca Cadalora. The Italian beat recently crowned World Champion Michael Doohan by 3.488 seconds with Cagiva's John Kocinski finishing third. HRC's Alex Criville finished fourth with Marlboro Roberts Yamaha's Daryl Beattie ending up fifth. The second American in the race, Californian Doug Chandler, finished lOth on the factory Cagiva. Cadalora's victory vaulted him to second in the final World Championship point standings with 174 points - an astounding 143 points behind Doohan. Cadalora edged Kocinski, 174-122, wi th the injured Kevin Schwantz finishing fourth on 169 points. Spaniard Alberto Puig, seventh in Spain, ended his rookie season in the SOOcc class fifth in the championship. Germarl Dirk Raudies ended the defense of his 12Scc World Championship with a victory on his HB Honda in Catalunya, with the win moving him to fourth in the final series point standings. Countryman Peter Oettl finished second on the Marlboro Eckl Aprilia with Moto Bum Honda's Haruchika Aoki finishing third. Newly crowned World Champion Kazuto Sakata finished seventh. still be promoted by Dorna and Kenny Roberts in conjunction with the track. The sidecar road racing group, ISRA, which currently competes at five of the 14 road race Grands Prix and three World Superbike rounds, would like to return to an all-GP schedule for next year. The teams receive $600,000 from Dorna and the FIM for the five GPs and make individual deals with the superbike promoters. In 1995, the teams would be willing to take the same money for eight races, but their contract expired at the end of the 1994 season. The last Grand Prix of the season in Spain on October 9 fostered a number of rumors about rider changes, and there was plenty of uncertainty about the futures of several riders. Australian Daryl Beattie will be leaving the Marlboro Roberts Yamaha team after a oneyear stint to move to the second seat on the Lucky Strike Suzuki ~uad next to Kevin Schwantz. The 24-year-old Queenslander had been rumored to be going to the Yamaha World Superbike team, along witn mechanic Trevor Tilbury, but chose the Grand Prix ride instead. Beattie was to test the Lucky Strike Suzuki on Tuesday, October 11, after the European GP at the Catalunya circuit in Spain. It will be Beattie's third different factory ride in three years. He joined the GP circuit in 1992 aboard a Rothmans Honda. Beattie's signing was made possible by the departure of Alex Barros. The 23year-old Brazilian, who's had an unproductive year and finished eighth in the SOOcc World Championship, was released from the second year of his contract immediately after the race in Catalunya. Seemingly everyone in the paddock knew of his demise before he did. Since his firing came so late, he had little news about his future, but said he may have some in a few weeks. One of the earliest rumors had him racing the Aprilia 400cc V-twin. Barros twice won the Brazilian 250cc National Championship and joined the SOOcc class aboard the Cagiva in 1990, racing it for three years before moving onto Lucky Strike last year. He finished sixth in the class in 1993, scoring his only career SOOcc GP win at the final race at Jarama, Spain. Wayne Rainey will again run a 250cc Grand Prix team in 1995, this time independent of the Roberts Yamaha squad. Kenny Roberts Jr. will be joined by justdethroned World Champion Tetsuya Harada on Rainey's team with backing likely to again come from Marlboro, though the team is looking for other sponsorship. One rumor, already denied, had them getting backing froJ!l Cepsa, the Spanish oil concern. Though nothing has been signed, it's very likely that Kel Carruthers will be the team's crew chief. Carruthers, who was the crew chief for six SOOcc World Championships with Yamaha, last worked with them in 1990. Carruthers, the 1969 250cc World Champion, returned to Grand Prix racing as a crew chief for Kenny Roberts in 1978, and together the pair won three World Championships in 1978, 1979 and 1980. The Australian' s three other World Championships came with Eddie Lawson in 1984, 1986 and 1988. The official H onda SOOcc Grand Prix team looks to be identical to this year' s squad with World Champion Michael Doohan already re-signed and Shinichi ltoh and Alex Criville close to coming back. Honda has already made a commitment to Criville and the Spaniard is expected to return with stronger backing than this year w hen he received mone y from Ma rlboro and Pepsi. Honda is also actively looking for a team sponsor, though they have already been· given the go-ahead from the Honda Motor Company to continue . even if no further money is secured. Marlboro Team Pileri's Loris Capirossi

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