Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

will move fro m the 250cc clas s to the 500s next year, again with backing from Marlb oro Italy. Wha t isn' t known is how much of the sponsorship will be provided by Marlboro. It could be 100%, bu t Cap irossi's other sponsors have said they'd like to continue their involvement. Cap irossi was scheduled to test Criville's Honda NSRSOOthe day after the European GP, and since it was raining th e m ornin g of th e test it could prove to be an exciting introduction to 500s. Further tests at Jerez, Shah Alam, Philip Island, and Eastern Creek are also planne d for the young Italian with the hope of ne arl y 4000 test-miles being completed before the season starts next March in Australia. Fre nchm an Jean-Philippe Ruggia will not be retu rn in g to Aprilia and is expected to joi n the Tech 3 team of Herve Poncharal aboard Honda NSR250s. At the final GP in Spain, the team said they had 50% of the backing they needed to compete. Doriano Romboni has lost his HB Honda backing and is currently trying to put a team together with Ho nda Italy . He was trying to get a ride at ApriIia, but it was apparently blocked by Max Biaggi. The two Italians are known to dislike each other, sentiments that were strengthened after some aggressive riding by Biaggi at this year's German Grand Prix. The Aprilia 250cc Grand Prix team will con si st of two riders in 1995, World Champion Max Biaggi and Jean-Michel Bayle. The team will again be backed by Chesterfield. A source within Honda has confirmed that HRC is strongly consid ering field ing an AMA U.S. Superbike team next yea r - separate from the Smokin' Joe's Honda team run by Martin Adams with Doug Polen retu rn ingto race in the U.S. Accordin g to the source, Polen 'is an xio us to return to th e U.S. and Honda would like to win the AMA U.S. Superb ik e Cha mp ionship . Th e team reportedly would be run under American Honda colors. Polen's d epartu re would then leave a spo t ope n on the ' Castrol Honda team and there was speculation it would be fille d by Britain's Carl Fogarty. . Lou Seals, the presid ent of Seals Communications Corporation, called Cycle News on Tuesday, October 4, to clarify the situation with MotoWorld and host Dave Despain. "Seals Communication owns Motoworld and we chose the talent on MotoWorld ," Seals said . "I think th ere is so me clarification ne ed ed because there are a lot of people who think ESPN owns MotoWorld, and th at's not the case. We are going to undergo so me major changes with MotoWorld, in the look and the format of the show. Art Eckman will be co-hosting the show wit h Despain as it goes from a one-man format to a two-man format. There will be a lot of experimentation in the next 90 days . He (Despain) mayor may not be hosting MotoWorld in the future. His contract will continue with ESPN and it is likely that he will be se en on ot her shows, but he will no t necessarily be hosting MotoWorld. Past January 1 an ything can happen and it may or may not include Dave Despain." Dirt track racer And y Tre sser suffered compressed vertebrae in a crash while competing at Bakersfield Speedway, in Bakersfield, Cali fornia, on Sep tember 24. While a full recovery is expected, Tresser is definitely out for the rest of the season. Cards and letters can be sent to: And y Tresser, 666 Vista Ct., Redwood City, CA, 94602. Several dirt track racers from yesteryear will be on hand at the upcoming De l Mar Mile in Del Mar, California, o n October 16 to take tour of the track during the "Lap of the Legends" parade at intermission. Scheduled to appear are Brad And res, Everett Brashear, Ern ie Beckman, Ben Ca m pan ale, Frank Curry, Floyd Emd e, Don Emde, Paul Goldsmith, Bobb y Hill, Larry Head ri ck, Ed Kre tz Sr., Ed Kretz Jr. , Di ck Klamfo rt h , J oe Leonard, Dick Mann, J ack Milne, Ed die M ulder, Roger Reiman, Bob Shirey, Bill Tuman, Skip Van Leeu wen and Ralp h Whi te. According to the AMA's Vice President of Sports Marketing, Tom Mu eller, the AMA and the supercross promoters group have not yet come to terms regarding a reconciliation for the 1995 Supe rcross Series. "We met on October 4 and we're close, but there's no official deal yet, " Mu eller said on Monda y, October 10 . "Ed Youngb lood (AMA President), myself and Bill West (supercross promoter) spoke again this morning. We have a couple of differen ces that came from the meeting. One thing is tha t the AMA ag reed to licenc e the rights to the televisio n packa ge. The promoters took this to mean th at we would license the AMA logo - it' s a totally different perception. We still feel we own the TV righ ts and the y think w.e're just licensing the logo. The second thing we 're ap art on is financial. Th e numbers are way off. We were prepared to take a lot less than last year to make this work, but the num bers come out to $50,000 less than our '94 reven ue. We ran all the numbers and it woul d work out that we' re down $93,000- I can't.run the bu siness o n tha t. We sha red that with Bill (West) this morning. There are a lot of things we wan t to look at doing. We have to hire a new technical manager and we'd like to see about using the transponder system in supercross - we couldn't do anything with that revenue. It's all being discussed again today, but we 've su re come a lo ng way. I' d sa y th er e are about 12-15 deal point s and we're okay on 10 or 11 of them. We still have a coup le of hurdles." As far as an y ag reement with CCS' s Roger Ed mond son, Tom Mu eller say s that's also hit a stumbling block. "Roger didn't take our deal," Muelle r sa id . "Apparently, he 's sending us two new outlines for us to consider. One is a joint effort, as he calls it, and the other is another no-compete w he re we revisit the num bers. We have a conference call tomorrow with the Board and I guess it's back in our camp again. It's a little disap pointing. We'd hoped to have this whole thing defused by our next meeting with the promoters (October 26), but that may not be the case." Former desert racer, Catalina Grand. Prix competitor and !SDT team member Bob Ewing, 67, is recoverin g well from three o peratio ns to remove cancer, accordi ng to his daughter Shirley Hunt. Ewing was a long-time mem ber of the So. Cal M.e. and the Checkers M.e., and also ow ned Mission Hills Motorcycle Shop in Sep ulved a, California. Ewing, who raced mainly BSAs and Triumphs, competed in all of the Catalina GPs from 1951-1958 and he competed in the 1968 !SDT in San Peligrino, Italy, with a team from the Checkers, earning himself a bronze medal. Those who would like to con tact Ewing can do so by writing to Bob and Ph illis Ewi ng, 19147 N. 90th Cagiv~ out of.Grand Prix road racin .? · C agiva was expected to announce their withdrawal from the World Champions hip Road Race Series the day after the final Grand Prix in Catalunya, Spain, end ing a 14-year association, though no one on the team had been told anything right up to race time and no announcement was made on Monday, October 10. Cagiva's withdrawal from racing would mean uncertain futures for John Kocinski and Doug Chandler, as well as the technical crew. Kocinski's crew chief Fioren zo Fanale was openly seeking work for next year and Kel Carruthers is thought to be joining the Wayne Rainey-owned 250cc GP team . Early in the weekend it was believed that Cagiva might be running a one-rider team and Kocinski's girlfriend and manager Toti Latorre had said that Cagiva had offered him a contract for 1995. When asked at the post-qualifying press conference about the rumors, Kocinski said he was unaware of the "political side" of racing . Kocinski was released from his contract right after the race. Though the contract ran to the end of the year, what the release does is allow him to test other machinery should it become available. Cagiva 's departure leaves Kocinski in a lurch with few possibilities . The strongest rumor linked him with the Ducados Honda team of Sito Pons, though Spaniard Alberto Puig, Pons' current rider, said on Saturday he expected to be back with the team. Kocinski has been trying to raise sponsorship for a 500cc team to be run by Erv Kanernoto, but, though he's tried a number of tobacco companies and multi-nationals, his efforts so far have been fruitless . There has also been some specu lation that Honda would not provide bikes to Kocinski, though they're likely to sup ply Kanemoto with leased bikes if the money was available. Chandler said that he wasn't sure where he'd be racing next year. "I don 't know. There's a lot going on," Chandler said . Chandler may end up as the second rider with the Marlboro Roberts squad, depending on what current Roberts teamster Luca Cadalora does . Cadalora, like Kocinski, has been strongly linked with Pons and less strongly with Kanemoto. Chandler may end up with an official works Ducati World Superbike ride if no 50Dec GP ride is available. The Cagiva 50Dec GP bike made its debut in 1980 at the Nurburgring with Italian Virginio Ferra ri riding, though it wa sn 't truly a Cagiva engine. Yamaha crankcases were used and spe cial cylind ers' were bolted on. (Prior to that race, other bikes had been ridden under the Cagiva name, but they were Suzu kis.) The bike qualified 35th, but they didn't score a cham pionship point un til Frenchman Herve Moineau finished 10th at the Yugoslavian GP in 1985. Since then they'v e won three races, the first with Eddie Lawson at Hungary in 1992 and the most recent with Kocinski at this year' s Australian GP. Henny Ray Abrams Lane , Peoria, AZ 85382 or by calling 602/566-3456. Newly crowned 500cc World Champion Michael Doohan is angered by the recent suspension imposed on his brother Scott Doohan by the AMA. The AMA announced last week that Scott Doohan and Brad Hazen had been sus pe nded indefinitely bec ause of the incid ents whic h u lti ma tely res ulted in th e two crashin g at the final round of the AMA U.S. Superbike National Championsh ip round at Road Atlanta. "I was at the track when they crashed, and from wha t I saw Scott did nothing wrong, " Mick Doohan said in a release issued by his press agent. "I can't see how Scott, or any rider, can be suspended when he is in hospital without being given a chance to defend himself at some sort of hearing. The AMA hasn't spoken to Scott to get his version of what happened, and that could be a denial of natural justice. At the moment we're having difficulty getting information from the AMA, but we intend to fight this all the way. I'll be in the States for about a month and I'll be following the situation closely." Scott Doohan underwent corrective surgery on his broken arm in San Francisco, California, on September 29 and will remain there for two more weeks. The final round of the AHRMANintage Iron Nati onal Series will run at Hollister Hills OHV in Hollister, California , on October 22-23, presented by the Santa Clara Riders Unlimited . A vintage show, swap meet and National tr ials will be held on Saturday with some 18 classes of motocross running on Sunday. In addition, a Past Masters race will run with legends such as Jimmy We inert and Brad Lackey sched uled to compete. For more information call 408/663-4014. GFI Racing will ru n the final round of its Fall Series at the new Quail Cany on Special Even t Area in Hungry Valley, California , on October 16. The new facility features a 4O-rider starting gate and a 1.25-inile mo tocross track . For mo re informati on call 909/943-3302. Camel Motorcycle Week will be held in Daytona Beach, Florida, on March 3-12, 1995. A fre e four-color brochure that contains schedule and ticket information is av ailable by m aili n g a request to Camel Motorcycl e Week Brochure, Speedway Public Rela tions, Dept. CN, P.O. Box 2801, Daytona Beach, FL 321202801. The Motorcycle Sa fety Foundation recently introduced a .new book on motorcycle safety titled, "M otorcycling Excellence: Skills, Kn owl edge, And Strategies For Riding Right." The book co n ta ins much of wha t the MSF has learned in its 21 years of promoting the ~ safety of motorcyclists, and is published by Whitehorse Press . The book will be available in January, 1995 for $24.95; to order "Mo torcycling Excellence" or to receive a free catalog of motorcycling accessories, boo ks or v ideos, call 800/531-1133or 617/241-5241. e ~ Just a reminder that the 2nd Annual D- 0\ 37 Rider Relief Fund Poker Run and 0\ ,..-i Raffle Benefit will take place at Lucerne Valley, California, October 15, the day a\ ,..-i before the Training Wheels M/ C-hosted I-< AMA Nationa l Championship Enduro. Q) All monies raised will go towards riders who receive non-recoverable injuries, or death, resulting from such injuries, dur- u ing a Distri ct 37-sanctioned event. For more information, call Teri Felter at 818/332-1573. ~ ".8 o 3

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