Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I' IN tHE,WIND .:, I Scotsman Steve Hislop rode his Harris Yamaha YZR500 to v ictory in th e Macau Grand Prix in Macau on November 19, H islop finished first and third in th e tw o-leg ra ce held in th e streets of Macau. Mike Edwards (Yam) fin ished seco nd with Phillip McCallen (Yam) third. The top finishing American was Glenn Szarek (Ya m ), who fin ished eight h and fifth in the two legs . > When con tacted via telephone on Monday, No vember 21, Dale Quarterley said he had not yet been contacted by WERA regarding the fine and probation . " I would say that I will appeal ," Quarterley said . "I didn't push h im (Martin) off the track. I d id push him across track. I knew the track kinked that's' why I pushed him out there. I figured he'd roll off and pull in behind me ' bu t ins tead he ran off the track. " Pedro Gonzalez (Kaw) was the winner at the Vicero y Supercross in Monterrey, Me xico, on November 12-13. Larry Brooks (Ya m) w as second a hea d o f Lance Smail (Hon ). The p revious week in Guadalajara, Brooks too k the win over Smail and David Pingree (Kaw) . Jeromy Buehl (Suz) won both the 125 and 250cc cla sses on n ight two of th e se co n d round o f th e AMA Nationa l Arenac ross Series in Peoria , Illinois, on November 18-19. Greg Rand (Suz) and Jim my Gaddis (Kaw ) we n t 2-3 in the 125cc cla ss, w hile Gaddis and Cliff Palmer (Hon ) filled out the podium in the quarter-liter division. The pr evious , night, Gaddis won the 12Sec class ahead of Palmer and Chad Pederson (Hon), while Todd DeHoop (Hon) topped the 250cc division in front of Palmer and Jeff Curry (Suz). Phil Lawrence (Kaw) and Lance Smail (Hon) were the big winners a t the November 18-19 Arenocross at the Reno Livestock Event Center in Reno, Nevada. On Friday night; Lawrence won the 125cc class ahead of D avi d Pingree (Kaw) and Mike Brown (Hon); on Saturday, Lawrence again won, finishing ahead of Brown and Greg Schnell (Suz) . In the 250cc class on Friday, Smail scored the win ahead of Brown and Lawrence, while on Saturday, Smail again sailed to victory over Schnell and Brown. Off-road racer Charles Halcomb has been taken out of the intensive care unit and put into a private room at Sharps Memorial Hospital, in San Diego, California, where he is recovering from severe head injuries suffered in a crash at the Baja 1000. According to a friend of Halcomb's, off-road racer Scot Harden, he is improving but still goes in and out of consciousness. "He is doing better, but yesterday there was a small complication with a blood clot in his arm," said Harden. "But the doctors are already talking of his rehabilitation program. Charles will recover but it'll be a long road." A trust fund has been set up for Halcomb at Comerica Bank in Santa Cruz, California . Checks can be made payable to Charles Halcomb Trust Fund and mailed to 24 Bay Laurel Court, Scolls Valley, CA 95066. Cards and letters can be sent to Sharps Memorial Ho spital, 7901 Fro st Street, Room #671, San Diego, CA 92123. According to WERA, road racer Dale Quarterley ha s been fined $1500 and "<:I" placed on one-year probation for "bla0\ tant disregard of another competitor's 0\ safety," stemming from on-track alterT'"""I cations in the WERA F-USA final at Road Atlanta on October 30. Quarterley, who won the Road Atlanta round, was fined after WERA officials viewed the video footage of the final lap of the second leg of the F-USA race, a ra ce which saw Quarterley and Mi ch ael Martin doing .ba ttle . " In addition to Quarterley ap plying physical contact, he forced an opponent off the track on Road Atlanta' s high -speed back straight. " WERA 's press rel ease con- Parker named AMAIMotoWorld Athlete of the Year A c1uded with "WERA will not tolerate a rid er en da nge ring an other ' s sa fety at ou r e v ents. Hopefull y, fro m th ese actions, the message is clea r WERA will not allo w this type of riding." MA Grand National Ch ampion Scoll Parke r ' s namin g a s the AMA / MotoWorid Professional Athlete of the Yea r was the highlight of the AMA's 20th Annual Pro fession al Racing Banquet and Aw ards Present ation on Saturday, Nov ember 19 at the Sheraton Hotel in Long Beach, California . Parker (rig h t), the spo rt's firs t five-time Grand National Champion, also becam e the firs t three-t im e recip ient of the AMA/ Mo toW orld Profession a l Athlete of the Year Award . The 33-year-old Michigan race r has won a record 60 Grand National races since joinin g the AMA's Grand National circuit in 1979, including eight in 1994. Park er was selected from among a strong Scott 'a nd Wanda Parker gr ou p of n om inees w hich al so incl ud e d Camel Sup ercro ss Champion Jeremy McGrath; AMA Superbike Champion Troy Corser, AMA 250cc National Motocross Champion Mike laRocco, 12Sec World Motocross Champion Bobby Moor e and AMA 250cc Road Racing Champion Rich Oliv er. "When I won my fourth National Championship I said if I never won another one I'd be happy with the ones I got," said Parker, who was presented a check for $5000. "Then to come out and do something no one 's ever done before is awesome." The award presentation honored the champions of all major AMA racing series in 1994, and also featured the naming of two other special-award recipients. Steve Morehead, the 2D-year veteran of the Grand National Series and a three-time winner in 1994 at age 38, was named the AMA Professional Sportsman of the Year. And the late C.E. Altman, a guiding force in the sport of supercross who passed away early in 1994, was posthumously bestowed the AMA GOodwill Ambassador Award. Qu arterl e y and Team Mirage have a n no u n ce d that th e team w il l u se Du catis in the 1995 AMA U.S. Su pe rbike National Ch ampion ship and not Rob Muzzy-built Kaw asakis. Quarterley say s he likely won't get his new 916s until just prior to Daytona, but the team will again featu re th e Nin ja Turtles . "Hopefully, the bikes will come in full rac e trim and then I'll rebuild them I myself." 'I World Champion Mick Doohan was the second highest earning Australian sportsman in 1994. Doohan earned $3.9 million to finish behind only golfer Greg Norman, who topped the list at $12 million. Former Marlboro Yamaha and current Luck y Strike Suzuki rider Daryl Beallie is eighth on the list with 1994 earnings of $1.1 million. Basketball player Luc Longley, golfers Steve Elkington, Peter Senior, Wayne Grady and Ian Baker-Finch ranked higher than Beattie. named by the AMA Board of Trustees are Russ Deane, Dave Despain , Carl Reynolds and Patricia DiPietro. Deane, a lawyer, currently serves as council to the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA); Despain is best known for his work as a television commentator; Reynolds has served on the Board of Trustees since 1991 and has promoted motorcycle races; DiPietro has been on the AMA staff since 1976 and has served as the association's vice president of finance and administration since 1990. According to reports from Europe, negotiations between Scott Russell and the Ducati Promoter team have broken off after high-ranking officials from Kawasaki visited Bologna, Italy and told Ducati that they would not release the Georgian from his contract. Promoter has announced that they will get factory bikes from Ducati for U.s. Superbike National Champion Troy Corser and Andreas Meklau with the team to be managed by Davide Tardo zzi. It now seems as though World Superbike Champion Carl Fogarty will remain 'at Ducati for. the 1995 season. Fogarty and Mauro Lucchiari will ride in the Virginio Ferrari-managed team and there 's a chance that Fabrizio Pirovano will also receive factory bikes - for the AMA D.S, Superbike Series or the Open German National Championship. Yamaha test rider Yasutomo Nagai now seems set to join the factory effort for the entire World Superbike Championship in 1995. The Japanese rider was penciled in to compete in the All-Japan Championship, but it now seems certain' that he will join Colin Edwards II on the team which will be based at the Belgarda's, the Italian Yamaha importer, headquarters in Italy. Paolo Casali, meanwhile, will likely ride Akilled Yamahas prepared by Belgarda 's Beppe Russo, the team 's crew chief. The AMA Board of Trustees has com pleted appointments to the board o f directors of Paradama, the new s u bsid iary corporation established to take over management of all AMA professi on a l racing funct ions . The board, chaired by Cary Agajanian, will consist of a total of five directors as provided for in the by-laws of the new corporation . The additional four d irecto rs r Francisco, California, on January 14, 1994. Nine individuals and organizations will be honored for their excellence in the 1994 racing season with AMA 250cc Grand Prix National Champion Rich O li ve r heading the list of motorcycle winners. Oliver will be honored as be ing the outstand ing performer by a motorcycle racer on pavement, while Rodney Smith will win the outstanding performer in a unique discipline award . Smith won both the National Hare Scrambles and National Reliability Championships in 1994. The AMA has announced that it will run AMA 2SOcc Grand Prix heat races during the Saturday portion of their AMA U.S. Superbike National Championship Series races . "One. of the issu es that was once again raised at the last road race promoters' meeting is th e need for the AMA to assist in bringing more fans to the races on Saturday," said Tom Mueller, AMA vice pr esident of Sports Marketing. "Although we currently provide 750cc Supers port and SuperTeams racing, we wanted to contribute more to the show. With our 250cc riders qualifying via two heat races, the AMA will showcase a popula r cla ss, and al so add to Saturday's lineup." According to the AMA, 250cc Grand Prix Champion Rich Oliver was consulted on the issue. According to reports from Au stralia, U.S.-based International Management Group will take over the management of the Australian Grand Prix at Eastern Creek Raceway near Sydney, beginning in 1995. The former promoter of the race, the Auto Cycle Union (ACU) of New South Wales , recently declared its in s o lv e n cy with debts totalling $760,000 after losing some $400,000 on last year's Australian GP. "IMG will conduct the event and take the financial risks," NSW Sports Minister Chris Downy told the Sydney Daily Telegraph. "There will be no exposure to financial risk for the tax payers." In the pa st, the government has paid Dorna, the rights holder to the Grands Prix, some $2.5 million for the rights to the race. Downy sai d that IMG will take over the event on the same terms as the ACU. Bruce Bober, the AMA's dirt track manager under sub-con trac tor status, has become a fu ll -time employ ee o f the association. Bober, 41, started working on the AMA dirt track program in 1981 as midwest tech inspector, and became th e AMA 's national. tech inspector in 1987. He was named na tional dirt track manag er followi ng th e completion of the 1992 seaso n. The Motoring Press Association will hold its annual awards banquet in San Bridgestone Tire he ld a test session at Daytona International Speedwa y on November 18 in preparation for Camel Motorcycle Week on March 3-12 . Though Tropical Storm Gordon shortened the test from two days to one, both rid ers and Brid gestone pers onnel called the test a success. "We managed to get two days' w ork done in one day," said Warren Dunham, a Bridgestone engineer. "We've got some of the

• Cover