Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I·IN :rHEWINP'" ''.. \ . Jim Neese (Hon) earned the Dunlop Silve r Tire award for bei ng the high es tplacing Expert at the 23rd Annual Florida Winternational O ly m p ics at Gatorback Park in Gainesville, Florida, on November 26; an even t that attracted some 3200 entries from 41 states and eight countries. Ricky Ca r m ic ha el (Kaw) won the AXO Bronze Boot award for his efforts in the mini cycle classes while Brock Sellards (Kaw) won the Scott Golden Goggle award for the best performance in the you th division. According to team owne r Rob Muzzy, Scott Rus sell will definitely be aboard a Muzzy Kawasaki for the 1995 World Cha mpionsh ip Sup erb ike Series. Muz zy sai d t hat re p or ts of a h igh-r ankin g Kawasaki official vis iting the Promotor Du ca ti team and telling th em to stay away from Russell were, "absolu tely innacurate and untrue." The high-ranking official turned out to be vice pr esident of marketing Bob Moffitt, who was at the Ducati factory on a. tour . "Absolutely nobody told them to layoff Russell," Muzzy sai d. "As fa r as I know, they did approach Scott w ith a large offer, but they never backed it up. Scott has a contract and that's all there is to it. I take offense to a lot of the . things the Promotor guys have said." According to Harley-Davidson road race team manager Steve Scheibe, rider prospects hoping to replace Miguel DuHamel will test the Harley-Dav idson VR1000 during the team's test session at Daytona International Speedway on December 3-5. "I don't like to call it a test," Scheibe said. "We plan on having some people th ere to see what they think of us and wha t we think of them. This wasn't expected - we had a verbal agreem en t wi th Miguel (DuHamel) for some tim e. I' m sure we'll come out of this oka y." Scheibe wasn 't su re of exactly who would be taking part in the test as of Monday, November 28, but he said the information would be available on Tuesday, No vember 29. Speculation was tha t Doug Chandler, Jimmy Filice and Dave Sadowski would be the three riders joining Chris Carr at the test. On Monda y , November 28 , Doug Chandler confirmed tha t he wa s one of the riders who would be tes ting th e VR1000 on December 5. "I'm just going to go down there and rid e it and see what I think," Chandler said. The former Cagiva factory rider said his other op tio n ma y be to ta ke over as Kenny Rob erts ' tes t ri der for the Marlboro Yamaha team in Europe. "It's still up in the air," Chandler said. The Californian did say tha t any h op es of a Du cati Wo rl d Su perbike ride have been ' d ashed. Th e lineup fo r the D u n l o p ti re te st scheduled for December 1-3 at Daytona International Speedway is an im p ressive one. Yamaha will be represented at the test by Colin Edwards III , Jamie James, Tom Kipp an d All-Japan Superb ike co n te nder Waturu Yoshikawa; Ka w a saki will h av e Scott Ru ssell, Anthony Gob e rt, Pascal Picotte an d Steve Crevier; Honda will bring Miguel Du Hamel and Mike Hale, and Ha rleyDavidson will have Chris Carr and the myste ry riders. Ducati's partidpati -n is now in doubt as the team is likely to defect to Michelin for the 1995 racing season. If the team does stay with Dunlop, Mike Smith will handle the riding .chores on the team's 916s. Suzuki will hold a priva te test later in the month at . Daytona. Michelin will also be conducting a tire . test at Daytona International Speedwa y, scheduled for the end of December. Jimmy Button, who wa s ' recen tl y dropped from Team Suzuki despite finishing .s eco nd in the 125 cc Ea stern Region al Supercross Series, will race in Europe in 1995. Button will contest the 125cc Grands Prix on a Honda CRl25 for the Italian Magic Bike team, which will re ceive additional funding fr om Bulba Suntan Lotion. "Hopefully, it 's just a one-time deal , and I'll come back to the States ne xt year," said Button. "I talked to some people at the Barcelona and Bercy Supercrosses, and (man age r) Dave Stephenson took 'care of the rest." Button said that he will begin testing in January, and w ill mo st likely not rid e th e earl y season U.S. Supercross rounds, but thinks he will be competitive overseas. " I've ra ced again st all those guys in the European Supercrosses, and the re are onl y a couple of them who I'll ha ve to beat. Hopefull y, I can get the championship." Former World MX Champion Stefan Everts crashed while pr acticing for the McGrath ·takes World title J eremy McGrath (right) add ed the World Sup ercross Championship to his resume by sharing the w ins with Mike laRocco in the final round of the series at Tokyo's Jing u Stadium, November 26-27. The duo came to Japan separa te d by jus t one poin t, and that 's how they left, with Team Honda/18OO-Collect rider McGrath lead ing laRocco no-109. McGrath won Sa turday' S event, an d a runner-up C§. finish behind Team Kawasaki's LaRocco on Sunday 0\ was sufficient to sew up the crown. ~ Team Honda /1-80O-Collect's Steve Lams on was the only rider to keep the two leaders in sight over the weekend , finishing third on both nights. Team Kawasaki' s Mike Kiedrowski , whose post-season racing has been restricted to Japan, was a di stant fourth both times out. The fifth spot wen t to two Suzuki riders - Damon H uffman on Saturday and Brian Swink on Sunday. It was Swink's final ride aboard a yellow bike before switching to Honda of Troy. In the final point stand ings, Doug Henry - absent in Tokyo - finished third; with Jimmy Button and Huffman completing the top 10. Alex Hodgkinson Scott PI~ssinger: . Cycle News Rider of the Month N ovember's Rider of .the Month is off-road ace Scott Plessinger, who actually wrapped up his first Grand National Cross Country Cham pi onship two days befor e the start of th e month. Bu t the Team KTM rider, who also boasts two Nationa l Cross Country titles, continued his late-season hot streak by posting a win at the final Hare Scrambles round in Lynneville, Ind iana , Nove mber 6. Plessinger completed the season wi th a total of six wins in National competition, and four of those victories came during the last two months. Had the . season not come to an end , Plessinge r would no doubt have added to th at list, as he is without a d oubt the most "on" off-road ride r in the U.s. What makes the Ohio resid en t' s accomplishmen ts eve n more impr essive is the fact that unlike many of his compe titors, he holds down a full-time job and raises a family in his spare time. Congratulations, Scott. Japanese World Supercross round and ' broke his should er. The Belgian is not like ly to race again until the Beucaire International MX on February 12. Davey Camlin and Larry Pegram will contest the 1995 AMA Grand Na tional Champ ionship Se r ies aboard Skip Eaken-tuned Harley-Davidson XR750s. Carnlin, w inner o f the ' 94 DuQuoin Mile, s p e n t the past season on the machines, while Pegram has previously ridden for Eaken several times throughout his career. Though CamIin will contest th e entire 28-race series , Pegram w ill compete in only selected events those that do not conflict wi th the AMA National road race schedule. On the pavement, Pegram will race fo r the Honda-backed Erion Racing team , contesting the SuperTeam and 600cc Supersport series, as we ll as several selected U.S. Superbike Nationals aboard the team's Honda RC30. Afte r breaking his leg in a motocross practice crash and sitting out the latter part o f the season, Canad ian Steve Beattie reports that he's healed up and ready for the '95 season . The 23-yearold Burlington, Ontario, resid en t will r eturn ab o a r d the De eley 's HarleyDavidson-backed XR750, and may contest the Harley-Davidson 883 series as well. Beattie is a two-time Canadian Na tional Champion. Rusty Rogers will return to the AMA Grand National Champions hip Series in '95, mou nted ab oard a. Bob Norfleetowned Harley-Davidson XR750. "I rode for Bob throughout my whole ama teur career," said Rogers . "I'm really looking forw ard to racing for him again." Carl Pat ri ck will sp in the wrenches for the team, which is based in Richmond, Virginia. At the Daytona Sho rt Track and Peoria TT rounds, Rogers w ill rac e a Mike Owens-owned KTM LC4 600. Former en d uro great Dick Burleson called the Cycle News offices to inform us th a t Kent Howerton, who rode a Honda XR600 to the 40+ Expert win at th e Wh ite Bros . World Championship Vet National s, is sponsored b y Thumper Racing (Burleson's company) - not Scotts. Denny Stephenson has yet to ink a deal for the 1995 MX season but has been keeping in touch with the folks at KTM. Negotiations bogged down w hen Stephenson broke his righ t leg at an Arenacross last month. "Things are coming along pretty good," said Stephenson. "1 had surgery to put in a rod and it (the leg) is healing well. It looks as though I'll still miss the first few races, though. I've been talking with KTM and things look pretty good there, but we'll just ha ve to see w hat happens. I would think they'd have to make a decision soon." Earlier this year, Stephenson had said that he was interested in ma ybe racing in Europe on the GP circuit in '95, but those plans have changed. "Europe never really panned out for'me this year, but I really wanted to stay in the States: ' A Luftmeister-prepared KI00 BMW, piloted by Matt Capri, reclaimed the title of world's fastest street bike with a 206.1Do-mph record run at EI Mirage dry lake in Southern California on November 12. FIM ce rtifica tion was granted three days later. GFI's 1995 Invitational Supercross and Winter Series warm-up is scheduled for Monday, January 2 at Perris Raceway in Perris, California. The race will featu a $10,000 purse. For more information call 909/943-3302. . Rougly 150 vin tage motorcycle buffs gathered at the Holiday Inn in Wester; ville, Ohio, on November 11 for History on Wheels, a conference for motorcycle museums and collectors . Cycl e N ews con tribu tor Margie Siegal reports that th e conference included a tour of the Honda America plant, an open house at the Motorcycle H is tory Museum, a re ce p ti on a t A. D. Fa rrow's HarleyDavidson dea lership as well as various se mi na rs. AMA Presid ent Ed Youngblood handed out an FlM su rvey which showe d that 20 of the 24 countries par ticipa ting reported a growing interest in histo ric motorcycl ing. No res p onses came from vintage racing hotbeds Australia, England and Ireland. Th e American Motorcycle Institute, a division of A.M.I., Inc., will hold its sixth annual Brute Horsepowe n Shootout at the A.M.!. campus in Daytona Beach, Florida, on March 7-10, 1995 . Entrants will compete for over $20,000 in cash and prizes. The Shootout is open to any motorcycle with no entry or spectator fee. For more

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