Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

1 ·: · ~··:·; :· :· :: H:. IN.T~~·· . WiND::· 1 The editorial staff swept the top positions at the seventh annual Cycle News Christmas Grand Prix, held at Carlsbad Racew ay in Carlsbad, California, December 11. Chris Jonnum ea rn ed a yea r's worth of bragging rights with a runawa y w in, while defending champion Donn Maeda and Kit Palmer rounded out the top three. Jeff Hain, editor of Cycle NeWs' si ste r publication, Personal Watercraft Illustrated, was fourth, while Paul Carruthers and Scott Rousseau rounded out the top six . Top-placing ad sa les m an Forrest Hayashi nabbed seventh, despi te a multitude of cras hes . Mark Thome came next, followed by publisher Mike Klinger, ad sa lesmen Terry Pratt and To m Gonter, a nd p roofread er Mark H oyer (H ow m an y ot her m o to rcycle publication s ha ve a proo frea d er that rides?) Photographer Kinney Jon es, by the way, snapped a picture of the group in th e first tum, se t d own hi s came ra, p ut o n his helm et , and ra ced up in to fourth overall, jus t behin d Palmer. A sp eci al tha n ks to Frank and Myra Th omason, of Racing Enterprises, for having us. American Bobby Moore, the recently crowed 125cc MX World Champion, competed at the Bologna Supercross in Italy, but he didn't fare too well. On the first night of racing, Moore fin ished eighth and on the second night, the champ fell and suffered a possible broken leg. A t w o -race Superbikers Champions competition wa s held in conjunction with the Bologna Supercross, and all participants were required to ride 125eepowered motorcycles on the "big TT track." When the dust settled, it was former AMA Supercross and National Champion Jean-Michel Bayle who won, aboard a modified Aprilia Six-Day street . bike. On the first day, Bayle finished ahead of fo rmer Italian Supercross champ turned road racer Mauro Lucchari, who rode a Husqvarna. Third wen t to Fabrizio Pirovano, on a Yamaha, followed by John Kocinski , on a Husky and Alessandro Gramigni, on a Hond a. On the following day, Bayle a gain won fo ll o w ed by Lu cchiari. : P irovano, . Honda-mounted Loris Capirossi and Kocinski, Rainbow MX Park the Pala, California, facility ow ned a nd operated b y Bob Harvell, is in danger of being shut down before it completes its first full year of operation. "I've been slapped with sev. eral fines and citations, " said a d istraught Harvell. "I'm being required to conduct an environmental impact study , and have been ordered to shut my gates until the county (San Diego County) decides what they want to do." Want to help keep the popular p ractice tra ck open? Letters in support of Rainbow MX Park ma y be sen t to Bill Ho m , County Supervisor of North County San Diego, 1600 Pacific Hi gh way, Room 335, San Diego, CA 92101. Copies of your letter sho uld also be sen t to Save Rainbow MX, Box 558, Homeland, CA 92548. The Camel Motorcycle Week schedule of even ts a t D ay ton a International Speed wa y w ill have a new look for 1995. The op ening weekend will see the running of the ina ugural North American Sup er Bike Series (NASB) which will be hel d on Sund ay, Ma rch 5 along with 600cc Supersport, Open Superspo rt and Harley-Da vid son TwinSport. AHRMA will take over the facility for two days of ra cing on March 6-7, h ig hli g hted by Sound of Sing les, BEARS and Batt le of th e Tw ins even ts in ad dition to a fu ll sched ul e of vin ta ge racing. The BMW Battle of the Legends will now be run in a three-race, three-day format. The op ening two rounds will be run as part of the AHRMA Classic Da ys on March 6-7, wi th the final round taking place on Fri. day, March 10. On Wednesday, March 8, A MA p rofessional road racing gets underway with practice sessions and the 60-minute SuperTeam Challenge. The front row of the Daytona 200 will be set on Thursday in the Arai Helmets Qualifying. Friday will consist of the second round of qualifying, the 750cc Supersport final, the Battle of the Legends final and the 33rd running of the International Lightweight lOOk. The Daytona Supercross by Honda will be held on Saturday, March 11 with the Daytona 200 By Arai culminating Camel Motorcycle Week on Sunday, March 12. In addition to the 200, Sunday will also feature the 600cc Supersport final and the HarleyDavidson TwinSports final. The Daytona 200 will start at 1:30 p.m. For ticket information call 904/253-RACE. The BEARS (British-European-American Racing Series) race a t Da ytona International Speedwa y on March 7 will be the opening round of the new BEARS World Championship Series. The fairly simple rules for BEARSracing are as follows: neither the engine or the frame can be of Japanese origin; engines mus t be one- to three-cylinder four-strokes up to 1300cc and turbocharging or supercharging is not allowed; and four-valve des mo en gines are prohibited (two-valves are permitted). Other rounds of the BEARS Series will be run in Italy, Austria, Belgium, England and Holland, and AHRMA will run a BEARS class throughout its 1995 racing season. "We World Superbike likely for La una Seca here is a very good possibility that a round of the World Championship Superbike Series will be held at Laguna 5eca Racewa y in Monterey, California, on July 23, according to promoter Dan Murphy of First Auto Sports Television (FAST). "We don't have an answer yet," Murphy said . "We are wa iting on a piece of paper being sent from Ed Youngblood (the presiden t of the AMA) to th e FIM officially requesting the date. That has to be done by Ed. The bottom line is we don't know yet, but my feeling is that it has a real good chance of happening. But, again, I'm not real familiar with all the European politi cs involved. As far as Flammini (the promoters of the World Superbike Series), the track, Ed Youngblood and myself, we' re all in agreement for the July 23 date." According to Murphy, FAST will handle the television packaging, ticket sales, hos pitality and promotion of the U.S. round of the World Superbike Series, along with cooperation from SCRAMP (Spo rts Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula). "It's a major undertaking. Our relationship with Laguna 5eca is a good one and having SCRAMP's experience will be a benefit." T Chandler, Filice test Harle VR1000 A uditions were held at Daytona International Speed wa y on December 5-6 for the lead role in Harley-David son's AMA Superbike roa d race team - those trying ou t for the ride were two-time AMA 250cc Grand Prix Nationa l Champi on Jimmy Filice and 1990 AMA Superbike Champion Doug Chandler. Forme r Daytona 200 win ner Dav id Sadowski also had an outing on the VR1000, tw o d ays prior to Chandler an d Filice. At presstime, no decis io n had bee n made on who would get the lead role, th ough tea m m ana g er Steve Scheibe seemed pleased w ith the pe rforman ce of all three riders. "We had three potential riders Doug Chand ler, Ji m Fili ce a n d David Sadowski - here for our test session," Scheibe said. "We needed to get to know them and they needed to get to know the tearn and the equipment, so they could arrive at a decision and we could arrive at a decision." The three riders produced lap times in the 1:54-1:55 range around the famed 3.56mile road course, with Sadowski and Chandler slightly quicker than Filice, who also had fewer lap s on the VR than the other two. "One reason I was interested in testing with the different riders is the feedback we were able to get," Scheibe said. "It was a very valuable experience for us. We basically had the same machinery we ran all season. We were interested in seeing how far we had actually progressed since the 200." Filice has raced in the Superbike class before, but is better known for his winning ways in ·the 250cc class: "I've been interested in getting back into Superbike racing," Filice said while waiting for a tire change. "It seems like Superbike racing has grown so mu ch and there's so much interest in it, especially since Harley is back in it. I'd like very much to be a part of the team. I haven't had that much time on the bike, but I think I made a good showin g." Chandler is also looking for work following Cagiva's withdrawal from Grand Prix racing: "The bike's okay," Chandler said from his horne in Salinas, California, on December 7. "1 think it can be competitive pretty easy. I think with some time it's capa ble of going 53s (1:53) the wa y it is. I did 555 with not a lot of effort on a production tire. I'm not sure if the y realize that I'm serious about wanting to race it. I think they think I'm using it as an optiori - but there's nothing out there. I think it's (the VR1000) got some potential. They've got some ideas that are pretty good. It brakes really well and the suspension is fairly decent right off the bat. Overall, it's a pretty good motorcycle u . . . ,~. Whomever gets the nod from Harley will join Chris Carr on the leam for the 1995 AMA Superbike Na tional Championship. . already have had conside rable interest in our Daytona BEARS race, and we expect entries from the U.S., Europe, Australia and even Japa n," AHRMA Executive Director Jeff Smith said. "When combined with the BMW Battle of the Legends an d our inte rn ational field of vintage and 50S/BoT racing, these wil l be the two best days of Bike Week '95." In addition to the ba ntli ng of carbonfiber brakes, the Worl d Championship Superb ike Series will feature other rule changes for 1995, namely the use of leadfree fuel only. In addition, the championship points-paying system has been changed. A win will now be worth 25 points with second place earning 20, third getting 16, fourth 13, fifth 11 and so on dow n to 15th place. In years past , winning a round of the World Superbike Series earned the winner 20 points w ith second place getting 17 points, third 15 an d so on. The new system rew ards the race winner two extra points over years past. The series will also have two 50minute practice sessions on both Friday and Saturday, with the morning sessions on both days being untimed.. According to team owner Rob Muzzy, there is a possibility that his team of Scott Russell, Anthony Gobert, Pascal Picotte and Steve Crevier will compete in the NASB superbike race at Daytona In te rn a tio nal Speedway the weekend p rior to the Daytona 200 in early March. "It's n ot in sto ne that we wo n't do it," Muzzy said. "If there are benefits, potential exposure for our sponsors, we would consider it. If we go, we' ll go to race and not go just to practice. We're not und er anything that says we can't do the race. If there's value, we could end up doing it. We'll have to look at all the factors and make a decision." G len Helen OHV Park, the Sa n Bernardin o, California, motocross facility, will hos t its Second Annual Free Practice Day on December 26, from 8:00 a.m, to 3:00 p.m. A free drawing for Tshirts, ha ts and the grand prize - a 1995 season pass - will be held at noon. For more information call 909/ 880-3090. Russ Wageman's Pit Pro will be on hand 11') to offer service and support throughout . ~ the the entire CMC Golden State '"""' National MX Series. Pit Pro carries a full ..,; selection of tires, parts and accessories. For more information call 805/255-5101. i::' . Guy Co oper will compete in the San Francisco, California, round of the AMA Arenacross National Championship on January 6-7 at the Cow Palace, according to a press release from Mike Kidd Pro- ~ ...... 1

• Cover