Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127716
At the Beauca ire, pre season GP warmup race, in Beaucaire, France, on February 13, American Tallon Vo hland (Kaw ) scored the overall win ahead of Italy's Alessandro Puzar (Hon), Germany's Pit Beirer (Hon), Great Britain 's Kurt Nicoll (Hon) and Belgium's Stefan Everts (Suz) . Th ree other Americans competed, incl udi ng d efending 125cc World Champion Bobby Moore (yam), Bader Manneh (Hon) and Jimmy ButIo n (Hon). Moo re fi nished seventh; Manne h nin th , and Button 10th. Vohland wo n the first tw o motos and finished sixth in the third rnoto, which was won by Beirer. Marc Colomer (Mon) was the w inner of the Solo Moto Indoor Trial, held in the Palau Sant Jordi Stadi um in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb ruary 11. Th e Sp a nia rd edged ou t his fellow countryman, Joan Pons (G-G) in the final. Brit Steve Colley (G-G) was third. Jordi Tarres, Amos Bilbao and Ta ku mi Narita were elimina ted in the first hea t. With six rounds left in the World Champions hip Indoor Trials Series, Colomer leads Tarres, 751665. Tommi Ahvala sits third with 520. Cycle News Rider of the Year Ty Davis (Kaw) captured the overall victory d uring the opening roun d of the 1995 AMA National Championship Hare Scra mbles Series at the Ho llis ter Hills SVRA in Ho llis te r, California, on Februa ry 12. Defending cham p io n Rodney Smith (Suz) finished second with Steve Hatch third . Scott Summers (Hon) and Cole . Marshall (Hon) completed the top five. Scott Sheak (Suz) won the 125cc Pro class a t round five of th e GFI Winter Series, held at Perris Raceway in Perris, Californi a, on February 12. Greg Schnell (Su z) was second, ahead of Doug Dubach (Yam ).' Dubach won the 250cc Pro class, edging out Cory Keeney (Yam) and Anthony Pocorobba (Suz). Terry Fowler bested Rusty HoIland and Willy Musgrave in the Open Pro class . All three riders were Honda mounted . Craig Smith scored the overall win and too k home th e $1000 that was up for grabs at the King of the Desert off-road race near EI Centro, California, on February 11. Smith diced with Paul Krause for m o s t of th e ra ce until Krau se dropped out with a twisted ankle. John Flores ended up second, while Dewey Belew and Bill McNeer finished th ird and fourth, res pectively. Rounding out th e top five wa s Jason Corfman, who won the 250cc class. Spanish Gas Gas exporter Andreu Codina, w inner of last year's EI Trial de Espana, will again be on hand for this ye a r's April 29 event at the McCain Valley Recreation Area near San Diego, California, but not as a competitor. Instead, Codina will bring 15-year-old Spanish tr ial s sensation David Cobos along. Codina reports that he has been w orking with the you ngs ter for the past three year s, and he will make his World Championship Series debut this ~ May after his 16th birthday. It will be 0\ inter es tin g to see how America's best r-I riders fare against the Spanish up-andcomer . 2 Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A., has announced its 1995 road racing contingency program which totals $1,380,500. The 1995 p rogram includes th e AMA Superbike National Championship , as well as nine other major racing series, and offers contingencies in a number of classes from Supersport to 250cc Grand Prix. Yamaha has also announced a 35race FZR600 Challenge Series which replaces the Yamaha Seca II Challenge. The new series will post $81,000 at 28 WERA events and seve n Willow Springs Motorcycle Club races. To qualify for the FZR600 series, riders must be at the novice level and not be ranked as an expert by any other organization; and all machines mus t conform to WERA "C" Superb ike class rules . For more information contact the series pr om oter or Yamaha' s race con tin gency department at 714/761-7509. President Clin ton' s bud get proposal, which was sen t to Congress on February 6, includes $30 million for the National Recreational Trails Trust Fund, whi ch is d esign ed to d evel op and maintain trails, including tho se used by motorized-recreation enthusiasts, according to the AMA. If that allocatio n is approved by Congress, it would mark the first time in the five-year history of the pr ogram that it wo uld receive full fundin g from the federal governmen t. So far, the . fund has received $7.5 million over four ye a rs, only ab o u t si x p er cen t of the money anticipa ted when the trails program was esta blished in late 1991. The pres iden t's overall budget pla n is expected to face stiff op position from the Republican-eontrolled Congress. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park' (Southern California) officials have scheduled two public meetings to obtain inp ut on a proposed Coyote Can yon Public Use Plan that includes closing the upper portion of the canyon to vehicle traffic. Off-readers who would like to voice their opinion on the subject are invited to do so; the first meeting will be held in San Diego on February 24 with the second meeting taking p lace in Borrego Springs on February 27. For more information calI the San Diego Off-Road Coalition at 619/449-1616. Round one of the Too Much Fun Pro- : moti ons La Playa GP Series will be held in the Cantamar Sand Dunes, just south of Rosarito Beach, B.C. Mexico, on March 5. The two-mile course is run en tirely on beach sand, and all classes are featured . For more information contact Too Much Fun Promotions, P.O . Box 120089, Chula Vista, CA 91912, 01152/ 661-BAJA 5. The March 4-5 3rd Annua l Malcolm Smith Motorsports Grand Prix, held at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California, will feature a grueling 12mile GP course laid ou t by none other than Malcolm Smith himself . "This is definitely not a course for wimps," said Bub Feldkamp, president of Glen Helen Raceway. All classes will compete in -two-hou r races. For more information call Doug Mohr at 714/898-4599. According to Pat Foster, he an d th e Mammoth Mountain Ski Area have joined forces for the 1995 season. Foster sa ys that Dave McCoy, the ow ner of Mammoth Mountain, will he lp in getting an Amateur MX National and other races during the season . The McCo ys currently run the Mammoth MX every June. Australian 125cc Grand Prix road racer Garry McCoy has si gned with Team Zwafink Racing for 1995 and will ride a factory Honda RS125 in the World Championship Road Race Se r ies. McCoy's teammate for the '95 season will be Japan's Akira Saito. Eastern Creek Raceway, the site of the Top facilities set to reloln AMA Series lthough nothin g has been signed, i.t now appears certain that th e Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Brainerd International Raceway and Road America will again host ro unds of the AMA Superbike National Ch ampionship in 1995, and will d efect from the North American Sup er Bike (NASB) Series. "The rumors in the field are reality," AMA Pro Racing' s pr esident Tom Mueller said on Monday, February 13. "They' ve (Mid-Ohio, Brainerd and Road America ) contacted Cary (Agajanian) and they nave asked to sanction with the AMA. The san ctions went out in the mail on Friday and we're looking to sta rt healin g some of these relationships. The goal righ t now is to see if the three san ctions come back." Mid-Ohio Spo rts Car Course vice p reside nt Michel Trueman Gajoch confirmed tha t she had indeed received the sanction ing package an d that she w ou ld be retu rning ' the m with the full in tention of running an AMA Superbike Nation al on Ju ne 2-4. "That's our intention right now," Trueman Gajoch said. "There are a few little hu rdles, but we 're on the right track." Mueller confirmed that the returning facilities would keep their existing dates, and that the AMA would no longer ho ld a race at Indianapolis Raceway Park on June 2-4 as well as most of the others on the schedule it released on February 1. As it stands now, the series would feature eight rounds: Daytona International Speed way (March 9-12); Pomona Fairplex (March 31-Ap ril 2); Laguna Seca Raceway (Ap ril 28-30); Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (June 2-4); Road America (June 9-11); New Hampshire International Speedway (June 16-18); Brainerd International Raceway (July 14-16); and Sears Poin t Raceway (August 25-27). "We will move the new facilities out of our schedule," Mu eller said. "Righ t now we're goin g to take a look at a new shee t of paper. We'll just see what the AMA has to do . We would like to hav e nin e or 10 rounds and we're hoping that Buddy Iobe (the president of Phoenix International Racewa y) may reconsider." As for the North American Super Bike Series, Edmondson plans to continue his efforts to san ction a road race series in 1995. When contacted on Friday, February 10 rega rding the possibility of Mid -Ohio, Road America and Brainerd jumping to the AMA Series, Edmondson said: "NASB was not designed to be the premier road racin g series in the U.S. It was originally a program to develop motorcycle road racing at a reasonable cost to promoters. Then the promoters sent the AMA home in d isgrace from their promoters' meeting and they turned to me to provide an alternative to the AMA series. I was willing to offer half a million more in purses, but this was never meant to be an either/or situation. That's how others pronounced it. This is what I do . This is not a hobby for me. I'm 52 years old and this is what I do - and this is what I'm going to do." On Monday, Edmondson reiterated that he would continue: "This has been an interesting affair in my life. The first thing I'm going to do is grab a dictionary and see what ยท certain words like integrity and honesty mean. I still don't know what the cards are, but I've got a race to run at Daytona in two weeks. I will only be dealing with people and things that are rock-solid. We have two events at Daytona and I believe there are lots of people who would love to ha ve two Daytona events as a bookend to a series. I still ha ve a vision and 111 go to work. I'm surprised at all of this, but I won't be surprised a second time. " A Australian Grand Prix , is sla te d to undergo a three-stage facelift which will see the circuit extended by O .8-of-a-mile in order to bring the Sydney circu it up to Formula One car racing standards. The funding to do the work will come from U.S. and British-based Spice Racing Cars Ltd, a leading race car developer with F-1 links . Spice has put together a number of financial partners in order to pay the majority of the $75 million bill. A research and development facility, including a wind tunnel, will also be b uilt in an effort to tum Eastern Creek into a high-tech motor vehicle testing facility. Aus tra lian road racer Martin Craggill will make his 500cc Grand Prix debut in th e A us t rali a n GP on March 24-2 6. Cra ggill will rid e as a Wild Qard entry an d w ill be backed by Shell on a ROC Yamaha. Last year, Scott Dooh an competed on the Shell team an d finish ed 12th in h is Wild Card ride at Eas tern Creek. Tw o Brillens will comp e te ' d u r in g AHRMA racing at Daytona international Speedway on March 6-7. One will .be ridd en by N e w Zealand er Andrew Stroud, with Nick Ienatsch riding the second V1000. According to AHRMA, entries for the March 6-7 Classic Days at Dayt ona were up to 728, beating the old record by 100 entries. There are also over 200 entries for the warmup AHRMA National at Roebling Road in Georgia on March 3. German motorcycle racer WaIter Zeller, 67, d ied on February 4 of a heart attack. Zeller raced both on- and off-road, winning a gold medal in the 1951 international Six Day Trial and three German road racing titles in the 1950s. He also finished second to John Surtees in the 1956 World Championship. Zeller was scheduled to join AHRMA's collection of racing legends at Daytona International Speedway and he will be replaced by Walt Fulton . Fulton, 47, was .a factory road racer from the mid-1960s to th e ea rly '70s for Su zuki, HarleyDavidson and Kawasaki. Fulton will be among the non-riding Legends Emeritus, although he may be p ressed into racing service if needed to replace Don Vesco, who re cently suffer ed an eye injury while spect ating at a car race. There has been some confusion as to the site of the fourth round of the Daytona flat Track Series which will be held on March 7. Th e ra ce will take place at Thunder Valley Raceway, w h ich is located 10 miles south of Palatka , florida; Thunder Valley was formerly Putnam County Raceway. For more info rmation call 203/868-0181. A grand opening reception for the Art of the Motorcycle exhibit will be held on February 25 from 4:00 p .m to 7:00