Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

i:·IN ,-THE'WIND , Ty Davis (Kaw) was the overall winner a t the openin g round of the AMA Nat ional Championship Enduro Series in Coalinga, Californ ia, on February 19. The runner-up was six -ti me National Champion Randy Hawkins (Suz). Defending champion Robert Patterson (Su z) won ro und seven of the AMA Mid -So uth Wi n te r Hare Scra m bles Series in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, on February 19. Terry Cunningham (Yam) finished second ahead of Duane Conner (Yam). Spaniard Mar c Colomer (Mon) app~ars to be o n a roll, as he won his th ird Indoor Trial World Cup event in a row. Colom er's most recent win came in the Mon te Ca rlo, France, round on February 12, whe re he bested Steve Coll ey (G-G) in t h e final r u noff. Bru n o Camozzi (Bet) wa s third. Colom er now leads Jor d i Tarres - who was elimina ted a t Mont e Carlo -,in the series point sta nd ing s, 851-715. Tommi Ahvala is third ,with 520. The pr eviou s day, Februar y 18, Colom er also won the opening r oun d of the Sp a nish Nationa l Championship (outdoor) Series, held in Carcaixent, Valenci a. There, he bested runne r-up Tarres and th ird -placed Amos Bilbao (Bet). Mike Healey (Yam) was the big winne r at ro und four of the CMC Velvetouch Golde n State Nationals , held at Sunrise Valle y Racew ay in Adelan to, California, on Februa ry 19. Healey to p ped David Pingree (Kaw) and Brian Deegan (Ho n) in the 125cc Pro class, and bested Jeff Maliasevich (Kaw) and Ray Sommo (Yam) in the 25+ Pro d ivision. Kyle Lewis (Yam) to p ped Heal ey in the 250cc Pro class, while Rich Taylor rounded out the top th ree. Taylor beat out Terry Fowler and Shawn Wynne in th e 500c c Pro cl a ss. All th ree were Honda mounted . Road ra cer Jimmy Filice cras he d his Pad gett's Yama ha YZR500 in the fina l sessiori of the IRTA test in Jerez, Spain, on Februar y 12 and su ffered a hairline fracture in his right leg . The inju ry is not serio us and Filice should be back in action in th ree to four wee ks, and is not in d an ger of mi ssing th e firs t Grand Prix which will be held on March 26 in Eastern Cree k, Australia. Erion Racing has repl aced Jimmy Filice with Michael Barnes for the 1995 AMA 600cc Supers p ort a n d SuperTeam Serie s. Fili ce w as previous ly announced as the rider who would join Larry Pegram on the team, but the California n opted to go GP racing with the Pa d ge tt 's Yam aha team. " Wh il e w e were sorry to lose Jimmy, we certainly understand him grabb ing the opportunity to race in Europe. It's some thi ng tha t he has wanted for a long time and we wis h him the best of luck. We have wo rked w ith Mich ael Ba rnes before and he is a n extremely talented race r, and we are really pleased to have him aboa rd for the u pcomin g seas on. H is .skill and ability coup led with that of La rr y Peg ra m w ill certainly h elp to give us an edge on the competition." A prototype Honda with a peri meter frame was ridden at the Beaucaire Classic MX race in France (see page 34) by Tatsuyuki Motoki. He finis hed 18-1425 in the three motos. The HRC devel'opment rider, Motoki , will also rid e the bike in the Japanese championships this su m mer a nd ha d accom p a n ie d HRC and Kayaba techni cians who were in Europ e for preseason tests with offi- cial Honda rider Kurt Nicoll. Motoki's bike also had the same Kayaba suspension as Nicoll's bike. The Brit described the massive 51mm conventional Kayaba forks as "t he best I have ever used." Pre sumably Ho nda is looking at prod ucti on fo r 1997 a t th e ea rlies t, bu t onlookers also go t the impression tha t the enti re project ma y be nothing more than a n eval u a ti o n ex er ci se . J a i my Scevenels ha s no w been drafted into the HRC team bu t will not ride the fullworks Honda. "[airny won 't get bike like Kurt's, but it will be more tha n the kilted bik es available to the national importers," explained team boss Eri c Geboers . "We will undou bted ly ask him to test so me modifica tions in the cou rse of the year." a Worl d 500cc MX Cha m pion Marcus Hansson wa s a non -starter a t the trad itio na lly sta r-stud ded Bea ucair e race . The Swed e had suffered a broken nose at Geo rges Iobes Retinne /Belg iu m base durin g the p revio us wee k and will be out of action from anywhere up to a m on th . De ta il s of how the inju r y occurred we re vague, bu t unconfirmed reports suggest tha t the Swed e and his team boss were ou t play-riding on trials bikes when metal p iping was d islod ged and struck the champ in the face . Dann y T h e y b ers could riot re p lace h is Belg acom teammate in Beau caire as he recently had an ope ration on an old shoulder injury. Twe lve months ago [obe was in volved in a head-on collision with then teammate Gerald Delepine. February just doesn' t seem to be Georges' lucky month. It wa s a still- bat tered Rinaldi Yamaha team tha t went into action at Beaucaire. World 125cc MX Champion Bob Moore had been back rid ing for just one week after breaking a bone in his left ankle again at a supercross race in December, a sc ap ho id inju ry prevented Chicco Chiodi from tr aining until the end of January and Andrea Bartolini had been un abl e to practice for 10 da ys after an eme rge ncy ca rtilage ope ration on hi s right knee . Onl y Yves Demaria, whose main sponsor will be Oxbow rather than Chester field , was any thing but race-fit, though training adv iso r Jacky Vimond insisted that he w as n ot expecting Demaria to win in the first race of the yea r: "It will be a long se ason and I don't expect Yves to be 100 percent even fo r th e first GP ," said Vimond. "It is more imp ortant that he is at his peak for the final rounds of the world championship." Dema ria will use upside-down Kayaba forks this year, whil e the other three team m embers will rel y on con ventional Oh lin s units. All riders will use Ohlins rear shocks. Chang es seen on the factory Suzukis at Beaucaire we re ma inly refinements, but the rear linkage had undergone signifi- , cant cha nges and wa s mounted in the center of the swin ging arm rather than o n top . Hu ge 49m m KYB fro nt forks provided the front damp ing . Sma ller 46mm u pside-d own Kayabas were fitted to the factory Kawa sak is of bo th Stefan Everts and Tall on Vo hland, wh o had been testi ng locally wi th team bos s Jan De Groo t for the' last 10 da ys. The Am erican is bein gaccompan ied by bi g brother T yson Vo h la nd this su mmer. Rem y Van Rees is riding a De Groot-prepared bike for the Dutch importer, whil e 16-year -old Sebastian Tortelli is under the wing of Kaw asaki France in the 125cc GPs. De Groot said, " I helped to br ing them together and his (Tortelli's) bike is tuned by us. He Elvis' Harley _ h e Harley-Davidson Mo tor Comp any has acquired the 1956 Harley-Davidson which was originally owned by Elvis Presley. The KH model Harley was Elvis' first motorcycle and was made famous by a photo (right) that appear ed ori the cover of the company's magazine, The Enthusiast, in May of 1956. The pepper-red-and-while mo torcycle was p ur chased from a priva te owner in Memphis, Tennessee who was a friend and riding companion of the King. The vehicle and title will become part of Harley'S permanent collection of historical materials . The purchase price of the motorcycle was not released, but the company confirmed that it had been in discussions with the owner for several years. The 1956 Harley KH model featured a 55-rubic-inch engine with an integrated four-speed transmission, and it was the last of the K mod el street bikes which were repl aced in 1957 by the OHV Sportster XL model. The motorcycle will be on display for the first time at Ha rley-Davidson's exh ibit in the Ocean Cen ter in Daytona Beach, Florida, during Bike Week on March 7-11. T shows great talent and perhaps we can incorpora te him in the factory team in future years." Grand Nat ional Dirt Track Series opener, the Dayton a Supe rcross by Honda and the 54th Daytona 200 by Arai. Forme r 250cc World Champion Dan ny LaPorte has been appointed team manager of the Magic Bike Honda team for w hic h Am e rican J immy Bu tton w ill con test this yea r's 125c c World MX Championship. "I've been over in Italy for a week," sai d the 21-year-old Button at Beaucaire, "and it might be ha rd for me to do good here. I haven't been on a 250 since December and thi s is a stock er. We've been testi ng my GP 125, a nd all 1 a m still wa it ing fo r are the 46mm ups id e-down KYB for ks which ar e du e next week." The GP Honda will a lso us e an FMF pip e, as did Bob Moore's victorio us Yama ha last year. Lon g time technical se rv ice and road r a ce me chan ic David Ra y has . announced that he will be retiring from the sp or t, effecti ve February 20. Ra y says the fax and telephone tech assistance lin e he opera tes will no longer accep t calls and h e w ill no lo n ge r attend an y mo torsp orts and ra ci ng functions . " I would like to thank Steve Whi telock, Kevin Cameron and Hurley Wilvert for 25 years of contin ued su pport, Russ Collins for being Russ, Greg an d Pa tty K. for caring, Al Sala verria for just an incred ible 1990 racing year , Ha rry Klinzmann for the early years and wins, the peop le of Merced, California, for 10 great yea rs and last but best, Jon and Susan Cornwell for sim ply the bes t time I've ever had in racing," Ray sa id . "It's time to leav e the mainstream and find that qu iet place to relax and watch the cat catch mice." A new Dunlop fro n t tire fo r, the Harley-Davidson 883 Na tion al Championship Dirt Track Series will make its ra cin g d ebu t a t t he Da yton a Short Tra ck. The K180, Dunlop' s firs t-e ve r di rt track tire, is availa ble in just one size (110/ 80-19) and was specifically designed for 'use in Su perTwins d irt track racing . The tire is DOT-approved and features a full di rt track tread pattern . Dunlop has also announce d two ad di tions to its line of K591R road race tires. "The K591R ' s been serio u sly updated for the 883 Super Twi ns with new softe r, g rip pie r comp ound s on bo th fr o n t a nd rear tires," sa id Jim Allen, Dunlop 's road race coord inator. According to the AMA's Ron Barrick, the AMA will no longer provide on-site licensing or one-day licenses ants road ra ce ev ents. All racers must ha ve an AMA license prior to race day. The AMA will host the World Championshi p Prize G!ving at the concl usion of th e 1995 racing seas on . The prize giving, which is held annually to giv e World Championship medals and certificates to the World Cha mpio ns in every aspec t of motorcycle comp etit ion , will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 16. The AMA will also hol d their AMA Professional Awards Banquet in Las Vega s on the sa me weekend in December. Fritz Martin was the gra nd pri ze winner in the Cycle News Dayton a Sweepstakes. Mart in wins a TravelCraft package that includes air fare, rental car, six days and five nights in Dayton a Beach, Florida and VIP tickets to the 600cc and The Thunderbike Trophy series , which will run in conjun ction with several of the World Cha mpionship Road Race Series even , h as u n de rg one so me cha n ges to the te chnical rules . The mo torcycles must be from 501 to 600cc four-stro kes with a ma ximum of four cylinders; the compression ratio may be al tere d; all ge arbox ra tio s ca n be alte red; the airbox may be alte red pro vided tha t its shape is as homologated; and th e sh ape and mate ri a l of the wheels may be altere d (with the exception of carbon fiber), but the rim width and diameter m ust be as hom ologated. For those Kawasaki riders who plan on attending the upcom ing GNC Finals in Lake Whitney, Texas, Team Green will be con d ucting a rid er test day as well as a riding school on Thursday, March 16 . Kaw as aki r iders tha t a r e preentered and are interested in attend ing are encouraged to call Ron He be n a t 714/ 770-0400 ext. 2228, or Jeff Chambers at 404/349-2000 for more inform ation. Heben says that if you are interes te d, th e n ca ll ea rly, becau se t he number of riders will be limited. Tho ugh he is con tracted to contest the entire Su perTeam s and 600cc Supersport Ch am pion ship Series for Erion Ho nda, Larry Pegram will conti nue to contest the non-conflicting rounds of the AMA Grand National Ch a m pionship Series. Pegram will pilot Skip II) g:: ~

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