Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ There will be a motorcycle ride-in on March 11 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. to validate the show's new tim e slo t an d everyone is invited. KPFK is located at 3729 Cahuenga Blvd. West, North Hoi" Iyw ood . Rain disrupted the final preseason tes t s ch e d u le for th e Marl b oro Rob e rt s Yamaha team with rain hitting the Eastern Cr eek circu it in Australi a for tw o days of th e th re e-da y sessio n w hich commen ced on February 28. Neverth eless, the team of Italian Luca Cadalora and Norifumi Abe left Au st ralia confident of being competitive for the season opener at Eas tern Creek on March 26. "The team is m uch better p repared than we were last time this year," crew chief Wa rren Willing told Cycle News contribut or Bernie McGui re. "The plan for us at this Eastern Creek test was to go over the fina l thin gs we wanted to test - tires a n d other thin g s th at were in the pi peline and also reconfirming aspects from other tests." Kenny Roberts Jr. and hi s Marlboro Rainey Ya maha tea m ma te Tetsu ya Harada also tested at Eastern Creek; but rain held the m to only 20 laps over five days. Tea m owner Wa yne Rainey did not attend the Australian test. World Champ ion Michael Doo h a n clocked an u n official best lap of onemi nu te, 30.4-seconds - a second u nder the lap record - at Eastern Creek in Sydney, Australia, recently . Doohan, w ho set th e la p record in 1992 a t 1:31.411 , took a full second off th at time on h is H o nd a N SR500. Re pso l-backed Spaniard Ale x Cri ville lapped at 1:31.7 du ring the Hond a test at Eastern Creek. According to Cycle News correspo ndant Bernie McG ui re, M ichael Doohan has ca lled for a review of the 130 kg (286 pou n ds) m inimum weight limit on 500cc GP bikes, saying it is jeo pardizin g safety by maki ng th e motorcycles unnecessarily heavy . "There was a rash of crashes in 1990 and the FIM figured th e increase would slow everyo ne down," Dooha n said. "Bu t it h a sn ' t wo rked and the weight s hou ld be reduced, perhaps by a progressive system of 5 kg (11 pounds) a year over the next three years. This might no t sound like much, but a s an example w e 've occasionally put an extra 8 kg (17 .6 pounds) on my bikes during test programs and it tota lly changed their characteristics. The differenc e wa s like nigh t and day." w:m Entertainer Lyle Lovett suffered a broken collar bone in an off-road motorcycle cras h in Baja California, Mexico, recently. Lovett was prep aring for a dual sport , ride with ESPN' s MotoWorid wh en he crashed a n d w a s fo rced to mi s s la st week's Grammy Awards. Sun oco has signed on as title spo nso r of the 1995 Formu la USA Series w ith the off icia l nam e of the roa d ra cing series now bein g the Sunoco Race Fuels Formula USA Series. The 1995 series w ill con sist of 10 races at five eve nts in 1995, beginning at Will ow Sp rin gs Raceway in Rosamond, California, on April 15-16. According to reports fr om Au stralia, Kevin Sc hwan tz may end up racing stock cars in 1996. The Texan p lans on retiring from motorcycle racing at the end of this year's 500cc World Championship Road Race Series and is said to be in line for a NASCAR d rive for Texan oil millionaire John Mecom. American Suzuki will unveil ,its " early" 1996 model Bandit 600S at Daytona, Thursday, March 9, during the Daytona Cycle Week. The all·new Bandit 6oo's In-line, air/oil-cooled, four-cyllnder motor is based on the Katana GSX600. and the bike will be offered in two colors: red and green. Virgi ni a Breeze Racing has announced th at they will contest th e enti re 1995 Form u la USA, the EBC Brakes Tri p le Crow n Series and selected AMA Su per'Teams races with riders Ch ri s Taylor and Glenn Szarek. Co urtyard Downtown, according to a press release from SRO Motorsports . Rooms a re availab le for $79. Ca n 317/635-4443 for reservations. Learn ing Curves Road Race Schools will offe r th eir first advanced school. The session will take place on Thursday, June 15 at Blackhawk Farms Racewa y in Rockton, Illinois, For mo re info rmation call Dave Doe at 414/461-0116. Drag Racer Stev e Joh nson will campaign the NHRA, IDBA and AMA Prostar Pro Stock mo torcycle seri es aboard Star Racin g Suzukis,' accord ing to a press release from Steve Johnson Racing . S tar Racing owner Geo rge Bryce w ill act as crew ch ie f for both Johnson and current Star Racing team member John Mye rs. " Now my racing program is complete," Johnso n s aid . "With Slick 50, Pontiac, SplitFire and Snap-On Tools as my sponsors, George as m y crew chief, and a champion like John Myers as my teamm ate, I think I'm in a perfect position to win races ." North Ca rolina ra ce track developer Bru to Smith has announced th a t h e p lans to buil d a $75 miIl ion speedway on 1600 acres ju st north of Fort Worth Alliance Airport. The announcemen t ca ps a lon g, h ard-fou gh t co mpetition between Ft. ·Worth, Da lla s and Grand Prairie, Texas t o h a v e the onl y NASCAR track in North Texas. Sm ith says the 160,000-seat speedway w ill top Charlotte Motor Speedway, th e North C a roli n a ra ce t r a ck th a t Smith a lso owns. IC E Sp eed w a y will be heading to a pair of new venues for the month o f March. The second round of the World Cup ICE Speedway Championships is scheduled for th e Rosemont Horizon Arena in Chicago, Illinois, on Ma rch 24, while th e 13th annu al ICE N ati ona l Ch ampionship is set for the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, on March 25 . Accordin g to ICE , the s e eve n ts mark th e first tim e th at speedway h as been seen in either city. Meanwhile, DeWalt Power Tools ha s sig ned on as a se ri es sponsor a n d w in be g iving "Mechanic of the Event" awa rds at the rem aining ICE World Cu p Ice rounds. Du e to corrective leg surgery, road racer Joe Pittman won't be in the lineup for the Daytona 200 on March 12. Pittman didn't receive medical clearance in time for Day tona, but he is planning on racing in th e s econ d round of th e AMA Superbike National Championship in Pomona, California, on April 2. The race h e adquarters fo r th e India nap olis S u p er cros s is th e Ma rriott For m ore information, can 303/2629067. Tho ugh there will no t be a San Jose Mile in 1995, there will be d irt track racing at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose, California, after all . A threerace Semi-Pro series on the existing onethird-mile sprint-c ar track has been scheduled, with races to take place on March 26, April 9 and April 23. For more information can Bill Spencer at 408/295-6906. Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A. becomes the first motorcycle manufacturer to cruise cyberspace with the launch of its on-line program, "Cruis in g the Superh ighway w ith Yamaha ." The mo nthly on-line question and answer program is available on the Compuserve computer netwo rk . Th e on e -h o u r program is sch ed u led for the first Tuesday of the month and topics will include racing, new product development, marketing and industry trends. Due to torrential ran s, Team Dual Dogs' Palomar Adventure Du al Sport Ride in Temecula, California, has been rescheduled for April 9, the weekend after the Du al Do g ' s Dog Ru n on April 1-2 in Newhall, California. The Di rt Dig gers No r th M / C ha s opened sign ups for the 27th Hangtown Continued on page 71 r---------~------------------------------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - , ~ SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Name _ Address City _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ State Order Date Zip _ o This is a 0 New Sub scription o Renewal o Please bill me o Bill 3 payments of $12.6 7 o Enclosed is my check or m oney order Ch arge my 0 Visa . 0 Mas tercard I.t) Please start my subscription to Cycle News: o Every week for one year (50 issues) for $38.00 (can be billed 3 mo nthly payments) o Every week fo r two years (100 issu es) for $70.00 o Six months second class (25 issues) for $19.00 One yea~ (50 issues), 2nd class Canada or Mexico an d all otherforeign countries L~~~~~~~!~~~~an~~~:~:~:~:~n:~~~ ~ Signature MC /Visa# Expiration Date ~ ~ I nco Sendto:~~, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 9080l-()498 Toll Free' Subscription Hotline (800) 831-2220 rl I.I"l ~ IU ii; I~ I ~~~~~~~~~!~~~~~-~------J3

• Cover