Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.INTHE WIND Todd Hoy (KTM) scored the overa ll win at the Vacatio n Villa g e / Gol d St rike World Cha mpionship Ha re & Ho und race in Jean, Nevada, on March 11. Hoy took the checkered flag ahea d of fours troke rider Greg Zitterkopf (KTM), while 250cc class winner Destry Abbott (Kaw) finish ed third. Jim Gray (KTM) and Nick Pearson rounded out the top five. Kawasa ki Team Green's Danny Hamel, along w ith teammate Craig Smith, grabbed th e overall victory a t the SCORE San Felipe 250 off-road race in San Felipe, B.C., Mexico, on March 11. The H amel /Smith duo completed th e 25O-mile race in four hours and 22 minutes . Taking second overall was Class-30 winner Rex Staten and partner Fred Conover, aboa rd a Kawasaki KX500. . Rounding ou t the top three overall was the Class 21 (250cc) team of Tim Morton and John Flores , also riding a Kawasaki . Americans Bader Manneh (Hon) and Tallon Vohland (Kaw) finished 3-4, respectively, in the second round of the Italian Open MX Series in Malpensa , Italy, recently. Vohland won the second moto after posting a DNF in the first rnoto , German Peter Beirer (Hon) scored the overall win via 1-2 moto finishes, while Dutchman Edwin Evertsen (Hon) ended up second with a 4-3 tally. The other Am ericans, Trampas ParKer (KTM) and 125cc World Champion Bobby Moore (Yam), finished seven th and eighth, respecti vely. AMA Pro Racing has announced that the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course has signed up to promote a round of the AMA Superbike National Championship. The race will be held on June 2-4 at the lexington, Ohio, facility. ''We 're pleased to have Mid -Ohio back on our Superbike Series sched u le, " said Tom Mueller, presid en t of AMA Pro Racing. "There's no question it's one of the crown jewels of motorcycle roa d racing in Ameri ca; th e even t d ra w s la rge crowds, it's a beau tiful facility and rid ers and teams love to compete there." Mid-ohio, which will be round four of the series, replaces the Indianapolis Raceway Park even t, originally sched uled on the June 4 weekend . The AM A/Pros tar d r ag racing Nationa l w ill be run a t Indy as scheduled . "The Honda Super Cycle Weekend, pr esented by Dunl op Tires, is one of our premier even ts," sai d Miche lle Tru eman, vice presiden t of TrueSports, Inc. "We are plea sed to continue our 12yea r relation sh ip with th e AMA, and look fo rw ard to working wit h its Pro Racing staff in the spiri t of providi ng the be st p o ssible prod uct for o u r fans ." Negotia tions are continuing with Brainerd International Raceway a nd Road Am erica regard ing AMA Superb ike Nationals and the AMA Pro Racing Board of Directors were sche d uled to meet at Daytona on Monday, March 13, in an effort to finalize the 1995schedule. u.s. Grand Prix cancelled The owners and operators of Elkha rt Lake's Road America, and Dorn a, the prom oters of the United States Motorcycle Grand Prix, have mutually agreed to com muni cate to the F1M their inten tion to request cancella tion of the 1995 United States Motorcycle Gra nd Prix scheduled for Au gust 4-6 at the Wisconsin facility. The reasons for this cancellation, accor ding to a press release from Road America, are as follows: From the start, Road America and Dorna understood that three chicanes would be req uired to satisfy FIM ho mo loga tio n requ irem ents . The origina l FIM homologation report did not specify the d imensions or exact location of the thr ee chicanes, but Road America and Dorna believed that the chicanes, as discussed during the official homologation insp ection, would be w ithin the propose d budget. "While presenting no problem with regard to the first an d third chicanes, the official F1M drawings, received by Road America on February 22,1995, required a second chicane wh ich woul d hav e taken the pr oject significan tly beyond the pre-establish ed budget," the release sta ted . "As the FIM was un able to accep t counter proposals on this point, it became apparent that the work required for homologati on was not fina ncially feasible and the d ecision to cancel the event was taken mutually by Dorna and Road America and communicated to the FIM on March 8, 1995." "Costs for doing the work already were 100 percent over budget," Dorna's Dennis Noyes said on Monday, March 13. "When we looked at the alternatives it was goin g fo go yet again another 100 percent over. It end ed up being three times what it was originally budgeted for. Road America ha ve reached their limit and so ha ve we." The U.S. round will likely be made up with another round in Europe in an effort to keep the series at 14 rounds. r: TravelCraft has introduced what they call their "Double Expresso" tour of Italy which will feature st op s a t th e World Championship Road Race in Misano and the World Superbike Championship round at Monza in mid-June. The alternate package s ta r ts with th e Monza World Superbike round and concludes with the Dutch GP on June 24. For more information cali BOO/241-1223. Dual spo rters wh o live in Southern Cali: fomia may be interested to know that a new dual sp ort club has been formed called the O r a n g e County Dualies. According to Larry Langle y, w ho is helping form the new club, "The Orange County dualies was formed to allow riders of common interest the means to join together for rides, organized AMA dual AMA lands new TV deals, Crane Cams for GNC Series AMA Pro Racing has announced that it has secured a new television packa ge for the AMA Grand National Championship Series that will include five 9O-minute telecasts on The Nashville Network and five more hours of programming on the Prime SportsChannel. The contract ends the relationship between the AMA and the ESPN network, which used to air the series on weekends during the late night/early morning hours. "Our Grand National Dirt Track Series is a very exciting television property, and we were able to negotiate into TNN 's well-promoted mo torsports time block," said Tom Mueller, president of AMA Pro Racing. "Coupled with our programs on Prime, we're expecting increased exposure, and additional AMA dirt track fans, as we build through 1995." The tape-delayed even ts are sched uled to air on TNN's "American Sports Caval cade" program from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST on Sundays, with repeat broadcasts at midnight after each original telecast. Event air dates include the Springfield Mile on July 16; DuQuoin Mile on Au gust 6; Lake Odessa Half Mile on on August 13; Sedalia Half Mile on August 20; and a sp li t air date for the Peoria TT on August 27 / September 3. . Prime SportsChannel is scheduled to air the Daytona Short Track on Ap ril 20; the Pomona Half Mile on April 27; the Denver Half Mile on Au gu st 24; the Rossburg (Eldora) Half Mile on September 21; and the season finale Del Mar Mile on October 26. If) Check your local listings for air times in your area. . 0\ The AMA also announced a new sponsor, Crane Cams, for the '95 Grand National ~ Championship Series. The automobile and motorcycle camshaft manufactu rer will pos t a $2000 purse for the "Crane Cams Challenge," a Ill-lap sp rin t race that will be featu red at five venues in 1995. "Challenge" events are scheduled for the laSalle Short Track on June 3; the Ha gerst own Half Mile on Jul y 15; Black Hills Ha lf Mile on August 9; Goshen Half Mile August 27; and the Williams Grove Hal f Mile on September 9. "We are pleased to be associated with the AMA Grand National Dirt Track Series," said Dave Ha rris, vice pr esid ent of communications and marketing for Crane Technologies Group, the parent company of Crane Cams. "We look forward to the Crane Cam Challenge events as being immediately successful, an d we anticipate that this will rap idly expand into one of professional motorcycle racing's p remier even t series." sport events and club events. The club is designed to be a loose-knit organization with no membership restrictions except for the love of dual sport riding." As well as attending upcoming 0-37 events, the first club outing will be a ride on the h istoric Moja ve Road, on May 13-14. Meetin gs are now sched uled on the first Thursday of each month. For more information call 714/992-9291. on e m inute, 30.5 seconds during the Respol-sponsored team's test session on March 8-10. Doohan's time, set on da y two of the three-day test, was nearly a second and a half fast er t han Kevin Sch wantz's unoffi ci al be st of 1:31. 6, according to Cy cle Ne ws contributo r Bernie McGuire . The Lucky Strike Suzuki team shared the circuit with HRC for the three-day session. The U.S. Women's Motocross Team is forming a nationwide network to unify women riders and racers. The U.S. Team curren tly is ru n ning the MTEG /U.s. Wom en 's Team Stadium-Cross Series . The Team al so holds a West Co ast Nation al , and free motocross sc hoo ls periodically. If you would like to get on their mailing list to receive free information concern ing upcoming events, call Debbie Matthews at 714/754- 7305. Japan's Tadayuki Okada has thrown out the strongest challenge to 250cc World Champion Max Biaggi by establishing a new unofficial Eastern Creek 250cc lap record, McGu ire says . The 27-year-old Japanese rider lapped at 1:32.5 on hi s factory Honda, jus t two-tenths quicker than Biaggi's offi cial la p record of 1:32.691. Doriano Rom boni was the second-quick est 250cc rid er at the te st, clocking a 1:33.67 while Ca rlos Checa lapped at 1:33.89. Biaggi turned a 1:34.14 with J.P. Ruggia stopping the clocks at 1:34.20; Jean-Michel Bayle wa s ne xt with a 1:34.38. American ·Ho nda Motor Company released its 1995 rider support program for CBR600, RVF750 and CBR900 models. The company will post awards for professional and amateur road racing with almo st $600,000 up for grabs at 28 races and 62 club events . The AMA National Championship Ro ad Race Ser ies has sup port for Superbike, HP4 600cc Supersport, SuperTeams, 250cc Grand Prix and 125cc Grand Prix worth $232,500. WERA Pro racers will vie for $139,000 in awards for Formula USA, 600 and ll00cc Superstock, and Heavyweight Superbike and Superstock in the Endurance Series. The AMA Prostar Drag Racing Series has been added for 1995 with $6500 offered for Honda ride rs in the new 600cc Supersport class . Honda's amateur support program got a major revamping for 1995, highlighted by a 34 percent incre ase in awards. The program includes events a t AFM, CCS, . CRA , MRA , OMRRA, W ERA an d WMRR A sch ed ul ed races . Fo r m ore informa tion, contact you local de aler or call the Ho nda Contingen cy Hotline at 310/783-3706. Due to construction at Laguna Seca the fi nal tw o sessions o f the dPSafety School in October and Novemb er have been cance lled. For more in for mation call 805/ 772-8301. World Champion Michael Doohan has again lowered his lap times at Eastern Cree k, the si te o f the upcomin g Aus tralian Grand Prix on March 26. Doohan and his factory Honda NSRSOO lapped at HRC' s Shinichi Itoh crashed and injured his left wrist during the first da y of his Repsol Honda team's final preseason test at Eastern Creek. X-Rays, however, confirmed th at Itoh suffered no broken bones in the crash. The swelling in his hand kept him out of action for the remaind er of the test. Brazilian Alex Barros also participated in the Honda test and apparently has adapted quickly to his Honda NSRSOO. Barros, 24, lap ped in a 1:31.79 - one-tenth of a second quicker than his 1994 Australian GP qualifying time. "I made progressively better times all throughout the test," Barros said. "So it is very encourging for me, considering I had not ridden the new H ond a until I arr ived in Australia ." Barros has st ill not confirmed a sponsor, but he did indicate that a deal w ou ld be finalized prior to th e Au stralian GP Willow Springs Motorcycle Club says it has su rpassed the quarter million do llar . ma rk in ava ilable awards, p rizes and contingencies availabl e to its members in 1995. WSMC will give aw ay a new twow heel-d rive Toyot a pickup tru ck, an open-class sportbike, and has ad de d a full -suspension mo un tai n bike with a Troy Lee helmet as ano the r prize. For more info rmation on the club aw ards, continge ncies and d ra wi ng programs call WSMC at 805/256-1234.

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