Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·V IC S O E Letters to the editor America's weekly motercycle ~ewspaper V olume XXXII SharonClayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher Editorial Paul Carruthers, Editor KitPalmer, Associate EditOr Donn Maeda, Associate Editor ScottRousseau, Associate Editor Mark Hoyer, Managing Editor Graphics and Production' Ree Johnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Loo, Production Manager Dennis Greene, LAb. Tech. Stacey Guest, Graphic Artist Amy Faught, Graphic Artist Adminis trati on Judy Klinger, Coordinator Peggy Rivera, Secretary to the Publisher Advertising Terry Pratt, National Accounts Manager Mark Mitchell, EasternAccounts Manager Mark Thome, Western Sal sManager e Thomas Genter , Western SalesManager Forrest Hayashi, Western SalesManager Greg Mitchell, Eastern Sales Manager Rick Matheny, Eastern SalesManager Rhonda Crawford, WesternAd Coordinator Carla Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Want Ads Laurie Snow, Want Ad Sales Marketing & Promotion Mark Thome, Manager Dealer Sales Kelly Branscome, Dealer Representative AccountingIDataProcessing Donna Bryan-Diamond, AIR Coordinator Geneva Repass, Assistant Herlane Lewis, Credit Circulation Rheba Smith, Manager Alma Anguiano, Processing Coordinator Pam Klein, Billing Coordinator Carol Begovic, Dealer Coordinator Service and Support Sharon Each, Hea dquartersReceptionist Leonard Herring, Serviceand Support National Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave., LongBeach, CA 90806, P.O. Box 498, LongBeach, CA 90801-0498 (310) 427-7433; (213) 636-8844. FAX (310) 427-6685 . Eastern Office 4188 First Ave., Tucker, GA, 30084; mailing address P.O. Box 805, Tucker, GA 300SS-{)8(J5. (404) 934-7850. FAx (404)934-3112 CycleNews (USPS 141-J.lO) is published weekly except the last two weeksof the calendar year for$50.00per year by CycleNews, lnc., 2201 Cherty Avenue. LongBeach, CA , 90806. Second class postage paid at LongBeach, CAand at additional mailingoffice. Canada Post International Publications Maillf54661S. It stinks I am very p lea sed to read th at the AMA has fined Mike LaRocco $500 for taking a swing at Jeff Dem ent during the Ana he im Supercro ss. It seems that there are a small number of racers who fall into this category time after time, and I think it stinks. As a fan, I am sick and tired of seein g riders reso rt to blatantly knocking d own another rider as their means of makin g a pa ss. That is not the art of the sport, showing superior skill and conditionin g over an opponent is! I hope to s ee th e AMA get even tougher in this res pect. William Crawford Ledyard, Connecticut Th ere were former World Champions, in cl u d in g John Surtees and Jim Redman, as wel1 as rare exotics like MV multies and the fabulous Honda six. The addition of an extra day of racing, as w ell as adding Battle of th e Twi n s, Sound of Singles, " d BEARS, made a an total of over 700 entries. BMW and the Legends put on their exciting show with the races on Monday and Tuesday, Under the leadership of AHRMA, the "Classic Racing Days" of Bike Week has become the premier classic motorcycling even t in the world . Congratulations to all those at AHRMA and the dozens of volunteers who helped make this event a tru e classic. Da n iel D. Chapman San Antonio, TX We'll be back Gateway to hell I've been rea d in g abou t th e Ga teway International Raceway issue, an d, once again, was reminded of so me great racing memories, I quit -in 1991 after nin e years (that " responsibility" wo rd finally got me) . Anyw ay, t~e word of an AMA National taking pla ce the re was a shock tome. The year was 1989. I mad e the trip to Gateway w ith my friend s fro m Team Machine to ride in a WERA endura nce race there. Upon our arriva l at the track, we quickly re-named it Gateway to hell ! The track was right in the middle of town. To ma ke a long story short, it was basically St. Louis' version of Bridgehampton Raceway in Long Island, New York. But it was stil1 good fun . After hearing some Friday night hor ror stories of unfortunate rid ers impacting the turn two guard rail, I final1y got the team's CBR600 cook ing aro und the tra ck pretty good. At least until Kevin Ren tzell blew by me on s o me hype r FZ R400. H e w a s ab solu te ly d rifting both ends of that lightweight Yammie. And, of cou rs e, Paul Bray and Mik e Smi th were th ere blasting around on the T.5.E GSXR1100. Yup, those were the da ys. Rick Burd ick Waterford, cr AHRMA Congrats Congratulations to AHRMA, e xecutive director Jeff Sm ith, and rac e director Jack Turner for bringing together a . worldwide col1ection of the most exotic modem and vin tage motorcycles and an international class of riders at the recent "Classic Racing Days" at Daytona Internationa l Speedway. As usu al, we thoroughly enjoyed yo ur Dirt Track Season Previe w (Iss u e #8, March 1). We d id notic e an error, howeve r. You ranked Brett Landes as finishing seven th in the 1994 Grand Na tiona l Championship Series when in fact Aaron Hill ended up seventh in the series. O u r la ck of s uccess ' in secu ring a major spo nsor (as in $), alon g wi th poor remuneration (as in purse winnings) has d ictated that we sit this year out from a ful1 Grand National Championship dirt track effort. Mike Shattuck H-D of Sacram en to ' Sacramento, CA Morehead ru les For some reason the sh ort track at Daytona conti nues to produce so me of the most dra ma tic moments in racing. From the first time a race was held at the new stadium, the only requ est that "the rid ers had was to rem ove the four -foot strip of gra ss between the sta d ium wal1 and the track. They wer e promptly told by stadium management that it was a sports stadium, not a race track, and,that no gra ss woul d be removed. The re sult is th e on ly track on the Na tional circuit w ith ha y bales the length of each straigh t. This year these ha y bales caused a near tra gic accid en t when Ste ve Morehead ran out of race track while trying to put some exci tement into the normal1 y boring blu e-groove short track. Fortunately, Steve not only survived the accident but later returned in a semi to put on a high-line riding exh ibition with Scott Park er that was abso lutely sensational Althou gh Parker edged out Morehead for the one advancement spot in the National, both rid ers were asked to do a cool-off lap. For that lap there were two ,number-one plates on the track in the spectator's eyes, and everyone was on their feet cheering. Despite the obvi- . ously dangerous conditions, these tw o champions provided a show we won't soon forget. It don't get much better tha n tha t. Norm Gruber Beach Park, IL Superbike history I read your interview with AMRT's Malco lm Hill (Issue #10, March 15) with interest, and wo uld like to know more about ..."the superbike history ex hibition tha t Cycle News is sponsoring..." Hil1 places the start of superbike racing in 1977 - one year after the event. "(Steve) McLaughlin was cr edited with w inning the AMA 's first o fficial superbike race ; prior to 1976, the class was called Super Pro d uction, and the 1975 Daytona ra ce w inner wa s Dave Aldana on a Kawasak i," wrote Dain Gingerel1i in Cycle Gu ide in Jun e of 1986. McLaughlin rode a Butler & Smith BMW R-90S at Dayton a that year, the bike being tuned by Udo Gi etl , Todd Schus ter a n d Matt Capri. Matt, who now owns Luftrneister, still tuned the odd rapid BMW, and is one of America's staunches t keepers of the BMW performance flame - or what's left of it. Everyone se ems content to watch id e n tic a l BMW s t re e tb ikes circulate ' around Daytona's banking under the watchful tutelage of our sport's elder sta tesme n - and the y call this progress. Yawn . Bru ce Arms trong Sant a Barba ra, CA Hill refers to the 1977 date because that is when the AMA officialIy launched an AMA S u perbike N ati onal Champion sh ip. Reg Pridmore took that title on a BMW. We're currently putting the fi nishing touches on the superbike history exhibition which will be a pictorial display in the A M RT exhibit, beginning with the L.A. Superbike Grand Prix at the Pomona Fairplex on April 12...Editor. letters to the editor sh oul d b e se n t to Voices, Cycle News, P.O. Box 498, l ong Beach, CA 90806-0498 or faxed to 310/4276685. Published letters do not necessa rily reflect the position of Cycle News, In c. Letters should not exceed 200 words and all lett ers are subj ect to editing. Anon y' m o u s letters will not be considered for pu bli cation. All letters should contain the w rite r's name, add re s s a nd d ay time phone number .. . Editor. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cyele News, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801 .0498. To determine the exp iration dille of your su bscri ptio n, check the four nu mbers on the first line of your ad dress label. The first two d igit s In dicate las t issue number you 'll receive and the last two characters Indicate the yeu of the last issu e. the INSIDE " Issue#12, March29,1995 Subscription rates: Rates for the United States and its p0ssessions for one year, (SO issues),SSOJ»; two years (100 issues),$95.00;six months, (25 issues), 526.00; trial sub (IS issues), $19.00, Canada and Foreign. one year (SO issues), 590.00;two years (100issues),5175.00; six months (25 issues), $45.00;trial sub (IS issues).$38.00. CycleNews welcomesunsolicited editorial materialincluding stories, cartoons, photos,etc. Such material,if published, beco mes the exclusiveproperty ofCycleNews,Such accepteel material is subject to revision as is necessary in the sole discretion ofCycleNews. Unsolicited materialwhich is not used willbe returned if accompanied by a selfaddressed stampedenvelope. Allunsolicited material willbe handled with reasona care,however,CycleNews assumes no ble responsibilityfor the safety, Jossor damage to such material Reprinting in wholeor part only by permissionof the publisher. Advertising ratesand circulation information will be sent upon request.SeeS.R.OS W/BP.'A V __ AUDITED CIRCULATION Printed in U. S. A . COl;'yrigh~ CycleNews, Inc. 1995 Tr~dtmark Cycle News : registered U.S. P~tent Office. All rightsreserved. MOTOCROSS 1995 Mo tocross GP Preview FEATURES SUPERCROSS McGrath rebounds at Indy 6 OFF·ROAD Hamel, Smith slam San Felipe 250....10 DEPARTMENTS EVENTS _ .30 NEW PRODUCTS 14 HARE & HOUND Hoy hits Gold Strike H&H 16 38 RESULTS 40 CALENDAR. TEST Montesa Cota 314R ROADRACING 1995 Gran d Prix Preview 24 42 20 : 48 INTHE PADDOCK : WANT ADS 63 LOOKING BACK : 63 ON THE FRONT COVER Clockw ise fro m lower right: Jeremy McGrath regained his winning form at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. Story on page 6. Photo by Kinney Jones. Todd Hoy no tched the overall win at the Gold Strike H &H. See page 16. Photo by Mark Kariya / Dirt Rider . A test' of the '95 Montesa Co ta 314R can be found on page 14. Photo by Joe Bonnello.

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