Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1995 04 12

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/127723

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 1 of 67

·INTHE WIND . Belgian Joel Smets won the opening round of the World Championship 500cc MX Series in Arganil, Portugal, on April 2. The four-stroke Husaberg rider won both motos, while American Trampas Parker, aboard a 360cc KTM, grabbed second overall via 5-2 moto finishes. Third overall went to former champ Jacky Martens on the 630cc Husqvarna four -stro ke, while New Zealan d 's Da rryll King (Kaw) an d Ho lland's Mikkel Caprani (Kaw) rounded out the top five overall. in Castiglione del Lago, Italy, on April 2, Itali an Claudio Federici (Yam) scored . the over all win at the opening round of the World C ha m p ion sh ip 125cc MX Ser ies . Fellow countrym an and Team Yamaha rider Alessio Ch iodi was the runne r-up. Alessandro Puzar (Hon) finished th ird ahead of Co lin Dugmore (Su z) and American Jimm y Butto n (Hon). Finishi ng sixth was MX d es Nation s 125cc class wi nner, Brit Paul Malin (Suz). Marc Colomer (Mon) was the winner of rou nd th ree of the Sp anish Natio na l Championship Trials Series, held March 25 in Mallorca, Spain. Amos Bilbao (Bet) was the runner-up, wh ile six-time World Ch ampion Jordi Tarres (G-G), Marcel Justribo (Bet) and Gabriel Reyes (Mon) rounded out the top five. Ty Davis (Kaw) continued his surprising dominance of the 1995 National Championship Enduro Series with win number four in Na varro, California, o n April 2. Defending Champion Steve Hatch was sec ond, with five-time champ Randy Hawkins taking thi rd . This is the first 'tim e Davis has ac tively p u r sued th e National Enduro title, and he has w on every round thus far. Two-time All Japan National MX Champion Ron Tichenor (Suzjswept both motos at the April 2 National Championship Series opener in Tajimi , Japan. Jeff Matiasevich{Kaw) finished second in both motos, while Tatsuyuki Motoki (Hon) turned in 3-4 moto scores for third overall. Motoki competed aboard an aluminum perimeter framed Honda RC250. J ohn M yers (Suz) defeated David Schultz (Suz) to win the Mac Tools Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida, on April 2. Myers, who clocked a 7.589-second /170 mp h run, moves into third in the 1995championship point standings behind Schu ltz and Michael Phillips with what was his 20th career NH RA victory. Accordi ng to Spain's Solo Moto Magazi ne, for mer Supercross, World a nd Na tio n al MX Cha mpion Jea n- Mic hel Bayle will contest several rounds of this year's Fren ch National Trials Championship Series. Bayle, who presently contests the 250cc World Cha mpionship Road Race Series as a member of the factory C hes terfield Ap rilia squad, has already declared that after he wins a road .radng World Championship, he will conte s t th e World Ch amp ion s hip Trials Series. It was not said wha t type of bike he wo uld compe te on, as the Aprilia factory di scon tinu ed production of their popular Climber trials machine last year. Road racer Michael Martin se t a new motorcycle lap record at Talladega Gran Prix Race w ay on March 26, rid ing a Valvoline Suzuki GSXRllOO-based Formula USA Superbike. Martin's record lap came in the cou nter-clockwise direction and took 57.50 seconds and was verified by WERA officia ls at the track. Martin won the Formula One race at Talladega, but his record lap came during p ractice. The British round of the SOOcc Worl d Championship MX Series sched uled for Hawkston e Par k in England on July 9 has been cancelled by th e Au to Cycle Union (ACU). The F1M Motocross Commission is looking into the possibility of rep lacing th e even t and an announcement is due in the next few weeks. An AMA Appeal Board upheld the d isqualification of Shawn Higbee and Ben Bostrom from the opening round of the AMA Progressive Insurance Harl eyDavidson SuperTwins race held at Daytona In tern ational Speedwa y on March 12. The appeal board hearing was held at the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, California, on March 31 with the board consisting of John Ulrich, publisher of Road Racing World and MotorcycleTechnology, John Erickson, director of technical operations for NHRA and Mark Johnson of Kawasaki Motor Co. CMC will host a-Spring Classic Warm Bradshaw set to return? hough Yamaha officials would not confirm that Damon Bradshaw (right) is planning to return to racing, it looks very likely tha t the '89 Eastern Regional 125cc Supercross Champion will make a comeback sometime during the 1995 season. After sign ing an unprecedented five -year, . $450,000per year contract at the beginning of the '93 race season, Bradshaw s hocked the motorcycle industry by announcing his retirement in September of that same year . Bradshaw said that for personal reasons, he could no longer give 100% of his effort to racing, and to give anything less would cheat his fans and sponsors. "I'll be back when I can earn my paycheck and no t one second before," said Bradshaw in a SeptemIt) ber '93 Yamaha -issued press release. ~ App arently, that time has come, and Bradshaw will reportedly start off by working ,..-I with Yama ha's testing department. The 19-time su pe rcross winner has been spotted several times in recent weeks testing and practicing with the Yama ha facto ry and Noleen /Sizz1er teams, and witnesses report that he is not too far off his old pace. On Yam aha 's private Southern California supercross track, Brads haw is reportedly faster than John Dowd, an d only a few seconds off of Larry Ward's pace. Should he return this season, don't expect Bradshaw to compete in the u.s. Supercross Series. Instead , his retu rn will likely be in the 250cc Nationa l Championship MX Series. Na turally, Bradsha w would be aboa rd a factory-backed YZ250 and pitted with Jeff Emig, Kevin Windham and Dowd in the factory semi . T MTEG Ultracross Series cancelled , he Mickey Thompson'Entertainment Group has ann ounced the cancellation of the remainder of the 1995 Mickey Thompso n Stadium Off-Road Racing Series, includ ing the Ultracross Series. The announcement was made by MTEG President Dann y 'Thompson, who cited a dwind ling competi tor base, lack of sponso rship revenue, and environmenta l ha rdship s as having direct effects on the series' financial situation . "O ur events have endured a major earthq ua ke in '94 (Anaheim), record rainstorms in '93 and '95 (Ana heim and San Diego), and the L.A. riots in '92 - all of which took their toll on the series," stated Thompson, son of series founder Mickey Thompson. "This crea ted financial ha rds hip and we've been trying to recover eve r since I took over as p resid ent of MTEG." Danny Thompson took over in 1988, following the death of Mickey Thompson, who founded the series in 1982: Danny Thompson acknowledged that the level of compe tition at the shows has decreased in 1995, due in larg e pa rt to the depa rture of the Grand National Sport Trucks, the series' marquee class. Toyota and Ch evrolet both abando ned the series at the end of last year . "We must step back and re-evalu ate every aspec t of the series," said Thompson. "There is a major deficit in en tries and sponsorship sales. We need to revamp the system andinject some excitement back into the program ." . included in the compa ny 's cutbacks was the termination of all emp loyees except for Thompson, genera l manager Mike DiStefano and vice president Greg Wanlass. "Danny is looking to add some new life to the series," said d irector of pu blic relations Tony Gardea, who was among those laid off. "It was starting to become stagnant, an d the company was not looking at any profitability. To keep the integrity of what Mickey Thompso n was abo ut, a reassessment had to be mad e. By no means is the company going out of bus iness. " With th ree of the scheduled eig ht round s having been completed this year, the points leade rs in the various classes w ill be crown ed as champions. Team Noleen / .Sizzler /Yamaha 's Kyle Lewis , the defending champion, won all three rounds. MTEG will continue to pursue the Spec Truck p rogram under its current agreement with Rod Millen Motorspo rts to bu ild the chassis. No timetable has been set for the return of stadium off-road racing, but Thompson add ed, "My father started stadium racing back in the late 1970s and created one of the most 'entertaining forms of racing in the world. We're going to take it to the next level." MTEG will also con tinue to produce eyents for the U.S. Supercross Series. Two . TEG-promoted races remain in 1995 - Denver on June 3 and the series finale in Las M Vegas on Jun e 10 - and according to Gardea, there are no plans of cutting back next year. It is likely that many of the same people who were involved in the promotion and organization of past races will be utilized in the future on a contract basis. T Up at Sunrise Valley Raceway in Adelan to, California, on Easter Sunday, April 16. An Easter egg hunt will be held for the ' children, and a special half time show will pit many of today's top motocrossers against one another in stock cars on Sunrise's quarter-mile dirt track. Da mon Huffman, Greg Albe rtyn, Larry Ward, Kyle Lewis, La rry Brooks, Jeremy McGrath, Steve Lamson, John Dow d , Kevin Windham, Doug Dubach, Ray Crumb, Chad Smanjak, Sp ud Walters, Rick Johnson, Jim mie Jo hnson, Bria n Simo and Jim Holley are scheduled to participate. Promo ters of the North American Su per Bike Ser ies (NA SB) ha ve announced their 1995 series schedule . With round one al ready taking place a t Daytona International Speedway on Ma rch 4-5, round two of the series will be held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, on August 4-6 (the date orginally held by the now-cancelled United States Grand Prix). The third round will take place at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, on September 15-17 with round four being held at the New Hampshire international Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire on Oc tober 6-8. The final round will see the series return to Daytona on October 20-22. "This schedule and class structure we have set for 1995 meets the objectives we established in the beginning," NAS B fou nder Rog er Ed mon dso n said . "We w ill have a fiveevent, 1D-race Superbike series with all of our events held at top-level facilities. We will continue the heritage of Supersport and Twin Sports tha t we established through CCS (Cham p io ns hi p Cup Series). We're also proud to ad d Grand Prix Ligh ts as a new class for 125cc machines. Each of our five chainpionship classes has its own identity and niche in racing competition and entertain men t. We think it's a race weekend that riders and fans will both appreciate." Edmo ndson also noted that the minimum purse for the Superbike class will be $10,000 per leg, or $20,000per race weekend. Accord ing to a second release fro m NASB, there has also been a $100,000 po ints fund esta blished for the 'Superbike class, with "20 riders sharing in $50,000 and the winner getting $10,000 as an initial pay ment. The following year, the top 10 riders from the 1995 series will take home additional dollars every time they compete in a 1996 sched uled event. All top 10 riders would receive an additional $5000 each by participating in all 1996 events ." The 1995 NASB events will featu re Superbike, America n Sport Bike (600cc Supersport) , Un limited Spo rt Challenge (Unlimited Supersport), United States Twin Sports (Harley 883s) and Grand Prix Lights (l25cc GP). The Briggs & Stratton Tunnel will open three new spectator areas on the inside of Road America's four-mile road circ uit , according to the track. The 125-foot long tunnel is located nea r gates 3 and 4 and provides access to new specato r areas all the way from Tum One to Tu rn three. The tunnel will see actio n for the first time during the AMA Superbike National Champio nship round sche duled for Road America on June 9-11. Rather than facing the burd en of talking to millions and m illions of racers, PI1 Racing Oils has asked that we let everyone know that all riders who participate in the ir sponsorsli.ip p rograms in AMA roa d raci ng, motocross, cross country and th e Grand National Dirt Track Ch ampionship are eligible to win b y using PJl p roducts and d isp laying PJI

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's - Cycle News 1995 04 12