Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

VOICE S America's weekly motorcyclenewspaper Letters totheeditor Vo lume XXXII Sharon Clayton. President Michael Klinger. Publisher Editorial Paul Carruthers, Editor KitPalmer, Associate Editor Donn Maroa. Associate Editor ScottRousseau, Associate Editor Mark Hoyer. Managing Editor Graphics and Production Ree Johnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Loa. Production Manager Dennis Greene. Lab. Tech. StaceyGuest. Graphic Artist 'Amy Faught. GraphicArtist Administration Judy Klinger. Coordinator Peggy Rivera. Secretary to thePublisher Advertising Terry Pratt. National Accounts Manager Mark Mitchell. Eastern Accounts Manager MarkThome. Western SalesManager Thomas Ce nter, Western'Sales Manager Forrest Hayashi. Western SalesManager Greg Mitchell. Eastern Sales Manager Rick Matheny. Eastern Sales Manager Rhonda Crawford. Western Ad Coordinator Carla Allen. Eastern Ad Coordinator Want Ads LaurieSnow. Want Ad Sales Marketing & Promotion MarkThome. Manager Dealer Sales Kelly Bran scome, Dealer Representative AccountinglData Processing DonnaBryan-Diamond. AIR Coordinator Geneva Rep ass, Assistant Herlane Lewis, Credit Circulation Rheba Smith. Manager Alma Anguiano. Processing Coordinator Pam Klein. Billing Coordinator Carol Begovic, DealerCoordinator Serviceand Support Sharon Each. HeadquartersReceptionist Leonard Herring, Service andSupport National Headquarters 2201Cherry Ave.• Long Beach. CA90806, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach. 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, GA30085-0805. (404) 934-7850. FAX (404) 934-3112 Cycle News (US PS141·34ll is published weeklyexcept the ) last two weeksof the calendar year (or$50.00per year by CycleNews Inc.• 2201 CherryAvenue. Long Beach. CA . 90806. Secondclass postage paid at Long Beach, CAand at additional mailing office. Canada Post InternationalPublicationsMail ~1 5 . Au stin? There are no ranches in Austin, Texas. Within its boundaries are the state capita l, dozens of state buildings, 40,00050,000 Un iversity of Texas s tuden ts, U.T. buildings, 500,000 people an d a dozen or so bedroom communities. We in Texas don't refer to a couple of acres as a ranch and I'm sure Ke vin Schwantz wouldn't either. If you wa nt t? know more about Austin. drop me a .line. Paul Hilsberg Pflugerville, TX Hilsberg is refe rring to an item we ran recently In The Wind which showed Kevin Schwantz shooting clay pigeons in England. We said that Schwantz was considering installi ng clay -pigeon equipment at his ranch in Austin. Texas. Schwantz's 11Soacre ranch is located near Austin in the hill country of central Texas...Editor. The safety crew I have rea d so me negat ive commen ts from racer Carl Fogar ty and others from across the pond con cerning Scott Russell's win in this year's Daytona 200. Mr. Fogarty stated that "organ izers of the event bent the rules to help Scott Russell w in the 200 -mile r ace," Mr. Foga rty claimed the pace car was used to enable Mr . Russell to make up grou n d lost when he fell in the International Horseshoe. Fogarty and hi s team manager Virginio Ferrari were also incensed by the fact that Russell received assistance from two COrner marshals to ge t back into the race in 56th place. And because of all this, Fogarty has vowed to never return to Daytona.I say to Carl Fogarty and the other crybab ies. lift up that smoke shield and see the truth. On the race course th at da y, there were about 80 cornerworkers who make up the Daytona 200 Safety Crew. When Russell crashed, he jumped over his bike, picked it up and proc eeded to try and get restarted. Two corn erworkers ran out to assist and after a lengthy push, the bike fired up. This is our job and we will do' this for everybody while m a int a inin g a safe racing course. Nowhere in the AMA Pro Racing ru lebook does it say that a rid er cannot receive assistance from a cornerworker or official. Therefore no rule was bent or broken. Meanwhile. Russell starts slicing his way through lapped traffic. On lap four a radio call com es into control from comer station seven (turn 6) requ esting th a t the pace car be brought ou t. I quickly questioned captain Dirk Husbeck's call to see if w e really did need to bring out the pace car . "We need the pace car because we have oil on th e racing line that is going to take som e time to clean up , and we have two riders down and one needs an ambulance." Roger Bennett had crashed in tum six and put oil on the racing line and Dou g Chandler w a s unfortunatel y right ' behind Bennett w h en he w en t down . ' The p ace car was imm ediately dispatched and waving orange pace car flags went out at all 12 stations plus the start/ finish. In the pace car ru les, passing is not permitted when the pace car flag is out. Cornerworkers knew of this ru le and were watc hing for any illegal p ass in g a nd w er e told to rep ort an yth ing illega l. The oil sp ill was cleane d up , inj u red rid ers w ere taken to th e infield care cen ter, and racing resumed when the p ace car comp leted its mi nimum three laps. Th e w hole inci den t lasted 11 minutes and wa s handled well by all parties involved . Russell was back in 56th p lace when the course was cleared. He then rod e the w heels off his bike and won his third Daytona 200 .:beating Carl Fogarty by almost a minute. Rule bending? I d on' t think so. Congratulations to "Mr. Daytona " Scott Russell and h is Muzzy Kawasa ki team, You w on it fair and squ are but still had to overcome some tremendous odds from the start. Roger Lyle Director of the Daytona 200 Safe ty Crew , Wheaton, MD What about Castle Rock? The 1995 Grand National IT scheduled for Castle Rock in Washington State has been cancelled . District 27 has 19 National numbers and the largest amateur dirt track program in the country. If you live in Indianapolis, you can get to . 19 of the 25 Grand National Dirt Tracks on the schedule with nothing longer than a 14-hour drive. The drive from most of Washing ton to the nea rest Grand National Dirt Track in California is more than 18 hours. Maybe I'm naive, b u t somethi ng doesn 't seem fair here, I thought th e Grand National Championship awarded the bes t all-around ride r - how can that be when there is only one IT (Peoria) in the whole series. Rumor has it that Castle Rock has been given a verbal promise for a Grand National event in 1996, but that's only worth the p aper it's written on - since we had one of those for the 1995 event, too. I could go on about possible politicking and fa voritism, but I just w an ted you -all to know that there are fans up here in the Pacific Northwest rain forests as we ll. Karin Lang Olym pia, WA Where's Springer? After hearing that Jay Springsteen won the Pomona Half Mile on April 1, 1995, I h ave been anxiously waiting for my next issue of Cycle News to see !lim racing, gallantly displayed, in full color on the front cover. I must say I was disappointed . Cycle News lost th e moment to give a great racer and his fans an overdue look. Jody Voss Childress . Brea, CA Unfortun ately, we didn't have any quality color photos of Spring er f rom Pom ona. We 'll be the first to adinit - we owe him one...Editor. Glo ry Days I was list en ing to Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" on the way to work this morning and thinking abo ut Jay Spri ngsteen's superb victory at Pomona. I feel privileged to have covered Springer during his glory days. Unlike the song, Jay's glory days didn't pass him by. He is still a hero and one of the most popular racers on track today. I think the true Springsteen fans .. and the re are a lot of them out there .. knew the re was some "glory" left. I wish I had been there. First to see Jay win. And, secon dly, to see two other "glory" guys - Steve Morehead and Scott Parker - on the podium. Between the three, we're talking 121 AMA Grand National Championship wins and eight championship titles. Congra tulations Jay, Steve and Scott. It must have been one helluva celebration in the winner's circle Gary Van Voorhi s Ormond Beach, FL Lette rs to the editor sh ou ld be s en t to Voi ces, Cycle News, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 908060498 or faxed 10 31ll/427-c685. Pub lished letten do not necessa rily reflect th e position of Cycle News, In c. Lette rs sh oul d not exceed 200 words and all le tters are s u~j ect to ed iting. Anonymous letters will not be consi dered for pub lication. All lett ers shou ld contain the w r i ter's n ame, a d dress a nd dayti me p hone numb er . .. Editor. POSTMASTER: Send .J d d~1 changes to Cycle News, P.O. B Oll 498, Long Beach, CA 90801~98. To determine the npir.JUon da te of you r subscription, check the four nu mbers on the first line of your address label. The firsl two digits indicate the lasl iss ur num ber you 'll receive and the lasltwo characters ind icat e the yrar of the last issue . Subscription rates:Rates for the United States and its p0ssessionsfor one year. (SO issues).$50.00; two yean (100 issues). $95.00; six months. (25 issues),526. 0; trial sub (IS 0 issues).519.00. Canada and Foreign one year (SO issues). . $90.00; two years (100issues), $175 .00;six months (25 issues), $45.00; trial sub (15issues). $38.00. ..... ""' ~ 4 CycleNews welcomesunsolicited editorial material includingstories. cartoons. photos, etc. Such material if published. becomes the exclusive property of Cycle News. Such accepted material is subject to revisionas is necessary in the sole d iscretion of Cycle News. Unsolicited material which is not used will be returned if acrompanied by a selfaddressed stamped envelope. Allunsolicited material willbe handled with reasonable care. however. Cycle News assumes no responsibility for the safety •lossor damage to such material. Reprinting in wholeor part only by permissi n of the pubo fisher. Advertising rates and circulation information willbe sent upon request. SeeS.RD5. WJ'BD'A V . -!:"~ AU DITED CIRCULA TION Printed in U.S.A. COfyright"CycleNews,Inc.199 5.Tndomuk CycleNews regIStered U.S. Patenl Office. All righmreserved, .IN ID S E. Issue #15, A 9, 1 pril1 995 ENDURO Davis does it again at Sawmill Nat'I .FEATURES SUPERCROSS laRocco lands second win in Pontiac MOTOCROSS - Tichenor tough at Japanese National Smets smashes Portuguese 500ccGP Federici fast at Italian 12SecGP 6 DEPARTMENTS EVENTS ; 22 l0 RESULTS ...............•.................................................32 . 14 15 CALENDAR .35 WANT ADS 40 INTHE TAPES 55 LOOKINGBACK 55 TEST 1995 Suzuki RF600RS and RF900RS 20 16 ON THE FRONT COVER Team Kawasaki's Mike LaRocco scored his second AMA Supercross Series win of the '95 season in the PonIiac Silverdome. LaRocco now hangs 16 poin ts adrift of series. leader Jeremy McGrath and appears to have an outside shot at the title. See page 6. Photo by Kinney Jones

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