Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND Alex Vieira, Rachel Nicotte and Brian Mo rrison rode a Honda RC45 to victory in the 24 Hours of L.e Mans in L.e Mans, France, on April 15-16. The trio averaged 87.470 mph in topping the Suzuki GSXR750-mounted team of Mo ineau, Lavielle, and Gomez and the Yamaha YZF750-mounted team of Morillas, Deletang and Bonoris. Sp aniard Jordi Tarre s (G-G) wa s the w inner at round two of the World Championship Trials Series, held April 16 in Hawkstone Park, England. Marc Colomer (Mon) was the runner-up, followed by Tommi Ah vala (Fan), Joa n Pons (G-G) an d Donato Mig lio (G-G) Last year's English World Round winner, Dougie Lampkin , was 14th. Tarres and Ahvala are tied atop the series point standings with 35 points each, while Colomer sits third wit h 34, Jeff Matiasevi ch (Kaw) was the overall winner at round two of the All Japan National MX Cha mpionship Series, held April 16 in Kumamoto, Japan. Matiasevich used 1-2 moto scores to secure his w in . Ko h ji Ohkawara (Yam ) was the runner-up with 3-1 scores, while Ryuchiro Takahama (Hon ) rounded out the top th ree . Defending National Champion Ron Tichenor was second in the first moto, but crashed out of the second race. Matiasevich leads Tichenor, 71-57, in the series point standings. Californian Rich O li ve r (Yam) established himself as the series points leader in round one of the Sunoco Race Fuels Formula USA series held at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California , on April 16. Riding a Yamaha TZ250, Oliver won decisively in both races over the more p owerf ul, largerdisplacement four-strokes . Second in points on a pair of runner-up finishes was Chuck Graves (Suz), while Texan Mi ch ae l Ma rtin (Suz) ended the d ay with two third-place finishes. Round ing ou t the top five in the series are Chris T ayl o r (Ya m), with a 4-5 tally, and Glen n Szarek wh o ended the d ay with a 6-4 score. Harley-Dav idson's Doug Chandl er crashed the VRl000 during a test session at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, on April 13 and rebroke the le ft s h o u ld er that was broken in his Daytona 200 crash on March 12. "I'm g oi ng to see Art (Dr. Arthur Ting) tomorrow , but it doesn't look like I'll ma ke Laguna (the next round of the AMA Superbike National Ch amp ionship on April 30)," Chandler sa id on Monday, April 17. Chandler crashed on the approach to the famed Cor kscrew. "I fell on the right and slid and I thought I was going to be okay, then [ rolled and it go t me on the left shoulder. I' ve got the X-rays right here and it br oke the plate and everything." Chand ler had his broken left shou ld er plated th e week after his crash in the Daytona 200. - ........ .I-< Smo kin' Joe's Honda's Mike Hale was the fas test of th e superbike men w ho tested at Lagu na Seca on April 13. Hale lapped in th e one-minute, 29-se cond ran ge on his Honda RC45 , top p ing Vance & Hines Yamaha's Jami e James and Tom Kipp, who both circulated in th e 1:30s . Harley-Davidson, Honda , Suzuki and Yamaha all participated in the sess ion. Laguna Seca Racewa y will host a Vin- 0.. tage Motorcycle display during the Toy-

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