Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I.·INTHE'W : INO" Alessio Ch iodi (Yam) won round three of the World Championship 125cc MX Series. held April 30 in Cosquin, Argentina . American Ji mmy" Bu tt o n (Hon) was second overall ahead of Alessa n d ro Puzar (Hon). Chiodi leads the series point standings with 92. Puzar is second with 81, and Maschio is third with 68. Ty Davis (Kaw) won the opening round of the AMA National Championship Reliability Enduro/ISDE Qualifier Series in Crosbyton. Texas, April 28-30. Th e runner-up was defending champ Rodney Sm ith (Suz), while Steve Hatch (Suz), Randy Ha wkins (Suz) and G reg Zitterkopf (KTM) rounded out the top five overall. As it stands now, 37 positions are open for this year's In ternational Six Days Enduro in Poland. this . Fal l. D e fe nd in g champ Scott Pless inger (KT M) sco re d the overall win at the fo urth round of the Grand National Cro ss Country Championship Series in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. April 30 . Former champ Fre d Andrews (Yam) finished second ahead of Gu y Coope r (Suz), Doug Blackwell (Yam) and fourtime National Enduro Champion Terry Cunningham (Yam). Points leader going into the race Scott Summers (Hon) D F'ed with clutch problems. As a result. Cooper now holds the series points lead over Summers, 95-68. This is the first time Cooper has ever led an off- · road series. Plessinger is third with 56. Jess K-empk es (G-G) scored his firstever National win at round three of the AMA/NATC National Championship Trials Series, he ld in San Diego, California, April 29. The low-sco re of the event was actually turned in by Spaniard David Cobo s (G-G), but the visiting European was competing as an exhibition-o nly rider. Six-time National Champion Ryan Young (G-G) was second. and Olivier Oamagirand (G-G) earned hird. Defending Nationa l Champion Geoff Aaro n (Bet) and Raymon d Peters (Fan) rounded out the top three. David Cobos (G-G) was the winner of the 25th El Trial de Espana, held April 30 in San Diego, California. Ryan Young (G-G) actually tied Cobos in points, but lost the tie breaker on cleans. Geoff Aaron (Bet) was third overall, while Jess Kem p kes (G-G) and Denn is Sweeten (Bet) completed the top five finishers. Kohji Ohkawara (Yam) earned the win at round three of the All Japan National MX Championship Series, held April 30 in Meihan, Japan. Masanori En omoto (Kaw) was second overall. and American Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw) rounded ou t the top three. Matiasevich crashed hard in moto one and could only salvage eigh th. but came back to wi n moto two . Defending Na tional Champion Ronnie Tichenor crashe d in a qualifier and failed to make th e National. Matiasevich lead s the series point sta ndings with 99 points, and is trailed by Ohkawara with 72, and Enomoto with 61. Tichenor is fourth with 57. The Ford Motor Corp. has been named the title sponsor of the July 23 Unadilla 125/250cc MX National, held in New Berlin, New York . Special editions of the best-selling Ford Truck product line will be on display at the event. For more information contact the Unadilla Valley Sport Center at 607/965-8784. Team North County Yamaha's Mi k e Metzger has decided to hang up his boots. and will no longer race as a member of the NCY Yamaha Western Regional 125cc Supercross team . Metzger will continue his association with NCY, primarily doing various aerial antics for videos and still photography. Long-time top privateer Co ry Keen ey will fill the race team spot left vacant by Metzger. TravelCraft is offering a special oneweek trip package for the June 24 Grand urchases Husaber cco rding to a press release from KTM. "KTM Mo torrad Holding Gesmbh, the parent company of KTM Sportmotorcycle AG an d KTM Sportmotorcycle USA, Inc., has acq u ired a majority interest in Husaberg AB of Sweden. KTM Sportmoto rcycle AG is the Austrian manufacturer of KTM Sportmotorcycles. Husaberg AB Sweden is the manufacturer of lightweight, high performance, four-stroke competition motorcycles trademarked under the Husaberg name. "In assuming the controlling interest in Husaberg AB, KTM Motorrad Holding intends to "capitalize" on Husaberg's four-stroke technologies by providing additional capital investment, increased marketing resources, expanded distribution channels, and cooperative R&D efforts with the Swedish manufacturer. Also, KTM and Husaberg will benefit from joint purchasing arrangements with outside suppliers that will lead to lower production costs and accelerated turnaround times for the two manufacturers. "All plant facilities and staff of Husaberg Ab will remain at their current location in Rofors, Sweden. In the months ahead a comprehensive operational plan will be developed concerning joint product research and development programs between the two manufacturers as well as consideration for worldwide marketing and distribution efforts." So what does all this mean to you and me? According to Rod Bush. president of KTM USA: "Right now everything is in the early stages and all is happening in Europe. but for now there will be no change in distributorship here in the U.S.," said Bush. "There are meetings going on right now, that's about all I can say." According to Sivert Westlund, the managing director at the Husaberg factory in Sweden, "Husaberg will stay as an independent company in Sweden with its own resources for development. prod uction and marketing and the distribution of the Husaberg brand will go on through the already built up channels." Gary Surdyke, the U.S. importer of Husaberg mot orcycles, sa id. "The fu tu re for Husaberg has never been brighter. The first act of the new ownership was to purchase the factory in Sweden from the previous owner, Husaberg had been renting the bu ild ing from other Swedish interests. Plans are being made to expand the capacity of the factory in Rofors this Fall so we can take advantage of demand that is being created by the introduction of the electric start line here in America and the rest of the world . "We ha ve been assured that Husaberg America In., will continue to be the exclusive importer and distributor of Husaberg AB Sweden's products for the 50 states," said Surdyke. A We know we know... T he phone calls started on Wednesday, as soon as the first copies of last week's Cycle News hit the news stands. "Hey, are those trials guys running full fairings nowadays?" "The caption says that Tommi Ahvala debuted a new one-piece riding suit. Looks to me like it's made out of leather.:" "The headline says "Tarres finds his stride: and the picture shows a bunch of guys running. I guess his stride is pretty fast .: " Needless to say. the photos that accompanied last week's coverage of round two of the Wor ld Championship Trials Series were not co rrect. Recently. Cycle News converted to the computerized Syquest output system, switching over from the traditional Jordi Tarres paste-up method. Though the story and photos left our offices intact, an error at the pri nter's facility saw th e 24 Ho u rs of LeMa ns pho tos reprinted in the Hawkstone World Round article. Thou gh we considered having each and every copy reprinted w ith the correct photos, doing so wo uld have delay ed th e delivery of the newspaper. Weighing the options, we elected to deliver the paper as is, in order to supply our readers w ith the news as soon -as possible. Ah, the price we pay for technological advan~... Prix of Holland. locally known as the Du t ch TT a t A ssen . The package includes round trip air fare, hotels in Amsterdam and Assen, car rental, breakfasts. and an event ticket in the covered grandstands at the start / finish line. Departure is scheduled for June 19, and the return date is June 26. but the dates are flexible . For more information call 800/241-1223. Helmet laws suck: South Carolina's Governo r David Bea sley was injured while riding his dirt bike recently on his family's farm in Society Hill. South Carolina. Beasley was not wearing a helmet when he ran into a barbed wire fence. and spent an evening in th e hospital after receiving sti tches in his neck and arm. Apparently, Beasley was unaware of the newly constructed barbed wire fence, and was clothes-lined off his bike. FYI: Cycle News readers can now reach our offices via e- m a i l. Re a ders with access to a co mputer equipped with a modem can send e-mail t o the fol lowing departments: editorial editor@cyclenews.com; circulation subscribe@cyclenews.com; advertising advertising@cyclenews.com. KTM Sportmo torcycles are offering re nta l KTM 40 0 LC 4 and 620 LC 4 m otorcycles to entrants in the August 10-22 Third Annual Acerbis Nevada Rally. The motorcycles are equipped especially to meet the Nevada Rally specifications and the U.S. homologation requirements. The rental fee is $4400. For an additional $350. a service truck will accompany the rider throughout the event, and will be p resent in the pits 'a t the finish of each stage. This support truck is equipped with the necessary special equipment. and each rider will receive fuel cans. as well as a compl ete maintenance and repair toolbox. Spare parts Can be obtained directly on the scene from KTM USA. The deadline for motorcycle rent and technical support is May 15. Interested parties should contact Sunset Off Road USA, 27636 Ynez Rd. L7-IlO, Temecula, CA 92591, 909 / 676-6366. The May 7 One Hour Marathon Ch allenge at San Jose Speedway in San Jose, California, has been postponed until May 21. For more info rmation call 408/295-6906. Pettersso n Pro Su spension will be on hand at the May 6-7 Hangtown MX Nationals at the Prarie City OHV Pa rk in Rancho Cordova. California. offering technical assistance and race support. PPS will also have the new '95 model Marzocchi conventional forks on display. For more information callSOO/5550255 . Formula USA has released a TV sch edule for the rounds of the Formula USA and the WERA ational Challenge, which will feature the Performance Machine/Goodridge National End urance. Mich elin Superstock, Moto Liberty I2Sec Grand Prix and Suzuki Cup Series events. The series will receive approximately nine hours of coverage on the Prime/Sports Channel, ESPN and ESPN2 . Air dates for the Prime/Sports Cha nnel races are as follows : Road Atlanta Formula USA, May 25; Road Atlanta WERA National Challenge, June 1; Grattan Formula USA, November 2; Gra ttan WERA Nationa l Challenge, November 28; Portland Fo rm ula USA. November 16; Port lan d WERA Nationa l C hallenge, November 23 . ESPN a nd ESPN2 are scheduled to air the October runnings of the Formula USA and Suz uki Cup finals from Road Atlanta. but times have not yet been announced. For more information call 916/582-1061. Dunlop has announced that it is expanding its line of 491 Elite II touring ti res to include sizes for Honda's . GL1500 Gold Wing. The new sizes are 130/70-18 and 160/80-16. The Dan Rouit Fla t Tra ck Museum will hold an open hou se on May 21 from 10:00 a.m . - 5:00 p.m. Admission is free . The museum is located at 309 W. Rialto , Clovis, CA 93612. For more information call 209/291-2242. Cycle News contributing editor Al a n Cathcart gave the Yam ah a T RX850 a victory in its road racing debut. Cathcart rode the Future Perfect Racing Team's Over Racing Project-built TRX to backto-ba ck wins during the first two rounds of the Du tch BOTT Series at Assen, Ho lland, on April 17 and Hengelo, Ho lland. ll) on April 23. The street version of th e 0'\ trellis-fra me d 850cc parr all el twi n h as ~ bee n released as a [apan-only model for 1995, bu t m ay reach American shores in '96. At the AHRMA National event at wulow Springs International Raceway, April 29-30, Taka Oneishi shattered the Sound of Singles /Formula Singles class

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