Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I·IN H IN · . '. ' '1 · ·T EW Q : Randy Hawkins (Suz) was the overall winner at round 6 of the AMA Na tional Cha mpio nship Enduro Series, held May 7 in Wellston, Ohio. Ste ve Hatch (Suz ) w as second, follo wed by T erry Cunningham (Yam ), Ty Davis (Kaw) and Kelby Pepper (Kaw ). Davis con tinued to lead Ha wkin s in the series points standings, 163-132. Hatch is third with 126. Jo rdi Tarres (G-G) was the winner at ro u n d th ree of th e Spanish Natio nal Cha mpio nship Tria ls Series , held May 7 in Vald em a n ca, Spai n. Amos Bilbao (Bet) was secon d, an d Marc Colomer (Mon) rounded out the top three. Italian Andrea Bartolini (Yam) won the fifth round of the World Champion ship 250cc MX Series, held May 7 in Schwanenstadt, Au stri a. American Bob Moore (Yam) was second overa ll ah ead of fellow countryman Tallon Vohland (Kaw) , Brit Kurt Nicoll (H on ) and Swede Joakin Karlsson (Hon ). Vohland continues to lead the series point standings with 132. Stefan Everts is second with 113. Round three o f th e World Champ ion ship 500cc MX Series, held May 7 in Wohlen, Sw itzerl and, saw Belgi an Joel Smets (Hbg) score the overall win ahe ad o f Am erican Trampas Parker (KTM ). Au ssie Daryl King (Kaw ) wa s third, follo w ed b y Sw ed en's Peter Johansson (Hus) and Belgian Jacky Martens (Hus). Parker further extended his series points lead as hi s nearest rival e ntering th e race, Marten s, b ro ke hi s right hand in th e seco nd moto. Pa rk er leads Sm et s, 100-88. Donny Schmit (CCM) wo n the open ing round of the 1995 So u n d of Thund er Four-Stroke MX Series, h eld at Prarie City OHV Park in Rancho Cordova, CA, in conj unction w ith th e Ma y 7 Hangtown 125/ 250cc MX N a tio n al. Lance Smail (Hbg) was second, and Greg Zitterkopf (KTM) fin ish ed thi rd . Gordon Ward (AT K) and Gary Beier (H bg) rounded ou t the top five. Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz) won the first round of the WERA Performance Machin e /Goodridge N ational Endurance Series at Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas, on May 6. With rid ers Michael Martin and Dave Stanton a t th e h elm, Te a m Su zuki En d u r a n ce beat Tea m Pe a rl Su zu k i (Suz) by four lap s w ith Airport Racing (Kaw) finish ing thi rd . Support rac es at Texas World Speedway were w on by Ta k ahito Mo ri, Steve Pat terso n, Joe Prussian o, Ken Melville, Rick Kirk and Tracy Mclntyre, Aft er drivin g all night from the AMA Grand National Championship round in Harrington , Delaware, Steve Morehead (H-D) won the 750cc Expe rt class during round tw o of the AMA Eastern Regional Dirt Tr ack Ser ies at the Clark County Fa irgro u n ds in Springfi eld , Oh io, on May 7. Steve Beattie (H- D) a nd Geo Roeder II (H-D) were second and third , respectivel y. Georgie Price IV (Rt x) won the 600cc Expert class while Jason Sentell and Chris Huss topped th e 600cc Pr o-Am and 250cc Pro-Am classes, respectiv ely. Th ere has been a slight revi sion in the results of the Dallas Supercross, according to the AMA . In th e extremel y muddy race, which made scoring difficult at best, Team Kawasaki 's Mike Kied ro w ski who was originally given 10th place, has been awarded eighth, relegating Hon da of Troy' s Mike Craig to n inth a n d Ya maha ' s Je ff Emig to 10th . Ho wever, Kiedrowski is still third in the series point sta ndi ngs, just on e poi nt behind Larry Ward , 210-211. Emig is in fifth with 184 po int s and Craig is 10th with 130. Speaking of supercross, Team H onda / 1-800-Co llec t's Jeremy McGrath has a realistic shot of clinching his third consecutive s upercross titl e at th e n e xt round in Cleveland, Ohio, on May 20. If McGrath fin ishes fou rth or bett er , he will clin ch th e se ries championship, despite two rounds yet to be ru n in San Jose, Californi a, and Las Vegas, Nevada. O n ly on e o ther rider h a s won t hree su percross titles in a row - Bob Hannah, in 1977, 1978 and 1979. Margaret Goodson, an active member of the Oklahom a Honda Sport Tou ring Association, was killed in the Oklahom a City bombing wh ile wo rking on the first flo or of the Murrah Fed eral O ff ice Building. Fun eral services were held for Goodson on Apri l 28. In lieu of flow er s, Ron Good son is asking that donation s be mad e in mem ory of his wife to The Mayors Di saster Re lief Fu n d , 200 N . Walker, #302, Oklahom a City , OK 73102. The Australian Grand Prix will b e moved from Sydney ' S Eas te rn C reek Raceway to Victoria's Phillip Islan d , beginning with next ye ar's race. The Au stralian Grand Pr ix w a s h eld a t Phillip Island in 1989 and 1990 befor e a number of d isputes wi th the Victo rian govern me nt regarding tobacco spo nso rshi p made the GP financially difficult to run, and it was mov ed to Ne w Sou th Wales by then-p rom oter Bob Barnard. White Bros. w ill host a vintage motorcycle show at the May 21 Four-S troke Wo rl d Ch ampionships, h eld at Gl en Helen OHV Park in San Bernardin o, California. Classes will be av ailable for tw o-strokes, four-stro kes, m ot ocross bikes, off-road bik es and street bikes. A $1000 grand prize will be awarded to th e owne r of the wi nn ing mot or cycle. For m ore in for ma tio n ca ll 714 / 6923404. For th e se co n d time in th re e yea rs, Miguel DuHamel has been vo ted Canad a's Roadracer of the Year in the Perform ance Racing N ews Read ers' Choice Awards . Steve Crevier finis he d seco nd in the balloting with Pascal Picotte third and Can adi an Sup erbike Champi on Micha el Tay lor w as fourth. Former Cycle News edi tor Tod Rafferty, aut hor of "Harley-David son : The Ultim at e Mach ine ," is b usy working o n mor e Harley- related books. The work ing titl es for hi s next books are "The Compl ete H arl ey Mo de l Ma n ua l," "Rolling Art," "Harley-Davidson Memora bilia," and "The Harley Cookbook." Raffer ty will be do ing photo shoo ts for ' the book in the Los Angeles, Californ ia, area the week of Jun e 12 and is look ing for build ers, riders an d coo ks to contr ibute . Ra ff erty can b e reache d at MotorSpo rts Media, Box 230, San ta Marga rita, CA 93453, 805/461-1103. Acco rdi ng to a sto ry in Direct, a sa les and m arketing publication, Kelly Knievel, so n of Evel Knievel, is being sued by se ve r a l s ta tes for allegedly being involved in telemarketing fraud . Knievel and his Las Vegas-based company, Western Express Service Co., are reported to have misled consumers by making them think that they had won Schwantz out, but for how Ion? eam Lu cky Strike Su zuki ' s Kevin Schwantz (righ t), wh o said before the seaso n began that this would be his last year racing mo torcycles, withdrew from the first tw o European rounds of the 500cc Worl d Cha mpionship am id specu lation that he ma y already have run his last race . His absence from the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez on May 7 and the upcomin g Ger ma n GP at Nurburgring on May 21 is be in g a ttribu te d to li ngering wrist and hip injuries su ffered last seaso n - and reaggr avated this year - which haven 't responded to treatment. Aske d at the Spani sh GP what the od ds were that the 1993 500c c World Ch ampion woul d return thi s year, Kevin' s father, Jim, sa id, " Su re ly no more th an 50-50." Jim Sch wantz an d hi s w ife, Shirley, fou nd ou t a bou t Kevin ' s decis ion whil e drivin g th e ir motorhome to Jerez from Amsterdam . The y'd called just to ask Kevin to bring some groceries wh en he informed them of his decision. The conversation was so emo tional that "he could hardl y talk to me," Shirley Schwantz said . She added that Kev in was still, "in Texas, just hiding ou t, away from telephones," and probably at a frien d's ra nch. Schwantz informed teammate Daryl Beattie as he was d riving Beattie to the airpo rt for his flight to Spain. Beattie had been stayi ng with Schw an tz since the Japanese GP. It was after the Japanese GP that he sought medical ad vice in Texas and was advised to give the injuries time to heal. Japan was an especially disappointing race for the 3Dyea r-old Texan. It was the first time in his GP career that he'd finished off the podium in a race which he'd won four times, and been on the box three other times. He'd crashed twice at the season-opening Australian GP, the second time at about 170 mph at the end of the fro nt str aigh t. Since he can 't lock his left wri st in to place, he' s been unable to br ake as deepl y as he always has and was ou tbraked by Repsol Honda's Alex Criville at Suzuka. "Since late br akin g is a major feature of his wi nni ng style, this is a mas sive drawb ack," team ma nager Garry Taylor said in the Lucky Strike stateme nt. Schwantz said he contacted the team the day he was to leave for pr e-race tests at Jara ma and the decision wa s made to stay behind. "I' m not happy about that, but I hope that seven weeks rest will mean I can come back for Mugello, but I'm making no promises until I see how I feel," he said in a Lucky Strike pre ss relea se, leavin g open the possibility that he won' t be back. ' Sch w an tz will be replaced in Spain an d Ge rm any by Team Sh ell Harris Sean Em me tt, the Briton who also replaced Schwantz during injury downtime last year. Emmett has tested the Lucky Strike Suz uki extensively and was near ly as fast as Beattie in tests at Jerez. At the Spanish GP Emmett qu alified 12th, but cras hed out of the race. With the possibility that Schwantz won' t be back, the team wa s looking for a permanent replacem ent for the rest of the 1995 season, though it's very late in the year to find a qualified rid er. The list of possible repl acem en ts for 1995 inclu des obvious can didates Ed die Lawson, Dou g Polen, John Kocins ki and Aus tra lian Kevin Magee, as well as Aus tralian Peter Goddard . Kocinski 's chances wo uld appear slim, given his acr imonious departure from the Lucky Strike 250cc team in the 1993 season. Magee is racing for Yoshimura Suzuki in the Japanese Superbike series this yea r an d Goddard is racing for Suzu ki in Au stralia. Ch esterfield Aprilia's Jean -Michel Bayle has also been mentioned, mostly due to his deteriorating relationship with team boss Carl o Pernat. For 1996 there is thou ght to be some disa greement w ith in the team and spons ors ove r the best choices. Certain eleme n ts in the team favor Ch esterfield Aprilia's Max Biaggi , while Mu zzy Kawasaki 's Scott Russell is thought to be the favorite of others, even thou gh he will be in the final year of a thr ee-year contract with Mu zzy next year. Henny Ray Abrams T priz es a n d th en u sing h igh -pressure schemes to per suade the victims out of money. Accordi ng to the rep orts, so me seni or citizens lost as mu ch as $3000 in the scam. States that have sued Knievel includ e Washin gt on, Missouri, Michiga n, Ohi o, Pennsyl va nia, Kentucky and Iowa. Round fou r of the Motorcycle Asphalt Racing Series (MA RS) w ill be held a t the Sou ths ide Speed way in Richmond, Virginia, on We d nesd ay, June 21 and will feature the kickoff of the National Harley Owners Group rally held at the Rich mond Fairgro u nds on June 22-24. All Harley Owners Group (HOG) members can rec eive a reduced admission price of $10 by sho win g their membership cards at the ticket gate. MARS has also announced its 1995 Harley-Davidso n 88 Nati onal Point Fund of $27,000, a first for MARS. Cash contributors to the fund include Harley-Davidson Screaming Eagle Performance Products and the Carolin a Harley-Davidson Dealers Association. The Buell Motorcycle Company ha s becom e the first motorcycl e manufacturer to establish its own home page on the In ternet's World Wide Web. Th e new site includes photos and bri ef d escriptions of Buell's S2 Thunde rbolt, as well as a historical perspective on the motorcycle-designi ng ca reer of Eri k Buell, amo ng other featu res. World Wide Web use rs can access the hom e page by typing: bttp:/ / www.buell.htrnl, or they can s e n d e- mai l to th e p ag e via: info@buell .com. Guy Cooper will be a gu est ins tructor at the Tony D. Motocross School in Muddy Creek, Tenness ee o n May 22 and in Johnston, Pennsylva ni a on June 15-16. For more info rmation call 410/635-6916. According to Laguna Seca Raceway, ticket sales to the upcoming World Superbike event are up some 22 percent compared to last year 's United States Grand Prix. The figure was obtained by com paring ticket sales 14 weeks prior to each event.

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