Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Belgian Gerald Delepine (Ho n) used 4-1 'moto finish es to score the overall win at the Ma y 28 Lu xembourg 50 0cc Motocross Grand Pri x. New Zealand's Darryll King (Kaw) was the runner-up via 3-2 moto finishes, while Swede Peter Johansson (Hus ) was the top four-stroke rider finishing third with a 2-3 tall y. First-moto winner Joel Smets (Hbg), the series points leader, failed to finish the ' sec ond moto bu t still sa lvaged fourth overall . Ameri cans Trampas Parker (KTM) went 6-DNF and Mike Young (Ver) went 8-14. Smets still maintains the series ad vantage wi th 148 points (three wins) ov er Parker, who now ha s 132 points, King is third with 127. At the Swedish 250cc Motocross Grand Prix on May 28, Belgian Stefan Everts (Kaw) traded 1-2 mot o finishes with fello w countrym an Marnicq Bervoets (Suz), but it was Everts officially scoring the overall victory via his second -mo te, tie-b reaking fir st-pla ce finis h . Ita lia n Andrea Bartolini (Yam) went 3-6 fo r th ird overa ll, while top-pla cing American Bobby Moore (Yam) claimed third wi th 4-5 moto fin ishes. Rounding out the top five was G reat Brit ain ' s Kurt Nicoll (Ho n) who posted 9-3 finis hes . On e s po t b ehind N icoll was se ries p oin ts leader Tallon Vohland (Kaw) . The Cali fornian's 8-4 moto finish es were enough for him to han g on to the series lea d, th ou gh both Eve rts and Bervoets narrowed the ga p to just seven poi nts Vo h la n d n ow h a s 183 p oin t s, w h ile Everts and Bervoets share secon d place in the sta ndi ngs with 176 poi nts each. Moo re, the 1994'l 25cc MX World Ch ampion, cu rrently sits in fourth wit h .148 poin ts. In Hu ngary, Italian Alessandro Puzar (Hon) posted a perfect 1-1 score to win the 125cc Motocross Grand Prix on May 28. Consiste nt 4-4 m ot o fin ishes gave fellow Italian Claudio Federici (Yam) second ove rall, while a 6-5 tall y gave Itali an Sebastien TorteIli (Kaw) thi rd . Erik Camerlengo (Yam) and Charrell Sweebe (Hon) completed th e top five. Puzar now has three wins to his credit and 193 points, while next closest is Italian Alessio Chiodi (Yam), who went 3DNF in Hungary , with 142. The top finishing American wa s Jimmy Button (H on) who recorded 7-6 moto finishes. Button is currently fourth in the series point standings with 117. Marc Colomer (Mon) scored the win at the May 27-28 Polish World Trial round, besting Dougie Lampkin (Bet), Jordi Tarres (G-G), Tommi Ahvala and Diego Bosis (Bet ). Th e Montesa fact ory rider now enjoys a five-point lead over Tarres in th e World C ha m p io nsh ip Tri al s Serie s point stand ings, 91-86. Ah vala is third wit h 70. Geoff Aaron (Bet) and Ryan Young (GG) traded wins at the May 27-28 Na tio nal Champions hip Tri a ls Series doubleh eader, held in Exeter, Rhod e Island . Aa ron wo n rou nd six on Satu rday, follo w ed b y Yo u ng, Raymond Peters (Fan), Olivier C1amagirand (G-G) and Jes s Kempkes (G-G), while Young wo n round sev en on Sunday over Cla magir and , Aaro n , Kempkes a n d Pe te rs , Yo ung lea ds Aa ron, 190-175, in the series point stand ings. Kem pkes is third with 119. 2 Th e NA TC a nno unced who w ill make up the four-rider team that will compete at the September 24 Trial des Nation s in Austria. Defending National Champion Geoff Aaron, San Diego Na tional wi nner Jes s Kempkes, Raymond Peters and Matt Moore w ill defend U.S . honor. Martin Belair will aga in serve as team manager. 'The second round of the AMA N ation al Reli ability Enduro /ISDE Qu alifie r Series in McArthur, Oh io, on May 27-28 was wo n by d efending cham p Rodney Smith (Suz ), Smith overcame a 35-second deficit after the first day of competition to edge out teammate Steve Hatch (Suz ) by o ne s eco n d. Unoffi ci ally , Randy Hawkins (Suz ) fini shed third, followed by Chris Smith (H en ) a nd Kevin Brown (Kaw). Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw) ex te nd ed his poi nts. lead in the All-Jap an MX Cham pion ship in Hirosh ima, Japan, on May 28. Matia sevich finished second to Ryuuichiro Takahama (Hon) in t he fi rs t moto but cam e back to wi n the seco nd moto. Takahama ended up second ove ra ll after fini shing th ird in the second m ot o . Th ird o ve ra ll we n t to Kohji Ohkawara (Yam) who went 4-4 on the day. Tatsuyuki Motoki (Ho n), abo ard the perimeter- framed, wo rks RC250, finished fourt h overall. Ho n da ri der Chad Pederson a n d Kawasaki-mounted Phil Lawrence were each award ed $500 from the Camel Racing/Skoal Racing Privateer Series Challenge at the May 28 High Poi nt AMA N ationa l Cha mp ionship 125/ 250cc MX Series rou nd in Mt, Mo rr is, Pennsylvania, The $500 checks are awarded to the to p-finis hi ng non- factory pro privat eer in each class durin g the '95 National MX Series . Ped erson recorded 9-9 mo to finis hes, ea rni ng se venth ov era ll in the 125cc Na tiona l, while Lawrence went 510 to fin ish six th overa II in the 250cc Na tional. Team Pearls Suzuk i (Su z) wo n the WERA Perf orma n ce Machi ne / Good ridge National Endurance Series rou nd a t Summit Poi nt Raceway in Su m mit Point, West Virginia, on May 27. Team Pe arl s Su zuki topp ed Te a m Su zuk i Endurance (Suz) by 57 seco nds wi th the latter fighting back from an 'early-race crash to finish second . Third place we nt to Northwest Honda Racing (Ho n), tw o lap s behind the lead ers. . T eam Su z u k i En d u ra nce's Michae l Martin suf fered a sepa ra ted sho ulder in his crash at Summit Point Raceway. The crash wa s Martin's first end ura nce racing crash in five yea rs, Reserve rid er . Tray Batey took ove r for Martin a nd teamed wit h Dave Stanton to finish second . Ca na dian Michael Taylor (Kaw) won the Pro Superbike race in the first round of th e Castrol - CM A / ASM N atio na l Superbike Cham pio nshi p at the Circuit St-Eus tache in Qu ebec on May 28. Taylor topped Benoit Pilon (Yam ) and Mark Kowalski (Yam) . Taylor also won the 600cc Su pers por t race and finished seco nd b ehin d Mike D esmarais in Open Superspo rI. On th e Big Island of Hawaii, former Na tio na l En du ro Champion Ke v in Hines (CRE) captured the overall win at th e 20t h runnin g of the two-day Rock Islan d Ride rs' Mauna Kea 200 Enduro, which s ta rts a nd fi nis hes in Hilo , on May 27-28. Matt Lyman (Ho n) led most of the enduro until the last special test section on Su nday where Hines made up most of his time . Lyman still finished second , a head of Alan Randt (KTM) ,' Phil Oveland (Hus ) and Steve Trinies (KTM). This year's event was laid out by past winner Steve Zoll - of the approxi- Cycle News Rider of the Month: Dou Henr he past few weeks have in cluded two major breakthroughs fo r Team H onda /1 -800-Collect / Fox rid er Dou g Hen ry. Followi ng two stellar seasons aboa rd a 125, Hen ry made the jump to the premi er 250cc class for 1995, and recently scored his first 250cc Supercross and 250cc National wins. "I think I've finally mad e that 'step' that every on e talks about," said Hen ry, following his win at the May 28 Hi gh Point National in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania. "My con fidence is up, a nd now I know that I can run wi th any of the top 250 riders." Henry also won the Ap ril 29 Dallas Supercross. Coincidentally, both events wer e muddied by rainfall, but Henry - a noted mud specialist - is quick to defend himself. "He y, I dislike the mud just like everyo ne else," said Hen ry. "I just happen to go fast in it." With thr ee of the sched uled 12 250cc Nati on al Ch ampionship rounds in the record books, Henry trails point lead er Jeremy McGrath by a sing le point , 118-117. Henry captured his two 125cc Na tional Cham pionships with late-season surges, and if thin gs go rig ht for the likable Connecticut rid er, his first 250cc title may be only months away . T mately 80 riders that en tered the event, only abo u t 30 saw the finish line. ' Spanish road racer Juan Lopez Mella was killed in a ca r acciden t w hi le en rou te to a ro un d of the Du cad os O pe n series in Albace te, Spai n, recently . Mella was a leading privateer in bo th 500cc Gra nd Prix and World Superbike racing, fin ish in g 12th in the 1993 500cc World Champinship on a ROC Yamaha . Mella finished 16th in the 1994 World Ch ampionship and was a gues t rider on a Lucky Strike Suzu ki in the final rou nd of the series in Catalu nya, Spai n . Mella was competing in the new Thunderbike Trop hy class in 1995 and he had finis hed fourth in the opening round at Jerez on May 7. Ho nda of Tro y's Mike Craig broke the hard-to-heal navicul ar bone in his wrist as a result of the crash he suffe red during th e main eve n t a t the Cle ve la n d Supe rcross on Ma y 20. Craig's wris t is curre ntly in a cast but he hop es to return to racing soo n, than ks to a special brace he is planning to have made. The AMA has released plans for its 17day Super Tour that revolves a ro u nd the MX des -Nations, the International Six Day Enduro a n d the Trials des Nations. As of now, the tour - organized by Archer Travel - is sched ule d to leave the U.S. (via New York JFK, Washington Dull es, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattl e) on September 8, where tourers w ill p ick up a rental car an d d rive app r oximat el y 120 m il e s to Povazs ka Bystrica in the Slovak Republic to attend th e MX d es N ati ons in Sverepec; in Povazska Bystrica, to urers will stay at th e Hotel Ni rnnica for tw o nig hts . Th en atten dees will d e p art Pova zska Bystrica on September 11, and drive to [e lenia Cora, Po land, for th e ISD E, and s tay in the Hot el Ho ttu r in Borowice.for 12 nights. The opening ceremony of the 70th ISDE is September 17. Following the Final MX Special Test on Sep tember 23, the trip departs [ elenia Gora for Vien na, Austria , for the Tria ls des Na tions, w hich is held on Sep tember 24. Those taking the tour will stay at th e Vienna Hot el N o vetel one ni ght, Sep tem ber 24, before departin g for the U.S, on Sep tem ber 25. The Super Tour p rices are as follows: $1899 fo r Ea st Co ast departu res , a nd $2099 for West Coas t depa rtu res, and all pric es a re ba sed o n d ouble oc cu pa ncy an d tw o p e ople s ha ri ng a r ent a l ca r. Sin gl e roo ms and single ren tal cars are ava ilab le fo r an a d ditio na l fee. Price also includes admission ticke t to the MX des Na tions, and Team USA jackets. Varia tions to the days list ed on the overall tou r a re availab le. For mor e informa tion , call 1-800-AMA-DESK. Con testing the World Superbike Champ ionsh ip h a sn ' t sto p p ed Ya ma ha 's Colin Edwards II fr om becoming a n entre pre ne ur. The 21-year-old Texan is open ing a s u rf s hop call ed M etal Jimmy' s on Lak e Conroe in his hometown of Conroe, Texas. Th e sho p will sell clothing for watersports and other watersports-related equipment and will be run by Edwards' br other Jimm y and h is fo r me r roo m m a te M ike M yer s . When as ke d a bo u t h is involve men t, Ed wards said, "I'm the mon eyman . I'm the financial backer ." Edw ards is using Metal Jimmy cartoo ns he has drawn for years as insp iration. Castrol Honda, the official HRC works World Superbike team, ha s po stponed an y announcement about the. rider who will replace Dou g Polen. They were to unveil their ch o ice at the Don ington Park round of th e World Superbik e Series on May 26-28, but instead a statement was issu ed by team manager Neil Tu xworth saying that Kiwi Simo n Cra far would rid e Polen's bike for -the third race in a row , but in Castrol Honda col- j ors for the first tim e. Crafar ' s place on the Rumi team was taken by Brian Morrison, a popular move in England. The s ta te men t e nded b y sayi ng th at "a n ann oun ce m ent co ncer n ing Aaron Slight's teammate for the rest of the seaso n is a nticipated prior to th e Monza ro u nd of th e championship (on Ju ne 18)." Accor d ing to a British jou rnalist who covers the series, the team was set to announce th e secon d rid er but th e d eal fell apart on Thursday eve ning, the nigh t before practice was to begin. The i replacement rider is tho ught to already be contracted to another team an d it is believed that the two team s are trying to w or k out the details. One of the mo re interes ting rumors was that the replacement rid er wo u ld be Smok in ' Joe' s Ho nd a's Mike Hale, the curre nt AMA Su per bi ke N a t io na l C h a m p ionship points leader. Rea ched at h is home in Texas, Hale sa id: "I don't think so - I haven't heard any thing. I' ve got a championship to win her e first. " '1

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