Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Th e lates t name to eme rge in the WhoWill-Replace-Polen Sweepstakes is fourtime World Cha mpion Eddie Lawson. Lawson was rep ortedly also on Lucky Strike's re p lacem en t li s t fo r Kevin Schwantz, who is expec ted to announce his retirement shortly. Texan Doug Pol en di dn't ra ce in the British ro u nd of the Wo rld Su perbike C ha m pionship at Don in gt on Park on May 28 . "They (DNL - the German Duca ti importer) had a p rior commit me nt," said Polen's man ager, Vic Karshner. "We're still talking to some folks in the GP arena and a decision should be mad e in the next day or two. The door is s till op en with DNL for the rest of th e season." The Hilltoppers M.e. will be hold ing its 50-year reunion at the Recreation Park Banquet Room, in Long Beach , California, on Saturday, September 16. All Hilltoppers members, former members and friends of members are invited . Th e reunion will cost $22 per person, which will include no-host co cktails, hors d 'oeuvres and dinner . Reservations need to be made before August 15. For more informa tion, call Pete Brown at 310 /433-1756, Bob Bacon at 310 / 5940365, orHarry Kalau s 714/893-1287 . Rod Anastasia has joined HRP Products, and will serve as Director of Marketing and Product Development. " The increased popularity of the youth and vet market in recreational and competitive off-road motorcycling requires a renewed commitment from HRP, who happen to be the only made-in-the-USA supplier of our type of product to th e , industry," said Anastasia: In the past, Ana stasia worked 'for Answer products for seven years before a 18-month stint at Axo Sport America. Anastasi a th en owned a mountain bike shop in Mammoth Lakes, California, before becoming the U.S. importer for Day MX Boots. Ac cording to Ron Wood, a new road race class will make its debut at Willow • Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California, on June 17-18. The first of a sevenrace series for 600cc four -stroke, singlecy li nd e r dirt tra ckers will m ark a "retu rn to sim pler, more competitiv e racing, where one motorcycl e is used for all-around racing." The bikes must use r Goodyear CD5 and CD8 dirt track tires; single or du al front brakes may be used - along with a re ar brake; con vention al style handlebar s ar e required (no clipons or drop-type bars); no strea mlin ing is allowed - other than a standard front number pl at e; and a st eering damper, although not required, is recommended. The class will run on Sunday, Jun e 18 as a Novice Middleweight class and a oneday pr actice, new riders scho ol wi ll be held on Saturday, June 17. I Red McPherson will celebra te his 80th birthday on July 15 by riding his BMW K75RT 800 miles from his home in Beatty, Nevada, to Reno BMW Motorcycles in Sparks, Nevad a . At th e d ealership, McPherson will joi n the owne rs a nd mot orcycl ing friends for a "Red Daze" . birthday celebration. For more inform ation on the "Red Daze" celebration call Jan Cutl er at 702/ 359-5088. Due to the change of venue for the San Jose Supercross, the June 3-4 San Jose Speedway Marathon Challenge has been canceled as the crew that puts in the dirt at Spartan Stadium is the same crew that the marathon challenge uses. - An additional date of Jul y 23 has been added. Accordi ng to statistics rel eased by th e Willow Springs Motorcycle Club, Curtis Adams has pocketed $3100 throug h five ro u nds of the 1995 WSMC Roa d Race Series. Through the end of May, WSMC has paid out over $27,000 to its members . And more money...through the first 10 WERA Sp ortsma n event of the 1995 road racing season, a total of $27,610 has been paid to riders pa rticipating in Saturday's 50-miler even ts, acco rding to WE RA . The cl ub runs 50-mile so lo events in Mediumweight Novice and Expert, Heavyw eigh t Novice and Expert and the Lightweight class. Th e Great Southern Swap Meet and Bike Show will be held a t th e North Atlanta (Georgia) Trad e Center on July 8-9 with a porti on of the admission price going to su p po rt th e Mar ch of Dim es Ride for H ealthi er Babies . For m ore information call 404/279-9899. BMW has announced that Chris Draayer and Mark Brelsford will join th e BMW Battle of the Legends at the MidOhio Sports Car Course round o f th e series on July 21-23. Draayer was voted the AMA's most ou ts ta nd ing a ma teu r racer in 1965 and expert rookie of th e year in 1966. By 1967 he was ranked fifth nationally. Just two days after his 21st birthday, Draayer ' s racing ca ree r ended abruptly when he lost his left arm, broke both legs and neck and suffered internal in ju r ies in a ra ce in Sedalia, Missouri. The Legends race will be Draa yer 's first competitive road race in nearly 30 yea rs . Brel sford won th e AMA Grand National Championship in 1972, but a cras h at Da yt on a in 1973 ended his career. The Battle of the legends will be held during th e AHRMA racing weekend at the Lexington, Ohio, facility. Team members and Ducati en thusiasts Jim Perry and Jes s Ghannam ha ve form ed a locally based , grass-roots style support group to raise in te res t a nd funding for AMA Superbike racer Al Salaverria a nd hi s privateer Du cati team. Called GoAL!, its membership is ope n to any a nd all Du ca ti fa ns w ho want a piece of the team. The membership is tw o tiered - a $50 cont ribu tio n comes with a Go AL! Teshirt, a pair of s ticke rs, th e GoAL! newsletter a nd a chance to m eet Salaverria; th e $10 0 donation comes with all of th e above plu s a team hat and autographed membership ap pa rel. For more informa tion call 415/ 826-6200. Honda was recently nam ed Exporter of the Year by Ohio Govern or George V. Voinovich. The awa rd for expo rts was in recogn ition of Honda 's intern ati onal export program that shipped more tha n 105,000 Ohi o -bu ilt automobil es a n d 20,000 mot orcycles to 43 countries in 1994. FMF Racing hav e a nno u nced th at th e first-ever video featuring Guy Coo per is now available. "Coop - The Guy Cooper Story" is an in-de pth look into Coo per's life from bicycle motocross to su percr o ss . Fo r m ore in for mat io n call 310/ 539-6884. MARRIED: Dirt tracker Greg Sims to his fiancee Ma ry Schallar in Flint, Michigan on April 29. BORN: Hannah Sue Zampach on May 20 in Wisconsin to road racer Scott "ZMan" Zampach and his wife Dinah . AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Desert Russell to Lucky Strike Suzuki? A lthough Kevin Schwantz has yet to annou nce his retirement from Grand Prix road racing, the world is awaiting word on just who will rep lace the 1993 500cc World Champion on the Lucky Strike Suzuki team. The latest na me to emerge is that of 1993 World Superbike Cha mpion Scott Russell (right). . It is no sec re t that with Schwantz's im minen t retiremen t, the Grand Prix series is d esperate to have an American in the 500cc class, and Russell would fit that bill. But the Georgian is only in the second year of his three-year contract with the Muz zy Kawasa ki team and - contrary to widely publicized and inaccurate reports - Russell does not have an "out" clause that wo uld release him from his con tra ct should a 500cc ride become available. His release would have to be approved by team ow ner Rob Muzzy , who in the past has seemed hell-bent on making sure the contract was fulfilled - especially when the Promotor Ducati approached Russell last year abou t making the switch to the team's Italian V-twins for 1995. World Championship lead er Daryl Beattie recently signed a contract extension that will see him on Suzukis for the 1996 and 1997 seasons and whoever joins the team will do so as Beattie's teammate. Russell had a dismal weekend at the Donington Park round of the World Superbike Series on May 28, finishin g sixth in the first race and not starting the second race when his Kawasak i suffered carburetion problems on the warm-up lap. The Georgian also raced with two brok en toes, the result of a mountain bike crash suffered earlier in the week. On Tuesda y, May 29, rumors surfaced that Russell had tested the Lucky Strike Suzuki during the team's test at Bmo in the Czech Republic. When contacted on May 29, a surprised Rob Muz zy said he had no knowledge of Russell having tested the Suzuki. '1 have no knowledge of that," Muzzy said. "Maybe that's how he broke his foot. I know where he was up until Thursday, so he had one day wh ere he could have ridden it (the Suzuki ). And if he's done so, he's done it without his manager' s knowledge becaus e I just got off the phone with him (Tom Sheehy). ' "I've talked with Garry Taylor (the Lucky Strike Suzuki team manager) and he said he wasn't interested in Scott. The one he wanted was (Anthony) Gobert. Scott is under contract and if he rode the bike then he's breached his contract. Essentially, he would have had to get from Italy to Brno. It's possible. I don't know what to tell you . Frankly, if he did ride it, it was a dumb thing to do. Hey, you never know what these guys are going to do anymore." Sources close to Taylor said the team manager had denied that Russell had tested at Brno, but said that Taylor d id say that Russell would be one of the riders he would look at very closely if he were available. When contacted on May 29, Sheehy - who is a captain with Delta Airlines - said that reports of him flying to England to meet with Taylor we re false, and that he'd flown to England because that was his assigned route with Delta. "1 don't know wha t's going on right now," Sheehy said. "I haven't talked to Scott in three weeks, except for a short talk yesterday." Sheehy didn't close the d oor on the rumor, sayi ng on ly that he.would know more after meeting with Russell in his office on Wednesday, May 31. 'We shook hand s at the lime of this contract and although there's nothing in print, we (Sheehy and Muzz y) did agree that it would be open for discussion if that situa tion (a Grand Prix ride) ever came up ."Russeli was not available for comment. Only Yama ha, in Hender son , Ne vada, June 8, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Team Yamaha's Je ff Emi g is sc hed u le d to appea r . Fo r mo r e in fo rm a tio ri, call 702/565-5254. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: A t Sp orts West Yamaha, in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 9, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Team Yamaha's Jeff Emig and John Dowd are sched uled to appear. For more information , call 702/ 221-9762. CANCELLED: The Ju ne 4 Black Jack End uro at the John Zink Ranch in Sand Sp rings , Ok laho ma. The event has not been rescheduled . BORN: Alexa Ray Cra ig, to motocrosse r Michael Ray Craig and his wife Joan na, on May 6 in San Diego, California. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Cycle World in Londond erry, N ew Hampshire on June 16 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p .m . Team Suzuki's Thomas Stevens, Fr ed Merkel and Don ald Jacks a re sched uled to appear. For more information call 603/ 437-0290. RESCHEDULED: The rai ned-ou t May 28 Veterans Classic at Delta Raceway in Delta, Ohio, to June 18. For more infor mation call 313/ 289-2100. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Red ' Ca rpet Kawasaki in Las Vega s, Nevad a, on Ju ne 9 fr om 7:00 p .m . to 8:00 p.m. Tea m Kawasa ki's Mike Kiedrowski, Mike LaR o cco, Robbie Re ynard , Ryan Hu gh es , Mic ka el Pi chon and David Ping ree are sched uled to attend. For mo r e informa tio n ca ll 702 /45 11121. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Don & Roy' s Cy cle in Brookfield , Wiscon sin, on June 8 from 6:30 p.m . to 8:30 p.m. Mu zzy Kawasaki 's Steve Crevier an d Pas cal Pi cott e, and Te a m Kinko ' s / It) Kawasaki' s Thomas Wilson and James 0\ Rand olph are sch ed u led to a p pear. ~ For more info rma tio n ca ll 414 /7863220. HIRED: Dan Ven Epps by Cagiva North America. The hiring marks a return to the pos ition of Nati onal Marketing Man agerfor Van Epps. I~ 3

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