Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

r---------------------------------------------------~~------ American Trampas Parker (taM) swept both motos at the July 9 German round of the World Championship 500cc MX Series, held in Bielstein, Germany. Joel Smets (Hbg) was second overall, while Gert Jan Van Doom (Hon) rounded out the top three. In winning, Parker retook control of the series point lead and leads Smets, 245-243. Alessio Chiodi (Yam) was the winner at the July 9 French round of the World Championship 125cc MX Series, held in Castelnau de Levis, France. Sebastien Tortelli (Kaw) was second ahead of Claudio Federici (Yam) and American Jimmy Button (Hon). Series point leader Alessandro Puzar (Hon) was third in the first moto, but out of the points in moto two. Nevertheless, he continues to lead Chiodi in the point standings, 287282. Scott Plessinger (KIM) was the overall winner at the National Hare Scrambles in Kahoka, Missouri, July 9. Plessinger cruised to victory, finishing more than two minutes ahead of runner-up Rodney Smith, the defending series champ. Taking third after crossing the finish line approximately a minute and a half behind Smith was Scott Summers (Hon). Rounding out the top five overall were Jason Dahners (taM) and Steve Leivan (Yam). The win was the 30th National victory in Plessinger's career. Ryan Hughes (Kaw) was the Pro class winner at the eighth annual Racing Enterprises Say Ow Gear Commotion by the Ocean, held at Carlsbad Raceway in Carlsbad, California. Anthony Amaradio (taM) was second overall, ahead of Doug Dubach (Yam). Terry Fowler (Hbg) won the Sound of Thunder Series finale, edging out newly crowned series champion Donny Schmit (CCM) and Ty Kady (Hbg). Dubach beat out Fowler and Micky Dymond (Hon) in the Vet Pro class. Tatsutuki Motolci (Hon) scored his firstever National win at the seventh round of the All Japan National MX Series, held in Hokkaido, Japan, July 8-9. Series points leader Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw) was second overall, and defending series champion Ron Tichenor (Suz) was third. With five rounds to go, Matiasevich enjoys a' subt;tantial point lead over Masanori Enomoto - fourth at Hokkaido - 214-153. Tichenor missed several rounds due to injury and is not in title contention. Kawasaki Team Green riders dominated several of the classes during the Kawasaki Volunteer State MX Championships at Muddy Creek Raceway in Blountville, Tennessee, on July 8-9. Brock Sellards (Kaw), won both the 125 and 250cc B classes. Robbie Horton (Kaw) and Nicholas Wey (Kaw) were second and third overall, respectively, in the 125cc B class while Charlie Dunaway (Kaw) and Brian Stone (Kaw) were second and third overall, respectively, in the 250cc B class. In the Schoolboy division, Horton topped Ricky Carmichael (Kaw) and Jon Boruff (Hon). Mike Brown (Hon) dominated the action in the 125 and 250cc A divisions. Jim Chester (Suz) finished second overall in the 125cc A class while Billy Liles was second overall in the 250cc A class. Billy Whitley (Kaw) was third overall in the 125cc A class, and Paul Currie (Kaw) was third in the 250cc A class. 2 Sidecar World Champions Rolf Biland and Kurt Waltisperg won their first race of the year, pushing their Schlossgold Racing LCR-BRM to a convincing victory at Le Mans in France. It was not only their first victory of the year, but their first finish, as well as their first win with the Bi1and-developed BRM engine. The Swiss team beat the British team of Darren Dixon and Andy Hetherington by 11.306 seconds in the 23-lap race. Dixon continues to lead the world championship after four of seven races, leading fellow Brit Steve Abbott (sixth today), 90 to 61. For the third time in five races, Swiss rider Yves Briguet (Hon) won the Thunderbike Trophy run in conjunction with the French Grand Prix this past weekend, racing his Team Yves Briguet Honda F3 to a narrow win over Belgian Stephane Mertens (Hon) of the DholdaWanty S.M.R. team. Third went to Udo Mark (Kaw), the Rubatto-Lortz Racing German who rode to the race wins in the two that Briguet didn't win. After five of eight races, Briguet leads Mark, 98 to 90, with Mertens third at 69. Despite a crash after being rammed from behind by a lapped rider, Team Suzuki Endurance's Dave Stanton and Michael Martin (Kaw) won the fifth round of the WERA National Endurance Series held at Putnam Park Road Course in Mt. Meridian, Indiana. Neither rider was injured and Stanton was able to remount and return to the pits for repairs. Team Pearls Suzuki finished second, four laps behind the leaders, with Arclight Racing following on the same lap, in third. The win was the fourth of the year for Team Suzuki Endurance. In more WERA news, Team Valvoline Suzuki's Tray Batey (Suz) won the Michelin 1100cc Superstock, Michelin 750cc Superstock and WERA Open Superbike, setting a new motorcycle lap record 0:12.90) for the Putnam Park Road Course. Chris Rogers (Yam) topped the Moto Liberty 125cc race at the event, which was a round of the WERA National Challenge Series. After his poor performances in the Grands Prix rounds at Mugello and Assen, Marlboro Team Roberts Yamaha's Lua Cadalora decided to take part in a test at the Catalunya circuit, a test originally planned for Roberts' test team rider Randy Mamola. Instead, Cadalora also took part, testing three new front tires, which the team had at Assen, but which Cadalora didn't test. The new fronts were a "big step forward as far as he was concerned," Dunlop's Jeremy Ferguson said. The difference betwee'1 the Dunlop and the front Michelin "wasn't a country mile." Ferguson said they were receiving new tires every week and that the development facility was now properly reinstated after being permanently transferred to a car tire plant in Nagoya which had spare capacity. All motorcycle tire production has been moved there and Ferguson estimated the factory now produced about 90 percent of the tire range, which, he said, included around 1000 variants. Ferguson went on to say that the factory had been running since mid-May and that they'd produced racing tires for use before Assen. Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Rainey have been stars for years. Now they have stars named after them. Claud Michy, the organizer of the French GP, had stars named after the two former 500cc world champions in the Orion constellation. The exact coordinates of Knudsen rebounds, wins German Speedway GP V eteran speedway racer Tomy Knudsen of Denmark enjoyed a stunning victory in the A Final at round three of the World Individual Championship Series to win the German Grand Prix in the city of Abensberg. Knudsen, who now races only in his home country and Poland, stepped up from his reserve position in the previous round to repeat the acheivement of USA star Billy Hamill three weeks earlier. Hans Nielsen of Denmark became the clear leader of the series, with 52 points, as he put in another consistent ride to finish second behind Knudsen in the A Final at Abensberg, and Hamill was there again when the trophies were handed out as he picked up third place after a succession of determined rides, including the A Final where he was forced to come from behind to pass German Wild Card entry Gerd Riss, who finished fourth. Hamill is fourth in the series standings with 41 points, one point adrift of third-placed Henka Gustaffson of Sweden, the B Final winner. There was added drama for reigning World Champion Tony Rickardsson of Sweden, who crashed out of his final ride and was forced to retire from the B Final. Rickardsson still sits in second place in the series standings with 45 points. As for the other Americans, Sam Ermolenko once again looked only a shadow of his former self as his machines appeared a touch slow, but he managed to gain second place from the C Final and pick up another 10 Grand Prix points. Greg Hancock tried hard to make the grade but had to settle for third place behind Ermolenko and winner Marvyn Cox in the C Final. Australian Craig Boyce won the D Fmal. John Hiplciss the stars will be included in the next edition of the International Star Registry book. The ceremony came at the end of the "Legends" race at this week's French Grand Prix and came as a complete surprise to the two Americans, who were given locator maps of the constellations. Max Biaggi's future with the Chesterfield Apri1ia team will likely be decided around the time of the British GP. Early reports had Biaggi demanding a $1 million fee and the team management saying they couldn't afford it. Now it seems that Biaggi is more interested in having only two riders, and not necessarily those he shares the team with this year. Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle has been outspoken in his displeasure with the team, saying that he wasn't getting equal technical treatment. The most recent unconfirmed paddock rumor had Bayle moving to the 500 class next year, with the Roberts Marlboro team as one of the possibilities. Kenny Roberts left France soon after the 500cc race and could not be reached for comment. The other supported rider is Italian teenager Roberto Locatelli who races '94 factory machinery' with sponsorship from the Italian beer concern, Nastro Azzuro. Locatelli was at the French GP, but only as a spectator after breaking his arm in the Dutch IT at Assen two weeks earlier. It was his third fracture of the year. He broke his collarbone in Australia and again while testing at Mugello just after the Spanish GP in early May. Lucky Strike Suzuki's Scott Russell put to rest rumors that he's been signed to ride the Suzuki superbike for next year. 'Tm not going back. I don't want to go back," Russell said at Le Mans. Suzuki is expected to enter the World Superbike wars with an all-new bike for 1996. The rumor of Russell's return to four-strokes was started at Mugello when it became known that Lucky Strike Suzuki's team manager Garry Taylor had expressed interest in running the Superbike team from the workshop in Edenridge. Since Russell is only contracted for the rest of this year, the rumor that Taylor would shuffle Russell off to Superbike gained currency. The 30-year-old Georgian said that he fully expects to remain on the 500cc team next year, though he's aware that his continued employment is dependent upon his performance this year. The only time he hopes to ride the Suzuki superbike is at Daytona where he would like to become the first rider to win four Daytona 2005. Currently he's tied with Roger Reiman, Brad Andres and Kenny Roberts with three wins. The question of whether Loris Capirossi would have a teammate on the Marlboro Pilerl squad next year was debated at Le Mans with Marlboro Roberts Yamaha's disgruntled Luca Cadalora leading the list. Team owner Francesco Pileri said that having two Marlborocontracted Italians on the same team would be a "Dream Team," though there were concerns. Capirossi, who's always had the full attention of the team, is not overly enthusiastic about having a teammate, according to a Pileri spokesman, "but he must get used to the idea that the team is growing," the spokesman said. This is Pileri's first year in the 500 class and they have treated it as a learning year. Next year the team could accommodate two riders. Marlboro would like to stay with the Pileri team as long as Capirossi is there and Capirossi would like to stay if Marlboro stays involved. Marlboro is said to be in the process of evaluating the renewal of their contract and Pileri is also considering other riders. The team hopes to have an agreement in place py the Grand Prix of Nations at Imola in the beginning of September. Road racer Jimmy Filice will race a Yamaha TZ250 in the next round of the . AMA 250cc Grand Prix Series at Brainerd International Raceway on July 15-16. Filice is no longer contesting the 500cc World Championship on a Padgetts' Yamaha, and instead will turn his atten· tion to the 250cc class as a member oj Team Turfrey. "It just didn't work out," said Filice of his Padgetts' Yamaha ride. "And I just decided to come home. I'm coming down there to get a bike right now and I'll be at Brainerd." Filice will ride a 1994 Yamaha TZ250 in the Brian Turfrey team. '1t's basically me coming aboard with my own stuff," Filice said. '1 don't really have any sponsors, other than DUnlop; we're looking for help." Filice won the AMA 250cc Grand Prix Championship in 1991 and 1993 and he is tied for first on the all-time win list in the class with reigning class champ Rich Oliver. Filice won at Brainerd in 1993 en route to his second class championship. A fund has been established for the family of Mark Gleckl who was killed on

• Cover