Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Yvon DuHamel used 3-2 finishes to win the BMW Battle of the Legends during AHRMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, held July 22-23 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Second overall went to Roger Reiman, who won Saturday's race. Third went to Sunday's winner Don Emde. Stephen Mathews won both the vintage 500cc Premier race and the modern Sound of Singles (50S) Formula Two race on the same 1962 Matchless G50. Yvon DuHamel won the Formula 750 race over Chris Stobaugh, but Stobaugh prevailed in the Sportsman 750 class. Battle of the Twins and BEARS action was dominated by Les White, who took three wins on his Ducati 90055. John Myers (Suz) won the NHRA Mopar Parts Mile-High Nationals in Denver, Colorado, on July 23. Myers topped Russ Olmstead in the finals with a run of 8.01 seconds, 165 mph. Dave Schultz continues to the lead 1995 Pro Stock Championship over Myers, 702-671, after seven rounds. CBS Sports will broadcast a special made-for-television AMA Grand National Invitational race from Peoria, lllinois, on August 6 at 2 p.m. Eastern as part of the CBS Sports time show. The live broadcast, which will be hosted by Ken Squier, will feature two qualifying heat races made up of the top 20 point scorers in the AMA Grand National Championship and four additional entries which will be at the promoters' option. The top six qualifiers from each heat will make the feature event. There will be a minimum $10,000 purse for the Grand National Invitational. The show will be produced by Eric Mann, whose list of credits includes the Daytona 500. Grand National Championship contender Steve Morehead was absent from the Sedalia National Half Mile while trying to heal up from the pulled groin muscles and burns that he suffered in a grinding crash with Steve Beattie during the Regional at 1-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Michigan, on July 7. As a result, the Findlay Flyer missed the next day's National round at 1-96, and - by his own admission - just cruised at Hagerstown Half Mile, necessitating the down time until he is once again fit. "It ain't the bums so much as the muscles in my leg," Morehead said. "That crash at 1-96 tried to split me in two. Hopefully, I'll be able to ride at Oklahoma City (National Half Mile). I just hate to miss all of these half:mile races. When this deal happened, I was second in the points. Now, I'm all the way back to eighth. But I'm just going to do whatmy body tells me to." ll') 0\ ~ In a recent conversation with AIR's Roy Janson, who was speaking on behalf of the promoters of the U.S. Supercoss Series, said the restriction of the five riders who declined to race in the Las Vegas Supercross has been litted. Janson said that a follow-up letter to AMA Pro Racing President Cary Agajanian details the promoters' decision to stop the restriction on Jeremy McGrath, Doug Henry, Mike Kiedrowski, Brian Swink and Mike Craig. "We feel that the AMA and Cary Agajanian have taken adequate steps towards getting to the bottom of this situation and finding a resolution," Janson said. "Agajanian is conducting an inquiry into what happened that night and we feel comfortable that he and the AMA will take appropriate actions to help the sport of supercross in general. We will stand behind whatever actions the AMA takes in this matter." Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan has signed legislation that will establish a self-funded rider education program in the state, reports the AMA. The House bill to which the rider education amendment was attached passed the legislature and will take effect August 28. The program will be funded by a $2.75 surcharge on motorcycle instruction permits and a $5 court fee on traffic violalions involving a motorcycle. The court fee will be doubled for infractions involving alcohol. All moni'es will be deposited into a motorcycle safety account that will be used to administer the program. Successful completion of the program will enable new license applicants to obtain a motorcycle endorsement without having to take the skill test at state licensing agencies. Additionally, the mandatory helmet law was also amended, reducing the maximum penalty from $500 and a possible year in jail to only a maximum fine of $25 with no jail time. In last week's issue (Issue #29, July 26) our caption for a photo that ran with the AMA SuperTeams coverage from Brainerd International Raceway incorrectly identified the rider on the Cycle Motion Suzuki team as being Fritz Kling. The rider was in fact Aaron Yates. Cycle News regrets the error. And yet another error: Thanks to a typographical error in our Looking BacIc section in Issue #29, motocross legend Marty Tripes magically turned into Mary Tripes. The AMA has reversed the finishing order for the SuperTeams event held at Brainerd International Raceway on July 15, giving the victory to Cycle Motion Suzuki. The AMA came to the decision after reviewing videotape of the finish; a finish that was protested by Cycle Motion Suzuki. The change in order moves Erion Racing to second place. No other teams are affected by the change. Combined entries for the last three AMA Superbike National Championship rounds at Gateway International Raceway (August 11-13), Sears Point Raceway (August 25-27)'and Firebird International Raceway (September 2224) have been mailed, according to the AMA. Entries will also be available at the Gateway event. The pre-entry deadlines are as follows: Gateway - July 28; Sears Point - A,ugust 2; Firebird - August 21. Riders must have submitted an .application for an AMA Pro License before pre-entries will be accepted. For more information call AMA Pro Racing at 614/891-2425. Little known fact: In addition to helping Jeremy McGrath in 1995, Gary Semics has also been using his teaching methods on Steve Lamson. As of July 18, Lamson has won the last four National MXs that he's entered. There is also talk that Semics will be the official Team Honda trainer for 1996. The Fourth Annual Randy Cleek Memorial dirt track will be held on July 30 at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds Speedway. The event will feature an East vs. West Challenge with past AMA Grand National riders Neil Keen, Eddie Mulder and Gary Davis. A full range of vintage and modem classes will be run starting at noon, the day after the AMA Grand National Championship event at Russell injured, out for Suzuka 8-Hour L ucky Strike Suzuki's Scott Russell (right) will miss the Suzuka Eight-Hour race as a result of his race-morning accident at Donington Park in England on July 23. The former World Superbike Champion was scheduled to share a Lucky Strike Kawasaki with Anthony Gobert in the big race, as part of a settlement worked out between Suzuki and Kawasaki after the American had defected to the Suzuki Grand Prix team. Russell was I~cky to escape much more serious injury in the accident, which happened at close to top speed at the end of Donington Park's back straight. But apart from a wrist fracture, a small break in one foot, and abrasions to his back, he was unconscious for some eight minutes. It was mainly the concussion - combined with the other injuries that ruled him out of the Grand Prix and the EightHour. Russell had already set fastest time in the morning warmup session, which was nearing its end when the accident happened. "I was following Daryl (Beattie) when we came up on somebody going slowly down the straight. Daryl went by him, then I realized how slow he was going by how quick he was rushing up on me. I saw him move to the left, so I went to pass him on the right. As I was committed he turned right across in front of me. The next thing I remembered was being lifted out of the ambulance at the medical center," said Russell. The other rider was Jean-Pierre Jeandat, riding the independent Paton, who had done a plug chop rather prematurely (the session had not yet been flagged), and was turning right off the track onto the area used by all riders at the end of a practice session. He sustained a compound fracture of one arm. "It was clearly his (Jeandat> fault," said Lucky Strike Suzuki team manager Garry Taylor, after he and independent constructor Giuseppe Pattoni had met with race director Roberto Nosetto. But Taylor was largely instrumental for Jeandat escaping further punishment. "He knows he made a terrible mistake, and I think he should be kicked around the paddock for it. Scott could have been killed. But there's no point in fining him. He doesn't have any money, and though the team would have to pay, it wasn't their fault. Pattoni is struggling to make the grid anyway." . As for the settlement between Suzuki and Kawasaki, Rob Muzzy confirmed the report at the World Superbike round at Laguna Seca on Friday, July 21. "I've seen Scott's signature, my signature and Lucky Strike's signature," Muzzy said. "The only signature that was missing was Suzuki's. I'd say it's a done deal. The matter has been settled." . _Muzzy refused to comment any further on the settlement, offering several "no comments" when pressed on the issue. He was not available for comment on Monday, July 23 when reports surfaced that Russell wouldn't be racing in Suzuka. Michael Scott the same facility. For more information call 918/836-6999. ing, South Dakota and North Dakota. According to Noda, RMK will continue to be involved with KMC by providing warehousing and transportation services in the former RMK region. The Southeastern Sportbike Association (SSA) has announced a new member benefit: the SSA Member Discount Program (MOP). Under this program, participating vendors will provide a discount of at least 10 percent to any SSA member who produces their membership card at the time of purchase. "Although we've begun the program with vendors located in the metro Atlanta area, we are working to include companies who do business throughout the southeast, as well as mail order organizations," said Bill Tolhurst, chairman of the MOP program. Boyesen will provide product and technical support at the Loretta Lynn Amateur Nationals on August 7-12. For more information callBOO/441-1177. Kawasaki has announced that it will begin to directly distribute its products in a mountain state area that has been handled for 31 years by a private distributor, Rocky Mountain Kawasaki (RMK), a division of Gering, Nebraskabased Masek Distributing Inc. Initial changes will begin on September 1 when generator, parts, and accessOl:y sales and other various support functions are assumed by Kawasaki Motors Corp. (KMC). According to president Henry Noda, the change is being made so that the company can unify duplicate functions, thus providing economies beneficial to the dealer network and allowing the company to strengthen its competitive position in the industry. The states affected by the change are Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Wyom- The fifth round of the BEARS World Series will be run as a support race to the World Superbike Championship round at Brands Hatch in England on August 4-6. A IS-lap race will be held in between the two World Superbike races, with entries expected to come from Harley-Davidson, Britten, Triumph, Norton, Moto-Guzzi and BMW. Entries are available through Mr. Doug Barnfield, Motorcycle Circuit Racing Board, P.O. Box 72, Castle Donington, Derby DE74 2ZQ, England. After three rounds of the BEARS Series - held at Daytona, Monza and Thruxton - New Zealander Andrew Stroud leads the championship with two victories and 40 points. Cycle News contributor Alan Cathcart is second with 35 points while Ron McGill sits in third place with 27 points. Road racer Chuck Graves is the all-time Willow Springs Motorcycle Club (WSMC) money earner with $16,385 won. Paul Harrell is second with earnings of $10,430 while Andy Milton is third with $8545. The above figures were provided by WSMC.

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