Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

West, P.O. Box 6170, Anaheim, CA 92816-6170. Entries must be received prior to October 2 and the 12 winners will be notified by telephone. Each winner will receive a pit pass and a team or event T-shirt. Former KTM factory rider and longtime part-time Kawasaki test rider Mike Fisher has taken on a full-time position as an in-house test rider for Kawasaki. Fisher, whose career highlights include several fourth-place finishes during the 1991 Camel Supercross Series, will assist in the development of everything from motocross bikes to Jet Skis to utility vehicles and ATVs. 'Til still race selected events, maybe even a supercross here and there," said Fisher. "I'm pretty excited, this is my first real full-time job." Will the California Helmet Law be repealed? According to the September 10 edition of the Orange County Register, the legislation introduced by California State Assemblyman Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside) on February 10 to eliminate the three-year-old law is still very much alive. Morrow's bill stalled on April 17 after a partisan vote by the Assembly Transportation Committee, with Republicans voting in favor of the repeal and Democrats against, but that was in a Democrat-controlled Assembly. With the Republicans taking control of the Assembly and its committees, Morrow revived the bill on July 1 by adjusting the language and attaching it as a rider on a measure which would increase the speed limit on California highways. But the author of the speedlimit proposal, State Senator Quentin Kopp of San Francisco, said that he would rather drop his legislation rather than be forced to carry the helmetrepeal provisions. Morrow's proposal is now pending in the Assembly Transportation Committee. In related news in the federal arena, the Register reported that a highway bill which would drop federal motorcycle-helmet and speedlimit requirements won the approval of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Friday, September8. The promoters of the Sturgis Rally &: Races have confirmed an increase in attendance of more than seven percent for this year's event, the 55th rally. Sturgis Mayor Chris Mechling has announced that 215,000 people were in attendance, the second highest number AMAcancels Mechanicsbur HM T he Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, Half Mile at Williams Grove Speedway, site of round 19 of the AMA Grand National Championship Series, was called off on September 9 when AMA officials deemed the fabled sprint-ear track unsafe for a motorcycle race. The debate began when the teams arrived at the Southeastern Pennsylvania facility and got a look at the red-elay track, which had apparently been not been graded and was doused with an overwhelming amount of water. Veteran rider Steve Morehead was the first rider to make a move as the "Findlay Flyer" showed up at 2:30 p.m., took one look at the racing surface, and left in disgust an hour later. "I've ridden on MX tracks nicer than this thing," Morehead said. "They (Williams Grove) were warned. We came here with all the intentions to race. This just doesn't look like a place where professional motorcycle racing ought to be." Several other teams were angered over the situation as well, including TCR Racing team owner Tom Cummings, but most elected to remain and see if the conditions could be improved. "We're not going to leave just yet," Cummings said. "But we're not going to unload just yet either." A brief but heavy rain shower just after 4 p.m. did little to help the water-drenched track, but nonetheless, Williams Grove track personnel attempted to salvage the race by grading off the top layer of clay and then adding lime to the surface in the corners with the hope of soaking up the excess moisture. Some three hours later, track conditions had not improved, and tempers began to wear thin as some of the riders, including Grand National Champion Scott Parker, attempted to offer track personnel suggestions on how they might be able to make the conditons raceable. "I was standing right there when Scotty told the guy that they needed to dig down a little further," said Will Davis, who currently lies fourth in the series standings. "The guy got mad and stuck his shovel in the dirt and said, 'What part of "we're already down to the base" don't you understand?'" "This is Grand National Racing at its finest," Parker said. "Now it's 7:15 p.m., the lights have come on, and we still haven't been on the track." Parker's factory Harley-Davidson teammate Chris Carr and tuner Kenny Tolbert were also surveying the situation and were one of the few teams who held any optimism for the race. '1 came her~ to collect a paycheck," Carr said. 'Tm glad we're finally getting closer to going." "Me too, Tolbert said. "And it should have been better when they got here. It's not like they didn't know we were coming." By 7:40 p.m. the grandstands that lined the track were filled to capacity. AMA referee Bruce Bober asked Davis, Parker and Eaken Racing's Larry Pegram to suit up and test the track. All three riders went out and turned a few laps before pulling off. "That lime is slicker than snot," Davis said. "I went into turn one and both ends went away at the same time." "I think it's because the track is too hard," Pegram added. "I went into turn three and almost went all the way to the fence. I don't know what they can do. They need something to dig it up. Right now it's so hard and polished that there's no traction. And we thought Morehead was dumb for leavin' early." Carr claims 600cc National title A ndy Tresser won the final round of the AMA 600cc National Championship Series at the Castle Fairgrounds in Castle Rock, Washington, on September 9, but Team Harley-Davidson's Chris Carr (right) was once again crowned champion even though he did not compete in the final. Carr, the series points leader going into Castle Rock, elected to contest the Mechanicsburg Grand National Half Mile in Pennsylvania, scheduled on the same weekend, as did second-placed Rich King. That left Joe Kopp, who sat third in the standings, with a clear shot at the title. The Washington rider needed only to finish third or better on his home track to earn the championship. But Kopp finished a disappointing fourth behind Tresser, reigning 600cc National Champion Mickey Fay and Rex Fisher in the main event, leaving him tied in the final points standings with Carr, who claimed the crown in a tiebreaker via his 600cc National victory at the season opening Daytona short track. After repeated attempts to wheelpack the surface with a roller, track vehicles and even the personal vehicles of several riders, the track refused to shape up. Just before 9 p.m. Pegram and Davis took to the track once again - this time with Carr, who would offer yet another opinion, but the results were the same. Bober cancelled the ev_ent at 9:30 p.m. and said that the race would not be rescheduled. "Due to the way we prepared the track and the rain tonight, it was deemed unsafe," Bober said. "Right now, there's no time to reschedule." When asked why the race would not be run on the rain date (September 10), Bober replied, "We initally said 'tomorrow,' but after discussion with the promoter, he said that it would not be practical." Although the packed house booed the decision, the crowd dispersed in an orderly fashion. But the fact the rain date would not be used further angered the fans, teams and riders, including Pegram, who was near Bober and Jones when the initial discussion took place. "The promoter has the rain date for tomorrow," Pegram said. "But he said he doesn't want to run because he says he's going to lose his ass." Although Jones was unavailable for comment, co-promoter Alan Kreitzer responded at press time: "My understanding is that it was the AMA's decision not to race," Kreitzer said while not denying that he and Jones would have lost money. "We just didn't feel it would be in everyone's best interest. A lot of people had traveled a long way to be there, and they weren't going to be able to come back. We didn't think that it was fair to the fans." "It's not fair," USC Racing's Sarah Goad said. "The word is that the promoter would have had to refund the money and that he couldn't have sold enough tickets for tomorrow's rain date. We've lost the opportunity to make money, and it cost us a lot of money to come here. Motorcycle racing is our business. The AMA thinks that it is a hobby or a sport. Until they start treating it like a business, this sport isn't going to go anywhere." Perhaps hardest hit by the decision were the smaller independent privateer riders like Dale Jenneman, who made the 1300mile trek from his Grand Island, Nebraska, home by himself in order to compete. "I didn't ride the track but.from what I've seen, it wasn't very good," Jenneman said. "I think we could have run tomorrow, but the promoter doesn't want to have to pay us any of the purse. If it wasn't for what we did at the

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