Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Mo tocrosser Rob ert Hogenmiller suffered a broken righ t femur d uring the AMA Arenacross round in Des Moi nes , Iowa, on November 18. According to Hoge n mi lle r's father , Rob e rt has undergone surgery and expects to be back in action in late February or early March. Yama ha Motor Ja pan h as announced th at Ja panese su perbike rider Wataru Yoshikawa will join Colin Edwards II in Yama ha's assault on th e 1996 Wo rld Su perbike Championship. Yoshikawa, 27, won the All-Japan Superbike Chamions hi p in 1994 and was fou rth in the 95 series. He a lso finished fourth in e 1995 Su zu k a 8-Ho ur w he re he -amed with Norih iko Fu jiwara. Yamaa h as a lso announced that th e team mIl now be managed by David e Brivi o, who replaces former World Champion Ch ristia n Sarron. Ed ward s' s crew chief from 1995, Fioren zo Fa na li, w ill n ow ove rsee m achin e se tu p and d evelopment for both Edwards an d Yoshikawa, Pace SuperSports and SRO Moto rsports, p rodu cers of the AMA Super. cross Series, have announced that they have reached a multi-year sponsorship agreemen t with Parts Unlimited and Dunlop Tires. Scott USA , FMF, Thor and Du nlop are now the official products of the AMA Supercross Series. "Th is agreement with Parts Unlimited and its family of com panies, along with the agreement with Du nlop Tire Co., brings together s o m e of the most respected n ames i n the motorcycle in dustry as the official products of supercross," said Jerry West, vice presid en t of Pace SuperSports. "Our relatio nshi p wi th eac h of th ese com panies goes back more th an 20 years an d we are pleased to be able to incl ude them in the 1996 s u per cros s program ." The AMA SupercrossSeries begins on Janua ry 13 at th e Florid a Citrus Bowl in Orl ando, Florida . . Vint ag e Ir on ' s Ri ck Dou ghty h a s announced th at he will run th e Vintage Iron Evolution Series in 1996. The vintage mot ocros s series is mod eled aft er the popul ar Eng lish Twin Shock MX Series, w hich allows most motocrossers without li nkage suspension systems. The age of the motorcycle is not an issue with the new series, and all AH RMA-Iegal bikes will al so be allowed to compete. All motorcycl es must have air -cooled engines and drum b rakes and mod ifica tions for upsided ow n forks and power valves are not allowed . Three classes (125 , 250 and 500cc) will be held in two divisions (Spor ts man an d Master) and eight events have been scheduled, with two to be added in the coming weeks. For more information, call Vintage Iron at 209 / 252-9053. A meeting was held recently in Geneva t o di scuss the fu tu re of th e World Supercross Championship. FIM Vice Pr e s id e n t Je a n -P ierr e Mo ugin, mot ocross com missio n president Wolfgan Srb and th e p ro mo ters/ organizers of the 1995 World Supercross Cha mp io ns hip rou nd s were p r es e nt fo r the m eetin g, a nd all sai d they'd like the series to continue. The FIM is expected to make a decision regarding the 1996 World Supercross Championship during the next conference meetin gs, scheduled for early March. Six-time AMA Grand National Champion Scott Parker phoned Cycle News to announce that he has a "verbal agreement" with Harley-Davidson to campaign aboard Bill Werner-tuned XR750s in 1996" .a s if there were any doubt. "Nothi ng is official yet," the 34-year-old Parker said . "But we have a v erb a l agreement. I only sign y ear-to-year deals with the factory, but it looks like we'll be going after that seventh title aboard the factory Harl~y-Davidson." Rainbow II MX Park, th e San Jacint o, California, facility th at the Cycle News testi n g staff calls h ome, will h ost it s inaugu ral Minis Only MX Race on Janua ry 6. All of the us ua l mini classes wi ll be offered, as well as a 125cc Schoolboy (12- 16 yea r- ol d) class a n d several Wom en's classes. For more information, call 909/654-5020. AMA Pro Racin g h as announced th a t Early Dakar Rally lead to Peterhansel W ith four stages of the '96 GranadaDakar Rally having been completed as of January 2, Yamaha-mounted Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel (ri ght) had secured the overall lead wi th a tim e of 11 hours and 27 seconds. Peterha nsel has won the rally four times in the past, including last year's version. Austrian Heinz Kinigadner - a former 250cc MX World Champion - sat second on his KTM, 13 minutes off the pace of the leader , with another Frenchman - KTMmounted Thier ry Magnaldi - in third . Italia n Edi Orioli was fourth on a Ya maha, with Spaniard Jordi Arcarons comp leting the top five on his KTM. Ridi ng a Cagiva, Italian-turned-Ameri can Da vide Trolli sat sixth, wi th Enduro World Ch ampion Kari Tianen - a Finn - just behind on a Husq varna. Six rid ers h ave dropped out thus far, in cluding MX hero Georges [obe, The ini tial stages took com petitors fro m Granad a, Spain, to Malaga, then on a ferry to Nad or, Moro cco. Oujda and Er Racli.idia followed, with the first serious stage ending in Foum EI Hassan. The sole Am erican native in the competition is Cycle Worl d Off-Road Editor Jimmy Lewis, who is competing on a specially prep ared 660cc KTM. Lewis was 15th on both the 335-mile Er Rachi dia - Fou m EI Hassan stage an d in the overall results, in a field of 104 riders. The rally will cover nearly 6300 miles before finishing on January 14 in Dakar, Senegal. . DuHamel wins AMA Pro Athlete Award M igu el DuHamel was selected as the AMA Professional Athlete of the Yea r at the annual AMA Pro Awards Banquet, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 16. DuHam el, who won both the AMA Superbike and 600cc Superspo rt Nation al Championships in 1995, earned th e award over 600cc National Champion Ch ris Carr, Su percross and 250cc National MX Champion Jeremy McGrath, six-ti me AMA G ra nd National Champion Scott Parker, and three-time Na tional Hillcli mb Ch ampion Paul Pinsonnault. O ther hig hlights of the AMA awards ceremo ny included th e awardi ng of the Hazel Kolb Brighter Image Aw ard to d rag racer Steve Joh ns on and to ve te ran Los Angeles Tim es write r Sh av Gli ck, a lon gtime m otorsports writer for Migue l DuHamel - AMA Pro the Times. Athlete of the Year. The AMA Pro Awards Banquet was held the night afte r the FIM Prize-Giving Ceremony, in which the FIM 's 1995 Worl d Champions were honored . High lights of the FIM program includ- Christine Britten acce pted the ed the naming of Merit Bronze Medal on behalf of fo rm e r 500cc her late hus band, J ohn Britten. World Champion Ke vin Schwantz as a recipient of the FIM Motorcycle Merit Silver Medal; and Ch ristin e Britten's acceptance of the FIM Mo torcycle Merit Bronze Medal on behalf of her late The AMpresented Kevin husband, John Britten, who succumbed to cancer on Schwantz with Its Merit Silver September 5, 1995, at the age of 45. Medal. Nearly 1000 competitors, industry lea ders and officials attended the AMA and FIM ban quets, wi th a record attendance of nearly 600 on hand for the AMA's ceremonies. Performance Mach ine w ill be the title sponsor for the 1996 AMA SuperTeam s Nation al Championship. The series will now b e known a s the AMA P e rform ance M ach ine SuperTeams Series. Performance Machine has posted a $10,000 championship bonus for the top teams in the series. In ad d itio n, Performan ce Machine will also offer contin ge ncy awards in the AMA 250cc Gra nd Prix Series . racci tested, Pegram, who was fas test from the start and never cras he d, had th e most confidence. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to get this now," Pegram said on Wednesday afternoon. "I was 75 percent su re whe n I go t here and now I'm 95 p ercent sure, unles s th er e's politics involved. I go faster and I don 't falloff." Yet he ad mi tted that he was "still a little nervous on it. It's hard to push the bike and no t crash." The big jump: Moving from a 6o-horsepower H-D 883 to a 160-horse power Ducati was eno u gh to give Matt Wait vision troubles at th e recent Michelin tire test at Dayton a Internati on al Speedway. "The first tim e I wen t ou t, my eyes go t blurry," Wait sai d . "It' s the first big bike I've ever rid den . The hardest part is knowing the limit on braking and go ing into the comer. You need to really look ahead. On the Harley you ca n a nticipate. On these, you're going so fast you need to really get your judgement down." Wait, who was given a try-out on a Fast By Ferracci Du cati, wil l most likely ru n the H- D Twi n'Spo rts series again, along with the 600cc Supersport class . EraIdo Ferracci has been keeping a close watch on Joh n Kocinski's move to the Du cati World Superbike te a m , b ut didn't know if the former 250cc World Cha mpion would race Daytona. "It' s not u p to me to say . I'll make sure to do the best I can to get him to Daytona. With (Troy) Co rse r, (M ike) Hale, p lu s my team, if I h a ve Ko cins k i, th e p eople wo uld go crazy. For the track, for everybody, for th e sport, it' d be great," Ferracci said. As for the rumor s that recent signees . Sh aw n Hi gb ee and Larry Pegram wer e paying for their rid es with Eraldo Ferracci' s Du cati team (see Wind box), Ferracci ha d this to say: "No, the se guys are factory riders. I pay them . Nobody pays me. I wish." Ferracci sai d that he hoped to test the pair again before the seasonopener at Daytona. Of all the riders Fer- MARRIED : Former AMA G r a n d Nationa l Ch am pion Chris Carr to Pam Brook s on Decemb er 22 in Fleetwood, \0 Penns ylvania. 0\ 0\ BORN: Aa ron Jo seph H oupt, to Joe Houpt and his wife Kathryn, on Decem ber 12 in Thiensvill e, Wisconsin. Houpt is the manage r of Suburban ·M o t or s Harl ey-Da vid son Racing. """" a """" e-, l-< ell ;:3 BORN: Gen e Christopher Romero, to I:: ell former AMA Grand National Ch ampion .......... Gene Rom ero an d hi s wife Che ri, o n December 15 in Brea, California. l~ 3

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