Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Itoh wi ll jo in Tadayuki Okada on Honda's new 500cc V-twin two-s tro ke in the 1996 Worl d Cham p io n sh ip Road Race Series. HRC' s entry in the 250cc World Championship will be Tohru Ukawa, who will replace Okada in the 250cc Grands Prix. gram with a total pa yout of $716,675. Suzuki will pay contingency in regional ' clu b events ($306,250 ), Formula 'USA ($47,800), WERA Endurance ($82,000), AMA Supersport ($76,375), AMA Superbike ($172,250) and AMA Su perTeams ($114,000). Erion Racing has hired two new riders for t h e 1996 AMA SuperTeams and AMA 600cc Superspo rt Series - former AMA 250cc Grand Prix rider Chuck Sorenson ana former World Endurance Champ ion Doug Toland. The pair will con test b o th series, u sin g H on d a CBR600s and CBR900s and Bridgestone tires. dP Safety School will be cond ucting a BMW Da y at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, California, on Mon da y, March 18. BMW riders interested in participating can contact Ton y Ehret at Bavari an Cycle Works (415 /8 63-11 83), Ka ry Prager at California BMW-Triumph (415/966-1183) or Chris a t San Jose BMW (408/ 295-0205). Lucky Strike Suzuki 's Scott Russell and Daryl Be a tt i e, a long w ith Ma rl bo ro Rainey' s Loris Capirossi and Tetsuya Harada and Kan emot o Ra cin g' s Luca Cadalora we re schedu led to begin testing at Aus tralia's Eastern Creek Raceway on Monday, January 15. The three teams were scheduled for three days of testing at the site of the 1996 Aus tralian Grand Prix, with Suzuki and Kanemo to also scheduled to test at Phillip Island the following week. Following tests in Australia, Rainey an d Kanemoto's teams will be joined in Malaysia by the Marlboro Roberts team of Kenny Roberts Jr., Jean-Mich el Bayle and Norifume Abe as well as World Champion Michael Doohan and h is HRC teammate Alex CrivilIe, Fortuna Pons' A lb erto ' Puig and Carles Checa and the factory Aprilia team of Max Biaggi and Doriano Rom boni. The top team s al so ha ve tests sch edu led for Sentul, Indonesia; Jerez, Spain; and a return trip to Shah Alam. Garage Com pany h as finalized a date for the Second Annual Corsa MotoClassica. The AHRMA race, concours competition and swa p meet is scheduled for April 1214 at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosam on d, Ca lifornia - the we ek follo wing the AHRMA race at Las Vegas International Raceway. The Corsa MotoC lassica event will also feature a Harl ey-Davidson 883 class. For more information, call SOO /39DESMO. Wa yn e Rainey' s Marlboro-backed Grand Pri x team was officially anno unced in Ita ly on January 9 in Madonna di Campiglio, an Italian sk i resort. "It's always been my desire to ru n a 500cc team," Raine y said at the press conference. "And I've got two grea t riders. I'm sure (Tetsuy a) Harad a is capa ble of winning another 250cc title . In fact, I recko n h e ' s the best 250 rid e r in the wor ld . Lo ri s (Cap irossi) is already impressing me a lot. He is willing to do whatever it takes to win." The following day, Rob erts ' team of Jean-Michel Bayle, Norifumi Abe and Ke nny Roberts Jr. wa s formall y introduced. The big change for both Marlbor o-backed teams is in their selection of a tire brand: Both will switch from Dunlop to Michelin ti r es for the 1996 season, with Roberts' change co ming af ter three straight seasons with Dunlop. In addition to the two Marlboro teams, Luca Cadalora was also introduced at a Marlboro function in Italy, announcing' his Honda team with Erv Kanemoto. " In three seasons of 500cc GP racing. I ha ve won six GPs," Cadalora said . "1 classified second the first yea r and third this past season. 1 d on't kn ow if any other one rider could be sa tisfied with these results . I aim a t th e World Championship title. I d on't feel inferior to anyone and last year, in the few occasions in which I had a competitive Yamaha, 1 put (Michael) Doo h an behind me without too much problems." The IRTA teams con te sting th e 1995 World Championship Road Race Series voted the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello as the "Best Grand Prix of 1995." The Ita lia n Grand Prix at Mugello will be held on May 26 as the fifth round of the series. American Suzuki has announced its 1996 Suzuki Road Racing Con tingency Pro- The 16th Annual Texas Outlaw National will be held as a pre-Da ytona warmup race on Sunday, February 25 at Devil s Bowl Speedway in Dallas, Texas. Races will be held in both Pro and Amateur cl asses . For m ore in form ati on, ca ll 214/216-5520. Skip Ford yce H a rle y-D a vid son h a s announced its racing team for 1996. The two-man team will consist of Jim Rosa in th e AMA Harley-Da vidson SuperTwins Series and 16-year-old A.J. Herrera in the AMA 883 Dirt Track Series. Former AMA Grand National Champion Mert Lawwill phoned Cycle News for a quick update on life after dirt track racing. Many readers m ay already know th at th e 1969 National champ has, of la te, devo ted most of hi s time to th e mountain-bike iridustry to develop inn ova tive suspe ns ion sys tems for the offroa d p edal pu sh e rs. Now, Lawwills de signs ha ve been bou ght by Schwinn, which a lso owns Yet i Cy cles, a nd Lawwill will be taking a one-year leave from his Tiburon. California , home (the very sa me one seen in "O n Any Sunday") to work as a con sultant at Yeti's R&D department in Durango, Colorado. "I'll also be traveling wi th the Yeti race te am to all the World Cup Downhill events in Europe," Lawwill said . "It's funny, after I stopped racing m otorcycles, I thought that wa s it. But now I'm as intent as ever with this World Cup Downhill racin g. I guess you never d o get o u t of it." Laww ill ' s so n, Jo e Lawwill, is a factory rider for Yeti. Bartels' Racin g has announ ced its 1996 team roster for the AMA Grand National Championship dirt track series, an d the AMA SuperTwi n s a n d NASB Tw in Sports series. Three-time champion Jay Springst een will once again spearhead the Barte ls' Racin g dirt track team in the 1996 AMA Grand National Champi on ship Series, campaigning Joe Bishaprepped XR750s and ~8 3 s . The deal mar ks the vetera n Michigander's eighth year with the Southern California-based Harley-David son dea ler. Eric Bostrom will do double duty, joining Springer at all AMA Grand National events as well as campaigning 883s on th e p avement with brother Ben Bostrom, who will concentrate solely on road racing. Three new team members, Sh a u n Russell, Bill y Martin and Johnny M urp hree will be aboard Bartels'-backed Harl ey-David - Quatro er Orioli I talian Edi Orioli (righ t) arrived at the Senagalese capital of Da kar on January 14 with the fou rth Dakar Rally overall win of his career, matching the accomplishments of Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel. The record of five is held by now-retired Frenchman Cyril Neveu. Of th e 119 motorycle racers who left Granada, Spain, on December 30, 50 managed to complete the entire 470G-mile course. The final week took riders from El Mreiti, Mau rit an ia, through Tichit; Kiffa; Kayes , Mali; Labe, Guinea; and Tombacounda, Senegal before finishing in Dakar. "I never thought when I first won this event eight years ago that I wo uld be h ere celeb rating my fourth win th is ye a r," sai d Team Yamaha's Orioli. "It's been a great rally for me. Lkept the strategy I set out with: Keep ou t of trouble, don 't get lost, concentrate and kee p th e mo tivation going. You never kno w on the Dak ar.anything can happen, so I was only really happy when I go t to the end of the very last stage." Orioli was just outsi de of the top th ree early in the eve n t, w ith teammate Peterhansel and KTM's Heinz Kiniga dn er battl ing it out at the front. Everything changed on the sixth leg of the event, from Smara in Morocco to Zour at in Mauritania. Going into th e 375-mile day, Orioli was fourth beh in d Peterhansel, Austrian Kinigadner and Frenchman Thierry Magna ldi. Kinigadner dropped ou t with motor problems on his KTM, while Magnaldi crashed his KTM, injuring his neck and losing nearly two hours. Peterhansel finish ed the stage 45th after suffering a fuel problem, which he blamed on the organizers. He dropped out as a result. "We are very sorry that 'Peter' has decided to take this course of action, but we are at a loss to expl ain why he feels there was something wrong with his fuel," said organizer Hubert Auriol. "He wa s one of 15 riders supplied by the same people using the same pump on the same barrel. He was the only one to suffer su ch problems." Orioli won the stage and rema ined at the front to the finish. After Orioli' s Yamaha, KTMs took the remainder of the top five positions, w ith Spaniard [ordi Arcarons being followed by cou ntryman Carlos Sotelo, Dutchman Gerard Jinunink and Frenchman Richard Sainct . Italian Cagiva pilot Davide Trolli was in third overall one week ago, but lost time wh en he broke his throttle on [aunary 10 and had to pull the thr ottle cable with his hand to the da y's finish . He retained his overall position, but dropped out Janua ry 12 with engine problems. C O R RE CTION: Gene Christopher Romero was born in Brea, Cali fornia, on N ovember 25, not December 15 as we reported last week. AUTOGRAPH SIGN ING : At Burnsville Yamaha in Burnsville, Minnesota, on January 19 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Team Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw, John Dowd an d Kevin Windham are schedu led to appear. For more informa tion, call 612/882-1020. FORM ED: Planet Desmo Racing. the Elf Fuel d istributor for th e East Coast, by CCS road racer Jeff Jennings . For more in form ation, call 610/399-0958 BORN : A baby girl, Zoe Elizabeth Webb, to Dirt Rider editor Tom Webb and h is wife Sally on Jan uary 4 in Lancaster, California . CH ANGED: The phone number for The Southeastern Sportbike Association, to 770/977-0538. ' The address remains the same at P.O . Box 420683, Atlanta, GA 30342. FO RM ED: Race Resumes Unlimited, a company in the bu siness of developing racer resumes. For m ore informa tion, call 909/ 928-1266. sons in th e AMA 883cc National Dirt Track Series. AUTOG RAPH SIG NING : At Anaheim Suzuki in Anah eim, California, on January 26 from 6 to 7 p.m. Team Suzu ki' s Mike LaRocco, Greg Albertyn, Ezra Lusk a n d Crai g De ck er are sch edul ed t o a p p ea r. For m ore informati on, ca ll 714/ 774-6621. LAUNCHED: Motorcycle Cruiser, a new m otorcycl e ma ga zin e published b y Pe terse n Pub lishin g Co . Motorcycl e Cruiser w ill d ebut on ne w sst ands on February 27, wi th four issu es scheduled for 1996. AUTOG RAPH SIGNI NG : At Anaheim Yamaha Kawas aki in Anaheim , California, on January 26 from 6 to 7 p .m. Team Kawasaki's Jeff Emig, Ryan Hughes and Damon Huffman a re sc heduled to appear . For more information, call 714/ 563-1700. AUTO GRAPH SIG N ING: At Miss ion' Yamaha in Laguna Niguel, California, on January 26 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Team Yam aha' s Damon Bradshaw, John Dowd and Kevin Windham are scheduled to a p pe ar. For m ore inform ation, call 714/582-0351. CREATED: Sputnik, a new Internet site on th e World Wide Web, for sidecar enthusiasts. The address is as follows: www.bbb-intJ.com /SPlITNIK. For more information. calISOO/258-4958. AUTO G RA PH S IG N IN G: At Inland Wheel Center in San Bernadino, California, on January 24 from 6 to 8 p.meTeam Hond a 's Jeremy McGr ath a n d Steve Lamson, Team In ovat ion Sports' Ph il Lawrence and Chad Pederson, Team KTM's Mike Healey, and Team Green's Greg Zitterkop ft are sc hed u le d to appear. For m ore in form ati on, call 909/888-6324. BORN: A bab y bo y, Ryan Je ff r ey Mu rgel, to longtime Grand National \,Q Cross Country racer Jeff Murgel and his 0\ wife Ju dy, on December 19 in Pittsburgh, ~ Pennsylvania MOVED: Gaerne North America to 3709 N . Main si.. Clebu rne, T X 76031 , 817/645-5566, FAX 817/645-5131. CORR ECTION: Pee Wee racer Matt Spencer was .mistakenly referred to as Brad in "Damron tops Lodi ST fin ale" (Issue #46, p. 34). 3

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