Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

INTHE WIND National Enduro Ch ampion Ty Davis (Ka w) scored th e ov era ll w in a t the Mesquite G r a n Pri x, wh ich w as th e opening round of the Best in the Desert Silver St at e Se ries , on January 20 in Mesquit e, N ev ada . Davi s ' finis he d approxim at ely four minutes ahead of runner-up Greg Zitterkop f (Kaw) and third-place finisher Destry Abott (KTM). At round tw o o f th e GFI Winte r MX Series - So u th, h eld at Lo s An g el es County Racew ay in Palmdale, Califor nia , on January 21, Frenchm an Dav id Vuill en in (Kaw) wa s th e bi g winner. Vuillenin wo n bo th the 125 and 250cc Pro classes. In the 125cc race , Ju s ti n Tiearney (Yam) finished second, while for mer 125 cc National MX cha mp Mick y Dymond (Kaw) finished third . Shane Esposito (Suz) to ok runner-up honors in the 250cc class, while National Relia bility Enduro Cha mpion Rodney Smith (Suz) rounded out the top three. Ron Tichenor (Suz) won both the 125 and 250cc Pro classes during rou nd three of th e Florida Winter AMA MX Series at Dade City Mo tocross Raceway in Dad e City, Florida, on January 21. Tichenor topped Jeff Curry (Suz) and Ton Lorusso (Hon) in the 125cc class before beating Curry and Robbie Skaggs (Kaw) to win the 250cc class. Jimmy Gadd is (Kaw) he adlined round six of the PJ1 Super Arenacross Series at Niagara Falls Convention Center in Niagara Falls, New York, on January 19-20 by claimin g victory in three of the four Expert m ain events . Jeromy Buehl (Kaw ) beat Gad dis and Andy Bowyer (Kaw) in Friday' s 125cc main event, bu t Gaddis reb ounded to claim th e 250cc main event over Cliff Palmer (Suz) an d Brad Wool sey (Kaw). On Sa turday, Gaddis swep t bo th m ain even ts with Buehl and Palmer finishing secon d an d third, respectively, in each . Accordi ng ' to professional pl a nne r Danie l T. Cooper, the application for a Barstow -to-Vegas race in 1996 has been form ally and officially subrnittted to the Bureau of Land Managemen t. Cooper has been nam ed by Carl Ogren, presiden t of th e Deser t Vipers Motorcycle Club, as "our race planner in our efforts to bring back th e Bar s to w -to -Ve ga s point-to-point race in ' 96," said Ogren. "In my opinion as an experienced planner, there is no logical or legal reason why th e BLM sho uld no t approve the Desert Vipe rs' applicatoin for a B-to-V (race) in 1996," says Cooper. "Nor do I expect th e m itigati on fees that will be require d to be so burdensome as to m ake th e race m onetar ily infeasible." Cooper sen t Cycle News a cop y of the Special Recreation Application and Permit, as we ll as a map of the proposed Bto-V course. New FIM President Fra n cesco Ze rbi w as quoted in a recent issu e o f England's Motor Cycle New s as sayin g he wants th e FIM to r egain co n tro l o f Grand Prix road racing f rom IRTA and Dorna, "Many mistakes have been made in recent years that need correcting," he . said. "We want to tak e over from IRTA from 1997, control th e regulation s and win bac k our influe nce in GPs." Zerbi also said he has plans to cut the Thunderbikes ou t of th e road rac e Grands Prix becau se they are too sim ilar to the 600cc Sup ersport races that run with the World Sup erbik e Series . Se veral of th e top AMA S up erbik e team s tes ted at Lag una Seca Raceway in Monterey, Californi a, on January 18- 19, including Vance & Hines Yama ha's Jam ie Jam es and To m Klpp, Muzzy Kawasaki' s Dou g Cha nd ler an d Mi ke Smit h and Sm o kin' Joe ' s Ra cin g ' s Migu el DuHamel and Steve Crevier. It was the first time the teams had run on the race track since wo rk was completed in the turns 10 and 11 area. "It' s okay," Cha nd ler sai d of th e tr ack changes. "I don't think it' ll change the racing much. Th ere' s jus t not q u it e th e sa me run d own the hill, and tum 10 seems a bit slower. The new surface is kind of ripply, bu t the grip's goo d. I thi nk go ing up over the hill (tum one) is going to be a problem. Before you could hold you r lin e on th e bottom, now yo u' re up on the p aint line on the outside. Ma yb e when th ey re surface th e whole tr ack th ey can take som e of th e hill d own." DuHamel ended up cutting th e faste st laps during the tests, with his best being in the 1:29 range on the first day. On the second day, DuHamel's best was a 1:30 as the weather deteriorated . Road racer Jason Pridmore will return to racing in 1996 after suffering a badly broken leg tha t forced him out of action in 1995. Pridmore has recently signed a contract with Kinko' s Kawasaki for both AMA 600 and 750cc Supersport, joining th e alread y signed Thoma s Stev ens. " I' m psyched, thi s is exactl y what I w anted," Pridmore said. "I' m look ing forward to havin g Th omas as my teammate. My le g is no lo nger a probl em. I just rode at Phoenix and we'll be doing some testing in Florida in February . Then we'll be doing the CCS races at Daytona the weekend before the 200 and that w ill be my first race since September of 1994 at Road Atlanta. I'm really mot ivated and I'm looking forward to ge tting back on the bike and wo rking w ith this team." British road racer Jami e Whith am is planning to return to racing after apparently win ning a battle with Hodgkin's disease, an illness that knocked him out of the 1995 racing season in August . Wh itha m is likely to contest the British Championshi p for Yamaha wit h.selected rides in the World Superbike Series. The opening round of the AMAINATC National Championship Tri al s Se ri es will be held March 23 at th e Couga r Buttes area of Lucerne Valley, California. The 26th El Trial de Espa na , an annual even t that raises funds for th e American Trial des Nations team, will be held the followi ng da y, January 23. For more informati on, call 619 /5618452. Th is year's U.S. World Trophy Team for the August 12-17 Inte rn ational SixDa y Enduro in Hameenlinna, Finland, will be han d-picked by earl y next month. Normall y, th e ISDE Tr ophy: Team is chosen based on each participating ride rs' perf orman ces in the fou r-roun d AMA National Championship Reliability Enduro Series, which gets under way May 18-19 in New Waverly, Texas, bu t th is year things will be d iffe re n t . Ac cordin g to Rid e to W in's Da ve Bertr am, "Ho pefully, by the end of the month, we'll already have our Tro phy team selected . We' re not going to wai t til the last moment like we usu ally d o. We want to do it this way in an effort to give ride rs forewa rni ng, which will also give the riders a lot more expos u re du ring the year before th ey go. But first we ha ve to get committmen ts from the rid ers and th e manufa cturer s. Right now we have three. We're taking things very seriously th is year." The team will be chosen by the ISDE boa rd of dir ectors. Donny Schmit, 1967·1996 wo-time World MX Champion Donny Schmit (right) died on January 19 in Ramsey, Minnesota, from comp licatio ns resu lting from aplastic anemia. Th e 29-year -o ld was d iagnosed with th e rare blooddisease only days earlier, and was awaiting a bone-marrow transplant operation. Schmit suffered a stro ke in his sleep. Following a succes sful racing career in the United States, Schmit spe nt five years competing abroad, earn ing the 1990 125cc Wo rld Cha mpion ship as a mem ber of Team Bieffe Suzuki and the 1992 250cc World Championship for the Chesterfield Yamaha. Schmit "retired" at the end of the '94 season, bu t still con tinued to race for fun in Ameri ca, winning the 1995 Sound of Thunder Four-Stroke MX Championship for the CCM factory and finishing fourth at the '95 Millville 250cc National aboard a Honda of Troy ma chine. Schmit is survived by his wife, Carrie, his parents, Dave and Shirley, three brothe rs, Dave, Dan and Mike, an d his sister, Denise. A memorial fund will be established in Donn y' s honor at a later da te. Carrie Schmit reports tha t it will be race related, but has yet to determine in what capacity. Don ations, cards and letters may be sen t to: Carrie Schmit, 3906 ~14th Lane NW, Coon Rapids, MN 55433. T Speaking of the ISDE, Cycle Gear will be ho sting a benefit hare scrainbles race to rai se fund s to su p port Team USA' s efforts at this year's Six Days . The event wi ll be held on Sunday, February 11, in Wilseyvill e, California, th e weekend between the opening round of the AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series, in H o llis te r, a nd the openi ng round of the Na tional End uro Series in Coalinga. Plus, Cycle Gea r will host its 8th Annual Off-Road Seminar, Saturday night, February 11, at 8 p.m. The seminar is free and th is yea r ' s scheduled s pea ke r s are off-road cham ps D a ve Bertram , Rodney Smi th , Ra n dy Hawkins and Steve Hatch . For m o re information, call 510/236-7384 . TM Motorcycles w ill form an off-roa d team for 1996. The team will be mad e u p of ISDE riders Chris Smi th an d Drew Smith, National Enduro rider Kevi n Bennett, and local ECEA rid er s Jeff Kirchner, Scott Chapkovich and Eric Koeller. These six riders will contest the eas te rn rounds of the AMA National Reliability End uro Series, the Na tional End uro Series and se lec ted Gra nd Nationa l Cross Cou ntry events. The team, " TM Off-Roa d Eas t," will b e ba se d out of Town & Co u n try Cycle Center in Su ssex, New Jer se y . The team ' s ma in sp o ns o rs will be Works Enduro Rider, Arai Helmets, IT Racing, Smith Goggles, SplitFire, and Sprocket Specialists . Travel Craft the official travel agency of th e AM A, rep orts th at while th e Dayton a Beach , Florida , a re a m ay be in a city-w ide sellou t for the March 2-10 Bike Week fest ivities, th ey ha ve obtained a fresh bl ock of hot el rooms. Minimum s tays o f fou r ni ght s or m ore a re requir ed. For m ore in fo rma tion, ca l1 800/ 241-1223. Riders plannin g on com peting in th e O pen Pro class at the AMA Eas te rn National Four Stroke MX and Western National Sou nd of Thunder MX Series mu st possess either an AMA Pro-Am or Professiona l license to com pete. In.add ition, all machines mu st comply wi th the su p pleme n tal rul es for the new serie s, available in the AMA Pro Com petition Bul1etin. For more information, contact Duke Finch or Rob King of the AMA at 614/ 891-2425, or Sound of Thun der Ser ies Coordinator Mike Young Sr. at 916/ 222-0371. Amateur MX racers who want to p lan their seasons ahea d of time wi ll be glad to know that the NMA has announced the dates for their: fou r major 1996 races. They are as follows: World Mini Grand Pr ix, Las Vegas, Nevada, April 12-14; Ponca City Grand National MX, Ponca C it y, Oklahoma, July 30-A ugust 3; Suzuki RM Cup Challenge, Branson , Misso uri , September 7-8; Bran son USA National MX Final s, Branson, Missouri, Octo ber 4-6. For more information, call 909/657-6834 . Team Yam aha 's Doug Henry and Mal colm Smith were s urprise gues ts a t Manchester Hond a Racing's sixth annual ride r ap preciation party on December 9 in New Engla nd . Over 300 riders braved the cole! NeW England weather to get to the Manchester, Connecticut, store an d they were rewarded by havi ng the opportunity to speak with Henry and Smit h. The win ne rs for the Cycle News D aytona Sweepstakes have been chose n with Jim Donohue of Sta ten Island, New York , winning the grand prize of a TravelCraft-provided package for two to Daytona Bike Week, plus tickets to the dirt track, su percross and Day tona 200 and a o ne-yea r su bscri p tio n to Cycle N ews. Fred LaVance of Manasquan, New Jer sey, ended up se co nd in th e s weepstakes, winning two Arai helmets and a one-year subscrip tion; Rick Stevenson of Lakew ood, Californ ia , was the third pri ze winner, ending up with an Aerostitch jacket and pants or Roadcrafter suit an d the one-year sub scrip tion.

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