Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I Jeromy Buehl (Kaw) sco re d two main event victories to become th e big winner d uring round se ven of the PJl Super A renacross Se ries a t the Kansa s ExpoCentre in Topek a, Kansas, on January 26-27. Buehl swept th e 125cc main ev ent on b o th nigh ts , leading G u y Cooper (Suz) and Cli ff Palmer (Suz) to the line on Friday, and defeating series po in ts leader Jimmy Ga d d is (Kaw ) and Palmer on Saturday. Gaddis beat Buehl and Pa lmer for the 250cc main win on Friday, and Cooper won Saturday' s 250cc feature by toppin g Gaddi s and Buehl. Ty Davis (Kaw) won the opening round of the AMA Hare and H ound National Championship Series in Lucerne Valley, California, on Jan uary 28. Davi s topped Paul Kra use (Kaw) by some six minutes to ea rn the victory. Third place went to Todd Hoy (KTM) wi th Jeff Capt (Han) an d Johnny Ca mpbell (Han) rounding out th e top five finishers. Ronnie Ti chenor (Suz) w on the 125cc Pro class a n d wrappe d up b oth Pro championships in th e fina l round of the Flo rid a W in te r AMA Series at Gatorback Cycle Par k in Gainesville, Flori da, o n January 28. Tichenor topped An thony Pocorobba (Suz) and Barry Carsten (Suz) in wi nning the 125cc race before finishing seco nd behind Robbie Horton (Kaw) in the 250cc final. Three-time Wo rld Champion Fred di e Spencer m issed the cut after qua lifying 32nd out of 49 entries for an FF2000 car ra ce, an event h eld prior to th e Indy Racing League open er in Orlan d o, Florida , on Jan uary 27. Spen cer w as d rivin g for Texas Ranchland/Breid enbach Racing, for w hom h e h opes to driv e in upcomin g Indy Racin g League events, possibly incl ud ing the Ind iana polis 500. Tadayuki Okada, rid ing the new 500cc V-tw in H onda NSRSOOV, was the fastest on a 500cc Grand Prix bike on the openin g day of te s tin g in Shah A la m, Mal aysi a, on Jan uary 29. Th e Japanese rid er clocked a 1:25 .2 lap , four-tent h s faster th an th e first of th e V-fou rs ridden by Marlboro Yamaha's Norifumi Abe. Luca Cadalora was third-fas tes t with a time of 1:26.1, w ith Doriano Romboni fourth on the A prilia 400cc V-t win at 1:26.2 and Loris Capirossi fifth at 1:26.3 in hi s fir st ou ting in M ar lboro Rai ney Russell starts his season L colors. Others taking part in the test were Fortuna H o n d a ' s Carl es Checa and two other Marlboro Roberts Yama has ridden by Je an-Mich el Bayl e and Kenny Roberts Jr. Bayle w as fortunate to escape inju ry when he crashed in the morning session, destroying his new YZR500. Defending tw o- tim e W orld Cham pion Micha el Dooha n d idn 't record a time on the first day of th e test, w ith Alberto Pu ig also sitting out day one . Two-time 250cc World Champion Max Biaggi was the faste st of the 250cc riders, m at ching Cadalora's 500cc tim e. Yamaha's Tetsuya Harada w as secondquickest, three-tenths slowe r than Biaggi at 1:26.4 u cky Strike Su zuki's Scott Ru ssell and Da ryl Beattie w rapped up the Au stralian leg of th eir preseason test schedule with a three-day test at Phillip Island last w eek. Ridi ng in hot and windy cond itio ns, Beattie led th e w ay w ith a best time of 1:34.2, with bo th him and Russell recording ide ntical tim es of 1:35.5 on the blustery final d ay of the test. M eanwhile, Kanemot o Honda' s Luc a Cad alora crashed in the first hou r of te sti ng and su ffered a gashed leg . Although only sligh tly injured, Cadalora too k no further part in the test. Beattie, who is still recovering from a skin-graft operation to his left foot , completed more laps at Phillip Island than he did at the p re vious test at Eastern Creek, where he made a su rprise appearance following Russell 's late arrival due to visa com plicati ons. Yet to come to grips with th e 1996 Su zuki RGv500, which is believed to ha ve a revamped chassis, Russell said cha nges to the engine should bridge the speed gap to Michael Doo han's Honda NSR500. "I think it' ll bri ng us a lot closer to the Honda," Russell said. "I've got a way to go before I can th ink of ru nning wi th Mick, but tha t's my goal. On last year's performance, if Mick scored a perfect 10 then I'd rate myself a seven. Rid ing a 500 is so m u ch di fferent to a su perbike, and getting the suspension and geo metry set up properly is slowly coming to me. The re's so mu ch to chan ge, an d yo u can easily go in th e wrong d irection, but with all the testing I've go t before the firs t race to get my head right about th e Michelins , I'm confident of winning some races this year. I'll be putting everything I can into it." Russell said tha t he p lans on moving from Atlanta to Los Angeles in '96 : "I'm moving out to California because th ere's a lot of good motorcycling stuff goi ng on over there. The weather' s better, and I can ge t in some good training and go out on m y m otocross bike wi th guys like Jeff War d. " Russell also said that his girlfriend is expecting their firs t child in April, and he plans on returning to the U.S, as much as possible d uring the se ason. Daryl Fla ck Don Amador, of Oakley, California, wa s rece ntly honored as AMA D-36's " Leg islative Activis t of the Year" for 1995. " A m a d o r h a s worked above and beyond the call of duty as a spokesman for enviro nmentally responsible motorized re creation," said Bill Dart, D-36 ' s leg isl ative ac tio n officer. " Am ad o r' s efforts to effectively represent the m any positive aspects of fam ily-oriented offhigh w ay vehi cle use is gre atly appreciated by us all." Am ad or also serves on the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recrea tio n Comm is s ion at th e California Department of Parks and Recreation . Tw o -t im e Worl d C hampion Ba rr y Sheene h a s b ee n be hind Su zuki' s recru itment of Australian Mat Mladin for the Yoshimura Suzuki team, accordin g to reports fro m Australia . Three years ag o, Sh een e la unched a sca th ing m edia a ttack on th e 1992 A u s tralian Superbik e Champi on in th e w a ke of Cagiva's decision to sign the unprov en Mladin to a three-year contract, rep lacing Alex Barros. Now Mlad in ha s pa id tr ibute to Shee ne for prov id ing him w ith va lua ble advice tha t will make his AMA d ebut easier an d perha p s m o re p rofitable. " I spoke to Ma t a t the World Su pe rbi ke round at Ph illip Island and to ld h im if I co ul d help then to please call m e, wh ich h e did," Sheene sa id. "I' ve advised Mat on his con tract wi th Suzuki and rec ommen ded an accountant to him. Mat 's attitude has changed out of all proportions, he' s learned h is lessons the hard w ay, and I wish him the best in Am eri ca." onship at Daytona International Speed w ay an M arch 5 will be dedicated to th e lat e John Britten. Last ye ar 's race w as won by Andrew Stro ud on th e Britt en V-lOOO and he went on to capture the championship. In addition to its races a t Daytona, AHRMA wi ll also run a de monstra tion race at DeLa nd Municipal Airport in DeLand, Florida . If all goes we ll , AHRMA reps sa y th at the even t coul d end up replacing AH RMA's tradio nal season-openi ng race at Roeb ling Road near Sav annah, Geo rgia. AHR M A h as anno unced th at the first rou nd of the BEARS World Ch amp i- tries his Honda o rld Su perbike Champion - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - ....... w Carl Foga rty m a d e a s u ccessful sta rt to his new career at Honda d uring te sts at Shah Alarn, Ma laysia, on January 27-28. ~ The 29-year -old Brit, who m ade the switch to th e Castro I H ond a 0. team af ter ta king two suc cessive W orld Su pe r b ike titl es fo r th e Ducati, was ju st th ree-ten th s of a second off the Shah Alam superbike la p record in a tes t which w as hampered by a host of s tray animals running wild on th e circu it, which is on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. "I feel confident about winning a third world title now that I've actually test ed th e Honda," sa id Fogarty, who ran over a snake in the closing stages of the test. "It's a bit of a w orry with all the animals around at Shah Alam. You don't kn ow where they'll pop out next. But the test ha s gone much better than I thought and although I know I can win the title this yea r, actually riding the Honda will be har der w ork th an th e Duc ati was in '95 ." Australi an Troy Corser, la st year' s cham p ions hip ru nner- u p, walked out on his Du cat i tea m's test w ith a day to go after a w ild dog sat on th e side of the track for three successive laps. Corser also reported cats , mo nkeys an d an igu ana on the track befo re he quit. W § . g ~ 2 an d there will be a b ig P R d eal - the whole nin e yards. H opefully, down the road it w ill m ake m e so me m oney - I think it has the po tential to d o th at . Plus, to be establi shed w ith th ese guys will ge t the Sco tt Parker/ Harley-Davidson name out there even m ore. That's another reason for doing it." One of Pa rker 's H arl ey-Davi d son XR750s is among the items that will be o n d ispl a y a t the res taurant. Won derin g w hether or not the Tecate 2S0K Enduro will be m akin g a comeback? The answer is no - at least not thi s spring. That said, the Los Ancio ne s M.e. will once again host a trail ride in the event's place. The ride - w hich was actu ally more w ell-attended in its inaugural running last year than the enduro itse lf will be held April 20-21 in Baja California, Mexico, and will a lso fe a tu re a poker run and a special-tes t contest for the competition diehards. For info rm ation, call 619 /281-1400. Pro Stock mot orcycle racer Steve Johnson has anno u nce d th at he will be parting co m pany with George Bry ce and Star Ra cing to fi eld h is o wn Slick 50/ Sp litFire Suz uki on th e 1996 NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series tour. Joh nso n finished th ird in bo th the N H RA and A M A / Pros tar p o ints s ta n dings aboard Star Racin g-prepped Suzukis in '95. "We had an ex tremely successful racing season in 1995 with Star Racing," Joh nson said. "Bu t George and I have decided to go our ow n ways this year. George an d eve ry o n e a t Star did an excellent job for Slick 50 and me last year, and I personally appreciate it, but it' s time to move on." Scott Parker, restaurateur? It appear s so, as the sev e n -ti m e AMA Gra nd National Championship has become an inve stor in Race Rock International, which owns the Race Rock restaurant in Orl and o, Florida . Th e b ra in child o f restaura teur Bobb y M oore (n ot to be con fuse d with th e former 125cc World MX Champion), the Race Rock follows in th e vei n of othe r memorabili a restau rants suc h as th e H ard Rock Cafe and P lane t Holl yw ood, but it fe a t u re s a m ot o rsports th eme. Other partners in th e ventu re inclu de stock car champions Richard Petty and Ru sty Wallace, d rag racing cham pions Don Pru dh om m e and J o h n Fo rce, and Ind yCar champio n Michael An d retti. "They wanted me to be a pa rt of it, so I bo ught a few shares," Parker sai d ." The grand opening is on February 7. All the owners w ill be there, Putting an end to two months worth of rumors, Harl ey- Davi dso n of S a cra m en to owner M ike Shattuck has offi cially anno unced that he w ill field a d irt tra ck team for the AMA Grand Nation al Championship series in 1996. Former factory Harl e y-D avid son a n d 1992 Grand N ational C ham p ionshi p-wi nning mechanic Ken ny Tolbert has been named as the tune r for the XR750s w hich will be ridden by Washington rider Joe Ko pp. Team Harley-Davidson road racer Chris Ca rr ma y al so b e a member of the team at se lected races in '96 as his current contract excludes factor y s u p p o r t a t dirt t r ack even ts . H arley-Davidson of Sacramento's best effort in the series came in 1994 w hen Aaron Hill finis hed seventh in th e final standings a board Monty Heath -t uned' equipm en t.

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