Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I'IN WIND .T~E urious Four Seasons resort, chosen by lu cky Strike to launch the 1996 team . Riders Da ryl Beattie and Scott Russell joined in beach games with select pressmen in an informa l atmosp here . Ne ws from tests in Aus tralia before the break and Mal aysi a in th e w eek a fte rw a rds w as unrem arkab le: The 'team continues to m a ke stea dy p rog ress, th ou g h wh eth er it will be eno ug h to catch the flyin g NSRs remains to be seen . Individuall y, the riders each had their own stories to tell. Beattie looked fit in spite of an impressive scar running from elbow to wrist on h is left hand, the legac y of December surgery grafting tissue and a blood vessel to his injured left foot. He said all the right things. "M ick (Doohan ) will be th e guy to beat again, and I' m going to ha ve to be more aggressi ve . There were time s when last year I wa s happy to accept second - this year I'll be tr ying h ar der to w in ." Russell rem ains the team 's loose cannon, an d sp ok e of how he had started the' Australian tests still battling to corn e to te rms with a bike basicall y set for Kevin Schwant z. Only by the end h ad his engi neers corne up with a chassis setting better suited to his smo other style, and he had been able to ma tch Beat tie 's tim e. Ru ss ell had arrived late at the tests after a visa mi xup , and later fell off at Shah Alam, with ou t inju ry. Doohan rates him as a serious rival, but he is clearly still learn ing. When news carne of the crashes of Jean Michel Bayle and Kenny Robe rts Jr. in Malaysia, after both had spoken of h ow they ex pected the switch to 500s to be easy, it wa s Russell wh o carne up with the tellinS; comment: "Ain' t nothing prep are s yo u for rid ing on e of th em th ings." Europe's latest rival to Japanese 500ccclass supremacy has been testing well in the sou th of France, with the V-four EIfROC report ed ly extremely fast. There is a Big Bang version of the engine testi ng al ongside the st an d ard double-pulse sid ecar version that first saw life as the Swiss au to . As planned, there will be thr ee riders on th e new m achines. The te am is le d by last ye a r's impressi ve Team ROC rider Juan Borja, backed by Adrian Bosshard; the third rider is yet to be announced. On e possibili ty is America n Dave Sa d ows ki, acco r d ing t o reports from Europe. Dunlop will retire from the 500cc Grand Prix class after being dumped by Team Robert s, and will continue development of V-fou r-class tires aw ay from the race tracks. "We have decided not to sup ply any private V-fo ur teams, though we have had a lot of requests," confi rmed Europe an Motor Spo rts manager Jere my Ferguson. But he insisted the long-serving A ng lo-Ja p a nese ti re compa ny in te nded to return to the top class in 1997. "Dunlop has been in the top class of bike racing s in ce lon g be fore the World Champi onships wer e starte d in 1949, and we ha ve a long-term commitment. There is no danger of p ulling ou t. We've been in thi s sort of posi t ion before, and we' ve won cha mpionsh ips before. We've been arou nd long enou gh to know these th in g s go round and round," he said. In fa ct, Du nl op s will still contest the 500cc cham pionsh ip - on the V-twin Aprilia ridden by Doriano Romboni; but the tires used are closer to 250-class rub ber than the extraord inarily wide rubber r equ ir ed b y th e b ig Vfours. Dunlop will also figu re p rominently in the 250cc class, making up for the loss of Tetsu ya Harad a to Michelin by ret ainin g the factory Ap rilia team, and the best of the Hondas too, inclu ding Ralf Waldm an n, French duo Olivier Jacque and J.P. Ru ggia, newcomer [urgen Fuchs and old -timer luis d 'Antin. "We' ll also be working on regaining our rightful position in the 125 class," added Ferguson. sta te has in trod u ced a bill to en act a man d atory helmet law covering adult riders. "In light of ou r su ccess in pu shing th rou gh th e federal h elm et -l a w pen alty repeal, it is interesting-to note the record number of state helm et-law repeal b ills being intro d u ced and the cons picious absence of new mandatory helm et-u se bills in any of the 50 states," said AMA vice president of government affairs Robert Rasor . Team Ob solete Promo tion s ha s form ed a group t ha t includes Don Emd e, Don Vesco, Cafe Moto an d GP Cycles to promote a h ist oric road race at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in Del Ma r, California, as part o f t he Del Ma r We ekend of Mo torcy cl e Sports on October 10-11. "We are th rill ed at the cha nce to ad d a new historic road race on the West Coast," said Team Ob solet e founder Rob Iannucci in a press release d ated Febru ar y 18. "We were in vi t ed in aft er AHRMA co u ld n ot co rne to term s with the San Di e g o Antiq ue Mo to rcycle Club. W e h a ve extended an olive branch to AHRM A to join fo rces an d coopera te w ith us for the benefit of the entire spo rt." The special guest of honor at the eve nt will be s ix- t ime W o rld Cha mp ion J im Red ma n, who w ill ride the Team Obsolete Honda Six. Iann ucci said the event will also feature a Harley-Davidson 883 ra ce . Th e Del Mar parkin g- lot roa d course h as been used on previous occasions for IMSA car races and Vesco has design ed some mino r changes to make it user-friendly for motorcycles. . Round th ree o f th e AXO RacinglG FI Win ter Series Sou th has been rescheduled for Saturday, March 23. The NorthSouth Showdown w ill rem ain on Su nday, March 24; both races will be held at Perri s Raceway in Perri s, California. Contrary to recent rumors, Glen Hel en Raceway has no intention of closing, acco rding to Concepts Un li mi te d 's Penny Nicolai. "Glen Helen Raceway has no intentio n of closing. In fact, they are currently expanding the facility an d are sche duling add itional eve nts." Glen Hele n Raceway, which is located in San Bernadino, California, will host a round of th e AM A 125 / 250cc Nationa l Motocross Cha mpionship on May 10-12. Trium p h America will have a facto ry d isp lay at the Daytona Beach Hilton in Daytona Beach, Florida, on March 5-9, fea turing dem o ri des on th e new Triumph lineup. Other att rac tio ns will be displays of curren t and v in tage Tri umph motorcycles, race bikes and Triumph merchandise. A six-race BEARS Wo rld Series roa d race schedule has been announced . The se ries begins at Da yt ona on March 5 befor e ventu ring to Donington Par k in England (April 28), Brands Hatch, England (Au gust 4), Hu ngaroring, Hungary (Aug us t 18), Met tet, Belgium (Sep tember 1) and Assen, Ho lland (September 22). Th e Hungary round ha sn't been fi na lized , and may end up b eing repl a ced b y a r ound in German y o r Swed en, accord ing to series promoters. With the recen t eli minati on of federal p en al ities im posed on states witho ut mandatory motorcycle helm et-use laws, motor cyclists righ ts activists have succee d ed in gettin g h elm e t-l aw repeal b ill s on the legi slat ive calen da r in 12 states, accordi ng to the AMA. The list of sta tes currently consi dering b ills th at would eliminate mandatory helm et-use provisions for adult rid ers includes Californi a, Georgia, Kentu cky, Mar yland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington and West Virgini a. Additionally, for the firs t time in over a d ecade, no The Fifth An n ual Ride for Kid s dualspor t rid e will be h eld on March 17, beginn in g a t Glen H elen Race w ay in San Be rn a d in o, Ca liforn ia . The ride, which rai ses mon ey for th e Pedia tric Brain Tumor Found at ion of th e U.S., will begin at 10 a.m ., with registration starting at 7 a.m , For more information, call 800/ 253-6530. Guy Cooper will be a gu est instructor at th e Ton y D. Motocro ss School which pre cedes the fir st round o f the AMA N ational M X Championship in Gainesville, Florida, on March 1. Additionally, Cooper will also be on hand at the March 11 school in Tyler, Texas. For more information, call 410/635-6916. According to Wor ld Sports, the promoters of the opening round of the AMA National Motocross Championship in Gainesville, Florida, the race will feature a record n umber of entries. H on d a ' s Jeremy McGrath and Steve Lamson w ill begin their defense of the 250 and 125cc National Championships in the March 3 race. Tw o-time W orld Cham p ion M ich a el Doohan is d en y in g rep o rts th at h e wo u ld retire from the sport atthe end of th e 1996 seaso n . " It's ne w s to m e, " Dooha n told Cycle N ews contribu tor Bernie McG uire . "Re ti re ment is not somethi ng I'm thinking about. I never said I'll retire at the end of the year or an y other year. I still enjoy motorcycle racing and the competition, and I'll keep going as long as my moti vation is there. If I'm feeling good at the end of the season, I ma y race again in 1997, but w e will have to wa it and see what happens. I h aven 't put a definite time limi t on when I will stop racing. Right now I'm focused on trying to w in th e champi onship agai n with Honda." Deltran SuperSmart Battery Te n d e rs w ill be th e titl e s po nsor for the 1996 Daytona Motorcycle Auction and Vintage Bike Meet, sched uled to be hel d in Deland , Flor id a, on Ma rch 6-9 . Th e an no u ncemen t was m ad e b y Deltran vice p resident Mike Prelec, an d Jerry Wood, president of J. Wood & Co., the au ction company wh ich ha s put on the famed eve nt for the past nine years. Team Obsol ete and Vanson leath ers will have a speci al arena for bot h view ing famo us Team Obsolete motorcycles and getting fitted for Vanson leathers at Daytona International Speedway. The a rea will op e rate on M arch 4-5, with hours and location to be released closer to the race date. For more information, call 617/344-5444: - - -- - - - - Continued on page 58 r-------------------------- --------------------------- - - - - - - - - - - ~ , ~ 0]:11 SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM _ Name o This is a 0 New Subscri ption o Renewal o Please bill me o Bill 3 paymen ts of $12.67 o Enclosed is my check or money order Charge my 0 Vis a 0 Ma ste rcard Ad d ress City _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ State Or der Date Zip _ _ Please start my subscription to,Cycle News: o Every week for one year (50 issues) for $38.00 (can be billed 3 monthly paym ents) o Every week for two years (100 issues) for $70.00 o Six mon ths second class (25 issues) for $19.00 _Signature MC /Visa# _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ Expiration Date Will ~ , Send to: Inc. P.O. Box 498, long Beach, CA 90801-0498 Toll Free Subscription Hotline (800) 831-2220 One year (50 issues), 2nd class Canada or Mexico and all other foreign countries 2 L $78.00 (U.S. funds). 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