Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

w ill see h im co mpe te in the 1996 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The ' Texa n, who will race the team 's Chevy truck in 10 races in ' 96, w ill ma ke his d ebut in th e H ea rtl and Pa rk To p e ka r ound in Kansas, o n June 9 . When Schwan tz is n' t drivi ng the truck, h is teammate John ny Benson Jr. will. The new Thunderhill Park road race cou rse located in Willows, Californi a an hour or so north of Sacram ent o - is offering motorcycle testing days on Friday, April 19 and Fr iday, July 5 a nd September 20. For a fee ($100 full day, $75 half da y) rid ers can use the circu it u nder full supervision of AFM officials. The AMA's 'Pro Club, a VIP service for association memb ers who attend AMA Superbike Series road race eve nts, is set to begin its seco nd season. By showi ng a current AMA membership card at any 1996 Su pe rbike Na tiona l - exce pt Daytona - member s can take advantage of such things as ad mission to an AMA Pro Club hosp itality tent, free beverages, free mot orcycle parking and a free lap of the tr ack o n th eir motorcycl es . Fo r m ore information, call 614/891-2425. The 1996 AMA/NATC National Observed Trials Championship ge ts und er wa y o n March 23, w i th t he nation ' s top trials rid ers comp eting in th e first of nine ro unds . The Lu cerne Valley , California, rou nd kicks off the seaso n wi th Geoff Aaron seeking a thi rd s uccessive Natio na l Cha m p ions hip . Round s two a nd th ree of th e series will be held in Whit e City, illinois, on Jun e 29-30 wi th rounds four and five being held in Jasper, Tennessee, on July 67. From there the series returns to California for rou nds six an d seven in Norden on August 10-11 with the final two ro u n ds sc h ed u led to take p lace in Oma ha, Nebraska, on September 21 and Kansas City, Kansas, on September 22. T he U.S . rou n d of the World Tria ls Ch ampionsh ip will be held 'in Exe ter, Rhode Island, on May 25-26. Sport Bike Night at America Live in Sacra me n to, Ca lifornia , will b e held fro m 10 a .m . to 1 p .m . o n Su nday, Mar ch 10, featu ring the "Daytona 200 Spe cial" with live coverage of the race being shown at the Spo rts Bar. For mo re information, call Mike Summers at 916/373-1557. Purchasers of D uca ti motorcycles in North America are entitled to receive a pure silver collectible coin commemorating their purchase. The coins, wh ich have an approxima te value of $50 but w ill no t be offe red fo r sa le, will be b oxed, numbered a nd will d epict the Ducati log o a nd the wo rd s "S ty le, Sop his tication and Performance." (three issues ). For more inform ation , or to place a n order, con tact CPI Ltd . a t P .O Box 3190 , Laurel, M D 20709, 800/ 972-5312. Last week we inaccurately reported that a M igu el Du Ham el victory in the Daytona 200 would move him to seventh on the all-tim e AMA Superbike wi n list alone. DuHamel actually woul d move into a ti e for seven th on the list with Mike Bald win at 10 wins apiece. Kevin Schwantz is curren tly ti ed wit h DuHamel for eighth on the list with nine wins. All of these inaccuracies are than ks to last year's AMA media guide, a book riddled with bad information. So bad in fact that last year the wo rld believed that DuHamel was chasing Wayne Rainey' s consecutive win streak of six during the 1995 AMA Superbike National Champions hip . Du Hamel was actually chasing a record tha t didn't exist. Despite seasonlong hyp e, Rain ey never wo n six straigh t AMA races in 1983. Thus, the record for successi ve AMA Supe rbike wins is held by none ot her th an DuH am el. The alltime leader on the AMA Superbike win list, by the way, is Fred Merkel with 20 career victories . The AMA said the inaccuracies in pas t medi a gu ides regarding s u perb ike v ic to ries were du e to "a record -keeping erro r." Motorcycle entrants have until April 1 to en ter the 74th running of the Chevrolet Pikes Peak International H ill climb, which is scheduled to run on July 4. Kawasaki Heavy In d us tri es Ltd . Consu me r Prod ucts Gro up, which manufactu r es Kawasak i motorcycles, Jet Skis, ATVs, Mu le u tility vehicles and portable ge nera to rs, p rodu ced its 10 millionth unit on February 20. The unit was a Vulcan 1500 Classic motorcycle that rolled off the Akashi Works production line in Kobe, Japan , at 11 a.m . The mil estone comes as KHI begins its 100th anniversary year. A p ress release issu ed by the FIM was se n t to Cycle N euis, rem in d in g us that the FIM is "the un iqu e hold er of the TV and mark etin g righ ts of the Road Racing Grand Prix W orld C ham pio ns hips , rig hts that were assigned by a con tract valid until the year 2006 to the company Dorn a /TWP. with who m, fu rt he rmo re, it maintains a good rela tion sh ip." The relea se is obvious ly in resp onse to the recent new s that IRTA (the teams associ ation) recentl y sig ned a contract with a riva l spo rts prom otion group, IRL - and that the FIM is in full support of its current contrac t wi th Dorna / TWP. Accord ing to a p ress release fro m the AMA' AMA Pro Racing has posted $12.1 million in pu rses, contingency awards and championship point funds for the 1996 racing seaso n - the larges t eve r for the 71-year-old racing organization . AMA Pro Racin g's Larry Lawrence me t wi th editors at USA Today, the Assoc ia ted Press and Reuters news service in Ne w York on February 14, in an effort to raise the awareness of AMA Pro Racing amo ng those news outlets and to learn of future d evelopments in news gathering. "I was somewha t su rp rised at how rec ept iv e the na tiona l media wa s to h ea rin g abou t motorcycle racing ," Law rence said. "There is a recognition that mo tors po rts in general are becomin g inc reasingly popular amo ng th is cou ntry's sports fans, and that motorcycle ra cin g is a ma jo r segmen t in this growth area ." The AMA h a s a lso a nnounced that it will a w ard a Mechanic o f the Yea r Award a t the conclusion of the 1996 racing season. The award will go to one in di v id ua l in AM A Pro Racing "who exhibits a professional a ttitud e, represen ts the sport well, and has demonstrated high technica l expertise ." The winner will receive a comp lete set of gear from Mechanix Wear, a shock spring ra ter from Intercornp, and 'ot her additional products that AMA Pro Racing will procurefor the program. Pace Supersports has annou nced a secondary hotel for the upcoming Charlotte Supercross. The first hotel - th e Homewood Sui tes - ca n n o t handle trucks and trailers, but the Holiday Inn Express in Concord , N orth Carolina, can. For reser vations at the Holid ay Inn, call 704/342-0817. The premiere issue of the AMA Official Motorcycle Price Guide, a "bluebook" listi ng the current ma rket va lues of 23 d ifferent makes of motorcycles and personal wa tercraft, is now available. The officially licensed AMA-logo product is being published by CPI Limited , and the co mp a ny will update th e b ook three . times a y ea r. Th e gu ide w ill se ll fo r $12.95 or $30 for a one-year subscrip tion The en try mailing for the Pom ona and Laguna Seca rounds of the AMA Super- b ike Nati on al Championsh ip Serie s ha s been se n t out, accordi ng to the AMA. Enclosed in the package is a season en try form, both event schedules, a nd purse informa tion for Pomo na . Pu rse information for the Laguna Seca round will be avai lable shortly and will be sent with accep tance letters. The preentry closing dates have also been changed and Pomona will close on Marc h 10 with Laguna closing On March 18. Entries will be available and accepted at Day tona duri ng Camel Moto rcycle Week .:Race rs mus t ha ve su bmitted a co m p le te AMA license a p plica tio n before their entries will be accep ted . For more information, call 614/891-2425 . According to M ichelin tire spokesma n Claude Leroux, the Frenc h ru bber compa ny has been using dual-c ompound racing slicks since 1993. Leroux said that Carl Fogarty wo n the last rou nd of the 1994 Worl d Superbike Cha mpionship in Australia using the tire and tha t the Fast By Ferracci tea m of Mi ke Smith a nd Fred die Spencer used the tire du ring the 1995 Daytona 200 and at one other AMA eve nt in ' 95. "It's reall y a thi ng of the p as t," Lerou x sai d. "Ou r p eople a re working in other areas already ." A UTOGR AP H SI GNING: At Stu b bs Cycle in Hou ston . Texa s, on Mar ch 15 from 6 to 7 p.m. Team Suz u ki's mot ocro ss team is scheduled to a ppe ar. For more information , call 713/ 644-7535. H I RED: Chris [onnum, as As so ciate Ed it or o f Mounta in Biker ma gazin e. Jonnurn h as been an e Associa te Edi tor of Cycl News, and also its siste r publicati on Personal Watercraft Iilustm ted, for the past four years. AU T OG RA PH SI G NI N G : At D&S Kaw asa ki / Honda in Arlington , Texas, on March 22 from 7 to 9 p .m . Telev isi on star La rry Maie rs an d Tea m Kawasaki' s Damon H uffma n, Jeff Emig and Ryan Hu gh es are scheduled to appear. For marc infc rm ation, call 817/ 465-5454. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Sports Cycle in Su lphur, Louis iana, on Ma rch 15 fro m 5 to 8 p.m. Team Su zu ki' s of f-r ead racin g tea m is schedu led to appea r. For more in formation, call 318/625-3278 . AUTOGRAPH SI G NI NG: At The Cycle Shack in Stafford, Texas , on Ma rch 15 fro m 6:30 to 8 p.m. Team Yamaha 's Damon Brads ha w, John Dowd and d Kevin Wind ham are sche uled to ap pea r. For mo rc informati on, call 713 /530-9337. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Arlington Suzuki in Ar ling ton, Texas, o n March 22 fro m 6 to 7 p.m . Te am Suz uki ' s m ot ocross team.Is sch edul ed to appear. For more inform ation, call 817/ 261-oz.. 06. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: Al A.}. Foyt Cy cles in Houst on, Texas, on March 15 from 7 to 8 p.m. Team Kawa sa ki's Jeff Emig, Ryan Hughes and Damon Huffman are scheduled to appea r. 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