Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

• I ·INTHE'WINO ' . Belgian Stefan Everts (Hon) won both m otos of the o pe n ing round of the World Championship 250cc Motocro ss Series in Tala vera De La Reina , Spain, on March 24 . Th e d efend ing World Champion breezed to victory over Tal lon Vo h la n d (Kaw), wh o posted 4-3 moto finish es. Third ov erall vi a 6-4 moto finishes went to Frenchman Frederi c Bolley (Kaw ). Round ing out th e top five overall were Mamicq Bervoets (Suz) of Belgium and Andrea Bartolini (Yam) of Italy. Once again, Scott Summers (Ho n) and T y Davi s (Kaw) battled it o ut in a Grand National Cross Co untry race and, once again: Summers came out on to p . This tim e th e site was H ick ory, North Caro lina, with Summers scori ng the overall win in the second rou nd of th e GN CC Series, held o n Ma rch 24. Davi s fin ish second, while Steve Ha tch (Su z) fini sh ed third , Randy Hawkins (Su z), Duane Con ne r (Kaw ) and Fre d Andrews (Yam) round ed ou t th e top five overall. Defendin g cham p Scott Ple ssin ger (KTM) crashed and d id not finish the ra ce. Earlier th is month, Summ e r s ou td uele d D a v is at th e se r ies opener in Ocala, Florid a. Rodn ey Smith (Suz) was th e overall w inner in r ound tw o o f th e AMA Nati onal H are Sc rambl es Seri es i n Columbus, Texas, on Mar ch 24. Smith, the 1994 se ries champion, crossed the finis h line ahead o f Ja son Dahn ers (KTM), Brian Garra ha n (Kaw), form er 250 and 500cc National MX Champion Kmt Howerton (KTM) and Clay Hoenshell (Suz), respectively. In the opening round of the inaugural AMA We stern Nationa l FourStroke /Sound of Thunder Series, it was Lance Smail (KTM) winning bo th m o to s to tak e the overa ll w in at Canyon Raceway in Phoeni x, Arizon a, on March 24. Finishing second with a pair of second-place finishes was Mike Young (Hbg) . Th ird went to Dre y Dircks (KTM), fou rth to Dave Coupe (KTM) and fifth to Robert Naughton (Hon). Showdown at Perris Raceway in Perris, California, on Mar ch 23-24. Mati asevich wal ked away with the 250cc Pro-class wi n over Duba ch and D onald Up ton (Suz ), while Dubach took the 125cc Proclass win over Mi ke Me tzger (Suz) and Casey Lytle. The Bureau o f Land Managem en t has d en ied the Desert Vipers Mot orcycl e Club ' s appli cati on for th e 1996 Barstow-to-Veg as race, citi ng contin uing concerns about anticipated impact on desert tortoise habitat, pri or difficulties w ith ensuring compliance wi th race stipulations, -and problems associ ated with committing limited staff to one event on BLM's busiest recreation weekend . "No thi ng has cha nge d to di mi n is h th e co ntrove rsy ove r the impacts to th e qu ality of th e huma n envi ronment," said BLM Dese rt Distri ct Manager Henri Bisson . "Two important developments since the ap plication for a 1991 race hav e mad e some aspects of a p roposed race eve n more pr oblematic. In 1994, th e USFWS design ated critical habitat and comple ted the recovery plan for th e d esert tortoi se. Th e ra ce route crosses throu gh a d esert wildlife m a n a gem en t a rea th a t w as d e fin ed w ith the recovery pl an. The plan explicitly recommends that no competitive OHV eve nts be conducted within these (a reas ). Th erefo re, in my ju dgment, these and other circumstan ces are suf ficient to support denial of the pr oposed 1996 ev ent." Bisson also emphasized that B-to-V also diverts time and effort from other cri tical areas during one of the busiest recreational weeken ds in th e desert. " A race of this magnitud e and visibility would require that BLM dedicate increas ingly scarce resources to sup port an event that serves a relati vel y small number of recreationists and provides recreational benefits over a very small period of time." Mike Morr is (Yam) score d the overall w in at th e series-endi ng AM A Mid South Winter Hare Scrambles in Cadi z, Kentucky, on March 24. Finishi ng in second was se ries ri va l Do u g Blac kw ell (Yam ), who captured th e ser ies championship with just two po in ts to spare over Morris. Th ird in Kentucky . wertt to Rob ert Patterson (Suz), followed by John Mas h ino (KTM) an d Mike Cornett (KTM). The six-ride r World Trophy tea m that will represent the United States at this year' s International Six Day Enduro in Finla nd has bee n finalized. Earlie r, we had reported th a t five -time Na tional Enduro Champion Randy H aw k i n s, National Reliability Enduro Champion a n d form er H a re Scrambl es cha mp Rodn e y Smit h , National Enduro Champion a nd tw o-tim e ISDE "Top Am erica n " Ty D a v is a nd former e nd uro champ and "Top American" . Steve Hatch had already committed to com pe te on th is year's team , and tha t the final tw o spots were up in th e air. Those two spots, however, have now been filled by mu lti-tim e GNCC and Ha re Scrambles Ch am pion Scott Summers a nd Chris S mith, wh o was a m emb er of the winning U.S. Ju n io r World Tro phy team in Czechoslovakia in 1991. The team was selected early in the year to allow the riders more time to better prep are an d train for what is expected to be one of the more grueling Six Days in recent memory . The Trophy team members are scheduled to come togeth er followi ng the National Enduro round in Rhod e Islan d on June 23 for th ree d a y s of intensive training in Wareha m, Massachusetts . The site was chosen becau se it closely ap pr oximates th e terrain found in Finland . Rodney Smit h, Davis and Hatch w ill compete in the 250cc (Heavyw eight 2-Stroke) class; Hawkins and Chris Smith in the 125cc (Lightweight 2-Strok e) class, and Sum mer s in th e Heavyw eight Four-Strok e class . Jeff Matiasevich (Ka w) an d Doug Dubach (Yam) were the big winners at the GFI W inter Se ries Nor th/ So u th Upon further inspection of the parts in ques ti on, th e AM A has deci ded tha t M igu el DuH am e l' s Da y ton a 600cc Two-tim e an d defend in g champi on Geoff Aaron (Bet) scored th e w in at the o pe n ing round of the 199 6 AMA /NATC National Cham pionsh ip Trials Series in th e Cou gar Buttes area of Lucerne Valley, California, on March 23. Six-time cha mpio n Ryan Young (G. G ) was secon d a nd for mer Be lg ia n National Cham pion O li vier Cla magir a n d (G-G) w as third. A m e r e two p o ints separated the top three contend ers. Geoff Aaron (Bet) continued his California wi n streak by carding the victory a t th e 26th El Trial de Espana in the Cou gar Buttes area of Lucern e Valley, California, on March 24. Olivier Cla magirand (G-G) earned second place and Jess Kempkes (G-G) finish ed third. Cycle,News Rider of the Month: Mi uel DuHamel re n ch Ca n ad ian M igu e l DuH am e l (right) opened the 1996 AMA National Championship Road Race Series in mu ch the same manner in which he totally dominated the 1995 season - with stunning victories. This time, DuHamel chose to do his winning in wh at is arguably the most important AMA road race of the year - Daytona . The Smokin' Joe's Honda rider not onl y came ou t on top of the closest Daytona 200 finish ever, but he also won the AMA 600cc Supersport final earlier in the da y at famed Superspeedway. DuH am el's victory over Scott Russell in the Dayt ona 200 was a thr iller that ended up bein g the closest in the 55-year history of the event - a scan t 0.010 second. And th is came after DuH am el had totally dem oralized the competition wi th an easy victory in the 600cc Supe rspo rt final. In a n interview with Cycle News at th e end of 1995, DuHamel had the following to say abou t his 1995 Daytona experience: "That's the first tim e in my life that I could n't sleep until three in the morning for two weeks. I'd just lie there thinking. 'I can't believe this: We had such a solid sh ot at winning that race... I was really d isappointed with that. No points, no po dium finish. Next year (1996) we need to fix that : ' Color it fixed . F Supersport -winning Honda CBR600 F3 is legal, an d they have rul ed against the protest filed by runner -u p Mi ke Smith o n beh alf of Rob Mu zzy. "We went to a dealership here (in We st er ville, Ohio) and took a motorcycle off the floo r," AMA Pro Racing' s d irector of co m petition Merri ll Vand e rslice explained. "We weighed and me asured the parts and found it to be absolu tely stock." The parts on DuHamel' s bike wh ich were protes ted and tested were the wheels an d triple clamps . " I' m quite happy that it 's legal," Mu zz y said on Monday, March 25. "Basically, during the week a lot of people were com ing up to me wi th va ri ous ideas about all these things that were su pposedly wrong w ith th e Honda. Since yo u ca n never count on th e AMA to rea lly po lice the class, I was forced to do so meth ing . Th e firs t pro test was based on wh at had cost us a cham pions hip in th e past - when Scott Russell ro de backwards on th e tr ack at Mi d Ohio after a red-flag. He (Russell) was to ld by an official to ri de back to the team, but he was the n given a one-lap penalty for riding ba ckwards on the track . Our protest was not really against D u H am e l because he wa s probably told to do it (ride backwards on pit lane), but it was a protest of the AMA's inconsistency in these matters. The second protest was fro m all the talk about the H o n d as having mag wheels, and that they'd done this and done that. I'm very glad it' s legal because we ' d rather beat the m on the rac e tr ack th an in the rulebook. I ju st don't think the AMA is policing the class like they should . I think I did them (Honda) as much o f a favor as I did myself because now all th ose peopl e who were sa ying it (D u Hamel's CBR600) wasn't legal can shut up: ' Du cati 's John Kocinski lap ped u nd er the lap record d uri ng a test session in Misa no, Italy , on March 15. The former 250cc Wo rl d Cha m pion lappe d a t 1:34.66, nearl y half a second under the su perbike lap record se t by last yea r's Misa no race w in ne r Mau ro Lucc hiari. Kocinski's tea m mate Nei l Ho dgson lapped at 1:36.06. Defending 500cc Wor ld Champ ion M i ch ae l Dooh an a nd his teammat e Alex Criville ended up with th e same lap times after four da ys of tes ting at the Sha h Al am circuit in Ma laysia on March 19-22. Both factory Honda riders circu lat ed at 1:24.8 in th e swelteri ng conditions. Third qu ickest was Ta dayu ki Okada on th e V-twi n 500cc Honda at 1:25.0, just fr action s qu icker than his tea m m a te Shini ch i Itoh. Both Lu ca Cad al ora and Alex Barros lapped at 1:25.4, le adi ng th e Spanish p a ir of Alberto Puig and Charles Ch eca. The faste st of the Honda 250cc riders ended u p being Jean-Philippe Ruggia and Oliver Jacques. German Ralf Waldmann crashed on March 20, sufferin g a broken collarbon e and a concussion injuries which m ay force him to m iss the o p e n in g round of t he se ri es o n March 31 at Shah Alam. Th e 1996 D ayto na Antique and Cla ssi c Motorcycl e Auction was the best eve r, a cco r ding to a u ct io n ee r Jerry Woo d. The event featured a sale rate of 87 percent with many price recor ds being se t. Highligh ts included the sale of an im maculate 1959 BSA Sunbeam Scooter ($2050), a 1960 H arley-David son Topper ($3500), a like-new, original 1969 BSA Rocket III ($6750) and a 1994 Good man H a rl e y -D a v i d s o n ($12,000) So Cal Sc reen Print in g &< Vin yl Graphics is seeking resumes from supercross and 125/250cc National MX riders w ho could help the m promote its new line of "1.0. Systems," kits which include custom-made name and number kits for chest protectors as well as jerseys. Interested racers can mail their res u mes to So Cal at P.O. Box 671, W. Chicago, It 60185 or can fax them to 708/ 208-9293. Dunlop now has DOT-lega l Su pers port rain tires available, acco rdi ng to Dun- ~ lop's road race manager Jim Allen. The 0\ tires are available in one front and one ..... rear size, su itable for use on bo th 600 an d 750/ 1100cc Su persport motorcycles. Th e ti res h a ve u p d a ted co m- ;.., pou nds, but are otherwise identical to 0the full rain tires used by D unlop -ex: superbike riders in 1995 competit ion , according to Allen. The new tires are ..... - 1

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