Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

l iN'T EWIND H Ty Davis (Kaw) extende d his win strea k to three in the AMA Nati onal Enduro Series in Crosbyton,Texas, on March 30. Former cha mp Randy Hawkins (Suz) fin ished se co n d , whil e St ev e Hat ch (Suz) claimed third. Rounding ou t the top five were Kelby Pepper (Kaw ) and Kevin Hines (CRE). Kawasaki Team Gree n riders Ty Davis and Paul Krause teamed up to win the inaugural Las Vegas -to-Ren o Off-Road Race, beginning in Sloan, Nevada, an d end ing in.Day ton, Nevada , on March 29.. Th e racin g wa s close th e w ho le w ay with th e Da vis /Krause d u o fini shi n g just four minu tes ahead of the next team of Greg Zitterkopf an d Dave Ond as, also of Kaw asaki Team Green. Finishin g just nine seconds behind Zitterkopf and Ondas wa s the Hond a team of Joh nny Cam bell an d Jeff Ca pt. Th e firs t Fou rStroke team of Heinz Kin igadner and Danny LaPorte (KTM) fin ish ed sixth; . one posit io n ahe a d of th e first-pl ac e 250cc team of Donnie Book an d Steve Hengveld (Kaw ). Scot Harden and Jack Johnson (KTM) combined efforts to win . the Vet class in 10th overal l. De fendin g cham p Jeff Matia s ev ich (Kaw ) won both motos in the opening round o f th e All -Japan Nat ion al MX Series in Ja pa n, on March 30. Former champ Ron Tichenor (Suz) went 6-5. John Myers (Su z) defea ted Joh n Smith (Suz ) to win the NHRA Slick 50 Nationals at Hou ston Raceway Park in Houston, Texas, on March 31. Myers clocked a 7.47-second, 176-mp h ru n in takin g the victory; the w in also moved Myers int o a tie with Dave Schu ltz for the poin ts lead in the Pro Stock d ivision. Team Suzuki End urance (Suz) won the openi ng round of th e WERA N ation al . End urance Series on Saturday, March 30 at La s Vegas Sp e edway Park in La s Vegas, N evad a. ' Team Su zuki End uran ce ' s Gr a n t Lopez a n d Jo sh Hayes ended up leading all 258 laps in th e six -h ou r race to top Team DA TS Raci ng (Suz) by eight laps. Third place w ent to TKO Rayce Team Suzuki Too (Suz) with 248 laps. A n o- fau lt insura nce p ropo sa l th at could h a ve dramati call y in crease d ins u rance rat es for motorcyclist s was sou nd ly rejected by voters in the March • 26 California primary, according to the AMA. The proposed no-fault insuranc e sy stem would ha ve req uired all motor vehicle ope ra tors , including mot orcyclists, to insure themselv es against 'any damage s or injuries, in clu d in g th ose cause d by another dri ver. Fou r-time World Champion Eddie Lawson score d hi s first -ever p oints in th e PPG IndyCar World Seri es at Surfer 's Paradise in Queensland. Australia on -' Mar ch 31. In just his third Ind yCar out. . ing, Law son finished seven th after qu alifyin g 22nd in his Mer ced es-p ow ered Ga lles /Delco Electron ics Racin g Lola. ~ After se ve ra l of the fast q u al if ie r s ~ reti red. the 38-yea r-old Californian ran 6 as high as fifth before he wa s pass ed by - forme r Formula One stars Christian Fit\.0 tipaldi and Stefan Johansson in the closing stages of the race. 'Tm really, really M happy," an elated Lawson said to Cycle 0' News contribut or Dar ryl Flack after the M nice. "I've really got to thank the Galles :-;:: gu ys for ge tt ing me ho m e. We ha d a l-< tran smi ssion problem during warmup, and the gu ys did a repl acem en t before ........ the race and here we are. There was a lot of sup port from th e fans also - I think crowd po w er helped ge t m e up that ~ g:. .7 2 far." Lawson was one of 11 finishers in the 25-car field. Former Wo rld Ch am p ion Ke v in Schwantz also had a fruit fu l trip to Aust rali a . Schwant z w on hi s seco n d NASCAR race in Aus tralia after taking ad vantage of a dramati c last-l ap collis ion, a t Ad elaid e Int ernational Race w ay's half-mile oval on March 23. Lying th ird o n the 100t h and fin a l lap . Schwantz inherited the lead af ter race leade rs John Fau lkner and Jim Richards took each other ou t of the race, reports Darry l Flack. On March 30-31, Schwantz had his two-liter debut in a suppo rt race for th e Ind yCar round at Su rfer 's Paradise, and he finished thir d in a Peu geot on Satu rday and sixth on Sunday. Cycle News has learned that the family of Mark Gl eckl , wh o was kille d w hile film ing th e .5CORE Barstow race las t Ju ly, has filed a wrongful death lawsu it iii the Los Ange les (California) Superior Co u rt. Gleckl, w h o wa s a prominen t television producer /director and cameraman covering a wide variety of racing events, died after being struck by a Troph y Truck dri ven by Walker Evans . Evans was rep rimanded by SCORE followi ng the event an d is also named in the laws u it, in ad d ition to SCORE and Dod ge. A family fr iend said tha t the lawsu it was "relu ctan tly filed a fter not being able to obtain any offers to settle the case ." Motorcyclist s opposed to the di scri m i- . n at or y p olici es o f Sturm, Ruger a n d Company, a major firearms manu facture er in the No rthea st th at d enies healthi ns u r a n ce b e n e fit s to some o f its employee s wh o rid e mot orcycles, w ill get a chance to se nd a message to the . com pa ny a t it s a n n u a l sh a reho lders .meeting, according to the AMA. Motorcyclist righ ts ad voca tes plan to bring the issue of m otorcycli st di scr imi na tion befor e shareholders and the company' s board of di rectors at the meeting, scheduled for Ap ril 25 in Scottsda le, Arizona. Joh n Ho rstmeier, 79, died at his hom e in Pa sad en a, Calif orn ia, on Mar ch 16 after a bout with lymphom a. Horstm eier made up hal f of th e team of Seeley & Horstrneier, an aftermarket ma nu factu rer. He was also an avid Harl ey-Davidson enthusiast. Ha rley-Davi dson MotorClo thes w ill un veil its sprin g collection on the Manufactur ers' Midway durin g th e L.A. Motor cycle Weekend in Pomona. Cali fornia, on April 20-21. A fashio n show will be held twice on both Satu rday and Sunday, a n d spe cific tim es w i ll be announced on both days. The AMA 0 -36 motocross schedu led for April 14 at' Holli ster Hills in Hollister, Californ ia, is a part of the Loretta Lynn Qualifier Series. d espite the fact it w as left ou t of a n ad v erti sement in Cycl e News. In conjunc tion wi th the qu alifier on Ap r il 14, th e Santa Cla ra Rid ers Unlim ited will also hos t the third round of the Vintage Iron Evolution MX Series. There w ill also be an ar ea qualifier at Midwest MX in Great Bend, Kansa s on Ap ril 7, ano ther eve nt that was missed in the advertisement. Remi nder: The World Observed Trials Series will ma ke its N orth Ame rican swing beginning on May 25-26 w ith the Ll.S. round to be held at Stepp ing Stone Ranch ·in Exe te r, Rho d e Is la n d . The Can adi an round w ill foll ow i n Alma , Qu ebe c, o n Jun e 1-2. Tw o-t im e AMA /NATC Na tional Champion Geoff King reigns in500cc GP Motocross 0 ener . N ew Zea land's Shayne King opened up the World Championship 500cc MX Series with a doub le-moto sweep in Asti, Italy, on March 31. It wa s the Honda rider's first-ever GP vict ory, and he did it in gr and style by winning both motos going away. . The defe nd ing Worl d champ, Belgian Joel Smets, riding the works four -stro ke Hu saberg, finished jus t insid e the top 10 in the first moto but rebou nded in the second race as the ru nner-u p. Desp ite the erratic moto finish es, Smets record ed second overall, while Swe de Peter Johan sson, on hi s four- st roke Husqvarn a, claimed th ird overall. Fourth overall went to King's bro ther, Honda-mounted Darryll King, wh ose best finish wa s a four th in the first moto. American Mike Healey. riding a small-bore 360cc KTM, p laced outsid e the top 10 in the first moto bu t cam e back to post a fou rth- p lace finish in the second mo to. Shayne King enjoys a 16-point lead over Srnets, 40-24, going into the next round in Austria, April 21. In the sand of Valkenswaad, Hollan d. on the sa me d ay, defen d ing 250cc World Champion Stefan Everts of Belgia n maintained h is unbeaten record this season, though the 250cc series is only two races old . Just as he did the previous week in Spain, Evert s powe red h is RWJ Honda to a clean sweep in Holland, winning both motos. The runner- u p w as fellow Belgian Marn icq Bervoets, who went 2-2 on his Bieffe Suzuk i. Consistency seemed to be the orde r of the day as American Tallon Vohland locked up third over all after posting a pair of threes on his JHK Kawas aki. German Pit Beier and Belgian Werner Dewit trad ed moto finishes, however. Hond a-mou nted Beier and Bieffe Suz uki's Dewit went 4-5 in the first moto and reve rsed positions in the second, giving Dewi t fou rth ove rall. Sixth on the day we nt to home-cou ntry favor ite, Suz uki pilot Ped ro Tragter. The series resumes April 14 in Germany with Everts enjoying a perfect score of 80, while Vohland is second in points with 58. Just one point in back of him is Bervoets. Aaron and several other top Ameri cans a re sch ed uled to com pe te agains t th e likes of seven -t ime World Cha m p ion Jordi Tarres and fellow Spaniards Am os Bilbao'. Marc Colome r and Joan Pons. The AMA has announced that the y are co m bi n ing fo rc e s w i th t h e -U.S. Women' s Motocross League to p resent th e AMA U.S. Wome n ' s Mot ocro ss League Out door Champions hip Seri es to be held in conjunction with selected ro u n d s of th e 1996 AMA Na ti o n a l Motocross Series. The four-event series w ill ru n u nder AMA ru les. an d ride rs will be allowe d to enter on their cho ice of mach ines with engi ne di sp lacement u p to 250cc. The sched u led rounds are as follows: Hi gh Point Raceway (Morgantow n, West Virgin ia) - Ma y 25-26; . Unad illa (New Berlin, New York) - July 20-21; Wa sh ou gal (Was houga l, Wa shingt on) - August 17; and Steel City Raceway (Delmont. Pennsylvania) - August 31-Sep tember 1. The AM A Member Acti viti es Department has named the recipients of its annua l year-end awards for 1995, designating Ty Davis as Athlete of the Year, the late Da n ny Hame l as Sportsman of th e Year and Mik e T rayno r as Roa d Rid er of th e Yea r. Whil e Da vi s and Hamel need no introd uction, Traynor is presid ent of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation of the United States and the man who established the Ride for Kids program in 1984. The 10th Annual Ru ss Wegman Benefit Fun d Auction w ill be held at Blackhaw k Farms Raceway in Rockton, Illinois, on June 22, in con ju nc tio n with th e Midwes t Region Cham pion sh ip Cup Series roa d races. The event is held each yea r t o raise m on ey for se r io usly inju re d roa d racer s; to d ate th e Wegman fund h a s pa id o u t som e $33,000 to ·r ace r s aro und the coun try. For more information, call 414/ 871-5682. Rainb ow MX II, in. Hem et, California, h ost ed th e D AR E To Ra ce M X fund raiser, March 30, with all proceeds going to the San Jacinto Police Department's DARE program. More than $2300 was ra ised a t th e even t, w hic h sa w m or e than 90 policemen and fireme n taking to . the tra ck. The big winners we re the L.A. County Fire Department and th e San Diego Police Departmen t. each d epar tment wi nning their resp ective d ivision. In the Chief' s race, a class designated for either po lice or fire chiefs, th e Dep artm en t of Correction s took the big win. Approximately 80 kids took to the track in a variety of classes and wer e en tertained by seven po lice ca rs, n ine fire trucks and Department of Forestry vehicles that were on display in between the motos. Geo rg e Barber, the owner o f Barber Motor sp orts in Birm ingh am , Alabama, p ur chased a 1954 AJS Po rcupine Tw in for $137,50 0 during record-breaking sales at the Rick Cole Los Angeles Auction . The Porcupine won the first 500cc Worl d Championsh ip in 1949 and onl y th r ee running examp le s ex ist in the w o rld today . In a d d it io n, a 1956 MV Ag us ta 500cc fou r-cylind er road racer sold to Lawrence Auriana of Greenwich. Connecticut, for $165,000. Auriana also pu rchased an ex-Mike Hailwood 1978 Du cati 900TT for $115,500. According to event prom oters, Jay Leno has agreed to return as the Grand Marsha l of Love Ride 13 on N ovemb er 10. Leno ha s been a supporter of the Love Ride since its incep tion and ha s served as th e Gran d Marsh a l of Love Rid e 9 and 12. Chicago-based Teamsters Local 705 has a g r ee d t o ch a nge a d iscr im in ato r y health insur ance p olicy that h as den ied health-car e ben efits to un ion members who have been inju red in m otorcycle acci dent s, accordi ng to th e AMA . The s truggle to re s to re h e alth b enef it s to m otorcycli n g m embe rs of Teamst ers Loca l 705 beg an last Jul y w hen Tom Klim ek, a 31-year-old union member , was serio usly inju red _ a m otorcycle in accide nt caused by an au tomo bile driver. That acciden t left Klimek with both hips dislocated, one fractu red hip, a dislocat ed elbow and th um b, a sepa rated shou lder and a broken foot. The driver carried on ly $20~0 of personal -inju ry

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