Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I ' IN THE WIND:' > ..' '1 The opening round of the World Champions hip 125cc Motocross Series got u nd er w a y in Giavera Del Mo n tello, Italy, on April 14, with TM- mounted Ma ssimo Bartolini scoring the overall victory. Bartolini won both motos, giving the small Italian TM factory its first overall Grand Prix victory . The runnerup was M i ch el e Fan to n (Kaw) wh o went 2-4 on the da y. Rounding out the top five overall were Ho lland's Brian Jorgensen (Suz), Italy' s Claudio Fede rici (Yam) and France's Micka el Maschio (Hon). Preseason favorite Bobb y Moore, th e 1994 125cc World Champion, did not com p ete after br eaking hi s right hand in a practi ce crash earlier in the week . Moore will m iss the first two rounds of the 12-round series . Bel gi an Marnic q Bervoets (Suz) won the German 250cc World Championship Mo tocross round in Teutschenthal, on April 14. The Team Bieffe Suzuki rider won the ope ning moto and finished second to Am erican T allon Voh l a n d (Kaw), of the JHK Kawasaki team, in th e second m oto. Vo h land finis hed sixth in the first rnoto, giving him second overall. A pair of third-place finish es gave Belgian Werner Dewit (Su z), Be rvoets' teammate, t hi rd overall. Fourth and fifth overall went to series points leader St efan Everts (Hon) and Pit Beirer (Hon), respectively. Everts we n t 2-10. The defending champ still leads th e series with 103 po in ts, fo llowed by Bervoets with 92 and Vohland wi th .88 . Th e event was th e seco n d Motocross World Championship event to take pl ace in th e for mer Eas t Germany since the collapse of the communist state, and an estima ted 20,000 spectators turned out for th e race. The Argentine round of the World Championshipzsucc MX Series, scheduled for May 19, has been canceled and will not be replaced. Th is will reduce the series to 13 rounds . . Marc Colomer (Mon) carded 65 points en route to victory at the opening roun d of the World Ch ampionshi p Observed Trials Series in Navacerr ad a, Spain, on April 13-14. Seven-time World Champion Jordi Tarres (G-G) finis hed second wit h 87. Amos Bilbao (G-G) was third with 92. Some 25,000 specta tors attended the even t. Scott Summers (H on) won the combined Grand Nati onal Cross Country 1 National Hare Scrambles round at the Loretta Lynn ' s Ranch in Hurrican e Mills, Tenn essee, on April 14. Summers took the checkers ahead of Steve Hatch (Su z) , whi le D tyt ne Conner (Yam) checke d in with third. Fourth wen t to Fran k Kee gan (Yam) and fifth went to Randy Hawkins (Suz), Rodney Smith (Suz) finished sixth. In 'Jericho, Utah, Ty Davis (Kaw) captured the National Hare & Hound win over teamma te Greg Zitterkopf (Kaw ) on April 14. Ji m Gray (KTM) fini sh ed third, whil e De stry Abbott (KTM) and Ji m Bro wn (Kaw) com plete d th e top five. Tea m Spl itFire /Pro Circuit /Kawasaki ride r Rusty Holland (Kaw) was the big wi nner at the 25th Annual World Mini GP in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 1314. Holland topped both the 250cc Stock and 125cc Modified Pro classes . Other l-< sign ifica n t class winners were Doug 0.. Pa rson (Su z) and Ju stin Buck elew (Yam). Parson was the top Intermediate class rider, while Buckelew was the best Minicycle rider, topping the Supermini \0 ~ '""" ..... - < 2 and the 14-16 Stock and Mod ified divisions. Rick Doughty (Mai) and Randy Lewi s (Mon) we re the overall winners in the 500cc and 250cc Mas ters divi sions, respectively, during rou nd thr ee o f the Vintage Iron Evo lution o f Motocross Series at the Holl ist er H ill s SVRA in Hollis ter, California, on April 14. Eddi e Mulder (Tri) took home his share of gold at the A HRMA /Team Eddie Muld er Na tional TT and Flat Track at Willow Spri ng s Intern ational Raceway in Rosamond, California, on April 12-13. Mulder cla imed victo ry in th e Sen ior (over 50) TT on Friday and the flat track on Saturday ahead of Charlie South gate (Tri) and Mickey Alzo la (Tri). To dd Leves que (Yam) was the ove ra ll winner at the LemboLake Hare Scrambles in Modena , New York, on Apri l 15. The event was the second round of the NETRA Hare Scrambles. The runner-up was former Nationa l Enduro Champion Kevin Hines (CRE). Josh McLevy (Hon) finished third ahead of Patri ck Timothy (Hon) and Wes Clarke (Hon ). A few issu es ago we rep ort ed that GFI promoter Goat Breker is tryin g to resu rrect th e Elsinore Grand Pri x and wa s w aiting for final approval of the Lake Elsinore City Council. On Ap ril 9, Breker receive d the go -ahead to ho ld the race, which is sched uled for November 8- 11 a nd w ill be called the Els in o re Grand Prix & Outdoor Sports Cla ssic. Grand Marsh als of the event will be offroad legend an d "On Any Sunday" star Malcolm Smith, desert ace J.N. Roberts, Kawasaki Team Green' s Larry Roeseler, Ch ad McQueen (son of th e lat e actor Steve McQueen ) an d Saved By the Bell's Mark Paul Gossellaar. Along w ith the GP, GFI will also be conducting personal watercraft racin g with Victor Sheldo n, a 5K Run /W alk with D a vid Bailey, mountain bike downhill and cross countr y race s, a Saturday Ni ght Stadium Concert and th e Lake Elsin or e World Champion sh ip for Extremi st Dow nhill Intern ational Gravity Racers. Remember the Trans Atlantic Series that m at ch ed Englan d 's bes t roa d racers aga ins t th e bes t Am e ri ca ns on race tracks su ch as Mallory Park and Brand s Hatch? Well, Triumph has rekindled the ser ies, now title d the Triumph Speed Triple TransAtlantic Challenge with three races scheduled to run at Donington Park in Englan d on May 27. Twentyfour riders will compete on iden tically prepared Triumph Speed Triples with 12 from each team competet ing along with two reserves. The USA team will be put together on an invite-only basis to the top six ranked Mobil 1 Speed Tripl e Ch allenge - nam ely Scott Zampach, Jame s Hanr ah a n a nd Da vi d McGrath, plu s "Wild Card " invi tations to six a d d iti on a l rid ers and two reserves . Th e rider selec tion w ill be made by April 25, so inte res ted riders should contact Triumph America soon. Where' s Speedvision? AMA Pro Racing exect iv e d irector Tom Muell er call ed the Cycle News offices on Frida y, April 12 to remind us that since Speedvisi on is no t readily available in the Los Angeles area, local race fans shouldn't rely on the live television coverage of the AMA Superbike Nationa l sc h ed u le d for Po mona on April 20-21 a nd s ho u ld instead attend the race. A quick poll of the Cycle News staff revea led that not a single employee currently had access to the Speed vision Network. Emig DQ'd from Indy SX. om en ts befor e th is iss ue went to pr ess, we receive d a press release from the AMA stating that Team Kawasaki's Jeff Emig has been disqualified from the March 30 Indianapolis Supercross in wh ich he finished second. According to the release, "Jeff Emig was d isqu alified... after post-race testing results revealed ou t-ofspecification fuel used in his motorcycle during the Ind ianapolis even t." Emig, who was strip ped of his championship points from the Indy race, has appealed the disq uali fication . According to Kawa saki race team manager Roy Turner, "This is between their (the AMA's) lab and ours. "At the beginning of the year, the AMA insti tuted new fuel regulations. We went to VP Fuels, our fuel supplier, and they began working on it (the new fuel specifications). When we got the new fuel we tested it in ou r bikes and everything seemed all right. Before the Ind y race, we submi tted samples to the AMA that morning (the morning of the race); they field tested it and said it was okay, so we used it in Emig's bike that night. We were up front, and tried to be hone st. "The AMA took ano ther sample, from the same batch, after the race and ha d it sen t to their lab. Two weeks later, Jeff (Emig) receives a letter from the AMA saying he has been disq ualified from the Ind y race. Their lab said the fuel in his bike wasn't legal, but our lab says it is. Basically, it's one lab aga inst the other . "Of course, we're appealing," Tu rner added. "We have no choice but to appeal and defend our position." A hearing on the matter will take place within the next 45 da ys. The AMA has since issued provisional point stan din gs without Emig's Indy points, dropping him from second to third . Here is the top five as of the just-conclude d Pontiac Supercross on April 13: I. Jeremy McGrath (300); 2. Ryan Hughes (192); 3. Jeff Emig (177); 4. Damo n Huffman (172);5. Mike LaRocco (168). M Three-time Worl d Cha m pion Wayne Rainey com pe ted in hi s first -ever ca r race on April 13 as he finished fourth in the Toyota Celebri ty race the da y before the Toyota Grand Pri x of Long Beach . Rain ey, who qualified second behind even tual race winner Grant Show - one of the stars of television 's Melrose Place, was coac he d during Friday's practice session by Pro Circuit's Mitch Payt on . Show p r ai sed Rain ey afte r th e ra ce: "Wa yne (Rainey) and I had a little plan and all of a sudden I see Wayne diving in on me in the first tum," Show sai d. "Fortu nately, he had to cut off so much in the first tu m that I was able to pass him agai n in turn two. Th at su rprised me, but there is the wi n ni ng spirit o f Wayne Rainey right there. He could not brake and gas at the same time, and in th ese ca rs you have to trail brake. He couldn't trail brake and that is a second off a lap rig ht there. There is no wa y I would be sitting here if Wayne Rainey had a setu p that he could use. He is just a g reat driver." Rainey was beat en in th e race by Show, Jaso n Bat em an and Alfonso Ribeiro. Fou r-time World Champion Edd ie Lawson finished ninth in his Galles Racing Mer ced es in th e Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach IndyCar race on April 14. Law son ended up one lap beh ind eventual race winner Jimm y Vasser. Glen Hel en Racew ay in San Bernadino, Californi a, will host the Yamaha Dealer MX Series, beginning on May 19. Round two, sched uled for May 26, will serve as a Loretta Lynn qua lifier. For more information, call 909/880 -3090. Chris Glas ser, the local Northern California motocrosser who suffere d serio us arm and leg inju ries while practicing at the Oatfiel d track near Tur lock, California, recently, has started to recove r after five su rgeries on his arm, accordi ng to his father. Cards and lett ers can be sent to Glasser at 1757 Sawmill Dri ve, Copperopolis, CA 95228. Chet Bumbardner, of Wav erl y, Iow a, suffered paralysis from the chest down after crash ing into a tree whil e pra cticing on his home motocross track o n March 13. A fund has .,been established to help w ith the 17-year:Old's medical exp enses. Don ations can be mad e to John Deere Cred it Union, c/o Chet Bumgardner Donation Acct., 1827 Ansborough, Waterloo, IA 50701. Cards' and letters can be sent to Chet Bumbgardner, c/o Covenant Medical Center, 3421 W. 9th St., Waterl oo, IA 50702. TV update: The Jap anese round of the World Championship Road Race Series is schedule to air on Arpil 27 at 12 p.m . (Eastern) and ag ai n on April 30 at 12 a .m . (Eas te rn ) o n ESPN2. Th e race, which is sc he d u led for April 21, will sho w on ESPN on May 7 at 12:30 a.m. (Eastern). Th e Formula Swift Super Cup will ma ke its California d ebut d u rin g the L.A. Motorcycle Weekend on April 1921 at the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, Cali forn ia. "Spec " Su per Carts, wh ich use 250cc Rotax motors and are capab le of top speed s up to 130 mph, w ill tackle th e- sa m e 2.1-m ile ro ad course whi ch will host the second roun d of the AMA Nation al Ch ampionship Road Race Series. A special series of semi nars, hosted by Mo torcyclist a nd Spo rt Rider m ag azi nes, will be held during the L.A . Motorcycle Weekend at Pomona. Free to all ticket ho ld e r s, th e semi na rs wi ll cove r such topics as high-perform ance street riding, urb an stree t survival and a . racer round table. The semina rs will be held on Saturday and Sunday morning, Ap ril 20-21. Ama teu r motocross racers planning to sign up for the Chaparral Amateur Day a t th e AMA 125/250cc Nat ional MX Cham pionshi p ro u nd at Gl en Hel en Racew ay in San Bernardino, California, on May 10-12 can save money by regis-

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