Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I'· In th e second round of th e inaugural AMA Western Fou r-St roke /Sound of Thund e r Se ri es, Lance Smail (KTM) took the win with 2-1 moto finishes on an extremely windy d ay a t Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, Ca lifornia, on April 28. Finishing second wa s M ike Young (H bg) w it h 1-2 mot o finish es. Third and fou rth place went to Northern Ca lifornia's Spud Wa lters (Hon) and Scott Me yers (ATK), resp ecti vely. Fifth p lace went to Jimmy Lewis (Hbg). Ty Davis (Kaw) took his th ird overall' win in roun d four of the AMA Nationa l Ha re an d Hou n d series h eld 'in Red Moun tain, Cali forn ia, on Ap ril 28. Davis enjoyed a roughly three-minute margin of v icto ry over seco nd -p lace finisher Greg Zitterko pf (Kaw) . Zitterko pf was followed by another gree n bike rid den by Pau l Kra use (Kaw) in third. The battle for the remainin g two posi tions was foug ht all the way to the checkered flag and decided by inches. When the d us t settled, it w as Jeff Cap t (Hon) edging out teammat e Joh nny Cam pb ell (Ho n) fo r fourt h . Zi tterkopf sti ll holds the poin ts lead wi th 94, four ahead of Davis; Krause is third w ith 71 poi nts. Steve Ha tch (Suz) wo n round fou r of the AMA Gra nd ational Cross Cou ntry Series in Clarks burg, West Virginia, o n Ap ril 27 . H a tch topped Sco t! Plessinger (KTM) and Rodney Smith (Suz) , Randy Hawkins (Suz) a nd Fred Andrews (Yam) rounded o ut th e to p five finishers. The fourth round of the AMA National Enduro Series was he ld a day lat er in Wellsto n, O h io, on A pril 28 a nd w as won by Randy Hawkins (Su z ) with a score of 22 points . Steve Hatch (Suz ) finished seco nd wit h 25 poi nts and Doug Blackwell (Yam) ended u p th ird after d ropping 27 points. Doug Lampkin (Bet) sco red hi s third Wo rld Cha m p ion ship Trials vic tory in as man y rounds , d ro pp ing a tota l of 51 points at the Irish World Round held on _ April 27-27. Marc Colomer (Mon ) finished second wit h 55, while Jordi Tarres (G-G), recoveri ng some of his lost form , landed third wi th 72 points. Fourth and fifth spo ts were occupied by Amos Bilbao (G-G ) and Kenichi Kuroyama (Bet), _ with 80 and 88, respectively. Yamaha Moto r Co r p. USA h a s announced tha t it has s ig ne d cu rren t 125cc We st ern Re g io n a l Su percross p o in ts le a d e r Ke v i n Wi ndh am to a long-term contract to race Yama has in the atio nal Motocross and Supercross Series. "We are extremely happy to resign Kevin," team manager Kei th McCarty said . "It takes more to be a top racer than just having speed. We believe Kevin possesses the desire, determination, talent and personality that will enable him to be a positive role model and w in championships. All of us at . Yamaha are happy to be part of Kevin's career as he conti nues to climb the lad der." 'The team a t Yamaha, the mechanics, th e rid er s, the guys in tes ting, are lik e a fa mily:' Win d h am sai d . "We enjoy being together both on and off the track, w hich is vita l when consideri ng that w e spe nd almost every day togeth- e r for mo re than nine months a yea r." Windham is sla ted to rid e in the 125cc West ern Regio nal Supercross Series, the 125cc Na tio na l MX Series and selected 250cc Supercross events in 1997. Form er W orld C ha m pio n Kev in Schwantz fini sh ed sixth in th e Australia n NASCA R Championshi p after IN THE WIND.' I ending up fifth in the final rou nd of the ser ies at the Thund erd ome T ri -Oval near Melbo urne on April 20. Schwantz m ad e a men ds for a m a jor p re -ra ce mis ha p wh en he cras hed his Pepsi Maxbacked Ch evy Lumina in practice and was forced to start from the rear of the gri d with even tua l champio nsh ip winner Jim Rich a rd s, repor ts Cycle News correspond ent Da r ry l Fla ck. Th e 31yea r-old Texan forged his way to fourth pl a ce from th e 20 th s ta rting pos itio n befor e being passed by Richard s to finis h one lap d own in the 100-lap race. Unfo rtu na tely, Schwa ntz missed ou t on earn ing the "Rookie of the Year Awa rd " after mi ssin g th e fi rs t round of th e cham pionship. Schw antz is scheduled to m ak e h is NASCAR Craftsma n Tru ck Series debu t in Topeka, Kansas, on June 9. Ano t he r fo r mer Wo rl d C ha mpio n, mean wh ile, is ha ving trouble with his ca r ra cing career. Aus tra lian Wa yne Gardner la sh ed ou t a t cr i t ics who dubbed him "Ca ptain Chaos" follow ing a spa te of on -track inciden ts si nce his car- racing d ebut in 1993, reports Darry l Flack. M any seaso ned dri vers h a v e acc used Gard n er of using mot orcycle racing lines, lines tha t often lead to accid ents when o the rs tr y to p a ss on the inside. Ga rd ne r bla mes the lines mor e o n t h e chara ct er ist ics of h is Dunlo p tires . "It's bull to say I use bike lin es," Gardner sa id . " I've been hit a lot of times this yea r because I have to go up to th e com er, brake ve ry ha rd , which frustrates the gu y behind, then turn in at the la s t minut e," Ga rdn er sa id in a recen t ed ition of Auto Actio n. "Whe n you ha ve to tu m in th at late, it leaves the do or open a nd everyone d ives u p the insid e." A ust ra lian Peter Godda rd ro de h is Suzuki GSXR750 to victory in the four th rou nd of the Shell Aus tra lian Superbike Sprint Series at Calder Pa rk near Melbourne on Ap ril 28. Godda rd wo n both legs and now lies second in the championship poi nt stand ings behind Kawasaki's Troy Bayliss. Seve n -ti me A MA Natio na l MX a nd Supe rcross Champi on Rick Johnson will make his debu t in the NASCAR Craftsma n Truck Series in the Craftsman 200 on May 4 at Portland Speedway in Portland, Oregon. Johnson will d rive a Red Dog Beer-backed , Penske Racing Sout hprepa red Ford F-150. "We ha ve tested very well over the pas t several months at Ho mes tead, Hickory a n d Jefferson Co unty, Geo rgia," Johnson said. "With the coaching I have received fro m my teammate Ken ny Wallace and my crew chief Larry Penn, the Red Dog Ford is ready for a strong debut at Portland." Longtime racing fixture Ron Heben has been promoted to Kawasaki's Team Green and road racing manager, taking the spot left open 'with the departure of Mark Johnson. Heben wa s formerly the Ama teur mo tocross supervisor for Kawasaki befo re being pro m ote d to ass ista nt man ager in 1995. Kawasaki has also an nounced that Sharon Richard s is bein g promo ted to Team Green coordi na tor after serving as secre tary , adm inis tra tive sec re ta ry a nd ad m inis tra tive projects coordi na tor. The fact th at he's raced so lon g gave Randy Renfro w a unique p er sp ective on his bat tle w ith 17-yea r-o ld Kurti s Roberts, the you ngest son of three-time World Champion Kenny Roberts, in the 250cc Gr and Pri x ra ce a t Lagu na Seca Racewa y on Ap ril 28. Renfrow beca me Cycle News Rider of the Month: ·Jeff Emi T eam Kawasaki's Jeff Emig finally put an end to Jerem y McGrath's see mingly endless streak of AMA Supercross wins this season by winning round 14 of the series at the Trans World Dom e in St. Louis , Missouri, on April 27. An yone who can beat McGrath a t this po int deserv es to be our Rider of the Mon th . The win was the seco nd of Emig' s 250cc Supercross career, with his firs t comi ng in the high ly contro versial Las Vegas rou nd last year, a race w hich McGrath and other notables boycotted due to safety issues. In w ha t could be called one of the grea test supe rcross races of all time, Emig was forced to hold off Suzu ki's har d-chargin g Mike LaRacco, as well as McGrath . The race cou ld have go ne to any of the three factory stars, bu t Emig persevered for the d ramatic win. By do ing so, Emig put a stop to McGrath's undefeat ed season at not-so-lucky 13, becoming the first rid er to d o so all season. The win was especially sweet for Emig since he had come so close to winning a few weeks earlier in Indian ap olis, Ind iana, befo re crashing in a com er wh ile leading at the halfway mark, and becaus e he pulled out the win near his hom etown . "I grew up pa rtly in Misso uri and partly in Kansas," said Em ig, who now lists Riverside , California, as his home. 'This is about as close to my hom etown race as they can get. A lot of my friends and famil y drove over here to watch tonight, so that makes winning even mor e special." the only rid er to ever race against both Kenny Roberts and his two sons. "It w as a great battl e and I rea lly enjoyed it," he said. "I've had a chance to ride agains t Kenny (Roberts), not that I go t real close to him , and Kenn y [r., and now Kurtis. It was a grea t battle. Kurtis rod e a great race." Renfrow raced agains t Kenny Jr. in 1992, the year that Roberts Jr . campaigned in the AMA 250cc Grand Prix championship. He raced against Roberts Sr. in the earl y '80s. After winning the 250cc GP race at Laguna Seca in Mon terey, California, on April 28, Rich Olive r ad dressed th e ru mors w hic h have been circu lating about his movin g to the su perbike class. "Ideas have been bounced around of me leavi ng 250s, not on ly to help 250s bu t to help supe rbikes, Getting me ou t of 250s a nd ope ni ng up the cha mpion ship in '97, ma ybe Kurtis (Robe rts) w ill come an d do the fu ll season and go for it or maybe Randy (Renfro w) or the Performan ce Machine tea m. And me movin g into superbikes for the last yea rs of my raci ng career a n d th e n m e p oss ib ly going into a po sition of w orkin g for Yama ha. But the problem is that Yamaha has very, very good superbike rid ers . Maybe we need an extra bike or two. I wou ld very mu ch like the chance to take on a new challenge and wo rk with some of the people wh o I feel are capable of p u ttin g a good bike undernea th me. There's been some discussion of it, bu t nothing has come about." Oliver raced superbikes early in his career, and in 1984 he was the top privateer, finishing the season in fifth place. Dates have been confirmed for the Third Annual Harley-Da vidson T win Sports World Fin al at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach , Florida. The NASB-sanctioned event will be held on Octobe r 19-20 as part of a five-day road ra cin g program tha t will also incl ude Formu la USA, Buell Ligh tning an d t he CCS Ra ce of Cha m p ions . A purse of $25,000 has been p o s ted by Ha rley-Da vi dso n for th e Tw in Spo rt World Final eve n t. Sunset Off-Road is offering to transport motorcycles fro m their Temecula, Ca lifornia, head qu art ers to the Mount Morris, Unad illa, Washougal and Steel City rou nds of the AMA Na tional Motocross Series. Space is limited . For mo re infor mati on , call Sunset at 909/ 676-6366.

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