Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I: INTHEWIND .. Team Suz u ki End urance (Suz) won the WERA Na tiona l Enduran ce Series round a t Roa d At lanta in Braselton, Georgia, on May 4. Te am Suzuki fin ished three laps ahead of TKO Rayc e Team Su zuki Too (Suz) and fou r laps ahead of th ird -p la ced Arclite Raci ng ' (Suz) in the four-hour race w hich fea tur ed five red flags . South Ford F150 on the 11th row at Por tland Speedway in Portlan d, Oregon, on Ju ne 4. With just 12 laps remai ni ng in the 200-lap race, Johnson was 14th when a piece of d ebris punctured the Ford's oil tank, end ing the m ulti-time Na tional MX and Supercross Champio n's day. "I am disappointed that we d id n't finis h, bu t I'm really happy wi th the tru ck and the crew, " John son said . "The Red Dog truck handled p erfectly all day. I was just b eing patient and letti ng th e rac e and the track come to ine. All in all it was a good debut for th e Red Dog /Penske tru ck and I am ready to go to Mo nroe (Wa s hin gton) n ext week." Johnson is scheduled to drive the tru ck in four eve nts in 1996'before giving way to teammate Kenny Wallace. . Poor weather at th e IRTA Grand Pr ix tests a t th e Ci rc uit Pa u l Rica rd in th e so ut h of France last week brought about a s pate of ac ci den ts a n d injuries . Ske tch y reports fro m Eu rope co nfi rm ' that Lucky Strike Suzuki's Scott Russell suffered broken toes on both feet and is d oubt ful fo r th e n e xt rou n d of th e World Ch ampionship Road Race Series in Jerez, Spain, on May 12. In addi tion, Aprilia's Doriano Romboni su ffered a broken arm and Carles Checa broke his wri st, the s e v e r i ty of which wa s unknown as Cycle News went to press on Monday, May 6. In an effort to further stimulate interest in the AMA 250cc Grand Prix road race class, a bounty has been placed on the dominan t rider in the class, Rich Oliver. Developed by America n Roadracin g' s Dean Adams and Andy Leisner, Oli ver' s own sponso rs and other interested parties are putting together a yet-to-bedisclosed amoun t of cash tha t will go to the rider who can beat Oliver in 1996. Beginning with the Mid -Ohi o round of the series on June 2, a rider must beat Oliver in a 250cc GP final without the clas s champion su ffering a mechanical breakdown. Though he didn't finis h his first race of the 1996 season, Rick Johnson seems to b e getting comfortable with the N ASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, a cco rding to Cycle Ne ws contributor Judy Kouba Dominick. Johnson qualified the Red Dog Beer/Pensk e Racing Maryland Go vernor. Parris Glendening has signed legislation th at will put an end to the practice of ticketing mo torcyclists for parking two motorcycles in one metered parking space, accord ing to the AMA . Pr eviousl y, Maryland law a llowed only o ne licensed ve h icle to John Myers (Suz ) d efeat ed David Schultz (Su z) with a run of 7.44 seco n ds/1 77 mph t o win t h e N H RA Pennzoil Nationals in Richmond, Virginia, on May 5. With his second victory in four rounds, Myers clos es to within two points of Schultz in th e cha m pionship point st andings, 430-428. Eig h t rounds remain in the 12-race series. i Oh to be Young agl--ain_ usaberg's Mike You ng took the ov erall win wi th 2-1 moto finishes in t he third round of the AMA Western Nationa l. Four-Stroke Mo tocross Series, held in conjunction wi th the AMA Na tional Cha m pio nshi p Motocross round at Hangtow n in Sacrame nto, California, on May 5. Kawasaki's Ty Davis, the current point s lead er in the AMA National End uro Series, used an off weekend fro m his off-roa d racing schedule to finish second with 4-2 moto finishes. For the seco nd straight round, Spud Walt ers rod e his Ho nda to a third-p lace finish with KTM-moun ted David Coupe finis hing fourth. Jimmy Lewis rode a CCM to fifth place. KTM's Lance Smail and Hu saberg's Micky Dym ond finis hed first and third, respectively, in the firs t moto but a first-turn pileup in the second race kept both rid ers out of the to p 10. Sm ail, however, still managed to sec u re eig hth overa ll, and now trail s Youn g by 14 p oint s in the cham pio ns hip standings, 137-123. H Harrington Half Mile rained out he AMA Grand National Championship Series su ffered its first rainout of the year during round four at the Delaware State Fairgrounds when the Harrington Half Mile was canceled just before the Grand National finale left the starting line. No championship points w ere awarded . Almost the entire program had been run before the event was canceled. Lightning flashed in the distance as the riders were called to the line at 10:40 p .m. In an effort to save time, the rid ers who had qualified for the main event came ou t with engines runnin g to choose their respective starting slots. After a warmup lap, the field staged with Da vis in the middle of the first row. Reigining Grand National Champion Scott Parker was to his right with Chris Evans on his left. Ricky Graham and Geo Roed er II filled the row to the right with Kevin Ath erton on the bottom. The light sprinkles turned to a stead y drizzle and the riders wer e sent to the shelter of the pit s. The d rizzle escalated to a heavy rain with lightning very close and the plu g was pulled on the eve nt at 11:20 p.m. About an hour lat er, near-hurricane-force rain and wi nds hit the area. With over half the program com ple ted , the race was d eclared official. TCR's Will Davis took home the winner' s share of the purse in the Grand Nation al class by virtue of his fast heat win. Reign ing AMA 883cc Nation al Series Champion Mike Hacker rode his Spec tro / Moroney's Harley-Da vid son to victory in the 883 Nation al final. For more info rmation, see page 12. Dave Hoenig T occ upy a p arkin g space, but th e new law will p ermi t two m ot orcycl es p er space. Suppor ters of th e legis la ti on stressed the contributions that mo torcycles make in reducing parking congestion and po inted to the fede ral governm ents a ckn o w le dgem en t of th e congestion-reducing ben efits of mo torcycles in re gula tio ns re ga rding h ighocc u pa ncy (H O V) la n es on crowded ex p ressw a ys . The new law will ta ke effect October 1. T h e s eco n d a n n ual Mu cken thal er Motor Car Show will be held on May 19 in Fullerton, California, and wi ll feature a conco urse even t for classic and vin tag e motorcycles as well as automobiles. For more inform ation, call 714/738-6595. American H on d a is opening the d oors of its co rpora te headquarters in Torra nce, Ca lifo rnia, on Ma y 19th for the Fifth Annual Ride for Kids. The trad iti o n a l ri d e w ill b e g in at A m e rica n Hon d a and travel thro ug h the Rolling Hill s Estates, Palos Verdes Estat es and th en ba ck th rough Torrance a n d into American Honda' s cam pus. In add ition, participants w ill be treat ed to a Honda In d y Ca r d ispl ay, vintage H onda ca rs and mo to rcycles, th e Victo r Mc Lagl en Precision Drill Team, a motorcycle trial s dem onstration , an d tours of the Honda race sho p, service trainin g center a nd corpora te office. All riders ar e welcom e with p ro ceeds going to fu nd research for the cause and cu re of pediatric br ain tumors. The 1997 race season will mark the 40th anniversary of Laguna Seca Raceway in Mon terey , California . In ho nor of th is e ven t, the racew ay wi!! s p o ns o r a n anniversary logo d es ign con tes t. The wi nner of the con test will receive weekend tickets to the entire 1997 race sched ule at Lagu na Seca as w ell as recognition in severa l d iff eren t La guna Seca Racew ay and mot or sp ort publications . All en tries mu st be received by August 1, 1996, and the w inning d esign will be selected by September 30, 1996. Designs must be full color and 8 1/2 by 11 inches in size. En tries can be hand drawn or com p u ter ge ne ra ted a nd w ill b ecom e th e propert y of SCRAMP. Th e artwork can b e se n t to 40th Anni ve rsa ry Logo Contest, Laguna Seca Raceway, P.O. Box 2078, Monterey, CA 94942.

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