Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~------------------------ - - I,INTHE'WIND On the day of his hi gh schoo l gra duation, David Watso n (Ho n) w on th e 540cc cla ss during round th ree of the AMA Nation al Hillcl imb Series at th e Bu shkill Valle y Mot orcycl e Club in Freemansburg, Pennsyl vani a, on June 9, Reignin g National Ch amp ion Pau l Pinsonnault (Hon) ea rne d th e runneru p spo t ove r Mi cha e l DeBu sk (BSA), Lou Gerencer Jr, (H-D) won th e 800cc cla ss ah ead over d efending National Champion Steve Dresser (H-D), Willie Price (H-D) was third, Ga ry Cl a rk (Kaw) defeate d Keith Lynn (Kaw) to earn th e Fu nn ybike crown at the AMA /Prostar Northeast Nationa ls at Lebanon Valley Dragway in Wes t Lebanon, New York, on June 8-9, Ste ve D rake (Su z) be a t Rick Bunting (Su z) in th e Pro Modified final. Joe Cornell won the Pro Superbik e cl ass, and Andrew Abney won the 600cc Supe rsport division . Team Suzuki Endurance (Suz) w on th e H eavyweight Superbike class and overa ll du r in g r ound fo ur of the WE RA National Ch all enge Series at Gingerma n Raceway in Sou th H aven, M ichiga n, on Jun e 8. The Valvoline/Suz uki-backed duo of Tray Batey and Dave Stanton fin is hed six laps ah ead of second -pla ced Arclight Racing (Su z) team, which won th e H eavywei gh t Su persport class. Third overall and fi rs t in the Middlw eight Superstock d ivision went to Triple R Racing (Kaw) . In sprint ra cing actio n at th e Gingerm an WERA rou nd, Ju ne 8-9, John Jacobi (Su z) clai med v icto ry over Dean Hayes (Suz) and Steve Kar son (Suz) in t he Form u la One class . Luke Yarbrough (Hon) was a doubl e winner, taking ho me first place in th e Facto ry Dy no 750cc Nov ice Production and the Fact or y Tuning Competition 600cc Novice Production classes , Chris Ro gers (Yam) won th e 125cc Grand Pri x class . Jeff Kram er (Hon) won the Middlweight Grand Prix class. Kemp Stewart (H us) was the big winner at the New England Championship Enduro in Somers, Con necticut, June 9, The event was th e four th rou nd of the NETRA Enduro Seri es. Fini shing second to Stew ar t .wa s Darryl Szlaehetka (Kaw), and he was foll owed by Paul M ill ican (KTM), Jerry Madore (Su z) and Jim Mit ch ell (Hon) , Greg Carte r a nd D avid Fish er were the tw o big w inners during round five of th e Vin ta g e Iron Evolut ion of Mot ocross Series at Glen Hel en Raceway in San Bernard ino, Cali fornia, on June 9.• Carter swept the 500cc Master class, while Fisher did the same in the 250cc Master class . You m ight notice th at we were forced to use file photo s to accom pany our co verage of the AMA National Road Races at Road America elsewhere in thi s is s u e. D ue to circu m s tances beyond our con trol, namely a th ick layer of fog that p revented our edi tor's p lane from leaving Milwaukee, Wis\.0 consin, the Monday morning following 0\ the Nat io nal , w e we re un abl e to 0\ receive and process t he fil m in o u r ~ offic es i n Long Be ach, Ca lifo r nia, before this iss ue went to p ress (Monday, June 10). 2 A vintage bike show will be include d in the activities during the November 8-11 running o f th e Elsinore Grand Prix. Th e Vintage Iron-hosted event will take place in the city park and will • inclu de an array of classes, w it h special prizes bein g awa rde d for machines used in previous Elsin or e Grands Prix and for th e best Hond a Elsin or e. For more information con tact Vintage Iron at 209/252-9033. GFI has expand ed its vin tage class at t h e El sinore Grand Prix, w hic h is sche duled for Novemb er 11, to includ e two - and four-strok e Masters d i visions . The Bom ber divisio n will now foll ow Evolu tion of Motocross Seri es rules. Fo r m ore information contact GFI at 909/ 653-4042. You m igh t h a ve noticed th e for mer Na tional MXer Guy Cooper' s nam e is on the list to co mpete at this yea r ' s ISDE in Fin land. Ea rli er in the year, Cooper was n' t se riou sly pla nning on ridin g th e Six Da y s b ut h as s ince cha nged h is m ind. "H e (Cooper ) said th at a fter rid in g th e Qu al ifier Se ries that he had a lot of fun and th ou ght, 'What the heck, I'll go.:" Dave Bertram, the team manager for the U.S. Trophy team , said . Coop er is the first alternate in case any thing happen s th at m igh t pr event one of the already seed ed riders from competing on th e u.s. World Trophy team . Currently, Cooper w ill team up wi th John Nie lsen and former ISDE "Top American" Fred Hoess on th e Dayton a Dirt Riders clu b team. Weather has conti nue d to wreak ha voc on the di rt trackers as both the Charity Old Time News ie s Regional Half Mile at Dayt on , Ohi o, and the Peoria 600cc National TT we re rained out. The Ne wsies event has been rescheduled for Frid ay, Ju ne 14. The 600cc Nationa l will no t be rerun, The bad weather was espe cially toug h on Steve Morehead, who made a 500plus mile rou nd trip froin hi s Find lay, Oh io, home in search of a race only to co me h om e w ithout a pa yday . "We were su ppo sed to run a sho rt .track in Lima, Ohio, a n d th at r a in ed o u t," Morehead said. "The n we hauled ass to Flint, Michigan, and that was ca nceled. Then Dayton raine d out. All we did was cha se the clouds all weekend." The Ha rley-David son Motor Company an nounced that it will carry over its $2000 pu rse con tribution for the AMA 883 class fro m th e rained-ou t LaSalle, Illinois short tra ck to the Sedalia Half Mile in Sed alia , Missouri, on June 22. The 883 riders will now be racin g for a $7000 total p u rse. Scott Parker repo rted th at he is d oing fine after ha ving s tra ined and tw ist ed his knee af te r being hit b y ano ther rid er in his hea t race a t th e La Salle G ran d Na tio na l Shor t Tr ack, but he will likely m iss the O ldtime Newsies Region al. "The kn ee' s fine - I played go lf th e o ther d ay, and it felt pretty g o od : ' Park er sa id . " Bu t we' re not go ing to ta ke an y chances thi s early this season. We wa nted to go to ther e a nd wa rmup andsta y s harp for th e Nationals . It pa ys more mo ney to w in th e New s ies th an it d o e s to win a Nationa l and it's for a good cause, but th e bi g pictu re is the Grand National Championsh ip. We have 19 more payd ays left there. I' m sorry if an yb od y goes to the other race to see me, but we d id in te nd to be th er e before my leg go t fou led up." Mike Hacker underw en t su rgery at Johnston Willis Hospital in Richm ond, Virginia, on June 5, to repair th e bro - • s you pro bably alrea dy know by now, the hop e of a Barst ow-to-Vegas race this year took a big div e wh en the BLM deni ed the Desert Vipers Motorcycle Club' s application to hold the ra ce in Nov ember . But the s to ry do es not en d here. According to Carl Ogren, presid ent of the Vipers M.e., the battl e to bring back theh istoric race has just begun. ' Ogren recently stopped by our office to u pd ate us on the B-to-V scene. What follows is a press release from Ogre n that brings us u p-to-date on the fight - not to only revive the B-to-V race but to keep what' s left of our OHV rid ing areas open for years to come: On Janu ary 9,1996, the Desert Vipers submitted an app lication for a special use permit with the BLM to use the Barstow to Las Vegas race corridor for a race in November of 1996. Ogren states that this corridor, and others , were established for this purpose in the existing California Desert Conservation Area Plans (CDCAP). Instead of submitting their application in early December 1995, when the Federal Government 's hu t d own ' the Desert Vipers were forced to wai t until January, when the BLM went back to wo rk. Ogren sta ted that the BLM's denial of that .appl i ~a tion on Ma rch l~th. cam e as a complete surprise. "At our February 15th meetmg WIth them, Mr. Henn BIsson, BLM Desert District Manager, said that they would first decide wh ether to require an environmental impac t s ta temen t (EIS). Then the y su bmi tted th eir ow n env iro nme ntal assessme n t (EA) with their d ecision record. They did not let us, or anyo ne else, see their EA before they denied our applicatio n." ' Claiming that many of their rights have been violated, especia lly the ir righ t to use the 'Barstow to Las Vagas race corridor' for the purpose for which it was established, the Desert Vipers appealed the BLM decisions. In the ir decision to den y the 1996 B-to-V race, the BLM also p re-de nied "a ll future competitive OHV events" within any of the COCA race corridors. Alan Ghaleb, Desert Viper attorney, served the Notice of Appeal on the BLM on April 10, 1996. Daniel Cooper, planner for the Desert Vipers, served his own Notice of App eal and a Notice of Tort Claims on Apri l 13, 1996. Cooper's notices include claims for personal damages allegedl y cause d by the BLM. . Mr. Bisson, in his decision record, stated th at his d enial was based upon the relatively recent listin g of the Mojave population of the d esert tort oise as "threatened." .Cooper argues that "the BLM already considered the impact of races to the desert tOrt01~, and its habitat, each time they soug ht to amend the COCA Plan, and when they monitored the prior races. "Every year from 1991 to the pr esent, the ~LM has pr~posed an ~en~ ment to close the race corri dors, and each yea r the AdVISOry Council has denied this request, mainl y becau se monitoring of the 1989 B-to-V race found no tortoise deaths," says Cooper. Cooper also contends, contrary to the BLM's de cision record, that ~~en the race corrido rs were re-established in the 1990 Amendments to the COCA, critical habitat for the tort oise wa s recognized. Cooper emphasizes that the issues in their appeals are not confine d to t~e Barstow to Vegas race. "In denying the race the BLM is cl,:arly trying to,get a~ay WIth a ':lumber of new, illegally form ed gu idelines that they in tend to use in their future regional plans. Henri Bisson is attempting to close all the race corrido rs u ntil reg ional planning can be completed:' says Cooper. Cooper explains that, "until futu re regio nal planning can be com pleted, th e BLM must adhe re to existing pl an s which provid e for such races." Cooper sees this as possibly "the beginning of the end." "If we let them get aw ay with im ple menting th ese illeg al guidelines now, they will use th em to close almost all of the existing OHV rou tes in their future region al plans." The next step is to submi t our statement of reasons and opening brief. (The Desert Vipers promise to keep us posted on t~is case.) . ' According to Ogren, the Dese rt VIpe rs has embarked upon th is effort not Just to benefit off-road motorcycle racers, but to benefi t all types of off-highwa y vehicle enthusiasts and all others wh o consider the Mojave Desert an important part of their activities. "It is ou r forem ost goal to ens u re public access to public lands for cu rrent and futu re generat ion," says Ogre n. . While at our office, Ogren "mode led " the new "B-to-V - Make it Happen in '96",Tshirt. The shirt (5-XXL), which features many race logos from previous B-to-V races and sells for $25, whi ch will go towar ds the "Oeser Vipers M.e. B-to-V Lega l Defense Fu nd. Another $5 w ill get you a "Barstow-to-Vegas '96" bumper sticke r. Send check or money order to: DVMC B-to-V Legal Defense Fund, P.O. Box 815, Westm inster, California, 92685.' , A ke n' left ankl e w hic h h e s us t ai ne d whe n he inadverten tly stuck his foot in a hole durin g the m ain eve nt at the La Salle Grand Nati onal Short Trac k. "It's scre we d," Hacker said . "They put tw o screws in it. They' ll be in there forever unle ss I h av e probl em s w ith t he m . Hop efu lly I' ll be at Sed alia (Missou ri). I d on' t reckon I have to be released, because I didn't get tak en away in the am bu la nce ." H acke r was aboard hi s factory KTM 600. It was the first tim e that he had put th e m ach ine in a Grand National fina l. Mike Hacker also an nou nced th at he has paired up wit h a new mech an ic for the rema inder o f th e Grand Na tiona l season. Chuck Buchanan will spin th e wrenches o n H a ck er ' s Sp ect r o / Mo roney' s Ha rl ey-Da vid son XR750s, , replacing Doug Fay, who left the team after the Pom ona Half Mile. AMA National number 14 Joe Winst on ha s inked a new d eal wi th Tony Montenegro and Ant h ony Crane of Phantom Mo torc ycles to ride th eir HarleyD a vid so n 883s in the AMA / Progre ssi ve Ins u ra nce SuperTwin s Ser ies. Th e Ca lifornia -based Winst on will begin hi s campa ign for the Florida-based mot orcycle shop at Loudon , New Hampshire, on J~me 14. Yam ah a ha s a n nou nce d th at Jamie Whitham wi ll replace the i nj u red Wataru Yosh ikawa o n the Ya m ah a World S uperb ike team . Wh it ha m , w ho ri d es for Team Ca dbury 's Boost Yam ah a in the British Superbike series, will make h is de b u t when th e series head s to Monza, Italy, on June 16. He compet e d at th e D on ington Wo rld Su perb ik e ro u n d this yea r, fini sh ed 10th in th e seco nd race and is eager to try his hand on the scene again . "I love the fast circu it, th e bike is good and the _" team is great," Whitham said . "I get on reallv well with them (Yamaha\. and

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