Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN 'THE WIND· World Championship leader Sebastien Tortelli (Kaw) won the British round of the 125cc World Motocross Championship in Foxhi11, England, on June 23. Tortelli won both motos with England's Paul Malin (Yam) finishing second in both motos. Michele Fanton (Kaw) ended up third overall with a 3-3 moto tally. Tortelli now leads Malin by 67 points after eight rounds. Belgian Stefan Everts (Hon) won both motos of the British round of the 250cc World Motocross Championship in Foxhill. Everts beat Yves Demaria (Yam) and Tallon Vohland (Kaw) in the first moto before topping Andrea Bartolini (Yam) and Marnicq Bervoets (Suz) in the second moto. Bervoets continues to lead the World Championship point standings, 273-218, over Vohland. Everts is third with 214 points. Seven-time British National Motocross Champion Kurt Nicoll suffered a career-threatening mjury when he broke his left leg on the sixth lap of the first 250cc Grand Prix moto at Foxhill on June 22. Nicoll, 30, has finished second four times in the World Championship series. Team Suzuki's Randy Hawkins won round five of the AMA National Enduro Series held in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, on June 23. The win elevates Hawkins into the lead of the point standings over Ty Davis, who finished fifth. CRE's Kevin Hines finished second, just one point back at 12, and Mike Lafferty finished third on a KTM with a 13-point total. For the first time in nearly 25 years, three brothers finished in the top 10 of a National Enduro, with the Lafferty brothers - Mike, Jack, and Rick taking third, fourth and 10th, respectively. T.akumi Aoki (Hon) won the fifth round of the All-Japan Superbike Championship at the Fuji International Speedway in Fuji, Japan, on June 23. Aoki topped Katsuaki Fujiwara (Suz) by some seven seconds. Shin'ya Takeishi (Kaw) finished third. Jamie Whitham (Yam) won the Brands Hatch round of the British Superbike Championship on June 23, topping Terry Rymer (Duc) in both legs. Championship leader NiaJl Mackenzie (Yam) Road racer Matt Wait has been disqualified from the Progressive Insurance Harley-Davidson TWinSport final at Mid-Ohio on June 2 due to illegal cylinder-head modifications on his HarleyDavidson 883 Sportster, according to the AMA. Wait, who finished second at Mid-Ohio but won the most recent round of the series at Loudon, New Hampshire, loses his points lead with the disqualification to his rival Ben Bostrom. Wait has appealed the disqualification, but no date for an appeal hearing has been set. Team Suzuki Endurance {Suz) won its fifth straight race in round five of the 10round WERA National Endurance Series, held at Grattan Raceway Park in Grattan, Michigan, on June 22. Team Suzuki Endurance topped Dega Racing (Yam) by three laps with third-placed HP Motorsports (Suz) another lap behind. The AMA National Championship Road Race Series will return to Phoenix International Raceway on February 14-16, 1997, and will be the opening round of the 1997 AMA Superb ike National Championship. "Buddy Jobe (the track owner) and his staff represent one of the best promoting organizations in the country and we're glad to have them back under AMA sanction next season," said Tom Mueller, executive director of AMA Pro Racing. "The AMA Superbike Series continues to grow in stature in the racing world, and kicking off the program at PIR in 1997 will surely mark the start of another banner year." Cruise America, a Mesa, Arizona-based recreational-vehicle rental company, will be the title sponsor of the event, marking the end of a three-year hiatus in which the AMA didn't hold a National at PIR. The last person to win a Superbike National at PIR was Troy Corser in 1994. Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz has altered his plans for his nascent NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career, cutting back on his race schedule in order to be able to qualify for rookie of the year honors in 1997. The former Lucky Strike Suzuki rider Scott Sheak: Cycle News Rider of the Month e cheated a little bit on this one. In deciding this month's Cycle News Rider of the Month, we dipped into the last weekend of May where privateer Scott Sheak, from Germantown, New York, won the first moto of the High Point National MX in Pennsylvania, and scored a seventh in the second moto to put him on the next-to-thehighest platform on the High Point rostrum. (You might recall that Sheak finished third in both motos for second overall at the series-opener in Florida earlier in the year). \0 At the next National in Budds Creek, Maryland, 0\ June 16, Sheak again proved his abilities by finishing 0\ fifth in the first moto, but a hard get-off while run,...., ning among the leaders in the second moto ended ("<') his day on a sour note. ~ >. However, Sheak came back more determined than ever a week later at the just-concluded Southwick National where he again fin~ isited the day on the rostum after posting 5-4 motos for third overall. For this, we chose privateer Suzuki rider Scott Sheak as Cycle News Rider of the Month. ~ > ~ E. 2 W Two-stroke ban u date finished third both times out to maintain his championship lead. The Scot leads Whitham by only five points. ~ T he AMA Distict 36 Legislative Action Office is making headway in the battle the California Air Resources Board over already-adopted regulations that wo prevent two-stroke bikes built after January 1, 1997, from being registered in fornia's "green sticker" program, effectively banning new two-stroke dirt bikes use on public lands. According to a report in the District 36 Legislative Action ews Digest, S Issue, 1996, the regulation may be modified. LAND reports: "After a thorough analy of CARB documents leading up to the regulations, we (D-36) found serious and su stantial errors in those documents. The economic impact to the manufacturers w severely understated, the economic impact to the retail dealers and aftermarket ind try was not even consisdered, and the potential impact to the California OHV progr was not considered either. Additionally, the estimated average annual usage and r span of these bikes was severely overstated, which invalidates the claimed reducti from the regulations." In light of these errors and others, CARB has agreed to re-examine the regu1ati and work toward a resolution that would be mutually satisfactory to CARB and tw stroke off-road-riding enthusiasts. Because California typically leads the way wi regard to emissions regulations, the ramifications of this regulation are potentiall nationwide and support of District 36 is ·recommended, regardless of which state yo live in. The bottom line, as usual, is money. District 36 is reportedly committing some $ per month to fight the proposed CARB two-stroke regulation. Despite support fro both the AMA and District 37, District 36 needs a significant degree of financial su port to continue to fight the proposed two-stroke regulations in California. Send do tions to the District 36 Legislative Action Office, P.O. Box 13730, South Lake Tah California 95702. Make checks payable to District 36 LAO. was expected to make his SuperTruck debut in the Mecom Racing Chevrolet at the Heartland Park Topeka round of the series on June 9, but weather and equipment availability problems had kept him from testing prior to the Topeka race, so The team decided to wait. "It (the new truck) was late getting back from the paint shop and it was late getting back from the body shop and it ended up taking a little bit longer to get done, and we just didn't have any time on it," Schwantz said from his ranch outside of Austin, Texas, last week. "The other problem that· you run into being a team that has no points, that has not contested any races, that's how you're allocated your practice positions. So we would have been on the minimum practice. I think they said Benson (Schwantz's teammate Johnny Benson) got six fast laps before he had to qualify the truck. We're probably just going to do the maximum number of races we can do without losing our rookie status. I think we're going to do four." Schwantz said he would also learn more when team owner Johnny Mecom returned from Africa at the end of the month. "My guess is we'll probably do the Glen (Watkins Glen), Sears Point, and the last two," Schwantz said. "There'll be a test at Vegas for sure because it's a new circuit. I think Phoenix, being just the mile that it is, we should be able to have Johnny (Benson) in the other truck, and having tested with that, we should be able to go there with a close enough setup." Although Schwantz's truck debut will have to wait, it won't keep the Texan off the race track. After traveling to France to spectate at the Tour de France bicycle race in July, Schwantz will go to Weissach, Germany, to test the Porsche that he'll drive in the Porsche Supercup race at the Silverstone cirellit in England the week before the British Formula One Grand Prix. He'll be one of the VIP entries that the Porsche factory reserves· at each race for their 3.6-liter, 300 horsepower cars. After that, Schwantz will stick around for the Race of Champions, a charity event just prior to the British Grand Prix motorcycle race at Donington Park on July 21. Schwantz also celebrated his 33rd birthday on June 19. Many of the World Superbike teams tested at the Bmo Circuit in the Cz Republic on June 19-20, just three da after the last round of the series i Monza, Italy. When all was said an done, Troy Corser was the fastest of testers on his Promotor Ducati, clockin a 2:03.25 (the outright lap record at B is a 2:02.812 set by Luca Cadalora on Yamaha YZRSOO). Muzzy Kawasaki Anthony Gobert clocked a 2:04.22 wi Yamaha's Colin Edwards II circuJatin at 2:04.54 and Ducati's John Kocins doing a 2:04.90. either Kocinski or teammate Neil Hodgson were able t test on the first day because the Duca truck was stuck in customs because driver didn't have the necessary visa t enter the Czech Republic. Colin Edwards U's Yamaha ~eamma: Wataru Yoshikawa returned to action the Bmo test, but is still ~uffering fro the broken arm he suffered in the Ge man round of the series. Yoshikawa w scheduled to return to Bologna, Italy, resume rehabiljtiation with he ~lini Mobile staff. The same holds true f Mike Hale, who suffered broken toe during a crash prior to Monza. "Bo riders will race at Brno, I think," said Dr Massimo Corbascio, head of Clinic Mobile. "Our staff, medics and para medics, will try hard for irnprovem of the situation. The injuries aren't hard and we are optimists." Expert road racer John Morris, 35, 0 Owensboro, Kentucky, was killed d ing the WERA Sportsman Series 'ev at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway in T ladega, Alabama, on June 15. Morris los control exiting turn two and crashed . a single-bike incident, and he died 0 head injuries suffered in the accident. Ronnie Jones announced that TCR te owner Benson Ford Jr. will be puttin up the money for the 600cc suppo class at Jones' Oklahoma City Half Mil on July 27. "I've been running the 600 at my race every year, but Ron Woo didn't want to help me out," Jones sai 'We were considering not having the this year, but Benson Ford decided tha he would step up and pay for them." Team }farley-Davidson mechanic B' Werner announced that the factory . going to release a tech bulletin tha fully explains how to convert a conven

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