Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

1997 AMA Supercross Series schedule T he AMA and the producers of the AMA Supercross Series - PACE MotorSports, Daytona International Speedway, and the Las Vegas Motor.Speedway - have announced a tentative schedule for the 1997 Supercross Series. The schedule was designed after both the AMA and PACE MotorSports held extensive meetings with rndustry representatives, the result being a revised routing system designed to better meet the competitors' needs. The new routing pattern will result in the first" four rounds of the series being held in the Western United States, highlighted by the opening two rounds'at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The AMA had hoped to have the series opener in Anaheim or San Diego, California, but planned construction to Anaheim Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium will prevent any supercross races from being at either stadium in 1997. Negotiations with other venues in the Southern California area came up empty. But two races, back to back, at , the LA Coliseum? According to the AMA, the group felt there is a large enough market in Southern California to support two races at the same f<;tcility. The 1997 schedule features three different stops from 1996, but the cities are not new to hosting a supercross event. The opening two rounds at the LA Coliseum mark the first time since 1993 that a supercross event will be featured at the facility. It has been six years since the series stopped in Phoenix, Arizona, but that changes on January 25, . when round three takes place at the Phoenix Sun Devil Stadium. The series final will be held at the new Las Vegas Motor Speedway on May 17. The tentative '97 AMA Supercross Series schedule is as follows: January 11 Los Angeles, California LA Coliseum January 18 Los Angeles, California LA Coliseum January 25 Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix Sun Devil Stadium February 1 Seattle, Washington Seattle, Kingdome February 15 Indianapolis, Indiana RCA Dome February 22 Atlanta, Georgia Georgia Dome March 8 Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona International Speedway March 15 Minneapolis, Minnesota HHH Metrodome March 22 Houston, Texas Houston Astrodome March 29 Orlando, Florida Citrus Bowl AprilS St. Louis, Missouri Trans World Dome April 12 Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac Silverq.ome April 19 Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte Motor Speedway April 26 Dallas, Texas. Texas Stadium May 17 Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas Motor Speedway' C.astrol Honda team in 1997. Slight will enter his fourth year with the team after finishing third in the 1994 and 1995' World Superbike Championships. "I considered a lot of options and I think my best chance of winning the 1997 title will be on a Honda RC45," the New Zealander said. "I don't see the Ducatis improving that much or the other Japanese manufacturers' machines being as strong as the Honda. It's an easy decision for me to stay with Honda. While I could have gone other places for bigger money, I know the workings of the Castrol Honda team and money is!,' t everything. The RC45 project I want to see out and I want to be there when the RC45 is the best superbike in the series." A replacement for Carl Fogarty as the team's number two rider is still to be decided upon. A new road racing class featuring bigbore, production-based ·motorcyl11es has been announced by the AMA and will debut in the 1997 AMA National Championship Road Race Series as I:ormu1a Xtreme. AMA Formula Xtreme will replace the'SuperTeams Series and will be open to machines from 750cc and up. "The manufacturers have improved the sporting capabilities of big-bore. machines so much in recent years that it seemS a natural to give these bikes a sprint-race fonnat in which to compete," said Merrill Vanderslice, AMA Pro Racing's director of competition. "With powerful lO00cc and 1100cc motorcycles, Formula Xtreme should be a very exciting series to watch." According to the AMA, many of the top teams currently racing in the SuperTeams Series will make the move to Formula Xtreme where a team champion will be crowned in addition to the individual champion. The American round of the World Superbike Championship is scheduled for Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, on July 11-13, 1997. .The North American Sport Bike Series has announced that it will have a 10round series with the series scheduled to expand to Canada in 1997. The season will start at Daytona International Speedway on March 1-2 before going to Willow Springs in Rosamond, California, for round two on March 15-16. Round three will be held at Heartland Park Topeka in Topeka, Kansas, on a date that's listed as TBA, .with round four scheduled for Mosport Park in Toronto on May 31-June 1. On June 20-22, the series heads to Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, before going to Portland International Raceway on July 19-20. The seventh round will be held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, on a yet-to-be-released da teo The series will return to Pocono Raceway in Pocono, Pennsylvania, on August 2224 before going to New Hampshire international on October 4-5. The series concludes with the Race of Champions at Daytona on October 16-19. According to -a press release from Vintage Iron International, the company will terminate its six-year sponsorship of AHRMA's National Motocross Series at the conclusion of 1996. "On-going conflicts with the organization's executive director (Jeff Smith) and a desire to work more closely with the grass roots level of the sport were the factors that promoted the decision," the release states. Vintage Iron will continue to support the Evolution of Motocross Series on a National basis. For more information, call 209 /252-9053. According to a press release from Mark Miller Racing, road racer Mark Miller broke the motorcycle lap record at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Arizona, September 22. Miller lapped at 1:07.67 on his Suzuki GSXR750, bettering the existing mark of 1:09.05. AMA 250cc National Champion Jeff Em~g will compete in the 20th Annual Kawasaki Race of Champions on October 6 at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey. Emig will be joined by his teammates Ryan Hughes and Damon Huffman. For more information, can 908/446-7800. Former motocrosser Danny "Magoo" Chandler will be joined by current racers Chris Carr, Joe Kopp and Mike Hacker at the UCD Medical Center in Sacramento, California, on ,September 26 at 2 p.m. to sign autographs at the Child Life Unit. The racers will also hand out teddy bears provided by area merchants and Harley. Davidson. The FIM has announced that Stefan Everts has been cleared of all wrongdoing regarding the use of illegal fuel at the British Grand Prix in May, thus verifying that the Belgian is indeed the 1996 250cc World Champion. The decision of an appeal board on AugUst 13 had been challenged by fellow Belgian Marnicq Bervoets. The deadline for entries for the CCS Race of Champions, scheduled for October 16- 20 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, is September 27. For more information, call CCS at 704/684-4297. WERA has reached an agreement with American Suzuki and the Metro Atlanta Suzuki Motorcycle Dealers to offer discount coupons for $10 discount off a Superticket or $5 off for Sunday-only admission to the 1996 Grand National Finals at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, on October 11-13. WERA has also announced that it will hold the AGV America/Sharkinz I-Hour 125cc GP Endurance on Friday, October 11 during the Grand National Final. The event is open to all WERA members with 125cc GP bikes and a $2000 purse will be up for· grabs. The team race will feature a mandatory rider change and refueling stop. CORRECTION: In our coverage of the Eldora Half Mile (Issue #38, September 25), we reported that Steve Morehead had been mathematically eliminated from the Grand National Championship after finishing sixth in the main event when in fact he was not. Morehead still had a chance for the title as of the U.s. Motorcycle Nationals in Knoxville, Iowa (see page 6). AUTOGRAPH SESSION: At Desert Honda suzuki in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 2 from 5 to 7 p.m. Smokin' Joe's Honda's Miguel DuHamel and former three-time World Champion Freddie Spencer are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 702/79S·2OOO. BORN Michael Allen Smith, to road racer Mike Smith and his wife 5uzzie, September 18 in Atlanta, "'~ Georgia. Team USA wins MXdN O ne of the most powerful teams ever assembled by the United States scored a resounding victory in Jerez, Spain, September 22, to reclaim top honors in the Motocross des Nations, a traditional team motocross competition last won by an American team in 1993. Established in 1947 and celebrating its 50th renewal, the MX des Nations is considered the most prestigious single motocross event in the world. But despite facing a field including the best riders from all over the world, the Americans made their win look easy. The United States fielded the winner of all three heats and finished with a team score of nine points, just two shy of a perfect score of seven. France finished second, 12 points behind the winners, while the defending champions from Belgium were a distant third with 30 points. Four-time AMA Supercross Champion Jeremy McGrath anchored the American team, which ran up a record 13 straight wins in the event before slipping to second behind Great Britain in 1994 and Belgium last year. Each team in the event included three riders, and each took part in two of the day's three races. Every rider on hand had a shot at McGrath, but no one could touch the American. Riding a 250cc Honda, McGrath won both of his heats, and he did it despite crashing once. Also impressive was McGrath's Honda teammate, Steve Lamson, the AMA's 125cc National MX Champion. Lamson rode his 125cc machine to a win and a third-place finish. Rounding out the American team was Jeff Emig, the newly crowned AMA 250cc MX Champion. Despite riding an unfamiliar 500cc Kawasaki, Emig contributed thirdand fifth-place finishes as the United States turned an expected showdown with the French and Belgian teams into a runaway. Twenty nations advanced through preliminary qualifications to take part in the featured races. Each team was required to field one rider in each class (125, 250 and 500cc). But scoring was done without regard to engine size, with race winners assessed one point, runners-up two points, and so on. The best five scores from each team were counted, with the low score winning. In the first heat, which featured each team's 125 and 500cc riders, Emig took the holeshot and led the first half of the race. But Lamson recovered from a poor start and gradually worked his way through the field. By lap six, Lamson had worked his way into second, and .two laps later he took over the lead from Emig. Late in the race, French teenager Sebastien Tortelli, who, like Lamson, was riding a nimble 125cc machine, also moved past Emig's more powerful but less maneuverable 500cc Kawasaki. But Tortelli, the 125cc World MX Champion, was unable to catch Lamson. In the second heat (125/250cc), McGrath took the early lead and appeared to have the race wellm hand before crashing on the 10th lap. Marnicq Bervoets of Belgium took command after McGrath's fall, but in dramatic fashion, McGrath remounted his Honda, chased down Bervoets, regained the lead and pulled away to a seven-second margin of victory. Lamson again overcame a poor start and charged through the field to finish third - first among the 12Sec riders. Shayne King, New Zealand's 500cc World MX Champion, led the first two laps of the final heat (250/500cc), but then McGrath took over and cruised to a 12-second win. Emig finished fifth in the heat and was the first 500cc rider across the line. The United States now has 14 MX des Nations titles in the 50-year history of the competition. The all-time record belongs to Great Britain, which dominated the early years of the event, scoring 15 of its 16 wins between 1947 and 1967. . \0 ~ .-<

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