Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127804
Jeremy McGrath (Hon) won the second
round of the International Supercross
Series, held in Salt Lake Oty, Utah, September 28. McGrath topped David Pingree (Kaw) and Kyle Lewis (Yam) to
win the 250cc class while Jeff Willoh
(Hon) won the 125cc class over Jason
McCormick (Han) and Brad Woolsey
(Kaw).
Mike Brown (Han) won the third round
of the AMA Fall Classic Motocross Series
in London, Kentucky, September 29.
Brown turned in a perfect 1-1 tally to top
Brock Sellards (Kaw) and James Povolny (Suz). Brown leads Todd DeHoop,
15D-111, after three of six rounds.
./ Mike Young Jr. (Hbg) won the Eastern
Region Four-Stroke MX National in London, Kentucky, September 29, beating
Keith Bowen (KIM) and Joel Dengler
(Hbg) with a 1-2 tally. Young leads the
championship point standings over
Bowen, 144-124, after three of six rounds.
Ezra Lusk has signed a contract with
Team Yamaha for the 1997 season. The
Georgian broke into the Pro ranks with
Team Suzuki where he went on to win
the 1994 Eastern Regional 125cc Supercross Series title. Lusk will compete in
the 250cc class in both the AMA Supercross and National MX Series in '97.
Ducati's John Kocinski was the fastest
of the World Superbike men who took
part in a test session September 30 at the
Albacete track in Spain, the site of the
upcoming World Superbike round on
October 6. Kocinski was almost a full
second faster than Troy Corser with
Colin Edwards II third quickest in his
comeback ride from a badly broken collarbone. Kocinski lapped at 1:31.5 with
Corser turning a 1:32.3 and Edwards
clocking a 1:32.6. Carl Fogarty lapped at
1:32.9 for the fourth-fastest time, just
fractions ahead of Kocinki's teammate
Neil Hodgson. The penultimate round
of the World Superbike Championship
will be held at Albacete on October 6
with Aaron Slight leading Corser by just
seven points, Fogarty by 22 points and
Kocinski by 29.
Although John Kocinski has been tipped
to return to Ducati next year, the possibility exists that the former 250cc World
Champion could be aboard a Honda in
1997. ''I'm working my butt off because I
really want to win this thing," Kocinski
said Monday, September 30. "I can do
what I want next year with Ducati and
I've been told by Claudio (Castiglioni)
that for sure I'll have bikes from them in
1997. There's also a possibility with HRC
for next year. It's been a good season
overall and it'd sure be nice to win this
thing." Kocinski is 29 points behind
Aaron Slight, but still likes his chances
with two rounds remaining. "I know I'll
be quick at Albacete and I can guarantee
that I blow the absolute motorcycle lap
record out of the water at Phillip Island
(the site of the final round in Australia),"
Kocinski said. "It will happen. I just
think with the heat turned up in the last
two races you'll see a lot of guys have
some problems keeping up."
Reports from Europe have indicated
that Luca Cadalola will join Troy Corser on Yamaha YZR500s in a Promotor
team run by Davide Tardozzi and
owned by Alfred Inzinger. Cadalora is
currently third in the 500cc World
Championship, riding a virtually
unsponsored Erv Kanemoto Honda
NSRSOO. Promotor reportedly will abandon its plans to also run a World Superbike team, leaving former Smokin' Joe's
Honda rider Mike Hale looking for a
ride. There also is a good chance that
current Ducati rider Pier-Francesco
Chili will make the jump to Suzuki's
World Superbike effort.
Defending Formula USA Champion
Chris Taylor won't be racing in the
NASB round at the New Hampshire
International Speedway on October 6.
Instead, Taylor will be aboard a World
Championship Motorsports ROC Yamaha 500cc in the Brazilian Grand Prix in
Rio de Janiero the same day. World
Championship Motorsports is the team
owned by Bob MacLean, whose bike
was ridden in the last round of the 500cc
World Championship in Sp~ by New
Zealander Andrew Stroud.
Road racer Nancy Delgado was featured
in the October issue of Cosmopolitan
magazine in a feature titled, "Fast, fast
women:' Delgado was joined in the feature by other fast women, including drag
racer Shelly Anderson, stock car racer
Patt Moise, Indy Car racer Lyn St. James
and fighter pilot Kathy McDonald.
With his signature, President Clinton
recently created a new national monument and a fresh controversy for offhighway vehicle enthusiasts, according
to the AMA. Through a proclamation,
Clinton designated 1.7 million acres in
southern Utah as the new Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
That action, coming in the midst of the
current presidential campaign, has
raised concerns within the OHV community that access to public roads and
jeep trails in the region might be restricted. In issuing the proclamation, Clinton
sidestepped the traditional political
process by invoking a 90-year-old law
known as the Antiquities Act to establish the new national monument without congressional approval. His target
in making this unilateral designation
apparently was to block plans to allow
mining on the land, but the national
monument designation also has significant implications for motorized recreation. "We are keeping a very close eye
on this issue," said Eric Lundquist,
AMA legislative affairs specialist. "The
manner in which this monument was
established and the fact that the BLM,
rather than the National Park Service,
will administer the lands is all very
Gerencer lands third title
W
ith one round remaining in the series, Harley-Davidson-mounted Lou Gerencer wrapped
ul' his third 800cc NatwnaJ Championship HiJJcJimb title in convincing fashion at the
White Rose Motorcycle Club-hosted round nine of the series in Jefferson, Pennsylvania,
September 29. It was Gerencer's fifth win of the season,
Gerencer set the fastest time in the first rcNnd and then came back in round two to take the
win trom Jimmy Dingee, who beat Gerencer's first-run time and ended the day second overall.
Steve Dresser, National Champion in '95, was third.
ill the S40cc class, Ted Wilkins finally got his Rotax-powered machine sorted out and put in
two great rides to pick up his first win of the season. David Watson rebounded from the disappointment of round eight to take second ahead of Mike Pulver. Gass points leader Paul Pinsonnault finished fourth. Pinsonnault needs only to finish eighth or better at the last event, in Oregonia, Ohio, October 13, to clinch his fourth straight S40cc National Championship.
It's of·ficial · Ducati sold
I
na release dated Monday, September 30, Texas Pacific Group and Claudio and Gianfranco Castiglioni announced, on Ducati letterhead, the formation of a joint venture
that has acquired all assets of Ducati motorcycles from the Castiglioni brothers and
the Cagiva Group. The newly formed comp-any will be called Ducati Motor SpA.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
It's been no secret that Ducati has been facing severe cash flow difficulties for some
time, difficulties that have been reflected in both parts and new vehicle availability.
The purchase brings with it an infusion of much-need capital to allow Ducati to not
only fulfill demand for the models it produces now but to move ahead with plans to
produce a wider range of machines. Ducati plans to expand its two-valve desmo line to
include a sport tourer, as well as introducing "a new engine technology to produce a
single-cylinder racing bike."
"Our partnership with Texas Pacific Group will now allow us to do what we do best
- make the world's greatest and fastest motorcycles," said Claudio Castiglioni, chairman of the new company. "We thank our loyal customers who have waited so long
and our suppliers who have stood by us during our period of transition. Today marks
a new era for Ducati:'
David Bonderman, founding partner of Texas Pacific Group, said, "Ducati is a company with a great product, a great brand and great management. We are enthusiastic to
help Ducati aggressively. grow ptoduction and sales in the coming years."
Ducati was purchased by the Castiglionis in 1985 and sales have greatly increased in
the past decade, growing at an annual rate of 25 percent between 1990 and 1995.
Ducati's 1995 sales were approximately 300 billion lire ($200 million) on a volume of
20,000 motorcycles.
unusual. There isn't a great deal of
precedent to indicate which direction
any new regulations might go. We will
work with officials in Washington and
with enthusiasts groups in Utah to make
sure our concerns are taken into account
before the BLM finalizes any regulations
for the Grand Staircase-Escalante
National Monument."
According to reports in the September
30 edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Excelsior-Henderson Motorcycle Company was expected to
announce that it has completed an $11.5million registered private placement
that will enable construction of its $30
million assembly plant in Belle Plain,
Minnesota, to proceed on schedule. The
oversubscribed offering, which originally was registered for $10 million, is the
linchpin to activate about $13 million in
state and local assistance for the project,
Excelsior-Henderson CEO Dan Hanlon
told the Star Tribune. "All that debt was
triggered on raising .this equity," Hanlon said. "We now have all of our dominoes lined up. Before, we were one
short." A private placement in June had
to be withdrawn after it was reported in
the Star Tribune two days after the
offering began. Hanlon said the company's attorneys were concerned that the
newspaper article could be perceived as
a solicitation in violation of federal securities laws. "It almost drove us out of
business," Hanlon said. Excelsior-Henderson probably will need to raise additional capital in the equity market within the next year or so and that could
come in the form of a public offering if
conditions are right, Hanlon said. "Our
company will be a publicly held company some day," Hanlon told the Star Tribune. "Whether that's the next round of
financing or more off into the future, we
don't know for sure." The Hanlon
brothers were visitors to the Cologne
Motorcycle Show in Germany over the
September 28-29 weekend.
Lemon Grove MX Park, a new naturalterrain MX facility, will host its grand
opening on October 5-6. The Piru, California, facility is located only minutes
east of tlie site which formerly hosted
Indian Dunes MX Park. Open practice
for big bikes is $10, and a special Pee
Wee and 60cc track is open to mini riders for $8. sse will promote the facility's
first race on October 13. For more information, call 805/933-9505.
Motorcycle collector Jack Silverman,
founder of the Silverman Museum, has
announced that he'll field a road racing
team in 1997 with himself and 125cc
Grand Prix ace Vicky Jackson-Bell as the
riders. The pair will race under the Silverman Museum Racing b