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/127813
I'
Todd DeHoop (Yam) grabbed his first
win of the year in the AMA 1PJl
National Arenacross Series by
MSRI Answer with a wire-to-wire victory in the 125cc class Friday during
rounds nine and 10 of the series at the
MetroCentre in Rockford, Illinois,
December 6-8. DeHoop led Jeromy
Buehl (Yam) and Chad Pederson
(Yam) across the line. Buddy Antunez
(Hon) claimed the 250cc main-event
victory Friday, finishing ahead of
teammate Denny Stephenson (Hon)
and Cliff Palmer (Suz). Palmer
returned Saturday to win the 125cc
main over Mike Jones (Kaw) and
Stephenson while Grayson Goodman
(Yam) stepped up to win the 250cc
main ahead of Stephenson and
Palmer.
Kawasaki's Ty Davis scored the overall win at the Laughlin U.S. Hare
Scrambles Championship in Laughlin,
Nevada, December 7. Second place
went to Kawasaki rider Dave Ondas,
while KTM-mounted Nick Pearson
took third. Rounding out the top five
were Jim Gray (KTM) and Steve
Hengeveld (Kaw).
KTM's Scott Plessinger won the
fourth round of the Mid-South Hare
Scrambles Series in Lynnville, Indiana, December 9. Finishing second
was Yamaha rider Doug Blackwell,
while Honda of Troy's Mike
Kiedrowski, competing in hjs first
hare scrambles event, took third.
KTM's Jason Dahnersofinished fourth,
while Kawasaki rider Mike Sampson
rounded out the top five overall.
Although 1-800-Collect has indeed
pulled its sponsorship from American
Honda's AMA Supercross and
National Motocross team, it's not for
the reasons we reported last week,
according 'to 1-800-Collect's senior
manager of marketing programs,
Catherine Smith. "It has nothing to do
with logo sizes," Smith said. "We are
not going to renew because of a redirection of our marketing budget. It's
purely a financial decision and not
unhappiness as your news item indicates." Will 1-800-Collect maintain its
association with the sport in any way?
"We would like to maintain our association with motocross and supercross, we're just not able to secure the
same amount of financial commitment," Smith said. "We won't have
full team sponsorship, but we haven't
made a decision on how we'll be
involved. We've enjoyed having Jeremy (McGrath); we think he's great
and he's been a great spokesman for
us. But we've had no direct conversation about next year at this time
because as you know they've been
racing in Japan. We love the sport, but
we just can't give the support at the
level Honda needs. We have no bone
with Honda at all and we definitely
want to maintain a presence in the
sport."
The AMA has posted the 1997 National Championship HilIc1imb Series
schedule. The nitro-burning dirt
churners will start off the season at
Middlebury, Indiana, May 18 and continue with rounds in Jefferson, Pennsylvania, June 1; Steel City, Pennsylvania, June 8; Avoca, New York, June
15; Marquette, Michigan, July 20; Jefferson, Pennsylvania, 'August 3; Haydenville, Ohio, August 9; Dansville,
New York, August 17; Steel City,
Pennsylvani