Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

• IN THE WIND Ty Davis (Kaw) won the first round of the AMA ational Hare & Hound Series, held in Lucerne Valley, G:aJifornia, on January 26. Defending ational Hare & Hound Champ Greg Zitterkopf (KTM) fhushed second, about four and a half minutes behind, followed by Paul Krause (Kaw), Jeff Capt (Hon) and Nick Pearson (KTM) in fifth overall. Buddy Antunez (Hon) won three of four classes during two days of racing action in the AMA PJ1 National Arenacross Series, held in Niagara Falls, New York, on January 24-25. Antunez won both the 125 and 250cc classes on Friday, January 24, but was beaten by Jimmy Gaddis (Kaw) in the 125cc final on Saturday night. Antunez, however, won the 250cc class again on Saturday. On Friday night, Antunez topped Denny Stephenson (Hon) and Chad Pederson (Yam) to win the 125cc race, prior to beating Pederson and Cliff Palmer (Suz) in the 250cc class. Gaddis beat Shawn Morgan (Kaw) and Antunez in the 125cc class on Saturday, while Antunez beat Stephenson and' Brad Woolsey (Kaw) in the 250cc class. Antunez leads the championship points chase over Palmer, 544-532. Ricky Carmichael (Kaw) won the 125 and 250cc Pro classes in round five of the Florida Winter AMA Motocross Series on January 26. Carmichael topped Shae Bentley (Kaw) and Tony Lorusso (Suz) in the 125cc class before beating Keith Bowen (KTM) and Keith Johnson (Kaw) in the 250cc class. Bowen bounced back to win the Vet Pro class. Dan Butler (Hon) won the 250cc Pro class during t'!e 37th annual Flint MC 1Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Flint Indoor Ice Race at the IMA Sports Arena in Flint, MiclUgan, on January 25. Butler narrowly defeated defending champion Chuck Springsteen (Hon). Craig Pickett (Hon) w.as third. "Tazz" Tiffany Long claimed the 50cc Stock division, while Corey Lovell (Cob) and Corey Slavek (Kaw) were the respective winners in the 50cc Super and 65cc cI asses. Doug Blackwell (Yam) was th.e overall winner at the Mid-South Winter Hare Scrambles Series in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, January 26. The runner-up was Scott Plessinger (KIM), while Robert Patterson (Suz), Mike Sampson (Kaw) and Mike Comet rounded out the top five. I:-... 0\ ~ 2 Five-time AMA National Enduro Champion Randy Hawkins has signed a deal with Yamaha to compete on one of two Yamaha-supported off-road teams for the 1997 season. Sport Cycle Racing (S<::R), based in Lancaster, Ohio, will field a three-man team consisting of Hawkins, Duane Conner and Doug Blackwell. All three riders will contest the AMA Grand ational Cross Country Series, while Hawkins will also defend his title in the AMA National Enduro Series. The other team is Andrews Yamaha Racing (AYR), based in Salem, Ohio, and will be made up of Fred Andrews, Jimmy Jarrett and Frank Keegan. They, too, will' focus on the GNCC Series. The AMA National Hare Scrambles Series race originally scheduled to be held in Redding, CalifonUa, on February 28, has been relocated to Wilseyville, CalifonUa, east of Sacramento. For more information about the Wilseyville event, contact Ron Harkov of the 2+2 Racing Team Inc. at 510/828-4718. The follow- ing is a revised series schedule: February 9 - Hollister, California; February 23 Wilseyville, California; April 6 - Hurricane Mills, Tennessee; April 13 - Good Springs, Pennsylvania; July 27 - Kahoka, Missouri; September 7 - Millfield, Ohio; September 28 - Henryetta, Oklahoma; October 12 - Lynnville, Indiana. Despite experiencing problems which forced him out of the race on lap 67, seven-time AMA National' Motocross Champion Jeff Ward experienced a positive outing in the Indy 200 lRL race at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, on January 25. Driving for the Rick Galles 1Delco Electronics Team, Ward had less than one day of driving experience in the car. Davey Jones, Galles' number-one driver, suffered a serious crash in a Friday afternoon practice session, leaving him with skull and internal injuries. Ward was immediately cast as the team's lead driver and he qualified eighth. Ward ran as high as fifth in the race before getting sideways in the early stages. The Californian regrouped and charged up to seventh before gearbox problems put hiIn out of the race on lap 67. Despite the DNF, Ward's first outing in the Indy Racing League was well received and he earned a significant amount of attention from the ABC broadcast team. Word has it that Ward will remain in the Galles c?definitely. The AMA and PACE MotorSports have upped the ante in the 1997 AMA Supercross Series. The total money up for grabs had previously totaled $980,000 now the total is $1,002,200. Here is the new money breakdown: Total event purse $780,000; PACEI AMA year-end points fund $100,000; PACE/l-900-PRORACE Champion Award $20,000 (250cc first place $15,000, 125cc first place $5000); 1-900-PRO-RACE "Holeshot First Turn Award" $15,000 (250cc - $1000 per race); PACE 125cc East/West "Shootout" fund $6200; C.E. Altman Award - PACE funded $5000; 1-900PRO-RACE 250cc "Main Privateer Winner Award" TBA ($5000 bonus to any privateer who wins a 250cc main); 1-900PRO-RACE 250cc "Privateer Main Event Award" $56,000 ($4000 per event split between all privateers who make the 250cc main); and PACE "Top Eight Award" $20,000 ($1000 to every privateer who finishes in the top eight in the 250ccmain. Provisional entry lists for the 1997 World Championship Road Race Series show strong fields for the upcoming GP season, with 24 500cc-class entries, 27 250s and 26 125s. Apart from those wellknown established entries, there are some interesting points. However, things could change before the season opens. The Honda V-twin has only attracted three riders: Nobuatsu Aoki (with older brother Takuma slated to ride a V-four), Alex Barros, and French ex-250cc privateer Regis Laconi. Dutch ex-250cc privateer Jurgen van den Goorbergh has also moved up to the 500cc class on the Millar Racing Yamaha; ditto for Spaniard Sete Gibernau on an ROC. The 250cc class has HaruclUka Aoki on a Honda and Masaki Tokudome is slated to ride a Ditter Plastic Aprilia, although there are some rumors of sponsorship problems. Kurtis Roberts, Kenny Roberts' second son, is also entNed in the 250cc class on an Aprilia. Australian Gary McCoy is still entered in the 125cc class, thus ending speculation that he'd be riding a Honda V-twin in the 500cc class. Marlboro drops Raine 1Yamaha op sponsors Marlboro have split with Yamaha and factory team boss Wayne Rainey in a shock move with less than three months to go before the start of the 1997 World Championship Road Race Series. After 15 years of backing the factory Yamaha team, a tenure which included six World Championships, the biggest sponsor in Grand Prix racing has decided to go with the new Kenny Roberts project - leaving Rainey and the Japanese factory in a lurch. . Three-time World Champion Rainey flew directly to Japan after hearing the news to have emergency talks with Yamaha. Rainey's Marlboro Yamaha team-was originally to have fielded Loris Capirossi and Yamaha favorite Norifurni Abe within the central factory team. A second team, run by former World Superbike team owner Alfred Inzinger, with reigning World Superbike Champion Troy Corser and GP veteran Luca Cadalora, was to have operated as a satellite team, leasing machines without factory support. . . All those plans have been thrown into disarray. The first problem came when Capirossi ditched Rainey last year in favor of a move back to the 250cc class with Aprilia. And 'Rainey had no second rider. Meanwhile, Marlboro promptly pulled out of its sponsorship deal with Aprilia, choosing instead to back three-time World Champion Max Biaggi in his move from Aprilia to Honda. Rainey was expecting Marlboro to nominate a second rider to replace Capirossi. "They (Marlboro) wanted me to talk to Biaggi and to Cadalora," Rainey said. "They also wanted me to take Oean-Michel) Bayle, but he was already Kenny's (Roberts) T rider." Instead came the bombshell that they were pulling out of the sponsorship contract with Rainey. "I want to win the World Championship in 1997," Rainey said. 'Tm not sure what Marlboro wants, but maybe it's not the same." Speaking from Australia on the eve of the first IRTA preseason tests, Rainey confirmed that Yamaha has made a commitment to underwrite his team for 1997, and that the second rider would be Spaniard Sete Gibernau, the former Team Roberts national rider, In 1996, Gibemau stepped from his private 250cc Honda to take over the disillusioned Tetsuya Harada's Marlboro Rainey 250cc Yamaha for the final three GPs. Gibernau had previously been entered for 1997 on the 500cc ROC Yamaha of American sponsor Bob Maclean's private team, a spot previously held by Brit James Haydon. "I've had problems in the past with just one rider," Rainey said. "You need two. Abe will be going for the championship this year, and Sete will be there to back him up and give him some sort of a standard, while at the same time learning the SOO. "I think Abe has a good chance. For one thing, he'll be top man in the team instead of an outsider. (Last year Abe was the third rider alongside Bayle and Kenny Roberts Jr. and was the only one to win a GP.) (Michael) Doohan and (Alex) Criville will be racing each other hard, and that could create a lot of opportunities for Abe as well." Rainey's team will be seeking other sponsorship. "Marlboro hasn't helped us much there," Rainey said. "It'll be hard to find a bigname sponsor this late. Right up until Monday the 17th Oanuary) we were expecting them to bac:k us. . "There are no sour grapes. Marlboro has been good to me in the past, and they've supported me all the way. They've decided not to support me for 1997." One consolation for Rainey is that he'll no longer be competing with his friend and former team boss Kenny Roberts for the Marlboro money. Roberts has it all now, while Rainey has all of Yamaha's factory team. Marlboro was first associated with the works Yamaha team in 1975, when it was the personal sponsor of factory rider Giacomo Agostini; and the company took over the factory team in 1982 as one of the first of the big-money tobacco deals, ushering in the modern era of million-dollar sponsorship. Ironically, it was Marlboro's intervention that stopped the "dream team" of Michael Doohan on a Marlboro Rainey Yamaha in 1996. Rainey and Doohan had come very close to final agreement in 1995 when the sponsors stepped in and Doohan pulled out when the issue suddenly became very confused. . Michael Scott The provisional Grand Prix calendar may fall victim to the China syndrome, according to Michael Scott. And this could lead to one more visit to South America. Rather surprisingly, it was only recently realized that the midAugust date for the proposed China round puts it right in the middle of typhoon season. This, at least, is lRTA's given reason for the expected cancellation of the Chinese round. It may be replaced on the same date with another visit to Rio de Janiero; or a South American round may slot in at the end of the year, either at Rio or Buenos Aires. Official word has come from the FIM that the Australian Grand Prix will move forward a week, avoiding a date clash with the Japanese F-1 car Grand Prix - scheduled for the same day in nearly the same time zone. The GP, which will be he.ld at Phillip Island, will take place on October 5 rather than October 12. The BMW Battle of the Legends at Daytona International Speedway will feature David Aldana, Mark Brelsford, Yvon DuHamel, Eddie Mulder, Gary Nixon, Reg Pridmore, Roger Reiman, Jay Springsteen and Don Vesco. The Legends are tentatively scheduled to race in three legs at the Speedway, on Monday and Tuesday, March 3-4, during AHRMA Classic Days, and on Friday, March 7. The group is also expected to make some demonstration laps just prior to the Daytona 200 on March 9. There will also be an impressive group of former racing greats on hand as BMW Legends Emeritus during the Legends races and other AHRMA events during Bike Week. Among them are Hugh Anderson, Geoff Duke, Walt Fulton Jr.,

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