Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

will see the FIM World Superbike Championship round held at Donington Park for the next three years. The 1997 British round of the World Superbike Series will be held at Donington Park on May 2-4. Two Four Sports recently acquired a 25year lease for Donington Park. Yamaha has made it official that Wayne Rainey's 500cc Grand Prix team will be titled Yamaha Team Rainey, and that its long association with· Marlboro has ended. "Of course it is sad that our long associations with Kenny Roberts and Marlboro are over, but there is a very optimistic feeling in the company as we move into a new era with two very promising teams," said Toshimitsu lio, Yamaha's head of Motorsport Engineering. "In Yamaha Team Rainey, our efforts will be concentrated on Norifumi Abe, who we hope will benefit from working with Wayne. We are also happy that Wayne has secured the services of Sete Gibernau for his debut in GP 500. Having two riders is important to the progress of the team. We're also delighted to be working in conjunction with the Yamaha Promotor Racing Team and their very talented lineup. They are an exci ting new addition to the Grand Prix paddock and should contribute much to the development of the bike." Luca Cadalora and Troy Corser will ride the Promotor Yamahas in the 500cc World Championship. Longtime supercross announcer Larry Naston has informed us that he will continue to do AMA Supercross Series events in 1997. "I have an agreement with PACE Motorsports to announce LA, Houston and Las Vegas," Naston said. "I have been given an opportunity to announce for .NASCAR on MRN radio. MRN radio is owned by NASCAR and broadcasts NASCAR Winston Cup, NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Busch Grand National races to over 300 radio stations across the country. Supercross and the people involved with AMA racing have been my life for the past nine years and I did miss not being at all the supercross races. The NASCAR schedule is 26 weeks long, combine that with supercross and it adds up to 41 weekends from home. I have a wife and two children, and another on the way, so I need to be home more." The AMA has released the schedule for the Florida Flat Track Series. In addition to the ad vertised purse paid at each race, the promoters of the events, the Florida Harley-Davidson Dealers Association, KK Motorcycle Supply and Dirt Shirts, will be posting a $10,000 bonus award. The points-paying class at all rounds is 750cc Expert, except those held at Daytona Municipal Stadium, where it is 600cc Expert. The schedule is as follows: February 28 - Savannah, Georgia; March 1 - St. Augustine, Florida; March 2 - Barberville, Florida (doubleheader: asphalt, 2 p.m., dirt, 7 p.m.); March 3 - Barberville, Florida; March 4 Tampa, Florida; March 6 - St. Augustine, Florida; March 7 - Daytona Beach, Florida; March 8 - Daytona Beach, Florida (opening round of the- Grand National Championship series). Road racer Kurt Liebmann, 54, already charged with endangering the welfare of minors in Passaic County in New Jersey, was arrested again on Monday, Jan~ uary 27, at his motorcycle sQoP - AMOL Precision Machine and Motorcycle Shop in Dumont, New Jersey - on charges of sexually assaulting a teen-age girl and taking nude photos of her, according to the Bergen Record, a newspaper in New Jersey. Liebmann was rele;sed on $50,000 bail. The nude photographs of a 15-year-old girl were confiscated from Liebmann's home on January 27. Police learned of the alleged sexual assaults on Sunday, January 26, when the victim's parents filed a formal complaint with Bergenfield police. Liebmann's attorney, Robert Gal1antucci, denied that his client sexually assaulted the girl, according to the Bergen Record. "There's going to have to be a serious analysis of what the state thinks it has," Gal1antucci said. "I think we're going to find that (the photographs are) protected by the First Amendment." The arrest comes just over a week after Liebmann was arrested for allegedly videotaping women as they tried on dresses at a department store. The video tape confiscated at the time also carried images of nude children, according to police reports. New Zealander Andrew Stroud has entered the AHRMA Battle of the Twins Open and Sound of Thunder races at Daytona International Speedway and will race the Venator Racing Bri tten V1000. Stroud and the Britten will race at the Speedway on March 3-4. The deadline for entering the AHRMA Skorpion Cup Series event on Monday, March 3, at Daytona International Speedway has been extended to February 15, due to the lateness of the initial announcement of the new series. Sponsored by American Jawa Ltd., the event is open to MuZ Skorpions with cash contingencies going to the top five finishers. For more information, call 715/842-9699. According to Ronnie Smith, he will no longer be distributing Wulfsport offroad apparel. The Wulfsport importing duties will now be handled by Beaver Creek Cycle in Lisbon, Ohio. For more information, call Beaver Creek at 330/386-7353. Smith's Oxford, Alabama, dealership will continue to import and distribute Maico motorcycles in the United States. Kayo Corporation has announced that it will add an Industry Bonus Awards program for AMA Grand National dirt track racers to its 1997 contingency postings for EK Chain. The new program, which has designated EK Chain as the official chain of AMA Pro Racing, will now offer postings in excess of $123,000 for competitors using EK Chain in AMA National MX, Grand National Championship Dirt Track, Supercross and Superbike Series racing. According to the AMA, the AMA Supercross Series will again be a leader in motorcycle television broadcasting, receiving a total of 60 hours of broadcast time on ESPN2 in 1997. The next broadcast will feature the Seattle Supercross on February 7 at 9 p.m. Eastern. The Indianapolis Supercross is scheduled to air on February 21 at 7:30 p.m: Eastern time. Pirelli Motorcycle Tire Company has been named the title sponsor for the 1997 AMA Formula Xtreme Series. The company will underwrite a $10,000 championship bonus fund, to be distributed to the top competitors in the yearend championship point standings. "Pirelli decided it wanted to take another step forward in racing promotions, and we wanted to take that step with the AMA," said Greg Blackwell, president of Pirelli Motorcycle Tire. "Our AMA Superbike Series ets as ansar M BNA America Bank, the nation's leader in credit card sports marketing, has been named title sponsor of the 1997 AMA Superbike Series, according to the AMA. The company has posted $125,000 in cash awards for competitors and will offer superbike-themed credit cards for fans. The MBNA Superbike Series will see racers vying for $100,000. Of that amount, $30,000 will be divided among the series leaders after the Laguna Seca (round three) and Brainerd (round six) rounds. MBNA will then award the final $40,000 after the Las Vegas series finale. In addition, the top three riders in each round will share a $2500 event bonus from MBNA. Formed in 1982, MB A America Bank N.A. is based in Wilmington, Delaware, with regional marketing and telephone sales centers in Maine, Georgia, Ohio, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland and the United Kingdom. The principal subsidiary of MBNA Corporation, MBNA America Bank is the world's largest issuer of Gold MasterCard credit cards, and the world's second-largest lender through bank credit cards. The AMA has .also announced that Interstate Battery System of America will be backing the AMA/MBNA Superbike Series with a $1000 bonus going to the pole winner at each of the 10 superbike events. involvement with Formula Xtreme is a great way to promote Pirelli's overall involvement in AMA Pro Racing, through the slicks we run in superbike and Formula Xtreme to the MRTO 1 and MRTO 2 Dragon line of DOT tires used by other Supersport racers." The North Mississippi Motocross Association has announced its first-ever arenacross event. The two-day race program will pay a $4000 purse and will be held at the Lee County Agri-Center in Tupelo, Mississ~ppi on March 14-15. For more information, call 601 / 844-8648. The Cal-Zona Winter Vintage MX Series final will be held at Thrasherland . Raceway in GLendale, Arizona, on February 9 and not at SpeedworJd Motorplex as previously listed. For more information, call 602/966-0261. The inaugural Lizard Rock Ride will start at noon on February 8 in Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona, officially kicking off the Cruise America Arizona Bike Week - a week of daily motorcycle events throughout the state of Arizona. The ride will take participants from Old Town Scottsdale to Cave Creek, Arizona. The week wraps up with the Cruise America Arizona Superbike Challenge, the first round of the AMA Superbike National Championship, on February 14-16 at Phoenix International Raceway. Off-road vehicle users are meeting to protest the closure of 24 forests in Massachusetts on Marcll 9 at 11 a.m. at the Capeway Rover's Motocross track in Middlebpro. The Pilgrim Sand~ Trail Riders will lead a legal drive through Miles Standish State Forest in Plymouth. For more information, call 508/9474450. enough to ride in the Houston and Orlando rounds of the series. Metzeler has signed on to become the title sponsor of the WERA National Challenge 600cc Production and 750cc Superbike classes. In addition to Metzeler's contingency program, there will be a $200 championship bonus paid to the champion of each class. OPENED: Steve Biganski's RCS - Racing Crankshaft Service, a division of Extreme Lean Motorsports. Biganski will specialize in roller-bearing crankshaft rebUilding for Yamaha TZ, YZ, RZ. RD and DT motorcycles as well as Suzuki RMs, Kawasaki KXs, Honda eRs and most streetbike roller-bearing crankshafts. For more information, call310/214-2812. . CORRECTION: Don Emde's name was inadvertently left out of OUf list of BMW Legends who will be competing at Daytona International Speedway in March. Emde won the Daytona 200 in 1972 on a Yamaha TR-3 and he'll celebrate the 25th anniversary of his win by riding the TR-3 around the Speedway. HIRED: Tom Hicks as general manager of Race Tech. Hicks fonner!;' worked for Triumph Motorcycles and American Honda. CORRECTION: The AMA National Hare Scrambles Series event in Wilseyville, California, will be held on February 23 - and not February 28 as reported earlier. Wilseyville is located east of Sacramento. For more information, ca1l510/828-4718. RETIRED: Western Track Services' Tim Smith, one of Michelin's track service men since 1985. Western Track Services has hired Jim Williams. For more infonnation, call 707/542-9544. OPENED: Motorcycle Memories' home page on the World Wide Web. The site can be found at the following address: http://www.motorcycle memorie.com. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At the Hollister Hills SYM GP track on February 8 in Northern California. Te'am Green's Ty Davis, Paul Krause, Aaron Sykes and Jeff Geiskopf are scheduled to appear. For more infonnation, caLI 707/645-9160. Edgar Torrenteras, the 16-year-old Spanish freestyle star who was featured in halftime exhibitions at the first two . rounds of the AMA Supercross Series at the Los Angeles Coliseum and also qualified for the 125cc main in the second round, suffered a broken femur and tibia in his left leg in a practice crash near his home in Barcelona, Spain, on January 31. Torrenteras - known as E.T. - had reached an agreement with PACE Motorsports to jump and also race at the Indianapolis and Atlanta rounds, and also with Fox apparel to appear in videos. Torrenteras hopes to be fit HIRED: Suspension man Jake Thompson, by Noleen Racing. Thompson has announced that he has dissolved his business, Suspension by Jake. For more infonnation, call 619/246-5000. CORRECfION: Road racer Jason Fraser earned the OMRRA number-one plate in 1995, not 1996 as we reported in an earlier issue. The 1996 number-one plate holder is Shawn Roberti. who recently announced his ~etirement from the sport. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Bloomington Power Sports in Bloomington, Indiana, on February 13 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Team Suzuki's MJ( squad is expected to appear. For more information, caU 812/339-0199. (S 3

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