Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND Britain's Doug Lampkin (Bet) was crowned the first-ever World Cup Indoor Trials Champion on Friday, March 21, after a tremendous final-round ba ttle with series rival Marc Colomer (Mon) in Monaco. Lampkin defeated Colomer in Monaco on tie breakers with a single Colomer dab resulting in Lampkin's championship. Lampkin finished the series with 165 points to Colomer's 159. Mike Lafferty (KTM) won round three of the AMA National Enduro series in K;algary, Texas, March 23. Lafferty topped opening-round winner Ty Davis and defending champ Randy Hawkins. Fourth place went to Texas' oWn Josh Whitaker (Hon), while fifth went to Matt Stavish (KTM). This was Lafferty's second win in a row. With three rounds now completed, Lafferty enjoys a 13point lead over Hawkins, 80-67. Davis is third with 60. Bobby Schwartz (GM) narrowly defeated reigning U.S. National Speedway Champion Steve Lucero (Jaw) for the Scratch feature win in the 29th annual Coors Light Spring Classic a t the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California, on March 22. Robert Pfetzing (GM) finished third. Rookie rider Rick Pearce (Jaw) hung on to take the win in the Handicap main ahead of Shawn McConnell (Gdn) and Lucero. Bryan Thompson (Jaw) won the Support class main. The team of John Matherson and Scott Cole (Yam) won the Sidecar main event. John Myers (Suz) defeated Hector Arana (Suz) to win the Slick 50 Nationals at Houston Raceway Park in Houston, Texas, on March 23. Myers also leads the championship point standings after two rounds. Doug Blackwell (Yam) was the overall winner in round 10 of the AMA MidSouth Winter Hare Scrambles Series in Cadiz, Kentucky, on March 22. Mike Sampson (Kaw) came across the line in second with Mike Morris (Kaw), Mike Cornett (KTM) and Robert Patterson (Suz) rounding out the top five. According to Cycle News contributor Darryl Flack, Yamaha World Superbike star Colin Edwards U said he may enter the 500cc Grand Prix ranks in 1998. The 23-year-old Texan said that he has spoken to Yamaha officials and Wayne Rainey about his career GP schedule. When asked if held ambitions to follow fellow World Superbike stars Anthony Gobert and Troy Corser into 500cc GP racing, Edwards said, "Of course I do. That"s my ultimate goal. Most guys go there when they're 25-26. The factory, Wayne Rainey and Tim O'Sullivan (Rainey's team manager) have said, 'let it take its course.''' Edwards added that he'd like to win Yamaha's first World Superbike title bEifore he makes the switch, and revealed that Yamaha is likely to unveil a new four-cylinder superbike in 1998. "Yamaha's very happy with its four-cylinder, five-valve configuration, so 1 don't think a V-twin or a V-four is really an option. I'd really like to win the World Championship for them before I move on to a 500, and I'd like to race their new superbike wh~n it happens - but we'll just have to wait and see. I've been with Yamaha for 10-11 years in motocross, except for the two years I took off, so I'll be riding one of their bikes next in any case." According to Edwards, he will likely defend his Suzuka 8-Hour win with 1996 co-rider Noriyuki Haga and not with his new World Superbike team~ bests Jerez tests ovistar Honda Pons' Alberto Puig (right) emerged from the three-day IRTA tests in Jerez, Spain, with the fastest lap times of the 500cc men, clocking a 1:43.705 lap on the 2.748-mile race track. The Span,iard's times on his Honda NSRSOO were well under the lap record and a tenth faster than last year's Spanish GP pole time, set by three-time World Champion Michael Doohan, who did not participate in the IRTA tests. The second-quickest of the 15 500cc riders taking part in the preseason test was Puig's teammate Carlos Checa, the Spaniard lapping at 1:44.220. Then came the two Promotor Yamahas led by Australian Troy Corser. The 500cc Grand Prix rookie lapped at 1:44.337, just fractions ahead of his teammate Luca Cadalora. Corser's time was impressive, especially given that he'd visited Jerez only once prior to this test and that was for a one-day test of his Promotor Ducali several years ago. Corser's time would have placed him on the front row for last year's Spanish 500cc Grand Prix. "I'd only been here for one day on the superbike before so I didn't want to rush it," Corser said. "I didn't even look at the board on the first day. I was just learning the track and the bike and just working into it. I knew that when I know where I'm going I was going to go quicker anyway, just from not having to think about it. The setup we used was pretty standard and we haven't really changed it from the first day. I don't want to get confused, I'm just learning to ride the bike as a 500 rather than a superbike. I'm looking foward to the whole season. Now I am enjoying riding the bike. When I first tarted I was a bit unsure of what the bike was going to do or what it could do, but now I know what it can do and what I have to do." Fifth-fastest at the test wa another class rookie, Regis Laconi on the Tecmas Elf Honda V-twin. Laconi led Yamaha Team Rainey's NoriIumi Abe and Aprilia RSV40omounted Alessandro Gramigni, who is filling in for the injured Doriano Romboni. The fastest of the 250cc testers was German Ralf Waldmann on his Honda NSR250. Waldmann lapped at 1:44.298, almost a full second under Max Biaggi's lap record and .7 of a second under the pole time set by Biaggi for last year's 250cc GP at Jerez. Aprilia test rider Marcellino Lucchi was second quickest, .4 of a second slower than Waldmann, with Chesterfield Elf Tech 3 Honda's Olivier Jacque third-fastest. World Champion Biaggi clocked a best of 1:45.319 on his factory Honda NSR250, only three-tenths off his best time from a year agq when he rode the factory Aprilia. M Hunwick Hallam takes to the track A ustralian upstart motorcycle manufacturer Hunwick Hallam unveiled its much-anticipated V-twin XIR superbike at the opening round of the World Superbike Series at Phillip Island in Australia on March 23. It was the first time the futuristic bike turned a wheel when Hunwick Hallam's well-known development rider/racer Malcolm Campbell completed two very tentative la ps between practice sessions on Saturday. The man behind the Hunwick Hallam machine, Rod Hunwick, explained the reasons for such a risky debut, just prior to when the bike took to the track. "We're very nervous about doing this, but the way we've approached the Hunwick Hallam is about not following convention, so it's in keeping with our philosophy," Hunwick said. "We're very happy with how well the Hunwick Hallam concept has been received around the world, and we've just got notice that we'll be allowed to race the XIR Superbike in the Australian Superbike Sprint Series in a prototype class starting at the second round at Phillip Island on April 13. We won't be eligible for points or prize money, but we're keen to get on the track as soon as possible to test and improve the technology we've been developing." Commenting on the bike that features an incredibly long and low front fairing, designer Paul Hallam said, "This bike is Iull of so many different ideas that we can refine in a race environment. Everything about the bike is radical - the geometry of the engine, the chassis and the suspension is unllke anything ever built." Although it has been designed to run pneumatic valve springs, a first in a motorcycle engine, the Hunwick Hallam XIR will have conventional valve springs in its initial outings. Although it has been designed to run pneumatic valve springs, a first in a motorcycle engine, the Hunwick Hallam XIR will have conventional valve springs in its initial outings. For the full story of the Hunwick Hallam endeavor, see Cycle News Issue #9, March 7. Darryl Flack mate Scott Russell. "I'd like to be with Haga again," Edwards said. "He won the first race of the year in Japan and I don't think they (Yamaha) will separate us. The same duo has never successfully defended the 8-hour so we'd like to be the first." With Grand Prix riders not eligible for championship points in the Open '97 Road Racing Championship, Canadian Rodney Fee'leads the 125cc title chase based on his second-place finish in the opening round of the series in Albacete, Spain, on March 16. Fee finished second in the series opener to 125cc Grand Prix star Jorge Martinez. The Los Altos Dirt Bikers are now accepting entries for the Cow Mountain Two-Day Qualifier, round one of the Western Regional ISDE Qualifier Series, scheduled for April 26-27 near Lakeport, California. For more information, call 415/282-6?58. Italian road racer Giuseppe Fiorillo has been suspended for two months after a urine sample from the racer was found to be in viola tion of the FIM's doping and alcohol regulations, according to the FIM. Fiorillo was tested during the Open European Road Racing Championship round in· Misanp on July 28, 1996, and a sample was found to contain ephedrine. The FIM says that it will carry out doping and alcohol controls, as well as fuel tests, in all-fIM championships in 1997. The Exclesior-Henderson Motorcycle Company will officially break ground on the site of its new company headquarters and manufacturing facility in Belle Plaine, Minnesota, on April 14, according to the company. The governor of Minnesota Arne Carlson, along with other state officials, will join company co-founders Dave and Dan Hanlon in the ground-breaking ceremony of the $50 million, 170,000-square-foot headquarters and assembly plant. J American Motorcycle Institute (AMI) has announced that it has been chosen to assist with Ducati orth America factory-technican training and that AMA will be hosting four Ducati certification schools and four recertifica lion schools at its Daytona Beach, Florida, campus. Additionally, AMI will offer Ducati specialty technician training to in-house students as part of a basic 20-week program. Mark Moisen and Dan Vance were the big winners during the American Motorcycle Institute 1997 Brute Horsepower Championships, held during Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Florida. Moisen posted 366.1 horsepower with his 'turbocharged Suzuki GSXR1100 to win the Import Brute Horsepower title while Vance won the Domestic Brute Horsepower crown when his 142-cubicinch Harley produced 185.4 horsepower. The Harley Owners Group (HOG) will offer its members an exclusive VIP area - the HOG Pit Stop - for the AMA Superbike National Championship round at Laguna S,eca Raceway on April 20. For $30, members will get a Sunday adrnission ticket, a la p around the track, a designated parking area and a pass to the VIP area, located close to the VRI000 Harley factory team in the pit area. For more information, call 800/327-7322. Two-time World Trials Champion Mick Andrews has agreed to put on a few tri- t'-0\ 0\ ...... ('.I' ...... ..... l-< 0..

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