Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND Doug Lampkin (Bet) won both days of the third round of the World Championship Observed Trials series, held in Bilstain, Belgium, on May 18-19. On day one, Lampkin defeat~ Japan's Kenichi Kuroyama (Bet) by 11 points, 56-67. Spaniard Marc Colomer (Man) finished third on Saturday, just two points behind Kuroyama. Colomer, however, returned on Sunday to land second place - though with 61 points, the reigning World Trials Champion was well behind Lampkin's winning score of 48. British rider Graham Jarvis (Sea) finished in third place with 76 poin ts, bouncing back strongly after a first-day 13th. Chris Smith (TM) was the overall win-' ner at the AMA ational Reliability Enduro Series round in New Waverly, Texas, on May 17-18. Second overall went to Ty Davis (Kaw), followed by Ron Schmelzel (Han), Scott Stretch (KTM) and Jeff Fredette (Kaw). Class winners included Smith in the Lightweight Two-Stroke class, Davis in the Heavyweight Two-Stroke class, Curt Wilcox (Han) in the Lightweight FourStroke class, Grant Palenske (Han) in the Heavyweight Four-Stroke class, and Randy Mastin (Yam) in the Senior class. Matt Hines (Suz) won his second straight NHRA Pro Stock race when he topped John Smith in the finals at the 28th annual Mopar Parts National at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, on May 18. Hines' recent run at the top puts him in the championship points lead over John Myers, 546-459. Terry Thompson (BSA) and Wally Fowler (Suz) won the 540 and 800cc classes, respectively, in the opening round of the AMA Pro Hillclimb National Championship, held in Middlebury, Indiana, on May 18. Thompson topped Rick Soter III (BSA) and Michael Pulver (Han) to win the 540cc class, while Fowler beat Rod Williams (H-D) and James Large (H-D) to win the 800cc class. Martid Craggill (Kaw) won both races in the third round of the Shell Australian Superbike Sprint Series, held at Winton Raceway in Victoria, on May . 18, moving to within striking distance of series leader Troy Bayliss (Suz) in the championship point standings. Craggill topped his teammate Mark Willis (Kaw) and Damon Buckmaster (Kaw) in the first leg before beating Bayliss and Willis in the second race. After three rounds, Bayliss leads CraggilI,118-106. The Hunwick-Hallam X1R Superbike .. didn't have a good racing debut when Malcolm Campbell crashed out of the Superbike race at Winton Raceway while avoiding another rider. After qualifying ninth in appallingly wet conditions, six seconds behind pole-sitter Shawn Giles, the Hunwick-Ha1Iam suffered a broken footpeg in the fall, ending Campbell's race. In the second race, Campbell pulled in after the warmup lap with a fouled spark plug and failed t-.... to start from pit lane, according to Cycle 0\ News correspondent Darryl Flack. The 0\ XIR's next outing will be at Phillip ...... Island on May 25, the site of the fourth round of the Australian Snperbike Series. Dee Woods (Ka1-V) was the overall winner of the first round of the AMA/U.S. Women's Motocross League Outdoor MX Championship, held at Glen Helen Raceway in -San Bernardino, California, all May 10. Woods beat Traci Flemming (Han) and Kelly Yancey (Kaw). Josh McLevy (Han) scored the overall win at the CATRA Hare Scrambles in Fishouse, ew York on May 18. The runner-up was Todd Levesque (Yam), followed by Pat Timothy (Kaw), Jason Cayer (CRE) and Mike McNeal (Kaw). The event was round four of the AMA NETRA Hare Scrambles Series. Representatives from the AMA teamed with motorcyclists' rights leaders worldwide in Luxembourg last month to discuss the challenges facing European Union riders and how those issues might affect motorcyclists in the United States. The International Motorcyclist Public Policy Conference, hosted by the FIM, was held on April 26-27 and Rob Rasor, vice president of . AMA government relations, who also serves as vice president of the FIM's Road Safety Panel, s.erved as the conference moderator and chairman of the working party that organized the meeting. Of particular interest to attendees from the United States was the potential impact that regulations currently being drafted by the European Community (EC) could have on motorcycling in America. Regulators in the EC have considered a variety of proposals, including leg protectors, air bags, horsepower limits, anti-tampering regulations, and a variety of other restrictive measures as they attempt to draft a uniform code of motorcycling regulations. Once drafted and accepted by the member countries of the European Union, these standards are expected to be considered: and possibly adopted - by the United Nations. Officials in the United States could possibly look to the United Nations for guidelines in revising future U.S. standards. Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz will be the special guest at Sport Bike Night at Bleachers Sports Pub in Sacramento, California, on May 26, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. For more information, call Mike Summers at 916/3731557. .According to the Vintage Dirt Track Racers Association (VDTRA), K&N Engineering has come on board as a sponsor of the Vintage Oassic X Dirt Track Series and will post $2500 in merchandise for the ll-race National Vintage Dirt Track Series. The upcoming round of the AMA/Maxirna Four-Stroke National Motocross .Series will be combined with the Evolu-. tion Vintage MX at the Albany Motorplex Raceway in Albany, Oregon, on May 31-June 1. Eric Reiser, the son of three-time AMA National Hillclimb Champion Tom Reiser, has been recommended by Congressman David Hobson of Ohio for a scholarship to the U.S. Air Force Academy. Reiser,'a high school senior, will attend Marion Military Academy next year before transferring to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Following a meeting between the FIM, Two Wheels Motor Racing and Phillip Morris Asia, it has been decided that the FIM Open Asian Championship and the Asia Pacific Road Race Series will be merged into one series - the 1997 Asia Road Racing Championship. Americans rule Czech S/JeedwaY---,-G_P _ r eam USA hopefuls Greg Hancock and Billy Hamill carried on where they left off last season by storming to the top two places in . the opening World Individual Championship Speedway Series round at Prague, Czech Republic, on May 17. Hancock was the winner after barely edging out Team Exide teammate Hamill in the A final to take the maximum 25 Grand Prix points. Hamill, who made a shaky start to the defense of his world crown with only three points in his two opening rides, recovered well with three straight winS to qualify for the top race of the night. The Czech crowd was passionate, with a massive contingent of Polish fans backing Tomasz Gollob and Slawomir Drabik. The fans got their reward as both Gollob and Drabik qualified for the A final ~ith 11 points each. In the A final, Gollob finished ahead of his countryman to take third. Drabik's success came as a shock to some, but even more of a shock was the fact that World number two Hans Nielsen struggled all night and had to settle for 10th place. The Dane looked to be no match for the top riders, and he will clearly need to show a dramatic improvement if he hopes to challenge for the title. John Hipkiss Speedvision is offering a regular block of motorcycle programming on Tuesday nights. Titled "Two-Wheel Tuesdays," the night features American Thunder, a Harley-Davidson lifestyle show, and Bike Week, the Larry Meiers-hosted one-hour show that features news, results and highlights from the world of motorcycle racing. "Two-Wheel Tuesdays" also includes racing from the AMA Arenacross Series, AMA Superbikes, FIM 250 and SOOcc Grands Prix, Australian Superbikes and the Isle of ManTI. dance record and timing," said Mark Parks, Victory Motorcycles' general manager. '1 personally have been riding . to Sturgis for a number of years and am very excited that Victory will be a part of such a famous rally." Victory hopes to have a number of preproduction bikes available for testing and display purposes in late July, and the Sturgis display will be the first public viewing of the bike. The display will be located at 1123 Main Street. The bikes are slated to be available in limited quantities in the spring of 1998. Wednesday practices are back at Perris Raceway in Perris, California. The sessions begin at 3 p.m. and end at dusk with a $15 fee per bike. GFI will host the FMF Memorial Day Extravaganza at Perris Raceway on Monday, May 26. For more information, call 909/653-4042. Castrol Honda has announced a new sponsorship deal with the British theme bar chain, Sports Cafe. Sports Cafes currently exist in London, South Africa, Canad.a. and the Middle East. "We. already' have a popular following for Formula One GPs, but I'm sure the motorcycle people are more receptive to the though t of getting together in a party atmosphere to cheer for their favorite riders in the World Superbikes," Sports Cafe's Craig McDavid said. Castrol Honda fields Aaron Slight and. John Kocinski on factory Honda RC45s in the World Superbike Series. The superbikes ridden by John Kocinski, Jamie Whitham, Christian Lavielle, Gregorio Lavilla and Christer lindholm were tested for illegal fuel at the Donington Park round of the World· Superbike Series on May 4 and all were found to be in accordance with the FIM technical rules. More fuel tests: Open European Road Racing Championship contenders Massimiliano Sal>batani, Steve. Sawford and Canadian Rodney Fee weren't so fortunate when fuel from their motorcycles was tested following the Spanish round of the series in Albacete. The gasoline of all three were found to have a lead content that is above the FIM allowance, but all three are expected to ask for a counter-test. Mike Holmgren, the head coach of the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers, will lead an MDA fundraising ride . on his new Harley-Davidson Heritage Springer Softail on June 7. HarleyDavidson will present the motorcycle to Holmgren for leading the Packers to the NFL Championship. After receiving the motorcycle, Holmgren will lead thousands of Harley riders through the countryside near Green Bay, Wisconsin, to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. KTM will offer pit-su pport service for all KTM and Husaberg riders at the 1997 Best in the Desert-hosted Silver State 300. The Mesquite-to-Ely race will take place on June 20-22 in the desert of Nevada. For more information, call Francois Deroueux at 909/676-6366. According to Harley-Davidson, more than 2.2,000 Harley Owners Group mem bers have purchased tickets to Harley-Davidson's 95th Anniversary and have registered for the 15th annual H.O.G. Rally in the first 25 days of sales. Polaris has announced that it will display its new Victory cruiser at the 57th annual Sturgis Rally & Races on August 4-10. "It's a natural fit bringing Victory to Sturgis because of the rally's atten- The Iron Will One Hundred and Under road ride will be held on June 15 in the hilly area north of Chelsey in Michigan. The ride, featuring 100cc or smaller strei:!t bikes, is a northern version of the

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