Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1997 07 02

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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IN THE WIND Ch icco Chiodi (Yam) saw his points lead in the I2Scc World Championship Motocross Series slashed from 31 to 14 points i n m u d d y cond itions after 30 hours of almost continuous rain at Ge rstetten in Southern Gennany, the site of round eight of the series on June 22. Chiodi went 4-13 on the day while title rival Sandro PUZZal (1M) ended up second overall via his 1-3 tally. Frenchman Frederic Vialle (Yam) won the race after carding a 2-1 moto score w hile local Jo chen Ja sinski (Yam) completed the podium with a 3-2 tally . St efan Everts (Hon) was unbeatable at the 250cc Wo rld Championship Motocross Grand Prix in Kes ter, Belgium, on June 24. Everts , the defend ing cha mp, wo n bo th mo tos, thu s stretch ing his already comfortable series lead to 72 points o ve r Marnicq Bervoets (Suz), who finis hed second overa ll at the Belgian G P. Bervoe ts fin ished second in both motes. Third o n the day w ent to German Pit Beirer, who went 3-3 . Frenchman Sebastien Tortelli (Ka w) was slowed by crashes in both mot os, finishing eighth overall. He dropped to thi rd in the series po ints. A merica n Mike Brown (Yam) went 8-5 whil e Tallon Vohland (Yam) we nt 13-9. Brit Kelvin Tatum won the Ind ividual Wo rld Cha mpions hip Overseas Speedway final in Brad ford, England, on June 22. Tatum heads the list of nine riders wh o wil1transfer to the Intercon tinental Final on July 26 in Sweden. Others ma king th e cut we re Joe Screen, Sea n Wi!- son , Craig Boyce, Sam Ennolenko, Gary Havelock , Ryan Su llivan, Sea n Bar ke r and Jason Crump, who will go to Sweden as a reserve. Dave Ondas and Donnie Book (Kaw) teamed up to win the Silver State 300 in M esq u i te , Nevada, on June 22 . The point-to-point race started in Mesquite and en ded in Ely, Nevada, with the wi nning duo of Ondas and Book completing the 300-miIe race in six hours, 10 minutes and 36 seconds. Brothers Nick and Ru ssell Pearson (KTM) combined efforts for runn~r-up honors and tookfirst place in the 250cc class. Third place we nt to Destry Abbott a nd Garth Sweetland (Kaw), fou rth we nt to Rick Bozarth and Jim Gra y (KTM), and fifth we nt to Oakley lehman a nd Brian Brown (Kaw), Australian Shane Walts (KTM) won the Trask Tw o-D ay Quali fier in Yamhill, Oregon , on Jun e 21-22. The eve nt, which wa s a part of AMA Nati onal Cham pionship Reliab ility Enduro Series bu t did not cou nt toward qu alifica tion for th e upcoming ISDE in Ital y, was deluged by rain. Chris Smith (1M) finished a close second followed by Scott Summers (Hon), Jason Dahners (KT M) and Randy Hawkins (Yam) . Class wi nn ers includ ed Watts in the 125cc di vi si on , Dahn ers in th e 250cc class, 1.1.Ica T russa rdi (Ho n) in th e 400cc F6 u rStroke class, and Summers in the 500cc Four -Stroke class, Ca nadian road racer Rodney Fee (Hon) PACE Motor Sports purchases AMA National Arenacfoss Series I t' s officia l: PAC E Mot or Spor ts a nnou nced on Thursday, Ju ne 19, th a t it has acq uired the AMA / Pll Na tional Arenacross Series from Mike Kidd Pro motions, Inc. PACE currently produces 14 rounds of the AMA Supercross Series. PACE Entertai nme nt Co rporation, the paren t of PACE Motor Sports, is one of the largest d iv ersified pres ent ers and producers of live entertainme nt in the Uni ted States, with an extens ive distribution network for theatrical sho ws, music concerts and specialized mot or spo rts events. In addition , PACE ow ns interests in and man ages the largest network of am phit hea ters in the United States . During 1996 more than 14 milli on peopl e a tte nded a pp rox ima tely 5300 eve nts pr esen ted or produced by the compa ny . The PJ1 N atio nal Arenacross Series, whic h consists of 13 events in major and secon dary markets throughout the United States, was established in 1984 by Kidd, a forme r AMA Grand National Champion. According to PACE, it has become the fastes t growing indoor motorsports series in the nation, attracting so me 300,000 racing fans and paying out mo re than $500,000 in purse, point fund and posted contingency. "Mike Kidd's wealth of know ledge and experience as both a champion mo torcycle racer and revolutionary event promo ter will not only continue to dev elop the PJl National Arenacross Series but the direction of PACE Motorsports as well," PACE Motor Spo rts CEO Gary Becker said. "We are not only excited abo ut adding the PJl National Arenacross Series to the family of PACE events but also utilizing Kidd and his tremendous staff to add to our enthusiasm and creativity with the A.\1A Supe rcross . Series and United States Hot Rod Association events." The series will continue to be managed and operated by Kidd , who has bee n named Vice President of PACE Motor Sports but wi ll work out of a PACE sa tellite office in ~ Fort Worth, Texas. Kidd will also provide leadership and support in other areas 01 ~ PACE's Motor Sports division. S "The world of promotion an d marketing is changing rapid ly, so I thought it was in ~ the best interest of my company to me rge the PJl National Arenacross Series with t"-. America's p remier motorsports producer: Kidd said . "Although I have a talented and 0'\ dedica ted staff that helped take arenacross to the level we have achieved over the past 0'\ couple of years, the next level is very competitive and challenging; therefore, I needed ,..... the reso urces a nd expertise of PACE to continue a successful growth pattern. Selling N the PJI National Arenacross Series wa s a hard decision... joining the PACE team was ~ an easy decision . PACE was the promoter of the Houston Short Track and IT Grand ::l Na tio nals wh en I raced, which means I have known many of the peo ple at PACE for ~ quite some time. They are a successful organization with active,people wit h a common goa l: to take motorcycle racing into the mains tream of motorsports. I wa nt to be part of that success." ~ 2 Passing under yellow flag costs Yates and others F Ollr days after winning the first AMA 600cc Supersport race of his career, Aa ron Yates (righ t) found out that he didn't win after all. Yates an d six others, including his Yoshim ura Suzuki tea mmate Pascal Picotte, we re penalized one lap for passing under a wavi ng yellow flag du ring th e Pro Honda Oils 600cc Supersport final at New Ham pshire Internation al Speedway on June IS. The big winner in all of this was Smokin' Joe's Ho nda's Mig ue l Du Hame l. The d efend ing class champion was not o nly cre d ited with the victory, bu t he now ho lds a 21-po int lead over Yates in the series sta ndi ngs , 166-145. Picot te is third with 143, followed by Steve Crevier's 137 and Jason Pridmore' s 117. Ha d th e results fro m Su nday's ra ce stood , Yates wo uld have trailed DuHam el by jus t a single point. But Yates wasn 't alone in being docked a lap for th e infrac tio n. Joining him wer e Picotte (orig ina lly fifth ), Ja mie Hacking (originally si xth ), Tom Kipp (originally seventh ), Ben Bostrom (origina lly eighth), Matt Wait (originally 21st) and Rad Gr eaves (originally 26th ). The final res ults for the top 10 now read : J. DuHamel; 2. Crevier; 3. Larry Pegram; 4. Eric Bostrom; 5. Pridmore; 6. Eric Wood ; 7. And rew Stroud; 8. Rich Oliver; 9. Charles Chouinard; 10. Tommy Hayd en . Accord ing to AMA Pro Racing 's road racing manager Ron Barrick, there were so ma ny re ports of passing in the tu rn -th ree area late in the race th at th ere w as not enoug h time to signal all the riders for a stop-a nd -go penalty - the standard method for handling such infractions. Th e final d ecision to penalize th e riders was made a fter videotapes of the incident were reviewed. Yates, who was credited with finishing 13th, was relati vely tightlipped about the situation. "I found out yesterday at 4 p.m.," Yates said from his home in Georgia on Friday, June 20. "Wh en they (the AMA ) told me, I didn't say much. I don't know how far this can go. I d on't know what they (Suzuki) can do about it, but th ey are waiting to see th video. Apparently, it's non-appealable. There are so many things about it. I d idn't see the flag until three laps from the en d . I fina lly saw it waving, but it was way off the edge of the track . I thought, 'Oh, well: I knew I'd been passing there. We wer e passing tappers - the tail end of the lappers, Ob viously, there's a reason for passing there - so, many of us did it: ' won th e 125cc class of th e European Open Road Racing Championship at the Circu it Carole in France on June 22. Fee topped Paolo Tessari (Hon) in taking the victory . The 250cr class was won by Davide Bulega (Apr) over Scott Smart (Ho n), th e son o f former r a cer Paul Sma rt and the neph ew of form er World Cha mpio n Barry Sheene. Doug Lampkin (Be t ) co n ti n ued hi s assa u lt o n th e World C ha m pi o ns h ip Observed Trials Seri es as he rod e to deci sive w ins bo th days in La Bress e, Fra nce, on June 21-22, the sixth round of the series . Marc Colomer was second both days, scoring 50 ma rks to Lam pkin's 36 on Saturday, then 51 to lam pkin's im pressi ve 22 o n Sunday. Graham Jarvis (Sro) took th ird on Satu rday, wit h Steve Colley (G-G) taki ng th e spot o n Sunday. Grayson Hart (Ho n) came ou t th e big winner at the 13th ann ual Steve McQueen Memo rial MX - round II of the AHRMA Speed & Spor t Vin tage Motocross Series - in Eugene, Oregon, o n Ju ne 22. Hart took overall wins in 125, 250cc and Over 30 Expert class es . Jo h n LeFever (Hus) also had a good weekend as he rode to w ins in Classic 250 and Classic 500cc Expert classes. Four factory Yamaha riders com pleted testing at the Suz uka Circuit in Suzuka City, Japan, on Wed nesday, Ju ne 18, in preparation for the upcoming Suzuka 8 Hour in July. Among those who tested was Red Bull Yamaha's Tro y Corser. The 1996 World Superbike Champion is slated to compete wi th Scott Russell in the eig ht-hour race, and he took ad va n- tage of a break in his Grand Prix schedule to test the Yamaha four-stroke. "This ' will be the first time I've participated in a big end ura nce race like the Suzuka 8Hour, so I'm reall y looking forward to it," Corser said after recording a string of 2:11 lap tim es. "I'm glad to be teamed with a n ex perie nced rid er like Scott (Russell), and we'll be going for the win. The machine is different from the Du cati I w a s ridin g last y ea r a n d from th e YZRSOO that I'm riding now, bu t 1 like the feel of it. In the tests this time I was running in the l l -second rang e, but I felt I s till ha d plen ty in reserve. So I think I w ill do a ll righ t. Scot t' s riding posi tion is a little long er than mine, but" irs just a matt er of get ting used to th at. And I was relieved to find that our settings are almost the same." The fastest r id er at the Yama ha tes ts w a s again Noriyuki Haga, the Japanese rider who will team with Colin Edward s II as they defend their cro wn from last year's race . The 22-year-old Haga, who ha s won three of the first four rounds of the AlIJapan Superbike Championship, lap ped at 2;09.99. Yama ha also made it official that 1984 250cc World Cha mpion Christian Sarron will team up for a seco nd yea r wit h three-ti me Ja panese 500e c Champio n Tadahiko Taira on a Yamaha TRX850. The pair finish ed 24th last year o n th e twin, wi th bot h co mi ng ou t of re ti reme nt for the event. "I enjoyed last year very much," Sa r ro n said . "The o n ly worrying thing is that I haven't rea lly ridd en a bike since then. It will be ha rd. I was a little nervous last year, but once we go t goi ng and go t the feeling back, we w ere qu ite q uick a nd eve ry th ing

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