Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Raceway du ring World Superbike weekend in Monterey, California, to benefit the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation of the United States Team Castro l Honda members Aaro n Sligh t and Joh n Kocinski are schedu1ed to anch or the go-cart teams, which will race through parallel slalom co urses . Lo cal brain -tumor patients [uston Smart, Ja mie Siedl e and Ben McMillan, serving as honorary race starters / time rs, will join Kocinski and Slight for a speci al lun ch preceding the event. Following the go-cart race, a special check presentation for $3500 will be made by Castrol Motorcycle to a represe ntative o f the Pediatric Brain Tumor FoUndation of the United States . After negotiations w ith city officials in Sacramento, California, a plan th a t banned motorcycle parking in city lots has been scra pped , ac co rd ing to th e AMA . Th e ban originally ca me to the attention of the AMA after mo torcyclists us ing ci ty garage::; began receiving noti ces tha t, as of July 1, motorcyclists wou ld be prohibite d fro m using a city lot due to "safety concerns ." Upon investigation, the AMA contacted city officials and the situation was cleared up. It seems that the notices were not the res ult of a new city ordinance but rather the idea of a city lot supervisor who felt that the parking-lot ga tes presented a safety ha zard to motorcyclists entering and lea ving city garages. According to AHRMA, pre-entries for th e AHRMA/Prog ressive Suspen sion His toric Cup Seri es road races during the AMA Vin tage Motorcycle Da ys at Mid-Ohi o Sports Car Course in lexington, Ohi o, ha ve been so ld ouL AHRMA ha s received so me 534 entries per day for the two-day event to be held on July 12-13, and the orga nization is not accept ing post entries. The AMA has added a fin al event to the 1997 AMA N a t ion a l Hare & Hound Series. The last round of the nine-race championship series is now scheduled to take place in Ke nt, Washington , o n November 9. At the midpoint of the season, Tea m Su z uki's Pau l Edmondson leads the poi nts cha se over tea mma tes Rodney Smith an d Steve Hatc h wit h 103 points. Road racer Derrick Morton was para· Iy zed in a cras h d uring the WE RA National Endurance event a t Gateway International Raceway in East st. Louis, Illinois, on Ju ne 14. Appa rently, Mor- ton's machine follo we d h im in to th e Armco barrier, striking him and causing spinal-cord dama ge. He had no medi cal in surance in effect a t th e time of th e cras h. Th e Wegman Benefit Fu n d is establishing an account for Morton. Anyone interested in helping with medical bills may send donations ea rma rked for him to: Wegman Benefit Fund , 3212 N. 92nd s t., Milwaukee, W153222. Th e second runn in g of th e Pharoahs Desert Cann onb all Rally will be held in the desert in and around Cairo, Egypt, on October 4-11. The race will include long-distance s p ecia l tests, lap ra ces around ancient pyram ids, hillclimbs up impossible dunes, and short sprints in incredibly soft sand. Rally sponsor Egyptair is offering disco unted air fares an d cargo rates for U.s . riders. For more informa tion, fax Les Pharoans in France at 011-33-1-48-82-67 or call John Alkema at 714/498-2419. The 6th an nua l Scott Adams Benefit Golf Tournament will be held the day af ter the Okla ho ma City Half Mile on July 20. The tournam ent will start at 11:30 a.m. at the John Conrad Regional Golf Course in Midwest City. For more informa tion, call 405/721 -6600. Motocross racers traveling from Unadilla to Troy hav e a chance to pick up some extra cash in the Up Fron t Promotionspromoted tw o-day Lake Counly Fair Stadium Motocross event on Wednes· da y, July 23 and Thursday, July 24. The eve n t will ca rry a $10,000 purse. For more information, call 815/538-7744. A Euro pe an British Swap Mee t will be held smack dab in the middle of Carson City, Ne vad a, on July 19-20, running in conjunction with the AHRMA Vintage Mot ocross a t Silver Sta te Raceway on July 20. The swap meet will be held in a pristine park loca tio n in the ce nte r of town, just off Highway SO. Watsonville Speed w ay in Watsonville, California, is set to host the Corbin / All America n Honda-Suzuki-Kawasaki Z Rud y's Ryder / Bud weiser / Cru ise America Pro Short Track on July 26. Rod Lake Racing has posted $500 toward the Pro das h for cash. Sev eral sportsman, vi ntage and vet classes will be run as well. For mo re information, call Wes t Coast Speedways at 408/462-6101 or race coordinator Gordon Rudy at 408/458-3777. BORN: A baby boy, Connor Scaggs, to Nielsen roars back F ormer World Champion Hans Nielsen of Denmark fired out a warning to the new genera· tion of Grand Pri x title hopefuls with a brilliant victory in the German Speedway Grand Prix at Lands hut, Gennany, on July 5. After being written off when he struggled in the opening rounds of the series, the 36-year-Qld Nielsen was head-an d-shoul d ers above the rest as he scored 12 points to make his way into the A Final and then pulled clear for the victory, fin ishing a head of cou ntry ma n Brian And ersen . American hopeful Greg Hancock a nd reigning World Champion Billy Hamill also made the A Final. Hancock was third and Hamill was fourt h. Hancock remains as the leader in the series, with 63 points . N ielsen is se cond with 49, and Hamill is now third with 48 . Sweden's Tony Rickardsson won the B Final. Leigh Adams of Australia won the C Final, and Peter Karlsso n of Sweden won the D Final. John Hipkiss Corser quits - at least for now A fter rid ing in the firs t seven races of the year w ith out a contract, las t yea r's World Superbi ke Champion Troy Co rser (r ight) decided he'd had enough and chose not to rid e the Red Bull Yamaha WCM at the Imola Grand Pri x on Jul y 6. Th e 1994 AMA Superbike National Cha mpion said that, in add ition to not being paid a t all this year, and still being owed some compensat ion by previous team owner Alfred Inzinger for last year, the fee he was offered for 1997 included no salary and only minimal expenses. "I'm prepared to make compromises, but there are some things tha t are n't 'comp romisable' or accep table to do," Corser said . "The way 1 see it is that they should go up, everything increases an d comes up with you. At the momen t, I got more than what they offered me the first yea r I rode a race bike in Aus tralia." Cors er said he was proffered a num ber of contract offers and "the fina l one they offered me in Monza at the (World ) Superbike race was totally una cceptable. It was 100 percent worse than wha t the last two had be en. They knew from the start that I wasn't happy with their first, and it just got worse an d worse and worse. And now it's got to pretty mu ch ze ro. It's not paying anything to ride the bike, pay some small expenses and that' s pretty much it. To me, that's not what I think of as a factory rider whic h gets paid to go out an d ride for a factory tea m." Becau se of his contract situation, the Australian said that he'd onl y been rid ing at 70 to 80 pe rcent, hoping not to injure himself, and he understood how badly that reflected on his ability. Whether he'll ride again this year or not is not up to him. Corser said . All he need s is wh at he consid ers a reasonable offer - something the team feels they' ve provided . "As far as w e' re concern ed , we haven 't sto pped negotiating with Troy, and the bikes are obviously here and available for him to rid e," Red Bull Yama ha WCM's Peter Clifford said. "Our view is that we're negotiating in good faith. Obvi ously he has his opinion of wha t he 's worth and we respect that . We've never closed the door, we' ve never ceased to negotiate. I don't think his current race results truly reflect his value as a rider." Clifford add ed tha t the team had come to an ag reement with Italian Luca Cadalora, who'd signed a co ntract earlier in the week. Cadalora will co ntinue to receive full factory sup po rt from Yamaha, but the factory said it would tak e back the two Yamaha VZR5OQ's leased to WCM for Corser's use . Yamaha's Grand Prix manager Sh'aP Sakurada lam ented the loss of Corser, but added that "the WCM team, however, is independent of Ya maha and, despite our disappointment, there is nothing we can do about the current situation. I fully und erstand Troy' s decision, but it is a shame to lose such a talented rid er. Desp ite having a difficult first ha lf of the season, we a re fully aware of Troy' s potential. He will still ride for us in the (Suzu ka) 8-Hour and we are keen to continue our relationship with Troy." Corser confirmed that he would team with Scott Russell in the Suzuka 8-Hour on July 27. He also saidtha t he'd spoken with Ducati about a ride for the remaind er of this year, but said it wasn't likely and tha t the door on this GP season isn't closed . "Still, now , I've told them I'm not going to race this race because they have n't come to an agreement as yet, but now they have 10 days to - 10 days being to Nurburg ring the next GP, so I do n' t miss anothe r one. They can now think what they' like about what I've done here. Bu t if they wa nt to co ntinue, and Yamaha wants me to co ntinue , they're goin g to have to come to some agreement whic h is reasonable. Yama ha knows exactly whatI'm asking for and they don' t think it's u nreasonable what I'm asking for, but these gu ys don't want to come close to it." Henny Ray Abrams Grand N a tiona l dirt track racer Doug Scaggs and his wife, Pam, on Jun e 28 in Ind ianapolis, Ind iana. AUTO GRA PH SIGNIN G: At Border's Books in San Diego, California, on July 26 at 2 p.m. Allan Girdler, the author of "The H arl e y-Da v id son and Ind ian Wars," will be on hand to sign copies of his new book. HI RED: Todd Klyver , as Subscription Coordinator for TAM Communications. Klyver, a grad ua te of Lynchburg College with a degre e in Economics, comes to TAM with a sports-marketing and eventpromotion ba ckground. TAM produces several motorcycl e and automotive periodicals, including Old Bike Journal, American Iron and Indian Illustrated. O PEN ED: Works Connection's homepage on the World Wide Web . The site can be reached at the followin g address: http: / /www.worksconnection.com. OPENED: BLM-California's hom epage on the Wor ld Wide Web. The site can be rea ch ed at the fo llow ing address : http:/ /www.ca.blrn.gov. AUTOG RA P H SI GNIN G: At the Speed vis ion tent du ring the Lagu na Seca World superbike eve nt a t Lagu na Seca Racewa y in Mont erey, Californ ia, o n July 12. Former World Champions Freddie Spencer and Kevin Sch wa ntz and multitime AMA 250cc GP Champion Rich Oliver are scheduled to appear. AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Mid-Ohio Su zuki in Mount Verno n, Illinois, on July 17, 6--7 p.m. Members of Team Suzuki's factory road race team are scheduled to appear. For more information, call 614/ 392-9721. '" b:: 0\ ,..... 3

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