Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1997 08 06

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 Andy Tresser (Due) sco red th e wi n a t r oun d six of th e 750cc Expert cl ass , while Steve Ma yfield (W-R) to p ped ro u nd eight of th e 600cc Expert class during th e AMA Hot Shoe National at Pla yfa ir Speed w ay in Spo kane, Wash ing ton, on jul y 26. Tresser beat out Lonnie Kopp (H-D) and Speedy KeU (H-D) for the 750cc win, and Mayfield bested Steve Smith (KTM) and Mark Corsetti (W- R) in the 600cc Expert class. . Doug Lampkin (Bet ) rode to a d ouble win a t the World Championship Tr ials ro und in Donner, California, on july 2627, the eigh th ro und of the series. On Sa tu r day, Lampkin' s sco re of 23 ju st ed ged multi time World Cha mpion jordi Tarres (G-G), who scored 24, and Marc Colomer (Man), who sco red 26. Lampkin came back on Sunday to again take th e win, topping Takahisa Fujinami (Hon) and David Cobos (G-G). The top placin g No rth American in th e trial was Ca na dia n Ryon BeU (Ma n) who fin ish ed 17th on both Saturday and Sunda y. Doug Dubach (Yam) came up the big wi nner at the Bill Wright Toyota /Kiwani s Found ation $10 ,000 SX Champi ons hip at the Kern County Fairgrounds in Bakersfield, Calif ornia, on july 25. Dubach won both the 125 a nd 250 cc main events. In the 125cc class, Dubach wa s followed by jeff Pestana (Kaw) and Tyler Evans (Suz), and in th e 250cc class it w a s Spud Walters (Suz) and Ray Crumb filling the top three. Thre e -time AMA 250cc Grand Prix Ch ampion Rich Oliver will ride a factory Yamaha YZF750 in th e final two AMA /MBNA Superbike Na tiona ls of the season at Sears Poi nt Raceway in Sonoma, California, and at Las Vegas Mot or Speedway in Las Vega s, Nevad a , acco rd ing to so u rces a t Yamah a. "We' ve talked about it for a lon g time, " Oliver said from his home on Mond ay, Au gu st 28. "Th at's good news. It's been a while since I' ve been on a superbike." O liver la st ra ced an AMA Superbik e Na tional in 1985 and last raced a su perbi ke i n the Suz uka 8-Hour i n 1986. Olive r is en ro ute to winning his fourth AM A 250cc G ra nd Pr ix title, a n d is ranked fift h in the 600cc Su pers por t Series point standings in his rookie season in the class. . A practice d ay w ill be held o n Thursday, Au gu st 14 a t Pikes Peak International Raceway, th e day before official p r ac t ice ge ts under w a y for th e AMA / MBNA Superbi ke National at the Colorado Sprin gs, Colorado, facility . Federa l officia ls are en tering the fin al stage in a proc~s designed to prevent co m pan ies fro m a rb it ra r ily d enyin g health-care coverage to groups of their e m p loyees, in cludin g m ot orcycli st s, according to the AMA . The public-comment period regarding the Health Insurance Portabili ty and Accountability Act of 1996 has ended, and officials are in th e process of dra ftin g th e fi nal la nguage of regulations that will be used to enforce the law. The bill is int ended to prevent employ ers from health-insu rance discrimi nation aga ins t their own employees when it comes to pr e-existing med ical conditions and lifestyle choices. The FlM carried out doping and aleohol tests on 11 rid ers at the Itali an Gra nd Prix in Mugello on May 18 and "no use of any banned substance to enhance or attem pt to enhance performance du rin g an event was detected ." We li ste d th e purse m oney for th e World Superbike round at Lagu na Seca Race w ay in corr ectl y in o ur p rev iew issue for what was the sixth round of the World Championshi p . john Kocins ki earn ed $9053.88 for winning both races ($4526.94 per leg). The tota l pu rse paid per leg was $31,469.09, according to the Swis s Franc/U.S. Dollar exchange rate at the time of the race. Altho ug h the race promoter is not obliga ted to pay those who finish 25th and lower , FAST's Dan Murphy d id pay all the way to 35th in each leg. Road ra cer Nancy Delgado, the 1995 NASB Formula III Cham pion, w ill be featured in the September issu e of Playboy . Delgado will be featu red in a pictorial focusing on wom en .who com pete in "male-dominated s ports ." She w ill appear along with a golfer and a jockey. Former AMA Grand Na tional Cha mpion Mert LawwiJI wi ll be ind ucted in to the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in a ceremo ny scheduled fo r Se p tember 5 in Anaheim, Ca lifo rn ia. The 57-year-old Lawwill is being honored for introd ucin g many key suspension concepts to the mountain-biking world, in addi tion to producin g hi s own bi ke - th e Lawwill /Knight Pro Cr uiser - in 1978. Mo torcycle enthusiast john Parker, th e founder o f Yeti C ycl es, w ill a lso be inducted, along wi th retir ed racer Susa n DeMattei. And the winner is... jerry Tritz. Tritz is the g rand -prize w inner in th e Cycle News / T r a velcraft Spanish Summer Sw eepst ak es, winning a pa cka ge tha t includes round -trip air tr ansportation via Traveleraft to th e Kenny Roberts T ra ini n g Ranch in Bar celona , Spa in, seven ni ghts' accom moda tion from Travelcraft, a renta l car, and a thr ee-day ti cket to th e Barcelon a Gra nd Prix in Catalunya . In addition to vi siting the Kenny Rob erts T rai ni ng Ranch , Tritz will also get two four-hour training sessions with head instructor jimmy Filice. Approximatel y 20,000 pred om in an tly . African-American motorcyclists, repr esentin g all 50 sta tes, wi ll ride into the Kansas City area to celebra te the 20th anniversary of the National Round-Up, from july 28 to August 3. The rid e wi ll take pla ce a t th e Grai n Va lley Fairg ro u n ds a n d will be hos te d b y th e MO /KAN Motorcycle Associa tion and three m ot orcycle clubs, inclu di ng the Brotherhood Mot orcycle Clu b, Zodiac Motorcycle Club of Kansas City, and the Black An gel s of Ka nsas Ci ty . HarleyDavidson will be on hand at the event, providing demonstration rides. According to a press release fro m the co m pa ny, Maico is o n the ve rge o f a re viva l. The bra nd na me, s tructura l drawings and production equipme nt of the ban krupt mo torcycle company were so ld to a company in Ho lland in 1995, and plans are curren tly underway to begin building new models. Maico has m oved in to a new facility in Bunnik, Holland, and the compa ny clai ms that 15,000 moto rcycles will be built in "t he near future." Citrus Community Coll ege in Glendora, California, is agai n offe ring courses in motorcycle and person al watercraft repair. Registration is now open for the fall sem est er, which begi ns on August 12. For more information, call 629/914- ยท 8511 or 909/596-6409. Former multi time World Champ ions ItohlUkawa take Suzuka 8-Hour H onda's Shinichi Itoh and TohrU Ukawa ran a perfect ra ce in the most imperfect of conditio ns to win the 20th Suzuka 8-Hour end ura nce race in Suzuka Cit y, japan, on july 27. Itoh gra bbed th e lead on th e eighth lap and the pair rapidly pu lled away, building an advantage of more than a lap. It wa s a lead they maintained almos t to the end of the 186-lap race, making them the first japanese pairin g to win the prestigiou s race since 1982. Like 1982, this yea r' s race was hit by steady rain tha t lasted through out the day. Seco nd pl ace went to anot he r Honda pairing, th e Cas tro l-backe d team of john Kocinski and Alex Barros. The pair finished on the same lap as the winn ers, a remarkab le achievement cons idering that Kocinski was forced to pit twi ce early in th e first hour wi th helm et-visor problems caused by the we t conditions. The final rostrum spo t was claimed by another all-japanese team - the Kaw asaki pairing of Akira Ryo and Shinya Takeishi finishing one lap down. Takeishi passed Team Yama ha's Scott Russell (who was teamed wi th Troy Corser) on the final lap. Russell claimed after the race that he had not bee n give n pit sig na ls that Takeishi was fast approaching an d was thus unprepared to pick up the pace to defen d his position . Team Lucky Strik e Suzuki's Doug Polen and Peter Goddard finished fifth, two laps down, but clinched the 1997 World Endurance Championship with one round rem aining in the se ries. Polen and Goddard qualified 16th, bu t had to stop once more than the front-runners for fuel. Additionally, Goddard wa s still under the weather with a virus and Polen had to rid e five stints to Goddard's three. Non eth eless, Polen had th e Suzuki up to second for a while before the extra pit stops finally caught up with them. . Californian Ben Bostrom, rid ing with Toshiya Kobayashi, failed to compete enough laps, ru nning out of fuel and then reti ring with an engine failure. Texan Colin Edwards II, th e defending Suzuka B-Hour cha mpion with Noriyuki Haga, didn't race beca use of the injuries he received at the Monza, Italy, round of the World Superbike Champion ship on june 21. It wa s di scovered at Suzuka that a metal plate holding Edwards' broken collarbone had fractured and is in need of replacement. Additionally, the wrist he-broke at Mon za ma y now need to be pla stered. Edwards will now miss at least three more World Superbike rounds and perhaps the rest of the season . Haga , meanwhile, was teamed wit h his brother Kensuke for th e race, but the team erashed ou t on lap nine and wa s eventually credited wit h 17th . Tracy Hagen Giacomo Agoslini and jim Red m an will do demonstration laps at th e Oliver' s Mount /Scarborough Circuit in England on September 13-14, according to a pr ess release from Team Obsolete. Redman will rid e the 1964 Honda Six, while Agostini will do laps on the MV Agusta three-cylinder SOOcc machine he rode in 1972. Kawasaki Team Green w in provid e tec hn ical trac kside sup po rt at both the N MA Ponca Cit y Grand Nation al and AMA Loretta Lyn n Na tio nal. In ad di tion, je ff Emig and Rick y Carmichael wi ll be on hand at the Team Green pit on Augus t 6-7. Team Green is also curr ently acce p ti ng en tr ies for the third ro u nd of th e Best in th e Deser t Si lve r State Series . For more information, call 714/770-0400, ext. 2226. The Ca staic La k e Motocross tr ack is scheduled to reopen at its origi nal location in Casta ic, Ca liforn ia, o n july 26. The track will host Sa turday practi ce sessio ns . For more informatio n, call 805/294-0020. Smit h Road Raceway in Medina, Oh io, will hos t the jon Leak Memorial MX on September 1. The event w ill pa y a Pro pur~e. Fur m o re in fo rm a tio n, ca ll 330/725-8569. Accordi ng to the AMA, a multitude of records were broken during the A1v1A's Vintage Motorcycle Da ys at th e MidO hio Spo r ts Car Co u rse in Lexing ton, O hio, o n j uly 11-13, incl ud ing vintage road race entries, which topped 1000 for the three-day event. Nicky Hayden, the yo unger bro ther of Muzz y Ka wasaki's Tommy Ha yden, was named as the recip ient of th e inaugural AMA Dirt Track Horizon Award on july 12 at the conclusion of the 1997 AMA Ama teur Dirt Tra ck C ha m p i- : on ships at the Ind iana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. The 15-year-old Hayden rode in just one class during th e five day competition, but he made th e best of th e opportunity aft er a rock y s tart. The young Kentuckian was disqu alified from the opening event of the four-race championship after a mishap in a se mifinal race, but he boun ced back to win the remaining three main events, ca pturing the Grand National Cha m pions hip in th e premier Open M odified class. Hayden will turn professional in 1998 after winning six Grand Na tiona l Cha mpions hips and 15 Nation al Cha mpi onships in seven years as an Amateur. The 75th running of the Chevrolet Pikes Peak In ternational Hill Climb featu red th e biggest purse in th e history of the eve nt - $125,000. Davey Durell e won $4000 for winning the Open Pro motorcycle class. Th e newest exhibit at the Motorcycle Heritage Museum, located at the AMA headquarters in Westerville, Ohio, is the " Yo u Meet th e N ices t Pe opl e o n a Honda " di splay . Th e exhibi t contai ns nearly 75 m ot orcycles, ranging fro m a 1951 Model 0 D ream to a 1998 VTRI000F Super Hawk. Th e competition portion of the di spl ay featu res the three-cylinder Honda NS500 on which Fr eddi e Spencer w on the 1983 500cc World Championship . Su zuki-m ounted Jarred Browne won th e 80cc Stock class in the Mini Sta rs mot o cro ss at the Starwes t Motocross Park on june 29. Browne, who also finished second in the 80cc Modi fied class, was inadvertently left out of the results. Loudon Road Race Series (LRRS) racer Ed Sa ndoz wa s seri o us ly injured at N ew Hampshire Intern ational Sp eed-

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