Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND Jason Pe tt y (H -D> took his first 800cc Natio na l Cha mp ionship Hill climb wi n as the series made its stop in Dansville, New York, on August 17. Paul Zander (BsA) was second, followed by Glen Pe tty (H-D>. In the 5-IOcc cia», Terry Th om pson (BsA) took the "in by virtue of his fast first ride . Paul Pinson nault (He n) was seco nd, with David Watson (Hon) third . The 72nd ru nn ing of the In ternational Six Days Enduro in Brescia, Italy, was sched uled to ge t u nd er way on Tu esday, August 19, but the same cou ld n' t be said for the Ll.S. team . Due to shi pping problems, the container that hel d mos t of the 36 American riders" motorcycles, tool s and equipment didn't arrive at the race site until just hou rs be fore the start of the event. Th e U.S. team was granted special permission to impou nd its motorcycles from 7 to 11 p.m. on Monday, Augus t 18, while all of the other teams had to impoun d o n August 16. However, a t 8 p .m. it was anno unced that impou nd would clo se at 8:30 p.m. instead of 11 p.m., creating a mad scramble to finis h asse mbling the m o torcy cl es . Trop hy rid e r ' Ra n d y Hawkins had 10 replace the ignit ion o n his Yamaha YZ125 but was u na ble 10 co mplete the job. Fo rtu nately, he was still allowed to impound past the 8:30 p .m . deadline. More than 400 riders entered this year's event, whic h is nearly twice the number as those en tered in last year's event in Finland. The weather in th e Brescia area is ho t and humid and with infr equent rain. The trail is expected to be difficult in sections, especially if it rains. The year's U.S . World Trophy Team is made up of Ty Dav is, Rodney Smith, Steve H at ch , Randy Hawkins, Chris Smith and Scott Summers. Th e e ven t will co nlu d e on Sunday, August 24. lance Sma il (KTM) pUI together two perfect 1-1 rnotos to win the final round of the AMA Western -l-Stroke Nationa l Motocros s Se rie s at Washo uga l M otocross Park in Washou g al. Washingt on , on Au gust 17. With the win , the factory KTM pilot also captured his seco nd co n se c u ti ve AMA Four-Stroke National Championship. Spud Wallers B ~ Raine 's Da M ik e Treadway (Hen) was a big winner at t he H o nd a Hills round of the AHRMA Speed & Sport National MX Series in Linnville, Ohio, on August 16. Tread way sco red class wins in the two biggest classes of the day, the Over 40 lntermd iate an d 500cc Sportsman class es, with perfect scores. G ig Hamil ton .eMal) enjoyed similar resu lts at the Classic Bike Magazin e National Dirt Track at Hond a Hills on the sa me day, as he won both th e Sen io r an d Modern Vin tage 600cc classes. To ny la ng (Suz ) was the terro r of the Top Fuel class of the AMA /Prostar Pingel Thunder Motorcycle Naliona ls a t Ind ianapo li s Raceway Par k in In di a na po lis o n Aug us l 18 . Gary C lar k (Kaw) won the Fu nnybi ke class, w hi le Pa ul G a s t (Suz) was the Pro St u ck champion. According to the AMA , no round of the 250cc World Mo tocro ss Cha mpionsh ip will be held a t Budds Creek in Ma ryland - at leas t not in 1998. According to AMA vice president Bill Ami ck, the race was tenta tively scheduled during the 1998 F1M Conference 'Meetings in Ge neva, but negotiations wi th Action Group, which holds the marketing and television rig hts to the series, were no t suecessfu l. The AMA will continue to have talks with Actio n Group in the hopes of securing a U.S. Grand Prix in 1999. Scottish road racer Niall Mac ke nzie may end up being d isq ualified from his third- place finish in th e first leg of the Brands H at ch ro u nd of the World Superbike Cha m pions hip fro m August 3. Mackenzie's Yama ha didn't pass th e 'post-race fuel test, as his fuel was found to have an MaN value of 89.6 - exceeding the pr escribed limit of 89. Mackenzie has five days to as k for a countertest , Sampl es were also taken from t he m otorcycles ridden by Aaron Slight, Simon Crafa r, Sco tt Russell and Chris Wa lker , all of which passed the FIM tests. Everts clinches 250cc World MX Cham ionshi B a 8 (Hon) we nt 4-2 to finish secon d overall at Wash ou ga l a nd fourt h in th e se ries. Rich Ta y lo r (H bg) w a s third o ve ra ll wi th 3-3 moto scores. elgian Stefan Everts won the 1997 250cc World Motocross Championship with an overall victory in Gdynia , Poland, o n Au gust 17. Eve r ts , w ho on ly needed to score eig ht po ints in Poland, picked up 37 points and the cham pionship after finishing 1-2 on the day. "It was difficult to ge t too motivated here, but it was important for me to win here, to prove something to myself," Everts said . Everts' win in motu one was made all the easier by the retirem ent of fell ow Belgian Marnicq Bervocts, who d amaged his Suzuki's clut ch and only completed eight of th e 20 laps. Bervoets returned in moto tw o to card a third place. While Everts' win was a brillia nt effort and puts him equal with his famous father, Harry, on four Wo rld Champio ns hips, the Polish round was also a show of power from the Kawasaki squad a nd its recent signee, Yves Demaria . The Fre nch rid er scored 4-1 for sec ond o ve rall and is now in six th place in the standings after a poor sta rt to his season. "I was a little sick coming here , but 1 knew if I could ge t a good start in the rnotos, I cou ld wi n," Dema ria said. Standing behind Wayne Rainey (from lett to right): Sito Pons, Kenny ROberts, Randy Mamola, Bubba Shobert, Eddie Lawson, Kevin SChwantz , l uea cadalora and Michael Doohan. . gallery of pa st Wo r ld a nd N a tio na l C ha mpions attended the la u n ch Wayne Rainey's biography a t Don in g ton Pa rk on Augus t 16, publis hed to co incide wi th th e Brit ish Gra nd Pr ix, w he re he won h is first G P in 1988 . Ra iney received a standing ova tion a t the Satu rday nig ht p arty, held a t th e Doning to n Park m useum and a ttended by more th a n 100 gues ts an d members of the pres s . . Almost all of Rainey' s majo r rivals we re prese nt · Edd ie Lawso n, Kevin Schwantz and Bubba Shobert flew in from the United States, while Rand y Mam ola an d Michael Doohan w ere already in attenda nce. With Kenn y Roberts also at the party , this amounted to a total of 14 World Champ ionships between the m - 15 one day later, w hen Doohan won his fourth 500cc title . Au thor Michael Scott paid tribute to Rainey's courage, hones ty and d ecency in a moving speech . . "Rainey has shown since his accident that it is not the interruptions of life that are important, but the continuation of life," he said . Then Rainey spoke at length about highlight s of his career, raising a lau gh wh en he said, "Of all the people 1 ever raced against, I only ever ha ted one of them - Kevin Schwa ntz." A chee r arose when he said to Dooha n, "If yo u're a great rider, you'll come and ride the Yama ha next vea r." Pu blished by Ha ynes, :'Wayne Rainey, His Own Story" is also bein g published in Spanish later this year. A In the first mo to, Ever ts bla sted out of the start just behind Frederi c Boll e y a nd Bervo et s, bu t w i th the re ti re ment of Ber voet s, the champio nship suddenly looked much easier to win . "I knew Marn icq was out, so it wa s not a prob lem ," Everts said. "But I really wan ted to wi n, so near the end of the moto I raced hard to pass Bolley. 1 got him with one lap remainin g an d held on for the win and the championship." Second place in moto o ne went to Belley, ahead of Vohland , Dema ria and Pit Breirer. In the sec ond moto, it was all Demaria after Bervoets cras hed while leading on lap 12. "I wa nted to at leas t win this rnoto , but I cras hed ," Bervoets said. He wou ld recov er to finish third. Everts claimed second. "I knew I could n' t catch the tw o up front, " Eve rts said. "It wa s a tou gh m ot o . But then Marnicq crashed and 1 held on to second . I knew the overa ll was mine and also the title. That's enough for tod ay." Tallon Vohland also shined in Poland, riding his Yamaha to 34 moto scores to finish third ov eral l. Ever ts too k the cham pionshi p wi th 451 po ints. Bervoets is second on 317, wit h Beirer third on 285. Seba stie n Tortelli (276) and [oakim Karlsson (235) round out the top five. The fight for the 125cc World MX Championship goes down to the final round, as TM-mo u nted Sando Puzar pulled ba ck six points on fellow Ita lian Chicco Chiodi a t the Belgian G P in Nee roe teren on August 17. Puzar scored 2-2 moto scores for second overall, while Chiodi could o nly mu ster a 3-5 showing for th ird. Chi odi leads the championship 343-327. Frederic Via lle took the ove rall after win ning both motos. Accord ing to a press release iss ued by Personal Cycle Service (PCS) in Dayto na Bea ch , Florida, the compan y w ill no longer be acting as importer/distributor for the Vee Two Austral ia prod uct line of Ducati performance parts. "Brook Henry is changing his mar keting plan for th e United States in orde r to reach a broader market, and we feel th at it's in everyone's best interest to make this cha nge; PCS owner Tony Foster sa id. "We will s ta nd behind product purchased from pes Day to na , an d wa nt to assure our custo mers that w arranty and technical support wiII still be a pri ority wi th us." For more informa tio n, call 904/ 253-3578. Worl d wi de Mo to rs po rt s Inc . in Indianapolis, Ind iana , will hos t a motorcycle au ctio n on Septe mber 6. All brands are incl uded , with som e 75 unit s slated to be sold . The auclion begins a t 1 p .m wit h a pr eview sta rting a t 10 a .rn. For more information, call 317/ 841-9000. FTM Enterp ris es is cu rrently accepting applications for 1998 sponsorship packages. Resum es can be sent to Race Director, FTM Ente rprises lnc., 1960 Peacock Blvd ., Ocea nsi d e, CA 92056, no la ter than No vember 31.

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