Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND New World Champion Dou g Lampkin (Bet) took th e win on the fi rs t d ay of competition at ro und 10 of the World Trials Series in Thal heim, Ge rmany, on September 6-7. M arc Col o m er (Mo n) was second and Ke n ichi Kuroyama (Bet) was third . On Sunday, Ta kahisa Fu jinami (Han) too k the win , followed by Kuroyama and Jo rd i Tarres (G-G). Lampkin finished off the series w ith 354 poin ts to Colomer's 30 1. Kuroyama took th ird fro m Fujinami, 230-224. America n Kyl e Le wis (Suz) finished second in rou nd eight of th e All-Japan N a ti o n a l Motocross C ha m p io ns h i p with a 1-2 tall y in Sugo, Japan, on Septem ber 7. Lewis wa s beaten by K. Suz uki (Yam), wh o wo n w ith a 2-1 moto score. Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw) fini shed 18th ove ra ll after finishing 12th in th e first moto and not scoring in the sec ond. Spud Walters (Suz) wo n th e 250cc Pro class at th e opening round of th e 16th a n n u a l CMC / Su n Sta r Tran s -Cal Motocro ss Series , held at Gle n Helen Raceway on Se ptember 7. Travis Pre- stan (Suz) and Casey Lytle (Ha n) finis hed seco nd and third , respecti vely. Jeff Willoh (Yam ) won th e 125cc Pro class, followed by Lytl e and Donova n Mitchell (Yam). Billy Payne w as th e to p Intermediate-class rid er, w inn in g the 125 and 250cc classes. Scott Summers (Han) won th e G ra nd National Cross Country Series round in Millville, Ohio, on September 7. Summers battled Steve Hatch (Suz) most of the way, wi th Ha tch ending up second. Third p la ce wen t to Fred Andrews (Yam ). Charley Bogard won both th e 125 and 250cc Expert classes a t the th ird annual . RM Cu p, ho sted by G uy a nd Wanda Coo p er a t th eir new Cooper la nd MX Par k facility ou tside of Stillwater , O klahom a, on Septem ber 7. Tony Lorusso joined Bogard o n the podiu m in both 125 and 250cc A events in the runne rup spot, while Brian Deegan finis he d third on th e 250cc ga te, Ron Tichenor in the 125cc main event. Texan Dusty Fountain ca ptu re d th e 80cc (14-15) championshi p. Travis Pastrana was the Syracuse Mile rains out F or th e second year in a row, rain forced the can cellation of the Syrcause Mile, round 19 of the AMA Grand National Cham pio nship Series, at the Ne w York Stat e Fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York, on September 7. "It was sunny in the morning, but th en it rained around 10:30," AMA dirt tra ck manager Bruce Bober said . "We were having the riders' meeting when the first drizzle cam e. We put six dump trucks' full of stonIC d ust on the groove and in the corners to try and soak up the moisture. We were almost do ne, and it looked like it wa s going to work, bu t th en it rained again, so we pulled the plu g at 2:40 p.m. We tried - we never quit. " Th e cancellatio n leaves the series wi th jus t four rounds to be run, three of them on miles, whi ch should play into the hands of series points leader and d efending cham pion Scott Parker, but second-placed Will Dav is, who trails Parker by 12 points afte r sufferin g a heartbreakin g shoc k fail ure on day tw o at the Springfield Mile, isn 't giving up hope that he can wrestle the title away from the seven-tim e champ ion. "We aren't giving up anything - we ' re going to win all four of them ," Davis said . "I'm 100 percen t confi dent we' ll be all right. All we gotta do is win. Going into Springfield , we had a 14-point lead, and w e came out 12 po ints down, so. that shows you how quick thin gs can ha ppen . But that's over no w. This is the first tim e that I've ever had a motorcycle where I've felt like I can win th ese mile races, so we 'll see what happens. I ain't givi n' up. I've led th is th ing all yea r. This sucker is mi ne to win ." The next round is scheduled to take pl ace at Shakopee Down s, Minn eso ta, o n September 13. best in the 125cc B class, while Travis Gage took th e hono rs in th e 250c c B in 118 GPs for Honda, wi th 45 victories and four World Championships. ranks . McGrath joins Cha arrallYamaha F our-time AMA Supercross Champion Jeremy McGrat h (right) end ed his sho rt one-yea r relationship with Suz uki to ride a factory -backed Yamaha for Team Chaparral. The one-year contract w as signed at Cha p a r r a l Cycle Supp ly in Sa n Bernard ino, Ca lifo rnia, on Septem ber 4. No do llar amoun t for the co ntract wa s released. Dave Damron , the owner of the Chaparral racin g team and president of Chaparral Cycle Supply, said, ''I' m personally ela ted that we now have a rid er who is committed to racing and has the experience and ability to put the Chaparral Yama ha o n the podium, but even mo re (important is) his experi ence to develop performance modifica tions for sa le to the gener al public." . Here's the deal: McGrath will compete aboard a wo rks Yamaha YZ250 und er the Ch aparral banner alongside teammate Jimmy Bu tton, who will stay on with the Chaparra l team for a t least ano ther yea r. Each rider will bring wi th them his own clothing deal and othe r various personal sponsors . . "We w ant to make it clear that Jeremy is a team Chaparral ride r, riding a facto rybacked Yamaha," Chaparral ra ce-team manager Larry Brooks said . "We will be working closely wit h Yamaha Motor Corporat ion on this new effort." According to Broo ks, Steve Butler, Ezra Lusk's former mechan ic at Yamaha, will act as a liaison between Chaparral and Team Yamaha . McG rath's new tuner will by Randy Lawrence, who has worked for factory Yama ha from 1991 to 1994, and who for the last two years has raced on the professional mountain-bike downhill tour. Anthony Paggio will continue to tum wrenches on Button 's Yamaha. As fo r rid in g apparel, thi s iss ue ha s yet to been reso lved , but word has it that McG ra th has narrowed his options down to two companies: Fox and AXO. "They (McGrat h and Button) can work out the ir own persona l clothing deals," Brooks sa id . Brooks add ed that w hatever companies they chose, they wo uld at least try to ma tch co lor sc hemes at each race, 1-800-Collect wi ll agai n spo nso r McGrath for the 1998 AMA Supercros s arid National Cha mpi onship MX Series . "1-8OO-Collect will still spo nso r McGrath ; that's his own dea l," Brooks said , "bu t 18OO-Collect will not be a sponsor of the team." Technically, McGrath is still under contract with Suzuki, but the former champ is expected to make his Ch aparral/Yamaha Racing debut at the Wor ld Supercross Series opener on November 2, in Barcelona, Spain. McGrat h is sa id to be extremely pleased with his new deal. and he has been quoted as saying, "I'm very pumped to be on the Ch apa rral/Yamaha raci ng team and I'm read y to go win some races and, more impor- tantly, championships." And what abou t the rest of the Cha parral team? According to Broo ks, eve ryone has been released from the team, including Phil Lawrence (Randy Law ren ce's brother), G reg Schnell, Michael Brandes and Travis Pre ston. However, Brooks did say that Chaparral is planni ng to field a two-man team in th e 1997-98 PJ1 Nati onal Arenacross Series, a tea m that will be made up of Chad Pederso n and a rid er to be named later . Chaparral is also plannin g to sponsor two Yamaha YZ400F-mounted rid ers in the 1998 AMA National Four-Stroke Series. Dan Stanley (Rtx) took the 600cc Expe rt wins at rou nds 11 and 12 of the AMA N a tio na l H ot Sho e Series in Castle Rock, Washin gt on, September 5- 6. In Friday's round 11, Stanley was joined on th e podium by Rex Fisher (Rtx) and Joe Kopp (Rtx), At ro und 12 on Saturda y, Fish er w a s aga in s econd , whil e Mic key Fay (Rtx) stepped u p to th e final podium spot. In 600cc Pr o-Am rac ing, Josh Cu rry won on Friday, while M att Gomez (Rtx) took th e wi n on Sat urday . Shawn Giles leads the Austra lian Formu la Xtreme Cha ll enge Cup after sweeping all three heats at Wakefield Park in New South Wales on August 31. Rid ing a H onda CBR900, Gil es topped Yam aha YZF1000 rid er Benn Archibald in two races and Ken Watson, on anether YZF1 000, in the o ther. Lucky Strike Suz uki's Daryl Beattie has declared an intention of staying in the 500cc Grand Prix clas s, d espite the 26year-old Aus tralian's earlier com ments regard ing joining the World Superbike Series to rekind le h is flagging spirits after two d isastrous yea rs of 500cc GP racing . Acco rding to Cycl e New s correspo ndent Darryl R ack, Beattie recently said the following o n Australian televis ion : " I' v e m ad e a decision to leave Su zuki be cause I'm rea lly no t making any more headway wi th the bike, along with the in ju r ies from la st year. The team is 99 percent. It' s on e of the best teams in th e p ad d ock and I've loved being in it, but it's time to move on and bea t these g uys. I' ve sa id th a t super bikes a re an o p tio n, but th e 500s is w he re I wa nt to stay." Beattie didn' t rev eal what team s he is cons idering joining, bu t he sho u ld be in a position to make an anno unce ment at the final Grand Prix of th e season in Australia on October S. Acco rd ing to a r eport issued b y AP , four-time World Champio n Michael Doohan has bee n offered $12 m ill ion to join the Suz u ki 500cc Grand Pr ix team for the 1998 Wo rld Championship Road Race Series. Doohan recently tu rned d own Ya m a ha's offer to join Wayne Rainey' s team, a deal worth $10 million, accord ing to AP. Since his saocc Gra nd Prix debut in 1989, Doohan has rid den Th e 199 8 W o rld Champ io n sh ip O b served T rial s Ser ie s sche d u le ha s been released . It is as follows: March 2829 - Spain; April 18-19 - Engl and; Ma y 23-24 - Belgium; May 30-31 - Germany; June 20-21 - TBA; June 27-28 - France; July 4-5 - Andor ra ; August 8-9 - Finland; August 15-16 N orw ay . The 1998 Trial des Nation s will be held in Italy o n September 19-20. Castrol Honda's Jo hn Kocins k i and Aa ro n Slight rece ntly completed a test sess ion at the new Oschersleben circu it in Germa ny, a track s la te d to ho s t a round of the 1998 World Su perbike C ha m p io ns h ip. The p a ir completed more than 120 laps each of th e 2.27-m ile track. "O vertaking will be the biggest problem," Slight said . "It' s a tight and tw isty ci rcu it, a bit like Albacete . Th e tes t was good. We tried a few d ifferen t se ttings wi th th e su sp en sion, got a gea rbox ratio that suits the track and gener~ a lly go t th e b ik e d ialed in." Slight's fastes t la p of th e te st was a 1:30.04, margi nall y slower than Kocinsk i, w ho r e co r d e d a be st of 1:29.6 1. Ca s trol H ond a w as th e o n ly tea m to take ad va ntage of the offer to lest at the new circu it. "I enjoyed the circuit a nd was quickly into a rh ythm," Kocinski said. "Racing here should be fun ; but because of the tightness of th e circuit, qualifying wi ll be better." According to a press release issued by Form ul a USA , the Formula USA Series will sanction its eve nts and w ill no longer be the feat ured class at North Ame rican Sport Bike-sa nctioned races, beginning in 1998. The NAS B, founded by Roge r Edmondson and Pat Murphy in 1995, will sa nctio n th e rema ining FUSA ra ces in 1997 (New H am p shire In te rna tio na l Sp ee d w a y, O ctob er 5; _ Da y to na Interna tio nal Speed w ay, No ve m be r 2), but th e two o rga n iz ations will split up in 1998 . "Recently, Roger (Ed mo n d so n) ha s in si sted o n NASB owning th e Formula USA Series ," sa id Doug Gonda, pr esid ent of F-USA Inc. "In exchange, he offered a minor intere st in NASB. We rejected the same offer in 1995 before NASB and F-USA started wo rking tog ether. I a m dtsappointed . Rog er brought so m e good ideas and experience to the series. However, Fo rmu la USA encompasses the riders, teams, events and the hun- 0"" "' 1

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