Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND Willie Price (H-D) took the 800cc-class wi n at th e A MA N atio na l C ha m pions hi p lIillclimb round in Steel Ci ty, Pennsylvania, on September 14, with a single, blisteringly fast ride. Price turned in a time of 7.8751 seconds, beating Paul Zander (BSA) and his tim e of 8.5428 by a wid e margin . Rodney Williams (H- D) was third on a 8.5469-second run. In th e 540cc class, David Wa tso n (Hon) took - the win, followed by Paul Pi nson nauJt (Ho n) and Rick So ter III (BSA). Spud Walters (Kaw ) won the 250cc Pro clas s for the second w eek in II row at round two of the CMC / SunStar TransCal Mot ocross Seri es held a t th e Quail Ca nyon OHV Park near Gor ma n, California , on Sep tember 14. Chris Wh eeler (Suz) and Billy Me rcier (Kaw) finished second a nd third, resp ecti vel y . In the 125cc Pro class, it w as Wheeler taking the win , followed by Casey Lytle (Han) and Walt ers (Yam) . Donovan Mitchell (Yam) wo n the 125cc Pro class du ring the Northern California round of the CMC SunStar Tr ans-Cal Mot ocross Series, held in Mar ysville, on September 13. Bre tt Racin e (Kaw) wo n the 250cc Pro class and also finished second in the 125cc class. According to reports from Europe, 1996 World Superbike Cha mp ion Tro y Corser is se t to sig n a contrac t w ith Du cati for th e 1998 World Superbike Champions hip. Corser w ill race in th e Du cat i Corse factory team that is Tun by Virginio Ferrari, and he wi ll likely be joined th ere by Pier-Fra ncesco C hi li . T h is means that former World Cham p io n Carl Fogarty will more than likely sign a contract that w ill see him aboa rd a facto- ry Suz u ki GSXR750 for the 1998 World Superbike Series . Dan Murphy, th e man w ho p romo ted th e Ll.S. round of the World Supe rbike Champio nship at Laguna Seca Racew ay, was an interested vis itor to the Catalun- yan Grand Prix on Sep tember 14. When co ntacted about hi s trip to th e G ra nd Pri x, Murphy confirmed that he wo uld like to see a second international road race in the United States in 1998 - either in the form of a seco nd World Superbike eve nt or possib ly a Grand Prix. According to Mu rphy, lhe Laguna Seca round of the World Superbike Championship is in jeo p a rdy because th e Flammini Group is a sking for "a s ig n ifica n t in crea se" for 1998 - eve n thou gh Murphy has a five-year contrac t to run the event. M urphy will be meetin g wit h repres entative s fro m th e Flammini Group in Albacete, Spa in, on September 21. Mu rphy m ention ed fo u r tracks as possible hosts for an internation al even t: Road Atlan ta, Road Ame rica, Laguna Seca and Mid-Oh io. Road racer Randy Renfrow ret u rne d to his Virg inia ho rne un Satu rd ay , September 6, only four days after under going surgery to repa ir his broken low er leg . Re n fro w wa s in ju red when he cras hed in the AMA 250cc Grand Prix fina l at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Califor nia, on Aug ust 31. "I'm gettin g bette r all the tim e," Ren frow sai d fro m h is home. "I' m not am bu la to ry , and I can't use a crutch because of my broken sho u lder. They basicall y s tic k me in a chai r in th e middle of the room and su rro u nd me w ith stuff: Then they co me back and check o n me in th e afternoon ," Ro land Sa nds , the racer who was involved in th e acc iden t with Ran d y Ren frow , is also at hom e recu perating from th e cras h and will miss the fin a l round of the series in Las Vegas d ue to a da maged liver a nd lun g . "Basica lly , I don 't know what Randy thou ght I said to him in the hospital," Sands explain ed. " I just tol d h i m: ' Du de, tha t w as a gna rly cras h. I don 't really know what happened and I don't know if it was my . fault. But if it was, I'm sorry.' I di d hit his rear tire, there's no doubt abo ut that. 1998 PJ1 National Arenacross Series schedule announced P A a ~ 2 A C E Motorsports has announced the 1998 PJI National Are nacross Series schedule. The nation al series will increase to 14 venues for 1998, which include four new cities: Hampton , Virginia; Sacramento, Callfom ia: San Francisco, California: a nd Salt Lake Ci ty, Uta h. The se ries will p ay out $280,000 in p rize m oney plus a $100,000 rid er point fund . The SBS Brakes $5000 Dash for Cas h rider poi nt fund will also return for a total of $105,000 end-o f-year rid er payou t. Man ufacturer continge ncy will be su pported by Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasa ki. Novemb er 14-16 Me morial Center Nove mber 21-23 Pepsi Arena December 5-7 MetroCentre January 2-4 Will Rogers Coliseum Janua ry 9-11 Lazy E Arena Jan uary 16-18 Niagra Falls Arena January 23-25 Ha mp ton Col iseum January 3Q-February 1 New Haven Coliseum February 6-8 Lawrence Joel Vets Memorial February 13-15 Wisconsi n Center Arena February 20-22 Denver Coliseum February 27-Mareh 1 Areo Arena March 13-15 Cow Palace March 20-22 E-Center Lucky Strike pulls out u ck y Strike annou nced o n Sep tembe r IS that they are leavi ng Gran d Prix motor- L cycle road racin g after a 12-year inv olvement in th e spo rt. The spo nso r of the works Suzuki team since 1989, Lucky Strike first ent ered G P road racing three years earlier as the sponso r of Kenny Roberts' Yamaha squa d of Mike Bald win and Ran d y Mamola. Lucky Strike is most likely to resurface next ye ar in Formula One car racing, making th em the second high-profile tobacco defection to F-l in the past four years. In 1993 Rothmans pulled ou t aft er being involved with the sport for nin e yea rs to back the Williams-Renault F-l team. Suzuki, howev er, plans to continue in Grand Prix racing . In fact, the team is planning on having three rid ers in 1998 and efforts to secu re spo nso rship are ongoing . Even if no su itable spo nsor is found , the team will continue on, team manager Garry Taylor said at the Ca talunya n round . "I want to thank Lucky Strike," Suzu ki's Mitsuo !tuh said. "They have been a great spo nso r and togeth er we've achieved tremen dous su ccess, includ ing 20 Gr and Prix wins and the 1993 World Cha mpi onship." "It is necessary in a highly compe titive environment to monitor and evaluate our marketing programs on a con tinuing basis," said Tom Moser, director of global spon sorships for British-Ameri can Tobacco . "This was a difficult decision, but it reflects a cha nge in ou r global pri orities for the Luc ky Strike brand . We' ve been pleased with our associa tio n wit h Ga rry Taylo r and Suzuki and sincerely th ank them for their efforts ove r the pas t eig ht yea rs. The program has been very effective in achieving the objective of raisin g awareness of the Lucky Strike brand. We are certa in that the team 's fine record of achieveme nt will assist it in find ing a suitable alterna tive backin g for 1998 and beyon d ." It looked like he hit th e bra ke s; h e scru bbed off a bunch of speed all of a sudden and I hit him . I rea lly tried to avoi d hit ting him and it didn't happen. Healthwise, I' m no t as goo d as I'd like to be. Basically, I bruised my lung pretty bad and cracked my liver . It' s basically pretty screwe d up. I won't be racing in Vegas, but in s ix wee ks I sh ou ld be okay. I guess I' m the lu cky one. It's a bummer w ha t happened to Rand y. It's the worst thing that could happen and I feel bad for him . lt sucks . I do n't really know w hat to say because I do n't know what happen ed . I wa tche d the vid eo, and the speed between us changed drastically. He slowe d down and I stood the bike up a ways befo re I hit him ." New Haven, Co nnecticut Winston-Salem, New York Milwau kee, Wisco nsin Denver, Colorado Sac rame nto, Cali fornia San Francisco, California Sail Lake City, Utah Se ve n- ti me World Trial s C h a m pio n jordi Tarres, th e most successfu l rider ever in the se ries , officia lly an no uced that the German trial was his last-eve r World C ham pio nsh ip event. Tar re s received a huge cheer for sig ning off in a g rea t th ird pl a ce. Th e Spa nia r d wo n fou r World Cha m p ions h ip fo r Beta (1987, '89, '90, '91) and three for Gas Gas (1993-95). Tarres is report ed ly looking at a mo ve into car rallyin g with the Spanish Sea t team , thou gh he ad mits that he is still unsure of his future pla ns. Team Pro Cireuit/SplilFire/Kawasaki has annou nced i ts tea m for the 1998 A MA Su p ercr o s ~ and Mo toc ross seasons. Casey Johnson has bee n retained and will rid e the 125cc Western Reginnal Supercross events along with Na than Ramse y, who rode for Tea m Suz uki in ' 97. In th e 125cc Eas tern Reg io n, 1997 125cc Na tiona l C ha mp R i ck y Carmichael will be join ed by u p-andco mer Nick We y . All fou r ri d er s will th en contest th e e n tire AMA 125cc Na tiona l Mo tocross Series. David Pingree a n d C ra ig De cke r have been released . Gas Gas is seeki ng a top World Cha mpionship-class rider to send to the United Sta tes for a hig h-profile sa les p us h in 1998. Spanish star Joan Pons is said to be in terested, bu t his poor Eng lis h ski lls make his being chosen unlike ly . Steve Colley wo u ld seem a more likely can didate, tho ugh he is reluctant to leave the championship scene , A favorite for the job could be Tom mi Ahvala, currently rid in g on a se mi-works Mon tesa in a dea l fu n d ed m ai nl y from Fra nce. Ahvala, World Champ ion for Apri lia in 1992, h a s littl e left to p rove on th e World Cha mpionship fro nt, as well as bein g multilingual and an excellent PR man. As a rem ind er to those w ho are pl ann in g to a tte nd the 1997 Cy cl e New s Dual Sport Jamboree , th e r id e has mo ved from the traditional locat ion at Big Bear's Barto n Fia Is to a new loca lion in Lake Silverwood. More information is ava ilable from the advertisement o n page 41 ofthis week's issue . Kawasaki Moto rs Corp. USA h a s anno unced that il will conlinue selling th e 1998 KDX 200, KDX 220 R an d KLX300R enduro and off-road motorcycles in California as closed- course competi tion motorcycles. Des Moines, Iowa Alba ny, New York Rockford, JIlinois Fort Worth, Texas Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Niagra Falls, New York Hampton, Virgina cha m pio nship, a cha m pions hip th at is the Beta marque's first since [ordi Tarres too k his fourth for them in 1991. New Tria ls World Cha m p io n Doug Lampk i n annou n ced af te r th e fin a l round in Germa ny on September 7 that he had sig ned a new two -yea r con tract w ith Beta. Lam pkin had bee n .expec ted to ho ld back and awa it the expected bidding wa r be tween Beta and th e ambi tious Spanish outfit Gas Gas . But he is kn own to like the Beta setu p a nd ge ts along well wit h the ow ners and tech nicians of the Italian company. Also, the development setup with Dona to Miglio is working well for the Britis h rid er. "I have s igne d w ith Beta for tw o yea rs that' s it , r ea lly," Lampkin said after returning hom e for a celebration of his Th e fif th a n n ua l Ladies World Cup Motocross Championships will be held on Octobe r 5 in Radi um , British Co lumbia, Ca nada . In additio n, the Uni te d States Women's Motorcycle Leagu e has confi rmed tha I it will field a team consisting of Dee Wood , Kris ty Shealy and Traci Fleming in the event. Th e AMA has announced the da tes for the nex t th ree yea rs of the AMA Ama teur and Youth N ational Mo tocross Champion ships - Aug us t 3-8 , 1998; Aug us t 2-7, 1999; and Augus t 7-12, 2000. Held ann ually at Lore tta Lynn's Ranch in Hu rricane Mills , Tennessee, the '97 editio n of the race saw more than 900

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