Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND Great Britain 's team of Doug Lampkin (Bell, Steve Colley (G-G). Graham Jarvis (Sec) and Dan Clark (Bet) took th e vic to ry a t t he 1997 Trial des Nations , held in th e town of Douglas on the Isle of Man , September 27. Led by low -sco re r Coll ey , the British took the home-country win. its fir s t-e ver TdN victory, with a score o f 41 to Spain's distant second-p lace run of 94, tallied by Spanish team rid ers Jordi Ta r res (G-G) , Marc Colomer (M on), Amos Bilbao (G-G) and Dav id Cobos (G -G) . Italy's team of Diego Bos is (Mo n), Donato Miglio (Bet). Dellio St e fano (SeD) and Lenzi Fabio (SeD) was thi rd with a score of 146. The U.S. team of Lonny Hall sted (Be t), Ray Pete rs (G-G ), Geo ff Aaron (Be t) and Jes s Kempkes (G-G) finish ed in 11th place in the B group with 174 poi nt s. Germa ny wo n the B group on a score of 51. Brock Sellards (Kaw) a nd Mike Brown (Yam) won the 125 an d 250cc Pro classes a t the AMA Eastern Fall Classic MX on Septe mber 28 in Red Bud , Michigan . Sellards topped Brown and Mike Katin (Yam) in th e 125cc cla ss, a nd Bro w n bea t Jim Neese (Su z) an d Nick Wey ( K a w) in th e 250cc class. The fo u rstroke race was won by Keith Bowen (KTM) over Todd DeHoop (Hsb ) and Kelly Smith (Hs b). Doug Dubach (Yam) won both the 125 a nd 250cc Pro cla sses in the GFI Fall Series round , held at Glen Helen in San Bernardi no , California, o n September 28. Du bach topped Jeff Ma tiasevic h (Kaw) an d Travis Preston (Suz) in the 250cc class, and Matiasevich an d Donovan Mitchell (Yam) finished seco nd and third, respecti vely, in the 125cc class. Cas tro l Honda's John Kocinski saw his lead in the World Su perbike Cha mpions hip gro w w hile he sa t a t ho me in Mod esto, Ca lifo rn ia . Ko cinski n ow leads the title chase by 55 poin ts a fter Niall Mack enz ie was excluded from the resul ts of the Brand s Ha tch round of the se ries . A fuel samp le was taken fro m th e Scotsma n's Yama ha a fte r he fi nis hed third in th e o pen ing leg a t Brands H a tc h , a nd th e sa mple was found to be "no t in accordance with the A M tech nica l rules ." Macken zie's di s- qu ali fication also mo ves Kocinsk i's teammate Aaron Slight clo ser to Ca rl Fogarty in the battle for seco nd in the cha mp ionship. Slight now tra ils Fogarty by 26 points w ith two ro u nds (fou r races) remaini ng in the series . The next round of the series will be held in Sugo, Japan, on Octo ber 5. Larry Ward (Hon ) w on the Magic Fast Cross held in Seprio, Italy , on Septembe r 21. Second place went to T a llon Vohland (Yam), wh o was followed by Jeremy McGrath (Suz) , J eff Em ig (Kaw) and Stefan Evert s (Hen). Other finishers included Ryan Hu gh es (Kaw) in seventh; G re g Albe rt yn (Suz) in eighth; and Marnicq Bervoet s (Suz) in ninth. The race was McGrath's last on a Suzuki. McGr ath is expected to make his Yamaha d ebut in a race in Sheffield , England, on October 4. Fre d e ric Via lie (Ya m) recently wrapped up th e Fren ch 125cc MX Championship, wit h David Vuillemin (Ya m) fin ishing sec ond . Third in the series went to Michael Mas ch io (Hon). There is a chance that Greece will host a round o f th e World Championship 250cc Motocross Series in for the first time 1998. Recently, World Champio n Stefa n Everts a nd Ta llon Vohland went to Greece to 'compe te in an International MX race, a nd FIM d e lega tes al so went to Greece to witnes s the event. The Albuquerque round o f the 1998 AMA Supe.rb ike Seri es has been removed from the latest schedule, but there is a chance it will return, accordin g to AMA road race manager Ron Barrick . Barrick said that the Albuqu erque city council was co nce rned th at there wou ldn 't be a n adequate water supply to complete and maintain th e facility . " We hope they 'll get it resolved ," Bar ri ck sa id . Bar rick sa id that the facility would feature a road course/drag strip and separate oval. bu t that construc tio n hadn' t begun, due to the problem with the city cou ncil. "The y have n' t s ta rte d co nstruction , which is another concern," he sa id. "We do n' t know w het her they ' ll be far eno ug h along (for the race which was sched uled for Sep tember 5·6). Born to be Wild II M a rlbo ro m en Kenny Roberts a nd JeanMichel Bayle recently took a break from Gran d Prix racing to take part in the Stu rgis Rally in Sou th Dakota . The pair were joined by their g irlfriends Rita Tarana tino and Edwige Malysza , riding Harley-D a vid sons wit h the rest of the 250,000 bikers. "It was cool," Bayl e said . "I've been to Dayton a before, but Sturgis is very different - peo- pie go there to ride rather than party. And rid ing a Harley, wit h no helm et a nd w ith yo u r gi rlfrien d mak es a big cha nge fr om rid in g a Grand Pr ix bike. It' s a d ifferent world , fo r su re. I love the western cou ntrysid e and a ll the cow boy stuff, too. It 's really nice. I' ll be back. > Acco rding to sources in Europe, Italian road racer Alesandro Gramigni heads th e list of likely candidates for a spot on the Vance & Hines Ducati team for th e 1998 A MA Supe rb ike National Cha m pionship Series . Gra migni raced for the Fast By Ferracci team in 1996, winning Nationals a t Road America and Brainerd . Re p o r tedly , Ducati would like an Italian rider to be a part . of Te r ry Va nce's team, and th e fir st choice, Pier giorgio Bontempi, declined after ge ll ing a ride in th e Ga ttoloneDucati World Superbike team for next year. Ducati has annou nced that it will feature t w o officia l team s in the 1998 Wo rld Superbike Championship. The firs t, ca lled the AD-VF tea m, will be managed by Virginio Ferrari and will feature Troy Corser and Pier-Francesco Chili . The se cond , ca lled th e Alsta re team , will be man aged by Fra ncis Balta and will feature Carl Fogarty. More details have becom e available as to exactly.wha t the NASB World Cycle Fest will b e co m p rised of n ow th a t N ASB is no lon ger p lannin g to sa ncti on Formula USA ra ces in 1998 . According to Roger Edmon ds on an d' Patrick Murphy, the three-day ev ents (no on -track acti vit y on the fir st da y) will feature both racin g and num erou s off- and on-track, nonracing activities. As far as the ra cin g goes, th e EBC Brakes Spo rt Bike class n02 horsep ow er maximu m ) will be the fea tu red class and wi ll ru n with the H RC America n GP Se ries by Idemitsu (125cc GP) as well as GTO, GTU, and GT Ligh ts, the Ha rley-Davidson Twin Sports class and the Buell Ligh tning Series - and no CCS racing. That's right. The CCS prog ra m will no lon ge r be run at World Cycle Fest ev ents, in an effort to give N ASB rid ers mor e track tim e - somethi ng th at man y ra cers co m p la in ed about not ha ving this year. The exception to this will be the two eve nts held a t Da yt ona In te rn a tiona l Speedwa y, where a full CCS progr am will continue to be held . With Formula USA now o u t of th e NASB equati on, the EBC Brakes Sp ort Bike cla ss will ge t th e $10 0,000 point fu n d , and a purse o f $5000 will be pa id in th e Pro classes, with a $2500 purse to be pa id in the new GT Pro -Am classes . "We are declaring t od a y to the mo torcycl e industry that we a re no longer competing with the AMA Pro road ra cin g series ," the NASB p ress kit says . "We have developed a new forma t that is d esigned to a tt ract, to a la rge pa r t, a different spectato r / part icipa nt - a group tha t is not currently at tending race events . To clear up a ny d oubt about our conviction in that regard, we will be inviting the AMA to set up a membership booth a t all of our eve nts at no cha rge." One of th e fac tors th at Edmondson and Murphy feel is importan t in th eir a tte mp t to a ttract larger crowds at th eir events is a reduced ticket price of $10 for Satu rday and $15 for Sunday. The series w ill likely feature eigh t even ts, two of which will be held at Daytona (March I a nd October 25) . Th e on ly other two e ve nts with fi rm dates are sched u led for Ro ad A tla n ta (Ju ne 7) a nd Road Ameri ca (August 2>' O t h e r round s w ill b e a d ded , w it h fi na l sc hed u ling b eing bas ed o n sponsor recommend ati on s . For mo re in format ion, ca ll 916 /737NAS B. Trans-Atlantic Match Race Wars: Both Team Obsolete a nd AHR MA clai m to be reviv ing the Trans-A tlan tic Match Ra ces in 1998, with bo th send ing o ut pres s relea se s s ta ting as much. Team Obsolete has e ve n go ne as far as including the foll owing in its release: "Trans-Atlantic Match Races is a servic e mark owned by Team Obsolete Prom otions Ltd ." Stay tuned. Appro ximatel y 20 ~ 0 motorcyclists attending the 25th annual BMW Riders Associ at io n In ternational Rall y in Fontan a Village, North Carolina, September 18-21, were su bjected to a mas- . si ve p olice presen ce a p pa re n tly brought on by unju stified warning s abo u t illegal activity, according to the AMA. Office rs from the North Carolina Highway Pat rol , the Tennessee Valley A uthority , and Graham and Swain Counties all took part in the operation that lasted throughout the four-day rally . Those attend ing the event were subject to co nstant scrutiny from police pa trols and overfligh ts fro m official helicopters. The roads surroundi ng the ra lly site were hea vily pa trolled , a nd roa dblocks we re established for license an d registration checks. Graham County She riff Mel vin Howell reportedly told event orga nize rs that he had initiated the action after receivi ng a tip that 14,000 o utlaw bikers in te n ded to d escend u pon the rally site. Despite assurances fro m rall y orga nizers th at the orga nization had a lon g hist ory of peaceful ra lly events bene fi ti n g th e localities in wh ich they are held, police au thorities we nt ahead w ith the operation. The U.S. House of Rep resen ta tives Co m mi ttee on Tra ns p o rta tio n a n d Infrastructure has approved a sto pgap meas u re, HR 2516, that wo uld continue to provide sta tes w ith badly needed highway fund s whi le members of th e Hou se and Senate continue to debate sta te fund ing levels for the final version of the full high way reauthorization bill. Th e sto p-ga p bill ens ures $7.5 million for off-roa d recreation al trail dev elopment and maintenance for the first half of the 1998 fiscal year, accordi ng to the AMA. The AHRMA Classic Bike Magazine Dirt Track Series rou nd in Lavonia, Georgia, was rained out on September 28. The event will be rerun on Sunday, Oct ober 19, at Holiday Downs in Palmetto, Georgia, accord ing to AHR.MA. For more informa tion, call Beno Rod i at 770/ 867-1676. Cycle News Eur opean editor Alan Cathcart (Due) is one step closer to clinching th e 199 7 Br iti sh Sound of Sin gl e s Ch ampionship aft er winning at Cald well Park in England on September 27 in round six of the eight-race series . Ch ris D. Rei tz, 42, was killed in a race a t the Van Buren County, Iowa, fairgrounds on September 14. Reitz was an AMA Exp ert and th e owner of CAM Cy cles in S1. Peters, Missouri. He is survived by h is w ife ; his daughters Brandy, Shannon and Tara; and his grandso n, Christia n. Don ations can be made to the Reitz Child ren Trust Fun d r-, 0\ 0\ ....... a5 .... Q) ..0 a ..... u o 1

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