Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

JNTHE WIND Ty Dav is (Kaw) locked up the 1997 AMA Hare and Hound ational Championship with a win in the fifth round of the series in Oreanna, Idaho, on October 12. Teammate Donnie Book (Kaw) finished second overall and first 250cc Pro. Destry Abbott (KTM) and Nick Pearson (KTM) finished third and fourth overall, respectively, and Russell Pearson rounded out the top five. He was also second in the 250cc Pro class. Rod ney Smith (Suz) won the fifth round of the A MA Na tio na l Cha mpionshi p Hare Scrambles Series, held in Lynnville, Indiana , on October 12. Scott Plessin ger (KTM) finished second and Doug Blackw ell (Yam) was third . Bla ir Bersa n o (KTM) and Sco tt McLau ghl in (Ya m ) rounded out the top five overall. Mike Brown did it agaio by winning the 125 and 250cc Pro classes at round fou r of the AMA Fall Classic Motocross Series held in Casey, Illinois, on October 12. Keith Bowen (KTM) and Ji m Povolny (KTM) finished second and third, respec_ tively, in the 250« class, while Povolny (KTM) finished second in front of Brock Sellard s in the 125ccclass. Ke ith Bow e n (KTM ) won th e four th round of the AMA Eastern Four -Stroke National Motocross Series held in Casey, Illinois, on October 12. Bowen scored the win in front of Todd DeHoop (Hbg), Jim Neese (Hbg ), Kelly Smit h (Hbg) and Alex Rossetto (Hbg). Neilsen Raci ng (Suz) won the WERA National Endurance race at Road Atlanta in Braselton , Georgia, on October 11, part of the WERA Grand ational Finals weekend. Team Suzuki Endurance finish ed second, wit h Yamaha of T exa s third . In the National Sprint Series races, Jo sh H ay es (Su z) to p ped the 1100cc Superstock class, Grant Lopez (Suz) won the Michelin 750ccSuperstock class, Tray Batey wo n the Formu la One class and Rs250-mounted Lee Acree (Hen) took the honors in Form ula Two racing . Mike Himmelsbach (Han ) wo n the 125cc GP class. In Suzuki Cup racing, Jason Prid more was the man of the day, taking the win in both the 750 and 600cc races. Both tim es out, Tri pp Nobles took second, with Richard Alexander third . the 800cc crown in his rookie season. Anthon y Pocorobba (Suz) won the Pro d ivi sion in round th ree of the World Sports Florida Gold Cup MX Series, held at Sun State Racew ay in Ocala, Florid a, on October 12. Larry Ward has left Honda of Troy to ride for Team Suzu ki for 1998. Ward will ride a factory-backed Suzuki in the AMA 250cc Supcrcross an d ou tdoor National Motocro ss Championship Series. Th e sig ning marks one of those rare incidences when a rider goes from a factory team to privateer sta tus and then back to a factory team aga in. 10 the ea rly '90s, Wa rd rode for Team Suzuki. an d has since been a me mber of the p rivately funded No leens /Yamaha an d Hond a of Troy teams. Ward will join Greg Albertyn and Mi ck ael Pic ho n o n Su zu ki's 250ccteam. German rider Pit Beirer, dou ble mo to winner for Team Germany at the recen t Motocross des Na tions in Nismes, Belgiu m, won' t be rid ing for Team Rinald i Yama ha in the 1998 FIM 250cc World Championship Series after all. Evidently , there was a clause in Beirer's Honda of Switzerland contract (executed through Team Pamo Hond a), sta ting that if the Swiss-operated team could procure factory Hondas, Beire r wo uld be legally bound to the team . Recent developments have the team being promised factory bikes and Beirer will likely have to stay with the Pamo team. Multi-time AMA 12Sec Supercross event w inner Dav id Vuil lemin o f France is slated to ride all AMA Western Regional 12Scc Super cro ss even ts . In a un iqu e agreement, Vuillemin will not only ride Lund y Sr., w as killed in a racing accide nt in the Supercross series but in the entire at the WERA Grand Na tional Finals a t Road Atlan ta in Braselton, Geo rgia, on October 11. 125cc World C ha m p ions hip series, as well . As it staods now , ooly two of the AM A and FIM d at es conflict, a nd Vuillemin will have to make up his mind at the time in which series he will complete. Add itionally, Vuillemin will wear Fox Racing clothing in the United States and First clo thing (a Fren ch brand>in Europe. Jeff Willoh (Yam) was the big winn er at rou nd four of the CMC Tra n s-Cal Mo tocross Series held a t Los Ange les County Raceway in Palmdale, California, on September 12, winning the 125 and 250cc Pro classes. Dustin Evans finished seco od both times out , while Bill y Joe Mercier took third in the 250cc Pro class an d Brian Roth (Suz) finished third in the 125cc Pro division. Billy Payn e (Kaw) was the top Inte rmediate, wi nning the 125 and 250cc classes with four mota wins. r-, ...... ~ .... OJ ..0 o ..... u o 2 The Italian motorcycle manufacturer TM has released photos and some specifica tions of the company's new line of TM off-road and MX motorcycles. Shown here are the TM 250E End uro (above) and the all-new, 50cc, automa tic TM Pee Wee (below) . The TM line includes six MX models (80s of three d ifferent sizes, 125, 250 and 300c':) and fou r End uro mod els (80, 125, 250 a nd 300cr) . The mo tocross mo de ls fea ture new Paioli u pside-do wn forks with Kayaba int ern als (however, 46mm Paio li conventional or 50mm Marzocchi for ks can be special-ordered at no add itional cha rge), smaller alloy fuel tank s, new seats, alloy steering stems, shock linkages and valving cha nges, larger front brakes, new pipe and mufflers, wo rks-style Keihin carburetors, and narrower rad iators. The TM Enduro mod els feature all of the changes above bu t come fitted with new Paioli 46mm conventional forks (or either 50mm Marzocchis or Paio li upsidedown forks, your choice), 3.4-gallon aluminum-alloy fuel tanks, and O-ring chains. The full-sized bikes come with blue rims, but the U.s. model s will mostly likely come wit h silver rims. TM Compe tition Mo torcycles in Upland, California , is the TM importer and , according to a TM representative, all of the TM models should be available in the United States by the end of Nove mber. Frenchman Sebastie n Tortell i, wh o is getting back up to speed after a serious neck injury suffered in a South American GP race incident earlier this summer, will race the first five to seven AMA Supercross Series eveots before head ing back to Europe to compe te in the 1998 FIM 250cc World Championship Series. Furthermore, new Honda of Europe factory rid er Fred eric Bolley , who re centl y signed to ride in tande m with three-time 250cc World Cha mpion Stefan Everts, will ride the first five AMA Supe rcross events and operate out of the American Honda team truck. Gordon Lund y, 30, son of Wegman Benefit Fund founde r and president Gordon 0\ 0\ 1998 TMs Terry Thompson (BsA) and Jason Petty (H- D) won the 540 and 800cc classes in the AMA Pro Hillclimb event in Oregon ia, O hio, on October 12. Th ompson topped Rick Soter III (BSA) a od Paul Pinsonnault (Hon) to win the 540cc class, while Petty beat Paul Sander (BSA) and Greg Williams (Han) in the 800cc class. Pinsonna ult won his record fifth consecutive the 540cc National Championship with his third-place finish, whi le James Larg e finished sixth in Ohi o to captu re . It now looks as thoug h Colin Edwards II won 't get his shot to go 500cc Grand Prix racing in 1998 - at least not with the Red Bull Yamaha team. According .to reports fro m Europe, the Red Bull tea m has signed Regis Laconi to team with Simon Crafar in the two-ma n squa d. ot only will Edwards oot be 00 a Yamaha Grand Prix 'team, it now appears that he won 't be on a Yama ha of any kin d in 1998. "Everything was going good ," Edward s said from his home in Texas on Monday, October 13. ':We had a proposal that was pretty close. We sent them a counterproposa l and were expecti ng a coun terproposal from them. About four or five days pass ed a nd the y faxed us ba ck saying they'd hired Regis Laconi." By this time, Yama ha th ought th at Ed wards ha d a d eal wit h th e Red Bull team, so th ey hired Noriyuki Haga to re place him in the World Superbike squad , thus ending any chance he had of returning to that team. Now it is likely that Edwards will rid e for Suzu ki in 1998. "I' ve talked to Garry Taylor (Suzuki's Grand Prix team man ager )," Edwards said, "and they're interested. They've already hired Aoki and he's talking about having a threerider team. I'm supposed to talk to him tomorrow when he gets back from Japan. And I've already rece ived a proposal from Suzuki's World Superbike team . I just don't know righ t now. We'll have to wait and sec what happens, but I'm not too worried about it." The 1181h FIM Co ng ress opened in Athens, Greece, on Monday, October 13, with the opening add ress of FlM president Fra n cesco Ze rbl, who ga ve a detailed explanation on the main subject on the agen da of the opening session: the vot e on th e new s ta tu tes o f th e FIM . "Several times d uring its existence, the FIM ha s had to adap t it s la w s to the requirements of the world surro u nding it," Zerbi said. "Today , the oational federa tions of wh ich it is composed art' called upon to give this prestigious organiza tion the legisla tive instruments that will allow it to remain the lead er of the mo torcycling wo rld . To adapt , it is not sufficient even if it is necessary ~ to equip oneself with technical means and to have access to the most up-to-da te communication techniques. It is indispensable to adapt the executive bod ies, their powers, their responsibilities ~ in brief, to adapt the laws w hich govern us. " The main changes ·o f the new s ta tu te s a re the election pro ce dure restr icted to the FlM presiden t and six vice pres idents by the general assembly for four-year mandates; the creation of con tinenta l unio ns; the composition of the management cou ncil: the nomination of the presid ents and mem bers of the commissions and panels by the man agement com missions; and the creation of non -s porti ng commissi ons . All of the above were passed late in the day by a secret vote and wi ll be in effect by .the first da y of next year's congress on Octo>

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