Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND Fred Andrews (Ya m) won th e 12th r ound o f th e AMA G r a n d N ati onal Champio ns hip Cross Country Series, held in Lisbo n, O hio, on October 19, d espite running ou t of ga s on th e last lap. Th e second -pl ace fini sh er, Scoll Plessinger (KTM), also ran out of gas on th e last lap, but both riders found fuel and finis hed in th e same order . Doug Blackwell finished th ird overa ll, follo wed by Rodney Smith and Duane Conner in fourth and fifth, respectively, Newly crowned series champion Scoll Summers (H o n ) broke hi s tibia in a race-related incid en t and did not finish, and Steve Hatch (Suz) retired on the last lap with a broken flywheel after running as high as second. Th e CMC Trans-Cal Mot oc ross Series Showdown took place Oct ober 18-19 at the H ungry Valley O HV a rea in Go r m a n , Cali fo rn ia, and pi lied Sou the rn California and No rthe rn Cali fornia rid er s agai nst eac h othe r. Brett Racine (Kaw) won the 125cc Pro class on Saturday followed by Brian Roth (Suz) and Dou g Parso ns (Yam). Takeshi Koik ed a (Yam) won the 250cc Pro class, w it h Rusty Holland (Ka w ) and Billy J oe Mercier (Kaw) in seco nd a nd th ird, . respectively. On Sunday, Casey Lytle topped t he 125cc P ro d ivision, with Chr is Whee le r (Suz ) and Ro th (Suz) rounding out the top th ree. In 250cc Pro action, Wheeler took the measure of the class, trailed by Eric Kehoe (Hon) and Koike da. Billy Payne again domi na ted the 125cc and 250« Interm ed iate classes and won bot h cha mpionships. Keith Bowen (KT M) won the AMA Eastern Regi onal Fo ur-S troke Se ries round in Blo untville, Te n nessee, o n October 19, at Muddy Cr eek Raceway. Bowen scored the ove ra ll win ahead of Jim Neese (Hbg), Kelly Smith (H bg), Mark Mussllman (H bg) and Jerry Shoning (Hbg), At round five of the AMA Fall Classic Mo tocross Series held at Muddy Creek Racew ay in Blount ville, Tennessee, on October 19, Ri ck y Carmichael (Ka w) was the big wi nner after topping bo th the 125 and 250cc Pro classes. Brock Sel lards (Kaw) and Kevin Walker (Kaw) finished second and third , respectively, in th e 250cc Pro class, wh ile Mike Brown (Yam) and Sellards (Ka w) rounded out the top three in the 125cc Pro class. Here are the d e tail s ab ou t th e ne w FMF/H onda Motocross Team. Former Team Honda member Sco ll Sh eak and Broc Sellards will ride the 125cc Eastern Regio nal Supercross Series, whil e Jason McCormick and Da v id Pin gr ee will ride the 125cc Western Regional Supercross Series . All four riders will contest the AMA 125cc National Championship Motocross Series. FMF Mo torsports will hand le the team and is a separate ent ity from FMF, which will retain its focus on amateur mo tocro ss , o ff-roa d racing, AMA Grand National numberama T he AMA has re leased its list of Gra nd Na tio na l number s for th e 1998 season. Nu mber one is, of course, the property of the series cha mpion, while number two throug h 10 are reserved fo r former cha m pions . The res t of the nu m ber s a re assigned, not based upon points, althou gh a rid er mu st be active with his number if he intend s to keep it. Co nseq uently, th ere are always a few changes to the list each yea r, perha ps the most noteworthy for '98 being Rookie of the Year Johnny Murphree, wh o checks in at nu mber 20, which was formerl y held by Eric Bostrom. First-yea r sensation Bryan Bigelow earned Ben Bostro m 's old number, I J. Dan Stanley has cha nged from National number 60 to number 10. I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ~ ~ r-, 0\ 0\ ...... , 0\ N ... Q) ..0 0 ..... U 0 2 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Scoll Par ker Ricky Graham Chris Carr Jay Springsteen Da n Stanley Bryan Bigelow Rex Fisher Mickey Fay Paullwana ga Chris Evans Ronn ie Jones Doug Davis Terry Poovey Paul Lynch Johnny Murphree Will Davis Dan Butler Kevin At herton Michael Varnes Randy Texter Steve Beattie Davey Camlin Lance-jones Dale Jen nem an Ron W aters Kenny Coo lbeth Recil Hart J.R. Schnabel 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 -49 SO 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 Marc Gifford Eli Price Tim Mertens J.P. Sim onse n Steve Mayfield Del Schnitzer Jeff Annen Brett Land es Steve Morehead Joe Kopp Robert Knapp Jim Sumner Lonny Kopp Ryan Anderso n lan Segedy Chris Fitzhug h Trapper McDani el Nate Wait John Faul kner IJJ Gary Rogers William Brock IJJ Troy Rose Lonnie Pauley Ken Yoder Greg Teague Willie McCoy Jam es Mcllvena Shawn Clark Paul Bergs tro m Robert Buffingt on Alan Eadie Jason Fletcher Geo Roed er II 67 Mike Hac ker 68 Robert Miller 69 Roger Du rkee 70 John Hlebo III 71 Georgie Price IV 72 Steve Liberty 73 Brent Arm brus ter 74 Billy Martin 75 Pat Buchanan 76 Jeff Harsha 77 Scott Stu mp 78 Mike Inderbitzen 79 Steve Gill 80 Rich King 81 Speedy Kell 82 Jeff Dietz 83 Paul Morgan IJJ 84 Chance Darling 85 David Rayburn 86 Jerry Vanderkooi 87 Charlie Orr 88 Jim Rosa 89 Kevin Varnes 90 Nick Dani ela 91 Andy Tresser 92 Randy Sha nk II 93 Dann y Koelsch 94 Jess Roed er 95 Josh Butler 96 Donald Paul 97 Robert Gette 98 Bret Beyer 99 Keith Jacobs en Team USA fails the Test a ainst En land eam England just ed ged out Team USA, 49-47, in a last-heat decider to wi n the Test match between the two countries, at Poole's new ly revamped sta dium in the T South of Eng land on Octobe r 15. Former Wor ld Champion Billy Ham ill led Ame rica n scorers with 14 points, whi le tea mma te and reign ing World Cha mpion Greg Han cock also fared well, earning II . Co mbined with strong performances by team vetera n Sam Erm olenko, the oft-forgotten Josh Larse n and the rest , Team USA was in the hunt for the victory all evening, and it was all on the line in the final hea t. Ha mill wa s paired wi th Ermolenko, and th ough Ham ill took the wi n, Ermo lenko 's last-place ride behind Mark Loram and Chri s Louis sewed up the title fOJ; England . In doing so, Eng land captu red the John Scott mem orial troph y, the mee ting being . dedicated to the ho nor of the former Team USA manager who recentl y passed away after a ba ttle with cance r. At th e sa me tim e, th e British speed way com munity was John Hipkiss mourning the loss of Poole's own legendary figure, Ton y Lewi s. exhaust sys tems, clo thing, engines and su spension . The team wi ll u se 19 98 Honda CRI25s with the suspension and mo tors mo d ifie by FMF, alon g wit h a d smatterin g of works pa rts fro m Honda. Donni e Emler, FM? s own er, is working closely with th e fact ory to shape the CR I25 in to a super cross and National motocr oss weapon along with the help of Honda's Cliff Whi te and Mike Hooker and FMF's engi ne specialis t Terry Varner . The FMF/Honda team will be managed by former World Cha m pions Danny LaPorte an d Bobby Moore. "Do nnie (Em le r ) has unlocked a treas u r e ches t of p o w er, no w Bobb y (Moo re), myself a n d th e ri d ers arc wo rki ng on ge tting the rest of th e bik e ready for the season," LaPorte said in a press release. FMFs suspension technician Rob Hendri ckson is foc us ing o n new valvi ng specs and internal modifications . As of this relea se, major spo nso rs of th e team, foll owing FMF and Honda, are Thor riding gea r, Arai helmets, Dunlop tires and a ma jor outside sponso r, yet to be announ ced . Wo rld Superbi ke C ha m pion John Kocinski w ill r id e a fa ct ory H ond a NSRSOO V-four in the Big Road Race in Sugo, Japa n, o n Novem ber 2 - and he will be matched against four-time SOOcc World Cha mpion Micha el Dooh an. wh o will a ls o .r id e a n NS R500 . Man y of Grand Pri x racing's best will be on hand at Sugo, in cludin g Hond a' s Taday u ki O kada and Yama ha's Norifumi Abe. "I won' t get mu ch practice," Kocinski said on Monday, October 20. "In fact, I' ll be ice-cold right from the freezer, but I' Il be on a V-four and I'm looking forward to it." Kocins ki still isn' t sure of where he'll be racing next year, thou gh he knows it wi ll be wi th Ho nda. "World Supe rbike is there for me if I want it, but if I could I wou ld like to move up," he sa id. 'We'll just hav e to wa it and see. I'd say it's 50SO right now ." Fo r mer World Superbike a nd G ra n d Pr ix racer Anthony Gobert will ink a con tract this week with Ducati that will see him race a Vance & Hines Du cati in th e 1998 AMA Su perb i ke Na tional Championshi p. Although no o ne wo uld confirm the deal, sources close to Du cati say th e d eal is im m in ent a nd w ill be signed this week. Gobert was fired from th e Lucky Strike Suzuki team ea rlier in th e year aft er repo rted ly failing a d ru g tes t issued by the team . The Aus tra lian, w ho later passed an A M urin e test, is likel y to be jo ined by form er AM A Superbike Na tional Champion Thomas Stevens. It will mark St ev en s' second season o n the Van ce & Hin es Duca tis . On the Fast By Ferracci Ducati fron t, it now appears likely tha t Tom Kipp will be join ed on th e team by Alessandro Gramigni, th e Itali a n r id e r w ho won two AMA Na tiona ls for Ferra cci in 1996. Gram igni is curren tly u nder contract to Aprilia, bu t is expected to sign with Ferracci in early Dece mber. Ca na dia n Steve Crevier has signed a one-year contract with Yoshim ura Suzuki to rid e th e team' s TLIOOOR in th e A MA Su per bi ke Natio na l C ha m pio ns hip a nd its GSXR600 in th e 600cc Superspor t Series . "I've sig ned the contract and sent it back to them," Crevier said from his ho me in Canada on Mon - day, October 20. "They should ge t it tod ay. I'm usually really int o all of this , but I was starting to ge t upse t abo ut it all. I w as ge tting nervous, Thi s is the first tim e I've used a manager to do my deals, but I think it' s th e wa y to go. I think it'll work ou t good and I'm really ha p py abo ut it." Crevier spe nt the last two years rid ing Smo kin' Joe's Hondas in the Martin Ad ams-owned Ame rican Honda team. In other AM A Superbike Series news, AMA 750cc Supersport Cha mpion Jason Pridmore has s ig ned a con trac t w ith American Suzuki that w ill see him actua lly race in tw o teams. Pri dmore will d efend hi s A MA 750cc Supers p o r t Cha mpions hip on a Hyp erCycle Suzu ki GSXR750 while rid ing in selected AMA Superbike Series rou nd s on a Yoshimura Suzuki GSXR750 - beginning with Daytona, Prid mo re will also race a GSXR600 in th e 600cc Su pers p o rt Series for HyperCycle. The o nly factory AMA Superbike ride tha t is still a vailable is the seco nd spot with Yam aha, thoug h that is expected to be filled by Jamie Hacking. If you pencil Hackin g in to tea m with Rich Oliver on the factory Yamaha YZF750s, the 1998 AMA Superbi ke lineu p looks like th is: Vance & Hines Ducati - An thonv Gobert and Tho mas Stevens ; Fast ByFerracci Duca ti - Tom Ki pp a nd Ales sa ndro Gramigni; Yo s h im u ra Suzuki - Mat M la d in, Aaro n Yates, La r ry Peg ram, Steve Crevier and Jason Pridmore; Yamaha - Rich O liver a nd Jami e Ha ckin g; H ond a - Mi gu el DuH a mel and Ben Bostro m; Mu zzy Kawasaki - Doug Cha ndle r and Tommy Hayden; Ha rley-Davidson - Pascal Picotte and Thomas Wilson . The latest sch ed u le to co me from the FlM Congress in Athens, Greece, is th e 1998 World Endurance Series calendar.

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