Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

r; ., IN THE WIND '--- tory Suzu ki riders. Due to the logistical problems of the overlapping arena cross, supercross and National motocross sea- sons, the team will be operat ing out of five bo x vans in stead of the se m i-tractor-tra iler which was originally planned. For more informa tio n, co ntact Clovis at Primal Impulse at 1/ 800-2-PRI",IAL. Suz uki officially annou nced its off- road racing team fo; 1998. Team Suzuki OffRO"d will be made up of the same three riders: Rodney' S mi th , Steve . Ha tch and Paul Edmond s on . However, Suzuki also announced that it is pulling out of the AMA Han:' Scrambles Series and will concentrate solely on the Grand Nat iOIK11 Cross Country Series . 125cc Na tional M ot ocr oss for the No leen / K2 Bike /Thor tea m. "The 250cc Supercross class is go ing to be to ug h, but I think I can be a contender right out of the gate," said the 22-year-old from Palm Ha rb or , Florida . " I al so rod e a stock YZ1 25 the other dav and felt reallv co mfo rtab le o n it. We are s tarting testing on the bikes next week and we w ill definitelv be readv bv the sta rt of the season." . . . The fif th an nu al SSC Thousand Oaks Kawasaki Winter Warrn-Up motoc ross series will kick off it first round on November 16 at the Castaic Motocross track. Ruund two will t ak e place on NovemberZi at Sunrise Motocross Park in Adelanto, California; round three will Tim Ferry , the 1997 Eastern Regional 125cc Supercross Champion, has Signed <1 co n tract to race Noleen Yamahas for the 1998 raci ng season, accor d ing to No lecn. Ferry "ill compete in the AMA 250cc Supercross Se ries and the A MA be held on December 7 .ll the Hungry Valley OHV area in COnTI,1n, California; and the fina l rou nd w ill be on December have the ~pt:"L'd of the American championship riders, taking fastest practice time and winning the opening heat. However, Rolley eventua lly lost out after some poor starts. "I W<1~ fast enough in practice, but I needed to get a good start and it d id not come when it mattered." Bollev said, . Emig. who was pitted alongside fellow Kawasaki team rider Damon Huffman, Wits more than hap py with his results, "I came here wa nt ing to be consisten t," Emig said. "In the seco nd final; I really . wanted to set my ow n pace, bu t Albee (Albertyn) was rid ing hard and he was also the only one of us do ing that big double." chance q ua lifier, w as brilliant in the las t fina l of the night, and he knew it. W out to be stronger than his patience and willingness to comply w ith HRC's pla ns for him to, take a second Wo rld Championship on the RC45. Kocinski , who made his debut on the NSR500 V-four with a fourt h-place finish in the Big Road Race in Sugo, Japan, on November 2, will be integrated into the Mov iStar Ho nda team run by Sito Pons , but wi th much mo re involveme nt by the factory than has previously been the case wit h the team . Plans to place Kocinski o n the Repsol sq ua d as a teammate to Doohan (w ho sti ll ha sn' t signed) in place of Tadyuki Okada - who would have the n moved to the MoviSta r team - d idn 't come through, as O kada is said .to have refused that option . With Kocinski's mov e still un official, Cas trol Honda team man ager Ne il Tuxworth said he hasn 't begun to sea rch for a re placement for the Arkansas native . The re doe sn 't seem to be a lack of candi da tes, how ever. White the re is a sli m chance tha t Fogarty could return to the team for wh ich he rod e in 1996, there is a much bett er possibility of Edwards joining the team, as he is kno wn to be in preliminary negotiations. While Edwa rds has kno wn for seve ral weeks that he d idn 't hav e a ride w ith Yama- ha in 1998, Foga rty 's candidacy came sud denly, as Alstare team man ager Fran cis Batta decided not to enter factory Ducat is, instead opting to run Suzukis in bot h the Supersport World Series and World Superbike series . As reported earlier, Batta and Ducat i were very clos e to signing a contract, one that wou ld have given full factory support to the team and a home to Fogarty. Batta, w ho is responsib le for the sp ort s-sp onsoring budg ets of compa nies such as Co rona Extra, Diesel and Foxhound, di d exp lain at that time that some "details" s till had to be sorted out. Balta wanted an ag reemen t running over more than the proposed two yea rs, in o rder to gain back the co nsiderable invest- ,..... A information. call Shane Trittler/S.s.C. at 805/294-.Q020. ith Honda 's new World Superbike Champinn Joh n Kocinski looking set to move to the 500cc Grand Prix class, the rumor mill about who's riding with whom got ano ther kicks tart. An d per haps the most surprising new s of all is that World number two Carl Fogarty is tipped as a possible replacemen t on the Cas trol Honda team aft er the Alstare squ ad for which he wa s su pposed tu ride sud denly d id n't have a dea l with Ducati. With Foga rty' s chances for a return to Honda admitted ly slim, ano the r cand idate for the pos sibl y vaca nt seat is Texan Colin Edwa rds II , Icft without a ride after his Yamah a GP deal feU throu gh . Kocinski 's probable move to the Grands Prix isn't mu ch of a su rprise, cons idering the fact that, alon g with an intense desire to return to the world 's prem ier road racin g series, he also has the talent to succeed the re. It is thoug ht that Honda would like Kocinski to s tay in the World Supcrbike series for one more year, to help HRC take the World Champion ship in both World Superbikes and Grands Prix in 1998. Kocinski's eagerness to get back on a two-stroke, how ever, seems to hav e turned (J\ MA Sup ercross Champio n Jeff Em ig wun the op enin g round of the FL\1 World Supercross Series in Barcelona , Spain, on November 2. Team Kawasaki's Em ig carded 35 poin ts from his 1-3 finis hes to sco re the OVCTM all win ahead of fellow American Larry Ward. Ward piloted his Ho nda of Troy-backed CR250 to ,\ pair of second-place Fi nishes and 34 points, while Team Suzuki's Greg Alberty» took third overall with 29 poin ts afte r posting 7-1 finis hes. The eveni ng sta rted with French rider Frederic Belley. riding a Kawasaki, looking to 14 back at Castaic Motocross. For more W orld Superbike seats still uQfor 9_ra_bs _ 8\ Emig wins Barcelona Su ercross men t as ked from him by Du cati , as well as a written guaran tee that he woul d be trea ted exactly the same way as the in-house factory team run by Virginia Ferra ri. Also a sticking poin t was the color s in which the bikes' wo uld run, Balta loo king to take care of his other major sponsors and Ducati wa nting the trad itional red. Both parties stood firm and finally negotiati ons broke down , w ith Barta choos ing to run Suz ukis in the Wo rld Su pe rsport Series while develop ing a TLl O OR in the Ge rman championship O series (and possibly in a few WSB rounds). Ducati has ass ured Fogar ty that there wi ll be a factory 996 ready for him in 1998. It is. however, unclear into which team the former Wo rld Champion w ould be integral- ed . In sid ers ha ve sugges ted th e Ga llo lone team, a no ther new team (po ss ibly the British-run Red Bull team that is running John Reyn old s in the British nat ion al series ), or simply that he wo uld remain wi th the Ferrari-run team , in which case Troy Co rser or Pier-Francesco Chili may get pushed out. Suzu ki, meanwhile, still has a seat available for a second rider alongside James Whitham. Peter God da rd 's nam e has been menti oned, as has Edwards', and tea m manager Lest er Harris is even reported to have as ked Japan if they were still in teres ted in Fogarty. Johan Vandekerckhove AIbertyn, who started th e n ight crash ing and hav ing to qua lify th rough the last"I was really fired up ," Albertyn said . "I wanted to get by Emig; he's a real roadblock on these sm all tracks, and he does not mind cu tting riders off, bu t he would not do the double and that's where I got by him ." Ward , who will not do any more of the Wor ld Champions hip rounds, was a little puzzled w ith his second-place overall finish . "J rea lly thought I just had to pass Jeff in that last final. so I took it a little easy once by him," Ward 'aid . "Then I realized the points tally was not what I thought it was . In fact, Jeff tried to give me the winner's trophy," Ward said. Huffman ended up finishing four th overall with a 6-4 tally, followed by Vialle (5-7) an d Tea m Suz uki 's Mickael Pichon (8-5). Ge off Meyer Bar in New po rt Beach, California, on Acco rdi n g to Pat Ow e ns , there 's a good cha nce th at Ed die M uld er and Sk ip Va nleeuwen will make an app earance at th e l A T rad e Tech ' s night at Pep e's Resta uran t in EI Monte, T hu rs day, No vember 6, fr o m 7 to 10 p .m . Oli ver joins Scutt Ru ss ell a n d motorcycle jumper Buddy Blackwell as Califor nia, o n Nove m b e r 9. Th e e vening begins at 6 p .m . fo r a cos t of $10 . Fur more information , ca ll con firmed participants . For mor e infor - 626 /443-9630. ma tion, call 714/675-5900 or 714 /7521669. Floridian road rac er Ch ad Matteson AMA 250cc Gr and Prix Champion Rich Oliver is the latest rider to confirm that he'll take part in Showcase Bike Night at Speed way International Racing Bistro & World Speedway Champion Greg Hancock and World Superbike Champion John Kocinski are the fina l nominees for the AMA /Speed vision Ath lete of the Year Award , sched uled to be presen ted at the AM A Natio na l Cha mp ions Award Banq uet on December 13 in las Vegas, Nevada . Hancock and Kocin ski join Doug Cha nd ler, Miguel DuHamel, Jeff Emig and Scott Parker as the nomi nees for the aw ard. Heavy rains o n Saturda y, November 1, flooded the Ca peway Rove rs' Middlebo ro, Massac husse tts motocro ss track , forci ng the postponement of th e final NESC race of the season. The race ha s was killed on Friday, Oc tuber 31, a t Daytona Intern ational Speedway when he hit the wall on the outside of turn se ven, exiting the infield , du ring practice. The 24-yea r-old Ama teur was riding his Yama ha FZR400 in Lightweight Sport Bike/GT3 practice when the single-bike acciden t occu rred. It was Matteso n's first race at the Speedway, He was taken to Ha lifa x Med ical Cen ter wh ere he w as p ro nou nced d e ad o n Frid ay afternoon . FORMED : Thrus t Prod uctions, .1 new mo torcyclevi deo production company, by former O n Two . Whl."t'l.. En terprise-, vice president M.uk Howard . For mo re information. contact Thrus t Productions. 2958 1 Cas tle Rd ., La guna Nl g u e t, CA 92677, 714 /36J..7525 , fall 7141:163-71(,1. be en res ch eduled for N ove m ber 9 in Middleboro. Ken Maely will be hosting short-trac k and TT p ractice /raci ng fo r XR80 a nd XR100 riders at his Corona , Ca liforn ia, ran ch on the second and fourth Sunday of every mont h. Rid ing begi ns a t 9 a.m. and lasts u ntil dark. The events are open to rid ers of all ages an d skill levels. The pr ac tic e tra c k now incl ud e s a min iAscot-style IT course and is op en to all forms of d irt oval vehicles seven days a w e ek. Fo r more info rma tion , call .909/277-8989. MA RRIED: Former mot ocrosser Jo Jo Keller , to h b, gi rlfrie nd. J0.1 nn.. Sol omon, in Ply mouth, Masse \ chusc tts, on Sep tember 27, BORN: Rvan Ethan v arnes, to A MA Grand National dirt tr; cker Ke v in Varn es and hi s girlfrie nd Colleen Miller, un October 18 in Lanca s ter. Pen nsylvania. CORRECTIO N: Brian Keegan w on the final round of the A MA Gran d Natio nal Crose Country Champio ns hip on a Kaw asaki , not on a Yama ha as we reported last w ee k. O PENE D: Fas track Rid er s' home p ag e o n the World Wide Web. The s ite can be found at the fol- -rs.com. lowi ng addresss: http:/ / www .fastrackridc lore tta ly nn ' s Ra nc h in Hurri can e Mil ls, Tennessee, w ill hos t a SETRA En d u ro o n November 16. Registration begins at 6 p.m. on No vember 15 and at 6 a.m. on the 16th . The race is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. For more information, call Racer Prod uctions at 304/284-0084. A UTO GRAPH SI GNIN G: At the KC Comp ressor Works boo th durin g the Pacific Coas t Industrial &: Machi ne Too l Show at the Santa Cla ra Co nvention Center in Santa Clara, California, on November 12from 5 to 8 p.m. Three...time AMA Grand N ational Champion Ricky Graham is sc hed uled to appear. For more info nn ation, call 408/74> 7454. t":\"

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