Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1997 11 19

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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IN THE TAPES BYSCOTT ROUSSEAU ou wo uld thi nk that a sport such as speed way cou ld not be mo re simple. Ta ke fou r rid ers; put the m on si mlistie, practi call y archaic moto rcycles vit h no brakes; let them race like hell or four laps; and it's over. And that's about how it happens, b ut t's th e behind-t he- scen es politics that urround - and often hamper - the .sport n America that often ap pear to match he co mp lexity of much mor e popula r orms of motorcycl e racin g. To und er.tand what I'm talking about, you need oak no fur ther than the politi cal moves that hav e been mad e in the past mo nt h s inc e the U .S. N a ti o n a l Speedwa y Championship. Le t me try to ex p la in it: A t th e upcoming AMA awards ba nquet in Las Vegas on December 13, the AMA will be honoring three speed way champio ns one of them being W orld Champi on Greg Hancock, who is exempt from this controversy. But the fact is that none 'of the th ree rid ers w ill be ho nored as th e U.S. National Champion, and rig htfu lly so. . The rea soning behind the lack of an AMA U'S, National Champion is simple enoug h, because no AM A-san ct ion ed U.s. Na tion al Cham pions hip was eve r run. The trad itional meeting th at took place on October 4 at Costa Mesa Speedway was not sa nc tioned by th e AMA, du e to th e argument over the legali ty of certain tires, w hich has been well-docu mented in the pa ges of Cycle News and is not worth re hashing here . Mike Faria wo n th at m e eting , an d hi s futur e in statement as A MA U .S . N ationa l Cha m p io n - regardl es s o f w he ther o r not he was recogn ized as the legitimat e number on e by the AMA in Las Vegas ma y n ot have been in d o ubt. But th e AMA elected to nam e an AMA Na tional Ch a mpion d espite no t ha vin g h eld a race to d etermine suc h a title. Little more th an a m onth ago, the AMA made a curi ous d ecision to name Bobby Sch wa rtz as th e A MA National Spe edway Cha mpion and invite him to the AMA awards banquet to receive the award and carry the number-one plate in 1998. Acco rd ing to AMA special projects man ager Bill Boyce, Schwartz wa s appointed based upon his pe rformance in the U.S. National Qualifier Series, wh ich was an A!v1A·sanctioned series to determin e the field for the U.S. Na tional Cha mpionship . Schwartz wo n the fou rro u nd seri es, but w he n the AMA elected to withd raw its sanction of the Nationa l after an ag reement on tires could not be reac hed with th e even t's p rom oter, In tern a tio na l Sp eed way In c., then the promoter basicall y th rew the Qualifier Se ries out the window a nd elected to make the National an invitational, seeding the very bes t riders possibl e - which didn't neces saril y incl ude those who ' had competed and qu alified through the Qualifier Series. The news was not well-recei ved by Faria and even less so by Schwartz, wh o ne ver pret ended to be any th ing o ther than the winner of the Qualifier Ser ies which he was . Con cerned that the ramifica tions - against both himself and th e s po rt - would be ex tre mely negativ e, Schwartz contacted the AMA on Fari a's behalf. He was to ld that if there was any way in wh ich Faria could be recognized a t th e banqu et , th en the AMA w ould willing ly o blige. Sch wartz sugges te d that th e AMA recognize Faria for his victo ry at the Am eri can Fin al, but was told tha t the ev en t is in essence a qu alifying ro und for the FlM World Cha mp ions hip. H owever, upon further review, the AMA learned some things. It learned that the American Final is perceived through ou t the wo rld of speedway as a prestigious d om estic title. Take a loo k at th e internation al spe ed way press, such as Speedway Star , and you will find that Mike Faria is billed as the "Ame rica n C ha mp ion .r- A nd th e AmeriCjln Fi na l was still an AMA ·sanctioned m ee tin g - regardless of its FIM-qual ifier sta tus ru n uod er the points syste m that has alwa ys been used to d ecid e such a title. Mike Faria earned that title this yea r. Then again, the U'S, National Cham p ionship Qua lifi er Series perhaps marked t he best speedway r a ce s i n American speedway this yea r. Bobb y Schwartz won tha t series han d s down, an d thus cou ld be considered as the top ma n coming into the Ll.S, Na tio na l. You know the r..st of the story. Nonetheless, d espite th e p o litic al squabbles, the AMA still wants to hon or a speedway cha m p io n, becaus e it is smart enough to recognize that the sport d eserv es an d need s to be repres ented at the AMA awards banquet. Accordingly, Schwa rtz an d Faria have put their head s togeth er and figured ou t how to make th e best o f a bad s itua tio n. Th ey ha ve proposed the following: that the AM A honor both m en at th e b a nqu et i n December. I thi nk that's a good idea. Mike Faria will be recognized as the AM A Ameri can Champi on fo r h is achievemen t at the American Final. and Bobby Sch wa rtz will also be recognized a s th e A MA U.s. Na tiona l Qualifi e r Series Cha mpio n in honor of his performance throughout that series. Both riders feel that this is the best way - in light of the fact th at no Na tio nal Speed way Cha m pion will be recogn ized in 1997 to recogni ze both men in a pro ~r fash ion and not dupe the fans . After all, it is merely ca lling a spade a s pade. Both m en a re b eing r e co gniz ed for th e ir acco m p lishmen ts in AM A·sa nctioned speedway racing this y..ar . As far as the AMA is con cern ed, there wi ll be no single Natio na l C ha m pion in speed w ay this yea r . The r e was n o AMA-sanction ed Na tiona l. A nd w ha t abo u t r eco gni zin g a Na tio na l Cha mpion for th e sa ke of th e record .b o o ks ? We ll , in the p a s t, th e A MA ha s a lw ay s adopted th e "U .S. Na t io nal H o nor Roll " a s th e A MA Natio na l Champ ions list because a go od rela tionsh ip existed between the AMA and the SRA (Oxleys), whether o r no t a par ticular season or Nationa l was AMA· sanctioned. Obviou s ly, th is year was d ifferen t. I ho pe that I' m not th e only one w ho can unders ta nd and respect th e fact that Mike Faria is not the AMA U.s. Na tiona l Champion. Actuall y, I kn ow I'm no t, becau se I have spoken tu Fari a, and he d o es, to o, regard les s of how u nfortu na te the si tua tio n ha s been for him. So, if 1997 beco mes the transitional yea r in which no AMA National Champ ion is recogn ized in speedway, then I say, 'So w hat?' Think of it like a WBAor W BC-san cti oned prize fight: If no mand atory tit le d e fense takes p la ce, then the title goes vac an t. It wouldn' t be the firs t tim e that this has happened in speedway. It act ually took place on the wo rld stage befo re, at least wi th respect to second place, as American Shaw n Moran was stripped of his silver medal in the 1991 World Final after testing po siti ve fo r a ban ne d su bs ta nce. History sho ws that no one was ever awa rd ed a silve r med al in his place. The AMA National Speedway Ch am pionship title will accordi ngly go vacant for 1997. No rid er will wear the number one a t an AMA-sancti on ed track, and we ca n all look forward to a 1998 AMA N a tio nal C h a m pions hi p S peedw ay Ser ies, wh ich I hear is in th e p lanning stages. So tha t's what it com es d own to, as I see it. Th e AMA ha s fi na lly s tood up and d one right by speedway. It coul d have made a h uge mistake by naming Schwartz as the AMA Na tiona l Cham pion, but ins tead it ha s set a precedent that everyone can live wi th. I feel it has begu n a healing process and established a new or der that may just ge t the sport of speedway moving forward in Am erica by a t least recog nizin g - in a legi timate wa y - th e ach ievements of tw o very special individuals who have d ed icat ed most of their lives to the sport a nd perfo r med we ll i n AMA-sa nctio ned events during the 1997 season. I view it as an ex tre mely p ositive ges tu re with re gard to the sanct ion ing bod y' s re lationship to the sport. Speedway is at a crossroa ds r ig h t now . Here's to hoping tha t this "political move" on the part of the AMA , Mike Fa ri a a nd Bobby Sch w ar tz se nds i t d own a ve ry d ifferent and muc h mo re po sitive road . ,~ LOOKING BACK.:.] 30YE SAGO", AR N M R30,196 OVE BE 7 h o to g ra p he r Clyde Sc hnase caugh t CZ ace Dave Bickers "sk imming" the mud at the Prospectors MC motocross in Castaic, Californ ia . Bicke rs wo n the 500cc Interna tional class over Torsten HaIlman (Hus), but he finis hed second to Ha llman in the 250cc Intern ational class. Eddie Mu lder (Mon) won t h.. 2S0cc A mate u r Expe r t class, a nd Keith M a s h b u rn (Bu l ) was th e lOOcc win ne r... There were at least two in teres ting ads for products tha t are no longer arou nd: Steen's was touting its Ceriani compe--:...::;,.~: .. ti ti o n s uspension systems, and Ka s umi Oil was billed as "the ONLY oil specifically made for 10,000 plus rp m performan ce" ... Roxy Rockwood's Fin ish Line colu m n outlined the di rt track rul e changes that came about from the AMA competition co m mi ttee m ee ting . Among them we re th e elimina tion of the two-d ay Na tiona l forma t (a la Ascot Sho rt Tr ack / T'I), the elimioa tion of th .. Consolation race at dirt track Nationals, a call for high er minimum pu rses, and a calling off of the 350cc engi ne- limit rul e. P 20 Y AR E SAGO... N V BE O EM R23,1977 aja 1000 racer Randy Hollenbeck shared th e cover with Anaheim Supercross con testan ts Marty Sm ith (9) and Danny "Mag oo" Chand ler (594). Bob "Hurricane" Ha n nah (Yam) won the eve n t to put the icing on the cake of his 1977 AMA Supercross Championship... Brent Wallingsford and Sco tt Harden teamed u p on a Dean Goldsmith-tuned Husky 390 to win the Baja 1000... The issue featured a tech article discussing weekly tope nd main tenance for the ~ :; I, H ~ W ~ ' serious racer... ~~, 'j I CN in te rvie we d '-..",.-....,"-Dou g Mockett, ". "'> 11 the new czar of AMA racing ... Bru ce Ogilvie o n th e 33 rd Turkey Chase in O lancha, Ca lif o rni a ... W e took a ride on th e factorv Harl ey-Davidson MX360 prototype that was bei n g used in th e Tra ns -AMA mo tocross wars. B 1 0YEARS AGO", OVEMBE R25, 1987 N ru ce Ogilvie (Ho n) shared the cover wi th the 1988 Yamaha FZ R400. Og tlvie teamed with Dan Ashcraft to win the Baja 1000, while the baby FZR was one o f the highligh ts of Yamaha's '88 street-bike offering s... An "In the Wind " item noted the expansion of Laguna Seca Raceway from 1.9. miles to 2.2 miles. It was ho ped th at the expansion would faci litate th e B ~~ a round of the •ij7"ij"J"":J"TI~_,.hOStinghaofmpionship Ro adWorld RacC ing Series ... H usq va m a was s till in its American off-road glory d ays, as fac tory. rider Dave Bertram edged teammate Terry Cunningham for the w in at the Buckhorn National Enduro in Oak Run, California . Both were on H us ky 430 A u tos.. . Sammy Bo sn!c (Suz) pu li ed off a n upset victory a t the fina l round of the AMA National Cross Co u ntry Series in Mou nt Mor ris, Pennsylvania... Tom G on ter (Yam) shocked the motorcycling wo rld w ith a truly inspi rat ional overall win at the True Gri ts SOcc Fun Run in Suches, Georgia. ." 1'. 0\ 0\ ,....., 0\ ,....., ... Q) .!:J E Q) ;;. o z 67

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