Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127867
IN THE WIND
Team Honda scored the overall win at
the SC ORE Ba ja 1000, ovember 14-15.
Joh nny Cam pb ell, Ti m Staab and Greg
Brin gle, riding a Honda XR628 fourstroke, finished the i07-mile race in 13
hours, 19 minutes and 59 seconds, at an
average speed of 52.6 mph. Campbell,
Staab and Bringle finished more than an
hour and a half in front of the secondplace team of Mike Healey, Jeff Capt,
Tex Mitchell, Robert Prather and Marc
Burnett. The five- me mber team, riding
another Honda XR628, s topped the
clock at 14:45:47, with a 475-mph speed
average. Topping the 250cc class in
third overall, on a Honda CR250, was
the th ree- rider tea m of Tim Morton,
Fred Willert and Ron Wilson, w ho finis hed t he race in 14:58 :58. Fo r me r
Supercross and National MX Cha mpion
Rick Johnson was a member of the
winning Class 30 tea m . Joh nson a nd
teammates Cliff Matlock; Ma t Barney,
Ken Grenfley and James Cloud took
fourth ove ra ll on a Hond a XR628 with a
'fin ish ing time of 15:16:12. Ca mpbe ll,
Staab and Bringle also finished approxima tely 33 m inutes ahead of th e fi rst
four-wheeled vehicle. Th e top 10 finishing mo torcy cle riders we re aboard Ho ndas. Kawasaki Tea m Green did not field
a team.
Brad Woolsey (Kaw) was the big winner a t the opening round of the
AMA /PJ1 Arenacross Series in Des
Moines, Iowa, November 14-15, taking
two victories. On Friday, Woolsey took
the 250cc-class win ahead of Cliff
Palmer (Kaw) and Buddy Antunez
(Suz), Palmer, meanwhile, topped the
12Sec class on Friday over Jimmy Gaddi s (Kaw) and Nick Wey (Kaw). On Saturday, Woolsey rode to victory in the
125cc mai n, followed by Palmer and
Josh Demuth (Suz), In the 250cc class,
Grayson Goodman (Kaw) took the win ,
followed by Weyand Demuth-,
Josh McLevy (Ho n) won the final round
of the NETRA Hare Scra mb les Series,
the Belltown Ha re Scramble, in Union,
Connecticut, on November 16. It was
M cLe vy ' s 11th w in of the IS-round
se ries . Arthur Menzel (Kaw) was second overa ll, and Kenny Law (Yam) was
third overall .
Former Malaysian Superbike Cha mpion
Ben n Arc hibald (Yam) won the ina ugural Aus tralian Form ula Xtrem e Chal len ge Cu p a t Oran Park in Sydney, on
Novem be r 17, des pite t he fac t th at
Shawn Giles (lion) won all th ree races
at Ora n Park. Altho ug h Giles ended up
w inning mo re races in the se ries than
Archibald, two DNFs re legated him to
second in the final standi ngs.
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World Endurance C hampion Peter
Goddard is expected to sign a contract
this week that will see him ride factory
Suzukis in the 1998 Wo rld Superbike
Championship. The Australian recently
met with Team Harris Suzuki personnel
in England, and details of the contract
are expected to be finalized this week,
according to Cycle NI!'U'S correspondent
Darryl Flack. There ha d been strong
speculation that Goddard, the 1996 Australian Superbike Champion, would
take over the running of Suzuki's World
Superbike effort following two lessthan-stellar years un der cu rrent team
boss Les ter Harris, but it now appears as
tho ug h Goddard will join the team as a
rider. The 33 -year-old ha s ser ve d as
rid er/manager of Aus tra lia's Su zuki
team since 1994, but ha s expressed a
desire to race full lime following his su ccess in this ye ar's World Endu rance
Championship with Doug Pole n. Goddard will join Jamie Whitham (who will
return for a second year on the team) in
riding the new fue l-injected Suzuki
GSXR750s.
Suzuki Australia, meanwhile, has
extended its deadline to re-sign its star
rider, Troy Bayl iss, for its Team Ansell
Airfreight Superbike team while the
young star contemplates a works Suzuki
250cc GP ride. After finishing sixth in
his 250cc GP debut at Philli p Island on
October 5, Bayliss is considering an offer
from the Molenaar Suzuki team to enter
the 1998 250cc World Champio nsh ip .
Bay li ss ' tea m ma te Mark Will is ha s
already re-sign ed wit h the team.
The AMA has been awa rded the FIM
Env iro nment Award for significan tly
im proving env ironmental awareness
and sensitivity in the motorcycling community. Th is is the first time the awa rd
has been given since the FIM forma lly
ado p te d it s Environmen ta l Co de in
1996. In an no u nci ng th e awa rd, mem bers of the H M cited the AMA's 25-year
history of br inging toge ther federal officials, pub lic -la nd managers an d off:
high way motorcycle ent husiasts to provide mo torized-recreation opportunities
while protecting the environment. In
addition, the HM noted the AMA's 73yea r hist ory of promoting noise-abatement programs aimed at street, off-road
a nd co mpetition motorcycles. The
awa rd will be presented at the 1997 AM
Banquet on December 13 in Helsinki,
Finland.
As of Monday, November 17, American
Honda' s AMA Superbike Series team
was still unsponsored , though one
potential backer is expected to make a
decision this week. The team, formerly
backed by R.J. Reynolds and its Smokin'
Joe's bra nd, will field Miguel Du Ham el
an d Ben Bostrom in official Honda colors in 1998 if the sponsorshi p package
do es n't co me together, according to
team owner Martin Ada ms. HWe're still
waiting, but it won't be much longer,"
Adams said. "We had a mee ting wi th a
sponsor last Wednesd ay, and they'd be
a very good sponsor. We're insis ting on
a commitme nt beyond 1998 an d we're
waiting to ge t an answer. Unfor tu na tely,
we wa ited SO long to get an answer from
RJR." (Adams was negoti atin g with the
Winston brand.)
Ear ly- pub lici ty d epartm ent: Ar izona
Bike Week, sched uled for Februa ry 715, 1998, will kick off wi th the Liza rd
Rock Ride on February 7 in Scottsdale.
That will be followed by the two-day
Full Throttl e Rally, the Dutc h Dice Run,
the Phoenix Coyotes Coyote Run, the
Leather &: Lace Chrome Ball, Sonoran
Cinema Ride-In Movie Night, and
CycleFes!. The week concludes with the
Cruise America Arizona Superbike
Challenge at Phoenix International
Raceway. For more information, call
602/970-3757 .
Wh ite Brothers will be producing aftermarket products for the highly anticipated 1998 Yamaha YZ400F fou r-stroke
due in early 1998. White Brothers and
Yamaha conducted the research, development and testing of the prod ucts that
will be available th rou gh the Yamaha
Parts and Accessory Division and Whi te
Broth ers. Some of the more int eresting
parts being produced include three- and
four-speed tran smi ssions, performancebred eng ine accessories, carbon- fiber
guards, and titanium exhaust sys tems,
handlebars and subfram es.
We've moved
A
fter 33 years of publishing in Long Beach, California, CN Publishing - pub lisher
of Cycle N/!'U'S and Personal Watercraft Illustrated- is moving its national headquarters to a new facility in Costa Mesa, California, effective Monday, November 24.
The eastern advertising office , ho wever, will remain in Tucker, Georgia .
The new facility is 18,000 square feet, up from the Long Beach facility's 10,000
square feet, and will provide mo re opportunities for the company, according to publisher Mike Klinge r.
'The increase in space will allow us the opportunity for more in-ho use projects:
Klinger said, "w hile also crea ting a bette r wo rking environment for our employees as
we continue to publish Cycle N/!'U'S and Prrsnnal Watercraft Illustrated into the next millennium."
CN Publishing will now be located at 3505-M Cadillac Ave., Cos ta Mesa, CA 92626,
714/751-7433