Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

_____~~=~===_=z, Hi nso n Cl utch Co mponents is current ly accepting resumes for the 1998 radng season . Resum es may be sent to Hinson Clu tch Components , at tn: race support, 1630 W. 11th s i, Unit E, Upland, CA 91786. Among th ose entered for the Super IT kick off at Buttonwillow Raceway Park on December 7 are former World Champ ion Ed d i e Law son , former G r a nd Na tional Cham pion Rick y Grah am , former MX N ational Champio n Chu ck Sun and motojournalist Don Canet. The Superbik ers- styl e eve n t will include amateur divisions for minis, qu ads, dual sports and senior s. For more information, call 805/764-5333. Th e 1998 Wi nter-Am Series w ill begin December 27-28 at Gato rb ack Pa rk in Gai nesville, .Florida, and wi ll conclude at the same facili ty Ja nua ry 24-25. In be tween, ro und s wiIl be h eld a t the Hard Rock Cycle Park in Oca la, Florida (ja n ua ry 3-4), Dad e City Ra cew a y in Dad e City, Florid a (January 10-11), and Sunstate Raceway in Bradenton , Florida (January 17-18). For more info rmation, call 813/ 823-2090. Rob Healy, the owner of N-Style Graphics, suffered a broken back and pelvis in a m otocross crash at th e Lem on Gr ov e Motocross Park in Piru, California, on November 8. Healy underwent surgery on No vember 12 and is e x p ec te d to recover . Avon T ires is now acce pting resumes fo r th e 199 8 road ra cing sea son . Resumes ma y be sent to 407 Ho well Way, Ed mo nds, WA 98020, a ttn: Craig Knapp. Ken ny Rob e r t s Jr. is scheduled to appear at Sport Bike Night at In Cahoots in Sacrament o, California, on November 24, fro m 7 to 9:30 p.m. For more information, call 916/373-1557. Sue Ru ssell , 54, d ied o n November 15 afte r s uffe ring a he art attac k in Ce da r Sp rings; Michigan. Ru ssell was a dirt. track promoter in Michigan's District 14 and the West Michi ga n Dirt Track Assod atio n. Fo u r -ti me Wo r ld Cha mpion Mi chael Do ohan has ag a in voi ced his displeasure at invo lu ntarily helping his Repsol Ho nda team ma tes. Tow ar d th e end of th e 1997 seaso n, Doohan claime d that his teammates were able to d ownload the se tup da ta fro m his bike to improve the ir ow n p erforman ces . Concer ned t hat hi s ex perience ' an d kn owl edg e is be in g u sed against h im , Doohan h as been tr yin g to set u p a sa te llite HR C te am for 1998 to g uar d h is secr e ts, according to Cycl e New s contri bu to r Darryl Flack . "O ne of th e rid e rs th is yea r, on a Honda, said to me that he has never had it so easy. He hops o n th e bi ke, the bi ke' s set up a nd awa y he goes, " Doohan said recently in the Sydney Sun-H erald. " He sa id it's almost e m ba erass tng ." Do oh an sa id that Honda is falling into th e sa me trap that Yamaha and Suzuki have fal len into no t allowing its rid ers to develop their own setup, "Th at ' s one of the reasons Yama ha and Su zuki fe ll in a hea p ," Doohan said . "Wh en Wayne Rain ey left Ya m aha , th ey didn't have anyo ne to receive good information from, because th ey were relying on Wayne's informatio n all the time. The same goes with Su z uk i. When Dar yl (Beat tie) wa s injured , he wa s out for a sea so n a nd they d id n't have anyone giving them i nfo rma tion . I' m just m a ki n g sure every thing's in pla ce th e way I like it. It's for Honda as well. If I leave or go . so m ew h e re else, retire or w hateve r, th es e youn!l !lu y s h a v e to learn to develop the bike. Wh en I was brought in, I w as und er Wa yne G a rdne r and Eddie Laws on . I used to ha ve to go and ask th em, 'Can I see what setti ng you guys are running?' It's not like that anymore." Commenting on his drawn-out negotiation s with Honda, Doohan said, "A t th e end of th e d ay, I d on't th ink that if I hav en't signed I am go ing to be wi thout a ride next yea r." Repo rts from Europe indica te that Kurtis Rob erts, the you ngest so n of threetime World Champion Kenny Roberts, ha s been denied a s ta rti ng spot in the 1998 250cc World Cha mpionship b y IRTA. Robe rts failed to score a cha mp io nsh ip point in 1997 and quali fied no better th an 18 th . T he California n is expected to return to AMA racin g fo r the 1998 season. Victory Mo torcycles has annou nced its first 65 U.S. d ealer s, accord ing to Terry N esbitt, Victory's national sa les manager. "As w e' ve discuss ed th e motorcycle with enthus iasts at shows across the co un try, one of th e m ost common qu estion s ha s be en, 'Whe re's my near es t deal er?' We're pleased to introd uce our initial g r o u p o f d eal e r s so cu stom ers ca n co n ta ct th em fo r m ore info rmation and to place deposits o n '98 models," N esb itt said . Nearly 30 states are repres ented in the first group of 65 dea lers and dealershi ps will eventually be announced in every sta te in the country, accord ing to Nesbitt. A d ea ler locato r is pa rt of the Vict o ry MotorcycleS hom e page on th e Worl d Wide Web. The site can be found at th e follo wing add ress: htt p: / /www.victory-usa.com. TI,e Victory V92C is schedu led to begin prod uction in th e spring of 1998. Victory is a d ivision of Polaris Indus tries . Love Rid e 14, held o n Novem ber 9 in Gl endale , Califo rni a, ra ised o ve r $1 million for th e Muscular Dystrophy As s oci ati on as a n e stimated 23 ,000 motorcycli st s to ok part in the an nual event. G r a nd Marsha l Jay Leno and Hon orary G rand Ma rshal Peter Fond a le d th e 50- m il e ride from HarleyDavidson of Glen da le to a concert, bar becue and trade show at Ca staic Lake. Th e $1 m illio n put the 14-yea r to tal at $95 million. According to reports from Europe, Italian Lucio Pedercini will move from the 50 0cc Grand Prix class to th e World Superbike Cha m pions hip in 1998. Pedereini wi ll ride a Du cati 996. GFI's Super Saturdays are back at Perris Raceway in Perris, Ca lifornia, and will be held on ovember 22 and December 20. For more informatio n, call 909/6534042. Casey Johnson will be a guest instructor at the Donnie Hansen Motocross Acad emy session at Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmda le, California, Dece mber 12-13. In addition, a n FMF sus pension seminar will be held in conjunction wit h the school. For more information, call 719/495-2624. Bob Dron Harley-David son, wh ich has d ealersh ips in bot h Oa kla nd and livermore, California, has been named th e firs t No rth American Harl ey-D avidson d eal er to carry th e Titan m otorcycle lin eu p s at its Harley-Davidson s tores. Titan, whic h is based in Ph oenix, Arizo na , p rodu ces 5&5 V-twin-po wered mot orcycles th at are essen tia lly p remium-pri ced cus tom knock offs of HarleyDavidsons, "The Titan lineup co m plements our Har ley-David son products," Dron sa id. "It gives u s th e opportunity to offer just that much more to ou r custome rs. Tita n is a forw ard -t h inkin g com pany . I think this is a natural ma tch." Kevin Heath of Kevin Hea th Photog ra p h y wa n ts those who co m peted a t the Elsinore Gra nd Prix to kn ow that h e too k photos of e v ~ry ride r, a nd th ose who did not get a chance to see or purch ase th eir ph ot os at the Expo ca n s till ca ll a nd purchase th em . For m ore i nfo r ma tio n, ca ll Mary at 619 / 481-0 192, be twe en th e hours of 9 a.rn and 5 p.m . O PENED: Racer -X Illust rated 's home page o n th e Wor ld Wid~ Web . The site can be found a t the foIlowing address: http :/ / W\.o"W.raccrxill .com . OPENED : Donnie H a nse n Motocrrn;s Academy's home page on the Wor ld Wide Web. The address is htt p;/ /www.dhma.I.'"Om. CO RRECTION: The addres s fo r Thrust Prod u ctions (In th e Wind, Iss ue #45, Novembe r 12) wa s in co rr ect . The co rrec t addres s is : Thrust Productions, 29481 Cas tle Rd ., Laguna Niguel, CA 92677. CO RRECTIO N: Th e phone number for FMF Racing the Wind , Issu e #46, Novembe r 19) was inco rrect . The correct phone nu mber is 310/539-6884 _ (In O PENED ; All-Pro MX Fitness Training, a sport-specific Hmess-treintn g cente r exclus ively for m o tocr o ss racers . Fo r m ore inform a tion o r an appointment, contact All-Pro MX Fitness Train ing, at 3187 5 Byers Rd .• in Men ife e, California . The p hone and fax number is 9(foJ/ 619-7752. MOVED: Steahly Off-Road Prod ucts lnc., to 38SO Pioneer Rd .• Medford , OR 97501. 541 /535-4896 (p hone), 541/ 535-1881 (f.ad. OP ENED: GMD Compu trac k Network florida, a t 12198 Cou nty Read 512,. Unit 6. Pellsmere, A.. 32948, 561 / 57J-0463 (p hone), 561 /571-0464 (fax). MARRJED: Coa t Eyewear gen eral mana ger Shawn Norfolk, to Sus i Gonzalez. Norfolk is the brother of fa nner Jeremy McG rath mechani c Ski p Norfolk, and Susi Go n za le z i~ th e sister o f mulfi-f ime women's MX Champion Mercedes Gonzalez. APPOI NTED : Th ou sand Oaks Honda, as a fuUy authorized HRC deal ership, one of two authorized. HRC d eal e rs in t he Unit ed States. In addition to selling NSSURs, RSl 25Rs and N SRSOOVs. Thousand Oaks Honda will also o ffer all liR s pedatty pa rts. e accordi ng to Kevin Dunn. Thousand Oaks' team manager. For mort' info rma tion, call 805 / 371-3000. OP ENED: Kawasaki of Mexico's home page on the World Wide Web. The site can be found at the following address. http:/ / www.kaw asaki .com.mx. OPENED : Sport Bike N ight' s home page on th e World Wide Web . The site can be found at the followi ng add ress: http :/ / www.s portbiken igh t.C.Om. OPEN ED : Slih Helmet Line rs and Accesso ries ' hom e page on the World Wide Web. The site can be found at http:/ /www.inb.net / sliks.helnu. .liners . t;\" x r----------------------------------------------------------------, (Eill ~ SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Name _ o Add ress This is a o Renewal Please bill me Bill 3 pay men ts o f $12,67 City _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ Sta te _ _ Zip o Order Date Charge m y _ 0 New Subs cription Enclose d is m y check or money order 0 Vis a 0 M a s te r card ..... r-, Signature _ P l eas e s tart my s u bscri p ti o n to C y cl e News: o o o E very week f o r o ne y e ar (50 issues ) for $38.00 (can be billed 3 monthly payments) Every week for two years (100 issues) for $70.00 Six months s e co n d clas s (25 issues) for $19.00 One year (SO issues), 2nd class Canada or Mexico and all other foreign countries $78.00 (Ll.S. fu nds) . First class and airmail rates available upon req uest. 0\ 0\ c MC / Visa # _ _ __ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ Expiration Da te Send to: ~ ~ , Inc. P.O. 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