Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

phy s ical o r other r easons have no desire to mo ve up to bigger bikes. Jorge Ma rtinez is the perfect example, retiring at the end of the 1997 sea son at the ag~ of 35, a fter 16 y~a rs in the class, 37 GP w i ns, a n d o ne Wo r ld C ha m p ions hi p. as well as three 80cc crowns . Pirelli Motorcycle Tires has renewed its title sponsorship for the 1998 AMA Formula Extreme Series. Pirell i paid out $10,000 in 1997 Formula Xtreme champions hi p bonuses and posted a to tal of $272,(i()() in rider awards to all classes in the 1997 AMA road ra cing se ries. Ca liforn ia-based Electric Motorbike Inc. will introd uc e th e first-ever produc tio n mod ern electric mo torcycle th e Lectra - o n a prom o tion al tou r en rou te to th e 14th In tern a tional Elec tric Veh icle Symposium in O rlando. Florida . Glendale Ha rley-Davidson and San Diego's Hou se of Motocycles will host th e promotional stops for th e Lec tra . The Lectra will be at Gle ndale HarleyDavidson on November 29 at 9 a .m . , before arriving a t San Diego's House of Mot o rcycles a t 4 p.m. Harley-Davidson an d Am erican Suzuki have signed on as th e latest sponso rs for the A MA National Champions Awards Banquet, scheduled for December 13 at th e Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Honda Motor Co mpa ny will ente r four rid ers in the Centennial IT wh en it comes to Ass e n , H o ll a nd . i n 1998 . Ho nda will send Ku nim il su Takahas hi as its lead rider and he will be aboa rd a Ho nda RC162 (a 1962 250cc fou r-cyli nde r), a lo ng with thr ee o the rs o n a n RC161 (a 1961 250cc fou r), a RCII5 (a SOcc twin) and an RC145 (a 250cc twi n). Takahashi was th e first Japanese rid er to wi n a Grand Prix, his victory coming in th e 1962 German Grand Prix. Ducati recently co m pleted a fou r-day test session with its factory team in Albace te , Spa in, o n November 20 . Britai n's Carl Fogarty carne a way fro m the test with th e fastest tim es, lapping at 1:32.10 (the la p record is 1:31.714) o n a n a lte r e d ve rsi on o f th e 1997 Duca ti 996. The tests w ere a imed a t ~ im p ro ving ha ndling. Aust ralian Troy C o rs e r a nd Ita lian P ie r -Fra nce s co " Chili wer e al so present, wi th Corser la p pi ng at a best of I :32.6 while Chili la p ped at 1:33.32. KTM Sp ortrnot orcycle USA wi ll again back th e KTM Jr . Su p ercross Cha lle nge as the AMA Super cro ss Series' in te r mission p rogram. For 1998, th e p rogra m will provide 15 SXR Pr o Jr . Sportmini cycles for young ra cers to ride, and the races will be he ld at 15 PACE-p ro mote d Supercro ss ve n ues . Riders will be chos en at ra nd om fro m a p p li ca ti o n s tha t will b e a v ail ab le fro m KTM d ea lers after Decembe r 1. Riders m us t be 7 o r 8 years old on the day of the event in order to be eligible. EBC Brakes an d North American Sport Bike have announced a renewal of their agreement to co ntinu e th e EBC Sport Bike Series as a m a jo r feature of the N ASB racing p rog ra m. Th e 1998 co ntract mark s the 12th consecutive yearthat EBC has been a majo r sponsor in America n road racing. Th e EBC Brak es Sport Bike Series w ill be eleva ted to fea tur e -cla ss s tatus i n the 1998 N ASH Serie s a nd will offer a $5000 purse a t each event and a $100,000 point fund . Dv8 LLC earned a bron ze award for its design of the Team Roberts hom e page on th e Wo rld Wid e Web. The award was given ou t on November 10 in San Francisco, Ca lifornia. Robe rts' site can be found a t th e followi ng a dd ress: http: / / www.robertsg rou p.com. Though they have yet to release a schedul e, the Fo rm ula USA Seri es will con sist of seven races in 1998, acco rding to FUSA Inc. The series will feature three Pro classes : Su noco Formula USA (unlimi ted-displacement four-s trokes); EBC Bra kes Pro Spo r t (prod uct io nbased sportbikes with DOT tires and no mo re tha n 126 hp j; and Form u la Super Sport (prod uction-based sportbikes with DOT tires and no more than 103 hpj. Accor ding to FUSA. the series will also be shown on a new television show on Speed vision, titl ed "Formu la USA MCTV ." In addition , Alpha Sprin kle r will offer a $500 award to the racer wh o captures the pole position in F-USA qualifying. Also, F-USA will use electronic timing a nd scoring for the first time in 1998. Reader TV tip dept.: A Cycle News rea der called to tell us how good the coverage is o f th e 199 7 25 0cc Motocross G ran ds Prix o n Sp eed vis io n. More of" th e 30-mi nu te shows are o n th eir way an d will air on November 30. Decem ber 7, December 14, December 21 and December 28 - all starting at 1:30 p.m ., Pacific time. Check it ou t. According to Cycl e News co ntri bu to r Darryl Flack, Castrol Ho nda has contacted Aus tralian Superbike star Troy Bayliss. According to Flack. Hond a has called Bayliss to see if he'd be interested in riding alongsi de Aaron Slight in case Colin Edwards II returns to Yama ha for th e 1998 World Su perbi ke C ha m pionship . Ed wa rds has rep orted ly been a pproached by Yamaha team manage r Davide Brivio to recons id er his defection to Honda . Edwards is expec ted to sign his contract with Hond a th is week , ho wever. The seco nd a n n ual Cou pe Classic mo tocr os s will be held a t th e E Street Brid ge sa nd track in Marysville, Ca lifornia, o n Decem ber 7, and will fea ture a guara nteed $5000 Pro pu rse, acco rd ing to promoter Da ve Co upe. Open practice wi ll be held at the track on December 6 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information , call 530/673-5956. Th e 1997 AH RMA S oCa l MX Series awar d s banquet will be held o n Janua ry 10 in Fou ntai n Vall ey, California. For more info rmation. call 909/929-6772. The AMA Ice Racing Nationa l Cham pions hi p w ill be held January 24-25 in Albright Shores , Michi gan , s igni fy ing the beginni ng of the 1998 AMA Amateur and You th racin g seaso n . Th e Ice Racing Na tio nals will cro wn champions in a total of 26 classes for mo to rcycles and four-w hee led ATVs. For more information, call 517/ 426-3828. . T rav el Craft is no w accepting hotelro om r eservations for Daytona Bik e Week . Th ey are o fferin g co ndos and hotels o n th e bea ch o r near Daytona Internation al Sp e edwa y . Fo r m ore info rmation , call SOO/241-1223. La rry H uffman r ec e n tly co m pl eted voice-over prod uction of the Best in the Dese r t Vegas -to- Re no off-roa d ra ce . "The Paul Krau se / Ty Davis Kawasaki was clo cked at abou t 106 m ph by the Nevada Highway Patrol, and the chopper - with it s side d oor o pen fo r th e ca me ra m an a n d flyin g s lig h tly side- Th e Ch ri stmas G r and Pr ix w ill o nce aga in be held at Ca r lsba d Raceway in Carlsbad, Ca lifo rnia. o n Decem ber 7. Racers are u rged to bring ca nned foods , which will be d on a ted to a north Sa n Diego County charity. ways - wa tched the KX500 pull away from them in almost every shot," Huffman said . "They could barely reach 100 mph." The show wi ll air o n Speed vis io n "someti me in 1998 ," Huffma n sa id. True-Tee, th e sponsor of the La Playa Ma ste rs of Motocross GP Series , is offe ring to lead a tour to the upcom ing race o n December 7 a t the Ca n ta ma r Sand Dunes in Rosarito Beach: Baja Ca lifornia, Mexico. For more info rmation. call Rich Truchinski a t 909 / 2809010. The fourth annual Steel Shoe Fu n d cha rity ice race will be he ld on Saturda y, January 3, at the Sunset Ta vern on th e n orth e a st s ho r e of La ke Kos hkono ng , near Fort Atki nson, Wisco ns i n . T he eve n t is held to r ai se mo ney for se rious ly injured motorcycle flat-track ra cer s. AMA ice-race fender ru les w ill be s trictly enfo rced , accord ing to promoters. For mo re inf o rma tion. call Gordon Lunde Sr . at 414/ 8715682. Th~ 1998 C la yton Found ation Go lf To urna ment will again be held during Bike Week in Daytona Beach. Florid a, in Marc h. Ho le sponso rships are cu rrently bei ng sold. with Deltran Batteries th e firs t to s te p u p as a hole s po nso r. For more information , call Mark Mitchell at 770/934-7850. OPENED: Th e Flatt ra ck Page o n th e Wor ld Wide Web . The site can be found a t the following add ress: http:/ /www . fla ttrack.com . OP ENED: Mo to rcycl in g Va ca tion Resort's home page on the World Wide Web . T he site can b e fo u n d a t http :/ /www.trials.n et/ ttc/ttc.html. HIRED: Ga ylorn Morris, as vice pres iden t of mark eting and advert ising , by Chec ke re d Fla g P rod u ctions . Morris fo rme rly wo rked fo r SRO / PACE Motorsports. For more information , call 940/683-4742. OPENED: Motosport Training Inc.' s home p age o n the World Wid e Web: http :/ /www.mosq ui to net.c om/ -motosport / index.htm. MA R RIE D: FM F Ra ci ng p rodu ct ion man ager Chris Bergs tro m. to Elisa Merrill, in Mam mo th Lak es, California, o n November 15. 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