Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

hi m test Mauro Lu cch iari ' s ' 97 Du cati 748 . Brig uet a lso took the track in the same tes ts (organized by Pirelli) and, in his debut w ith the Italian tw in-evlinder bike, set an exce llent time o f 1:39.7 - very close to the lap record lim e set by Casali in las t year's wi nter tes ts (a 1:39.6). On the Japa nese front, Belga rda Yamaha has it s supers p ort ri der lineup confirmed, w ith the factory YZFs to be rid d en by Vittorio G uaresch i, th e revelatio n o f t he yea r wh o lost t he cham pionship by one poi nt, and M assimo Meregalli. Changes are also afoo t at Suzu ki, in bo th W orld S u p e rbi ke a n d Supersport . Through its important Ge rma n importer, Su zuki man aged to p ry away the en tire Aistare team fro m Du cati, taking with them their tw o to p riders , Fab ri zi o Pirov a n o a n d Stephane C h a m b o n . Fra ncesco Batra's well-sponsored team seemed likely to stay with Ducati, w hich w ou ld have also given the Belgian team Ca rl Fogarty and the 916 superbike - but the agreement went up in smoke. " But neither have thi ngs been forma lized w ith Su zuki yet," sa id th e Halo-Belgian team .mana ger. The team will also hav e Spa in's Ru ben Xaus, on loan from team Rumi to develo p the Suzu ki TLl OOOR superbike, which will be run in a few World Superbike rounds at the end of the season. On t he Supersport le v el , Su zuki-ltalia worked fast to fill the ga p left by Yves Briguet, letting Giuseppe Fiorill o tes t the GSXR left vacant wi th Briguet's d epartu r e . Gi ovan n i Bu s se i h a s been co nfirmed as second rider. An other ca ndida te is David e Bul cga, the European 250cc GP cham p io n w ho wou ld lik e to move up into w orld-level su pe rsport racing . T he su r p r ise of '9 8 World Supersport racing, on a techn ical level, could come .fro m Kawasaki. Th e new versi on of th e ZX-6 R will have a complet el y revised fro n t en d, as w ell as di fferent ca rbu retors , electronics and gearbox. There will be tw o official teams in the world series: tea m Eckl , w ith a rid er still to be confirmed, and team Bert occ hi , who has confirmed Marco Risi tan o. On the Ho nda fro nt, the world 's bigges t motorcycle m anu fa ctu rer will fie ld a factory tea m in Ca strol colo rs, w ith th e bikes p rep ared in Japan. Th e aim is to h a ve 16-yea r -o ld British rid er Jam es Toselan d ga in some ex perienc e, while win n in g a few ra ces with Belgium's Lusk dominates Osaka Su ercross E zra Lusk (Ha n) once ag ain d ominated a round of the World S upe rc ro ss Series in O sa ka , Japan, on Novembe r 29. Lusk won both 250cc finals, wi th team ma te Steve Lamson taking runnerup ho nors with 2-3 finis hes. Defending World Su perc ro ss C ha m pio n Jeff Emig (Kaw) had ano the r su b pa r w eekend , w ith a sixth-p lace finish and a DNF for ninth o verall, while Jere my McG ra th (Ya m) again st ruggled , w ith 5-4 resu lts. McGrath was lucky to even make the finals by makin g his way through th e las t-cha nce qualifier after cras hing out of his hea t race. T he Osaka S upe rc ross, w h ic h was th e s ix t h round of th e FIM World Supe rc ross Ser ie s , go t under way wi th Larry Ward (Suz) w inn ing his he at , a head of Em ig , Mi cka el Pi ch on (Suz) a n d John Do wd (Yam). Th e second qualifi er went to Lamson. wi th Kevi n Windham (Yam) in second and Damon Huffman (Ka w ) in th ird . McGrat h w on the last-c ha nce qualifier. For the rest of th e evenin g, Lus k was in command, win ning the firs t final ov er lamso n, Pichon, Dow d and McGrath, and w inning the secon d fro m Windham, Lam son, . McGrath and Ward . Overa ll, Lu sk w on with a 40-point tally, ahead of Lam son (32), McGrath (24), Windham (24), Pich on (23), Dowd (23), Wa rd (20) and Huffman (17); Em ig and Japanese rid er Akira Narita (Hen) finished ou t wi th 10 poi nts eac h. In the series stand ings, Emig stil l lead s w ith 151 points, followed by H uffman (142), Pichon (120), McGrath (111), Ward (88), Lusk (80) and Fred erik Belley (78). The final round of the series is scheduled for December 6 in Gen ev a, Switzerland. Michae l Paq uay, a two-time Eu ropea n cham pion. Paquay's signing , though no t ye t confirmed, is highly likely. Pro ject Mo nza rider and team owner Bill SI. Jo hn rode the new VeeTwo Squalo to victory in its raci ng debut at Roebling Road in Geo rgia on November 16. SI. Jo h n ro d e th e Jo hn Keog h-designed mo torcycle to victory in the Battle of the Twins O pe n class, according to a press release from Project Mo nza. A Bi k ers ' Bleed Blood Drive will be he ld at the Kosciu szko Benefit Society in Vernon, Con nec ticu t, on May 17, fro m.9 a.m, to 2 p.m. Door p rize> wi ll be given away and a ra ffle w ill be held. In addition, free commemorative pat ches will be g ive n to the first 200 dono rs . Gas Ga s USA h as anno u nced that it will sponso r Laura Bussin g in the 1998 Ll.S, Na tio nal Trials Cha m pions hip. Bussing w ill be competing for the first-ever U.S. Women' s Championship aboa rd a 1998 TX270. Guinness-Book-of-World-Record s-sig h ting d ept.: Road r ac ers M ark Miller, Steve Rapp, James Rand olph, O w en We ichel a n d Nicky Hayde n are pi ctured in the new e st edition o f th e famous boo k . For what? Apparently nothi n g. The fi ves ome are pict ured head ing down the Corkscrew at Laguna Sera during this year's 600cc Supers port race during the World Su pe rbike w eeke nd , T he ca p tion sim pl y rea d s: "The first motor cycle race was staged in 1896. o d oubt th e r ide rs in the fir s t ra ce w ould jump at th e cha nce to rid e o n these machines ." Tim e's weekly newsmagazin e program) on January 4 at 9 p.m . (both Eastern and Pacific time). Th e sho w follo ws Henry o n a nd off the tr ack , h ighlighting the ups and downs of hi s ca reer. The se gment wi ll be 10 minutes in len gth . which could be in action as ea rly as next season, acco rd ing to Eu ropean so u rces. A production-based SLR650 has already seen 150 laps in testing at Sheffield, Englan d , with n o problems reported. Th e e ngi nes, w h ic h a re s ai d to put o u t a p p rox i ma te ly 50 ho rse po we r o n unleaded gasoline and w eigh a p p roxi mately 20 pou nds more than the current 500cc [awas and GMs in use, are int ended to be a low-cost, entry-level o r lowerdi vision powe rplant in Europe. Discu ss ion has commenced on the possibility o f sta n da rdizi ng ig nition, carbu re tion a nd ex haust sys te ms to crea te a level pl ayi n g fie ld tha t relies more on rider skill than tuning savvy. A curious develop me n t, ind eed. Stay tuned . Ra ce T ech is c u r re n tly accep ti ng re su m e s for t he 1998 ra cing season . Motocros s , off-road an d roa d r a cin g s u p po r t p rog ra ms are ava ila b le. Resumes may be sent to Race Tech, 3227 Prod ucer Way, Pom on a, CA 91768, attn: race support. BMW' s r~entl y int roduced cruiser - the R1200C - w ill mak e its screen debu t in the u pco ming James Bond film, "Tomorrow Never Dies. " The BMW a p pears o p posite Pierce Bros na n in th e 18t h Bond film , w h ich opens in theaters o n December 19. Bond rid es the bike d uring a chase scene throu gh the str eets o f Ban g k o k an d a t o ne point ju m ps th e R1200c fro m one building to ano the r. Yamah a held a tes t session at the Suz uki Ci rc u it in Japan recen tly, wi th Team Rainey rid ers Jea n-Mic hel Ba yl e an d Norifu mi Abe be ing joined by Red Bull Yam aha's Reg is Laconi. Abe ended up th e qu icke st of th e three, with both Bayle and Laconi cras hing on the second d ay in wet cond itio ns. Ron Cook se t a motorcycle land-speed record at the EI Mirage Dry Lake in Calif orni a o n No ve m be r 15 with a top speed of 195.103 m ph on his unfaired 1976 1325cc Kawasaki KZ900. Cook also set the 1350cc-ga so line reco rd of 181.742 mph. MARRIED: World Speedway Champion Greg Han cock, to his longtime sw eet he a rt, joanne Dews , in Ma ui, Ha waii, on November 28. OPENED: Th e 1998 International Six-Day Enduro's hom e p.'Igt" on the World W ide Web. TIlt." sit e' can be fo u n d at the fo llo w ing address : http :/ / w w w mugc.cc.monasb.edu.au / .. isd e 1 Missi on Yamaha in Laguna Niguel, Califo rn ia , is ho sting a motorcycle swa p mee t on December 13, featuring ven dor booths from various manu factu rers and af termarket com pan ies. For mor e information, call 714 / 582-0351. The comeba ck by motocross star D oug He nry from his injuries will be feat ured on CN N on the Impact sho w (CNN an d OPENE D: Husq v ar nc USA' s ho me page on th e Wor ld Wide Web. The site can be found at the following add ress : http:/ /www.husqv.lfna usa.com. AUTOG RAPH SIGN ING ; At Hollln k Motor Sports in Spencerport, New York. Ian ue ry 31. from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Arenacross rac Denny Stephe nson cers and [erom y Buehl are sch eduled to ap pear . For more inform ation. call 716/352 -1930. f~ o n In a su rprise mo ve , Hond a is cons id erin g the lau nc h o f a s peedway engine, r- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , (Em ~ SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Name o _ This is a 0 New Subscription o Ren ewal o Please bill m e o Bill 3 payments of $12.67 o Enclosed is my check or money order Charge my 0 Visa 0 Mastercard ~ ~ Address City _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ State _ _ Zip Order Date _ _ L ~ r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... Signature Please start my subscription to Cycle News: o Every week for one year (50 issues) for $38.00 (can be billed 3 monthly payments) o Eve ry week for tw.o ye ars (100 issues) for $70.00 o Six months second class (25 issues) for $19.00 One year (50 issu es ), 2nd class Ca na da or Mexico and all other foreign cou n tries $78.00 (U.S. funds). First class and airmail rates available upon reque>l. 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