Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND fairl y easy to ge t a ver y good d eal o n produ ct. Th e biggest th in g is find ing a budget to run the tea m . I can ge t a ftermarket parts. It's the operating costs that run you down ." Among the reasons he decided to stick with Harley was its contingenc y pr og r a m . " W it h Harley, it . doesn 't matter if you're first or last, they match your purse. Basically, it's like runnin g with double purses. With 13 races in st ead of 10, th ere' s a lo t of p otential incom e there." An oth er factor in his decision to stay with Harley road racers wa s that the privat eer m achines are closer to factory machinery than any other brand . "All th e eng ines come ou t of th e sa me eng ine pool. Tripp No bles and Micha el Barnes ma y ha ve gotten engi nes th at were in my bike two races earlier," Carr sai d . Ca rr also said th er e was a grea ter ava ilability of factory parts and tha t they filtered d o wn to th e priva teers m u ch more quick ly becau se most of the wo rk is do ne by th e fac tory. "It s tays in-hou se mo re. The turn aroun d and improvement is mu ch quicker." Helping him on the mecha nical side will be his longtime dirt track m echan ic, Kenny Tolbe rt. Carr's former factory mechanic, Craig Filmer, was assisti ng Tolbert at the Dunlop test, schooling him on th e VR. The day after Cycle News went to pr ess, and the Dayto na Dunlop test ended , the o ther tire co mpa nies began tes ting a t Daytona. First -in was Michelin, wi th the Fast by Ferracci team expected to attend wit h rid ers Mike Ha le and Tom Kipp. A surp rise ad d ition to th e tes t w as "M r. Dayto na ," Scott Ru ssel l. The Yam ah a World Superbik e rid er recentl y decided to switch tire bran ds in 1998 after w hat he felt was a problem-filled year with the Du nlops . His Yamaha Worl d Superbike teamma te, Japa n es e ri d e r Noriyuki Haga , w ill s tick wit h Dunlo p s. Do u g Polen , w ho was backed by Pirelli in 1997, was also o n the list of peo p le Michelin su bm itte d to Dayton a - as was Fred die Spe ncer. Pire lli/ Me tze ler was to follow Michelin at the Speedway. Motocrosser Ji m N eese will compete aboa rd a four-stroke Husaberg FC 501 as Kingsport Husaberg Racing 's sole team member in the 1998 AMA 250cc National Mo tocr oss Cham p ion sh ip Series. The new team was for med by Ki ngs port KTM & Husaberg in Kings p o rt, Tennessee. Husab er g Ll.S. race team crew .chief Ru ss Flitcher will supply the motors for Neese during his campaign. Te am Moto XXX ha s fina liz ed its race team for 1998. Brian De egan and M ik e Metz ge r will co m pe te in the Western Regiona l 125cc Supercross Series, a nd • Paul Currie an d James Eick el will ride in the Eas tern Regi onal 125cc Supercross Series . All four rid er s will rid e Kawasakis. Tea m Noleens /K2 Bicycles /Thor will field a one-man MX team for 1998. T im Ferry, th e 1997 Eas tern Regional 125cc Supercross Cha mpion, w ill ride a Team N o leen 's Ya ma ha in bo th th e AMA 250cc Supe rcross a n d the o u tdoor National MX Series. 2 Team Honda of Troy has also finali zed its 1998 m otocr oss team . Both Mike Craig and Mike Brown will com pe te in th e 250cc Su percross Se ries, whi le Stephane Roncada and Casey Lytl e will co m pete in the Western a nd Eas tern 125cc Supercross Series, resp ectively. In the Nationa ls, Craig will compete in the 125cc class and Brow n in the 250s. Both Ronca da and Ly tle will ride th e 125cc Nationals . Last week we repo rted that Lance Smail had sign ed a con trac t with KTM /Husaberg fo r th e 1998 MX se aso n, b u t, acco rd ing to KTM' s Sco t Ha rd en , thi s isn't true . Evid ent ly, Sma il is s till in negotiations with KTM and has made no commitments. Team Suzuki's Greg Albertyn has signed a new ap pa rel con tract for 1998. Albe rtyn, w ho has worn Bieffe gear for many years, will now spo rt MSR gear. Albertyn. signed a two-year agreement to represent MSR in the AMA 250cc Supercross and 250cc Na tional MX Series . Abertyn's new teamm ate, Larry Ward, also cha nged gea r, sig ni ng a co n trac t with Answer. Answer is also sponsorin g the Answerbacked Prima l Impu lse /Bi ll's Pipes /Suz uki 125cc team . Danny "Magoo" Chandler will be bringing his mo tocross trainin g program to Las Vegas, Nevada . An intensive threeday camp is scheduled for December 2729. Interested parties can contac t Chandler a t 530 /367-281 8, or John Silva a t 916/ 367-4920, to reserve a space in the class. A lim it ed number o f ent ries are available. Wo rd from Europ e ha s it th at 125 cc Mot ocross Wo rld C ha mpi o n Allesio Chiodi is ru mored to have inked a dea l with Husqvarna for the 1998 season, and th at Claudio Federici, w ho rode fo r Husq varna last year, will ride a Yamah a. Fr enc h ri d er M ickael Ma s chio w ill tea m with A me rica n Ta ll o n Vohl and o n th e Rin ald i Yamah a tea m in 1998. Maschio fills the space va cated by German Pit Beirer , who backed out of the Rin aldi team af te r a lread y s ig ning a contrac t. World End uro Cha mpio n Shane Walts is set to compe te in the January 1-18 Daka r Rall y with s em ifacto ry su p p o rt fr om KTM. Watts will be join ing fellow KTM rid ers multi-tim e Worl d End uro Cha mpion Giovanni Sala, two-time World MX Champion Heinz Kinigadner (KTM) an d multi-time Four-Stroke World Enduro Champio n Ka ri Tienien in hope s o f dethroning the defe nding and five-t ime Daka r Rally champion Stephane Peterhansel. The even t will ma rk it s 20th anniversary in 1998. Maki ng a return to the Dakar Rally is former winner and three-time 125cc World MX Champion Ga sto n Rah ier of Bel gium. A two-time Dakar winner, Rahier last won the even t 10 years ago . Both his w ins ca me aboa rd BMWs, but he'll be aboa rd a Kawasaki in 1998. The AMA has changed the dates of both the Budd s Cree k National Motocross in Maryland and the So ut hwick Na tional in Massachusetts. Budds Creek will now take pla ce on June 21, wh ile Southwick moves to June 14 - a swa p from the orig inal schedule. BMW will make a return to th e Dakar Rall y in 1998. Four-time Dakar winner Edi Orioli and last yea r's third-place finisher, Oscar Galardo, will ride the singlecylinder BMW F65Os. Will Erion Racing have some compe tition in th e AMA Formula Xtreme class in 1998? Looks like it. Though unwilling to con firm his participatio n in the series, Graves Motorsport s' Ch u ck Grav es is said to be try ing to organize a one-man team to contest the series using Yama ha 's all-new YZF-R1, with Mark Mill er as the rider. Speaking of Graves Motorsports, th e Van N uys, Cali fo rn ia-based co m pa ny has bee n na me d th e western sta tes distri butor for Micheli n Tires' tw o-wheel line - fr om mo u nta in -bike ti res to motocross to road racing . In addition, the company will be providing trackside services at road racing eve nts west of Colo ra do . Fo r m ore in formati o n , ca ll 818/902-0771 . Spanish m ot o rcycle m anufacturer Gas Gas has big plan s for its off-road racing effort in the United Stat es for 1998. Distri bu tor Do n Knigh t, of Sou th Eas te rn Gas Gas, h as s ig ne d form er N ati on al Ha re & Hou n d C ha m pion Greg Zitterkopf to compe te in th e Na tiona l H ar e & Hound Series a nd th e Na tion al Mo tocross Se ries. In a d d ition, Duane Conn er w ill com pe te in th e G ra n d National Cross Country Series for Gas Gas, while Mike Monroe, Clay Boering, Noland Knight and Jay Hall take pa rt in the Na tional End uro Series. In regional eve nts , Gas Gas has also signed George W all e r, Ste v e Nicholas, Hayden Fra nklin and Nath an Knigh t. Former Na tional Enduro Champion Terry Cu nningha m has been named as Gas Gas team manager and coach. Head ing the resear ch-and-d evelopment team will be Don Knight, Cunn ing ha m, Hall and John Ferro . Gary Vanderpool was a member of the winni ng Class 50 team at the recently run Baja 1000. Hi s nam e was inad vertently left off the resul ts in our coverage of the event. After announcing the cancellation of the CC S Su p erTwins cla s s fo r 1998 in a mailing to competi tors, CCS director of Rog er Ed m on d s o n co m pe titio n announced on December 5 that, based on racer feedback, CCS will contin ue to run th e SuperTwins class in ' 98. "We had an no u nced to o ur rid er s tha t we were dro ppin g thi s se pa ra te class for twincylinder mo torcycles," Edm ondson said . "Our initial decis ion was based upo n the competence of the new br eed of tw in s, wh ich are fully capa ble of running with mul ticylinder m achines. However , ou r riders have convinced us that there is still com pelling reason to give our com mu nity of twins riders their own Class, an d we will continue to do so ." A Jerry Fe rr ell Memo ri al Indoor MX w ill be held Ja nuary 9-11 at Su mm it County Arena in Akron, Ohio. Ferrell, a motorcycl e de aler in Medina, Ohio, died o n No vember 21 a t the age of 57 . For mo re informa tion, call 330/ 948-1478. F-USA Ltd. has released the 1998 Form ula USA Seri es sched ule, a series that will feature 14 races held ove r seven rounds . Th e seri es will kick off March 13-15 at Willow Sprin gs Raceway in Rosamond, Ca lifornia , befo re head in g to Sebri ng Int ern ational Raceway in Sebring, Florid a, for round two , April 3-5. Pikes Peak Internati ona l Raceway in Colorad o Springs, Colorado, will hos t round three, May 15- I 7, before the se ries moves to Canada fo r ro un d fou r , Ju ne 5-7, a t Mosport Park in O ntario. Porta nd International Raceway in Portla nd, Oregon, New Hampshire Int ernational Speedway in Loudon, New Ha m pshire, and Pocon o International Raceway in Pocono, Pen nsylva nia , will pl ay host to round s 5-7, July 17-19, August 7-9 and August 28-30, respectively. According to F-USA , th e series will air on Speed vis ion in 1998, 'a n d each even t will pay a m inimum purse of $28,000. For more informa tion, call 530/582-1061. Northern California racing fans will have the opportu ni ty to meet Way ne Rainey o n December 15 from 7 to 10 p .m . a t Spo rt Bike Night at In Cah oots in Sacramento, California . Rainey will be on hand to sig n cop ies of his new book, "Wayne Rain ey : His Own Story ." Fo r mo re informa tion, call 916/373-1557. The la s t CRC race of th e yea r a t LA County Raceway in ' Pa lmd ale, California , will be held o n December 14. The track will reopen for practice on January 10,1 998. Fo r m o re i n for ma tio n, ca ll 805/272-8889. Goat Eyewear has pos ted $38,400 in contingency mo ney for th e GFI Cal ifornia Winter Series th at begins on Janua ry 3 at Perri s Raceway in Perris, California. Goat Eyewear has recen tly introduced the new Goat Goggle to complement the existing line of sung lasses. For more informa tion, call 909/653-4042. Two cha nges to the 1998 World 125 and 250cc Motocross Series were released . recently. The British round of the 125 and 250cc World Ch ampionship will be held in Foxhill on Mav 24; the Brazilian round of the 125cc World Championship will be held on April 5 in Inda iatuba (62 miles north of Sao Paolo) . Ducati has finally announced its second World Superbik e team after negotiations with Alstare broke down, with Alsta re eventually op ting to run Suzukis in 1998, acco rding to Cycle New s corr es po nd ent Paolo Gozzi. Team Ga ll ol one will run o ne of three factory rid ers curren tly under contract with Ducati - Carl Fogarty, Troy Corser or Pier-Francesco Chili but they don't know wh ich one. To furth er com p lica te thi ng s, Luca Cadalora may end up on a facto ry Duca ti in the World Superbike Champions hip. Andrea Merlon i, an Italian team owner, is talking ab ou t ru nnin g th e form er three-time World Cha m p io n if a spo nsor co me s along . Ducati, meanwhile, will be happy to supply a rid er of Cadalora's sta tus a facto ry bike if th at sponsorshi p can be found. Italian road racer Aless an d ro Gramigni will race a Ducati in the World Superbike Champio ns hi p in 1998, joining fo rces with tu ner Domen ico Brigaglia. The former World Cha mpio n and AMA Supe rbike National winner is currently negoti-. ating with potential sponsors. Tri pp Nobles was on hand at the Dunlop tire test at Daytona Intern ational Speed way, December 6-8, bu t a lack of machinery meant that he wasn' t rid ing. Instead he was helpin g out his new Erion Radng teammate Eric Bostrom. Nobles got a call from Kevin Erion about tw o weeks before the Davt ona test after he was well on his way to' a Suzuki Sport rid e. "It didn't take bu t one ph on e call fo say 'yes:" Nobles sa id . The Georgian will be rid in g th e Ho nda CBR900 in the AMA's Formula Xtr eme cl a ss , but will race the 600cc Su perspor t class at Dayton a - th e o ne track o n th e AMA sched ule w hich doesn't have the Xtreme class on the program. "It's the chance to be back with the facto ry a n d you 're mu ch better off," N obl es sa id. "This way, I'm back rig h t unde r the family ten t. It's a heck of a lot less work." His firs t chance to ride the machin ery will likely be during a test at Lagu na Seea in mid -Janua ry . Nob les said that Bostrom will ride bo th the Form ula Xtreme and the 600cc Supersport. They're also likely to be joined by Kurtis Roberts, w ho will race a 600 and a 250. - - - - -- - - Continuedon pa 81 ge

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