Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND Buddy An tu nez (Suz ) came aw ay wit h both the 125- a nd 250cc-class wi ns in ro und s nin e a n d 10 of the AMA /PJI Arena cross Series in G u th rie , Okla homa, January 9-10, thou gh thos e wins came on a lt ernat in g nights. An tu nez topped "Denny Stephenson (Ho n) and Ch ad Pe derson (Kaw ) to win the 125cc fin al on Friday night, then came ba ck on Saturday night to win the 250cc final after besting Cliff Pa lmer (Kaw) a nd Jim Ch ester (Suz). Friday night's 250cc main wa s won by jeremy Buehl (Ho n), over Antune z and Cameron T ay lo r (Suz). On Saturday night, Palmer won th e 125cc Pro class over An tunez and Stephen son. After 10 of 28 r ound s, Antunez holds down the series point s lead over Palme r, 311-299.' Ped erson is th ird wit h 298 poin ts. . Rusty Holland (Su z) dom in a ted th e openi ng ro u nd of th e CMC /SunStar Go lden State N at ionals Sou th, he ld a t Glen Helen Raceway in San Bern ardino, Califo rnia, on January 11, by wi nning be th the 125 and 250cc Pro classe s . Casey Lytle (H o n ) a n d Bader Manneh (Kaw) fi nishe d se cond and th ird , re s p e ct iv ely in th e 125cc Pro class, wh ile Remy Van Rees (Kaw) and Scott Brown (Kaw) followed Ho lla nd across the finish line in the 250cc Pro class. Spud Walters (Yam) won both rou nd one a nd round two of the PAC E OffRoad Stad iu m Series, held in St. Louis, Missouri, and Hou ston , Texas, on January 7 and 12, res pectively, on a Yamaha YZ400F. The series is like th e defunct Mickey Thompson Off-Road series, bu t allows on ly fou r-s tro ke mot orcycles to compete in the motorcycle class. 00 0'\ 0'\ ,..... 2 Many of the top AMA Superbike teams have recently co mpleted testing at Willow Sprin gs Raceway in Ros am ond , C alifornia, in preparation for th e National that wi ll be held at th e facility on April 26 - and the old lap record is alr eady a thing of the past. The quickes t thus far is Fast By Ferracci's Mike Hale, w ho lapped at 1:20. 9, ne arly a fu ll s eco n d und er th e lap r ecord . Defend ing Su pe rbike Champion Doug Chandler tested at Willow on January 7 and 8, lapping at 1:21.5 on th e su perbike and 1:24.2 on his ZX-6 Supersport b ike. "The 600 w en t reall y good ," Ch a n d ler sa id . "The track loo ks th e sa me as it did in 1990 - the last time I was t here. I guess they re paved it and widened it, but it looks the sa me . It was fine. It's a good race track." Sharing the two d a y s wit h Muzzy Kawasaki 's Chand ler and Tom my Hay den was the Yamaha pairi ng of Rich Oliver and Jamie Hacking. Oliver lapped at 1:21.7, w it h Hack in g slightly fast er at 1:21.6. Hype rC y cl e ' s Jaso n Pri d mo re a nd Nic ky Hayden also tested on Jan uary 7 and 8, while the facto ry Honda duo of M igu el DuHa mel a n d Ben Bostrom were scheduled to test on Mond ay, Janu ary 12. Most of th e teams ha ve also sc he d u led da tes fo r both Sears Poi nt and Laguna Seca Raceway in No rthe rn Cali fornia . Acco rd ing to Cycle N ews co n tribu to r Darry l Flac k, r ei gn ing A us t r a li a n Su p erbi ke Cha m p io n Martin Craggill ma y not be able to com pete in the Aus tralian ro u nd of the World Superbike C ha m pio ns hi p o n M arch 22 . T eam Kaw a saki Aus tr a lia te am m a n a g er Pet er Do yl e ha s ad m it ted th at costly factory tires ma y kee p them out of the ra ce , th ou gh Cragg ill says "we'll be there someho w." According to Doyle, to qualify, prac tice a nd ra ce th e two Ka wasaki ZX-7R race bikes, some 60 factory Dunlop tires would be required a t a cos t o f w ell o ve r $20 ,000. " It 's so me thing we'd like to 0.0, bu t we really ha v e to co me u p with th e money fro m so mew he re - ei th e r t hro ug h Kawasaki·Australia or ou r sponso rs ," Doy le sa id . " We ha v e a h ea v y race sc h ed u le in ' 98, what w it h th e tw oplus-four sup erbikes and the new bigbor e prod uc tio n cla ss, so w e co u ld n' t _ budget for jus t a on e-off even t like the w orld s u pers , which naturally w e 'd like to do . To have any chance of bein g within shot of the TV cam er as, and to give Ma rty and Damon (Buckm as te r) their best chance, we need a full co mp le m ent of t he s a me Dun lo ps th e works tea ms are ru nn ing . I w ou ld n' t do it any othe r wa y." Racin g legends Gary Nixon and Don ' Emde will lead a squad of 10 Ll.S. and Ca na dia n road ra cers agai ns t a team from the Uni ted. Kingd om an d Europe in the opening tw o round s of the Historic Team Challenge March 2-3 , a t Daytona Interna tional Speedwa y in Daytona Beach, Florid a. The four-race series is bei ng organi zed by AH RMA and Engla nd's Mallo ry Park , wi th rounds th ree a nd four scheduled for Mallory on June 14. Other mem bers of the tea m are as follows: Mitch Boehm, Will Harding, Todd Henning, Ru s ty Lowry, Cr a ig McLea n , Larry Poo ns, Ada m Popp and Jay Richar d so n. Robert "Gabby" Gabbert, 63, died on December 26, 1997 at his hom e in Orego~. Gabbert was a lon gtim e member of th e Sierra Old Timers MC, a racer and a former Hod a ka shop owne r. He is survived by his wife, Mim i. T he La ke Elsi nore, Califo rnia , City Planning Commission will ho ld a hearing at 7 p.m . on Wednesday, January 21, to d ecid e the fat e of the mot ocr oss racing and trainin g fa cili ty proposed b y Lake Elsinore Champi onship Motocross (LECM ). Locat ed on 95 acr es ad jacent to the Lak e Elsi no re Diamond Stadium, LECM h a s pl an s drawn fo r four se pa ra te m ot ocr os s trac ks . The hearing w ill be held at th e Lake Elsinore Cultural Ce n ter. Int erested p arties are en coura ged to a ttend. Fo r mo re in fo rma tion , call 909/ 5226001. Ten-time Baja 1000 Champion Larry RoeseIer will host a series of Baja rides in 1998. Three-, fou r-, six - and eig htday p a ckag es a re available, with an eig ht-day trip scheduled for the end of March with overnight s tays in Santo Tomas, Mike's Sky Ranch, Go n zaga Bay , P uerto Sa n Francisquito, Sa n [uanico, Mulege and Loreto. All bik es will be trucked back to the border, and ai rfare is inclu d ed in the p rice of the tour. The first of th e Roesele r trips is scheduled for February 27-Ma rch 1. For more informa tion , call Ti m Cla rk a t 818/957-1166. Team Obso lete Prom otions has awarded th e H ail w o od T rop hy to Da ve Pilther, U.K. team ca p tai n a n d h ig h p oint scorer in th e Tran s-At lan t ic Ma tch Race, held October 26, 1997 at Day to na Int ernat ion al Speedway. The Hailwood Trophy is based on the FIM cu p th at Mik e Hailwood won on his MV Ag usta a t th e U.S. Gra nd Pri x a t Da yt ona in 1965. Th e trophy will be passed a long to fu ture Trans-A tlantic M at ch Ra ce w in n ers, accordi ng to Team Obsolete. Peterhansel maintains lead in Dakar Rail F ive-time Dakar Rally winner Stephan e Peterhansel is on track to claim his record sixth victo ry at the 20th annual Paris-Grenada-Dakar Rally. . The French rider leads the field after 11 of the 18 stages, and while KTM riders are bre at hin g down his neck, the Yamah a-m ounted rid er now has a 2o.minute lead ove r second- placed Rich ard Sai nct, w hile Fabricio Meoni is more than 25 minutes behind in third place. So far, several favored rid ers have pulled out, including BMW's en trant Edi Oriol i, whose machine expi red two da ys befo re the rest d ay. American Pa ul Kra use (KTM) holds down 25th place after a great 12th overall in the la test stage. Other not ab le riders and their positions are Au s tralian Safari wi nner Andy Hayd n (KTMJ in 5tjl pla ce, ISDE-legend Giova nni Sala (KTM) in seventh place and Engla nd's John Deacon (KTM), who hold s eighth place. . While it is tru e that KTM riders hol d d own 22 of the top 30 positions, the only hop e for KTM is a DN F by Peterhansel, an d the Frenchma n is acu tely aware of this fact. "I have a good lead," Peterha nsel said . "It's up to the others to decrease it. I can ride a little safer now ." Geoff Meyer AMA D-36 sa nction s te w a r d Dave Pickett is ru nni ng fo r the California Sta te Assem bly sea t bein g vacated by anti-two-stroke law su pporter Barbara Alby. Pickett is th e b roth er-in-l aw of California Off-H igh way Vehicle Co mm ission head Cliff Glid den. For more information, call 916/983-1336. Craig Erion has a nnou nced th a t Two Brothers Racing will contes t the AMA Su perbike ational Champio ns hi p on Suzuki GSX R750s w it h racers Steve Teschke and Dal e Kieffer. Both rid er s will co m pete in AMA Superbi ke and AMA 750cc Supers po rt on the Suz u kis. . In a d ditio n to T eshke a nd Ki effer, Erion's team will also co nsist of Kid s Don ' t Smok e!-backed Chris Ulrich, who will rid e a Yamaha TZ250 in the 250ce G rand Prix Series. Th e Tw o Brothers te am w ill u se Pirell i tir es , thou gh Ulr ic h's TZ250 will b e fitt ed with Michelins. Road racer Michael Barn es will race a Team G Motorsports Harley-Davidson VR1000 in the 1998 AMA /MBNA Su perbi ke Nati onal Championship, acco rdi ng to a press release issued by the team. The America n Sidecar Com pe tition As soci a tio n will h old a sidecar motocross at th e Monst er Jam even ts in Los Ange les and San Diego, California, on January 17 and February 14, respecti v e ly . Fo r more info rma tion , call 909/941-6410 . HaTley-Davidson celebrated th e firs t motorcycles to come off the prod uction line at its ne west plant in Kan sas Ci ty, Missouri, on January 6. After more than a yea r of p re pari ng t he $85 million, 330,00o.squa re"foo t facili ty, mo re tha n 200 employees, their fa milies and commu nity lea ders celebra ted the event at the new plan t. "The Kansas City plant is a n .ev o lu tio n a ry tu rn in g po int in Harley-Davi dso n's hi st ory , " said Harley -Davidson CEO Jeff Bleust ein . "We' ve bee n able to utilize in forma tio n .an d ideas g lea ne d fro m our existing facilities over the years to create, from a clea n s heet of p aper, a co lla bora tive wo rki ng enviro nment for mot or cycl e p roduction ." Ha rley-Dav idson expec ts to produce at least 145,000 mot or cycles in 1998 - up fro m 131,000 in 1997. In a recen t AMA Pro Co mpetitio n bullet in , certain Supersport road racing rules wer e outlined; most notable were th ose pert aining to fu el-inj ection control modules . Acco rding to the release, "all com ponents involved in fue l-in jecti on sys te ms mu st rema in s ta n dard exce pt e lec t ro nic con tro l m odul es, w hich can be replaced wi th aftermarket m odu les ." To m ake certai n th a t th e rules are followed , the AMA has made th e following co m ponents su bjec t to clai mi ng : fuel-in jection electro nic con trol modu le ($750); Ign it ion co n trol module ($400); exhaust system ($650). The 30 th a n n ual A MA 12 5 /250c c a tio na l Mo tocross at Hangt own on M a y 17 w ill includ e a n invi ta tio na l four-stroke /Open bike . shootout. Twen ty unlimited Pro fou r-stro kes will battle 20 unlimited Pro tw o-stroke open bikes . For mor e information, call Mike Young Sr. at 530 /365- 1979. Former World Superbike Champi on Fre d Merkel ha s s ta r te d a casual sportswear line for motorcycle riders and fan s. The s p or ts w ea r is made in New Zealand, where Merkel currently resides, and will be retailed in motorcycle dealerships worldwide. For more information, call 011 164-7-378-2571 or fax 011/64-7-378-2592. German 600cc Su perspor t Champion Amulf Teuchert is looking for a ride on a Yamaha in th e 600cc Super spor t race a t Dayt on a Internationa l Sp eedway during Bike Week . Inter est ed part ie s can co ntac t h im a t h is fa the r' s Yamaha d e a lersh ip in Ger ma n y at 011 149-9 151-824870 or fa x at 011 /4 99151-824872. The first American Supercamp d ir t trac k school of the new year is sched uled for Janu ary 17-18 in Dallas, Texas. The seco n d sc hool wi ll be h eld in Lafaye tte, Indiana, on Mar ch 20. 23. For mo re in formation, call 970/669-4322, or check th eir webs ite a t http :/ / w w w . americansuperca rnp .com. Craig "Spike" Crieth, 48, d ied at his home in App le Vall ey, Ca lifornia, on January 5, after a lon g battle wi th cancer. Cri eth wa s a form er mechan ic for s peedway cha m p io ns Bru ce Penhall a n d Bobb v Sch wa r tz wh en th e du o were in th~ir heyday back in the earl y '80s. Crieth a lso se rved a s th e trac kpreparation man a t th e fabl ed Inland Motor Speed w ay , Ascot Park' s Sou th Ba y Sta di u m a nd Co sta Mesa Spee dway facilities. Crieth is su rvived by his wife, Patti, and sons Aaron, Nick and

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