Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1998 03 11

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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IN THE WIND Reigning Indoor World Trials Ch ampion Doug Lampkin (Bet) loo ks se t to retain his crown after tak ing the victory in Vienna, Aus tria, on February 20, the penultim at e ro u nd of the ser ies . Steve Colley (G -G) fi nis hed seco n d, w it h Amos Bilbao (G-G) third and David Cobos (G-G) fourth . Lampkin' s mai n rival , Marc CoIomer (Mon), slum ped to fifth pl ace on the night, and Lampkin now leads the series with 111 point s to Col omer' s 96 . Colley is a close th ir d with 91. Th e fir st round of th e AMA Na tional Hot Shoe series was held at Ogleth orpe Speedway in Sa vannah, Georgia, on February 27, wi th Geo rge Roeder II (HD) taking the w in in the 750cc Expert main eve nt. Rich King (H-D) was second, and Chirs Carr (H-D) was thir d . In th e 600cc Expert m ain , Dan St an l ey (R tx) topped the field ahead of Joshua Butler (R tx) an d Ken Cool beth Jr. (Rtx), Despi te two cras hes at rounds 23 and 24 of th e AMA /PJ1 National Arenacross Series, held at the Arco Arena in Sacramento , Ca lifornia, Februa ry 27 -28, Budd y A nt u nez (Suz) stiU holds the series po ints lead . Cliff Pa lmer (Kaw) took the 125cc ma in-event win on Friday, leading Jeff Willoh (Suz) and Mike Jones (Kaw) . In Friday's 250cc main, Ch ad Pederso n (Kaw) took top honors, wit h De n ny Stephenso n (Hon) second and Jeromy Buehl (Hon) third . On Saturday, An tunez won the 125cc main, with Jones and Stephenson rounding out th e top thr ee; Pederson won the 250cc main, followed by Stephenson and Antunez. Desp it e reports to the contra ry , Joh n Kocinski didn' t break any bones in his h a nd d u rin g his recent crash in th e th r ee-d a y IRTA test in Je rez , Spain . Kocinski crashed his MoviSta r Honda Po ns NS R500 at 130 mph. "It wasn' t mu ch fun," Kocinski said. "We were try ing some new chassis parts, and on the seco nd la p I was down . My gloves d idn't have a mark on 'em, but I guess the bike spun around and h it my ha nd . It' s kin d of purpl e, but it still works. I could go ou t and rid e a dirt bike now with out a ny p roblem. Th e test went good . We d id 43s (1:43 lap times) , and one thing about riding a new bike every year, yo u've got to find the limits. It shows I wasn 't jus t toolin g around. Overa ll, it was a positive test and we learn ed a lot. We learned what not to do a nd we won' t be u sin g th ose chassis parts anymore. I figure it's better to d o tha t stuff now tha n at a GP. The team is working really hard and they really are putting in a lot of effort." A ~ ~ Repsol Honda 500cc s tar Tad ayuki Okada finished up fastest following an in tensive four -day test at Eastern Creek over February 24-27, reports Cycle New s contributor Darryl Flack . The Japanese rider upstaged his more fancied rivals w hen he carded a 1:29.8 lap time, the only rid er to break 90 seconds around th e Sydney circui t. Teamma te Mick Doohan he ld sway over m uch of th e test with a 1:30.35, bu t retu rn ed to his Gold Coast home a fte r just two days, claiming that Ho nda may have become com placent following the increasingly com petitive times from Norifumi Abe 's Team Rainey Yamaha an d Nobua tsu Aoki's Suzuki RGV500 . Before Okada recorded h is h o t ti m e , Doohan was qu ot ed in an Australian newspaper as saying, "I hope Honda is not resting on its laurels. The ot her teams have been wor ki ng flat-out over the off-season, Excelsior-Henderson ready to produce H Ow exac tly d o you sell a mot or cycle com pany withou t a mot orcycl e? Or w itho ut a working p roduction lin e? Or with a nam e that has n' t bee n used since the 1930s? Those ques tions have dogged bro thers Dave and Dan Hanl on since they decided to crea te a new motorcycle company in 1993. "It hasn't been easy," Dave Hanlo n sa id. "We've gotte n our sha re of looks. We'v e faced a lot of ske p ticism:' What the Ha nlons have had, however, is a pretty good business plan - at least one good enoug h to convi nce investors and lenders to p on y up more than $61 million in investmen ts and loans. Stockholders alone have invested $46 mill ion since 1993, which in turn has allowed the com pan y to secure ano ther $15.4 million in gran ts an d loans. That level of investment has given the sta rt-u p com pany a solid cac he of cred itab ili ty. Suddenly, the ethe real d rea m th e Hanl ons have bee n selling looks to soon become a reality. There are concrete thi ngs to show dealers a nd pot ent ial customers: actual prototypes, a 175,000-square-foot plant w ith ma nageme nt offices filled with cred ible and bank able execu tives, the sta rt of a produ ction line an d pai nt facility, an d 55 confi rmed dealers. The Han lons showed those thin gs off last week at their new plant in Belle Plaine, Minnesota, in an effort to convert the skeptics who wonder if this unlikely project will get off the gro und. "We've heard so much skepticism, so much dou bt," said Tom Rootness, the company's financial officer. "Even tod ay, after all the success we've had in attracting investors, even after meeti ng every obligation and commitment, we still hear things like, 'The company's broke: or 'They're going out of business: Well, I'm here to say neither is true. We' re raised enough money to carry us through the first production ru n this fall. And that's even if another do llar doesn' t com e in the door. We have already raised enough money to complete the first five-year business plan: ' They also have a management team filled with people who have worked in previous successful start-u ps . In addition to Rootness, the Hanlons introduced their vice president of engineering and manufacturing, Alla n Hurd, who was a key player in the return of Triumph motorcycles; vice p resident of sa les Dave Auring er, w ho was part of th e original sales team that relaunc hed the Sea-Doc bra nd of personal wa tercraft; and di rector of engineering Neil Wright, w ho also worked a t Triumph before sign ing on wi th Excelsior-Henderson. And they have a working prototype - in fact, several working prototypes. Wright said the fina l prototypes won' t be unveiled unti l this year's Stu rgis Rally and Races in August, bu t tha t the design was sufficiently finished to share basic specs. seeing their chance of ge tting a technical advantage from the new fuel regulation , while we rea lly haven 't done anything except to make the bikes more conservative." Honda sched u led the Australian tests, which also included a rain-affected session at Ph illip Island the week prior to Eastern Creek, in a bid to test differen t components and settings best su ited to the unleaded-fuel rules. "We've really had to do a lot of work and I've been jum pi ng an d down quite firmly, comp laini ng to Honda and tr yin g to get everything do ne:' Doohan continued. "I guess the only way to ge t things done, and I hope it doesn' t hap pen, is to get our arses k ick e d in the first race ." Doo ha n added tha t Honda ' s alleged complacency is a product of its "strength in number" stra tegy in 1998, given it has supplied works NSR500s to seven riders. Alex Crivill e survived a heavy tumble on day one of the Eastern Creek test, bu t returned for the final two days to record a best of 1:30.6 using his favored bigbang engine. "The crash ha p pened at turn tw o, b u t it wasn' t too bad," th e Spaniard ex p la in ed , p laying dow n reports that his Repsol Ho nda NSRSOO had bee n badly d amaged in the fall. For his part, the 28-year-old sustained bruising to his ankle, shoulder and the hand whi ch h e injured at last yea r's Dutch G rand Pri x. Commenting on M ick Do ohan' s a ssertion that Honda had become complacent in th e buildup to the 1998 season , Criv ille said, "Honda is As expect ed, the Super X will be a big cruiser, with a 1368cc, 50-degree X-Twi n eng ine, with dua l overhea d cams, four valves per cylinder and electro nic fue l injection - all of it designed and built by Excelsior-H enderson . The most d istinctive qua lity of the bike will be its front en d , w hic h even the H anl on s ad mit will leave many less than en thused. " here are go ing to be people who hate the fro nt end:' Dan T Hanlon said , "b u t that' s all right. We are n' t trying to please eve ry one. We wen t for the d ifferen t look mainly because we wa nted to d ifferentiate ou rselves from the rest of the market. We . never intended to build a Ha rley knock-off. What's the point in I that? We wa nt to offer a legitimate alternative:' I r The Su per X w ill also be slightly more expe nsive than competitive Harley mod els, with the expect ed retail price expec ted to be around $17,500. "We' re targeting the high end of the market:' Au ringe r said. : "We' re selling higher qua lity, better techno logy, bett er compo- ' nent s. You 're go ing to get wha t you pay for." Wh en the Hanlon s first decid ed to bu ild a new motorcycle. j there was only one real op tio n in the cruiser mar ket - Harley. z And while so me would say that is still essentially tru e, there are cer tain ly mo re cruisers ou t there. In addition to new offe rings fro m exis ting ma nu fac ture rs suc h as Honda , Yamaha a nd Kawasaki, ther e is also a new American-made offering fro m Polaris . In addition, Harley has also increased its production capability wit h the opening of a new plant in Kansas City. Still, the Ha nlons believe there's room in the ma rket for their product, in part because they know it isn ' t all about the bike. Yes, they' re h a p p y to point to resea rch tha t indicates lon g- ter m growth for the cruiser segment as a w ho le, bu t they'd rather talk abou t the experience of riding an Excelsior-Henderson. "If we were selling people ju st a mac hi ne, it proba bly wouldn' t work:' Dave Ha nlon said. "But we truly believe that motorcyclin g is more than jus t motorcycles. It's a lifes tyle. It's history. It's freedom. It's individuality. That's wha t we' re offer ing . All of tha t." Whether or not consumers buy int o that remains to be seen. But so far in vestor s and dealers have. And consumers will get their chance this fall w hen the first Super Xs roll off the asse mbly line. Joel Johnson working very hard. It is true the unlead ed -fuel rules have requ ired atten tio n, a nd that is w ha t H ond a a n d Re p sol h a ve been wor ki ng on . Already, the engine acce lera tes a bit bette r than the last time we tested a t Eas tern Creek. I think this year w ill see very close racing betw een five or six bikes. I think it will be very good for motorcycle racing ." Tadayuki Okada has pred icted he will accomplish five 500cc GP wi ns in 1998. Okada's bold forecas t was ma de before he upstaged Mick Doohan a t a recent multi-team test at Easte rn Creek. In an interview in Austra lasian Mot orsport News, Okada said, "I think this season we can take five w ins, " he clai med, adding that his d efeat of the four-time World Ch ampion at th e Ind on es ia n Grand Pri x last September has fueled his confidence. Okada rev ealed tha t he had yet to decide which of thr ee Ho nda engines he will use, and indicated he may swap between the different configurations th rou gh out th e year. Okada also opined that, desp ite his hot testing fo rm, new MoviS tar Ho n da sig ning Joh n Kocinski may not have it as easy as some observers think . "It will be tou gh fo r Koci ns ki. Las t year already the 500s were m uch fas ter than they were tw o years before w hen he raced them. It wi ll be difficult for him, and for me:' As reported last week, Spaniard Sete Gibernau, who sat in for injured Honda Grand Prix V-twin rid er Takuma Aoki a t recent tes ts a t Aus tra lia 's Eastern : Creek circuit, is ind eed going to replace Aoki for the 1998 season. Gibernau flew I to Japan afte r the test to sign a con tract wit h Ho nda at HRC headquart ers. "I' rn ' absolu te ly over th e moon," Gibernau said abo u t secu ring a ride for w ha t w ill be his second yea r in th e 500cc World C hamp io ns hi p . "I feel grea t. It ' s li ke being in heaven . The team is fan tastic , and I'm convi nced I will not waste this incredi ble op portu nity tha t th e Repsol Honda team is giving me:' In a recent co nversa tion with Stefan Everts, the Belgian revealed he wo n't be co mi ng to the Un ited States to race a , Na tiona l Mo to rcoss th is year, repor ts Cycle News co ntributor Eric Johnson. "Unfo rtu na tely, I wo n't be able to do an AMA National this year li ke I did in , 1997 because the only open date on the FIM Gra nd Prix schedule that was avail able for me to come to America has now I been taken up by the Na m ur, Belgiu m, 500cc Gra nd Prix, " Eve rts sa id abo u t possi bly riding the Washougal National, I w hich takes place on August 2 - th e same day as the 500cc GP. "As I told . you over the win ter, it has always been ' my dream to ride in that race and now I will be able to do it as a wild card - I'm real stoked about it. However, I really hope to be back to race a Na tional in America in 1999:' As far as his off-season is conce rned, Everts is satisfied with how things have been going in prepara- r ti on for the new season. "I' m rea ll y happy wi th the new bike," the Ho nda- ,

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