Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1998 07 01

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 .~ ",.. I~ 'r " ,." .", ",. Belgian Jo e l Sm e ts (H bg) won both motos to win the Czech Republic round of the World Championship 500cc Motocross Series, held in Loket on June 21. Sm et s topped Pe t e r Johan s son (Yam) and Johan Boonen (Hus) to win the first moto, and th en came back to beat Darry ll Kin g (Hus) and Johansson in the second inoto. Smets now lead s King by 19 points after seven rounds, 226-207. And rea Bartolini (Yam), who was ninth in the first moto by d id not finish the seco nd , is th ird in the series s ta nd ings with 159 p oin ts, just th ree ahea d of his teammate Johansson. • Michael Ta ylor (Kaw) wo n the th ird rou nd of the Toyota Can ad a Superbike Cha mpio ns hip, held on Jun e 21 a t the Chilliwac k Mun icipal Airport in British Columbia, Canada . Taylor topped Don Munroe (Kaw) a n d Jordan Szoke (Kaw). Monroe lead s the champio nship over Szo ke, 131-106. Th e 600cc Superspo rt class was won by Owen Weichel fSuz) over Szoke, wi th Taylor also winning the Open Spo rtbike feature. Steve Hislop (Yam) and Niall Mackenzie (Yam) split wins in the fifth rou nd of the British Superbike Championsh ip at Donington Park on June 21. Hislop bea t James Haydon (Suz) an d Chris Walker (Ka w) to win the first race with Mackenzie topping Hislop an d Hayd on in the second race. Hislop now leads the series standings from Mackenzie, 183-176: Doug Dubach (Yam) was the big winner at the inaugural Over The Hill Gang Mammoth Mou ntain Motocross , held in Mammoth Lakes, Califo rnia, June 20-21. Dubach won the Pro ra ce over Scott Myers (Yam) a n d Willie Musgrave (Ha n), a nd a lso top p ed the In dust ry Dash race, followed by Spud Walters (Yam) and Ty Davis (Yam). Defending Na tio nal Ch ampion James Large (H-D) wo n his first race of the seaso n in th e third ro und of th e AM A Na tional Hillclimb Series, held in Avoca, New York, on June 21. Large beat Lou Gerencer (H-D) and Glen Petty Jr. (HD) to wi n th e 800cc class w hile Terry Thompson (BSA) wo n the 540cc class. Scott McNeely (Ho n) and David Wat son (Hon) finished sec ond and th ird , respectively, in the 540cc class. Thre e-tim e Worl d Ch ampio n Luca Cadalora has signed a two- race contract to ride the official facto ry Suzu ki in the Dutch and British rounds of the World Cha mpionship Road Race Series, scheduled for June 27 and July 5, respectively. Cada lora , -34, signed the two- race deal after setti ng fastest time on the bike during private tests at the Cata lunya GP cir- . cuit in Spain. Without a full-tim e ride in 1998, Cadalora raced in the last two GPs a s a su bs ti tu te rider for Jean-Michel Bayle on the Team Rainey Yamaha. The Italian was fighting for the lead on the YZR500 in th e Madrid Grand Pri x on Jun e 14 when the bike su ffered an engine failure. Cadalora seemed to ge t alo ng well with the new Suzuki in his first outing. "I was faster almost immediately," Cadalora said. ·"Of cou rse, it' s no t perfect, but it seems like a very good bike - a smooth bike. It's a new design, so I think it has a lot of po tential. I am looking forwa rd to the chance of tryin g to help with the deve lo pmen t." The Suz uki tea m sho uld benefit from Cada lora's 15 years of GP-racing experience. "He helped us a lot in hi s firs t d ay," team man ager Garry Taylor said . "We were able to get throu gh a hu ge amou nt of wor k. As he ha s had not o the r co m m it me nts, we offered him the chance to race the bike in the next two rounds to continue d evelopme nt." Cadalora will join Nobuatsu Aoki on the team , repl acing the injured Yukio Kagaya ma . Ho t on the heels of the an nouncement that Cada lora will ride the factory Suzuki comes wo rd from Yama ha that JeanMichel Bayle may still not be ready for actio n in the Du tch Gra nd Prix on June 27. Bayle pa rticipa ted in the recent twoday test in Spain, but the 29-year-old suffered headaches tha t caused him to end the test early. The headache is a remnant of the injury that has kept him out of action since a p reseason cras h in Malaysia. "Jean-Michel knows what he ha s to do to be ready," team owner Wayne Rainey said . "He knows the line tha t exists for me to be satisfied tha t he can race because he fee ls exac tly the same. I told him after the test to spend the next couple of days on a motocross bike so that he's su re he is up to a fu ll Grand Prix next wee kend. I'm wa iting for him to let me know what his decision is. If he do esn 't ride next weekend (a t . Assert), then he won't rid e at Donin gton either becau se it's only a week after. As far as Luca (Ca da lo ra) is conce rned , I wish him well. I asked him to do a job for me and he fulfilled everything as ked of him . I wa nted him to pro ve that the Yama ha is a good bike and he did it. It's just a shame that we didn 't get tha t win in [a ra rna. Unfo rtuna tely, with ou r circumstances with Jean-Michel, we were not in a p o sit ion to commit to Luca beyond two races and Suzuki obvio usly was. I haven't ruled out Jean-Michel, but if he is not ready then I think we shall only run (Norick ) Abe ." Rodney Smith (Suz) scored the overall win at the MSR/Pro Grip National Reliability Enduro Championships a t th e Loretta Lynn ' s Ran ch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, June 20-21 . Second overall went to Mike Lafferty (KTM) wh o was followed by Barry Hawk (Yam) , Ch ri s Smith (Ho n) and Rob bie Je nks (Yam) . Class championsh ips went to Smith and Lafferty in the Light and Heav yweight Two-Stroke classes, and Chris Smith, Hawk and Scoll Summers (H a n ) in th e 250, 400 and 500cc FourStroke classes, respectively . Jeff Fr edelle (Kaw) wo n the Senior class Champio nship. sentation d el Deporte SA, the Spanish sports management and mar keting company that organizes and owns all commercial rights associated with the World Championship Road Race Series. CVC, a lead ing Eu ro pea n pri vate-entit y provider, paid $86 million for the operation . The management team, meanwhile, led by Carmelo Expeleta, will hold 12 percent of the equity, with CVC holdin· the remaining amount. Dorna currently employs 250 people wo rldwide and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It's official: Yamah a has sig ned Kevin Windham to a con tract through the year _ 2000. The former two-tim e AMA 125cc Wes t Su percross Champion an d th reeti m e 250 cc Supercross winn er w ill .re m ain wi th the te am fo r tw o mo r e yea rs. "I' m so exci ted to continue my re lations hip with Yama ha, " Wind ham sa id . "With Team Yama ha, my ra cin g su ccesses ha ve increased each yea r and the next step is winning a 250 cha mpions hip. It's great to have my contract finished so early in the season - it demonstra tes the commi tment on bot h par ties' behalf. During the off-season, I can concentrate solely on my preparation for the 1999 season. I've already tested the '99 YZS and I know they a re capable of winning. I'm already fired up for next yea r." To make itself bet ter equi pped to "react, mor e aggressively, quickly and efficiently " to its North Ame rican di st ributor a n d re tai l dealer ne twork, Metzeler Relfen GmbH has announced a restructurin g of its North American operation, cha nges th at w ill affect both Metzeler and Pirelli motor cycle tires. A bill to pa rtl y repeal Californ ia's 6year-old motorcycle helmet law stalled on T uesdav, Ju n e 16, in t h e Se na te Tra ns portation Committee . The bill by Asse mblywoma n Denise Du ch eny was scheduled for conside ration by the ninem embe r co m mit tee bu t was pulle d becau se it d idn't have enough su pport to reach the full sena te. Vintage Iron an d th e Primm Racing Collection have been se lected to provide the Guggenhei m Museum in Ne w York Cit y with a restored 1973 Hond a Elsino re 250 for d isplay in its "The Art of th e Mot orcycl e" ex h ib ition, w hic h runs from June 24 through to Sep tember 20. For more inform ation on the exhibit , ca ll th e Gu g g enh eim Mu seum a t 212/423-3500. Aramel Racing will present the winners of every race during the July 18-19 Willow Springs Motorcycle Club race weekend with a 25-per cen t d iscoun t certificate for Race Tech products, a Pen sk e Shocks rebate coupo n wo rth up to $175 and a 25-percen t d iscount on the installation of these products wi th GM D Computrack LA. For mo re .inform ation, call 760/ 728-4397. CVC Capital Partners Espana released info rma tion on June 18 rega rdi ng their buyout of Dorna Promotion de Rep re- ~ ~~~~~~oo:!,~~~~y~~oo!.~,~~!'~:? ~ ,"h ; ~ 00 0\ 0\ ~ ..... . >-. ;:; -. 2 Grand Prix of the yea r in h is ho me coun try at Vojens Speedway Centre in Denmark. ' The Grea t Dane, w ho sta rted his caree r in the 70s, pulled off a stunning victory ove r Eng lan d 's Ch ris Lou is a nd runaway cha mpio ns hip leader Ton y Rickar d sson . Reigning World C h a m pio n G reg Hancock finni sh ed s ix t h, a n d th at was eno ug h to ensu re he starts the next Grand Prix - in the main even t - a t his "home" tra ck in the British Leag ue, Co vent ry on Aug us t 7. But the s hock elimina tion of the race came at the expe nse of Han cock' s Team Exide/Coven try Bees colleag ue Billy Ham ill, wh ose failure to qu alify for the main eve nt was the talking point. Ham ill man aged only tw o rid es as he fell victim to the new race format and went ou t of the mee t with a third -placing in heat 15. Qci'g,;' ered pace as the "big gu ns" came on the track and then many of them we re soo n to be forgo tten. Ham ill was the first to go to the showers as soo n as heat 15 when he finished third behind Jason Crump and Brian Karger. The next heat saw Henk a Gus tafsson and Andy Smith on their w ay hom e. Also out of th e top eight we re Jimmy Nil sen and Tomaz Go llo b: w ho bo th failed to mak e th e se m ifi nals a fte r reaching previous fina ls. Han cock finished thir d in the con solati on race beh ind Ton i Kasper and Bria n Karger, wit h Mark Loram in fourth spot, w hile in the final a regenerated Nie lsen, wit h arm s and legs seeming ly tak in g up ha lf the track, fended off the cha llenges of Louis, Rickardsson and Jason Crump. John Hipkiss Th e AMA mad e it officia l on Jun e 15, form all y a nnou ncing th at it will sa nction the U.S. Open of Supercross in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 10-11. "Th e hi gh-st akes pu rse a nd th e prestige of MGM Grand will make the Ll.S, Open of Su percross a top-shelf destination for racers and fans alike . Having the race in Las Vegas adds a lot of international a p peal. We expec t the U.S. Open o f Supe rcross to draw audiences from around the world ." In addition to boasting a field that includes the likes of Jeremy McGrath, Greg Albertyn, Jeff Emig, Jimmy Butto n, Mike Craig, John Dowd, Doug Henry, e tc., the ra ce will also ma rk the 250cc Su percross debut of Ricky Carmichael. "I' m very excited ," C armich ael said . " It will be my fi rst 250cc Su percross race, and all in 'Ill, it. will be a big and new race for us. I don' t kn ow h ow I'll d o ye t, b u t I'm rea lly loo king forward to going to Las Vegas and doin g it." Formula USA has announced that it has re s tructu re d th e purse p ayout for it; ' Fo rm u la USA Series races. Beginning w it h th e Portlan d , Oregon, r ound on . July 19, the purse will pay down to 30th;' p la ce in ea ch r a ce. Th e total F-USA purse a t eac h event is $20,500 w it h $2300 going to the winner of each race. The Formula USA race at Port land Inter-( nat ion a l Ra cewa y will a lso feat u re a ' Super IT, a Superbikers-li ke race, organized by f ormer Natio nal Motocross , Champion Chuck Sun. For mo re info rmation, call 503/977-9760 . Specially prepared Hu sqvarna motorcycles will be available fo r ren t for the 1998 ISDE, scheduled for November ioIS in Aus tralia. Quantity is limited and all inq uiries must be faxed to Husky Mo to r Imports at 011/61/ 247-35-7655. For more information, call Cagiva USA at 215/ 830-3300. Dick Mann and Leroy Winters will hos t a n ISDT reunion Octobe r 3-4 at th e BYRD's Campground near Fort Smith, Arkansas . Th e re u nion will feature a two-d ay ride in the Oza rk Nationa l Forest w ith specia l tests and a grass-tra ck m ot ocro ss . The reun ion w ill fo llow AHRMA ru les. Larry Mai ers w ill host th e banqu et o n October 3. Fo r m ore information, call 501/646-1168. Ph oenix International Raceway is set to start cons truc tion on a SODO-sea l gra ndstand that will bring the track's reserved sea ting capaci ty to more than 72,000. Six luxury suites w ill also be added at the top of th e gra nds ta nd. Th e project is expected to be completed in time for the track' s NASCAR event, October 22-25.

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