Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND After the full program of heats and semis was completed, the Lima Half Mile AMA G rand National Cha m p io ns hi p round of June 27 was rained out. Upon officially canceling the event after heavy th under a nd lightning, followed by a burst of dense rain, put the safety of the race in qu estion, AMA officials elected to pay the race off by heat-race times and award National points to each of the 18 main-event qualifiers. Chris Carr (H-D) was cred ited with first place by virtue of the four-minute, 15.881-second time .that he posted en route to winning the firs t heat race. Dan Stanley (H-D) was credited with second and Steve Beattie (H-D) with third . Steve Morehead (H-D), who celebrated his 25th year in AMA Grand National Cha mpionship competition (see story, page 25), was fourth fastest. Bobby " Bo og a l oo " Schwartz (G M) scored ano ther milestone victory to ad d to his Wo rl d Cha m pions hi p-win n in g resume by wi nnin g the in au gural Jack Milne Cup at Cos ta Mesa Sp eed wa y in Costa Mesa, California, o n Ju ne 27 . Schwa rtz held off Cha rlie Venegas (Jaw) , Brad Ox ley (G M) , Ch ris Manch est er (Jaw) an d Josh Larsen (GM). Sch wartz thus becomes the first to have his nam e emblazoned on the Queen's Coronation Race cup, which was won by Milne, the 1937 World Speedway Champion and first American ev er to win a world championship motorcycle-racing title. The Art of the Motorc cle he Art of the Motorcycle, a chronological display of more tha n 100 mo torcycles that expl ores the motorcycle as both cultural icon and design and te chnical ac h ie ve men t, opened Ju ne 26 at the prestigious Sol omon R. Gu ggenheim Museum on Manhattan's Upper West Sid e in New Yor k City. The exhibit, whi ch runs through September 20, chro nicles the decisive mo ments in the evolution of motorcycle technology and design, and places the bikes in the context of the er a. Every age in motorcycling is rep resented , from the Frenchmade 1868 Michaux-Perreaux - basically a steam engine attached to 'a bicycle - to the 1998 MV Agusta F4, on loan from King Juan Ca rlos of Spai n . In between there is a Hild ebrand & Wolfmu ller (made in Ge rma ny in 1984), the 1911 Harley-Davidson eightva lve BTR (board-track racer), the 1923 BMW R32, the 1970 Ho nda CB750 Four, the 1973 MV Agusta 750S, a road-going versio n o f th e World Cha m pionship-winning mot or cycles of the 1960s and 7 0s, and the Phil ip pe Star ck-designed Ap rilia Moto 6.5, one of the high -con cep t motor cycles of the '90s. "The mot orcycle embod ies so ma ny of the themes of this centu ry - technology, speed, rebellio n, transformation - that it serves as the ideal vehicle, if you wi ll. for jus t such an exploration," said T Johnny Campbell (Hon) rod e to victory in the Best in the Desert Silver State 300, held in Mesquite, Nevada, on June 27th. The team of Ty Davis and Donnie Book (Yam) finished second , whi le Eric Hallgath and Mike Healy (KTM) teamed up to finish third. Defendi ng champ Mike Lafferty (KTM) turned in a 31-point sco re to wi n round eigh t of th e AMA / Ace rbis Na tio na l Cha mpions hi p End uro Series, held in Akely, Min neso ta, on Ju ne 28th. Matt Stavish' (He n) a n d Randy Hawkins (Yam) tied with a 41, bu t Stavis h got the nod for second overall via a tie breaker. Jimmy Lamastus (Hbg) step ped up to the top of the podium at the fifth round of the AMA Wes te rn Four-S t roke National MX Series , held in Denve r, Colorado, on June 28th . Greg Schnell (Yam) fi nished seco nd, followed by Scott Myers (Yam), series po in ts leader and defend ing cha m p Lan ce Smail (Hbg), and Robert Naughton (BBR). each time out, while Ca na dian Dennis Hansen (Ric) topped Dick Mann (Mo n) an d Rob Poole (BSA) in the 500cc Expert classes. Jordan Szoke (Kaw) scored the first Toyo ta Ca na da Superbik e Cha mpionship wi n of his career at Race City Speedway in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on June 28. The 19-year-old beat Benoit Pilon (Yam) an d Martin Gaudreault (Kaw) on a rainsoa ked race track to take the win. Szoke now leads Pilon in the championship point s ta ndi n gs , 156-141 after th ree rounds. In support-class action, Owen Weichel (Suz) and Michael Taylor won the 600cc Supersport and Open Super spo rt classes, respectively. Doug Dubach (Yam) topped Stephane Ron cada (Ho n) and Ty Da vis (Yam) to win the 250cc Pro class at the Mammoth Motocr oss, held in Mammoth Lakes, Californi a , Jun e 25-28. Duba ch also topped th e Vet Pr o cla ss , wh ile J iri Do stal (Suz) h ead ed Ru s ty Holland (Hon) a nd Casey Ly tle (Hon) in th e 125cc Pro class. Other winners included Spud Walters (Yam) in the Four-Stroke Pro class; Holland in the Open Pro class; Jonathan Shi m p (Yam) in the Mini Pro class; Dee Wood (Kaw) in the Women's Pro class; and Rex Staten in the Senior Pro class. Ez ra Lusk's facto ry Hon da mechanic, Mike Go sselaar (Hon), won the Senior Intermediate class, and James Stewart (Kaw) ca me ou t fro m Florida and topped the Mini Intermed iates. Former 500cc Wor ld Champion Kev in Sch wan tz ran as high as second befo re su fferi ng a mechanical failure that put him ou t of the Lysol 200 at Watkins Glen' in New York, on Jun e 28. Schwantz had qua lified se ven th a nd appeared to be headed for his first top-five finish; the Texan is still in the hunt for Rookie of the Year hon ors in the NASCA R Busch Series. Gra yson Hart (Ho n) cleaned up by wi nning four classes at the 13th annual Steve McQueen Memorial Vin tage AHRMA Mo tocross, held in Eugene, Oregon, on Ju ne 28th. Hart won the 125cc, 250cc, Over 30 and Open Evolution classes. Joe Casey (Hon) fin is hed seco n d to Hart Road racer Brett Metzger is "awake and talking, " according to Penguin Racing School's Jerry Wood. The New Englander suffered a fractu red sku ll and fractu red his left elbow in a practiee-session crash on Friday, June 19 at New Hampsh ire Interna tional Speedway. Later in the hos- SBRIS emo ff Br oth e rs Ra cin g (Ya m) wo n th e fo u r- hou r WERA ation al Endurance Seri es race at Ind ianapolis Raceway Park in Ind ian apolis, Indiana, on Jun e 27. Fires torin Racing (Suz) and Te am Dreaded (Ya m) rounded ou t the top three finishing teams. Tho mas Krens, d irector of the Solomo n R. Guggenheim Founda tion. "It is in 'the context of the Guggenheim's expa nd ed mission that this extraord ina ry exhibition has been realized ." In additio n to the exhibit, the mus eum has publis hed a 600page catalogue available at the Guggenh eim Muse um sto res or by calling 800-329-6109. The museum, in association wit h Unive rse Books, will also p ublish "Mo torcycle Mania: The Biker Book." There are also pu blic programs, including "The Motorcycle on Screen," a series of approximately 40 films and videos that . includes such classics as "The Wild One" and "Easy Rider." An evening with "Easy Rider" star Den nis Hopper will be part of the series. There wi ll be a special lectu re on motorcycle design as well as a summer beer tasting. In designing the exhibit, archi tect Frank Gehry took advantage ~ the m useu m's unique spi ral in terior, housed in the Fran k Lloyd Wright-designed building. The exhibition was made possible by BMW, with the Frank Gehry installation made possi ble by Banana Republic and transportation assistan ce provided by Luftha nsa German Airlines. Henny Ray Abrams pital, his spleen and left kidn ey had to be removed . According to Wood, Metzger's CAT Scan came back negative and Metzger is making progress toward recovery. Wood regained co nscious ness on Su nday, Jun e 21, two days after his crash. Wood also reports that New Hampshire International Speedway is prepared to "do whatever it takes" to mak e certai n tha t the ras h of injuries from the AMA Superbike National held there, June 1921, aren't eve r duplicated. "We'll have a whole program in p lace for next year," said Wood, who not only ru ns the Pengui n Racing School bu t is also heavily involved with the Loud on Road Racing Series that runs at New Hampshire International Speed way. "Bob Bahre (the race track's chairman of the board ) will do whatever we need to do." M igu el DuHamel, who suffered a broken femur in a cras h at New Hampshire Internati onal Speedway on Frida y, Jun e 19, was sched u led to be d ischarged from Con co r d H o spital in C on cord, N ew Ham pshire, on either June 27 or Jun e 28, a ccordin g to hi s m an a ger, Alan Labrosse. "He seems to be doing well," Labrosse said on June 25. " If all goes well , he may be back befo re the end of the season. He broke his femur abo ut an inch, inch and a half above the knee and a piece of the knee was also broken off. The opera tion was a success and he wi ll . soon start a reh abilitation p rogram ." DuHa mel's fem u r was p in n ed and screwed . "O vera ll, hi s morale is very good," Labrosse said. "Knowi ng Miguel. he's probably very disappoin ted in himself. He'd climbed all the way back up the ladder af ter the Daytona cras h an d not many peo ple thou ght he could ." The Indonesia n round of th e World Superbike Cha mpionship, scheduled for Sentul on Septem ber 27, has been canceled, accordi ng to the AM. The Federatio n is consideri ng a p ossible re p lacem ent for th e round . If the ra ce is n ' t replaced , the se ries will co ns is t o f 13 rounds instead of 14. Drug and alco hol tests were carried out by the FIM at the German round of the World Superbike Champion ship on Jun e 7 - wit h all tests coming back negative. Amo ng those tested for alcohol prio r to the races were Carl Fogarty, Gregorio Lavilla and Troy Corser. Those tested for d rugs were Aaron Slight, Colin Edwards II and Noriyuki Haga. Former AMA Grand ational Champion Gene Romero has told Cycle Neuis tha t his AMA West Coast Flat Track Series appears to be surpassing his ex pecta tions. After a su ccessfu l sp ecta tor and rider turnout for round tw o at Perris Au to Speed way in Perris, California , Rom er o is planning to further increas e rider participation in round three at Bakersfield Speedway in Bakersfield, California , by a llo w ing 600cc Am at eur "A" spo rtsman rid ers to com pete in the ProSport progr am . "I didn' t kno w that we we re allowed to do this, but the AMA said tha t we cou ld incorporate the 600cc Amateur'A' riders into the Pro Sport cla ss," Romero sai d. "I thi n k th a t is a grea t ide a, so we're refining the program slightly to include the top Amateur guys. Rem ember, our intent wit h this series is no t on ly to ha ve a slick professiona l show for the fans, but also to encourage more rid ers into flat-rack racing an d offer them a po tentia l cha nce at climbing the ladder into the pro ranks . At some poin t the am ateurs need a cha nce to race ....rith the pros to ga in more experience. That's A l8 ~ 1

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