Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND Mike Alessi (Kaw) dominated en ro ute to wi n ni ng th e 60cc (9- 11) St ock a nd M od ifi ed a nd 80cc (7-11) St o ck and Modified class es a t th e GFI Ra cin g /Te am Green Youth W orld Cha m pio nshi p, h eld a t G len H el en Raceway in San Bernardino, California, July 4-5. Floridian James Stewart (Kaw) came out and won the SOcc (12-13) Stock and Modified classes; Bria n McGavran (Yam) w on the 125cc Modified Intermediate a nd 250cc Int ermed iat e classes; a nd Billy Laninovich (Ya m) w o n the SOcc (14-16) Stock and Modified classes. Bri a n Parriott (Hon) w on the EBC Brak e s Sport Bike class during the NASB Cycle Fest at Bu tto nwillow Raceway in Bu ttonwi llow, California, on Jul y 5. Pa rr iott beat James Randolph (Suz) and Brian livengood (Su z) , Billy Graef won both the Harley-Davidson Tw in Sports and Buell Lightning classes, with Rodney Fee (Hon) taking the win in the HRC Grand Prix by Idemitsu class. The Ca liforn ia A ir Resources Board's (CARB) proposal to further reduce street-motorcycle emissions is potentially problematic and possibly unfeasible, AMA legislative affairs specialist Eric Lundquist testified to the board on June 30. CA RB has proposed revisions to current state standards that would require manufacturers to red uce street-mot orcycle-tailpipe emissions by approximately 90 percent. CARB officials have said that they intend to pass the new regulation by October 1998 and plan to implement the new standards by 2003. The AMA and the California Mo to rcycle Dealers Association expressed grave concerns over the feasibili ty of im pl em entin g such a drastic tightening of in state emissio n s tandards . "We have every reason to be concerned with CARB's latest efforts to regu late mo torcycle emissions," Lu ndquist said . "The last tim e CA RB moved to tighte n mo torcycle emission standards, thei r reg u lations severe ly limited th e availability of offroad m ot o rcycles in the state. In 1996 there were almos t 100 different models of off-road mo torcyclesavailab le in the Ca lifornia. Today, there are sev en . We have to wond er whether their efforts in d eveloping stric te r o n-road sta nd ards w ill result in a simila r d ecline of ava ilable street models wi thi n the sta te. Fu rtherm ore, there is no indication that the ma n u factu rers could even meet those pro po sed standards, or that, even if they cou ld, the red uctions could be achieved '99 KTM two-strokes T he 1998 KTM tw o -strokes w ere quite revolutionary in that they utilized linkageless rear suspensio n and WP' s new PDS (position-damping system) shock. The syste m w as good, but for '99, KTM has red esigned th e intern a ls of the shock to provide better and smoo ther ac ti on, a nd the shocks no w use a p rogressive spring. New Brembo rea r-brake calipers w ill be used for enhan ced feel and pow er, while a new front fender, fend er brace, number plat e and headlight will be used to enhance the styling. As for the motor changes, KTM w as out to get sna ppier power and used new, twopetal reed -block assemblies. The 250cc cylinder and head have been redesigned and a lighter crank was used to further enha nce the power. The 380cc cylinder now uses a decompression hole for improved starting and idling. All of the two-strokes should shift better under load due to a red esigned shift fork , and the 250, 300 and 380 received hydraulic clutches sim ilar to those used in th e ,125 and 200 in '98. without drivin g th e p r ice o f a n ew motorcycle out of the rea ch of the average buyer. Finally, mot orcycles account for less than two percent of California's motor vehicles, and their contribu tion to the sta te' s air-quality problems is almost imperceptible. Given th ese facts , it is difficult to understand how CARB has arrived a't their proposed sta nd ards or, perhaps even more importantly, why they are pursuing thi s course of action at all. " At the close of the meeting, CARB officia ls did indicate that they would consider a compromise standa rd below the p ro posed 90-percent-red uction level. Further meetings a re scheduled for later this summer. The results of Danny Smith's M RI sho w ed "seve re liga ment and ten d o n damage" in his rig ht leg, bu t no broken bones. The Team FMF / H onda rider was involved in a ge t-toget her with anothe r rider at the Budds Creek AMA National Championship 125cc race in Ma ryland, on June 21. Smith underwen t su rgery to repair the d amaged kn ee on June 30 . Cards and letter s can be se nt to: Team FMF/ Honda, attn: Danny Smith, 25930 Belle Porte Ave ., Harbor City, CA 90710. Road racer Thomas Wilson has been released from St. Vincent's Hospital in Toledo. Ohio, and is now recuperating from the serious injuries sustained in his crash at ew Hampshire Int ernat ional Speedway on June 19 a t an ex tend edcare facility near his home in Oregon , Ohio . Wi lso n suffered tw o broken femurs and a bro ken pelvis during qualif ying for the Superbike National a t ew Hampshire International Speedwa y . Cards and letters can be se n t to Wilson at Orchard Villa, 2841 Munding D r., Ro om 101 , Bed 2, Oregon , OH 43616. A TK has an nounced that its 1999 lineup of off-road and enduro motorcycles will feature 46 mm Italia n Pa o li forks and O hli ns s ho cks. All of th e four-stroke m od els will be go ing to O h lins PDS (position-dam pi ng system) shocks (like the WI' shocks KTM u ses on its twostrokes), while the two-strokes will reta in th e sta nda rd O hli ns s hock. The 250/260 LQ two-stroke model off-roader s have rece ived extensive motor work to coax m o re lo w-en d an d mi dra nge power fro m th e bik es, a nd the 600DT and DTES (dirt trackers) get a 1-inch sho rter swingarm, a revised shock and a reversible hub. A Rot ax 494cc powerpl ant will be u sed to in trod u ce three new mod els: the 490 Enduro and Cross Cou ntry a nd th e 500 DT, a dirt-track based mo to rcycle. Fo r 1999, ATK w ill also release a ra ce-r ead y, AMA -Iega l SOcc mini, and the Utah-based company reports that most of the models will be u.s. ISDE teamriders named he AMA has released the names of the rid ers who have officially q ualified for this year's In tern a tiona l Six Days End uro in Australia, November 10-15. A lso officially announced are the six riders who will ma ke up the Pro Gripspo nsored U.s . Worl d Trophy Team and the four riders w ho wi ll make up the U.s . Junior Wor ld team. Th e Trophy team, however, had already been selec ted by the ~ ." A MA ea rlier in the yea r, but ther e w as so me ' question as to ~ wh eth er or not Team Suzuki' s Ste ve Hatch w as go ing to be a part of that team , and, as it turns ou t, Hatch will not. His replacem ent wi ll be Kawasaki's Destry Abbott, who co m pe ted in his fir st ISDE last year in Italy and was the onl y Ll.S, Club rider to earn a go ld medal. Abbott joins ISDE vet erans Rodney Smith, Ty Davis, Chris Smi th, Randy Hawkins a nd Scott Sum mers, all of whom hav e competed together on the Pro Grip U.s. Trophy team since 1996. Suzu ki's Rodney Smith and Yamaha' s Da vis ar e former "To p Am ericans" at previous ISDE events, and Yamaha rid er Hawkins is a multi-tim e ISDE gold medallist and a six-time AMA National Enduro Champion. Chris Smith, who is expected to rid e a Honda XR250 in Australia, wa s a member of the winning U.s. Junior n lSI ~ 2 T World team in Czechoslovakia in 1991. Summers will be competing in his fourt h ISDE. Hatch says he is "stepping away from this yea r's lSDE" in order to focus on next year's Grand ational Cross Co untry Series and to spend time building his new hou se in Arizon a. He also said "politics" had so methi ng to do w ith his decisio n to skip this year's ISD E. Last yea r, Suz uki provided littl e in th e way of su ppo rt for its rid ers (Smit h and Hatch ) last year in Italy. Hat ch did, how ever , say that he hopes to compete next year. This year's U.S. Junior World team , for riders 24 years of age a nd und er , will be made up of Michael Lafferty, Robbie Jenks, Brian Garrahan and Jason Raines. Th e rest of the 30 riders go ing to Australia will make up the 10 three-rider Ll.S. Club teams . Th ese rid ers are: Jaso n Dahn er s, Alan Deyo, Co le Marsh all , Russell Pearson, Erik Kohler, Eric Ducray, Robbi e Zimmerman, Russ Piggott, Eric Clevel and, Luca Trussard i, H eath Bennett , Ke vi n Bennett, Dr ew Sm ith, Brian Walker, Jeff Fred ette, Mike Monroe, Joey Ambrosi ni [r ., Patrick Flynn, Rodney Judson , Jeff Kirchner, Mike Wind mann, Rick Higgins, Cu rt Wilcox, Ron Law son , Lonnie Ross, Brian Storrie, Lynn Bailey, David Bragg, David Campbell and Ron Palermo. / more afforda ble d ue to the s tre ng th of the UiS , d ollar in foreign markets. J. D . P o w e r a nd Associates has a n no u nced th at it will lau nc h a new s tu dy - th e Motorcycle Competilhe In form ation Study - in ea rly Septem ber. The corfipa ny w ill p ro vid e m ot orcycle manufacturer s with "ac tio na b le information that will be used to better und erstand rider ex pectations, needs, d esires a n d w ha t it ta kes to sa tisfy today' s mot orcycle owners." The stu dy will u tilize informat ion 'co llected from detailed cu st omer-sa tis fa cti o n qu es tio nn a ires . More than 30,000 qu estion naires w ill be mailed to bu yer s of all mak es and models of new 1998 st reet and dual sp or t motorcycles nationw id e. The Florida Trail Rid er s w ill hol d i:s 1998 Cha mpionship Series Awards Banquet on Saturday, July 18 at the Hyatt Orlando in Orlando, Florida. For more information, call 407 / 668-9700. Pre-entry for Vi ntage Motorcycle Da ys AHRMA road race and motocross at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course have been closed and no entries will be accepted at the event. The Ju ly 10 dirt track national at Ash land, Ohio, and the July 11 trials at Mid Ohio still have entries available. Just under 1550 entries we re received for all clas ses, 1030 of those for road racing and 352 for the motocross. Entry forms are now available for the "last" AHRMA Steamboat Motorcycle Week, scheduled for September 16-19 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Due to development in the area, this is expec ted to be the last time the street course and mo tocross co urse ca n be u sed . Entry forms are d ue by August 29 an d can be obta ined fro m AHRMA's website' ~ \ www.a hrma.org, or by calli ng 715/8429699. The Sou th eastern Sportbike Association is hol d ing an open track practice session on Su nday, July 26 at Roeb ling Roa d Racew ay, ju st outsid e of Savanna h, Georgia. There will be two classes o ne for licensed racers, and the other for stree t riders. Th e s tre et -rider c lass req u ires no previous tra ck exp erience a nd has ver y easy tech requiremen ts. For m ore inform ation , ca ll 770 /9770538. Harley-D a vid so n isn't the only one to have a "monopoly" on the 95th anniversa rv of its Milwaukee-based motorcvcle co m pa ny . U S A O P O LY has been lice nsed by H-D to produce a Monopoly : Harley-Davidson 95th-anniversary edi tion of the popular boardgame. The limi ted-edition 95th-anniversary version featu res historical decoration that is relevant to Harl ey-David son' s 95 years as a motorcycle manufacturer, containing his torical photos, lan dma rks an d events a n d special pewter game p ieces . For in sta nce, players ha ve the o p portunity to buy, sell and tra de suc h ho t pr o pertie s as Harley-D a vid son' s Milwaukee headquarter s in place of Boardwalk, etc. This serialized special edition retails for $79.95. For more information, see yo ur loca l Harley-Davidson dealer. John Dean Beavers, 57, was killed on June 7 at t he Ch eyenne Cycl e Club mo tocross track in Cheyenne, Wyoming, whil e part icipatin g in a sa nc tio n e d motocross eve n t in th e Se n io r Exp ert Divisi on. Beavers, a lon gtime enthu siast and supporter of motorcycle racin g and th e Sports Rid ers Associa tio n of Colorad o (SRAC), d ied aft er cra shing on a

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