Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND Stefan Everts (Hon) was the overall winner a t the World Champions hip 250cc Motocross Series rou n d in Ma ra ca y, Venezuela, on [ulv 19. Eve rts won th e firs t moto over pft Beir er (Ho n), Yves Demaria (Kaw), Marnicq Bervoets (Suz) a nd Sebastien Tortelli (Ka w ). Tortelli came back to win the second moto, wi th Everts ta king s eco nd . Beir er fin is hed third , followed by Bervoets and Demaria. Eve rts extended h is se ries lea d over Tor telli to 13 points,360-347. Beir er is third in the series with 266 points. Alessio Chiodi (Hu s) aga in won both motos in the World Championship I2Sec Motocross Series at the Dutch GP in Oss, Holland, on July 19. Finishing second to Chiodi in the first moto was Rem y van Rees (Kaw), followed by Claudio Federici (Yam), Da vid Vu ill em in (Yam) and James Dobb (Hon), In the second rnoto, Vuillemin took second, followed by Fed erici, Ale ssandro Puzar (TM) and Alessandro Belometti (Yam). Chiodi has once again opened up a sizable poi nts lead in the series points chase over second-placed VuiIlemin, 274-248. Puzar is third with 233. At th e World Championship 500cc Motocross GP in Ernee, France, on July 19, defending champ Joel Smets (Hbg) took top honors wi th 1-1 moto finishes. Darryll King was the runner-up in the first moto, followed by Andrea Bartolini (Ya m ), Bernd Eck en b a ch (H us) and Erwin Machtlinger (Hon) . FInishing second to Smets in th e second moto was Peter Johansson (Yam), followed by Machtlinger, King and Bartolini. Smets now enjoys a 5O-point lead in the series over King, 300-250. Bartolini is third with ical Center on Wed nesday, July 15 : on his 27th birthday and just three days after his horrific accident. Yanagawa has a broken bone in the middle of his left hand and has bee n fitted wit h a special lightweig h t cast. The Japanese rid er will u ndergo further examination by doctors in his native Japan befo re a firm indication is given about when he will retu rn to action. However, it ap pears that the factory Kawasaki rider will miss the Suzuka 8 Hours on July 26 and abo the next rou nd of the World Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch in England on Augu st 2. "I ha ve been w ith him si nce the acciden t an d every day he seems to take a major step forward," team manager Harald Eckl sa id . "Heis suffering from headaches and is s till a bit g roggy, but th is is to be expected as he recovers from the effects of concuss ion. Physically speaking, his hand is quit e badl y swollen. He also has a sore shoulder, but nothing has shown up on the X-rays . We're reall y happy with his progress overall, pa rticularly having witnessed the .visual impact of the crash on television. It will b e a remarkable recovery if he is back racing for the A-I Ring at the end of August." Yanagawa, w ho was unconscious when airlifted to the hospital on Sunday afternoon, was also visited by Dr. Massimo Corbascio, the Italia n doctor who heads the Clinic Mobile medical team that attends all of the World Superbike rounds. Corbascio believes Yanagawa may be back in action by Brands Hatch. "He recognized me and could recall most of the drama of the incident," Corbascio said. "He lost a tooth in the impact with the ground, but now he is on his way home and I believe it is p0ssible that he will be back racing at Brands Hatch on August 2 " 225. Greg Williams (H- D) and Phil Libhart (Tri) came away with victories in the 800 and 540cc classes, respectively, in round four of the AMA Na tio na l H illcli mb Series, held in Steel City, Pennsylvania, on Ju ly 19. Williams topped t ou GerencerJr. (H-D) an d Glendal Petty Jr. (HD), whi le Libhar t beaf Paul Pinsonnault (Hon) and Ted Wilkins (Rot). Micheal Barnes (Yam) took the double win at Formula USA races at Portland Intern ational Raceway on July 19, round three of the series. Both times ou t it was Mike Sullivan (Kaw) in second place, followed in race one by Eric Wood (Ka w ) and in race two by Grant lopez (Suz). Wo od won th e 126-horsepower cla ss, whil e Mark Junge (Suz) topped the 103horsepower class. A 8 ~ ~ ~ 2 Yamaha rid er s Doug Henry and John Do w d are th e big winners in the fir st round o f pa y outs from th e $100,000 bonus fund put up by Mazda Truck, the title spo nso r of this year's AMA Mazd a Tru ck Motocross Nationals. Both Henry and Dowd took home an $1150 bonus. "Doug and John are outstand ing individuals both on and off the track, and we're proud to pres ent the top bonu ses to them ," said Ma zda Group marketing mana ger Jack Stavana . "We support the spo rt in every wa y we can, and we hope the $30,000 bonus checks are a good boost for the other 38 riders, too. I know that the priva teers work very hard, and it's a pleasure to help them out as well as the factory guys." l aguna Seca u pd ate: Kawasaki World Superbike racer Ak ira Yana gaw a, who was involved in a crash in the first leg of the World Superbike race at laguna Seca Racewa y with Doug Chandler on July 12, wa s discharged from the San Jose Med - Italian Piergiorgio Bontempi, who was involved in the sta rt-li ne melee in th e abo rted restart of the first leg, has also been upgraded and is in stable condition at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula . Bontempi suffered wrist fractures in both wrists, and he un d erwent surgery on th e right wrist on Su nday night. 'The America n doctors have done an excelle n t job and Bontempi will be able to make a return to racing in abo ut 40 d ays," Dr. Massimo Co rba scio said . "At Laguna Seea we recorded a larger number of accidents than normal during Superbike and Supersport Championship round s. However, despite some initial concerns about the injuri es to some of the riders involved, none have turned out to be serious. A lot of credit must go to the doctors in America who did a very good job to both Yanagawa and Bontempi, who ' received the highest degree of treatment in an extremely short time." FASf's Dan Murphy, the pr omoter of the World Superbike round at laguna Seca Raceway, was in high praise of the medical staff at laguna Seca. "I really want to compliment th e Laguna Seca med ical staff," Murphy said in a phone conversation on Wednesday, Jul y 15. "Th e FlM requires a minimum of three ambulances. We had six and used them all. I believe these guys saved som e lives on Sunday, and they certainly saved some se rio us injury ." According to FlM press secre tary Mar c Pettier, the FlM will not sanction Ant hony Gobert any further in regards to the drug test he fail ed prior to the World Superbike race a t laguna Seca. "At the last FlM Congress, the Road Racing Commi ssi on took the deci si on to requi re Anthony Gobert to und ergo a doping control if he was to apply for an F1M license, which he did for the Su pe rbike World . Gobert ousted b AMA J ust one week afte r being den ied entry fro m the World Superbike round at laguna Seea Raceway, Vance & Hines Du cati rid er An tho ny Gobert was sus pended from AMA Professional racing for the remainder of the 1998 season wh en he tested positive for marijuana in a test ad ministered by AMA Pro Racing on Th ursday, July 16. The test was given on Thu rsday nigh t in Oh io - the AMA /MBNA Superbike Series was sched u led to begin a day later at the Mid-Ohio Spo rts Car Course - and wa s tak en to Ohio Sta te University for ana lysis on Frida y. Gobert was pr evented from tak ing part in qua lifying on Friday and was suspended for the seaso n wh en the AMA got wo rd of the test results on Friday a fternoon . Gobert left the facilit y without making a .comm ent on Friday afternoon, thou gh he was bac k at the track on Saturday - awaiting word on the results of a second urin e sa mple taken with the original tes t. Tha t sa mpl e also tested positive. Gobert is now appealing the decision and his case will go befor e an appeals board . The ou sting of Gob ert for the seaso n leaves Vance & Hines Ducati in exac tly the same positi on they were in a year ago , wi th just one rid er - Thomas Stevens - on the team. Stevens rode his Van ce & Hin es Du cati in Friday's qualifying, but had Gobert's bikes at his disposal for Saturday and Sund ay. He crashed out of the Superbike ational on the opening lap. "The situ ation speaks for itself," a bitterly d isappoin ted Terry Vance said on Saturday. "If you take drugs, you don't get to race. It's that simple." When asked if he'd take Gobert back if the decision wa s rever sed based on the appeal, Vance said: "I can' t answer that right now ." As for the prospects of facing the rest of the season without Gobert, Vance said that a rep lacement rider would be on the bike for the next round of the series in Brainerd Minnesota, August 1-2. "We' re looking a t (Steve) Rapp and a cou ple of ot her guys," Vance said. "But we thought the bes t thing for this weekend was just to concentrate on Thomas and go fro m there. Hopefully, there will be two guys at Brainerd ." Rapp rod e the Vance & Hines Ducati to seventh and eighth-place finishes at Willow Springs and Sears Point, respectively, when he rep laced the then -injured Stevens on the team. Championship round in laguna Seca, as a wild-card rider," Petrier said. "Having failed the test, his application was refused. As he is not a holder of any AM license i.e., not taking part in any FIM World or Continental Championship or F1M prize, an d thus not racing under the jurisdiction of the AM - the AM does not conside r to sanctio n him further on this case." The AMA issued a press release regarding Anthony Gobert on July 15, stating that Gobert will have to undergo drug testing before each and every AMA race. "AMA Pro Racing requir es all riders to submit to the terms and cond itions of the AMA Pro Racing competitio n licen se," the release states. " Riders sign a nd acknow ledge these terms and conditions, includ ing the substance-abuse policy prohi biting the use of illegal substances, which has been in effect since 1987. These rules are detailed on pages 73-84 of the 1998 AMA Pro Racing rule book. Based o n the FIM test results and Gobert's own ad mission in a news release he issued July 12, AMA Pro Racing will require Gobert to be tested before every AMA Pro Racing even t he enters. A positive test result indicating the p resence of any illegal su bs tances will result in Gobert receiving (at minimum) a suspension from competition for the d uration of the 1998 racing season. This statemen t regarding the Gobert case is being made in response to repo rts in a variety of media ou tlets, and Gobert's own public a d mission." Th e AM A ba ck ed up th e release by testin g Go bert on Thursday, July 16, at Mid-Ohi o and he was suspended for the season the following day wh en the test came back pos itive (see sidebar). Rodney Fee (Hon) wo n the Moto Liberty 125cc Exh ibition rac e a t Laguna Seca Raceway on July 12. Fee topped Hiromy Hachiya (Hon ) and Vicky Jacks on-Bell (Hon) in winning the 12-lap race tha t was he ld in co n ju n ct io n with th e World Superbike event at laguna. Accord ing to a release issued by the Sid ecar Ra cer s Associ a ti o n , se vera l rul e changes hav e been proposed for the 1999 seaso n. According to the release, oil control will be a big issue in '99 and "oil con- tainment shall be by liquid-tight container with a minimum of three-quarts capacity . Oil-absorbing ma teria l sha ll be in addition to above and optional Machines shall be inspected for liquid leaka ge and . oil conta inme nt before going on the track for each sessio n. This shall be in addition to full technical inspection at designated area. If any fou nd, machine shall return to pits for correction. All exte rnal oil lin sha ll be safety-wired . All threaded comp on ents th at have liquid be hi nd th em shall be safety-wired ." Friends of Clear Creek, a rid ing area iJ' Central California, would like to remin everyone that "riders frequentin g th Clea r Cree k ridi ng area in Central Cali fornia are asked to obse rve BLM sign a nd fences being constructe d to clos access to public la nd s to the west and north of the riding area. At a recent publi meeting regarding Clear Creek, a grou of angry landowners complained abou OHV trespass onto their private property Clea r Creek conta ins over 30,000 acr and 400 miles of roads and trails that ar open to OHV use. Please stay in the ri ing area and avo id rid ing in the priva property that borders it." The Dirt Tra ck Hall of Fame Race ha la u nch ed an aggressive program t ' attract new sponsors to dirt-track racing Force Marke tin g, an Atlanta -b a se sports-marketing company, has been co tracted to hand le loc al , regional a n national sponsorship solicitation for th event, concentrating its focus on compa n ies outside the motorcycl e industry "Steve Woodward and Force Marketin ha ve a great reputation in the world 0 spon sorship sales," Hall of Fam e Ra organizer Dave Despain said. "With Do Erode Prod uctions handling sponsorshij solicitation within the motorcycle ind u try and Force Marketing working in tJi corpora te world outside of motorcyclin we hope to attract new .com panies an new doll ars to the sport. Our goal fro the beginning has been to make the Ha of Fame Race a showcase event, wh ere pot ential spon sor can se e dirt-trac motorcycle racing at its very best. Toget er, Force Marketing and Don Erode Pr

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