Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND Regul ar 250cc GP co n te n der Stefan Everts (H on) won the 10th round of the FIM W orld C h a m p io n s h i p 500cc Mot ocro ss Series in Na mur, Belgi u m , on Augus t 2. Eve r ts, co mpeting as a "gu es t" in the 500cc series at his horne GP, wo n both mot os. In the first moto, Everts fi nished w ell a head o f Peter Joh a nsson (Yarn), who was followed across th e finish lin e by Rob Herring (Hon), Shayne King (KTM) a nd Darry ll King (H us) . Everts co n tro lled the second mot o as well, bea ting defending 500cc champ Joel Smets (H bg) , Sme ts was foll ow ed by Darryll Kin g, Sha yne King and Joha nsso n. Yama ha 's Andrea Bartolini, th ir d in points, cra she d in th e seco nd mo to a nd broke hi s right femur. Terry Thompson (BSA) a n d James Large (H-D) earned victories in the sixt h round of the AMA Na tional Hiliclimb Cha mpions hip, held in Norton Shores, Michigan , on Aug ust 2. Thompso n topped Ti m Fraz ier (BSA) an d Paul Pinso nn ault (Hon) to win the 540cc class while Large bested Gl en Petty Jr. (H-D) and Lou G erencher to ta ke th e 800ccclass win. Branden jesseman (Suz) , Ivan Ted esco (Yam) and Shane Bess (Suz) we re so me of th e big wi nners in th e 23rd an nua l MA Grand National Champion ship of Mo to cross a t Ponca City, Ok la homa , Ju ly 28-A ugus t 1. [essern an too k top honors in the 12Sec Stock Pro and 250cc Mo d ified Pro classes, whil e Ted es co score d ove ra ll victori es in th e 125cc Op en No n-Pro and 125cc Stock Intermediat e classes . Bess won titles in the 80cc • Gobert to ride a aln V ance & Hi nes Du cat i's An thony Gobert, the road racer who was suspended for the remainder of the season after failin g a d ru g test at the Mid -Ohio Sports Car Course on July16, had his suspensio n re d uced follo wi ng a n ap peal hearing a t AMA headqua rters in Westervill e, Ohi o, on July 29. The three-member appeal boa rd red uced his suspension to three races - Mid-Ohio (ju ly 19), Brainerd In terna tional Ra ceway (Augus t 2), and Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois (August 9). Gobert is eligible to race at the Pikes Peak rou nd of the series in Colorado on Sep tember 6, if he adheres to a number of cond itions. He will submit to a GC-MS (gas chromat ogra ph-mass spectro meter) u rina lysis tes t and bear all th e cos ts, prior to Pikes Peak. He.w ill be placed on p ro ba tion for the rema inder of the 1998 season and next yea r, if he chooses to con tinue racing in the Un ited Sta tes, and "will be required to su bmit to and bear the cos t of the AMA Pro Racing d rug screenings he is ordered to participa te in. The freq uency and terms of ad mi nistratio n of such tests will be at the sole d iscretion of AMA Pro Racing . Gobert will also be included in any series- wide ran dom drug screenings AMA Pro Racing cond ucts over the course of the season," the appea l board deci ded . The ap pea l board also recommend ed th at Go be rt participate in "a com mu nitysevice program in the area of subs tance-abuse education, to be completed during the winter and befor e the start of the 1999 AMA Superbike season." Team owner Terry Vance, wh o we n t to the appeal hearing on Gobert's behalf, said his argu men t for the appeal was that "the rul e book calls outtha t.in volun tary d isclosure, if so mebody comes forward and tal ks to them abo ut a drug situa tion, that they have an opportu nity to ge t more len ien t treatment than somebody who just gets busted . So that's really the argumen t from the rul e-book sid e. And, acco rdi ng to the AMA rul es, Anthony should be able to ride again, and the appeal boar d fou nd that to be the ' case." Gobert' s failing the A M drug test pri or to the Laguna Seca World Su perbike race had no bearin g on the AMA cas e, Vance said . The Au stralian will rid e the team ' s Ducati at Pikes Peak "if he meets all the requirements the AMA set ou t for him, yeah," Vance said, addi ng that there were "some thin gs that he's ag reed to in order to kee p rid ing for us, bu t tha t's between us and him." And as for next year? "1have no idea about next yea r," Vance said. "1 mean, I'm not even wo rried abo ut next year, I jus t want to get throu gh this year. We think that the AMA did an excellent job on the appeal. They did everything they could to expedite the ma tter and I thi nk they were s pared what possibly could ha ve been, so I think Anthon y' s very for tu na te to be rid ing this yea r. If he meets the criteria that they se t d ow n, he'll be back on the bike. We chose An th on y a t th e beginnin g of th e yea r because we knew that he could win races for us. We also kn ew that there was a possibility that he could leave us short so me where. And. iu nfortunately, that' s happened . I think if you asked Antho ny personally, he would tell you it wa s a selfish move on his pa rt that cost a lar ge com pany and a good team a lot, period. I thin k if he had it to d o over again, he'd probably do it d ifferently, and hopefully in the future that will be the case." Gobert is currently taki ng part in a 3Ck1ay rehabilita tion program at Anacapa by the Sea, in Oxnard , ·Californ ia. "It' s a fully accred ited place. a full -security, 100,percenttime thing: ' Vance said . "You can' t just walk out. So, hop efully. that will have a positive effect on him. We'll have to wait an d see." As to whether he was worried about how the Vance & Hines Duca ti team wo uld be per cei ved following his sus pension, Vance said: "1 think that what' s importan t to look at is the fact that tha t we su pported Anthon y p rior to this problem, we sup por t him afterwa rds . If he makes a mistake, and makes am end s to fix it, we still su ppo rt him . So we' re no t just going to turn our tails and run beca use he had a probl em . We knew that fro m the beginning and there's no way I'm going to now say, 'O kay, I never knew the guy and ge t him out of here: He' s one of the most talen ted riders in the world and I like Anthon y pe rsonally. I really do, and I hope that he can rea lly take stock of what's happened here and make a cha nge for the future - not just for Van ce & Hines, but for himself, for the rest of his years:' . Henny Ray Abrams 02-13) Modifi ed and Super Mini classes . O the r d ouble class winners incl u ded Zach O sborne (Cob ZKaw), Ju st in Smith (Kaw), Trey Doughty (Ka w) and Randy onnan (Yarn). season and has bee n fined $4000 per viola tion. Rid ers Pr idmore a nd Hayd en have applied to ap pea l their disq ualificatio ns on Ju ly 28. An a ppeal hearin g w ill be sc hedu led as soon as ca n be arranged:' SBR ISemoff Brothers Ra cing (Ya m) too k Its th ird wi n in a row in WERA National Endurance racing as the series stopped in Summit Point. West Virginia. on Au gu s t 1 for th e seven th ro und. Tapeworks Racing (Suz) was seco nd, with Army of Darkness (Suz) third . Martin Craggill w on th e 1998 Au stralian Superbike Champio nship with a 1-4 finish in the fi na l ro u nd o f th e series, held a t O ra n Pa rk near Syd ney on Aug u s t 2, re ports Cycle News co n t ribut or Darr yl Flac k . In d oin g s o. Crag g ill became ju st th e second rid er to successfu lly d efend his title in th e Aus tra lian series, following in the foot s teps of Malcolm Ca mbe ll' s 1989-1990 champio ns hi ps. Goi ng int o th e se rie s ' fi na le , C r agg i ll led Craig Connell (Due) by nin e p oints. In th e firs t leg, C ragg iII bea t C o nnell to se t up th e thrilling finale. Connell had to wi n the second race with Craggill finishing no worse th an fourth . Th e seco nd race was wo n b y C ragg ill's te amm at e Damon Buckmaster. wit h Steve Martin (Due) second . Co n ne ll third a n d Crag gill fourth. S h a e Bentley (Ka w), Jerom y Buehl (Hon) and Jimmy Gaddis (Kaw) took home the lion 's share of the purse at the tw o-d a y Lake C ounty Fair Stadium Motocr oss in Gra yslake, Illinois, July 2930. Gaddis w on tw o classe s. topp in g both th e 125 and 250cc Pro classes on Thursday. On Wednesda y, Bentley won the U See Pro class and Bueh l the 250cc class. Former Fas t By Ferracci Duca ti rid er Mike Hale tes ted the Mu Z Swi ssa u to 500cc Gra n d Pr i x bik e at th e Paul Ricard Circu it in th e so u th of Fra nce. Jul y 22-23, and may race the bik e in the Czech Republic Gra nd Pri x on Aug ust 23. Hal e participat ed in th e two-d ay test with It ali an Lu ca Ca da lo ra . " It · wen t reall y goo d," H ale sa id . "It felt good to ride a bike that wo rked so well. They w ant m e to ra ce th e bike a s a wi ld-card rid er a t Brno, and we' re just waiting to hea r back from th e FIM ." Accord ing to Hale. Cadalora lapped at times simila r to those he d id on a factory Yamaha, w ith Hale just half a second off Ca dalora 's times - d es pite ha vin g nev er been to Paul Rica rd before. "1 was reall y happy with' w ha t w e w ere able to do." Hale sa id . "1 was re all y imp ress ed by the profession alism of the team, a nd worki ng with Serge Rosset (the team owne r a nd cre w ch ief) wa s awesome." O n We d nesda y . Jul y 29, th e AM A issu ed its official release on the d isqualification of HyperCycie Suzuki ' s N icky Hayden and Jason Pridmore fro m th e Mid-Ohio ro un d of the 750cc Superspo rt Series. "Hayden and Pridmore were disq ua lified w he n th e fra m e s of th ei r motorcycles were fou nd to be illega lly mo d ified in post race tech inspectio n:' the rel ea se s ta te d . "The HyperCycie Suzuki fr a mes w ere ins pect ed alo ng with th e top three fin ishers fro m both the Teamline 750cc Su persport and Pro Ho nd a Oi ls 600cc Su perspo rt races a t Mid -O hio . Team Hy perC ycie own er Carry Andrew, wh o was alread y und er sus pe ns ion for repea t technical vio lation s ea rlier this year , wi ll remain und er suspensio n for the d ura tion of the 1998 Hot on th e heels of th e AMA releas e ca me a press rel eas e fr om American Suzuki. announci ng that the y would take over d ay-to-d ay opera tion of the HyperCyci e Suzu ki team. "Rid ers Jason Pri dmore a nd Nicky Hayden, who are u nd er contract with American Suzuki . will race under the Team Suzuki Spo rt banne r for the balance of the season:' th e re lea s e s ta te d. " U n fo r tu na t ely. we've experi enced continui ng probl ems with alleged ir regu la r it ies w it h th e HyperCycJe team motor cycles: ' motorcycle di vision vice president Mel Harris said . "We feel we have no choice but to make this mov e in orde r to protect the in teres ts of our rid ers and to pro tect the in tegrity and reputation of our com pany." American Hond a' s Cliff White ca lled th e Cycle News offices to clear the ai r regard ing the Honda tha t Stefan Everts rod e to vi ctory in th e 500cc Bel gi an Grand Prix on Au gu st 2. The bike was d efinitel y not a fou r-stroke. "The motorcycle is a p ro ject we bu ilt at Ame rican H onda for Dave Gr a nt to u se," While sai d on Thursd ay. Jul y 30. " It's just a CRSOO in a CR250 chassis. It's just a little project w e did as a fa v o r fo r S tefa n (Everts). It's not a four-stro ke and there is no new bik e. We d id it jus t for fun. Stefan wanted to d o that race a nd we wanted to help him: ' The FIM re leas ed its 1998 Supercross World Championsh ip s ch ed u le on August 3. with the series set to kick off in Pa ris, Fra nce, on O cto ber 24. Th e s e r ies wil l th e n h ead to San Paol o, Brazil, for ro u nd two on November 7, foHo w ed b y Leip zi g , G erm an y on N o vember 20 -21, Ge no va, It al y o n o ve m ber 28-2 9. T okyo, Japa n o n December 5 and a s till -u nd eterm ined site in Belgium on December 12-13. Gerald Valencia. 52, pe r ha p s better kn own to ma ny a s " Be a z e ," p a ss ed away on Mond a y , Jul y 27, in EI Sobra nte, Californ ia. He d ied of cancer. Valencia was a longtime member of the . In ternat ional Six- Da y End uro (ISOE) Board o f Direct ors an d had dona ted mon ey and thousan d s of hou rs of his tim e towa rd the U.5. ISD E effort over the past 12 years . KTM Sportmotorcycles USA will be offering p it-support service to all KTM and Husabe rg rid ers for the Vegas-toReno race, Octo ber 1-4. For more informa tion. conta ct KTM pit coordi nator Tim Morto n at Baja Bound Adventures. 888/664-2252 or 760/739-9504. The U.S. Women's Motocross League is now accep ting pre-entries for the 1998 AMA / WML Ladies In ternati on al Cup and the final round of the AMA / WML Na tio na l MX C ha m p io ns hip Se ries , s ched u le d fo r A ug u s t 28-30 a t th e Broome-Tioga facility in Bingh ampton , N ew York. For mor e informati on , call 949/837-2206. Greg Underdahl, the ride r of the NCN Com m u n ica tion s-backe d Su zuki Pro Stock drag bik e. and Greg Myers, form er rid er fo r St a r Ra cin g , ha ve an nou nced that they have joined together to form a new drag-race tea m. "It's exactly what I ha ve needed for a long

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