Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

time," My ers sai d. "G re g and I have been friends forever and ha ve always kidded abo ut teaming up. Since leaving Star Racing, I have received severa l calls offering rid es; th is one just mad e the most se nse." Both ri ders will com pete wit h Trac Dynamics chassis, fea tu ri ng Suz uki GSXR repli ca bod ies, and u sing eng ines su p plied by Byron Hines' Color ad o-based Freedom Mo tors po rts. The p air will com pete in the rem a ini ng six NHRA Wins ton even ts. Leslie Goode won the Best British Bike ca tegory durin g the Vintage/Bikes of Interest D isplay a t Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, during the World Su pe rbike weeken d, Ju ly 11-12. Ray Abra ms wo n the Best Com petition Bike Award ; Fred Mork won in Best European / World Bike; Dan Wilson wo n th e Bes t Show Bike p rize ; and Lance Wei! wo n the Best Bike In Show award . M ike Corbin, of Corbin seat fa me, is now making a one-person, electric- powered , fully e n cl o se d, th re e- w he el e d motorcycle tha t will start ro lling off production lines in Corbin-Pacific's Ho llister, Californ ia, fa ctory in August. Th e Sparrow has been ge tting a lot of pu blicity in Northern California, including a front-page article in th e San Francisco Chronicle. The ar ticle featured a photograph of a Sparrow drive train being a ssembled . Th e a ss e m ble r ? Form er Gra nd National dirt-track racer Cha n ce Darling. Accord ing to repo rts in the San Francisco Chro nicle, Son oma Valley resid ents a nd Sears Point Raceway's backers are sparri ng ove r the noise, traffic and other effects of the race tra ck' s ex pa nsio n plans. Se ars Po int Raceway ha s proposed a $30 mill ion expa nsio n that will potenti all y qu adruple th e grands ta nd, ad d new ga tes, roads , a go -kart track . and industrial space. So no ma County ha s proj ect ed th e at tendance fo r th e raceway' s six majo r days, es tima ted a t 250,000 spec ta to rs , co ul d increase to 400,000 by 2007. Citizens a re w orried about the prospects of mor e noi se, traf. fic and visual impacts from the expansion . Road ra ce r Bru ce Gu tm a n su ffe re d a broken back in a racing crash a t Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Ca lifornia, on July 11. Gutman underwent surgery on July 20 to repair crus hed vertebrae. Ca rds and lett er s can be sent to Gutman a t 4691 Alban y Ci rcle, San Jose, CA 95129. The FIM has annou nced that its an nua l FI M Pri z e-Gi v i n g Cere m o n y for its 1998 World Champions will be held on December 12 in th e Casi no of Estoril, Portugal. Ro ss Dh aye r, 23, w as kill ed in a traffic acciden t in Hou st on, Tex as, on Saturda y , Augus t 1. Dhayer, a form er Lo retta Ly n n's ch ampi on , w a s a N a tiona l-level mot ocr os s a nd su percross rid er fro m Day to wn, Texas , who turned Pro three yea rs ago. Dhayer is su rvi ved by his fa ther, Ed; his mother , Dana; and his b rother T.J., who also acted as his mechanic frequentl y. Th e family h as a s ke d th a t d on ations b e m a d e in hi s nam e to t h e C l a y to n Fou ndatio n. For m ore informa ti on , call 714 /751 -7433. Harley-Davidson has announced that it ha s re ceived a p proval from Brazil to establish an assembly operation in that country tha t w ill import U.S.-ma de com- p onents and s u b assem blies for final assem b ly in Bra zil. Asse m bling U.s.m ade co m ponents will incr ea se t h e availability of Harley-Davidson mot orcycles in Braz il, accord ing to H arleyDavidson, making the m m or e affordable to a la rg er g roup of Br azilian co ns u mers . H arle y ex pects to b egin assembling certa in mod els in Bra zil in 1999. The opera tio n will be located in the cit y of Manaus, a n eco no mic freetrade zone for mot orc ycl e manufacturing a n d o t he r in d us tries . Som e 600 Harleys were ex ported to Br a zil las t yea r. Community leaders in New York's boro ug h of Manhatta n are consi deri ng ways to red uce motorcycle noise in the city's Greenwich Village area and surro u nd ing neighborhoods, according to the AMA . A round- table d iscussion in late June brou gh t together elected officia ls , p olice, neig hborhood res id ent s and conce rned motor cyclists to investigate various options for reducing excessive mo torcycl e noise. The session, pr oposed by Community Board #2, was called "How to Curb Motorcycle Noi se without Needlessl y and Unfairly Penalizing Mo torcyclists ." Concerns w ere raised w hen board cha irma n Alan Jay Gerson said in a New York Times article tha t the board might have to cons ider banning mo torcycles from ar ea streets to a d d r ess co m p la i n ts fro m res idents . Although Gerson has since stated that a ban wou ld onl y be co ns id ere d after exha usting all other alternatives, the ban proposal wa s di scus s ed during the meeting. The second annual Pro Celebrity Charity Ride, presented by Ha rley-Davidson and Buell Am eri can Mot or cycles , will run from Se p te m ber 11 throu g h th e 15th a nd w ill feature suc h raci ng legends as Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan, Jimmy Vasse r, Parnelli Jones and Da n G u rn ey . Th e event will begin on September 11 with th e CART car ra ce a t Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Californ ia, with the rid e begin ning on September 14. The auto-racing legends will le a d r iders s o ut h on H ighw a y 1 throu g h Big Su r a n d will en d in Solvang on th e ev en ing of September 14 . O n Septembe r 15, th e ride w ill resume and will take p a r ticipa n ts to San ta Monica for the Charity Ride Ga la and Auc tion, sche d u led to be held on the beach a t Santa Monica. The cost of the event is $1150 (sing le, one bik e) and $1650 (doub le , o ne bik e ). For m ore informat ion, call 303/693-0704. Sha ne Tr ittler' s SSC MX Racin g will be hostin g Friday nigh t motocross eve nts at the Castaic Lake track in Castaic, California, be g innin g o n Au gu st 7. T he serie s will consist of eight race s and will run thro ugh September. For more infor mati on, call 805/294-0020. Th e O ran ge C ount y Fai rg ro un ds in Cos ta Mesa , Ca li forn ia, wi ll hos t th e ina u g u ra l $50,000 FreeRide Moto-X Cham pionship on Octo ber 24, according to LXD pres id ent Pa u l Taubli eb. "We' ll be bringing togeth er the best rid ers in the worl d of motocross - from top pro comp etitors to jumping legends - to cre a t e a t r u ly wo rl d -cl ass e ven t," Ta u bl ieb s a id . Two- t ime AMA Mo tocross Champion Micky Dymond will d e sign the jumps and build th e course. Chaparra l Yamaha's Je remy M cGrat h had surgery on his injured left wrist on Ju ly 10, w it h doctors usin g a screw to speed up the healing process. A CT scan on the wrist after five w eeks in a cast reve aled that th e wrist w asn't heal in g . McGrath will undergo four w eeks of th erapy b e fore retu rn ing to riding , acco rdi ng to Ch ap arral. Co ns t r uc tion b e g a n a t Kentucky Raceway on July 18 with a g ro u n d breakin g cer em on y.'Th e track, locat ed ou ts ide Cinci nnati, O hio, is sche d u led to be co m p leted by June 1, 2000, a t a cos t o f $152 million. Initi a l pl ans of . th e tri- o val in cl u de a n infield r oad co urse. GFI has anno unced that th e 1998 Elsinore Grand Prix will be held November 7-8 in Lake Els inore , Calif ornia . Preen tries will be mailed on August 7 and will be open on August 24. Fo r more informati on, call 909/653-4042. It-di dn't-O ccur-to-u s-quickly-enou gh-tofix-it dept.: In last w ee k's issue, a Mr. Kevin Park wro te a letter in which he had u nki nd things to say abou t former Mo tocross Wo rl d Cha m p ion Danny LaPorte . Park cr it iciz ed La Por te for wha t he called a "profane message" th at · was written on Laf'orte's pit boa rd from the Mammoth Motocross. Sin ce it was his mec hanics who actu ally did the w riting on the pit board, LaPorte became the innocent victim of Park's lett er. For the record, LaPorte is .neither "sem i-literate or classless. " The second an nual Jon Leak Memoria l MX will be h eld o n Septemb e r 7 a t Smit h Road Racew ay in Medina, Ohio. A s pecia l M asters class will be run , along with sp ecia l awards and prize s for Ama teur rid ers and a la rg e P ro purse, acco rd ing to ev ent prom oters . Fo r m or e in fo r m a tio n, ca ll 330/ 725 8569. According to a pr e s s re le a s e fro m Xtre me Sp o r ts, Fox S ports Net ha s acquired the rights to broadcast Xtreme Sport Tel evision on its 24-h ou r ca b le spo rts network. Fox Sports Net is seen o n 64 million h omes throug h its 22 r egi on al n et w orks and affili a tes . Xtre me Sports T e lev is ion fea t u r es sports su ch as perso na l watercraft racing , s now m ob ile racin g, kar t ra cing, mot ocross, wa keboa rdi ng, snowboa rd ing, etc. OPENED: Chehalis Classic's home page on the World Wid e Web . The site can be fo u n d at th e follow ing a d d re ss : http:/ /www.hom e1.gte.net/jawaman/cc. htm. HI RE D: Greg Blackwell, by Parts Un li mited . Bla ckwell will supervise bra nd developm en t fo r Alpinest ars, Ohlins and SBS brake pad s, and wi ll be based in San Diego, Californ ia, effective Aug ust 1. NAM ED : Snu g Harbor Mot orsports, as th e U.S . age n t fo r Jim Blan ch ard ' s motorsports artwork. For more information , call 949/498-2413. OPENED: 911 Joint Rescu e' s ho me page on the World Wid e Web. The site can be fo u n d at th e fo llo w ing a d d ress : http:/ / www.firstturn.com. OPEN ED : Kasea Motors ports USA's home page on th e World Wide Web . Th e site ca n be foun d at the following add ress: http:/ /www.kase a .com . OPENED: VP Racing Fue ls' ho me page on the World Wide Web. The site can be fo u n d at the foll owing addres s : http:/ /www.vpracingfuels.com . BORN: Adam Rob ert Mills, to Tony Mills Internation al vice presid ent Larry Mills and his wife, Amy, on Jul y 21 in Buffalo, New York. OPENED: Noted motorcycle and watercraft photographer Kinney Jones' home page on the World Wid e Web. The site can be found at the following address: http:/ / www.KinneyJon es.com. FORMED: The Ame rican Sidecar Competiti on Association (ASCA), an orga niza t io n fo r med to prom ote si deca r mo tocros s. Accord ing to chairman Malcolm Up field, the ASCA has an ag reement w ith PACE Mot or Spor ts to hold so me races at selected PACE even ts in 1999 . Fo r m or e informa tio n , call 650/365-1653. OPENED: Th e American Sidecar Co mpetition Associ ation's home page on the World Wid e Web. TI,e site can be fou nd at the following add ress: http :/ / m embe rs.ao l.com / ASCAMember / ASCA . html. APPOINTED: Steve Richey, as nation al sales manager for O'Neal, by vice presid ent Frank Kasha re, effective im med iate ly. RESC HEDULED: Th e Team Obsolete Tran s-Atlantic Match Races a t Daytona International Speedway, to October 25, due to the recent sch edule cha nges a t th e Speedway b rought about b y th e recent fires in Florida. For more informati on , call 718/596-0504. BO RN: Trace Andrew George, to Vet mo tocrosser Jim George and hi s wife, Trish, on Jul y 23 in Malvern, Ar kansas. OPENED: Vehicles in Motion' s ho me pa ge on the World Wide Web . The site can be fou nd at the following address: http:/ / www .v-i-m .com . HIRED: Brad Ha gi, as d istri ct manager for Duca ti No rth Am erica, e ffe ctive immed iately. For more information, call 800/ 349-3718. AP PO INTED : Dave Novick, to advertising and media-relat ions manager of White Brothers, effective immed ia tely . Novick was form erly the new-products and catalog man ager for White Brothers. MOVE D: Tsubaki Chain brand manager John M . Lind en, to 21021 Sol edad Ca nyon Rd., Suite #509, San ta Cla rita, CA 91351, 805 /284-3877, 805/222-9841 (fax ). O PE N ED : M ik e Youn g ' s Big G u n Exh a u s t ' s hom e pa ge o n t he World Wide Web. The site can be found at the fo llow ing add re ss: h ttp:/ /www .b ig gunexha us t.com. O PEN ED: Th e N ew Mexico Com petition Club's (NMCC) Moriarty MX Track h ome pa ge on th e World Wid e Web . Th e site can be found a t the following add ress: http:/ /www.rt 66.com / -bho / moriarty.htm. RETIRED: Nick Sanborn, president and chief execu tive officer of the Pikes Peak Au to Hill Climb Educational M u seum, effective Augu st 1, a cco rding to PPAHCEM boa rd of di rectors cha irman Bu ste r Cogswell. San born h a s b een either presiden t or executive di rector of l~ the organization since 1987.

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