Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1998 08 19

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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IN THE WIND " Ii; »t: '. .' Eric Wood (Kaw) won both le g s i n round four of the For mula USA Series, held a t Ne w Hampshire Int ernational Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshir e, o n August 9. Wood beat Tray Batey (Suz) and Michael Barnes (Yam) in both races to come away from Loudo n with a clean sweep. By virtue of his two second-place finis hes, Batey takes over the cham pionship point s lead from teammate Grant Lopez, who finis hed four th and 16th in th e two races. Batey now lead s Wood , 276-264, with Barnes third on 258 points a nd Lopez fo urth w it h 250. Lopez, meanwh ile, has been placed on probation and his results are "su bject to furth er inquiry for unsport smanlike conduc t," accordi ng to Formula USA. Lo pez w a s in v ol ved in a crash with Steve Grigg and then got into an altercation with a corn er worker. In addition to winning both Fo r m u la USA rac es, Wood also came ou t on top in th e 103 Horsepower class a nd finishedsecond to Charles Chouinard (Suz) in the 126 Horsepower class. Ty Davis (Yam) recorded the ov era ll win in round nin e of the AMA / Acerbis National Cha m pio ns h ip Endu ro Series in Divid e, Colorado, on August 9. Finishin g sec o n d to Da vi s was Destry Abbott (Kaw) , who w as fo]lowed by Michael Lafferty (KTM), who had alread y clinched the titl e, Doug Blackwell (Ya m) and Patrick Garrahan (KTM). . The 1998 A MA Amateur N ation al Motocro ss Championships at Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Ten nessee, came to a conclusion on Saturday, Au gust 8. Shae Bentley (Kaw) went 3-1-3 to score the 250cc Pro Spo rt title, while Nick Wey (Kaw) won the 125cc Pro Sport title with a 1-2-2. Matt Walker (Kaw) topped the 125cc A class w ith a 4-1-1, w hile Billy Payne (Kaw) won the 250cc A Stock title with a 1-1-2 score . The only two double class champions were Bryan McGavran (Ya m ), who won the 250cc/Open. B Modified and 125cc B Stock classe s, and Senior Minicycle rid er Ryan Morais (Yam), who won both th e 85cc (14-15) Stock a n d Modified cla sses . Dag Boyesen (Suz) won the Junior 25-Plus race. Billy Whitley (Suz) won the Vet A (Ove r 30) title, whil e Gene Stull (Suz) went 1-2-2 Brai ne rd In ternationa l Raceway on August 2. ussie ace Jason Crump was handed the perfect birthday present with a su pe rb wi n in the British Grand Prix at Cove ntry 's Brandon Stadium on August 7. • Cru mp, so n of former Aus tra lian int ern a tional rider Phil Crum p, was born in Eng land during his father' s British League career and it was iro nic that he sho u ld win this round, as it came just a d ay af ter his 23rd 'birthday - w hich he cou ld hardl y celebra te, as he was preparing for the meeting. But the celebra tion just came a d ay late, as Cru mp ou tran Sweden's Jim my Nilsen, Poland' s Tornasz Gollob and fellow Aussie Ryan Sullivan in the final. World Championship leader Ton y Rickardsson went ou t in heat 20, wh ich meant he failed to get to the semi-finals, and with fellow Swede N ilsen qualifying for the final - despite suffering a broken collarbon e two weeks ago - the gap is now down to 10 points on the leaderboard. Rickardsson lead s Nilsen in the series stand ings, 76-66, all but ensuring that the next World Champion will be from Sweden. As for Team Exide 's Ame rican du o of Greg Han cock and Billy Hamill, the pair was wid ely expected to figur e in the final on a Coventry track they know so well , as they both race fo~ Coventry in the British Elite Leagu e. But both had to settle for a place in the consolation final . Now, Hamill, who carries Am erica's brightest hopes for another World title, sits fourth in the series stand ings , behind Poland's Gollob, with 56 points. Defending World Champion Hancock is down in the eighth spot, with 45 points. John Hipkiss A in the 85cc (12-13) Stock class to grab his second career AMA title. James Stewart dominated the 85cc (9-13) Modi fieds for his titl e, while Broc Hepler (Su z) claimed th e 85 cc (7-11 ) St ock title. Jonathan Shimp (Yam) won the 105cc Superminis with a 1-6-1 count. Sarah Whitmore (Suz) won the Women 's 85cc105cc title with a 3-1-1, and Shelly Kann (Yam) won th e Women' s Over 125cc title with a 1-2-1 over Jessica Patterson (Kaw ). Joshua Woods (Kaw) topped the 125cc Schoolboy Stock class, and Ben .Riddle (Kaw ) won in the Modi fied d ivision. For the fir st ti me thi s year, so meone o t he r than Hu saberg ' s Lance Smai l won a round of th e AM A /W est ern Four-Stro ke MX Seri es. In Alban y, Oregon, for round seve n of th e nine-r ace series, Dustin Nelson (Ya m) walked aw ay with the overall win after posting Dave Coombs 1941-1998 T h e h u ndreds o f r iders w ho a ttended this year's AM A Ama te ur N a tiona l Motocross Cha m p ions h ips at Lore tta Lynn' s Ranch in Hurrican e Mill s, Tennessee, were gree ted with th e sad news of the passin g of the event's fou nd er, Dave Coor:nbs : Following a bout with leu kemia, Coombs passed away on Mo nd ay, October 3, m hIS hom etown of Morgantown, West Virgi nia. He was 51. As the head of Racer Productions, Coom bs found ed the AMA National Championship Hare Scrambles Series in 1978, as well as the AMA Gra nd Na tiona l Cross Cou ntry Series, whic h evo lved from the Na tiona l Hare Scrambles Series and is now considered one of the most prestigious off-road series in the United States. . He was also the head of the newl y form ed Na tiona l Promoters Gro u p, wh ich in its first year put togeth er the biggest rid er point fund in motocross history. Coo mbs and Racer Productions also promoted tw o rounds on the AMA/ Mazda Tru ck National Champ ionship 125/250cc MX Series circu it at High Point Raceway in Mou nt Mo'!is, Pennsy lvania, and at Steel City Raceway in Delmont, Penn sylvania. He also org anized tw o round s of the AMA Grand Nation al Cha mpions hi p Series for Quadcycles, and he wa s also a local race promoter, with numerou s events in AMA Dis' trict 5, and he was instru mental in the growth of the Na tional Dual-Sport Series. Coombs will perhap s be remem bered most for producing one of the most famous off-roa d races in the Unit ed States - the Blackwater 100. Coombs still rod e the ~n io.r class in many of his own motocross and cross cou ntry races. He was born and raised In Morgantown , West Virginia, and lived there h is enti re life. He is su rvi ved by his wife, Rita, his daughter Carrie and his two sons, Tim an d Davey. He also has two grandsons wh o are getting read y to start racing the Pee Wee classes. He will be missed . a pair of secon d- p lace fini S'hes . Smail did, however, win the first moto, but he su ffered a mech anical-related DNF in the 'second moto, putting an end to his win s treak. Taking runner-up honors for the day was Brad Hagseth (3-3), who wa s followed by Robert Naughton, Carter Gurnee and 'Greg Schnell. All of the top five rid ers were Yamaha-mounted . Smail still maintains a healthy lead in the s e r ies with 313; followed b y Schne ll with 269. Nel son moved into third wi th 201. Niall Mackenzie (Yam) won both races in th e se ve n t h round of th e British Su per b ike Ch ampion ship, held at Kn ockhill in England o n Au gust 9 . Mackenzie topped Chris Walker (Kaw ) and John Reynolds (Du e) to win the first race, then went out and beat Steve Hislop (Yam) and Troy Bayliss (Due) to wi n th e seco nd rac e. Macken zie leads Hislop in the championship point standings, 266-235. Yosh im u ra Suz u ki's Mat Mladin and American Honda ' s Ben Bostrom w ill partici pa te in a Du nlop tire test at Daytona Int ernation al Speed way, Augus t 13-15. "It's jus t a cha nce to ge t so me stuff d one prior to the December test," Dunlop tire techn ician Jim Allen sai d . Doug Chandler was also sche d uled to particip at e, but in st ead will tak e th e time to furth er mend his injuri es. Yoshimura Suz u ki's Aaron Yates was sche d uled to test the Suz u ki RGV-500 a t Ryu yo , th e fa ct ory ' s test tra ck in Ja pa n, but he was re lu cta n t to d o so becau se of the configu ration of the circu it. Ryu yo is a proper test track with various su rfa ce irregu la rities used to. test sus pe ns io n. The bumps can often be avo lded .i but it s till is n' t the id eal place to test a 500cc Grand Prix bike for the first time . "There's su pposed to be. a n op por tu nity for me to ride a 500," Yates sai d. "It' s in m y contract. What I've gathered from everyo ne is that that is not th e pl ac e. I really w ant to rid e one to see what it's like . I want to ride at a real race track." The Georgian had been sched u led to test the 500 at [araou ts id e o f Madrid, Spain, ea rlie r this year. Th en he broke his arm in a motocross in cid en t a n d th e te st was scotc he d. He a lso sa id that the te am .d id n "t ha ve pl an s to d o a ny fu r t her testing on the European continent and that th e next opportunity to ride the bike would be a t th e w inter tests in Au stralia. rna, A recovery fund ha s been se t up for injured motocrosser Sean Kelley. Kelley crashed a t a motocross track in La s Vegas, Ne vada, which resulted in three broken vertebrae in his neck. He is currently paralyzed fro m the neck down. If you would like to make a donation, you can send a check pa yable to: Sean. Kelley Recovery Fund, 279 Clippership St., Henderson, NY, 89014. For more informati on, call Jeff at 714/ 921-2261, or Debbie at 702/436-5640 . CMXR has announced it s 1998 Summer/Fall Motocross Series. The s ixrac e series - w ith all rounds being held at Carlsbad Raceway in Carlsbad, California - will begin on August 15 and will conclud e on October 17. For more information , call 888/550-MOTO . , According Mer rill Vanders lice , AMA Pro Racin g' s direct or of profess ional competition, Anthony Gobert wo n't be allowed to return to action at Pikes Peak Ra ce w a y for roun d 13 of th e A MA / M BNA Su perbike Na tio n a l Cha m pio ns hi p now that th e Route 66 Racewav round was canceled . Gobert's sus pe nsion for failing a n AMA-issued drug test was for thr ee races - Mid-Oh io, Brainerd and Rout e 66 - but wit h Rout e 66 being canceled on 'Frid ay, Aug us t 7, the nonr ace wo n' t cou nt to wa rd Go bert's suspension and he won't be eligible' to rid e u ntil the final round of the series at Las Vegas Motor Speed way, Oc tober 2-4. "No, that eve nt wo n' t count toward ' h is s us pension," Va nders lice sai d on Monday, Aug us t 10. "It w asn 't a race. Tha t was a nonrace, so he'll have to sit ou t Pikes Peak." Bob Price will teach a motorcycle rep air course a t LA. Trade Tech, beginning on Au gust 18. Th e cla ss will be h eld on Monday and Wednesday evenin gs from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m . For more information, call 213/744-9070. With Go be r t b e in g forced to s it o u t Pik es Peak, th at will give Jason Pridmore a nother op po rt u nity to rid e the Vance & Hines Duca ti in th e AMA /M BNA Su perbike Na tional, Septemb er 4-6. Prid more finished fourth on the bike in his d ebut w ith th e team a t Eddie Mulder will not be promot ing th e Vint age Na tional TT in Castlerock, Wash ington , on September 4, acco rdi ng to Mulde r. The former dirt tracker will, however, be co-promo ting the Cal-Expo Vintage Mile in Sacrame nto, California , on September 27 with Gene Romero. Montclair Yamaha/Ty Davis Racing is looking for pit -ser vice volunteers for the upcom ing Las Vegas-t o-Ren o off-roa d race, Oct ober 2-3. For more inform a tion, call 877/ TY-DAVIS. • Accordi ng to a press re lease fro m the team, Team StiffielWestwood p lans to field a five-ma n team for 1999. Riders or int erest ed spo ns ors can contac t West wood a t 818/908-1140. The team is also accepting resumes for mechan ics and team man agem ent personnel. .

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