Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127956
What about the cham- ionshi T he ca ncella tion of th e Joliet, Illin ois, ro und (see page 8) from the AMA roa d race sched ule has a profound effect on the various cha m pions hips because the available pool of point s is now diminished by one third. In all classes but Superbike, there are now 74 points availab le - 36 for a w in and an extra point for leading the most laps . The Superbike class has an extra poin t per race for the rid er who earn s pole position in qu ali fyin g. Th e ca ncella tion of th e Superbike race prob ably hurt th e chances of America n Ho nda's Ben Bostrom more than anvo ne, w hich is why he was one of the few who wanted to race. 'With Muzzy Kawasa ki's Dou g Chandler still hobbled by his cras hes at Lagu na 5eca and Mid-Ohio, and the Joliet track being tigh t, twisty an d physically demanding, Bostrom wo uld likely have moved into the champ ionship lead . Instead he cools his heels, trailing Chand ler by tw o poin ts, until the next race - whi ch will be the beginning of a two-round cha mpionship - at "P ikes Peak and the seasonender at Las Vega s, where Cha ndler has excelled . The numbers say that the top seven riders all hav e a mathematical possibility to wi n th e cla ss, but Yoshimura Su zuki' s Ma t Mladin, 36 points ad rift, is the only other rid er wh o has a reasonable chance. If the cancella tion help ed Chandler in the Superbike class , it certainly-hurt him in the 600cc Supersport Series . He now trails Yoshim ura Suz uki 's Steve Crevier by 18 points . It's not inconceivable tha t he could make a run at Crevier, especially given the competitiveness of the class, but if Crevier wins the title, it will likely guarantee him emp loyment for next year, whic h is powerful motiva tion. Ame rica n Honda's Ben Bostrom is eight points behind Chand ler, who is still mat hema tically wi thin striking distance, as is his youn ger brother Eric, who is 40 points behind at 278. Some crucial information was missin g fro m an advertis ement in Cycle News (Issue #30, pa ge 41) for the Hall of Fame Logo Auction. The missing info rmation was from the add ress for auction info rmation. The add ress is as follows: Hall of Fame Logo Auction, P.O. Box 313, Bishop, GA 30621. The Texas Vintage Racing Club will celebrate its l Oth anniversary on September 20 and will run a vintage-onl y race at the Bur leson Mot ocross Pa rk in Burl eson , Texas . The event will feature a special race for the origi nal 14 TVRC riders. For mor e information, call 817/ 581-1682. Dani el's Ridge MX Park recently held a benefit race for Jamie Nicholson, 21, a B- Eric Bostrom will al mos t assured ly clinch the Pirelli Formula Xtreme title at Pikes Peak. He holds a 4D-point lead, 296-256, over Erion Racing teammat e Tripp No bles and needs to leave Pikes Peak with 37 in ha nd. Wit h the excep tion of a mechanical DNF at Laguna Seca, Bostrom has won every race. To clinch, he only has to giv e away three points to No bles. The rid er wi th the biggest. cush ion is Performance Machine's Roland Sands. The Elf Race Fuels / Lub rican ts 250cc Grand Prix Ch am pion ship lead er ha s a 47-poi nt cus hion on Erion Racing's Kurtis Roberts . If Robert s wins at Pikes Peak and leads the most la ps, Sands need only fini sh fou rth or be tter to ta ke his first cJlam p ions hip. World Sports Im po rts' Chuck Sorensen, who won the most recent round at Brain erd , is onl y a point behind Robert s and is the only other rid er with a crack at the crown. The closest race is in the Progressive Insuran ce Pro Thunder cla ss. Orange Co unty Triu mph's Paul H arrell leads wi th 303 points, 11 bett er than Tilley' s ff -D/ Buell's Shaw n Higbee and 15 more than teammate Curtis Adams. These thr ee have dominated the series and anyone of them cou ld come away with the cro wn. Since Harrell has only wo n on e race, having one less round won' t hurt him. 1-800-CYCLEGEAR'S Steve Rap p and Barnett Tool & Engi neerin g's Richard Alexan der Jr . are likely go ing to be th e two slugging it out for the Teamline 750cc Supersport .Championship. Rapp has a 12-poi nt edge, 295-283, w ith Hooters Restau rants' Mari o DuHamel tied wi th Ricci Racing' s James Randolph in third wi th 244, 51 points back, but not out of it. This one's a tossu p and probably won' t be decided until the flag falls on a Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas. class motocrosser who suffered a broken back and severed spinal cord in a playriding accide n t in June. The event raised more tha n $6500 for Nicholso n, w ho is paralyzed from the ches t down. AMA /Prostar drag racer Jim Shifflett suffered a broken neck after diving int o a sw imming poo l recentl y. Shifflett will be ou t of wo rk for so me six months and Pro star is see king support for the Super Co mp racer. Donations can be sent to the Jim Shifflett Recovery Fu nd, 14819 Bryan Court, Woodbridge, VA 22193. For more informa tion, call 205/ 852-1101. The first -ever West Coast Motorcycle Demo lition Derb y will be held a t th e O ra nge Cou n ty Fai rgrou nds in Costa Smets clinches 500cc Motocross title usaberg's Joe l Sme ts clinched his third World Cha mp ionship 500cc MX Series title with a 1-1 sho wing at the Dutch Grand Prix in Rhenen, Holland , August 8. cc With one round left in the SOO series, the Belgian has an insu rm oun tab le poi nts lead over 1996 cham p Darryl King, 367-308. At the Dutch GP, Team Yama ha's Peter Joh an sson finis hed second to Smets in the firs t rnoto, but a couple of crash es in the second mot o led to his early d ep artu re from the race. Tak ing runner-up ho nors for the day was King, w ho rode his factory-backed Husqva rn a to 3-2 placings. Thi rd overall went to Honda rider Rob Herring, who posted 64 moto finis hes . KTM's James Ma rsh and Hon da's Ce rt-jan Van Doorn rounded ou t the top five overall . The race for the World Ch ampionship 250cc MX title got a little closer following the GP of Germa ny in Teu tschenthal, August 9. Defending Champion Stefan Everts won bot h mo tos an d gai ned ground on series leader Sebastien Tortelli, who finished second in bot h mote s. Kawasaki' s Torte lli now lead s Honda' s Ever ts by just four points, 421417, with three races remaining on the calendar. Thi rd overall in Ge rmany was Honda's Frederic Belley, who crossed the finish line in third in both motos. Fourth w as Suz uki's Ma rn icq Bervoets (4-5), while fifth wen t to Ame rican Tallon Vohland , Vohland wen t 6-4 an d is cu rre ntly sixth in the series poin t standi ngs with 201. Yama ha's David Vuill em in won the World Cha m pio nship 125cc MX Series rou nd in Cha teau d u Loir, Fran ce, A ug us t 9. Vuillemin, ho we ver, gained only a few poi nts on series lead er Alessio Chiodi. Vuillem in won the first moto over Yamaha's Clau di o Fed ar, erici, Hon da's Luigi Seguy, TM's Alessandro Puz and Chiodi, but Chiodi came bac k ' to wi n the seco nd moto over Vu illem in and Yamaha rid ers Erick Camerlengo, Carl Nunn an d Federici. Vuille min gained six points on Ch iod i on the d ay but still trails the Husqvarna rid er by 19 poin ts (305-286) with one round left to go. Third in the series is Puzar with 247. H ? • Mesa, Cali fornia, on Au gust 15, during intermission for the Costa Mesa Speed way. "Ten bra ve men with moto rcycles and baseb all bats will brawl for the regula tion 10-m inute period, wit h the last man sta nd ing being p ro claim ed as the Demolition Derb y King, and collecting th e inc re d ible a r t -deco De m olitio n De rb y tro phy," a press re lease tou ting the eve nt sta tes . For mor e information, call 949/ 492-9933. A cco rdi n g to Mike Yo u n g Sr . o f Mycom m Productions, entries are still a va ilab le fo r th e Augu st 15- 16 Old Highway 40 Days Mo torcycle Extravaga n za a t the Do nner Ranch a rea nea r Donner Lak e, Ca lifo rn ia. Pos t en tries wi ll also be accep ted . For more info rmation , call 530-365-1979. . John G en is e, of Joh n 's Cy cle Sales in W ood sid e , Q uee ns, Ne w Yor k, is re co vering well fo llowi ng dia b e tes - rela te d su rgery. Genise ha s been le ft with limited use of his legs but is ma king excellent progre ss th rough thera py . Ge nise w as for many yea rs th e AM A Pro refer ee in the New York area and is w ell-remem bered for being the referee at the Middletown ew York Half Mile Dirt Track Ch ampionships in the 1970s. The series fina le of the West Co as t Flat Track Series, sch ed u led for Bakersfield Speedway on Saturd ay, Augus t 24, will fea ture a $1500 bonus ra ce - the Rod La ke Dash For Cash Race . Th e ra ce w ill fea ture the heat-race winners fro m the 600cc Exp ert , 600cc Pro Sport / Ama teur and 750cc Mod ern Vintage classes. The rid ers w ill be hand icapped as per their heat-race tim es with the exce ptio n of th e 750cc rid ers . All rid ers will be paid , with first place ea rn ing $420. For mor e information, call 714/ 529-6054. OPENED : Rene gad e Ra ci n g ' s h ome page on the Wo rld Wid e Web. The site can be found at the following ad d ress: http:/ /www.renegad eracing.com. RESCHEDULED : Th e AMA /W ML Lad ies Internatio nal Cup MX Champio n s h ip s, to Fr id a y , Au g u st 29 , a t Broo me-Ti oga in Bingha rnp to n , New Yo rk. For m ore info r m a ti o n , ca ll 949/837-2206. HIRED: Sa rah Schilke , as wes tern a dv er t is i ng mana ger for A merica n Motor cyclist Magazin e, replacin g Beth Shaw, effective immediat ely. BORN: Seth Daniel Roberts, to former road racer and cu rrent Dunl op tire tester Danny Rob erts and his wife, Lizzy, on July 26 in Huntsville, Alabama . AUTOGRAPH SIG N IN G: At Gisonia Cy cle Cen ter in Alliso n Par k, Pennsylvania, on September 5 fro m 12 p.m . to 1 p .m. Me m bers of Tea m Suz u k i Motocro ss are scheduled to appear. For mo re information , call 412/487-2803 CANCELED: t he Augus t 23 AMP/ GFl Motocross, sche d u led for th e Hollist er Hills GP track in Holli ster, Ca lifornia, d u e to a sch ed u ling co nflict. Th e race w ill be he ld on Augus t 30 a t the same t rac k. For m ore in fo r m atio n, ca ll 209/ 656-9682 C\ h e motorcycle d ra g -r a cin g co m m unity is mou rn ing the loss of John Myers, 40, of Birmingham, Ala bama, who died from in jurie s received in a non-racing-related motorcycle accident. Myers was reportedl y riding on an Alabama high way wit h frien d and fellow drag racer Steve Johnson when he los t control of his m otorcv cle, s truck a guard rail a n d tumb le d dow n a n ~m ban kmen t. Ap parently having suffered little mo re than a bro ken arm, Myers climbed back to the highway to await a n ambulance and was,subsequently airlifted to a nearby hospital. But Myers died of massive internal injuries en rou te to the hospital. A lO-year vetera n of Pro Stock mot orcycle racing, Myers was the second-wi nningest mo torcycle racer in N HRA Pro Stock Motorcycle histo ry, ha vin g scored 33 NHRA na tion al even t wins and thr ee NHRA Winston Dr ag Racin g cha m pio nships . Myers also ea rned three nati onal titles with the AMA /Prostar mot orcycle sanctioni ng bod y. Myers is also cred ited as being the first rider ever to break the 7.50-second barrier aboard a Pro Stock motorcycle. Myers is survived by his wife, Kerry, and a two-yea r-old d aughter, Ch ris tina. Memorial services are scheduled for Th ursday, Augu st 13, at the Na tiona l Motorspo rts Hall of Fame on the grounds of the Tallad ega Superspeedway in Tallad ega, Alabama. A memorial fund has also been established . Checks can be ma de out to: John Myers Memo rial Fund, Sou th Trust Bank, P.O. Box 2554, Birm inhgh arn, AL 35290. T