Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AMA'and PACE Motor·Sports release 1999 Su ercross schedule he American Motorcycle Association, together with PACE . Motor Sports, has released the schedule of the 1999 U.s. . Supercross Series, and there are a few significant changes. The series will aga in cons ist of 16 rounds but is set to return to Anaheim, California, for the series opener at Edison International Field (fo rme rly known as Anaheim Stadium), Ja nua ry 9. The capacity of the revamped , a ll-base ball, Disn ey-owned stad ium has been red u ced to approxima tely 50,000, so a second da te at the facility has been added on February 6 (round five). The Anaheim races will replace the Los Angeles rounds formerly held at the L.A. Mem ori al Coliseum. The series will again conclud e in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 1. Qu alcomm Stadi um in San Diego , Cali fornia , is back on the sched ule. Last yea r, the stadium was un availab le to host a supercross round du e to its renova tion for last yea r's All-Star baseball game . The San Diego race will be the seco nd stop of the series, on January 16. Next year's races in Pho eni x, Ari zona, an d Tampa, Florida, will be held at new venues. The Phoenix race will be held at the new Bank One Ballpark (hom e of the Ari zona Diamondbacks MLB baseball team) , and the Tampa race will be held at the new Raymond James Stadium (ho me of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers T Sticker" will be developed, with a different color to allow enforcement officers to identify the different registration category . Th is p rogram will a lso eli mi na te another problem, accord ing to D-36 - the potential reduction of fu ndi ng for th e OHV d ivision of sta te p arks, si nce all mot or cycles and ATVs cou ld be registered under this program. Geoff Aaron won his fifth AMA /NATC Observed Trials Championship wit h wins in the final three rounds of the series. Ray Peters ended up second in the title chase, A ccord in g to hi s m an a g er, Al a n La b rosse, it is unlike ly th at Mig uel D uHame l will return to acti on in th e fi n a l round o f t he A MA Sup erbike Series at Las Vegas Motor Speed way in October. DuHamel was scheduled to see Dr. Arthu r Ting in San Fran cisco, Californ ia, last w eek, and is tak ing th in gs "on e da y at a tim e, " acco rding to Labrosse. Tho ugh his leg in juries ar e healing we ll, th er e ma y n ot be mu ch poin t in DuHam el making his return in 1998. DuHamel will return to the American Hond a team in 1999 for the second year of his two-year contract. The AMA will en ter in to a lawsu it challenging the U'S. Forest Service's decision to severely restrict off-highway motoriz ed recrea tion in t he Dan ie l Boone N ational Fores t in eas tern Kentuck y, accord ing to the AMA. Earlier this year, th e Fores t Service a n no u nced th a t it wo uld reduce motorcycle and ATV trails in the fores t by nearl y 90 percent, from 800 miles to about 100 miles. The AMA and the Ohi o Valley Trail Riders, a group of off-high way motorcyclists who use the fores t, appealed the d ecision bu t were turned d own . "The Forest Service has left us no alterna tive but to go to court over this cu tbac k," said Robert Rasor, AMA vice p reside nt for government relations. "The Forest Service has an obligation to responsibly man age federal land s for the ben efit of all, an d slashing mot or ized rec reation opportu nities in this way doesn 't live u p to that obligation ." In ad dition to his reg ular stree t-ridi ng sc hools, CLASS Mo torcy cl e Sc hoo ls owner Reg Pridmore plans to do a number of California Classics at Sears Point , Lag u na Seca a n d Will o w Springs in 1999. Th e exclus ive Califo rnia Classics will ·be limited in class size, a nd track time will be ab u ndant, acco rd ing to Pridmore. In ad d ition, Pr idmor e plans to take the CLASS sc hool to N orway ag ain in '99, scheduled for August 8-21. For m ore information o n a ny of the CLASS activities, call 805/933-9936. NFL football team ). Dropped fro m the '99 schedule is the Charl otte , Nor th Carolina , round, w hich had been held a t Charlott e Motor Speedway the last few yea rs. All of the races excep t for the Daytona Supercross will be promoted by PACE Motor Sport s. The 1999 Ll.S, Supercross Series sched ule is as follows : January 9 '- Ed ison Internationa l Field, Anahei m, California ' Janua ry 16 - Qualco mm Stadium, San Diego, California Jan uary 23 - Bank One Ballpark , Phoenix, Arizona January 30 - Kingdome, Seattle, Washington February 6 - Edison International Field, Anaheim, Califo rn ia •February 13 - Raymond James Stad ium, Tampa, Florida February 20 - Geo rgia Dome, Atlan ta, Georgia February 27 - Texas Stadium, Dallas, Texas March 6 - Daytona Int'l Speedway, Daytona Beach , Florida Mar ch 13 - Astrodome, Hou ston, Texas March 20 - Metr od orne, Minneapolis; Minnesota March 27 - Trans World Dom e. St, Lou is, Missou ri April 10 - Silverdome, Pon tiac, Michigan April 17 - Supe rdo me, New Orleans, Louisiana April 24 - RCA Dom e, Indi anapolis, Indiana May 1.- Sam Boyd Silver Bowl, Las Vegas, Nevada Yam ah a Mo tor Euro pe N .V. h a s a nnou nced that its official team in the Occ World Motocr oss Champi 1999 SO ons hip will be run from Michele Rinaldi's base near Parma in Italy. Rinald i has confirmed that the team will be managed by his you nge r brother, Carlo, making use of the existi ng team structure. Th e bikes will be ridden by Andrea Bartol oni and Alessandro Pu zar . The annou ncement comes as a result of Rinaldi 's decision to withdraw from running his 250cc Yamaha Team Rinaldi at the end of the 1998 sea son in orde r to conce ntra te on furth er devel opin g o ther a reas of n is organization. The team will use production-based YZ400F four-s trokes . Anthony Gobert will make his first public ap pearance on September 12 at the Sydney Entertai nme nt Center for th e fina l round of the Australian Supercross Masters. Gobert, who has just completed a 30day drug rehabilitation program after testing positive twice for marijuana in July, has entered the even t on a Yamaha YZ250 , his first pro-Supercross outing in over five years , The Vance & Hines Ducati star has success fully applied for a Motorcycling Aus tra lia co m pe tition license, an d is expected to receive it on September 7. The 23-year-old Au stralian is also scheduled to compete in a six-hour road race at Eastern Creek on October 25, where he'll face off against an old adve rsary . Former Australian Supercross and Motocross Champion Kim Ashkenazi ha s launched his road racing career and will compete at the six-hour in the Supe rsport 600ccclass. Au strali an Supe rbike racer Cra ig Connell will race in th e Au st rali an 500cc Grand Prix on Oct ober 4 as. a wild-card rid er on the Shell Advance Honda team, rid ing a Honda NSR500V, according to Cycle News co n tribu to r Da rryl Flack. Connell fi n is hed seco nd in the 1998 Aus tra lian Superbike Championship beh ind Martin Craggill. "Phillip Island is my best track," Connell said . "And at the World Su perb ike C hampions hip round, at the Island in March, I qualified 12th, whic h I felt wa s pretty good in that company, although my results didn' t m a tch m y qu a li fy in g p e rfo rmance becau se of a cras h and a tire problem ." Yoshimura Suzuki 's Aaron Yates will be the g uest ins tr uc to r for the Ame ric a n Supercamp sessio n sched uled for Greeley, Colora do, September 25-28 . For m ore in fo r ma tio n on the dirt track schoo l, call 970/669-6102. One of the highlights of th e u pcoming Del Mar Mile an d Vin tage Motorcycle Days at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in Del Mar, California, October 10-11, will be an induction ceremony for the inductees into the Am erican Motorcycle Foundation's new Motorcycle Hall of Fame. All of this year's 124 inductees (or known representatives) have been invited to be there for the Sa tu rda y presentation of a sp ecial person alized medal and also for interviews . Inductees will also be introduced on Su nday as part of the Del Mar Mile ope ning ceremo nies. For mor e information, call Don Emde at 949/249-2270. Th e Dirt Track H all o f Fam e race, sched uled for September 5-6 at the Illi-, nois Sta te Fairground s in Sp ringfield , Illi n ois, ha s released its list of officia l spo nso rs. Th ey include th e foll owing: Excelsior- Henderso n Motorcycle Comp any; Ha r ley Owners Group (HO G); Cycle News; Beer N uts; Miller Beer; and Coca-Cola. "We are pro ud to count these corporate sponsors among ou r su pporters," said Dave Desp ain, the orga nizer of the Hall of Fame race. "They join a long list of in d ivid ua l e n th usiasts who se financial contribu tions have made th is very special event possible." Injuries have all but ruined the Team Saddlemen /I -800-FASTHOG dirt track racing team thi s season. On Au gust 26, team rider Mike Hacker underwent surgery to repair his separa ted right shoulder, whi ch came abou t as the result of a nasty high side during practice at the Hub City G assic Half Mile in Hagerstown, Maryland, on August 22. "I had to have surgery," Hacker said . "It's messed up pre tty bad - way worse than the doctors first thought. They did a complete reconstru ction. TI1ey had to remove some ligamen ts from another part of my shoulder to repair the damage. Now I've go t two pins in my should er and a screw in my collarbone." Hacker said that he will probably miss the rest of the year w hile the join t hea ls. "They said s ix weeks," Hacker said, "But I don't wan t to . just go to Del Mar, which is a rough track, w hen I' m not fu lly hea led and ou t of shape from night. riding. I think it's better to let it heal over the winter and just train real hard so that it will be like it never happened by the time we go to Daytona." HIRED: Eric Johnson, as managing ed itor for Racer X Illustra te . Johnson is a longtime contributor to d Cycle News and will continue to write sto ries and file repo rts for eN. John son can be reach ed at 304 /284-{)080. OPENED: CLASS Mot orcycle School's home page on the W orld Wide Web. Th e site can be found at the follow ing add ress: http:/ / ww w.classrides.rom . OPENED: Snow Racing's hom e page o n the Woc1d Wide Web. The site can be found at the following ad dress: http:/ / wwws now racing.rom. NAMED: Ric hard P. Lague, as presiden t of Pete rsen Publishing 's motorcycle /action spo rts group, by James D. Dunning Jr.. chairman, CEO and presiden t of The Peterse n Com panies Inc . CANCELED: The Team Obso lete vintage / mode rn races and Transa tlantic Match Races , scheduled for Day to na Interna tional Speedway in Daytona Beach , Florida. on October 25. ACQU IRED: A Kawasaki franchise. by Cha pa rral Motorspo rts in San Bernardino, California. With the addition of the Kawasaki brand, Chapa rral no w carries Kawasaki, Hond a, Suzuki and Yama ha motor cycles as we ll as Kawasaki , Yamaha and Sea-Doll 'pe rso nal wa tercraft. HIR ED Tom Webb , as fe atu res editor o f H ig h Torque Publication s' Dirt Bike"Magazine, effectiv e immed iately . AUTOGRAPH SIGNING: At Cycle Gear in Sacrament o, California, on Se ptember 12. Team 1·800 · CYCLEGEAR's Steve Rapp is scheduled to appear. For more information. ca ll 707 / 747-5053. J Pechman, as seni or vice . presid ent of adverti sin g and sales for the Seal s Communication s Corpo ration (Sealsco), effective immediat ely; Rex Hu bbard.ras senior vice pres ident of production and operations for Sealsco, ef fective immed iate ly: and Joh n Bonner , as ex ecu tive vice presid ent and principal ope rating o ffice r. APPOINTED: Steven HIRED : Matt Dill, to the positi on of seni or vice president of marketi ng a nd d ev elopm en t for Sealsco, effective immediately. PROMOTED : Chris Tuttle, to vice pre id ent and s sco controller of Scal , effecti ve immediatel y. CREATED : MotoWnrld Network, a new med ia ne t- work division o f Seals Communications Corporation, sched uled to launch on January 1, 1 ~. O PEN ED: Sport Tire Servi ces' home pag e on the World Wide Web. The site can be found at the fol - lowi ng address: http: / /ww w . sportt ir~. com . .-x McGrath awarded To ota truck A MA u .s. Supercross Champion Je remy McGrath (left) recently received the keys to his new Toyota truck from Toyo ta Motors Sales senior sports-marketing ad min istrator Steve Ga llagher. McGra th ea rned the Toyot a tru ck by domina ting the 1998 Supercross Series , winning seven of 16 even ts an d accumulating $165,055 in pri ze mo ney. In 1999, To y ot a Tru cks will return as the presenting spo nsor of the U.S. Supercross Series, which kicks off its new season at Edison Intern a tional Field in Anaheim, Califo rnia, on Janu ary 9. 3

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