Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1998 10 07

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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Biaggi/Barros controvers continues T we gain access to more and more bu ildings across the United States, we decided to d evelop a new series ," said PACE vice pres id ent Mik e Kidd . "Wit h ou r new PJI U1tracross events, fans will see the same great racing in the same form at w ith a lo t of th e sa me ex citi ng rid er s a nd tea ms th e v see in o u r PJl Arenacro ss series ."- "O u r PJl Ultracross is an open d oo r for amateur riders and a new way for them to d evelop their skill s for the PJl Arenac ross Series and, eventually, the AMA Ll.S, Supercross Series," said PACE pr esid ent Cha rlie Mancuso. The 1998 PJl Ultracross Series is as follow s : Dan e Co u n ty Arena , Madison, Wi sco nsi n, N ov ember 6-8; Loui si ana Civic Center, Monroe, Louisiana, Februa ry 5-7; Wis consin Center Arena, Milwa ukee, Wisco n sin , Febru ary 19-21; Idaho Center, Nanpa, Idaho, February 26-28; Mid -Sou th Coliseu m, Me mphis, Tenn essee, March 12-14; UTC Ar en a , Chattanooga, Tennessee, March 19-21. For m ore in fo rm ation , ca ll 817 / 246 7400. Fleshwound Films will host a VIP premier e party in w hich th ey w ill scr een the fo u r th install at ion in th e Cru s ty Demo ns o f D ir t series. Th e p remier e will be held at the MGM Gra nd Hotel and Casin o in Las Vegas, Nevada, following the U.s . Open of Su percross on Oc tob er 11. For more info rmation, call 310/457-5868. Hurry , h u r ry, hurry d ept.: Els in ore Gr and Pri x ent ries will close on October 9. For more information on the' race, call 909/653-4042. Dan Mahony Racin g Ph ot os will be on hand at the Del Ma r Mile, both for the Saturday mot orcycle show and the Sunday running of the Del Mar Mile, scheduled for Oc tober 10-11. Mah on y, who is celebra ting his 30th year in the motorsports-pho tog raphy busin ess, will be set up near the stage on Saturday and nea r the pit entra nce on Su nday, d isplayi ng hi s wares. For mo re in fo rm atio n, ca ll 800/ 543-2854, ext. 1998. A meeting of lead ing industry figures is se t to d ecide th e future of Au strali an road raci n g , a cco rd ing to Cycle News contributor Darry l Fla ck . With the demise of the Su pe rbike class for 1999, th e h e ad h on cho s of th e t op lo ca l importers - Honda, Yam aha, Kawasaki , Suzuki, Ha rley-David son and Du cati are set to establish rul es for a big -bor e class to headline next vea r' s Au stralian Road Race Cham pionsh ips . Th e future role of the chief governi ng bod y, Motorcycli ng Australia, and that of lo ng time series spo nso r She ll is not kn own - nor is the role of the promoter of the ind ependent Formu la Xtre me series, Terry O'Neill. The u ph eaval came to a head severa l weeks ago w he n Hond a Au stralia annou nced that it wi ll not sup port the Su pe rbike .class in 1999, leadin g to s peculatio n th at Hond a ma y be pl annin g to reignite the class in 2000 with a be vy of s u perb ike- kit te d VT RI000 s . Two rid ers w it h much interest in th e outcome of the me eting a re tw o-time Au stralian Superbike Ch ampion Martin Craggill and Suzu ki Superbike team rid er Mark Willis. Willis, 22, has scored a factory Suzu ki 500 and will rid e as a wild card in the Au stralian Grand Prix on Octo ber 4, while Cr aggill will ride as a 250cc GP wild card aboard an Aprilia. Those planning on a ttending the U.S . Open o f Supercros s, scheduled fo r October 10-11 in Las Vegas, Nevada , better have tickets. "Th e event is sold he FIM will meet on Wed nesd ay, Sep tember 30, to consider tra te on the fort hcoming races . But his supporters are full of ou tthe appeal by the teams of Max Biaggi and Alex Barro s ra ge a nd insi nuat io ns of a n a ll-Ita lia n personal vendetta by aga inst the co ntroversial sto p-a nd-go pen alt y applied to Nosetto . Last year, Nosetto pu nished Biaggi twice at Assen for a start-line offe nse , not on ly making him start at the back of the them at the Catalun yan Grand Prix on Sep tember 20. The incident eve ntua lly resulted in Biagg i's disqualification, field from the pit s bu t also applying a stop-and-go pe nalty . Biagand (in the ea vesdropped words broa dcast over the Dorna man- . gi took no no tice tha t tifne, either, and was d isq ualified . At the same time, strong el ements w ithin Spa n is h- based agem ent wal kie-ta lkies at the time) "rui ned our World Cha mpionshi p." Dorna are ques tioning not only whe ther the penalty was ap proThe spec ial FIM trib unal will be as ked to consider not only pria te, b ut even the leg itimacy of osetto's one- ma n regime . w he the r a ny offen se was co mmitted (in Biaggi' s case, there Sources close to Dorna suggest high-level ange r tha t the case was see ms little doubt; Barros' s guil t is d eba tab le), bu t various othe r not con sid er ed on its merits, and the en tertainment facto r not matters of p rincip le - including whether a stop-a nd-go pe nalty is tak en into acco un t, rat her than being su bject to this extreme and a pp ro priate for mot orcycle racing . Transferr ed fro m Formula ultimatel y rui nous one-size-fits-all punishmen t. On e car racing, wh ere races are alm ost two hou rs in len gth , it "You can' t imagine a d ecision like this in F-l racing," said on e was origina lly meant only as a punis hmen t fo r jum ping th e insid er. start. This is the first time it has bee n applied for an offense in a The FIM might decide to su pport the strict letter of the law race. It cost Bar ros more than 25 seco nds - a huge margin a t a and let all decisions stand. If not, the y wo uld be opening a new motor cycle GP. line of conflic t wit hi n the fragile struc tu re at the top of racing: Race director Rob erto Nosetto exp lained his position wi th A d ecision for Biaggi wo u ld also question the valid ity of the grea t eloque nce on Su nday night at the track . Pu tting the safety subsequent bla ck flag, though it is hard to find anyone to back of injured rid ers and trackside helpers ab ove all else, he argued Biaggi' s stead fast refusal to obey instructions. Whatever is d ecid ed, Nosetto's position will come under close that this "s po rting" penalty was mor e appropriate than a postscru tiny in the coming weeks. race fine. Michael Scott Biaggi has ma int ained his silenc e, sayi ng he w ish es to concenou t," sa id promoter Eric Peronard on Fri da y, September 25. "The re are n o tickets left. In fact , we have recen tly seen ads from ticke t sc alpers in Las Veg as new spapers as king for upward s of $175 fo r ticke ts ." In addition, Maz da h a s step ped in to become the officia l truck of the U.S. Open of Super cross. "In the contin ui ng growth of Mazda's involvem ent in m oto cros s a n d th e A MA a tio n a l Champ ionship Mot o cros s Series, we m ad e the deci sion to get in vo lv ed in th e U.S. Open of Supercross," s ai d Ja c k St a v a n a , M a z d a ' s group manager of marketing plans. "We will be the official tru ck of the Ll.S, Open of Supercross, and we feel the eve nt is the next natural step in ou r in volvement in the sport." Perhaps the bigges t news to come from the U.S. Op en of Su percross is the fact that bo th races w ill be televised live on both Sp eedvision and Fox Sports Net. "Sp eed vis io n and Fox Sp orts Net are excited to have America' s ma jor su percross stars on their networks for the first . tim e," said Dan Murphy, p resid ent o f FAST. Th e Saturd ay night ra ce w ill be show n from 10 to 11 p.m. (Pacific time) on Speed vision , with Sunday's race airing from 3 to 4 p.m. on Fox Spo rts Ne t. Th e two broad casts w ill incl ude ta ped high lights from the heat races and live cove rage of the finals . Check your local list ings for details. A bill before the U.S. Sen ate that wo uld offer motorcyclists a choice betw een nofault vehicle in su rance an d a trad itional, to rt-based insurance policy - whic h a llo w s veh icl e owners to su e an d be sued - will not adverse ly affect mot orcyclists as currently dra fted , according to the AMA. Th e bill, called th e Aut o Choice Reform Act of 1997 (S 2454), wou ld permit vehicle op erat ors to maintain insuranc e coverage simila r to wha t is cu rre n tly a v a ila b le und er va r io us s ta te la w s, but it w o u ld also all o w mot orist s th e option to p u rch ase supposedl y less exp ensive no- fau lt insurance in excha nge for waivi ng the righ t to sue for non econ omic d amages, such a s pai n and s u ff er in g. As cur re n tly worded , the bill wo u ld pe rmit motorcyclists to purchase no-fault insurance if offe red w ithin the sta te, but la ngu age wit h in th e bill s p eci fica ll y prohibits motorcyclists from being compelled to purcha se such insurance. Ad ditiona lly, th e bill specifie s that m otorcycl ists ' rights to sue for noneconomic damages would b e preserv ed und er th e n e w insuranc e system . Cali fornia 'Govern or Pete Wilson recen tly signed SB 1639, a new law that makes it illegal to possess an open container of alcohol while rid ing in or oper ating an off-highway ve hicle on public land s in Cali fornia . The new law wa s signed just weeks after the Pacific region of the Ll.S, Forest Service also issued its own forest o rder th a t prohib its " poss ess ing a ny bo ttle, can or other recep tacle contai ning any alcoholic bev erage which has been opened , or a seal which has been broken, or the contents of which have been partially removed , wh ile drivin g, rid ing in, or ridi ng on any motor vehicle or offhighway vehicle. " Th e California Off Highway Vehicle Motor Vehicle Recreation Division su pports the new laws. Speedway Interna tional Racing Bistro & Bar will host Eu ropean Bike Night on Th u rsday, October 1. For more information on the eve nt, call FS Prod uctions a t 714/ 573-4993. Road racer Pa ul Ritter suffered serious inju ry w he n h e cra s h ed du r in g th e AH RMA Stea mboa t Sp ri ngs ro ad race in Stea mbo at Spri ngs, Co lorado , on September 20. Ritte r is in the intens ive care u nit of the Denver Health Med ical Center in Denver, Colorad o. He is curren tly pa ral yzed after su fferin g sp inal -cord damage . Rit ter won two AMA Su pe rbike Nationals on Du cat is, both at Sears Point - on e in 1977 and the other in 1978. Rit ter finish ed third in the 1978 AMA Superbike Cha m p ions hip point sta ndings be h ind Reg Pr id more a nd Jo hn Long . The FIM gav e random d ru g tests to Carl Fogarty, Aaron Slight and Scott Russell at the World Superbike round in Aust ria on Au gu st 30, a n d a ll three s a m p les were clean. Pro Ci rcuit Kawa saki rid er Nick Wey h a s be en na med th e 1998 AMA Motocross Rookie of the Year. Wey, 19, fi ni shed n in th i n the A MA 125 cc National Mot ocross Cha mpions hip with seven top-I O finis hes. Wey's best resul t was a fifth -p lace overall in Sout hwick, Massachusetts. Don 't wait to get your tickets dept.: Since ticket availability is limited , don't wait to order yo u r tick et s to th e Iron Men of Motocross Banquet - and don 't expect to just walk up and buy tickets at the doo r. The banq uet, which is being held in conjunctio n with th e Vintage Iron Wo rld Championships and Whit e Brothers Vet Wor ld Champions hip a t Glen Helen Raceway, wi ll be held on Saturday night, October 31 at the San Berna rd ino (Californ ia) Hilton . Tickets ar e $50 per person , wi th all ben efits going to the Feed The Child ren charity fund, and tab les of 10 are available for groups wh o wo uld like to sit together. Motocross legends such as DeCoster , Wolsink, Hann a h, Mikkola, Laf'orte , Ward a nd Johnson will be on h a nd . Fo r m or e in format ion, ca ll 800/ 422-4766 or visit Vintage Iron 's website at www.vintageiron.com Ju s t a , rem in d er that e n tr ies a re s till ava ila ble for th e firs t runn in g of th e Pumpkin Run, a road ride in San Lui s Ob ispo , California, on October 17. The rid e benefits the San Luis O bispo Special Olympi cs . Fo r mor e inf or ma tio n, ca ll C\ 805/ 544-6444. Shocker: Brazilian GP canceled I n a shock move, the Brazilian Grand Prix, sched uled for October 18, has been canceled . The track failed a final safety inspection on Sep tember 25 and 26, and the FIM announced the cancellation on Monday, September 28. This cuts the World Cha m pionship back to 14 rou nds , wi th a single Latin American round in Buen os Aires on October 25 concludi ng the season . The Austra lian GP thus becomes the penu ltimate round, while Mick Doohan is one easy step closer to secu ring his fifth su ccessive crown. "Du ring this ins pec tion, the su rface of the circui t proved inadequ ate to ens ure a normal and safe ru nning of the Grand Prix," the FIM's sta teme nt said. "Considering tha t the su rface of the circuit does not meet the safety criteria fundamental for the FIM, the FIM ca nnot d eliver its homologat ion to the Nelso n Piquet circuit, a nd the Rio GP, sched uled on Oct ober 18, mu st be canceled and will not be replaced ." With teams already in or en ro u te to Aus tralia, this late news will throw travel plans into chaos. It also puts a qu esti on mark over whet her the Argen tine round, sched uled for Octobe r 25, has the resources to sta nd alone . Follow ing on the con troversial d isqualification of Ma x Biaggi - which a t a single stroke took the teeth out of the closes t title battle in cham pions hip history - this late decision will further tarnish the reputation of the sport' s ma nagement , Michae l Sco tt

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