Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Champio ns hi p. Russell has reportedly ab o h ad t alk s w ith Ferdi n an d o De Cecco, the team manager who w ill ru n the Bene tton Du ca ti team in th e 1999 World Superbike Series. Duca ti, so urces say, would rather have the Geo rgian in the AMA Series - to give them their best chance of w inn ing the Dayton a 200 for the firs t tim e. Doug "Wheelie King" Domokos w ill perform at th e California RV Show at the Los Angeles Co u n ty Fai rplex in Po mona, California, on October 17 a t 9:30 a.m. and noon. Accord ing to his 'sp onsor, Progress ive Dia g n os t ics Co ., mot o cr o sser Jeff Dement has sig ned a one-year d eal tha t wi ll see h im co ntest the 1999 125cc World Cha mp ions hip Mot ocross Series w ith th e S RS Ho n da te a m , w hich is based in Pescara, Italy. Deme nt will ride the 125cc GPs, the Italian 125cc Na tion al Championsh ip, th e World Su pe rcross Cha m pionship roun d in Genova and an Intern ation al Supercross in Bolog na. The third annua l Chaparral U.S, Invitational Pro Shootout will be he ld a t Gle n Helen Racewav Pa rk on Decem ber 27, fea tu ri ng th e li k es of Jer em y McGrat h , Je ff Em ig , Steve Lam s on , Greg Alberty n , Robbi e Reynard a n d more. Fo r mo re i nfo r matio n, ca ll 909 /384-9342. Fo r me r A MA Su pe rbike Na tio na l Cha m pio n Reg Pridmore is ex tremely u p s e t t hat Do ug C ha ndle r w a sn 't black-flagged durin g th e AMA Su p er bike Nat ional Cha mpio ns hip fin ale a t Las Vegas Mo to r Speed way on Oc tober 4. C ha n d le r's Mu zz y Kawasa k i w as smoking badl y as it circu lated the trac k and Pridmore was frustrate d, especially w he n his son Jason crashed ou t o f third place w he n he enco u ntere d flu id on the race track, br eakin g his left arm in the process. Th ough it wasn' t know n if th e younge r P ri d more cras h ed in C ha n d le r's o il or wa ter th at le a ked fr om An t ho ny Go b ert's Du cati , Re g Pridmore was ince nse d , go ing so far as to co nfro nt M u z z y Kawasaki te am ow ne r Rob Muzzy on pit la ne. "I feel like my kid go t hurt pretty bad a nd he shou ld n' t have," Pridmore sa id la s t week . "I thought the AMA shou ld hav e go tte n him (C h a n d le r ) o ff. th e ra ce track. They ju s t persisted because o f wher e he was in th e p oin t s ta n d ings. Th ey shou ld n' t ha ve a llowed h im to co n ti n ue. I th ink both th e AMA a nd Mu zzy are res p onsible . I don 't thin k Jason lias been trea ted fai rly this year, but this is so me thing -that affec ted all of t he rid e r s w ho w ere o u t the re . I tho ught Doug w a s in d anger a nd his mot orcycle was pu tting eve ryone else in dan g er as well ." Ja s on P ridmore und e rw en t s u rge ry la st week a t Dr . Ar thur Ting' s office in San Francisco, Ca liforn ia. AMA oes NASCAR! Women's Motocross Schools will be conducting a women-only mo tocross school on December 12 in Marysville, California . For more information, call 949/ 837-2206. Whither Norton ? Af ter m aki n g a big splash wit h its April 8 press conference held in Londo n, at which Norton Mo tors International principals said that some of the bikes in their highl y ambitious p rojected lineu p would be in prod uction by Oc tober th is year, na ry a w h isper has been heard from NMI. It was initially un d erstood tha t at least one bike wo uld ma ke its public d ebut at the Intermot show in Munich, but that show came an d went withou t NMI or a bike. A call to the Minnesota headqua rters re vea led why. ' ''We filed for the lPO early in the su mmer an d expected it to take place in Augu st," sa id Steve Swenson, NMI's d irector of sales, about the public offering of Norton s toc k intended to raise m on ey to s tart production. "Then we bumped into a bad stock mark et, thou gh we expec t it to be finalized in 30 to 60 days. Funding is the issue before generati ng product." Swenso n said that the $15 million to $18 million the company is looking for w ith the public offering is simply for production capa city, and that p rod uction tooling, he said, has already produced bikes an d is actually finish ed an d paid for. As for the " Munic h show, Swe nson said the reason tha t the bik es weren 't sho wn there was that the company, being internally English, had a "heartfelt feeling " that th e launch should be in England. Therefore, N or ton expects to have both the fourcy lin der 750cc Manx and the s tandard (no nmagnes ium, nonactive sus pensio n, s ta n d a rd gea rbox) V-e ig h t-po were d Nemes is at the Birmingh am show in midNovembe r, and that these wo uld be production bikes. As for the lack of communication, Swe nson was realist ic. "There ha s been under stand ab ly so me skep ticism abou t Norton," he said . "So until I get product, I can't do a lot to quell that." MOVED: Zero Grav ity, to 310 Co rtez Ci rcle, Ca ma rillo, CA 93012, 805 /3888803 FAX 805/388-8285. Zero Grav ity's otorcyclists who tuned into the TV bro ad cast of the October 4 NASCAR Winston Cup Series from Charlotte, North Carolina, may hav e noticed that Ward Burton's " car featured a giant AMA logo on its hood . MBNA, the sponsor of Burton's car and the spo nso r of the AMA /MBNA Superbike Series , don ated the p rime advertis ing spo t on the car free of cha rge, according to the AMA. Burton led the eve nt for several laps before ultimately finishing second. In addi tion, 40 AMA members were able to see Burton's performance in person by purc has ing special VIP packages that included tickets to the MBNA suite at the track, cate red meals, prefe rred par king and pit tours. Those w ho rod e their motorcycles to the track also got a cha nce to take a lap of the track pri or to the race. "This was a fantas tic op portunity for our mem bers who we re there as well as the mi llionsof race fans who wer e exposed to our logo on Burton's car," sa id Mark Mederski, AMA vice president of mar keting, who also a ttended the race . "We apprecia te the generosity of MBNA and we're working on a plan tha t could expa nd this program next season to accommoda te even more AMA mem bers. We' ll have more details in the coming months." M web site can be"found at the followin g address: www.zerog rav ity- racing .com. CORRECTION: The seco nd-place finishe r in the 60cc Beginner class (0-8) at the CM MC M in i Na tio na l at Ba ron a Oaks MX in Ram o n a , Cali fo rn ia , o n Aug us t 30 was Cory Branch, no t Cory Brandett as reported in an earlier issu e. HIRED: Kerri Gu nderman, as adm inistrative ass ista nt an d event ma nage r for Speed v is io n Pr odu ctions, fo rme r ly FAST, effective October 16. Gunderman served as ro ad ' race and co m p e titio n coordi nator fo r th e AMA for the past seven yea rs. OPENED: RTD Mot orsport s Unlimited, a KTM, Hon da, Kawa saki , Hu s'a b e r g a n d T ri u m p h d e al er sh ip in Sp ringfield , Illin ois, on October 4. RTD a lso ann o un c e d th at 250cc A m o to cr o ss er T od d Sh eedy h a s b een a ppoi nted se rvice ma nager . For more informa tion, call 217 /698-1783. OPENED: YSR Co nnect ion's home page on the World Wide Web. The site can be found a t th e fo llowing addr ess : http://www.home town. aol.com/J ayrootl index .html. OPENED: La Forza Motorsport s, by Ka th erine Miller, former co -ow n er 01 Zero Gra vity . La Forz a is t he U.S . importer ' for Clover riding apparel. For mo re inform ation , call 818/992-6061. OPENED: The Fir e and Poli ce MX team's home page on the Wo rld Wide Web . The site can be fou nd at th e follo wing ad d re ss : http : / / www .firepolicemx .com. l~ r---------------------------- ---- ----------7---------------------, r&Im ~. SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Name -'-__ Address City _ _,-- State Zip O rde r Date Please start my subscription to Cycle News: o Every week for one year (50 issues) for $38.00 (can be billed 2 monthly payments) o Every week for two years (100 issues) for $70.00 o L Six months second class (25 issues) for $20.00 One year (50 issues), 2nd class Canada or Mexico and all ot herforeign coun tries $78.00 (U.S. fund s). 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