Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

INTHEW D IN jeremy Buehl (H~n) wo n both the 125 and 250cc classes during round six o f the AMA/PJI Arenacross Series, held on November 21 in Jacksonville, Florid a. The wins were Buehl 's first of the season as he topped Buddy Antunez (Suz) and Greg Rand (Ka w) to win the 125cc 'class before beating Jeff Willoh (H on) a nd Robbie Horton (Yam) in the 250cc class. In Frid ay night 's fifth round of the series , Cha d Pe derson (Suz) and Cliff Palmer (Kaw) split wins. Pederson beat Charley Boga rd (Suz) an d Willoh to win the 125cc class, and Palmer topped Antunez and Willow in the 250cc class. After s ix of 34 rounds, Palmer leads Willoh, 169-165, wi th Antunez jumping to thi rd in the standings wit h 161 poin ts. Larry McBride (Suz) ou tgated Tony Lang and held on for the Top Fuel-class win at the the 10th annual AMA /Prostar 'World Fina ls at Gainesville Racewav in Gainesville, Flo rida, November 20-22. Mark Revel s (Kaw) defeated Jim McC lu re (H-D) in the Funnybike final. NHRA Pro Stock Bike regulars Dave Schultz (Su z) and Steve Johnson (Su z) ma tched up in the the Pro Stock final, with Schultz takin g the win. (Pum) those times with the bike six kilos 03.2 po unds) overweight because we kept all the data stuff on it. Ov erall , it wasn't a bad day. If we w ent back again , we could move down to the next bracket." The' AMA G ra nd Na ti onal Champion ship Series d irt track sch ed ule has been revised . As of N ov ember 19, the series will now be heading to Hagerstown Speedway in Hagerstown, Maryland, on Ma y 8 and returnin g th ere again on August 21. The all-new Houston Mile and the upgraded Seattle Mile, which were orig inally sc heduled for June 12 and September 18, respectively, have appa rently both bee n d rop ped , and those dates have no t been filled as of yet. amaha will be adding two new off-roa d bikes to its 1999 lineup - the TTR250 (above) and 225 (below). Both bikes feature air-cooled, fou r-stroke, electric-start motors (a SOHC for the 225 and a OOHC for the 250). The TTR225 is aimed at the entry-level off-road rider, while the TTR250 is directed at the more serious off-rea der. The TTR225 features a six-speed tra nsm ission, a front dis c bra ke and a rear d ru m, and a low 33.6-inch sea t height. The TTR250 features fron t and rear disc brakes, a resettable odometer, significantly more wheel travel at both ends, and hand guards. Look for the TTR225 to start appearing on showroom floors by the end of 1 ovember. The TTR250 isn' t expected to be available until February. Y Casey Lytle (Yam) and Rusty Holland (Ho n) split wins in the Powercr oss-Reno mot ocross race, held on overnber 20 at t he Re n o Livestock Ev ent Cen te r in Re no , Nevada . Lytle won the 250c c class, while Holla nd came away with the wi n in the 125cc main. w e ca n stay together for n e xt yea r . Wh atever happen s, we ' ll be together ." Kocinski said that Kanem oto put the test together, sharing the tra ck with Bridgestone and Pons' MoviStar team for two o f th e three da y s . H e a lso sai d that Kanemoto's Honda was far su perior to th e factory bike he'd ridden th is year ou t of Pons ' stab le. "We we nt there and fo u n d a litt le different si de of th e NSR500. I rea lized tha t he (K an em o to) knows a lot about the bi ke. The re were some things that were definitely better than wh at I had - just stuff tha t Erv and Max (BiaggO had worked on . With Erv there, all I had to do was worry about my ridi n g . The bike wa s tun ed to a ra zor ' s ed ge a nd it was perfect eve ry time I got on it. It's completely different fr om wh at I w a s u sed to thi s y ea r . Working with Erv, I realized that w e mad e a lot of mistakes this yea r. We did named Athlete of the Year M A 250cc ational Mo tocross Champion Doug Henry was presented wi th the 1998 AMA /Speedvision A thle teof the Year Awa rd at the AMA Na tional Cha mpio ns Aw ards Banquet, held on November 21 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Henry was chose n ove r a fie ld of nominees th at inclu ded AMA Su perbike 1 ational Champion Ben Bostrom , World Team Cup Speedway Ch am pions Greg Han cock and Billy Hamill, fivetime AMA Supercros s Champion Jeremy McGrath and nine-time AMA Gra nd Nation al Champion Scott Parker. . In wi nning the 1998 AMA 250cc ati onal Motocro ss Champion ship, Henry beca me the first person to do so on a four -stroke motorcycle, havi ng ridden his Yamaha YZ400 to overall win s in Washougal, Washington ; Budd s Creek, Maryland; and his home, town track of Southwick, Massachusett s. N Though Henry receiv ed the headline awa rd of the night , no ~ Q) one received an ovation like the one given to three-time World ,.!:l Champion and two-time AMA Grand National Champion Kenny Robert s, wh o w a s pres ented th e fir st -ever AMA Lif etime Q) u Achievement Award by AMA presid ent Ed Youngblood . Robert s Q) was also presented with the 1980 Yamaha TZSOO that he rod e to victory in the first three GPs of the 1980 season. In an AMA Awards Banquet first, Roberts then proceeded to bump-start the 500cc Yamaha in the ban qu et hall at the Flamingo A E c 2 The Na tion al Promoters Group (N PG) distributed $200,000 to the top 20 overall finisher s in the 199 8 A MA / Maz da Truck 125/ 25Occ ati on al MX Championshi p , with D oug Henry a nd Ricky Carmichael, the class cham pions, taki ng hom e $15,000 each. Off-road vehicle ent hu siasts th roughout Southern California are invited to par ticipa te in the O ff-Road for Hope '99 , an OHV eve nt to benefit the Muscular Dvstro p hy Association at Oco tillo Well s State Vehicu lar Area on Satu rday, Febru ary 6, 1999. The da ylong event is open to all off-highway and spo rt utili ty vehicle owners regardless of level of experience . Former AMA Formula Xtreme Champion Andrew Stroud wo n the New Zealand Gra nd Prix at the Ruapuna Circuit n ear Christchurch on November 22, ridi ng the PPGT Britten Vloo0 . Former Wo rld Su perb ike Champio n John Kocinski ci rc u la te d und er t he 500cc lap record during a thr ee-d ay test on the Erv Ka ne mo to -tu ned , ex -Max Biaggi Honda NSRSDp at Jere z in Spain, N ov ember 13-15, a nd h e believes th e pair will wo rk together in the 1999 500cc World Cha mpio ns hip Series . Kocinsk i; who recentl y com pleted a dismal seaso n with the Sit o Pon s -o wn ed Mo v iStar Honda team in what wa s his return to 500cc Grand Prix racing, lapped at 1:43.2 a n d ca me a way impress e d wit h Kanemoto's team. "It wa s incred ible to b e a b le to go a n d w ork w i th Erv, " Koci nski sa id on Tu esday, ovem ber 17. "Finally, it may all work out so tha t According to reports from Europe, Max Biaggi ha s sig ne d a con trac t th at will see him join Spa niard Ca rlos Checa on fac to ry Yama ha YZR500s in the 1999 500cc World Champions hip . Japan' s Norifume Abe, meanwhile, is expec ted to ride a Yama ha in a team being put together by 250cc rider Luis d'Antin. Hilton, bringing a rousing response fro m the 500 guests as the bike fired to life and bellowed sm oke from its four exhausts. O the r awa rd s presented - in additio n to the champion s who wer e hon or ed - were the Spo rtsma n of the Year, the Award of Mech anica l Exce llence, the Brighter Im a ge Award a nd th e Presti gi ou s Partner Award . Randy Ren frow wo n the Spo rtsman of the Year Award for his profession ali sm both on and off the tra ck and for serving as a mentor to u p -and-coming rid er s; Ma zda ' s Jack Stavana was awa rd ed the Brighter Ima ge Aw ard for developing the Ma zd a Tru ck sponso rs hip of the AMA a tiona l Motocross Series and for integrating motocross into Mazda's national advertising cam paign; the Mechanical Excellence Award went to Yama ha for the su ccess of its YZ400 four- stroke; and Ch et Burks, the ow ner of Chet Burks Productio ns, was presented with the Prestigious Partner Awa rd for his efforts in producing the AMA Superbike Series broadcasts for Speed visio n and Fox Sports Net, as well as producing the video highlights for the banquet. Immediately following the ban q uet, Discover Tod ay' s Mot orcyclingpresented its Light Up The ight party at the new Bellagio Hotel to "celebrate motorcycle racing in America." The party was a hu ge success, with a gu est list that read like a wh o's wh o of mot orcycl ing. Jay Len o, Peter Fond a, N anc y Sin atra, Ann Mar gret, Pat Boon e, John Hurt, Lou Diamond Phillips, Larry Ha gman and Perry King w ere jus t a few of th e celeb rities who jo ined an estimat ed 15,000 motorcyclists on November 8 to raise $1 million for the Mu scular Dystrophy Association a t Love Rid e 15. Th e motorcyclists rode in a 50-mile caravan from Harley-Davidson of Glendale, California , to a barbecu e and conce rt a t Castaic Lake , Texas promoters Bob and Velm a Bagwell will retire on Sund ay, January 3, afte r th eir last event a t th e Ar lin gton Texas Convention Center. The Bagw ells have promoted motorcycle events since 1954. Australian road racer Shawn Giles has s ig n ed a contract th at will see him aboard factory Suzukis in the 1999 Australian Superbike Series, accordi ng to Cycl e News co n tri b u to r Da rry l Flac k. Giles rode a Mobil Hond a RC45 in the 1998 series , bu t Hond a has s ince wit hdrawn from the champions hip. According to a p ress release issu ed by Jardine Performan ce Exhaus t, Jardine's . tit an ium exha us t systems will be used by Am erican Honda's road race team in AMA Superbike and 600cc Supersport racing in 1999 and 2000. Intern ational Riders Helping Peopl e Inc. will presen t the second annual Danny "Magoo" Chandler Christmas Moto-X Clinic, December 26-28, in Las Vega s, Nevada. The training will cover all skill levels and the price is $100 per da y. For more information, call Barry Hill a t 702 /4 57-4100 o r Dann y Chandler a t 530/ 888-1376

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