Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE WIND Chad Ped er so n (Suz), Greg Rand (Kaw) and Cliff Palm er (Kaw) were the mainev ent winn ers in r ounds s even and eight of th e AMA /PP Nat ional Aren a cr o s s Serie s in Perry , Ge org ia , No vember 27-28. Peders on w on the 250cc class on Friday night, then came back to win the 250cc clas s on Saturday, brin gin g his win total to four after eight rounds (16 ra ces ) of racing . Ped er son beat jeff Willo h (Ho n) a n d jeromy Buehl (Hon) to win the 250cc class on Frida y prior to topping Buddy Antunez (Suz) and Palmer to win the 125cc race on Saturday. Rand, meanwhile, won the 125cc cla ss on Friday, topping Willoh and Palmer, with Palmer win nin g the 250cc class on Saturday over Antunez and Den n y Stephenson (H on), After eigh t rou nds, Palmer lea d s the series point standings over Ant unez , 234-223. Willoh is third with 222 points. Robbi e Reyna rd (Suz) wo n the fourth round of the World Supercross Championship in Ital y on November 28 a nd with it won the championship. Reyn ard b eat Larry War d (Suz ), D a v i d Vuille mi n (Ya m ), Ryan H ughes a nd Mic kael M asch io (Yam ) in th e m ain event to beat Vu ille rnin, 72-61. Ward ended up third wit h 54 points. Ben Ridd le (Ka w) was the big a ward winner a t the 1998 Flor ida W inter Olympics in Gainesville, ovember 2729. Riddle won the 125 and 250cc B classes to win both the Scott Golden Goggle Award and the Pro Circuit Platinum Pipe Award s . Other award winners included Matt Walker (Yam), who won the Dunlop Silver Tire Award; Ryan Morais (Yam), who ea rned th e Fox Bronze Boot Award; and jessie Sturgel and jerry Van Braun, w ho took home the Ricky Joseph Sportsmanship Awa rd . Rum or s are flying as to exac tly w here Doug Chandler will be rid ing next year. Altho ug h he still has ano the r year left on his cont rac t with Kawasaki, there is specu la tio n th at th e th ree-tim e AMA Su perbike Na tional Cham pio n is trying to get out of the deal to take an offer to ride Eraldo Ferracci's Du cati in the 1999 AMA Supe r bi ke Na tiona l Cha mpions hip. Although he refused to comment on his Own situation, Chandle r did confirm that h is lo n g tim e Muz zy Kawasaki mechanic Gary Medley has left the team . Medley has taken a job working for Vance & Hines Ducati where he will reportedly handle the tuning duties for Ben Bostrom's Ducati. With the Dunlop tire test sch eduled to beg in o n Fridal:' December 4, at Daytona International Speed way, it will be in teres ting to see w ho s hows up riding for wh om . Stay tuned. Rob Muzzy returned our phone call just as we were going to press on Monday, November 30 and confirmed that Mike Ha le will be at the Dunlop tire test this weekend - riding a Muzzy Raptor Formu la Xtrerne bike. Muzzy also commented on the Doug Chandler situation: "Doug has some concerns right now, 00 bu t at this point in time we are working 0\ 0\ wit h those concerns," Mu zzy said . "He's ...... denied to me the stories I've heard 0' a bou t him go ing to Fe rr acci ' s tea m . Right now we' re d iscussing it with his l-< (J) le see best program ..n peopbes toway wha t's the his concerns. to ha nd le I the t really have nothing to tell yo u, but we (J) u expect him to be there (the tire test) this (J) weekend . We have a non-refu nd ab le ticket in his nam e. We' re worki ng on ma kin g everyone happy an d comfortable, including Doug." 6 c 2 Goddard's new A rilia ride N ew ly-s ig n ed Aprilia Su perbi ke rid Peter Goddard has er d eclared he can impro ve on his ninth-place finish from th is year's World Superbike Cha m pionship, earn ed aboard a Team Harris Suzuki GSX-R750. Sp eaking a t a la u nch of Aprilia' s 1999 ran ge in Sydney, Australia, the 34-yea r-old 's confidence is based on Aprilia ' s proven record in the 125cc an d 250cc World Champion ships, and the Aprilia RSV1000 Su perbike 's V-twin configuration. "Aprilia ha s enjo yed outstand in g succ ess in the 125 and 250cc Grand Prix classes ," Goddard said. ."1 can alr ead y sense the d ifference and the passion of the people involved as quite different to the japan ese. Th e Italia ns a re so mu ch more pa ss ion ate .abou t their m o torcycle racing; the Ja p an ese are mo re bu sin es s ori entated . There's no doubt Ap rilia can translate that into victories and possibly a Superbike World Champions hip." Des pi te earlier re ports tha t Piergorgio Bon tempi wo uld partner Goddard, the Aus tralian will be the only rider in the team. "This means I'm the race rid er as we ll as the test an d development person," the 1997 World Endurance Champion sa id . "It's a hu ge task, but I believe I'm up to it and I look forward to the cha llen ge." God dard revealed that he approac hed Aprilia toward the end of the seaso n and later d iscovered that he was on top of its shopping list. Despite nomin ating the wor ks Ducat is of Troy Corser and Carl Fogarty to lead the fight for the 1999 title, Godda rd ma intai ns the Ap rili a has a better ove ra ll co nfigu ra tio n beca use its 60-degree RSV1000 eng ine is sh orter tha n th e longitu di nall y-m ounted 90degr ee Du cati engi ne. As a conseq ue nce, Du cat i is forced to run a lon g frame and short swingarm, while the Aprilia is able to run the more desirable sho rt-fra me and lon g-swingarm combination. Goddard will have his first rid e on the machin e at Jerez in Spa in, December 14-16. Darryl Flack On e thing is certain, and that is that former AMA H arl e y-Da v id s o n Twin Sports Cha mpion Matt Wait signed a o ne -year co n t rac t o n Wednesday, November 25 to race a Fast By Ferracci Du cati in th e 1999 AMA Superbike Nationa l Cha m pio ns hi p. The 22-yearold Wait, wh o w on the Harl ey title in 1996, competed in the 1998 500cc World C ha m p io ns hi p o n an FC C-b a ck ed ' Hon da NSR500 V-twin, end ing up 19th in th e 500cc se r ies p oint s tand ings . Team owner Eraldo Fer racci has ye t to sign a lead ride r for his team, thou gh he was hopi ng to d o so by November 30 whether or not tha t rid er will be Dou g Chand ler remains to b e seen . It is known that Ferra cci has had talks with both Pas cal Picotte and Larry Peg ram about the open spot on his Du cati team. Accord ing to h is mana g er, A la n Labrosse , Pa scal Pico tte will be on a Harl ey-Davidson VRlOoo at the Dunl op tire test this w eekend. " N o th ing ha s happened with Pascal," Labrosse sai d . " He h a s a two -yea r contract w ith Harlev-Davidson and we haven't asked to be 'released from tha t contract. Pascal has had talks with Eraldo (Perr acci), but unless Harley-Davidson were to decide that they no long er had any use for Pascal, then I don't see an ything chang ing." Italian Vittoriano Guareschi has signed a co ntract to race th e second facto ry Yama ha in th e 1999 Worl d Su perbike Championship , according to Cycle News co rres pon dent Pao lo Gozzi. Th e 26year-old will join Jap an 's No riyuki Haga on the team 's new R7 for the '99 series. Guaresch i finis hed second in the Su perspo rt World Series in 1997 and 1998 rid ing a Yama ha YZF600, winni ng four ra ces in th e tw o-year stint. "I' rn very exci te d a bout th is possibi lity ," G ua reschi said . "Su perbike was my dream and now it is reali ty' one yea r before the sc hedule ." Yamaha ma d e Guareschi, who was slated to race the R6 in th e 600cc Supersport Se ries in 1999, its choice to partner Haga w he n Luca Cadalora turned down an offer to join the team. Now Yama ha mu st find a rep laceme nt for Guareschi in the 600cc class, and it is curren tly lookin g a t Ne il Hod gson , P iergi o rgi o Bontern pi a n d Alessa ndro Gra mign i to jo in exis ting team member Massim o Meregalli. Jason McCormick (Hon) wo n the 250cc Pro class a t the Sa lem, O regon, Arenacross on November 27. McCormick topp ed Ryan Terlicki (Suz) a nd Brad Hagseth (Hon). Hagseth won the 125cc class. A bill to repeal Pennsylvania's mandatory helmet law for s ome riders ha s passed that state's House and Senate and awaits only the signa tu re of Go vernor Tom Ridge to become law , according to the AMA. The bill, SB 279, would allow riders to choose to go helrnetl ess if they are at least 21 vears old and either hav e held a motor~cle license for more tha n tw o yea rs or have taken a rider-education course. The bill passed the Pennsylvani a Senate on No vember 23 by a 27-21 vote, clearing the final hu rd le to th e Gov ernor's desk with on ly two days remaining in the legislative session. Ha rold Murrell rece n t ly co mpleted rad ia tion treatments for a brain tumor an d is recuperating a t h is San ta Clara, California, home. Murrell co-promoted many San Jose Miles at the Santa Clara Co u n ty Fai r groun ds a nd Half-M ile Nationals at the old Fre mo nt Raceway in Ca lifornia and a lso p repared race tracks for PACE Management a t num ero us sites, inc lud ing the Housto n Astrodome. "I'm doing okay," Murrell said. "I have a positi ve a ttitud e about thi s. I need so me physi cal th era p y because these treatments rea lly knock you arou nd ." Quick Fix Films will be presen ting the wo rld vid eo pre mier of Moto XXX 3 on December 17 at th e Pa la ce in Holl ywood , Ca lifornia. Special guest ba nds will be Fat Wr eck Cho rds' Stru ng Out, a n d Epitaph' s NoFX . Ticke ts are $12 and a re availa b le fro m Ticketm aster . Do ors ope n a t 8 p .m . Acco r ding to Mot o XXX's Jorda n Burns, th is is an ':all -age eve nt." Speaking of Mo to XXX, Ph il Lawrence a n d Tra vi s Preston will make u p it s Su zuki-mou nted racing team for 1999 a nd will be s p o ns o red by Fat Wreck Chords, Nitro Record s , Epitaph Records, Pro Circuit, Thor, GP Motorsp or ts a nd Ra cer' s Ed ge . Both riders w i ll co m p e te in th e Supercr oss and National MX se ries . . Entries are available for the IMS XRIOO Challenge to b e h el d in co n ju nctio n with th e Glen Helen Invitati on al Supercross at Gl en H el en Ra ceway in San Bernardino, Ca lifornia, December 27. A $400 (or more) purse w ill be offered to the Pro cla ss. The even t is open ed to XR80- and XR100-powered minibike s only . For m ore info rm ati on , call 949/720-5309. Spea rheaded by Dwight David Mitchell, a seven-ma n team of American road racers will contest the 1999 Isle of Man TT races - Team USA TT '99. Mitchell will be joined by Tom Mon tano , Kent Kuni tsugu, Craig Mcl.ean, Peter Sma ll, Steve' John a nd Wad e Boy d , with the tea m plannin g to enter bikes in all nine TT classes. The team will be aided by a supporters clu b, with one mem ber of the clu b wi nning a trip to join the team at the Isle of Ma n . For mo re info rmation, call 732/699-0020.

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