Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

have b eg u n to gea r u p fo r th e 1999 series cam pai gn . Effec ti ve a fte r the 1998 Del Ma r Mil e , m e ch ani c Skip Ea k e n a nd Tea m Sa d d lema n / I -800FASTHOG called it a d ay - on friend ly term s. Since the n, Will Davis ha s also parted co m pa ny with Torn Cu m m ings Racing and has made a. d ea l th a t will p air h im w it h Ea ken fo r '99. "It's a d one d eal ," Eaken sa id , noting that the tea m is still hunting for titl e sponsorshi p . "Da vey and I had been together fo r fi ve yea rs, and it was tim e fo r a change. I called u p Will to see what he was doing. We've tal ked abo u t ge tting together in the past. We' ve decid ed to ge t to g e th e r a n d t r y a nd w in t h is thi ng." That left Da vey Cam lin ou t of a ride - but only temporarily, as he jus t as quickly signed a tw o-year d eal with G ard n er Racing. "This has been in the w orks for a while," Ca m li n sa id. " It w a s ju st that Ski p a nd I al w ays had some th in g tog eth e r by th e ti me th a t th e y (G a r d n e r) w ou ld w an t t o ge t toge ther. Bu t I am exci te d to be with t h e s e g uys. I k now th e ir bik e s are good, a nd th ey're on ly 90 mil es fro m me, and all the sponsors are close . It's kin d of like th e horn e tea m. And Skip a nd I didn' t rea lly 'break u p' - we' re a ll s t ill fri e n d s ." Unc o n fir med re p o rts clai m t h at curr en t Gard n e r Ra cin g r id er Dan Stanley is n ot co n trac te d w it h the team, but he will sta rt the sea so n wi th th em , an d his s ta tus w ill be based upon p erform an ce. Two-time Austra lian Su perbike Cha mpion Martin Craggill is set to join the offi cial Su zuki GB team to co n test the 1999 British Superbik e Cha m pio ns hi p. C raggill , a seven-yea r mem ber o f the Kawasaki team in Au st rali a, w ill join fellow Aust ra lian s Wa rwick Now land and Tro y Bayliss in the title chase. Cragg ill rep ort edly ea rned th e s pot o ver reigning Britis h Superbike Ch ampion N ia ll Mack en zie a nd Neil Hodgso n . Mackenzie had sig ned a letter of inten t with Suz uki in case Yamaha U.K. pulled ou t of th e cha m p io ns h ip, b u t it no w ap pears th a t Ma ckenzie will run in a one-b ike Yam aha team wi t ho u t la s t yea r's s po ns o r, Ca d b u ry . H od g s o n , meanwhile , is bein g tip ped to join one of the Duca ti teams in the British Cha mp ionship, accor d ing to Cy cle News contrib ut or Darryl Flack. The 1999 Orland Indoor Short Track Se ries wi ll kick off a t the Glenn Co unty Fairgro u nd s in N orth ern Ca lif ornia , Feb ru a ry 6-7. Races w ill be run every weeken d in the mon th o f Fe b rua ry, co ncl u di ng Febru ary 27-28. For m ore info r m a t io n, ca ll Ted T a y lor a t 530 / 476-3001. :.Newl y crowned 250cc World Champion Loris Capirossi - pu nished after takin g out Aprilia teammate Tetsuya Harad a in Argentina to tie up the titl e - has been e xonerated by the FlM an d du mped by Apri lia, wi thin little more than the space of a week. Repo rts in the Italian press say that Capirossi will take the number -one plate to Honda, rid ing an NSR for Fausto Gres in i, himse lf a lso a fo rmer 125cc World Champion, who this year ran Alex Ba rro s in th e 500cc class. They furth er suggest that Aprilia had planned to fire Ca p irossi be ca u s e of h is las t-c or ner kamik aze attack - only to be thwarted when the FlM officially let hi m off, restoring the 20 points that had been stripped by FlM stewa rds at the track. Capiros si has stopped a long way short of apology . "In the same situa tion, I would probably do it again. As I said at the tim e, I was going for the champio nship." Max Biaggi for Yamaha ? O n and then off aga in, th e d eal now a ppears to be close to com p le tio n, w it h th e Ita lia n fou r- time 250cc Wor ld Cha mpion and 1998 500cc runner-up d ue to test in the near future. The progr ess of the deal has had a ll the drama of an Ita lian opera . Ma x, his sp on sor Marlboro, and Yamaha had edged al most all th e way to a multimillion-d olla r d eal at the s tart of O ct obe r - but thre e weeks la te r , in Arge ntina, it had fallen to pieces. Insid e sources reve aled that Yamaha had firmly closed th e d oor w he n Biaggi carne b a ck to th e m with a se r ies o f ex tra . d ema nd s, on top of w ha t had alrea dy ' been ag reed u pon . Am on g the item s he req u ir ed w as a Yam aha g rand p ian o . No wthe moo d has cha nged again, and it loo ks li ke Mick Dooh a n' s s tro nges t rival will be maki ng his a ttack fro m the opposite camp in 1999. The Riverside Old-Timers MX Club is u p a n d ru n n ing a n d loo k in g for 40 yea r-old -a n d -older racer s to join th e club. The Riversid e clu b is th e newest of th e 10 ch ap te rs tha t comp rise the O ld- Tim ers MX Associat ion . Th e club is mad e up of four classes, and mem b ers ra ce twic e a mo nt h at vario us tra cks. The club is offeri ng a free d ay of racin g for all member s on Sat urday, Decem ber 19, at Carlsbad Raceway in Carlsb ad , Californ ia. For m or e in fo rm atio n , ca ll Jim McCo n ne ll a t 714 / 996-8327. Ti cke ts a re n o w o n sa le for the G FI $50,000 Invitational Supercross, schedu led for Ja nu a r y 3 at th e La s Veg a s Mot or Speed way in Las Vegas , Nevada. GFI has made a sched ule change to the program in Vegas, w ith practice n ow schedu led for Satu rd ay, January 2. Su nd ay' s pro gram will cons ist of bot h the GFI Win ter Se ries Wa rm -Up a nd th e Su p er cr oss. For more inform ati on : call 909/6534042. . Accordi ng to a release issued by Moto Liberty, a red p ickup tru ck rep ort edl y smas hed throu gh the storefron t w indo w of the Carrollton , Texas, dealership, and thieves then stole some $10,000 wo rth of Dainese and Field sheer lea thers. Moto Liberty is offering a $1000 reward for any infor ma tion that lead s to the arrest and conviction of the burglars. For more information, call Audrey at 972/242-6440. Racing Enterpri ses Motorsports w ill ce le b r a te it s yea r-e nd Sa turd a y Mot oc ro ss Series w it h a foo d d riv e at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, Californ ia, on Decem ber 19. All rid ers who bring a non perishab le food item or new unwrapped toy will be entered in a h olid ay raffle. Fo r mor e informat ion , call REM at 619/ 484-1441. T he A me r ica n Tri al s A s s oci ati o n (ATA) h a s a n no u nc ed that th e 29th annua l EI Trial de Espana will be held at Reed Vall ey in Ag uanga, California, April 17-18, 1999. Aguanga is locat ed ap p rox ima tely 25 mil es eas t of Temecu la. "The ATA are pleased to be able to s tage the eve n ts a t the same site as last y e a r , " AT A pres id e n t Bill Mark am s a id . " It m a kes ou r job mu ch easie r and provid es a kn own enviro nme nt to th e riders, specta to rs a nd med ia:' For more info rmati o n o n th e e ven t, ca ll 714 /892-3906. Both su pport classes in the To yota Canada Superbike Championship have had their maximum horsep ower limits raised for 1999. Co mpetitors in the 600cc Spo rt Bike class will be allowed to ru n up to oes sleddin' MA 250cc Na tional Mo tocross Champion Dou g Henry made his professional sno wcross racing debu t at the World Snow mo bile Association season opener in Delu th, Minnesota, Novem ber 27-29. . Henry competed ou t of a familia r blue Yamaha semi, but on a no t-so-familiar blue Yam aha snow mobile. Hen ry raced in the X Games qu alifiers and the Pro 600cc class. Althoug h he failed to qua lify for the Pro 600 fina l, he looked comfortable and was very compe titive during his time on the track. Record high temperatures of 60 d egrees took their toll on the sno w and forced the cance llation of the Pro 440 and Pro Open races on November 29. Hen ry wasn' t the on ly motocrosser in act ion at the event, as Cory Keen ey made his deb ut in the Pro class - riding for Polaris. John Wicklund A 105 hor sep ower in postrace tech, w hile the O pen Sport Bike class limit is now 140 horsepo wer. Bot h classes will retain a minimum weight of 380 pounds. The Titan Motorcycle Company has been named as finalist for Manu factur er of the Year, as awarded by the Phoenix Business Jou rn a l, acco rding to a press release issued by Tita n. Th e Phoen ix Busine ss Journal noted that the company grew 700 percent in its first year of opera tion (1995) and has doubled each year since. Jim Foring ton, 38, of Denver, Co lorado, died on November 27 from injuries sus ta ined in a practice riding sessio n on Novem ber 26 . Fo r ing to n w as we ll known in the Colorado racing community and often rod e in the lead pack a t dirt tr ack, ro ad racin g a nd moto cross eve nts in his horne state. The Super IT season finale will be held at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in Buttonwillow, Californ ia, on December 13, with confirme d en tries inclu d ing fou rti m e 500cc Wo r ld Ch a m p io n Eddie Law son, mo tocross legen d s Ga ry and DeW ayne Jon es and Chuc k Su n, a nd reignin g AMA 250cc Grand Pri x Champion Rol and Sa nds . The se as on fin ale w ill see the d ebu t of a re vi sed class structu re, inclu d ing a Knobbies Only class for those motocrossers and offroad racers w ho d on ' t wa n t to hassle with cha ng ing tires. For more information , call Buttonwillow Raceway Park a t 805 /764-5333. North American Sport Bike (NASB) has annou nced a six-race schedule for 1999, begin ning and end ing wit h races at Daytona Intern ational Speedway in Daytona Beach , Florida. The fir st Day to na race will be held February 26-28, and the final race w ill take p lace Oct ob er 22-24 . In between, the series will feature races at Road Ame rica (May 2), Su m mit Point Raceway (May 23), Heartland Park Topeka (August 15) a nd N ew H a m p s hi re International Speedway (September 5). Donnie "Holeshot" Hansen will be condu ctin g moto cros s s choo ls a t G len Helen , Perr is Ra cew a y, Lo s A ngele s ' Co u n ty Ra cewa y , MA X T r ac k a n d Ca rneg ie in So ut h e rn Ca li fo rnia between December and Feb ruary. For more information , call 719/ 495-2624. Euroli ne , the U.s. importer for Motor ex Oils and Chemica ls, is cu rrently accepting racer resumes for th e 1999 season. Resu mes ca n be sen t to Eu ro line lnc., attn: race support, 16 Manc hester Road., Ca rm el, NY 10512. Avon Tires is now accep ting applications for its 1999 road raci ng su pp ort progr am. Resumes can be sent to Avo n Tires, c /o Ho p pe & Assoc ia tes, 407 How ell Way, Edmonds, WA 98020, attn: Craig Knapp. HIRED: Matt Free ma n, as assistant editor of Cycle News, effective imm ed iately. Free ma n has bee n a longtime contributor to the newspaper. CORRECTON: Inadverten tly left ou t of th e res u lts in ou r report of th e Te cate SC O RE Ba ja 1000 was th e winn in g Sportsma n team mad e up of Taber Murphy, Don Weyer, John Frederick, Chuck Barker an d Ken Pa trick . The Hond a XR600-mo u nted team from Washingt on a lso t oo k top overa ll h o n ors in th e Sportsman d ivision. OPENED: Chase Harper's horne page on the World Wid e Web . The site can be fou nd a t th e fo llow in g a d d ress: ht tp:/ / www.chaseharp er .com . CORRECTION: In an earlie r issu e of Cycle News , we listed the 1999 AMA Ho t Shoe Cha mp ion ship Series as consisting of six ro unds. The series, however, may end u p consisting of more than six. The series begins on Feb ruary 26 at Ogleth orpe Speedway in Sava nnah, Georgia. APPOINTED: Ron Aleberico, as national a nd int ernati ona l sales manager for Lock hart Phillips USA, effective immedi a tel y . For m ore inform at io n , ca ll 949/ 498-9090. . OPENED: Motorcycle USA' s Supe rstore's ho rne page on th e World Wid e . Web. Th e site can be found at the following ad dress: http:/ / www.mot or cyde-supers tore.com 0 00 0\ 0\ ,...... --D ,...... l-< OJ .c E OJ u OJ c 3

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