Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

- - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - _ .. - IN THE WIND Ty Davis (Yam) rode to victory at the in au gu ral Tecate Hare Sc ra mb les in Tecate, Baja California, Mexic o, on December 12. Finis hing second to Davis was National Enduro Champion Mi ke La ffe rty (KTM). Rou nd ing ou t the top five were Destry Abbott (Kaw), Nick Pearson (KTM) and Brian Brown (Kaw). a n d a li ttl e of th e em ergency ro om . I was a bit fuzzy, bu t I'm ge tting bett er. It really sucks to wad like that, but things were goi ng good and the bike' s super. All kinds of peopl e have sen t me thin gs - ga mes, flower s, faxes . I've re cei ved th ings from people I don't even know . I really appreciate it." Paul Hart (Hon) won the final Su per TT of the year a t Buttonwillow Raceway Pa r k in But ton willow, Cali forn ia, on Decem ber 13. Har t topped form er AMA Motocross Natio na l Champi on Chuck Sun (Hbg) in the 10-lap Super TT. Su n then went on to win th e Kno bby clas s after passing former AMA road racer Tommy Lynch (Ho n) o n t h e ro ad co urse p ortion of th e tra ck . D onn y Howard (Su z) won th e Midd lew eigh t Su permo ta rd over Don Cane t (Yam), w ith Casey Yarrow (Yam ) beat in g his fa the r , Allen Ya rrow (Ya m) , in t h e Spo rtsma n main event. Thus far, nothin g has cha nged in th e nego tiations be tween th ree-time AMA - Superb ike National Champion Doug Chandler, Kawasaki a nd team owner Rob Muzzy, accordi ng to sources close to Chandler. If and when the situ ation is reso lved, Chandler will sign a new contract wi th Kawasaki. Cha nd ler, however, was on han d at a Kawasaki pa rty on Monday, December 14, in Irvine, California, that introduce d th e team rid ers to the med ia. AM A Superb ike N a tional C ha m p ion Ben Bos trom underwen t su rgery on Th u rs d ay, December 10, to repa ir his badly in jured left hand, the resu lt of his crash on the banking at the Dunlop tire test at Daytona International Speedway on December 6. Doctors performed skingr aft su rge ry on Bostrom's left thumb bu t d idn't reat tach a se ve red tendon. Bostrom said tha t th e a rea he inju red has two tendons , and the d oc to rs felt th a t o ne tendon w ould s u ffice . If the su rgery is a su ccess, Bostro m said that the injury shou ld take some six week s to rehabilita te. Bostrom cras hed when his rear tire failed on the ba nki ng between turns th ree and four. "Ali i rememb er is g ra bb ing gears," Bostrom sa id . "Th e compu ter shows tha t I was in fifth and read y to gra b six th . It s tep pe d all the w ay ou t and I was like , 'W ha t' s happen ed ?' Th en I was flyin g through the air. I don' t rem ember anything after that excep t for seeing m y brother, Eric, and I think Mat (Mlad in) stand ing over me . I remember a little of the ambu lance ride PACE Mo tor Sports and Seals Com m u n ic at io n s h a s a n no u nced that tw o round s of the AMA Supercross Series w ill be a ired on ABC Sports in 1999 . Rou nd 10 of the series fro m the Hou ston Astrodome wi ll air "live to tape" on Sunda y , Marc h 14, followin g th e NASCAR ev e n t fr o m A t lant a M ot o r Speedway, and the Indianapolis ro und will ai r on Su nday, April 25, following ABC' s covera g e o f th e T all a d e g a NASCAR eve n t. Last ye a r, the Su percros s Series mad e its debut on ABC with cove~age from the Dall as Super cross . PACE has also an nounced an increase in th e Supercross Pri va teer, Bonus, with th e series promoter sc he d u led to pay out $100,000 to p rivateer racer s during th e IS -rou n d seri es - an in cr eas e o f $25,000 . Privat eers ma k in g the 250cc main eve nt w ill sp lit up $6670 in pu rse money.' If a privateer wins a round of the se ries , he will ta ke home an ad d itional $5000 on top of his sha re of th e $6670. With the priva teer bonus figured in, the total pu rse an d point fund for the 1999 series is $1,419,200. uring the same meeting at wh ich it ad op ted new emissions regulations for onhighway motorcycles, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) also modif ied its existing off-hig hw ay regul ati on s to allow the registration and use of all twoand four-strok e mo torcycles tha t we re previously banned as of 1997. The modified regu la tion has crea ted a new category of registration and a new red sticker that will allow owners of 1997-and -newer-mod el off-road motorcycles to be ridden on Californ ia p ublic land s most of the tim e. Red -sti cker mot or cycles will be allowed anywhere and anytime a locatio n mee ts certai n ai r-qua lity standards . While red -sti cker motorcycles may be limited to two- or three-mo nth seaso ns in some urb anized ar eas wit h serio us air-qua lity p roblems, most areas wi ll have red -sticker rid ing seasons of six to eig ht months or lon ger . Fortu nately, all open periods coincide wi th prim e rid ing season . Furthermo re, most of the high-elevation forests, such as the Sierras and the coastal mountain s nort h of San Fra ncisco, will be open yea r-round . . The decision is bein g regarded by the AMA Distri ct 36 Legislative Action Office and its affiliates as a victory in the battle to modify the existing CARB policy, as it mark s the first time in history tha t a gro up of end-use rs and retail d ealers have been able to acheive an effective reversal of an existi ng CARB regulati on . D K & N Engineering's vice presiden t of powersports, Tom Cates, is healing up from a pla ne cr a s h in which h e wa s in vo lve d on Sa tu r d ay , De cem b e r 5 . Cat es, a form er professional flat- tracker and cou ncil member of MIC, was practicing instrument landings in his perso nal plane w hen he cr ashed sho r t of the runway . According to K & N powersports sales manager Brian Cornelius, Ca tes suffered a b ro ken wrist, lace rations to the face and head, and a severe cas e o f w h iplas h . " He' s lu cky to b e alive," said Co rne lius . "Tom is up and around, and his wife may bri ng him in to wo rk one d ay this week. " Get-well cards and letter s can be sent to Tom Ca tes at K & N Engin eeri ng, P.O. Box 1329, Riverside , CA 92502. John Kocins ki con tin ues to show speed w hen r idi ng th e Kan em o to H on da NSR500. Kocin ski took part in another three-da y te st at the Je rez ci rcu it i n Spa in, December 2-4, a nd aga in man- aged to low er his lap times . Koci nski lapped at 1:42.9, three-tenths bett er than his first tes t on th e Kan emo to Ho nda . "Erv (Ka nem oto ) fou nd so me thi ngs and got the bike working a little bet ter," Kocin ski said . "He tri es to und erst and m y feelings and makes th e bike bett er for me. We di dn't have crea m-o f-thecrop con d itions, bu t it was goo d to wo rk with Erv a ga in . We' re look in g fo r a sponsor for next year, bu t it takes forever . It' s really tim e-consuming and you never kn ow how long it w ill take. It's our Qoal to be ther e next yea r. I just wa nt to stay focu sed and keep working a nd tr y to se cu re so m e thin g . Eve rything's wor ked ou t well and we' re excited - we just need a spon so r." Italian road racer Al ess andro Gr am igni will race a Yam a ha R7 in the 1999 World Superbike Championship. Th e form er 125cc Wo rld Champion and two-time AMA Su perb ike N ational win ner will ha ve two kitted Yam aha s in a team he w ill manage himself, according to Cycle News con tribu tor Paolo Gozzi. The main sp onsor w ill be Va lli Mo to rs , a large Itali a n Yam ah a deal er. "My 1998 wa s negat ive, bu t I had man y possibilities to move d own to World Supersport with a factory' bike and team," Gramigni said. "Bu t I wa nt to race as I like. I'm a former GP rid er, and for me , a Su perspo rt bike is to o m u ch a s t re e t b ik e . I ca n n o t 'change a nyth ing - se tu p, suspens io n and I don' t want to race this way. Probably , I am crazy because I could be a facto ry r id er in Supe rspo rt, w it h a rich agreement, an d I will be a p rivateer in Wor ld 'Superbike and I will pay for my own spare pa rts, and mechanics. But I think in thi s W

• Cover