Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE W IND CARS adopts new standards for on-higway motorc 'cles T he California 'Air. Resources Board (CARB) adopted n.ew exhaust emissions standards for on -highway motorcycles in a meeting on December 10. The new standards will require approximately a 25-perc en t reduction in emissions beginning in model year 2004, and approximately a 6O-percen t reduction in emissions beginning in model year 2008 - a substantial drop from CARB's original proposal, which would have required a 90-percent emissions reduction. Under the 2008 standard, it is expected that at least 60 percent of all models will require the use of catalytic converters. For most man u facturers, the 2004 standard will be 1.4 g /km of HC+NOx, and the 2008 sta nda rd will be 0.8 g / km of HC+Nox. Small-volume manufacturers have been give n u ntil 2008 to meet the 1.4 g /km sta nda rd an d are exempt fro m th~ 0.8 g /km standard. As origi nally proposed, the 0.8 g /km sta nda rd wo uld have applied only to Harley- Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and BMW, based on current sales. However, the defini tion of "sma ll volume" was change d a t the hearin g from less than 1000 sales pe r yea r in Califo rnia to 300 per yea r, den ying sma ll-volume status to an y company using an engi ne installed in mo re than 300 mo torcycles per year. Although these standards do not direc tly affect the design of motorcycles produced for sale in the other 49 states, provisions of the Clean Air Act give many states the abili ty to req uire the sale of California-eertified vehicles. In addition, the re are d isadvantages to the man u factu rers for producing two differen t versions of each model for sale in the United States. As a result , the new standards w ill most likely affect mo torcycl es sold in all SO states, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC). The latest hearing began after almost 10 hours of time spent on other agenda items . When the motorcycle sta ndards issu e came up, several of the board members, including the on ly engineer, had already left. CA RB reass ign ed Harl ey-Davidson to make the first presen tation, and H-D unexpect edl y presented testimony in favor of the CARB standard. Harl ey's support undercut MIC's position and ensu red CARB's approval of the proposed standard, and also a ppears to have contribu ted to the change in the small-manufacturer definition, accor ding to MIC. The boa rd un animously ap proved the proposed standards by a 7-0 vote. several key rivals, includ ing two-t im e U.s. Open tennis cha m pion Pa t Raft er and reco rd -se tting Aus tralian cricketer, Mark Taylor . The 34-year-o ld Doohan is a pr ev iou s thr ee-time wi nne r of the p rest igious Aus tra lia n Male Ath lete of the Yea r catego ry, in 1995, '96 and '97. " It' s a n honor for mot or cycling to be recogni z ed thi s wa y in a year w he n ther e wer e so many other good int ernation a l performances by Aus tra lia ns," Dooh an sa id . "It' s never easy to win a World Cha m p ions h ip, and to d o it in Austra lia mad e th is yea r even m or e spec ial. The su ppo rt I get back in Australi a is so methi ng I a p preci ~t e ve ry mu ch." A ~ ~ 0\ 0\ 0\ ...... 2 The AMA will be closing the d oor s to its West er vill e, Ohio, offices a t 5 p.m . on T hursday, December 17, a nd r eopening on Tuesday, Decem ber 22, a t its new ho me at 13515 Yarmouth Drive, Pickerington, Ohio 43147. At that tim e, the AMA's phone nu mber will cha nge to 614/856-1900 and its fax will cha nge to 614 /856-1920. Th e AMA 's toll-free nu mber will re m a in t h e sa me at 800 / AMA-JO IN . W h ile the AMA offices will reo pen on December 22, the Mo to rcycle H e ri ta ge Museum w ill remain closed un til its gra nd opening in the summer of 1999 at its new, expa nd ed locati on at the Pickerington site . The Reve Red Bull Ducati Superbike . team will be on han d at the Motorcycle Supe rshow, sched u led for Januar y 1-3 at th e To ronto In te rn a tion a l Ce n tre in Tor onto, Ontario, Ca na da . The show w iII b e th e o n ly N o rth A m erica n a p pea ra nce for the team th at featu res Brit ish ro ad rac er John Reynold s. For more information, call905/6:?5-S403. PACE Mo to r Sports has co n t rac ted Hou st on -based Illuminations United Company to pro vid e ligh t-show en ter- tainment for its 15-round AMA Supercross Series. "We' re gea ring u p for the n ew m ill enium b y pha s in g ou t fire works and bringing ina br illiant di sp lay of the latest electrical- lighting techn ology," said Todd Jendro, director of su percross for PACE. "The new ligh ting system w ill a lso help elimina te the ha zy residue that fireworks leave in a stad ium." PACE has also added a new so und sys tem that will travel to each and every round of the se ries to su p p leme nt th e exis ting systemsin eac h s tad iu m . Th e first and fina l ro u nds of the series will still feature a firewor ks 'display, according to PACE. A&A Ra cin g Se rvice a nd Rod La ke Ra cing w ill prese n t th e West Coast Indoor Short Track Championship on Mav 1 a t the Cow Pa lace in Brisba ne, Ca lifornia . For more information, call 800/551-7755. Senior mot ocro ss rid ers will ha ve the opportunit y to kick off Da ytona Bike Week with a stop a t the Hardrock Cycle Park for the seco nd annual Pan-American Seniors MX Championship on Sund ay, February 28. An AHRMA vin tage tria l a nd flat-track ationa l are al so sc h ed u le d fo r Fe bruary 28, with a n AH RMA vin tage mot ocro ss sched u led for Februa ry 27. For more information, call 353/73Z-6697 . Four and Six Cycle Inc. has anno u nced that it is now a GMD Co mputrack Ne twork Cen ter. Already known in Ch icago and nation all y as 4&6 Raci ng, th e sho p has ad de d the GMD Co mp utrack Ne twork chassis-p re p ara tio n sys te m. "Th is gives Mid w est -area racers a n d en thus ias ts a one-s top locati on to have their motor cycles com pletely pre pa red for racing or perform an ce street use by knowledgeable, experienced personnnel u sing the latest s ta te-of-the-a rt equ ip - rnen t," sa id Jim Ra shid , pres id e nt of Fou r and Six Cycle. For more information, call 773/539-4600. Th e FIM Prize-G iving Ceremony was held in Esto ril, Portugal, on December 12, with all the World Cham pions hon ored a t th e Es toril Ca sin o . Th e FIM Environme nt Prize was aw arded to Dr. Jacques Rogge, presid ent o f the Eu ro pean Olympic Committee. Excel Motorsports is cu rre ntly acceptin g rid er resumes for th e 1999 racing season . Resumes ca n be sen t to Excel Moto rsport , 2346 North 200 West Rd ., Co lumbus, IN 47201. The ground-breaking ceremony for Las Vegas Harley-Davidson - wh at ow ners Don Andress and Tim Cas hma n are calling the "world's lar gest" Harl ey-David so n dealership - will feature a day-long ride to deliver toys and ot her gifts to 51. Ju de's Ranc h for Child re n, Un ive rs it y Medical Center and Valley Hospita l, on Decem ber 12, beginn ing at 9 a.m. AMA Distric t 37 has announced that Kawasaki and Suzuki will be offering contingency programs at all D-37 "Big 6 GP Series" even ts. For more information, call 714/377-Q909. GFI will hold pr actice at Perris Raceway in Perris, California, Decem ber 27-31, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. For more information, call 909/ 653-4042. American Supercamp will begin its third year of co nducting its di rt tr ack rid ing schools when its 1999 season gets un de r wa y wit h a session in McKinn ey, Texas, January 23-24. For mor e informatio n, see American Superca m p 's home page o n th e Wo rl d Wid e Web a t http:/ /www.ame ricansu perca m p.com. British ro ad racer Steve Dey is sea rching to find a way to com pete at Daytona Internationa l Sp eed w ay durin g Bik e Week '99 in Mar ch. Dey has competed in 250cc GP, Supermo no, 600cc Su pe rspo rt and Superbik e racin g. For mor e in form ation, call Dey at 44/1908-504338. The first of the 1999 CLASS Motorcycle Schools is sched uled for March 26 a t Lagu na Seca Raceway in Monterey, Californ ia . C LASS will h old sessio ns throughou t th e yea r at Lag una, Sea rs Point, Second Cree k in Den ver, Willow Springs, Road A tla n ta , Pocono, M idOhio, and Portlan d and Seattle International Racewavs. For more info rma tio n, call 805/ 933-9936. Beginning on Jan uary 1, 1999, visitors to the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area , the largest mass of san d dunes in Ca lifornia , w ill be cha rged $10 for a weekly recreation user fee or $30 for an annual fee for their primary vehicle. The proposed fees a re part of a p ilo t p rogra m that wi ll affect selected BLM recreation areas nationwid e. Motoadventure Costa Rica is now offering fully-equi pped, 1999-m od el Honda XR400s for its Cos ta Rican mo to rcycle tours. Fo r m ore i n fo r ma ti on o n th e tours, see t he Mot oadv enture hom e page on the World Wid e Web at the following ad d ress: http:/ /www.m otoadventura .com . The official sa tellite race team for FMF has been announced . Team IMS / Pro ' series will feature Mike Metzger, John Sereika an d Jose Polasek and will compete i n th e AMA .125cc Wes t Coas t Supercros s Seri es as well as se lected . AMA 125cc a tio na l Mo tocross Seri es round s. The team will be ma naged by Mike Farmer. T1,e Pro Circuit team will be ou tfitted in Thor gea r, according to a pr ess release issued bv Th or. The team will consist of Ri ck y C armic h ae l, ic ho las Wey, Na tha n Ra m s e y , S coll Sh ea k , Sha e Bentley and Bill y Payne. Te am Plan et H ond a /Pro Grip ha s sign ed Canadian Na tio na l Motocross Champion Jean-Sebastien Roy to ride its Honda CR25 0 in t he AMA Su percross Se ries a n d 250cc N a t io na l Mo tocross Ser ies . Ro y wi ll miss th e o peni ng two ro unds of th e s eries in Ana heim and San Diego, Californ ia, du e to contractual agreeme nts that will have him racin g ove rseas. HIRED: Ma tt Sprague, as advertis ing sales di recto r for Seals Comm unication , Corportation (Sealsco) , effective imme diately. Sp rague takes over for Sco tt Dewey, who is no longer affilia ted wi th Sealsco. OPENED: Mo toWorld N e two rk's home page on th e Wo rld Wid e Web . The site can be found a t the following a d d res s begi nni ng o n Janu a r y 9: http :/ / www .motoworl d .net. HIRED: Gera ce Co m mu n ica tions o f New York, as the mark eting and publicrelat ions agency for the Na tio na l Promoters Grou p (N PG), effective imm ediately . The NPG is com prised of the 12 p ro mo te rs w ho h os t the AMA's 125 / 250cc Na tio nal Mot ocr oss Series. For more inform ation , call 315/732-4363. C ORRECTION: Mot o cr o ss er Terry Bostard won both th e 250cc Pr o a n d Over 30 classes at the AMP/ GFl race in Turlock, Ca lifo rnia, o n No ve mber 22, contrary to the results that were pr inted in a recent issu e of Cycle New s. FO RMED: A s peci a l o pera tio ns a nd projects di vision, by Tor co International. The new division will provide dedicated suppo rt to To rco cus tomers and allied prod uct manufacturers for new projects and technol ogies. Ch ris Rea l has been named d irector of the new division. RETIRED: Bru ce Rette r, as vice president of the sport/ u tility batt ery d ivision of Yuasa lnc., after 23 yea rs with th e company . Don McMillan, senio r d irecto r of m o tiv e p ow er m a r keting , w ill assume Rett er's posi tion. OPENED: Bent Clot hi ng's ho me page on the Wor ld Wide Web. The site can be found at th e fo llowi ng add ress : http:/ / w ww.ben tclothing.com. CO RRECTION: us. Junior World Trophy rid er Jason Raines (KTM) had his scores re ta bu la ted fo llow ing las t . month's ISDE in Aus tralia . Raines was wrongf u lly docked routet p oint s, which was reflected in his overall final sco re, w hich had him pla ced 57th in the 250cc Tw o-Strok e class . Follow ing the correction in the scoring, Rain es is now officially cred ited with 31st in class, which also brings him up from silver- to gold medal status . OPENED : Dirt & Sand Mot orsp orts, in Sunland , California. The store will specia lize in off-ro ad motorcycl es, accesso ries and apparel. They' re locat ed a t 8519 Foothill Blvd ., Sunland, CA 91040, 818/353-7263. (:'\

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