Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Ty Davis (Yam) won the opening round of the AMA Acerbis' National Enduro Series in Coalinga, California, on February 14. Finishing second was Doug Blackwell (Yam), followed by Russ Pearson (KTM), Mike Lafferty (KTM) and Brian Garrahan (KTM). Everything fell into place for Buddy Antunez (Suz) in rounds 23 and 24 of the AMA/PJ1 National Arenacross Series in Guthrie, Oklahoma, February 12-13. Antunez had two wins and two second-place finishes on the weekend and took over the championship points lead when the leader going into Guthrie, Cliff Palmer (Kaw), suffered a dislocated elbow and a broken arm in a crash on Friday night. In 125cc action on Friday night, Keith Johnson (Yam) topped .Antunez and Ivan Tedesco (Yam) prior to Jeff Willoh (Hon) beating Antunez and Johnson in the 250cc final. On Saturday night, Antunez won both races, topping Willoh and Jeromy Buehl (Hon) in the 125cc final and beating Johnson and Willoh in the 250cc main event. After 24 of 34 rounds, Antunez now leads Willoh, 747-711. The injured Palmer is . third with'691 points. Doug Dubach (Yam) won the sixth round of the PACE U.S. Off-Road Championship in the Thunder Bikes final in San Diego, California, on February 13. Dubach beat Dustin Nelson (Yam) and Scott Myers (Yam). Chaparral Suzuki's Damon Buckmaster has been released from the hospital after suffering injury in a motocross riding accident on February 7 in Southern California. Buckmaster broke his left wrist and fractured his C1 vertebra in addition to compression of two thoracic vertebrae (T4, T5), but suffered no damage to his spinal cord. Buckmaster underwent surgery to have his wrist pinned on February 9 and is currently in a halo while his neck injuries heal. Whether or not Buckmaster can return to action in the AMA 600 and 750cc Supers port Series in 1999 remains in doubt, as be is expected to take some two to five months to recover, though d9ctors say his recovery will be complete. "There will definitely be a bike for Damon when he comes back," said Kel Carruthers, team manager anfl. crew chief for Chaparral Suzuki. In the meantime, Suzuki has signed Tom Kipp to replace Buckmaster on the Chaparral team. Kipp, who won the AMA 750cc Supersport title in 1995 on a Suzuki GSX-R750, will join current 750cc Supersport National Champion Richard Alexander Jr. on the first-year team, riding both 750 and 600cc Supersport. "I sent back both contracts to Mel (Harris) at Suzuki yesterday by FedEx," Kipp said on Tuesday, February 16. "I'm just getting ready to call them to make sure. everything is in order, but as far as I'm concerned, everything should be okay. I'm ready to go. I'm really stoked. Having three months or so to sit back and. think, staring at early retirement... it makes you think a lot. I've got a fresh outlook and I'm really excited. I don't know Kel (Carruthers - the team's crew chief and team manager), but I've heard tremendous things about him and I view this as an excellent opportunity. I also know that Suzuki is behind Chaparral big-time as far as their support goes." If there was any question as to the level of support the U.s. round of the World Supercross Championship would get from the riders, that has been answered, at least according to a press release issued by Speed vision Productions, the promoters of the event, scheduled for November 20 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Jeremy McGrath, Jeff Emig, Ezra Lusk, Larry Ward and Robbie Reynard have already committed to the race. "I've been racing Euro- . pem for several years and the European riders have become very competitive with the Americans," said Larry Ward. "This year, however, Jeremy McGrath, Jeff Emig and a few other top Americans will join me to represent the United States and I think we'll prove that the United States is still the home of supercross." McGrath is also excited about the even.t, which will be round three of the four-race' series. "I wouldn't miss the event," McGrath said. "I've raced against and beaten these guys in Europe and [ think the American riders will be very competitive, if not dominant." As for support from the major manufacturers for the Rose Bowl race, American Suzuki vice president Mel Harris said; "We are looking forward to having an international race of this magnitude in our own back yard. We plan to be there, and Team Suzuki rider Robbie Reynard will defend his '98 World Supercross title at the U.s. round." Tickets for the race will go on sale at tlle Rose Bowl on April 1. Speed vision Productions, formally known as First Auto Sports Television (FAST), is the primary production company for Speedvision Network and Fox Sports Net, providing both networks with all of their motor-cycle programming and a majority of their auto-racing programming. Speedvision Productions also promotes the U.S. round of the World Superbike Championship at Laguna Seca and the doubleheader rounds of the AMA Superbike Championship at Road Atlanta. Five-time World Champion Mick Doohan is learning to fly, according to reports in an Australian newspaper. Doohan, who is following in the footsteps of fellow Gold Coast residents Daryl Beattie and Barry Sheene, is endeavoring to get through the course to enable him to fly his new Cessna Citation II from his Monaco home to the Grands Prix in Europe. "I'm not a great flier," 'Doohan said. "I prefer being on the ground, but it's not a phobia. It's not a problem because I get up there, but I generally know you only crash once in an aircraft." Flight instructor David Trewartha said that Doohan is a model student. ':He reads a lot, and if you give him something to study he'll do it down to the finest detail," Trewartha said. Doohan has been featured in a series of television commercials· for Qantas airlines in recent years and has become close friends with the Australian airlines' BMW-riding CEO, James Strong. Still, the high-flying executive has pone little to quell Doohan's nagging unease about not being in control. "I was talking to Nelson Piquet (the ex-Formula One World Champion) and he felt the same way about flying," Doohan said. "He got to the stage where he was at the back of the aircraft and there were a couple o{pilots up at the front and he'd feel safer if he was perhaps at the front. I just want to understand what's going on. That's why I'm doing this." Fast By Ferracci's Larry Pegram came away from his first test of the 1999 season with a smile on his face. Pegram lapped Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California, at 1;22 in windy conditions, just a fraction off the pace set by Vance & Hines Ducati's Ben Bostrom and Anthony Gobert. Pegram started the two-day test on the 1998-mqdel Ducati Young/ood resigns as AMA president E d Youngblood, the president of the AMA since 1981, submitted his resignation to the AMA board of trustees during meetings on February 13 in Indianapolis, Indiana. "My decision was made in part because of my belief that the organization would benefit from different leadership, and in part for my own health and well-being, and the desire to spend more time with my wife, Margaret," Youngblood said in a prepared release issued by the AMA on February 15. '1t has been a demanding, exciting and rewarding experience, but I believe there are personal and organizational reasons why the AMA and I can both benefit from a change." Youngblood joined the AMA staff in 1970 as managing editor of the American Motorcyclist magazine and later served as head of the 'AMA's government-relations department before being named president. In addition to his 28-year tenure at the AMA, Youngblood served for 25 years as a delegate to the FIM, where he once held the position of deputy president, the organization's second-highest post. He also served as a trustee of the Clayton Foundation and the Motor Sports Hall of Fame. "The board of trustees regretted receiving Ed's resignation but understands and respe.cts his reasons," AMA board chairman Carl Reynolds said. "We look forward to working with him in the process of transitioning to new leadership." Youngblood and the AMA have come under fire of late, stemming mainly from a December 18 court decision against the AMA and Paradama Productions Inc. and in favor of Roger Edmondson, the founder of North American Sport Bike, that could end up costing the association as much as $3.5 million in damages. The verdict, from a jury in the District Court of the United States for the Western District of North Carolina, was unanimous in favor of Edmondson. The AMA, however, has appealed that decision. The AMA was dealt another blow in the Edmondson case on February 9 when U.s: District Court Judge Lacy R. Thornburg denied AMA motions to overturn the judgment and hold a new trial in Edmondson vs. AMA. "I know so little about it (the resignation), I don't know if it will change things or not," Edmondson said when asked if Youngblood's resignation will impact the ongoing litigation between himself and the AMA. "It's quite clear that there's an opportunity for the AMA to take a different direction on all of this. That's a question the new management will have to answer. I'm just a passenger on the train at this point." As for who will replace Youngblood, the AMA's six vice presidents - Bill Amick, Patricia DiPietro, Greg Harrison, Mark Mederski, Robert Rasor and Merrill Vanderslice - will form a committee, headed up by senior vice president Rasor, and will name a successor. • but quickly switched to the '99 model when he got up to speed. "It only took me about 12 laps to get into the 23s," Pegram said. 'Then I got on the '99 bike. I feel really good on the thing. There's something about those Ducatis C me and them get along really good together." Pegram also had his new riding coach, Kevin Schwantz, at the test. "He seems pretty excited about it," Pegram said of Schwantz. "It's a good way of him getting to the races and having some fun. He's going as my coach and I'm going down to his house prior to Daytona to train with him." When asked if waiting for nearly the entire off-season without a ride made for some tough times, Pegram jo\<;ed; "I've got two murder-rap charges I've got to fight. Seriously, I started talking with Eraldo (Ferracci) at Sears Point last year - it took that long to get it done. I think he (FerracciJ seems really happy now. He can see that I'm really confident on the bike. The '99 bike is really good and the tires are good. We had some World Superbike dual compounds and I did 25 laps on a tire, and the 25th lap was my quickest." Ferracci's team uses Michelin tires. Matt Wait didn't fare as well as Pegram at the Willow Springs test. Wait crashed the bike on the first day, suffering a slight concussion. His time on the bike during the second day - a day that featured high winds and a little rain - was limited. The Fast By Ferracci team doesn't have any more tests planned prior to Daytona. Ducati's Troy Corser ended the Weeday World Superbike test at Phil1ip Island in Australia wi\h a scintillating 1:33.415 on February 10 - just 1.2 seconds . slower than the best lap turned in by Mick Doohan at the IRTA test a few weeks earlier. Corser ended up topping the charts, with his teammate Carl Fogarty second. Castrol Honda's Aaron Slight and Colin Edwards II were the third and fourth quickest of the riders who participated. All four circulated in. the 1;33s. "I'm very pleased with the times we set here in Phillip Islal}d," Corser said, "both with my fastest time and my race-simulation times. We tested a lot of tires and I'm pretty happy with the setup, even though things wil1 almost certainly be different in a couple of months' time for the race. We also tried out a lot of different components, which went well, and I'm looking forward to the Misano tests in March, when we will have the definitive version of the '99 bike for the.season aIlead." According to a press release issued by the FIM, the governing body will adopt the rules of the International Olympic Committee as it pertains to anti-doping rules. "For the 1999 season, the FIM will adopt the rules decreed by the IOC concerning doping, bu.t will fight for equal sanctions for all contraveners, without exception, but with clearly defined levels which will not lend themselves to loose interpretation. A health passport will also be considered. We wil1 also under our own initiative purpose, that he who suffers negative consequences due to the improper behavior of another is given the possibility to go to court, both civil and penal, to obtain damage reparations. The FIM, its members and riders believe that sportsmen must represenBt universal values and must not behave as wretched tricksters chasing victory at any cost. A sporting victory should celebrate an individual's merits and his most noble excellence and must not serve as a launching pad to research in pharmaceutical products." 1

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