Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

In the Wind Buddy Antunez (Suz) and Jeff Willoh split wins in rounds 25 and 26 of the AMA/PJ1 National ArenacrOss Series in Denver, Colorado, February 19-20. Antunez topped Jeromy Buehl (Hon) and Willoh in the 125cc main event on Friday night, with Willoh beating Antunez and Denny Stephenson (Hon) to win the 250c<: final. On Saturday night, Antunez again beat Buehl and Willoh in the 125cc final, while. Willoh topped Buehl and Antunez in the 250cc main event. Doug Blackwell (Yam) won round two of the AMA National Hare Scrambles Series at Wil eyville, California, on February 21. Matt Stavish (Hon) finished second, with Jim Jarrett (Kaw), Erik Kohler (Yam) and Patrick Garrahan (KTM) rounding out the top five. Blackwell, the defending champ, now holds the series points lead over Brian Garrahan, who finished seventh at Wilseyville, 55-35. Kelby Pepper is currently third with 33 points. . Frenchman David Vuillemin (Yam) won the 22nd annual International Motocross of Beaucaire, in Beaucaire, France, on February 21. He won the prestigious European Grand Prix warmup event with a 2-1-2 score. Placing second to VuilIemin was Pit. Beirer (Kaw), who carded 1-2-3 moto results. Yves Demaria (Hus) took third overall via 6-8-1 moto finishes. Brian Jorgensen (Suz) and Andrea Bartolini rounded out the top five. Former World MX Champion Stefan Everts crashed and suffered a serious knee injury at the International Motocross of Beaucaire. At press time, sources in Europe say that the Belgian either tore a ligament or broke bones in the knee. Harry Everts, Stefan's father, says that Stefan might be out of action for upward of three months. The team of Nick and Russell Pearson (KTM) emerged as the winners of the Silver State Best in the Desert Laughlin U.S. Hare Scrambles team race in Laughlin, Nevada, on February 20. The Pearson brothers finished ahead of the KX500s of Shane EspositolDave Ondas (Kaw) and Destry Abboll/Bryan Brown (Kaw). Fourth overall and first in the Vet Pro class went to Larry Roeseler/Mike Healey (Kaw), followed by the first 250cc team of Oakely Lehman/Steve Hengeveld (Kaw). The Fox U.S. Opelhsupercross is scheduled to be held October 9-10 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in La Vegas, evada, and again claims to be the "world's richest indoor motocross event." The race boasts a $250,000 pu.rse, with the overall winner of the two-day event to take home $100,000. "The track design for thiS year's event will have an entirely new layout," said Mike DiStefano, co-promoter of the U.s. Open. "It will be wider and longer, allowing for more passing and extended motos." Tickets for the event go on sale on February 24 and can be purchased from the MGM Grand box office, Ticketmaster, Chaparral Motorsports or Fox Racing. For more information, call 702/5661453. • §! M .c j 2 There will be no wet-weather DOT tire restriction for the two production classes in this year's Toyota Canada Superbike Championship Series, series officials announced on February 17. Racers competing in the Open Sportbike or 600cc Sportbike classes will not be required to run with a DOT-marked dry tire in a race affected by rain. When director of competition Benoit Filon declares a race "wet," riders have the option of using a DOT tire with a wetweather tread pattern, or a full race wet-weather tire. This rule runs counter to that in place in AMA racing, which requires its 600 and 750cc Supersport riders to use a single, DOT dry tread pattern - regardless of weather conditions. "We have considered going to the AMA template," said series organizer Colin Fraser. "If the competitors have to carry less tires and stock less inventory, iI's obviously, in a general sense, much better for them. But after we had a lot of rain last season, the consensus now of the competitors is, they'd actually prefer to be able to run full wets in the rain. In my opinion, there's no question that you're going to have fewer crashes if you have full wets. When you get standing water like we can get in Canada, combined with the nature of our tracks, those DOT dry tires are really not attheir best. The difference between those and a proper wet tire is night and day when you have standing water." The series opens on June 13 at Race City Speedway in Calgary, Alberta. Ryan Hughes, who arrived in Italy on Saturday, February 20, for his assault on the 1999 FIM 250cc World Championship Series on a factory-backed Honda for the Pamo-Honda race team, is busy setting up his new home and making preparations for a test session on Monday, February 22. "We just arrived here, and I'm just trying to get my home set up," Hughes told Cycle News contributor Eric Johnson from Italy on Sunday, February 21. "I was just out running and I feel good. The first GP is exactly one month away and we're going to begin final testing in the next few weeks. I'm real ~xcited about all this." According to a press release from AHRMA, just before the closing date for the March 1-2 Classics Days at Daytona International Speedway, a record number of overseas riders had already signed on to race in AHRMA's vintage and modern classes. The total entries for the two days of racing are over 600, according toAHRMA. Heritage Racing, a working museum being developed with the Honda Rider's Club of America, will be participating in a number of activities at Daytona International Speedway, March 1-7. A number of their machines will circulate at the AHRMA Classics Days at the Speedway, as well as being involved in the official Honda display outside the Speedway and ·also with Erion Racing. Heritage is hoping to have such legends as Dick Mann, Freddie Spencer, Bubba Shobert and Don Emde available for autograph sessions at its display. More information is available at the Heritage Racing site on the World Wide Web at http://www.heritageracing.com. Aprilia and Zero G.ravity Racing have organized a spec-racing series for 1999 and beyond fea turing the Aprilia RS250 V-twin two-stroke street bike. There are four dates currently scheduled - the Road Atlanta AMA National, June 4-6; Laguna Seca World Superbike, July 911; Pocono Formula USA, August 2729; and a Texas World Speedway CMRA event, September 17-19 - as an exhibition series during 1999, with plans to offer a more complete championship schedule the following season, to run in conjunction with an undetermined National-level series. A $5000 purse, paying back to 10th with $1500 for the winner, will be up for grabs at each of the four races this season, and contingency programs are currently under negotiation. The race-kitted RS250s cost $8399. For more information, contact Zero Gravity Racing at 800/345-9791. Spanish nearly-man Alex Criville is to follow Mick Doohan's lead and switch from the friendly Big Bang motor to the 180-degree "Screamer," in spite of a near-l00-percent crash record when he has ridden the bike before. This culminated in two tumbles at the seasonclosing Argentine GP last year, losing him second place overall after he unexpectedly switched to the Screamer for the last race. At Phillip Island, riders were ask to nominate which engine configuration they would prefer for the season - Big Bang, Screamer, or a new haJfway-h~use configuration somewhere between the two. Like Doohan, Criville chose the Screamer from the start, and stuck with it throughout. "1 think it is necessary to use this engine," Criville' said. "The hardest thing is to get used to the d ifferen t feel of the engine braking." This doesn't seem entirely plausible, since it is the sharper power and throttle response that Doohan cites as the significant differences. Honda did not attend the Malaysian tests and did not enter for the nex t round, at Jerez in the third week of February, preferring to stick to its own schedule, with more Australian tests scheduled. MuZ's preseason test schedule has been thrown into chaos after a workshop fire a t the engineering premises of former rider Eskil Suter. As well as exhausts, Suter makes a number of engine and other parts for Swiss-Auto, suppliers of the motor for the German-backed famous name. While damage was not serious, it came at a crucial time in the run-up to the Jerez tests. With both Luca Cadalora and Jurgen van den Goorbergh· hoping to try the new English-made chassis at Jerez, the tearn hoped to have at least one bike ready in time. "Though we will still be machining parts in the truck on the way down there," joked the new team boss, multi-time World Sidecar Champion Rolf Biland. For the first time in company history, Frank Thomas Ltd., an English motorcycle-clothing manufacturer, will sponsor riders in the AMA ational Championship Road Race Series. Frank Thomas Ltd. will supply product and support to Yoshimura Suzuki's Steve Rapp and the 1-800-CYCLE-GEAR tandem of Jake Zemke and Roger Lee Hayden. For more information, call 800/CYCLEGEAR. Winston Pro Stock Bike drag racer Steve Johnson has signed a deal with Pro Stock car team owner Shawn Collins to field a Collins Racing Suzuki for the 1999 NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series. Collins and Johnson have agreed to a marketing and promotional arrangement that will see the two racers and 1998 Winston Finals Pro Stock car winner Richie Stevens, alread y a part of the Collins racing stable, working together in 1999. "I'm really excited about this," Johnson said. "Our program is going to really change this year, thanks not qnly to Shawn but to Todd Doege, who is in partnership with our engine supplier, Ward Performance." The NHRA Pro Stoc'k Bike season begins with the NHRA Mac Tools Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, March 19-21. Believe it or not, the winner of a HarleyDavidson XLH Sportster 883 Hugger in the Beer uts Brand Snacks sweepstakes is named Kenneth McNutt. The grand prize was part of a sweepstakes that was conducted nationwide, an extension of the company's sponsorship of the AMA Grand alional Dirt Track Series. Miami police officer and road racer Rick Shaw is getting somewhat close to reaching the late Warren Sherwood's record for mileage and number of starts in the Daytona 200. Sherwood, who died in 1990 at the age of 66, raced every year at Daytona from 1950 to 1971 - a record 22 consecutive times. Sherwood also tallied 3168 miles in the 200 during his years of racing at Daytona. Shaw, 51, is currently ranked third on the all-time Daytona 200 mileage leaders list with 2575 miles (593 miles behind Sherwood). He is almost certain to move past the late Earl Widman's second-place mark of 2630 in this year's race. Other acti ve racers on the list of all-time mileage leaders includes former winner John Ashmead, who is fifth on the list; Kurt Liebmann, who is seventh; Eric Moe, who is ninth; and five-time winner Scott Russell, who has tallied 2182 miles in just 11 races, putting him 10th on the all-time list. ''I'm past the point of going out and expecting to win the race," Shaw admits. "The only mark I'm going to have a chance to leave is the most starts and miles. If 1 can make that race five more times, that would be a major accomplishment, especially since it takes so much effort and time." Just what does defending AMA Supercross National Champion Jeremy McGrath think of the Daytona Supercross by Honda? '11's probably the most prestigious race there is for us because of all the media coverage and it happens during Bike Week," McGrath said. "Day.tona has the same supercross obstacles we see, but it is a longer layout. Supercross layouts are usually in a smaller area, and tha I' s more suitable to my style. Another reason Daytona is more demanding is, they use more sand than we're used to." McGrath won the Daytona Supercross last year. Canadian road racer Owen Weichel will ride a Honda Canada-backed CBR600 F4 in both the Canadian and AMA Nationals in 1999. Weichel, who finished second in the Canadian 600cc Sportbike Championship in 1998 with two victories and four podium finishes on a Suzuki, will bring his Hyd-Mech Saws sponsorship with him to Honda. Weichel will begin his season at Daytona international Speedway in early March. According to Cycle News contribu tor Paolo Gozzi, not many are in favor of the World Superbike's new start-line procedure. "World Superbike is a top World Championship and we cannot accept that a real big thing like this can be introduced without a test in a secondary championship or series, like Eilropean Superstock," said Francesco Batta, tearn manager of Alstare Suzuki. "We will ask SBK International and the president, Maurizio Flammini, to return to the past, using the old grid system. Riders don't like this solution. The riders that will start in the sixth or seventh row will be as far as 64 or 73 meters (211 and 240 feet) behind pole position, and they will arrive in the first corner with a dangerously high speed. 1 think this can be a dangerous situation. We will ask the championship organizers to talk with

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