Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

In the Wind American Honda's Miguel DuHamel underwent surgery at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 11, in Menlo Park, California, to repair his broken left femur, the result of his crash in the 600cc Supersport race at Road Atlanta on June 6. lt was the third time DuHamel had broken his left femur; the last time was the horrible break he suffered last June at New Hampshire International Speedway. As always, DuHamel was in good spirits prior to his operation, which would be performed by Dr. Arthur Ting. "They will take the old rod out and put a new one in," DuHamel said. "This one will be longer, to hold both bones. The leg snapped right where the old pin ended. It should be okay. I'm looking at being out two months and then I'll make a decision on when we'll race again. I just got finished doing the really, really long recovery; this time I'll try the extra-short recovery. The break was at 11 45-degree angle, so that's good. When I crashed, I was hoping it wasn't broken, and at that point my back was my biggest concern. Normally, when you high-side, you do a front flip; this time I did another complete front flip and landed on my back. I really thought my pelvis and back were broken." DuHamel's CBR600 was leaking fluids and he said he was really only trying to make it back to the pits. "I was slowing down out of turn five and pulled to the right side," DuHamel explained. "Jason (Pridmore) came by and, God bless him, he was trying to warn me that it was leaking. Going into six, I saw the liquid on my windscreen and I slowed up. When I picked it up at the apex, it just came around very violently and spit me straight up in the air. I wish I would have paid more attention in gym class, because I may have been able to stick the landing:' DuHamel was transported to a hospital in Gainesville, where he talked the staff into moving him up in the X-ray line. "They were able to X-ray me right in my leathers," DuHamel said. "They bumped me up because I told the guy if everything was okay that 1 had a race at 3 p.m.," DuHamel said. ''They put me second in line, but the guy came out after seeing the X-rays and said, 'You can relax, you're not going anywhere.'" At a cost of $12,000 ("You get sandwiches and drinks," DuHamel said), DuHamel rentoed a private jet that flew him and his manager, Alan Labrosse, from Gainesville, Georgia, to San Francisco, via Colorado, so that he could consult with"Dr. Ting. The French Canadian said he will likely be in Northern California for one month after the surgery. "If the operation goes well, that's my goal." Castrol Honda's Colin Edwards II called the Cycle NlWs offices wishing to explain some things in regard to his recent outburst following race one at the Monza round of t'he World Superbike Championship. "1 got an e-mail from somebody who thought I was a real jerk," Edwards said. "So 1'd like to explain some things. The problem is that Fox Sports showed'the first race and Speedvision showed the second. A lot of people still don't get Speedvision, so they didn't see me make a public apology for what I'd done after race one. I was a real jerk after the first race and I apologized for it after the second race:' i Former Grand Prix star and current Grand Prix color commentator Randy Mamola suffered a compound fracture of his leg in a scooter accident in Spain last week. Reportedly, Mamola was run off the road by a truck. 2 On June 9, Veteran road racer Kurt Liebmann, 56, agreed to a plea bargain C'i ::s .., prior to going to trial on charges that he sexually assaulted a teenager and took nude photographs of the girl, according to a report in the Bergen Record, a newspaper in New Jersey. Liebmann, who was arrested in January 1997 at a shopping mall on charges of surreptitiously videotaping women changing in a clothing shop, faces a maximum of five years in prison after admitting that he fondled and photogra phed the girl, who was between 13 and 16 at the time of the incidents, according to the newspaper report. The girl was in court and ready to testify against Liebmann on June 8 when he agreed to the plea bargain before Superior Court Judge John . A. Conte. Leibmann is the former owner of Amol Precision Machine and Motorcycle Shop. The Bergenfield, New Jersey, resident is scheduled to be sentenced in December, after evaluation by doctors at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center at Avenel, New Jer.sey's prison for sex offenders. In a June 1 ceremony in Madrid, Spain's Royal Palace, Claudio Castiglioni, the president of MV Agusta, presented an MV Agusta F4 Gold Series motorcycle to the King of Spain, H.R.H. Juan Carlos De Borbon. Fifteen-time World Champion Giacomo Agostini was in attendance. Robert M" Holmes Jr., 64, more commonly known as Tony Lee, died on May 26 from a heart attack. Lee was the Intern'ational Drag Bike Association president for 20 years and retired from the organization four years ago. He is survived by his wife, Eveline Turner Holmes; daughters Leigh Ann Min, Nina Henderson and Kelly Rowell; and grandchildren Campbell and Halley Henderson, and Carter and Abigail Rowell. More information is available online at http://www.dragbike.com. AMADirectlink will feature extended coverage of the Superbike National Championship Road Race Series at the Mid-Ghio Sports Car Course, July 16-18, with photos, video and interviews being placed on the AMA Pro Racing pages of AMADirectlink. In addition, extended coverage will also be fea tured from the Kenworthy Motocross Park round of the AMA 125/250cc National Motocross Series on July 25. For more information, see the web site. at the following address: http;/ /www.ama-cycle.org. Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating has signed in to la w a bill to crea te a new motorcycle safety program, making Oklahoma the 47th state in the nation to adopt such a la w, according to the AMA. Now only Alaska, Arkansas and Mississippi don't have state-sponsored motorcycle training programs. Acclaim Online, a division of Acclaim Entertainment Inc., a leading worldwide interactive-entertainment company, has arulounced that it has launched a contest that offers independent bands the chance to record the background music for Acclaim Sports' racing game, "Je.remy McGrath Supercross 2000." The contest, which requires bands to upload their music using MP3 technology, is offered exclusively on Acclaim.Net (http://www.acclaim.net). The contest began on June 4 and continues until July 7. Sport Bike Night at In Cahoots in Sacramento, California, will feature a ridingapparel fashion show on June 14. For more information, call 916/373-1557. The Jackpine Gypsies will hold a short fA Sports signs on as SX title s onsor n what will go down as one , of the largest sponsorship deals in the history of motorcycle racing, on Thursday, June 10, EA Sports inked a mll!tiyear, multimillion-dollar contract with PACE Motor Sports to be the title sponsor for supercross beginning in tile year 2000. Though actual terms for the contract weren't released, ources clo e to Cycle NlWs said (Left to right) Charlie Mancuso, president Pace Motor that the EA Sports deal is set for Sports; John Riccatello, president and COO three years and includes an Electronic Arts; Jeff Emig, 1998 Supercross agreement which gives EA the Champion; and Charlie Cooper, marketing manager ti tie "EA Sports Su perc ross EA Sports. Series." ln addition to the sponsorship, EA (Electronic Arts) will also produce the "official" supercross home entertainment game, with the development cost reportedly approaching a reported $5 million. In a press .release from PACE, CEO Gary Becker said; "PACE's alliance with EA Sports makes perfect sense for both of us. We benefit from association with a mainstream title sponsor who can even further help to expand the popularity of supercross by bringing it to another mass audience through its interactive electronic product." Michael Ribero, senior vice president of publishing at EA Sports, said; "I'm thrilled with our partnership with PACE Motor Sports. The nexus of the title supercross series sponsorship and the release of the latest EA Sports video game, 'Supercross 2000: demonstrates our commitment to the sport of supercross. We couldn't be happier, and look forward with great anticipation to the upcoming supercross season." At Thursday's press conference at EA Sports' headquarters in Redwood City, California, former supercross champion Jeff Ernig was on hand as a guest speaker and to take a sneak peak at the new game. In addition, EA Sports hired Dirt Wurx's Rich Winkler - the Southern California-based supercross-track builder - to design and build an actual supercross track on EA's property adjacent to the headquarters. EA also brought in Mike Metzger and two of his friends, Mike Harris and Brian Ferrell, to put on a jumping display for the several hundred EA employees, retailers and members of the press who were in attendance. track on July 3 at the Jackpine Gypsies club grounds in Sturgis, South Dakota, with the proceeds going to the Doug MiUer Foundation, whicl1 helps youth scholarships in Sturgis. For more information, call 605/342-9362. An additional two-week Alpine Adventure has been added to Beach's Motorcycle Adventures 1999 schedule. Beginning on May 30, five two-week tours are being offered. For more informa tion, call 716/773-4960. Yamaha Motor Corp U.S.A. and Tommy Hilfiger U.S.A. Inc. have teamed up to produce limited-edition, Hilfiger-designed Yamaha YZF-R6s, with four of the bikes set to be given away at participating Bloomingdale's and selected Yamaha events. "Racing is something we have been interested in and involved with for several years," said Tommy Hilfiger. "Designing a motorcycle for Yamaha was the perfect chance to explore new sponsorship opportunities in the racing world and partner with the world's leading motorcycle manufacturer. This venture also allows us to offer our customers a product that is truly unique, special and exciting." event schedufed for June 26 at Ventura Raceway in Ventura, California, included a typo. The Class C Footshift class is brakeless and will feature 1974-and-earlier machines. Speedvision Productions, the promoter of the World Superbike round scheduled for Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, July 9-11, has announced record manufacturer and vendor support for the event. "In order to accornmoda te the demand for space this year, we have created a new vendor' area located next to the manufacturer area:' said Dan Murphy, president of Speed vision Productions. "Race fans will be able to enjoy a variety of demo rides, great food and music, not to mention exciting motorcycle races." This year's race will also feature the Kid's Corral for the first time. The Kid's Corral is an area designed specifically for young race fans. For ticket information on the World Superbike event, call 8OO/327-SECA. Excelsior-Henderson recently signed a deal with the Minnesota Vikings, making Excelsior-Henderson the official motorcycle of the NFL team. As part of the long-term partnership, a custompainted purple Super X motorcycle will lead the Vikings onto the field to start each home game. The motorcycle will also be ridden on the field during breaks in the game action. According to a press release, Cruise America has signed a deal with Rich Dillman and Associates to acquire and operate Arizona Bike Week. In addition, Cruise America has entered into a multiyear presenting sponsorship agreement for the event with Dillman and Associates. The event is scheduled for March 25-ApriJ 2, 2000. For more inf.ormation, call 602/704-1142. The Queensboro Motorcycle Club, New York City's oldest motorcycle organization, will holds its 12th arumal Casino Run on Sunday, August 1. For more information, call 718/429-8225. The entry form for the Eddie Mulder West Coast Vintage Flat Track Series Paul Pinsonnault (Hon) and Bob Templeton earned wins in the 540cc class

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