Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

In the Wind The tea m of Destry Abbott and Brian Brown (Ka w) claimed the wi n at the Silver Sta te 300 Best in the Dese rt even t in Alamo, Nevada , on June 26. Th e team o f Sh ane Esposito and Da vid Ondas (Kaw) finis he d second , whi le Jo h n ny Campbe ll (H on ) s oloed to a third-place finis h . Jared McWhirter (Ho n) and Je ff Rister were tw o of th e big winners in the AMA We st Coast Amateur Na tio na l d irt track eve nts that took p lace a t Elrna Speedway. iRain icr Speedway and Castle Rock Raceway Park in Was hi ngton s ta te, June 19-27. McWhirter won bo th the 85cc A a nd DTX ch a mpions h ips, w hile Rister wo n the 250cc-class title. In the ve te ra n ranks, Vince Holt (Rtx) won th e Over 40 class. The weeklo ng series of races in cluded half mile, sho rt track and TT even ts. The th ird r ound o fCe ne Rom ero ' s West Co as t Fla t Track Series ran Saturday night, June 26, a t Sa n Jose Speedway's half mile oval in w hat wi ll probably be the las t race a t the site of th e legendary San Jose Mile. An en tertai nm en t co m ple x an d p a r k in g lo t is scheduled be built on the track, with fill di r t a lr ea dy in th e old turn -o ne and -two area of the fa mo us mile race tr ack . Ro nnie Bro w n (W-R) sto le th e win fro m Lonnie Pa uley (W- R) after chasi ng h im for most of the race, Toby Jo rg ensen (W-R) took third. Jeff Johnson (Tri) p assed Rod La ke (Yam) for th e Vi n tage w i n , w it h Joe Carrera (Yam) finishi ng third . Kenny Remo (Ind) an d Ed die Cas tro (In d) to ok class wi ns a t The Sho p 's Vin ta ge Ou tla w Motorcycle races a t th e Ve n tu ra Co u n ty Fai rg rou n ds in Ven tu ra, California, on Ju ne 26. Rem o held o ff Gordon Menzie (R-E) and Da vid Du v arn e y ( Irid ) for th e Dinosaur-class vi ctory. In th e Handsh ift clas s, Castro came from d ead last after popping out of gea r on the s tartin g line to tak e th e w i n, a h e a d o f Duvarn ey (lnd ) and Rem o _ -D). Th e (H even t, which wa s also round three of • th e West Coas t Vintage Fl at Tra ck Series, d re w over 6700 specta to rs a nd 130 entries. Motorcycle racing will return to Au stralia's famous Moun t Panorama road cou rse following an a nnouncemen t by Ev ent Ma na ge me n t Specialists, promo ters of the annualtouring car-race at Bathurst, reports Cycle News contributor Darryl Flack, Sched uled to ta k e p lace on 'Eas ter weekend in 2000, th e meeting will fea ture a 300 k mendura nce race, which will be open to su perbikes and se lected othe r classes. Mot orcycles last raced on the 3.8-mile ci rcu it in 1992 and 1994 as part of a two-plus -fo ur race, fea tu ring a GT pro d uction car race. Lou isian a Governor M.J. "Mike" Foster Jr . has signe d legislati on th a t revis es that sta te's cu rre nt mandatory helmet law for ad u lt mot orcyclists, acco rd ing to the AMA. The Louisiana law allows any ad ult 18 or older to op erate or ride a mot orcycle wit ho u t a h elmet - p rovided th e rider has a hea lth insuran ce policy with me dical be nefits of at leas t $10,000 for bod ily injury, The mot orcyclis t or passen ger m us t p ro vid e proof of s uc h a p oli cy to any la w -enforceme n t officer upo n re q uest. The new law tak es effect on Au gust 15. The new law is th e lat e s t e xample of some m otorcy cl is ts ' will ingness to accept ad ditio na l ins u ra nce requir ements to ride witho u t helmets, acco rdi ng to th e AMA . Cri tics of th ese bill s, in cluding the AMA, b elie ve tha t by accepti ng o nerous health-insurance mandat es in exc hange for the ability to rid e helmet- . orbin men es with MCM C O n June 14, 1999, Co rb in Mo tors Inc. of Hollister, Californi a, com p leted a :'Tax-Free Stock for Stock Reo rgan iz a tion" with MCM Engi ne Tech nologies of Costa Mesa, California. The bai l-out wi ll allow MCM to begi n prod uction of its lightweigh t, four-s tro ke, fou r-valve, fu el-i njected, 90-degree V-twin, which can be con figured to displa ce a ny w here fro m 750cc to 1200cc. This is the ' first of a family of proposed engines from MCM that will range from 350cc to 1200cc, with the fir st engi nes slated to be availabl e wit hin just 60 days of the merger. For its part, Corbin Motor s will gain the ability to design and build a va riety of sophisti cated en g ine s and other unique vehicles, continuing in its qu est to bring a new form of urban tran sportation to the mar ketp lace . Corbin' s prototype Sparrow, an e lec tric- pow ered, singleseat , thr ee-wheeled vehicle that can be re gistered and parked like a mo to rcycl e, has already bee n seen at many of the trade and consumer shows w he re Co rbin displays its afte rmarket seat a nd saddlebags, With the merger, Co rbin intends to build a gasolinepowered version of the Sparrow, called the Corbin Coupe, which utlizes an MCM Vtwin tha t is tuned to prod uce 100 horsepower and get 60 miles per gallon. Like the Spa rrow, the Coupe will meet the same vehicle registrat ion criteria, and it will also qualify as a ULEV (Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle) . Preproducti on prototypes are bei ng readied for the San Francisco Au to Show in November, wit h production schedu led to begin so me time in the year 2000. Estimated price for the vehicle w ill ra nge between $16,900 an d $17,900. . Bolley blasts Belgian 250cc MX Grand Prix F rench rid er Fred eric Bolley piloted his Honda to 1-1 moto scores for the win in the Belgian Grand Pri x, round 10 of the World Champion ship 250cc MX Series, in Kest er, Belgium. . . Be lley qualified fastest and then outran Winfield Kawasaki rid er Pit Beirer of German y, who got caught up wh ile at tempting to pass Yama ha's Mickael Maschio in moto on e. Behind Bolley and Beirer came American rider Ryan Hughes, followed by homecountry favori te Marnicq Bervoets, who was atte mp ting to cut throu gh the trem endou s p ain of the badly cu t han d and ar m that he had suffered at the previous ro und in France. Bervoets woul d hang on to finis h fourth, just ahead of Yamaha rider David Vuillemin. In moto two, Bolley ag ain went to the front, with Vuillemin and 'Bervoets giving chase. Beirer suffered a poor start an d was attempting to ma ke up ground wh en he slipped wi de, collid ed w ith Hugh es and crash ed , rem ou nting to finis h sixth in the mot o. Masch io ran fourth . Bolley took the victory and the overall win, with Vuillemin's second-p lace finish good enough for second overa ll. Bervoe ts sold ieredon to finish an impress ive third in the mota and third overalL Beirer 's 6-2 finis hes nett ed him fourth, ' while Hu gh es was fifth on the day, going 3-5. Beirer still lead s the series poi nts race with 10 of the 16 rounds complete, the German headin g Be lley, 289-256. Bervoets is third, with 254. Vuillemin and Hugh es have 242 and 233 poin ts, respectively. less , the su ppo rte rs of th ese bills are conceding - erroneously - th a t mo to rcyclists, and the costs re lated to thei r pote n tia l inju ries, are a dra in o n ta xpayer do lla rs, Harold E. Murrell , 66, di e d a t h is home in Sa n ta Cl ara , Californi a , o n Sa turday, Ju n e 26 af te r a battle w it h b rain ca ncer . Mu rre ll, a n ico n in the ra ci n g ind u st ry beca u se of h is longt im e associa tio n wi t h th e Sa n Jo s e Mile a nd oth e r even ts s uc h as th e Hous ton As trodome .d ir t tracks , had un de rgone s u r g ery and exte ns ive rad iati on a nd che mo the ra py. Serv ices have been se t for Thursday, Ju ly 1 a t 7 p .m . a t the Lima Family Mo rtuary in San Jose, California. Exce ls io r-H en d ers on he ld its se con d ann ual sharehold ers reun ion and bikers ba rb ecu e on Satu rd ay, June 5, with 5000 s hareho lders, their families and friends of the com p a ny a ttend ing th e fu nctio n. In add itio n to hearing from com pany co-founders, Dan, Dave and. Jenn ie Hanlon share their visio n of the com pany's fut ure, a tte ndees were able . to ride production 1999 Super X mo to rcy cles and tak e tours of th e $30 million, 160,000 -sq uare-foot ma nu fact u rin g facilit y an d museum area. MotoWorld Ne tw ork has announced an ag reeme n t with AMA Pro Racing to produce liv e s t rea m ing-a u d io pr ograms of AMA-sanctioned professional road racin g even ts. "We ' re d elighted with th is o p po rtu ni ty to ex pa n d ou r media presen ce with live covera ge on M ot oW orid N etwork ," s a id Scott Ho llingsworth, CEO o f AMA Pro Raci ng. "It's a grea t wa y to s howcase A M A road r a ci n g wo rl dw ide. Mot oWorld 's site on the World Wid e Web can b e found a t th e foll owin g ad d ress: http:/ /www.motoworld .net. Vance & Hines Du cati 's Ant ho ny Gobert and his brother Alex will be featured guests at Showcase Bike Night on Thursda y, July 1 from 7 to 10 p.m. at Speed way International Racing Bistro & Bar in Newport Beach, California. Du cati-and Ap rilia will also display thei r wares, includin g th e Aprilia RSVI000 a n d RS250 Apri lia Cup bikes. For mo re information, call 714/585-2930. H eritage Racing will be on hand at the AMA Vintage Mo torcycle Days event at th e Mid-Ohio Sports Car Co u rse in Lexington, Oh io, Jul y 9-11 and w ill tr y to ra ise mon ey for th e Todd Hen ning Medical Fund . He ri tage will be seIling "454/ We kn ow yo u can, Tod d" s tickers in excha nge for a $10 d on at ion, In addition, Her itage will co-spons or a breakfast fo r a mini m um d ona tion o f $5 on Jul y 11 fro m 8:30 to 11:30 a.m . to raise more mo ney for Henni ng . O th er Heri tage Raci ng ac tivities sc he d u led for their ex hib it during Vintage Mo torcycle Days in clude th e appea rance of Bob H an sen an d h is fa ct ory Honda CR450 a nd a re plica of his 1970 Dayto na -w inning C R750, Bubba Shobert an d one of his Hond a VFR750s, former Honda factory mech ani c No bby Cla rk and more. Will ie G. Davi dson , Bill Baird, Earl Bow lby, Danny Ch andler, Bobby Hill and Craig Vetter are just a few of the. man y notable Motor cycle Hall of Fame inducte es who will b e a tt end in g th e July 9 Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction Ce remony a t the new Mot or cycl e Hall of Fam e Mu seum in Picker in gt on , Ohio. Co verage of the cere mony as well as cove rage from the Vintage Mo torcycle Days even t at Mid-Oh io will be fea-tured on the AMA's web site - AMADi rectlink. The si te ca n be found at th e follow ing ad d ress - http :/ /www .amacycle .org: Those w ishing to do so can sign up for the To mmy Hil fi ger Yamaha R6 giv eaway a t th e World Superbike round at La guna Seca in Monterey, California , Ju ly 9-11. Entries to win th e four Hil figer-designe d bik es tha t w ill be gi ven away a re ava il a b le during se le cte d eve n ts a cross th e co u n try unt il No ve mbe r. The Int ernat ional Trials .Sch oo l (ITS) wil l be hold ing a seve n-event trials series s ponsored by www .mo to west.co m at Perris Race w av in Perris, Californi a, beginning on J"ill y 10. For more informati on, see w ww .it strials.com on the Wo rld Wide Web . The lIlinois Motorcycle Dealers Associat on is expe cting record a ttendance for i ts dou bleheader Du Quoin Mag ic Mil e races at the Sta te Fairgrou nd s in DuQuoi n, Illinois, July 24-25. "We are gearing up for the la rgest crowd the IMDA has ever seen in Du Quoin and we ca n' t wait to ma ke it happe n," sai d lM DA presid ent, Ti m Cozi ahr . "Th is wi ll undoubted ly be th e largest racing 1

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