Voices
America's weekly motorcycle newspaper
Volume XXXVI
Sharon Clayton, President
Michael Klinger, Publisher
Editorial
Paul Carruthers, Editor
KitPalmer, Associate Editor
Scott Rousseau, Aar for $58.00 per year by
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
No to aggregate time
I m us t disag ree wi th H enny Ray
Abrams' con tent io n that the aggrega te
scoring used in th e res ta r ted World
Superport race a t Lagu na Seca is not
confusing for the fans , As he suggested,
not everyone in attendance cou ld hear
th e an nouncer . As fo r the positions
b e in g "clearly po s ted o n a sco ri ng
tower" - let me tell yo u wha t else had
been post ed on th at tow er d u ring th e
weekend : In one of the World Su perbike ra ces, th e lap co u n te r was a la p
behind , so that as the bikes were crossing the finish line, we all thou ght there
was ano ther lap to go; befor e the start
of th e se co nd rac e (a nd probably th e
fir st one as w ell), th e opera to r of th e
tow er rea d th e grid s heet backw ards
and listed the starting order as 4-3·2-1·
8-7-6-5, etc.; and at one point, the tower
informed u s tha t the lucky sp ec ta to r
wh o had w on a n ew ZX6R w a s " P.
CasoIi."
In o th er w ord s, th e scoring tow er
was not to be trust ed . I'm s u re th ere
were many oth er mi stakes an d typ os
d isp layed up there, but I stopped referring to it after a while. .
Even if you co u ld trust th e tower,
there was no way to tell what the intervals we re betw een the rid ers . If rider A
is ahead of rider B on th e tra ck , but
behind him on aggregat e scoring, how
much further ahead must he be to take
that p ositi on? There's no way for the
spectator to know.
I do agree that this typ e of scori ng is
more fair to the rid ers, and easier for TV
vi ew ers to follo w, but it is indeed confusing to spectators at the even t.
Scott Will ock
Tucson,AZ
Joliet rules
Is it possible to use the wall along the
front straig ht for traction on a half mile
as Scott Parker di d? Is it possible to go
fro m fou rth to firs t in turns thr ee a nd
four on the outside like Chris Ca rr d id?
I' m thinki ng that the heat race at Joliet was the best race I've seen in the past
25 years.
Tor Kovacs .
torkov@aol.com
Harold Murrell remembered
I wo uld like to tha nk everyone for supporting Haro ld in h is m otorcycle
end eavors (d irt track, IT, s u percross,
etc.) for th e past 35 years . Harold ' s
mo torcycle friends .we re very speci al to
nons Mail.546615.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cycle News. P.O.
80x 5084 Costa ~ es.I. CA 92628-508-1.
.
To determ ine th e expiration date of yow subscriptio n. check
the four num bers on th e first line of your address labe l The
firsl two digits ind icate the last issue number you'll receive
and the last two characters ind icate the year of the last i....sue .
Subscription rates: Rate for the United States and its possess
sions for one year (SO issues). $58.00; two years 000 issues).
$111.00; six months (25 issues), $29.lXl; trial sub 05 issues),
;
$21.00. Canada and Foreign. one year (SO issues). $105.00 two
yl! 000 issues), $195,0(1; six months (25issues), $55.(X) trial
ars
;
sub OS issues), $42.00.
CycleNews welco m es unsolicited editorial material including
stories, cartoons, photos, etc. Such material, if published.
becomes the exclusive property of Cycle News. Reprinting in
whole or part only by penni...."ion of the publisher. Advertising rates and circulation information will besent upon
request. SeeS.R.O.5
.
W/B0'A
V .n!'~
A UDITED
CIRCULATION
Printed in U.S.A.
4
Co~yrightC Cycle News, Inc. 1999. Trademark Cycle Sews
registered U.S. Palent Offi ce. All rights reserved.
Harold M urrell passed away on June 26 at
his hom e in Santa Clara, California , after
bal/ ling a brain tumor...Editor
Restarts
For weeks now I have be en tryi ng to
und erstand th e co n troversy over th e
stop p ing and su bsequen t res tarting of
th e AMA Grand N ational Championship race at Lima.
I can't help but recall se vera l yea rs
ago the tragic accid ent m y close friend
Steve Eklu nd (a forme r Gr and Na tio na l Cha m pion) was in vol ved in at th e
Albuquer qu e Mile. Steve was wi nn ing
th at ra ce up unti l h is co llision. This
race was also rest arted after his crash
with a huge lapse in time and onl y a
few laps remaining . I wrote a letter to
Cycle N ew s back then qu estioning why
they would restart a race w hen Steve
Morehead and seve ral o th er e xpe rienced rid ers were concerned abou t the
poor condi tion of the track. Th e ra ce
. was sta rted , but not until Eklund was
ca rr ie d a w ay in very s eri ou s co n d ition.
If Jim Bailey (" Vo ices, " Issue #28,
July 21) feels they should give the win at
Lima to Scott Parker, then Steve Eklund
should have th e victory for the Albuquerque Mile which eventually took his
life.
Godspeed, Steve .
NickNazz isi Jr.
San Jose, CA
Handcuffed in Ohio
Let me pr eface this story wit h an explanati on of wh o I am , who was involved
and why we were a t yo ur facili ty. My
na me is Shelley Harris and I was atten ding the AMA Superbike race this past
weeke nd with m y boyfriend , Kevi n
Sc hwantz . As you m a y o r may not
know, Kevin is the 1993 500cc World
Cha mpion and is currently serving as a
riding coach to Larry Peg ram, your local
press favorite.
INSIDE : ISSUE #30 AUGUST 4, 1999
DRAG RACING
FEATURES
Round 7 - NHRA /Wins ton Drag Racing
30
Series from Denver, Colo rado
CycleNews. Inc., 3505-M Cadillac Avenue. CostaMesa. CA
92626 Periodicals Postage Paid at Costa Mesa. CA and at
.
addi tional mailing office. Canada Post International Publica-
hi m . I w ould like to than k eve ryo ne
who sent flowers, cards and attended
his mem orial service.
A special thanks to those who spoke
a t h is service: He would h a ve bee n
plea sed to know how he tou ch ed so
many peo ple's lives.
Ha rold may be out of sig ht, but he
wi ll never be out of our hear ts.
Godspeed, Harold.
Sherry Murrell
Santa Clara, CA
MOTOCROSS
Round 8 - AMA /Mazda Trucks
125/250cc National Championship
Series from Troy, Ohio
Roun d 8 - World Cham pio nshi p
500cc Motocross Series from
Lucenec, Slovakia
Round 10 - World Ch ampions hip
125cc Motocross Series from
Luce nec, Slova kia
6
DEPARTMENTS
EVENTS
40
RESULTS
53
CALENDAR
54
WANT ADS
62
LEADERBOARD
78
INTHETAPES
80
28
29
DIRTTRACK
lMD A Du Quoin 3-Miler from
Du Qu oin, Illinois
West Coast Flat Track Ser ies
12
32
TESTS
MotoGuzzi Vll Spo rt..
No rto n International 622
Drysdale 750-V8
16
20
24
ON THE FRONT COVER
Up close and p ers o n al wit h Mo to
Guzzi's Vll Spo rt. Photo by Kel_Edge.
The incid ent took place on Su nday
mo rning when Kevin and I jum ped on a
scoo ter owned by Larry's team, Fast By
Ferracci, to watc h the morning wa nnup.
We proceed ed to ride the scoo ter ou t of
the fenced paddock/garage area, as we
had on Frid ay an d Satu rda y - on ly this
time we were stopped b y a s he riff's
deputy after we were out of the fenced
are a a nd about 50-75 ya rds d own the
road that ru ns around the track. He then
bark ed an orde r to us to pull the scoo ter
over.
After we backed the scooter off the
road, he began ye lling a t us abo u t .the
rules re gardin g unregist er ed ve hi cles
not bein g allowed ou tside the paddock
area . We calmly apolog ize d , exp lai ned
to him that we didn't know and offered
to tak e th e scoo te r ba ck in s id e. He
refu sed to listen to our explanation and
s ta rte d to ye ll abou t confiscating th e
sc oo te r until th e ra ce w a s ove r . We
spent the next 10 minutes asking him if
we could jus t remedy the situati on with
returning th e scoote r a nd lettin g th is
se rve as a wa rning to u s beca u se we
were not aware of this rule. We also
informe d him that we had been riding
ou tside the paddock all wee kend with- .
ou t a wa rning from any security perso nnel.
We continued. to argue back a nd
forth a nd wer e then joi ned by ano ther
security person. The second man told us
to ride the scooter to the impound - to
rid e the scooter on the very road it was
illegal to tide on. This made absolutely
no sense to Kevin or me. After dealing
with this attitude and testosterone, I
turned to walk back to the truck to get '
some help. Before I knew it, I was spun
around and handcuffed by a th ird '
deputy. Never did anyone sa y I was
under arrest , but I wa s being arr ested on I
felo ny cha rges of "resis tin g arrest" by l
me rely wa lking away from them. When
I was ha ndcuffed , the righ t one had '
been tightened so far that it was digging I
in to my skin and cu tting off my circula- '
tion. As the depu ty pulled me across the
roa dway to his car, he jerked my arm !
a lmos t a bove m y h ead . Th e w ay in :
which I was handl ed was absu rd . I am a I
petite wo ma n of 5 feet 3 inches and all
of abo ut 105 p ou nd s. I never tr ied to
p ull away, I on ly tried to reli eve th e '
pain he was causi ng me.
Af ter I repea ted ly asked for him to '
please loosen the handcuff, he ignored '
my reques t and put me in to the back of '
hi s car. I sat in th e back for ap proxi- )
mately 10 min utes while they handcuffed Kevin and pu t him in to anothe r !
