Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

In the Wind Mike Lafferty (KTM) wo n the Paul Bunyan National Enduro, held in Akeley, Minnesota , on July 25 . Lafferty top ped Rand y Hawk ins (Yam) and M att Stavis (Han) in ro u nd 11 of the series . De fe ndi ng .s er i es champio n Jo rdan . Szoke (Hon) wo n the fou rth rou nd of the Toyota Ca na da Superbike Cha mpionship a t Mosport International Raceway in Mosport , O ntario, Canada, on Ju ly 25. Szok e topped cu rrent p oin ts le ad er Francis Ma rtin (Ka w) and Michael Martin (Kaw) to win his firs t r a ce of th e seaso n . Linnley Clarke (Yam) wo n the 600cc Sport Bike class, with Be noit Pilon (Yam) ta kin g t he Open Sport Bike win . The AMA has named the entire American con tingent that w ill compete in the 74th running of th e International SixDay Enduro (ISDE ), sc hed u led fo r Coi rnbra, Portu gal , Se p tem ber 13- 18. This year's six-member World Tro phy team is mad e up of three former teammates and three first-time me mbers. The tea m w ill co nsist of Ty Davis, Randy Hawkins and De stry Abbott, as well as first-timers Patrick and Brian Garrahan an d Russ Pearson . "This yea r will be a lea rning process for not only the new m emb ers of the Wo rld Trophy Tea m, but mostl y for the all-roo kie Jun ior Trophy team, " said Hugh Fleming, di rector of AMA spo rts . "But that is the mission of the Junior Trophy team - to help foster new, yo ung off-road rid ing ta len t a nd the ISD E is an excelle nt pro ving ground." The Junior Trophy team w ill co nsist of Clay Bore ing, Bria n Brown, Na tha n Kni g h t a nd C ra ig Wesne r. Ano ther 30 ride rs have bee n assigned to 10, thr ee-m ember club teams. Those wishing to join Team USA at the ISDE can take advantage of the T eam USA Tour, which runs from September 6-20 and includes round-trip airfare from New York to Lisbon, Portugal; 12 nights at the Hotel Tivoli Coimbra or Ho tel Melia Comfort, plus one night in the Hotel Tivo li Lisbon ; da ily breakfast, plus one dinner; taxes; car rental with insurance and unlimited mi leage; a nd an official event jacket and T-shi rt. The price 'is $2422 per person based on double occupancy. For mor e in for m at ion, call AMA Travel at 800/253-8747. AM A/Prostar officials have announced that the region al series event scheduled for Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been canceled and wi ll not ru n as part of the 1999 schedu le. Af ter be ing advised by speedway managemen t th a t the ne w facility wo uld not be comp leted in time, AMA /Pros ta r a nd Las Vegas Motor Speedway both co m mi tted to runni ng an event in 2000. Pros tar wi ll be issui ng do uble p oint s at the Web Cam National O pen, sc he d u led for Sa lt La ke City, Utah, on August 21. For more information, call 714/577-0482. Fiv e- ti m e W orld Champ ion Mick Dooh an has vowed to help his Rep sol Honda team mate Alex Criville win the 500 cc World C ha mpio ns hi p if th e Spa n ia rd need s it , acc ording to Cycle News co r res po n de n t Dar r yl Flack. Doohan is hoping to return to action on August 22 at Brno in the Czech Repu blic. "He's almost go t tw o races u p his sleeve," Dooh an sa id . "But definitely, I' ll help if it co mes to th a t situa tio n whe re so meo ne h as ca ugh t him u p. " Cri ville leads Kenny Rob erts Jr. by 47 points, 174-127. "I think he's (Criv ille) a deserving champion, " Doohan said . "I think that if he was in a situation and Spencer forced out of Suzuka • F red d ie Spencer's re turn to road racing af ter a fou r-yea r absence came to an abrupt halt on July 22 w hen the three-time World champion high sided his Ho nda RC45 in morning free prac tice for the Sprite Suzuka 8 Hours. Spencer broke a bone in his rig ht hand, and possibly a finger on h is left hand . "We were trying to do an en du ra nce test (on a fro nt tire) tha t was pretty hard, and it grips p retty good, but it has a tendency to push rea l bad," sa id the 37-yearold Spe ncer. "I wasn' t pushing hard , I was just ru nni ng consis te nt laps. Anyway, the fron t end just tucked, it just tu rn ed under, and then it stopped ...and then it started sliding. To sto p that, what you do is pick the thro ttle u p, initially, to get some weight off (the fron t tire) and to shift so me weight. So I picked the thro ttle up, it stopped the slide, bu t then the corner goes off camber. I had so much lean angle, and (the motor cycle) just sna pped aro un d, and high sided me . It happened before Dunl op bridge (the first Degn er Curve), the right hander before the esses. It was n' t a deal where I was in there heavy on the brakes and fighting the thing, or eve n un der heavy pow er. It just ha p pened . It just broke away at a par t of the corner where it actua lly goes off camber, so it unload ed the rea r en d and it jus t spun around." The ex perienced and na tu ra ll y ta lent ed Spencer recall ed vividly what happened next. "The first part happened so slow," Spencer explained . "It happened so slow that I had plenty of time to correc t it and all tha t, and a little sigh of relief. Then the rear end snapped around. So the first thing I though t of when I hit the ground was [ should have just let it lowside, jus t slide along . But yo ur natural instinct is to save it and catch it. It was one of those accidents like we've all had . You could go thr ou gh that same corner a hundred more laps and never had that happen. But as we found out, that' s why nobody is running the 'N' fron t tire; it has a tenden cy to do that, I guess. Every body is ru nn ing the 'C' tire." .Spe ncer lan ded hard , yet was fortunate tha t his inju ries were no t extensive or severe. "I had so much lea n ang le, w hen it snapped around I was we were both ru nning in the same team and it was going to be a championshipdeciding race, then definitely I'd he lp him out and I wouldn't finish in front of him. But at this point in time, he's just got to take control of the championship and the races themselves. He really can't be too conservative at t h e moment, because we've sti ll got a long way to go in the champ ionship, a nd noth ing is ove r un til it's over - we all know that." The eighth rou nd of the 1999 Australian Superbike Champ ionship at Calder Park in Victoria on July 25 was marred by a frigh tening thr ee-rider crash tha t forced the cancellation of the second leg, according to Cycle News con tributor Darryl Flack. Leading the second gro up of riders on the first lap , Craig Connell (Duel lost control on the exit of a l1 o-mph chicane and went over the bars . As his bike contin ue d down the race track, it' crashed into Ada m Fergusson (Hon) while Paul Free (Suz) was lau nched some eight feet into the air after he was un able to avoid one of the fallen bikes. Co nne ll's teammate and cu rre nt cha m pio ns hip p oints leade r Steve Martin was able to take evasive action, and described the incident as the mo st horrific cra sh he'd ever seen. Miraculou sly, non e of the rid ers were se rio us ly injured. Th e firs t IS- la p race was won by Shawn G il es (Suz) fro m Martin and Kevin Curtain (Yam). VDTRA Mast er s Ama teu r dirt tr acker Frank Guinn, 61, su ffered a punctured lung, broken ribs and multiple co n tusions when he crashed at the Ok laho ma Cit y Half Mil e on Jul y 18. Guinn is in int ensiv e car e at the Int egris SW Medical Center in Oklahoma City . Cards and letters can be sent to Guinn, c/ a Integris going to try to ge t off th e bike th is way (Spe nce r jestered push ing off) , but i t jus t caught me and lifted me a nd th rew me over. 1 landed kinda head firs t that's why I got a little bu m p (on the left side of the fore head) , an d then some g rave l came up under my sh ield . Then I landed on my hands." . Spencer tried to ride, but could n't. " I came in (to the pits), pu t ice and everything on my hands," he sa id. "I tho ught, 'We'll wait an d see: I felt okay. My whole plan was to ride. Then the next morning, Friday morning, [ went out (in practice). That's when I did a 2:15. 1 guess m y hand s were broken, bu t I still d id a 15. Afterwards, Mr. Yoshimura - he's the big boss - he said, 'Why don't yo u go get it X-rayed?' We got an X-ray and it showed th at (the h and ) was broken. We talk ed abo ut racing, but we kin da mad e the d ecision - if it was a sprint race, no problem ; but no d oubt, hou r a fter hour, it woul d be a problem . (Mr. Yoshimura) di d not wa nt me to d o (the race): ' On Frid ay afternoon, Ho nda wi thd rew Spencer's entry in the 8 Hours. Spe nce r's teammate John Kocinski was partn ered with Ytiichi Takeda, a factory rider for Hond a in the All-Japa n Su perbike Cha mpions hip. But d espite ano ther d isappo in ting return to th e race track, Spe ncer clearly acted like the spark for rac ing is still there for him. "I kno w that (Honda) will wa nt to do other stuff," Spencer said. "(The 8 Ho urs) wo uld have been in teresting. We can always speculate. I know w hen I went out Friday morni ng and we go t the 16.5 (inch rear w heel) working, [ sai d, even with m y hands like th is and I cou ldn 't rea lly reach for the brake or an yth ing else, I d id a 2:15. I know w ith (the 16.5 inch rea r wheel) I could have we nt 12s, or high 11s - I know we cou ld, becau se, as a rider, yo u can feel it: As soo n as on the (ou t) lap (in practice), [ could feel it. I said, 'Man, if I didn't have (broken hand s), [ know [ cou ld actu ally ru n low 12s or high 11s: " T racy Hagen SW Medical Center, 4401 S. Western, Oklahoma City, OK, 73109. Racing action has been added to the 1999 Del Mar Con cours d'Eleganc e Mo torcycle Show, scheduled for Saturda y, October 9, in Del Mar, California. In addition to the show, Saturday's festivities will include qualifying and hea t races for the Harley-Davidson 883 Series and t h e SuperT rap p Supe rTracker Series . For ticket informa t io n , ca ll 310/ 547-9898. For d isp lay-space informa tion, call 909/340-0094. that afternoon. Prior to racing a t Loudon, Sands awoke with severe bac k pa ins, a nd a trip to a loca l hospita l revealed the damage to his T-6 vertebra. He is now reco vering at h is home in Long Beach, California. In ad dition to organizing and conducting more than 3300 motorcycling events . in 1998, AMA -chartered clu bs and promoters ra ised more tha n $3.6 mill ion last yea r for charitable o rg anizatio ns, acco rdi ng to the AMA . Polaris an nounced on July 22 tha t it has acquired HAH Australia Pty . Ltd, a distributorship that supplies Polaris recreational vehicles to Aus tralia and New Zealand, effective July 1, for a total purchase pri ce of $1.1 mill ion . The d istribu tor w ill now opera te under the name Polaris Sales Aust ra lia Pty. Ltd ., and this newly formed subsid iary wi ll opera te a bran ch in New Zeala nd called Polaris Sales New Zealand Pty. Ltd . Road racer Josh Hayes - one of the surprises of the 1999 AMA National Champio nship Road Race Series - has hired his long time friend and sponsor Gi na Nadeau to be his manager. "I just wa nt to concentrate on riding and finis hi ng the season strong, " Hayes said. "Hav ing a formal cont ract with Gina will allow me to do that : ' Hayes curre ntly rides an Va lvoli ne EMGO Suzu ki in Fo rm u la Xtre me an d 600 and 7S0cc Supersporl. For more information , call 228/ 896-1426. Dutch mot ocrosser Marco Stallmann tested p ositive for marijua na in a test given by th e FIM on May 30 after th e British ro u n d of th e 2S0cc World Motocr oss Cha m pions hi p a t Fox h ill, acco rding to the FIM. Stallma nn's case now goes befor e the Internation al Jury. As it turns out, defend ing AMA 2S0cc G ra nd Prix Champion Roland Sands won the Road America ro und of th e series with a crushed ve rtebra in his back. Sands , who missed the last rounds of the se ries a t Loud on a nd Mid-Ohio an d will also miss the next one at Brainerd on August 1, unknowingly suffered the injury on Sunday morning at Road Ameri ca. He w ent on to wi n th e race Ducati Motor SpA has announced that it will auction a collection of its mot orcycles at So theby's in Chicago on September 13. The auction will be the firs t a n d larg est sa le of its kind in North Ame rica, acco rd ing to Du cat i. As part of the weeklong activities leading up to the auc tion, Ducati will spo nso r a rid e on Sep tem ber 11, to Chicago w he re a p r iva te tour of th e So the by's ga lle ry will be offe red for a ll visitor s . "The So the by's a u ctio n of h is toric Du ca ti mo to rcycles is a la n dm ark even t in mot orcycl in g - fu rther ex pandi ng ou r reac h in to the realm of mod ern ind us tria l d esign and fin e co llectibles," sai d Federico Min oli, CEO of Ducati Motor. 1

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