Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

In the Wind Chad D isbenn ett (Tri) continued his mastery of the White Rose Motorcycle Cl ub hill in Jeffers on, Pen nsylvania , wi th his third wi n at the facility coming on August 1. Disb ennett topped Paul Pinsonnault (Hon) and Ph il Libhart (Tri) to win the 540cc class. In the 800cc class, David Wat son (Hon) cap tu red the win over James Large (H- D) and Bob Templeton (H- D). Te m p leto n ho lds a one-poi nt lead ove r Tim Frazier (H-D), who was fourth in Jefferson. On ly seven points separate the top five after five of 13 rounds. In the 540cc championship, Ted Wilkins (Rtx), who was 10th in Jefferso n, is tied wi th John HamiIton Jr., a non -factor a t Jefferson, for the cha mpions hip lead . The p air are just a single point ahead of Libha rt and four point s clear of Pinso nna ult. own fou r-lap speed record d uri ng the scra tch qualifying heats for the Eldora Half Mile on Jul y 31. Varnes posted a time of one m inute , 21.690 seco n ds, eclipsi ng his 'o w n mark of one 'minu te, 22.878 seconds. Th e old recor d was se t duri ng th e t996 edi tion of the race, in which he la ter cras he d a nd suffered a badly broken leg, finis hing him for the season. Spud Walters (Ya m) won th e A MA Western Fo ur-Stroke Natio na l MX Se ri e s round h eld a t Wa sh ou ga l Mo toc ross Park in Washougal, Washing ton, on Ju ly 31. The runner -up wa s Dustin Nelson (Yam) wit h Paul Winn (Yam) finishing third . In the afterma th of the tra gic Du Quoin Mil e crash w h ich claimed . th e li fe of Davey Carrilin, there is good news. Both Johnny Murphree a nd Brett Lande s were re leas ed from th e h ospital th e week follow in g the incident. Murphree su ffe re d a broken left a rm above th e elbo w , as well as seve ra l scra pes and bruises. Alth ou gh he is likely lost for the rest of the seaso n, Murphree is expect ed to ma ke a full recovery. Ca rds and letters ma y be sent to: Johnny Murphree, c/o Cozia h r Harley-David son , 350 S. Route 51, Forsyth, lL 62535. Lan des suffered a cracked left collarbone an d compressi on to so me of hi s vertebra e, as well as so me swelling in the elbow an d hand and some cu ts. Landes ma y ye t returnto competition this seaso n. Cards and lett ers may be sen t to: Brett Landes 119 Harwood c i, Los Ga tos, CA 95032. Gary Rogers underw ent the scalpe l of ren owned orthope dic Dr. Arthur Ting to repair the broken left ankle that he suffered in the crash . The ankle has been plated , and Rogers is reportedly sho oting to return by the Labor Day doublehead er at Springfield . Cards and letters can be se n t to : Gary Rog ers, 39 14 Wellin gton Squar e, San Jose, CA 95136. Kevin Atherton suffered a badly broken ri ght le g in the cr as h a n d h a s s ince undergon e severa l su rgeries to rep air . and set the broken bones with an externa l fixator. Rum ors that he had los t, or still cou ld lose, his leg as a result of the cras h are completely false. Atherton is expected to ma ke a complete, if slow, recovery. He has rema ined in St. Louis University Medical Cen ter in S1. Louis, Misso uri , but he may ·be released as early as Monday, August 9. Cards and Rain forced the can cellation of round 10 of the AMA Grand Nati on al Dirt Track Series at Eld ora Speed way in Rossburg, Ohi o, on Jul y 31. Wit h inclem ent weathe r s u rro u ndi ng th e a rea , the AMA a ttem p te d to s peed up the s h ow b y elimi nating th e semis an d transferrin g th e top five rid ers in ea ch of the four h eat races directl y to th e ma in eve n t. The heats went off wi tho ut a hitch, but, a fte r a d el ay for rider introd uc tio ns , ano ther show er flood ed the raci ng surface while the rid ers we re taking to the t r a ck fo r th e m ain even t. T he ra in s to p ped again just a fter 11 p.m. , but efforts to reprep the track we re wasted wh en a serious squall came in minutes later. With no cho ice, AMA officials followed the protocol of giving each main even t co n te n d er o ne cha m pio ns h ip point, and the purse was paid accord ing to the rid ers' finish ing times in the regular heat races. Rich King (H-D) won the n ight' s fast est heat, posti ng a tim e of three minutes, 20.609 seconds to ea rn first-pla ce mon ey. Kevin Varnes (H-D) w on the second fastest heat for a se cond- place payday . Scott Parker (H- D) was credited wit h third, and Chris Carr (H-D) fou rt h. Speakin g of Kevin Varnes, the Sad d lem en Ra cing / La n ca ste r H - D /Dodge Brothers rider ma naged to break his Altho ugh they wo u ld not get the cha nce to co n test th e main even t, two Grand Na tional di rt trackers managed to score the fi rst mai n eve nt b er th s of their careers at the Eldor a Half Mile. Shawn Clark (H -D) of G rot on , New Yo rk, picked up 17th-place mon ey, w hile Kyle Long (H -D ) of Clayto n, Indiana , w as cred ited with 20th place. Kocinski vs. Bell Helmets, ormer World Champion John Kocinski and Bell Moto rcycle Europe will meet in an Orange County, California, court on January 3, 2000, to decide the outcome of a lawsu it between the two parties. In the lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of the State of California in.5anta Ana, California, Kocinski alleges that Bell has breached its contract with him by failing to pay him money owed on a contract that went into effect in November of 1995. According to cou~t documents, Kocinski claims that Bell owes him $748,000 for contract .money, championship bonus and royalty fees for John Kocinski signature helmets sold by Bell. In ad dition to the breach-of-contract cause of action, Kocinski is also suing for negligence, fraud , accounting, inten tional interferen.ce wi th prospective economic ~dva~tag.e, wrongful ap propriation of image for commeraal purpose, breach of contract imp lied m fact, quantum mer it and common count. The suit has been officially filed against Bell Motorcycle Europe S.r.L, Bell Helmets Inc. and International Sports Marketing Inc. "It's extremely unfortunate tha t Bell Motorcycle and Bell Helmets are no t willing to pay what they owe John, and they' re also not allowing him to concentrate on w hat he sho uld be concen trating on - his racing," said Scott Mcliwen, Kocinski's lawyer. "We just . . hope they come to their senses." Accord ing to McEwen, Bell's contention is that no contract betwee~ the two. pa':les exists, thou gh he also poin ts out that over $300,000 had already been paid to Koanski on ' the contract Bell claims doe sn't exist. "They' ve partially paid on the contrac t and they've also sold John Kocinski signa ture helmets worldwi de," McEwen said . F ::: u; g, ~ 2 Rick the Ti er awasaki's r:ational print ad verti sin g ca m pa ig n will" fe ature Rick y Ca rmichael cereal to help promot e its ne w line of KX mot ocro ss bikes. Th e new ad s will be featured nati on wide beginnin g in Au gust. "The cam paig n is, of course, aimed a t ama teu r d irt bike racer s and will feature the KX mod els, ran gin g from our new 65cc m od el fo r th e you nger . rid er, up to th e establis hed KX250," said Bob Moffit, vice president of marketing and product ma!'agementfor the Kawasaki Motorcycle Division. "We want to convince racers acro ss the country that Kawasaki's KX dirt bikes give them th eir absolu te best cha nce of winning, and we feel this campaign is right on the ma rk in attem pting to achieve that goal." Th e camp aign w a s pu t to ge the r by Bozell World wid e' s South ern Ca lifo rn ia office in Costa Mesa , California. K letters ma y be sent to: Kevin Atherton , 16689 U.S. 12, White Pigeon, Ml 49099. Ed d ie Mulder, Ltd ., and Gene Romero Promoti ons ar e teamed up once again to ru n the Cal Expo Vintage Mile on the Ca l Expo State Fairgrounds in Sacramento, California, on September 19, the day after the AMA Grand Nati onal ·Dirt Track Series round scheduled there. The even t will be the fifth and final round of th e W est Co a st Vinta g e Flat Trac k Series, and it will include a vintage bike sho w and swap meet, Harley-David son 883 race and th e Rod Lake 600cc Support Invitational race. Entry blanks for th e racing a nd th e bike show will be available sho rtly. For more information, call 661/268-0105. The Red Bull Yamaha team completed tw o da ys of testing at the Valencia circu it in Spain on July 30, with team newco mer Garry McCoy turning in so me 128 laps over th e tw o da ys. The Austr ali an lapped a t a be st of 1:37.73. "It was w ell w orth coming, both to learn th e tra ck for the GP a n d to d o so me more wo rk wi th the bike," McCoy said . "We had a goo d number of tires to test and between the good wo rk that Michelin have been dong and ge tting the rear suspensio n d ia led in fo r m e , we've found a good pa rt of the traction that I seemed to be missing befor e. I've also been trying so me differen t corn erin g st yles to make the bes t of the 500 and am d efi n it el y mo ving fo rward there . There is still more to come all ro und both fro m me a nd th e bi ke - bu t I'm h a p p y wit h th e d irection and th e p ro gres s." McCoy's team ma te Regi s Laconi was also at the test. The Frenchman turned in 158 laps with a best time of 1:37.76. Lacon i was fresh fro m h is recen t ou ting in the Suz uka 8 Hours in Japan. Prior to the test in Valencia, the Red Bull team also hooked up wi th the Marlboro Yama ha team for a test at Brno in the Czec h Republic, July 26-28. Max Biaggi emerge d from the test wit h the quickest lap time, a 2:01.5 - inside the lap record of 2:02.335 set by Alex Criville in 1998. The team tested two ne w chassis, cylin d ers, ex haust and crankshaft combi nations as w ell as suspensio n and tires. "The new chassis, in particu lar, gave me a n im media te improvemen t," Biag gi sa id . " It was more ne u tra l and I was able to p ro duce m y best tim es almost immediately. We've d on e so me more work on improving the cons istency and all-rou nd per formance of th e bike in a few other areas, and today we put the various combinations together. This test was ver y important for me, as it gave me the opportunity to find a new direction - not onl y for the rest of the season , but for the start of next. We tested man y things, found so many p ositives and it makes me ve r y m ot ivated. Th e n ew chas sis , in p articular, will b e very important to u se a nd th e results w e have with it are enco uraging. It will be interesting to s ee how it performs her e in th e ra ce, but I am re ally co n fid ent abou t th e wa y we are progressing ." Biaggi ' s teammate Carlos Checa also took part in th e test 'a nd he was als o insid e Criville's lap rec ord, though he crashed twic e on the final day. For th ose of yo u w ho missed it in last week's issue, the AMA ha s announced th e 1999 Motocr oss d es Na tions tea m that will compete in lndaiatuba, Brazil, on Sept emb er 26 . Tea m Ka w a s aki' s Ricky Carmichael, Te am H ond a' s Kevin Windham an d Jac k In th e Box Honda's Mike LaRocco wi ll attem pt to give the Un ited States its 15th wi n in the series. Ro un d seve n of th e AMA So. Ca l Motocross Se ri es wi ll b e h eld at th e new Lake Elsinore Mo tocross track on Augus t 8. For more information, call Mike Tarter at 714/692-0345. Bau er Ducati w ill hold a "Custo mer Loyalt y Appre cia tio n Ce lebra tio n" on Saturday, August 14, from 10 a.m, to 4 p.m . at the dealership in Oklahoma City, O kla ho ma, with special guests Eraldo Ferrac ci and form er 500cc World Cham'p io n Ke vin S chwa ntz sc hedu led to attend . The Larry Roeseler-hosted Stro k e r's Invi ta tio nal Golf Tournament will be held at the Hesperia Golf & Country Club in Hesperia, Califo rn ia, on August 27, beginning at 9 a.m . The tournam ent will benefit the Ride For Kids charity . Fo r mo re information, ca ll 760 /9482871. . Ducati's World Supersport factory rid er • Paolo Casoli suffe red a fracture and dislocation of his left sho ulder in a testing cras h at the Rijeka circuit in Croa tia on Wednesd ay, July 28, forcing him out of the British round of the cha mpionship at Brands Hatc h on August 1. The Italian

• Cover