Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

will likely be out of actio n until the Austrian ro und of the World Su persport Championship, scheduled for August 29. Lotus Tours has announced that it has arranged permits with the Chinese government to ride motorcycles from Katmandu, epa I, to Lhasa, Tibet, from May 2 to May 15, 2000. The route will cross t h r ee 16,000-plus-foot-high Himalayan passes on the way to Lhasa, Tibet's capital. Cost for the trip will be $5040 for rider and $4480 for passenger. For mo re information, call 312/951-0031 or visi t the Lotus web site at http:/ / www .lotustou rs.com . Ralph Razee, 87, the founder of Razee Motor cycle Cen ter in Providence, Rhode Islan d , died on July 23 at Sout h Cou nty H os p it al in Pro vid en ce . Ra zee was a cha rter m ember of th e Rhody Rovers Mot orcycle Club and a life member of the AMA. Razee is survived by his wife, Marion, two sons, Gordon and Ralph [r., and a gra nddaughter. Excelsior-Henderson recen tly shipped its l000th Su per X motorcycle, according to a pr ess release from the com pany. Several riders underw ent RM drug and alcohol testing a t th e Lagu na Seca round of the Wo rld Superbike Ch ampionship on July 11. Alcohol tests were given to Colin Edwards II, Robert Vim, Er i c Bo strom , Wilco Zeelenberg, Christophe Cogan and Paolo Casoli, with all the riders passing. Drug tests were given to Anthony Gobert, Aki ra Yanagawa, Gregorio Lavi lla, Vladimir Karban, William Costes, Michele Malatesta and Brian Pa riolt a nd again, all we re found negative. Acco rding to the RM, Gobert also passed a d ru g test on June 29, two weeks prior to the event. International Speedway Corporation announced on July 26 tha t it ha s completed its merger with Penske Motorsports Inc. after both co mpanies held specia l meet ings with their respective s tockho lders, who th en a p p roved the mer ger. The mer ger now po siti on s ISC as one of America's leading pr ovid ers of m o tors p orts en te rta in ment, with 10 major mo to rs ports faci li ties across the country, incl udi ng a 90-percent in terest in the Homes tead-Miami Speedway . "We are d elig ht ed to welco me Roger and Greg Penske, Wal ter Czarnecki, and Rickardsson wins controversial British S eedwa GP R eigning World Speedway Champion Tony Rickardsson (center) put himself back in the frame to retain his title with a stunning display in an action-packed British Grand Prix at Coventry Speedway in Coventry, England, on July 31. Rickardsson was unstoppable, and he is now the main threat to series leader Tomasz Gollob, who leads the competition by nine points with two rounds to go . Rickardsson sta rted the hot, sticky night 24 points behind the Pole. HI have never had a good GP in Britain before, and it's something I wanted to put right," Rickardsson said afterward . America's Greg Hancock (right) also made up ground on Gollob, who finished eighth on the night afier a controversial Consolat ion final, by coming ho me third in the Mai n Final. Ha ncock now trails the Pole by 26 points, and is surely too many adrift to th reaten Gollob in the last two rounds at Bydgoszcz, Pola nd and Vojens, Denmark. A temper tantrum from Gollob threa tened a rider 's rebellion after a controversial Consolation final. Gollob had been relegated in to last place on the back straight whe n he pu lled up, believing the race was being stopped . The Pole ins isted he had been d istracted by flashi ng yellow lights left active around the track exterior by Hungar ian referee Istva n Darago. He du m ped his bike on the star ting grid to ang rily remo nstrate in Dara go's di rection. In the ens ui ng chaos, it appeared that the race lasted five laps ins tead of four, and once it had finished, Gollob hurried back to the pits to conf ro nt Race Director Ole Olsen. Whether Go llob could distinguish between red a nd ye llow in a split second is open to question, but the fact that the other th ree riders carried the entire Penske Motorsports team to ISC," said William C. France, chairman and CEO of ISC. "With their involveme nt, ISC will further the potential of its facilities and rela ted motorsports businesses. In addition, the contribution of PMI's management will be instrumental in developing new tracks in key markets , incl ud ing Kansas City, Chicagoland, New York and Denver." Tyler Evans (Suz) was the big winner at the 14th annual Lake County Fair Stadium Motocross held in Grayslake, Illino is, July 28-29. Evans won every single main even t of the two-night fai r ra ce and pocketed over $5100 for his efforts. O n Wed nesday, Evans beat Junior Jackson (Kaw) an d Mike Katin (Suz) in the 125cc class and the n came back to score the wi n ahead of Keith Johnson (Yam) a n d Damien Plolts (Ya m) in 250cc actio n . On Thursdav, Evans crossed ahea d of Jo h nson a nd Jackson in the 125cc main a nd Tom Hofmaster (Suz) an d Johnson in the 250cc final. PACE Motor Sports, the promot ers of the AMA EA Sports Supercross Series, Beirer wins Polish 250cc GP erma n rider Pit Beire r. of the Winfield Kawasaki team, won t he Polish 250cc Grand Prix at Gyndia, Poland, Augus t 1. Beirer sco red 1-3 results and is now 20 points ahead of his closest rival, Frederic Bolley, in the ra ce for this yea r's RM World Cha mpionship 250cc MX title. Beirer looked stro ng in wi nni ng the opening moto and had it not been for a ~Il in the second moto, he may well have taken two wins in the d us ty Gyndia circuit. Second place went to Belley, who rod e his Radson Honda to 8-1 results, tallying 28 points on the day, while third place we nt to Honda's Ryan Hugh es, wit h 6-2 finishes. Josh Co p pi ns rod e an impressive race, taking his first -ever podium with his third pla ce in the first moto, but then he scored a sixth place in the second moto for fourth overall. "I was reall y happy with the first moto," Copp ins said . "I' ve been chasin g a podium all year lon g, to finall y ge t it is a nice feeling." Bolley was the most unlucky of all the rid ers, as a fall in the first moto left him in last place, but he fou ght back to fin ish eighth . Hughes was also involved in the crash and came back strong. G on did little to su pport his case. On ce the dust had se ttled, Rickardsson moved to within nin e points of Gollob by rocketing off gate one to tak e first place - and 25 po ints - in the Main Fina l. Chris Lou is (left), who twice ran last places and sa lvaged his progress wit h some terrific yo-yo passin g in heat 15, snaked und er Greg Ha ncock for second, with Ha ns Nielsen, in his final meeting at Brandon, traili ng in fourth off the unfavorabl e outside grid. has annou need tha t it will p romote a five-city freest yle motocross tour, beginning in September. The tour will be sa nctioned by the In ternational Freestyle Motocross Association (IFMA) and will be sponsored by Vans, who will back a Vans Triple Crown of Freestyle Motocross - a three-even t series within a series. "We watched the growth of freestyle motocross over the last several years and are full-on into the sport's pa rticip ants and direction ," said PACE vice p reside nt T.D . Lovett. "We' re dialed-in on the po tentia l of this cutting-edge competition and are stoked to be able to d eli ver FMX to a mu ch more mainstream and po pular status ." The sc hedule is as fo llows: Se lla nd Arena , Fresno, Ca lifornia (Sep te m be r 17-18); The Idaho Cen ter, Nampa, Id ah o (Octo ber 15-16); The Sports Are na , San Di e g o; Ca lifo rn ia (No ve m be r 5-6); Arrowhead Pon d , Ana hei m, Cali fornia (November 12-13); The Cow Palace, San Francisco, California (November 19-20). PACE also a nnounce d tha t the events will be televised on espn2. Ohlins is p re paring to release its first Suzuki's Mickael Pichon made his '99 GP debut at Pola nd and pulled off a second-place finish in the first mo to, but mechanical problems in the second moto ended his day prematurely. With four rounds left in the series, Beirer now has 339 points to Belley's 319. Frenchman David Vuillemin, who went 5-8 on the day, is currently in third with 293 points, while Hughes is fourth with 279. . In front of 20,000 screaming spectators, KTM four-stroke riders again performed well in the RM World Cham pionship SOOcc MX Series, as Peter Johansson we nt 1-4 on the day, earning the overall vic tory at the Belgian 500cc Grand Prix a t Na rnur, Belgium, August 1. Fellow KTM rider Shayne King finis hed out the day wi th 7-2 mo to finis hes for third overall. Dutch rider Will ie Van Wessel gra bbed runner-up honor s after pos ting 2-3 resu lts. Major problems, once again, struc k defending cha m pion Joel Smets. In the firs t mo to Smets' Husaberg brok e, and in the secon d mot o he rebounded with a fifth. Smets is now in fourth place in the series, '63 points behind series leader Andrea Bartolini, who went 10-2 on the day. With only four rounds left in the series, Bartolini enjoys a 40poi nt lead over [ohnasson in the cham pionship point standi ngs . Johansson was obvious ly very happy to nab ye t an other overall victo ry. "I never would've thou ght I cou ld be in the position to win the cham pionshi p at this stag e," he sa id. "We worked hard and on this technical track the KTM wa s awesome, just awesome." By Ge off Meyer afte rmarket front-fork assembly for the streetbike market, according to-a so urce close to Ohlins, reports Cycle Nm'S contributor Tracy Hagen: The first offerings will be for the Yamaha Rl , Ducati 916 and the Honda CBR900RR. The fork assemblies will be complete bolt-on units tha t wi ll require no fabrication of special parts by the customer. The fork will be modified from the popular race fork sold by Ohlins in such areas as im proved d u st seals. The street b ike fork is al ready standard equipment on productio n .Yamaha R7s. 0 price or release d ate has bee n announced . Suzuki's 500cc World Championship conten der Kenny Roberts Jr. wi ll be the special guest at Sport Bike Night a t In Ca hoots in Sacramento, California, on August 9 fro m 7 to 9:30 p.m. For mor e info r ma t io n , ca ll Mike Su m me rs at 916/373-1557. Showcase Bike Night at the Speedway Cafe in Newport Beach, Califo rn ia, will featu re Tea m Yamaha's Rich Oliver as the special guest.'For more information, 'call FS Prod uctions at 714/585-2930. BORN: Yannick-Tyger Romeo-Pascal Ho p pen, to photographer Frank Hoppen an d h is wife, Mary, July 20 , in Irvine, California. BORN: Henry Cole Mattson, to District 37 Enduro Champion, Erik Mattson and his wife, Piper, in Long Beach, California, on July 22. OPENED: Former Grand ational Champio n Chris Carr's home page on the Wo rld Wide Web. Th e site can be found at the following add ress: http :/ / ww w .chrisca rr.com. OPENED: ONE Industries' hom e 'page on the World Wid e Web. The site can be fo u n d a t th e foll o win g add re ss : http:/ /www.on eindustries .com. OPENE D: M3 Racing's hom e pa ge on the World Wid e Web. Th e s ite .can be fo u n d a t th e fo llo wi ng addre ss : http:/ /www.m3r acing.com . OPENE D: In nova tion Spo r ts' home pa ge on the World Wide Web. The site can be found a t the followin g address: http: / /www.innovati on sports.com. t:III en en en ~ 3

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