Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1999 09 01

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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In the Wind Mike Lafferty (KTM) won the Harrison , Michigan, round of th e AMA Acerbis National Enduro Series on Au gust 22. The win was hi s secon d of th e yea r . Bl a ir Bersano (Su z ) took ·ru nn er -u p honors, followed by Ty Da vi s (Yam) , Da v id Ly kke (Ya m) , a n d Ron S cha rp h o rn (KTM) . Da vi s, however, still e njo ys a comfortable se ries lea d with 317 poin ts, followed by Laffe rt y with 247. Randy Hawkins is currently thir d with 183 points. Ryo n Bell (Men) tallied zero points en rou te to v ictory in th e Ute Cup Tr ial near Sargents, Colorad o, Augus t 21-22. Mark M annik o (G-G) p icked up only one point to fini sh seco nd . Defen d ing AMA /NATC Tria ls Ch a m p io n Geoff Aaron (Bet) was third . . Rich a'rd DeClerk defeat ed Ja mie Emery in the final round of Top Fu el for the class win during the AHDRA New Jer sey Nationals at Englishtown Raceway Park in Engli shtown , N ew Je rsey, on Au gust 22. DeCl erk power ed th ro u gh the light s with a pass of 6.76 seco nds at 204.66 mph. Steve Martin (Due) is closing in on his first-ever Aus tralian Supe rbike Cham pions hip , follow in g hi s 1-2 finis hes a t round 1I of the Australian Road Race Cha mp ionship a t Winto n, Victor ia, on Aug us t 22. Martin posted a clean sweep a t th e pre v iou s ro un d o n the n e w Queenslan d Raceway on August 15. p ionship 125cc MX Series at Steel City, in Delmont, Pennsylvania, Sep tember 5. Th e AH RM A boa rd o f tru st ee s h a s upheld its ea rlier actio n a nd expelled Rob l anu cci of Te am Ob sol ete fr om members hip in the organ izati on : Th e una nimous deci sion came on Au gu st 7 follow ing a heari n g on th e rna tter in Phoenix, Arizona. Ianucci is involved in a lawsu it with AHRMA regarding the use of the AHRMA-owned trademark BEARS. Other objectionable conduct on lanucci's part cited by the board included un au tho rized and repeated attem pts to capitalize on AHRMA's business persona, perju ry, a concerted effort to cause AHRMA to incur injury fees, bad faith, shifty beh avior , misrepresen tation , and rep eated mis sta tements and half-truths. lanucci requested the Phoeni x hearing, whi ch is pro vided for in AH RMA 's by laws. He did not attend the meetin g him self but was represen ted by legal counsel. The board of tru stees' decision reaffirms its Feb rua ry 4 vo te to reject lanu cci ' s applica tio n for members hip renewal, as well as an ea rlie r d ecision no t to do busin ess wi th Team Obsolete , wh ich i nclu d es n ot a cceptin g ra ce en tries fro m a nyo ne co m peting o n a Team Obso lete machine. In a December 8, 1998 d eci si on , U.S. Dis tri ct Court Ju d ge Ke nda ll Sha rpe p e rm a n e ntl y barred Team Obso lete Promotion s from usi ng the BEARS trademark. lanucci has appealed Sharpe's ru ling. c: Semoff Brothers Racing (Yam) wo n its third co nsec u t ive W ERA Natio n a l En d urance ra ce a t Pu t nam Par k in Mount Meridian , Indi an a, on August 21, with riders Glenn Sz a re k a n d Scott Brown aboard th e team ' s Rl. Sem off Brothers Racing has wo n five of the last seven ro u nds in th e se ries and now holds a 112-point lead over the secondpla ced Army of Darkness. Rum ors hav e been circulating that fourtim e World Motocro ss Ch ampion Stefan Everts has signed a deal with Husqvarna for the 2000 season, but according to Cycle News con trib u tor Eric John son, the dea l is not yet don e. It is, however, safe to say tha t Evert s and Honda have gone their se parat e ways. "We (Everts and his manager Da ve Grant) are 90percent sure of what we're go ing to do (for next yea r)," Eve rts sa id in a telephone conversation on Monday, August 23. "We'll know what we're going to do in the next two weeks. It doesn 't ma tter which decision I make, because the decision 1 ma ke will h a ve to be ma de in good faith. I have to be convinced that 1 can win on the bike I choose." Husqvarna does, howeve r, appear to be Evert s' number-one choice at the mom ent. en en en ~ E .. ~ en 2 With Stefan Everts leaving th e Dave G ran t-opera ted Rad so n Honda team, where he was pai red wit h French rider Frederic Bolley and was receiving factory race parts fro m HRC (Honda), it now ap pear s that HRC will be supporting the Pam o Ho nda team nex t year. This is good news for Ame rican Ryan Hughes, w ho is a lrea dy on the Pamo H onda Team , as he wi ll b e receiving works pa rts for 2000. Belley, who is locked in a b a ttle wit h Pit Beirer for thi s y ea r ' s 250cc World title chase, is rumored to be head ing over to the Pamo Honda team next yea r, but the French rider is und er contract wit h Gra nt for ano ther year. Hus qva rna' s Alessio Chiodi, who has a ll b ut w ra p ped up this yea r' s FIM 125cc World Mo tocross title, will travel to the United Sta tes to com pete in the fina l roun d of the AMA National Cha m- Illinois has becom e the seco nd stat e in th e nat ion to p ass a la w prohibiting motorcycle bans o n nearly a ll of it s road s. The Illinois State Legislature followed in th e foots teps o f th e State of Virg ini a, ad opting a law ba sed upon fed eral hi ghwa y-fundin g mand at es, wh ich prohibits states and ci ties from banning mot orcycles on any road that is main tained w ith federal fu ndi ng . The Illinois law also bars local govern men ts fro m passin g mand at or y he lm et la ws. ABATE of Illinois was the drivin g force behind th e new legislation , th e pu sh coming in response to repeated attempts by Chicago officials to ba n motorcycles from various city str eets, includ ing the scenic Lake Shore Drive . Valu e ad ded d epartment: Starting with this issu e, read ers of the printed edition o f Cy cle N ew s ca n use a pass w ord to acc ess a s pecia l area of ou r Web site (www.cyclenews.com) to view addi tional featu res. The weekly password can be foun d in the printed edition, a t the bottom of ou r staff listing under the heading Internet. FYI - this week's password: seri es. FIM 250cc MX GP Series ti htens u N ot wha t he was hoping for: With a se ries lead of 16 po ints hea di ng in to the thi rd -to-las t round of the FIM Wor ld Champio ns h ip 250 cc MX Series in Nirn es, Belgium, on 'Au gust 22, Winfi eld Kaw asak i' s Pit Beirer h ad "a lot o f co n fi dence." His attitude, how ever, is no doubt mu ch differen t now . A first-mot e cra sh by the Winfield Kawa saki rid er and tw o stro ng, motowinning rid es by rival Frederic Boll ey (rig h t) redu ced Bcire rs p o ints lead .to just three, and his tactic to one of defense . "The positive thing fro m this weeken d is th at I s till lea d th e Wo rl d Cha m pi - . ons hip, " sai d Beirer, who finished the day with 6-2 moto scores for fourth overall. "It's easy to figure out that with a s m a ll a dva n tage , th e be s t rid er durin g the ne xt tw o weeks will be Wor ld Cha mpion." Thi s is a turn of eve nts no d oubt" w e lc o m e d by t h e French Bolley. . Follow in g Bolley's Hond a in second overa ll was Fre nch Suzu ki rider Mich ael Pichon (2-3), who missed the first part of the series while racing Stateside and is thus not a factor in the points. Sole American Ryan Hugh es rode his Honda to 3-4 placings for the final podium spo t, and he sits fourth in points with tw o rounds remaining. Fren chm an David Vuillemin - third in points - failed to finish the seco nd moto. Italian s con tinue to dominate the title chases in the other two catego ries . Thou gh the 500cc class' s Udevalla, Sweden, round was won by Belgian Joel Sme ts, wh o has ap parently finall y iron ed out the troub les with his Hu saberg four-st roke, it is Andrea Bartolini who leads the points cha se by a com mand ing 59. The Yamaha rid er need s jus t 22 points in the final tw o rounds to become the first Italian 500cc World Champ. Second and third overall in Swed en wer e hom e rid er Peter [ohnsson , on a KTM, and Finn Miska Aaltonen, on a Yamaha. Defendin g cham p Smets, whose 1-2 moto finishes won the da y, sits fourth in the point standings behi nd Bartolini, Johansson , and Fren chman Yves Demaria (who di dn' t finish the second moto in Sweden). In the 125cc division , Alessio Chiodi is the Italian leading the series. The Husqvarna rider placed third overall in Haenchen, Germany , but enjoys a 33-point advantage over countryman Claudio Federici (fourth on the da y). The surp rise winner in Germany wa s South African Gra nt Langston, who dominated with wi ns in both ou tings-. The KTM pilot - not a factor in the point standings - w as followed in German y by Belgi an Kawasaki rid er Steve Ramo n. raffle, which we be held on the Saturday even ing of the Formula USA weeke nd . For more information, call 530/587-3086. Doug Polen is sla ted to compete against his former Fast By Ferracci team at the Pocono, Pennsylvani a, rou n d o f th e FUSi\ Series, August 27-29. Polen will be subbing for the injured Ste ve Grigg ab oard a Vic Fasola-tu ned Kawa sak i ZX750R. The sched ule for the six-race AMA Fall C lassi c/ H us qv arna Four-S trok e Nationals has been released. The series op ene r is scheduled to ta ke p lace at Budds Creek Raceway in Budds Creek, Maryland, Sep tember 11-12. Subsequent rounds will be he ld at Birc h Creek Motocross Park in Danville, Virginia; Red Bud Track 'N' Trail in Bucha na n, . Michigan; Danie l Boone Mo tocross Par k in London, Ken tucky; Lincol n Trails in Casey, lllinois; and Muddy" Creek Race- . way in Blountville, Tennessee. Some $8500 in purse money is available for each round , with the 250c c Pro cla ss s p li tt in g a ye a r-e n d points fund o f $ 11,000. For more info rma tion, call 614/856-1900. Speaking of the Pocono Formula USA eve n t,' there will be a benefit raffle for rider and tu ner Lee Shierts, w ho was critica lly injured in a street-bike accident in Morganton, Nor th Carolina, on August 8. Item s are sti ll need ed for the The Whee l-A-Away Motorsports No rt heast Weekend of Champions took place on Sa turday, Au gus t 21, and Sunday, August 22, at Frozen Ocean Motocross Park in Auburn, New York. During the Stadiumcross Night of Cha m pions on The first annual Mon key Bik e and M in i Trail Nationals has been schedu led for September 25-26 at Th ous and Oaks Honda /HRC /Su z uki in Thou sand Oaks, California. The event is open to all year s of Honda Z100, CZI00, Mini Trail . 50s, CT70s and other related bikes with 12-inch wheels. For mo re inf ormation, call 805/371-3000. Saturday nigh t, Casey Johnson (Yam) sprinted to the 125cc Expe rt-class win, followed by Jo sh Demuth (Yam ) and Paul Carpentet (Hon), Brock Sellards (Ho n) won the 250cc/Open Expert class, with Jo sh Demuth a n d Ty Wallac e (Yam) in tow. On Sunday, during the Day of Ch ampions Motocross event, Joe Oeh lhof (KTM ) came away with the 125cc Expert-class win , with Ty Wallace (Yam) and David Krat z (Yam) rounding out the top three. Ryan Terl ecki (Suz) wo n the 250cc Expert/Open class , wi th Pa ul Carpenter and Davey Yezek (Suz) filling ou t the podium. A benefi t a u ction will be h eld fo r injured Florida racer T ony Haines on September 5, in Delmo nt, Pennsylvania, following th e fin a l 250c c mo to a t the Steel City Na tion a l Mo tocross. Bevo Forte of Scott Goggles will auction off au togra phed apparel fro m top profess io na l ri ders . If you ca n no t a ttend , car d s, letters and contributio ns can be sent to To ny Haines, 20 Freshwater Dr., Palm Ha rbo r, Florida 34654. O'Neal USA issued a press release stat-

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