Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

cha nges will be quite a n impro vement. Regardl ess of w ha t people may thi nk, rid er safety is ou r numb er-on e pri ority. These shows d o not fare well for anybod y involved when a rider gets hurt. We are look in g for the best show for th e spectators and th e safest track for th e riders . If a track does break u p or ge t loose, the n the rid ers can't race as hard as they might normally, and the s how s uffe rs . G ra nd Natio nal d i rt track racing is th e m os t competitive form of moto rcycle racing a nywhere, and if we cannot provide a race tra ck that showcases th at close raci ng, th en o ur goals are n o t being m et e i the r. Wh en yo u ha ve a new venue, you only have the opportu n ity to learn from it, a nd from th ere you a ttem p t to make fine-tunin g im provernen ts on the track. We are co nfiden t th at the racing su rfa ce at Del Mar wiIl be b etter than ever, a nd more than sa fe enough for the rid ers. We a re look ing forward toa crowd-pl easing show that will be large p art o f o ne o f t h e b igges t De l Mar w eekends eve r." Dirt-tra cker Toby Jorgensen h a s rem a ined in cr itica l co ndition at Parkland Mem orial Hospital in Da llas, and while the 17-year-old Californian's conditi on h a s n ot impro ve d, it h a s n ot declined either. "The docto rs are pum ping all k inds of a ntibiotics and flu ids in to h im to try and fig ht the infection in his body," said new AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr, who has been acting as an informa tion liaison on behal f of the Jorgensen family , "Because of all of the flui ds tha t th e y 'r e pumping in to him, he has gained 85 pounds, a nd he is also suffe ring k id n ey p roble ms, but they have bee n able to treat tha t with dialysis. They are not winni ng the battle, but they are not los in g it eit her. If he can beat the infection, then he should have pret ty good od ds." Car racers Jimmy Va sser, Max Papis and Adrian Fernandez joined the Buell Mo t orcy cl e Co m pany an d H arl ey Da vid s on in th e th ird an n ua l Pro Cele brity Cha rity Rid e, Sep tem be r 1314, an event that raised so me $250,000 for The Missionary Vehicle Association. The rid e went fro m Monterey and into apa Valley befo re returning to Sa n Fra ncisco, Califo rnia. Long-time Honda road race technician AI Ludington has signed a deal w it h Kawasaki to become Eric Bostrom's crew chief for the 2000 racing season. Ludingto n ha d worked for Hon d a for eig ht yea rs , most of those spent as Miguel DuHamel's head mechanic. Jason Pridmore's STAR Motorcycle Schools has added a session to its 1999 sched ule. STAR ....ill conduct a school at Spring Mountain Raceway in Pahrump, Nevada, on November 6 at a cost of $265 . For mo re information, caIl 805/658-6333. A Showcase Bike N ight will be held during the 1999 Del Mar Concou rs d' Elegan ce and Motorcycle Expo in Del Ma r, Ca lifornia, on Friday, Oc tober 8 from 7 to 10 p.m. The festivi ties will take place in the Paddock Lounge at the fairgrounds , with a special raffle sched uled to ai d inju red dirt tra ck er Toby Jorgensen. For more info rma tion , call FS Productions at 714/585-2930. Ma xxis Tires is now accep ting racer resu mes for riders participating in the 125/250cc Supercross and National MX Cham pionships in 2000. Resu mes can b e sent to Maxxis In te rna ti ona l. attn : m oto r cy cl e rider suppo r t, 545 Old P e a c h t r e e Rd., S uwanee; GA 30024. The BueIl Motorcycle Company was recently presented with the 1998 Co mmun ity Re-I nves tment Award fro m the East Tro y Area Chamber of Co mmerce. "Buell Mot orcycle Co m pa ny receives this awa rd in recognition of th eir reinves tment in t he com mu nity and active par tici pat io n in civic- minded pro grams," said chamber of commerce pres ident and CEO Sandra SchroederBrietzman . "We are prou d to ha ve a s uccessful i nterna t io na l co m pany based in Eas t Troy that is a lso a co mmunity lea der in several program s and eve nts." ADA Motorsports may make a p rivateer feel like a factory racer. The com pany is offerin g factory-bike-like tr ansportation a nd h o spitality fo r approximately 20 su percross and AMA Motocross Nati on als for 2000. ADA has purch a sed a new 53 -foo t tr ailer a n d semi and has hired five mechanics. Cos t is neg otiable depending on the am ount of races and which series is applicable. Fo r mo re in fo r ma tio n, call 630/3420192. Damron vs , McGrath. Cha parral Motorsports owner Dave Dam ron will square off against his rider Jerem y McGra th in a 5O-lap Speed Truck race at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, California, on October 23. The pair have wagered $500 on the outcome with the monev to be dona ted to the Make A Wish F~unda tion. The race will be settled in the Ray Evernham/Frank Hawley Race Training Cen ter Speed Truck. According to PACE Motor Sports, tickets for the 2000 EA Sports Supercross Series have gone on sale, effective Septem ber 24, with sales being handled by each site's local Ticketmas ter. Some 2000 ticke ts for the season finale a t the Sam Boyd Stadi u m in Las Vegas, Nevada , are also available, though those can be purc hased through tickets.corn, as well as from 800/462-4112. The AMA has launched a new Internet service to keep mot orcyclists info rmed abo ut government actions in their states. Called AMA StateWatch, th e service fo Ilows legis lative an d re gu lat o r y actions at the state and local levels. StarWa tch is pa rt of the AMA's official Web site at ama-eycle.org. Randy Renfrow won his appeal and has be reinstated in second place in the AMA 250cc Grand Prix fina l from Pikes Peak International Raceway on September 19. Renfrow was originally disqualified from his second-place finish for jumping t h e start, but he actually jumped the start in the portion of the race tha t was deemed no t to have had an official start. Accordi ng to a press re lease from Orbital, Aprilia World Service, a company belonging to the Ap rilia Group, has signed a license ag reement with O rbital Engine Corporation. This grants them rights to com mercially introduce motorcycles and scoo ters .incorporating Orbita l's d irect fuel-i n jection tec hno logy . The tw o companies hav e also sig ned a marketing ag reemen t for the ongoing pro motion of the low emissions tech no logy o n the Aprilia-bra nded p ro duct range. The technology will ultimately allow Ap rilia pr oducts to meet stringent Eu ropea n stage-two e missions standards manda ted for 2002. Great Britain wins Tour des Nations o the surprise of no one, Great Britain took the overall vic to ry at th e Trial des Nations, held in Luxembourg on September 26. The invi nci b le sq uad of Dougie Lam pkin, G ra ham Jarvis, Ma rti n Crosswa ite a n d Steve CoIley finis hed ahead of Spain, Japan and Ita ly. In the B class, the Un ited States' Geoff Aaro n, Trevis Fox (pic tu red), Raymond Pe ters a nd Andy Johnson finis hed fourth behind Belgiu m, Ireland and Norway. T DP Brakes has anno unced that it is cu rren tly accepting racer resumes for th e 2000 raci ng season. Resumes can be sen t to DP Brakes, 4401 Walden Av e., Lancaster, N Y 14086. on d ay six in Czecho and day fou r in France. If yo u' re d oin g th e ma th , that means that Smith has 118 d ays of ISDE co m petit io n und er his kidney belt, o r jus t under fou r months. Pre-entries are now ope n for the AMA State MX Championship, scheduled for October 17-18 at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California. Pre-entries will close on October 12. Kawasaki and Suzu ki w ill both pay contin gen cies at the Viewfinders Grand Prix, to be held a t Glen Helen Raceway in Glen Helen, California, Oc tober 2-3. For more information, caIl 71 4/7398633. Recent fires in the San Be rn a rd in o ational Forest ha ve had no effect on the upcoming October 3 Cycle N ew s Dual Sport Jamboree. The ride will go on as planned .saccording to California Trail Rides Suzu ki will pay co ntingencies at the Prospectors Grand Prix, to be hel d in Gorman, California, November 6-7. For mor e information, call 760/949-1648. O'Neal USA is cu rre ntly accepting race r resumes for the 2000 racing season. Resu mes ca n be sent to O'Nea l USA, Topa nga Cany on Blvd ., 9600 Chatswort h, CA 91311, attn: Chuck Kober. Despite ru mors to the contrary, Competition Park Motocross is o nce agai n open a nd running in San Jacinto, California . Th e facility is open for practice with a prepped trac k on Saturdays and Sundays. For mo re information, ca ll 909/654-2126 or 760/943-8938. Curio us to find ou t th e true s ta tus on th e much-ballyhooed Cannondale 400cc four-st ro ke motocro ss, we recentl y put in a call to the com pa ny, primarily kn own for p rod u cing bicycles. According to Ca nnondale's Tom Armstrong , plan s are curren tly for a shi pping da te somewhere in November or Dece mber, though even tha t ma y not be a "fullb lown produ ct ion" run. Cann on d a le had said back in February th at th ey hoped for a September shi pping d ate for the bike, which ga rne red a large amount of attention at the Dea lernews Intern ational Powersports Dealer Expo in Indianapolis. "We may have been a little optimistic with our original plans," admitted Armstrong . "The project is so new to us t h a t o ur crysta l baIl was understandably a little bit cloudy. If we had bee n pred icting w hen we'd have a new bicycle available, we'd ha ve been able to tell you exactly." Armstrong stressed that Cannondale is more concerned with producing a quality product than wi th its release date, saying, "the motorcycle ind us try has survived fine without Ca nnonda le, so we want to be sure we have things right before we get our bike ou t ther e." Wh en will the bike be available in real numbers? Mos t likely after the first of the yea r. As we went to press on Monday, a couple of editors were sitting arou nd the office m arv elin g at Drew Smith 's in credible Six Days accomplishments. The veteran just contested h is 20th lSDE, and his club team finis hed fourth overall. Of those 20 eve nts, Smi th completed all but two - Czechoslovakia in 1977 and France in 1980. His DNFs came BORN: Devaney Faith Brigh t, to Rocky Mountain End uro circu it cha irma n and AA r ide r Scott Brigh t a n d h is wife, Cindy, on Sep tember 23 in Greeley, Colorado. CORRECTION: Chris Ca rr's fifth win of the season a t the Sacra men to Mile actually p laces him at 42 career Gra nd Nationa l wins, not 40 as was reported in our cove rage of the event. With those 42 Wins, Carr has moved into a tie with Jay Sp ringsteen for second on the all -ti me Grand ational winner's list. CHA NGED: Effective immediately, Moto America lnc., has changed its corporate name to Moto G uzzi orth America. RESIGNED : Lisa Tetherton, from he r position of marketing director of MSR.. effective October 1. Tetherton is p lan ning to relocate to South Ca rolina. OPENED: Four Strokes O n ly's ho me page on the World Wide Web . The site can be found at the following address: http: / /www.fourstrokeonly .com. OPENED: BTO Sports' home page on the Worl d Wide Web . The. site ca n be fo u n d a t th e fo llowi ng a d d ress : http:/ /www .btosp orts.com . CORRECTION: Last week we ra n an i tem regardi ng t he Don n ie H a n s en Motocross Academy but failed to give his p h on e num ber and Web site address. They are as follows : 719/495_ 2624 an d http://www.dhma.com. 3

• Cover