Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

In the Wind Mi cha el Lafferty (KTM) wo n the 14th ro u nd of the AM A Ace rb is Na tiona l End uro Series in New Waverly, Texas, o n September 26, topp in g Ra nd y Hawkins (Yam) a nd David Whitaker (Kaw) . Ty Da vis had alrea dy clinched the series title. James Large (H-D) too k a b ig step tow ard cap tu ring his third successive 80Dec Nati onal Hillclim b Championship with a victory in the White Rose Motorcycle Club-h ost ed eve n t in Jefferson, Pennsylvan ia, on September 26. Large beat Da vid Watson (Hon) an d Steve Dresser (H-D) to w in his second final of the season, and he now holds a 15-po int lead over both Watson and Bobb y Templeton in the series stand ings, with two rou nds rema ining . Ted Wilkins (Rtx) also notched his second win of the season in the 540cc class, a win that moved him in to a tie for th e se ries lead wi th Paul Pinsonnault (Hon), who fin ished fourth in Jefferson . Second place went to Scott McNeeley (Ho n), with Phil Libhart (Tri) taking third on the da y. Libha rt is only s ix points beh ind Wil kins and Pinsonnault in the series standi ngs . Fred Andrew s (Kaw) w on the A MA Grand Natio nal Cross Country round in Moun t Morris, Pennsyl van ia, on September 26, beating Steve Hatch (Suz) and Barry Hawk (Yam). Rodney Smith (Suz) wa s a tte m pting to w rap up th e series title in the series' 11th round, but he ca me up sho rt with a fou r th- pla ce finish. There are two rounds remaining in the 13-race championship. foe Kopp (Rtx) w on the 600 cc cla ss, while Steve Beattie (H-D) wo n the 750cc cl ass d u ring r oun d 11 of th e AMA Nationa l H ot Shoe Se ries at Plavfai r Raceway in Spokane , Was hing to n, on Sep tember 24. Kopp was joined on the p od ium by runn er -up Lonnie Pauley (W-R) and third-place finisher Don Wilson (Rtx). Gary Rogers (H-D) finished seco n d to Be atti e in th e 750cc m ain eve nt, with Steve Liberty (H-D) third . Joe Kopp w as t h e m an to beat once aga in wh en the AMA Na tiona l Hot Shoe Series moved d own the road to Emerald Down s in Sea tt le on Sep temb er 25, as Kop p wo n the 600cc class at the Seattle Mile be fore a crowd es tima ted a t over 8200. Rex Fisher (Rtx) was second, and Lonnie Pauley (W-R) was th ird . Scott Parker (H-D) wo n the 750cc class ove r Rich King (H- D), with Steve Beattie (HD) running third . Geo Roeder (H- D) won the 750cc class during rou nd 12 of the AMA lational Hot Shoe Series at Susqu ehanna Speed- he u.s. team of Debbie Evans, Andrea Davis, Pam DeBruin and Laura Bussing mad e the podi um at the Euro Cup interna tional wom en 's trials com petition in Torre Pellice, Italy, September 19. The competition was similar to a Trials des Na tio ns, wi th tea ms fro m va rio us cou n tries competing and a parade through town the day before. The small, northern Italian town was deluged by rain on the day of the event, which featured two laps of 15 sections each. Every section had one lane for the B class and another for A riders. After orga nizers made some adjus tme nts to the cour se on the mo rn ing of the even t, German compe titor Irish Kramer dropped just a sing le point on the first lap - 17 better than the runnerup Frenchwoman, Bertrand O aire! Co nd itio ns worsened on lap two, raising Kramer' s score to eight, still easily good enough for the overall win. There was a tough battle for sec ond place, wit h Norweg ian Lind a Meyer besting Italian champion Simona Chauvie. Best of the Americans was comeback queen Evans, in ninth ove rall. Davis was 14th, while Bussing had to drop ou t wit h a sore arm. The team finished third to Italy and No rway. T w ay in ewberrytown, Pe nnsylva nia, on Sep tember 25, topping Kevin Varn es (H- D) a nd Mike Varnes (H- D). Th e 600cc Expe rt class was wo n by Robert Lewi s (Rtx) with Tom McGrane (Rtx) and Tim Eades wi nn ing the 600cc Pro Sport and Harl ey-Davidson 883 classes, respectively. Spud Walters (Yam) won round five of th e AMA Yama ha /Maxxis Tires FourStroke National MX Series in Denver, Colorado, Sep tembe r 26. Dustin Nelson (Yam) finished secon d and Josh Kellogg (Yam) third . Robbie Reynard (Suz) was the big winner at the 5th annual Pro Cha llenge MX at Swa n Cycle Park in Tyler, Texas, on Sep tember 26. Reynard scored th e win in a ll four of th e 125 a n d 250cc Pro motos. Second in both classes was Mike Brown (Hon). Paolo Casoli won the Vallelu nga ro und of the Italian Su perbike Championship on Sep tember 26, and with it wo n the Italian Su pe rbike Cha mpionship. "The Vallelunga track is very di fficult a nd I was still feelin g the effects of my cras h at the end of Jul y," Casoli sa id . "My sho u lder is al most totall y better now and I have to be patien t jus t a little bit longe r. I am very pleased with the result AMA road racin into 2000 he AMA released its 2000 AMA N ati onal Cha mpionship Road Racing Series sche d u le on Sep tember 24, a sched u le mad e up of 11 round s at 10 venues including a roun d that will co-run wit h the World Superbike round at Lagu na Seca in July. The series will agai n be mad e u p of Superbike, 600 and 75Dec Supersport, Formula Xtrerne, Pro Thund er and 250cc Gra nd Prix. The Ll-rou nd series is as follows: March 8-12 Daytona In tern ational Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida April 28-30 Willow Springs Raceway, Rosam ond , California May 5-7 Sears Point Racewa y, Sonoma, California" June 2-4 Road Atlan ta, Braselton, Georgia (su perbike d oub lehead er) June 9-11 Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin June 16-18 ..New Hampshire In ternational Speed way, Loud on, New Ham pshire July 6-9 Laguna Seca Raceway, Montere y, Ca lifornia July 14-16 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Co urse, Lexington, Ohio July 28-30 : Brainerd International Raceway, Brainer~ , Minn esot a August 11-13 Pikes Peak Intern ational Raceway, Fountain, Colorado T 2 "Pendi ng app roved cou rse modifications obtaine d in th e Ita lian champions hi p, not on ly wi th wi nni ng races but also wi th the amo u nt of development wo rk we go t th ro ug h . Th is se ason a nd th is cha mpions hi p ha ve allowed us to test various tec hnical developments from which the fac tory Du ca ti 996s takin g part in n ext yea r's Wor ld Superbike Championship will ben efit. As for me, I'm already th inking abou t next yea r's Supersport World Championship, when I will try to make up for all the bad luck I had this year." Ducati has anno unced that Span ia rd Ruben Xaus w ill join Casoli on its factory World Supersport Cha mp ionship team for 2000. Xaus finished fifth in this year' s title chase on a Yamaha, w in ning the Misano, It a ly, rou nd along the way. Xaus has signed a two-year deal w ith Duca ti, marking the firs t time the factory has featured a twoman World Supersport team . Gra ves Mortorsports (Yam) led when it coun ted and came home with the ove ra ll w in in t h e WE RA 24 H ours endu rance race at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, California, Sep tember 25-26. Arcl ight Suzuki (Suz) finished second ove rall, completing 848 laps - 19 less than the race winners. Semoff Brothers Racing (Yam) finis hed th ird overa ll, a nd th a t wa s good enoug h for the team to lock up its seco nd series cha mpionship in as many seasons. You ng road racer Jason DiSalvo, the AMA Ho rizon Award w inn er fro m the Grand a tional Road Racin g Cha mpionships at New Hampshire Interna tional Ra cew a y in Lo ud o n, New Hamps hi re , on Sep tember 26 (see comple te coverage insi de), has been gra nted a n e nt ry i nto the tw o Sou th A merica n rou nds of th e 125cc World Cham pions hip Road Race Series. DiSalv o w ill ride a fact ory A-ki tt ed Polini Ho nd a RS125 in the tw o ra ces, sch ed u led for Brazil on October 24 and Argentina on October 31. DiSalvo w ill be I S ye ars, eig ht months and 14 days old when the flag dropson the Brazilia n ro und, making him the youngest American eve r to compete in any kind of World Cha mpionship event. Former 500cc Wo rld Cham p ion Kevin Sc hwa ntz finishe d 19th in th e O ver- t ons .com-b a ck ed C he vrole t in th e MBNA Gold 200 Busch Series race, held on Sep tember 25 at Dover Downs International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Schwan tz is contracted to drive the car again at the Charlott e Motor Speedway on October 9. Altho ug h it' s been known for some time now, the AMA has made it official that Phoenix International Raceway will not h ost a round o f the AMA Su perbike Nationa l Cha mpio ns hip in 2000 (see sidebar sched u le). "By no mean s d oes this reflect on the AMA or the grea t talen t that they represen t; we simply ran o u t of tim e to m a ke the n ecessary changes th a t wo ul d acco mmoda te a ll parties in vo lved ," sa id PIR execu tive vice presid en t a n d ge nera l manager Robin Braig. "We just need a little more time to brin g all of the pieces togeth er," sa id AMA ro ad ra cin g man ager Ron Barrick. "We will truly miss racing a t PIR, and we look forwa rd to working with the staff to bri ng the even t back to our sched ule." Acco rd in g to Yo sh imura Su zuki , no protest was filed at Pikes Peak In tern ational Raceway in reg a rd to w hen the V ance & Hines Ducati team ha d tested -at the facilit y p rior to the fina l round . "We'd talked to the AMA pri or to the race abou t it, but we realized it wasn' t goi ng a nywhe re and it wa s a wa ste to p ursu e it any further," sai d crew chief Don Sa ka ku ra. "So we never filed a protest ." Gra n d Nat ion al dir t track promoter Chris Agaja ni an phoned Cycle News to respond to the comments ma de by Professi ona l Motorcy cle Ra cing O wn ers Group pre s id e n t Dave Burks wit h regar d to th e AMA G rand Na tio nal Dirt Tr a ck Seri es season-en d ing De l Ma r M il e. " I have re a d Mr . Bur ks ' comm ent s, and I a m awa re o f t h e PMROG' s co nce rns," Agajanian said . "All th a t I can say is that w e are goi ng to p ay s pecial a tte n tion to th e racing su rface at Del Mar. We plan to incor porat e so me additional track pre pa ration techniqu es, an d there have alrea dy been over $1 million in improvements to the track, pa rticu larly in turns one and two, wh ere we have had some difficulties in the past. We feel that these

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