Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Shane Watts (KTM) won the final round of the GN CC Series in Crawfordsville, Indian a, on October 24 - his sixth victory of the year. Second place we nt to Rodney Sm ith (Su z), w ho had a l rea d y wrapped up the series 'title, with Mi ke Laffe rty (KTM) third . Rounding out the top fiv e were D ou g Black w ell (Ya m) and Paul Edmo ndson (Suz) , Even if the Yankees sweep the Atla nta Bra ves, ba seball's World Ser ie s will ha ve m ore rounds th an th e World Cha mpionsh ip Su percross Series, since Belo Horizonte, Brazil' s round two has b een canceled . The race had been planned foi November 6, and its cancellation leaves the series with jus t thr ee . e ve n ts - in France (a lr ea dy w on b y David Vuillem in), USA (to be held in Pa sad ena, California, No vember 20), and Germa ny. It's official: Rich King has signed on the dotted line to become the new est rid er o n the Harley-D avi dson fac tory d irt track team. The 36-year-old Iow an, wh o finished second in the 1999 AMA Grand National Dirt Track Series stand ings and scored four wins during the season , will team up with 13-time championshipwinning tuner Bill Werner and new factory mechanic Craig Lager in an attempt to bring the number-one plate back to Milwaukee. "This is like a dream come true for me ," King said. "No w, I only hav e o ne dream le ft (the ch ampionship)." There is still talk that the factory may be adding a second rider, but only if the team can sign one of a select few that it has in mind . Dialogue with at least one of those riders has reportedly taken place. As for the retired Scott Par ker, the 37year-old nine-time AMA Grand National Champion has signed a one-year contra ct that is specified as a "five-race maximum, no minimum" deal whereb y Parker will be gua ra n tee d a n und isclosed salary and Wern er-prepared factory eq u ip men t for five races of hi s choosing - or he can choose not to race at a ll without vi olatin g th e contract. Parker has sa id that he is considering running thr ee events in 2000, pending a few a p pea ra nce d eals . "I' m. th inkin g both Sp rin g fields an d mayb e Peoria," Parker said. With th e sig ni ng o f Rich King to Harley-Davidson, an d the $64,000 qu estion thu s finally answered, some other silly season deals ha ve begun to tak e shape. Will Davis has parted ways with Skip Eaken and has been confir med as the new rider of Pat Moroney's HarleyDavid son XR750s, formerly pil oted by Mike Hacker, who has left the team after five seasons. Davis will join forces with Moron ey wr en ch Mi ke Wheeler, with th e team runnin g und er th e fasthog .com /Gould Erectors ban ner. Roger Lee Hay den has also cut a deal w ith Moroney. The you ngest of the Kentu cky Ha yd en s will follow in brother Nick y's footsteps, running 600cc, 750cc and Harley-Davidson Sportst er Performance events that do not conflict with his Team Suzu ki road race deal. The 2Q-lap main even t for the Toby Jorge nse n Memo r ial dirt tr ack race a t Lodi, California, was stopped because of a mul ti-bike cras h after only eigh t lap s had been completed. Race leader Kenny Noyes (Hbg ) had gone to the fron t on lap two and was pu lling awa y from the 15-rider field when Jeff Gabhart, battling for seco nd with Kevi n Bri ck e r, touched the dirt banking coming out of tum four and went down right in front of the pa ck, tak in g ou t Mark Crosetti and Tony Sou za . For tunately, th er e were no serious injuries. The race, however, w as ca nceled and mos t rid er s opted to donate their returned entry fee to the Jorgensen family to help offset medical cos ts . Th e ra ce wa s th e fin al Lodi short track event of the seaso n. It now appears that former Grand Prix, Wor ld Sup erb ike and British Superbike ra cer Niall Mackenzie will take Tro y Bayliss' place on the factory Ducati team for next year's British Superbike Cham pionship. Mackenzie gets the rid e with Bayliss taking over for Ben Bostrom on the Vance & Hin es Ducati team for 2000. The question of where Troy Corser will be rid in g ne xt year is still a myst er y. Corse r issued a press release on October 22 thanking Ducati for the five years the two were together, but did litt le to offer any insight on wh ere Corser wi ll end up in 2000. "It 's been great working with Ducati thes e past seasons - especially in '96 w hen we won the World Superbike Championship and in '98 when we we re so close to winning back th e w orld tit le," Corser said . "Now I am looking . for ward to a new cha llenge in 2000." Althoug h there has been talk of Corser taking ove r for Niall Mac kenzie in the Grand Prix for 2000 he FIM an d Dorna ha ve released the World Championship Road Race Series sche d ule for the 2000 seaso n, w ith the series agai n set to feature 16 rounds beginning in South Africa and culminating in Australia. . Along the way, the series will visit Spain three times and Japan twice. In addi tion, the series features a new event, scheduled for Estoril, Portu gal. The series schedule - sans a United States rou nd - is as follows: T March 19 April 2 April 9 Ap ril 30 May 14 May 28 Jun e 11 Welko m, Sou th Africa Buenos Aires, Argentina (to be confirmed) .Suzu ka, Jap an Jerez, Spain Le Mans, France : Mu gello, Italy Catalunya, Spain I:; i~.:::::::::~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::D~·;ili;g·t~~A;:~~: ~:~::~~ 2 July 23 Augu st 20 Septembe r 3 September 17 October 7 October 15 October 29 : , : Sachsenring, Germany Brno, Czech Republic Estoril, Portugal Valencia, Spain Ri0 de Janeiro, Brazil Twin Ring Motegi, Japan Phillip Island, Australia .Brown's first title G oing into the seventh and final round of the AMA Na tional Hare and Hound series in Lucerne, California, on October 24, Team Green's Brian Brown (right) and Destry Abbott were in heated battle for the series championship. Lead ing up to the eve nt Brown, who hail s from Nampa, Idaho, sat atop the point standings, but with two throwaways considered, Abbott actua lly did not even need to race round seven to come a way th e champion. All Abbott ne ed ed was for Brown to finish second or worse and the Peoria, Ari zona, resident would be the '99 champion. For Brown, it was do or d ie. Either way Kawasaki would win, giving Team Green their eighth championship in the 14-year-old series. As it turns ou t, defending series champion and one-time Team Gree n rid er Ty Davis was almost the spo iler for Brown in Lucerne. Brown led the entire race, bu t Davis and Abbott we re never far behind - that is until both riders' engines quit on the second loop, leaving Brown with some much-needed room to breath e. A distant second we nt to Dave On das . Third overall, first Vet Open racer went to Abe Baumann, while Doug Chiapuzio and Jeff Cap t rou nded out the top five at 'the event. Interestingly, the first five ride rs to finish were all mounted on KX500s. Virgin Airlin es-backed Yamaha team in the British Superbik e Serie s, it is more likely tha t the Australian will continue in Wor ld Sup erbike or take ano ther stab at Gra nd Prix racing. Accord ing to his press release, he has offers from both. It is known th at Aprilia is courting th e 1994 AMA Superbike Champion to ride its su perbike in th e World Superbike Series. rather than a vertical mov e up ." The release also stated that discu ssions are underway with superbike teams in the U.S. and overseas. "If the right situa tion do es not materialize for the 2000 season," the release went on to say, "Tom's other in teres t will easily fill that void. This in no way should be construe d as retirement as Tom is anxiou s to return to superbike competition." Au stralian road racer An thony Gobert has threa tened to take court proceedings aga inst Vance & Hines Ducati over part of his 1999 fee that he says is still ou tstanding. Gobert missed the last race of th e 1999 AMA Superbike Champion ship, blaming a shoulder injury suffered in a motocross crash. In Brazil on October 24 for the Rio Grand Prix, Gobert said tha t Vance & Hines have withheld par t of his payment as a resu lt. "I did well for them and won a couple of races," Gobert said. "I plan to sue them for the rest of the money." When contacted at his office on Monday, October 25, team owner Terry Vance refused to comment on the situation. According to a press release from White Brothers, Jeff Em ig is a confirmed entrant for thi s yea r's White Brothers World Ve t MX Champ ionship. Emig will compete in the Plus-25 Expert class in the No vember 6 race, sched uled for Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California. AMA 750cc Supersport Champion Tom K ipp will no t ret urn to th e Ch aparral Suzuki team to defe nd his title, accord ing to a pre ss release issued by Kipp on Friday, October 22. Kipp received a n offer from Suzuki to retu rn to the' team for 2000, but the Ohioan declined, hoping in st ead to la nd a superbike ride. "Kipp' s d eci sion not to re turn to the team had no bearing on salary issues or a ny o the r issu e rega r d ing Am erican Suzuk i or Chaparral," the release stated . "Retu rni ng to Supersp ort racin g at this ju ncture in Tom ' s career would not be consisten t wi th his career goals . Havin g secu red yet another Superspo rt Champions hip, continu ing racing in th is class wou ld be considere d a la tera l mo ve Road racer Steve Crevier will be the guest instructor of the Southwest Sportbike Schoo l, November 6-7, at Arroyo Seco Motorp le x in Las Cruces, New Mexico . For more in fo rmation , ca ll 877/ 777-8585. George Roe der and George Roed er II will be the guest of honor on Satu rday, November 14 at the AMA /Will Stoner Swap Meet and Vintage Mo torcycle Show at the Ric hland Co u nty Fairgrounds in Mansfield, Ohio. For more information, call Will Stoner at 614/8561900, ext. 1227. Bik etober fe st con tinu es to gro w. The area behind the ma in grandstands of Daytona International Speedway, alon g International Speed way Blvd ., was filled with manufacturer displays during the week end . Last yea r th er e wer e three mak es represented , Harley-David son / Buell, who had their tradit ional d isplay, on th e ea s te rn edge of the Speedway property, a nd Hon da ou t fro n t. Thi s year they were joined by the other three The Off-'Road Kied s we mentioned in our coverage of the M oun t Morris, Pennsylvania, GNCC roun d A two issu es ago , former 125cc Na tional Champion Mike Kiedrowski has signed with Suzu ki to ride the 2000 GNCC Series on a DR-Z4oo. Since then, we'v e talked with Kiedrowski in more detail about his decision . "Sha ne was the one wh o talked me into it," said Kiedrowski of Shane Nalley, his old mechan ic and the curre n t wr ench for Suzuki off-road teamster Steve Ha tch. "I was happy with what I was doing. I've been doing electrical work, and I like it, but I decided to give it a shot. I always liked SOOs, so a four-stroke should be good for me to ada p t to." Kiedrowski, wh o planned on attend ing the series' final round in Ind iana on October 24 to watch and become more familiar with the sys tem, admitted that he hasn't been riding mu ch over the last few year s, and said he isn 't sure wh at to expect as far as results. "When I started doing the nati onals (MX), I had never done that before, but Shane explained it to me and I went out and won the first national and won the championship. Hopefully, Shane can explain this to me and I can do well." When asked about whether he plans to contest the International Six Days Enduro, an event in wh ich some former motocrossers have had great success, Kiedrowski said, "I was talk ing with Shane about that. It soun ds interesting to me, and if I could get Suzuki or someone to back me, I might wan t to try it. I don't want to do it ou t of my own pocket. I'd hav e to learn how to work on the bike more, but we 'll see."

• Cover