Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Amsoil si ns LaRocco W e mentioned two weeks ago that Mike la Rocco's man ager, Fred Bramblett, Ja pa nese b ra nds, Yama ha , Kaw a saki, an d Su zuk i. as well as Excelsior-Hende rson, BMW, and Polaris /Victory . PACE Mo tor Sports continues to work ou t the d etails of their ina ug u ra l road raci ng season, with a six-to-eight- race sched u le be in g p lanned, according to Bill Sy fa n, th e mot or cycle d irector of competiti on. Syfan, alon g with PACE's Mike Kidd , Roy Janson , Brandy Bohan, and Lance Bryson, met with team owners as we ll as Roger Edm ondson. from who m th ey purcha sed the Champ io ns hi p Cup Series, an d Dou g Gonda, th e fo rme r Formula USA owner w ho joined the PACE team , on October 23 in Day to n a . The di scu ss ion r ev olved aro und how the race weekend wo uld be structured, the format of the race wee kend, and wha t classes would be ru n. As for tracks, Syfan sa id th ere w ou ld be races at Pocon o International Raceway and Port land In ternational Raceway. the tw o dates PA CE acq u ire d w he n th ey boug ht F-USA. Oth er than -that, negotiations are ongoing, with PACE talking to a number of venues. incl udi ng several traditional AMA circuits. tho ugh Syfan said they absolu tely would not schedule races which conflicted with the AMA schedule. "It doesn't do either of us any good, " he said. "There's only a finite number of riders and teams in the U.5.• and we've got to share them." One notabl e cha nge is that the series will not beg in at Daytona the week prior to the Daytona 200, but Syfan said it will p robably begin in late Ma rch , which limits the number of tracks w here the weathe r would be favorable. Homestead in Florida was an early choice, but that option was d ismissed . Obviously, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Willow Springs Raceway, and the tracks in the Phoe nix area have to be cons ide red for a March race. Syfan said he wo u ld announce a schedule as soo n as it was ready. As for classes. Syfa n said nothi ng was se t, but he sa id it looked like the re woul d b e restricted horsepower classes, similar to the fo rmat cu rrently used by NASB. Look for four or five classes, with one simila r to the F-USA class and someth in g like 600cc Supers port. The Champions hip Cup Series will remain the sa me for 2000. "It' ll stay CCS," Syfan said. "It isn' t broken. It doesn't need to be fixed." The FIM and SBK International. part of the Octagon Motorsports Group. have reach ed a n ag reement reg ard in g th e managem en t of the World En d urance C ha m pio ns hi p . The cha mpio ns hip, made up of such races as the Bol d'Or, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Suz uka 8 Hours, w ill not be man aged by SBK Int ern ational, th e p rom ot e r s of th e Wo rld Su pe rbike Championsh ip. "As the Endurance World Championship is r a ced b y s u per b ike m a chine s. end urance and su perbike are obvio us ly very close in technical aspects, but also in sp irit. as th e m ot orcycles used for these competitions are d ose to p rod uction series motorcycles." said FIM presid ent Fra ncesco Ze rbi. "Moreover, SBK Internationa l has been ca r rying out exce llent wo rk for the d evelopmen t of th e Su perbi ke Wo rl d Cha mpionship, and I a m confident the same level of wor k will be reached for the end urance." PACE M o t or Sports has st arted a Rookie of the Year award fo r it s Na tio nal Arenacross Series. The awa rd, sponsored by HJC H elmets, w ill h ono r o ne rookie expert with a $2500 bo nus. "Giving u p -and-coming riders a s ho t at the Rookie of the Year titl e, alo ng wit h a $2500 bonus, is importan t for th e continued growth of the arena cross se ries, " said Kei th Bowen, Director of Arenacross. "There were seve ra l ro o kie s las t year t h a t rea lly im pressed me . I am proud to be able to offe r th ese guys so methi ng special." No U.S. GP for 2000 but it's on for 2001 A ,----- .. .... .. .. - - - _ . Exist ing 4- mile Road A merica track lthough the United States Grand Prix, originally s la ted for Road Pro posed 2 .7-mile Gra nd Prix track America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsi n, ha s been taken off the FIM 2000 " , World Championsh ip Road Racing schedu le, the event will happen in 2001. a cco rdi ng to e ve n t promo t ers Ta g Sport. In fact. the company has inked a d eal that will see the even t tak e pla ce on Am erican soil throu gh 2006. I "We weren't co nfid en t that a ll th e work on the track could be com pleted # time to comp ly with th e FIM 's ,in ceques t for a final inspection befor e New Year's." sa id Dennis oyes, who will becom e a partner and principal of Tag Sport following his final duties with Dorna at the Argentine Grand Prix on October 31. "The feeling was that we would be hard-pressed to get the wo rk done on the new portion of the track . Now we will finish the track changes in the spri ng of next year and it will undergo final inspection in the fall. The race wa s never really on the schedule for next yea r, we had on ly asked the m to hold the date. The d eadline came and went and we cou ld n't make it. We d o have a contract with Dorna to run the race from 2001 to 2006 - and that's the end of Dorna's current agreement wi th the FIM." The race wi ll also be named the "North American Grand Prix" in 2001, as it will be run under the thr ee flags of the thr ee No rth Ame rican nations - Canada , Mexico and the United States. The above illus tration shows the track cha nges that will be made to the existing 4mile Road America layou t. The new Grand Prix track will measu re 2.7 miles. The new track will mak e a left prior to the old turn five and will head u p the hill toward the old turn eig ht. At that point. riders will go rig ht and head backward on the old track back to the old turn five, where they will make a left that will take them over to th e old tu rn 14 - thus elim ina ting the fastest and most d angero us sections of the existing Road America race track. ,, ,.. ........ , -----' was wo rki ng on a couple of outside- industry sponsors, and now the firs t one is " officia l. The Factory Connection rider has signed on with Amsoil, Inc. "the number-one independe nt prod ucer of syntheti c oil in America," for a two-year deal. The Wisconsiri -based company, which produces a co mplete line"of lu bricants an d au tomotive and engine-care products, also sponsors th e Scheuring Speed Sports Snoc ross Series, and one of the top teams that contests that series . According to Bramblett, w ho su p p lied us with this ten tative mock -up of laRocco's graphics, "Arnsoil was d rawn to supercross a n d m otocro ss b y th e m arke t in g d emogr ap hics and total number of imp ressions availa ble in th ese growing sports ." Bramblett also mentioned Lakocco's consistency, his 12 podium finishes, an d his ability to stay in fro nt of the came ras as con tribu ting factors . By the way, Factory Connection is expec ted to renew its agree ment wi th Jack in the Box in the very near future, and is also negotiating with another major ou tside-industry sponso r. The team has also signed 125cc rid er Chris Gosselar to join laRocco on the team. Gosselar will contes t the 125cc Western Regional Supercross Series and 125cc Na tional Motocross Series. while LaRocco contin ues aboard a CR250. Do rothy Robin so n , 87. co m m o n ly kno w n as "The First Lad y of Motorcy li ng," d ied o n Fri d ay, O ct ober 8 . Robinson is consi de red one of the pi oneers of p romoting motorcycl in g fo r wo me n in th e middle of th e 20th cen"tury. She was the co-fou n der of th e Motor Mai ds, an orga nization that was cha rtere d wi th th e AMA in 1941 an d still exists today for women who ride their own mot orcycles. Rob inson was born in Melbou rne, Australia in 1912 with her family moving to Michigan in 1918 . Over t h e course of her life , Robinson fig u red s he had to taled a million and a ha lf miles in he r years of riding. In 1998, she was ind u cted into th e AMA Mo torcycle Hall of Fame . A "Celeb ra ti on of Life" service will be held for Rob in son o n O ctobe r 30 at Wekiva Presbyterian Church in Orla ndo, Florida, tent at ively set for 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, Robin so n' s daughter, Bett y Fa uls, requ es ts th at donati o n s b e ma de in Dot' s name to t he Motorcycle Ha ll of Fame Mu seum or to th e A MA Leg is la t ive Fund . Fo r more informa tio n, ca ll the AMA at 614/856-1900. The best vs . th e best . Five- time AMA Supercross Champ ion an d tw o-ti m e World Supe rc ross champ Jerem y McG rath will go head to head agains t four-tim e World Champi on St efan Everts in the World Su percross round sched uled for the Rose Bowl in Pasa dena , Cali fornia , on November 20. "I w ouldn 't miss this e ve n t." said McGrath. "I've raced against and beaten these guys in Europe and I think the American riders will be very com petit iv e, if not dominant ." Kawasaki's Larry Ward . as well as severa l o the r s ta rs, will a lso co mpe te in the Rose Bowl race. Pa ul Crumling, 37, of Mt. Wolf, Penn sy lv a ni a, d ied in a h ospital near h is home after suffering co mplica tions fro m a blood disorder. Cru mling was we ll-known in dirt track racing circles as the proprietor of Pro Pla tes, a nu mberpla te ma nufacturing business that he fo u nd ed 12 yea rs ago. Cru mling w as also a GN C-Iicensed Expert a nd was ofte n seen campaigning his Honda RS750 a t Grand ational events in the eastern United States. His wife, Penny, and 3-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, su rvive Crumlin g. Funeral se rvices we re not yet arranged as of presstime, bu t the family has requested tha t, in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to assis t w ith Kaitlyn Crumlin g' s fu tu re ed ucation. Checks can be sent in the nam e of KaitIyn Crumling, accou nt #2753-001, P.O. Box 911, Mt. Wolf. PA 17347. Friends and associates of Pa u l Crumling ha ve also been asked to take the time to w rite s ma ll memori al let ters a d d ressed to Kaitlyn , so that she may grow to learn of an d remember her dad . Th e letters wi ll be placed in a scra pbook and presented to her at an appropria te time . RESCH ED ULED: The ope ning rounds of the sse Win ter Warm -Up Series. at Hu ngry ValIcy SVRA Mot ocross in Co rma n, Cali fornia, from Oct ober 24 and November 14 to November 21 and December 12. Th e MX Ol ympics have be e n rescheduled to December 4 and 5. CO RRECTION: Our HIn The Wind" item o n the las Vegas AMA atio nal Ho t Shoe round inco rrectly slated that Roger Lee Hayden won the 600cc ProSpo rt main even t. Tom McGrane Jr. IRtx) w on th e race . Hayden wa s ~nd . CIf W orld Su ers for 2000 he AM and SBK International have released the 2000 World Superbike Championship schedule, with the series being increased from 13 to 14 rounds for next year. In addition. the series will visit three different venues - Valencia, in Spain; Oschersleben in Germany; and Imola.Italy, The series will feature World Supersport, European Superstock and Sidecar World Cup as its su pport races . The series sched u le is as follows: Marc h 12 Valencia , Spa in April 2 Kyalarni, South Africa Ap ril 23 Phillip Island. Australia Ap ril 30 .Sugo, Japan May 14 Donington Park, Eng land May 21 Monza, Italy June 4 Hockenheim, Germany Misan o, Italy June 18 July 9 Laguna Seca, Californ ia Brands Hatch. Eng land August 6 To be annou nced August 27 September 3 Assen, Holland September 10 Oschersleben, Germany October 15 .Imola, Italy T en g: M ~ Cll .<:l E Cll > o Z 3

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