Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

paniard Alex Criville accep ted his 500cc World Champ ion a wa r d d urin g th e FIM Wo rl d C ha m p ion s ' Awards Cere mo ny, held on December 4 at the Ho tel de Paris in Monte Ca rlo . All the othe r World Champions joined Criville at the ceremo ny, where some $15,200 was raised for Rid ers for Health via the auction of helmets worn by Frederic Belley, Ca rl Fogarty, Em ilio Alzamo r<;t, Va lentino Rossi and Criville. Dr . Walter Kafitz, general man ager of the Nurburgring circuit in Germany, received the FlM Environm ent al Aw ard . S race sim u la tion s a nd fini shed with a best lap time of 1:37.05, jus t marginally fas te r than Bos trom 's 1:37 .1. ''I'm p lea sed w it h th e w o rk we d id th es e past tw o d ays and the data we ob tained in view of next yea r's ra ce," Fogarty said . "In severa l parts of the track, the n e w e ng ine h ad too mu ch brakin g po wer and for this reason we man aged to ne utralize the p robl em with the rig ht engi n e map pin g ." Bost rom w a s a lso pleased wi th the tes t. "I ma naged to ge t thro ugh a lot of work tod ay," the Ca lifo rnian sai d . "T he ra pid cha n g es of direction force you to work hard on the bike set-up, in pa rticular the stee ring . I als o tested severa l different tires an d ma nag ed to m aintain goo d g ri p towards the end of the long run - so I'm rea lly sa tis fied." Ducat i will return to testi ng February 6-9 at Phill ip Island in Au stralia - along with all of the othe r factory teams. T e l e fo n i ca M ov iS tar will sp o ns o r Kenn y Roberts Jr.'s Suzuki 500cc Grand Prix team in 2000, the team annou nced on December 2. The compan y, a lead ing provider of GSM mobile telecomm u nication s in the Sp ani sf m ark et , ha s sig ne d a two -yea r t itle s po nso rs h ip package with the team . Th e team will again consist of Roberts and No bua tsu Aoki. St ef y Bau will be a gues t instructo r at the WSMX Benefit Motocross Schoo l on December 13 a t Glen Helen Racew ay in San Berna rdin o, California . For mor e info rm a tion , ca ll Debbie Mathews at 949/837-2206. T ran sa m e rica Di stribu t ion Financ e recently held a mo torcycl e dealer council, w ith d ealer s from di ffer ent territories meeting to d iscuss the moveme nts and chang es of the motorcycle indus try as a whole, as well as th eir fina nci ng need s. The council reviewed the current out look for the m ot orcy cle industry, includ ing consolidation facto rs and the rollout of credi t card progr ams. Accord in g to Tran s a rnerica Distr ibut ion Finan ce, the U.s. consu me r mot or cvcle market as a whole is approximately $6.5 billion and is expe cted to grow 7 to 15 percent annua lly. Trail Boss To urs s till has some spaces available on its New Year' s Millennium Rid e to Cabo San Luca s, Mexico . For more information , call 888/228-6878. Th e fiv e -round Wome n's Mo tocross League AMA National 2000 sche dule is as follow s: May 13-14 - San Bernardino, California: Ma y 20-21 - Sacra me nto, Calif ornia ; Jun e 17-1 8 - Budd ' s C reek, Ma r y land ; Jul y 29-30 - Wa shou g al , Washington; Se p te m be r 26-27 - Bing hamton, New York. All five rounds ar e h e ld in conju nction with t h e A MA 125cc /2 50cc Nati o n a ls . How ev er, a rou nd in Ma mmoth, Californ ia, may be ad de d to the schedule in the near future. For mo re inform ati on, contact the WML at 541/317-0636. Th e Trail s T r a i nin g Center in Sequatchi e, Tenn e s s ee , is cu rre n tly accepting ap plicatio ns for the upcoming "C rosstrai ni ng 101" schools . The specia lized trials courses are designed for se rious off -road and motocross rac er s w ho wa nt to learn ex tre me trials techn iques . For m o re informatio n, call 423/942-8688. Former 500cc World Champion Wayne Ga rdne r will ra ce a m otorcycl e o n December 11 when he com petes in the "Cham pio n of Ch ampions" eve nt to be run at Eastern Creek near Sydney, Au stralia . The event will pit some of Au stralia' s be st go-ka r t ra cer s ag ains t th e nation ' s b est bike racers o n 80cc GP bikes in a three-h ou r end u ra nce ra ce. Ga rd ner will com pe te in bot h the bik e and kart races. The la s t r ound of n e xt yea r 's 250cc Mo toc ross Wo rld Ch am pionship w ill be held in Roggen burg, Switzerland, on Sept ember 3, 2000, accor ding to a press release issued by the FIM. It now seems certain that there will be a "B Team" in th e Erion Racing fold for 2000. According to a so urce close to the team, the Concord Mot orc ycl e Shop in Con cord, New Hampshire, will field the team, along with help fro m Erion. The riders are slated to be Jake Ze mke and Cana di an Kevin Lacombe, wit h the pa ir riding Ho nda CBR600s and CBR929s in th e 600cc Supe rsp ort a n d Formula Xtrem e Series. Mike Metzger was the ov erall winner o f t h e Van s T ri p le C r ow n o f Motocr oss Freestyle by virtu e o f h is three w ins in th e six ro un ds of com pet iti o n . M etz ger wo n $12, 000 for th e title, brin ging h is tota l winning s to o ver $2 5, 000 for th e P A C E Mo tor Sports-prom ot ed event. Ap plica tio ns and officia l rules for th e 2000 KTM Jr. Supercross Challenge are now available at KTM dealers. For 2000, a total of 225 position s will be avail abl e for you ngsters arou nd the cou ntry to experience a d ay in the life of a factory su pe rs tar. KTM will tran sp ort 15 KTM 50cc SX Pro Junior s to 15 of the AMA EA Sports Supercro ss rounds . According to a press release issued by Troy Corser, the Aus tralian has agreed to a tw o-year con tract wit h Aprilia to rac e its RSV1000 in th e World Super bike Cham pio ns hip . "I've only com pleted a few la ps on the bike, but I was surprised by the stre ngth of th e en gine," Cor ser sa id . "The first tim e I rod e the bike was in the rain , and eve n though I was on wet tires, th e bik e felt rea ll y s tro n g . I'm look in g forward to so me dry track time and see ing what the bike ca n really d o." The agr eem ent will be officiall y si g ned on De ce mber 9 in Bologna, Italy. The 3rd annual Christmas Motorc y cle C li n i c, hosted by Dann y " Ma g o o " Cha nd ler, will be h el d in Las Vegas, N evad a, De ce mbe r 26-29 . For m or e info rmation, call 702/ 457-4100. Reminder: Effective De cem ber 1, Jack Turner took over as executive direc tor of AHRM A. The new AHRMA address is as follows: P.O . Box 676, Shawnee Mi ssion, KS 66 201, 91 3/268-4401 , 913/ 268-4400 (fax) . A record 23,000 motorcyclis ts took part in Lov e Rid e 16 on Novem be r 14, rais in g an estima ted $1. 3 million for the Re a d in g b y 9 lit e r a cy c ha ri ty a n d MDA. Th e Sou th eas t Sh or ttrackers a re once ag ain gea ri ng up to host th eir a nn ual th ree-hour ice end u rance race to ben efit the Steel Shoe Fu nd. Th is yea r's event will be held on Janu ary 23, at Gi mm ers Sunset Tavern on Lake Koshkonong in For th Atkinson , Wi sconsin. The entry fee is $100 per team (max imu m of four rid ers). Th ree cla sses available: Lightweight (100-175cc), Middleweigh t (176350cc) and Hea vyweigh t (ove r 350cc). The eve n t is AMA-sa nctioned so AMA ice-fend er ru les will be e nforced . For more information, conta ct Al Sumner at 414/353-5920. Vin tage Iron Int ern ati onal will be hosting a Christmas pa rty /play day on the Arroyo motocro ss track' at Glen Hele n Racewa y in San Bernardino, California, on December 12. The event is open to all friend s, spo nso rs and customers of Vintage Iron. There is no charge for admission. Vin tage, evo lu tio n and modern bikes are welco me. For more information , contac t Vin tage Iro n Internati on al at 714/694-0066. N ot only will rnotocrosser Joh n D owd be ge tting used to his new Kawasaki in 2000, he'll also be ge tting used to a new ch ild . On November 9, Dowd's wife Tricia ga ve bi r th to th e cou p le's se con d child, Calli e Lauryn Dowd. OPENED: ICO Racing's home page on the World Wide Web. The site can be found at the fo llowi ng add ress: http:/ / www.ico racing.com . MERGED: Dick Allen 's Yamaha /Honda an d Pit Pro Cycle . Th e pai rin g is locat ed at 24601 Arch Street in N ewhall, California. For more informa tion . call 661/259-8460 or 661/ 255-5101. AUTO GRA PH SIGN ING : At Sout hland Cycle in Garde n Grove, Ca lifornia. on Janu ary 7 from 6 to 7 p.m . Team Su zu ki's Greg Albertyn , Robbie Reynard and Damon Huffman are scheduled to appear. For more info rmatio n. call 714/893-5091. OPENE D : Las Vegas Harley-David son in Primm, Neva da, o n November 15. For m OTC info rmatio n. call 702/874-2344 . OP EN ED : The Baltim ore Co unty Trail Riders hom e pag e o n the World Wi d e Web . Th e si te ca n: be foun d a t the fo ll o w i ng address: http :/ / www.bctra.com. AP POI NTED : Rey Sotelo, as president of the Indian Motorcycle Com pany, effective im mediately . OP EN ED: Mot o King's hom e pag e on the World Wide Web. The site can be found at the followin g address: http.y Zwww. rnoto-klng.com. AUTOG RA PH SIGN ING : At Cha parr al Moto rspo rts in San Bernardino, Cali fornia, on December 17 from 6 to 8 p.m . Te am Cha pa rral's Jerem y McGrath and Tim Ferry arc sched uled to appear. For more informa tion , call 909/889-2761. AUTOGRAPH S IGNING: At Cha pa rral Moto rsports in San Bernardino , Califo rnia, on January 12 from 6 to 8 p .m . Team Cha parral 's Jer emy McGrath an d Tim Fe rry as well as several other factory supc rcros s / mo tocross stars are schedu led to ap pea r. For m ore informa tion , ca ll 90 9 / 8892761. HIRED : Robert Wicks, as marketing and television co o rd inato r at sBK Intern ation al fur the Worl d Su perbik e Champio nship, eff ec tive imm ediately . Wicks wi ll be based in Rome, Italy , un til April of 2000, prio r to reloca ting to the London o ffice s of Su pc rbike Internatio nal. OP ENED: Matto Cycle's home page o n the World Wide Web. The site can be found at the foll owing add ress: http / /www.matt ocycle.com. CfII Mladin to test Suzuki RGV-500 a t Mladin, sho w n appl ying his number -one pla te to the Dunlop tr ansporter du rin g th e Dun lop tir e test at Daytona Internati on al Speed way on Decem ber 5, w ill sw itch to a 500cc Suzuki Grand Prix bik e for a few d a y s w he n h e tests th e Telefonica MoviStar RGV-500 at Phillip Is land in . his nati ve Au stralia in February . "It should be good fun ," Mladin said. The op p or tu nity ca me a bo u t when Suzuki sent a fa x to Mlad in's bosses at Yoshimura Su zuki asking if he co uld attend the test, which is sched uled after a scheduled Yoshimura test at Laguna Seca. "It's going to be int eresting to get on and ha ve a rid e," said the AMA Superbike Champion, wh ose last 500cc GP ride was aboard the Cagiva in 1993. "We' ll see how the team struct u re works and how it com pa res to what we' ve go t here. Wha t Mladin is thinking is that it ma y lead to some wild-card rid es at the end of the AMA seaso n, w hich ends in August. " If that' s the case, we may scam a coup le rid es," Mladin sa id . Telefon ica Mov iStar Suzu ki's Kenny Rob erts Ji-. and Nobuatsu Ao ki will also be there, and Mlad in said there wa s a cha nce the Suzu ki World Superbike team would ' also atte nd the session. Mladin applied his number-one plate to the Dunlop tran sporter to commemo ra te the tire company's 10th consecutive AMA Superbi ke Nati onal Ch ampion ship. He nny Ray Abrams M en m ~ '" ": jg E ~ '" 0 3

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