Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/146673
------_.~-----=------------------------------- ~ IN THE WIND By Papa Wealey ~ The August 9 Czechoslovakian round of the World Championship Superbike Series has been canceled. Heavy rain in the area of the Most circuit resulted in' drainage problems, flooding the track. Brit Kurt Nicoll (KTM) moved back into second place in the World Championship 500cc MX Series point standings by scoring the overall win via 13-1 moto finishes at Nemur, Belgium, August 2. Swede Marcus Hansson (Kaw) went 3-1-3 for runner-up honors. The second moto win by Hansson was a career first for the 22year-old. Belgian Georges Jobe (Hon) r~unded out the top three by posting DNF-2-2 moto finish~s. American Billy Liles (Hon) was hampered by a series of crashes, his best finish coming in the third moto where he finished fourth. Liles dropped to third in the series point standings, 59 points behind leader Jobe. The Belgian has a total of 452 points, while Nicoll is second with 428. American Donny Schmit (Yam) cored the overall win by posting 3. 2-1 moto finishes at round 10 of the World Championship 250cc MX Series in Tibro, Sweden, August 2. Belgian Ed~in Evertson (Kaw) was second with 1-1-7 moto finishes, and American Mike Healey (Suz) third with a 3-DNF-4 tally. Defending champ Trampas Parker (Hon) of Louisiana failed to finish any moto. Schmit heads the series point standings with 399; Italian Alessandro Puzar, who scored 24 points on the day, is second with 312, and American Bobby Moore is third with 309 points. South African Greg Albertijn (Hon) logged 1-3-1 moto finishes to win round II of the World Championship I25cc MX Series in Campos du Jordan,. Brazil, August 2, and come within one point of winning the series title. Finishing second with a 3-2-3 moto tally was Dutchman Pedro Tragter (Suz). With one round left in the series, Albertijn leads the series point standings with 469, followed by Dutchman Davey Strijbos with 410 and Tragter with 409. Word has it that the U.S. MX des Nations team for the World Championship event in Australia on September 6, will consist of Mike LaRocco, Billy Liles and Donny Schmit. The AMA has not yet confirmed the team's members but is expected to make an official announcement later this week. LaRocco will most likely compete in the I25cc class, Schmit in the 250cc class, and Liles in the 500cc class. The race will be held at Mannjimump, approximately 30 miles south of Perth. Sweden, Holland and Belgium have officially named their teams for the MX des Nations. The Swedish team will consist of Marcus Hansson (500cc), Peter Johansson (250cc) and Joakim Karlsson (125cc). HoIland will be represented by Edwin Evertsen (500cc), Pedro Tragter (25Occ) and Davey Strijbos (125). The Belgian team, which finished a close second to the U.S. last year, will be made up of defending 500cc World Champion Georges Jobe (500cc), Marnicq Bervoets (250cc) and Stefan Everts (125). Camel Pro Series veteran Steve Morehead was a no-show at the Peoria 'IT. He opted to stay home'after suffering a pinched nerve in his left shoulder and bruised ribs in a crash at the July 25 Oklahoma City Half Gardner takes British GP R 2 0thmans Honda's Wayne Gardner won his first 500cc Grand Prix of the season at Donington Park in England <>n August 2, only two days after announcing his retirement. The Australian held off defending World Champion Wayne Rainey after a thrilling race that at one time saw four riders in the lead group. In the end, it was Gardner beating Rainey by less than a second after the 30-lap race. Third place went to Juan Garriga on the Ducados Yamaha in what was the Spaniard's best-ever 500cc result. Cagiva's Eddie Lawson finished fourth with Australian Peter Goddard and his Valvoline Yamaha rounding out the top five finishers. French Canadian Miguel DuHamel was the only other North American finisher as he ended up seventh. Both Lucky' Strike Suzuki riders, Kevin Schwantz and Doug Chandler, crashed on successive laps in oil left in a turn by John Kocinski's blown Marlboro Yamaha; neither rider was hurt. Randy Mamola, meanwhile, crashed his Budweiser Yamaha in a separate incident, breaking a bone in the back of his right hand as well as a toe on his left foot. Australian Michael Doohan, absent from the British GP because of the leg h~ broke in the Dutch GP, still leads the championship over Rainey, 130-108, With two races remaining on the schedule. Schwantz remains third in the championship with 87 points while Chandler and Kocinski round out the top five with 72 and 67 points, respectively. Italian Pier-Francesco Chili rode his Aprilia to victory in the 250cc GP at Donington PCi!k, but Rothmans Honda's Luca Cadalora (right) wrapped up his second succeSSive 250cc World Championship by finishing fourth. Unlimited Jeans Aprilia's Loris Reggiani finished second with HB Honda's Doriano Romboni third. Yamaha's Jochen Schmid finished fifth behind Cadalora. Cadalora now leads Reggiani, 177-132, with two races remaining. Chili is third with 107 points. Italian Fausto Gresini scored his first I25cc GP win of the season on his Marlboro Te~ ~ileri Honda, topping Unlimited leans Aprilia's Alessandro Gramigni. GreslDi's Honda teammate Noburo Ueda finished third. Gramigni leads the championship over Gresini, IIO-108, with RaIf Waldmann, seventh in England third with 106 points. ' Rolf Biland won the Sidecar GP by 20 seconds over Darren Dixon with Steve Webster third. Webster leads the championship over Biland, 92-83. Senate committee to vote on desert bill S enator Alan Cranston (D-California) is making a last ditch effort to get his personal plan for the future of the California desert passed into law, reports theAMA. . Cranston's plan, the California Desert Protection Act, would eliminate all forms of motorized access to some 7 million acres of public land in Southern California by designating that vast area as wilderness. That represents more than three times as much wilderness as a federal study said was warranted in the area. In addition, the Cranston bill would scrap years of research and compromise that went into the existing California desert plan, the federally approved blueprint for managing public land in the desert. Now in his final year in the U.S. Senate, Cranston has been promoting his desert protection bill for nearly a decade. But each time the bill has been considered, it has been shot down because it fails to provide adequate access to the desert's public lands. Cranston's latest offering, designated as Senate Bill 21, has been stalled in the Senate primarily due to opposition from the other member of California's Senate delegation, John Seymour, who has gone on record against the bill on the basis that it "goes far beyond protecting the unique resources that categorize California's arid lands." "Public lands are exactly that - public," Seymour said recently. "They are for the enjoyment of all Californians. Senator Cranston's bill seems to ignore this fact." Typically, the Senate will not approve a wilderness plan for a state unless both of the state's senators have pledged their support to it. But Cranston has managed to arrange an August 5 vote despite opposition from Seymour. Off-road motorcyclists have been at the forefront of the movement to stop the California Desert Protection Act from the beginning. For years, motorcyclists and other groups interested in continued access to public lands' have succeeded in blocking this restrictive measure. However, a vote this year could wipe out all those victories. The last-"minute scheduling of the August 5 vote precluded notification of interested parties via publications such as Cycle News. We'll report on the outcome of that important vote in-next week's issue. Mile. "I'm really dragging my ass," said Morehead in a phone conversation from his home in Findlay, Ohio. "If I sit with my arms above my head like a halo I'm okay, but it hurts to put them down. I should be fine by the (August 22) Indianapolis Mile, though." The Automobile in Art Gallery in Long Beach, California, will present World of Two Wheels from August 8 thr0tlgh August 31. The works of artists Hector Cadematori, James Crespinel and John Gallagher will be on display and available for purchase at the gallery which is located at 213-B Pine Avenue in Long Beach. Gallery hours are II a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and 12 noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The Vintage Dirt Track Racers Association (VDTRA), Chicken Ranch Racing and AMA District 36 have joined forces to host a vintage race as an added feature at the September 26 Sacramento Mile, a round of the Camel Pro Series that will take place at Sacramento, California's Cal-Expo. The vintage race will be just that, a race and not a parade, according to Chicken Ranch Racing's Ken Heuser. "Anyone who feels that they have the right equipment and what it takes to race a 20-year-old flat track mile bike, should contact me ASAP, as there are only 16 spots available for the race," Heuser said. If you have what it takes, give Heuser a call at 916/ 989-4938 (FAX 916/339-1539. Overlooked by us in the midst of all the racing at the recent Mammoth Mountain Motocross was the appearance of a Russian women's team. Natali Fedossova, Larisa Kozlova and Jrina Kurakina were accompanied by Leonid Majorov, vice general director of the Moscow Autosport Federation, and tuner Anatolij Georgievich. Their visit was the result of an invitation extended to them by Tami Rice, president of the Norco, California-Women's Motors- port Association, while Rice was in Italy this past May competing in a women's international MX. Ralph Whitlinger, owner of Pdmona Valley Kawasaki of Ontario, California, provided bikes for the Russians. The Russian ladies, who failed to finish in the top five at Mammoth, joined a contingent of American women at a special meeting conducted during the weekend. Perhaps the major item to come out of that meeting was the announcement that a Ladies World Motocross Cup event will be held in Moscow in 1993. Qualifying events are to be held in the U.S. For more information, call Rice at 714/734-2278. KTM will unveil two of its 1993 models at the August 8-9 Commotion by the Ocean MX at southern California's Carlsbad Raceway. The '93 KTM 250SX and the KTM 300E/XC models will be on display. In addition, Mike Fisher, a member of the factory KTM MX team, will be there to sign autographs and bench race with spectators. HosPITal STOP: Chadd Watts, the mechanic for Kawasaki MXer Ryan Hughes, was seriously injured in an automobile accident while driving his box van to Washougal from the July 26 National MX in Troy, Ohio. The accident occurred late at night on Wednesday, July 29, near Boise, Idaho. Watts apparently fell asleep and rearended a tractor-trailer. He was taken to a hospital in Boise, where he had his gallbladder, pancreas and spleen removed, as well as portions of his intestines. Other injuries included a bruised heart and a broken finger. Watts is still in intensive care but is reponed to be improving quickly.' Race gear donated by many pro motocrossers and other items were auctioned off at the VVashougal National MX to help defray the medical expenses incurred by Chad Watts. More than $6000 was raised, with the top money-makers being Jeff Ward's riding gear, which went for $650, and Jeff Stanton's outfit, which brought $600.