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RACE WATCH

Dirt-track duo takes AMA awards

AMA Grand National Champion Scott Parker was named the AMA's 1994 MotoWorld Athlete of the Year. Parker, who received his award at the AMA’s annual season’s-end award dinner, was selected from a field of nominees that included Supercross champ Jeremy McGrath and AMA Superbike Champion Troy Corser. Parker, 33, winner of a record 60 Grand National races since joining the circuit in 1979, is Grand National racing's only fivetime champion. With this award, he became the first three-time recipient of the AMA award.

Steve Morehead, a 20-year Grand National veteran who won three races during the 1994 season, was named AMA Professional Sportsman of the Year. Morehead, 38. won three Grand National events last year.

Pressurized Beemer gets speed record

A turbocharged BMW K100, ridden by Luftmeister boss Vlatt Capri and prepared by Luftmeister using that company's aftermarket equipment, recently became the world's fastest streetbike. It did so bv traveling 206.1 miles per hour on a Southern California dry lake, with the run certified by the FIM.

Capri said the bike is a 19X2 model with a two-valve engine that runs 24 pounds of manifold pressure to turn 1 1,000 rpm, developing a whopping 3 1 1 rear-wheel horsepower.

To help reduce the wheelspin that kind of horsepower provokes on lakebed surfaces, Capri’s blown Beemer carries 1X6 pounds of lead on board.

“We now have 4 miles-per-hour worth of wheel spin. We used to have 30,” he said. Another way of reducing wheelspin on the dirt FI Mirage surface, Capri added, involves use of Metzeler rain tires.

USGP goes from West to Midwest

The Federation Internationale Motocycliste released its schedule for the 1995 grand prix racing season, and that document confirmed what had been a poorly kept secret: The U.S. round of the series will not be held at Laguna Seca Raceway, on California's Monterey Peninsula.

The race is moving to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, a fourmile road course that is a regular stop on the Indy Car circuit. Road America spokesman Roger Jaymes said changes to the track to make it an acceptable GP venue included the addition of a gravel catch pit outside the Carousel, the track’s widest, fastest corner, and the addition of three chicanes. He noted that Indy cars reach a top speed of about 190 miles per hour on the track's long front straight, and he said of the GP bikes, “I hope they don’t go that fast. But the AMA Superbikes reach about 160 there, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the GP bikes at 1X0 or so. Those long straights ought to make it easy to pass.”

Mary-Ellen Wright-Rana, of Laguna Seca, blamed the move on the GP circus’s need to cut expenses. “They definitely found it was a lot cheaper to (hold the event) in middle America than in California,” she said, and added that a World Superbike event is one option the track is looking at as a replacement for the GP event.

At press time, the full 14-race schedule is as follows: March 26, Australia, at Lastern Creek; April 2, Malaysia, at Shah Alarm April 23, Japan, at Suzuka; May 7, Spain, at Jerez; May 21, Germany, at the Nurburgring; June 1 1, Italy, at Mugello; June 24, Netherlands, at Assen; July 9, France, at Le Mans; July 23, Great Britain, at Donington Park; August 6, United States, at Road America; August 20, Czech Republic, at Brno; September 17, Brazil, at Rio De Janeiro; September 24, Argentina, at Buenos Aires; October 8, Europe, at Cataluña (Spain).

Nevada desert king crowned

Kind of strange that desert racing is done during summer, when it’s hot, rather than during winter, when it's not. But whenever it’d be held, you can bet that Greg Zitterkopf would come near the top. He did in Nevada's Silver State Desert Championship Series.

Zitterkopf captured that series championship at the series’ final round, held in Laughlin, a gambling mecca on the Colorado River, down in the Silver State’s southern tip. National Hare & Hound champ Danny Hamel won the race on a Kawasaki, but the burly Zitterkopf came second aboard his KTM 620 LC4. and that was good enough to cement the championship for him.

Hamel, for his part, won three races to Zitterkopf's two. Schedule conflicts kept Hamel out of the other races in the series, and kept him, it could be argued. from winning this championship.

Cagiva Superbike plans proceed

lVill Cagiva be back in grand prix racing in 1995? The Italian company still hadn’t tipped its hand by presstime, but here's a big, fat clue: It seems clear that Caviga is going ahead with plans to devote its GP racing facility in Varese to development of the Cagiva Superbike.

That machine, complete with Ferrari-developed engine, now is tentatively slated to run in September’s Bol d'Or endurance race in France prior to the machine’s formal introduction. This strategy allows Cagiva a matched set of important luxuries-it will get some real-world, racetrack testing, and it will be able to see how the Cagiva Four stacks up against its Superbike competitors.

One other thing all this meansthere'll be more factory participation in World Superbike racing than there will be in 500cc grand prix racing, with just three factories participating full-time in the latter, while as many as six factory teams could compete in the former.

Another championship for Schultz

Life’s a drag for 1993 Prostock Champion Dave Schultz, who continued his 1993 form to win the 1994 NHRA Prostock drag racing championship.

Schultz and his Sunoco Suzuki, recently named to McDonald's AllAmerican Drag Racing Team, peeled off six straight wins to close out '93. He came back to retain the championship in 1994 with wins in nine of 1 1 events. In fact, Schultz was never outrun. His two losses came when he red-lighted.

Despite the exceptional performances, Schultz says there are no profound secrets inside his !294cc engine. “Doing that well is a matter of attention to detail." says the 46year-old Floridian. “People look at a dollar and see a dollar. I see 100 pennies. You’ve got to be a nit-picker in drag racing. I think people are looking for a quantum leap."

As well as Schultz’s machine performs. he says the rider's brain is the most important component in the package. “The mental side makes you a winner or a loser,” he says. “The guy with the ability to channel his ability is the guy most likely to win.”

Schultz and crew chief Greg Cope will keep the pressure on this year, though they’re reluctant to talk about the changes planned for their ’95 engine and chassis.

Fellow competitor John Myers admits chasing Schultz is a daunting task. At the last race of the season, Myers took a long, slow breath through tight teeth and said of Schultz, “He's making us work hard."

Gaddis in arenacross points lead

IV th Thanksgiving gone and Christmas approaching, it had to be AMA arenacross season, and Kawasaki's Jimmy Gaddis proved he was no holiday turkey.

In the wake of the season’s third round, Gaddis opened a narrow points lead by winning one of two 125 races, as well as both 250 events at Rockford, Illinois, Metrocenter.

With three of the series’ 12 rounds run. Gaddis is on top of the standings with 209 points. His closest rivals are Chad Pederson, with 188 points, with Cliff Palmer and Jeremy Buehl tied for third with 170 points.