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RACE WATCH
Rainey wraps up 500cc GP title
Team Marlboro Roberts Yamaha’s Wayne Rainey reconfirmed his status as the world’s best motorcycle roadracer by clinching the 500cc world championship for the second consecutive time with a third-place finish in the Grand Prix de Vitesse de Le Mans in France. Despite a
new rule introduced this year that allows a rider to throw out his two worst finishes of the 15-race season, Rainey wrapped up the title with one race to spare.
After winning the two previous rounds of the series at Mugello in San Marino and Brno, Czechoslovakia. the 31-year-old Californian only needed to place third at Le Mans—added to the GP calendar as > a replacement for the cancelled Brazilian GP—in order to clinch the title. And he did just that, crossing the line behind race-winner Kevin Schwantz on the Lucky Strike Suzuki and runner-up Michael Doohan on the Rothmans Honda.
Rainey’s teammate, John Kocinski. finished fourth at Le Mans, after earning his first-ever pole position. Doug Chandler was seventh, while Eddie Lawson sat out the race after dislocating his shoulder and breaking his wrist during a practice crash.
Also crowned at Le Mans were Italian Luca Cadalora in the 250cc class, and Britons Steve Webster and Gavin Simmons in the sidecar division. Eighteen-year-old Italian Loris Capirossi secured his second consecutive I25cc title at the previous race in Czechoslovakia.
Parker now all-time win leader
Scott Parker, factory HarleyDavidson rider and three-time defending AMA Grand National Champion, finally earned victory number 4 l to become the winningest racer in the 38-year history of the AMA Grand National Championship.
Parker scored the all-important victory at the Indianapolis Mile, > eclipsing Jay Springsteen's benchmark 40 victories, which stood as the record for six years.
After setting the new standard, Parker, who had struggled in the preceding five races, threw his helmet, gloves and jacket into the grandstands.
“I've been staring at number 4 l fora long time,” he said. “Now' I've finally got the record-breaker behind me and I can concentrate on winning my fourth championship.”
That feat, too, would tie a record, as only Carroll Resweber has won four straig'ht championships, doing so from 1958-61.
Chances for Parker to repeat as champion look good. Since Indy, he's been on a roll, winning both the Springfield and San Jose Miles. Those wins raised his tally to 43. and closed him to within one point of the series leader, his teammate Chris Carr. The Pomona Half-Mile and Sacramento Mile will tell the championship’s tale.
Americans top of the world in motocross
Jeff Stanton, Mike Kiedrowski and Damon Bradshaw gave the U.S. an unprecedented 1 1th consecutive Motocross des Nations victory with a win in the 1991 event at Valkenswaard, Holland. >
Though the race is billed as a team affair, this year it belonged to Stanton, who was competing in his third consecutive MX des Nations.
1 he Team Ifonda star put in an ironman performance, closing from fourth place to first in the final laps of the second 500cc moto to earn a perfect 1-1 moto score.
Kiedrowski. who also competed in the 1989 MX des Nations, posted a 2-4 score in the 125cc class, while Bradshaw went 2-5 in the 250cc class.
When the final results were tallied. the U.S. had the lowest score with 10 points. Belgium and Holland were tied with 1 3 points apiece, hut the Belgian team was credited with second place because it had more moto wins.
America also was successful on the grand prix MX scene, where Louisianian Trampas Parker earned his second world championship with a 3-6 performance in the seasonending Japanese GP. Parker won the 1 990 1 25cc title on a K LM. and this year he rode a Honda to the 250cc title. Californian Mike Healey finished second in this year's 250cc title chase on a K TM. >
Meanwhile, Georges Jobe captured the 500cc title, while fellow Belgian Stefan Everts, son of former world champion Harry Everts, claimed the 125cc title.
U.S. wins ISDE, sort of
One hundred and eight days is a hell of a losing streak. But then, 6570 days without winning sounds a lot worse. Either way you look at itas 1 8 six-day enduros or 1 8 years— it's been a long time since the United States has done anything worth mentioning in the International Six-Day Enduro. But, finally, the streak has ended.
Eighteen years ago, the U.S. team won the Silver Vase—the second most prestigious category of the ISDE. And this year, we won the Silver Vase’s modern-day replacement. the Junior World competition. The ISDE is a lot like the Olympics; there are winners in a variety of classes. So at the 1 99 1 ISDE in Povazska-Bystrica. Czechoslovakia—like the 1973 event held in Massachusetts—we were a winner, not the winner.
The Junior World Team is a fourman squad with members aged 23 or less. And this year. America's kids— Steve Hatch. 22. Jimmy Lewis, 23. David Rhodes. 23. and Chris Smith.
1 9—crossed the finish line at the end of day six with a low-point score of 2095.57. Second-placed Holland's tally was almost twice as high. >
Things didn’t always look great for the Americans. At the end of day two, they were a distant fifth. Smith, younger brother to ISDE veteran Drew Smith, had broken a chain and was five minutes late to a check. In the following days, though, misfortune befell all the other teams. The Swedish team lost a rider on day three and the Czechs had a member drop out on day four. When it was all over, only three teams survived the long, high-speed course intact.
As for the U.S. World Trophy team, the news isn’t so good. After an amazing succession of flat tires, wrong turns, burned-up ignitions and lost points, the six-man squad of Kevin Hines. David Bertram, Drew Smith. Fred Hoess, Randy Hawkins and Kelbv Pepper was in eighth place and happy to be there. For the second year in a row, the Swedish team won. The Trophy team competition is still the most important part of the ISDE, and it remains the final frontier for the Americans, who have never won.
But this year, at least the young Americans proved that winning isn’t necessarily a foreign concept. E2
