Clipboard

Clipboard

Schultz captures NHRA Pro-Stock Championship

Veteran drag-racer Dave Schultz scored his fourth NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championship with a win at the season-ending Winston Finals

in Pomona, California. Schultz, riding his Sunoco-sponsored Suzuki, beat Byron Hines with an elapsed time of7.752 seconds at 167.22 mph. Following the event, Hines announced his retirement from drag racing. The long-time tuner, who won his first Pro-Stock final last year on a Yamaha FJ1200-based machine, will dedicate his attention to the Vance & Hines roadrace effort.

Aprilia’s better 500cc Grand Prix bike is a 400

It’s a matter of techno-industrial faith that everything else being equal, smaller, lighter motorcycles usually can be made to handle better than larger, heavier motorcycles.

GP bikes of the 250cc persuasion are knocking on the door of the top lap times set by 500cc GP bikes-at least at tighter circuits that put a premium on handling over horsepowerand their corner speeds are higher. These twin facts have given impetus to the notion that at such circuits, a 250-based Open-class GP bike might be the hot tip.

Aprilia, based in Noale, Italy, is taking this thinking very seriously. The company, which has raced with considerable success in the 125 and 250cc GP ranks, is considering a move into the 500cc GP realm with a development of its 250 GP bike. This machine, which would be ridden by Loris Reggiani, reportedly would use an RSV 250 chassis into which will be stuffed a V-Twin sized somewhere between 350 and 400cc, capable of up to 130 horsepower. Just as in World Superbike racing. Twin-powered GP machines can be significantly lighter than those powered by Fours-in this case, up to 66 pounds lighter. Whether this potential advantage is enough to goad Aprilia into action is a question that the company's operators are expected to decide this spring.

Kenny Roberts Jr. heads for Europe

If you’ve been thinking that it's only a matter of time before Kenny Roberts Jr. shows up in Europe to contest a grand prix championship aboard a factory Yamaha, well, you're right.

KR Jr. will contest the 250 GP series aboard a Marlboro Yamaha TZM250 on a team owned by his father. Tetsuya Harada, 1993 's 250 GP champion, is being tipped as young Roberts’ likely teammate.

Roberts spent last year racing in Spain, where he was in contention for the Open Ducados championshipa national 250 GP series-aboard a production-based Yamaha TZ250, but he crashed out, allowing Spaniard Luis D'Antin to take the title. The year before that he finished fourth in final points standings in the AMA 250 championship. □