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/126059
Along with the an nouncem en t o f t he above mentioned seminar co m es word that t he AMA has prepared a pamphlet en titled " Sa fe ty in Mo to rc ycle Sports," wh ich o u t line s proper ste ps for handlin g emerge ncies a t m o t or c ycle even t s. Co pi es arc available free fro m th e AMA. Direct yo u r request to Safety in Mo t o rc ycle Sports, c/o t he AMA Pr ofessional Racing Depar tment. Friend of ours hanging around Ph oenix, Arizona asked a few local shop owners wh y so little racing was happening. The co n se ns u s, it se ems, is th at th ere 's n o end to the potential numbers of racers, bu t everyb ody 's waiting for a my th ical race promoter t o co me out of the East an d make lots of crowds and m one y fal l fro m th e sky. Don't they kn ow th e last o ne o f those was named Mos es ? Someth ing to worry about: What would your best fr iend say if you crashed his bike during practice at a road race? In one ca se, t he friend is sui ng the crasher fo r $57,000. It seems it all st a rt ed wh e n the two convoyed to a W/ERA race in . Arizona earlier this year. According to documents filed in Municipal Court by the plaintiff, the defendant crashed the plaintiff's R ickman Honda du ring a p ractice session ride unauthorized by the plaintiff. The su it asks f o r $7,000 in real damages (the alleged value of the crashed machine), and $50,000 in pu nitive damages. The defendant p lans to counter-sue, alleging that . the plaintiff 's mechanic told the defendant to "try out" the plaintiff's bike, that the crash was caused by a worn rear tire negl igently left un-replaced by the plaintiff, and that the crash caused the breakage of the defendant's leg. In case you haven't guessed, both parties in the suit are attorneys. Talk about your comedy of errors that's the story of the last-m inute m ixup that kept Joel Robert away f rom the Superbowl. Joel actually had h is FIM ride r release - it was in AMA MX-manager Mike DiPrete's hands. But Joel didn't know it, and was out looking for the vacationing FIM ·o ff icial wh o issued it when Mike Goodwin and t he AMA both tried to contact h im. It was like a movie plot with no last-minute save. The sti ll-hot team of Larry . Co leman/Wendell Andrews t opped o u t a larg e and varied fie ld in the " U.S. Sidecar Champions hip " r ace at the e nd o f the Laguna Seca race da y. The ch ai r pilots ke pt peopl e sufficiently p umped that, fo r a change , not everybo dy tried to le ave a t once , Wouldn't you know it ; we lea ve Los Angeles fo r one day t o cover Laguna Seca, and the diobolical place has a one -in-a -m illion c le a r day . Humbug! Dear " Signature With e ld" : Woul d like to run you r Chuck J o yner letter, but we can only run le tt e rs wi th sign atures on them . Bonneville Salt Fla ts will be a p rime topic at th e Sal t La ke Dist, BLM Adviso ry Board 's Salt Flat Committee m eeting A ugu st 25-26. The y'll tour the flats August 25 ; and conduct an open publ ic m ee ting in th e p it area o f th e speed way Au gust 2 6 at 8:00 a .m , Best to pre-register if you wish t o make a formal statement - call th e District O ffice at (8 0 1) 524-5 348. Wow , it's getting close to Elks & Ramblers Scrambles t ime at Salinas, California - August 22. Sa turday night before the annual super-benefit is Bart Barfly 's t radit ional ca rd game and party, by reservat ion Oly - oops, only. And . in California , the R ivers ide Dist, Multiple Use Advisory Board will air-tour the East Mojave Planning Un it · August 14-15, camping overnight at Carruthers Canyon_ For inf o. on p ublic participation, call (714)787·1462. Somewhere, ou t in t he mi d dl e o f Ari zona's Navajo Indian Re servation, th ere lives t h is ext re m ely fas t kid wit h a Maico. That's all we kn ow , be caus e o u r ro vin g correspon de n t wa sn ' t br ave eno ug h to catch u p and ask his name . Jim Mayfield , of San Berdoo County Board of Supervisors, wa s circulating about the p its at 395 Cycle Park's recent Half Mile Championship - came early, enjoyed himself, and stayed late for a little bench-racing. Not even in production , and already it may be banned in Cal iforn ia as "too lo ud " (i.e., louder than 83 dbA at 50 feet). The XLCR -1000, Bill Dav idson's " d ream " project, may just sell out the entire 19n production lot without California. T he extremely compact (for a Harley) all -black beauty was the hit of the "Salute to American Motorcycl ing" show at the L.A . Co liseum . The chassis ret ains the trad it ionally massive forged steering head but incorpo rat es an all-new rear frame section and new boxed sw ing arm to accommodate re ar-set footres ts and pe rfo rmance shocks. AMF/H-D claims the new dual-muffle r S iamese exhaust coupled to the sta nd a rd Sportster powerplant makes t his the most powerfu l production bike they' ve ever offered the public. Th is d istinctio n makes the company somewhat re luctant to take a substantial horsepowe r reduction just to develop an 83 dbA exhaust for Ca liforn ia alone. The AM A has an no u nced t he appoin t men t o f St eve Fordyce to the posit io n of Pu blic, Relat ions Man ager . F ord yce will conce ntrate on membership service aspects of t he AMA p rogram, acti ng as a liaison be tween t he n a tional headqua rter s a nd it s membership, disseminating in fo to the n ews media and con d uc t ing adver tising and promotional programs. It's a girl! Ken and Pat Roberts added another member to the ir growing family w ith the b irth of Kristy Lee on July 18 Steve Stack abl e (Suz) ended a fo ur year -dr ou gh t witlr h is firs t AMA Nat io na l Ch am p ionsh ip MX victory in th e August I 5 0 0cc ro u nd at Unad illa, N.Y. Pie rre Kars ma kers (lIon), Tony DiSt efano {S uz], Gary Se mics (Kaw) an d Kent Howerto n (Hus ) rou nded out the top five. St ackable 's 1-3 mo ved him in to third in the poin ts stand ings with Hower ton sti ll hol d in g a lead over Semics fo r the t o p spo t. Defending 500 ch am p J im Wein er t opted to spectate at Lagu na Seca and give his still healing knee a re st . Comple te c overage n e xt week. Veteran hillc limber Earl Bowlby (BSA) w o n the August 1 Muskegon , Mich igan AMA National Championship Hillclimb. Championship points leader Terry Kinzer sat out the event due to a broken wrist. Recent surgery in the Philippines has leel to improv ement of Mark Williams' condition. Mark, who wa s seriously inju red last September at San Jose, is confident that he will wa lk agai n . We're pulling for you, Mark. A ske tc hy re p ort from Europe has' Pat Hennen (Suz ) winning th e 50 0cc ra ce of th e August I Finnish ro ad race GP . That would vau lt Pat in to secon d be h ind Sheen e in t he po int standin gs and c halk him up as th e first Am erica n to win a wor ld champio ns hip GP ro ad ra ce . A request fo r an add itio nal two star ting posit ions · in th e 5 1st ISDT for t he Am erican t ea m has been gra n ted b y the Austria n F1M affili at e. T he two ad dit ion al spots ra ise the Am er ican co n tingen t t o 3 7 and gu arantees Six Da ys vete ran s Eric Jense n a nd Stan Rubotto m positions on t he U.S . team. The second annual AMA Med ical Seminar will be ..eld Saturday, August 14, at the O'Hare Holiday Inn, Chicago, Ill inois. Anyone wi sh in g t o attend sho u ld contact Bill Boyce, AMA, P.O . Se ars Poin t Int'!' Raceway has kindly co n tributed 52000 as its share of t he $4000 p u rse posted fo r the Au gust 28-29 AFM Golde n Gate Ch all en ge ro ad race. An added feat ure wh ich has us kinda ' sto ked is a North vs. South m at ch race be tw een t he t op te n of AFM Nort h a nd the top te n o f AFM South, base d on fastest lap times in qualifyi n g, regardless o f ty p e or size o f m achine . Could p roduce so me in terest ing co ntest s. Is th is really the Allstate TS 850? Or is it Kawasa ki ' s 1977 Jet Ski? Microin spection of our clever spv-pho t o suggest s that, alas, it is merely Kawasa k i' s ne w 650 Fou r; and that the DOHC engine is all -new, not a sca led-down 900. Four-intot wo exhausts; f ro n t and rea r d iscs, too. Neat, fellas. Very neat. Another w in for Roger DeCoster (S uz ) in 500cc World Championsh ip events came in the A ugust 1 Belgian round . Word has Brad Lackey (Hus) 'f in ish ing second. Roger D' s win should assure of his fif th 500cc World h im