Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

structure. Pune totaIa buecI on a 4O-rlder field are Z7.&OO franca for the 125cc c:Iua, 29,700 for the 250cc c:Iua and 33.&00 franca for the &OOcc cIeaa. All three hIIve been increased from the former minimum prize money fig... of 26,000 franca. o - The country's only female Pro Stock drag racer Vickie Farr and NMRA Pro Stock Champion Bob Carpenter have joined the gang at R.C. Engineering for the 1980 season. NMRA Top Fuel Champ Jim Bernard and bike builder Ron Teson have left the R.C. Engineer· ing group to join the Vance·Hines gang. Not only that, but Russ Collins has exhumed his incredible "Sorcerer" and has begun to rebuild the rear frame section to accept an even larger slick. Sounds like war ... 00 0') Danger's over. Riders responded to the cancellation threat of the Mar. 1-2 Viewfinders Grand PrIx, mentioned In a recent Latest Poop column, and the raca is definitely onl Assembly approves Trans-California Trail funding SACRAMENTO, CA, FEB. 4 The Assembly hII. given ita approvel, by a vote of &9 to 14, to Assemblyman Bob Haye.' bill approprieting $260.000 to study a netWork of off-highway vehicle nils running the length of california from Mexico to Oregon. "I am very pleased by the patl88ge of AB 1620:' seid the San Fernando VaHey Republican. "Now we go to work on the 8en8te:' the naxt step for Hayes' bill. If passed by the Senate and signed by the Governor, AB 1620 would be funded from the Off·Highway Vehicle Fund. No tax doll.. are involved. The Fund receives monies from ORV reglatratlon fees, fines and a portion of the california gea tax. The door·slammer racing debut of King Kenny Roberts in the 24 Hours of Daytona 1ast weekend was something less than spectacular. The car, a Pontiac, blew up on the opening lap while being driven by a teammate of Roberts. "I did this as a favor for Goodyear." said a shivering Roberts inside his motorhdme parked just outside the Daytona garage area. "We were running on shaved Goodyear street tires. I got in about 15 laps of practice and had fun doing it. Sliding that thing around the speedway is fun and is something you can't legally. do on the streets. But the whole thing doesn't compare to motorcycle racing at all." Roberts remained attired in his Simpson driving suit despite the fact that his car was out of the race. "This is the warmest thing I brought with me," said the Californian, suffering from the freezing temperatures that Daytona attendees were enduring. The AM'. Comm"'n for Motocro.. and TriIIIa commented on site. of the MXGPs at their annual meeting, and the following statements were made reg8ldIng our U.S. clrcuttll: c.IabecI - Must be re-lnap8c:tecl. The epeecI of this drcult must be reducecI. Mid-Ohlo - In order. 0ffIcI8I timekeeping must be provided. UnecIIIIa - In order. Same as for IMld-Ohiol. 2 The Commission for MotocfOllll and Trials also plans to revise International Six Days Trial rules. Planned for 1981. six c1alleS only will be run: 8Occ, 125cc, 175ee, 25Occ, 500cc and over·500cc for four·strokes only. Also in '81, the ISDT wiD be promoted to World Championship status. The CMT rejected IWO proposals. one that would have reduced the maximum daily distance to 180 kD:!. and another that would have eliminated the acceleration tests in order to allow starts of fOUT or five riders. They also rejected a suggestion that the number of motocross (special) tests be increased to four per day of at least 4 km. in length each. Several c1)anges are in store for the 1980 ISDT in France. At each time control, two synchronized clocks will be provided. CMT decided to amend article 17.57.!lto read: "Riders exceeding the one minute allowance will be penalized by 10 points." (Instead of 50.) Another CMT decision deleted a 100·point penalty from article 17.44.6 which reads: "A driver will be penalized 100 point~ for evety db(~) over the maximum noise limit following noise control tests at the final examination." Observed Trials rules recalved attention from the FIM Commlaalon for MotoerolI8 and Trials, too. The individual score card given to each pertlcipent must be u.... effective Jan. 1, 1980. Bikes must be street legal. Late penalty pointe hIIve been incr88sed from 0.1 to 0.2 per minute late. Plans are being made to establish a U5ee World Championship event for national teams along the same lines as the Trophee des Nations and the Motocross des Nations events. It won't happen until 1981 at the earliest, however. Wonder ifwe'lI be able to~ it t~her by then . . . 1. Minimum weight requIrementa for motoeroaa bikes In the World Chllmp1ol.tlip s.Iea are as follows: 125cc. 88kg. 1113.8 Ib.I, 26Occ. • kg. 121&.8 IbI IOOcc, 102 kg. C224.4 1b.1 RIeIers In the 500cc c:t.s wII be the beat peIcI 8CCOi..... to the new F1M prize money The Florida Winter·AMA MX Series. opened Feb. !I in Orlando, and the winners are as follows: 125cc - Tom Benolkin (Hon), 2!)()cc - Don "Killer" Kudalski (Yam) and 500cc - Mickey Kessler (Yam). Jim Pomeroy, who wiD be riding for the Beta factory In the 250cc Wortd Chllmpionahip MX SerIes this year, hils signed up to ride In the Yamahll Gold Cup Supercross r8C8tl to be hekl Feb. 9-10 in Sa8ttle's Kingdome. District !l6 Board of Directon will meet at the Holiday Lodge in Fairfield on Feb. 1!1 at 8:00 p.m. On the agenda will be consideration of Fred Dion's request to promote D·~6 races. Dion formerly promoted motocross events, sanctioned by CMC, under the name Boss Motocross. Comments are requested, either at the meeting or by contacting D·!l6 officials Lynn Ritner, P.O. Box 51, Petaluma, CA, 94952, 707/762·19!19 or Brian Davis, 700 Shady Glen, Martinez, CA 9455!1, 415/228-7615. Pape got a phone call from an ir8ta reader iaat week. Seems ~ guy phoned his callfomia Assemblyman - Mel levine of District 44 - to urge him to .upport the veto over-rlde for Bob Hayes' Sagebru.h RebeIIon Bill, AB1407. The reeder then _ked Levine'. S8C1ebll yo how many calls she'd received on that topic. "We got oae:' .he MId. "and It was you...I" Aaemblyman Levine's number Is 2131277-&228. It's not too late to help California Allemblyman Bob Hayes with his veto over·ride attempt for ABI407. The issue has been temporarily set back, and there's just enough time to ~ a letter and!or a phone call into your Allemblyman. Oops. Kevin Welch cIIdn't . . . . tfWod In the Kene Spi ...... OIIIHVay here and hound on • Compedtlu" C8n-Am. as Pepe told you In !at . . . .'. column. He dIcI It _ • C8n-Am Support rider I 1SJ by S&E Cydea ancI a.Ia Curnutt. Kevin'. cIecI phoned up and aaicI 80. ....... m Leo Potvin, the super Cyck Nnos salesman from Petal, MS, and his wife Janis are the proud parents of a six pound, 14 ounce baby named Lalee Suzanne: Potvin, bom on Jan. !lO. 1980. Just in time for Houston! Greg ~ who IIvea 80rneWhere In Kentucky, painted a pot blllt of Denny LePorte and sent It to U.S. Suzuki. Denny and MX Team Manager Mark Blackwel would Oke to thank Greg, but can't ainc:e the package carried no return 8cIdreu. How about It. Greg? Where are you? Contact Mark ~ U.s. SuzukL please. Open practice will alternate heats with the AFM riders' school at Ontario on Feb. 16, the day before the race. It'U cost you about $!l5 to bring out a bike and get in some warm·up action. Fair enough? Peter Starr's film T• • It to tIM L.... will hit the threIItrea on FlorIde's 88at8m coeat on March 7, Daytona weekend. It.. play In Day· tona Be8ch at the city's only Dolby (that's a tr8cIern.-kI . . eo·equlpped th88tnl. On Mar. 14, It mov_ to florida's weatem coaat. then It'. on to Houston for a Mer. 21 0penIng date. Add another old time AMA Grand National Championship competitor to the list of those ~ting into action in the Winston Pro Series Houston Nationals . George Roeder. Roeder was a member of the Harley-Davidson team in the '60s. Through an innocant-but..ffectIve mix-up In his visa. Pops Yoshimura can't return to the U.S. to see his Formula One four-atroltes raca for the first time In Daytona. At least that'. how it stand. right now. Maybe we can fix that. Please write a latter to the St8t8 Department in Washington,. DC, Attn: Vi.... explaining who Pops Is, how important he Is to our sport and requesting that he be allowecl to ent8r the U.S. for Daytona. Sand that let· ter to the Yoshimura lawyer Jerome Sacka, 32&0 WIlshire Blvd., Suite 2103, Loa Angeles, CA 90010. Mr. SaCka will use your 1etbn to present this case for Pops. OK? Up in the beautiful state of Washing. ton, there will be a public hearing Feb. 27 on the proposed MiD Creek Bike Trail. Said trail is 11 miles long, connects with an existing trail to make a 15·mile loop, and is located in Wahkiakun County about 11 miles northeast of Cathlamet. The meeting begins at 7:!l0 p.m. in the PUD Meet· ing Room in Cathlamet. Call 206/577· 2025 for more info. Y8m8h8'. "Rocket Rex" Staten ancI wife T8WnbI hIIve compeny at their horne In the form of South African MX chllmp Stuart Beattie and his fiance, Pat Fumeaux. Stuart won his first I1IC8 over ...... the Open Pro deaa In a night motocroa at Corona Receway. Papa was ~ with AMA's Bill Boyce the other day and Bill asked us to pass along a reminder to speedway. riders that following a special event in March, the southern California speed. way season ~ underway in April. So if you haven't gotten your AMA speedway license application in, contact Boyce's office at P.O. Box 141, Wester· ville, OH 4!lO81 , 614/891-2425. Berry BrIggs wIH be t88Ch1ng a twcHIay speedway school. at ElsInore Raceway Feb. 23-24. Also te"tadvely achedulecl Is a long nck spaedway echool at Ascot Receway on Mer. 1-2. The Ascot ac:hooI, taught by BrIggs. wUI coat $150, which Includes.....-..nee and ambulanc:e. A good rider response wII . . . . .ta the "_Itadve" daIg-

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