Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

. .cond. at the Mar. 17 R.d Garter Enduro. Scot Harden made it six in a row as he won the Southern Nevada Jacltrabbits M.C. MRAN hare scrambles held Ma:r. 25 at Eldorado Dry Lake. NV. Finishing second to Harden's Spons· man Cycle Husky 590 CR was the Vegas Cycle 400 Maico Magnum of Arlthony Pasqualotto. Third overall, first 250cc Expen. was Chris Howard on a Team Valley Cycle Yamaha. To coordinate and manag. a atatewide motorcycle safety program. a California Motorcycla Safety Program office has opened. Thl. program I. being edmlnlstered by the Motorcycl. Safety foundation under contract to the California OffIce of Traffic Safety. Lyle C. Andersen. a' m.mber of the Foundation'. education depertment for the Ieat three yea,.. has been named atat. coordinator for the project. He can be contacted at 9927 Felr Oak. Bouleverd. Fair Oak.. California 96828. 9161~ 2&63. A toll free tel.phona number. 8001962-&672. Is avalleble to Clill· fornia orgenizetion. interaated in .ponsoring motorcycle rider courses or anyone Intere.ted In ...Isting MSF with the California motorcycl. safety project .hould . contact ~,..n. Kawasaki has put up $150 for each points-paying AFM road race (there are 14 of them) on the 1980 American Federation of Motorcyclists calendar. The $150 goes to a Kawasaki-mounted winner in the 600, 750cc and Open Box StOCk and Production classes. In the Mar. 25 AFM race at Willow Springs, Kawasaki riders won five of the six classes collecting a total of $750 Team Greenbacks. Steve Eklund and Dave A1dena have .igned to ride both SPM Indoor .hon track race. in . .rly May. The rac••, in the San Francisco Cow Palac. on May 2 and the Long Beech Ar.na on May 7. will feature a .pecial "beat pei,." teem rac. in addition to the full AMA shon track program. Dav. Aldana and Jim Allc. will ride .. T. .m M.xico, .and oth.r po.slbllitlea includ. Team SoCal. Team NorCal. T.am Ohio. Team T.xa•... IGuest Editorial I! Barry Briggs will host a speedway school at San' Bernadino over the Mar. 29-50 weekend. If you're interested, phone Freda Wenn for more info at 714/776-2017. AMA District g7. once the sandlot for fledgling AMA professional dirt track racers has packed the 1980 scrambl~s cal- TTScrarnbles '80: Revival meeting in progress , Got your tickets for the Mar. 30 CooraIYamaha National Champion.hlp Moto~o.. Race. at S8ddl. back Park7 G.n.ral admiaaion tickets go for .10. and you can pick ·.m up at Tlckatron outlets. More inf07 Dial 2131888-8112. Minicycle ridersl Don't miss the upcoming Honda/AME American Mini· cycle Championship Series. It's a 10race (nine regionals and one final) series in which no less than 50 Honda minis and motorcycles will be given. away. It all kicks off at Indian Dunes with the Far West Regional on May 10-11 and concludes with the Aug. 1-5 final at Lake Whitney in Texas. Details are available at American Motocross Enterprises, 215/881-5778. Ch.ck out the April issue of Penthou.e for an article on Kenny Roberts. The May 4.. Winston Pro Series San Jose Mile will be officially named "The DaidoiD.l.D San Jose Mile." In making the announcement, Niles Dally, National Sales Manager, said, "Daido Corporation 6f America is pleased to have the opportunity to be associated with the 17th running of the Sal1' Jose Mile. Our sponsorship of this legendary event marks a first for us and we look towards a lasting involvement with its producers, Bob Barkhimer Associates. I Desert riders to review BLM Desert Plan draft WESTERVILLE, OH. MAR. 24 'With the rei.... of the Buraau of Lend Management's California De.en Plan dreft. the Amerlcen Motorcyclist Auoclatlon is urging d ••en rid.,. to revi.w the document and submit written comments to BLM In suppon of more avelleble riding ar.a by May 16. The draft. costing the gov.rnment $8 million, propo.e. four alternativ. . for de. .n management. Two of these dec,.... riding area slgnlflcently.·a third doee not ch.nge curr.nt restrictions and a founh expends" the amoUnt of speca open to ride,.. The four alternatlv. . ara: Preeervatlon. Balenced, No Action and U... Th. Belenced BLM·. attempt "to protect s.nsltive resourc.. and accommodate motorized v.hlcl. u. .:· will reduce "open" .pece by almoat 60 percent. The Balanced AIt.rnatlv.ls mo.t Ilk.1y to be adopted In the final plen. BLM . .Id. "What the BLM consld.rs balenced i. much different from what we beli.v. i. balenced:' . .id Robert Rasor. AMA·. associate director of governm.~ reletlona. "Considering that off-highway v.hlcle use,. contrl~ .330.4 mWlon to the desen aconomy eaCh year, OHV rid.,. ere shon-changed under the Belenced A1ternativ•." Rasor added that six years ago "open" riding space was cut 94.6 perc.nt and that under the Balenced Alternatlv. open araas would be reduced another 2.8 perc.nt. "That i. not belenced:' Rasor ..Id. "It's ridiculous. "W. seek an alternatlv. that will .hift the emphasis to somewhere between the Balenced and the UN Alternatlv... The eloser to U.e the batter:' h. expleined. With the r...... of the draft. a 9G-dey comment period begen and runs through May 15. Also. a series of public heerings will be held throughout southern California to di.cuaa the draft. To receive a copy of the Desen Plan draft. to find out the public hearing schedul. . and to comment on the draft. write: The California Deaen Plen Steff. 3610 CantrarSulte 402. Riversid., CA 92506. Or cell toll-fr.e 800/442-4946. The final plen will be review.d by Congress this summer and will be implemented by Sept. 30. AItem8tIv.. . . endar with a program that will have dirt returning Sportsman I I trackers hi h h I ks to popu ar . oca trac w c ave been unavaIlable for the last several ye~TS. his .. D" 57 S bl t t wntmg, ~tnct . cram es Ste~ard Ed Carroll IS workmg toward closmg deals for the use of ~scot, Adel.anto, Carlsbad, Corona, Elsmore, Perns and S~ddleback. In fact, the latest TT pomts race was at Saddle. h b k M h 16 Th L' h ac on arc ' . e Ig twelg ts Motorcycle club put It on, an~ ,trust ~e, w~en they throw a race, It s no hghtwelghtl Last time I roosted tbe TT track at Saddleback, Gary Scott passed me mid-air on a long downhill jump and left me feeling fairly inadequate for the task of playing with him on his track To' induce people to try out a skid race at least !>nce, the Lightweights like to run beginners Pie Plate races. That means that you can "run what you brung". They'll tape a paper plate wi-th a number on it to your bike, and you don't have to compete at a' frantic level. You can JUSt skid around for tbe fun of it. By popular demand they also have an ATC class, a Desert racer class, one for Motocrossers, -and the usual Novice. Amateur, Expert classes which provide really hot racing. If that's not enough, the expanded program for future 'races this year includes Semi-Pro class racing which means Novices and Amateurs go for the gold while Experts go for the green stuff. With such a come·one, come-all program this year, the first points race at Elsinore on Jan. 20 was a basic redhot flank speed, bar-to-bar, runaway dirt track number. The "gas it and slash through the traffic" routine is already happeninK on the district tracks, but because lots of the district Sportsman stars s\l-ch as Jeff Johnson, Ross Klatt, Chris Cannon, Tommy Walton and others are taking out Professional Class C licenses (0 ride the Ascot Pro Ser~es this Spring, they're even more set for "kill" in the 250cc class: They're about two clicks higher on adrenalin than everyone else because they're anticipating racing as coupl~ o~ E PrOs in a months. They also-. know that Dlstnct 56 guys from Northern California will be there at o Ascot. So, between the would-be Pros 00 filing their teeth to sharp points for 0') Ascto, and everybody else being jazzed ~ at riding ~n newly. resurrect~ track~, CN the heat IS definnely pumpmg thIS year. M I n f act, a rea I Ch a IIenge h as sh aped c:4 up between the District 56 guys in Northern California and the District 57 guys in Southern California. It got hot when the Sponsman National Short Track Championship was held in Ponerville, CA, last summer. When the dust settled, most of the 1980 Sportsman National Numbers were b .h \ . . . won, yen er Dlsmct 56 or DlstTlct 57 riders with a few being left to the rest of the cream of American Sportsman riders. ..... .... < Then, ~hon·ly thereafter,. the ~portsman National TT ChamplOn~hil? was held at. A~ot. Repeat deal. DIStTlCt 36 and Dlsmct 5: grabbed most of the low. TT National Number pl~tes, leavmg the rest of the competitors planning revenge w~en the Nationals a~e held back east thIS year. Consequently, when you go to the TT events, you'll see quite a fe~ ?f the earned Natlon-al Number plates ~n the Expert ra,nks ..They're the BanzaI guys that run em mto t~e comen feet up, full lock, an.d movm~ fore and aft to tra~fer weight, US!~g up~er body enghsh to transfer cTltlcal weIght. You can keep your eyes on the motocross ride:s. who come .ride the TTs too. TheIr ~':'tocross bIkes have been ve7 compet~~ve stock, a~d extreme.y competitive wn~ tire changes, shorten~d suspenSIOn, and .the usual re-ge~:mg for th~ appropnate. track conditions. They ve been havmg a ball, too, sliding the flat comers and, especiaily, styling- the jumps, to the chagrin of the regular din track force._ TT racing also provides good cross.over training for motocrossers since they have to pay more attention to line on a track where smooth conditions prevail. But whatever is being ridden, whether it's an ATC, a' Uni-Trak motocrOS5er or an out-and-out din track framed motorcycle, everybody's having fun on dirt tracks and goin' for it in 1980. . For District 37 scrambles details, call the hodine, 215/598-0615, or Scrambles Steward Ed Carroll, 213/371-7556. Jerry Greer .,.. 9

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