Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

said Steve Storz, a close friend of Corky's, "but he's reali, sore." Craig Fillrner, who accompanied Steve Eklund in his '79 Winston Pro Series title quest, has parted company with th e Zanotti Enterprises group. Fillmer, who had to miss San Jose due to the death of his father , was at Ascot working with Charlie Seale on Steve Morehead's bike . Frank Nye , who worked with Eklund during his rookie year, was twisting the wrenches on bike #1 at the Gardena oval and will continue through the season . David Aldana's protest of the Daytona results was given a hearing before a three-man board on May 10 in Los Angeles, and denied. Asked about Aldana's claim of never having been lapped by Patrick Pons, AMA Commissioner of Professional Racing Mike DiPrete said, "It doesn't matter. If you throwaway the laps and go by the times, Aldana finished sixth." Schreiber sixth as Vesterinen winsSSDT FORT WILLIAMS, SCOTLAND, MAY 5-10 American Bernie Schreiber (Bull finished sixth in the Scottish Six Day Trials after leading the first two days. On the third day weather turned to sleet, rain and cold numbing the field and causing Schreiber to turn in a disastrous 51 mark score which nullified his superb rides on days one and two. Although finishing sixth, Schreiber made his mark on the premier trials event in the world. Yjro Vesterinen (Monl steadily worked his way to the top of the leader board and took a five mark decision from last year's winner Malcolm Rathmell (Monl- 78 to 83 - for the win. , The rest of the field lagged a good deal behind with third place finisher Rob Shepard (Honl tallying a 108 mark score. Mick Andrews (Yaml, Jamie Subira (Fanticl, Schreiber, Martin Lampkin (Bull, and Nigel Burkett (Monl rounded out the top eight. American Lane Leavitt (Mon) also rode, but his placing was unknown at presstime. 2.· Bill Buchka, our man in Europe phoned Papa first thing Monday morning with the following MX and road race GP info: Team Yamaha's Kenny Roberts won the May 11 500cc Italian RRGP by 17 saconds over Italy's Franco Uncini (Suz) at the Misano event. Graziano Rossi (Suz) was third, followed by Yama· ha-mounted J 0 h n n y Cecotto. Former 500cc World Champion Barry Sheene rode his Yamaha to seventh place. In 500cc MXGP action, Brad Lackey came within one lap of winning both motos of the Swedish Grand Prix held at Vissef[arda, dropping to third in the second race only after his rear wheel began to disintegrate. Reigning World Champion Graham Noyce put his Bill Buchka-tuned Honda into fifth in the first race, but dropped out of the sacond moto when a rock shattered the heavy faceshield mounted on his helmet. Hakan Carlqvist placed 2·1 for the overall victory' on his Yamaha. Andre Malherbe, riding the Alan Hahn-tuned Honda placed 3-2 for third behind Lackey. In the points standings, Lackey leads the world with 97 over Malherbe's 91, Carlqvist (791, Andre Vromans (43) and Jean.Jaques Bruno (33). Roger DeCoster - who DNF both motos with a jammed brake in one mcto, a broken shifter in the other - is seventh in points with 25. Noyce is eighth with 24 points. In the Czechoslovakian 250cc MXGP, Jaroslav Falta and Pavel Rangolov each won a moto, but Raymond Boven took overall honors with a 2-2 day. Boven and Rongolov ride Husqva· na. Falta a cz. Falta leads the World Ctt!UtlpIQn.shlp • .PQints '.' standings . , • with 38 over George Jobe's 34 and Dieffenbach's 28. Jobe Rolf finished 4-3 at Czecho; Diffenbach finished eighth in the second moto with a placing outside the top 10 in round one. Frank Stacy (KTM) topped the field in the May 10-11 ISDT Two-Day Qualifier round at Rose City, Michigan. Stacy was the 250cc class winner. Following Stacy was Open class winner Frank Gallo 14 points (seconds) behind, 1688 to 1702. Dick Burleson (Hus) turned in the third best score 1704 - and finished second in the 250cc class after holding a slim lead at the end of Day One. In the 125 and 175cc classes it was Dane Leimbach (Kaw) and Jack Penton taking the wins, respectively. Doug "Wheelie King" Domokos was in Atlanta May 12-13 for his part in Bert Reynolds' movie Cannonball. Domokos picked up the Harley-Davidson Sportster he is to wheelie in the movie - with a pessenger - and proceeded to practice a bit. After about 20 minutes with the machine, Domokos had already scraped the taillight off. "Hey, this thing's a puppy. There's nothing to it," said Domokos. Typos aren't limited to the newpaper bizness, Across the chest of Ascot winner Billy Labrie's leathers is the word "Fletcher's" and underneath are the words "HaTely -Davidson ." Corky Keener missed the Ascot National due to a crash In the previous night's non·National half mile. .",He _did n~t . bJ8ak . anythiag:: ~ According to an editorial in the Wich ita Beacon, the Colorado Medical Society has initiated a push to , have a helmet law reinstated. (The law was repealed in 1977.) Motorcyclists responded to the Beacon 's editorial with letters, but of course the real problem is not with the newspaper but with the medical society and the state legislators. Letters to them are in order. In fact , Colorado motorcyclists can't afford not to write. Colorado cyclists are In trouble, but that doesn't isolate their problem from the rest of us. A group called Colorado West Concerned Cyclists has formed a defense fund. They're a chapter of ABATE. and they're doing what they can to stop the helmet law. They're looking for ideas and the necessary money to implement them. Gary Cape is the group's political officer; he can be reached at 3031434-7640. Or write (or send a contribution, if you choose) to them at P.O. Box 2991, Grand Junction, CO 81502. Jim "T he Animal" Fishback will make his first appearance of the 1980 season at San Bernardinos Inland Motorcycle Speedway on May 21. Fishback, recently picked the most popular rider by the San Berdoo fans , has been kept busy riding off-road events for Team Yamaha. Headlines read one way, but the story reads the other in the most recent version of Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Status Report newsletter. Headlines shouted that helmetless cyclists triple fatal head injuries, that unhelmeted motorcyclists are taxpayers' burden and that helmet laws achieve universal helmet use. If the reader looks further into the article, he discovers such intersting statistics ' as these: States where helmet laws have been repealed showed a 40% increase in motorcycle fatalities; alcohol and drug use was cited in 12% of all crashes and 45% of fatal crashes. Of 71 cyclists hospitalized at Denver General Hospital, \they never said which 71) only 38% were covered by commercial insurence or workman's compensation. Heavy percentages, huh 1 But buried deep within their copy, far from being displayed by headlines' emphasis, they printed one most important statistic: 92% of crash-involved riders in a California study had never had formal professional training riding motorcycles. NInety-two percent. And they're saying we need helmets?I . ~ ~:' ; z: . r: i: Are you a Californian who would like to ask

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