Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

News from the California Department of Parks and Recreation is that the new Director has reponed for duty. and th e former De - Windstorm damage forces postponement of Topeka half mile By Dale Brown TOPEKA. KS, JULY 5 A freak windstorm that blew away part of the concrete roof of the Sunflower State Expo grandstands forced postponement of the July 5 AMA Grand National ChampionshiplWlnston Pro Series half mile at Topeka, KS. Described by some witnesses as a tornado, though no funnel was seen, the storm hit late Friday afternoon, damaging the fairgrounds and a nearby muffler shop. According to the Topeka Capitol-Journal, at least two persons suffered minor injuries. The winds folded part of the roof back over onto itself, and showered front row Beats with concrete chunks. A fireworks show was scheduled for Friday night. but the storm hit before many spectators had arrived. Among those near the site were promoter Don Brymer, track prep specialist Harold Murrell, and AMA Professional Competition Manager Bill Boyce. "It damn near flipped my pickup over," related Murrell. Promoter Brymer was heard to joke later, "The T-shIrt guy had a great idea. For next year's event. we're gonna have a T-shirt with Mike Kidd (the '79 Topaka winner I or whoever wins the race this year, and coming off his rear tire is gonna be a tornado'" Californian Randy Mamola (Suz) won the July 6 Belgian GP, finishing ahead of Marco Luchinelli (Suz) and defending World Champion Kenny Roberts (Yam). Mamola qualified fastest for the 500cc race with Roberts fifth fast est . Freddie Spencer made his GP road racing debut, qualifying 12th only to retire from the race with mechanical difficulties on the fifth lap , as did Dale Singleton who had qualified 21st fastest. Following Mamola, Luchinelli and Roberts across the finish line at Zolder were Graeme Crosby (Suz). Wil Hartog (Suz) and Franco Uncini (Suz). Barry Sheene failed to qualify. 2 Dale Singleton called from Belgium to give us the above rundown and had a few comments to make about GP road racing. "You wouldn't believe how competitive things are at GPs, but the Belgian GP qualifying and finish resultS will give you a good indication. Think about Sheene not qualifying, Spencer qualifying 12th and me having to drag my knees in every corner and do all kinds of magic tricks just to qualify 21st. It's unbelievable. I'm winging back to race at Mosport next weekend and then I'll turn around and come back to Europe for a 750cc race at Hockenheim in Germany. I'm learning how to really get the gas on," "Jay's equipment is ready and on its way West. just in case..:' HarteyDavIdson's racing boss Dick O'Brien told Cycle News on pressday, July 7. Springsteen tried racing, unknown to O'Brien at the time, and won a Marion, OH half mile. "I took a glucose tolerance test and a lot of other tests," Springsteen said last week. "and they found I'm a borderline diabetic which means the condition could be monitored by diet or, If need be, Insulin." Jay was scheduled to undergo more tests on July 8, and unless the results are 6Xbernely negative, he'll race at the July 19 Ascot TT. said the '79 Daytona 200 winner. Italian Elio Zanini was killed while setting three new world speed endurance records on his streamlined BMW last week. Zanini, who constructed the streamliner himself with help from BMW, lost control of his rnachine at the Nardo test track in southern Italy when a gust of wind caught him . Zanini, 42, established new world records for one hour at 140.3 mph, six hours at 133.27 mph, and 1,000 kilo meters (621 miles) at 138.05 mph average speeds. Mike Beldwin jetted to Europe two weeks ago to sell a motorhome and to spectate at the Dutch and Belgium GPs. He boosted the spirits of American road racers Kenny Roberts, Randy Mamola and Dale Singleton by hanging huge banners on' the paddock fence, "USA all the wayl Go Ken-RandyDale," said the banners which also featured a large American flag. . Steve Scott and Lonnie Hotchens took top honors at the July 4 Pike's Peak Hillclimb in the 250cc and Open Pro classes, respectively. Scott did the deed on his Bultaco, shaving three seconds off his old time as he set a new 250cc record of 13:56 .81. Yamaha -mounted Hotchens won the Open class with a 13:44 .735 time. In the Amateur ranks, Yamaha rider Dave Doyle cranked out a 15:09.76 win in the 250cc class while Don Seibel , 11 , rode his Kawasaki to a 14:33 .69 victory in the Open Amateur category. Dave Aldana was a last minute no-show; no word on Chuck Palmgren. Lectron's Sparky Edmonston placed third in the Open Pro class, turning a 14:15.82 time on his Yamaha. Full coverage next week. Team Kawasaki has exercised a contract option requesting that Larry Wosick not ride any more races for them this year. Wosick will remain under contract to Kawasaki until the end of the year, although he may terminate his contract if he wishes to ride for another company. Wosick placed seventh in the 250cc National MX Series; he'll miss only the remaining Super- puty Director Alice Hu ffman is on her way out. No name has been mentioned yet as her replacement. There are good indications that we will be ab le to work with the new Director, and if the Governor is reasonable with his selection of a deputy , it is conc eivable that we can tum around some of the mess which exists within the OHV program. Still a problem is an OHV Program Manager who has his own ideas as to how the program should be run , and cares little about the interests of the user organizations. This is a problem which has surfaced with increasing frequency lately , where lower level bureaucrats within the Department of Parks and Recreation ask for public comments on projects and then con tinue on with their original plans Besides the OHV Program Manager, similar traits have been observed in the Project Planner for the Hungry Valley facility. Although there is an advisory committee for the Hungry Valley facil ity, and in spite of the fact that this advisory committee has repeatedly and emphatically told the planners that we do not wish to pay for elaborate and expensive facilities, the planners con tinued to return with facility designs that look like something out of a KOA brochure. Many of the organizations will be asking the new Director to seek to straighten out these wayward bureaucrats, or clean house and put in some managers who will work with user representatives. Meanwhile, back on the desert, the BLM has completed another phase of their "dog and pony" show. The last weekend of June was the time of the latest meetings of the Bureau's Desert Planning Advisory Committee. At these meetings, many of the committee members' hostilities towards off-road vehicles were clearly expressed. Although the Advisory Committee seems inclined to recommend some variation of a "protection alternative" with some concessions to the commercial and recrea tional interests. there is little likelihood that their recommendations are going to have much effect upon what seems to already have been decided by th e Bureau's Desert Plan staffers. Almost anyone who has had a con versation with BLM bureaucrats who are privy to planning process information, report certain conversational slips which indicate that the plan has .Iong since been completed. The hearings, advisory committee meetings, letters, etc. are all window dressing to im p ress the Congress who asked BLM to seek input from the public. It seems apparent that whether we are dealing with bureaucrats from BLM or State Parks. we run up against the same problem - stubborn bureaucrats. C. N. Deepthroat Informetion expressed in C8Iifomla CapItol Confidential does not necesBerily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Send comments to Voices, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801. (Contin ued to page 46 )

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