Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

For those of you don't overdo it on New Year's Eve, Sand Hill Ranch in Brentwood, CA, will host their New Year's Day Hangover Marathon on the fU'St day of 1981. There will be 125, 250 and Open classes with one or two riders racing 1 ~ or two· hour races. If you can handle it, racing starts at 10 a.m. and the entry fee is $12. Contact Tom Anderson for more info at 4151796·5695 or 6!l4·!l!l28. And looking aheed to the new year, the 1981 racing season kicks off with the fifth annual CMC Golden State Series at S8ddleb8ck Park on January 3-4. The sevenewent series runs for seven consecutive w . .kends with the following races at Lake Madera, Fremont Raceway, Huron Cycle Park. Carlsbad Raceway, Prairie City and, finally, Saddleback for ·the wrap-up. Sportsmen run on saturdays, entry f. .s $13 mail and $15 post. and Pros go on Sundays, entries being $26 and $36. Need to know more7 Give the CMC offices a ring at 7141557·3323. Feeling guilty because you didn't vote? Here's a way to ease your conscience pangs slightly: Don't miss the Cycle News/West Rider of the Year Contest. ~ next week's paper, we'll print a one· tune·only ballot form. Just fill it out, mail it in and help other loyal eN readers chose our man of 1980. Woody leone, the man who takes C8n-Ams to the ilonneville Salt FI8ts and returns with World land Speed records, stepped off at around 110mph when his fully· feired 175cc bike seized. leone blOke his right leg, possibly badly enough to require a bone graft at a I8ter date. He's back in Texas now, and here's where to send those get-well cards and notes: Woody Leone, 4940 Port Arthur Rd., BMUrnont. TX TT7f15. As we go to press, Don Vesco is at Bonneville with his double·engine KIUOOO streamliner going to a new wheel·driven LSR. No news at presstime, but we expect a full report for next week's Cycle News. Rumor has It that Suzuki is developing a new 250cc works roiid racer to give Yamaha and Kaw_k1 a run for their money in the 1982 World Championship series. Specul8tlon is that it will be an1nrme water-cooled twin. Tallr. about problems: Communist China delegates made a first·ever appearance at the recent FlM Congress, but were surprised to see the Taiwanese flag flying instead of the mainland China banner. FlM, red· faced, fIXed that with a new communist China flag, but then the Chilean delegate pointed out that no Chilean flag was being displayed. That presented the gravest problem of aU when it was discovered that there was no Chilean flag to be found anywhere! Well, determined the FlM, t~re's only one way to solve this one: All flags were taken down, With that routine out of the way, they then proceeded with business as usual at motorcycling's world conference of governing bodies. Torsten Hallman has announced the appointment of Bob Maynard as General Manager of Hallman Rac· ing. Maynard joins partners Hallman and Lars Larsson, and will be reo sponsible for the advertising and marketing of Hallman p(oducts. Newly·c~own~d SUPc:rbi~ers cbamp Steve Wise will be dom' It on the ice, participating in the Nov. 15 Motocross on lee at the Houston Civic Center in Houston, TX. The RC Entertainment show starts at 8 p.m., and advance tickets will be avajlable starung Nov. 7 at Hurst Supply and Humble Yamaha. For more info, call 806/!l72·905!l. The Phoenix, AZ. area will be a hotbed of motorcycling activity on the Nov. 29-30 weekend. On Saturday, Noy. 29, the fifth annual Sun GP takes place at Phoenix International Raceway with riders going for a $5,000 purse. The scene shifts to Canyon Raceway the following day for the third annual Bosch Classic. Pros vie for' a $5.000 purse, with over $5,000 in awards for sportSmen. For more details, check our Calendar section. According to a press release from Motorcycle Mechanics Institute, Keith McCarty - the man who makes Bob Hannah's Yamaha a fast finisher will teach special semjnars at the Phoe· nix, Al school. Arnie Beaman, former tuner for Jim Pomeroy and Team Honda, is a full time instructor at MMI. Soon as Papa finds out when Keith starts his seminars, he'll pass on the info to you. Popular Mechallks will publish a $1,000,000 car test in a spring issue, probably around May, 1981. Why should you cere7 Because in addi· tion to the Ferraris, Duntov Corvette Masarati, BMW M-1, Porsches and other four-wheelers driven by Sterling Moss and Phil Hill, there are motorcycles involved, too. Bikes tested were a Yamaha Maxim 650, Honda 750F, Suzuki GS1100, a GS1100 with R.C. Engineering's tu~bo kit and a Vetter Mystery Ship with an R.C. turbo. Russ Collins did the drag racing part of the riding chores while road riding was shared among PM'. Tony Assenza, jour· naIlst Rich Taylor and rnotojcunaIlsti photographer Joel Breault. Sounds likefunl ~fe'~ Easy, a new 4·H motorcycle pub· hcatlon for adults and youths, is an advanced unit of the 4·H Automotive Program covering tbe fundamentals of safe motorcycling. It includes sound advice on basic street and off·street riding, increasing one's ridjng skills and selecting the right type of bike. The guide is published by National 4·H Council.. with fundjng from The Fire· stone Tire & Rubber Company, wrnch sponsors the National4·H Automotive Awards Program. Copies of the manual ca.n be pu!chased by writing to Educational Aids, National 4·H Council, 150 N. Wacker Drive Crncago, lL 60606. The cost is 75~ each, plus shipping. Order number CO 604. Watch it. buddy! That cyclist has rights, tool In the Oct. 26 issue of TIle . . . . . . . . JotInuI newspaper's Sunday ,....gIrt, a piece written by Don Olesen pointed out !'10torists' do's and don'ts r81Iar~ '"9 motorcyclists. A tip of the CJde News helmat to all concerned with Its publication in Wisconsin. Got yotJf bike warmed, your chain lubed and your body ready for some fun} Papa sure is and he's gettin' itchy while counting down the days to the Cycle News B to V Poker run. What do the Phantom Duck of the Desert and Australia's Blackbutt Gully Motorcycle Complex have in ~ommon7 Their logos. Seems an lndustrious-but-unimaginative artist from Down Under traced the main image of the PDOD duck on a motorcycle cartoon making just a few detail changes in the process. w~, DisOoSEd Let's kiss Claybrook goodbye For whom does the ben toll? It tolls for .you Joan, it toUs for you. At this moment, the transition teams of President-Elect Ronald Reagan are attempting to clean bouse of Carter loyalists. Political appointees, like Joan Claybrook, the administrator of the National I-f!ghway Traffic Safety Administration, wdl be ousted unless they resign first. And this is good. Very good. Nadar compatriots such as Claybroolt have plagued motorcyclists with their b~reaucratic chicanery and regulatory disease for years. With the advent of a Republican Administration you can be sure this philosophy of government will be reversed. Already, the American people have been promilled that the new government will attempt to reduce regulations and to figure out. the COSt·benefit ratio of those rules that are needed. And if 1 sound liJ<.e I'm gloating - I am. Not that there is any room for a member of the Wasrnngton press corps to gloat when he is trying to make a calm and true asse,ssment of the new political enVlfonment. But, excuse me just this once, gloat I must. In addjtion to IUssing Claybrook goodbye, Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus will soon be returning back to ldabo, his home state. This is another plus for motorcyclists. While Andrus came from a state where twothirds of the land is fedenUycontrolled, he continued to push for more federal jurisdiction and land locIr.·ups through wilderness reviews and the like. Now that Andrus will be replaced we may see a repudiation of this process. Gossip in that agency plac~ two names as poaible Reagan appomtees as Secretary of tbe Interior: Rep, Richard Cheney (R-Wyoming} and Rep. Manuel Lujan (R-New Mexico). Both these congressman are from Western states and have been in touch with their constituents during their tenures in Congress more than Andrus ever was - even when Cece was a govem~r. 1 ha;ve watched Cbenqo many times dunng House committee hearings and the prognosis is that be is all for land development and utilization. Earlier this year, Cbenqo was among several Interior and Insular Affain Commjttee members who called for a Justice Department invatigation into the activities of an office in the Interior Department. Speaking of the Interior Comm.ittee which is key to many issues pertiDen~ to motorcycle land usage, the r.ttio between Democrats and Republicans has decreased reflecting the overall House ratio. When the 97th Congress convenes in January. there will be 24' Democrats and 192 Republicans. Thus, Republican seats on the Interior Committee should grow from its current 14 compared to 26 Democrats, up to around 18 Republicans and U Democrats. Perhaps the biggest impact this past election has had is on tbe Senate, which is now in Republican control. The ratio there will be 5' Republicans and 47 Democrats and with that majority comes control of the committee chairmanships. Of importance to motorcyclists are the chajrmansrnps of the Energy Committee and Commiuee on the Environment and Public Wads. Sen. James McClure will succeed Sen. Henry Jackson on the Energy Com· mittee. McClure, from Idaho, favors deregulation and minimum restraint on private enterprise. Stafford, who will take over from Sen. Jennings Randolph, is a moderate who is said to be undergoing an identity crisis brought on by rapid growth and pros· perity in his home state of Vermont. Party caucuses will be held sometime during the first week of December to determine committee assignments in the House and Senate -. just at ~ time when Reagan has satd he wdl announce his Cabinet. Washington DisClosed will keep you up·to·date on developments there of importance to motorcycling. As a final note, the author of House Con. Res. 220, Rep. Robert Walker (R·Pa.) was returned to office. However, it is my opinion that we should all ignore both Walker and his bill. It won't go anywhere in the new ~ngress regardless of his party's gaIDS. For one, Walker has little respe<;t from lJis ~olleagues, Secondly, there IS far more Important business at hand than rns inane resOlution. Overal~, we can expect the Repubhcans to follow traditional party lines in reducing regulation and as R~agan put it during his campaign: Getung the government off the back of the people. e ~ 0") 1-0 (1) ..0 (1) > o Z JimZoia Hayes out. Sierra Club ecstatic. Where did we go wrong 7 Just before noon on Wednesday, November 5, the phone in As· semblyman Bob Hayes' office rang. The voice on the other end identified herself as the Sierra Club reo presentative. She wanted to express her delight that Bob Hayes was defeated -at the polls the day before. . T~is same event which produced joy Wltrnn the ranks of the Sierra Club and their allies, sent shock waves through the ORV community. How could it happen? We thought Hayes' accom· plishm,:nts in Sacramento would guar· antee him another term in Sacramento, most ORV enthusiasts remarked. Un· fonunately, the game does not work exactly that way. When someone wants. y~ out badly enough, and they ~ WllllOg to work and pay for it, they Will get you out. That's what happened to Hayes. The Sierra Club types wanted rnm out worse than the ORV enthusiasts wanted him in. For months CORPAC had asked riders to hold November 1 open to . belp in the campaign. Papa Wealey announced the details of whom to call and where to go to help out in the pre~~tion issu~. On that Saturday mornmg, a relative handful of riders showed up to help out. Hayes asked cycle dealers .to attend a fund raising coclr.tail party a few weeks before the election, again the turnout was dis· turbingly low. As a result, a late smear campaign against Hayes went almost undefended because of lack of funds and workers. The fact that the Los Angeles Herald Examiner credits Hayes with accomplishing more in his one term in the legislature than most legislators ac· complish in several means little when your well· financed opponent is able to (Continued to ptJge16) 3

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