Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1981 03 04

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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bike at Willow Springs. but his injuries were far less serious than the rumor had put it; he bruited a hip and a heel. He'll ride at Daytona. What caused the fall? Not the bike. says Mike: "I overcooked itl" o..1edy San Fiaida:o'. I.uIJImaky has joined T-.n YoehImur& He'U ride In the AMA Superblke Series only • a TAm Yosh member. and he.. Bt8rt with the Mar. 1& T. . . . . event. Pee Wee Gleason, riding for a Hot Rod Magt:WM test. put a Yamaha Seca 750 into the 11-second bracket with a 11.971 second. 11 1.24 mph run last week. Don't th18 week'. ".., show; slated for Wednesday. Feb. 26. 18 the '80 Superbowl of Motocross. "..",. Reagan budget cuts threaten rider ed ByJimZoia WASHINGTON. D.C.• FEB. 23 President Ro~ Reagan. in ~ program for economic recovery. has P':oposed major budget cuts In the Department of Transportation's Highway SlItety Grants Program. These cuts will drastically reduce the grant '!"oney the Netional Highway Traffic SlIfety Administration melees IIVlIiIIIbIe to the states for motorcycle rider educ:ation programs helmet effectiveness raseerc:h end other safety projects of this natura: Under Reegan's proposal. the Highway SlIfety Grants Program's expend.~~ will be s~~ by .16 million in fiscal veer 1982 and by .163 millIOn In FY86. This will leave DOT with $194 million for its grant program in FY82 and $81 million in FY86. Under the current budget. compil~ by the Carter Administration. DOT would have expended $210 million in FY82 and $244 million in FY86. Even with the Reagan Administration's larg.scale grant's program cuts DOT's budget in this araa still will not balance by FY86. • According to the economic racovery document Reagan sent to ~ong~ess. ~e Admini~t!0nwill propose legislation - probably durIn~ ~.I~ year s reauthorization of the Highway Safety Act - to restrict e!lglblllty only to programs that have been successful in promoting hl~~lI."ay safety. In a recent report. the General Accounting Office crltl.clzed. the grant p~C!9ram. concluding that it had no impact on reo d"!clng highway fatalities. NHTSA has traditionally used its share of thiS grant money to promote helmet use rather than rider education Reagan also believes that federal funding to the states for the enforce: ment of tha 55 mph speed limit should be eliminated. If Congress approves Reagan's proposals. the Highway Safety Grant Program will only deal with items that have shown effectiveness in r~ducin~ .fatalities such as. alcohol safety. emergency medical service training and the colleCtIon of traffic accident data. No grant money will be given to the ststas for programs such as driver/pedestrian behavior research. These proposed cuts come at a time when motorcycle interest ~roups hope~ NHTSA would put more time and money into promoting nder education programs. However. what funds remain could be channeled into this effort depending on the inclination of the new NHT~ edministrate:"" Reagan's nominee for that post. Raymond Peck. IS the former director of regulatory affairs for the National Coal Association_ He had previously served in the Department of the Interior. Peck must still be confirmed by the Senate. The Committee on Commerce. Science and Transportation is planning to hold a hearing on his nomination in the near future. American Bernie Schreiber finished third in the February 22 opening round of the World Championship Observed Trials Series in Spain. Schreiber was forced to use his backup Italjet after damaging his number one machine in a stadium trials just before the championship round. Montesa's Manuel Soler edged out Eddy Lejeune (Hon) for the win. The pair tied on marks lost at 92, but the win went to Soler based on a higher number of sections cleaned. Defending World Champion Ulf Karlsson (Mon) took seventh. Snow and unseasonably cold weather was the order of the day. 2 Got lOme updated re8U1ta on the ~er 400 from SCORE the other day. Some occurred In chIIn.... C.... 38. Originally lIated . . eighth In cia... Rolf T1bblln and Jim Partridge on a Hu.ky moved up to fourth with their corrected time of 6:16:46.28 followed by HoYt Statham on a Yamaha at 6:18:10.13. OrIginaHy I~d a. fourth. Hondamounted Murray Johnson and Charles Cavallo dropped to sixth and Hu.ky riders Don Teeters and Ron Wilson officially fln18hed seventh. The rest of the po.ltlon. hold true. If you heard the rumor about Team Honda's Mike Spencer crashing and being seriously hun (Papa heard he'd broken his back), relax.. .it isn't true. What is true is that Spencer did get-off wbile practicing on a Honda Super- ml.. TV Peter Essaff reports that he's signed with Long Beach Grand Prix (FormuJa One) to run a $17.500 sidecar event at the Mar. 15 race through the streets of Long Beach. The RacflTs TV program will mm the chairs for a show to be aired next summer, and of course, CBS Sports SpectacvJ.ar will be doing coverage of the GP, which if we're lucky, will include some sidecar bits. Ho.PlTaI STOP: Dale Kindel found an eight-toot-wide hole at the Washington'. Birthday 100 In Bend. OR, and Is pre••ndy recup. rating from broken _ _ including a broken beck and broken nose. Dale'. addreBB Is 1440 York Way. &perks. NV 89431. and he sure could use some get-_II wishes. HosPITal STOP: Ken Maahs was practicing for the Washington's Birthday 100 on the day before the race and crashed, breaking his wrist and sustaining neck injuries. Send Ken's cards to 2014 Adams, McMinnville, OR 9712S. American Honda Motor Company. Inc.. KawBBakI Motors Corporedon. and U.S. Suzuki Motor Corporation will post contingant prize money for the 1981 Suparblke Serle•. The unique prize fund. will be available at each .erIe. raca to the top 10 non-factory .pon.ored finishers riding each of the participating brands. The companle. will _ch post $2,000 for all point-paying race. In the Superblke Serle•• up to a total of 10 raca•. Auuming there are 10 non-fectory-.ponsored finishers on _ch of the three participating brand•• the manufacturers' contingent prize money would total $6.000 par event. Clarification: Remember that 10 second quaner mile time turned in by a "stock" 'SI Kawasaki GPzI 100 that we announced in last week's paper? or Papa got a few phone calls questioning the accuracy of that report. Some of the questions raised involved the "members of the enthusiast press looking on" - who were they? None of us seemed to have been there. Or even heard about it. Other repons had the Kawasaki running either a slick or a wider rire, and one member of the enthusiast press questioned if the machine was indeed a production machine or the pre-production prototype that had been released for testing to at least one of the monthlies. Papa phoned Kawasaki and got the following answers: The members of the enthusiast press were two Cycle Magazine staffers who were at Orange County International Raceway "more or less by coincidence," according to a Kawasaki spokesman. Yes, the machine was a pre-production prototype. They were at OCIR to do some tire testing, and while the 1100 wasn't slick-shod, the tires mounted at the time of the 10-second run were not the ones that came on it from Japan. The tires that came on the prototype were Bridgestones, a 3.25-YI9 L303A on front and a 4.25-YlS G506 on the rear. They tested Dunlop lSI tires (used during the run), a 3.50-YI9 on front and a 4.60-YIS on back, and recommended that the factory mount them on the final production version ofthe 'SI Kawasaki GPzllOO. According to England'. TrW. + IfX News, Jeek Van Velthoven showed up at a Belgian International MX with a wetarcooled 496cc KTM. Long Jeak didn't race it. but he did. "bum down the motorway. and got 196 kilometers per hour on the clock." Quick conversion on Papa'. fingers and toes makes thet around 123 mphl And speaking of strange KTMs, Gerard Rond was seen racing a single rear shock KTM in a Dutch International event at Yenray. The race, however, was won by Pierre's brother Toon Karsmakers on a Honda. Gernt Wolsink (Hon) and Frans Sigmans (Mai) each won a moto. lven ven den Broeck is expected to take delivery of a new .ingl••hock 500cc c.... Maico by the end of February. according to folks at T.... + IIIX News. The reason Honda's Freddie Spencer retired from the Houston Astrodome IT National was due to a separated shoulder inCllJ'red in an opening lap shunt. After the race it was feared that the shouJder was broken, but Spencer saw a specialist in Shreveport. LA, who diagnoeed it as a separation. "Ik'O be in a sling for a few weeks. but he'll be ready for Daytona," said Honda Racing Team Manger Dennis McKay. Kenny Roberts and compeny rented Laguna Seca Receway on Feb. 2324 so the King could coach and work out with RobertslLawwili Racing riders MDte KIcId and Jimmy Filica prior to Daytona. In the Speed Week events. Roberts will ride hi. European-besed work. Yamaha 7&0. Kldd will ride Skip Aksland's TZ7&O (Skip is currentiy recuperating from corrective .urgeryl and Ughtwelght Expertranked Filice will ride a TZ2&O in the International Lightweight event. Husky's Terry Cunningham was entered in the Feb. 22 Chaparrals M.C. Coyote Derby National Enduro, but incurred a broken tailbone in an incident two days before the event and did not compete. At last report Cunningham was returning to Ohio. Bruce Undo who rode a Wascof18med, Honda XR&OO-powered road racer In practice at several AMA Nationals while campaigning for a change In the lightweight Expert cia.. (the rule. have been changed and &OOcc four-stroke .Ing.... 4ac:c four-.troke twins and 2&Occ two-stIok. twins are now ahuiMdL wi! ride the thumper in the DIIytona Ughtweight Expert event. Steve Stackable will be conducting a series of motocross schools in Texas through the year. If you're interested, give him a call at 5121443-2717 or 441-5336. In an interview with the French magazine IIoto Rewe. Bred Lackey said he Is being paid twice . . much money by Suzuki. he'd eerned from K8wII• •i; the actual

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