Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 C') Montesa's Manuel Soler opened the championship season with a win in his .home country. Gene W1rwehn (left) and Rob Rasor testified before Congr... on the CEQ. AMA testifies before Congress In testimony before the U.S. Congress, AMA Attorney Gene Winvahn charged that the .C~· cil on Environmental Quality un· properly contracted for a study whic.h condemned dirt bike riding on pubhc lands. In a two·pronged attack. on the study, entitled Off·Road Vehicles ~n Public La7lds and written by DaVJd Sheridan. Wirwahn contended the reo pon was biased against ORVs and that CEQ. had violated f~ p~rement practices in cOl.ltracung for It. "Mr. Sheridan was selected to do the repon because he would produce the right results" the attorney told the House Su~ittee on FISheries and WJ1dlife ConIervation aDd the Environ· ment. "No invitations to bid were solicited, and there has been no formal contract between CEQ. and Mr. Sheridan," Wirwahn charged. Subcommittee Chairman Joim Breaux seemed to agree, saying the study waa in the IeCtion on ORVs. He added that it had failed to weigh their bene· W. AMA AIIociate Director ro.- Gov· ernment Relations Robert Rasor told the subcommittee. "There are ~me very obvious sociaJ and recreaU?naJ beDdits to ORVs." Rasor explained ORV. have therapeutic value a~ .of· feral family m:reational opportuDJtteI. The positive aide of ORVs waa ~r· looked in the Sheridan report, he ~id. The hearing was held t~ c~DI1der the authorization of appropna0tm:' !or CEQ, whoee duties Include adVJSJng the pnsident on environmental ma~. Chairman Breaux stated that pamcu· lar emphasis would be placed ~n the agency's p~ures for contractmg reo ports and studies. Wirwahn said the AMA was not the only group to complai~ ab01;1t "the lack of balance in CEQ and Its contracting procedures. It was discloeed that just about every study ever done for the agency was con~raet~ ~thout solicitation and thus, 10 VJoIauon of federal law. Besides various ORV group, the Geoeral Accounting ~ and Sen. Jesle Helms f01lDd CEQ. 1D violation of this law. -u -.40 CEQ. Acti~g C:hai~an Malcol.m Baldwin, dunng his testimony, ~dml~' ted the agency has been at fault 10 .th!area and promised Breaux that It IS working with GAO to develop ~ procedures for contracting studies. Wirwahn, a member of the Washing· ton, D.C., law finn of Cook, Purc~lJ, Hamen and Henderson. along WIth Rasor told the subcommittee that the AMA first b~e interested in CEQ. in 1977 when it proposed an Executive Order that would ban ORVs from public lands. Over 80,000 pieces of mail were received by the White House from concerned ORV proponents and the order was greatly modified, the attorney said. However, in 1978,. the AMA received a copy of the Shendan report and besides noting i~ bias, dis· covered the faulty contracting proce· dures. The association then brought the matter to the attention of Sen. Jesse Helms who asked the Comptroller General to investigate. GAO found that the "issuance of the order to Mr. Sheridan was improper" and th~ AMA filed suit against the agency 1D the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking redress for the reIeaae of the improperly procured repon. One subcommittee member, h~w. ever, did not seem to find fault WIth CEQ. "It is the very nature of an agency be biased , , -D_. Edwinred "I "said y Forsythe to (R·N.j.). Wirwahn co:unte . ' . t might be a step in the r,tght ~recuon to make it harder to be biased. Chairman Breaux considered CEQ. in a broader context, saying he had heard romon that President Reagan may want to do -away with the agency. Acting CEQ. Chainnan said he had beard thoee rumon too, but that didn't mean the president was not CO?cemed with the environment. SaId Breaux: "I'm concerned about the prospect of an advisory group advi;sin~ IIOIDeone who doesn't want any adVJce. According to congressional sources, the AMA was successful in emphasizing to the subcommittee the irregular· ities in CEQ:s contracting procedures something which coul~ ~ve an affect during the reauthoruatlon of the agency's next budget. Also ~ttending the hearing was a representatIve of the Motorcycle Industry Council and Nancy Wilson, head of the newly fonned ~a. tionaJ Motorcycle Commuter Association. JimZoia World Championship Observed Trials Series: Round I Spaniard Soler tops Spanish round By Mike Rapley MANRESSA, SPAIN, FEB. 22 To the delight of his countrymen, Manuel. Soler achieved the first ever Win by a Spaniard in the Spanish ,~ou?d when he took his new 350 White Wonder" Montesa to victory in the opening battle of t~e Wc:>r1d Championship Observed Tnals Senes. But his win was by the narrowest of margins. Soler tied with Belgian Honda ace Eddy Lejeune on the number of marks lost· 92. but got the verdict on the greatest number of cleans. Soler had 13 unpenalized attempts of the 45 sections, while Lejeune had just one less. These two were the only pair to keep their score under the magic 100. American favorite Bernie Schreiber, the World champion in 1979, came home third after having been forced to ride his number two machine after crashing his better Italjet in a stadium trial just a few days before. . . Yet Bernie was happy with hIS result. He's won the last three Spanish rounds in ultra dry, super grippy conditions. so was not unhappy when he managed a safe third pla~e on sections that were very shppery because of melting snow that caused the organizen to chan~ the venue slightly due to the deep drtfts. In recent years the sections in World rounds have changed from the old type of relatively straight hazards to ultra tight turns followed by ~uge steps, and Sunday's event was enurely this type. It suited the contlOental riden and Schreiber, but the whole host of British riden who had made the journey to Spain found themselv~ out of their depth. and only Suzuki s John Reynolds rode well enough to score a championship point. Spaniards Soler and Ossa mounted Toni Gorgot got fint and fourth. but it was the French challenge that dominated the discussion in the mountains near Manressa, outside Barcelona. Gilles Burgat. Charles Coutard and Christian Desnoyen took fifth, sixth and nimh places leaving current World Champion Vlf Karlson in seventh, and former three·times champ Yrjo Vesterinen eighth. . Faced with three laps of 15 sections. and a new FIM ruling that virtually eliminated the old bogey of time being a problem, the aces were able to concentrate solely on their section performances to decide a winner. Eddy Lejeune put in the best fint lap performance with 31 marks lost, followed by Vesterinen a further two adrift. At this stage Soler was in fourth place with 37, one behind Schreiber who had a steady opening lap to take third. In comparison Karlson had a bad tour and was way out of the top ten, but then he put in the thir~ b~t lap of the. day ~n h!s second cI.rcull with 30 to Jump nght mto comentlOn.. After Lejeune had completed hiS second lap, it looked as ,f th.e Honda rider, one of only two nden on Japanese thum~n (the ot~er was Kiyoteru Hatton), had the triaJ sewn up for a c1earcut win, but he hadn't expected a third lap by Soler that was simply incredible. Soler went round for just 23 lost, some six better than anybody else had managed on a lap, and in that last lap scored the one extra vital clean that was to give him ~ctory over ~jeune. By this tI~e Schr~ber had improved both times on his fim ~ap score to clinch third with ease leavmg Toni Gorgot in a safe fourth, but for the Frenchmen Burgat and Coutard It was a matter of national pride who gOl the verdict for fifth and sixth. It went to the SWM rider over the former SWM man. and Coutard was heard to mutter to his friend Martin Lampkin, 'That bloody Burgat - he beat me again." In the following three weeks comes the Belgian. lrish and British ro~,!ds. and if last year's battle was ex CillO!!, then this year's is likely to be nail biting. • Results 1. MlII1ueI Soler. Spain 1350 Mon.....192 113 cleansl; 2. Eddy Lejeune. Belgium 1360 Hondal 92 112 cl....l; 3. Bernie Sctvoiber USA 1320 ItalJOfll03; 4. T"", Gorgo•. Spain 1350 0.81 106; 5. Gilles Burllll1. France 128C SWM1113; 7. U~ Karloon. S_135O Mont....1115; 8. Yrjo V_inon. Finland IJ40 8ultaeol 116; 9. CIlristion Desnoyers. France l28C SWMI '17; '0. Jo~n Reynolds. Brilllin l325 Suzulull26.

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