Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

World Mini GP/Saddlebllck, Apr. 10-12; Indlen DunulCRC, Apr. 19: 801M Reglonlll opener, Apr. 24-26. John Glover's Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA-sponIOIed Sea 550 was pr0tested after Glover won the 600cc Box Stock class at the Mar. 22 AFMlW"illow Springs race. The protest, filed by John Ulrich, alleged that Glover's bike had a prototype engine. "You can't buy prototype motorcycles, " said Ulrich, "and Box Stock is the class for bikes that people can buy. Yamaha street bikes are not sold with sandcast pans." Ulrich's protest was upheld by race director Wil Clark after he examined Glover's machine and saw that the cam cover was sandcast. Clark then reversed his decision when a Yamaha spokesman at the uadclaDned the production Secas come with sandcast covers, according to Ulrich. Ulrich appealed, and the AFM Board of Directon will make the final decision. A Monday phone call to Yamaha's public relations department rendered the following information: The bike that Glover raced at Ontario is a pre-production bike, the same one tested by the magazines, in fact. A pre-production bike is one of the first 100 off the production line (a prototype is not any sort of production line machine, and a production bike is one of the IlUl-up machines). While preparing the bike for the AFM race, the Yamaha mechanic noticed that the cam cover on another bike in the shop looked different_" He knew that the Glover bike was pre-production, so he swapped that cover for the one on the other bike, ;.."ming it was a production part. That one was a prototype, however, and that, Yamaha says, is how the sandcast cam cover got on the Box Stock class winner. Production Seca !l50s, a Yamaha spokesman clarified. will1lOt have sandcast cam covers. U Former Sidecer World ChIImpion George O'Dell took hie own . . Sundey night. Mer. 22. O'DeD heel been told by his doctor that he heel too much nerve and body demege to continue his reclng C8reer, and that coupled with • separation with his wife apparently led to hie death. Yamaha is campaigning a 498cc watercooled motouWkI with the plOgnsi.e linkage in pre-GP season races in Europe. The estimated weight is _. _ Moto-X Fox rider David Beiley (who soon will no longer be referred to • "Gary's son" at the rate he's improving!) has _mad a works Kawasaki to contest the AMA 2IOcc NadonaI ChMIploIlShip MX Series. Given the option to ride either an air-cooled or ...... cooled machine, Bailey ce- the WlIt8r-cooled. He'il also ride a f8w selected Supercross even1B under the joint Moto-X FoxtKaw • ki benner. Katy Hunt has a good idea. She wants to save Ontario Motor Speedway from the housing developen, and she believes that by holding the Ontario Motor Speedway Rally, Sunday, Mar_ 29 at high noon, she can effectively demonstrate to Chevron that people really care about OMS. She'll be handing out "Boycott Chevron" sticken to motorcyclists and car driven aliIr.e, then they'll form a caravan to show TV cameras, freeway \lien (and thus Chevron) that they're malting a big mistake about closing down Ontario. Do you care? Here's a chance to prove it. meetings at the FIM meetings in Geneva (SwitzerlandI the last ~ in February. There were a lot of countries wanting a 125cc GP and tIwre may have been a bit of pressure from some to take the event from us, I'm not sure. In any event, we still have our 250 and 500cc dates." RicIty Graham is scheduled to ride the Ron Wood Harley-Davidson in the Mar. 27 haH mile opener at J.C. Agajanian's Ascot Park. It will be Graham's first race since he broke his wrist in a trail riding accident a few days after the fall19S0 SanJose Mile. A rnotoreycIe film festivel? For $2.&0? The Centrel Coast Motorcycle Assa cletio" Aim Festival. slated for AprIl 12, promises MX ..... road racing films, flat treck films. ISOT, Isle of Man, observed trellL.and more. Meet at the Vat's BuIlding, comer of Monterey and Grand: movies begin at 2 p.m. At Ieest six to eight' hours will be shown. Popcorn will be on ..Ie. Fred Chase, founder of the Last Chance Trail Ride held annually near Lake Tahoe, is putting together a new off-road ridinjt adventure in Baja, CA. SdlC'dnlrd for the weekend of April 1012. the ride will begin in Ensenada early Friday morning, and include o.ernipt stops at Mike's Sky Ranch and San Felipe. Chase will layout the route, mark it, and provide a sweep trud.. He will also make all arrangements for food and room. A banquet featuring local seafood will be held on Saturday night in the fishing town of San Felipe on Baja's gulf coast. Bring your own bike and pay for your own gas, the rest is covered by the reasonable $125 fee for the three days. You even get a souvenir T-shirt. Deadline for entries is Apr. 6. For more information write Chase International, 5550 W. 190th Street, Suite 166, Torrance, CA 90505 or call: 215/ !I6O-037 I. AMA completely wiped out its ....etilig deflclt, which has been a problem since 1972. By 1978, the MotorcyclIst Association wee .1 mlllon in the hole. Now they have _.000 surplus, thanks to the Trustees and staff under the guidance of recycled Executive DirectDr Un Kuchler. Good work, guysl ~ltai Maico-moUDted Ed Marchini topped the Far West M.C. 's first-ever Sand Flea Grand Prix, held as an Easter Seals benefit. Gary Vanderpool rode his 495 KTM to first Vet Expert in the Mar. 22 race at Eureka, CA. AMA is looking for a club wimng to hoR an AMA Nationel Championship Hare Scrembles Series event in the WMt. Only five of the six - . t have been scheduled thus far, so COlrteet the Amateur Activities Dep8i b"ent at the W_. . ~, OH, office: 61418912GIi. National Minicycle Champions from Canada, Mexico, Australia, England and the United States - will compete on the Saddleback International coune Apr.' 12 for the Yamaha Race of Champions. The by-invitation-onlyevent is a part of the NMA World Mini Grand Prix and each of the riders will race an identically prepared 'SI Yamaha mini. five OOUDtries - Race two of the AMA 125 and 2IiOcc NatIonal MX title chIIse will "We will not be having a 125cc MX GP in 1982," ..id AMA's Mike DiPrete. "That decision C8me in UiIui pIKe at Seddlebllck Park AprI 5. The Iong-antlclpeted clash bet-. Bob Hannah and Kent Howerton should temporarily settle the argument of who "The Best American" is and provide spectators with plenty of action. Also Mark Bernett will defend his 125cc crown against rivals Jeff Ward and the spectacular Danny "Magoo" Chandler. The Continental Moto-sports Club Four Stroke TT races that were rained out Mar. I have been rescheduled for Mar. 22 at Saddleback Park. No CMC license is required for this event. Trophies for Amateun lfud payback Pro purse should keep the dirt flying. _ THE NATIONAL PAPERS So it is time to go din track racing once again in California. The loss of some National races elsewhere may prove to be a blessing for race fans who like the dirt events early in the year. California will host no less than four AMA Grand National Winston Pro Series events between Apr. 5 and May 9. Plus, seven non-National half mile races at Ascot. The four Nationals lead off with the 20th annual running of the Ascot National TT in Gardena on Saturday night, Apr. 5. For yean this was always a July race but due to losses of other events during that month in the west, the TT has moved to April to be teamed up with the Scramento mile. The Sacto mile has stood alone the past few yean and now has company. The state capitol event runs the Saturday night following the Ascot TT Apr. 11. ' Third in line will be the fint of two San Jose miles, running Sunday afternoon, May 5. The following Saturday night, May 9, is the fint of two Ascot National half miles. The May 9 event is also the last time the National riden will be on the dirt in the west until the end of September when the Winston Pro Series winds up at SanJose and Ascot. To give the riden plenty of racing, not only in the National Expert division, but the Junion and new Novices as well, Ascot will run all three classes weekly, starting Mar. 27 and topping it off on May S. All are Friday night events. Jay Springsteen and Steve Eklund are on tap for the Nationals, coming in as the two top rated riden in the standings. Each baa a win at Houston. Jay has won at SanJose and Ascot on the ovals. Steve has won at San Jose and Ascot on the TT. Neither nder has ever won at Sacramento. The Ascot TT will see even more 500cc machines of the type that Mike Kidd scored the upRt with at Ascot last year. Look for many Honda and Yamaha 500. plus a scattering of Suzukis and Kawasaltis. Springsteen and the new champ, Randy Goss, will ride the H-D 750.. On the ovals at Sacramento, San Jose and Ascot the fans get to see two new racing effons start from scratch. Mike Kidd and Rookie Expert Jim Filice bow in on the new Yamaha 750cc V-twins. Honda baa officially announced that their latest venion is indeed a 750cc Vtwin which will be ridden in all California National oval events by Freddie Spencer. Spencer would have been a cinch for Rookie of the Year honon this season but he rode in the 'SO Houston events, scoring points in one. That was his only dirt track effort for the year. Ad· ditional road race points gave him National Number 19. So, between the two new effons only Kidd is a proven dirt track veteran while Filice and Spencer will be put to the test by the old pros and proven machines that abound after many tried and proven events. I talked with Filice and Spencer down at Daytona and you can expect to see both of them at Ascot during the weekly Friday night non-National races sorting out the equipment. It has been. proven over and over that you cannot take experimental racing machines to a National, especially a mile, and do anything but look bad. This happened last year at both Sacto andSanJose. We would like to report that both Ihe Yamaha and the Honda have been tested and retested for the past year. But they have not. , Mert Lawwill and Dick Mann are on the wrencbes for Kidd and Filice and they have their work cut out for them. Both have all the experience and knowhow to make race bikes run fast. But have they really had the time? Honda does not have names such as Men and Dick, but they do have one long season behind them trying to make their CX500 twin go fast. Now that same twin is a 750. It has been many yean since a Rookie Expert ever showed up at a National and blew the doon off the veterans. Now we have two brand new riden on two brand new machines. The burden is on veteran Mike Kidd, 10 say the least_ Speucer is cahn, cool and collected anytime he is 011 the line. But he has ridden a mile only once in the past and any half miles were against a limited farld of Juniors. But Freddie is a oneof-a-kind. Filice comes off of two big seasons as a Novice and a Junior where he was number one in the standings. But he was nervous and erratic at Houston and both race. were on smaller machines. Kidd has long been one of the most unpredictable riden on the National circuit. He wins when he is not a prerace favorite, and loses when it looks like he will be a sure winner. The new Honda and Yama:ha efforts will indeed make the next few weeks in the west MOlt interesting. On the other side, the raft of H-D riden will be setting on the line, ready and waiting to see if that proven equipment has suddenly become obsolete. A year ago neither Honda nor Yamaha would indicate that they were interested in 750cc dirt track racing and here they are. Just a few weeks ago some folks at Honda stated they knew nothing about any new 750 dirt tracker - and here they are! In car racing they start thumping the tub about a new car when it is still just an idea, or maybe on the drawing boards. In motorcycle racing we have to keep hearing all sorts of wild rumon and all of us have Ieamed not to believe any of them until we see them. Starting in April we will see them. Honda said over a year ago that they were willing to back more than 100 dealen in a dirt track program. Yamaha said recently that they would have at least 75 dirt track engines. If either or both brands do well on this fint western swing then watch the phones start ringing with every Honda and Yamaha dealer in the country calling to get the new fast stuff for that kid that is certain to replace Springsteen, Eklund and Goa - if he can just get ahold of that trick setup. Are you listening, Pete Hames? You have been waiting for 10 years - or is it dad that has been waiting? Roxy Rockwood 3

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