Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1981 05 06

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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same bike that Garth Brow won two San Jose miles on a couple of seasons back. The rookie picked off fifth place with another impressive learning-howto ride. Kidd borrowed back the Harley he had sold at season's end last year to Jeff McDaniel. Problems came up in prac· tice so he borrowed another machine and finished fourth. Each rider now ranks in the top five in the Winston standings. Filice is way out in front for Rookie of the Year honors with one of the best early season starts by a fust-year Expen ever. Kidd trails Steve Eklund by 10 points heading for San Jose. Steve has won the event once, for his only mile win, and Kidd has never won it. Then it's on to Ascot where neither rider has ever won the National half mile final. So what does Men do now with a rider that is in the hunt for the title? Break out a brand new 750 that has never been tested in any actual race, or go with his already proven din tracker that has several Nationals? You can bet that the Harley will at least be in the L/R team van at both tracks for added insurance. Now we come to "The Stockton Oiler" and "The Phantom Tuner" combination of Alex Jorgensen and Sal Acosta. From topside at Sacramento we thought the reason so many riders were dropping back, and out, was due to some mysterious plague during the final. It turned out it was a fine spray of oil coming out of the Jorgy/ Acosta Harley. Brad Hurst took the brunt of it as the officials flagged him off during the race, thinking he was the bad guy_ But the mystery ship continued on to win. We wonder just how much oil was left in the tank when it was over? But now add to the fact that this same machine was ridden to the win at Sacramento last year by Hank Scott. Then add the fact that the builder, Sal Acosta, did not even leave the Bellflower area and go to Sacramento for either winl That really is incredible. Ten of tbe 16 riders that qualified for the mile final had won at least one mile National in the past. Oorgy had not.) For San Jose no less than 14 riders that have won mile finals will be entered. For Ascot 14 riders that have won National half miles will be there. It is tough on rookies and veterans alike this year at any din track race_ The fans know it, as was apparent at Sacramento when thousands of people were already at the track long before 6 p.m. and any activity on the track of any kind. The most impressive ride by a nonwinning miler was turned in by Wayne Rainey. He was in and out of the lead in the final several times and looked like he would take it down to the flag_ But like others, the "Stockton Oiler" struck again and young Rainey wisely chose to remember that there will always be another race (San Jose) and another time (Ascot). He found out though, that he can run with the fastest, at least on a mile, this season. For Honda and Yamaha the Ascot National should be the race where they both can "go for it" because the track is short, traction is good to great, and three of the four riders that will be on the new V-twins are seasoned Ascot veterans. The other rider, Freddie Spencer, pulled a solid third a few weeks ago at Ascot behind double National Ascot winner Billy Labrie and winner, Ricky Graham. May 9 appears to be the time to cheer if you like the red/white/blue of Honda or the silver/blue/yellow of the Roberts/Lawwill Yamahas. The book still says that one sorts them out at Ascot, then goes to the miles. Time will tell. Both brands will probably be at Ascot for the non-National half miles that run on Apr. 25 and May 1&8. It's called soning time. Now that "Phantom" Acosta has two straight mile wins at Sacramento, without even showing up, will he be at San Jose? Will he be at Ascot, which is only 10 minutes from where he lives? The "Stockton Oiler" could well win them both as he already has one third place finish at San Jose and a half mile win a t Ascot. It's one thing for an oil company to advenise that a rider uses the product, but it is another to say that most of the field was "wearing" your product. By the way, what brand of oil was Jorgy/ Acosta using at Sacramento, anyway? E • ~ E Roxy Rockwood EDITORIA~ I' 'I Will AMA ben &OOcc two-mok.. from '82 Winston Pro rBclng7 When the 17-member AMA Rules Committee meets on May 5-6, they will consider a rule that effectively bans two-stroke motorcycles from racing AMA Grand National Championship/Winston Pro Series mile and half mile din track events. (Shon track and TT are excluded). As the rules stand today, the question of two·strokes racing is not an issue. They never have been competitive, anyway. But with the advent of restricted 750cc/unrestricted 500cc racing, the twostroke becomes a potential choice of racing power plant. Particularly since two-stroke technology can now produce - in quantity - reliable, full-size 500cc motors. The rule that will exclude twostrokes, if passed, is the restrietor rule. Through no slip of the rule-writer's pen, it specifically designates "fourstroke" motors. Only four-stroke motors. Why is AMA doing this? Their first Slory is that they, "intend to pattern racing after what's available for street equipment." And, of course, twostrokes are on the U.S. Government's emission control skids_ I tried to think back to when one could buy a Harley-Davidson 750cc Vtwin street machine (or even to be assured that an XR750 racer would be availablel). That story didn't hold up well at all. It cenainly appears that whomever penned that rule wants 500cc fourstrokes to win. As it turned out, that is exactly the case_ In a phone call with AMA Commissioner of Professional Racing Mike DiPrete, the truth came out. It sounded something like this: "Over the past couple of years," DiPrete said, "we've been trying to get 500cc four-stroke motorcycles... to get more factories involved. That's why all this restrictor stuff came about, to slow down those 750s, to give the 500cc four-strokes a chance. If you follow that reasoning, then allow two-strokes to run - and they do have a power advantage - then you're going to eliminate everything that you tried to accomplish. " If memory serves, the object of restricting the 7505 was to make more brand names competitive, thus boosting spectator interest, thus upping the popularity (and financial rewards) of Winston Pro racing. I don't think AMA will argue that point. The pan about their theory that bothers me, is that now we're getting selective about which brands will be A bobble betw.... Honde rider 133 end S18Ye P8rriBh IS). .-'It Kenny Roberts 111 over PlIrriah'. beck end both RoberU end Randy Memole Illirbomel Into the infield at thi8 DonlngtOn Perk race. allowed to competitive. Honda? Sure. Yamaha? No problem. Suzuki? Probably. Kawasaki? Just a matter of time. What about KTM, Maico, CanAm, Husky, Kawasaki (if they decide to base a racebike on their KX420) or even Carabela? What if Suzuki decided' that it would be easier, cheaper and a more promising venture to drop their Open class motocross motors into din trila frames instead of fiddling with their DR500 thumper? Or Honda? If they can build the NS750, they cenainly can make their RC450 competitive. With two-strokes remaining legal, there'd be plenty of brand competition while everybody experimentedl Sounds like a couple of years of very good racing with new factory backing and interested brand-oriented spectators. And who knows? Two·strokes might not even work_ They don't now with the 750cc rule. Their power may still be all wrong compared with the 500cc four-stroke thumper'S. I guess what I'm getting at is this: I don't think AMA, as long as it remains a membership organization, should slip rules like this into their program without due discussion among all involved parties. To the best of my knowledge, this editorial is the first public airing of the issue. 'And unfortunately, we didn't find out soon enough to give you much time to respond to AMA before the meeting. I believe their decision - if it's passed as presently worded to exclude two-strokes - is premature at best. Granted, panicipation of Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki would bring thousands of dollars into the Winston Pro Series. And, realistically, the Japanese money can eventually buy victory through contracts for top riders, R&D on top equipment and active panicipation. That's racing. It doesn't need to "buy" rules that exclude the underdogs. Charles Morey 3

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