Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

to enter the four·stroke race; the 10 finalists will be selected by time trials. So, if you're an Expert or Junior dirt tracker who'd like to try this new idea, haul your 500cc single or twin fourstroke over to Hinsdale. AMA could be showing us a quick glimpse into the future ...Sorry, no two·strokes allowed. Papa's sources In Sacramento sey that Californie's AB474. the Green Stickle "rip-off" bill suffered a setback In the Assembly's Wildlife and Perk coOlmittee last week. Norm W8t8rs~,the bill's author. d. cided not to put it up for a vote for feer of defeat. CORVA again paid for air fare to have former Bob Hayes flown up to the stete capitol to lobby against the meesure. In the committee hearing. Assemblyman Dick Royd proved to be an ally. telling a representetive of the cattlemen's lobby that, "You don't underatend the Green Stickie fund. OHVers are the only group thl!t doesn't get aulstance from the generel fund." Waters himself w.s heard to comment, "Any time you fool with the off-roeders. you heer more yowling than a cat'in a room full of rocking chairs." Papa'.' people sey that the tremandou. , . .ponae In the form of letters. etc.. mede the difference for the bill. .Ince the powerful cattlemen'. lobby heel backed it. In other legislative news, Assembly Bill 694 was reported to be moving along quite nicely. AB694 is a Sagebrush Rebellion-related measure. guaranteeing public access to any federal lands taken over by the state. In AMA Pro half mile racing at Ascot Perk May 1. Steve Monger topped the Junior/Expert m.in event, taking the checkered in front of Chris Cannon and Rich Volk. In the Novice main. Pete Hame. wes .g.ln the winner. thl. time over Mike V"ltel and David Boyles. The North Bay Motorcycle Club's Sawmill Enduro has been postponed by the U.S. Forestry Service in the name of motherhood. The Service says that deer in the area are going to have their fawns on the original date, so now a November 22 event is planned. You may contact the club at 415 Davis St., Santa Rosa, CA 95401. FiV.time U.S. Observed Trials Champion Marland Whaley has signed with Co.mopoliten Motors to campaign two new "White Wonder" Montese 349 Cotes In the '81 U,S. series. The third Annual CMC Four-Stroke Championships will be held at Carlsbad Raceway on July 19. and entries are now being accepted. The event will again boast a $1000 cash purse for the racers in the Open class, and this year an additional percentage of the entry fee will be paid back to the racers in the 500cc classes. Sponsorship for the one-day meeting is already locked up by the Horsepower Factory, and additional product participation is being planned by Bel Ray, O'Neal Dist.. IRC Tires. White Brothers. Pro·Tee, Franks Racing Products. and Sa-.W Engineering. This will be the first of two four·stroke CMC-sanctioned events at Carlsbad this year. The seventh Annual Four-Stroke Nationals is set this year for November 29. In the .truggle for control between men and the computer, .core this round for the machine. The upcomIng Intern8tIonel event scheduled for May 30 at the Los Angele. Coli- .um wes called the U.S. Round of the World Speedway Motorcycle Championship•. There ha. been a change of nema. however, and it I. henceforth to be referred to as the World Championship Qualifier. R_ .on7 Ticketron. a company which prints and distribute. tickets by means of a computer. declared that the old name wes too long to fit on the ticket. Promoter Harry Oxley had to make up a new name. Unfortunetely. he had to leave out the words "Speedway" end "MotorcyIe," which describe what kind of a World Championahlp Qualifier it I. going to be. Scott USA was sold Monday. Apr. 27 to a three·way partnership among Teton Management. Alliance Recreation and Bob Smith of Smith Spon Optics. Dick "King Richard" Burlnon leed. his Huaqverne teemm8t8 Mike Melton by a margin of 12 pointe after four of the 12 rounds In the AMA National Championship Enduro Serle.. Burle.on tied the ail-time record for conaec:utlve championship. Ieat yeer. a record set In 1 . by Bill Baird. Baird, who now serves'as a C.... A member on the AMA Boerd of Trustees. rode a Triumph to those .even crowns. Next National Enduro will be held at Shreveport, LA on May 31. Present point .tandlng. are es follows: 1. Dick Burleson lHu.)94; 2. Mike Melton CHu.) 82; 3. Darryl Kuenzer lKTM) 80; 4. Terry Cunningham lHus) 60; 6. lTIE) Jeff Fredette lSuzNKevln laVoie lKTM) 49; 7. Mark Hyde lKew) 40; 8.lTIEi Vic Ely lKewllBerry Avery lHus)33; 10. Larry Roeselar lYam)30. AFM Open GP Champion Kerry Bryant has purchased the TZ750 Yamaha road racer tuned by Erv Kanemoto and ridden by Freddie Spencer at the Transatlantic Match Races and at Laguna Seca in 1980. Bryant expects to race the "new" bike for the first time at the Laguna Seca F1 race on July 19. How'. thl••ound7 Jim Pomeroy's First American Motocros. Clinic. It'. true, Pomeroy will begin MX schools at teechlng northwestern trecks thl. seeson. the first one .leted for May 9 In Seettle, WA. For Informetlon contact Pomeroy at 811 Stewart, Seettle. WA 98101. or call 20819381074 or 2081822-6711. Wayne Rainey has acquired a new Kawasaki GPz550, and the winner of 11 races and track record holder at Willow Springs on his KZ750 plans to contest the popular 550cc class. Look outl Note: The BoIse Regional TT wa. reined out, but rescheduled for May 24 at the Owyhee M.C. club grounds. See the full regional .chedule In this column for detail•. Another Important thing: Even though time trIeIa heel been completed before the rain stopped the rece, they will ,.run them completely. The club will also accept new entries, so If you mlued It the flrat time, here'. a .econd chancel Maico West had a couple of news bits for Papa this week. They've hired a new Service Manager. Wayne Lau. who brings 12 yean of din bike experience to the position. And they now have in stock complete 490 motor kits for din trackers. Over the Apr. 23-24 weekend. someone broke Into Kal Gard'. warehou.e and stole all their jackets, T·.hlrts and polo .hlrts. If anyone offers you a hot deal on any of the above. please contect Ralph McCarthy at Kal Gard, 18818 Schoenborn St.. Sepulveda. CA 91343, 2131993-5787. Pepa thanks ye. Has Supercross reached Europe? Not yet. but soon, if rumors of a Sept. 7 stadium motocrosa race in Amsterdam, Holland's Olympic Stadium are true. • Match Race snippets By Alan Cathcart Dan Chivington's sponsor George Vicensi did not have a happy Easter. After Dan totalled his Yamaha at the Friday meeting of the Transatlantic Match Race Series. George had his attache case stolen as he was checking out of his London hotel. "I lost everything that was reasonably important," he said, "passpon, travelers checks, tuning notes, address book and worst of all. the camet for the bike. Mind you. there's not a lot left of it to hang a camet onl" Dan and George feel they profited from their experiences and are eager to return next year. "Dan would like to think about doing the Isle of Man IT on my Ducati," said George. "It's an ideal bike for the course, and I can see after this weekend he's got the right approach. We'll be back." ChIvIngton Isn't the only one conaidering running in the TT. Dale Sing1&ton will be flying over to the I.land l8t8r thla-week to take a look at the course and hu been engaged In .erlou. negotietion. with the organl· zers. "I can about fund my Grand Prix .eeson on what I'd eem at the TT." he explained. ".0 I think It'. deflnitely worth conaldering." Dale and Auule mechanic John Redding gave the Auatrien GP a min. preferring to stay in England and concentrete on getting their new RG500 Suzuki properly prepared for the enaulng rece•. After Roger Marshall retired from the first race at Oulton with piston trouble. the Moriwaki team changed the Kawasaki engine on their alloy' framed Formula 1 bike in 27 minutes. \Bruce Maus from Claremont, NY rode In the 250cc rece at Oulton on a Yamaha. finl.hlng 17th. He ha••tarts in the French and German GPa. and also hopes to take In the TT on the Is" of Man. 'Tve been told I do need to teke another bike to ride a differerrt c.... there, though," seld Bruce. "I've aeved for five yeers to get to Europe. and I'm staying here until I run out of money." Maus .pent two deye working on the American teem bikes in lieu of reclng himself. A1ong.ide him _ U.S. Kewesekl's Donny Dove, who .trove manfully to get Wes Cooley's borrowed TZ750 to stey In one piece. Sometimes it did. othar times it didn·t ...1 Staying with Barry Sheene for the summer while he races his Harris-framed Honda in UK Formula 1 IT races is the original Latin Lover, Roberto Pietri. The Los Angeles·based Venezuelan also hopes to do some of the GPs. either on a private Suzuki. or if his contacts through the Venezuelan imponer Andres Ippolito come off, a factory Yamaha similar to his friend Barry Sheene's. It's by no means certain yet that he'll do the Pro-Am series. which would give him the chance to race more in Europe. Rich Schlachter is set for a ....on In Europe, between defending his U,S. roed rece title back home, But he won't be riding hi. 750 any more except in the U.S.• concentrating exclusively on his 250. for which he ha. sterts In all the GP•. "You have to heve a factory bike to be in the first 10 In the 500cc c....... seid Rich. "I know it·••till po••ible to do welles a priv8t8 entrant in the 250cc cl•••• so that'. why I'm doing it." Two out of the three 250cc races in the supponing program to the Transatlantic series over the weekend were won by the Rotax-powered CCM Armstrong British machines, on which Aussie Jeff Sayle finished fifth at Daytona in the team's first outing. Development has proceeded apace since then. and the bike now has a new frame and has shed 20 pounds. Even 250cc UK. specialist Charlie Williams couldn't look at the CCMs for top speed on his powervalve H model Yamaha, and this was amply demonstrated at Mallory where Steve Tonkin on the CCM passed Williams down the straight as if he were standing still. Charlie confirmed after that his bike was running as good as it could, so perhaps the writing is on the wall for p'iston pon power in 250 racing. Who'll be the first to use a Rotax-powered bike in the States? Suzuki UK'. New Zeeland ster Greeme Cro.by romped to three vic· torie. In a row In the supporting 500cc recea et the Trensetlentlc meetings over the Eater weekend, and he used a 1980. model RG500 to do It. Thl. machine we. stili good enough to beet the new Kawesekl KR500 of Kork BaUington on eech occaaIon, though the Kwacker led theleat race et Oulton Perk until three 1ap8 from the end. "Riding this bike again efter the new ones makes me reellze why Suzuki dldn't win the World Championship lest year." aeld a happy Croz after. "It's slow'" Crosby had only one race at each meeting. so spent the rest of each race day in pursuit of his new hobby - photography. Trackside clickers were surprised to be joined by the man they usually see through the lens; Croz claims he 'got some good snaps' of teammate Randy Mamola, but was reluctant to lay any of his work open for inspection. There's no truth in the rumor that he forgot to remove the lens capl A much-dlacu...d rumor _ the one that next veer'. Trenaetlentic will become a Transcontlnentel event, with the eddltlon of • third teem from Austr.11e and New Zeeland. On current form, .uch e t..m would be very hard to beet. with riders of the like of Cro.by. Wayne Gardner, Gregg Hansford. Jeff Sayle, Greeme Geddes, John Woodley. etc. available for selection. It may yet happen. 3

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