Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

company is the same but will offer a few new lin es. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation has namad Pamela Phillips as legislative Relations and Special Projects Manager for their public affairs departments. Here 's another item to add to your riders-shuffl ing.classes list : Bob H annah will return to t he National MX wars th is year in the 125cc class! World Champion Marco Lucchinelli joined Freddie Spencer, Mike Bald . win, Roberto Pietri and Steve Wise in testing Honda's road racers at Daytona International Speedway last week. Fastest laps were logged by Spencer who cut four laps in the 2 min., 3 sec. range aboard Honda's new Formula 1 weapon, the FWS, which is a 1,OOOcc V-4 based on the V-46 Sabre roadster. Lucchinelli rode last year's bikes, bUt the amount of laps he cut were limited due to the shift lever being on the "wrong" side. Initially, " Luck y" said he thought it was proper that Americas Spencer and Baldwin get the FWS, while he rides last year's inlin. four. Later he was ' heard to comment "I'd like to ride the -4, but that's up to Honda." Motocrosser turned road ra'cer, Steve Wise turned in laps in the 2 min.. 11 sec. range, which for a first time visit to the high speed road race course at Daytona, is far from shabby. Mike Baldwin was trying to get to Da ytona early in th e week , b ut storms slowed him down and he m issed a flight he was scheduled to take out of Washington, DC - the ill-fated Air Florida flight. 2 The California Coastal Commission will hold two hearings to take public input on the San Luis Obispo County Local Coastal Plan in Santa Barbara during the Feb. 16-19 period. The LCP, as you might reca ll, w ill close most of the Pismo Dunes area to ORV use. and move the camping area to a smaller. more remote site. The haarings (exact date and time to be announced) will be held in the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors Chambers. County Administration Building, 105 East Anapamu St., in Santa Barbara. San Luis Obispo County's attempt to close off Ii state-owned ORV recreation area could have wid.reaching implications, so its important that you be . there. In the meantime, take some time to bone up on the LCP at one of these area libraries: South County, Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, Cambria, Cayucos, Morro Bay and South Bay, or the State Coastal Commission office in Santa Barbara. For more info call 805/963-6871. Chuck Su n continued his do mination of the Flori d a Winter·AMA Series. taking h is Team Honda mo unt to back to back moto wins in the Open Pro • class at the Ja n . 17 round at Diamond back MX Pa rk in Cocoa, FL. Joining him in victory circle was new teammate . David Bailey, who aced both 250cc Pro motos, In 125cc Pro action , privateer Yamaha rider Karl Jordan triumphed with a 2· 1 tally. We don't know if the R in R.C. Engineering stands for Russ or Radical. but we suspect t he latter after a familiar bearded cigar smoker pulled us into a dark corner for a little chat during the M,torcycl. cocktail party . following the Anaheim Trade Expo. Talking about his in-the-w ork s Gold Wing Top Fuel bike, Russ said, "After last year's World Finals I began studying how the Top Fuel cars were engineered and applied some of their successful technology to our new machine," R.C. then flashed a couple of Polaroids of this new design, and the words "all-new," " high-t ech" and "revolutionary" fall yards short of adequate, It truly appears to be designed like an automotive Top Fueler. R.C. and the gang did some midnight testing on the grounds of ~ponsor American Honda, and the tests were reported succe88ful. Deal........ Spe akin g of R.C . and drag racing, the R.C . Engineering Super Modified (75 0cc Pro Stock) machine was on display at their Ana heim booth. It's the Honda V-45 Sabre, to be ridden by Dave Dodge, and it reportedly revs easily to 14.000 rpm. . Papa thought he'd seen everything in the way of sick minds just by watching the 6 p.m . news. Wrong. AMA Government Relations Department Director Rob Rasor was at the Anaheim Trade Expo. Rasor showed us a copy of a pamphlet " How to fight Motorcycles" written by L. Ranchero and published by Dagger Press. The book's foreword admits most of the book's contents are illegal, and goes on with to outline various spike boards, camouflaged pits, piano wire across the trails, all the dirty tricks. The AMA and its attorneys are currently investigating ways to bring those responsible for the pamphlet up for prosecution. . Texas based ' accessories distributor, Fox Dist rib u ting , has changed its nam e to W heelsport/ South. The Team Honda has finalized its 1982 racing teams. Final team riders for U.S . motocross are Chuck Sun and Jim Gibson (500cc) and Donnie Hanson , Darrell Shultz and David Bailey (250cc) . Brian Myerscough will return to the National wars as Johnny O'Mara's partner for the 125cc class. The National Support team , headed by George Ellis , will send Jim Ellis, Danny Chandler, JoJo Keller. Larry Wosick, Steve Martin and Ron Turner into the National wars on production machinery. Texans Mike Kidd and Billy Herndon will slide the Ho ndas onto smooth dirt and Freddie Sp en cer will join World Champ Marco Lucchi nelli on European pavement. American asp halt will be scuffed by Mike Bald win , Robert o Pierri -Vegas and form er motocrosser Steve W ise in his road racing debut. How m ust it feel to ride the Daytona Superbike 100 as your first race? Britain's Trial. + Motocross Ne. . reports that World Trials Champion Gilles Burgat has signad with Fantic. According to the report the Ita lian manufacturer successfully negotiated Burgat's contract with SWM, which as we have reported. now employs 1979 World Trials Champ Bernie Schreiber. Correction to th e correction: In reporting on an error in a Yamaha ad , we misspelled one-third of the runnerup squad in the AFM Sears Point fourhour endurance race. It's Kurt Bickel , not Brickel , and he says he 's building a m achi ne for the AMA Formula 2 class whi ch will be powered by a 500cc Can-Am four- stroke sin gle. The en gi ne preparation , according to Bickel , will be handled by vete ra n tuner H arry L illie. At the halfway po int - last report we had - works Hondas were running 1-2·3 in the famed Paris-toDakar endurance race . The bikes, based on the Honda XR500 fourstroke single, are being piloted by Bernard Rigoni. Phillipe Vassard and Patrick Drobecq, respectively. Mark Thatcher. son of British Prime M inister Margaret Thatcher, was driving the event in a car and he and his co-driver spent several days lost before they were eventually found. One Dutch rider and a French journalist have been killed in the event. Hugh Fleming of the AMA Amateur ~etivities Department called in two qu ick bits. First , contrary to a recent ad , AMA membership is required for AM A-sanctioned amateur supercross races such as the one in Anaheim Stadium Jan. 31. Second, mail entries are now open for the Daytona Amateur, Vintage and Ba ttl e of the Twins races. Write to the AMA at P .O . Box 141 , Westerville , OH 4308 1 for those. Good new sl Papa ge ts to report on a bill introduced in th e Califo rnia state legislature that's go nna do something JOTus instead of against us. Assem bly man Bru ce Young (D· Downey) just introduced AB2397 wh ich , if passed into law , will remove the OHV Program from the Department of Parks and Recreation and set it up under an independant commission of OHV enthusiasts . The bill won 't be heard until Feb. 17. but write to your Assemblyman as soon as you can, urging his /her support. O u r sources tell us that most of the major ORV organizations active in California (CORVA, AMA, M .O. R.E. , etc.) had a hand in drafting the measure, and that CMDA's Hy Weitzman d eserves credit for getting Young to author the bill. Rumors floating ecross the ocean say the Marlboro/Agostini team that was reportad to have signed Graeme Crosby may be in trouble. Marlboro wanted Barry Sheene or Marco Lucchinelli and since neither signed they are considering changing their backing. Nava, also a backer of the team, is reportedly not financially able to provide the support they had promised. Ru m ors from the same source showed d ra wings of a Yamaha 500RDLC. It looks like a street legal versi on of Kin g Kenny's bike. At least as close as the RD350LC does the T Z350. Ron Wood, who is currently the sole U.S. distributor for the 500cc four-stroke Can-Am racing engine. called to say that Scott Pearson. A lex Jorgensen. Steve Eklund and Ronnie Jones would be riding CanAm-powered machines in the Feb. 7 Hou ston TT. Jorgensen and Pearson are said to both be working with Harry Ullie and Boss Frames on their machines. while Mario Zanotti, back with Eklund. is working with Knight Frames. Jones reportedly is working with Viper Frames in Illinois. Speaking of sponsors and riders .reunited, Ricky Graham and Tex Peel will again form a team. Wood. who had Graham riding for him last year, said he would be unable to make the entire Winston Pro schedule. He will make it to the TTs in his Can-Am position and to west coast events. Yamaha returns to the W inston Pro Series with its first "official" te am since 1977 . Jimmy Filice will be the rider and Bud Aksland will be t he tu ner. Their arsenal includes the proven 500cc TT bike and the 250 cc short tr acker , with the XV750 engi ne for miles and half miles. " It 's still in the development year," said Yamaha R acing Manager Ken Clark, "so we'll race as many events as practical." Filice will also contest all U .S. Formula O ne and Formu la T wo road races, riding a T Z500 an d TZ250J, respectively. Larry Griffis left his position as Suzuki MX Team Manager on Jan. 8. and on pressday. Jan. 18, Yamaha announced that Griffis had been hired as their new MX Coordinator, reporting to Kenny Clark. Over . at Suzuki, Pat Alexander has been named as the new manager. Alexander spent 1981 tuning for Marty Smith, who retired at the end of the year. The Four Aces M.C . has set the date of their 31st annual Moose Ru n for Feb. 14. They've laid out a course in a new area - ne ar Barstow off th e Fort Irwin Rd . - and the co u rse has unde one extensive scrutin b the

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