Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126596
Bureau of Land Management. The BLM has do ne an Environmental Assessment Review on the cou rse, and they're accep ting p ub lic input from Jan . 22 to Feb . 5. Sen d a no te saying you'd like the race to ru n to the BLM, 831 Barstow Rd . , Ba rst ow, CA 92311. Ron Bishop. Dick Vick and John Watkins. who appeared to be the Class 38 winners in the November SCORE Baja 1000. have been reinstated as t he winners. Initially disqualified fo r using an aircraft to shuttle riders. Bishop arid his attorney got a hearing before the SCORE Competition Board. In the final decision. announced in December, the Board ruled that the a ircraft did not aid the vehicle in question. and thus was not in violation of SCORE Rule G-35. The reinstatement brought the trio not only the winner's share of the purse. but enough points for Bishop to take the 1981 Class 38 points championship. Bob Sirkegian call ed Papa to remind everyone that Feb . 8 is the sta rt -u p date for the new semester a t Citrus College at Azusa , CA whe re Bob teaches two motorcycle me chanics classes. The first class covers basic maintenance and tune-up tips for motorcycle owners. Bob 's advanced class is aimed at the working pro and incl udes engine rebuilding, cylinder re boring, etc. For more info call th e Citrus College ca mpus at 213 / 335 0521. Italian Stadium MX promoters reportedly contacted Bob Hannah . to ride In the Genoa-based event but couldn:t produce the $18.000 asking price. Former World Champ Jon Ekerold of South Africa has recovered from injuries that left him with on e leg shorter th an the ot he r . After trying to locate a 350cc ride he ga ve up and purchased two Suzu ki RG500s. English MXer Steve Beamish has signed with Honda to ride as teammate to fellow Briton Graham Noyce. . "Roc ket Rex" Staten is a factory star agai nl The Rocketman sign ed a five year cont racct with Yamaha of Sou th Africa to ride the Sou th African 500cc Nationals and the other S.A. series. " It was just too good of a dea l to let go ," Rex said when contacted in Fontana, CA, "They bought me a ca r, put me on salary , sent my van and trailer over and Yamaha helped m e buy a house in Durban, The whole nine yards." He will be on a production bik e sin ce th er e are no other riders on factory bikes . If the com peti tion gets works so will he . He lea ves Feb . 20. Fo rmer AMA Superbike champ Wes Cooley w ill receive anothe r ti tl e Feb. 14 when Nancy Ta t e will name him h usband . Racing 's ne w e s t couple will ha ve to wait for a honeymoon si nce Wes has to get the testing done that he missed while out of commission w ith injuries. He has only five weeks t o regain his form before Daytona Speed Week. Wher e are they now department : Pete "Wha tizname?" Szilagyi , the original edi tor of Motocross Action magazine , has had his byline on the front page of The Austin A merican Statesman in , na tu rally, Austin , TX. He is listed as a fea tu re edi tor. Sa'e~' is a new riding skills film narrated by Dave Despain. Des in worked with Northern "Ride Illinois University to present the techniques of countersteering. combination braking, obstacles and counter-weighting iQ s lo w motion. The film is available in video cassettes and 16 m m . Fo r more inf o rm a t ion contac t Media Distribution. Division of Co m m u nity Services, Northern Illinois Unive rs ity. DeKalb. IL 601 15 . American to ride in the Isle of Man , and was in England six months last year racing . I'm - looking to ride Dayton a a nd th e AMA Nat ionals, so a nyone who's int er ested in a 250 a nd 750cc rider should feel free to call ." Willia ms number is 4 15/654 -956 7, his address is 5860 Bea ud ry , Emeryville, CA 94608 . Do you like stadium -type racing? The California Ra cing Club is having a stadium -type motocross at Ind ian Dun es on Jan , 31. There will be a $1500 purse, four-foot trophies a nd a raffle for a Yamaha YZ. All this for regular entry fee , to bootl Call CRC at 2 13/ 830-7519 for more info. Dutchman Bo et van Dulrnen, sixth ranked in last year' s 500cc GP title c ha s e , is planning to privateer S uz u kis in '82. giving up the Yamahas he was provid ed through a Dutch importer. Sou rces in Euro pe say Yamaha is expected to g ive van Dulmen works Yamahas t o keep him on its -ro s t e r through t he c oming sea s o n. The L.A. area Old Timers are running their fourth annual Winter International motocrosses on Feb. 6-7 at Spillway Park in Santa Maria. CA. OT chapters from all over the western U.S. and Canada will be represented with OTHG. Vets and support classes also contesting long motos both days. PJ-1 will sponsor an antique classic race for pre-1970 bikes with a hand-onhelmet start. O'Neal Distributing. PJ-1. Standard Crankshaft and WFO Products are donating prizes and awards. I n addition. there- will be a berbeque Saturday night. For entries and info, call Bob Millner at 2131823-2152. Hond a unveiled its first-ever two stroke GP road racer - the NS500 over the Christmas holidays at a press conference in J apa n . T he V-3 NS500 has two of the cylinders pointing upwa rds. They lean a fraction forwards and the exhaust pipes exit fro m the rear, crossing over under' the seat so tha t their length can be con tained within that of the machine. T he third cylinder faces forwards and down , a t about 110-degrees to th e other two and the third exhau st pipe runs under the engine. Keihin carbs nestle in the V and although th e engine is a t the m om ent cast in al uminum, a magnesium version is on its way. T he wheelbase of th e NS is 54 .3 inc hes , It has a lfi -inch front wheel a nd a n 18-inch rear. Suspension is directly de rived fro m th e four -stroke NR500. The Showa front fork has air suspension and hydraul ic pump anti dive, op erating from th e brake caliper torque. The calipers also come from th e NR a nd have unequal sized piston s. Rear suspe nsion is Pro -Link , controlled by a Sho wa shock . The NS500 revs to 11,000 rpm and is rumored to pr oduce 130 hp . Winston P ro Series com p e t itor Scott Parker e nters his fourth AMA Gra n d Na t io nal C ha m pio ns hip seaso n w it h w ha t his sponsor. Rick Tol do, says " is the best privateer program in the country." Patrick Racing ' s Carl Pa trick and Bill C ro ft will work w it h t he team full t ime and have a lre a d y begun to b uild co m pletely new machinery . for Parker, The team will ru n under t he W iseco-Klo tz banne r. In addit ion to Parker, Matt Rozowicz. t he AMA Eastern Regional C ha m pionship Dirt Track Serie s ' top Novice. w ill be a m ember o f t he team . " The id e a." said Toldo, "is t o ha ve Scotty win t h e W inston Pro Series title and have Matt finis h the season as the top Junior, in the Road racer John Williams has " me t a . bunch of dead e nds" conce rni ng spon sorship for the '82 National Road Ra ce Seri es, and is making a final appeal to potential sponsors for th e coming season. " I've done a bunch of racing ," said Will iams , " I' m the on ly black Here's a sum mary of who will be on what in th e com ing seaso n's World Championship MX classes. Honda will defend th eir title in th e 500cc class th ro ug h reigning ch amp Andre Malh erbe ยท a nd su p po rt riders Tapani Pikka rainen of Finla nd and Du tch riders Toon Karsmakers and Hank Seppenwoolds. Andre Vromans will jo in Jean Jacques Bruno and Brad Lackey o n the works Suzuki team . Yamaha will field Hakan Carlqvist , Neil H udson and su pport rider Jucca Sintonen. KT M retained Gerard Rond , J aak van Velthoven and Geo rg Reiter. H usqvarna has Conny Carlsson and Bertil Oevgard, while Maico will have Walter Gruhler join Yvan van den Broeck, W ith 250cc World Champion H udson moving to the 500cc class in '82, Yamaha has bolstered the 250cc class with extra riders. Danny LaPorte, Belgia ns Gaston Ra hier and Jo Martens, Finn Matti Tarkkonen and possibl y Heinz Kinigadner will be on the team , th ough Kinigad ner is considering offers from Puch and KTM . Georges Job e will be the only 250cc works Suzuk i rid er. Kees van d er Ven and Soren Mort ensen will be KTM mou nte d ....rith Han s Maisch , Ben nie Wil ken a nd Maurizio Dolce on Maicos. The 125cc class looks to be heavily populated by Belgians and Italians. From Belgium will be cu rrent cham p Ha rry Evert s and Er ik Geboers on Suzu kis. Ma rc Vel kenecrs on Yamaha and Alain Lejeune and Gu y van Gijsegem on Hondas. From Italy will be Michele Rinald i and Corrado Maddi on Gileras , Michel e Ma rgar ott o on T GM. Guise ppe Andreani and Mauro Miele on KT Ms a nd Fra nco Perfini on a Cagiva. Yam aha's French star J acky Virnond, Suzuk i's Akira Wat an ab e -the 1978 cha mp -a nd Russian KTM rider Yuri Khudiakov will also join the ranks . Freddie Spencer's first outing on Honda's new V3 NS500 works 500cc GP road racer was less than encouraging. During the first day of testing on December 24 , Spencer dropped the bike in turn four at Laguna Seca in Cali fornia. Though uninjured. Spencer retired for the day, suffering from a stomach virus. Three weeks prior to Spencer's crash. a Japanese test rider dropped _the NS500 at Laguna Seca and broke his wrist after hitting a turtle on the course. Roger DeCoster suffered a broken collarbone while test riding a production '82 Honda CR480R in California . The five-time World Ch ampion MXer is now on th e mend . IAbovel R.C. Engine ering d ebuted their V-45 Sabre S upe r Modified d ra g ra cer at the A nah e im Trade Expo.I Belowl Re ti re d s id e car ra cer Larry Co le m a n poses w ith Wes Cooley's Yoshimura/Suzuki Ka tana S u perb ike. 3