Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

because of the rapid expansion thet GSM has axperienced over the past three years. The company has increased in-house production of motorcycle accessories. while at the same time expanding their distribution line. The Import Cycle name will be dropped. and both companies will be known as GSM. With the two locations. GSM has enlarged their warehouse fascilities. road salesman staff and service territory. The locations are: GSM. 13026 Raymer se , No. Hollywood. CA 91605. 800/423-2302 or 21317641808; and GSM. North Hwy. n. Ponca City. OK 74601 . 800/654-6486 lin Oklahoma call 800/522-64061. The Florida Wi n ter-AMA Series concl uded Jan. 24 in Orlando as Bill y Grossi (Hus) won the Open Pro class, Honda's Da vid Bailey topped th e 250cc contest and Karl J o rda n bested the 125s on a Yamaha. Wi nning series ti tles were Honda 's Chuck Sun (Open), L OP/Honda pi lot Steve Martin (250cc) and Jordan (125cc). Keep your eye on t h is spot next week while Papa and his cohorts do a little checking up in Sacramento. The California state budget bill was int ro d uc e d last week. and is reported to contain a n $8.5 mi llion Graen Stickie Fund to General Fund rip-off. The governor's office had assured OHV users that they wouldn't take any money out of the OHV Fund and we had been relying on their word. So stay tuned next week. Now that the 4gers have vanquished the Bengals, we can turn to the more serious stuff that happens in stadiums , name ly, S upercross. Mike Goodwin and company have the whole Jan. 29-31 weekend roped off. It begins at midnight Jan. 29 as L.A. television channel 9 presents a halfho ur program on the '8 1 Supercross Kickoff. Then on Saturday night, Jan. 30, the Miller High Life Supercross Kickoff '82 begins at 8 p.m. Del Taco restaurants are offering an early ticket that, along with regular admission, will get you in to see practice at 4 p.m. NBC will be fi lming the Anaheim race for broadcast a t a later date, so be sure to wave while yo u 're there. Then on Sunday amateurs go at it in the first of 10 races that will serve as qualifiers for the 1981 AMA Amateur Supercross Final at San Diego. Should be quite a weekend. The w inner of the Daytona 200 this year will receive $13.340 from the official purse of $93.000. That figure can be boosted considerably via contingency awards. Second place in the 200 pays $8.945. with the third place fin isher earning $6.065. Dayto na's Formula II race (previously called the International Light weight Race) will see the winner taki ng home $2,740 of the $15, 000 purse . Daytona's Superbike race w inner will earn $6,430 with the runner-up receiving $4.335. Purse amounts for the 1982 Wrangler Supercross Series have been released by the AMA. Most of the races in the 12 round series offer a purse around $20 ,000, with the exceptions of the San Diego race at $25.540. Anaheim at $26 ,770. L.A . at $28.540 and th e huge purse at Daytona , $40 . 100. Watch for an abundance of Wrangler Supercross Series logos at the Super. crosses next year; riders must disp lay them on the chests of their uniforms and on a promiment position on their bikes in order to be eligible for W rangler's $75,000 point fund money. The Salinas Ramblers w ill be presenting the 10th annual District 36 Qu icksilver Enduro on Feb. 14. and the guest of honor will be none other than Ed He rtfe ld e r. author of t he monthly Duct Tapes colum n in Cycl. Magazine. "Ed said he was going to try and make it to t he third check on Sunday." said the Ramblers' Ed Tobin. adding that Hertfelder would be the guest speaker at the Saturday nig ht riders meeting. Also on tap for the Saturday before the enduro is a timekeeping school taught by 0-36 A riders. This enduro is also a round in the 0 -36 Band Crider championship . For more information. contact Tobin at 4081 384 4495 after 6 p.m. The Californ ia Superb ike Sch ool will be tr aveling around the USA in 1982 as ride rs in different pa rts of the cou ntry will get a chance to ride their favorite tracks on the school's GPz550s. The school has tentative dates following the AMA Nat iona ls at Daytona . Loudon, Roa d Americ a and a da te th at comes two weeks before the Superbike race at Seattl e International " Raceway. The sch ool will run at Shannonville , Ca nada , one week aft er Loudon and then on to Con tin ental Divide Ra ceway near Denver for the 4t h of July weekend. T here will be a regul ar schedule at Riverside and Laguna Seca as well. For da tes an d information call 213/484-9323. Our sources in Europe informed us that Honda is testing a new works MX bike which has a cast aluminum frame. Pro-Unk rear suspension is still being used. but with a shock that is laid over in a cantilever position -the top mount is over the spark plug. Test riders on a three minute track are re p o rt e d to be going five to seven seconds faster per lap on the new machines. Honda is also working w ith their twin cylinder 250cc. with Yamaha. Suzuki. KTM and Gilera a lso reported to have twin cylinder bikes. The bikes w ill probably be phased into use during the coming season. Can-Am's new 500cc thumper has undergone a name change. The dirt squirter is now the Sonic 500. a change from Sabre du e to the" fact Honda trademarked Sabre for their new V-4 roadster. If you 're getting your club or motorcycle affiliated group together and have e ight minutes to spare. Greg Davis of Team Husqvarna may have just the item for you-the Dick Burleson segment of Peter Starr's documentary on motorcycles. It's available in 16mm film or video cassette. free of charge. for use at any motorcycle function. Call Davis at 6141476-0766. or write him at 2400 Marilyn Lane. Columbus. OH43219. It 's not too often that we get excited about - or for th a t ma tter, eve n take notice of - what the car companies are doing these days. However ove r at Saab-Scania o f America, the Connecticut-based U.S. Saab importer, part of the parking lot is off limits to cars during th e warm weather riding season of May through October. contesting t he 1982 Riders Wrangler Supercross Series w ill share in the $75.000 posted by Wrangler in additio n to all normal prize money and contingency awards. The 1982 Wrangler Supercross Series champ will take home $20.000 in point fund awards. the highest bonus ever paid to an AMA pro motocrosser by a series sponsor. Series runner-up will receive $12.000 w it h the bala nce of the fu nd shared by riders fi nis hin g in the t o p 15 in final series standings. T he 1982 W ra ng ler Supercross S e ries is sched uled t o begin o n Janua ry 30 at Ca lifo rn ia 's Anaheim Stad ium . Plans are being made for the expansion of the AMA Amateur National Championship prog ram to include Supercross racing during 1982. Events leading to determination of AMA National Amateur Supercross Champions will be held in conjunction with most events in the 1982 Wrangler Supercross Series. Although details of the championship program have not been finalized , the first race is set for January 31 at Anaheim. California. AMA amateur motocrossers may pre · enter the Anaheim event until January 25. Pre-entry fees are $45 and late entries will be $50 . Entries and req uests for info should be sent to Stadium Mo torsports , Inc .. P.O . Box 1523. Laguna Beach, CA 92651. There will be classes of competition ranging from 51cc single-speed machines to Open class machines. Further details on the Supercross program will be announced when series arrangements have been completed. Formal agreement has been reached for the AMA to sa nction all events of the popu lar Battle of the Twins (BOTT) road racing series in 1982. Working c losely w ith the founders of the BOTT. the AMA has established a BOTT Rules Advisory Comminee to consider future ru les changes and to make decisions on any appeals which might be filed during the course of the season. Further info and BOTT rules are available fro m the AMA. Professional Racing Dept.. P.O. Box 141. Westerville. OH43081. In addition to hosting the Daytona Beach Motorcycle Expo at the Plaza Hotel during Daytona Cycle Week '82, Motorcycle Dealerneuis has scheduled a television program, locally telecast by a CBS affiliate station and hosted by Larry Huffman, live from the Plaza . The show will feat ure question and answer sessions with top racers . autograph areas. race ticket giveaways, and special showings of racing·films. • THE NATIONAL PAPERS The 15th annual ru nning of th e Houston Astrodome twin bill is j ust around the com er , Feb . 6-7. Once aga in each event has over 100 ent ries to again prove th at the early season events get the most entries. By next fall the AMA Nationals will be fort unat e to' find 50 qualified riders , regardless of the purse , points and type of event . A rider does not have to be qualified to enter the Houston races , he just had to be an Expert card holder. We say he because the only woman Expert in '82 , Tammy Kirk , did not file an entry for either event. But ea ch main event will only have 15 riders, so over 80. closer to 90, riders will be peering out from under the stands in the world 's narrowest pit area come main event time. In the TT event the west coast racers have dominated since the first one back in '69. T he only major change over the years is the big switch from 750cc twins down to 500cc singles. The 750s are still in the hunt but appear to be getting mo re and more off the pace with the passing of time. . It is not unusual to find a rider winning one of the Houston events and then never winning again that season . or again ever. It has happened twice at Houston where the winner never again crossed the line in first place. One other rider has won the TT twice. but never at any other track. But the TT record over the years points out very clearly that it is not unusua l to find a different - rider winning each of the National TT races during any given season . Last year at Houston Steve Eklund became the first three time winner of the event with Jay Springsteen running second. Everybody thought the National point race was all over. Steve never won again and Jay har dly ever raced again on a TT track. The TT at the 'Dome used to feature a host of "TT specia lists," a breed that is ever decreasing. Now an oval track rider figures he might as well enter the TT as long as he is going to Texas anyway . In last year's final at least four of the riders had litt le experience in that type of racing. A few years ago one had to be a proven TT winner just to get into the main event. The TT will again feature the old and the new with 45-year-old Sonny Bur res again out of retirement and back for another try . He is a proven TT winner, but never at Houston. On the kid side of the entry list is Billy Scott, the winner of the Junior Invitational down there in '81. If there is to be a pre-race favorite, or favorites . it would again have to be Eklund, who won last year and failed to qualify for the final the year before. Also, I like Alex Jorgensen to finally put it all together down there. Jorgy has ridden just about every brand there is known to racing and has also proved he can win. even without his secret oil spray tactic . Last year he rode a Can-Am in one event and a Honda in another. He will again go to Houston perhaps in better race condition than an y other rider. He can win when least expected and nobody has ever expected him to win at Houston prior to main event time. He is as good a bet as an y at this tim e. It looks like he will ride a Can-Am . Looking at the short track one has to look at Jay Springsteen. The medical question mark from Michigan has twice won the ra ce, last year coming from a distant eighth for the victory . He sho uld be pumped up enough for the first event of '82 and has to be the favore d rider in this one . J ay had the fastest heat ra ce win a year ago and after a lousy first lap rode like the winner he often is. A win for Jay ties him with Rob erts in the "All-T ime" column. Equally unpred ictable, but not as consiste nt as Springsteen , are Scott Pearson an d Terry Poovey. Both ca me close last year, but J ay caught an d passed bo th for th e victory . Either one of them is capable, barri ng mistakes. The young and old again show up for the short track with former winner Darryl Hurst, who has said many times he has lied about his age for so long tha t he rea lly does not know how old he reall y is. Anyway, he is back for another try at time trials. Kawasaki introduces their new official factory team with veterans Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey . Lawson can fool you on a short track and Rainey can surprise from time to time. It is by far the best effort ever for "The Mean Green ." e 4) (Continued to 3

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