Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

celve 100% payback. See the Calendar section for more detaUs. Well , excuusse Papal He's been SO busy shaking hands with all the new folks in the office that he forgot to make the introducti ons. New to the Dealer Sales desk is Nancy Emde Brogger, one of two women in the country (the other is her sister) to be both daughter and sister of a Da ytona 200 winner . Ga yle Wheeler is the new voice you'll be talking to if you call to place a Want Ad , and Steve Wilson is the new face in the Display Advertising department. This week's cover pilot , Karel Kramer, joined the editorial staff last month. Welcome to alII Our .eml-offlclel "Source in Seattle" callad to mumble something about too many "Big B" swing shifts and an error in the Seattle International Raceway schedule he gave us. The first AMA SemI-Pro road race at S.I.R. will be Apr. 26, not Apr. 17. The Pacific Northwest road racing .eason actually gets underway Apr. 18 with a race at the Westwood track in British Columble. Over 70 ,000 sea ts at Anaheim Stadium are still warm following the successfu l Mille r High Life Supercross Kickoff, and alre ady Mike Goodwin 's folks a re talking about the J uly 17·18 weekend, which will feature the L.A. Col iseum Su perbow l of Motocross and an Amateur Supercross even t the following day. Stadium Motorsports also plans a road ride, moto rcycle show , motorcycle swap meet and a big bus program. Kawasaki's Eddie Lawson will reportedly appear at the American Federation of Motorcyclists' opening road race at Riverside International Raceway Feb. 21. Lawson Is expected to ride both his KR600 GP bike and his Super· bike In his sole appearance prior to Daytona. Bruce Penhall , th e World Cha m pion speed way racer , a n nou nced last week that h e w ill retire a t th e end of th is yea r. " I ca n' t rid e motorcycles all m y life a n d I have basicall y, in becoming World Champion, ach ieve d eve rything I se t o u t to d o in speed way. If th e World fin al was n ot -g o ing to be h eld in m y h omet own (L os Angeles ) th is year, I m i gh t well hav e reti red af ter Wembl y," sa id th e yo u ng Ca lifo rnian . " I do n ' t th ink I really want to go o n tryi ng to wi n th e ti rle fo u r or five ti mes," h e ad ded. Penhall says h e will lo ok to th e ma ny o ffers o u tside th e sport h e has received si nce w inn ing the Worl d C ham pions hi p a t Wembl ey last year, es pecially some TV a nd movie feelers.:" K... Van der Veen IKTM) won the February 14 Enduro of Touquet. a three-hour hare scramble type event held on the beach near Dunkirk, France. 1,200 riders started the race, including Americans Danny LaPorte, Rick Burgett, Marty Moates and Gary Semics. Burgett IKaw) finished eighth. A crowd estimated at 170,000 watched the event. Three-time G rand Nati onal Cham pion J a y Sp rin gs tee n wa s named MotorWeek Ra cer of th e Week o n th e T V show's Sa tu rday, February 13, tel ecast. Springst een receiv ed the honor for hi s winn in g pe rfo rmance in th e Houston Short Track , which put h im in a ti e with Kenn y Roberts for the most National wins, 29. Some interesting propositions came out of the National MX pro- moters meeting held at AMA head· quarters in Westerville, Ohio, on February 3. The 1983 Nationals may see the 125cc class become a support division which will run with the 250cc and 500cc National rounds. If the new arrangement comes about, National riders will not have to claim entry in one class, but will be able to ride all classes. The 250cc class would run during the first part of the season with 125cc support motos included. In the second half of the season the 500cc Nationals would run also with 125cc support motos. Two National Champions, plus East and West Coast 125cc Support Champions, would be crowned. "T he sickness didn't last too long," said Jay Sp ringsteen of his illness after winning the Winston Pro Series Short Track National at Houston. " I actually felt good enough to have been at the track Sunday for the TT, but I didn't want to take a chance on getting sick again. The doctor warned me it would take awhile for my body to get used to the new medication I'm on and I guess the seven or eigh t days I had been taking it wasn 't enough. The trip home didn't go too well either. I fried an alternato r in the m iddle of East Nowhere and had to spend a good bit of time in the snow and cold u nder the van replacing it. I'll be in Da ytona for Cycle Week a t the Harley- Davi dson Show . No racing, just plenty of su n," If you have access to a cable outlet that carries the satellite broadcasts of Ted Turner's Atlanta, GA. based "Super Station," go for it. Every Saturdey afternoon at 5:30 p.m. EST, the station carries lIIotOl'WHk, a half·hour program hosted by Dave Despain that gives a significant amount of its coverage to motorcycling. Contrary to published reports, Honda's Marco Lucchinelli will not be riding the Mar. 7 Daytona 200 Motorcycle Classic . The 500cc World Road Racing Champ backed out of his agree ment with American Honda to ride the event following test sessions In Daytona. "He rode last year's bike at Daytona, and really didn't get along with it, " said Honda's Udo Gietl , adding, "Marco wants to concentrate on the 500s : ' Paul Schlegel, co-promoter of the AMAIKawasaki Amateur and Youth National MX Final at Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch on August 4-7, wishes to revise information concerning camping and motel accommodations at the final. Instead of riders contacting Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch for details, Schlegel will be contacting those riders eligible for the final through an entry and motel and camping information packet which will be mailed to all riders who qualify for the final. T he format for the '82 Tra ns -USA MX Series is still up in th e air. In th e lat e pa rt of '81 lett er s were sent to t he AMA fro m J apanese manu factu rers sta ting th eir int ent ions of p ulling out of the '82 T rans-USA due to a n over extended race season and st retched budgets, but t he compa nies now a ppear read y to field ride rs in '82 . Husky , KTM and Maico woul d like to bring Euro pean rid er s to this yea r's Tra ns ·USA if 500cc bikes a re ridden , bu t some Japanese com pa nies a re pushing for a no t her year on 2511s. Team Honda's newest rider Brian Myerscough, has resigned his worka ride and win not ride the Natiorilll CIrCUit til• .yea,: contaCted . at his home, Myerscough said, "I thought I really wanted to race and ·1 tried really hard but. I guess that I'm burnt out. I couldn't really get as pumped about racing as I wanted to. I don't feel as bad physicelly as I did when I had to quit racing, but It was a combination of the two. I will race 'some locally; you can never tell what will happen." Honda motocross team manager Dave Arnold said, "From the minute we signed him Brien has been training and riding, he works harder than enyone. We really appreciate his efforts and are sorry it didn't work out like we had both planned." Myerscough's departure has left a void in Honda's 125cc National effort and Arnold said that the gep will most probably ba filled by Jim Gibson. Less certein is a ride for Denny Chandler, although Arnold is trying to get 500cc works bikes for Chandler. Steve Eklu nd reported ly tried to organize a boyco tt of the m a in event of th e Sunda y a fte rn oon Houston T'I' , Reason ? The former Gr and Nati ona l Ch ampion. who fell after tan gling with ex -motocrosse r Ste ve Wise . d oesn 't ap prove of Wise's ridin g tacti cs. Eklund . during a hea ted con versation with refer ee Duke Olliges a nd AMA com rrussrone r of pro fessional raci ng Mike DiP ret e , said. "Yo u gu ys have been lousing u p ou r raci ng for years. Now you let th ose g uys race!" The crowd in th e Astro do me loved Steve Wise. a lot of com pe titors pra ised his a bility . and a lo t of race rs who wer e moved off lines by Wise's aggressive riding a ppea red ready to trade knu ckle sandwiches with th e two ·time Superbikers willner . • THE NATIONAL PAPERS Thoughts about the twin Nationals at Houston ...The first time that Harley-Davidson has ever won both races the same year . . . A healthy Jay Springsteen would be far out in front with the all -time win record had he been able to race the many events he has missed the past two seasons, and now the TT at Houston. . .One has to wonder j ust how much damage he does to himself by continuing to race as long as his problems are serious enough to force him to pass up events that he has a chance to win . Combining the two main events at the 'Dom e and we come up with the fact that Honda had more riders in both finals than any other brand, 11 . Kawasaki, by placing three riders in the short track final, came up with the highest total ever to compete at one time for them in a Winston Pro Series dirt main event . Springsteen is the first rider to ever win three short track finals at the 'Do me. Kenny Roberts and Steve Eklund have each won four finals , but that includes both short track and TT . . .No less than eight riders qualified for both main events . . .That's a new high and again shows that the many former "TT specialists" have all but disappeared, giving the oval track riders, and motocrossers. another area to make money in . Owner/tuner Ron Woods is one of the main reasons the Can-Am engine will be showing up more and more in future short track and TT events this year. The events were again rough on the rookies ; let 's hope that the many former Junior hotshots tha t were entered did not get their hopes totally crushed in their first attempts at National racing. Put you r money down ea rly for Steve Eklund to win the Astrodome TT final in '83 if he continues his current pattern . ..He fa iled to qualify for the final in 'SO, cam e back and won it in '81, failed to qualify for the final in '82 .The seven -time National TT winner , you m ight say, is unpredictable at tim es. They say MXer Steve Wise was riding motocross style on his way to third place in the TT . . . Let's hope that he does not try the same style on the coming Daytona Superbike 100 where he will make his road racing debut .. .There wer e some unhappy riders in the TT final concerning the way Steve was racing . . .Bu t he is bigger than most, in better condition than most , and has more muscles than most who race the Winston Series ... Harley won them both for the first time . . .But they have a ways to go to match the record by Yamaha . . .Yamaha ha s won th em both on three d ifferent occasions . . .Springsteen has been chasing Bart Ma rkel and Kenny Roberts for a long time in the effort to finally become the leading rider in the all-time win column . . .Kenny can break t he tie by winning Da ytona but look for Jay to finally ga in the to p spot sometime in April or Ma y whe n the Winston Series hosts two miles and a TT in California . .. T he wrench beh ind Wayn e Ra ine y in his only Novice ro ad race ride and ' victory last year and his 10t h place finis h at Houston in the Short Track is none other than Dennis Mahan, the same master mechanic that tu ned Neil Keen to a bundle of wins on the Ascot half mi le, inlcluding the National win , way back in 1961 . . . How many riders in today's racing circles can ride both the d irt and the pavement as well as th e '81 Superbike champ, Eddie Lawson? The oldest rider to qualify for either Houston main event .. . It has to either be Mike Kidd or Steve Morehead . . . How time flies . .. For years the number seven was considered by many to be a "lucky number . . Bu t of late it must be losing stature . . .Springsteen , Eklund and Goss have all passed it up in favor of another digit when they lost the title and number one rating . . . It's still available: The late Billy Huber, Sammy Tanner and Mert Lawwill all found success with old number seven . Goss, Springsteen and Alex Jorgensen tied for the po int lead heading west in Ap ril . . .All three have won at either Sacramento, San Jose or Ascot in the past . . .It will be interesting on the two miles and the one TT which are the next din rounds on the Winston path. Texan Mike Kidd has the number one title . .Former Texan Everett Brashear, a 15-time National winner on the dirt , is rated as the number one golfer in the motorcycle industry . . . Texas is one the comeback trail it appears, both on the dirt and in the grass. . There will be a lot of unhappy riders at Daytona, but not until late Friday of Speedweek . . . No less tha n 134 entries for the 2oo -miler . . .Only 80 can make it out of the Thursday/Friday time trials to the starting line on Mar. 7 for the race that will pay just under $100,000 . . . This means there will be more riders watching from the pits than usually show up for any other American road race. Next time we cover the coming Daytona week . .. Roxy Rockwood 3

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