Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

you ca n' t just " p u ll off the track ," Rega rdin g th e off-roa d race rs, I'd like to pa y a specia l tri bu te to m y friend Rich a rd J ackson. wh o rod e th e Baja 500 so lo a nd fin ish ed fourt h in hi s class - I doubt tha t many peop le reall y understa nd or a p p reciate hi s ach ieveme nt. And conce rn ing the controversy su rroundi ng J ackson 's ear lie r win at the Baja, the acc usa tion tha t he cu t the co urse - I say.BS. I'v e kn own Rich fo r 15 years, bo ught two mo to rcycles fro m h im . raced with h im . cow-tra iled with h im a nd pi lied for h im at the 1972 Min t 400, a nd I ca n say tha t he 's the most in tense person I've known . He'll sq ueeze you o ff your line in a co rn er , and he 'll psyc h you ou t before a race if he ca n, but he does not cheat. Fi nal lv, I'd lik e to thank Louis McKey, ,'' The Phantom Du ck of the Desert ." for th e co urage a nd determ ina tion he's sho wn in h is cha llenge agai ns t " Big Brother. " Barstow to Vega s 1982! R.J . KEELAN Cheyen ne , WY WIST America's w eekly m oto r c y cle newspaper Sharon Clayton. Publisher Caroline Gendry. Executive Secretary to the Publ isher . • Dan Rodrigu ez. Advenising /Editorial Assista nt. Editorial Dale Brown. Senior Editor . Mark Kariya, Editor. Lan ce Bryson . Ed itor. Kramer . Assistant Ed itor. Ka rel Advertising Skip J oh nson , Nation al Sa les Man ager. Terry Pra tt . Sa les Man ager . Du a ne Joh nson. Sales Man ager. Steve Wilson , Sala Man age r. Linda Brown . Advc:nising Coordinator. Nancy Danger , Advenising Assistant. r Graphics and Production Kristin Cooper, Graphic An isL Dave McCom bs , Ron a Kr am er . Assistants. Ma rion Harashit a . Typography . Denn is Greene. Laboratory. Accounting Mike Klin ger, Manager . Do nna Brya n . Aceu. Recei vable , Shelly Zaionz , Asst . Accu. Receiva ble . Terry Dailey, Credit Manager. Circulation R h eba Smith . Ma na ger. ~I ichf'll t" Bern- ier, Sa ra h Taylor , La Neu e V ass,aT. Deb-bie Walker. Lvna Hood. ;\!fos i!lo~nl s . Want Ads Gayle Wheeler, W ant Ad Sales. Dea ler Sales and Service Nancy Brogger, Deal er Sales Ma na ge r . Services and Support Chris Alecheson . Recep tion ist . Gregory Ha mon . S&S. West 2201 C herry Ave.. Lo ng Beach , CA P.O . Box 498 , Long Beach , CA 90801 · 0498 (2 IS) 427 ·74S S: L .A . Lin e 6S6·8844 . East 4190 Firat Ave . . T uc ker, GA . P .O . Box 80!'>, T uc ker , GA S0084 ·0 80 !'> . (404) 9S4·78!'>0. Cycle News /West (U PS I4I ·S40) is pu b . fished weekly except the first and last week of the ca len d ar year for $20 {l('T yea r by Cycle News , In c .. 220 1 Ch erry Aven ue , Lo ng Beach. CA 908 0 1·0498. Seco nd class postage pa id a t Lo ng Beach , CA . POSTMASTER : Send form 3579 to Cyc le New.. P,O. Box 498. Long Beech, CA 90801-0498. Subscription rates : One raT, second class mail , $20 ; two yean , second class mail , SS!'> : three yea .., second class mail, S!'> S: 25 weeks. S I 1. Foreign rates available on request . Cycle N~ welcom es unsolicited editorial material including stories. cartoons, photos. etc. Such material, if published, becomes the excl usive property of Cycle News. Such accepted material is subject to revision as is ne cessary in the sole discretion of Cycle News . Unsolicited m ateri al wh ich is not used wilJ be ret urned if accompanied by a self addressed stamped ene velcpe. All unsolicited material will be ha nd led with reasonable care. however, Cycle News assumes no responsibility for the safety. loss or damage to such material. Reprinting in who le or pan only by permission of the publishers. Advenisin~ rat es and circu lation in fo rm ation WIll be' sent u po n req uest. See S. R.D .S. CopyrighT" Cycle News, Inc . 1982. Tredemark Cycle News reg istered U.S, Patem Office. All rights res"",ed. ONTHEFRONTPAGE:Teny Whytal ca lm ly flicks the Suzuki RM250Z sideways at Sadd leback. An impression on it begins on p. 16, Photo by Karel Kramer, 4 Fossils After reading Lou Bouscal's letter in March 10 issue: Yo u pompous old fool. The onl y reason you fini shed the Old Timers race with the Vets is that they had enough class not to pulverize your fossilized bones! Come out a nd rid e with us . We do not have a Seni le 70s class but we do have riders in their 60s a nd had a recent member in his 70s. Du rin g one of our past rides we ha d a kid illega lly enter o ne o f o ur races wit h fata l resu lts to one of o ur members, We sti ll have some of the younger ride rs sneak into ourassigned practices before our mot os. Let's face it . some of us old foo ls do n o t rea ct as fast as some of the kids. T h is letter is not wr itt en to rid icu le the kids, a n d o n the posit ive side , I have ha d man y kid s stop to hel p me up after falling , T he most memorable occasion was wh en the kids pu lled me o u t of the desert wit h a bro ken leg d uring the Barstow to Vega s race. Your cha nces o f finishing with us are good. O urclub motto is: " Ra ce o n Sunday, work on Monday. " ROB ERT DE MIRAN DA Vice President. O ld Timers L.A , Chapter Wh illi er , CA Broken Lawson chain not Tsubaki It was with great int erest I read Gary Van Voo rhis' report of th e Dayto na 200 in issue Number 9 dated March l Zth , As usual reading about Daytona in Cycle N ew s is the next best thing to actuall y being there, Wh ile reading the article one is able to feel th e speed a nd excitement genera ted bv th e race. In regard to Kawasaki rider Eddie Lawson, who was leading the Fo rmu la One race prior to ha ving chai n p roblem s o n lap 28, p lease no te th is pa rt icu lar machine was from KH I and was usin g the OE M brand of chai n, not T's uba ki as Tea m Kawa saki nor ma lly uses. Team Kawa sak i ,,~on the S uperbike Cham pions h ip for 1981 witho ut a sing le chai n failure and la st week won T alledega o n T sub aki. Thank yo u for a n excelle nt job of report ing. It reall y helps th ose of us who are unfortunat el y tied do wn to our des ks. JOHN M. LI NDEN Vice-Pr esident. Sa les Sudco In tern ational Los Angeles. CA Still more on Wise After followi ng the Ste ve Wise co ntroversy th ese past weeks, I feci co m pell ed to sta le m y opin io n. First o f all. the fla t track boys shou ld be g lad tha t Wise wa sn 't riding o ne o f th e hot 500cc four-strok e si ng les - he wo u ld have wo n, Seco nd ly, they had better hope th at the MX bo ys d on 't mak e a fu ll-sca le assa u lt on the Winston Pro Series - excep t for peop le li ke Gar y a nd Hank SCOll, there won 't be much left for th e fla t trac kers 10 sq ua bble over. Now I didn' t just co me off th e wall with thi s op in io n. I'v e been inv olved wit h mot orcyc le racing for 12 yea rs. both as racer a n d as a spectator. I've wi tnessed severa l National s. incl ud ing mile, half mil e, short track. 'IT a nd mo tocro ss. And I'v e raced in half mile, sho rt track, 'IT. motocross. cro ss-co untry a nd enduros. Ba sed o n these experiences. there 's no doubt in m y mi nd that o f all the "closed circuit" events, mo tocross requires the h ighest level of skill and physica l preparation. Ma rk Ba rn ell " rides five gllons" a nd " ru ns five mi les" every day . T he flat trackers shou ld th in k abou t that every ti me they ligh t up a ciga rette, As much as I lo ve motocross. my h ighest admiration goe s to those who rid e en d u ro s, the ISD E. Baj a a nd a ll the other forms of "off-road" co m petition . Sure, it tak es a big set to go 140 mph down the straight on a mi le track, bu t wh a t abou t goi ng 95 m ph down a rutted , wa shed-out road with bl in d hill s a nd blind co rne rs, never kn ow in g for su re wh at 's o n the ot he r side? And so me o f you o u t there kno w there's nothing q uill' lik e the feelin g yo u ge t a t the sta rt o f a 125-mile end uro, kn ow in g th at you're goi n g 10 be on th e mo torcycle for a t leas t five hours, kn owing that so me whe re o ut ther e (usua lly a t abou t 80 mi les). you 're goi ng to as k you rself, " J ust what th e hell a m I do ing th is lor ?" An d knowing th a t if trouble strikes , Way to go Sammyl I'd like to extend my warmest co n gratu la tio ns to Sa m my McDonald from T u lsa, OK , for hi s thi rd -pl ace fini sh a t Daytona a nd seco nd p lace a t Ta lla dega. He is now po ints leader in Formula T wo (250cc) class raci ng. Bein g a fellow T u lsa n a nd go nzo roa d race add ict, I' ve come to kn ow this persistent peg d ragger well. Hi s bei ng born to a fam il y that races (fa ther Norm a n d brother Pat a nd Ph il) assured exposu re to a ll aspects of h igh performance motorcycles. Sam ha s de veloped a stun n ing talent on the pavement. May the co ns isten cy a nd you r dedication to the sport find you num ber o ne this season in the Formula Two bid, for vou a re num ber one wi th you r fri ends a nd fell ow ride r/racers. DAVID WALDO RF Tulsa , OK Chaparrals disagree The Chaparral s M.e. apprecia tes th e fin e coverage Cycle News ga ve to th e Feb . 2 1 Coyote Derb y Nationa l Enduro. H owever , we ta ke excep tio n to o ne sta teme nt mad e by Ed Regeh r in his report. Wr iting a bo u t a mil eage p rotest , he sta tes " T he mi leage was 50 feet in sid e th e a llowa ble 1/ IOth of a m ile. " This is a bso lutelv fals e. Wh en th e mileage wa s rem easured by th e la yo u t bik e, i t wa s found to be virt ua lly pe rfect. It was more like 500 feet ins ide the a llowa ble I/IOth o f a mile, Alt hough Regeh r did n ot ride th e en duro. he apparently got h is data by mea surin g the section in question with his ow n bi ke, If he were an end uro rider ins tead of a jo urnal ist. he wo u ld ha ve kn own to also ride the three-mi le odo meter chec k section to determin e h is percent o f variance fro m the la vou t bi ke. In add ition to no t kn owin g wh a t he was do in g , we felt Mr. Regehr rnisreported the facts for another rea son: He is a close personal frie nd o f the rider who filed the mileage protest. Th e mem bers of the Cha parrals M.e. ta ke a grea t dea l o f p ride in o ur end u ro a n d mak e every a ttempt to mak e it as accura te as poss ible. We wou ld apprecia te it if Ed Regeh r would do the same in h is a rti cle . MI KE ADAMS Ch aparra ls M.e. Long Beach , CA Published Iettera do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Send letters to Voices. Box . . Long Beach. CA90801.

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