Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

in favor o f the sta tus quo. I'm lookin g to th e fu ture. I'm wo rking o n m y four-stroke. T he day will co me w hen it is com petitive w ith restric ted priva teer Yamah a s r idde n by eq ua l riders. In t he m eant im e . resr r ict ors shou ld stay. Dal e Si ngleton 's problem isn 't wi th restr ic tors. If G raeme Crosby's factOr\·TZ750 was u nrestricted, it wo ul d sti!'1 be faster tha n Dal e's. The problem is wi rh factor ies. a nd th ere is no a nswer. WIST BR U C E HAMM ER Los Angeles. CA America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Sfneleton um a leading proponent oj doii1g auoy uith the restricior rule. . . Editor. Sharon Clayton. Publisher Caroline Gcndry. Executive Sttrcury to the Publ isher . Oan Rodr igu ez. Ad vertisin g/ Edi torial Assistant. Vintage Moto Guzzi money I h av e a 1967 Moto G uzzi, I25cc, in exce llent co nd itio n. a nd I a m try ing to find o u t wh at it is worth. Do yo u know o f an y informati on th at ca n h elp m e in es ta blis h ing th e va lu e o f th e bike? DO UG LA S S. G RANT P.O. Bo x 6 11 Ro ll in fo rd . NH 03869 Editorial Dale Brown. Senior Editor. Mark Ka riya. Ed itor . Lance Bryson, Ed ito r. Ka rel Kram er, Assist ant Ed ito r. Advertising Skip Johnson , Nationa l Sa les Manager . Terry Pratt. Sa les Ma nager. Duane Johnso n , Sal es Manager. Stev e Wilson. Sales Mana~r . Linda Brown. Advertising Coordinator . Nancy Dange r , Adv ertising Assistant . Open letter to California riders Graphics and Production Kr istin Coo(X'T. Graphic Artist , Dave McCombs. Ron a Kram er . Assist an ts. Marion H arashita , Typography . Den nis Greene. L.3.l~~ratory. Accounting /Data Processing Mik e Klinger, Co ntroller. Donna Bryan , Accounts R ec e i va b le Coord i na tor. Sh ell y Zaionz. Assistant. Terry Dailey. Cred it Man agt·r. Circula ti on Rh eba Sm ith . ManageT.1\tichdle 8t'r11ier, Sa ra h Ta ylor . LtN t"w: Vassar, De-bbie Walk er. Lyna Hood . Assistants. Want Ads Gay le Wheeler. W ant Ad Sales. Dealer Sales and Service Nancy Bro gge r. Dealer Sales Man ager . Services and Support Ch ris Aircheson . Rece ptio n ist. Gregory Ha nson . S&S. West 2201 Cherry Ave .. Long Bea ch . CA P.O . Box 498 . Long Bea ch . CA 90801 · 0498 (213) 427·7 433; L. A. Lin e 636· 8844 . East 4190 First Ave .. T ucker. GA. P.O . Box '80S. T uc ke r. GA 30084· 0805 . (404) 934 ·7850 . Cycle News /West (U PS 141 ·340 ) is published weekly except the fint and last week of I he calendar year for $20 per year by Cycle New s. In c . • 2201 Cherry Aven ue . Lo ng Bea ch. CA 90801 -0498 . Seco nd class poslage pa id at Long Bea ch . CA . POSTMASTER: Send form 3&79 to Cycle NIlWa. P.O. Box 498. Long Beech. CA 9lBI1-G498. Su bscript ion rates: On e year, secon d class ma il. $20 ; two yea n . seco nd class m a il. $3 5; three years. seco nd cla .. m a il. $53 ; 25 wee ks, Sl 1. Fore ign rata available on req uest. Cycle News welcomes u nsolicited edi torial mat eria l inclu di n g stories, cartoons . p hot os. et c . Suc h materi al . if p u b lished. becomes the excl usive p ro peny of Cycle News. Su ch accept ed m at erial is subject to revision as is neccMa ry in th e sole d iscret ion of Cycle Ncws. Unsolicited ma terial which is not used will be ret u rned if ac compa nied by a self ad d ressed stam ped enevelope. All unsolicited m a teri al will be handled with reaso na b le care. however , Cycle News assum es no responsib ility for th e safety, lou or d amage to such material. Reprinting in whol e o r pan on ly by perm ission of the publ ishers . A d ve nisin~ rates and circula tion information WIll be sen t u pon request. See S. R.D .S. Copyright'" Cycle News, Inc. 1982. Tredemerk Cycle News reg istered U.S. Pate nt Office. All rights reserved. 4 ON THE FRONT PAGE: A rare -but-beautiful sight: A Honda CB1100RC on the open road . Our impression begins on p. 24. Photo by Mark Kanya. Riders shafted? An open lett er to Da ve Coom bs and Pau l Sc h legal: My name is Conn ie Feist , AMA #26 1830, and these are m y opinions only! I agree, red ucin g to one the number o f qual if iers does cu t th e cost of qual ifyi ng, bu t i t a lso in creases the p lay of lu ck . Shou ld n't the q ualifier consist of fo ur m ot os, two o n Sa tu rday, two o n Su ndav? Co u ld n' t a r ider's bes t three of fo~r mot os be co u nted to ward quali fyin g? Can t he A MA j us tify having tw o qual ifiers in Ca li forn ia, or is this a kissey-k issey type o f enco urage ment because th e Ca lifornia ns a re wise to the ine p tness of the AMA, hence the CMC a nd o thers? Do " B" riders n eed a cha m p io n ship? Is thi s in real it y a m o ne ygra bbing ploy by th e promoter s? Will a " B" cham p io n be a ble to run hi s acqu ir ed number in th e " A" class th e next year? Wh y run St o ck a nd Mo difi ed classes? Who will ge t to run th e number o ne p lat e the nex t yea r, th e Stock cham p io n or the Mod ified champion? If yo u ca n j ustify a need fo r Stoc k a nd Modified classes, wh y not run th e 250 a n d Open cl asses that way? Is it fair to give ea rly entries fir st c hoice o f starting p ositions? Wh en th e p ro gram was co nceived, we re a ny ri ders polled? The w hole program so u nds as if i t wer e co ncocted by a p romoter , for a promot er who co u ld ca re less about the sport o r th e riders. Narrow minded Mr. Schlegal refu sed a ny di scu ssion o n a ny o f these points a n d informed m e that th e s u bject was cl osed . Does th a t so u nd like so meone wh o is inter est in bringin g o ff a successfu l program ? T he big quest ion is - w hy r Co u ld it be m oney in stead of the interest o f the riders? In address to th e sta tement Mr. Co ombs m ade that th e Buchanan National wa s a " fiasco." In my opinion , th ings ran very smooth . as good as th e Minnesota National a n d m uch better th an th e Cal ifornia National. R id ers. co rner yo ur Congressmen , T r us te es, Mr. Schlegal a n d Mr. Coom bs. Find out th e a n swers to these a nd yo u r ow n questions . It 's in your best interest. CONN IE FEIST 198 1 National Amateur Champion - I25cc class Co lumbia City, IN Restrictor removal won't help T he problems faced by pri va teers in A MA / Wi nston Pro Ser ies road racing ca n not be so lved by removi ng res tric tors fro m Yamaha T Z750s. T he reason Dal e Sin g leton didn 't win at Da ytona isn ' t beca use fou r- st rok~s without res tric to rs a re faster th an his TZ750. T he reason he d idn't win is beca use the factori es ca me to pl a y in ea r n es t a n d n obod y, but n o bo d y. do in g it o n h is own can co m pe te wi th factories. A restricted TZ7 50 won th e Da ytona 200. bu t it was a fact o ry bike. Fourstrokes led the Da ytona 200 , b ut th ey wer e a ll facto ry bik es. A YZR500 a nd a KR500 led th e Da ytona 200 , bo th bei ng factory bik es. Mv bike wa s th e first non -fac tory four:stro ke to finis h, a nd it was n't as fas t as Dal e's Ya maha . Factories br in g good to road racin g - th ey ad vertise th eir win s. addi ng to spectator appea l a nd interest, th ey pay sa laries to rider s th ey h ire, they learn st u ff ra cin g that eve nt ua lly shows up o n st reet bikes. Bu t fac to ries a lso put th e privateer in a hard p lace, beca use n o priva tee r ca n a ffo rd to develop, manufacturer a nd race a I m ill ion V-4 H onda th at is as much like a V45 street bik e as a greyhou nd is lik e a pi g let. The a ns wer is no t to el im ina te resrrict ors. The two -st roke. especia lly th e tw o- st roke 750 . is o n its la st legs, There is n o co n nect io n to tw o -stroke race bik es a nd four-st roke stree t bikes. thus e li mi na ti ng a nycha nceof spon so rs h ip from co m pa n ies interes ted in sell ing 10 stree t rid ers. I ra ced m y restricted TZ750 wit h so me s uccess in 1980 a nd 1981 . but when it became obvi ous th a t fourstrokes we re th e thing o f th e future. I got sponsors a nd sw itched . That's a big mo ve, a n d a n ex pe ns ive one. Sc what d o yo u tell p rivateer s with fourstrokes if th e rest ricto r ru le is lifted? Thi s is not a n casy prob lem. Th ere is no just a ns wer. But I cast m y vote T here is a n in creasing di srespect w ith in th e Ca lifornia Department o f Parks a nd Recreation for th e in vest ment o ff-reade rs ha ve m ade in th e "Green Stickie" fund. T he ad mi nistration of the fu nd conti n ues to reflect a co mplete in sen sitivit yto the intent of the origina l leg isla tion a nd a total absence of depart mental advocates to protec t th e fu nd. T he recent .$8.5 m illion w hich was pi llaged from the O R V fu nd m ust be considered the last straw. Ca lifo rnia ri de rs must tak e pen in hand a nd demand that their elected leg isla tors restore th e 8.5 m illion a nd ac t immedia tely to pass AB 2397. p lacing th e O~ V. progra m under a se pa ra te co rnrmssro n . If we don 't act now, the sta te will co nt in ue to take illicit " loa ns" u n til the green stic kie fund is bankru pt. Now is the tim e to raise hell! R OB ER T RASOR Director, G ov ernment Rela tio n s Am eri can Motorcycli st Associ a tion Westervi ll e, OH Honda ad incorrect Whi le readin g the Mar. 24 issu e o f Cycle News, I noti ced Ho n da 's ra ce win ad for th e Da ytona Su pe rbike race is in error. Whil e no t tr yin g to di scount H onda 's fantasti c showing. I th in k it sho u ld be not ed that co ntr a r y lO th e co py in the above m en ti oned ad. H onda is n ot the fir st team to ta ke the top three posit ions a t Da ytona. Yosh im u ra a lso gra bbed the top three p osit ions in 1979. with riders Ro n P ierce, Wes Coo ley and David Emd e. All three ri ders wer e Suzukim ounted . Like foo tb all or base ball , motorcycle racing has it s sta tistics and reco rds. T ha n k yo u for th e o p port u n ity to set th is record straig h t. JERRY ST RA IN Brea , CA You're right . Jerry , and w h ile we'r e o n th e su bjec t, it was Darrell S hultz's seco nd straight Dayt ona Supercross win, but he d id it in 1981 on a Suzu ki. H owever. to err is h u m an . to forgive is di vin e. and to g o fast it what it 's all abo u t.i.Ed itor. Published letters do not neces· sarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Send letters to Voices, Box 498. Long Beach. CA90801 .

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