Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The 'May 8 Ascot/KRW Helmets AMA half m ile National will have a Junior Invitational event, sponsored by long Beach Honda. Interested riders should drop a post card to Agajanian Enterprises, P.O. Box 98, Gardena, CA 90247 . The Ascot folks will then get back to the riders with formal invitati o ns . Long-tim e Grand Na tional Championship point chaser Gen e Ro mero has join ed T eam Honda as di rt track coordinator, much th e same position that Roger DeCoster occupies with the motocross effort. Romero describes his job as, "whatever is necessary to help Jerry Griffith do wh atever needs done to win races ." World Speedway Champ Bruce Penhell has come to term. with tha Cradley Heath track promoters. While still disputing terms he helped hi. club w in their first outing, then romped to a maximum scor. In hi. second time out. Anot he r U.S. ri der at Cradley, La n ce King, looked good in his across-th epond debut and p ro mo ters are pleased wit h his potential. Not only will KewaukiTeem Green technician Dan Betley be at the Apr. 26 Boise, 10, AMA Regional TT, but he'll be g iving two motorcycle race preparation seminars while he 's in the area. The first will be Apr. 27 at Kawasaki of Twin Falls in Twin Falls, 10. The other will be at Desert Mountain Cycle in Mountain Home, 10, on Apr. 29. All local riders, parents and mechanics are welcome to attend , and you can contact the Kawasaki dealer closest to you for specific t ime. West ern Easter n R oa d racers ' Association has a n nounced a Triple Crown o f Endu ra nce Racin g, a three r a ce series o f 24 - hour e ndur a nce races held at Texas Worl d S peed way, N el son Le dges a n d North Carolina Mot or Speedway on June 5, Au g. 7 a nd Sept. 4. respectivel y. F or mor e i n fo r ma t io n call WE RA at 803/784-3105. HosPITal STOP: Pat Rooney, a top northern California speedway rider in the early '70s, is fighting for his life now, this as the result of a liver disorder. We're sure he'd like to hear from some of his old fans, and they can w rite to him at Mercy General Hospital, 4001 Jay St., Sacramento, CA 96819, Room M330. Be sure to check out p. 22 for artist Winston Beaumont's wh imsical inside look a t a politician. A guaranteed laugh riot, it' s brought to you by the edi torial staff of Cycle N ews. wh ich spends its year report in g on things like $8.5 mill io n OHV Fund rip offs, helmet laws. land closures and the like. and then every Apr. 15, sends money to Uncle Sam to pay for the privilege. The Southern California Trials Association event scheduled for Apr. 1 8 at Saddleback Park, has been cancelled. Tech inspection for the Apr. 17-18 Bud weiser G P will start on Friday an d go from 4-8 p .m . AFM Pro representa tives will be there to gi ve riders an d mec hanics ti ckets, which ar e redeemable for beer a nd pi zza at Kawasak i o f Riverside. Look for World Speedway Champion Bruce Penhall in a CHIPs episode next season. Penhall has every commitment from the show's pro- ...... ... . lo-< 0. < Americans were much in evidence at the 27th annual International MX of Horensbergdam in Belgium. Bestfinish wa. turned in by Danny laPorte (91), who's shown passing Gary Semics, who's shown talking to Marty Moates (left). laPorte turned in a 3-1 tally to finish second behind factory Suzuki rider Andre Vromans. Semics' 6-3 tally was good for third overall, while Moates finished 12th in the first moto, then left for an Australian race. Photos by Henny Ray Abrams. ducers short of a final contract, and he'll be playing himself in the episode. In the meantime, Penhall will appear at s o uthe rn California speedway venues such as San Bernardino on Apr. 14 and Costa Mesa on Apr. 16. As yo u cast you r gaze towards the na tion's capitol. be aware that a da nger lu rks there: Senate Bill 1584. introduced by California Democra tic Senator Alan Cranston. It 's the Senate version of Co ngress man P h ilip Burton 's Ca lifornia Wilderness Bill . which would create 2. 1 million acres of wilderness in the state of California. Bu rt on 's bill passed the House of Rep resentatives via a bit o f legisla tive sleight of hand. bu t the SB1584 has thus far no t been heard in the Sen a te. Of prime conce rn in th e bill are three w ilde r ness a reas in th e Se q uoia Natio na l Forest th at would obli terat e miles of p rime tr ai l riding in th e Kern Plateau. T hey are the Monach e Wi ldern ess Study Area (42,000 acres), South Sierr a Wilderness (78,000 acres) a nd the Do melan ds Wilderness Add itions (31,000 acres). This is an are a thatwas(R"Viouslydecimalf.'dbytheGolden Tro ut Wilderness , and an y more Wilderness designations are going to mean severe over crowding of remainin g trails. Now th e Reaga n Administration and the Forest Service both recommend I.l million acres of Wilderess, as opposed to the 2.1 million acres included in SB1584. In addition , the three areas mentioned earlier are full of trails, roads and structures - not suitable fo r Wilderness designation at all. As we said before. the bill is not currently active. bu t it would be a good idea to write to thes e Senators and let them kn ow SBI584 is not a good idea: Senator Alan Cranston. Senator S.l. Hayakawa, and Senator James McC lure. You can write to them at Uni ted Sta tes Senate, Washington. DC 20510. And stay tuned - we 'll let yo u know th e moment s o me t hi n g starts to h ap pe n . HosPITAL STOP: Husqvarna West Coast service rep Sherman Schneller suffered a severe back injury in the Tecate 600 enduro, run Apr. 3-4, after a high speed crash.,Quick thinking Randy Hollenbeck came along, gote van and took Schneller back across the border to a U.S . hospital. If you 'd like to cheer Sherman up a b it , drop him a card or letter c /o Husqvarna, 4925 Mercury St .. San D iego , CA 921 11 . • NAr-rIONAL PAPERS It looks like the Winston Pro Ser ies is agai n go ing to be wi de open, or in doubt. until th e fin a l rou nds la te this season . Looking at th e Ascot "IT Nat ional as an exa m p le we find tha t th e Canad ian Can-Am 500cc si ngle is very mu ch a live a nd well but wi ll on ly g et two more cha nces to prove it at Santa Fe and Peo ria la ter this year. . For the second straight time Jay Springsteen did not show up to rac e and be the pre-race favorite. Whatever is wrong with j a yand h ow man y times he misses will most certa in ly have an effect on the titl e th is season. He is an officia l entry for Sacrarne n ro, Sa n J o se a n d th e Ascot National half m ile. Bu t who knows? T he question as to wh eth er or not a mot ocross race r can find money a nd success racing th e Winston Pro Seri es was partia lly answer ed at Asco t. No an d maybe sh ou ld su m it up. A sho rt, tig h t co urse will work. A longer a nd faster course is another si tua tion. I thought Steve Wise rod e very well a n d had no less than three ch ances to qualify for the fin al. There were just too many good "IT rid ers arou nd. But ba sed u pon wh a t I saw. riders sho u ld get ready for Wis e whe n the a n n ua l "IT National a t Santa Fe Park in Chicago. a no ther short tight tra ck with lower speeds going into the corners. Good rid e Steve. Keep up the good work an d th e effort and don ' t let a nybody talk yo u into m iles or ha lf miles - until you feel yo u are read y. Speakingofready. H an k Scott will be a t Sa cramento. San Jose an d Ascot for the three remaining ea rly season west coast Na tional s. I sa w H ank in February an d he looked a bou t 90% read y a t the time. He ha s worked hard a t makin g a recover y from h is time tri a l spi ll a t Asco t last fall a nd a mile comebac k is in th e ma kin g. Racing welcomes ba ck o ne of its many fine mil ers. I ca n't remember ever seei ng both of th e H -D fact ory machines come up la me. BUl it happened at Ascot. Both Randy Goss and SCOll Pa rker would have been contenders in the final bu t ended up bei ng lap ped . It goes again to prove that it ca n happen . once in a wh ile. to the best o f th em. (H-D had th eir new blimp flyin g at Ascot. no passen gers allowed.) Now is the mile tim e a t Sacramento a nd Sa n J ose. Bo th are recording grea t advance ticket sales and why not? The miles are famous in the west for great raci ng . That lillie guy from Stockton, the same guy wh o has sco red in a ll three Na tiona ls he has raced in this year. jorgy jorgen sen , won the Sacto mil e last vear in slick fashion. He will aga in rid e the Sal Acosta H a rley tha t ca rr ied him to his onl y mil e win a year ago. Remem ber that one? It looked like oil blowing out th e back , covering an y other 'rider tha t got close?? The senior j o rgy swears it was a legal secret formula that was brew ed in his show in Stockton. An yway, the AMA ban ned the gooey mix ture and j o rgy will have to afford a "clear" field to any riders tha t wa nt to take a shot a t wi n n ing. Rem ember a lso tha t Acosta wa s so confident that the bik e would run fast last year tha t he never even sho wed up to make any cha nges. H e went to th e sp rint ca r races in stead . That's confide nce in th e purest form. T here are so many good mil e riders th is year th at it will probabl y be like the Ascot final - no rookies a llowed. At least a dozen en tra n ts a t the cap ital city will be former win ners. I a m now curious to see the prog ress m ade by both H onda an d Yamaha on the miles af ter a year of testi ng, tri al, error and effort. Yamaha did not make it to Sacramento last yea r a nd Ho n da quickly found ou t that thei r new twin needed a lot of ex tra work. Bu t I ha ve watched both brands over the years a nd they seldom ta ke longer th an a seaso n to get the rig ht co mbina tion . N ow if on ly Jay Springst een co u ld find the ri g h t co m bi na tio n at some doctor's offi ce we would be a ll set for a gr ea t mile tra ck shootou tlshowdown. The question is no t on ly will J ay show u p for Sa cramento bu t will Honda wa nt to try Steve Wise th ere as we ll. I would like to see Steve at over 100 mph sta n di n g up on the pegs in the corners. After a ll, former racer Jack Warren from Mich igan used to p u t h is kn ee down in th e d irt instead o f hi s left foot - that 's whe re the roa d ra cers got the idea that it m ight, wi th proper pa ddi ng, work on the pavement. Fo ur Na tio na ls in the books a nd four diffe rent wi n ners so far. Here we go agai n. Roxy Rockwood 7

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