Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

N.w JI.dco-Colo..ado.Wyo_iIIg.Jloataaa.Nol1h D"ota·loath D. .ota-N.b....ka.K_....Okiahoiiia..;T• .~nl..al Pipeline ~~~~~~ ~ ~ RM FULL FLOATER HEADQUARTERS '83s IN STOCK! RM80 RM250 4x6's RM125 RM500 ALTSO's Th e Sensa tio n of S uzu kil Nowl up to $200.00 Reb.t . on selected Suzuki Street Bike.' All '82 Street Models at LOW, LOW Prices Free 600 mile serv ice w ith purch... of any New Suzuki S treet Bike. Professional Single Shock Modifications 1- ALL MODELS -I Crank Rebuilding. Boring Porting. Fork Mods 2061 N. Hamner Ave. #404 . - .' (be hind Tarbell Realtors) .... Norco,CA ~ (714) 359-8546 (714) 734-0640 Houston's Pete Sullivan took his 1981 Suzuki RM125 to the w in in Austin's 125cc Intermediate class. The new track layout suited him . Tired of Losing the Holeshot? Install HOLE SHOT CONTROL and •• • Getto the comer first without bogKing or wheelles. Hole Shot Control is a hydraulically operated. handlebar mounted. fu lly ad j u st able clutch control unit . You set the speed of release from norma l to the slow est release. The cam act ion release allows adjust~ ment to all track condi tions. Set cam release. rev motor, sn ap the clu tch a n d you r bi ke l au nche s w i t h o ut wh ee lies or bo gg ing . " HS C" w i ll then autom at ica lly ret ur n to no r ma l cl utch act ion . H OLE S HOT CON TRO L w or k s eq ually w ell f or Flat Tr ack. Drag Racing or Mo to cross . . " H SC" is com pletely reb uil dabl e with a 90 day warranty on defe ct ive mat erial o r workmanship . Complet e unit . inc l udi ng lever and in st r ucti ons on ly $89.95. Oh io r esi den t s add 5 % sa le s tax . "HSC" UPS ooc.o.o. · OHI.- Inquin. Imri-.t H'" Sport CHt.r, Inc. 1400 AIrport R.ed "nfI,l" OH44M3 41WIZZl102 =me 191 Husavarna . NOW is the time to buy a Husky T. 0 ........ pra.on"mocIIIa SALES. PARTS. SERVICE '83 500XC. In Stock .,.....-----1 ,~~, • YAMAlrfA 24020 Narbonne Ave. 26 (Torrance/ Redondo Area) Lomi t a. CA90717. (213)534-23 1 t 3. James 8utler (Han). 125 NOV: 1. Jeff 8 rown (Suz); 2. Tony Lasater (Kaw ); 3. John Bron (Han). 250 NOV: 1. M itch Hulsey (Han); 2. Bubba Neal (Yam); 3. Stewan Gaines (Yam). OPEN NOV: 1. Ronnie Ruyle (Hon); 2. Mark Payne (Han); 3. M ike Torkelson (Suz). OVER 30 : 1. Troy Rapp (yam ); 2. Tommy Hul sey (Han); 3. M ike Franks Sr. (Kaw ). 125 INT: 1. Monty Bland (kaw); 2. Rusty Pipes (Kaw); 3. Glenn North (Kawl. 250/0PEN INT: 1. Rusty Pipes (Suz); 2. John Morell (Kaw); 3. Cunis Gen is (Han). 125EX: 1. Ed Cook(Kaw); 2. Stuart McAvoy (Suz); 3. Brad Bookter (Suzl. 25O/0PEN EX: 1, Joe Fudge; 2. Hugh Haggan (Suzl; 3. M ike Capt (Han). BIG BIKE BUDOY RACE: 1. Tony Lasater /Glenn North (kaw); 2. M ,tch Hul sey/Frank Taylor IHon); 3. Tommy Husley /Mark Payne (Han). MINI BIKE BUOOY RACE: 1. Jack Ricks/Ph illip Quic kel (Kaw); 2. M ichael Franks /Tommy Hall (Kaw ). Schwantz doubles in Astrodome AmateurTI By Joe Milian HO USTON, TX. JAN . 6 After the d us t had cleared in th e Bud we iser Wi ld West National TT today here in the Astrodome, 110 Amateur riders from a ll over the United States took over the track to stage their ow n version of a national TT championship. T exa n Kevin Schwantz emerged the big winner in th e evening's competitio n as he scored uncont ested wi ns in bo th the 250cc class and the 500cc class. SchwanlZ, a lo ng with Roger Thompson. J ason Festavan and J oh nny Gregory, provi ded th e H arris Coun ty crowd with some of the most consistent p«;rformances of the evening. Race officials were sorely pressed to get the races run off on the sam e day as the dela yed sta rt of the profess iona l program ca use d the No vices to co nduct th eir affairs right up u ntil the m idnigh t hour. H ead flagman John Gaulding, of the Houston T ra ilriders Cl u b, did a supe rb job of keeing everyt hi ng un der contro l, ca lm ly runn ing the ma ny heats a nd restarts in a n orde rly' and efficient manner. Ski llf u l riding on the part of the contes tants held restarts to a surprising few, consideri ng the conges tion created by th e tight left ha nder afte r the start. After the short straight and the left hander, riders irnrnediatelv encountered the same big jump the P ro had lO S co nt end with. Beca use of th e time factor, tra ck officia l decided to leave the j ump unaltered, a nd though th ere were some near d isas ters, all in all the young cha rge rs handled th e jump with fin esse. Bu tch Pol ite, in a 250cc hea t race , was th e o nly vict im of th e ni ght here; he was tak en to th e hospita l with a poss ible broken leg. Mod ified mo tocross eq uipment was the order of th e even ing, as were the a bunda nce of contras ting ridin g a nd clothi ng styles, Lack of tota l prep a ration was evident in some areas, especia llv in tire selection. Motorcycles eq uipped with 2 1 'inc h mot ocross kn obbies on the fro nt end co u ld not contend with the braking required at th e end of th e flat o ut front stra igh t. Time aft er time in the heat races, rid- . ers would jump int o the lead o n ly to be done in in short order by a cha ttering fro n t wh eel that wou ld not stop a nd force th em to severelv overshoot th e tight turn leading 'to th e big jump. Several ra ces were decided in this turn, and Jason Festavan a lmost lost it all there at the start of th e 85cc Junior final. Festava n go t a stro ng start off h is pole position. but was taken down in the turn by hull and the n ru n o ver sq ua rely by Fleen er. Festavan wa s slow in gett ing u p a nd in some pa in , but ma na ged to barely make the recall. This tim e Festavan broke cleanly from th e lin e and was never challenged. By mid-race, Festava n had almost a half la p lead and wa s able to ease up toward the end to comp lete a flawl ess performance and ga in a well deserved win. The first Qualifier in the 85cc Sen ior -class saw three principles, who made the fina l, sta ge a fig h t fo r the top spot tha t they would repeat a short tim e la ter. Bill y Wh itley, Chatlie Su ll ivan and the pride of Thomasville, AI, Randy Hunt, were jo ined by Bobby Langford in th e ma in, with Hunt being d ispl aced fro m the top three by a costly last lap bobble. Sullivan took a narrow win over Whitley, atki ng the lead on the next to last lap and bo ldine it to the flag, In I25ccshenanigans, Yamaha rider Rob P h ill ips got off to a slow sta rt in hi s heat race , bu t go t progressively stronger as the eveni ng wore on to cop the first p lace tro phy in his class. Baton Rouge, LA 's Nic kie Fonta na put on a fine di spl ay of come-fro mbehind riding to tak e third place beh ind Phillips a nd Brad Craine. Gary Yeager rode well all eveni ng, but, a momentary m iscalcu lation in th e main cos t him a top three finish . Kevin Schwantz met every expectation of h is ro le offavorite in th e 250cc meeting; he led every lap of his transfer heat and then d id th e sa me in th e main .Wh ile Sch wan tz was o ut fro ru a nd a ll a lo ne, J on Nu nez, J ohnny G regor y a nd Curtis Canno n were in a dogfig ht for second p lace. Wh en . Cannon went dow n o n lap four, his pl ace was q uic kly ta ken by smooth ridi ng Roger Thompson. Thompson" th oug h loo kin g ext remely stylis h on a Kawasaki . co uld not d isplace Nunez a nd Grego ry a nd sett led for fourt h. Gary Kidd , aft er falli ng victim to mech an ica l woes in hi s heat race, ca me back to win hi s sem i convincingly. In th e fina l the grem lins took o ver once aga i and Kidd was relega ted to spe cta ting. . The battl e of the big bores was settled in th e first turn as Kevin Schwantz took a left a nd disappeared. Once again th e primary co ntent ion for first p lace ca me from Curtis Cannon, and this time th e fine young Yamaha co nt ende r kept h is machine erect as he fin ished a strong second. Thompson was forced into a 10 lap stru ggle with Hammond tha t kept th e cro wd 's interest on each passing lap. H ammond would take the in side lin e down th e front stra ig h t a nd Thompson would tak e a n ex tremely o utside line tha t sent h im sweep ing wid e a nd th en diving back from th e apex to co nfro nt H ammond. Thompson fin all y managed to make a pa ss stic k on the last lap a nd eked o u t a hard-fought th ird pl ace. ''I'm real glad to finish th e way I did, " a n elated Thompson sta ted after the race. " My 250 Kawasaki is a stronger bike than m y 500 Yamaha, bu t th e big bike held up real well. I'm turning Pro in June and I hope to have som e newer and stronger ma chinery to rid e. I sure enjoyed thi s here ton ight though, " th e diminuitive California pil ot said. Results 857- 11 YRS: 1. Joson Festavan (Yam); 2. Pedro Gonzalez (Yam); 3. Chris Edwards (Ka w). 85 12-15 YRS: 1. Charlie Sull ivan IKaw); 2. 8illy Whitley IKaw); 3. Bobby Langf ord (Yam). 125: 1. Rob Phill ips IYam); 2. Brad Crain e (Han); 3. Nickie Fontana (Yam). 250 : 1. Kevin 5ch w antz (Yam); 2. Jon Nunez (Suz); 3. Johnny Gregory (Yam). 500: 1. Kevin Schwan tz (Yam); 2. Cun is Cannon (Yam); 3. Roger Thompso n (Yam). Brown nips Beckham at Capitol City MX By Joe Milian AUSTIN, TX, JA N. 30 Superbowl Sunday. While the sedentary types were parked in front of the " teevee" with the beer and preuels watching the Skins and Phins, 168 members of America's team signed up to race motocross today at Aus tin's Capitol City Motorcycle Racew ay. Roger Brown made one of his pe ri odic forays int o the Expert divisio n and received $150 for his efforts. H e edge d out J ack Beckham for the top spot. Brown, in hi s first ride for Big Tex Ya maha . had to o vercome a fantastic seco nd mota performa nce by Suzuki-mounted Kevin H orton. H ort o n kep t his yellow machine in th e lead for nearly the entire heat. After thwart ing Brown 's efforts to pass rime after time, he yielded his fir st pl ace posit ion with on ly a half

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