Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The final member of the Honda Support team, Roberto Pietri, will have his team managed by Terry Vance with Byron Hines doing the engine development. Gary Nixon, another former AMA Grand Na tional Champ, will be the race consultant, and Ron Durham and Dennis Smith w ill be taking care of the Superbike and Formula One machines, respectively. Pietri just returned from Italy, where he attended the wedding of 1981 500cc World Road Racing Champion Marco Lucchinelli. Efforts ar e underway to raise money for the American team contesting the Oct. 3-8 Intern ational Six Days Enduro in Wales. From the AMA, yo u can get a support decal ($2), a support pa tch ($4), support pin (.$3 ) or a support baseball cap (.$8). In addi tion, there's a special "grab bag " offer that includes an '83 patch and decal and decals /patches from past su p po rt efforts . A $10 dona tion to the sup po rt fu nd gets yo u one of those. T he AMA also has a very li mited supply of 1973 ISDT souvenir programs, pa tches, decal s and pins fro m the year the U.S. hos ted the event. A donation of $50 gets you one of those rare gif t packages. Send requests to ISD E 1983, c/o American Motorcyc1ist Association, P.O. Box 141, Westerville, OH 43081. Curt Comer, the 1981 U.S. National Trials Champion, has signed to ride for TMI , the U.S, Fantic importer, Comer will contest the AMA /NATC Nat ional Tria ls Championship Series. ·The former champ now resides in Charlotte, NC , where he is studying computer programming. The Cal iforn ia Air Resources Board will hold a hearing April 20 on th e issue of the three-year delay in implementation of the 1.0 gram per kilometer hydrocarbon emission limi t for small volume manufacturers. As yo u 've read here earlier, that limit was enforced on large manufacturers (sales of more tha n 5000 motorcycles a year in California), but the staff report recommended a three-year delay fo r sma ller manu facturers. The hearing will be held a t the University of California, Berkeley, at the Pa uley Ballroo m of the Stu dent Union Building, Bancroft at Telegraph, in Berkeley. The meeting begins at 10 a.m . Do n nie Hansen (left) joined Chuck (c e nt e r) and Ron Sun for the grand opening of t he C huck Sun Motorcycle and BMX Apparel shop in Tigard, OR . The shop handles a ll kinds of MX c lothing and accessories, and is a Ma ico dealership as well. It's located at 11845 SW Pacific Hwy., Tigard , OR 97223, 503/684-1470. Husky's Mik e Melton took th e overall win in th e Feb. 27 Sandlapper AMA National Enduro at Pelian, SC, fin ishing with a score of 14. T eam mate Terry Cunningham recovered fast from hi s thumb inj ury to place second, dropping 20 marks. Third overa ll went to Kevin Hines (H us), foll owed byJeff Fredette (Kaw). Compl ete covera ge next week. Eddie Lejeune (Ho n) took a convincing win in the second round of the World Observed Trials Cham· pionship , held Feb. 27 in Belgium . Lejeune dropped 86 for the win, while Toni Gorgot (Mon) lost 116 for second overall. Third and fourth went to Gilles Burgat (Fan) and Bern ie Schreiber (SWM), w ith 120and 125-point scores, respectively . Gorgot le a ds t he point standings w it h 24; S chrei ber a nd Lejeune each have 2 3 . 2 Husky rid ers Dan Ashcraft and Larry Ro eseler finished 1-2 in the AMA D38 King of the Desert race, held near Plaster City on Feb . 27. Third overall, first 250cc Expert, was Scott Pfeiffer (H on). Chuck Stearns (Ya m )was the overa ll w inner in the Feb, 27 Brush Busters 0-37 hare sc ramb les . Stearns was followed by Honda riders 'Ch uc k Miller, first 250cc Expert Howard McCasland and Bob Rutten. . Honda Superbike Support team mem ber Fred Merkel will have his ma chines tu ned by none other than former AMA Grand National Ch amp Mert Lawwill. Pa ul Dahmen will be handling the preparat ion of David Aldana 's bik es, and Sam McDonald will be en listing the services of K&N's Larry Hayno for hi s effort. J ohn Betten court will ut ilize th e facil ities of hi s fam il y's Honda shop in New England. Franchised motorcycle dealers are getting together to form a national association, which will be called the Motorcycle Retailers of America, Ed Lemeo has already been named executive director of the organization, based in Albany, OR , and there is an int e rim board of d irectors composed of dealers from across the country. According to their press rel ea se, the organiza· t ion w ill serve it s members as a nationa l lobby, organize dealers along broad lines for the purpose of negotiating more favorab le terms in sales and service agreements, provide programs to increase the profitability of dealers, and keeping dealers and others in the industry advised of events that affect their businesses. For more information on the MRA, contact Lemco at P.O . Box 1779, Albany, OR 97321, or call 503/967-8536, Hos PITal STOP:Jim O'Neal, a hardcharging Vet racer and owner of O 'Neal Distributing, was sidelined last week with phlebi tis, a cornplication following kn ee surgery. O'Neal is current ly hospitalized at Panorama City, and car ds and letters can be directed to h im th ere. The address is 14850 Roscoe Blvd., Panorama City, ,CA 91402. , _, , Speaking of O'Neal Distributing, former motoscribe Jimmy "The Greek" Gianatsis has joined the firm as director of advertising and public relations, Until recently, Gianatsis held a similar position with Moto-X Fox. The Ca l Poly Penguins say, yes Virginia, there will be a 1983 Hi-Mountain enduro. The cI ub says that thanks to C riders who donated their entry fees from last year (when the C loop was rained out), the Hi-Mountain is scheduled for April 10, with a rain date of May 8. Entries (500-rider limit) are open now , and the drawing for start numbers will be March 24. En tries can be obtained by calling 805/ 543-2023. The final two members of the Cali· fornia OHV Commission were named by Assembly Speaker Will· ie Brown. They are Marge Sutton of Palo Alto, and John Motley of San Luis Obispo. There wi ll be ano ther speedway school at the Maely Goos e Ranch in Corona, cA, but th is tim e the instructor will be J oh n Cook. Da tes are March 12-13, with the secon d day bei ng devoted to more advanced instruction. Riders with previous speedway experience might consider the second day separately. Call 714/ 7350540 for detail s. Honda Motocross Team Manager Dave Arnold talked with Papa about his fest guys. "Danny Chandler just tweaked his knee pretty bad at Seattla, He 's going to be fi ne , but he 's having the knee arthroscoped to be sure. He won't ride Daytona and possibly not Houston, but he will ba at Hangtown, DarrellShultz has high hopes to race at Hangtown, and I hope he'll be in shape for it . His knee is not healing as fast as it should have. The knee has not rejected the new tissue, it's just slow, The projections are that it should heal." Even though Goat Breker has been riding a Honda O pen class works bike, he is not a factory rider yet. H e is do in g th e develo pm ent and testing riding on Chandler and Sh ultz's bikes, bu t officially he is still on a bike -andparts deal. Heavy rains in the southern California area forced postponement of the fina l Saddleback round of the Continental Motosports Club's Petty Products Golden State Series. The Pro final has been reschedu led from Feb. 26 to April 3 , the weekend in between the Hangtown and Saddleback AMA/Wrangler Super Series rounds. All Golden State sportsman classes, includ· ing Mini Expert, Veterans and Old Timers classes, will run their fina l race on March 20 , In addition, there w ill be a lim it ed sportsman race running with the Pros on April 3 , and an easter egg hunt for contingencies. Kawasaki's Team Green vans and technicians will cover a lot of ground in March, heading back east for the Atlanta and Daytona stadium races for the first two weeks. T hen they'll be at Lake Whitney, TX, for the GNC race there on March 12-13. The followi ng weekend, March 20, they'll be at the Houston Astrodome for the stadium motocross . Lotsa driving... POST ENTRY: Ed Kretz Honda lit Suzuki Sales Manager Bill Alford and his wife LuAnn are the proud parents of Malissa LuAnn Alford . Mal issa made her entry Feb. 22 at 11 :3 3 a .rn , Bill, LuAnn and Ma lissa are reported to be doing fine. ... : :: · · ~r"

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