Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

expects the first Coventry-built Tri,u rnphs to leave th eir new p lant by May. The new Triumph plant is a former Dunlop transmission factory. Construction of an all-new 2.8 m ile short circuit at Germany's famed Nurburgring is underway and should be fin ished by the end of the year. Operators of the facility are expected t o apply to hold the 1984 German GP road race on the new short circuit. The " ol d " lo ng circuit is not being neglected. though, and proof of that fact i s the recent construction of new paddock and press bu ildings. The 11th annual Gardena Gold Cup half mile will run Apri l 8 at Ascot Pa rk, on the night before that facili ty hosts an AMA/Camel Pro Series TT National. Defending Grand National . Cha mpion Ricky Graham will headline the expected field . Roo kie Expert Pete Hames will be trying to put his name in the record books by beco mig the only rider to score consecutive Novice, Junior and Expert wins in the Gold Cup. All the action begins a t 8 p .m . Speaking of Ascot , promoterJ.C . Agajanian was released from a Los Angeles hospita l on Saturday, March 26. Agajanian Enterprises v ice-president Ben Foote explained , " W hen they cured his cancer 10 years ago, t hey damaged a nerve in his lung . Ever since then, Aggie's had troubles with the dampness of winter." NBC' s SportsWorld will ai r coverage of the 1983 Anaheim Supercross on Sunday, Ap ril 3, wi th a scheduled beginning of 2:3 0 p.rn . Eastern Standard Tim e. Check local lis tings in vour area for the exact time and channel. In a rev ision of theAMA's qualifying procedures for the 1983 ISDE team, it has been noted that riders "cannot alter the cc displacement to move up or down a class. You must ride in the class for which the machine was manufactured, w ith the exception of t he Over 500cc Four-Stroke class. where you may alter the displacement to move up." Classes for the IS DE are upto-80cc,101-125cc.126-250cc. and Over 500cc Four-Stroke. Each class w inner in the Qualifier Series will be guaranteed a spot on the team; the remaining spots will be through evaluation points. and some spots held open f or injured riders. In Ca li fornia, State Senator Ala n Ro bbins (D-Van Nuys) has his SBI56 up before the Senate Finance Committee again on April 4. Be sure to wri te to your state sena tors a nd as sembly representatives, since the bill would repa y the state's OHV Fund the $21.5 million that has been ta ken in the last two years. On an encouraging note, the office of Governor George Deukmejian invited Robbins' staff and O HV lobbyist Bo b Ham up to discuss the bill, a nd one of our . Sacramento sources tells us, "The governor's o ffice is very supportive of the measure." Gale "Motocross Mom" Webb will be taking her motorcycling / sports safety show to southern California's Knotts Berry Farm. where she will be appearing on March 31 and April 1. Rep resenta tives of the Los Ancianos Mo torcycle Club me t recently with the mayor of the Mexican town of Tecate, and a through-th e-streets-andsurrounding-desert grand prix event is set for Sept. 10-11 of th is year. T here will be classes for all motorcycles , as well as sidehacks and threewh eelers. For more info on the event, contact the club at 619/433-6830. Over in t he moto-monthly world. the things they are 'a changi ng . Following Dick Miller's departure from "Hi -To rque, we're told that Dennis Cox will be taking over the ed itor's chair at Motocross Magazine, and that racer David Gerig has been hired as associate editor of Motocross Action. Over at Rider Magazine, Joe M inton quit hi s editorial position on March 14 . In southern Cali forni a, TV watch ers' will be a ble to see th e half-h our openingcp isod e of M otorcycle W orld with Champions ga lore! Roxy Rockwood (left) ga thered t hi s ga llery of champions fo r one of his radio shows at the Hawaiian Inn duri ng Daytona Cyc le Week.-(Front row. lef t t o right) Dick Mann. Kenny Roberts, Gary Nixo n and Gene Rome ro . (Middl e row. Jeft to right) Rand y Goss. Ricky Gra ham . Ed Kretz and Bart Markel. (Bac k row. left to right ) Mert lawwill . Roge r Reiman and Carroll Resweber. Larry H uff ma n . It first airs at 6 p.m. on Sunday nigh t, April 3 on Channel 56 in Orange County, and then airs on Sunday, April 10 on Channel 51 in San Diego. The first ep isode contains footage fro m th e Kansas City Supercross of 1981, p lus interviews with Terry Vance and Team Honda mechanic Chris H aines. MoOoRoEo f~om Charles Sims of the Desert Vipers M .e. called to say that he found a camera lens while out at t he March ' 13 Invaders desert race. If the owner will call and identify the lens, Sims will be glad to ret urn it. The phone number is 7 14/521 7788. _ the Capitol A call to arms part III By Russ Sanford I was just si tting here rem iniscing about the " good old days" of ' motorcycling, No, I don 't m ean 45 years ago wh en I first started riding m o torcycles. I mean like: I mean like in 1971 whenan . ' assemblyman 10 Sacramento by the na me of Z'berg trie d to pass legislatio n that would have outlawed a ll forms of off-reading, anywhere in the state, and the motorcyclists deluged the state legislature with the largest number of letters and telephone ca lls ever recorded on a single issue. I mean like a couple of years la ter, when a freshman assemblyman by the name of John T h urm an was abou t to introduce a mandatory motorcycle helmet bill and the members o f the Stanislaus T rail Bike Association (fro m Thurma n's district) set up a round-the-clock telephone blitz unti l we got his attention and he dropped the bill like a hot pota to. I mean like when Ex- President J imm y Carter revived th e Nix on Executive Order to get us off th e public land s, a nd as th e Wa,ll Street J ournal report ed, was deluged with the most ma ssive lett er-writing and telephone ca m pa ig n (by off-ro ad ers/ mo torcycli sts) in the h istory o f this nation. Well, what I reall y mean , is like wh en m otorcycl ist s reall y ga ve a damn l By now, everybody that rides a ny kind o f a motorcycle should be a wa re that th e California Legislature ripped-off $21.5 mi llion from the OffHighwa y Vehicle Fund, which is a self-imposed tax on the part of orrroaders to develop ORV facilities a nd trail s. Every motorcyclist should know about the sta te requirem ent th at will mean ca ta lytic con verte rs on many motorcycles over 280cc (large manuIacturers next year a nd the rest in a couple of years ) regardless of wh ether it is ridden on th e str eet or in th e dirt. OK , we are agreed then , that probab ly every motorcycli st knows about one o r both o f these two situations. Righ t? TheJanuaryissu eoftheM.O.R .E . News lette r co nta ined th e a n n ua l Legislative Guide which tells th e reader how to write effectiv e letters and mak e effective telephone calls to ou r elected representa tives. T he newsletter a lso explains Sen at e Bill s 156 an d 158 which, if enacted , are the motorcyclist 's a ns wer to th e " rip -o ff" and ca ta lyric co n verters. Cycle Ne ws / West has p rin ted nu merous requests for mo to rcyclists to support Sena te Bill s 156 a nd 158, th ese past th ree month s.' T he 'Mach 9 a nd March 23 issu es a lso con ta ined spec ific a rt icles o n th ese two bills a nd ad vised that . I'.' t- "' .··! · ~·.~· .· f ' M .O .R .E. ~ad .free ~opics of th e a n n ual Legislative GUIde for anyone who wo uld sent 71¢ (to cover the cost of the envelope and pos tage) to M.O.R.E. , 9100 Billy Mitchell Blvd ., Roseville, CA 95678. Let's digress a moment and talk abou t response. When I mak e my rounds at the State Capitol, I ask the secretaries of th e leg isla tors if th ey are getting any letters from motorcyclists on Senate Bill s 156 a nd 158. T he usual answer is, "Yes, we have received a few." That answer is not good! .If th at is the case, then we might as well kiss Senate Bill s 156 and 158 goodbye I If we are really going to impress our legislators with o ur desires in th is respect, the answer should be, " Yes, hundreds!" In the good o ld da ys, everybody got involved . Mot or cycle clubs took tim e ou t from their me etings, exp lained th e issu es , a nd each o f th e cI ub members wrote. letters and the club secre ta ry mailed them th e next morn in g. Motorcycle dea lers explai ned th e issu es to th eir customers a nd encouraged th em to writ e lett ers a nd make tel ephone ca lls. Some mo torcycl e deal ers even mad e th eir employees .writ e letters an d mak e telephone calls , ex pla ini ng tha t th is wa y part o f th eir "job securit y," And , wh at were th e results? Well . everytim e th at we blitzed the State Capitol o n th ese major issues, th e results was th at th e Legislature d id as we as ked, a nd even mo re importa nt, th ey left us a lo ne fo r a co u p le of years. In fact , th e last tim e tha t we really blitzed th e State Capitol was in th e ea rly '70s. They reall y haven't bothered us too much for ab out 10 years . But, now th e fa ces in the leg isla ture have cha ng ed a nd except for a few of th e "old gurad ." most of o ur curr ent legislators d on 't even kn ow th at motorcycli sts ca n get orga n ized a nd vocal. Personally , I mi ss th e good o ld da ys. I just wish that we co ul d get a ll of the "no shows" o ff th eir duffs lo ng eno ug h to give a littl e help to those o f us who really ca re a bout mo tor cycling. We ha ve two major issues to fig h t back on, a nd if we co uld bring orr a no ther blitz. th en th e legis la ture j ust m ight leave us a lo ng for a no ther 10 years! S8 156 w ill be heard before th eSenate Finan ce Comm itt ee on April 4, an d S8 158 wi ll be h eard by the Sena te Tra ns p orta ti on Com mittee April 5, so tim e is runn in l!.' out...Ed itor. ,- .= ~ ' t,J : !" : J : '; ~ I~ 3

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