Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126635
B fa Flat tra cker Steve Oort called 10 tell Papa - and to h ave h im p ass it on - wh ere he's been th e p a st few weeks. O ort fell off in th e Ascot half m il e opene r a nd su ffered a broken vertebra and torn ligaments. O o rt says he'll be back racing this su m me r, h owever. ~ Bobby " Bo o g al oo" Schwartz will be rid ing at Costa Mesa speedway on Friday night, April 15, It will be the only U.S . appearance of the Best Pairs and Team Cup World Co-Champion before the American Speedway Qualifier runs June 11 at Long Beach Veterans Stad ium. - ..... l-o 0.. There will be a pa ir of Juni or Invitational s to go al ong with th e pa ir of AMA/ Camel Pro Series Nat ional s a t San J ose, Ca lif., on April 30-May I . The Sa turday ni ght Jun ior race on the short track will be for 500cc fo ur stro kes on ly; th e Su nday mile will feature a reg u lar Juni or Invita tio na l. For more detail s, ca ll Bill Spencer at 4 15/969-1682. < Castrol Oi l has announced an in crease in its contingencies for the Battle of the Twins Series Championships. The contingency for the series GP championship has been in c re a s e d to $1000, and $250 awards have been added for the Amateur and Expert Modified classes. M otorcycle Wo rld wi th L arry Huffman co nt in ues to ai r in So u thern Ca lifo rn ia, with coverage of the Japan Supercross tha t Ri ck y J ohnson won la st year , vintage bikes, personal ities, and even Cycle News road tests on tap . T he progra m is shown ea rly Su nday eveni ngs o n Cha n ne l 56 in Ora nge Co unty a nd C hanne l 5 1 in Sa n Diego. Honda unvei le d their new TT bike at the Ascot Na t iona l. Piloted by factory rid ers Micke y Fay and Terry Poovey, the XL600-based bikes finished in a n one -too-im p re s si ve fifth (Fay) and 11 th (Poovey). The bike's most int e re s ti ng fea t u re was it 's horizontally mounted rear damper. designed by Works Performance. According to Honda engine builder, Jerry Griffith, the la y- d ow n positioning was used because of carb clearance problems that a conventional single-shock configuration wou ld have caused . "We put a piston in it to ra ise compression, did the heads and the cam, " said Griffith when asked about angine modifications. "I 'm not sure the cam's that good and the ignition's kind of weak. It 's a good engine, though. We really didn't have time to put things together. I think it 's going to be good, it ' s just a matter of putting it together. It's a hell of a lot better than what we had last year." After bringing the new bike home fifth in the TT. Fay said the b ike was easy to ride, but in need of a few more ponies. "To be honest, I think we' re a lit t le bit down on power, " he said, "but I think we'll ba there next time around . The engine is good and stout, much better than the old twin-shock 500." About the new shock placement: "That works excellently, just perfect. With the old bikes, you 'd get a kind of weaving feeling in the big corners, like it was trying to p itch you off the high side. The new bike is perfectly steady. Real smooth." Honda teamma tes Andre Malherbe an d Graham No yce sp lit moto win s an d runner-up fini sh es a t th e ope n ing round of th e 500cc World MOIOcross Championship in Swi tzerl a nd on Ap ri l 10. Our preliminar y resu lts have Ma lh erb e listed as th e winner. with Suzuki's Andre Vromans finishing th ird after post in g a pa ir of thirds. In the second round of the 125cc MXGP Series in Austria on April 10, Suzuki's Eric Geboers again turned in a two-moto sweep for the overall win. Michele Rinaldi went 2-2 on another Suzuki for second, and Gilera rider Corrado Maddi finished third both times to round out the victory rostrum . American Jim Gibson went 5-5 for fourth overall on his works Yamaha. In the point standings, Geboers leads with 60 points, follo w e d by Rinaldi (40) and Gibson (34). . 2 In the Imola 200. I tal y's big purse, non-World Cham pionship roa d ra ce spectac u lar. Yamaha 's Kenny Roberts won both 100-mi le legs to cla im the overa ll win . Defend ing World Champ Franco U nci ni p us hed hi s Suzuki to two seco nds. while Rob erts' Yamaha teammat e, Eddie Lawson . co mp iled a 5-3 sco re 10 finish th ird o vera ll. Honda' s Ron Haslam wa s fo u rt h with a 4-4 fin ish . Honda' s Fredd ie Spencer, win ner of th e first two G Ps of th e season , DNF both o f th e h ea ts. In a noth er tragedy , G u ido Pacch i, who was co nte stin g the 500cc Wo rld Road Racin g C hampionship, wa s ki lled at Imola. It appears that Jay Springsteen will on ly be able to contest one more round of the Battle of the Twins Series - Loudon - due to conflicts with AMA/Camel Pro Series dirt track Nationals. So veteran pavement specialist David Emde will ride "Lucifer's Hammer" at other BOTT events. Emde will have .the big V-twin changed to shift on the left and breke on the right; Springer preferred it the other way around. The April 16-17 weekend p rom is e s to be a busy one for motorcycle enthusiasts in the western U,S . The Dallas Cotton Bowl will be the scene of the Miller High Life Supercross, about the same time, g ive or take a time zone. as the AMA / Camel Pro Series m ile at the CalExpo Fairgrounds in Sacramento, Calif. Desert afficianados can take in the Las Vegas 400 desert race on Saturday, and a little gambling on Saturday night. Tarmac freaks will want to be at Riverside Raceway for the Budweiser Superbike weekend, with heats and amateur racing on Saturday and the big finals on Sunday. For minicycle enthusiasts, there is the World Mini GP at Saddleback Park, and just up the hillside from that will be a CRC $5000 MX . Pardon us for a second while we go crazy trying to figure out how to get it all covered. H osP IT al STO P: AMA/ Camel Pro Series co nt ende r Scott Pear son u nderwen t kn ee su rg ery on Frida y, April 8, 10 rep a ir torn ligaments in hi s rig ht leg su ffered in a trail riding cras h. '" am so bummed o u t," sai d Pea rson just before entering th e hosp ital. '" had a reall y stro ng p rogram worked o u t a nd I was tra ini ng hard and ready to do bu siness. The doc tor can't say right now how long I'll be OUl, but a t least th e a rteries a nd th e blood flow 10 th e injured a rea a re sti ll intact." Cards, letters and o ther su p port ca n be sent to Pea rson a t 378 Lassen Pa rk Circl e, San J ose, CA 95 136. Si nce the inj ury occu red o u tside of AMA co m pe tition , Pea rson is not covered by th e AMA medical insurance. Who is the fastest privateer road racer in the U.S.7 Fans attending the AFM Pro-promoted Budweiser Superbike race at Riverside Raceway on April 17 will have a chance to find out. The California Superbike School Challenge will pit 12 top privateers on the GPz550s used by the school, w ith weight added to some of the bikes to bring the total r id e r / m a c h in e weight to within 25 pounds of each other. Riders competing will be Harry Klinzmann, Kerry Bryant, Frank Mazur, Lee Fleming, Dan Bennett, Thad Wolff. Don Greene, Earl Roloff, David Emde, Hugh Humble, David Busby, and another rider to be named later. The bikes will be prepared by Cycle Tune. and the event is sponsored by Nippondenso and Champion Moriwaki. Plans cellfor additional Challenge races at AFM Pro events at Willow Springs and Portland later in the year. The Ca liforn ia Off-Road Veh icle Fai r, sched ule d 10 be p u t on in No vem ber at th e Hungry Va lley SVRA, has been p ostponed until spri ng of 1984. T he even t, wh ich will be put on by th e 51st Agric u lt ura l Board , will run April 27-29 a nd May 4-6 of next year. Ra ced o rig ina lly sche d u led to run with th e fair in Nov ember of thi s yea r wi ll run as schedu led . In o ther news of Hungry Valley, which is a bo u t a n h our north o f Los Angeles, is th at Vic Wil son ha s been retained to pl an th e fai r. Motorcycle Dealernews has an nounced a schedule of seven shows for 1984, with t h re e being tradeonly, and four being open to the public . The public shows are to be held in Anaheim , Calif. (De c . 2 -4. 1983), Detroit (Jan . 6 -8 ), Houston (Feb. 3 -5 ), and Hartford. Conn . (Marc h 16-18 ). The trade -only shows will be held in Dallas (Fe b . 1 1 -13 ), C incinnati (Feb. 25-27) and Las Vegas (Ma rch 3 -5 ). Aus tra lian press reports say th at form er G P star Gregg Ha nsford . who was a ttem p ting a comebac k into motorcycle racing, has decided to .retire perm anentl y. Hansford, according to th e report s, rode pract ice a nd was bothered by o ld in juries th at prompted th e decision . Kawasaki Team G reen technician Dan Betley will be helping Kawasaki racers at the April 16-17 World Mini GP at Saddleback Park, then traveling up to Idaho on April 2324 for the Northwest Regional weekend at OMC Raceway in Boise. Greg Quador, t he Team Green technician from Texas, will be lending a hand at the World Mini GP, and then returning to the Lone Star State for the Texas Series fi nale at Swan MX Park on April 24. Bill Du tch er, th e man behind the May 19-21 Asp en cad e XII road rider con vention in G lens Falls, New York . tells us North Ameri ca 's la rgest touring-on ly m ot or cycle exhi bi t will tak e pl ace duri ng the Asp en cad e. The Gl en s Fa lls Civ ic Center will ho use the 25,000 sq ua re foot exh ibition which is bein g supporte d by a ll major tourin g bik e m anufact ur ers (Honda, Yam a ha , Kawasak i, HarleyDavidson and BMW). T ourExpo will . a lso feature a wide vari ety o f af termarket goodies for th e roa d rider. Du tch er says , "Strong rumors have it that a n ew mu lti- cyli nd er tourer will ma ke its p u blic debu t h ere." Mot orcycle movies will be sh own co nt in u ously and new touring accessories are sla ted to be introduced a t the show. Exhi bition ho ur s a re 6 to 10 p .m. o n T h ur sday, May 19; 3 to 10 p.m. on Friday, Ma y 20; and noon 10 10 p .m. on Sa tur da y, May 21. Adm ission is free to Aspencade XII convention attendees, a nd $2 for the ge neral p ub. lif : .T\1 ~ !t;gi~t!,a ti91} ._ ~ea.dppe: for