Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

WEST ...... ... . - America' S weekly motorcycle newspaper l-, 0.. <. Sha ron Clayton , P u blish er Caro li ne C endry. Execut ive Seo erarv Ie) th e Pu blisher ~an("l l>.. ngvr . Ao,'('rri,ing Ed ito ria l Asvistan t. Editorial Dal e Brow n . Senior Ed ito r. Lan ce BrvEd itor. Karel Kramer , Edi tor. David Ed v a rd s Ed itor. v SOli , Advertising S k ip J oh n so n . :"lat io nal Sa lt's Man a geI'. TnT)' P ra ll , S;:i!t'!'i Mauage r. Du a ne J ohnson. Sak-, \-tana gt' L Steve \\' i b o.", Sa les ~ta nag(,L L in da Bro wn . Advcrusing Coordiuator. H illoa h Co rr v. Advert i si n ~ Assist anr . Graphics and Production Kristin C•ooper, Graph i~ Artist. RC?n;:1 . Kra mer , Ass ista nt . Ma non H a tash ira , Tvpograph v. Dennis Greene. Laboratory . Accounting/Data Processing Mike Kli nger. Co ntroller. Don na Bryan. Accou n ts Rece ivabl e Coo rdi nator . Geneva Repa ss, Assistant. T erry Da iley. Cred it Manage-r. Circulation R h e ba S m ith, Ma nager. M iche ll e Hanna . Sarah Taylor. Debbie Wa lker , Lyna H ood. Assista n ts. Want Ads Ly nda Su lfiva u. w am Ad Sa les. Dealer Sales and Service Nancy Em de Brog ger, Dea ler Sales Manager . Service and Support Chris Auc heson . Receprion is t , Gregorv Hanson, S&:S. West 2201 Ch erry Ave., Lo ng Beach . CA P .O. Box 498. Long Beach . CA 90801 · 0498 (2 U) 427 -7433 ; L.A. Line 636-8844 . East 41 90 Fi rst Ave., T uc ker. G A. P .O . Box 805. T ucke r, GA 30085-0805. (404 ) 934·7850. Cycle N,·ws /W." t ( US PS 111 :340 ) j , p u bfished wee kly except the first a nd last week of th e calenda r year for 525 per yeal by Cyde Xr-ws, Inc. , 2201 Cherry Avenue. Long Beach . CA 90806. Seco nd cia .. poslal;e paid at Long Beach . CA. POSTMASTER: Send form 3679 to Cycle News. P.O. Box 498, long Beach. CA 90801-0498. Subscription ra tes: One year . second class mail. 525: t wo years. second class mail, 545 : th ree years, seco nd class mail. $68 : 25 weeks, 5 14. Fo reign rat es availabl e on req uest . Cycle- News welcomes unsolicited edi toria l material incl ud ing stories. carloons, p hotos. e re, Such material . if publis hed . beco mes the exclusive propen v of Cycle News. Such accepted materia I is su bject (Q revis io n as is necessary in the sole discretion of Cvc le Xews . U n solic ited ma te ria l wh ich 'i ~ not used will be ret urned if accompanied by a self addressed. stamped envelope. All unso lici ted material will be handled with reason able ca n' , however. Cycl e ~('\\''i assu me... no responsibil ity for lhe safety . loss o r damage to su ch material . Reprint ing: in whole 0T parr only !) ~ pcrmisviou of th e p ubl isher. Ad\,('fus in~ Attention B-to-V racersl The last Barstow-to-Vegas ra ce wa s eig ht years ago. Since that ti me. many people have worked very hard to ge t this very spe cial point to point race back. This is the yea r that everyth i ng is com ing together. The BLM. in th eir Draft Plan a rnme n d me nts, reco m me nded acc eptance. A tremendous amount of work has gone into the preparation of environmental im p act statements. course ch an ges and rerouting around critical areas. There have been meetings. meetings and more meetings. Perm its have been applied for from the county of San Bernardino. and help is being solicited for running the nice. The ground work is proceeding as scheduled. There is, however, one big catch. . The BLM needs input from the public on whether to hold this race or not. So far , almost all of the comments rece ived by the BLM on their Draft Proposal were from environ mental ist s. The BLM has an o bli ga tio n to do what the publ ic wan ts. In making the dec ision to sign th e perm i tand allow th e race. publ ic sentiment carries weight. Th e race organizers have done a ll th ey ca n. Now we need yo ur help. If yo u want to see a Barstow- to -Vegas race in 1983, yo u need to write a letter now . Sim p ly say that you want the B-V race bac k an d why, Yo u do n ' t need to write a lo n g, co m p lica ted letter. so meth in g short a nd sincere does j ust as much good. Say what ever you feel, but pl ea se don 't get a bus ive. We don 't wa nt th e BLM working agai nst us. If yo u wa n t to ride th is eve nt. p lease write now. Le tters shou ld be received befo re the end of Ap ril. Send vour letter to BL M B· V Race, 1695 Spruce St. : R iverside. CA 92507 . rat es and circu la tio n in formation wi ll be sent upon request . S('(' S.R .D .S. Copyright® Cycle News. Inc. 1983. Trademark Cycle News registered U.S. Patent Office. All rights re- LAU R IE H AM M EL Legal Defen se Tas k Fo rce Valencia, CA served. 4 ON THE FRONT PAGE : Fast Freddie Spencer is two for two in the 500cc RRGP season . Coverage of his French win begins on p. 20. Photo by Henny Ray Abrams. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Inc . Send letters to Voices, Box 49B. Long Beach. CA 9080 1 . NAr-rIO AL PAPERS The European road race circu it is not the only area wh ere riders are ha ving problems this season. Over there. no less than three riders ha ve cra shed a n d lost th eir lives in th e pa st three week s. Over here it is a different problem a nd not as severe. Before th e seaso n ever sta rted former G rand National cham p Mike Kidd wa s playin g around o n his T exas dirt track an d crashed hi s wa y ou t o f both Houston Nationa ls. plus th e Ascot Nat ional Tf a nd the Florida dirt track series . Mike wa s in th e p its wat ching th e Ascot event a nd will be racing a t San J ose in th e dou ble-header a nd a t Ascot's half m ile. bu t it is a lat e sta rt for th e H onda contract rider who is in h is la st year o f tha t a gr eem ent. In ea rly April m isfo rt u ne struck Scott Pea rson. a H onda co ntract rider las t yea r who was aga in goi ng to be a p riva teer in '83. Like Kidd , Pearson wa s " testing" h is sk ills. h is ma ch ine. or so methi ng like that. getti ng ready for the Ascot Tf. ___ Wh ile tes ti ng he fell a nd severely injured hi s ri g h t kn ee/leg . A lot of guys h ave fa lle n 0(( a nd ski n n~ themselves. but no t for Pearson this ti me . The doctor sa id he will be o ut for perhaps th e ent ire season . maybe for good . A lo t of p eop le don 't know Scott as we ll as rh ev shou ld . Yes. h e.has won four Nat io'na l events. two 'TTs a nd two half m iles. I ca n th in k of at lea st fou r mo re tha t he sho uld hav e wo n a nd didn 't. H e fell 0(( lea ding a Topeka half mi le by a straightaway a few seaso ns ba ck . H e a lso bai led lead ing the Ascot half mi le a' co u p le of years ago , a lso leading by a margin great eno ug h to sa v h e woul d have taken i t a ll that n ight. What' s with th e guy fro m Sa n Jose? Why docs h e fa ll o ff? If you kn ow SCOtl Pea rson , vo u have to thi n k that it is d ue to de~ire. Desire to be a winner a nd go as fast as possi ble whenever he throws a leg over a rac ing cycl e. t • • H e jumped on a Ho nda NS7:J0 III '82 a n d rod e it to a National win at Louisville. He won wh en severa l other top ride rs co u ld not m ak e th em handl e a n d had sta ted that Honda was sti ll a wa ys away fro m being rea dy to win a t a n v half mil e or mi le. Som body for go t 10 tell Pearson . The big problem with h is m a s recent Jail and medi ca l bills is tha jr happen ed in a non-raci ng o u tin g ' )/0 AMA insurance ca n co ver a dmlt: ' of it a nd he has no rher in su ra nce . The recently-formed rider bf'ne{i fu nd of Dick Ham er ha s a po licy t h~ t _ this fu id will assist iders wh o 11 I serio u sly injured in an actual rao a nd wi ll ta ke ave a fter a ll o f th '\:\'1:\ insurance m OlWVhas been used up. It has to be thi s wa y a n d there i nothing wrong w ith th e p o licy. '~su? So now we have SCOtl Pearson . I lo ng a fa n fav orite a t an y San .J<>Sf'3. eve n t, i n a cas t, o n cru tch es. a t;!. go ing 10 be wat ching the . c? m ing National shan trac k o n Aprtl .~O and th e next dav 's mil e. T h e best 'sta rter off the line in th e Camel P ro Seri es is nOI going to the line again for a lo ng time, may.bf' nev er. It is goi ng 10 make lif e easter for the race starters but I su re had a lot of fun o ver th e years pointi ng OUI to th e fans to watch number 95 and bet that he would be the firs t rider to the corner, wh ich h e was n ine out of 10 times. So now we h ave a rider. one of the rea l P ro s in th e racing ga me. w ith a pro blem . Wh a t is the so lu tion? From the overw he lm ing suc cess we had a t the rece nt Daytona Cycle Week . helping th e H amer group p ick up o ver $7000 for that rider f~nd . we are now working on so meth ing for April 30 a nd Ma y I to a t least get pan o f th e tab for Pea rson. H ere is h ow i t will work. We will get o ne. re pea t o ne. full co vera ge helmet a nd have a ll o f th e top riders tha t wi ll be in San Jose for th e twin bill a ut ograp h it in permanent .ink. T h is will include the 14 National mile tra ck winners, plus the nine form er Nat ional shan track winners an d severa l fo rm er racing great s th a t will be th ere wat ch in g one or both events. T icke ts fo r the d rawing will be so ld o u t o f Bob Bellin o 's Ca mel sou veni r both under the grands ta nds. At interm issi o n o n Su nday during th e m ile p rog ram . the drawi ng will tak e pla ce. The money from the tickets. a ll o f it. will be handed to Sco tt a t th at time to h el p h im ge t o ut from u nderthis un for tu nate o bliga tio n. T his will be a o ne-of-a-ki nd collecto r's item in th e west. We di d up three he lmets fo r the Da ytona be nefi t a nd ' all three arc on display in the homes wav back east. ' \l ith about 20.000 peo pl e o n hand the odds sound great of yo u n ot wi nning the he lmet. OK, how abou t if th e ne xt 10 numbers drawn receive a co lor p hotogra p h of I I former Grand Na tiona l Cha mpions. p lus the first Davtona wi n ner? T hat's na m es such as R ick y G raham Ra nd v Goss, Men Lawi ll, Bart Markel. n i"ck Ma nn, Ga ry N ixo n, Ken ny Roberts. Roger Rei ma n . Gene Romero , Carro ll Resweber, a nd the legen d h im self , Ed Kretz Sr. I'v e got m in e: it's a class ic. . So if you are p la nn ing on being in San j o se for ei ther or bot h event s. bring a long a litt le extra ca sh . gel <;>n f' or more rickets and hel p us get behi nd th e gu y who ha s given us a lot of thrills a nd good racing. . , . . ... • • . Roxy Rockwood

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