Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

PO ST ENTR Y: Former AMA Gra nd Na tio nal Cha mp Ra nd y Goss and wife Vick i have a new addition to the ir ho useho ld : da ug ht er j ani ce Lynn. born in th e early hours of Sundav, Ma v 22 . Wh ile Vicki was in la bor in Mich iga n . Ra nd y raced to a sixth p lace finsih at the San j ose Sh ort Track Nat ional. Ra ndy ca lled from th e track, o nce from h is hotel room , a nd th en a nothe r ca ll an ho ur lat er , whe n, " T he person o n th e line said. 'Wai t a m inute,' a nd I co uld hear a bab y crying in the background. Then Vicki was o n the ph on e." related Goss before th e Sunday afternoon Mil e Nati ona l. j a nice Lynn Goss en tered th e world at eight pou nds, 12 o un ces, a nd measured 21 inc hes in len gth . Ricky Graham 's tuner rex Peel may have given the defending Na tional Champion the extra edge he ne ed e d to win the San Jose Mile in the form of a specially built motor. "It's a short-rod motor, " Gra ham said after the race. " I've never raced it before, but' it ,ilias' work ing great." Obviously, Ricky. Cali for nia fla t tracker Rich Arnai z made th e Sa n jose short tra ck fina l Sa turdav. but didn 't fare as well the nex t da y a t the m ile. Ar naiz fell in pracrice and had to be ta ken to a local hosp ital , where it was deter mi ned that Rich had broken hi s an kle in three p laces. A riders' strike demanding safety related changes at Road America and Laguna Seca raceways was called off on May 9 after strike organizer Bruce Hammer said significant improvements were made at both tracks. Hammer founded the Jon Woo Memorial Safety Proje c t after the death of Jon Woo a t Lagu na Seca las t season and called for a boycott of the two tracks, eventually gain ing the support of 110 road racers. "We d idn't get everything we wanted and it always seems like things are moving slowly, but there has been progress, " said Hammer. • V Dennis Manning unveiled the lSR streamliner Tenacious at San Jose. Powered by a 1800cc Harley-Davidson engine aided w ith nit rous oxide, the liner is to be piloted by AFM road race star Vance Breese. Manning said the efficient streamlining and tractable power were the .ke ys to breaking the 318 mph record. t: ~ ~ California 0 HV trails plan revealed By Steve Booth The draft of th e California OHV R ecreational T rails Plan, ready j u st in tim e for the first of five public meeting aro u n d th e state for review of i ts conten ts, was presented last week to motorcyclists, fourwheelers a n d o ther interested p eople by EDAW, In c., the organization co n trac ted to undertake th e stu dy. Patrick Mi ller of EDAW ex p lai ned to a udiences at Hayward. Fresno a nd Sacramento their proposal s fo r a sta tewide trail system a nd so licited wr itten co m men ts on the draft pl an , whic h is availa ble for review at 77 locations in th e state. Offi ces of Ca lifo rni a Dep artm ent of Recrea tio n facili ties, ·including all sta te veh icular recreatio n areas (SVRAs ), as well as offices o f th e U.S . Forest Service and th e Bureau of Land Man agement, hav e reference copies. Meet in gs are being held th is week a t Los Angeles and San Diego. Mill er went o ver th e deta ils of how th e draft plan was formulated in resp onse to th e 1982 Off-Highway Mot or Veh icle Recrea tio n Act, whi ch ca lled for a trail s system for OHV recreat ion. Unt il no w, he pointed out, most OHV green stic ker money has been spe nt for purchasing land for SVRAs a nd to match funds for other OHV recreation areas. " T he ' p laype n ' syndro me ha s been pretty well provided for over the'years ... now we're beginning to th ink about trai ls." T he draft pl an takes into acco unt results of an invent ory of existi ng trails, the needs of OHV users are reported in a survey by Economic Research Associat es. a nd ways of implementing th e p la n. Users who surveyed by mai l a nd a t various O H V recreation areas said they weren 't looking for faci lities, just the m in imum compatible with a truly prirnirive recreat ional experience, Miller reported. They want trails tha t are scenic, challenging a nd unimproved. trail s th at lin k exist in g OHV areas with each other and wi th o ther recreation ar eas. And th ey want to keep costs down bythe use of volunteers for trail blazing a nd mainten an ce. The draft pl an is preliminary in th e sense that the trai l corridor lines shown on th e California map are purposel y bro ad (t hey cover a width . of five to eigh t miles) to allow for cha nges in speci fic alignment of trai ls wh ere necessar y or expedien t. . T hey ar e ca tegorized by priority. Fir st and second pri ority corr ido rs inv ol ve trails a nd OHV areas th at exist now or sho u ld receive a concerte d effort towa rd implementat ion as soon as th e draft plan is acce p ted by th e California OHV Commission , proba bly th is fall. Th ird priori ty co rridors are intended to be integra ted into desert and forest pl ans as th ey are released by the federal agencies involved. Fourth priority corri do rs involve trail s tha t would be nice to ha ve in th e system but have some almos t fatal flaws th at will mak e th em difficu lt to get a nd are far down the lin e in the development of the sta tewide trails system, accordi ng to Mill er. One of th e fu nctional purposes of suc h a tra il system, Mill er said, is th at now that federal ag encies can apply for money from th e Green Stickie (O H V registration ) fund , this plan provides a rationale for the use of those funds. The state and OHV community will now hav e th e opportunity to evalua te a pp lica tions for green stic kie funds relat ive to a trai l system goal. California residents wh o didn't ma ke it to one of th e public meetings and wou ld like a copy of the pl an a nd map in its conden sed version sho uld co n ta ct Henry Ortmann , Proj ect Man age r, Sta te OH V Trails Pla n . Department of Parks and Recrea tio n . Division of OHV Recreat ion, P.O . BO x 2390 , Sacramento. CA 95811 . He ca n a lso direct you to the pl ace wh ere reference copies of the full pl an a re available for review. • Wh ile many Triumph enthusiasts fear the Brit ish manufacturer won 't be around m uch lo ng e r, here's what to expect a couple of years down the line if the company stays afloat. The Phoenix 900 was unveiled earlier this yea r in the form of a clay and wood mock-up (a bo ve) . The test-bench e ng ine is s hown in the photo below. The twin -cylinder e ngine features double overhead cams, a n eight valve he8cl with four separate exhaust pipes, water-cooling, and a balancing device claimed to be more efficient at reducing vibration t han balance shafts. Production of the popular push- · rod Triumph twins has been halted for some time now, while the company relocates is manufacturing plant. Triumph c laims bikes w ill begin rolling off the lines shortly. Photos by Paul Myles /Motor Cycle News. 3

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