Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

to pass laws providing for voluntary rider training funded by motor- cyclists themselves, the AMA reports. New Mexico created a rider training fund through a $2 increase in motorcycle registration fees, and the state will draw the fees from more than 61,000 registered motorcycles in the state, According to the AMA, the New Mexico Motorcycle legislative Council deserves much of the credit for the success of the legislation that created the program. Pau l Baker . on e of th e founders of the Neo Oil Company. has purchased the entire asse ts of the company 10 become sole owner. Upon completio n of the transactio n, Neo's corpora te offices were moved to the com pan y's sales a nd warehousing offices were located, 2860 Gundry Ave., Long Beach , CA 90806. T he sale in cludes the Neo nam e, inventory a nd blending eq u ipme nt used in the manufacture of the oi l. The Bureau of land Management has proposed changes in the fees it charges for recreation permits, such as those issued to clubs sponsoring desert races on BlM lands. Permit fees for ORV competition would be $2 per rider or 3% of the gross receipts of the event in all states but California, where the fee would be $2 per rider or 6%. When the rules were first proposed, the AMA sought and received an exemption for non-commercial events involving less than 60 people. The AMA has additionally proposed that California fall under the nationwide fee structure, and has opposed a proposal allowing the agency to "charge higher fees than those listed where the anticipated cost of processing, issuing and monitoring the permit would exceed the minimum fee ." The AMA feels that the BlM could inflate those costs as a means of discouraging ORV events. Copies of the proposals are available from the AMA, and the BlM comment deadline is July 18. Write to the Government Relations Department, P.O . Box 141, Westerville, OH 43081 . Good news! On June 16, California Governor George Deukmej ia n signed Senat e Bill 158into law. That was the measure introd uced by State Senator Alan Ro bbins that wil i dela y req uired catalytic conveners fo r som e street mot or cycles fo r at least a year. In giv ing Papa th e good news, former Assem blyma n Bob Ha yes sai d. " T he Governor sent a clea r message th at he is op pose d to catalytic co nverters o n motor cycles." Now th e catalytic con verter requirement , whi ch would have posed a big safety threat to motorcvclists, will be di scu ssed aga in befor e new members of th e California Air Resources Board. Our thanks 10 Senator Robbins, a Democrat from th e San Fernando Valley, for proposing th e legislation and leading the fight to get it pa ssed. In other Sacramento news, SB166, the Green Stickie Fund repayment bill, is now before the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. Again, a reminder - if you want to see the $ 21 million returned to the Fund, be sure to write your Assemblyman and tell him or her to support SB166. The measure, by the way, was also authored by Robbins. to another, e.g . Harley-Davidsonsupported Gene Church, who was forced to move from the Stock class to the Expert Modified class, carried with him his Stock class points. "Dick 0 'Brien told the AMA that wasn 't in the best interest of Harley-Davidson," sa id his brother, Jeff. "I sent the AMA a four-point proposal whic h they rej e cted. One of the points I suggested would have a llowed riders to keep points toward the overall Bon title . but not transfer po ints between classes. The AMA 's decision will force us all to buy computers. Think of how many ways a rid er could shuffle the point s tandings by bouncing from one class to another at his own choosing." More on the situation will appear in next week's paper. The AMA Pro fession al Competit ion Board , in its May meeti ng in Ohio, adopted two new ru les. O ne , wh ich takes effect immediately. requires riders in professio na l races 10 wear a helmet th at is cert ified by th e ma nufactur er to meet or exceed Department o f Tran sportatio n Fed eral Standa rd number 218. The ru le ap plies to dirt track, roa d race and mo tocross events . T he seco nd rul e cha nge, whi ch tak e effect in 1985, will change the di splacem ent all owan ces fo r Formula One road race machines. T he new rules will allow for two stro ke machines from 335 to 500cc with a maximum of four cylinder s. or 750cc two- stroke four-cylinder mach ines manufactured before 1980. Four-stro ke mach in es will have a maxi mum displ acement of 750cc for four cylinders or 1000cc for two. The AMA 's decision at the June 4 -5 Road America National Road Race meet to enforce an amateur rule that prevents former professional Expert ranked riders from competing in the Battle of the Twins Stock class until a year has lapsed since they last held a pro license has caused quite a furor. The change, which came after three road races had already been run without the rule being enforced, reportedly had Harley-Davidson threatening to pull their multi-buck contingency support from the serie s . Jess O'Brien, one ofthe founding fathers of the Battle of the Twins, announced shortly after the ra ce that he was "through w ith the whole thing." Perhaps the biggest source of contention is the AMA's decision to allow riders to transfer their points from one class a f:J ~ Dep t. o f Co rrections: In o ur coverage of the Trask Mountain Two-Day ISDE Qual ifier, we over looked th e acco mp lis hme n ts of Oregon rider Barrell Brown. Rid in g a Yamah a, Brown had the third-best overall score and th e second-best tim e o n th e Sunday terr ain test. As reported in th e article, Brown fini shed second in the 500cc Qual ifier class at T rask, and did mak e th e 25-man ISDE squad . Our apologies for the erro rs. Riding a prototype Husqvarna 600AE automatic, Dave Bertram took the overall win in the June 12 Little Polecat Enduro held near Sonoma, California. Bertram's seora of eight points tied him with fellow Husky rider Tom Webb, but Bertram won the event by virtue of a 57-second bettitr score at a tiebreaker check. Yamaha rider Eddie Dias finished third. • CONGRATULATIONS Miles Baldwin - Winner Formula 1 and to all the winners at Road America Formula 1 2nd Fred Merkel 3rd Nick Richichi Formula 2 1st Dave Busby 2nd Rhys Howard 3rd Keith Kiyota Battle of the Twins 1st Jimmy Adamo 2nd Ron Sbordone 3rd Eric Buell Side Car 1st Ian Fillery-Bruce Celen 2nd Bruce Lind-Jack Hart 3rd Pete Essaff-Dennis Crueger Thank you for riding with Castrol - Americas # 1 Motorcycle Oil Engineered for Performance Cast/OJ , •• .40~ Hac:~~nsa~~ Al(enu.e" .I-j~c k e n sa c k , NJ 07601 3

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