Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

O....;c18d· iideii .WhO ci&i.Iifi8ci ' •- 'Come' _, 'min '. b;ol(e.; -en'k. for1he October 3-IISDE In W..... . . . . Fritz Kedlec .nd Jeff Fred· en. report, for duty ecro.. the pond, they II be greeted by two br8nd-new KDX250A1. still in their bo.... Keweuki Motor Corp. ..... bought the two bik. . from the K8weaek1 folks over thent. Speaking of things green, Russ Stjemstrom was named to succeed Dave Jordan as manager of Kawasaki Team Green. A Kawasaki employee the last three and a half years, Stjemso-om was the Team Green race coordinaror the past six months. llIeCheck CheaewlU run itunnual raul8from Johnson V.11ey to Perk· •• Arizona, on S.turdey, October I. The couru covers 236 mile., end tha.e who survive will w.nt to .aend 1he trophy preaentetion on OCtober 9. The entry blenk will run In Mxt week'. Cycle " • •s, we're told. Wrangler gave out cash awards for the top mechanics in the 19811 Wrangler Super Series. Cliff White, who tumed the wrenches for Wrangler Su~ Series Champ David Bailey, receIved $lOOO from Wrangler for his efforts. Mark Barnett's tuner Jeff Clark received $800. Other cash awards ranging from $600 to $200 went to Jon Rosenstie1, Mike McAndrews and Jim Felt. The trio make Broc Glover, Jeff Ward and Johnny O'Mara respectively, look good outon the~k. To further clarify a cl.rification on a recent product ev.luation of • riding echool, D.rteen Bailey .pelled out the price for one· .nd two· d.y Gary B.iley Motocro. . School•. They .re $30 for the tormer, $65 for the latter. Also, ..ya O.rleen, the long training camp school. .re four d.y. in length, not • week. Lots of drag race action was on tap at the Sept~mber 11-12 Epping, New Hampshire, NMRA drags. First there was the re-running of the rained-out May National, and then the NMRA Regional scheduled for this particular weekend. The Top Fuel National had already been decided and no Fu~ny Bikes were present. but in the Pro Stock class Suzuki rider Bob Carpenter stretched his points lead with a defeat of "Pizza John" Mafaro (Suz). Rick Stetson (Suz) had his 11straight win streak snapped in Pro Camp as he was upset by Bob Spina on ~nny Michae1<.>wski's HarleyDavdson. In the reglOnal, Frank Giordano and his KZ750 Kawasaki set and backed up an all-time 9.92-second ET?ecord in Super Modified. There I•• fund being set up to help support the wife .nd child of the Iete M.rk Jone., the populer road ~ who w •• killed in the tragic cruh at Brainerd. Donation. to ~fund mey be sent to Deve She· pe~ at the Citizen'. B.nk, 76th & QUlvera, Shawn. ., KS 66216. ~re will be a meeting of the Oco- uUD Wells State Vehicular Recrea- tion Area on Wednesday, September 14. The me.eting, which begins at 7:11Jl p.m., Will ':>e held at Wales Park, I bll East Madison, EI Cajon, California. We know this is short notice but it's all that the State Departmen~ o~ Par~s and Recreation gave us and Jim Livermore, head of the California Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation C01JUl1ission. HosPIT.1 STOP: Husky Support rider Lerry Coleman was injured while prectlcingat Maryaville, C8litomle. Coleman, who h.d just .uffered .t H.ngtown .uffered tom .nd stretched lig~nts in thi. letest incident. Hi. brother Lence ..ya he .hould be reedy to melee .nother comebecll .ttempt in eight to 10 weeks. Brad Lackey, who just a few weeks ago became former World Motocross Ch~pion Brad Lackey, has produced a Video tape on motocross training. T.he tape is narrated by Bad Brad and hJS tramer Dean Miller, and contains GP footage alon.g with all the good stuff about getting and staying in s~pe. II's available for $49.95 in either VHS or Beta format. For orders or info, contact Badco, P.O. 21625, Concord, CA 94521. Kr.user, the motorcycle lugg.ge meleer, has concluded. three·wey corporate stock deal to upgr.de . their U.S. involvement. Currently headquartered in Seattle, Krau. .r will soon be working out of Chicago. In order to reduce operating com, Kr.user USA .nd the La Man. Corporation have signed .n .greement to use La M.n.' Chicago he.dqu.rters. Krauser USA head Robert Gregg ..y. that Krauser will remein .n .utonomou. firm, and that the agreement simply allows Krau. .r to reduca it. opere ating cost while .lIowing Le Man. to ahare in the compeny'. profits. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, datelined Tokyo, Honda ha cut mOLOrcycle sale targets for the fiscal year ending next January 29 due to slack consumer demand. Honda's overall motorcycle sales targets for the year were cut 19.5% to ll: 1 mill.ion units from nearly 1l.9 milhon unllS under an initial projection made in April. The biggest cut applies to Honda's home market, Japan, where sales targets have been slashed by 1l0% to nearly 1.2 million units from 2.2 million units. Export targets were lowered to about two million units from 2.2 million, a cut of 11%. The widow of Zach Reynolds, the multi-millionaire heir to the R.J. Reynolds· Tobacco Company fortune who w.s killed in an airplane accident, h.s contracted an auctioneer to sell hi. unusual collection of motorcycles. Reynolds and his collection were featured in the ~pril 1974 i~sue of Cycl. mag.zme. Accordmg to the auctioneer Pierce Auction Service of Winston: S.lem, North Carolina, the auction will be held in late March or early April of 1984. Meeting in Portland, Oregon, on August 22, the board of trustees of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) voted LO raise membership dues from $15 to $20. According to Paul Schlegel. the Northeast Region trustee, "Although membership is up a few hundred members over last year, it has not been enough to offset the inflation of the last five years. Even though I voted against the raise (as did Dal Smilie. the Northwest Region trustee), I am supporting it because I'm sure the money is being spent prudently and in the best interestof the members." There will be no increase for present members renewing in 1984. Present members will have the opportunity to renew at the present rate if· they do so before a date to be announced. However, new members in 1984 and renewals in 1985 will be $20. The trustee••tudied the a.sociation'. financi.1 projection. for the remainder of the 1 983 fisc.1 year .nd .pproved • budget for 1984. Though' revenue is down approxi- perc'in' nititely j' 'due fo iii••Iow· economy within the motorcycle industry, the AMA .hould h.ve an operating reserve of about 8100.000 atthe close of it. fiscal year on September 30. The trustee. approved a $3.6 million budget for 1984. We were glad to hear that Kirk Ochwat, who was seriously injured in an AFM Willow Springs road race in July, was out spectating at the AFM's latest Riverside round on September II. Ochwat, who doesn't remember the crash, says, "A pit bike suits me fine now," and he plans LO sell his the rest of his racing gear. e THE NATIONAL PAPERS The "California Countdown" begins on Sunday, September 18, and ends the following Saturday night. The San Jose Mile and the Ascot Half Mile are the last two Camel Pro Series races on the west coast. AJ though two events follow them in the schedule. it is likely that this year's run for the AMA Grand National Championship will be decided in California. The ti tie has been decided at Ascot, the last event of the season for so many years, in four-of the last five seasons. Points gained or lost at San Jose have greatly influenced the outcome of events in the traditional door·die clash in the final race. Four riders are in contention for the Camel Pro Series crown and coveted number one plate, and all are gifted milers and half milers: Randy Goss, Jay Springsteen, Ricky Graham and Bubba Shobert. All except Shobert have taken the Grand National Championship before. San Jose: Graham won his first and only CaliIornia National here last May, beating Springsteen at the finish line after the lead had changed 39 times! Graham, the current number one plate holder, has a fantastic San Jose record. The last three times he has appeared at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds oval, he has record~d a win and two runner-up placmgs. The only Californian in this year's title fight, Graham has five mile wins to his credit. Randy Goss will come into San Jose as the points leader. "Mr. Consistent"has been just that this year, although he has only won two events. Goss won the San Jose Mile in Septe~ber 1980, and took the championshJp a week later at Ascot. History can and does repeat itself. Goss won the Indy Mile by inches last month, but was a distant sixth at San Jose last May. What can one say about Jay Springsteen? He wifl be favored to win on the 18th and has won San Jose three times includinghis runaway win there last May. His 12 mile track wins rank him as history's leading mile track rider. Springer hasn't won a mile this year, but don't bet against him. Bubba Shobert has progressed to become a five-time mile winner in just over a year. The Texan has bagged three miles this year and was a solid .third last spring at San Jose. Bubba has California backing in this one, but still must be considered the longshot of the top four in points. Ascot Park: The last half mile of the year, Ascot is fast beComing known as "Michigan/West" for Goss and Springsteen. The two of them have won the National final there no less .. , ,•... -•.•• -. -•--. .. ... -.... than st;ven out of t~e last lO umes! Each ~Ider has won It a re~ord-tying four limes smce 197? LO ue Sammy T~nner for the all-lime number of Wlns at the Gardena ov~l. Spnngsteen won t~e final last May to .start a four-race wm streak on half miles, another new AMA record. But Jay lost the title to Graltam at Ascot last year as Randy Goss ran out front to win the race. Gdss also won the event in 1980 when he was gunning for the title just like he did at San Jose the sam~ ye:ar. If the track is right, a damp shder, no one will touch the rapid Randy, undisputed master of Ascot the past few seasons. II should be a Goss/Springsteen battle like no other half mile this year on the night of the 24th. Graham and Shobert do not appear to be threats for the win in this one. Neither has come really close in the two-a-year at Ascot and neither finished in the LOp five earlier in the season. But all four are fighting for points, any pomts, and the end-of-the-year payoffs find a considerable dropoff in money between a second-place finish and a fourth in the final standings. Another factor to be considered is that 14 riders with half mile National wins to their credit have entered Ascot. There is only room for 15 in the National final. Will a darkhorse or a first-time winner take the marbles at San Jose or Ascot? The odds say it would be ~asier to win a slot machine jackpot 10 Las Vegas, and we all know how they have tightened the one-armed bandi ts of late. Two Californians return home with first-time victories under their belts. Dou~ Chand;Jer, far and away the leadmg candidate for Rookie of the Year honors, won his first ational a~ ~he Santa. F~ Short Track. Jimmy Fthce won hJS ftrst-ever mile ational at Cicero and is currently one of the hOliest riders on the circuit after finally coming into his own on the dirt tracks. Both San Jose and Ascot will have another twist going for them. Honda will be. there in force to try and break the string held by Harley-Davidson. Harley-Davidsons are undefeated at the two tracks since 1974 (San Jose) and 1978 (Ascot). But Honda could have as many as five of their new RS750s at the two races. Ten-time mile winner Hank Scott leads the red, white and blue effort. !w<.> mO~llhs ag~ Scott .gave the RS ItS fust vICtory wuh a wm at the finish line over Shobert and Chandler. H~nk ~ill be backed up by former ml1e wmners Terry Poovey Mike Kidd and Steve Morehead. All four are also half mile winners, but not at Ascot. Harley and Honda are also in a tight battle for the "Manufacturer's Trophy" given annually to the brand scores the most points in Camel Pro Series competition. II is still too tight LO call and is the best battle of the brands we've had in years. Ascot will have another champion at the track on the 24th, but he will be watching, not riding. It will be the first public appearance of the new 500cc World Road Racing Champion Freddie Spencer. And the San Jose race will be sponsored by the shop of the man who came so close in that title battle, Kenny' Roberts' Yamaha Country. But back LO the title: Goss, Springsteen, Graham and Shobert. The two annual cliff-hangers and the flying four featuring the "Gunners" (Graham and Springsteen) against the "Runners" (Goss and Shobert). It'll be a hard fight. Roxy Rockwood Go(") 00 O"l 8

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