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/126662
0<") -.. 00 O"l O"l $00 Q; ..c o ~ u o , fl Swedes sweep ISDE; U.S. in . sixth and eighth BUILTH WELLS. WALES. ENGLAND. OCT. 9 The Swedish Trophy and Va.. teems dominated the competition at the 68th ISDE in W.les. In .n event run over tight. muddytrails. the Swedes avoided much of the trouble that plagued other countries' teems to take first-piece finish.. in both divisions of the preatiglous international competition. The U.S. teams h.d high hopes before going Into the ISDE. but were hampered by mechanical problems and cresh... The U.S. Trophy teem pieced sixth. while the Va.. teem m.naged .n eighth. In the Trophy scoring. Czechoslov.kia finished second and Frence was third. In the V.... Cilnad. took second piece. while Flnlend pieced third. Of the 365 riders who started the event. 199 finished. Overall. nineteen riders won gold medals. At the finish no Americens were on gold••lthough six won silver medals. Mike Melton wu top American with • ninth In the 600cc cl.... - Kawasaki disbands U.S. road race team SANTA ANA. CA. OCT. 4 In • surpri.. statement Tuesday. Kawa..ki Motors Corp.• USA announced they will not field. teem for the 1984 U.S. road race ..ason. The official reason given for the "temporary" withdrawal was so Kawasaki could focus more of its resources on the developmant of new products. The official statement. given to members of the motorcycle press at a new model introduction in California. also stated that "at this time. Kaw...ki ber ves it achieved its road racing .. objectives by winning tha Superbike ..ries five out of eight tim..." The withdrewal will not effact Kawa..ki's factory motocro.. teem. When asked his reaction to Kawasaki's withdrawal from road racing the day after the announcement, Wayne Rainey, Kawasaki's 198~ Superbike Champion said, "Yes, it's true. They just told us yesterday. All the mechanics are packing their stuff and will be out of here today." Rainey said he has no immediate plans, except that he doesn't want to go back lO din track racing, and that he doesn't feel he is quite ready to tackle the European road racing scene. He did say he was worried about the future of Superbike racing in the U.S. "Road racing in America will just die out," he said. "With Kawasaki out, what's the point of Honda staying in it?" 2 Besides the withdrawal announcement. there was other news at the Kawa..ki new model introduction. The big news comes from two bikes at the opposite ends of the scale. On one side is a new watercooled in-line four-cylinder GPz900 that is rumored to be more potent than their rocketIhlp Turbo 760. and on the other side is the KL6oo. a 664cc; dual-purpoae thumper that teetures water cooling. Look for more details on the new Kewuakis in an upcoming laue. The International.Drag Bike Association held their World Finals October 8-9 in Gulfpon, Mississippi. We'll have additional information in a future issue, but just to hold you over, we have the winners in the top classes. Kawasaki-mounted Sam Willis took the Top Fuel tide and the season championship. James McDonald won the push rod division of Top Fuel on his Harley-Davidson and also wrapped the season tide in that class. Kawasaki rider Mike Buroso was the best finisher in the Pro Stock division, while perennial Kawasaki pilot Bo O'Brocta beat the competition in Funny Bike. O'Brocta also lOok the number one plate for the season. Ray Bellucci (Kaw) won in Pro Comp Bob TOlly vanquished all comers in Competition Eliminator (he also took the series championship and rookie of the year honors) and Dan Zimmerman was the winner in Super Eliminator. Triple crown winner David Bailey switching to cars? Well. not quite. Bailey got a chance recently to sit behind the wheel of Dale Ernhart's NASCAR Thunderbird. Bailey's comments? "I don't know about this stuff. Vou cen't really see that well through the windshield. and I'd want to ... everything if I was going 200 mil.. an hour on the banking'" With the U.S. Speedway Championship eat for Saturday. October 16. in Costa M .... C.lifomia. we have tha foIlowi", items of note for fans of super-sideways action. Lance King. In peln from the broken coIlerborl8. stiU plens to contest the Championship. He has a apec1a1y dl signed brace thetflts under his leathers and his doctor has given him the OK to race. Defending U.S. Champion Shawn Moren will al80 be riding with a still-onthe-mend bone. Moren broke his leg while recing in Europe. but it didn't stop him from winning the World Long Track Championship in Prague. Czachoslovakia recently. AMA District ~7 is having a final organizational meeting for the new trail riding division Thursday, October 20, at the Department of Water and Power Cafeteria at III N. Hope in Los Angeles. The events will be non -speed trai I rides, and any cI ub or individual who would like information or who would like to add ideas should be there. Time is 8 p.m. Several manufacturers displayed interesting new bikes at last week's Paris (France) Show. Vamaha displayed their RD6ooLC•• watercooled V-4 two-stroke. Also grabbing attention at the V.maha dlspl.y was the FJ11oo. an in-line. four-cylinder. 16-valve street rocket that comes with a ha" fairing. anti-dive front end. and a 16" front wheel. Kawa..ki displ.yed a single-eylinder. water-cooled. fourstroke "dirt" bike. the KLR600 th.t they've dubbed the African Queen. Honda's offering in the street rocket category was the VF1000R. The V-4 powered bike offers a full fairing. radial tires. a claimed 1 56 mph top speed and 10.7 quarter mi.... Claimed horsepower is 1301 Check out next week's peper for photos of the above and more from Paris. HosPITal SlOp: Last week, Honda's superstar Bob Hannah crashed while practicing and broke his pelvis and bruised his kidneys. Although details are sketchy, it appears as though the broken pelvis is not as serious as at first thought, and the bruised kidneys will take a few weeks lO recover. Hannah, who has been on the mend with a broken wrist, will hopefully be back on the track in about a month. With comracttalk up in ~e air, this isn't the best of times lO-be busting up his body...again. Get well cards can be sent to Bob, care of American Honda 100 W. Aland@, Gardena, CA 90247. Michele Rinaldi. who finished second in the World Championship 126cc MX Series this year. will be supplied with 1983 worksspecification Suzukis for next year's championship despite Suzuki's withdrawal offactory efforts from all GP MX competition. Suzuki-mounted riders hava held the 126cc MX World Championship title since its inception eight years ago. Erik Geboers, with the 125cc MX GP title under his belt, is set to move. up to the 500cc GPs. Geboers, Suzukimounted last year, has been bargaining with Honda for a fa<:tory rid Corrado Maddii. another hard charger in the 126cc MX GP ranD. is also set to move to the 600cc cl... for 1984. Maddii has signed to ride for Cagiva and wants to lead the factory's 600Cc effort. Ross Pederson, Canada's number one MXer, broke bones in his hand puring timed qualifying for the recent Tropbee des ations in Czechoslovakia. Pederson auempted lO ride again after his accidem, but the inj ury was too painful. In addition to bemg a team member for Canada in the Motocross and Trophee des Nations, Pederson was lining up potential sponsorship for a MX season in Europe next year contesting GPs and IJUernationals. Next year's Camel Pro Series scIiedule is still being worked on. but. reliable sources indicate it will prObably be finalized at 34 Nationals. The 24 dirt track and 10 road race Nationals should ba spread out over 30 different locations. This year's schedule of 34 Nationals featured only 26 different locations with seven tracks ho~n9 two or more Nationals. Dutchman Gerrit Wolsink, whowon the 500cc USGP MX five times between 1974-79, has officially retired from active MX competition. Wolsillk was honored at a stadi urn MX,ill,