Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The 1984 Europnn-.pecificetion U1verda 1000 Jota ha. passed federal certificetion procedure. and i. now being imported by the Slater 8rothers in northern California. The bike. which retail. for $6600, i. available in blue/black and orenge/black. BiO Matherson of Mission Yamaha is organizing a meeting to discuss the prospect of a National Motorcycle Racing Association western regional drag race series next year. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 17, at Bu£fy's in Laguna Hills. For more details, contact Matherson at 714/831-0351. When asked if he knew when The Superbikers segment would be on, Trippe said he did not, but predicted, "I think it will be towards the end of January or the first part of February 1984." • On Saturday, November 19, Motorcycle Salvage in Azusa, Califomia, will auction over 100 motorcycle•. The lot include. wrecks, repo.....ion•• theft recoveries and running machine.. Following a 9 a.m. to noon in.pection period, . .led bid. will be opened at 12:01. M'otorcycle Salvage i. loceted at 900 W. Foothill Blvd., and the phone number i. 213/334-128~. NATIONAL PAPERS Jerry Greer and Chuck Guy, who were pictured with their streamliner on these pages last week, completed their Los Angeles-to-New-York mileage run on Thursday, November 10. Their aim was to make it coast to coast using no more than 15 gallons of gas, and according to spokesman Joel Breault, they consumed 14.98 gallons on their 2928-mile run for an average of 195.46 miles per gallon. 'We've just received word from northern California that Dave Bertram, riding a prototype Husqveme automatic, ha. been declared the overall winner at the Cowbell Enduro, an AMA regional event and pert of the Golden State Champion.hip Enduro serie.. with a .core of 12 point. lost. Second went to KTM-mounted John Hakker (16.373), and Jeff Irwi"" riding a 480 Honda, placed third (16.407). More detail. in an upcoming i••ue. ABC will air its coverage of the Carlsbad U.S. Grand Prix of Motocross on the Saturday afternoon, November 26, edition of Wide WOTld of SPOTtS. "I saw the program and they have some really dynamite footage," said USGP- promoter Gavin Trippe. THE The 1983 AMAGrand National Championship Camel Pro Series is all history now. It took 34 chapters to write it into the books and it now joins so many of the recent years that indicates this series is the best of all. The first seven races produced seven different winners. Alex Jorgensen, the Ascot IT winner, became the first rider this past season to win twice. His win at the new San Jose Short Track in May gave him the distinction. Jay Springsteen once again proved he has to be beaten, or sick, if somebody else is going to win races and titles. Jay started the season WIth 33 National wins. He rang up four straight half mile wins, the first ever to do that, and then added a IT victory for good measure as he gunned for his fourth Grand National title. Before the season was over the greatest of all dirt track riders had upped his record National win total to 38 - and still did not win the number one plate. He finished third. Ricky Graham started and ended the season as though he wanted to keep the title and the number one plate for the second straight year. But between the middle and the end of the season he had more than one setback to force him to ride beller than ever in the stretch. Graham won Springfield both times, which means he has won every National run there since they resumed. He won one of the San Jose miles to finally give him a win in his home state, and most of all, he won the last three Nationals in a row - but did not win the title_ Ricky, like Jay, won a total of five Nationals in '83 to tie the two for top win honors. But lookin~at the record over the ~st five seasons, we find that the nder(s) who won the most Nationals in each of those five years did not win the title. The title went to "Mr. Consistent," Randy Goss, for the second time. He won it all in 1980 with a single National victory and many consistent rides. He won it this year with two National wins and many, many consistent point-scoring efforts. In fact, he was so good at so many tracks that he scored the National points at every National event he enteredl Many may have forgotten that going into the final event of '82, the half mile at Ascot, Goss won it all, leaving Sprin~steen and Graham far behind to deode the title. The title chase took many turns this season. It took a bounce way back in April that could have had a much greater impact on the title than most are aware of, or remember. It was at the first mile of the season, a night event at Sacramento. Graham and Springer put on a two-man display of side-by-side racing for the first 24 laps of the 25-lap final. The black Uag came out at the start of the last lap for Graham, just at the time when Bub Shobert had caught the front-running two and Goss was closing fast. Graham stayed in the race and ran it out to the finish. The decision was Shobert the winner, Jay in second and Goss third. Graham was somewhere down around the 12th as several riders had dropped out before the last lap. Protest followed protest and appeal followed appeal by the Graham group. II went backilnd forth, not for weeks but for months. It appeared to take longer for a final decision than it did to convict AI Cappne and Charlie Manson. Finally, with the motorcyde world breathless, the decision was tltat Ricky only threw enough oil to move him to third place - ahead of Goss. The Graham group was now happy. But hold on. The Goss.group came forth and was very upset. "Rapid Randy" knew before the start of the season he was going after the title, just like he did in '82, '81 and 'SO. Readers may scoff at what looks like a mere two points difference, however, championships, titles and dollars are decided each year by single points - not two points, not five points - but single one-point margins. So TUmors floated around that things would stay as finally stated for Sacramento but one strong rumor was that Goss had notified the race officials that if the title came down to the final event with only a point or two as the deCiding factorthere could possibly be a protest/appeal and court action. He did it in a straight-forward manner, everything on the up and up and with plenty of notice. He then went out and won two National races and was the most consistent scorer event after event. Even the halfway point in the season came into the picture. Each year the Camel people take $35,000 from the total pot and pay the top lOin the standings at midseason: Goss had trailed Graham most of the way, but edged the '82 champion for the firstplace money, a difference of 2000, right at the last event that counted for the first half. It may have been an omen in the past that no rider who has collected the top money the first half of the season has ever gone on and won the title. Maybe the lesson here is to not get Goss mad early if you want to beat him out later. By Goss winning the title for the second time in foui years it brings up a question I have often been asked, "Will a rider ever win the Grand National title and not score a win during the season?" There are several factors that enter into it but I think it is highly'possible but not too probably for several reasons. One is that there are too many races to keep a good rider from winning at leaslonce. Track conditions, at least in most cases, have greatly improved to allow more passing and fewer falls, making it easier for a talented rider to perhaps make an early mistake and still come back. Only twice since the Grand NatioDal title system was created has any rider ever won only once and won the. overall titlf'.". I feel there are many many more good riders the past 10 years than ever before. Yearsagolt was not uncommon to go to just about all of the National events and have only two or three riders with a real chance of winning. Look at the mile events. We have 15 active riders at each race who have all won at least one mile National. The same is true for the half mile events. Six or seven former shon track and IT winners will be at each of those events as well. We always say it is tough on rookie Experts but it may be even tougher on seasoned and proven veterans as we continue the pace. A record 18 riders won National races in '83. Yet one rider finished fifth in the final standings and did not win a single event. It was the crowd-pleaser, Scott Parker, who came through many times from the semi and on occasion, the Last Chance Qualifier, to score a high finish in the final. Parker, after Goss, is perhaps the most consistent main-eventer on the circuit at this time but has not won a Natjonal final since early in May of 19821 This past season also found Bubba Shoben being for real. In this case, a for-real contender in the majority of the events. Half miles are still his weak spot, but themher three types of events have been secured. The last half of the season also found another rider finally coming into his own. Diminutive Jimmy Filice won three of the late season miles and came close in other events. He wasn't up with the fast ones in April and May but got it all together as time went on. People still keep talking road racing for this rider but if they leave him alone he could become a major factor in all din track racing. A few weeks ago Graham's tuner, Tex Peel,tried to get a new rule in the books that would establish minimum weights for riders, like they have in horse racing. It was aimed at Filice. Jimmy, not only a smiling young man, but a shrewd one as well, countered by placing a proposal that would establish maximum weight for tunersl The first proposal was quickly withdrawn by Tex, even though at Pontiac, he looked as though he had lost more than a pound or two, just in case. Unofficially, it appCars that all the good events that ran in '83 are back again in '84, plus several new races. The Camel Pro Series is alive and well and possibly in beller health than any other type of motor racing competition. Roxy Rockwood

• Cover