Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

the Desert, has won a suit against the Bureau of Land Management. McKey had sought to be placed on the BLM's Desert District media mailing list, and £iled suit when the BLM refused. In ruling for McKey, federal judge A. Wallace Tashima said, "The Desert District has, by its conduct, arbitrarily denied plaintiff access to BLM information made available to 'others, in violation of his First Amendement rights. Plaintiff, therefore, is entitled to be placed on the Desert District media mailing Ii t." John linden called Papa to announce that he has accepted the position of distributor sales director with Hahn Cycle Supply Co. Linden said that he is opening a southern California facility in North Hollywood to complement Hahn Cycle warehouse in Sacramento Ind the Seattle area. John says he will continue to work with Tsubaki chain-supported racers and that the job change marks, "a career move to join a much larger marketing oriented company." Prior to the move, linden was with Sudco International of Los Angeles for ~ 0 years. The new Hahn Cycle Supply" phone number is 818/ 764-2226. ' Speedway star John Cook will be returning to Briti h League action after a two-year hiatus. Cook, whose memorable wheelstands are sure-fire crowd pleaser , has signed with the fpswitch club. Cook, who will make five appearances in the U.. this seaIOn, says he is currently looking for ;ponsors. Hecan be contacted through THE NATIONAL PAPERS he so-called "Serious Season" here once again. h's time to o din track racing in the AMA/ amel Pro Series on a near 5 eekly basis in the west, starting ith the April 7 Ascot National TT nd returning to Ascot for the seaon's first half mile on May 12 with tops at Sacramento and San Jose for iles and short tracks in between cot dates. The west has again been granted y the AMA five major events to get he season really underway now that he two annual early-season stops at ouston and Daytona are history. The opening event, the TT at scot, will be perhaps the best ever ased upon what we saw in early Febuary at Houston. The machines are II-new singles, either 500 or 600cc mbs that really haul and fly over e jump. Harley, Honda, Can-Am nd Wood-Rotax,to namea few, will out in force for the Saturday night pener in the we t. The first mile of the year again oes to Sacramento and again will un under the lights. This event has orne on so strong and fast that they ave been granted a second mile vent to be held next fall, also under he lights. The first Sacramento Mile uns on Saturday night, April 14. A couple of weeks later it is on to an Jose and the first day mile of '84. he night before, on May 5, the same ack will host for the second time a ational short track on the quarter 'Ie inside. Then it's back to Ascot the followg Saturday, May 12, where the first mile of the year takes place and a match of the great event from last a friend, Jeff Colard, at 213/424-1205. Roy Pfeiffer, father of the San Felipe-winning Pfeiffer brothers, commented on the latest efforts of his third son, Kent. He is in Australia, showing the Aussies how to do it. When asked how he felt about the win at SCORE's second event in '84, Roy said, "My boys are the greatest'" When the announcer replied, "Whose boys7", Roy came back with, "Roy's Boys'''. Their Husky was sporting a Roy's Boys Racing Team sticker at the race. The ESPN film crew was on hand to record the SCORE San Felipe 250 last Saturday. The coverage is scheduled to air on April 5. You can check your local listings for the time. According to Danny "Magoo" Chandler's wife Tracy, Magoowill attend the April 1 National MX round at Saddleback. "Danny's feeling great and is definitely ready to ride," said Tracy. "He has been practicing' every day for the past three weeks and is really looking forward to Saddleback." If any confu ion lingers over the ad, contact RD Performance at 818/3666914. Werre sure they'll give you the full scoop on what they have to sell. Armstrong, which produces Rotaxpowered 250cc road racers, is working on its own 500cc powerplant, according to Australian Motorcycle News. The engine, an across the frame triple. is reportedly so light and compact that it fits into Armstrong's current carbon-fiber frame for its 2505. The report said that the bike could make its competition debut as early as June. InSport has announced additional contingencies aimed at privateer riders. Sinisalo USA will be contributing $300 in gift certificates to riders finishing in 21st through 23rd positions. In addition, Sinisalo is donating $2800 to the Privateer Support Point Fund, which will be awarded at the end of the season. Bell Helmets,' along with its $600 contingency, will award a Mota 4 helmet to the top privateer at each event. The phantom Cycle News ad mangler strikes again. In an ad for distributor RD Performance in last week's issue, we inadvertantly left out a tire size on a best-selling tire, and misspelled a manufacturer's name. We wish to apologize for any inconvience this may have caused Sport Tracks, the manulaaurer, and RD Performance. Canadian moto-watchers should mark Saturday. April 21 on their calendars. That's the day for the Vancouver (British Columbia) Supercrossat B.C. Place Stadium, In addition to home soil favorites Ross Pederson and Terry Hofoss, there will be a contingent of U.S. riders on hand including Johnny O'Mara, Rick Ryan and Alan King. September just might be re-created. On the mile and half mile side of things is the expected clash between the long-proven Harley 750 twins with their longtime team riders, Randy Goss, Jay Springsteen and Scotty Parker. The serious challengers this year are the Team Honda 750 V-twins that were tested all, or most, of last season. Team Honda has a whole new team of riders led by Ricky Graham and backed up by veteran Bubba Shobert and the kid, Doug Chandler, who will finally ride an entire season in the same class. Harley won the Houston short track; Honda won the TT. Goss and Graham head into Ascot all tied in the points.. Neither rider has ever won the Ascot TT final. None of their teammates have either! Shobert and Springsteen have each won at Sacramento but their teammates are still looking for their first win in the capital city. When it comes to San Jose, Goss, Springsteen and Graham are past winners, leaving Parker, Shobert and Chandler still waiting. By the time the two teams and six riders get back to Ascot for the last race before the Camel Pro Series heads east, Harley will know if they really have the competition they "welcomed" earlier this year or if the orange and black will leave California with plenty of breathing room, at least for a few races. But the Ascot Half Mile poses a real problem. The entire Harley team has won this event the majority of the time in recent years. Graham finally bagged his first Ascot Half Mile victory last fall in what was his finest half mile ride ever. This leaves Shobert and Chandler in the waiting area for this event. Graham has won four of the last five AMA Grand National dirt track events, and was in the best physical condition ever. In 1983 he was the high-point rider in the TT stand- ings, and a bigwinneron the milesas well. However, Graham was recently injured while play riding, suffering five hairline fractures of his right heel when he fell after encountering a man-made hole. The doctor has said that Ricky will be out of action four to five weeks, but Ricky is a fierce competitor and likely to be racing if it is at all possible. Shoben will look at this year as the one to really come into his own. He was the num ber one miler in the U.S. last year and is ever so close to winning his first TT and short track finals in '84. It is on the half miles where the Texan will have to hurry more. Teenager Doug Chandler, the rider that has made shambles out of the avice, Junior and rookie Expen clas es the past two years, was often shan on power durig his shon career on the big bikes. A fine TT and shan track racer of proven ability, Chandler now gets full backing and a chance to show what hecan doon themiles and half miles in his home state. With less than a half-season as a rookie in '83 he could still be classed as a rookie, at least for the first half of this year? The only thing new with the Harley team is the manager, personable Clyde Denzer who has been waiting in the wings for the top job for close to 25 years. He knows everything that needs to be known about his brand and riders. The three Milwaukee veterans, of course, have to be classed as the riders to beat. Team Honda is the underdog, and will be at every mile and half mile run this season. The Harley record dictates this. Between the three they have won a total of 52 National din races, all since mid-1975, The new Honda team has a total of 17. all coming as recently as 1980. Alex "Jorgy" Jorgensen and his Can-Am have won the Ascot TT the last two years running. Shobert won the Sacramento Mile at the finish line last year. Jorgy came from way back For info, call 604/533-3787. The Invitational Trophy America is the name of a novel MX event to be held September 29-30 at New Berlin, New York's, Unadilla Valley Spons Center. Promoter Ward Robinson says the format calls for each rider to compete in three motos -the first on a 125cc bike, the second on a 250cc and the third on a 500cc machine. The overall winner will take home a $25,000 chunk of the $40,000 purse, and the event will be AMA and F1M sanctioned. - ..... l-< Gary Richter, older brother of Bruce Richter, has bought the Richter Privateer product line from Bruce's.Richter Industries. Richter Privateer. an aftermarket firm specializing in aluminum silencers. handlebars and grips, will now become an operating division of PanaVise Products. Inc., one of Gary's current companies which also includes Wheelsmith Motorcycles. Th~ Richter family has long been associated with the motorcycle industry. as the late Roy Richter. father of Gary and Bruce, was the founder of Bell Helmets. Gene Rubino has been appointed director of operations of Richter Privateer. 0.. ~ Veteran David Aldana will ride for Team Hammer this year. The Bruce Hammer/John Ulrich road race team will contest the endurance rounds of the AMA Championship Cup Series. • to win the first San Jose Short Track and Graham and the new "Flying Flea," Jimmy Filice, split the two San Jose Miles in '83. Springsteen and Graham divided the two Ascot Half Miles, both in record. times last year. The bike~swappin~ among privateers now finds Steve Morehead on Shobert's Sacramento winner and Hank Scott and Ted Boody taking over the potent missiles vacated by Graham. Boody won the recent Florida series and Hank SCOll has never been more vocal about what he is going to do to the troops when he arrives in the west, especially at Sacto and San Jose. Brother Gary and Moreh/;ad are . maintaining a somewhat lower key before the flag drops. Goss is riding harder and more aggressivel y than ever before, especially for so early in the season. He'll have to keep it up if he is to join Springsteen as a three-time holder of the number one plate. Waiting and of course smiling, is Filice. He can't sleep nights just waiting for the two northern California miles to happen. It wouldn't surprise me to find he is already at the pit gate, waiting to sign in. Then there was the rumor of late that Kenny Roberts just might race the San Jose Mile. But he told one and all at the final press conference in Daytona that his next race in the U.S. was going to be at Laguna Seca in July. Kenny wouldn't kid us, would ha . For ticket information on the Ascot and sacramento events, call 213/3235323. For similar details on the San JosedoubIeheader, the number is 408/ 438-3210". A note to southern California race fans who would like to fly to either or both the Sacramento Mile or the San Jose doubleheader. Charter flights from Long Beach, up and back same day/night, have been confirmed. For info, call 714/476-0110. Roxy Rockwood 5

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