Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

·Baja Internacional cancelled ~y p~p~ Wf~LfY WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, MAY 15 SCORE International President Sal Fish announced that the Baja Internacional. an off-road ra.ce scheduled for June 2, has been cancelled. SCORE will run a substitute event in the California desert on the same weekend, calling it the Baja to Barstow. "The climate is not right to race in Baja right now," said Fish. "There are a lot of problems involving ranchers, the government and tourism. People - not necessarily racers - have been jumping onto our course and abusing the countryside. They break ranchers' gates or leave them open, and hit their cattle. I'm worried about the competitors'safety. "So we've cancelled the Internacional and we're working on the 1000 (scheduled for November 1-4) and a ro·ute that will alleviate the problems:' . Fish said that the new event, which will be held near Barstow, will run in two stages. Motorcycles, three-wheelers and Odysseys will run first on a short loop course, with a scheduled cut-off time. Once they are finished, the car classes will start. Normally motorcycles do not compete in SCORE Barstow events because of safety hazards relating to traffic on the shorter loops. . The announcement of the cancellation came just moments after BMW, which had announced its intent to compete in the Baja Internacional, had come to terms with a rider to team with Paris-to- Dakar winner Gaston Rahier. That rider is retired 1980 AMA Supercross Champ star Mike Bell, but whether or not BMW will compete in the substitute event is not known. Team Suzuki Support rider Rick Ryan will be out of action for another four races after sustaining a dislocated hip in a Supercross race in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on May 5. ATK Motorcycles Ltd. has introduced the ATK 560, developed by ATK founder Horst Leitner and Dallas Baker with a combination of European, Japanese and American parts. The new machine sells for $3995, and has claimed dry weight of 254 pounds. Wheelbase is between 57 and 58.5 inches. The frame is made by C&J, the swingarm by Cal-Fab with a built-in A-Trak chain torque eliminator; the single rear shock comes from White Brothers with adjustable compression and rebound damping; the front forks from Showa. The Jardine exhaust system includes a SuperTrapp spark arrestor; tires are Metzeler. At the heart of the beat is a Rotax 560 SOHC 4-valve four stroke engine. Shown is ATK's first customer, Jesse Goldberg. Kawasaki's Goat Breker had a ·unique way of warming up prior to the Orlando Supercross. However, Breker's display of grace and precision was not evident on the track. He could not transfer to the main event. 2 Team Marlboro Yamaha's Eddie Lawson led fellow American road racers FJeddie Spencer (Hon) and Randy Mamola (Han.) to a 1-2-3 sweep of the Austrian GP at Salzburgring on Sunday, May 20. Lawson was fast qualifier and romped to the win, 23 seconds ahead of World Champion Spencer, who took second from Mamola on the last lap. Trackside observers speculated that Mamola slowed to let Spencer take second - Mamola slowed 11.9 seconds on the last lap - but Mamola denied doing so, saying that his bike started to seize. The win boosts Lawson's points to 57. Raymond Roche (Hon), who finished sixth in Austria, is second with 37, while Spencer is third with 27. Dave Thorpe (Han) won the May 20 Swedish 500cc Motocross Grand Prix with 3-1 mota finishes, Georges Jobe (Kaw) was second overall with 2-3 finishes. Andre Malherbe (Han) won the first mota but had a flat tire in the second moto, pitted for a tire change and hnis/led 10th. Eric Geboers was second in the secon'd mota but had a flat tire in the first maLO, The race Left Thorpe leading World Championship points with 159, ahead of Jobe (156), Malherbe (155) and Geboers (136). The Swedish Grand Prix was the fifth event of the series; the June 24 Carlsbad Grand Prix in Carlsbad, California will be the eighth round. ,J I 'UJristian Sarron won the 250cc GP in Austria, following a furious dice with Carlos Lavado (Yam) that came LO an end when Lavado fell on the last lap. Lavado recovered to take fifth while Anton Mang (Yam) and Sito Pons (Kob) took second and third, respectively, behind Sanon. Sarron now leads the point standings with 39, followed by Pons (35) and Mang (23). Wayne Rainey (Yam) was dead last on the start and crashed during the race. Dave Busby, failed LO qualify. Stefan Dorflinger (Zun) won the 80cc GP. The May 20 West German Motocross Grand Prix saw Kees van der' Ven (KTM) post 1-2 moto placings for the overell victory over the 3-1 tally of Michele Rinaldi (Suz). Corrado Maddii (Cag) was third with a 2-5 score. Davey Strijbos (Hon) ·placed fourth in mota one, but DNF moto two and now trails van der Ven 159 points to 120. Honda motocross team manager Dave Arnold says that Bob Hannah, who broke a wrist at the Atlanta Six Flags National MX on May 13, will have his cast on for another three to four weeks. "Bob was just starting to come back real strong before the mishap," Arnold said. "We'll have to wait and see how things go after the cast is removed." Honda's Danny "Magoo" Chandler is in a similar situation after taking a fall in Atlanta; and will be on the sidelines for at least several weeks. "Danny has a cracked collarbone," Arnold said, "and I plan to keep him out of action until we're certain he's healed. He'll probably miss the Mt. Morris (Pennsylvania) National (May 27), and I'll probably have him sit out the Carlsbad Grand Prix (June 24)." Team Husky will appear at Kern Spon Cycle in Bakersfield, California on May 25, between 4:00 and 9:00 p.m. Free food and drinks will be served and racing movies will be shown, and there will be a drawing for door prizes. For more information call 805/324-6266. Kerry Peterson was the only rider to clear the hill at the May 20 Widowmaker Hillclimb held near Salt Lake City, Utah. Peterson received $1000 as the first rider over when he directed his nitroburning Harley-Davidson up the sheerWidowmakerfaC8. However, in a shootout among former Widowmaker champions, Californian Steve Stith was the winner. Peterson had fuel injection troubles in that one. The Forest Service in the San Bernardino National Forest will begin a crackdown on unlicensed vehicles and riders on selected Forest Service roads over the Memorial Day Week· end, That means unless your motorcycle is street-licensed and the rider has a Class 4 license, motorcycles or ATVs will have to be trailered to riding trail access points. The Hannah Flat and Holcomb VaHey Camp· ground in the Big Bear area are most affected. Forest Service spokesman Marion Borrell said that the following would be posted closed and patrolled: 3NI4, 3NI6, 2N09, 3N09, IN02 (San Gorgonio.district) and I N96 (Arrowhead). There may be others; check with FS officials in areas if you plan to visit. Borrell said that he didn't feel the crackdown should cause ORV operators too much inconvenience, citing the "dispursed use" camping policy 'followed by the Forest Service, "We'd rather have cooperation than write citations," said Borrell. Jeremy Whatley, via 2 -4 mota finishes, and S. Berggren, with 4-2 moto finishes, tied on points in the May 20 250cc Motocross Grend Prix in England. Whatley edged Berggren on aggregate time 'to win overall. Series points leader Heinz Kinigadner added to his total with 3-6 finishes. Kinigadner leads Whatley, 135-103. Easier in the din: Team Tamm's Donnie Cantaloupi won the Burger King/CMC Supercross in Rhode Island on a CRl25 Honda tuned by Ward Ring of Motoring Services. Ring is best known as engine builder and tuner [or endurance road racing National Champions Team Hammer. "It's so much easier in the din," said Ring. "One cylinder, one carburetor, one rider and one bike makes it a lot of fun." Ring will also wrench for Honda support team rider Mike Fisher in the near future.

• Cover