Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

to his championship l.ading points tally and holds an 11 point .dge, 22 points to 216, over Dave Thorpe, who carded fourth overall in Holland. Freddie Spencer (Hon), beat Randy Mamola (Hon) by 17.58 seconds to win the June 17 500ccGP road race in Yugoslavia. Raymond Roche (Hon) took third over points leader Eddie Lawson (Yam). Spencer and Mamola gained ground on Lawson with Lawson at 89 points followed by Spencer at 72 and Mamola at 54. The 250cc GP win went to Manfred Herweh (Rea) over points leader Chri tian Sarron (Yam). Anything goes: Any off-road license from a southern California racing organization will be honored at the CRC Golden Bear Grand Prix, June 24 at Hungry Valley ORV Park near Gorman, Califomia, one time only, with double GP, MX and ATV points thrown in. Eddy Lejeune (Hon) completed a Nonh American sweep of the World Championship Observed Trial Series rounds with a win in the June 17 event in Chatsworth, Ontario, Canada. The event, held in a steady rain, saw Lejeune card a loss of 110 points on his way to beating Thierry Michaud (Fan) by three marks. Bernie Schreiber (SWM) finished sixth. Lejeune leads Michaud, 145 points to 135, in the standings with Schreiber third at 105. Eric G.boers (Han) took the ov.rall win in the June 17 Dutch 500cc MX GPwith Andre Malh.rbe (Han) and Georges Jobe (Kaw) rounding out the top three. Malherbe added The California Department of Parks and Recreation will hold a June 27 hearing to discus the acqui ition and development of Martin Ranch near Fresno as an off-highway vehicle reaction area. Copies of the study for the proposed project are available for review at the Fresno County Library, 2420 Mariposa St., in Fresno. The hearing will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Fresno County Courthouse Jury Assembly Room, Room 102, 1100 Van Ness Ave., Fresno. Department staff will be on hand to explain the proposal and an wer questions. In the meantime, inquiries about Manin Ranch should be directed to Jim Heiner, California State Department of Parks and Recreation, P.O. Box 2390, Sacramento, CA 95811. Three-time 500cc World Road Racing World Champion King Kenny Roberts took his first ride in the turbocharged Ford Mustang Cam.1 GT race car on Wednesday, June 13. at Watkins Glen, New York. According to Intemational Speedway Corporation's Ron Meade, Roberts took to the car and the track "like a duck to water." Roberts is hoping to be at the controls of the factory Ford in the Camel Continental at Watkins Glen on July7-B. An environmentalist appeal has delayed implementation of a Bureau of Land Management vehicular-access plan for the Panamint Dunes Special Recreation Area. Permits were to have been issued beginning June 23 for a limited number of vehicles on one approved route, but a Sierra Club/Wilderness Society/etc. appeal to the Department of Interior's Board of Land Appeals will delay that until a decision is reached. Included in the rider line up for the 1984 USGP at Carlsbad are s.v.ral former and current 126. 260 and 600cc World Champions from Europe. Many of th.m are lock.d up in a tight points battle for the championship. Sam. European riders includ. B,lgium's Georges Jobe. who rode a Suzuki last year and now pilots a Kawasaki. Jobe is currently third in points. on. behind Thorpe, 216-214. Eric Gebo..... 1983 126cc World Champion. who also rode a Suzuki last year. will be competing on a Honda. G.boers is fourth in the standings and is coming off a victory in Holland. N.wcom.r to the 600cc World title chase is 600cc Finnish Champ Jukka Sintonen. Sintonen usually finishes within the top fiv•. Honda engine trouble 1700 VF500Fs need new engines By John Ulrich GARDENA, CA, JULY 15 American Honda Motor Co. will replace 1700 VF600F Interceptor engines due to crankshaft failures, according to Honda spokesman Dirk Vandenberg, manager of the company's Product Research Department. According to Vandenberg. most of the 1700 affected motorcycles are still in company warehouses. and a team of mechanics flown in from Japan will install new engines before the bikes are shipped to dealers. In the meantime, a hold has been put on deliveries to dealers. Owners of 500 Interceptors already sold will be contacted and asked to return their machines to dealers for installation of new engines under warranty, free of charge. "We stand behind the product." Vandenberg said. "The engines will be replaced by dealers at no cost to customers... Vandenberg stressed that Honda'saction was nota recall. '~Because of the small number of units that reached the public, it isn't an official recall. A recall, of course, creates large problems for any manufacturer," According to Vandenberg, not all 500 Interceptors are affected; the problem was limited to early production runs. The problem was first discovered when test bikes assigned to motorcycle magazines experienced failures. Vandenberg described the problem as being limited to connecting rod big end bearings, and did not elaborate on the exact cause. But according to Honda of Gardena's Larry Theobald. the !iOO Interceptor campaigned by the dealership's WLT Racing Team suffered "catastrophic failure" when the left main bearing was destroyed. Theobald said the bike's crankshaft and both conn.cting rods on the left side broke in half after the failed main bearing allowed the crankshaft to wobble in the crankcases, resulting in the ahernator rotor jamming against the stator. Dave Zirkle. 22. of Torrance was riding the bike at Willow Springs Raceway when the failure occurred, just as Zirkle enter.d the fastest turn on the course. during practice for the WERA 24-Hour West. "When the crank broke the bike locked up and Dav. couldn't even pull in the clutch." said mechanic Bill Foster. who was on the scene. .. Dave ran off the track into the dirt outside turn eight at over 100 mph with the rear wheel locked." said Foster. a good friend of Zirkle's and a mechanic at Cycle Tune in Torrance. helping out t.he Honda of Gardena crew prepare for the 24-hour. "Somehow he didn't crash," When the engine failed. American Honda offered Honda of Gardena a new engine. But the replacement engine soon developed squeaking noises, as did engines in two VF500Fssoid to customers by Honda of Gardena. according to Theobald. Disa.sembly of the replacement engine revealed that oil feed holes in the crankshaft were not chamfered or beveled. and in fact were burred. The burrs destroyed crankshaft bearing. and produced tha squeaking noise, according to Foster. . According to Theobald. American Honda engineers examined the faulty crankshaft and bearings and gave Honda of Gardena a new crankshaft with properly-pr.pared oil feed hole., new bearing. and new connecting rods. After Honda of Gardena mechanic. carefully assembled the new parts, the teem fini.hed fifth overall, second in class at the 24-hour, holding rpm down to 11,000 instead of 12.000 rpm, according to Foster. Another VF500F, entered by American Honda Product R....rch D.pt. employees and ridden by Vandenberg, finished third averell, first in cl.... In our June 6 issue, Edwin Woo was listed a. third place in the AMA Amateur Formula One race at Sear. Point, an .v.nt won by Denny Doh.rty. Woo .hould have been listed as second. The Bakersfield Racer's Association is hosting a IQ-race series of flat track events starting June 30. TT and onethird mile shon-track races will alternate every two weeks. For more information, contact Bob Van Meter at 805/32~-7877 . Last year's Carlsbad winn.r and '83 600cc World Champion Hakan Car\qvist broke his thumb earlier this year and still suffers from this injury. However, Carlqvist will compete at the USGP wearing a cast which will give the Swede just .nough mobility to hang on. Carlqvist is not in contention with the leaders in points, but he is a tough competitor and will be in the hunt for the Carlsbed win. Two-time 500cc World Champion. Andre Malherbe of Belgium wants a win at the USGP very much. He is the current points leader on a Honda, ahead of Britain's David Thorpe, (Han), by 11 points, 226215. Malherbe doesn't like Carlsbad very much: He has nev.r won here, and in 1982, he suffered a severely broken leg which put him out of contention the rest of the season One of the les. publicized reces at Laconia is the Riders and Mechanics R.nt-a-car event. The Thur.day night rec. on the paved .hort track at the Bryar Motorsport Park facility was well attended and "a good time wes had by ell," according to one participant Last week a Gator Products advertisement referred to the "Four-Stroke Nationals." The event was actually the "Four-Stroke Championships." Sonic Messenger Service of Inglewood. California. will be expending its motorcycle delivery/messenger service during the Olympic Games. They have contacts with sev.rel major firms. including a broadcaster, and as a result they will be hiring severel extra riders to work between July 9 and August 17. If interested, call 213/6718974 and ask for Steve. Desert/off-road star Dan Ashcraft is on the mend following a broken collarbone in the June 9-10 Desert Vipers Dual European Scrambles. "The doctor says I'll be out six weeks, but I don't think it'll take that long," said Ashcraft when contacted Monday, June 18. "It's only been a week and already it feels pretty good. We've got a race in four weeks and I'll be there; if we had one in three weeks I'd make that one too." Team Husqvarna recorded another five-rider sweep as they took the June 17 Rettlesnak. National En-

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