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/126794
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(Continued from page J)
(KTM); 200cc: James Maltba
(Yam); ?5Occ: Geoff Ballard (CA); Open: Ke'lin' Hines (Hus); FourStroke: Carey Stump (C-A); Senior:
Barry Higgins (KTM); and Super
Senior: Jeff Smith (C-A).
A new, 12,OOO-wau concert sound
system has been installed in the Los
Angeles Coliseum in preparation for
the November·3 Superbowl of Motocross; the new system, with cI usters of
speakers in the east end of the Coliseum, should end complaints from
spectators unable to hear the announcer during previous SuperbowIs.
Just prior to the Motocross des
Nations a meeting as held in Amsterdam among representatives of
nations hosting supercross races
to establish criteria for FIM sanctioned stadiumcross races. Copies
of the proposal. which outlines
plans for a Rodil Cup Championship race among the 10 nations
currently running supercrossl
stadiumcross races. were presented to the manufacturers.
Presently. there are no plans for
World Championship status for
stadiumcross.
The California OH-Highway Motor
Vehicle Recreation Commission met
in regular session at Pismo Beach
September 27-28. Several policy recommendations were adopted. including those on resource management,
the statewide trails plan and ORV
information and education. Extra access points into Pismo Dunes, a feasibility study funding for two riding
areas, and an inquiry into resurrecting Saddleback Park were among the
land-use issues discussed. Commission chairman Mike Bishop said that
the Commission still had a vacancy
to be filled on it, and that the position
of OHV Parks Deputy Director likewise remai ns open since the resignation of Russ Sanford. Those interested individuals are directed to contact Governor George Duekmejian,
attention Marvin Baxter, Appointmel1lS Secretary.
The AFM (American Federeration
of Motorcyclists) and PRRO.
(Phoenix Road Racing Organization). have announced plans for a
joint event January 13 .t Firebird
r.cetrack in Phoenix. The event
will featura AFM classes .nd an
anything goes challenge race with
a cash purse.
.dded .nd the country with the
lowest score will be the overall
winner. The MX d.. Nation. trophy
goes to the top team with ..cond
overall picking up the Trophee des
N.tions trophy .nd third pl.ce
awarded the Coupe des N.tion~
.ilver.
. Heinz Kinigadner, the 250cc MX
World Champion, will be spending
the next two months healing from a
pelvis injury and torn shoulder ligaments. Kinigadner sustained the injuries in a crash during a stadium
MX in Spain.
Engli.hm~n D.ve W.tson. who
rode in the 500ce MX GP. during
1984 but .ustained • broken leg
before the end of the ....on. is
due to h.ve hi. 'cast come off in
November. W.tson will then be
fitted with • remov.ble cast so
that he c.n get back into riding
without ri.king further injury to
the leg.
(Continued
to
page 27)
RISK
By John Ulrich
.Kawasaki turned the tables on
the press with its own awards
ceremony during-its 1985 model
press preview; the awards compared leading motorcycle publications
to general'-imerest magazines: As Kawasaki sees it, Cycle World is the two-.
wheeled equivalent of Time; Cycle
the' motorcycling version of Scientific American; Moto~cyclist, Mechanics Illustrated; Rider, Cosmopolitan; Cycle Guide, People and Cycle
News - they still must be sore about
those editorials concerni!!,g their banzai street runs to Monterey, Of maybeour publication of Ninja 600R speci.ficatioris before their dealer meeting
- the National Enquirer. Each publication was given a mock-up of how
they might look if Kawasaki's vision
came true. The major headline on
Kawasaki's version of "Cycle News
Enquirer" read"... PREDICTIONS."
I guess that refers to my statement
that Eddie Lawson would be the 1984
500cc Road Racing World Champion,
published in Cycle News, April II.
Marshall Jewell of Noorbaum Paramedic Service, which provides ambulance service at Sears Point events,
announced that Sonoma County will
provide free .helicopter evacuation
and advanced life support for those
injuries that-require it.
·.18
In 1985 the Coupe (125cc). Trophee (250cc) .nd Motocro.s
(500cc) de. N.tion. World Champion.hip for Nation.1 Team. competition will be combtned into a
single event called the Motocross
d.. N.tioM. The event will be h"d
in G.i1dorf. West Germ.ny. on •
d.te to be confirmed et the FIM·.
F.II.Ccm.g..... in October in Munich.
The form.t will feature • maximum of 20 ndUM. fielding three
rider team. COMiating of one rider
In each of the three displ.cament
d •••••. AI d ..... wiD run together
in three 3O-minute-p1u.-two~lap
moto. with .11 fini.he. scored in
the same form •• they .re now.
The two best finish.. per displac.
ment cl.ss per te.m wHl·then be
t:or some reason every.stock producnon motorcycle I crashed between
1979 and 1983 was a Kawasaki - all
of them on one racetrack or another,
usually during testor photo sessions,
occasionally during races.
All that time I didn'lcrash a single
stock Honda, Suzuki: or Yamaha; it
. was a tough handful of years, but
happily the latest Kawasakis handle
much better than older models and
have brakes that work, artd I haven't
crashed anything in over a year.
The Kawasaki executives presiding
over all this fun are gooQ sports, and
they know the meaning of the word
"crasher." Mike Vaughn, for example, is the Advertising Manager, the
only one in the business who actually
goes out and races his company's
products on occasion. Mike went to
the California Superbike School...
and broke his leg'. I've seen him on
the track in endurance races, on - or
off - a GPz550... every time I've been
on the track .with him, he crashed,
sometimes twice, once colliding with,
another guy right in front of me as I,
lapped him. It was a beautiful crash,
so graceful, so predictable...watching
it was almost like seeing Super-SloMoon TV.
Then there's Mel Moore, Public
Relations Manager, a man so wild on
the street that his own wife won't ride
wilh him (mine won't either, but
never mind that)..
I remember sending. Mel £lowers
when a big wreck put him out of
action for months hack around, ott:
maybe 1980.
Yes, these men know what crashing their brains out on Kawasakis is
all about, and recognize similar wadding excellence among motorcycle
journalists. This year the big award
went to the entire staff of Cycle Guide
magazine; that's really not fair since
two of the prime CG point-scorers
have defected to Cycle World, and,
combining their efforts with a former-high-pointer from Motorcyclist,
should be able to restore the crash
trophy to Cycle World by this time
next year.
And just to show what bappens to
people who kid others about crashing, I'll probably endo tomorrow. •
How to vote
By Donnetta Carnagey
Always a hit at Kawasaki's model
introductions 'are the crash awards.
They gave me one last year, but
cheated by going back through almost
five years of Ulrich/Kawasaki carnage.
Ready or not:the November elections
are only about a week away. It has
been an interesting year in politics...
for the first time in its 92 year history,
the Sierra Club has endorsed a political candidate: Walter Mondale. For
that reason alone, oH-roaders should
be running to the polls to re-elect
President Reagan. But, oH-roaders in
California haven't fared so well in
the last couple of years, and some
want to blame someone. I was talking to some oH-roaders in Jawbone
Canyon last week about the trail closures in Kennedy Meadows as a result
of ,the California Wildemess Act and
one said, "That's the last Green
Stickie I'll ever buy." Perhaps there's
a need for some political enlightment
in the oH-rQading community ...
The California Wilderness A.ct was
created by the United'States Congress
(Th~ Green Stickie are a California
program). It was bolstered by a compromise between Senators Pete WIlson and Alan Cranston that carried a
unanimous vote in the u.s. Senate. It
was taken to Congress by Congressman John Sieberling of Ohio (the
Akron-SieberlingTire family... think
about that the next time you ..need
tires). He may not be from California, but he was happy to help this
preservationist backers ram this bill
down California's ,throat. By use of
an obscure rule, he preventell amend..
ment of the Rill in the House, and it
passed by a vote of 368-41. There were
only II California Congressmen who
voted against it: Congressmen Badham, Chappie, Dannemeyer, Drier,
Lewj.s, Lungren, McCandless, Moorhead. Packard, Pashayan and Shumay (all Republican; six Republicans voted for the bill, as did all
26 Democrats). Hopefully, those II
friendly "",mes will appear on t\'le
roster of the 99th Congress, after the
elections.
As a result. the California Wilderness Act ~as sent to the President
with near unanimous support. 1t
only takes a 2/~ vote to override a
veto. Election year or not, it would be
folly for a President to veto a bill that
comes to his desk. with unanimous
votes behind it.
President Reagan, Governor Deukmejian, and most of the business
.£Omrouni~ Ln Califor.!lia