Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

.... C \l V ..0 8 V ;> o Z had recommended 1.2 million; compromise pUl the total right in the middle. The challenge in California, and perhaps other states as well, will be 10 put the losses aside and work to obtain new trails. Except for those of us in Idaho, Colorado and Montana, the wilderness issue is more or less behind us, ri~ht? Not exactly. Some of the legislation, like California's, names wilderness study areas that will be the subject of future legislation. And then there are the Bureau of Land Management's holdings, some 320 million acres of once-undesirable lan~s. If you think the national forest wilderness-designation process has been long and complicated, the BLM's designation process,now in the early stages, is even more cumbersome. Motorcycling came through this land-access fight slightly scathed. While it's safe to take a breather now, don't put your typewriter and your congressman's address back into stor.age just yet. There's more fun to come. THE NATIONAL PAPERS By Roxy Rockwood The longest title chase on record is finally over. Once again tbe Camel Pro Series battle for the Grand National number one CJl8 ~ title went to the finish line, making it five of the last six years that it has gone down to the final checkered [lag. Ricky Graham got the title back for the second time in three seasons. This marks three straight years that Californian Graham has been in the hunt for the title going into the final event. In 1982 Graham won it by two points over Jay Springsteen. Last season he lost the championship in the final event (to Randy Goss by eight points) even though he won that final race. This time around could indeed rank as the best cliff-hanger of all time with Graham falling while leading and winning the title by a single point over his teammate, Bubba Shobert. For 31 years the title has been decided by points from each AMA National race. But in only three seasons has the championship been decided by a single point. Dick Mann was the first man to win by one point, back in '63. Mann won only one of 14 events while George Roeder scored three wins. Roeder won two of the final three events and Mann won the other. The title was decided on the old Sacramento Mile where Roeder, the "Flying Farmer" from Monroeville, Ohio, won the race, but Mann finished high enough to still take the title. The second time came in 1980 when Randy Goss edged Hank Scott by a single point in the final event, the Ascot Half Mile. Goss won only two races that season with Hank winning five times. Goss had to' win the final race of the year to take the title. He did. Now Graham has won by a single point. One can look back and find where Ricky could have won the title several other times but for a broken chain, a fractured foot, a flat tire or a .. deH'etive carburetor needle·. But the same can also be said for Shobert, who had a win and points from two other events taken away at mid-season. (... due to a suspension for fighting with Terry Poovey in St. Louis; Shobert's single punch prob. ably cost him $100,OOO... Editor.) The record will show that each of the Team Honda riders scored six National wins in 1984. The record will not show that Shobert actually won seven races, the most in a single season since 1976 and prior to that year, 1954. The record this year will also show Graham as the high point TT rider and Shobert as the leading scorer in .mile track finals. The "What-Us'" come at the end of every season. If Ricky had been 14th instead of 13th at Springfield at the coldest mile ever run, the two Honda riders would have tied for the point title. Who would have been the champion then? Shobert - as he had a record number of second-place finishes, a record that may never be broken. No less than seven times was the Lubbock gunfighter in the runnerup spot. But in recent years the title has been won on points and not necessarily wins. In the 30 years that points have been awarded in GNC racing, there have been no less than II times that the rider with the most wins has not won the title. It is a fact that Graham is the first to win the title with the most wins since Springsteen did it back in 1978. That is another big plus for Graham, who missed one complete event where he was favored early in the season - the Ascot TT. As this past season progressed we observed Graham and Shobert become what may be the best one-two punch in racing. Teammates come and go as the years go by but can anybody remember two riders on the same learn ever turning in a record from week to week like these two? I can't. Much credit should go to team manager Gene Romero and mechanics Sparky Edmonston and Dave Hubinsky for Graham and Skip Eaken and Dennis Jones for Shobert. Not to be forgotten are Rob Muzzy and Ray Plumb, the men who built the engines - developed by Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) uf Japan - from race to race. A team that won no less than II dirt track Nationals. Graham joins three other riders as the only individuals to take home more than $100,000 in career Camel point fund money. His 1984 money from Camel and the yearly AMA/ Promoter's point fund will hit right at $50,000, added to a salary and win bonuses from Honda. On Superbike reeing By Daniel G. Miller So the Daytona 200 is to be all Superbikes. I am not totally surprised, but certainly apprehensive about this. I have listened to individuals promote their idea of making the Superbike class into the premier class for the U niled States. and have listened to their arguments and reasons, but quite frankly, I find most of them poor or not well thought-out. One of these is the constant comparison to NASCAR and how the Superbikes look more like what street motorcyclists ride. Is this sound thinking? Is there any real connection here? In fact, the most important question is what really has made NASCAR so successful? Is it because the cars have bodies shaped like American sedans? Hardlyl Can we reall y believe there is some person who enjoys NASCAR because his family car looks like what is raced? Is anyone so naive as to think there is much connection between the GM or Ford in the showrooms and what is on the oval track? The success of NASCAR comes not from the appearance of what is raced, but because of the racing itself. How many times so far this year have the three, four, five cars been going for the lead on the last lap of a NASCAR race? This is the reason for the success of NASCAR, the consistently close racing. Has anyone wondered why dirt track racing (Class C) has survived? What connection with street riding, dirt playbiking or motOGoss does it have? What is its appeal? It certainly is not because the spectators ride to the races on motorcycles thaI look like what is raced. Dirt track racing survives for the same reason NASCAR is so successful, the intense, close racing. I wonder, if all this is true about attracting crowds by the similarity 0" their bikes to what is raced, would 100,000 people show up at a Grand Prix to see highly specialized twostrokes? To see the best racing in the world I Will Superbikes do this for the United States? At the heart of that answer is equipment. The parity of equipment in the 250cc Grand Prix class in Europe is one of the prime reasons it is so competitive and produces some of the best racing ever. Think of the times at the GPs when two or three seconds cover the whole starting grid. The equality of the equipment among the competitors makes for this along with placing the emphasis on the ability of the rider. Even in the United States, the Formula Two races are often close races with more competitors involved in the actual racing. Again, it is the equality of the available equipment that leads to this. Can Superbikes provide this? It does not seem so. Ever since the factories have been involved, the gap between the paid riders and most privateers has grown. Eddie Lawson is absolutely correct in pointing out how expensive four-stroke racing is. The factories can, and have, spent much money on development of their racing machines, but what privateer can match it? Often people point to aftermarket suppliers as the hope to privateers, but what aftermarket co.mpany could spend what 'would be needed to be competitive (considering what would be involved, the development of a machine, the producing of it and the spare parts required, theactual racing costs, etc.) without going broke? Does no-one recognize how expensive competitive four-stroke racing equipment can be and what really is involved? It was not until Kawasaki made and sold (most likely at a loss) a few Lawson Replica race bikes that a few privateers could get close to the front of a factory-dominated Superbike race. What Kawasaki offered was far beller than what most any privateer could make and at a ch~per cost. Think of what the Superbike class would have been this year if Honda had not taken the burden of subsidizing part of the cost·of the Superbike. equipment it made available to a few privateers? Is it reasonable to base the future of United States racing on themanufacturer al5sorbing a great deal of the cost of expensive four-stroke racing equipment? Besides, the Superbike class has been an almost all-Honda show anyway (except in California where WI'S Cooley can use the Yoshimura GS750), so where is the broad appealLO aU the other brand street riders? If what Cycle News has printed is correct, it would seem that the other manufacturers are not presently thinking of United States Superbike racing. Even if a couple other of the manufacturers did get involved, will they be able to' make good equipment available to anybody but their one or two paid riders? The question of equipment brings up another important consideration. What are United States riders to do with these specialized Superbikes if . they wish to race elsewhere? Would it be possible to enter a Grand Prix, if the money and opportunity came around? Of course not. United States riders end up isolated, unable to race elsewhere. without going to the expense of gelling different eq uipment. Who would buy a 500cc GP bike for one or two races? But that could change if that one piece of equipment could be used here and abroad. I know about Steve McLaughlin and a few others attempting to get other countries involved in United States·styIe Superbike racing, but is it really likely that this style of racing would find a large audience in other countries, panicularly European countries? I don't think so. Consider the European attitude toward racing. When they think of a race bike, what is it? It is a full-fairing, clip-onequipped, single-seat motorcycle. Look at even their four-stroke racing. In Britain's top four-stroke class, the motorcycles are full-fairing, clip-on, all-out race bikes. Same with the bikes used in the World Endurance series. That is what real race bikes must look like to them, what appeals to them. Look at how the Europeans customize their motorcycles, or what kind of models are available there that are not here. Even in the United States this is taking hold. Look at a . Kawasaki Ninja ora Yamaha FJllOO. This is why I feel the appeal of United States-style Superbikes just will not make it in major-league Europe. What seems most likely is that once again United States riders will be isola ted from the rest of the world by having to use machinery no one else does. Is this a good idea? Certainly not. NASCAR is definitely a United States motorspon and has little connection with world (European) racing. But NASCAR is still successful because there is a large broad appeal for this type of racing here. That is not true of motorcycle road racing.As much as we may dislike it, motorcycle road racing is not really very popular here, except among motorcyclists and there are not that many of us. Things are certainly different in Europe, for many reasons, and that is why Europe. will probabl.y always have the premier racing. So do we just stick our heads in the sand and pretend this is not so and refuse to do as the rest of the world? Our domestic base is just not enough to se)(-support a isolated form of racing. I think Eddie Lawson is correct, (along with others who have said the same thing) that what is needed, is a domestic 500cc class. Yes, there are not too many now. but it could easily grow, especially since they could be used here and abroad. Who knows. maybe then we would have a domestic base for a real Grand Prix. " ... I •

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