Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

modations for three nights. ground transport and tickets to TT and short track races in Houston. Information is available by calling 408/ 280-5688. The Winter Series motocross being held at Sear Point Raceway in Sonoma, California will run through the first three Sun9aYs in January; then the track closes and repaving of the 2.5-miJe road course begins. Terry Poovey has signed with Charlie Gardner of Gardner Racing to ride the team's equipment next season. SteVe Eklund. who rode for Gardner for three seasons. is no longer with the team. "I feel we have a well-rounded program." said Gardner. "Carl Patrick will handle all the mile and half mile equipment while Harry Little will do the work on the short track and TT machinery." While a final schedule is still in the works, the AMA has announced the locations/dates of the first eight rounds in the Grand National Championship Motocross Series for 1985. The series begins with six Supercross events: San Diego (January 26); Anaheim (February 2); Seattle (February 8 & 9); Indianapolis (February 16); and Atlanta (February 23). The first outdoor National wiU be in Gainesville, Florida on March 3, followed by the Daytona Supercross on March 9. BMW of North America has released prices for their 1986 lineup. The R66 wiD sell for $3700; the R80 for $4300; the R80GS for $4300; the R80RT for $5700. Four-cylinder K100. K100RS and K1 ooRT modeIawil sell for $5990. $7200 and $7500. respectively. BMW dealership salesmen will be invited to a series of BMW North America-held racetrack RSO twin-cylinder test days scheduled for seven road race courses around the country this month. As part of the program, called TEAM (Trackside Evaluation Analysis Meeting), dealers will be allowed to bring their best sales pros~cts to the track for a demo ride. BMW North America says the day at the track with R80 and R80RT models, under the supervision of current and former Formula Two champions Don Greene and David Emde, will give salesmen and customers new appreciation and enthusiasm for the R80 engines. Bill Spencer is organizing a tour to the 1985 Camel Pro Series opener at the Houston Astrodome; the tour. departing the San Francisco area on February 7. costs about $460 and includes air fare. acco- World Champion Eddie Lawson landed back home in Upland. California on December 7 after an around-the-world racing and promotional trip. Lawson's itinerary took him from Los Angeles to Tokyo. to Singapore. to Kuala Lumpur for the December 1-2 Malaysian Grand Prix; then on to Amsterdam via India and Pakistan; after press conferences for Team Marlboro in France and Germany, Lawson returned to Los Angeles. The press conIerences announced Team Marlboro's signing of Raymond Roche to back up Lawson on works Yamahas in the 500cc Road Racing 1985 World Championship. Roche rode privately-backed Hondas in 1984. Lawson also indicated that the Marlboro team may switch tire brands for 1985. leaving Dunlop and using Michelins instead. "The Michelins Freddie (Spencer) used looked like they they worked pretty well." Lawson said. Well-placed sources inside CBS Magazines - publishers of Cycle World - are vigorously denying rumors that the company will fold recentlyacquired Cycle magazine after the April 1985 issue. Instead, say inside seurces, the company will most likely move the two magazines in different editorial directions. A proposal to change the 125cc National Motocross class to a ProAm/Junior professional format will probably not be adopted in 1986. according to AMA'sWayne Moulton. "At this point. we are addressing the problems in the Nationals. but I can't see any major changes in the format until 1986 or even 1987." said Moulton. "That will give all the parties invofved tirnato sort out their feelings and to consider the ramifications of any format change. Ideally. what I feel we need is all of the Pro riders riding in the same class. which would produce the most exciting racing. But we can't make a change like that all at once:' Look for the 125/260/600ccfor- 1985 AMA Camel Pro Series 6 2/8 TT/Hounon,TX 2/9 ST/Hounon,TX 3/8RR/Daytona Beach, FL 3/30 TT/Gardena, CA 4/13 Mile/Sacramento,CA 6/4 ST/San Jose, CA 6/6 Mile/San Jose, CA 6/11 HM/Gardena, CA 6/19 RR/Sonoma, CA 5/28 Mile/Springfield, IL 8/1 HM/Louisville, KY 8/9 RR/Elkhart Leke, WI 6/9 HM/TBA 6/18 RR/Loudon, NH 8/21 TT/Hinsdale, IL 8/23 RR/Pocono,PA 8/29 HM/Um8, OH 7/14 Monterey, CA 7/27 Mile/DuQuoin. IL 8/4 RR/Lexington. OH 8/11 TT/Peoria.IL 8/24 Mile/Indianapolis, IN 8/25 Mile/Indianapolis. IN 9/1 RR/Br8inerd. MN 9/1 Mile/Springfield. IL 9/8 Mile/Syracuse. NY 9/16 Mile/San Jose. CA 9/21 HM/Garden8. CA 9/29 Mile/S8cremento.CA Here's a photo of a water-cooled four-stroke engine under development at KTM's R&D facility in Mattighoven. Austria. Shown in prototype form here with the radiator in place during testing the LC4 engine is currently configured with a bore and stroke of 90 x 78mm for a displacement of 496cc. The single overhead cam design is equipped with a four-valve head and is designed so that KTM will be able to build the engine in 350 to 600cc versions. matto remain the same in '85 as it has been in the '83 and '84 seasons. with all three classes running on the sarna day. Majoropposition from Honda. Kawasaki. Suzuki and Yamaha is a consideration in the probable postponement of any changes in the format. The 1985 Camel Pro Series title chase will finish up in California at the Sacramento Mile National after two years of championship finishes in the Midwest. The series has been cut to 29 races from 33 although AMA's Wayne Moulton says the schedule "is still tentative and there could be the addition of one mile and one road race National." Missing in 1985 will be the Harrington (Delaware) Half Mile, St. Louis (Missouri) Short Track, Hagerstown (Maryland) Half Mile, Cicero (Illinois) Mile and the fall IT National at Gardena, California's Ascot Park. One half-mile at a location to be announced has been added to the schedule. According to Yoshimura R&D's Suehiro Watenabe. new discovery Kevin Schwantz will ride a Yoshimura Suzuki in the 1985 Suzuka Eight-hours in Suzuka City. Japan. a round of the FIM Endurance World Championship. Schwantz's partner in the July race will be Graeme Crosby. Schwantz. 20. from Houston. Texas. recently signed with Yoshimura R&D to contest AMA Superbike races in the U.S.; Schwantz may also enter the AFM Pro/Kerker Superbike Series in 1985. riding for Yoshimure. The AMA announcement major revisions to the Supercross program format in 1985. The two most notable changes are a switch to a main event with two 10-lap motos instead of the single" 20-lap main as used in the past, and the addilion of a 125cc Support class which will be open to Pro-Am and Junior Professionals only. The format in the 6O-rider Pro class field, (which will still be run on 250cc machinery) will consist of four heats, tw:o semis. a Last Chance Qual- ifierand thetwo,20-rider 10-lapfinal motos. Quarter-finals have been e1imina led, and the top three out of each heat will transfer directly to the main wilhout riding the semis. Scoring in the two final motos will be the same as in ational Championship Motocross, with overall rider finishing positions determined by adding points scored in both motos. In the 125cc Support c1as ,the field will consist of 40 riders, with two heats and a single 20-rider, 10-lap main event being run. Englishman Jeremy Whatley. whose contract with the British Suzuki importer expired at the end of October, will field his own team aboard Kawasaki machinery in the 500cc MX GPs during '85. Whatley placed third in the '84 250cc MX GP final standings. You say motorcycle racing doesn't get coverage? The AMA Camel Pro Series contracted ProTac Corporate Promotional Tactical Services, Inc.'s Doug GO,nda to do pre-event PR prior.to every 1984 series event and it paid ofL The Houston IT and ST was covered by the Houston Post, the Houston Chronicle and WTBS MOlorweek; the Daytona 200 was covered by USA Today, AP and UPI wire services, WTBS, USA etwork, WCPX, WESH and WDTV television; the April 7 Ascot was covered by KHJ and KABC TV, the LA. Herald Examiner, USA Today, the Long Beach Press Telegram, WTBS, AP and ESP ; the April I4. Sacramento Mile was covered by the Sacramento Bee, Sacramento Union and Oakland Tribune, AP, USA Today, KCRA, KXTV, KOUR TV and KXTL and KRBK; the May 5-6 San Jose doubleheader received coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune, Modesto Bee. AP, KNTV and KICU TV, KN BR radio and ABC Wide World of Sports; anyway, you get the idea. For a complete listing of all the 1984 race coverage, write to the AMA at Box 141, Westerville, OH 13081 and ask for the AMA Camel Pro Series Media Report, 1984. (Contjnu~d 10 pag~ 29)

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