Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Illegal Removing or a lt er ing course or trail markers for off-road events h eld on public land, made a mi sdem eanor bv a California la w (Sec. 383 18,5 cvc j effect ive J anuary I ; if th e ac tio n ca uses gr eat bodily in jury. it becomes a felon y. Expecting Dr ag racer Bob Carpenter a nd hi s wife, Holl y; Bab y Carpenter is due in Ma y 1985. Sold Western /Eastern Roadracing Assn., by Dr. Peter Frank a nd hi s wife, Patti, to Dr. Bill Pa rkinson; accord ing to Parkinson, the sa le took pl ace in O ctober, 1984. Scheduled The return of \VERA sancti oning to Colo rado. with the san ction of a six-h our National Enduran ce Series event at Pueblo o n June 22-23, Named Editorial staff for severa l H i-Torque Pu blish in g magazines in a ser ies of changes; Tom Webb, 3 1 will be Editor o f Dirt W heels a nd Kevin Sironis, 2 1, Associ a te Editor; Da vid Gerig, 25. will be Editor of 3+4 Wheel Action with S teve Casper, 25 as Associate Editor; Fran Cuhn, 28. will fi ll Gerig's old spot at Motocross Action. ' . Planned Periodic closures o f the Cow Mountain Recrea tio n Area by the BL M during wet weather, to reduce vehicl e-caused erosion; th e 60.000-acre public land a rea located - five miles east of kiah , California , will be open during dry spell s. More inform at ion a va i la b le from 707 / 462-387 3. Wanted In p u t from m ot or cycle manufa cturers , es p ec ia lly sm allvo lume manufacturer s, on th e best method of reporting Vchicle Identification Numbers (VINs) required by th e Ca lifornia Air Resources Board' s hydrocarbon co r pora te aver age sta ndard ; information is ava ila ble from AI Bordina ro at 213/ 575-6970 . Named Man ager of th e new Spectro Oils of Mid-Ameri ca o ffice in Ben se n vil le. Ill in o is, J effrey R , Ross. Left Cycle Guide magazine a fter six months, Feature Ed itor David Mallet, 10 pursue o the r interests . Moved Shoei H elmets. 10 2228 Corner Ave.. Los An geles, CA 9006'\. A nnounced Th e Pa ve th e P oint Trust Fund, by Sea rs Po int Iru e r n a t ina l R a cewa y. so lic i t i ng 650,000 in donations from raci ng sa nc tio n ing o rga n iza tions, co rpora te spons ors and enth us ias ts , to be used to repave the track and paddock area. Th e track recerulv announced a n a m bi tio us improvement program including construction of VIP lounges and a new press building, fund ed by new investors. In fo rm a tio n from 707/ 938-8448. Signed AMA 250cc Mot ocross National Champion Rick Johnson, by Moto-X Fox 10 wear Fox ' Raci n g cloth ing; the compan y will release a R ic k J o h ns o n Signature Lin e o f clothing soon. Purchased Kennv Ha rma n ca ms , by Megacycle Cams, with produ ction faci lities combi ned u nder o ne roof a lt ho ug h Ken n y Harma n Cams will co nt in ue to opera te as a separate compa ny. More in formation is a vai lab le from 90 Mi tchell BI\'d" San Rafael , CA 94903. 4 15/472-1414 . Wadded A 1985 Ka wa sa k i Ninja 600 R, by Pa u l Gordon of Cycle magazine, on an icy section of Angeles Crest Highway in California; Gordon was riding with his wife on the back ; both were unhurt. Transferred From Kaw asa ki's techfiical training department , Martin Carney, to become publ ic relations coord ina tor for the company, replacing recentl y-depart ed G ary Lal'Iante. Hired A s P rod u c t Res ear ch Engineer for Am erican Honda Motor Co.. to work with magazine road teste rs, Gary La Plante, after 5~ yea rs working in th e Kawa saki publ ic relations department, most recently as public relations coordinator. N amed A new board of direc tors for th e Saf ety Helmet Coun cil o f Am eri ca , including Ed H . Land as Cha irman , Dick Lash as Vice-Chairman , Pat Donnell y as Treasurer , and l- Larry H oppe a s Secretary. J odi DeLucca wa s named Executive Director, repl acing Iva n J . Wagar. Mor e inform at ion from 213/670-5811. _Promoted Cycle Guide Man aging Ed it or Jim Mill er , to Senior Editor . Hired Marc Cook, as Assoc iat e Editor o f C ycl e Guid e magazin e; form erl y Editorial Assistant; most recently a student. Hired Tim Broad. as Managing Editor of Cycle Guide magazine. Hired As Ma nager of Marketing Services fo r the Tsubaki Motorcycl e Chain Div ision of UST , Inc.. John M. Linden; former ly with Hahn Cycle USA and Sudco Interna tional Corp, A ppointed Sa les age nts to distributors, OEM a n d private label a cco u nt s for C ycle Shine Products, Sl ope & Associ at es o f Fullerton, California; information a va ila ble from 714/ 871-911 8. RSK By John Ulrich It's funny how people zero in o n a phrase or half a phrase or pan of a story a nd ignore the contex t, sometimes miss th e point completely. Example: I crash a 600 R 011 the ra ce track; I figu re o ut that th e reason I crash ed is that the tech n iq ues I have suc cessfu llv used in rid ing racebikes with 18-iltch front wh eel s do not work 'wh en used on a motorcycle with a 16-inch front wh eel. Boil ed down to th e esse nce. I app lied th e wrong technol ogy 10 the p ro blem a t h and , o u t o f igno ran ce. I scr ew ed up . a nd as a res u lt , I cras h ed a nd lea rn ed so me th ing: ' What I d id was to get myself in to a co rner too h ot while passi ng and co me to a point wher e I had to back o ff th e throttle a t th e apex , lean ed ov er so far th at th e r ight Iootpeg was dragging (n o t a n easy thing to d o o n a 600R) o n th e rippl y pavem ent, That co m bin a tio n of co nd i tio ns on tha t motorcycl e was a bad one. When I ba ck ed off th e throttle, I lost th e front end, so I guess that means I should have kept the throttle on and run off th e tra ck into th e em ba nkment. When I, wrote about the crash, I carefull y spelled out the conditions; I wrote that 16-i nch from wheels were no trouble on th e stree t a nd that I had great fun riding m y Ninja 90~ with a 16-inch front wheel. My point was that riding a motorcycle with a 16in ch front wheel on th e Ta ct': track . at race track speeds, requires a different technique than riding a bike with an 18-inch front wheel. Ther e are grea t advantages to al6-in ch front wheel; th e tradeoff is that you have to ride .d itferen rly at race track speeds, T he fas test street speeds are slo w race tr a ck speeds. Rid in g o n th e race trac k is not li ke ri ding on th e st reet. Some non -racer s are ta king ' my co lumns to mea n that a l 6-in ch fron t wheel wi ll crash th em o n th e street. Dealers and manufacturers are freaking out because they 're afraid of a potential ava lanche of lawsuits filed by str eet riders who cra sh and blame l6-inch front wheels. Some people have gone so far as to suggest tha t I am irresponsibl e for having written about my experi en ce with the 600 R at all. But this is Am eri ca. Am eri ca has a free press. Ameri can socie ty is bas ed on people having th e right to know, the right lO exc ha n ge opinions and make up their own minds. I believe th at I wrote the truth. I believe I h ad a moral obligation to pass on what I lea rn ed by cr ashing th at 600 R so that o ther racers might learn from mv mistakes a n d thus pe r ha ps a vo id ' crashing 'the msel ves. I ca n ' t not w rite a bo u t what I learn o u t o f fear o f someb od y running to a lawyer as a result, a ny more than I co uld no t w rite about a bike wobbling j us t because la wsu its pinni ng crashe s o n all eged wobb les a rc popular. T h e reason so me suc h law suits are succ essfu l is th at juries a re co m pr ised of non-riders wh o a ren ' I smart enough to avoid jury duty and who don 't hav e anv id ea of wha t a m otorcvcl e is o r how it acts, I doubi th at a nysrrec t cra sh a lleged to ha ve been ca used by th e handling ch a rac teris tics of a 16inch front wh eel ac tua lly w as so ca use d . If a car d river sta nds o n the gas in a n icy co rn er a nd cras hes, it mean s the driver applied th e wrong tech n iqu e lO th e si tua tio n a t hand , not that the ca r is a t fa ult . And if a rider backs o ff th e gas a t th e a pex o f a race track co rne r a t raci ng speed o n a mot orcycl e with a 16-inch front wheel a nd cras hes as a result , it doesn 't mean th at 16-inch front wheel s a re bad . N o. It mean s that a p p lyin g the wrong technique - 18-inch -front -wheel technique 10 rnotorcvcl es with 16-inch front wh eels IS ' bad ullder l.eT)' specific co nd itio ns. It means that an ybody who rides th eir street bike a t ra cing speeds on th e street a nd crashes shou ld blam e o n lv themselves a n d not sta rt looking fo~ people lO sue . Every advantage carries with i t a Risk . To be- able to use th e advantage . yo u must be able to understand a n d • deal with th e R isk. This opinion co lumn expresses the viewpoint of it s author and does no t necessarily reflect the position of. C y~le !'Iews. Inc. ~ YEARS ~ TEN AGO For the first time riding a factory Kaw asaki . Gaylon Mosier won the 250cc Pro class during a C;\1C motocro ss at Saddleback . Mosier had only 15 minutes o n th e bike before the race . At the sa me race. Suzuki 's Ri ch T h o rwa ldson topped th e 500cc Pro class, whi le Tim Lunde ( H o n) narrowly beat Pat Hubbs. Honda rider Mik e Bell finished third. Mitch Ma yes and A.C. Bakken tea med up on .a 400cc Husqva rna 10 wi n ORA' s "20 M ul e Team 200" desert race in Ca li forn ia City, Ca lifornia, by 30 min utes over team Bu ltaco ri ders Doug W inchell and Ron Holst. In drag hillclimbing competition a t DeAnza Cycle Pa rk in Sunnymead, California, Kerry P eterson used a Maico to' win the 400cc Stock class and finish second in the 400cc Modified class. Kerry's dad, Clyde Peterson topped the Middl e Eliminator. 500cc Modified a nd 500cc Stock classes. H e also finished second III th e 360cc Modifi ed cla ss. At Corona Raceway , Honda rider Wa yn e Rainey won both I 25cc Expert sho rt track a nd half mile. In the sho rt track . he beat Mik e Minning (Ya m ) and Eddi e Lawson (Ya m), However, L awson ca me back to take lOp honors in the 250cc Ex pe rt class in th e hal] mile. T he third ro u nd o f the Stat e Cham pi onship Tria ls eve n t in R edw ~>od City. Californi a . sa w Bultaco r!d er La n e Levitt beat fell ow Bultaro rider Ber n i e Schre iber , 16-2 6. T hird through fifth fin ished Steve Da rr ow (29, Man ), Mike Griffitts (33, Mon ) and Mark Egga r (33 ). P ierre Ka rsmak ers parted co m pa ny wi th T eam Yamaha to co m pe te in th e 1975 250cc MX Nation als for T eam H onda . R ex Sla ten re rurned to rid e Mai cos for ' 75, wh il e Brya r H olco m b left l\Iai co . Evel Kn ievel's " fam o us " di amond gooch -ca ne was st.olen wh il e I!e wa s in Las Vegas d uring the C h r istmas hol id a ys. The AMA a p proved a Tri um p h 350cc four- st roke single (p u nc hed o ut fro m th e o ld T r i/ BSA 250 ) for short track usc. Carl Fjastad o f th e Invader s , ;\I.~. ro de a nd fini sh ed everv Al\IA Di strict 3 7 desert ra ce in 197·1 o n a three-yearold 125cc CZ . A record th a t still sta nds. no doubt . J .C. Parkhurst, who now publishes Mo ro rrvcle Bu siness New sletter. got, his va n stuck in sand down in Baja a nd spent a who le day trying 10 dig it O U I. Fortuna tely h e had a bike in th e va n and used it to rid e o ut for h elp. 1975 ro ad race rumors: An a ll- ne w Kawas ak i 250cc tw o-stroke twin a nd wat er-cool ed 750, a six-s peed tran sm ission for Suzu ki 's 750 , a nd a larger disp lacemen t Yamaha T Z700 - u p to 750cc. ' 3

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