THE
NATIONAL
PAPERS
WEST
By Roxy Rockwood
T he reacti on to th e gathering
of rhe past a nd presen t Gra~d
Nationa l cham ps for the tw in
H o uston even ts has been ter-
Am eric a ' s week l y
m ot o r cy cle newspaper '
Sh a ro n C la yto n . Pu b lis her
~fi k t" Klinger, Com p troller
Skip j o hn se n. Associau Pu blisher!
Nat ion al S alt's .\t a na.'{eT
r.a rol ine Gt"IH..I ry . E xecut ive Secretary to
.
thr Pu blish er
Ed itoria l
J o h n U lri ch . Ed i t~ r . .
Kit Pa lm er, A ssocia te Edito r
Mall H il gen be rg Associate Edi tor
R l' X Reese. Feat ure Ed itor
Ad ve rti sing
Ter n ' P rall , Salt's M a n a ~t'T
~f i ke Spen cer . Salt's M a rUl ,l{t'r
Tim R yan , Sa lt's M an ager
Linda Brown , A dvertising Coord inator
Na ncy \\' a ~ l d l. A dver tising! Editori al
A ssistant
Graphics and Production
Lori Tvcon. Gr ap h ic A rtist
Larry ern. G rap h ic A rtist
Ma rio n H a ta vh u a , T )'p l'st'lu r
Shei la La rsen . T ypesetter
Dennis Gr een e. Lab. T ech:
A ccount ing /Dat a Processing
Do n na Bryan . A ccounts R r cr iva ble
Co or di nat or
Gt"nc."\'a RC-P.l \ \. A ssistant
Fran H a m wev. C r~di t
C irc ulat io n
Rhe ba Sm it h, .u a na K~ r
Sarah T a vto r, Assistant
Lvna H~ . A ssistant
D'ealer S ales an d Service
Bo b Ellion, Deal er S oles .\I a n a "~ l"1'
W ant A d s
J ud y Hil genberg , lI'an t A d So les
Serv ice and Supp o rt
C h r i.. A itch e-son . R rcr prion ist
Grc.",::ory H an son. S 6'S
W est
220 1 Chen," Ave.• Lon g Reach . C A
90806, p.d : Box 498 , Lo n g Bea ch . C A
90 ~ 0 1·0 '198
(2 13) 127·7133; L. A. L i ne (2 13) 636· 881-1.
East
·1190 Fir" Ave.. Tuc ker . GA . 3008·1. P.O .
8 0x 805. T ue ker. G A 30085·0805.
('101) 931·7850.
.
C\'( I(" l\'t."w s / \\'(" (US PS H I·:H Oj is p u bsl
l i ~l)(od wee kl v excep t th e fir-ol a n d la s I wee k
o r rh e ("," lc o da r ,..ea r Io r $25 per vear hy
d
C yd t' ='(·W'l.. Inc.. 2201 C hen)' Avenu e.
Long Beach . CA 9OR06 . S~..ron d cl ass POllta ge pa id a l Lo n g: Beach , C A.
POSTM A STER : Send f orm 3 57 9 to
Cycle News. P. O . Box 4 9 8 . Long
Beach. CA 90801 -04 98.
Su bscr ipt ion ra te..: One yea r. second da.\!i
mai l. $25: two vea rs. second clavs m aj ],
01 5 ; th ree )'f-ars , ·st" nd dass ma.il 568: 25
.
co
weeks. S U . Fo reign ra tes availab ie o n
req ues t.
. .
.
Cvc le :'\(""" , wel comes un..o fic u ed edi toriai m a ter ial indudi ng !r>lori r ..; C;U ICK)II " ,
p h otos, etc. S uc h m ateri a l . if p u bl i'l.h n:l,
.
become s rhe exc l usive pr operty o f Cyd ("
~("w .. . Such acct"p lN m a lt"ria l is su bjt'<'"t to
r('\"i!io io n 3!i i') n t'C"~ 'l. ar y in t he ..ole d i'C"Teo
l io n o r C ycle :-';r-W!i. LJn~o li dt ro m al r-ria l
w hic h is n ot used wit! lx· Tt"lUrnrd if
. acco m pa n it"t b y' a s~-I !-add r('sse~ sta ~ pt"d
}
(·ta d o pt". All UnMl hc lll"d malt'n;11 wi ll 1M'
handlt'f.1 ",·ith r("," sonablr- r.:ut". how("\"eT,
d
CH It" :\(" as sumt"s no responsi bi lit y for
W!i
t h·e \;t ft"ty. lo!is or da ma ~l' to su ch m a l(·r ial.
Repri nt in g in who.le or pari o n.I): by I)(;'r·
m ission o r th e p u b h sh c."r , Ad \'r rtls1T1 R ra lrs
;tn d circul Cycle News . Inc. 1 985 .
Tradem ark Cycle News reg istered U.S .
Patent Offic s. All rights reserv ed .
Outraged Milo
T h e A;\ [A has decided to ch an ge
th eir Expert road racer number ing
svsrem an d as a resu lt rhev have
i;lform ed m e t hat [ am no lon ger
M iles Bal d wi n . ;;22, as I hav e been for
th e last si x years. and as everyo ne
knows me. No w it seems rh:u I am
1: 19. whoever he is.
I ca lled th e A;\[ A a nd tried - to
exp la in h ow devastat ed I was and
ihev tried to slo u g h u o ff as th e wor k
o f so m e road raci ng advisory board .
no na mes. The woma n I ta lked to .
Ju d y of the AMA . was very n ice 10 ~ e
a nd [ liked her. but th e sys tem st ill
suc ks.
I am M iles Baldwin. #22, and always
will be M ile s Ba ld w in , even if th e
A;\[ A ma kes me run #19.
MIL ES BALDWIN
Toro nto , Ca na da
White Brot hers
After purch asi ng a KT ;\[ tha t wa s
equipped with a Whi te Po wer shock.
I se n t t he shock to Wh ile Bros. to
h ave it di a led in fo r m y sty le o f rid ing . Aft er usin g th e ~ h oc k .fo r a ~o u l
eig h t m o n th s, the m a i n spr rng fall.ed .
1 pan return ing th e shock a nd sp rrng
10 Wh ile Bros.. I wa s in for med th at
th e sprin g wou.ld be repla ce~1 with a n
improved versi o n. th e en u re shoc k
wou ld be rebuilt ut il izin g new da m p i ng rales. a nd the shock w oul~ be
return ed lh e next day fo r a n o nll nal
cost for a sea l ki t. T he nex l da y th e
shock was rea d y as p ro m ised .
;\Iv tha nks to Wh ile Bro s. for sta nding behind th eir pro~u ct , co m p letin g the shock as p ro nll se.d , a nd lreat ing their c us to m ~ rs wllh a super
a lt illJde . T hese lr:ut s a re hard to flll d
in today 's bu siness wo rl d .
JOHN MITrENDO RF
EI Toro , CA
ON THE FRONT PAGE: For a
detailed tear down look at Suzu k i ' s new RG500 Ga mma .
please turn to page 16.
4
Can you help this
motorcycle cop7
Lell ers to Cycl e N ews alwa ys gel
q u ick results, a nd I a:n s u~e yo ur
readers ca n gi\'e some fIrst-a Id to an
En gli sh mot or cycle co p wh o has writlen th e follow ing:
I hop e yo u w ill excuse th is leit er
unitten by a co m p lete stranger. I am
Martin Crip ps, a pol ice off icer with
th e H ampsh ire Con stabu lary. M y PTl vate bike is a BM W RT model.
Your name was g iven to me by an
ex-co p, Pat McCarth y. ret ired. Pat
said th at throug h a leiter p laced by
yo u in Cycle News h e managed to
o btai n th e use of a fi ne m otorcycle fo r
two trip s to th e Pacific No rth wes t. I
have tried to beg , bor row or ren t a
bike through various travel age ncies
bu t have had no luck. It wo u ld seem
that none are available except on a
lon g- term lease basis.
'
W aHl' . w hi le! plan a fo ur-six wee k
trip to the States th is coming su m m er
I can no t co me u p w ith an actual dat e
for m y h ol iday until I kn ow if an d
w he n I m ig ht o btai n a bi ke.. I am
w ill ing of co u rse. to pay a [air su m
for a rental. If anyone o ut there can
help , m y add ress is' M.D. Cripps, 3
Wessex Lan e. Sw ayth ling , S ou thh a mp t o n , H a m p sh ir e 022 L B ,
ENG LAND. I n retu rn . an }' Yank
plan ninga trip to the U.K. can co u n t
o n m y cooperation.
I tried to find o u t if o ur Blue
Kn ig h ts might h ave a cl ub p ub licatio n, bu t no lu ck so fa r. As o ne cop
pu t it, " T h e o n ly w riting we d~ I S
Ih ose da m n si lly lickel s for go mg
O\'er lh e Do u ble X ickel. "
It is ni ce to kn o w lh at lh e m Olorcyc1e riders in Iheir o ff d Uly ho urs o n
lhei r bik es share lhe gen era l di sli ke of
th e d um hest law ever put o n th e books!
J ACK :\I ER CER
New Ca naa n. CT
Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of
Cycle News. Inc. Letters for
publication must be typed and
double-spaced; short. concise
letters stand a better chance
of being published; due to the
volume of mail no letters ca n
be returned or acknowledged .
Send letters to Voices. P.O.
Box 498. Long Beach. CA
90801.
rifi c. R eader VOles. for wh ich th e
cha m p will be the officia l Grand
Ma rsh al for th e fir st lWO Ca mel
P ro races are pouring in .
So th e m en wh o have done it a ll are
fin a lly going 10 gat her alone time in
one p lace. Camel ciga re ttes and P ace
Managem en t are behi nd the un i.que
effort. T hr ee o f th e former cham p io ns
never ra ced a t th e Astrodome an d lWO
o f those three hav e n ever even been
ther e. All wer e q ui ck, but o ne . to sa y
" I' ll be th ere " to assist wi th th e auclion a n d cycle sh ow a p peara nces to
assist th e P ro R ider Ben efit Fund.
w h ich assis ts injured professional .
riders.
W hen yo u loo k ba ck. each o f the
cha m p s was inj ured a t o ne tim e o r
a nothe r a n d m issed so me events due
to a m ish ap.
I remem ber that Dick Mann cu t a
cas t o ff a t least o nce to go ra ci ng. Bart
Markel did it severa l limes. Bart . by
th e way did not ren ew h is AMA professional raci ng li cense fo r '85, for th e
first li me since 1955.
Brad An d res. th e o n lv rider to ever
win th e titl e a s a rookie: wi ll be a t the
Astrodome for the first ti me . JDe
Leonard is try in g to re-schedule some
pri or co m m itm ents so he. too, ca n be
th ere for th e first tim e. T hose two men
carr ied the 11 I p la te four years running
back wh en th e point system firs t got
sta rt ed , L eonard 's 27 Na tiona l wins
held u p a s th e recor.d unti l 19? 1; h e
sta rted win n in g maj or events III th e
ea rly 1950s a n d bagged h is last o n e in
th e ea rl y 1960s before goi ng o n to be
the USAC car race cha m p .
O ver 90 Experts are p re-entered fo r
eac h H o u ston N a tiona l wit h H onda,
Can-Am a n d Wood-Rolax dom in ating each event by brand. R an d y G.oss
an d R icky ~ ra ha m ~ r~ rh e def ending
ch am ps wit h G oss jOIll.mg G ~a h am
o n a H o nda ; bUI Goss IS a priva tee r
wh ile G ra ha m is in his seco n d yea r as
.
a factory ccm t rac t rider.
G raham st u ffed himself (aga in ) recen t lv whi le o ut p lay/tra il ridi ng.
L a st yea r h e broke a heel ea rly in the
season . Th is time he damaged a kn ee.
Ask man y fa ns betwee n seasons
a nd th ey will tell you th at Bubba
Sho bert is goi ng to become th e. 18th
rider to ever win th e G rand Na tional
titl e. T h e H o u sto n ra ces will be a
good in d iGltor fo r many.
The former H arley-D avidson tea m
lrio ha s sp li t up. J ay Springs leen ha s
entered th e H o uston races o n a H arley. Ra nd y G oss is o n a H onda a nd
SCOllY Parker is elll er ed -:- but no
bra nd is listed. NOI m an y n de rs h av e
won a H o usto n event o n m or e lh a n
o ne brand bUI G oss co u ld be o ne of
the few in th e Satu rda y ni ght sh o rt
lrack if h e reIurn s from h is I ~84
injury a nd rides lh e short o \'a ls hke
he did a ll last sea so n .
. T h e for m er ch a m pions will be
high ligh led bo th ni ~h ts . bu t espe ciall y o n Sa tu rday llIght when th e
enti re stadium will be darkened an d
spot- lig hts shone o n eac h o f the
ho nored g ue sts. Tha t's a firsl. a nd it
may nOl hapPen aga in . at lea st no t
•
for a lo ng . lo ng time.
