Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

and has been a Mai co rid er for several years. H is fath er. Don ald Gaston. o wns o ne-thi rd o f th e Boston Celti cs. The U.S . ro und of the World Championship Observed Trials Series will be hel d on June 2 in East Greenwic h, Rhode Island . There will be an AMA/NATC Nationa l Championship round on J une 1 . BY Pfrp~ Wf~LfY Fans planning on a u ending th e Februa ry 2 Anah eim (Ca liforn ia ) Supercro ss might want to drop in o n a prerace ' part y being staged by KMET radi o 94.7 FM a t th e Malibu Grand Prix adjacent to Anah eim Stadium. T he party run s from noon to 6:00 p.m. for $6 and in cludes th ree la ps in a Malibu Gr a nd Prix car a nd unl im ited video ga mes. And a ny bod y with a T oyot a Early Entry Pass can go from th e party to wa tch su percross prac tice a t 4:00 p .rn.: passes ar e avai la ble fro m Toyota deal ers. " I'm just taking it easy and wait ing to see what happens: ' said Scott Parker about his plans for the coming Camel Pro Series season . " I've got a proposal at Harle y for me to race as an outside team and I've talked with Tex Peel and Mert Lawwill about working w ith me, but I can't put together a program until I have some financial backing . A number of Harley dea lers are holding a meeting this week about what happened to Harley's racing team and maybe they can get together and we 'll still see a Milwaukee team. If nothi ng comes out of it then I've got one or two other areas to look at. I' m go ing to be in Houston just like Jay is . Something is going to happen and I know I'll be racing just as hard as ever when things really get rolling at Sacramento (Mile ) in Apri l. " More than S15.000 in prize mo ney. trophies. prizes a nd co nt inge nc ies were awa rded last Saturday night when th e Arizona Desert Racing Associa tion hon ored the top performers of its 1984 Desert Champions hipSeries in a ceremo ny at Tapa tio Cliffs . Phoen ix. Over 500 raci ng enthusiasts at tend ed the prizegiving, whi ch featured a crash-a nd- burn slid e show. a nd tapes o f the seaso n 's 12 races sh o wn o n three large-screen televisio ns. Special guests a t th e ceremony included Honda's Mark " Wax" Weixeldorfer, Husk y's desert d uo Dan Smi th a nd Dan Ash craft. and K'TM's Bill Berre th . The winner of the Daytona 200 Superbike race on March 10 will earn $15 ,070 plus $30 for every lap led in the 57-lap race on the new 3.56-mile road course. Second place pays $1 0, 105 and third pays $6850 . Last place in the 80bike race will pay $265, and the fastest qualifier gets an additional $500 . In contrast, the 100-mile Camel Pro Series Formula One race scheduled for March 8 pays $6865 to win, $4600 for second and $3120 for third . Last place pays $ 1 00, and the fastest qualifier earns $300. Lap money is $30. The 100-mile Formula Two event at Daytona will pay $3660 to win with second 'a n d third getting $2465 and $1670; the race pays to 20th place ($400) and the fastest qualifier gets $ 1 00 with no lap money being paid . H arle y-Davidson .is now sh ip p ing FXRC s to H arl ey dealers. T he 198512 Lo w Glide Cu stom features a chrome powerplan t, special ca ndy ora nge pa int wi th color -coord ina ted p instr ipes a nd di stinctive roo tbeer trim. a nd co lor-coo rdina ted sid e covers. Only 1.075 units are sched uled for '85. Team Suzuki's George Holland was a no-show at the San Diego Supercross: He crashed a few days prior to the supercross injuring his leg and other parts of his body. According to Eric Kehoe's mechanic, Chris Loweitz, Holland might be out of action for up to six weeks. Film from the 1984 U.S. 500cc Mo tocross Gra nd Prix a t Carlsbad. California will be seen o n ABC Wide World of Spans o n Februar y 9; chec k local listin gs for tim e a nd cha nnel in yo ur area. The privateer Camel Pro Series dirt track effort put together by Jerry Gr iffith with riders Randy Goss and Doug Chandler will have 1983 World Champion road racer Freddie Spence r as the majo r sponso r and will be kn o wn a s Freddie Spencer Racing . Gr iffit h spent five years working w it h a nd devel oping Honda 's dirt tra ck pr ogram befo re bot h he and Cha nd le r lost thei r factory backing at the end of last season . Griff it h t he n decided t o put t og ethe r his ow n Hond a- m ount ed t e a m. "I never rea lize d how d iff ic u lt it is to put t o g e ther a prog ram f r om the g round up:' s aid Griff it h . "Over t he ye ars I had t al ke d t o Freddie about a dirt track effo rt a number of ti m e s , but when I formulated the plan I d id n 't rea lly want t o approach him about sponsorship . Finally, I called him and o utlined what I was doing . He asked for a copy of the program and called me back within hours of receiving it and said he'd be the major backer. The season won't be easy:' continued Griffith, "but I tl)ink we have a very strong team and we're going to give everyone a run for the money:' Pa u l G aston of New Yor k ha s been negot ia ting purchase of th e West German Mai co factory. Gaston . repo rtedly in hi s m id-30s. owns P rov idence Ca p ito l. a ho lding compa ny. Sted ma n Winter. 66. fath er of Cam el P ro Series dirt track tu ner/ bu ilder Storme Winter a nd a lifetime supporter of motorcyclin g. di ed of a hea rt at tack o n J an uar y 13 in Eureka . Ca lifornia . whi le o n his wav to do so me off-roa d ridi ng . Godspeed, Stedm an . AMA Superbike privateer Dale Quarterley will be sponsored in 1985 by Eagle Racing , G.S . Performance and SuperTrapp. The popular flashy Quarterley will campaign Kawasaki Superbikes and may buy an RS500 Honda as well for Formula One events. He's currently looking for a full-time race mechanic and can be contacted at 61 7-584~6768 . Tea m Ma rlboro /Y am ah a 's Eddie Law son a nd Ra ym ond Roch e will be ridin g o n Mi chelin ti res in 1985. not Dunlops. Reign ing 500cc Road Racin g World Champ ion La wson says he co uld go faster o n Michclin s than he could on Dunlops and in sisted on the cha nge. Michelins will also be on the Yamaha FZ750-based Superbikes that Sam McDonald and Wayne Rainey will ride in the Daytona 200 on March 10. Rainey will run one of two FZ750s being prepared in Japan for McDonald, on a one-raceonly basis; after Daytona McDonald will use the second bike as a back-up mach ine . Yamaha andMichelin are scheduled to test at Daytona on February 25 and 26 . Yamaha will sell TZ7 50 a nd T Z250 pa rts at Dayton a d uri ng Speed Week th is year. as usual. According to sources a t Yamaha. the company decided to run its usual parts sales o peratio n at the track even thoug h it won 't have a factory race effor t th ere. Yam aha 's withdrawal from racing activities a t Dayton a is a pro test o f the decision to ma ke the Dayton a 200 a Superbi ke race in stead of the traditiona l Fo rmu la One even t. Th e Dayton a '2 0 0 , S uperc ross and Formula One National will be videotaped for te lecasting on cable televisi o n's USA Ne twork . T he Nati onal Hi ghwa y T raffic afety Adm in istrat ion is inve stigating th e possibility tha t a bout 4500 Kawasa ki po lice bikes have hi gh -speed wo bbles that ca use accide nts . Accordi ng to the NHTSA. a t least 54 in jury-producing accidents have a llegedly resulted from wobb les a bo ve 70 mp h o n 19751980 ZI-P . KZ900 a nd KZIO Opolice O bikes. Ka w a s a ki' s Kent Howerton w ill be on a " s e m i-re ti re d" basis fo r '8 5, a n d w ill only race in se lected events. Li gier of Fran ce will ma n ufacture motorcycles using Cagi va engi nes. Ligier also builds Ci tycar co mm uter cars a nd sma ll mot orcycles. as well as Formula One G rand Prix cars sponsored by G itanne ciga rettes. An agreement between th e two com panies was sign ed recently. Blair Sharpless, a member of Canada's Silver Vase Team in the 1984 International Six Days Enduro and a strong off-road competitor, was presented the White Memorial Trophy at the Canadian Motorcycle AssociatioJLsAnnual Meeting . The trophy; representing outstanding performance, has a 30-year history and past winners include Blair's father Bill, who was awarded the trophy four years in a row. Austra lian dirt-track cha mp ion Peter Go dda rd. 20. is mov in g to the U.S. to race a nd is lookin g for work as mecha n ic d ur in g hi s stay in America. Mor e informati on is ava ila ble from Bob Mill er a t 805/ 543-7358. Over 13,000 votes have been re ceived in voting for the Grand Marshall of the Houston Camel Pro events; former and current Grand National Champions are eligible and there's a ballot on page 30 of this issue. The Doubletr ee Inn is official race headquarters for the Mi ller H igh L ife Su percros s co ming to Sea ttle's Kingdome Februa ry 8-9, with a di sco u nt rat e for th e weekend. More in fo rm a tio n is availa ble from 206/ 575-8220. The Quality Royale hotel at 81 1 1 Kirby in Houston is offering discounts ·t o people in town for the February 8 -9 Camel Pro Series events. Former Grand National Champions attending the race will be staying there; more informat ion is available at 71 3 /790- 1908. H illtoppers Motor cycle Cl ub of Lon g Beach . Ca liforni a will put on the Rosa rito Beach Gran d Prix in Rosarito . Mex ico on April 21; ent ries are limited to 400 riders and will open Ma rch I. Informat ion is a vaila ble fro m 213/ 428-4971. Int e re sting features on Honda's new Shadow 1 100 V-twin include a hydraulic clutch-spring assist. If adva nce ticket sales are a ba ro meter of renewed int erest. th en th is yea r's Mar ch I0 Dayton a 200 sho uld have its biggest cro wd in some years . Acco rding to Dayton a 's execu tive vice president Jim Fran ce. "Ticket salesare runni ng 16 percent a head of the 1984 Dayton a 200." New this yea r to Cycle Week w ill be the ti m ed qua lificatio n of For m ula Tw o - rathe rtha n heat races. Th u rsda y, Ma rc h 7, w ill no w be a full d ay of timed qualifica ti o n sessions for Form ula One, S uperbike and Formula Two. INJ UR ED : Mu lt i-time spe ed wa y World Ch ampio n Barr y Briggs . 50. in a lat e Decem ber racing accident in New Zea land wh ile practicing for th at co unt ry's cha mpio ns hip final. Briggs sustained a per forated lu ng. brok en rib s a nd a brok en sho u lder. Ya m ah a is ventu ring into Formula Two auto racing in Japan w ith a V-6 engine utilizing th e five-valve head design fro m the FZ750 . Although the OX66, as the engine is dubbed, is Yamaha 's first venture under its own name , the company has developed racing engines in the past for other automotive manufacturers. J oh n Erickson will be the tuner for th e R &B H arley-Davidso n-backed XR 750s th at Chris Carr will rid e in Camel Pro Series half mile a nd mi le events in 1985. (Contin ued 10 p ag e 19) 5

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