Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Harley qu it I'm very disappointed to see H ar ley-Davidso n pull o u t of Ca me l P ro ra cing. Har ley-Davidson has do m inated dirt tra ck racing for years. an d it' s a sha me th ey quit com pe ting on ce they go t beat. _ 1 don 't understa nd ! If Ran dy Goss had stayed healthy. H -D migh t have kep t the tit le! H a rl ey-Da v idson ,' American mo tor cycles. and Americian di rt track raci n g. It 's not the Am erican way to q u it after one defeat. R. W. MARS H ALL Tacoma, WA WEST America 's weekly motorcycle newspaper ATK 560 I en joyed your art icle (Cycle Ne ws, J anuar y 30) o n the AT K 560 B-to-V winning bike. It is importan t to add tha t withou t the development , design. an d co nstru ction o f the proto type AT Ks by Dall as Ba ker of Dall as Baker Products the ATK would n ' t have been possib le. I personall y saw the bik e come to life over the last co u ple of years and we have a ll seen it p roven in the last few mo nths. So let 's give credit wh ere credi t is due a nd recogn ize Da llas Bak er for .h is big part in developing ' th e "best handling fo ur- stroke a vaila ble." Sharon Clay ton . Publish er Mik e Klin ger, Comptro ller Skip J ohnson . Associate Publish er! Nat ion al Sa les Ma nag er Ca roli n e Gen d r y, Ex ecutive Secretary to th e Publisher Ed itoria l Joh n Ulr ich. Edit or Kit Palmer. A ssociat e Editor Ma tt Hilg-enberg Associate Ed itor Rex Reese, Feat ure Ed it or Advert ising Terry Prall. Sales Man ager Mike Spencer . Sal es Mana ger T im Ryan. Sales Manager Linda Brown . A dvert isin g Coord in ator Nancy Was tdl, A dv ertisi ng l Ed it orial A ssis tant Graph ics and Production WAYNE ST ANFIEL D Santa An a, CA Lori T yso n. G rap hic Art ist Larry Gill. Gra ph ic Artist Marion Ha taah ita , T yp esett er Sh ei la La rsen. T yp esett er Dennis Gr eene . La b. T ech . Accounting /Dat a Processing Donna Bryan. Account s R eceivable Coord inator Gen eva Repass, A ssistant Fran Ham wey, Cred it Circulation Rh eba Smith, M an ag t"T Sarah Taylor, Assist a nt Lyna H ood. A ssistant Dealer Sales and Service Bob Ellio tt, Dealer S ales Managt"T Want Ada J udy Hi lgen berg , Want Ad Sal" Service and S upport Chris Ait cheson . R ecept ion ist Gregory Hanson, Sb'S Welt 2201 Che rry Ave.. Lon g Beach. CA 90806. P.O . Box 498. Lo ng Beach . CA 90801-0498 (213) 427-7433; L.A . Li ne (213) 636-8844. Eas t 4190 Firs! Ave.. T ucke r. GA . 30084, P.O . Bo x 805. Tucker, GA 30085-0805. (404) 934-7850. Cycl e News /We" (US PS 141·340) is publis hed weekly except the firs t and last week o f th e ca lenda r yea r for $25 pe r yea r by Cycle News , l nc.. 220 1 Ch erry Aven ue, Lon g Beach , CA 90806. Seco nd clas s po stage pai d at Lo ng Beac h, CA. POSTMASTER : Send form 3579 to Cycle News. P.O. Box 49B . Long Beach. CA 90B01 ·049B. Su bscrip tion ra tes: One yea r, second cla ss mail, $25; two yea rs, seco nd clas s mail, $45 ; three years . seco nd class ma il $68; 25 weeks , $ 13. For eig n ra tes a vai la b le o n req uest. Cycl e News welcomes unsolicited editor ia l materia l i ncl udi ng sto ries, ca rtoo ns , photos, etc . Such mat erial, if p u blished , beco mes th e exclusive p ropert y of C ycle News:--Su accepted materia l is su bject to ch revision as is n ecessar y in the so le di scretio n of Cycl e Ne ws . U n so lici ted ma teri al wh ich is no t used will be retu rn ed if acc o m pa n ied by a self-addressed stamped en velope. All u nso lici ted mat eria l will be handl ed wit h reason a ble ca re, h ow ever , Cycle News assumes no responsibil ity for th e safety, lo ss o r da mage to such ma terial . Repr i nt in g in wh ole or part o n ly by pe rmi ssion of the publis her . Advertis ing ra tes a n d cir cula tio n i nfor m ati on will be sent u pon request. See S.R.D .S. Copyrigh ~ Cycle New s. Inc. 19B6. T rade ma rk Cyc le N ews registered U.S . Patent Office . All rights rese rved . ON T HE FRONT PAGE: An in- - -depth look at the V-Max engine. For a riding impression on the new Yamaha V·Max. tum to page 18 . Phot o by J ohn Ulri ch. 4 Domokos is good Your story of Doug Domokos (Cycle Ne ws . J anuar y 9) was tru ly am azing. I' ve been aro und mot orcycles of all shapes and varie ties a ll o f m v life, a nd althoug h some peop le may'know su perstars in mot ocro ss, roa d racin g, h alf m ile, etc., Dou g Domokos is kn own by them all. I'v e wa tch ed hi s sho w man y times and it never ceases to amaze me the wid e va riety o f peopl e that love hi s sho w. But wit h a ll the ente rta in ment that Dou g p rovides, he always stresses safety first a nd forem ost ; he gi ves mo torcycl in g a good name. I hope tha t Hon da 's p u lling sp onsorshi p fro m th e "Wheelie King" does n ot reflect their futu re in ma ki ng mo torcycle sponsorship decisions . As fo r Do mo kos, I' m sure he wi ll ge t o ther sponsors; he's th e best. I wou ld j ust ha te to see th e good nam e tha t Honda ha s mad e th rou gh the showmansh ip of Domokos tarn ished by ma nageme n t decisio ns. As for Dornokos, he's unique, he's exciting a nd he p ro mo tes an image for h imself a nd h is sponsor s that appea ls to everyone, mot or cyclist or no t. H OWI E " HARDH AT " ZECHNER Pasad ena. CA Land closures It h as been a lmost 10 years since I' ve thrown a leg over a dirt bi ke. I' ve restricted m yself to street bi kes latel y. Bu t some th in gs never cha nge. The most importan t of the m being the clos ing and p roposed clos ing o f BL M land for off-ro ad use. About 15 years ago I mad e a rather worthwh ile suggest io n to have all off-road events tack on a $1 fee for the use of peo ple such as Russ Sa nford , etc., a nybody who had a co ncern for o ff-roa d riders. I n ot iced that it never rated bu t a single ru n in your editorial column. Can you im agi ne the inta ke of mon ey for lo bbying purposes th at su ch a mo ve co u ld have acc u m u lated over a 15 year period? It boggles the mind. As usu al, I see Cycle New s do ing noth ing o ther than runn ing a n article by Rex Reese in th e J anuary 30 issue enti tled Red Alert. He ll , you sh o ul d ha ve been paying mo re a ttention to th is issu e 15 years ago. With literall y every cycle deal er worth h is sa lt sell in g Cycle N ews over the co u nter, you sh ou ld be able to p ro mote so me sort of movement to promoters, dea lers, manufacturers, to promote a fee for mo tocros s races, road races, tri al s. I'm sure that wi th a littl e bi t of diplomatic sweet talk. mostof the major motorcycle manufacturers, Honda, Yamaha , Kaw asaki , Suzuki, mi gh t real ize tha t with nowher e to ride th ey wou ld have a m uch smalle r amount o f sa les in offro ad vehicles. They wo ul d benefit as much as we would fro m fund rais ing effort s tow ard this goal. JEFF CASE San Pedro, CA Cycle Ne ws is a new sp ap er; its job is to info rm readers, not direct fu ndraising and lobb yin g eff orts. Th rou gh the Mo to rcycle I n du stry Co u n ci l (MIC) and Specialty Vehiclelndus try Assn . (S VIA), m ot orcycle and A TV m an ufa cturers fund lan d-use prog rams and su p po rt a fu ll-time lo bbying efforl in Was hi ngto n , D.C .; MIC and SVIA em p loyees of ten work w it h th e BLM on th e federal level. In addi tio n, user grou ps in volved in serious lo b byin g efforts include CO R VA (Californ ia Off R oad Vehicle Assn .) and A merican M otorcycl ist Associatio n (AM A) . Furtherm ore, A M A and Th e Ph an tom Du ck Club has sp earheaded legal battles - f inanced by _ rider an d busin ess don al ions against lan d clos ur es. On e of th e biggest v ictories to date in th is m ovem en t is th e resto ration of th e Barstow-to -Vegas H are an d H ound. Despite all of th is, Cycle News runs stories on p roposed or impen din g land closures becaus e no amount of lobbying or m oney can su bsti tute for pu blic opin io n ex p ressed in th e fo rm of leit ers fro m riders. R eaders w ho w ant to get m ore invo lved by don ating m oney. time or effo rt shou ld contact L ouis M cKey of The Phan tom Duck C lu b. 7896 Kem pster Aue., Fon lan a, CA 92335 or Ed Waldh eim of AMA D-37,3550 Footh illBlvd. , G len dale, CA 91214 or Do nna Carnagey of CO R VA, 3472 Birdsong A ue., Th ou· san d Oaks, CA '{1360... Ed ito r. , World Championship Hare and Hound I wo ul d li ke to thank Casey Fo lks, h is crew , Duralube Oil an d Wh iske y Pete's for a fan tastic weekend of racing a nd fu n . Arriving Friday n ig ht we fo un d a huge, freshly-graded open area for cam p ing a nd R V parkin g within wa lki n g di stance of Whi skey Pete's. _ O n Saturda y, Ca sey Fo lks & Dura lu be Oil put on a pit crew cont est which my wife an d friends insisted th at we enter. T he entry fee was only $5.00 a n d you had a chance to win some money. I was lucky enough to team up wi th Curt Crivelli and famous o ff-roa d racer Kurt P feiffer. After some mis-calcu lations (P feiffer overshot our pitjwe managed to get th ird p lace in th e Open class which to my aston ish men t paid $50.00. Our team then co m m issio ned m y wife, Kathy, to in creas e our wi n nin gs wh ich she promptly doubl ed a t the cas ino. Sunday brough t on a very p rofessio n al race wh ich was extre me ly to ugh. Casey h ad such fam ou s n o tables a s Ma lcolm Smi th and Neva da G overnor, Richard Brya nt sta rting the event wit h the nationa l anthem a nda parade to the start lin e with hel ico p ters an d lot s of press people. I pitted for m y son , Ch uc k Miller , who fin ished afte r some problem s but fel t th e ra ce wa s Casey's usual cha m pionshi p caliber. Next year we'll be back hop in g tha t Duralube pu ts o n a n o the r pit crew con test a nd to enjoy another Worl d Ch ampions h ip Hare and H o und put on by professio na ls. L EROY MILLER Huntington Beach , CA 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 be ing published; due to the volume of mail no letters can be returned or acknowledged. Send letters to Voices. P.O. Box 498 . Long Beach . CA 90801.

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