Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Bec8u .. of the Presidents Day holiday, you will be receiving this issue of Cycle News a day late. Aren 't you g lad you know that? T here a re th ree cha nges to n o te in the 1985 specia l eve nt ca lend a r inser t from last week 's issu e: T he Ju ne 9 Ca mel Pro Series road ra ce Na tio nal is in Elkhart La ke. Wisconsin . a nd no t El khart, Indi an a . Th e locati o n fo r th e J un e 22·23 ISD E Q ua l ifier Series ro u nd ha s been cha nged from Spur. T exas, to Tras k.Dregou . w h ile th e Ma rch 30-3 1da te has been del eted . ~ 00 0") BY p~p~ Wf~LfY Indian Dunes closed! By Rex Reese LO NG BEAC H, CA, FEB . 1 8 In a sudden m ove, In di an Dunes motorcycle park near Va lencia , California , has been closed to trail riding as of Th ursday, Feb ruary 14. Last Sunday, February 17, was the last da y of racing at the park's International track. The reason for the closure was attributed to increasing insu ra nc e premium costs, as well as an apparent threat of increasing punitive damages resulting from rider injury suits f iled against t he N ew hall Land and Farming Company, w hich owns t he l and t hat c omprises Indian Dunes. Bu t t here is apparently a big difference in attitude between ~h e Valencia Ca lifornia -based land-holding company and the Irvine Company which owned the lan d site for Saddleback Park which c losed last year. According t o Newhall Company sources and others, the closure of Indian Dunes was done with " m uc h regret, " because of Newhall's " im age as a recreationally-oriented company" and a l~o because motorcycle activities at the park was a co nstant and profitable source of income. Sunday's racing was hosted by the Ca lifornia R.acing Club (CR~), with approximately 375 entries present. At an Informal trackside press conference, Indian Dunes Assistant Park Manager Gary Lam b announced that t he "Newhall Company had met and decided to close the park to find more efficient use of.the land ." . Speculation surrounds the future of Indian t?une.s. Newhall .o!flc ials deny that the park (which is used as a location site for television and movie p roduction) had been so ld to a major movie studio . According to one unnamed Newhall spokesman and a Newhall Company employee at Indian Dunes, it is hoped that agreements can be reached by a suitable third party operation and the County of Los Angeles and /or State of California to o~ta.in funds and .hav e t.he f acilit y resum e operations as a Green Stickle park. Meetings w ith members of the motorcycle ind ust ry and Newhall officials in January discussed the impending problems surround ing the park but produced no substantial results. The closure of Indian Dunes, if permanent, w ill mean that there is no longer a major off-road rid ing /racing park in the Los Angeles area. CRC President Jack Barbacovi is seeking another track to run events at, as is CMC President Stu Peters. At present, the only hope for Indian Dunes is that Los Angeles County and /or the State of California purchase or lease t he land from the Newhall Company. Here are the names, addresses and phone numbers of people to contact to help save Ind ian Dunes: Lee Chauvet, Deputy Director California State Department of Parks and Recreation, Off-Highway Motor Veh icle D ivision, P.O . Box 2390, Sacramento, CA 95811. David Linden, Secretary-Treasurer, Newhall Land and Farming Company, 3823 Va lencia BI., Val~ncia, CA 9135~. . . Supervisor Michael D . Antonovlch, Hall of Admin istration, Room 869, 500 West Temple , Los Angeles, CA 90012 213 /974-5555. (Note: Mr. Antonovich is up for re-election th is year. ) John Weber, Reg ional Director, Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Department 805 /257-3500. . Ed Waldheim, Commission, Cal ifornia Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Commission , 3550 Foothill BI., Glendale, CA 91214. Mike Bishop, Chairman, California Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Commission, 401 Santa Barbara St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101. 4 T h e opening round o f th e AMA N atio na l C ha mpio nship End uro Se ri es got und erwa y Fe brua ry 17 in New Idri a , Ca li fornia , a nd the wi n ner wa s Husq varna ' s Mi ke Melton (2 1 pts.), Four more Hu sk y r ider s finis hed behi nd Mel ton : Kevin H in es (23 ), Dave Be rt ra m (23), Terry Cu n n in gha m (24 ) a nd La rr y Roesel er (26) . Ro u nd in g o ut th e to p 10 wer e Geoff Ball a rd , J eff Erwin, Dan Neil son , Fri ll Kad lec and J o hn Ma rt in . We'll ha ve co m p le te co verage of th e event next week . Little known fact : The liners of the new GSXR750 Suzuki are th ick enough that bore can be increased 2mm, bringing d isplacement up from the standard 749cc to 793cc. Mark down February 24 on your calendar for the fifth annual District-38 King of the Desert/ Hare Scrambles. No memberships are required, but riders in the King Class must have a D-38 license. Fudpucker Racing Team is in charge of the festivities; the Phantom Duck of t he Desert will be t he official starter. Racing begins at 9:30 a.m . on the dry lake bed northeast of Plaster City. For more details, call 619 /427-5759 or 619 /579 -1320. Assista nt AMA referee Ned Red wa y wi ll tem po ra ril y as sume th e resp o n sibi li ti es of AMA refe ree Ron Cra ndall . Cranda l l is still recoveri ng [rom a hro ken I q~ , rece ived wh en he was knocked d own hv Ro n Lech iens H onda at th e Feb ruary 2, Ana heim Su percross. In addit ion, according to AMA 's Wayne Moulton, there will be no Grand National MX Champion crowned in 1985, which means David Bailey may go down in history as ' t he only Grand National MX Champion since he took home the tit le both in 1 9 8 3 (the f irst year of its existence) and 1984. Champs will be crowned in 125, 250 and 500cc outdoor National classes, as well as in 125 and 250cc Supercross. T here has been a major cha nge in th e 250cc Pro class poi nt scori ng method fo r the AMA Supercros s Seri es. Effecti n ' retroa ctive to th e Februarv 8·9 Sea tt le d ouble head er, ser ies poi nts , wi ll no lo nger be a wa rde d in heat s, .sem is a nd th e Last C ha nce Q ua lifier. and w ill in stead on ly be a wa rd ed o n the basis of ov era ll fi nis h in the two m ain event motos . To determ in e the ov er all finis hi ng ord er , a different system h a s bee n e m p lo yed. "On p a per." rider s will be a warded poi nts per m oto u sing th e AMA Na tion al ;,\IX po in t sched u le: 25 po in ts for a win , 22forsecond,20 [or th ird . 18[01' fou rt h, a nd 16 for fifth , wh il e six th throug h 20t h wi ll ea rn p oints o n a slid ing sca le [rom 15 [o r si xth to o ne poi n t for 20t h . Afte r the " d u m m y p oi nts " are ta ll ied from the two m o tos a nd the o vera ll fin is h ing order ha s bee n determi ned, act ua l cha m pio nship po ints wi ll be paid , u sin g th e same poi nt fo rm ul a . In other words, th e o vera ll winner wi ll see on ly '25 po ints ad d ed to h is season poi nt ta ll y, th e r u n n er- up will receive 22 poi nt s, etc. And yo u mi ght 've g ues sed it by n o w; th e po in t sta ndi ngs we gave yo u in la st wee k's edition are incorrect. Here is th e u p -to-da te list: I. Bro c Glover (I 13 ); 2. R ick J ohn son (96 ): 3. J oh nn y O'Mara (94); 4. jerr Wa rd (93 ); 5. Ron L ec h ien (9 1); 6. Ma r k Ba rn ett (8'1 ); 7. (T IE ) Keit h Bo we n /S co tt Bu rnworth (78); 9. Goat Breker (68); 10. A.J . Whi tin g (56 ); II . Ala n Kin g (52); 12. J im H oll ey (47 ); 13. Bob H annah (42); 14. Dav id Bai ley (39 ); 15. Er ik Keh o e (27 ); 16. Ken n y Keyl on (26) ; 17. (T IE) C lint H a rd ickl J o J o Kell er (22 ); 19. Scooter Staffor d (20 ); 20. Russ Wagem a n ( 19). Mother Nature rained out the sixth annual Old Timers MX Wintemational, scheduled for DeAnza Cycle Park. The event has been rescheduled to March 9-1 O. For informat ion contact: Bob DeMiranda 213/ 699-2869 . Former factory H arl ey ride r a nd 1976'78 AMA Gra nd Nat io na l C ha m p io n J a y Spri ngsteen has.sig ned a spOl~~or ship agreem e n t with Denni s ~!rk , In c. [o r th e 1985 G NC seaso n . Kirk , of Ru sh Ci ty, Minn esot a . is a ma ilorder supp lier of m o to rcycle a nd ATV a ccessor ies : accordi ng 10 G enera l Man ager Fredi Hu mph reys. th e co n tract with Sp ri ngs teen wa s fo r an u ndisclosed sum a nd commi tme nt [o r race su p port. " We're very excited ," says H um p h reys. " We' re look ing [orw,;rd to a very s uccessfu l year with J a y." Over $2,500 was raised for the Professional Riders Benefit Fund via an auction held during the Houston Motorcycle Show. Motorcycle Dealernews' D ick Hamer and Pace Management, promoters of the Houston Camel Pro Series races, coordinated the effort. A helmet signed by t he 17 AMA Grand National Champions attending the races was one of the hot items on the block. T he 125cc class in the AMA S upercross Series is not a Support class b ut a Iu ll-fled g ed cha m p io ns h ip series affa ir. Eastern as well as W estern R eg ion a l cha m p s wi ll be cro wned a nd the to p 10 r iders fro m each o f th e two regi ons will be in vited to a shootO U I ra ce in Fort Smit h, Ark ansas, in October. T he overa ll winner of tha t race will be cro w ne d the 125ccS u per cross Champ io n . Superbike Champion Fred Merkel was spectating during the Houston Camel Pro Series doubleheader. " I'm ready to ge t back raci ng," said Honda 's Merkel. " Rig ht now I'm riding my dirt bike four days a week and surfing the other th ree to keep in shape." It has been reported that Merkel is also t urning in many miles of road race practice at Willow Springs, a southern California track. Super bike Seri es co nten der Sa m Me" Dona ld was a lso a t Ho us to n . " I th ink Wa yn e Ra iney a nd 1 wi ll m a ke a rea lly good team [o r th e Da ytona 200 ," sai d McD ona ld . " We need more brands in the Su pe r hike cl ass a nd I feel th a t this Ya ma ha effor t will really spark som e addi tio nal interest. 1 [eel good a bo ut th e prog ra m beca use so ;"Ia ny p eop le hav e go tte n behind th e effo rt . Wa vn e wi ll o n ly ri de a t Da yto na , bUl I:1Ira ce th e FZ750a ll season a nd concent rate o n ly o n winnin g th e Super bi ke titl e ra ther th an a lso r id ing i n Fo rmu la Two." Dick " Bugsy " Mann wasthe Grand Nationa l Champion w ho received the most votes in our Houston Grand Marshal contest. Mann was Grand National Champion in 1963 and 1971 . He won 24 Nationals, the fi rs t in 1959 and his last in 1972 . He was the fi rst rider to win all f ive types of rac ing that make up the GNC circuit: short track, TT, half m ile, mile and road race (only Kenny Roberts has done li kewise). Mann's National wins we re scored on a variety of equipment: BSA, Matchless, Yamaha, Ossa and Honda. After he reti red f rom t he GNC scene, Mann earned a Bronze medal in IS D E competition and to this day continues to ta ke part in motocross and offroad rac ing events. Congrats, Bugsl

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