Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126810
that police bike sales are up 300% nationwide compared to one year ago. American Metal Market/Metalw ork in g News reports in th eir j anuary 28 issue tha t a lighter-than -steel fiberrei n forced metal co nnecti ng rod has been co m me rcia lly developed by Honda a nd will be used in Honda 's sma ll ca rs la ter this year. Mad e o r ca rbo n fiber- rei n force d a lum in u m with a core of stain less steel fibers. th e rods a re sai d to be a bo ut 30 percent lighter th an steel connec ti ng rod s. ~ w W ll. rn ...J ~ o ~ Z e: w I- ~ <{ z o ~ c > rn w l- e: ;:) o u rn o Racing will continue through the 1986 season at Riverside International Raceway, after which the facil ity will be demolished to make way for southern California 's urban sprawl. A new facility will replace it, and is scheduled to open in 1987. Six hundred acres near the western edge of Riverside County have been set aside for the new raceway, which will include a .1-1 / 2 mile oval, and a road course of at least two miles. In addition, the new raceway will include a camping area, tennis courts and an equestrian center. Yamaha Motor Co .• Ltd. of japan has asked Kenn y Robert s and Wayn e Ra iney to team up for th e 1985 Suzuka Eight Hours. a round of the Enduran ce Road Racing World Ch ampionship. In response to a rep o rte r' s qu estions. Gary Howard (business manager for Ro berts and Rainey) said. "It 's very preliminary co nversa tio ns at thi s point. but th ere have been co nversa tions mentioning both of those nam es." The bike th ey'd rid e wou ld be a n FZ750. Over 5000 hay bales will be used as an additional safety buffer in front of existing protective barriers at Daytona International Speedway during Cycle Week. Bright sun and 80" temperature greeted racers a t th e beginning of practice on Monda y morning a t Daytona Internation al Speedway. One Floridian predicted a new record of sun burn ed snowbirds by Cycle Week's end. Putting parental pride aside, Gary Bailey has picked Yamaha's Broc Glover to w in Saturday's Daytona Supercross. " Ithink Glover is going to be the hard one to contend with," said Bailey, who designed the Daytona course. "He seems to be pretty hot right now." After Glover, Ba iley named Honda's Ron Lechien, Yamaha 's Rick Johnson, Honda's David Bailey, Kawasaki's Jeff Ward and Honda's Johnny O'Mara as others having a chance at the w in. "I won't understand why if one of those six doesn't w in, " said Bailey. "It should be a good race. The course is going to be tough - I guarantee thatl" R.J . Reynolds has posted $1000which will go to th e racer who posts the highest combined finishes in the Daytona Formula One Camel P ro Series National and th e Daytona 200. In additio n. Bell H elmets has posted $10.000 wh ich wiII be awarded to the th e top fini shers in th e Daytona 200. The 200 will pa yout over$103.000 in purse money and along with contingen cy a nd bonus awards such as th ose mentioned abov e the winner will need an armored truck to take hi s winnings to th e bank after th e race. I- o :I: c, The sce ne at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Flo rida a few days before Speed Week began; both Honda and Yamaha rented the speedway to test Superbikes. The photo above shows Canadia n Rueben McM urter with the Yamaha FZ750 Superbike Wayne Rainey was sched u led to ride; Rainey broke his collarbone and McMurter stepped in to ride it - t hat' s McM u rter at speed below, at right. Below, at left, Freddie Spencer takes over hi s Honda Superbike from mechanic Mike Velasco. The 1 9 8 5 Daytona 200 Superbike race will be run on March 10. The D irt Diggers North Motorcycle Club reports that plenty of entry spots are still available for the amateur motocross on Saturday, March 30 , the day before the Hangtown Nationa l Motocross. The amateur event will have all sportsman classes incl ud ing Vets and O.T. The official entry blank ran in the February 20 iss ue of Cycle News, but the Dirt Diggers will accept any standard entry blank. Entry fee is $20.00. For info w rite P.O. Box 1074, Fai r. Oaks, CA 95628-1074. T he 1985 raci ng program for th e Harley Owners G roup will incl ude efforts in both roa d and drag racing. Last year's BoTT Grand P rix class Cham pion. Gene Church . wi ll agai n ride the XRl OOO-based " L ucifer's H a m m er " in BoTT co mpeti tio n; the bike will be tuned by Don 'Tilley. j oe Yaeger ",i II ca m paign a 106 cu bic-inch Sh ovelh ead in Pro Stock dra g even ts, with Ray Worth wren ch- . ing. 2 Aspe ncade '85 will take place May 14 t o 19 in Lake George, New York. Registration forms are now avai lable and partic ipation is lim it e d to 8 ,000 road riding enthusiasts. Don 'tthink you can sit a round unt il the last minute and still be one of those 8000; last year's Aspe ncade drew 10,200 motorcyclis ts, accord ing to the event's o rga nize r, Bill Dutcher. Write for entry info rm atio n to: Aspencade Motorc ycl ist Convention , P.O . Box 2205 D, Glens Fa lls , NY 12801 , o r ca ll the 24-hour Aspenca de Hot line, 518/656 -3696, and lea ve y?~r name .a.n.d. ~~~re.ss. One-hundred ca mpsi tes for self contai ned motorhom es a nd trailers will be a vai lable for th e Ma rch 3 1 H an gtown Nati on al Mo tocro ss a t Prairie City OH V Park in Sacrament o, Ca liforn ia. No van s. station wagons or tents will be perrn ined, a nd the fee is .$4 per ni ght. For reserva tion s call th e Sacram ento County o r Parks and Recreati on at 916/ 366-2061 . The Ca lifornia Highway Patrol ha s o rdered 161 Ha r ley-Dav idson FXR P police motorcycles for delivery in 1985, making 90% of t he agency's 300-bike fleet Harl eyDavidson. The co mpa ny re ports Former 500cc Road Racing World Champion Marco Lucchinelli will compete in both Friday's Daytona Formula One race and Sunday's 200 Superbike race. The Italian w ill r id e Reno Le o ni -p re pa re d bikes, a Cagiva 500 in the National and a Cagiva 750 in the 200. Lucchinelli says he is going to move to California and contest as many American Nationals as possible this seaso n. Two-time 500cc road racin g World Ch ampion Barry Sh eene, recentl y retired from motorcycle racin g. has been sig ned to drive a Celica Supra for T o yot a in th e l l -race Trimoco R.A.C. Briti sh saloo n car cha mp ionshi ps. After several test sessions. representatives of Toyota in En gland said that they were delighted with Sh eene an d that they expected good results in th e race series. whic h starts with a round at ilverstone o n Ma rch 23. Public input o n the Navy's scaleddown w ithdrawal program for the Imperial Valley will be taken March 14, at the County Supervisor's Chambers, Room 358,1600 Pacific Highway, San Diego, California, at 7 :00 pm. Th is will be the public's last chance to comment on a California Desert Plan Amendment, to be issued May 1 . Geoff Ballard (C- A)got t he defense of his AMA Na tiona l Championship Hare Scrambles Series title underway with a win in the March 3 opening ro und of the series, the Rive r Ranch Nationa l in Lake Wales, Florida . J o hn Martin (C- A) fin ished second overall followed by Ed Swearingen (Suz) and Mark Hyde (Hus ). Hyde led most of the way, but crashed hard on the seventh of nine la ps on the 12.5-mile course. SPLAT IDaytona International Speedway ha s becom e a favorit e resting place for a n un countable number of seagu lls recent ly. So mu ch so th at the track surface requ ired a cleaning before pre-Cycle Week testing by variou s teams began . If you 've had a low flyin g seagull use yo u as a bo mbin g target, you 'Il kno w what th e cleaning jo b was all abo ut. Former National Championship En duro Series utlist Mike Melton underwent surgery on February 26 to relieve pressure on nerves in his left wrist wh ich appa rent ly caused numbness in hi s thumb and first two fingers. Melt on susta ined two broken bones in hi s lower left forearm in a crash while practicing for the February 24 Brickh ous e National Enduro. " I' ve