Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

all of my friends for bringing me out to th e ra ces eac h a nd every week, otherw ise. I wouldn't have had any transp ortation . I would like to th ank O'N eal US A for su pplying me with race ap parel. an d Cycle/ Am products fo r supp lyi ng me w it h fen d ers th rough out the eigh t week series . Furthermore.I wo u ld like to tha n k Larry Shoema ker a nd all the grea t people at Int ernat ional Yama ha fo r su p p lying me w ith pa ns wh en ever I was in n eed . Then th ere is Bo b Ba rn ha n a nd all his wo nderful a nd excellent mech an ics at Performance Center in Ca noga Pa rk. Ca lifornia. A specia l than ks goes to the th ree g reat m ech an ics at th e Team Yamaha Suppon va n fo r hel ping me out with m y shock a nd giving m e helpful so lutions to m ak ing m y bik e run better . N ext. I wou ld like to sen d m y greatest a p p reciation to Mr. Cortez a nd h is so ns Paul a nd J oe y. for helpin g me so lve m y bike p roblems at Carls bad ; Ca lifornia. Last, but not least, I want 10 th ank m y pa rents for being so support ive th rough o u t the seri es a nd helping me o u t fin an ciall y. Thank you a ll. PAT WEID E Va n N uys, CA WEST America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Sharon Clayton, Publish er Mi ke Klin ger, Comptroller Skip J ohnson. A ssociate Publish"! National Sale s Managn Ca rol ine Gendry. Executive Se cretary to thr Pub lisher Editorial Joh n Ul rich . Editor Kil Palmer. Associalt' Editor Malt Hilgen berg . Associatt' Edi tor J im w olcon . Associate Edito r Rl"X Reese. Fraturr Editor Advertising Terry Pratt. Salt's M a n a~(,T Mike Spencer, Salt's Manager Tim Rya n . Salt's M aTUlg er L in da Brown. Advert ising Coordina tor Na ncy Waslell . Aduenisingt Editorial Assistant Road racer's woes Gra p h ics and Production Larry Gill , Graphic Artist GinK"" Dev a u l. Associate Graph ic Art ist Marion Hatasbita . T vpesener Shei la Larsen. Tvpeseuer Dennis Green e. Lab, Te ch : Accou nti n g / Data Processing Donna Brya n . Accounts Receivable Coordinator Geneva Repass. Ass istant From Hamwev. Credit Circulation R he ba Smhh. Managrr Sarah Taylor, Assistant Lvna Hood. A s.~islanl Dealer Sele. end Service Bob E llion. Dealer Sales AIanager Went Ad. S It"Vt" Gruner . n 'dnl Ad Sales Service and Support Ch ri s Ait ch eson. Reception ist Greg ory H anson. SuS We st 220t Ch erry Ave.• Lo ng Be-ach . CA 90806. P .O . Ilox 498. Lon g Beach. CA 908Ot-0498. (2 13) 427·7433: L.A . L ine (2 13) 636-88+1 . East 4190 First Ave.• T uc ker . GA . 300M. P.O. Ilox 805. T ucker. GA 30085-0805 . (404 ) 934 -7850. Cycle News/West (US PS t41- 340 ) is published weekl y except th e firsl a nd IaSI week o f th e ca le ndar ye-dr for S25 pe r year by Cycle' New s, In c., 220 1 Ch erry Aven ue, Long Beach. CA 90806. Second class P"'tage pa id at Long Beach . CA. POSTMASTER: Send fonn 3579 to Cycle News. P.O . Box 498. Long Beach, CA 9080' -0498. Subscri ption ro ues: One' year , seco nd class mail. $25; IWO yC'3TS. second class ma il, $45; three years. seco nd class mail $68; 25 week s. S13. For eign ra tes a va ila ble o n request. Cycle' New s welcomes u nsolici ted editoria l ma teri al Including stories. cartoons, p ho tos . e tc. Suc h materi al. if p ublish ed, becomes the excl usive p ropc:rly of Cycle News. Such accepted m at eri a l is subject to revision as is necessary in th e sole discretio n o f Cycle- News. Unsolici ted material whi ch is nOI used will be returned if accompanied by a self-addressed sta mped envelope. All unsol icin.. ma terial wil l be d han dled wi th reasona ble ca re, however, Cycle' New s as su mes no responsibili ty Ior th e safel y• los s or damage 10 such material. Repr intrn g in w hole o r pa n only by pc'r: miss ion o f the p ublisher. Advert iaing rates and ci rcu la uon in fo rmat ion will be sent upon reque See S. R.D.S. st. Copyright Cycle N...... Inc. ' 9 8 5 . Tra de m a rk Cycle News reg ista red U.S . Patent Office. All right. reserved . ON THE FRONT PAGE : It 's light, fast and white, but is the 1 9 8 5 KTM 125MX a w inner? Tum to page six for complete test. Photo by Kim W. Pa lmer. 4 .. -, What's wrong ? Wha t is wrong wi th people today? I read a bo u t Sa dd leback, I read a bo u t Indian Dunes - both closed because of increasing in suran ce ra tes. Rat es were . rai sed beca use a few greedy, immature bo zos fell off and got hun while participating in a potent ia llydangerous ac tivity. T he fu n ny thing is th at they did so on th eir o wn free will. Nobody forced th em. it' s not a ny body's fault exce p t th eir o wn - so they su e for money. money th at th ey probably used to bu y a new bike and flashy gear so th ey Gin look real tri ck while they're out at th e same track a few weekends la ter. I live in San Francisco . The closest legal place for me to practice is nearly 80 miles away (Sand Hi ll R a nch ). I have seen a lo t of gat es close over th e la st 10 years I have been riding, th e most recent being Sea rs Point in Sonoma , reportedly because of vanda lism. T he immature acti ons of a few affect us a ll and I'm tired of it. I would like to line th em all up a nd break th eir legs . So sue me. ERIK BREDT San Francisco . CA Honda should help I th ink it wou ld be great if AmeriGin H onda Motor Corp., or ano ther large p riva te interest, would lease In dian Dunes. as G. K. SCOlt suggested last week. It wo ul d be better if they would fi nd some la nd in O range Cou nty. California. for a nother race facili ty. To race we ll and sa fely requ ir es pract ice and more p laces to race will o n ly increase th e n eed for open riding areas where com pe ti to rs ca n sharpen th eir ski ll, and pl ay ri ders ca n ro m p . An o ff-road riding p ark in close p ro xim ity to Oran g e County (home of thousands of racers a nd recrea tio na l riders) are de sperately needed to fill this void. The lack of conveni ent lega l places to rid e makes it increasingl y diffi cult to justify the purch ase of an y kind of off-road veh icl e.Tf th is need for rid- ing areas is no t met. we ca n expect far fewer newcomers to the sport (incl u ding our chi ldren ) and tomorrow's m ot ocross heroes will no longer h a il fro m southern Ca lifornia. H ere is th e golde n opport u n ity for private enterp rise to wo rk together to meet a cry ing co ns umer need . If we wait fo r government fu nded areas . th e o nly thi ng we'll be a ble to ride is o ur roc ki ng chairs on the porch a t th e o ld folks' h om e, whe re we Gin si t an d talk about th e good o ld days o f riding a nd racing a t Orange County In ternational Raceway , Saddl eback Mo torcycle Park , Ind ia n Dunes. Corona R aceway. a nd Ca rls bad . TH EA GAVIN Orange, CA Superbikers This letter is co ncern ing th e March 9 airing o f th e Superbikers on ABC. I g rew up on m ot orcycl e racing. I must adm i t m y favorite is Cl ass Cdirt track racing. H owever , this is wh y I like the Superbikers so much. And I am very g ra tef u l to ABC for sta r ti n g and bringing more atten tio n to th e sport. I a m sick a nd tir ed o f ABC ai ri ng th e h eat races o ne week (in th is case one h ea t race) a nd the mai n event a t a lat er date. That is lik e showing the h eat races a t th e Sa n J ose Mil e one wee k an d the m a in eve nt the n ext . o r the first rnoro o f the Ca rls ba d Gra nd Prix o ne week and th e second the n ext. T he p urpose of th is letter is to get mo re fa ns to join m yself and write ABC to see if we ca n get this mess straightened O U I.. . DONALD STO M ME L Sacrame nto. CA P .S. A dirt tracker will win th e Superbik ers next year. Thank you I a m the proud winner of th e 1985 CMC G olden S ta te/ Skoa l Bandits Am at eur Seri es in . th e 80cc J r. 12-16 class. I would like to send m y ap p recia tio n to many people for supporting m e th rough o u t th e ent ire series. First o f a ll, I would like to th ank Fo r 1985 the AMA threw th e rn onkey wre nch into the mach in er y with th e mandat ory number rul e. Numbers are no w assigned based o n the 1984 po int stand ings. They have taken away the fan recogn ition of the racer s that has buill u p over th e yea rs. a nd crea ted a mul ti tude of problems for th e racer run n ing o ne bik e in two or . m ore classes. Now th e racer wit h one bike has to change num ber s be tween races in stead o f a uendi ng to th e un important things lik e tires. brakes. oi l, . gas a nd genera l machine co nd itio ns! If th e AMA wanted class numbers based on th e previous year's stan din gs th ey sho u ld have made it o p tio na l. All th ey needed to do was o ffer th e to p nine fini sh ers in Fo rm u la I . Superb ike a nd Formula 2 th e o p tion o f runn in g that single d igit number in th eir cl a ss. Then , o fferin g th e choice o f numbers to the F-I points ea rners first. S upe rb ike seco nd a nd F-2 th ird . That wa y a ll th e two digi t numbers co u ld be u sed a nd it wou ld mak e sco ring ea sier. If any organization need s h elp with scor ing. it is the AMAI Who ca rne up with thi s illogi cal mandatory number rule? The ro ad race P rofessiona l Competition Advi so ry Bo ard. The peop le making up thi s board a re : W a yn e Moulton (cha irma n), Pat Alexander. Don Brym er, Kev in Ca meron . Ken Cla r k, Larry Coleman. Wes Cooley, Cl yde Den zer . U do G eitl. Bob Macl.ean, R oy T u rner an d Ken Vreeke. I don 't kno w how the individ ua l m em ber s vo ted, bu t I wo nder wh a t was in th e wat er o r ai r w he n they came up with th is rule. DEVI N BAlTLEY #9 BolT #53 Superbike #180 F- l/F-2 Annandale, VA Published le tte rs do not necessarily reflect the positio n 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 le tte rs can be returned or acknowledged . Send letters to Voices, P .O . Box 498 , Long Beach, CA 90801 .

• Cover