Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

groups have inflicted upon their com m u n ity. I am su re all of th e concerns of both sides wi ll be full y addressed in th e En vironmental document. Thank you agai n for yo ur comments. MICH AEL D. ANTONO VICH Su pervisor. Fifth District Co u nty o f Los Angeles Los Angeles. CA WEST Supervisor Antonovich sent th is letter, dated March 6, to Jim L iverm ore of the California Departm ent of Parks and R ecreation Off-Highway Motor Vehicle R ecreation Commission . Th e letter set offa controversy first reported in Cycle News. April 10 ... Editor. A merica 's weekly motorcycle newspaper Sharon Clay ton, Publisher Mike Klinger . Com p troller Skip Johnson, Associal~ Pu blisher! Nat ional Salt's Mana ger Carol in e Gendry. Execu tive Secretary to the Pu bl isher Danny LaPorte Edito ria l J oh n Ulrich. Editor Kit Pal mer . Asso ciate Edi tor Mall H ilgenberg. Associate Edi tor J im Wo lco tt. Associate Editor R ex R eese. Feature Edi tor . Advertising Terry P ratt , Sa les Manager M,ikc Spen cer. Sa les Manage'r T im Ryan, Sales Manager Linda B rown. Adienisin g Coordinato r Nancy w asrell . Adoen ising t Editorial Assis tan t Graphics and Productio n . Larry Gill. Graphic Artist Ginger DeVa ul , Graph ic Artist Malcolm wi lson . Graphi c Artist Mari on Hatashita. Tvpeseuer Carol yn Branham. T ypesetter Den nis Gr eene . Leb. Tech. Accounting /Data Processing Donna Bryan. A ccounts R eceiuable Coo rdinator Genev Repa ss, Assista nt a Fran Hamwey, Cre-dit Circulation Rhe ba Smith. Monag er Sarah T aylo r. Ass istant Lyna Hood, Assistan t Dealer Sales end Service Bob Elliott. Dealer Sales Manag' r e We nt Ad s S It"V~ Gru ner. Want Ad Sale's Service and Support Ch ris Aitcheso n, R ecept ion ist Gregory Han son. SiTS West 220 1 Cherry Ave.. Lo n g Beach. CA 90806, P .O . Box 498. Lo n g Beach , CA 90801-0498. (2 1~ ) 4 2 7 · 74~~; L. A. Li n e (2 1~) 6~6-8844. Eest 4190 first Ave.• T ucker. G A. ~0084 . P .O . Box 80;. T uc ker. G A ~OOg;-080; . . (404) 954·78 ;0. Cycle News/ West (U SPS 141 -~40 ) is p ublish ed weekly except th e [irst and las t week 01 th e co len de r year lo r $~ per yea r by Cycle News. Inc.. 2201 Cherry Avenue. Long Beach. CA 90806. Seco nd class pas' tage paid at Lo ng Beach . CA. POSTMASTER: Send form 3679 to CycIeNaws. P.O. Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801 ·049 8. Su bscriptio n ra tes: One yea r. secon d class mail. $25; I WO year s, second class mail . $45; th ree years, seco nd class ma il $68; 25 weeks . $13. Foreign rates available o n request. Cycle News wel comes u nso licited editoria l material including stories, car too n s, ph o tos, ere. Such materia l, if pu blished. becomes the exclusive prope:rly of Cycle New s. Such accepted mater ial is su bject to revision as is necessa ry in th e so le discretion of Cycle New s. U nso licited maleria l which is n o t used will be ret urned if accom pa nied by a sell-addressed sta m ped envelo pe . All u nsolicited mat eri al will be handl ed with reasonable care . how ever. Cycle Ne ws ass u mes no respons ib ility for th e safety. loss or damage to suc h m aterial. Rep r in ti n g in whol e o r part o n ly by per. m ission o f th e publish er. Advertising ra tes and ci rculat io n informa tion will be scm upon request. Sec S.R .D.S. Copyrigh~ Cycla News. Inc. 1986. Trad8l1l8rtl Cycle News registered U.S. Pet8nt OffIce: All r1ghtara_rved. ON THE FRONT PAGE: Former World Champion Freddie Spencer on his NSR500 Honda. Spencertalts on pege 14. Photo by Gavin Stapleton. 4 ORV crusade Antonovich answers Howell A big hooray for Larry V. Cechin of Huntington Beach , Ca lifo rn ia in hi s letter to Supervisor Antonovich . H e exp ressed our feeling s to a " T ." I only wish m ore peopl e wo u ld ge t invo lved and express how th ey feel. Come on, people, write those letter s to anyone who is i nv o lved in th is crusade aga i ns t off-ro ad rid ing . We ca n win this fig h t if everyone o f yo u helps. T ha n k yo u for yo u r letter co nce rn ing off-road veh icle recreation . I regre t that a m is-understanding exis ts concerni ng a repl y I made to Mr. Liverm ore co nce rning this issu e. My letter to Mr. Li vermore was never m eant to characterizeas la wiess o r destruct ive th ose people who en gage i n off-road vehicle recreation, but rather to exp la in th e commu nity' s p erception of th em i n so me cases. I co ncur with the need for recrea ti on al areas for activities and Los Angeles County has worked diligently to improve and expand the Roh wer Flats area in Mint Canyon . We are a lso in ' the process o f requesting grant monies for an off-road recrea- ' tion park in the Antelope Valley and also negotia ting to re-open th e Indian Dunes faci lity in Vale ncia. What appears to be needed is im proved co m m un ica tions between offroad vehicle riders and local communities so th at there will be a better understanding of th e needs of th e former and th e fear s o f th e latter . The fact that yo u have taken th e time to write a n d make me aware o f yo ur concerns is a big step forward a nd I hope I have answered yo ur questions sa tisfac tori ly. Many th anks again. J IM STOO PS Chino, CA Letter to Supervisor Antonovich My wi fe and I h ave lived in Los Angeles for about 30 years now. I believe th a t we have been and are still respons ib le member s of th e co m -munity. We have been activel y invo lved in o ur local PTA and Little League, h avi n g held Board positions in each. My em p loy men t is as a Sal esMarketing Manager for a major Los An gel es petfood manufacturer . We o wn our own home. We also. with our two su b-tee n sons rid e off-roa d motorcycles, recrea tionally and in organized events. I resent being character ized as " .. . rene ga de motorcycle gangs ., ;" prone to " . . . wanton di sregard of persona l and property rights .. . in flic ted upon th eir community." as you are quoted as having referred to m e in your March 6 letter to th e Ca lifornia State Depa rt ment of Parks and Recreat ion. T hi s is no t an accurate view of today 's off -road vehicle enthusiast. It is to a lso ign ore the hundred s (if not thousands) of volunteer hours donated to establishi ng a nd mainta in in g o ffroad ridi ng areas, such as those in the area of Sequoia Nationa l Forest. T hough I a m not one of yo ur co nsti tuents. I believe that an ap o logy and exp lana tio n of yo ur quoted com m ents (Cycle Ne ws , April 10) is appropriate. I loo k forward to your rep ly. LYN N D. HOWELL Walnut, CA MICHAEL D. ANTONOVICH Supervisor. Fifth District County of Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA Text of Antonovich 's disputed letter Thank yo u for yo u r letter ex pressing your opinions on off-road vehicle parks. Although I concu r wi th the need for th ese typ es of recrea tional areas I ca n a lso empath ize with the co ncern s of h und reds of residents who appear to share so me of the " Hell's Angels mentality" yo u suggest in yo ur lett er. Real or im agined . Acton residents have been p lagu ed by past renegade motorcycle gangs and su ffered greatl y from th e wanton di sregard of perso na l a n d p ro perty r ig hts, t h ose Da nny LaPorte was super as an Am erican National Cham pion o n Suzu ki. Dan n y was great as an American World Ch ampi on on Yamaha. Da nny's retu rn to th e Sta tes to capture ano th er na tio nal titl e is to be admired a nd we have a ll wi shed him th e best. . But in th e six years si nce h is last n a tional titl e th in gs have cha nged. Am eri can p ro riders are yo u nge r, tougher and faster. Dann y has go tten " Eu ropea n ized ." The challenge of th e o the r Ame rican wo rks riders and bikes are j ust too much for Dan n y an d Husk y to wi n h ere, be it a single race or a cha m p io n sh ip. Th ere's no quest ion tha t Danny can wi n one or more world champ ionsh ip titles sti ll. That seem s a far better fu tu re th an str uggli ng on the bottom of th e h eap over h ere aga inst th e awesome Japanese factories which are sim p ly unbeatable. Return to Europe. Da nny. Gi ve yo u r fa ns , yo ur Am erican fan s. another Yankee World Champion. GEO RGE L ESLIE ' Flintridge, CA Dennis Zickrick In regards to you r a rt icle , "T h e Cost of Su pe r bike Racin g ." (Cycle N ews, March 9) it appears that Denn is Zickri ck wa s hired so lely to maintai n m y Superbi ke. T he truth is that Den nis a n d I formed a team after h e left Team H onda to h elp promote his sh op: Motorcycle Performance Cen ter. Den n is ac ts as team manager, tu ner, bu ilder , liaison and as well as han dl in g what ever else may come up. Den n is has spe nt many cold Col orado n ights preparing m y Honda so we cou ld go raci ng a nd I wo u ld like to see cre dit whe re it is due. Withou t h is help. I doubt if I co u ld have acco m p lis h ed wha t I did . Also m issing in th e list of 1985 sp onsors wa s T subaki Ch ain who is su p p lyi ng me wit h th eir product for m y Superbike. An d last, I would like to th ank th e P ro fessio nal Motorcycle R iders' Associa tio n a nd th e AMA for th ei r coo pe ra tion in havi ng the chain link fence rem oved from turn one of Dayto na . RI CKY ORL ANDO AMA Superbike #6 Bo ul der, CO 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 being 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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