Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Voices (Con tin ue d from page -I) ...... • .. R ep ly f rom "Ban 'em " Statler Thank yo u for yo u r m ost co m p rehensive and thoughtful lett er concern ing ATV s. Most of m y mail th ese day s o n th at su bject, in response to misinformation in trad e publicat ions, doesn 't quite fall in that ca tegory. While, obvio us ly, so me num ber o f acc ide nts o n ATVs ar e' associa ted with rider mi sbehavior, we a t th e Commi ssion a re m o st co ncerne d a bo u t a ny design flaws that ma y be tied to th e vehi cle, th ereby lending to a tendency, to flipover a nd rollover. The Commission is trying to do its job by al erting consumers to th e po ssible p roblems an d ri sks associ a ted with this vehicle, an d determining as . quickl y as possible wh at more needs to be done, from a regulatory sta nd point, by carefu lly assessin g th e dynam ic stability or in stability of ATVs. You ask in your letter tha t we " in vestigate" statistics regarding ATV injuries. Our well -trained epidemiological staff is cu rrently working with hospital em ergency rooms, medi cal practi on ers a nd others in an effort to rep ort o n ly th e most accurate of statisti cs in Commission bri efing m at erial s a nd documents. Since it a p pea rs th at yo u have fol lowed the work o f th e Commission th rough th e medi a , th e fact is th at man y o f th e p roducts we recall are a t fault. regardless o f how th ey a re used . Or often, certai n types o f " mis use " are so foreseeabl e th at manufacturers shou ld ant ici pa te such beh avi or a nd , design th e p roduct in a m anner th at will pr event furth er traged y. Man y lives ha ve been save d, and serious injuries ave rte d , because a particu alr product had been a t fault a nd co nsu mers noti fied in time.' ST UART M. STAT LER. Comm ission er U.S. Consumer Product Safet y Commission Washington . DC Comm ission er S tat ler sen t th is lett er in rep ly to a reader's letter op pos ing Statler 's co n tin u al call for a ban and recall of A TVs . . . Editor. Police extortion in Baja Like to play in Baj a? I sure did , unt il last weekend. Myself a nd a friend were o n our wa y to £1 Condor, which is just eas t o f T ecate. wh en we were sto pped by " Federal es," We were to ld to follow th em back to Teca te. Wh en we a rr ived th ere we were told to unl oad o ur bik es a n d lock o ur tru ck a nd th en were tak en to anot her bu ilding for quest ioning.. We were to ld th at o ur bik es were to be held because we d idn't h ave th e ow ner's certi fica tes. After 3!i hou rs we fina lly got th e picture: 540. 00 would tak e GIrl' o f it. We go t to keep o u r bik es. but wh o needs th a t kind o f a buse? Lat er ano ther pol ice o ffice r hint ed th at we weren 't the o n ly riders wh o h ave had to go th rough this kind of thin g. T hi ngs are n ' t very good a t th e border th ese da ys. So Baja pl ay rid ers shou ld take th is into co nsidera tio n before p lay rid ing down there. JAKE STONE Los An gel es, CA CPSC will take it away! Do vo u lik e to ride bikes? Do yo u enjoy raci ng o n Sunday? Ho~' much do yo u care about th ose laid-back ' tra il rides wi th yo ur buddies? I. like you, probably took most of th ese things for gra nt ed . I'v e been readi ng abou t a ll th e p rob lem s with th e Consu me r Pro duct Sa fety Co m m ission and ATV s. and I took a few moments last week to shoot off a few letters to th ose g uys , as Cycle News had suggested. A few da ys ago I got a letter back fro m Stuart M. S tatler. th e com missio ner o f th e CPS c. After readi ng hi s letter a nd ot he r enclosed in forma tion . I'm co nvinced these g uys aren' t kidd in g. T h is group has the pow er to ban ATV s a nd recall the o nes th at have been so ld , a nd th ev will do it. I 'm a lso co nvi nced t ha t o ff-roa d mot orcycles wi ll come next, a nd do n ' t dare thin k for a seco nd th a t th ey won ' t be able to get to motorcycles, T hey can and th ey will, unless everyone sta rts wri ting. Herc' re a few com me nts S tatle r mad e in a CPSC stat eme n t, which was sent to me a long with h is letter: " I' ve 1 101 seen an yth ing lik e it (dea ths a nd serious injuri es on th reewheel ATVs ) for any produ ct hazard in my five years serving as co m m issio ne r o f this agency . . . a seni or staff ana lyst . . . to ld us recentl y that in hi s 12 yea rs with th e CPSC, he' s never witn essed a n emerging safety p rob lem o f th ese dimen sions, " Where a nd how will this mayhem stop? Wh at will be don e by th e firms th at produce ATVs? " ... I am so d ist ressed bv the d im en sions of th is emerg ing ris k based on wha t I already kn ow , that I bel ieve serious consideration need s to be gi ven in the months ahead to the advisa bi lity of seeking a halt in fut u re three-wheeled AT V prod uction a nd poss ibly recall in g a ll such veh icles previous ly sold. " For th e life o f m e, I can 't imagine a nv conscie ntious man u factu rer. co n Fronte-d with such mo u nt in g evidence as we have already ga th ered , no t tak in g im media te act io n to halt current pr~)d llction a nd sale of thi s vehicle . . . to wa it any lon ger wh ile th e body COU Ill of unsuspecting kids skyroc kets, stri kes me as ca llo us and uncar in g . An d it's wrong too. II's wrong from a moral standpoint . . , " T hese firm s shou ld cea se buryin g their heads in th e sand as if rhey hear n o respon sibil ity . . , th ey kn ow wh o 's ge tt ing maimed and cr us hed and killed. II's mainl y you ng kids , .. th ese firm s kn ow there 's a p roblemand right now th ey 'r e it!" Do yo u see wh a t I'm seei ng? T h is govern me n t agency is co mi ng down hard on th e m anu facturers, and j us t rem ember th at th ose same manufacturer s sponsor motorcycle raci n g by pay ing sa laries to th e factory riders, givi ng support rides through IOGil shops, givi ng bonues to amateur racers, etc. Stick up for th e manu facturers by writin g th ose lett ers! Our dem oc rat ic form o f govern me nt a llo ws this. a nd we are lu ck y to have the ri ght to spea k o ur opinions . Pl ea se let yo ur feelings be kn own, or we'll a ll be ridir:g a nd raci n g ska teboa rds in 1986. TOM MUELLE R Greensboro , NC Pub lished letters do not-necessarily reflect t he position of Cycle News, Inc, Letters for publication m ust be typed and doubte-spacedrshort. concise letters stand a better chance of being published; due t o the volume of ma il n o letters can be returned or acknowledged. Send letters to Voices, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801 . - - . . .-: . .. ~ ~";;~. -- '. '• • ' .' • •- .: .: ~.. - - : • '1' . . ~~ ~~~ d -.--- • • <~~- ', (A bo ve) Steve Regeling, Kenny Carter, Mitch Shirra and Ari Koponen in Race 15. (Below) Ivan Mauger (1 ) and England's Phil Collins (13). ' World Team Slleedway. Chamll.ionshill England wi~s in the UK By John Hipkiss BRADFORD, ENGLAND,MAYI2 The opening round of the World Team Speedway Championship saw an overwhelming victory by England, 42 points to Australia 's 21, New Zealand's 17 and Finland's 16. T his meeting was th e Iirst to be staged at the 1985 wo rl d in di vidua l fi na l ven ue , a nd wi th the stadi u m in the m id dl e of being virt ua lly rebuilt. (so me 2 million is to be spent before complelio n) . some a reas looked like a patch work quilt. The event ua l outcome of th e meetin g was no su rprise to a n yone, but th e questi on was who would fini sh seco nd to go into the next round. Wi th England never losing the lead th e race was on between Au stra lia and Finland in the early stages. The Aussi es .p u lled, a way from New Zea la n d a nd Finland by the h alfwa y stage, and aft er that mad e su re of qua lifica tion by steadily pi ckin g up th e minor points, Australia 's cha nces would have been eas ier but for th e sad death of Bill y Sa nders - who rece n tly co mmi tted su icide - and th e team now felt as they owe it to th e former world n u m ber two to p ro gress as far as the y ca n. Phi l Crump top scored with eig h t points ta ki ng two wins backed up by Steve Bak er with six po ints, T he o ld master Ivan Mauger gave us a g lim pse o f th e pa st Mauger, a lthoug h hi s po ints tot a l was o n ly four he sho wed th at the co mpe titive skill s were still th ere but sta rt ed to tir e towards the end of each o f his races. Fin la nd 's top scorer, Kai Niemi, now with Ipswich speedway in England scored 10 of his co u ntry's total of 16; th e rest found the going to be tough. Engla nd's team manger john Berry picked a youthful -looking team naming no individual captain but saying that th e position would be shared. After four races England found th emselves with a four-point lead, onl y one poin t being dropped th at by America 's speedwa y Enemy Number One, Kenny Ca rter. England found th e meet in g em ba rra ssin g ly easy.. findi ng th emselves with a l O-poim lead by the halfwa y interval. Though n one o f th e En glish riders gai ned a maximum, Carter, Doncaster a n d T atum a ll sco red I I points and Ph il Collins wh o m issed the gate a co u p le of tim es found th at on a very slick track surface co m in g from the back wa s a lmos t impossibl e. • England and Au stra lia n ow qua lify for th e Inter-Continental Fina l at Vojens , Denmark o n j u n e 23. Ame rica h as been seeded direct to the final which is a t Lon g Beach o n August 10. Results • ENGLAND: Kenny Carter 11; Jerem y Doncaster 11: Kelvin Tatum 11: Phil Colli ns 9. AUSTRAUA: Phil Crump S; Steve Saker 6; Ste.e Regeling 5; Rod Hunt er 1; Stan Bear 1. NEW ZEALAND; Mitch Shirra 8; I.an Mauger 4; Larry Ross 4; Ala n M ason 2; KVm Mauger 1. FINLAND; Kai Niem i 10,

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