Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1985 07 10

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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....... o ....... fiY p~p~ Wf~LfY Then and now: (Above) Eddie Wirth (77) and his 80-horsepower Harley XR750 on the San Jose Mile in the early 1970s. (Below ) Eddie Wirth and hi s 650-horsepower Chevy Sprint car at Santa Maria Speedway in 1983; Wirth is now second in 1985 CRA Sprint Car points and hol ds the absolute lap record for the Ascot Park half-mile, at 1 8 .7 3 seconds. The sport-model K75 may have a small fa iring with a chin spoiler. Prototypes of the machine have been seen near BMW's Los Angeles offices. October launch for BMW Triple BMW' s new K75 750cc triple will make its world debut in October. A world press in troducti on has been sched u led for 2 Septembe r, a n d th e a s-yet -u nannounced mach in e shou ld be in U.S. dea ler sho wroo ms earl v in 1986. T he existen ce of th ~ new Beemer has been co nf ir med by p hotos o f preprod uction cylin der heads a nd other co m po nen ts a t the ma n u facturer' s Spandau factory a nd prototypes ha ve recen tly been seen bei ng tested on Los Angele s streets. At a p ress even t held recentl y a t Riverside raceway, Robert Mitch ell , Pro du ct In forma tion Manager for BMW o f North Amer ica . told the gat hering that the new mach in e was defin irelv o n its way, a nd to p lan maga zin e spa ce for coverage o f its introd uction. Two versio ns o f th e K75 a re expected . both usi ng pra cti call y th e same cha ssis, bodywor k an d ru n ni ng gear as th e K l 00 fou rs. Backing up a bas icunfaired K75 wi ll be som e form o f sports versi o n - possib ly with a modifi ed KJOORS fa irin g a nd bellypan . The three-cylinder engi ne is basi ca ll y a KI O Owith one cyli nde r cho pped o ff. Th e cylin der bor es a re a lu min u m with Bi\!W's Sr animet n ickel silico n ca r bid e coa ting, an d bor e a nd st ro ke a re unch anged a t 67x70m m. Pow er o u tp u t is a clai med 74 bh p at 8400 rp m - on ly 15 less th a n th e lOO Occ KJOO. Va lve gear, dri ve tra in an d elecrrics ar e ide n tica l to th e KlOO' s, and as ide fro m a m ore co m pac t engi ne block . the biggest di fferen ce is th e new 1200 cran ksha ft - essent ia l for smooth. ness in three-cyl inder engines. The fu el m ixing will be ha ndl ed by a var iation o f th e Bosch LE-J etron ic un it used o n th e KIOO. Redl ine h as been set a t 9200 rp m . Like th e KIOO, th e engine is mounted as a stressed -member in th e fra me. Since thi s rig id -mou nt ing cou ld cause vibra tio n even with th e 1200 cra nk , th e sha ft wh ich dr ives th e oi l an d wa ter pum p s at th e front o f the en g in e n ow in corp ora tes weig h ts to act as an engi n e cou n rerba la nce r. T he sa me 18-in ch cast-a lu m in u m wheels will be used ; th e brak es ar e the sa me II-i nch Brem bo twin dis cs as o n the KIO To keep cos ts dow n . th e O. rear di sc brak e has been d itch ed in favo r of a drum bra ke. a nd th e front forks have been downsized to 38.5m m fro m th e KI O 4 J.4m m. Like th e O's K I00, no fork bra ce o r a nti -div e system is fin ed . T h e sam e monolever rea r suspensian will be used on the K75. but ru mors in d icat e the rear shock may be a ir adjus ta ble a n d feature vari ab le dam pi ng . Although it's li kel y th e K75 is th e last new BMW design we'll see for a whil e. it' s wort h no ting th at the Ken g ine 's mod u lar design wou ld pe rmi t it to be stretched to five cylin ders and 1250cc. Cal iforn ian Randy Mamola led Rothmans Honda teammates Ron Has lam of England and Wayne Ga rdner of Australia to a 1-2-3 sweep of the 500cc road race GP at Assen, Holland, on Saturday, June 29 ; The race was run in heavy rain and the slippery condi tions caused a rash of crashes. Po ints leader Freddie Spencer (Hon) was involved in a first lap crash with Christian Sarron (Hon, defending World Champion Eddie Lawson (Yam) crashed on the 10th lap, and Connecticut's Mike Bald w in went down on the ninth lap. Out of the 36 starters in the 500cc GP , only 19 finished the race . Spencer continues to lead Lawson in the point standings, 81 to 74, with Gardner moving into third with 53 points. Prior to the 500cc G P , Freddie Spencer won the Dutch 250cc G P wh ich was ru n o n a surface that was wet a t the begi n ni ng o f th e race. but dr ied o u t as th e race wound down. Martin Wim m er (Yam) was seco nd . with Anton Ma ng (Ha n) third . Spencer, wi th 89 poi nts. now hol d s a co m m anding lead ov er Winner wh o has 61. a nd Ma ng at 60. T he Sidecar GP wa s wo n by the Bilan d /Wa lti sperg (Kra ) team . Pier-Pao lo Bianchi (MBA) wo n th e I25cc G P . wh ile Gerd Kaska (See) came home first in the 80cc G P . Expert Doug Dav is (H-D ), Junior Brian Athe rton (W -R) and Novice Eric Sassm an (W - R) all scored back -t o -ba c k wi n s in the i r respective cla ss fin als i n two AMA Regional Championship Dirt Track Series half mile rounds over the June 22-24 weekend . The trio f irst topped the finals of the Saturday night Greenville, Dh io, Regional and then copped the finals in Sunday afternoon's Old Time Newsies race in Dayton, Ohio. Former Gran d Nationa l C ha m pion Gary Sco tt ha s a n nou nce d th at thi s will definitel y be h is last year o n th e Camel Pro Series circu it. Sco tt says his long- tim e sponsor, ].R. Kell ey's KK Moto rcycle Supply. pl an s to field a two to fo ur-m an d irt track tea m n ext year , with Scot! as th e manager. The SuperTrapp division of ·t he Moller Corporation is looking for an experienced marketing director to lead and coordinate its marketing effort. For more information call SuperTrapp at 916 /7565069 . T he Sevent h An n ual Hap J o nes Golf Tou rnam ent will be held the day a fter th e San J ose Mile o n Sep tem ber 16. Dealers. Man ufacturers and friends a re invited to particip at e. The tourna me nt will be h eld a t the Suno l G olf Course in Su nol, Ca liforn ia. For m ore in form ati on co n tact Mary Dudley at 408/263 -3425. The AMA w ill hold a meeting on July 23 at it s offices in Westerville, Ohio to aid in the selection of a qualified IS D E team to represent the USA in Spain. The meeting. scheduled f o r 9 :00 a.m ., is open

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