Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

through a pylon -marked train ing course for Sacramento television and news crews. A llen 's press con ference, highlighted by a low -speed crash when a telev isio n camerma n jum ped direct ly in f ro nt of her, publicized a re ce n t ly -de c la re d motorcycle awareness week and promoted her bill . · THE NATIONAL PAPERS By Roxy Rockwood T he last event in the 1985 AFM / Kerker West Coast Superbike Series wi ll be h el d a t W il low Sp ri ngs Racewa y o n N ove m ber 10; th e eve nt was or igi na lly scheduled for O c to ber 20: There will be a memorial run July 14 from the Griffith Park Observatory in Los Angeles to Montrose Community Church to remember Wayne "Cowboy" Conley, who was killed when a drunk driver rammed his streetbike; donations collected at the run will go to Con- ley's widow. More information on the run, which starts at 11 ;00 a.m. , is available from 213/6549300 or 818 /780-9553. After fin ishing second 10 Bro c Gl ov er in the 500cc cl ass at the Bucha na n Nationa l MX. Yamaha Support r ider Eric Eaton headed to the airport for a trip to Paris. Eaton will spen d just over a week in France a nd will ride a pair of Int erna tio nal MX races th ere. He will be ba ck in th e U .S. for th e July 28 Bi n g ha m to n , N ew York. National MX. Californian Billy Frank, who sustained a broken colla rbone at the June 2 Atlanta National MX. was back in action in ' the Buchanan National. Frank went 1 8 -1 1 on the day in the 125cc ranks, which earned him 16th overall . Reg istra tio n forall vintage bik e events at Laguna SeGI will b~ held a t th e Fairgrounds Travelodge, 2030 . Fremont SI. in Mont erey, Californ ia ; for more in formation GIll Mike Lewis a t 181366-1 3H. The Manitoba Roadracing Assn. I M RA) will hold a Canadian Motorcycle Assn. ICMA) road race with a $4000 purse at Gimli Motorsport Park in Gimli. Manitoba, Canada on September 7 -8 . More informat ion is ava ilable from MRA at Box 1, Group 19, RR # 1 , Headingley, Manitoba , Canada ROH OJO , 204/233-3411 . MQTORCYCLE INDUSTRY S I1ANGE Wrong Contrary to what Kenny Ro be rt s told us his dirt tra ck effo rt won 't be spons ored by T osh ib a ; what Roberts meant to sa y wa s th at he' II be sponso red in p art by Tsubaki cha in . Changed The name o f the Produ ct R es earch Depart rrrent of Am erican Honda Motor Co ., Inc. to P rod uct Evau lation Department; its primary fu n ction is s ri l l publi c relations . Kenn y Roberts is comi ng o u t of retirement for th e J u ly 14 Ca me l Pro Seri es Form ul a O ne ro ad race hosted by Champion Australia 's Ray Vandenberg 's 1986 pre-production CR125 Honda has a larger ATAC chamber. a beefier clutch and new Pro-Link linkages. 1..986 CR1.25 seen in Australia By Andrew Clubb - A p re-production versio n of Honda 's 1986 CR125 was recently debuted in ·Au stra lia . T eam Honda Australia 's R ay Vandenberg con tested the seco n d ro u n d of Aus tralia 's most prestigious 125cc title. th e Just Juice 125 Gold Cup. on the new .machine. Although similar in 'ap pea rance 10 the current C RI25 RF, Vandenberg's m achine featured a number of d et ail cha n ges. The engin e now features a sin g le-r i ng piston, al ong with a beef ed-up clu tch fitted with extra plates. The ca rb u re to r remains a 34m m flat-side Kei hi n . The exhaust pipe now ha s a n ew . larger ATAC ch a m ber. ' Lack o f top-end power was a strong cr i tici sm of the RF model and th at probl em would a p pear to be rec tified ; aft er riding th e n ew m achine, Vandenberg co m me n ted that the new st ock bike felt much stronger right across th e rp m range th an his h eavil ymod ifed 1985 m odels. Th e m a chin e ca me fill ed from J a pan wi th co m p le tely red esigned front forks. however . th e H onda Australia team elec ted to use works Sh owa unit s. T he Pro-Link rear end features slig h tly revised linkage rat ios, a m od : ili ed shock a n d a h and-made reser voir. so o bvious ly so me final producti on parts are yet to be d ecided upon . H eat sensitive panels were fill ed 10 th e reservoir and radiators, indicating Honda Australia's involvement in development o f the new model. Jimmy Ellis down-_der By Andrew Clubb Hired 1984 W'illow Spring s F-2 Jimmy Ellis is alive and well and raci ng motocross downu nder. For the past three seasons Ellis h as been competing National winner J ohn Glover. as a sa les representative for Barber H onda in Ventura , Californ ia . in Au stralia . fir st for the nati on al KTM di stributor, a n d now for a lead, ing ac cessory importer and Yamaha d eal er , Trevor Flood, who o pera tes o u t o f Melbourne. Victoria , The multiple Superbowl of MOIOcross winner has given some stro ng co m pe ti tio n to the loc a l yo u ng Australian aces; however. his results have been so mew ha t mixed with m ech anica l troubles and injuries do g ging h is performances. . Although Ellis secured th e Au stralian 500 cha m p io ns hi p last yea r, the most prest igious title in Austra lian motocross, th e Castrol Mr. Moto 'cro ss Series. h as eluded him , and lo ok s lik el y 10 again this yea r. At th e series' second round h eld on June 1 Ellis cra shed -in th e first o f .6. th e d a y's four motos, di slocating hi s sho u lde r a nd purring himself o ut o f action for a ro u n d a m onth. With no points o n th e da y, h is cha nces o f ca tch i ng the Series leader . J eff Leisk , look nex t to imposs ible as the H onda rider has wo n seve n o f th e ei g h t motos h eld so far. At th e co m p le tio n o f th e 1985 Austra li a n season, Ellis expects to hea d h ome to Con necticu t. A TV enthusiasts: Ban Statler By John Ulrich , LOS ANGELES , CA . J ULY 8 Mi litant ATV enthusiasts plan to picket CPSC Commissioner Stuart M. Statler, w ho gai ned fame by repeatedly ca lling for a ban a nd recall o f three-wheeled ATVs, a t a CPSC hea ring sched u led for O ct ober 15 in Los Angel es . Sources in side th e Los Angeles-based ATV Def ense Force say th e group will ca rry sig ns readi ng " Ba n St at ler, not ATVs" a nd ha nd out p hotocopi es of documents issued bv Statler since October o f 1984, ca ll ing for a ban and recall ; th e d ocuments are to co u n terac t Statler 's re cent cl aims th at he never d em anded a ban and recall. Sparkpl ugs . Kenn y has a record of 18 Nat ion al road race win s a nd no less [h an five o f th em are a t Lagu na Se ca . A few week s ago it looked as th o ugh a ste rl ing cast o f champions was no t goi ng to be on hand for th e Ju ly 13- 14 a ffair. R o ber ts had re ti red , Freddie Spen cer a n d Ed d ie Law son wer e lock ed in a tight duel for th e wor ld title in far-off Eu ro pe, a n d Randy Mamol a wa s still lo oking for th e r ig h t combinati on . But then Kenny cha n ge d h is mind and decided 10 ra ce that o ne m ore tim e li ke many ch a m p io n s often do and Mamola found a wav to return home. . Like Roberts, Marnola has found the fast and d em anding co u rse to hi s liking and has ra ced home the winner twice in th e pa st four outings and bagged a second pl ace last year. Baldwin 's situation is a bit more confusing. H onda a rra nged for pl enty of equipment to send him o n his wa y in th e privateer ranks for this season. But right before th e Loudon eve nt h e so ld one of his H onda RS 500s to d irt tracker Ted Bood y. Then Baldwin ca lled Honda and wanted to buy a new RS5oo' H e was informed th at a ll o f rh e F -I ma chines made this yea r had bee n so ld a nd no new tripl es would be av ailable until next seaso n . Baldwin told me a t Loudon that he was sen d in g his Loudon-winning machine ba ck to Europe a n d did not see how he co u ld sh ip .it halfwa y around th e world for one week end and h av e it ba ck in Europe th e following week. But hi s sponsors, th e Mi chelin tire peop le, stated th a t Badlwin wou ld indeed be at La guna for th e races . Baldwin failed 10 get hi s pre-entry in for Da vtona a nd fini sh ed seco nd . H e was not pre-enter ed for L oudon a nd showed up to win for th e fourth stra ig h t tim e. Perha p s he ha s found a new wa y to s uccess or br oken a selfimposed jinx by fo llowi ng th is new line? T h e event la st yea r. wit h Kenn y a n d Fr eddie Spe ncer as headl iners. d re w what man y th ought was a n a ll time record cr owd for a west coast cycle race and perhaps the largest crowd 10 eve r see a road race anywhere in the U.S., 88.000 peop le. Laguna Seca is o ne o f th o se rare track s where peo pl e a re con ten t to sit on hillsides o r in from o r a to p th eir vehicles for tw o to three days a n d n ot o n ly en joy th e racing but all th a t goes • with it between events. It is a happening of the fir st o rde r. Last yea r Fred Merk el defeat ed Wes Cooley in a co ntrovers ia l Bell H el met-sponsored Superbike fin al. Mer kel is ba ck but Cool ey is serio us ly injured; he hopes 10 be sp ectating from a -w heelc ha ir. What is Merkel going to do when he is n ot o n th e track? Sign a utographs and co llect dona tions to help Cooley pa y his medica l bi lls. Bo th da ys. Ro bert s, Marnola, Ba ldwin , Mer kel , plus Wayn e Ra iney a n d R ich Schlachter. T he basic cast is good or great enoug h to guarantee a nother excellent happening. You ca n co u nt o n it. • --- 3

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