Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

trying to bea t hi m. " After Au stria , wh en he had a 30 point lead , o n TV h e said he didn 't have 10 wi n a nd th a t he cou ld just go o ut a nd ride, H e's maki ng a m istake say ing th a t beca use if yo u n o tice Iactory tea m s at th e begin ni ng o f th e season usu all y start ou t rea ll y well an d the n they sta n going down . I've al ways sai d th ere a re 12 G ra nd Prix and yo u hav e to treat everyone lik e it' s th e fir st o ne beca use as soon as yo u sta rt slac king o ff it's not good at al l. It 's like a rid er th at ha s a 30 seco nd lead, but starts dropping o ff two seco n ds a la p when he co u ld keep up th at pace, Once yo u sta rt slow ing down it 's because yo u sta rt thinking a bo u t th at b ig lead a nd n ot thinking a bou t what you 're do in g. " So I th ink that migh t ha ve sometiling to do with i t a n d th e o ther thing is h e knows th at H onda is h ot after hi s tail a nd th ey're trying 10 stick numerous rid ers between him an d Freddie to win th e ch a m p io n sh ip . At th e beginn in g o f the sea son he wa s ridin g rea lly fin e a nd doing good. H e didn 't h ave any tir e trouble th en so wh y a ll o f a sudde n now is h e h avin g a ll thi s tire troubl e? T hat's what h e's puttin g it down as but I think it 's a co m b ina tio n . I've go t nothin g agai ns t Eddie, I' ve got noth in g against any body th ai ca n go out a nd win th e World Championsh ip because th ey a re a rider a nd in a class by th em selves, but I ca n feel what he's going through with the pressure," At th e 1984 Austrian Grand Prix, Mamola pulled ove r whil e in seco nd place and wa ited for Spen cer to pass, Lawson went on to win th e race. gaining onl y three points rather than five. At th e time, Mamola claimed his bike had momentarily sei zed. but with a third place spot on th e rostru m th e excuse raised more than a few eyebrows. "Lhad second place a n d I saw Ron Haslam was in third about 12 seconds behind with four laps 10 go-", Mamola confessed , " Ro n alwa ys seems 10 slow down in th e late laps, but he was n ever told (to slow down ) either, although it looked like he was. Freddie actu a lly ca ug h t him and on the last la p they didn't even have last lap on th e board. but I knew it was , They had noth ing on th ere (the bo ard) but plus I I on FS (Spencer), I couldn't beli eve it, just befor e that it said Ron H aslam. I said wh at the hell is go in g o n here, was th at o u t th ere because Honda ca m e over an d 10Id th em 10 put that out th ere or was it o u t th ere j us t to let me kn ow . " Here I am on a racetrack th ar o n ly take s a m in ut e and 18 seco n ds to ge t aro u nd and I d idn 't kn ow wh at to do , It's h ard 10 believe ho w long I I seco nds is when yo u're o u t th ere, it 's a long tim e when yo u' re ro lli ng a nd he's go t 10 ga in. I turned aro und an d I'm waitin g a n d wai ti ng and I'm go ing, ' Ma n , if I s low do wn a n d Freddie pa sses me I bet Ron H aslam 's right · beh ind him a nd here I have 10 trv a nd finish bet ween them '. If i t w o ~ld h a ve h a p p en ed on a section whe re Ron wa s right o n h is tail. I wouldn 't have done it 10 figure I would h ave lost th ird. After I did it th e people didn 't lik e it a nd so me of th e peopl e booed a n d stu ff, but I think th ey go t ove r it. T hey fin all y rea lized it was a bu siness. " Freddie didn 't lik e it and I didn 't like it an d h e sai d h e wi sh ed [ hadn 't done it , but [ said hey th is is a bu siness a nd we've go t 10 try a nd win th e champi on ship. H e h ad th ree points m ore th at I di d a n d th e two extra points were bett er in h is pocket th an m in e. Kel (Ca rr ut hers , Lawson ' s tu ne r ) a n d a ll th e Yam aha people were p issed off at me and that reall y hurt be cause th o se gu ys I " I J .. & ~,l )- ~ ~ ., ....1.,1 . 1 -6 ~ .. J .....,.. .. . ~ th o u ght were fri en ds; th ey fli pped me the bird a nd everythi ng . Wh en Eddi e shou ld h ave slowed down in Yugos lavia to let Ken n y pa ss (in [ 983 ) for the two p oints , if i hat would have ha p pen ed th a n everyth ing wou ld have been fin e for team Yama ha . [ ca n see wh y th ey got m ad , bu t i t's a bu siness a nd I gave up ' abo ut th ree thousa nd dolla rs plus two points. Tha t's money I co ul d ha ve used to ru n m y team ; bu t I think it 's goi ng to do m e so me good." Mamol a is a firm believer tha t in o rder 10 ge t better yo u ha ve to find beuer com pe tition. Usi ng Superb ike Champion Fred Merk el a nd H a sla m as examples, Ma m ol a expained his theory. " Mer kel wiII never go a n ywhe re u n less h e goes so mew here, " Ma mol a said. " I mean h e h as th e tal ent beca use h e ca n rid e arou nd h e re (Lagu na Seca) a n d win , but he ca n 't go a ny fa rth er. Freddie went aroun d h ere in five laps in I:09, three seco nds fa ster th an Merk el's goi ng . H e j us t did it for th e film thing . T h ree seco nds faster - because th ere is no o ne el se h ere th at h e has to bea t in th at class , I ha d Ken n y 10 fo llow a nd w he n I went 10 Europe I had pl enty o f peop le to follow, a nd th at's w ha t R on H a sl am is fallin g into. H e stayed in Englan d a long time a nd what he was do in g was bea ting th ese local guys but th at was it. T h is is what Ron Ha slam does, th ere a re 15 lap races in En gl and a nd h e goes a nd h e rides a nd h e does h is fast 15 la ps a nd the n drops o ff th e pace in th e Gra nd Pr ix. . " It's not th at h e's burnin g h imself o u t, it's j ust th at he's used to going really qu ick fro m th e beginning a nd then th at's it . H e's u sed 10 th at type of racing because h e stay ed in En gland that long and had no o ne 10 learn from , but I guarant ee h e 's learning from us now in Europe." Mamola disagrees with the "streetbike " formula and doesn 't believe it 's th e sa vio r o f Am erican road ra cing. " It's (ru n n in g street bikes in th e Formula One class ) allow ed Jo e down th e stre et 10 go in th e m otorcycle sh op and buy a bike, strip off a ll th e. gear you don't need and put it on th e racetrack , That kind o f bike sho u ld be raced in a class by itself. It do esn 't belong in there with a G.P. bike; It 's a class that doesn 't belon g in a G.P cla ss. T he wa y it wa s before wh en th ere were TZ750s, su re it was m ore ex pe ns ive. but I guarantee it was a lot beuer racing. T here was a lot better qualit y of ri der o u t th ere; the g uy th at was o ut th ere had 10 go throug h the ra n ks 10 ge t th ere. Now yo u j us t ha ve 10 ride o ne yea r in the 250 class a nd tha t guy ca n bu y a street bike a nd ru n it agai ns t my bike a nd th a t' s p re tty bad . T ha t's th e wa y th ey wa nt to go, th ey wa nt to run th e racing rig ht into th e gro u nd . " So man y peop le as k why th ere are so man y good riders, th e four of us (Spe n cer, Ro berts, Ma m o la and Lawson ), that were great last yea r in Europe. Wh ere arc all thes e other guys? It 's reall y strange, bu t I thi nk a lo t ha s 10do with the A.M.A. lett in g stree tbik es race in th e Form ul a One class. They jus t like th is thi ng of low bu dget raci ng a nd th ey want to keep it that way . [ can understa nd th e p ro ble m of bu yin g a bike and I ca n understand th e p robl em a p riva teer has in runnin g a team . Ir' sexpen sive a nd there is n o wav 10 make monev th at wa y, but like 'I say vou ha ve job 10 keep th e p riva teer; hopes u p . You h a n ' a job to go o u t a nd wi n races a nd pr omote th e sponsors th at yo ur wit h. I co u ld have q uit a lon g tim e ago 100, but I wa n ted 10 keep goi ng. Lik e H onda sa id I cou ld have stayed home, but they 're g la d I'm racing a nd I'm glad th ey ga ve m e th e opportun ity 10 go race." • a ; ,I . J & • TEri YEARS AGO Product Evaluation .-. Aus tra lia n sources rep oned th a t Kawa sak i wa s experiment in g wi th an en larged [OOOcc vers io n o f the 900cc ZI, a n d might a lso be working o n a downsized 650cc version o f the fo ur-stroke DOHC fou r. T he repo rt seemed unlikel y, because Kawasak i was a lready p rod ucin g th eir twoma ke tr ip le in 250cc, 350, 400, 500 a nd 750cc di splacem ents. Tea m H onda rid er Pierre Karsmakers wr estl ed hi s 400cc work s bike 10 a n ove ra ll win at Canada' s fir st 500cc MX G ra nd Prix , hi s 2-2 sco re beat ing G errit Wolsink's 4- 1 tall y by o ne po in t. Tony DiStefano took hi s Suzu ki 10 third ove ra ll with a 6-3 fini sh , a nd Steve Stackable ea rned fo urth with a 7-5, R eignin g World Ch amp ion Heikki Mikkola cras hed on th e first lap o f th e seco nd mota a nd DN F. • An est ima ted 140.000 fans turned o u t to see Barry Sheene edge Giacomo Agostini by half a bik elen gth in th e 500ccG P road race a t the Dutch 'TT in Assen , H olland. Dieter Braun took hi s Yamaha to th e 350cc victory , and Walter Villa claimed th e 250cc ra ce a board a H arley-Davidson, Yam aha was seen testing a new 500cc MX bike in southern California. reported io be an OHC four-stroke sin gle with a radical monoshock rear suspe ns ion. Th e California Air Resources Board (CA R B) proposed motorcycle em issio ns standa rds that were more stri ngent than those m andated by the EPA, a n d came up with a sliding sca le of hydrocarbon limits based on en g ine di splacem ent. According to CARB s po k es m e n, th e n ew s ta n d a r d s " wo u ld n' t affect bikes o ver 750cc," However . two-strok e stree t bik es were far from co m p lia nce - in fact , so me mach in es tested produced more th an 20 tim es th e proposed limit, CA R B addressed th e q uestion of two-s troke engi nes by saying th ey cou ld be made to co m pl y wi th "simple eng ine modifica tions." • Scott Brelsford made hi st ory by pi lotin g h is Erv Kanemoto - p re p ared Ka wasaki tri pl e to victory a t the AMA Reg ional Cha mpions hip Stockton Mi le - the fir st w in for a two-stroke en gine in AMA Expert clas s miletrack competition. Loca l cha m p Alex Jorgensen followed Brelsford for second pl ace a board a Norton . a nd Tom White took h is H a rley to a thi rd pl ace finish. • F1 R Mufflers Si nce the lat est cro p o f Sport bikes are equipped with full fairi ngs . severa l co m pa nies h a ve real ized th at th e look a n d so u n d of a hi gh -performa nce exh a us t system ca n be imi ta ted with a pair o f sli p -o n mufflers. KWB ' introduced th eir sli p -o n F I muffler s abou t a year ago; th e F [ R represents th at firm 's second-gen eration sli p -o n m uffler. As with their original design . KWB makes no claims of perform ance or h orsepo wer gai ns for th e new FI R mufflers. T he F[ R mufflers a re co nstruct ed o f a lu m in u m . with an overall wei gh t of just 5.5 pounds for th e pair. The muffl ers are a rev erse m egaphon e design. with the internal megaphone a n d th e muffler core made of steel. For noise damping, th e steel co re is wrapped with fibergla ss. We fitted a pair of th e FI R muffl er s to a 1985 Honda 500 Int erceptor. In stallation took about 15 minutes; th e FI Rs use th e stoc k Honda clamp and mount ing bolt , Th e left side muffler has a welded tab for the stoc k rubber cen tersta nd Dumper. so th e m uH lers fi t w i thou t a wk ward brack ets or modification s to th e bik e, Since th e FI Rs in stall so qu ickl y, it 's easy to co mpa re th em w ith th e stoc k m ufflers. T he FIR muffler s are defini tely tgLde r than th e stock un its, th o ugh nobody felt the sou nd was objectiona bl y loud . After swapping back and forth be twee n t he stock system a co uple of tim es, the F I Rs made the bike feel sligh tly more powerfu l - p o ssi bl y d u e to th e F l R 's d ee p er , th roa tier sound. Th e F I R m u fflers magnified th e In tercep to r's lea n ca r b u re t io n; th ough th e bike ran fine with th e stoc k a ir filter , it ba rel y ran a t a ll with a freer-fl owi ng K&/'I: filter. In sta lla tio n of th e FI Rs would be co m p le me nte d b y camshaft, pis ton or ca r burerio n ch anges. Choi ce of m at er ials, fit and construnia n ar e first ra re. Of co urse the fi berg lass p a c k in g around the muffl er co re wi ll eve ru u a ll y bl o w O U I, so KWB o ffers rebui ld kits for $9.95 per pai r. T he F I R m uffl ers a re availa ble for a ll H onda Intercept or s, both Ka wa sak i N in ja s, a nd Ya maha 's F] 1100, FZ750 a nd V-Ma x. Du e to th eir a lu mi n u m co n str uctio n , th e FIRs wi ll be between seven a nd 12 poun d s l igh ter than rh e sto c k m uff ler sys tem - a co n s id e ra b le weight savi ng. Reta il price is $199 S229 depen di ng o n app licat io n. For in form at ion co ntact KWB Ma rk etin g G roup, P.O. Box 756, Dept. CN . Brea , CA 92621 714/779-5318. • 25 . ..

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