Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Su percross Series roun d the fo llowing da y. It 's no secr et that a tte n da nce at the a n n ua l Camel Pr o Series event s in th e Ast ro dome ha s dwindl ed , despit e a trem end ous a mo u n t o r p ro mot iona l hel p Iro rn R.j. Reyn ol ds. The August 3 -4 Camel Pro Series Road Race Nationals .at Lexington. Ohio's Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will be the last chance for dirt trackers Doug Chandler. Bubba Shobert and Ted Boody to pick up Grand National Championship points road racing . Point standings leader Chandler and Boody, who is third in points, both scored at the recent Laguna Seca Road Race National. while Shobert did not compete . Both Chandler and Boody are pre-entered at Mid-Ohio. but there has been no decision yet by Honda as to whether or not Shobert will compete there . The final road race of National of the season takes place at Minnesota's Brainerd International Raceway on September 1. but the Springfield Mile National runs on the same day. T he Huntingto n Sheraton H otel in Pasadena, Ca li fornia is the o fficia l race headq ua rters lor th e August 17 Miller Supercross Fi nals to be h eld a t th e Rose Bo wl. T hose a tte nd i ng th e Supercro ss ca n get a specia l di sco u nted room rat e of $59 a n ight by m ent ioni n g the race . For reserva tions call 8 181792-1266. The 19B6 Suzuki Quadracers will be on display at the August 17 Miller Supercross Finals at the Rose Bowl; this will be the first public showing of the 19B6 models. The California Best Pairs spe edwa y even t sch ed uled Ior August 6 a t Ventura R acew a y has be en ca nce ll ed. The regular Tuesda y night speedway program will be run in it s p lace. Team Obsolete's Dave Roper and Jeff "Marco Polo" Elghanayan will ride two Matchless G50s in an Australian National V intage Motorcycle Meet at Mallala Motorsports Park near Adelaide, Australia on September 29 . The pair will be hosted by the Australian Vintage Motorcycle Racing Group. The Co lorad o S u p ercross th at was menti on ed in la st week 's ca le n da r secti on as a half-mile is ac rua ll v a Supercro ss. The race sched uled fo r August IO will be held in Alamosa , Col orad o ; [ o r m ore informati on call 303/ 589-9717. Drag racers should note a new date and location for the IDBA American Nationals . The event, originally set for September 14-15, will now be held on September 21-22 at Atco, New Jersey 's Atco Raceway . Yamaha Mo to r Co . prese nted drag ra cer Jay Gl ea son with a new 1985 Yamaha V-Ma x as a birthda y present o n Jun e 27 in appreci ati on o f his effor ts in promoting Yamaha m otorcycles. An unspecified number of extra officers from the California Highway Patrol. Palo Alto and the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department will try to end Skyline Boulevard 's reputation as "a speeding motorcyclist's paradise." according to an article in the San Jose. California , Mercury News of July 19. From 1982 through 1984, 82 motorcycle accidents - four of them fatal - occurred on a 25.5mile stretch of Skyline Boulevard that begins at the intersection of Highway 92 in San Mateo C o u n t y and ends at Hig hwa y 9 o n th e Santa C lara-Santa Cr uz Co u n t y border. Rangers ha ve lifted th e tem po ra ry stage two fir e closure in eHe('l Ior California 's Sequoia Nat ional Forest since Ju ly 4, re-opening a rea m o torcycle trails in time Ior th e Au gust 4 Sequo ia Summer Seri es II vo lu nteer trail building a n d mainten ance p ro gra m . For information ca ll 619/ 376378 1. (Co n tin ued to page 9) ~ORCYCLE INDUSTRYS C"ANGE Left Lyle Sa n da, Moto-X Fox support coordinator, after nearly 10 years with the co mpany; Sanda's respo nsibliries were ass u med by Greg Fox. Sold Lancer Lea th ers, ma ker s or motorcycle clot hing, to Dan Melbo urne; new address is 46 11 North 12th st.. Phoenix, AZ 85014 , 602/ 937-1975. Hired Mitch Boeh m , 23, as Associa re Ed itor o r Motorcyclist magazine; Boehm gradu ated Ir orn th e U n ivers ity o r U ta h with a major in En glish a nd I S Expert-ranked 111 m ot ocross, n at track and road ra cin g. Hired As Assi st ant Editor o r Mot ocross Action magaz in e, Ken St ein, a lo n g -rim e Cycl e New s co rre • sponderu . THE NATIONAL PAPERS By Roxy Rockwood Most o f th e a tten tion in FIM Int ernati onal road ra cing this season has cen tered around two topi cs. Who will win th e 500cc titl e III th e duel be tween Freddie Spencer a n d Eddi e Lawson and will Spe ncer beco me th e fir st to ever win bo th th e 250 and 500cc titles th e sa me sea so n? One record that Fredd ie ca n no t eq ua l or to p th is yea r is th e nu m ber o r 500cc Grand Prix wins by Ken n y Ro bert s, Kenn v has a to tal o r 23 500cc w in s o ver a six-sea so n span wi th hi s bes t si ngle sea so n bein g in 1983 wh en he won six a nd sti ll lost the titl e to Spencer. Fast Freddi e is runn ing well a he ad o f Kenn y in th e time spa n co lu m n a nd by th e en d or Jul y had reco rd ed 18 500cc victories in three sea sons o r racing " O ver T h ere." Shou ld Fredd ie win th e Iina l rh ree this yea r he wou ld still be tw o shy o r Roberts' ma rk . H e ha s won previ ous 500cc GPs a t two o r th e three remaining co urses but ha s yet to win hi s first Briti sh GP which is th e first o r th e fina l three. Somew hat overlooked is the assault o n th e 250cc record books that th e Dayto na tr ip le winner is tu rning in th is season . As o r the end o r Jul y he ha d wo n seve n o r eig h t and p laced secon d in the o ne he did not w in ! At p resent he h as a w in strea k o r six-i n a -ro w a nd co u ld end the season as not o n ly th e 250cc Wor ld Cha mp io n but eq ua lin g the single-seaso n win record o f 10, wh ich is joim ly held by th e lat e Mik e H al lwood (1966)a nd th e former two -time 250cc cha m p Tony Mang (198 1). H a ilwood last won for H onda back in 1967; five different brands have won th e title since that time but neve r H onda. The records do n ot show it , but Spe nc er is a lso perha ps th e fir st rid er to ever enter a nd w in th e 250cc title th e first yea r a ride r ha s en tered th e class. For the past several years the Americans have a lso no t o n ly won th e title in th e 500cc class but hav e swept the to p posi tio ns. It rem ai n s no w for popu lar Laguna Sera wi n ne r R andy Ma mol a to ma ke a fast finis h and tak e thi rd p lace in the final sta ndings. H e was second in 1984. Spencer wi ll turn 25-years of age after the seaso n is over. In a si ngle yea r h e h as won S uperbi ke, Form u la One, 250cc G P and 500cc GP even ts around th e world . No o the r rider h as ever come close to winni ng fo ur d ifferen t types or road rac e events in th e sa m e season in addition to meeting and beating all o r th e best in each of th e lour types on a worldwide basis. Before he is finished there may be o n ly on e re cord that will esca pe Spencer. Back in th e lat e '60s and ea rly ' 70s th ere wer e more 500cc GPs th an th ere a rc now an d th e sin g leseason win record o f II is h eld by Gi acomo Agostini. Currently th e 1"11\1 sa nc tio ns a n even dozen GPs o ver a seaso n . Is it pos sible that Freddi e Spen cer co u ld so m eday win th em a ll? With Freddie staying fast, anything is possible as h e has proven time and time aga in . Spencer, Law son a nd Marn ol a hav e aga in won every maj or event in far away pla ces this year with o ne excep tion and it took a n act or God (ra in ) 10 bea t them - and that 's according to the eventua l winner. Chr istian Sarron. Congratulations to all three Am e ri cans and to t h e gra ciou s Fren chman, who had God o n his side agai n st th e Yankees o n o ne oc ca sion. ee WRITER By Chuck Clayton Laguna Ticks! Lagu na SeQ Racew a y is o pe ra ted by a sp ort s ca r cl u b, yet its bigg est a ttractio n is th e a n n ua l motorcycle race. It is th e p ri me western gat herin g , or "Spe ed Weekend," com pa rable to Da ytona 's Mo to rcycle Week. Laguna is th e o n ly p lac e I kn ow or w here th ey Ict spec ta tors ride la ps o n th e co ur se between road races. T h is ha s become a traditi on a t Laguna , a nd n o doubt sells a lo t o r tickets. To foll ow th e racing lin e a t parade speed hel ps the fans bett er understand w ha t it m ight reel like a t war speed, It is a lso th e week end o r th e la st surviv ing "economy derby" in the kn own world. Craig Vet ter h as stuc k to hi s dream of fu el -effi cient m otorcycles. Entries waned in th is yea r o r gasoli ne gl ut , bUI th ey were m or e effi cient loo kin g , bett er ma de. The ch a nce to pa rade yo u r crea tio n in front o r thi s cro wd ma kes yo u work be tter. H ere, too, was th e uno fficial ga th eri ng o r th e west's T rike Road ster C lu b. A 101 has happen ed in th e hi gh-tech trike world sinc e last yea r. Trihawks wer e ba ck , bu t Badsev's Fun Mach in e rail ed to mak e its debut. The lillie Fir e Arrow ki t is still in product ion. They say th ey have deliver ed a bo u t 20 kits thi s yea r with no ad vert ising a nd ver y lillie publi ci ty. Laguna was a lso th e western m eetin g for The Sons o f Danger informal m o torcycl e ra ce p ro m ot er 's club, h eaded by Don Brym er. H e wa s greeted by Leo Potvin , bro ug h t here a t great expen se to pedd le newspapers to the cro wd , T hey sai d that a t Loudon th e crowd burned 14cars (bro ug h t for tha t p urpose) and "bashed " ha lf a dozen bikes for between-race en tertai nment. Next year Lagu na Seca wi ll celebrate th e l ooth bi rt hday of th e T ri ke, invent ed by Karl Benz . This year we celebrated the century of the in ven -: tion of th e motorcycle by Gouleib Da iml er. Yo u n g men with bu llets in the eyes are racing th ese marvell ous toys and givi ng high moments o f joy to us on lookers , Lagu na Seca is a fi ne p lace to ce lebrate a century of speed. • ~y John Ulrich Elitism in print The latest pronouncement to come out o f Westlake Village. home o f C ycle magazine. is that the m o to rcycl e man ufacturers lie in their sta teme nts o f horsepower. Cycl e m agazin e has a l ways been o ne to declare H ow It Should Be, sp ecia lizing in issui ng" Declara tio n s of Supreme Truth, a nd they' ve don e it again. Their recent print conce rn ing man ufacturers ' cl aim ed h orsepow er versu s the horsepow er they ge t on th e Kerk er chassis d yn o is not fair. No two dyn e s read th e sa me; th ere' s n o go vern ment age ncy th at cert ifies d yn o s; th ere 's n o int ern ati onal d yn o sta nda rd; a nd la st I h eard God had n ot d ecl ared th e Kerker d vn o T h e Suprem e H o rsepow er Measure. Th e Kerk er d yn o m ea sures h orsepower del ivered to th e rear wheel ; th e figur es o bta i ne d by a bike o n the Kerker d yn o a re vali d o nly for co m pa riso n wi th figures o bta ined by o ther bik es o n th e Kerker dvn o . The ma n u factu rers use eng ine d yn os, not cha ssis dyn o s, ca lcu la te horsep ower back 10 th e cra n ks ha ft (befo re i t is diluted by fr ictiona l drivel in e loss es), a nd m ea sur e in ps horsep ow er, not brak e horsepo we r (p s x 0.9863 eq uals bhp). Th e fig u res th e manufacturers o b ta i n are u sed o n sta teme nts o f orig in required to im port vehicles into th e U ,S" a s well as in advert ising co py . E nco ura g i ng th e id ea th at Yamaha , for exa m p le, lies by cla i m i ng th a t th e V-M ax m ak es 145 hors epower wh en Cycle say s it makes 118 horsepow er is like Cycl e ma ga zin e decla rin g [hat th e One T rue Measuri ng Sys tem is Whitworth a n d tha t the met ric system is th erefore ba sed on lies. Cycl e m aga zin e ha s n o excl us ive o n truth , a n d this tim e th ey'r e not even close. • 3

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