Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRYS CflANGE Named Jim McI lva in as Husqvar na's Na ti on a l Sa les Man a g er ; McIlva in ha s recentl y been in vol ved with all Husqvarna 's sa les promo ti ons . a dve rt is i ng a nd d ealer sh ip . development. Hired Da ve Pyle a n d Mich ell e Letelli er by Kawasaki Mo tor Corp ., U .S.A. ; P yl e wi ll wor k as a p art s coordinator w hil e Letell ier m oves to th e publ ic rela tions department. Promoted Robert E. Rex to Wes te rn Ad vertising Manage r for Hi-To rqu e P ub li cations; Rex was pr eviously an accou nt execu tive. Promoted Mark A. Thomas to Eastern Advertising Manager for Hi-Torqu e publications; Thomas was previously an account execu tive. Appointed Ron Edmondson , Corporate Vice President and Assistant G eneral Manager of Yamaha P arts Di stributors, Inc. , as Yamaha Motor Corporation's Trustee to th e board of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. Appointed P eter J. Fassnacht to the positio n of Vice President, Motorcycle Safety Programs of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. Born A son on July 30 to U.S . Suzuki Advertising Ma nager Thom Knudson and his wife Janet; boy's n ame not selected at press time. Hired Jeff C rago by Fours N ' More of Reseda , California. Crago form erly worked for Vance and Hines Racing. . Superbif(es for AMA Camel Pro Series in 1986 Formula One abandoned! By John Ulrich LONG BEACH , CA, AUG . 5 In a July 24 letter to race promoters, Am erican Motorcyclist Assn. (At'VIA) Professional Competition Director Bill Amick said that th e AMA will make Superbike th e points-p ayin g main event a t Ca mel Pro Series road ra ces in 1986, bumping' Formula One to sideshow status. In his letter, Ami ck also revea led that, in 1986, th e AMA will pl a ce more empha sis on Formu la Two, reduce Balik of th eTwins (BoTT) to two displa cem ent classes (750cc and IOOOcc) wi th stri cter licensing requirements, and hold three-to-six- hour, into-the-night end u ranc e races on Saturday nigh ts before th e Camel Pro Seri es races. Ami ck claims th e cha nge will resu lt in "ava ila bility of equip, ment ... reasonable cos t for independent ent ries . . . pot ential for rul es formula which will ge ne ra te more co m pe titive raci ng . .. pos itive 'sell wha t you race' incenti ve for manu , Ia c ru rer s . .. sp ec ta to r appea l of mu lti-brand racing . which ca n be related to sh ow-room floor equipment and ties in with extensive manu, facrurer ad vert ising ca m pa ig ns ." The move by th e AMA , expected to become off icial at a meeting at AMA headquarter s in West er vill e, Oh io Au gust 5, ca me under im mediate fire from fi ve-t im e U .S. Formu la One Champion Mike Baldwin a nd fro m Maclse Racin g o wner Bo b Mac, an Lean , who fields Formula One ma ch ines ridden by Wa yne Ra iney a n d Ri ch Schlachter. Ma cLean revea led th at h e h ad held talks with tra ck managem ent fro m Laguna Seca , Elkhart Lake and Mid-Ohio and th at th e three tr acks wo u ld form th eir own Formula One series . perhaps an international series, run a lo ng th e li nes o f CART Indy-car ra ces. " I think th e decision by th e AMA , or wh oever is behind th e decision, is th at they hav e decid ed - as a marketing decision - the Superbike format will be th e m ost successful for racin g and I'm totally in disagreem ent wit h that, " sa id MacLean. " I thi n k it 's a backwards move if we do this. My feeling, from what I've been a ble to o bse r ve of p eop le lo o kj ng a t and asking questions about my machin ery, is that there's a lot of interest in th e exotic ma chinery, in riders like Kenny Rober ts, Wa yne Rain ey, Rich Schlachter a n d the rest. I feel th e people who ar e buying soft drinks, pizza or whatever from companies we want to get interested in ra cing, are interested in th e exotic. "T h ere a re several options open to us sh o u ld the proposal go through a n d one is to create an alternative series in th e U .S. to try and kee p Formu la One racing alive , " continued MacLean. " O r I could take my interest and focus it on racing th e GPs in Europe. I'd rather spend m y money h ere tr ying to ma ke racing better, but Superbike racing? I don 't think so. " "If they do make the change from Form u la One to Super bi ke as th e premier series in the U.S. then the reason , the main one, is th at they're having a hard time filling th e Formula O n e grids," said Baldwin . " I certain ly don ' t thi n k they 're doing it to cu t th e cost of racing for th e riders. If you want to race a GP bike , a Honda RS500, you ca n buy a new '85 for $27,000 . You o pe n the crat e and yo u're read y to ra ce and be co m pe tit iv e . By thet im e you 'v e fini sh ed building a Su perbi ke ca pable o f win ning yo u' re going to spen d up wa rds o f $30,000 a nd th a t doesn 't cou nt the time put in. Once you add in la bor, yo u've got 40,000 in vested . Yo u ca n bend that figure a nd co me up with o ne for $15,000 but th at won ' t get yo u a top five finish or ma ybe even to p 10. " If th ey want to cha nge to Su pe rbike, that 's fin e with me," co ntin ued Baldwin. " I' ll sell m y Formula One eq u ip me nt and get Superb ik es beca use riding a two-stroke o r a fourstroke doesn 't m ake any difference to me . I think one thing a lot of riders, teams and sponsors hav en 't looked a t, if th e chan ge is made, is tha t you' ll probably have all the top Formula One riders on Superbikes and th at puts those riders n ow finishing third and back suddenly racing for eighth or ninth. Will they be able to afford th e $40,000 it' s going to take to have high ly-competitive ma chin ery? "I th ink some wiIl , but th at will esca la te the cost of racing for everybody. I'm fortunate to have sponso rship that will all ow me to h ave a very competitive bike, but I don 't think th ere are a lo t of o thers as fortunat e. Th e cha nge isn 't for th e ride rs a nd a ny bo dy who keeps say ing it is. is t ryin g to pull th e wo ol ove r our eyes." • Grand National Champion Ricky Graham's Honda carried a television camera during his heat race at the July 27 DuQuoin Mile round of the Camel Pro Series. Taped footage was aired on ABC-TV 's Wide World of Sports. Graham felt the weight of the camera's transm itter (seen be low), mounted on the bike's tail section, affected the handling of the bike and refused to carry it in the main event which was telecast live. Honda Support rider Mike Fis her rode a production version of t he 1 9 8 6 Honda CR500R motocrosser at the July 28 National MX at Broome-TIoga S ports Ce nter i n Ce nter Lis le , New Yo rk . While the f ram e rem ai ns basi ca lly unchanged ; th e bike does have a new front fork, m inor changes in cyl inder porting, a. redesigned gas tan k w ith side lobes wh ich extend bel ow the seat bottom and a.revised linkage in the Pro-Link rear suspension sys tem. Fisher fin ished eighth overall in the 500cc c lass aboard the bike. 7

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