Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The Yamaha FZ750 i n Japan i s different f rom it s exported coun terparts i n t h at the Ja pan-o n ly bike has a 17-inch front wheel in place of t he 1 6 -inch sold in th e U.S . Drew Smit h (Hon) was the overall winner of the Su nday, August I I , AMA N at i o n a l Championship Endu ro Series ro u nd in Speeds vi lle, New Yo rk , Sm it h fin ished th e 125m ile ru n with a score of 23 to top Mike Me lt on (Hus ) and j eff Russell (H us ) who finis hed with scores o f 26 a nd 27, respectively. Lynn Miller and Ed Key of Team Ontario (Han) won the Saturday, August 10, St. Louis International Raceway round of the AMA/CCS U.S . Endurance Championship Road Race Series. Team Ontario .t urn ed in 159 laps in the six-hour race, topping runner-up OuesterSullivan (Yam) by four laps, Double Down Racing (Yam) f inished third overall and f irst in the GTU class. Speed Bo ys R acin g (Yam) won the August 10-11 24 Hours of Nelson L edges round of the WERA National Championship Endurance Roa d Race Series. Larry Burkholder, Bob Frank. Mark Helser. J im Tribou and John Yurejefcic of Speed Boys co vered 2.097.9 miles on th e Warren. Ohio. co u rse. HSC Racing (Yam) finished second. with third going to Cycle T ech Raci n g (S u z). Cycle T ech lost a 14-l ap lead when th ey crashed . then cha nged an engine. with three and one-half hours remaining in the race. Defending champions Team Hammer led by tw o laps a fte r one hour but retired with engine problems. Defending 500cc MX World Champion Andre Malherbe (Hon~ and points leader David Thorpe (Hon) continued their battle for the '85 title in the Luxembourg GP on Sunday, August 11 . Malherbe was the overall winner after having finished 2-1 and recording an aggregate time that was 11 seconds better than Thorpe turned in with his 1-2 tally. Californian Danny Chandler (KTM) finished third overall w ith 4-3 finishes , With just one round remaining in the 1985 World Championship 500cc MX Series, the August 25 Swiss GP, Thorpe leads Malherbe by 15 points, 358 to 343, KTM 's H einz Kin igadner won h is seco n d -s traig h t 250cc MX World Championship by fini sh in g 2-6 in th e German GP o n Sun day. August II. T he Austrian 's pe rformance in th e final 250cc MX G P o f th e season gave h im th e titl e bv a sca m two points o ver Frenchmanjacky Vimond (Yam) , 291 to 289. Vimond lost h is poits lead a nd th e tit le by turning in a 12-7 ta lly. Ger t-J an Van Doom (H on) won th e first moto to give h im th ird o n th e season , Rol and Di epold (Kaw) was th e winner of th e seco nd rn oto . Northern Ca liforn ia's Mike Delacy and Duane Yarrow fin ished 1-2 in t he August 11 Golden State Speedway Championship in Ratcliffe Stadium, Fresno, California . The race marked the return of speed way racing to Ratcliffe Stadium for the first time since t he 1935 National Championships. Briggs & Stra tto n, well-known manuIa crurer o f sma ll-disp laceme n t utility eng in es. has decided that th ey will n ot suppl y engines for three-wheeled ATVs afte r September I, 1985. T he reason ci led is th e cu rre n t CPSC investi gation into three-wheeled ATIT ins ta bi lit y. a nd th e poss ibili ty o f a fu tu re p roduct lia bil ity law sui t. An exception is bei n g made for th e Tauru s 650, ma nufactured bv Canadianbased O n ta rio Drive a nd Gea r; accordin g to company spo kesm en , tha t panicular vehicle is urility-orieru ed a n d doesn 't pose th e Iiahility ris k o f recreational ATVs. M ike Goodwin, promoter of the upc oming Pasadena Supercross, has given his assurance that this year's course w ill be an exact copy of the popular Los Angeles Coli seum SX course (less the Peristyle Jump), replacing last-year's simplified TT-style course, Goodwin is so sure the crowd will be satis fied with the new course that he 's placing a money-back guarantee on the price of admission; tickets are available by calling 714/7402000 or 213/480-3232, oratthe gate of the Pasadena Rose Bowl. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) is ba cking Ca lifornia Assembly Bill AB412. designed to fund statewide motorcycle rider train ing programs. T he proposed bi ll would add $2 to the cost of street motorcycle reg istra tio n . raising an esti mated $ 1.3 million which wou ld, in turn. be passed along to the MSF. The MSF em p ha sizes that the Bill will in no wa y regulate motorcycles or their u se. but is merel y a vehicl e to ensure the future of MSF-administered rider education programs. At this point, AB412 has passed th e state legi slature. and is waiting the signature of Governor George Deukmejian. However. Deu km ejian considers the $2 fee to be a tax. and is likely to veto th e Bill unl ess he receives letters o f su p port from those who would be paying the fee (m o torcycl ists ). Deukrnejian will decide the fate of AB412 on August 22; cards and letters of support are needed immediately to ensure its passage. Letters should be addressed to : Governor George Deukmejian, Stal e Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814 . Rick Monette, a familiar face on road racer Rueben McMurter's crew for the past two seasons, has exchanged his tools for a briefcase. " Rick has a law degree and was waiting for the right job to come along," said McMurter at M id Oh io. "One did and Rick is -now working as a labor re lations law yer for a construct ion firm in Toronto." Bike Tou rs nlirnited is cu rren tly o fferi ng a unique o p por tu ni ty to tour Ital y o n a m ot orcycle. Panicipa nts will ac tua lly ha ve th eir mot orcycles aboard the sa me 747 depa n ing Los Angeles a nd arrivi ng in M il an , Ital y. Fo r more in format ion co ntact Bik e Tours U n lim ited at 2 13/833267 1. Randy Goss, Steve Morehead and Ga ry Scott are t he n ominees to f ill t he vacancy of ri der representa tive o n the AMA Dirt Tr ack Advi sory Rules Board that has been vacant sin ce Ted Boody res ig ned at t he beginning of t he season. Ballots are in t he ma il to li censed ri ders and t he resul t s of the v oti ng w ill be announced at t he A ug ust 24 Indianapolis Mile National. Ronnie Jones ho lds t he other rider rep seat on the board. Dick Lech ien, father o f new 125cc N ational Mot o cr oss Champion Ron Lechien a nd co-owne r o f Maxima Ra cin g Lubr icants, recent ly celebrat ed h is -!9 th birthday with a new weigh I; Lech ien ha s lost mo re than iO pounds o ver the last year d ue to what he descri bed as sheer will power. MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRYS CtlA·NGE Named As a dea ler for Cagiva mo torcycles. Eu ro pean Cycle Specialties, 1030 1 G arden Grove Blvd.• Garden Grove. Ca lifo rnia , 82643, 714/ 530-2711. Purchased Anaheim Husqvarna, by P ro Cycle. Pro Cycle will co nt in ue selling Husqvarna and KTM mo~orcycles a t 330 ' Ora nge th orpe. Umt L. Placentia, CA 92670. 714/ 524-5441. Hired BOD Bu tl er , 29, as S tore Manager for R acers' Su ppl y. in Van Nuys, California. Moved Gary Semics Motocross School. to 12424 Texas Ave.• # 18. Los Angeles, CA 90025. 2131207-4743. _ I1fZ;lI~t GOVERNMENT B.S. By Matt Benson Goodbye to 557 Oka y. you've heard it before. but p lease bea r with me : The en d of a bso lute federal contro l of highway speed limits seems to be getting closer , and yo ur h elp is needed, Before you give up on th is article as j us t a nothe r su m me r return. co nsider so me devel opments o n th e speedlimit front . Fir st a nd most recentl y. o n th e la st da y o f Jul y, I testified o n behalf o f th e American Motorcyclist Associ ation (AMA) a t a hearing held by th e U.S. Sena te En vironment and Publ ic Works Com m ittee's Transporta tio n Su bcommi ttee. The inte nt of th e hearing wa s to ga ther in formation on wh at shou ld be incl uded in upcomi ng federal- aid highway au thorizatio n legi slation. Although th e aim of th e legi slation will be to fu nd vario us road projects, programs and age ncies. suc h a u tho rizatio n measu res often collect wh at 's co mmo n ly referred to as " po rk" some thi ng like a bridge for a legisla tor 's home district, a p ro vision th at probably wouldn 't Ilv on its o wn merits. Legis lators ex tol th e need for a "c lea n " bill . but often th e o n ly way to wi n sup po rt for a big fundin g bill is to a llo w th e odd bridge or library to get o n for the rid e. A co up le of Sen at ors want 10 cha nge th e spe ed Iimit by lacking it o nt o thi s au tho rizatio n bill . and I test ified in favor of that proposal. As l'vt: written before in thi s space , Sena te Bill 329, spo nsored bv Sena to r Chic H echt (R-NV) a nd Sen ator Steve Sym ms (R-lD ). is hung up in .the Senate 's Commerce, Science a n d T ransporta tio n Comm itt ee. The legisl~lli ~lIl w o~ld allow sta tes to set a spee d limit as high as 65 mph o utside urban areas wit h a po p ulation of 50,OOO 'or more. It's no t likel y that Chairma n J~llIl D.an forth ,a Missou ri Republican , will bn ng th e bill up for a hearing , H ech t an d especiaII v Svmrns, wh o is ch air m a n o f the above-m entione d T ra nspona tion Subcom mi ttee, will need plenty of support to at tach the speed-lim it cha nge to th e h ighway bill and make it stick a ll th e way throug h Co ngress. Lett ers urging a return of speed limit control to th e states are needed. They sho u ld be sen t to Sym ms (T ransporta tio n Subcommittee. 415 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510) and Chairman Robert Stafford (En viron me nt a nd Public Works Committee, 410 Dirksen Senate Office Buildi ng ). While you 've got your paper and pen out. it wouldn't h urt to ask Danforth (Commerce. Science and Transportation Committee, 508 Dirksen Senate O ffice Bu ildin g) to hold hearings o n 5.329. Cons tituent pressure sometimes wor ks miracles. The second interest ing developmen t on the 55 front is the recent enactment of Nevada Assembly Bill 390, a complicated piece of legi sla tio n that will attempt to increase the state's speed limit to 70 mph next July. The tradeoff will be imposing mandatory seat -belt use (Nevada already has a helmet law). However. the whole law - speed increase and seat belts - will automatically repeal itself if the federal government withholds highway funds due to the higher limit. The Nevada law challenges the Ieds to show just what th ey consider most important for highway safety. There have, in fact. have indications from the U.S. Department of Transportation that perhaps Congress shou ld allow states to increase their speed limi ts if they take other steps to improve highwa y safety - and a seat-belt law has been mentioned by the DOT as one of those other steps. By the way. 15 states now have belt laws . 1?ird in my lis t of developments is agam rela ted to that threatened withholding o f funds . Arizona, Maryland an d Ver mont have been official ly w~~ed by the Federal Highway Adrru mstranon (a DOT agency) that they are o u t of comp liance wit h the na tional speed limit. That means more than 50% of the states' traffic on 55-mph r?a~s is trav eling above th e speed limit, and those Slates are liabl e to lose 10% of their federal h ighwa y funding. Word ha s it that abou t 10 o the r sta tes have been told th ey'd better get their speeds down by the end of the fiscal year. A deca de ago there was a similar situa tio n with s ta te helmet law s and federal highway funds. Just as the Ieds got 10 th e point of withholding money from Ca lifornia , Illinois and Utah. Co ngress passed an AMA-bac ked bill tha t took away th e DO T 's authorit y to blackmail stat es o ver helmet law s. We cou ld see th e same thi ng happen with th e speed limi t. I bel ieve Congress would rather cha nge the limit than face the wra th of voters after wi th holding promised mo ney. The go vern ment's o ther alternatives are to postpone p unishi ng th e non-complyin g Slates or cha nge th e com p liance system . but those would o n ly mak e it more eviden t th at 55 has become more of a nat ional sha m than nation al speed limit. . T he sJ?Ced limit issue h~ s been ge ltmg a fair amount of media a tten tion lately, incl uding from- page stories in The Washington Post and USA Todav, Expos ure like that helps, as will th e letters yo u write to those sena to rs I mentioned previously (as well as yo ur o wn two sena tors). With your help, we can rid the nati on of a single speed limit in your lifetime. _ 3

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