Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

must be applied immedia tely. The AMA needs to get its ac t together and mak e its race officia ting correc t and co nsisten t. By not being correct and co nsistent in its en force me nt of its o wn rules, the AMA has effecti vely vo ided th e entire '85 su pe rcross season and has no true cham pio n . The efforts a nd acco mp lish me nt s of man y peop le an d the expendi tu re o f vast su ms o f mon ey in a n effo rt to win th e su percross cha m p io ns hi p have come to this. Arguments will co nt in ue for years ove r who th e rea l cha m p io n is. H racing is to cont in ue to draw specta to rs, sponsors a nd top-n am e riders. th e AMA must become creditabl e a nd acco u nta ble. WEST ..- ..- America 's week ly motorcycle newspaper Sha ron C layton . Publisher Milt" K. l i n ~;t'r . CompI TQlln Skip johnso n, Associate Pu blishrrt Nat ional Sel rs Manngn Ca rol ine C endry. Executive St'crt'tary to til,. I~ubli:sh,., JEFF PESTKA Albuq uerque, NM Edit orial Ward and Bailey Jo h n U lrich. Edi tor Kil Palmer , As. ;oc ;al,. Editor o Ma ll Hi lgenberg. Associate Ed ito r ji m Wo lm u . A ssociet r Ed itor POI ul Carruthers. Associntr Edi tor Advertising Terry Prall SaIn M a"a [{~ T im Rya n , Salt's M anagn Mar k T hor ne. Sal,..~ ManagrT Li nda Brown Advertising Coo rdi nator Sa nt·· Wa"ldl . Ad vertising t Edi tori al v Au;siarlt Graphics and Prod uc tion Gi nJj;'tt Devau l, Prod uct ion Mann gn Mal co lm w ilson . G raphic Arti.d Nat e Ra u ba . Assistant Mario n Hatashita . T yprsetter Ca rol )'" Branha m . T )'pt'st'ltn Denm.. G reene, Lab , T ech, Accounting/Data Processing Donna Brya n, Accounts R « t'lJlabl,. Coordina tor Ge nrva Repaw, A ssi~ tQ nt Fran Ibmwe)'. Crf" dll Circulation Rhr ba Smith. M IJnagn Sar h Taylor, Assistant a Lvna Hood. Anistant Rrix'cr Braak , Assistant a Alma Anguian o. Assistant DHler Sales and Service Bob Elf iou , Dt'aln Salt'! Man a.f{f"r Want Ads Candy Hand. Wa nt Ad Salt's Service and Support Chris Aitch eso n. R ecept ionist Leonard Herring. SirS West 2201 C he rry Ave.. Long Beach, CA 90806. P.O. Box 498 . Long Beach, C'.A 9080 1-0498 , (2 15) 427-7133 ; L.A . Line 636-8814. East .. 190 Firsr A\'('.• Tucker. GA . 3008-1. P .O . Box 805. T ucker , GA SOO85-080 5. (404) 934 ·7850, Cy cl e N t"ws/Wt'S1 (US PS 141·5-tO) i!t pubIished weekl v ex cepe rhe fir st a nd last week o f th e calendar year C $25 per year by Cycleor NC'Wlo. lnc..2201 OtrIT)' Avenue.Long Ik-' ch, d CA 90806. Seco nd class postage pa id a t Long Beach , CA. POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 to Cycle News, P.O . Box 49B, Long Beach, CA 90B01-049B. Subscript ion ra tes: Doe- far . W'COnd cla,!lo mai l. S2,;; two years . seco nd dau mail. S-IS; three yean. second class ma il. $68 ; 25 weeks, S15. Fo reign ra in ava ila ble." 0 0 req uest. Cyc le New s welcomes unsol ici ted edi to ri al material incl udi ng stor ies. cartoons. p ho tos, et c, Such material. ir pu b lis hed. becomes tbe exc lusive pro perty or C ycl e- News . S uc h acce pted mat eri al is subject to rn'i'\ion as i, orcn\3lry in th e sole discret ion oC Cyde New s. U nso lici ted m al eria l wh ich iio 001 usn! will be returned i£ accompa nied by a ~d C addressed sta mped envelope. All un soli ci ted material will be handled with reaso na ble ca re, h o wev er, C ycl e- New s aw u mes no responsi bifity Io r the safety, 1 or damage to 000s uch ma teria l. Rep rin u n g in wh ol e or pa r i on ly by permission orthe-publisher. Ad\'t'11i!tinK rain an d circu la tio n inf ormati on will 1x-!tt.'1II • upon requ est. See S,R,D.S. Copyright (ftl Cycle N ews. Inc. 1985. Trademark Cycle News registered U.S. Patent Office. All rights reserved. ON THE FRONT PAGE: Honda '. Ricky Graham i s bac k - and flying . He took h i••econd mile w in i n • • many weekends at Springfield . "Flyin ' " Fred Merkel .ecured hi. second consecut ive Superbike t itla w ith a win at Brainerd th i. weekend. Race coverage beg in s on page 6, 4 12. Shameful acts Sh a me o n Ya ma ha and jT Racing. Wh at a classic example of poor losers. Prot esting j eff Ward 's Supercross Ch ampionsh ip is nothin g mor e than a n a ttem p t a t gaini ng a n ad vert isi ng ad vantage for Yamaha a nd jT. It 's not even a veil ed at tem p t - it is outrageous sour gr apes. Both Ward and Glover ar e fine racers a nd ac t in a resp onsibl e. p rofession a l manner. It is sad . bu t the same ca n no t be said of Glover's sponsor and employer. Ward was appropriatelydisci plined in the hea t ra ce in question. Tha t sho ul d be the end o f it. Ward wo n the fin al s fairl y and by the ru les. G love r co u ld have wo n the cha mpionshi p by fin ishing a hea d o f Ward in a ny of the races. includ ing all th ose prior to the Rose Bo wl. But he did no t. He got beat o n th e track where it cou nts . So it came down to the last race a nd Yamaha a nd JT got beat again. Now what? Prot est. cry foul. Win at a ny cos t, including sportsmanship and ho nor. Admi t it. Someone else wo n. Now focus o n next year . The protest is obvious - disq ua lify Ward. declare Glover th e champion and takeout full-page ads to announce your "victory." And sell more products. The end result will not be what you expect. especially with me. I now own three Ya mahas, but with the arritude I'm seeing from Yamaha. I will not bu y a no the r. All four bik e brands are close en ough in qual ity to make a choice ba sed upon the company behind th e product. When the tim e coe rns to get three new bik es, it will be th ree H ondas o r Kawasakis or Suzukis. They are fair and professio na l. I'll spend my money with those kinds of com pa nies. th ank yo u. The same goes for jT Racing Products. With two yo u ng sons riding. there are a lot of boots. gloves. goggles , jerseys, helmets a nd pants in th e fu ture. I promise no ne of th em will be from JT Prod ucts. There a re too many o the r co m pa n ies to buy from besid es ]T. Fo r both Yam ah a a nd JT.I ca n see a new sloga n - if yo u can't li ck 'em, bite 'em . LA RRY V. CECH IN Huntington Beach. CA AMA bobble Wi th its latest bobble a t th e Pa saden a Supercros s o n August 17. th e AMA has su n k to th e low est level in mem ory . The last major incident was played out during th e final two minutes prior to th e start of the Daytona Formula One race . Mechanics and crew members were on the grid beyond the two-minute board and one of the riders (Freddie Spencer) was a llowed to take his place on the grid less than one minute before the start. These actions are in clear vio lation of the ru les. No actio n was tak en by the AMA agains t the viola to rs. Several riders cla imed tha t the AMA refu sed to accept th eir written protests o f these events. If the protests would have been filed a nd upheld. th e race results wo ul d have been different. At the fina l supercross in Pasaden a. the champi o ns hip was on the li ne. J eff Ward a nd Broc Glover were tied on po ints goi ng into that race . Du ring h is heat, Wa rd cras hed and rode a sho rt distance on the course backwards to restart his bike. a clear violation o f the ru les. The pe na lty for this is disq ua lification. Instea d of upholding the rule. for reasons u nknown. the AMA penalized Ward one lap in his heat. In the race, Ward fin ish ed 6-2 to Glover's 3-5. Ward has been crow ned as the 1985 Supercross Cham pion. Yamaha has filed a protest with the AMA claiming Ward should be disqua lified. Now the AMA is faced with a nowin sit uation. By not d isq ualifying Ward. as shou ld ha ve been the case acco rdi ng to th e ru les. they a llowed the 1985 Supercross Cha m pions hip to become tainted. If Yamaha 's p rotes t is upheld , as it sho u ld be, a nd Broc Glover is awa rded the cham pionship. people wi ll say it was given to him a nd negate his season- long efforts. If the protest is denied. Ward will have been a llo wed to tak e a cha m p ionship he did no t win. Rules are in pl ace to maintain order and ens ure safety. All competitors and their teams know th e ru les. If a rule is vio lated. the specified penalty Whi le reading the story on th e Supercross at Pasaden a I came across th e q uote from Da vid Ba iley th a t j eff Ward sho uld ha ve been di squali fied for ridi ng the wrong direction on the tra ck. He sta ted th at was the rule. and that he and Broc Glover had both been di squalified for the same in fraction during the year. , I hate to disagree wtih Mr. Ba iley but I stro ngly suggest he read his 1985 AMA Official " Inspo rt Tour" Supercross Rule Book and also the other Motocross Rule Book and read th e rul e in its entirety. Allow me to quot e: " Any rider leaving th e course sh all o n Iy con tin ue th e meet from the point wh ere he left the course. Infraction of this rule must be witnessed by an official designated by the meet Referee and pe na lty for the infraction wiH be one la p at the dis cretion of the Referee. (a) Under no circumsances shall any person at a ny time be perm itted to ride a machi ne in the wrong d irection of the trac k. Infractions of this ru le. wi tnessed by a n official designa ted by th e meet Referee, result in a ri der being suspe nded fro m th e event, th e entire me et, an d /orfi ned for com m itting such an offen se." The key words a re a nd/ or. It seems to me tha t Mr. Ron Crandall, the meet Referee, followed the rule to the le tter a nd used very good judgeme nt. Ward was dock ed one lap and instead of bei ng di squalified was fined $500, wh ich was a prett y costly eigh t feet, th e distance he traveled in the wrong direction. Wh at is unfortunate was the fact that when David a nd Broc were disqua lifi ed Mr. Crandall was no t the referee. What is saddest o f a ll is the so ur gra pes aliitude o f David Bailey which was tr uly no t cha mp ionship form . ELAINE JONES Ri verside, CA Ward VS, Glover; let the riders decide Le t th e riders deci de if - when in fact a rider trave ls backw ard s o n track - he shou ld be disqualified from : (a) hi s heat race, or (b) the entire event. A vote shou ld be ta ken among AMA Pro fessional riders on ly. J AY VAN CAM P AMA Pro 7z G lenda le, CA Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Inc. Send letters to Voices, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801,

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