Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126838
Haa ker , Drew Smit h . Fritz Cad lec a nd Dave Mill er. Bill y Fulmer J r. wiII compete in th e -l-strok e class on a XR350 Honda . American Honda Motor Co. will im po rt 50 RTL250 trials bikes into the U.S. The bikes. expected to arrive a ro und October 15. will be available through Honda dealers and w ill be sold to qualified riders. who m ust produce a resume and $3400 for one of the machines. More information is available from Honda dealers. Camel Pro Series co mpetitor Dave H ebb collected two titles in the Santa Fe Speed wa y Short Track and T'T Ser ies at th e Hi nsdal e, Illi nois , track . H ebh 's second place in th e fin al T'T ro und earne d him th e 'TT tit le after cli nch ing th e sho rt track crown earlier. Hebb rid es for T om 's Repair Service a nd Consumer's Marathon of Norris, Ill inois. his hometown. The American team con srsn ng of David Ba iley, Jeff Ward a nd Ro n Lech ien won th e September 8 Mot ocross des Nations in Gai lsdorf, West Germany . H o nda -mounted Bailey rod e in th e 500cc class, Kawasa kimounted Ward in the 250cc division , a nd H onda-mounted Lechi en in the 125cc class. All co mpe ted togeth er in th ree 30-mi n ute motos. Bailey logged 2-4-6 fi n is he s, Ward 5- 3-3 , a n d Lechi en 12-5-4 for the winning lo wpoi nt tot al of 7, topping Holland 's 12,and West Germ an y's 22. Brit Dave Thorpe (Hon) was th e to p rider in th e event, winning th e first and thi rd moto a nd fini shi ng second in the second moto, Belgium 's Erik Geboers suffered a brok en a n kle in prac tice o n Saturday. leav in g the Belgian team to com pe te with two riders as no alternate rid er was on han d. Freddie Spencer . t h e ne w ly crowned 250 and 500cc road racing World Champion, c rashed at Honda's S uzuka Circuit in Japan during a testing session of m ac hine ry to be used in next yea r's t it le defen se. S pe nce r sus t ai n ed a twisted and ba nged -up rig ht knee, . pulled tendons in his left a nk le , and assorted cuts and bruises in the Friday, September 6, crash . According to his secretary, Spencer was due to arrive at his Shreveport, ' Lo ui si a na home la t e Monday, September 9 . / Cycle T un e Racing 's Den n is Smith, Malcol m Hill, Kevin Clark, Ni ck Ia na tsch , La nce Wool ery and Dou g Toland cove red 2017.5 m iles on a Ya maha FZ750 to wi n the WERA 24Hours West at Willow Springs Raceway o n September 7-8. Two-time Na tion al Enduran ce Cha mp ion Team Hammer's Toland joined Cycle Tunc and rode seven of th e remain ing 18 hours aft er Team Hammer crashed twi ce, the first time whi le lead ing by seven laps during th e / / fourth hour; Team Hammer ret ired after a second crash in the sixth ho ur damaged th eir bik e too seriously. With Team Ham merou t, Cycle T ech Racing romped to a 20-lap lead befo re ret irin g with a thrown con nec ting rod during the 17th ho ur. Team Perform an ce Mach ine and their Ni nja 900 finis hed second with Crossroads Racin g and their stock FJ600 Yama ha third. Full coverage next week. 2 The U.S. will be represented in the September 29 Trial des Nations in Canzo, Italy. by Beta riders Mo rgan Kavanaugh and Kipp Webb. Fantic-mounted Mark Manniko, the AMA/NATC National Cha mpionship Observed Trials Hig h School Champion, and Ryan Yo ung round outthe four- rider team in the m ult inational compet it ion . T he AMA's professional racing divisio n has a nno unced a major revamp of th e Camel P ro Seri es. Beginning in 1986, AMA dirt track and road race competitors will com pete in separa te champion sh ip series, each wit h sponsorshi p from R.J. Reynolds T ob acco Co. "Camel Pro racing surpasses a ny motorized dirt track racing in Amer ica for spec tator attendance a nd com petitiveness," sai d AMA director of pro fession al competition Bill Am ick. " Bu t th e po tent ial of Am erican road racing has been somewhat lim ited becau se of its ties to dirt track raci ng. It's diffi cul t for a road racer to gain adequa te recogn ition becau se roa d race events have always been grea tly o utn um bered bv dirt tracks. A rider co u ld win every road race and still no t finish in the top five of the overall Camel Pro stan dings." Alt ho ug h two separa te ser ies will be run. Amick stressed that rider crossover between dirt track a nd roa d race events will sti ll be welco med a nd enco uraged. Detail s of sponsorship a nd poi nt funds will be announced for both series at th e September 30 AMA Camel P ro Awards Ba nquet in Sacramento, California. Along with the announcement of the two separate series, came word that the Camel Pro Series Road Race Championship in 1 986 will award AMA National points in both the Formula One and Superbike divisions. AMA plans to conduct 1 0 Camel Pro Series road rac e Nationals in 1986. "Formula One racing is America's strongest tie with the International Grands Pr ix. and will continue as a premier AMA road racing division in 1986." said Amick. " At the same t ime. Superbike racing is attracting widespread interest among manufacturers and rounds out an attract ive National package in conjunction with Formula One racing. "At National events including both For mula One and Superbike features , points w ill be paid in both divisi o ns . However, riders compet ing in both eve nts will be awarded points onlyfortheir betterfinish of the weekend. The Intern a tional Six-day Enduro (ISDE) begins Sep tember 30; th e six riders representing th e U.S. Trophy Team are Can-Am's John Marti n (250cc) an d Geoff Ballard (Open ), Ka wasaki 's J eff Fredette (KDX 200. 250cc class). Husq varna 's Da ve Bertra m (430cc Auto), La rry Roeseler (5 10cc 4-st ro ke) and Bri an Mu ll (125cc). The four-rider Junior World T eam co nsis ts of th ree H usqvarna 250cc rid ers: Ra nd y Hawkins. J eff Russell a nd Fred Hoess. Ro n Na ylor will r ide a CR500 Honda. Alternate s for the T rophy T eam include J ohn The ARA desert race to be held on September 1 5 will featu re special classes for four-strokes. Four classes starting at 0-125cc and winding up with 251 cc-Open bikes will be ru n . En tries for th e 1985 Coors Barstowto-Vega s H are a nd Houndand a 100rider wai tin g list are now filled, and the tran sfer ofent ries must be th roug h Distri ct 37 on ly. For more in forma tion call 213/438-4435. Lisa Piattoni is representing Scott USA during most of the CMC Trans-Cal MX Series while Bevo Forte is in Europe for the Trophy des Nations. T he Ameri can Mo tor cycl ist Associatio n will kick off a year long moto rcycle re n tcnnial celebration on Novemher 10, 100 yea rs to th e da y after th e first mo torcycle was test ridde n. T he AMA's cenu-n n ial art ivit ies wi ll be a imed a t raising fun ds for th e American Motorcycle Heritage Founda tio n, which p lans to creat e a na tio na l motorcycle m useu m. archi ves, a nd Ha ll of Fam e. It was o n November 10. 1885. th at a sing le-trac k vehicle, po wered by a n int ern al-combustion engine design ed by Gottl ieb Da im ler. was ridde n a litt le over seven mi les fro m Ca nsta tt to lJ n tert ur khe im, Germ an y. Daiml er's vehi cle is un iversall y ackno wledge d as the world's first motorcycle. predating th e first a uto mo bile-a lso by Da imler- by several years. The AMA 's centennial kickoff will include a series of fund-raising events called Centennial Classics hosted by AMA clubs throughout America on the weekend of November 9-10. In addition. the AMA will host a gala banquet for the motorcycle industry in Anaheim. California. on the evening of November 10. The banquet will be co-sponsored by the Motorcycle Industry Counciland the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. For more information on AMA-sanctioned Centennial Classics or the Ana heim banquet, contact AMA President Ed Youngblood. P.O . Box 6114, Westerville, OH 43081. T he September 29 rou nd of the Florida Go ld Cup MX Series in West Pa lm Beach has been ca nceled. North American version of Paris-Dakar RaHyannounced By Jim Wolcott LONG BEAC H. CA . SEPT. 3 The Tra ns -Americas Rally. a 9000-mile event run ning fr o m Mexico City. Mexico. to Prudhoe Bay , Alaska. has been scheduled to run August 1 -31 , 1986. O rgan ized by a Brit is h corpora t ion. the TransAmericas Ra lly is designed to be simila r t o t he famo us Paris -Dakar ra lly. with da ily stages averaging 300 mil es . Unlike t he Paris-Dakar ra lly (conducted in the deserts of No rth Africa). t he terrain will inc lude high-altitude passes. difficult t rails and water crossings. Also unl ike the Paris-Dakar. the entry is closed : each country has been invited to field a team of three amateur riders (ride rs holding an FIM /ISDE racing lice ns e are ine lig ib le ). Those three riders w ill be chosen by the staff of a domestic motorcycle magazine - the magazine designated t o choose the U.S. team has been selected. but not ye t offic ia lly announced . All expenses w ill be paid fo r the rally partic ipa nt s, and a caravan of motorhomes (o ne per t ea m) will be supplied fo r team s upport. In addition to the int e rn a t io na l teams. each motorcycle manufacturer w ill be eligible to field it s own four-member team. Lyn n Wineland is the U.S . executive of the Trans-Americas Rally. and is helping with the int e rn a ti o na l organization and logistics fo r the event. According to Wineland : "It's a people event ra ther t ha n a motorcycle event; there are a lot of t a len t e d ride rs out there with mechanica l abil ity , and mechan ical ability w ill mean a lot. We wanted t o give t he event a n am a t eu r status: we 're not using heroes. we're making t hem . The course will in cl ude all types of t e rra in . and will include special t e sts a lo ng the way. " The rally is scheduled to start in Mexico City. run west to Puerto Vallarta . transfer by ferry t o Cabo San Lucas. north thro ugh Baja , Ca lifornia and into the United States at Mexica li. At the border. the ro ut e runs north to Sa n Bernardino. Ca lifornia. northeast to Colorado Springs. Colorado, west to Portland. Oregon. and int o Canada at Vancouver. British Col umbia. The exact route through Canada has not been announced. but t he tentative destination is Prudhoe Bay. Alaska - depend ing on whether supply problems on the Alaska pipeline haul -road north of Fairbanks can be solved . At t his point, 24 nations have confirmed that they will participate in the ra lly; the promoters a re hoping for a tota l of 33 nations. Winela nd went on to say t hat a camera crew will document the event. and t ha t a documenta ry w ill be translated into a number of languages for both t el e visi o n a nd home-video . Though the final decision as to who w ill ride for t he U.S. team w ill be made by t he as-yet unnamed magazine, the promoters are seeking inp ut on w hich rid e rs should be co nsidered forthe effort . Fo rfurther info rm a t io n contact Lynn Wineland at Ta rget Motors ports. 991 1 Ce ntral Ro ad. Apple Valley. CA 92308 .619 /247-4327 .