Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

nardino on September 28. The Coors Skydiving Team and Wheelie King Doug Domokos w ill also displav thelr telents: for more information ca ll 818 /446 -0969 . Accordin g to th e Al\I A, th e Stockton. Ca lifo rn ia regi ona l dirt tra ck schedu led for O ctober 13 has been ca ncell ed d ue to horsem en lea sing the fac il ity for their wint er training ground . The San Jose Mercury News recently ra n a diagram showing proposed alterations t o the Santa Clara County Fairground facilities w here the San Jose M ile is he ld . The proposal calls f or changes t hat i nc lude a parking lot on portions of t he ex isting m i le oval that w ill el iminate m ile racing at t he facil ity. The plan i ncl udes a new hal f m i le ho rse racing track in front of a new grandstand along with a new tu rf club. Apparently, Sacramento has agreed to horse raci ng at the fairgrounds while the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors is split at 2 -2 with one member undecided. T he U.S. Co ns u mer Pro du ct Safety Co mmiss io n 's ATV Task For ce is " testi n g vario us ATVs fo r response to terrain fea tures . Th e ATVs ar e ridde n across two six-inch -deep and 12-in chwi d e p ar all el dit ch e s , s pace d a bo u t wh eelb ase-length a pa rt ; h igh speed ca me ras record wh at th e ATVs do whe n th ey hit th e ditch es a t various speeds in first a nd seco nd gears. The inform at ion will be used to form u la te performance cri ter ia to be incl uded in a voluntary sta nda rd for ATVs. Rid ers used in the tests a re Ni ck Mar chi ca , Roy Dep pa, a nd Jim Bradl ey of th e CPSC AT V Task Force. Th e n ex t v ol u nta r y standards meeting between CPSC staffers and representatives of A TV manuf acturers will be held October 15 i n Costa Mesa, California and will include a presentation on ATV t est ing by Dr. David Weir, Technical Director of Dynamic Research, Inc., a southern California consulting f irm. More information is available f rom the Specialty Vehicle Inst it ut e of America (SVIA) at7141 241 -9256. T he White House has nominat ed Co m m issione r Carol G. Da wson for a full seven -yea r term o n th e Consu mer Product Safetv Co m m issio n. Dawson ha s been a (or ce for reason durin g th e CPSC's ongoing investiga tio n o f ATV s, in co n tras t to Stua rt " Ban 'em" Statl er' s freq uent demands for a ban a nd recall o f ATVs. Vetter Products. JT Racing and SuperTrapp have combined to form a dealer direct sales program known as "Ready to Ride." The reaso ns for the move. according to Terry Lee , president of Vetter Products, is to enable all three companies to expand their sales efforts faster. to use more professional methods and to have a better relationsh ip with their dealers. Husqvarna motorcycles have been named as th e offi cia l motorcycle of th e January 12 Whiskey Pete Wo rld Championship Hare and Hound. During the race, 1986 Husky 510 four-strokes will be used by ra ce o fficia ls. 2 Bobby Schwartz will return from England to defend his Ca lifornia Speedway Championship at In land Moto rcycle S peedway in San Ber- D efending Nation al C h a m p ion Terry Cunningham (Hus) w on t he September 1 5 Black Coal National End uro in Ly nnv ille. Indiana . Cu nni ngham lo st 1 9 poi nts en route to t he w in. Second overa ll went to Randy Hawkins (Hus) with 2 1 points, Dave Bertra m (Hus). J im Stanfield (Hus) and Rick Sch arpho rn (H us ) "ro u nd ed out the t o p fiv e'w ith scores of 23, 2 4 and 25 , respectively. Ca lifo rnia 's Governor Geo rge Deukm eji an signed Assembl y Bill 412 d ur ing the week o f Sep tem ber 13. T he new la w provides self -fund in g from motorcycle registr at ions for increased a vaila bility of training facilities and m ot orist aw ar en ess p rogr ams regard in g m o torcycl e intera ct ion in traffi c. The AMAan d th e Mo tor cycl e Safety ' Fo u nda tio n support ed th e bill th at will ra ise registration $2 wh ile having th e overall o bjec tive o f red uci ng motorcycle accidents. Bubba Shobert's third place fin ish in the September 15 San Jose Mile not only clinched the Camel Pro Series t itle for Shobert. but also earned him the top payoff in t he $50.000 Stroh Mile Series. Shobert will pick up a check for $20.000 from the Stroh point fund for his hard work. Cycle Performance (Yam ). with Ron Ewerth, Mik e Harth. and Dean Swims handling th e riding, topped th e Sep- ternber 14 'WER A National Cha m pi on ship Enduran ce Road Race Series round a t Faulkville, G eorgia 's Roebling Road Ra cewa y. Cycle Per form an ce covered 462 mil es in 220 laps during th e six -hour race, whi ch was red-flagged when 10 bikes crashed on oil, .including Speed Boys (Yam) a n d Team H ammer (S u z), Team Savannah (H o n), the runner-up, also .fini shed 220 laps. Sol max Ra cing USA (Ya m) pl aced third overall with 213 laps. According to a press release on Westem Eastem Roadracers' A ssociation (W ERA ) letterhead, as of Friday, September 13, the Motorsport Organization Management (M.O .M.) has assumed management of WERA. M.O .M . is described as be ing a " consortium of present officia ls and ri d er s in WERA .. ." Also announced was the resignation of WERA president Bonnie Buecker. and the appointment Evelyn Pritz as managing director. American Honda, al on g with two - U ta h motorcycle dealerships - Pl aza Cycle and Western Honda - recentl y donated nearly $100,000 in eq u ipmen t to Utah State Parks and Recrea tio n , In cl uded were three and four-wh eeled vehicles which will be used by state park employees to patro l and clea n u p recreation areas , ., The Owyhee Motorcycle Club i n Idaho has recently come up with a low-cost class for older machines. The new 'Super Bike' class is for 80cc t w o-st rokes and 125cc fourstrokes that have 1 7-inch or larger wheels, weigh a minimum of 375 pounds with the rider on board and the rider must be at least 18 years old. The class will run at weekly Tuesday night events at O .M .C. Raceway. Ro n Lechi en h as ink ed a two -year co n tract wit h Kawasaki. but h e will be aboard a T ea m H on da m ount until mid- October. " Honda won ' t rel ease h im fro m hi s co nt rac t unt il aft er th e (Octo ber 13) J a pan Grand Prix ," said Ka wa sak i tea m manager Ro y Tu rner, " sin ce th e race ca rr ies a lot of prestige in J a p an a nd Honda obvi ouslv wan ts to 'save face,' which I ca n understa nd . We're not wo rried; we'v e signed h im and since he's o nl y 18, he sti ll has a 101 o f good years left. " "I really wanted t o sta y w ith Hond a." said Ron Lechi en in regard t o hi s sw itch to t he Kawasaki camp. "but Kaw asaki m ade an offer of much better money than the offer Honda had made. Honda 's offer w as a take-it- or-I eav e-i t thing, and they weren 't w illing to comprom ise. I d on ' t like to have to switch t eam s every two years because you have to learn how to ride the new machinery. but I really had no ot he r c hoice , A nd since the production rule will be used next yea r (i n Nationals as well as supercross). having a good bike under me was a consideration; Kawasaki appears to have better production 1986 bikes than Honda. " Lechien's switc h to Kawa saki ca me as a surprise to most. including hi s tuner of th e past two years . Chris Ha in es. " Ro n nie told me a bo u t it as we boarded a jet headed for th e supercross in Sweden ," said Haines. "Unti l th en . I didn't kn ow h e was even talkin g with Kawa sak i. " Lechien an d H a in es a rr ive d in G othenburg . Sweden, for th e August 30 ope n ing round of th e RadiI Trophy Supercross Ser ies. a nd Lechien took his Honda to the win over fell ow Ca lifornian Jim H oll ey (Yam ). The opening ceremonies at t he September 8 Motocross des Nations held in Gai ldorf, West Germany. were extravagant. In addition to the usual color guards and marching bands, a rocket was set off as each team was introduced. As that particular country's national anthem was played, the nose cone of the rocket popped off and a large flag of the country unfurled and floated over the facility. As the winners of the 1984 event, the Un ited States team was the first of the 21 teams to be so honored . Chuck Stearn s. th e first a nd o n lv Am eri can to sta rt a nd fin ish (fift h) a't th e 6500-m ile Par is-to -Dak a r ra lly. was taken ill short ly a fter th e race this yea r while in Europe. He checked in to a h ospital in Pari s. France. in Ma y where h e was di agnosed as havin g leukemia. A month later . he returned to his home in Ca liforn ia a nd h as been in th e hospit al almost consta nt ly ever since , Stearns said in a telephone co n versa tio n th at h e's feeling pr etty good and has lots o f energy. H e is 35 pounds underweight but is slightl y gaining it back, He a lso said he I S "definitely improving and should be out of th e hospital in two wee ks ," Cards a nd letters can be sent tohimatthe Newh all Hospital. 18941 Cedar Valley Way, Newha ll , California 91321. Mulkey ORV MX Park in McMinnville, Oregon. will stop hosting motocross races following events sc hed uled f or Se ptember 22 and October 13; the move ends 14 years of motocross racing at the facility. which is owned by Wally Brosamle, according to promoter Janet Hettinga. More information - is available f rom Hetti nga at 5031 642-4330. ~ Th e easterly access to th e Qua il Ca nyon MX a n d G rand Prix faci lities in G orm an. Ca lifornia has been closed to dail y pu blic use. Th e closure th at beca me effecti ve on Au gust 26 ma kes access to th e fac ilit ies fro m th e I-S/Quail La ke Road and Hungry Va lle y Road o ff-ra mps unaccessibl e for dai ly lise. Qua il Ca nyon. however. rema ins accessible to off-road veh icles by way o f desig nated tra ils from within Hungr y Valley. Racing in G orman is no t a ffected by th e cl osu re. (Co n tin ued 10 page Ii) MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRYS CflANGE , Named Public Rel ations T echnician and technica l spokesma n for Kawa saki Mot ors Corp.. U. S. A.. Stewart Thom a s; form erl y Public Relations Assistant T echn ician ; Thomas replaces Martin Carney, wh o quit; Thoma s will be in cha rge of coord ina ting Kawasaki 's test bike p rogram a nd pr eparing ma chine for testing by magazine staffers. Born Ca rly Martin. Septem ber II in Irvine. California. to Bel-Ray Lubricants G en er al Manager Gill Martin a nd hi s wi fe. Karen . · Hired Pat MurphyasAMA Professional Ra cing Department's manager of marketing and public relations; Murphy wi ll lea ve position as advertising manager for Yamaha Parts Distributors, In c., in mid-October to join the AMA staff in Westerville. Ohio. Born Kei th Allen McCarty. Jr.. September 4. in Orange. California. to Keith McCarty of the Yamaha Motors Corp. Racing Department and hi s wife. Vick i. Wrong Th e T om Webb wh o wrote a lett er p u blished in la st week's Cycle News is n ot th e Tom Webb wh o is Editorial Director of Dirt Bike magazine. co nt ra ry to the Editor's note printed underneath hi s letter. Wadded At least five 1986 GPzIOOOR Kawasaki Ninjas during th e worldwide press introduction a t Salzburgring, Austria; cra sh ers included Peter Neilson and Richard Simmons of En gland. Simon Fourie of South Afri ca a n d a Japanese journalist named Kenz . Simmons broke a n ankle; th e others were uninjured. Wadded T wo 1986 K75C BMWs during th e worldwide press intro in th e Alps; freelancer T ed West , representing Road & Track magazine. crashed (for the second time ) in Ital y on September 5; Canadi an freelancer Mar c La chapelle crashed in Ita ly on September 6 and broke his co lla rbo ne. -

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