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/126841
Latest Poop (Conti nued from pag e 3) Two interesting bi lls recent ly passed th e Ca liforn ia legisla tu re. Assemblyman Katz's ABI201 will a llo w offroad vehicles with green stickers (O R V reg ist rations) to use desi gnated sections of h ighwa y for access to riding areas. And Assembl ym an Wyman 's AB2235 will a llow non-profit groups (like clu bs) 10 ge t gr ants from the Green Sticker fund to co nd uc t safety p rograms. Both programs will be run th rough th e Californ ia Stat e Department of Parks a n d Recrea tio n 's OffH ighwa y Mo tor Vehicle Recreation Co mmis sio n, cha ired by Mike Bishop. More information is ava ila ble from Bob Ham a t 916/ 443-0449 l.!":l 00 Cil ~ Cil .... v ..0 o .... u o England's Simon Wigg, John Davis , ~obby .S c hw a rt z and US A' s top point-scorer J o h n Cook enter turn one an the first Eng la n d vs. US A test. England vs. USA Series: Test J Speedwa~ Test USA 58, England 48 By John Hipkiss BELLEVUE, ENGLAND, SEPT. I T he Annual Speedway Tes t Series between Englan d an d America got underway the da y afte r Californian Sam Ermolenko's m emorial World Final Debut a t Odsal Stadium in En gl and. Bu t this will be one m eeting that the world's n umber three will want to forget. Bad wea ther persisted 18 o vern ig h t and throughou t most of rhe dav, but th e show went on and th e visi tois trounced Engl and 58 to 48. Errnolenko managed 10 score six points in th e atrocious conditions and twice th e Americans ca me from behind before beati ng England by 10 poi nt s. T he track co nd itio ns were so bad th at th e Americans were read y to sett le fo r a draw and abandonment even tho ugh th ey were in front a t th at time. It was onl y aft er Eddi e Ingels was stretche red off due to a ra ce 15 inc ident with racing partner Shawn Moran . tha t the referee was summoned to in spect th e tra ck . With team managers a nd riders surveying th e soggy su rface. th e referee ruled that th e meeting shou ld co nt in ue. Fortunat ely, In gel s escaped wi th a few bumps a nd bruises. Bu t Am eri can ca p ta m Bobby Schwartz made it kn own that hi s team wa s will in g to sacrifice victo ry in th e interest o f safety. It wa s a mi racl e th e m eeting went a hea d a nd both teams put in a lot of 'effo rt in front o f a crowd o f 5000, th e biggest for a test between th ese two cou n tries for four years. . T he Am eri cans fu IIy deserved th eir victory a t a tra ck wh ere Eng land wa s fu lly expected to win , but with Kenny Ca rter still o n th e injury list a nd Chris Morton 's refusal 10 rid e for Englis h team manager John Berry , th e Am eri cans were given a bonus befo re th e sta rt. J oh n Co ok was un beaten by a n English ride r. a nd to pped th e sco res with 14 points; Mora n batt led hard for hi s 10-point tall y. Th e meeting was sca tte red with tape excl us io ns and engine failures on both teams, a nd fas t ga ting proving crucial in the appalli ng co ndi .. tions. The Am eri cans pl a yed th eir trump card as reserve R icky Miller eme rged as Ingels' replacem ent in th e - rerun o f ra ce 15 a nd ro m ped home th e ra ce winner , that put Am eri ca two points up with th ree ra ces to go . That was th e start o f th e en d for En gland. Cook teamed up with Schwa rtz in th e next ra ce to a max imum 5-1 win 10 stretch their lead to six points. America a lwa ys looked th e likel y winners a nd victory was secu red when Ermo len ko and Lance Kin g bo th brave ly passed Eng land's res erve R ich a rd Kn ig h t to follow h ome J er em y Don ca st er for th e match winning 3-3 tie sco re in ra ce 17. With one race left on th e ca rd, Am eri cans Miller and Moran took a 5- 1 win over Simon Wigg. The track was in suc h a sta te th at o ne En glish rid er, Doncaster, had to miss one o f hi s rides because he was s t ill g etting th e mu ck from h is machine after a fall , a nd the hea vy conditions also affected Schwartz, wh o needed treatment to a n eye after hi s face was co vered in sha le spra yed up fro m Kin g 's ma chine in race 17. Kin g (twice), Schwartz and In gel s were excl uded for breaking the tapes , wh ile Ermol enko, Moran a nd reserve rookie MikeRooney - wh ose debut ended a t th e first co rn er - lOok spi lls on th e rai n-soak ed surfa ce. • Results USA : Jo hn Cook (14 ); Shawn Moran (10): Rick M iller (10 ): Bobby Schw art z (9): Lance King (6): Sam Ermolenko (6): Eddie Ingels (3): M ike Rooney (0), ENGLAND : Sim on W igg (9 ): Phil Colli ns (7); Je rem y Doncaster (71 Kelvin Tatum (6); Rich ard ; Knig ht (6): Neil Collins (7); And y Smit h (3 ); J ohn Davis (3), . The 49th Milan International Cycle and Motorcycle Exh ibit ion will take place in Milan, Italy, from November 20 through 27 . The annual event is usually a showcase for the latest mach inery. Tours, the Venezuelan motorcycle tour operator, is offering a Christmas and New Yea rs tour of Ven ezuela; for more in formation write to Tours, S. R.L. , Edif. Res. Lo s Sauces A-8-l , Val en cia 2001, Ven ezuela. Husqvarna's Danny laPorte was among the spectators at the Motocross des Nations in West Germany, and was walking around with only a sightly visible limp after sustaining a broken left leg in mid-June. laPorte said he p lans to stay with Husky fo r the 1986 season. California Vintage Raci n g Group 's cl ub secretary Mike Green can be seen jumping a YZ490 Yamaha in a Ba n k of th e West advertisement; the photo was shot at northern California's Sand H ill Ra nch . • Sell files productliability counterclaim NORWALK, CA. SE PT. 26 ' Bell H elmets In c. annou nced that it has filed a coun terclaim against a p lai ntiff in Pen nsylvania who sued Bell in a product liability action which Bell contends is without any legal or factual basis a nd constitutes abuse of th e lega l process. Dean Fi sh er , Senior Vice President o f Corporate Affairs a t Bell Helmets, ' exp la ined th e counterclaim: " In recent years the helmet industry in general , and Bell in particular, have been under co nsta nt attack by plaintiffs and plaintiffs' attorneys wh o file product liability actions wh en ever a n injury occurs whil e someone is us ing a helmet. The impa ct on the helme t industry ha s been enorm o us, ca usin g some co m p an ies to go out of business (there are o n ly six out o f 25 U.S. companies remaining), ot hers tooperate wi thout insu rance and others to pa y hu ndreds of thousands of dollars in in crea sed insu ra nce prem iums. " Bell 's a ction in Pen nsylvan ia is a n a tte m p t to co u n teract th is litiga tion ep idem ic. "This is not to say th at th ere a re no leg it im at e product liability claims wh ich seek to properl y redress inj ured p laintiffs a nd remedy defects in p roducts. However , in m y 19 years with Bell , I ha ve never seen a case against th e co m p any that rested on so lid legal or factual grounds; rather, th e claims against Bell ca n best be described as sha ky a nd even ridicu lous, as ca n be seen from th e following exa m p les: " Bell has been sued for manufacturin g a defective helmet wh en th e pla int iff had no head in juries wh atsoever. " Bell has been sued for manufacturin g a defective h elmet wh en no helm et exis ted . The pl aint iff simply sta ted h e rem embered bu yin g th e best helmet so it m us t ha ve been a Bell. " Bell has been sued for bu ilding a defect ive helmet th at did not o ffer a deq ua te peripheral visio n in a ci rcu mst a nce wh ere th e pl a intiff ran int o a car d irectl y in front o f him whi ch he had been follo wing for so me tim e. " Bell ha s been sued for pl acing sn aps on a helmet in a positi on suc h that during th e co u rse of a n accident th e sh ield - manufactured by ano ther co m pa ny - ca rne o ff and injured th e pl aintiff. "B ell has been sued for bu ild ing a defe ct ive helmet because th e outer she ll fractured wh en the p laintiff's h ead was run over by th e rear wheels of a flatbed truck. " Fina lly . Bell ha s been sued in cases where it W d S clear that th e h elmet involved in th e accide nt was no t m anufactured by Bell. In fact, we had th ree o f those cases just last year. " T hese ar e just so me of th e situa tions we find o u rse lves in when defending product liability suits, a!ld each of th em cost th e company slgnificaru legal fees to defend. We are a small co m pan y that is forced to spen d mi llions of dollars each year on this problem, in sp ite of our excellent track record of proving in court th e quality and p erformance of our helmets. "Unfortunatel y, th e overa ll product lia bility pi cture is not improving for either Bell, th e h elmet industry or co ns u mer product manufacturers in general. Runaway juries often awa rd millions of dollars to a sympa theti c pl a intiff on a belief tha t the manufacturer ha s in surance. Legislators contin ue to vote aga inst or water down bills a imed a t a llevia ting th e serious prob lems fa ced by man ufacturers, ' wh ile pass ing bi lls making it easier for p lai ntiffs to reco ver. T he real problem - th e enormous costs of medical treatmen t - is bein g ignored. "The cu rren t situation poses a very real threat to th e survival of helmet manufacturers . Bell's response to this threat has been - a nd will contin ue 10 be - 10 take a n aggressive defense posture. "Several years ago we set up what is now co ns ide red to be one of the premier product liability defense programs in th e nation. In fad, Bell was forced to esta blish a department whose primary fun ction is to work with defen se a tto rneys in preparing product liabil ity cases for trial - not settleme nt. " T he results have been successfu l. To dat e, a total of 148 legal ac tions have been filed aga in st Bell Helmets, In c. a n d o n ly two of th em have res u lted in a verdict a ga inst th e com pan y. In on e o f th e cases th e motorcycle .rider pl aintiff was held to be 85% a t fault. Th e onl y other verdict against Bel l wa s la ter reversed by a n appea ls co urt. " T he su ccess of Bell 's defense progr rndoes not, how ever , diminish a th e trem endous co st a n d burden p laced upon the co mpan y by th e ini ti at ion of unfounded cases by pl a intiffs an d pl a int iffs' a tto rne ys. And , ultimatel y it is th e co nsu mers o f o ur products th at su ffer since it is th ey wh o pay th e increased prices whi ch reflec t Bell's lit igat ion costs.•