Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

information call 602 /296-1345. International Six Day.s Enduro Cycle News needs a new correspo ndent to co ver ARRA events in so ut h ern Ca liforn ia . For informa ti on , call 2 13/42 7-7433. A rear disc brake, the cu rrent trend in motocross machinery, has f ound its way into the observed trial s world . The Beta of Spaniard Jordi Tarres has been seen with a rear disc . at recent World Championship rounds. Du tchman Kees van der Ven , wh o won a mot a a boa rd a KTM 500 a t th e recent Mo tocr oss des N a tio ns , is pushin g for a spo t o n KTM 's 500cc GP squad for next season, Van der Ven rod e th e 125cc G Ps in 1985 for KTM . The Milan Cycle and Motorcycle show in Milan, Italy will be he ld on November 20-27 at the Milan Fairgrounds; the show is claiming to be the world's biggest two-wheel exh ibition and will combine both bicycle and motorcycle exhibitions. Stuart "Ban 'em " Sta tler o f th e U.S. Consumer Product Safet y Com mis sion has responded to Con gressman Larry Cra ig's ch arges that Statler is p rej udi ced o n th e issue o f AT V safety by claim ing that Crai g is prejudiced a nd tha t h e, Statler, ha s an open mind and has done nothing wrong. Cr aig criticized Statler 's sto rming out of th e CPSC's New Hampshire hearing a fter den ouncing testimony from motor cycle a nd ATV deal ers th at contra dicted Statler's views on ATV safety; Statler claimed in a September 24 lett er to Craig th at he left th e hearing simply because he was in a hurry to make an a irp la ne, an d th at " . . . a ppa rent ly some in the aud ience m iscontrued m y exi t." At th e tim e, Commission Cha irma n Terrence Scanlo n , wh o a lso a tt e nd ed t he Ne w Hampshi re hearin g , commented that he a nd ot he r members o f the CPSC were interested in hea rin g wha t th e dealers ha d to say , cont ra ry to Statler's beh avi o r. Davi d Bai ley, whose co nt ract with Hon da expire s at t he en d of 1 9 8 5, has re- sign ed with them under a mult i-year dea l. Johnny O' Mara will also be back aboard t he Honda effort in 1986, and j oins Bailey as t h e only other def in ite tea m member. Suzuki is po ised to introduce the o ilcoo le d, 130-horsep ower, 1052cc GSXRllOO a t th e upcoming motorcycle show in Paris. Th e bike, wh ich looks very similar to th e GSX R750, has a bore and stroke of 76x58mm a nd a co m p res sio n rati o o f 10;1. Claimed dry weigh t is 434 pounds a nd fu el capacity is 5.0 gallons. The GSXR 1100 ha s a 110/80-18 front tire and a 150/70-18 rear tire a nd has a claimed top spe ed of 165 mph. California Senator Alan Cranston will participate in the California W ilderness Coalition's Wilderness Conference in Visalia, California on October 25-27. The California Wilderness Coalition's idea of a perfect world is one excluding offroad motorcycles. The sou thern California cha pter o f the Antique Motorcycle C lub of America is hosting th eir 11 th Annual Motorcycle Show , Field Meet and Swap Meet at the La Mirada Mall in La Mirada, California on O ctober 56. In fo rm a tio n is av ailable from : 213/ 944-2466 213/ 323-6264'. . or Sweden leads in Spain By Kit Palmer ALP,SPAIN,SEPT,30 presstime, Sweden l ed W orld Trophy compet ition after the openIng day of the 60th Internati on al Six Days End uro in A lp, Spain , with It aly second and East Germany third, The American t eam of Geoff Ballard (Hus), Dave Bertram (Hus), Jeff Fredette (Kaw), John Martin (C-A), Brian Mull (Hus) and Larry Roeseler (H us) were fourth. There were no results ava ilable for the Junior W orld Trophy standings, but the American entry of Randy Hawkins (Hu s), Fred Hoess (KTM), Ron Naylor (Hon) and Jeff Russell (Hus) remained int act. Vetera n ISDE rider Jack Penton (KTM) DNF during day one with ignition problems while David Crain (Hu s) also had his ride come to an abrupt end on day one with a broken clutch basket. The weather on day one was hot, dry and dusty. The IS DE concludes on October 5 . . ~t The Trans-Americas Rally.,; event, as well as th e rem aining races o n their sched u le o n November 3 and 17. For mo re informat ion ca ll 209/ 781-6341. Three-time Superbikers ' w in ne r Kent How erton w ill come out of retirement to run th is year ' s event, scheduled for Carlsbad Raceway on October 27; the an nual event m ixes pavement and dirt in one course and features top riders on dirt track bikes; the race is staged for ABC TV T he T h ird Annual Kyle Fleming Mem or ia l Race will be he ld on Novem ber 16-17 a t Blythe Ra ceway in Blyth e, California; th e race wa s reschedu led because o f the World Mini date cha n ge in April. (Co nt inued fro m pa ge 18 ) MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRYS Is it for real? LONG BEACH, CALIF. SEPT, 30 No sooner had we printed details about t he proposed Trans-Americas Ra lly (Cycl e News, September 18) than doubters started calling the office. No way could the event actually happen, they said; one year was not enough time for coordinating an event spanning Mexico, the United States and Canada, and including participation by teams f rom 33 countries. Joe Parkhurst, in his Motorcycle Business Newsletter, announced that Cycle World m ag azine would choose the U.S . team - a fact confirmed by Lynn Wineland, the U.S. representative of the TransAmericas Rally. But when asked about the magazine's involvement, Cycle World publisher J im Hansen said "We have agreed to negotiate. Our involvement, if we get inv o lv ed, will be limited to helping pick the American team and help them get outfitted." Wineland counters that ,if Cycle World elects not to become involved, he is confident that some other magazine will be anxious to participate. The other question is one of permits; local rac ing organizations know all too well the time and complications involved with holding any competitive event on public lan ds. Dave Mensing, of the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Riverside, Cal ifornia, office has been working w ith Wineland on the logistics for the rally. " Since the event is slated to cover land under the control of the BLM, as well as National Forests and National Par ks, what they're trying to do is to get one permit for the entire event, " said Mensing . " Th is is somet hi ng t hat 's never been done, and it 's being handled in our (BLM ' s) Wash ington, D .C. , office . W hatth is rally has going f o r it is they w ill be using street-l eg al dual-purpos e m achines; if they get int o a prob lem area , the rally could be routed onto highways or co u nty ro ad s. In our area (southern California), they're ta lking about usin g established off-road ra ce cou rses and off-road riding ar eas t hat wou ld pose no problem . Also, it's being conducted as an enduro, w ith speed limits. Th at mean s t here w on't be the po t entia l f or environmental da mage like in a hare-and-hound. At this point, they ' re j ust getting st arted ; what they need now is to est ab lish the exact course. It 's a very ambit ious project. It can happen, but t hey n eed to get moving." Wineland claims that Malcolm Smith has given his blessing to t he event, was anxious t o be affiliated with it, and was preparing the part of the course that wou ld go through Colorado. But w hen Smith was contacted to confirm his participation, his reply was "I 'm not inv olv ed with organizing the event; I know the area (Colorado) real well, and all I've done is to suggest so me rou t es, and some alternative routes. The event itself? I wouldn 't doubt that it never happens." Unanswered details include the question of Mexican permits; calls to authorities in Tijuana normally inv olved in competition event permits produced nobody who knew anything about the event. Other loo se ends include specifics about a film that Wineland claims will be made about the rally, specifics such as w ho's bankrolling and producing t he film, and where it will be seen. Controversy also surrounds the stated plan to not allow FIMlicensed competitors in the event. Event promoter W ineland says that's because the event wants to create heros, not exploit existing heroes; critics counter that the only way to become a hero is to defeat established heroes, and that if there aren 't any heroes in the event, victory is meaningless. Wineland was unavailable for comment at presstime; his number, for inf o rm at ion about the rally, is 619/247-4327. CNANGE Signed As Executive Vice President of MARCOM of Cal ifornia , Inc., a market ing com m u n ica tions co mpan y, G . Steven Cleere, formerly a n acco u nt superv iso r o n H o n da motorcycle, ATV and scoo ter account a t Dail y a nd Associates Advertising. .Changed Tarmac Motorsp ort's phone number to 213/4347318; Tarmac Motorsport produces sport sea t con versio ns. Announced Sponsorshi p of end uro a nd ISD E rid er J eff Mill er , by Ado lp h Coors Co. and Coors Distributing Co. o f Bo ise, Idaho to represent the Coors Extra Gold bran d in 12 events th rou gh J anua ry 1986. Closed Sla ter Bro thers , th e im porters o f Lav erdas, Bremb o Bra kes a nd Marvic Racin g Wh eels, while mo ving to a new facility in Spok ane Cou n ty, Washington; Slater will be closed fro m October II to Oc to ber 21 wh ile movin g. Scheduled Dealemews Motorcycle a n d ATV Ex po shows, organ ized by HBJ Exposit ions & Co nferen ces, in Detroit (Januar y 2-5); Lon g Beach , California (January 18-20); Houston (January 31-Febru ary 2); Cincinnati (Februa ry 15-17); Boston (February 28-March 2) and Daytona Bea ch , F lorida (Ma rc h 6-8 ); the Detroit, Houston, Boston and Dayton a Beach sh ows will be ope n to th e publ ic, wi th shows in Long Beach an d Cincinnati restricted to trade on ly; more information is a vaila ble from 818/992-4353. Quit American Motorcyclist Assn. Government Rela tions Department Communications Manager Matt Benson , to become di rector of communications for th e Pen nsylvan ia Oil & Gas Assn. Consolidating The " silly season " is upon us w ith ru m ors abounding about who will ride what f or whom next season. On the GP MX scene, KTM has offered Jacky Martens a move up to t he 250cc class f rom the 1 25cc ranks in w hich he rode th is year. Martens is also supposedly talking t o Yamaha about a 250cc GP berth. Davey Strijbos w ill be back w ith Venko Honda in t he 125cc GPs in 1986 wh ile Jon van de n Berk ride a factory-backed Yamaha. T he Portervi lle Sp in ners ' October 6 TT rac es a t Airport Racewa y in Po rtervill e. Ca lifornia, wi ll be a Pro -Am Bridgesto ne Corporation's U.S. man ufacturing co m pa n y, Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing (U.S.A.) and its Arnerica n sal es a nd ma rk eting su bsidia ry, Bridgestone T ire Company of America, In c., into a single su bsidia ry co m pa ny , Bridgestone (U .S.A.) Inc., effective J anu a ry 1,1986; Bridgestone is th e fourth -largest tir e manufacturer in th e world. . • -3

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