Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

WEST America 's weekly motorcycle newspaper Sharon C layto n , Publish" Mik e Klin gtT.Com ptrol ln Ski p j ohnso n , A ssociate Pu blish ert N ation a l SGlt>s M anaK" Ca ro line Gt"ndry. Ex ecu nue St"C'tt' ry to ta thi' Publ ish" Editorial Jo hn Ulrich. Ed itor Kil Pa lm er , A ssoc iate Ed ito r Matt H ilgen berg, Associate Edi to r J im Wol cott . Associate Edi tor Paul Ca rruthe rs, Associate Editor Advertising Terry P rall Sa les .U a M KN T im Ryan . Salt's lUa nagn Mark Thome, Sales Mana g" Linda Brown A dvert isin g Coo rdi n ator Nan cy Waslrll. A dvrr tisin f{IEd itor ial A .u istdn t Graphics and Prod uction C anger Devaul, Production Mana gn Malco lm Wilson . G rap h ic Ayt ist Na te Rauba. Assulanl r.tar1o n Ha taahita , T'1~sdln Carol yn Bran ham, T y (Hglln Den n is GrttIlC', Lab. Te ch ; Accounting/Data Processing Donna Brya n . A ccoun ts R eceiva ble Coordinator Gnln-a Repa ss, A ssislanl Fran H arn wey, Crt>dit Circulation Rheba Smith. M anager Sarah Taylor. Assistant Lyna Hood . A ssiJlant Rd )(' C3 Braa k, A ssistant C Alma Anguiano . A.u istant Deale r Sales and Service Bob Elliott.lHtJln SDZ,J MtJruzgn- Went Ads Ca ndy H and . WtJnl Ad Solrs Service and Support Qui, Aitch non. Reception ist Leo nard Herring , SirS w eSt 220 1 Ch er ry Ave.• Long Beach, C A 90806. P.O. Box 498. Long Bea ch , CA 90801· (H98 (2 13) 427· 7433; L A. Line 636-88-14 . East 1190 First Ave.• Tucker , G A. ~008 4. P.O . Box 805. T uc ker. GA 30085·0805. (404) 934·7850 . Cycle NC"W!il/ Wol (U SP S 141-340 ) is p ublish ed week ly excep t the first a nd la st wed, o f the ca lendar yea r for S25 per year by Cycle News . fnc.• 2201 O1erry Aven ue. Long Beach. CA 90806. Seco nd cia s postag e paid Oil Lo ng . 8e' Ch.CA. d POSTMASTER : Send f orm 3579 to Cycle News. P.O. Box 49B. Long Beach . CA 90801 -049B. Subscri p tio n rates: On e year. second class . ma il . $25; rwo years, seco n d class mail. $45; three yon. second class mai l, $68; 25 weeks, $ 13. Foreign ra tes avai la ble on req uest . Cycle NC"Ws wel co mes u nsol ici ted edi toria l ma teri al incl udi ng sto ries , ca rtoons, phot os . etc. Su ch mat er ial . if published. becomes the exclu sive p roperty o f C ycle New s. Such 'leaped mat eri al is su bject to revision as is neces sa ry in the sole di screti on o f Cycle New s. U nsoli ci ted m at erial wh ich is not used will be ret u rn ed if accompanied by a ~lf add ressed sta mped env elope. All unsolicited. ma teri a l will be handled with reasona ble ca re . h o wev er, Cycl e S e ws as su mes no respons ibi firy Ior the salety.J oss or da mag e to suc h material. Reprintin g in wh o le o r pan on ly by permission of the publisher. AdvaU !\ ng i ra tes a nd circu la tion in form a tio n will be sent u pon request. 5C't'S.R.O.S. Copyrigh t I!'> Cycle News. Inc . 1985. Trademerk Cycle News regi stered U.S. PatantOff'IC8 .A1lrights reaerved. ON THE FRONT PAGE: How to be a Motocross Star. a series by David Bai ley. returns to Cycle News by popu lar demand. Story o n page 20. Photo by Tom Kolnowski. 4 " Sudden Sam " says thanks I wo ul d lik e to tha n k everyone who hel ped m e in m a kin g it to a nd finishin g th ird in the World Speed way Fina l in Engla nd. I woul d especi a ll y like to th ank Bobby Sch wa nz for lettin g m y wife a nd my self stay with him in Engla nd a nd for the u sc of h is n u m ber o n e Eddi e Bu nn Weslake m otor a nd pit crew. A specia l th anks sho u ld go to P ick You r Pa n A u to Sa lva ge (S ta n to n), P ac ifi c Coa st Laminat in g . T&A Engi ne Dist . a nd Ti m 's Diesel for the ir su p port, Add irionallv , I'd lik e to th ank a ll m y sponsors --.:. Ara i, Kat -C ard . J ones Goggles. Q &E C ycle. I-l i-P o illl . ST P . Am eri can M ikun i, TerryCa ble. RK Ra cin g C ha in , T he Fra m e Shop . AI Reed 's Polishing , Ca l M ini T r ucks , l\1c;\;l inne Wat er Trucks a nd K&N Filter s - for th eir help in m akin g hi s a very m em o rable even t. T ha n k yo u a ll ! SAl\ 1 ER l\IO LEN KO 1'3 Speedway R ider in th e World C ypress, CA We lker Trailers Thanks very muc h fo r printing m y letter co ncern ing m y pl igh t wit h Wel ker T ra ilers, In c.T h e response to m y letter ha s been ove rw h elm ing. I have had ca lls from Ca liforn ia, T exas. a nd Arizona. I trul y a p p recia te th ese ca ll s a nd want to exp ress m y thanks to th ese people a lso . I ha ve been a ble to find tha t Welker T ra il ers, In c. so ld th e p a tent a nd d istr ib ut io n righ ts to :\U-I Distributing . 48 17 Vicksb urg, Dall as, T X 75207. 2 14/634-2299 . I ca ll ed th ese fo lks a nd th ey told m e th at I was o ne of ma n y w ho bought tra il er s fro m \\'el ker a nd never received a tr a il er. A n ice lad y named Ji ll sai d th at MH Distr ibut ing wou ld tr y to p rovid e as ma n y tra i lers as th ey co u ld a Hord for a ll those wh o wer e c hea ted. She sa id sh e wo uld p ut m y name o n the wa iti ng li st . but co u ld not prom ise wh en or if I would ever receive o ne . I asked if she k new where I co u ld find T err y Welker. She sa id she h ad no add ress, but had heard h e was living in G arland.. Texas, a nd if sh e h eard m ore. she would ca ll. If anyone knows th e whereabouts of this man. pl ease ca ll collect 309 /685-8066. Many th anks to all . H . KEITH THOMPSON AMA #277465 Peoria.IL Singleton a winner I a m furi ous attheremark made by Roxy Rockwood in an article about Dal e Singleton. I quote: "True he was no t a bi g winner on th e track. winning four National road races betw een 1978 a nd 198 1." Exactly how m any Nationals does it take to be a " big wi nner ?" How m any wins do yo u have to your cred i t, Roxy? More important ly, every racer who PUtSon a h el m et. straddles a bike and grabs a handfu l of th ro t tle is a winner, a big winner. Racers put th eir heart a nd so u l into what they do . Many a re willing to live. eat and br eathe racing, just so th ey can be th ere wh en th e light goes green. I resent th e implication in th e anic1e tha t while Dal e was a great guy. h e wa s so meth ing less than a big winner. I believe Roxyowes all racers a n a pology but more importantly he o wes o ne to Dal e's famil y. It hurts to kn ow we'v e lo st another o ne o f the g uys, but we'll a lways rem ember Dal e Singleton as a big winner ! . DONNA CRABBE Ed gewood, MD MX in Europe Being in the U .S. Air Force has m any adva ntages. Being stationed in Germany is one of them. This gives me th e rare privilege of seeing a European motocross Grand Prix first hand. I saw my fir st Grand Prix a t the fam ed Citadel track in Namur, Belg i um . It wa s here th at I could not help but noti ce th e vast differen ces between races in th e States a nd over here in Europe. When I showed up on Saturday for practice, there was no charge for admittance. I thought " Okay. but tomorrow it will surely COSt some- thing." What a surprise to me to find that at a World Championship event. m yself and 20 ,000 other pe o p le were a llowed in without having to pa y. When I went to Carls ba d in 1979 and ·SO. I had to pa y S l5 in advance. Also at th e tra ck , o ne co u ld spen d time between motos looking a t a ll th e vendors sell ing a va rie ty of differ en t accesso ries and riding a p pare l. This is something I have never seen in th e States. I was very gl ad to see that there was no six-foot-t all . ch ai n -l i n k fence around the track, which made taking pictures possible for people who did not have a press pass. T h e sh o ts I took were my best to date. It was amazing how relaxed the pits were. I was able to go right in with no hassles. All th e riders a nd mechanics were very fri endly. I was able to listen to Andre Malherbe a nd Georges jobe talk to Danny " Mag oo" Chandler about different parts of the track. I a lso got to wa tch Ma lherbe's mechanic prep his bike between motos. All this and they didn ' t o nce m ake m e feel like I was in the way. T he most important d iffe rence was the tra ck itself. T he Citadel track is the most cha llenging and has th e most technical la yo u t I have ever seen. It starts at the top of a very la rge hill and winds its way down a nd back up again to the finish . This track has the steepest downhills and uphills. I wondered how they were going to climb up them . let alone go fast up them. It also had a very fast straightaway with a jump right in the middle of it. Da n n y Chandler and Eric Goobers were jumping as high as the trees that lined the straig h ta wa y. About 90% of the track is laid out through the forest. Throttle control is of the upmost importance at the Citadel. We are always reading about how the Belgium fans are violent to the riders a nd spectator control is terrible. This was not the case this year. I walked around the track during both days and saw none of this. The race itself was magnificent! Thorpe and Malherbe traded m o to wins with Thorpe taking the overall and Malherbe second. Magoo had a 5-4 r id e for third overa ll. Da n n y p roved he can be consistent a nd hang in there in any si tua tion. and heonly crashed once. Peop le who are only able to see the Europeans race at Carlsbad do not realize what they are missing. Ma lherbe and Thorpe put on a blistering pace in bo th rnotos that had them a full minute ahead of third place. Get the Europeans on their own turf and you see a big difference in the determination and aggressiveness of their riding. Anybody who can beat Magoo by more than a minute deserves some credit. I still think we have more fast riders in the U ni ted States. but don 't co u nt th e Europeans OUL MA RK B. EDWARDS West Germany Craig on Statler Thank yo u for yo u r Au gusl 91h Ieln-r hringing to m y attent ion th e co n duct of Commiss ioner Stuart Sta tler during th e C..o nsumer Product Saf ety Commission's (C PSC) hmr ing o n on AII-T eTr.,in Veh icles (ATVs) in C cord . New Hampsh ire. I ran assu re yo u tha t I sha re yo u r co ncern ov er Commissioner Sta tler's behavior, not onl y a t th e Concord h earing, hUI al so throughout th is cnt ire i n ves rig a t ive period hy t lu Commission on ATVs. Commissioner Suu ler's com men ts both in print and SIX'('('h indicate to me a ser io us brea ch of impartialit y and objectivity requ ired of CPSC Comrnissioners to properly consider rhe-AT'v -issu« and

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