Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Nationa l End uran ce Series rou nds for Cycle T ech Racin g . "The whole thing just kind o f fell apa rt ," Alda na sai d . " T hey still o we me a lo t o f m oney. I had a feelin g it wo u ld end up like this." T he AFM road rac e originally sched ul ed for October 20 ha s been changed to Nove m ber 9 - 10; t he race w ill still be hel d at W illow Springs in Rosamond. Ca lifornia. ...... .... Q,) ..0 o .... u o Marlboro Yamaha 's Eddie lawson won both legs of the rain-sodden International Road Race in Sugo. Japan on October 6 . lawson beat Japan's Tadahiko Taira in the first race after an early battle w ith Christian Sarron (Yam) ended when the Frenchman crashed on lap 10. In the second race. lawson topped Yamaha-mounted Hasagawa and Honda V -Four-mounted Kenoshita. Second overall went to Hasagawa by virtue of his 5 -2 finish with Kenoshita 's 4-3 score rounding out the top three. Swede n topped host cou ntry Spai n to wi n th e Wor ld Trop hy T eam competition a n d Eas t G erma ny wo n the J u n ior Worl d Trophy over Spa in in th e 1985 I nternation a l Six Da ys End u ro . Third in th e World T ro p hy co m pe titio n fell to Ea st G erman y. whi le th e Ameri can team finish ed fou rt h . fn th e Jun ior World Trop hy co m petitio n , th e Am eri can entry fin ish ed eig h th . Th e U n i ted St at es fielded 35 rid er s. with a IOta I o f 31 finish ing . Larry Roeseler (H us) was th e top Ame rica n scorer an d ea rned a gold medal in the Four-Stroke ranks , whil e J oh n Martin (C-A:" Fred H oes (H us), Jeff Fredette (Kaw). Jeff R ussell (H us), Dave Bertra m (H us), Drew Smith (H o n) and J eff Irw in (H us) a lso ea rned gold m eda ls. Twelv e Am eri can rid ers ea rn ed silver med a ls, wi th I I taking bronze med a ls. Comp lete co verage nex t week. C h uck Stearns. former SCORE off-road racer and first American ri der to finish the grueling ParisDakar race succumbed to leukem ia on Octobe r 6; memorial servi ces will be held at 4 :00 p .rn, on Thursday. October 10, at the Eternal Valley Cemetary off Highway 14 at the San Fernando Rd . exit in Newhall, California . SteveBallm er took first pl ace a mo ng th e m otorcycles a t th e La Carrera coa st-to -coast race, ru n from San Felipe to Ensenada, Mexi co . The course was cond ucted completely on public hi ghways , which were clos ed by Mexi can a u thorities for the duration of th e event. Entri es were lim ited ~o sing le-cylin der machines d isplacIIIg less th an 608cc. Unheard of in m odern racing, Ba ll mer ro de his street-lega l KLR600 Kawa saki to th e sta rt of the event, and finished th e 140-mi le road course with an a verage speed of 90.40 mph. Seco nd pl ace wa s a tie between Kawa saki-moun ted Cliff Carr a nd Scott Walter (Yam) ; fourt h p lace went to Loyal Truesda le aboard a Honda , and fifth to J eff McCarth y with a Du cat i, In six th p lace was th e win ner of th is year's Iron BUll rally, George Eglo ff, aboa rd a H onda Ascot. Look for a detailed story o f th e event in an u pc om in g issue of Cycle N ew s. Little known fact: Cycle Tech Racing's up-and-coming road racing star John Kocinski will not be ab le to compete in the FIM -sa nctioned 1986 Daytona 200 because he won't be 18 until after t he race; FIM rules require all riders to be 18 or older. 2 Dave Ald an a has announced tha t h e will not co m pete in remaining \VERA Ha lm ar will , once again , be organizing a trip to the Isle o f Man TT ro ad races schedu led for May 26 through June 6; for m ore in formation call H a lm ar at 416/356-6865. Commenting on Rick Johnson 's decision to join Team Honda in 1 9 8 6. Team Honda's Dave Arnold said "He really wanted to come to Honda. I didn't even want to negotiate until he tried the bikes, because some guys just want to go the highest bidder. But we went out with him and rode our bikes and liked them. He liked the bikes and he thought he'd like the support, and it wasn 't a case of him getting a lot of money." Alt hough the speedway season has ended at m ost faci lities in so u the rn Ca lifornia, Ascot So u th Ba y Stadi urn wi ll conti nue to ru n on Th ursday n ig hts u n til November 7. Asco t will a lso host th e Junior Nationa ls on Friday, October I I. The AFM North will host it s an nual 4-hour endurance road race at Sears Point Raceway on October 27. The theme for th is year's race: " Th e Halloween Endurance Road race of the Th ird Kind; " out of state teams ma y en ter the race for halfthe regula r entry f ee. For more inf o rm at io n call Joe Montoya at 415 /482-3526. 1985 Gra nd Nationa l Champion Bubba Shobert showed up a t th e Ca me l Pro Series banquet in Sac ramen to, Ca lifornia dressed in a black an d turquo ise tuxedo, but teamma te Ri cky Gra ha m pro vide d th e ev e n i ng 's hu m o r. G rah am h ad th e crow d laugh in g with h is story o f h ow carrot j uice prescribed by Kenn y Roberts was the key to his q ui ck heal in g fem ur; Graha m also presented h is mech an ic Spa rky Ed mons to n with ~is 1984 Camel Pro belt bu ckl e sayIIIg th a t Sh obert ca lled th e oversized buckle a "di n ne r p late." The Specialty Vehicle Instit ut e of America (SV IA) is now ' sending hangtags to more t han 5 .000 ATV dea lerships across t he country; the tags are designed t o hang from the handlebars of the ATVs to remind buyers of train ing co urses offered by the SVIA. Jimmy Fili ce and Lance J o nes wi ll compete in the Dayto na Pro -Am on October 18-20 as members of the Super T ea m; the duo wi ll co m pete on Yamaha FZ750s. According to Pace Management and Stadium Motorsports, five European riders have committed to ride in the World Supercross Finals on November 9 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. They are as follows; Eric Geboers, Gert-Jan-Van Doorn. Pekka Vehkonen, Davy Striijbos and Jon Van Den Berk: Seco nd Creek Racewa y in Denver, Colorado a nd Bob Bro wn ell of Roa ring Fork P roduct ions trea ted Wes Coo ley and h is fami ly to a three-day weekend in Col orado a nd a lso raised close to S1500 for th e Cooley fun d . This 1921 Rudge Multi-Motorcycle will come up for auction shortly in London. England . The bike is dated January 1921 . but with registration of motorcycles only becoming compulsory in 1921. the bike may have been built earlier; estimated price for the Rudge is $3900. . 46 races pro~osed under six sanctions' Interceptor series may go nationwide By John Ulrich LONG BEACH . CALIF.• OCT 4 American Ho nda Motor Co . may t ake t he Honda VF500 Int ercept or Series - ru n in conjunction w ith 1985 AFM races at W illow Springs Raceway - natio nw ide in 1986. The eight-race AFM series. which pays $1000 in purse per event and features a $7500 po ints fund . is limited t o box-stock VF500Fs and has p roven to be extraord inarily competitive. Going into the final event scheduled for November 10 R ichard Moore and Steve Reynosa are t ied for first in points. with Joe Solis in third and within reach. News that the series may go nationwide in 1986 comes from ser ies promoter Jim Moore. w ho told Cycle News that Honda is considering sponsoring series events sanctioned by South Carolina-based WERA. Connecticut-based AAMRR, southern California-based AFM. Oregon-based OMRRA, Colorado-based MRA and Texasbased CRRC (under WERA). No plans are being considered to work with AMA I CCS because that organization lacks stock classes. Moore said . Under the 1986 plan, the top five riders in each organization would be invited to a national run -off at the end of the season w ith a $20.000 purse. Individual race purses may also be increased from 1985' s $1 000 per event. which pays $450 to w in, $250 for second, $150 for third, $100 for fourth and $50 f o r fifth. Coo ley was o n h an d for th e MRAsanct ioned Ya maha G P h eld on Oc tober 5-6 a nd also in teach ing the riders schoo l. a lo ng wit h Fred Merkel , Sam McDo na ld and Ricky Orla ndo, on rhe Friday previous to th e race . Over 2000 fans watched as McDona ld dom ina ted th e G P en route to collecting 2200 for his efforts; McDonald later donated 200 o f his prize money to th e Cooley fund . Rock Oil has signed three new riders to use and endorse thei r product for 1986; Terry Bostard. Phil Larson and Danny Boles are the new motocrossers under Rock Oil sponso rsh ip; interested riders looking for sponsorship may call Gary Rabe at 408 /356 -4219. Acerb is, a n Ital ian fender m anufacturin g co m pa ny, will be putting on The Ra ll y de In cas, a 2500-mi le o ffroad race sim ila r to th e Paris-Dakar Rall y, so me time in March, 1986, in P eru . Casey Folks a t S po rts m a n Cycl e in La s Vegas, Nevada , is cur-: rentl y wo rking o n th e projec t as a n America n adv isor an d h as a lrea dy spe nt two weeks in Peru h elp in g to layout th e co urse, which wi ll run through the ~t.!.des Mo un ta ins ,_over [Con ti n u edt o pa g e 12) MQTORCYCLE INDUSTRYS CflANGE Hired Elaine l\iacDona ld to th e staff of Motorcycle Deal ern ews: MacDon al d was m ost rece nt ly a sa les rep resent at ive for Video Store Report. Wadded A BMW K75 test bi ke, ~ by .Road R ider magazine Manag in g Editor C lement Sa lvadori wh ile testing the mach in e in Europe ; th e bik e was undamaged , bu t Sal vadori's leg was burned wh en it was pinned under th e bike' s muffl er. Lost a re d, whit e a n d b lu e Si nisa lo gear bag with helmet , boo ts a nd th ree sets o f leathers, a t Will o w Springs racew ay o n October 6. A rewa rd is offered : co nt ac t Richard Lovell a t 213/484 -9323 or 213/ 5465 136. - •

• Cover