Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

AMA 1985 1 2 5cc N ation al Motoc ross Champion Ro n Lec hien was busted on Fri day , Oc tober 1 1 in Japan for possession of marijuana . Lech ien, w ho was in Japan for t he Japanese Grand Prix, was detaine d at New Tokyo International Airport in Narita, Japan by c ustoms officials w ho f ou nd marijuana in the Tea m Ho nda ri der ' s suitcase. Lechien w as f in ed $100, spent the night in a hot el and flew ho m e t he next morning w ithout rac ing. Ma lcol m Smith, Dan Curnev and stu nt rnan Stan Barrett are among a grou p of 12 rid ers cur rent ly to uri ng Chi na o n KL600 and KL250 Kaw a sa kis . Th e lOOO-mi le, IO-day to ur began in Oc to ber a nd is bein g bill ed as th e Ka wasa ki Ch ina Connection . Continental Products Corp. has strengthened its replacement tire division with fou r new territory managers; Gary Helton will handle the Northwest, Carl Blair will be in Washington D .C . while Ron Oberman will cover the Midwest and Arthur Ledue is scheduled to take care of the Northeast. SUZUKI Fred H oess, gol d meda l win ner a t the Spa n ish ISD E. an d hi s fath er had the ir pass po rts a nd airp la ne tickets stolen a t th e a irport in Ba rcelo na, Spain , when return ing to the U ni ted States. T hey spent th e rest o f th e day a t the Amer ican Ernbassv in Bar celona filing fo r new pa ssports. Whe n they left the Embassy lat er th at day, they fo u nd tha t a windo w in their rent-a ca r ha d been smashed in a nd a ll of thei r lugga ge stol en. includi ng all Fred's ridi ng gear , excep t for hi s helmet. "I co u ldn 't bel ieve it!" said Fred, " I mean.tw ice in o ne da y? T he ca r was parked right o u tside th e Em bassy , and th er e were pe o p le a ll a ro u nd. 1 ca n ' t beli eve nobodvsaw it h appen and didn 't do a nyt h ing a bo u t it. We had to sleep overn igh t in the ca r withou t our jackets or a nyth ing, a nd with th e windo w smashed in, we alm ost froze to death ." Th e Los Angeles ro und of the Rod il Trophy Superc ro ss Series, whic h w ill be he ld in the L.A . Co liseum on Novem ber 9 , w ill 'po ssibly see the use of a handicapped start in the f ina l. Accord ing to Stadium Motorsports' Helen Molletta, the plan is "patterned after speedway, b ut of course we can't start ri ders .5 0 feet in back of the line . We plan to use a system where the f irst half . of the ga te drops f ive, maybe 10 seconds before t he second half. Riders who qualify direc tly out of the heats w ill start o n t he 'de layed' po rtion of t he gate, and those who transfer ou t of t he semis and Last Chance Qua lifier will start on th e side that drops f irst ." The int enti o n of the system I S to provide c loser rac ing . Confirmed Ame rica n entries f or t he race in - GSX -R1100 Proof that the horsepower wars aren 't over yet: Suzuki 's o il-cooled, 1 052cc, 130-horsepower GSXR 11 00 and Yamaha's air-cooled, 1188cc, 130-horsepower FJ1200, both seen at the recent Paris motorcycle show. 2 AMA Dirt Track. Advisory Board meeting Major rule changes for Class C racing? LONG BEACH, CALIF" OCT. 14 Th e AMA D irt Track Advisory Board met the day following the San J ose M ile t o d iscuss several important rule changes that could have an im m ed iat e effect on the state of dirt track racing in the United States. Several controversia l proposals were ra ised w ith most com ing in the f orm of dirt trac k equipment requirements. The fi rst stated that Expert eq uipm ent for Tl', ha lf mile an d mile events would meet the -f oll ow ing sta ndards; 0-504cc, single-cylinder, air-cooled, four-stroke engines with a maximum of four va lves (two intake and two exhaust), or 0 -7 5 0 c c, twin-cylinder, air-cooled, fou r-stroke engines with a m axim u m of fou r valves per cylinder (also two int ake and two exh aus t ). The secon d proposal was for Junior Tl', half mile and m ile equipm ent and stated that equipment would have to meet the followin g sta ndards ; 0 -504cc, sing le -cylinder, air-cooled, four-stroke en gi nes w it h a maximum of f our valves (two int ak e and two exhaust). or restricted 0-750cc, t win-cylinder. air-cooled. four-stroke engine w ith a maximum of four valves pe r cylinder (two intake and two ex haust). A change in t he diameter for intake restrictors was also proposed for Juniors. up from 27mm to 30mm. Eight of the nine board members voted for the proposals. After advisory board approval of the engine guidelines. the following motions regarding maximum cylinder bores for all four-stroke equipment were brought to the floor: single-cylinder. four-stroke machines up to 504cc shall be limited to a standard maximum cylinder bore of 92mm on the approved engine with an allowable overbore of .0 4 5 inches; twin -cylinder; four-stroke machines shall be limited to a standard maximum cylinder bore of 79 :5mm on the approved engine w ith an allowable overbore of .045 inches. Once again. eight of t he nine members agreed . In addition, some of the board members indicated a need to revise the "stability rule" to allow for immediate implementation of new standards. A motion was made to revise the ru le to read as follows : " A ny rule adopted which changes the engine displacement of a class shall take effect on January 1 of the calendar year following the year in which the rule is adopted . In addition, the rule must remain in effect fo r a minimum of five calendar years." Eight of the board members said yes to the motion while one member was opposed. Another proposal that was approved. but didn 't gain a unanimous decision, was a motion t hat the AMA would levy a $1000 fine against promoters if race starts are delayed beyond advertised times due to negligence or fa ilu re of promoter to provide a doctor, ambulances, su itably -prepared race track . etc., in time t o m eet the race sch edule; t he f ines levied would be adde d t o t he ri der po int fund . Boa rd chairman Bill A mick also in di cat ed that although the sanct ioning process f or 1986 had j ust beg un. t he goal is for 22-24 Na tiona l events. with $35 ,000 m inim um purses for m iles and $30.000 m in imums f o r the other rac es. The AMA also announced t hat the annual N at ion al events in the Houston Ast rodome have been changed; the n has been dropped for '86, and the short track Na tional will be run in conjunction w ith an AMA /lnsport Tour Supercross . The AMA says th is is on ly an experiment and no other dirt track /supercross double headers w ill be scheduled until the Houston program ca n be ev aluated , T he AMA Boa rd of Trustees w ill review the p roposals at their meeting on November 11 . Wills sets world record at Gulfport Nat'l Drags GULFPORT. MS. OCT. 12-13 Sam Wills accomplished what no other drag racer has before when he turned in two runs over 200 mph in the IDBA World Finals at Gulfport International Dragway. Wills. 30. rode his V irgil Naffsponsored 1980 Kawasaki-based. 1200cc, supercharged Top Fuel d ragster to a top speed of 200.22 mph on Saturday and backed that u p for the rec ord wit h a 200.89 run on Sunday. w ith the h igher speed going int o the record books. Terry Vance went 203 .61 mph on his Byron Hines-built Top Fuel Suzuki in A ugust of 1982. but did so at a non-championship. regularWednesday-n ig ht-drags event in California , and was unable to back up the pass due t o m ec hanical problems. To set an official record. the pas s m ust be made at a championship event and must be backed up by a seco nd pass w ithin 1 % of the fast time. W ills, who ha ils f ro m Okla homa City, Oklahoma, defeated t he man m any had picked as the most lik ely to break the 200 mph ba rrier, El m er Trett (Kaw) , in the f inal . That victory gave Wills both the new Top Fuel speed record and the ID BA Top Fue l number one plate. Terry Vance (Suz) put together a series of strong runs to take both endsofthe IDBA Pro Stock record at 8.21 seconds elapsed time and 161 .56 mph top speed. . Jim McClure (H-D) became the first rider to break the eight-second barrier in IDBA Pro Comp competition. logging three runs in the seven-second bracket with his quickest being a 7.90-second run.

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