Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The AMA Nationa l road races have been Mike Ba ldwin/Honda shows in Formula One while in Superbike ir' s a Fred Merkel/Honda show, Th e onl y real inter est co mes when ei ther most of th e factories gel involved or world clas s grand prix rid ers show up. I en visio n ever d eepening boredom a nd dropping attendance OIl th e Speedwa y in fu tu re yea rs. I, for o ne. hav e no in terest in m aking th e maj or time and m oney o u tlays 10 tr av el a nd slav in Da ytona 10 see a third rate show. My race fan fri en ds a nd I a ll want Bill France to know wh er e h e ca n fi nd us during next yea r's Cycl e Week:"" a t home! WEST A merica 's weekly motorcycle newspaper HOWARD CYLINDER Philadelphia , PA Sharon Clavro n. Publisher Mik e Klin Ktt. Co mplrolln" Ski p j ohnson • •Associate Pu bl ish rr t N ational Silk" M ana grr Ca ro li ne Ge ndry . Execu tive St'cu tary to thr P u bl isher Thank you Edit orial J ohn Ulric h. Ed ito r Kit Palmer. Associate Editor Mati H ilgenberg, Associate Ed ito r Ji m wolco u . A ssociate Ed ito r Paul C arru thers , A sso cia te Edito r Advertising T (''ITY 1·';111 Sales Manager Tim Ryan. Salt's M an a/{t'T Mark Thome, S ales Ma na .f{t'r Linda Bmwn Advertising Coo rd in ator ~a nC}' WaslC.'II, A dve rtising t Ed itorin! As sistan t Grap h ics and Production Gi nger Dev aul , Prod uctio n AfC71Qgt"T Mal co lm Wil son. Grap hic Artist Nat e Rauba, Assistant ~larion Ha tashita. T yp esetter Carolyn Bran ham. T y/Ns, urr Den n is Gr een e, Lab . Tech, A cc ou nting / D ata Processing Don na Brya n. A ccoulI ls R t'u ;t1 abk Coo rdi nato r Geneva Repass, Ass istant s Fra n Hamwey , Credit Circulation Rbeb a Sm it h. Mana gt'T Sara h T ay lo r. A ssistant Lyna H ood. Assistant Rebecca Braa k. A ssu la nt Alma Anguiano . ASSistant Dealer Sales and Service Bob Elfiou, Dealer Sa lt'S Ma nagn Want Ads Candy H a nd , Want Ad Salt's Service an d Support Qu is Aitcheson , R eception ist Leo nard H err ing . Sb5 West 220 1 Che- Ave.• Lo ng Beach. CA rry 90806. P.O . llo x 198. Lo n g Beach. CA 9OAO 1·(}I98 (2 13) 127· 7133; L. A. Line 636-8841. - East 4190 Fi l'51 Ave.• T ucker, G A. 30084. P,O , Box 805, T uc ker, G A 30085~0805 . (11 93·1· 7850. }!) Cvc te I '("W S / W~ 1 (US PS 111-"1 0) is p u bIished weekf v exce p t tbe first a n d last week o f the ca len da r vear for $25 pe r ye-ar by Cycle ~ew\ .lnc. . 2201 01t'1T)' Avenue, Long Beach , CA 90806. Secon d cla ss postage paid a t Lo ng Beach , C.A. POS TMASTER: Send form 3579 t o Cyc le News. P.O . BOll 498. Long Beac h . CA 90801 -0498. Subscription ra tes: Om. year. seco nd class " ma il. $25; f W O years , seco nd class ma il. $45 ; three yea rs, seco nd clas s mai l, $68; 25 weeks. $13. Foreign ra tes ava ila b le o n req ues t. Cycle New s welcom es u nsol ici ted ed itoria l materia l includi ng stories. cartoons, photos, etc. Such mat erial. if published. beco mes the exc lusive p ro pe r ty o f C ycl e New s. Such acrepied material is su bjec t to revision as is n ecessar y in the sole discretion o f Cycle Xews. U nso licited material whi ch is nOIused wi ll be returned if acco mpanied by a fa('1! ad d ressed sta mped envelope. All unMllidtt"d material \4 'ill br handled with re-,.n.onablC' ea rC'. h owC'v('r . C ycl e New s as \um" n o rMponsibility for th e safC'ty,lo \ s or d; lmag(' to !tuch ma tl"fiaJ. R rprint i n~ in whol t' o r pari onl y by JXTffiission of thC' p u bIi!i.htT. Advertis ing ra les a nd ci rcu la tio n in £onna lio n will belirn l upon n-q ut"St . SeeS.R.D 's. Copyrig ht ~ Cycle News. Inc . 198 5 . Trademark Cycle News reg istered U.S . Patent Office. All rights reserved . ONTHEFRONTPAGE:Threeviews of t he 60th ISDE. f rom Spa in . The American team at ope ning cere · monies (t op left). top USA ri der Larry Roe seler (bottom). an d sil ver m edali.t William Perkins. Eve nt cov e rag e beg in. on page '2 . Photo. by Kit Palmer. 4 Tame the tracks Ret ding o f th e accidenta l d ea th o f a Crai g Sosa foll ow in~ th e Huron ro u nd o f th e T rans-Cal ser ies ha s a la rm ed me en o ugh to writ e. H a ving raced m otocro ss si n ce 1969. I ' ve wat ched th e demise o f m an y tracks. Tt used to be housing encroach ment a nd zon ing problems; now it's exi sting and potential liabilities - from us riders and o u r famili es. I raced thai da y OI l Huron a nd whil e I don 't know what happened with Craig. I would still like 10 m ake an o bserva tio n . Thai track had more jumps than I've ever seen a n yw here - even more than mosl supercrosses I'v e attended. Doubles 15 feel hi gh and 20 feel across with o n ly a 40-fool run is asking for a serious injury, espec ia ll y from less exper ienced riders. (Even P h il La rson took himself OUI o n a double a week later OIl Laguna Seca .) Whil e th e general la yout was fun . someone rea ll y got ca rr ied away - and someone else got r a rri ed o ff. Th is is th e sa me p roblem tha t really closed down In di an Dunes (p lus th e promot or accid em/ Ja ws u it), a nd th e Dunes d id it to themselves. Their Sha dow Glen tr;a ck turned from a na tural o u tdoor track to o ne o f doubles (loved th e o ne wh ere overshootin g m eant landin g among th e tree trunks j.triples, h igh-speed table-tops a n d blind jumps. Too bad a ll riders . racers a nd a few individ ual s paid th e price, Even the Hungry Valley T ra nsCa l had two sets of doubles in th e m iddl e of the main stra ig h t wh er e none exisled Ih e previous week . Promol ers. I recommend yo u cha n ~e Ih e way yo u bu ild yo u r tra cks - d o it wilh Ih e juniors in mi nd a nd not Ih e Pros or spl'cla to rs, who arc usuall y family a nd fr iends a nd will be th ere a n yway. Mov e yo ur multiple (notice I did n OIsa y double) j u m ps 10 Ihe beginnin~of a str.lig h wway ; kt-ep them round and reasonable so that di stan ce, ralh er th an h ei gh I, is ac h ievl'd . Consider doin~ like. Saddleback did at one time - a lteri ng th e layoul such Ihal Amaleurs went a round their uphill doubles . Make Ihe InlCk lechnir.11 and slow d own the Spt'l'd - st.·cond and third gear is j usl as fun as fourth and fifth. Finally. you go OUI yourst·1f a nd r ide it , not yo ur teen age so n . If yo u r a n 't m ak e the j u m ps o r ca rry so m e decent speed through th e whoops, d o n't ex pect th at a n l l -year-ol d o n a n 80 will ei ther. Even wi th th ese more si m p le tracks, we'll co n tin ue 10 ra ce (bea ts n at track in g in a local pa rking lot - which is wh er e we 're headed ). In fact . m ore rid er s m ight be encouraged o r a l lo wed to take up th e sport. In short . a llow us 10 leav e yo u r tr: ck in o u r min i trucks a n d vans, to a race yo u r races ag;a in , rather th an in a n a m bula nce. To Craig Sosa 's family , my si ncere condolences. While I didn 't know him . I'm sure he wa s taken as a result of doing some thing h e lo ved which, of co u rse is extremely rare. He's found a place where the tra cti on is pe rfect, hi s 1 a th ers Slay clea n a nd DNFs are 1" unheard or. G odspeed Craig. RICH " O L D SHOW" DROLEN Ventura , CA Opinion time I wou ld lik e to pUI m y o p in io n in on a cha nge in th e Camel Pro Seri es di rt tra ck formal. I th ink th e ra ces and th e rider s would benefi I from increasi ng th e Na ti onal field 1019 or 20 r iders . NOIo n ly would it make th e a ction m ore spectacu la r. h ut th e fans would enj oy it even more. It seems like yo u see th e sa me na m es in th e results for every ra ce. The suggested formal would give th e privateers a cha nce to m ake th eir names more popular a nd al so give th em a ch a nce 10 m ake m ore mon ey. I'm nOI say ing Ihis format would work. bUll bet a 101 o f riders a nd fan s Ihink il would. GARY MAHER Buda,lL I'll be at home As one who has been 10 seven of Ih e lasl nine Cycle Weeks al Day lona Internaliona l Speedway, I feci co m pelled 10 offer m y opinion on dropping Formula One racing from Ih e p rogram OI l Ih e Speedwa y. Da ytona and Laguna Seca a re Ih e on ly road ra ces in Ihis country which have a truly high level of co m pe titio n. I would like to say th anks to m y spon so rs a nd th e people who made it possibl e for m e 10 win th e AMA Camel Pro Seri es junior National Championship. They made th e whole 1985 season a thril l. No m atter how you look at it. this wasn' t a so lo effort and I co u ld n' t hav e won without thei r help. I'd like 10 th ank th e Iollowing people who su p po rted m y ra cing during the 1985 season: ROil Wood of Wo od Racing Products, Ri chard Perry o f Perry's' H-D , Larry Ma ier s a nd Matt Weisman o f H iP oint Ra cing , R og er Weston o f Arai H elmets, Bob a n d Lori Stump o f Slump In surance. jim Ed m u ndson of Native H ardwoods. j ohn Leale o f Carlisle Tires, H oward Dosmann o f Northern Elec tric. j ohn Linden o f T subaki Chain , Don a nd Mark Mos-sey, Earl Wi se, G randma . a nd th e man y o ther people th at have co n tr ibuted. I would a lso like 10 give a sp ecial thanks 10 m y parents for th eir never-ending understanding and su pport. Every one involved ga ve m e ex ira incentive to win and I appreciate it. I can 't say it enough: Thank yo u every one. BRIAN ATHE RTON White Pigeon, MI Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. 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