Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

will be in th e Barn ey O ldfield sec tion loca ted in turn four o f th e ova l and th e garage a rea will be in th e La te Model Sports ma n co mplex; the renova tions are expected to be fin ished by February I . T he O ver The H ill G ang w ill hold its Vetera n's Day Vet MX at Sa nd Hi ll Ra n ch o n Nov ember 10; a ll Old Ti mers a re in vit ed with n o cl ub m em bers hip re quired. Fo r more informa tion cal l Nina Bevilacq ua a t 4 151757-2958 Britishers Ron Haslam. Mick Grant and Steve Parrish lead the entry for the November 23-24 Macau Road Race GP . Americans John long and Henry DeGouw. who competed in last year's event. will again be making the trip to the British Protectorate on the coast of China. The race, with a course through the streets of the capitol city, was won last year by Grant. Here's your chance to be on television : Cycle News. Inc. needs riders with leathers. helmets and bikes to appear in a top quality Cycle News commercial to be filmed 'Novem ber 2 -3 near Palmdale, Cal ifornia; the commercial will air in 1986. For inf orm at i on. contact Mike Klinger at Cycle News . 213/427-7433 . Warren Wilson, the o wne r o f Cycle St uff in Victorville, Californ ia suc cumbed to a broken neck su ffere d during a n o ff-ro ad race in Barstow , California o n October 20. No arra ngemen ts have been made; for more in formation ca ll Lori Anderso n a t 619/245-2536. A draw ing for sta rt ing time for th e Baja 1000 Novem ber 8- 10 has th e Chuck Miller / Bruce O g il vie H onda XR600 team first on the line. T hey will be fo llowed by the Larry Roeseler / Ku rt P feiffer team, riding a 500cc four-stroke Husk y, th e G arth Sweet la nd/ Mark H ildeb rand duo , a nd th e BMW U.S. team co ns isting o f Warren • Reid a nd T om Kell y. Robert Stewart of Santa Rosa. California and Dave Donnelly of los Angeles were the big winners in the recent Racecrafters raffle for Wes Cooley; Donnelly won an Arai Helmet and Stewart won an enrollment in the California Superbike School. Li n le known fa ct : Ca liforn ia 's offroad vehicl e registration program (kno wn as the green- sticker fu nd. after th e co lor of th e registra tion stickers a p p lied to off -road vehicles) has spent $134,427,71 3 on off-road riding areas and programs since the S15 o nc e-every -t wo -years reg istra tion fee was started in 1972. T he state, through the Off-H igh wa y Mot or Veh icle Recrea tio n Commissio n . ha s p urch a sed a to ta l o f 50,000 acres o f ~ and a!1d has established rid ing areas In va rro us areas. Ca lifornia's Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission recently granted $360.000 to the U.S , Bureau of Land Management to purchase right-of-way parcels along the historic. 130-mile Mojave Road in the California desert. The road, rebu ilt by off-road vehi cle enthusiasts, was in danger of being closed by private property owners; the BlM's purchase of private land along the road will prevent closure . T h e 1985 CZ World Champi o ns h ip that includes vintage mot ocross ra eing wi ll take p lace a t Perr is Raceway in Perr is, California o n November 6; th e CZ World Championship is open to an y CZ motorcycle with separate classes to be held for Ju nior, Int ermediate and Expert riders, while the Vin tage rac es wi ll be open to an y bi ke bu ilt in 1974 or ea rl ier. For more information, ca ll S MX at 7 14/8313482 or th e CZ Club a t 8 18/9 176171. Vivian Pisciotta. WERA representative at Hilton Head Island. South Carolina's Travel Adventures. has put together a tour for WERA members to the Isle of Man for the TT races in June of 1986. The trip will be under the general direction of Robert and Anne Bernes. who have been WERA members since 1974, The tour group will be escorted by the Bernes upon arrival in london. In addition to the TT races. the tour will include sightseeing in southern England. Cost of the trip will be less than $2.000 and it will be all inclusive. For more information. call Pisciotta at 800/845-9504. MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRYS CflANGE Formed MJ DSport Entertainme n t, by Michael J . DeStefan o , who spen t 12 years o n the sta ff of Stadi u m Moto rsports . MJD will promote m ud bogs, ATV races, mud drag races. a renacrosses a n d tractor pulls. T heir address is 26300 La Alameda , Ste, 350, Mi ssion Viejo, CA 92691, 714/ 582-1286. Appointed Four n ew terr ito ry managers for Con tin enta l P ro ducts Co rp 's replacemen t tire division: Gary H elton for th e n ort h west; Carl Blair for Wash in gton , D.C .; Ron O ber ma n fo r the mi dwest; Art hur Led uc for the n orthea st. Quit Cycle G ui de Editor Charles Eve ritt , after o ne year, to p ur sue oth er i erests, effective Novem ber I. Cycl e ,uide Se n ior Ed itor J im M ill er wi ll becom e Editor. Cycle ~Vews Associa te Editor J im Wolco tt, after nine months , to purs ue other int erests. Quit Signed As exclusive U.S. di stributor of Jones Optical's Carbonite 360 bra nd ' motorcycl e goggle products, H a ll m an Racin g USA; more information is available from J ones Optical at 303/44 7-8727. Moved Do n n ie H an sen 's Mot o cro ss school to 11339 J ar bo Pass, San Anton io, T exas 78245. Moved T h e Ph o en ix R oa d Ra ci ng Orga n izatio n to 12721 W. Greenwa y #26, EI Ma rage. Arizo na 85335 Hired Vern P e ters a nd Fred Truesdell by Va n Leeu wen Enterprises in Arl eta , Ca lifornia; Peters and Truesdell will join the company's wes tern sales tea m to cov er th e sta tes of Colorado a nd Wyom ing. Bought T he name, mai l order busin ess a nd Lawnda le, Ca lifo rnia' re ta il ou tle t of Ra cecraft ers bv Bill Korbus of Long Beach , Ca lifo r·n ia. ~ B ee ~ WRITER ........ ~ o C(") Seatbelts for Motorcyclists? l-o V By Charles Clayton ..0 o ..... u It is officia l: Beg inni ng New o Year's Day, Ca lifornia 's drivers a nd passengers ha ve to buckl e up th eir seatbelts or ri sk paying a fin e. T he buck le-up law passed wit hout a n y noticea ble o pposi tion in thi s mo st po pu lous o f states, co m p leting a ga me pl an w hi ch bega n tw o decades ago by th e U .S. Dep t. of T ra nspo rtatio n . Co ngratu la tions , DOT! Yo u did it. Mo torcycle rid ers were pa w ns in this ga me, wh ich in vo lved setti ng a precedent wi th h elmet law s. There a re bureaucrats in Washin gton , D.C. w ho hav e ret ired o n fa t pe nsions after a ca ree r devoted to making p eo pl e wear a certa i n kin d o f hat whe n motorcycling on th e p u blic roads . Now yo u kn o w why. T he few lives th ey professed to protect wi th the hatlaw were pidd ling co m pa red to th e carnage caused by th e automob ile. May be buckle-up la ws will hel p - I a m willing to gi ve it a try. even th o ugh I have to reprogram m y driving checklist every time I get in or o ut of a ca r. If 1don ' t lik e th e sea tbe l t la w,l ca n al ways ride my motorcycle or drive m y tr ik e roads ter. A trike is a m o torcycle in the eyes of th e law an d so far, a t leas t, motorcycl ists don ' t have to wear sea tbelts . Not th a t it hasn ' t been proposed . Crazy as it so u nds, certai n lawmakers ha ve tried to introd uce sea tbe lt legi sla tion for m ot o rcycle rid ers a nd passengers in th e p ast , a nd I ha ve no doubt they ' ll do it agai n . So me ac tivists in th e motorcycl e business fea r th a t th e bu ck le-up law s for auto ists mean th a t we ha ve lost a va lid argument again st hatlaws for bikers. N ot so ; th e helmet la w is a differe nt ca teg o ry altogeth er. T h e reason we opposed helmet law s is tha t th ey were fo und not to work. Bik ers bo ught the chea p est hel mets a nd car drivers though t th a t th is ren dered th em immortal. As a resu lt , stat es that passed ha rlaws reported more motorcycl e acci den ts a nd fa talities, n o t less. Wha t was worse, sta tes that passed ha rlaws a nd la ter repealed th em su ffered a sp ike o f motorcycl e fata li ti es as bikers celebra ted th eir victory o ver compu lsory self-protection by dis carding their cheap helmets a ltogether. After a yea r or so, freed states ge nera ll y settled dow n to a better incidence of motorcycle accident a nd inj ury statistics, as bi kers boug h t better helmets a nd wo re th em vo lun tarily. Most of th e ch ea po helmet m ak ers are o ut of bu siness by now. Seatbelts a re no t li ke h elm ets. La p and shou lder straps are design ed to restrain the "soft ma chine" an d let th e ca r bod y tak e th e inertia l en ergy blows. For max im um safety, of co urse, a car occ u p a nt shou ld w ear a ll th e pro tecti on o f a racing ca r driver . including firep ro o f clot h ing a n d a good hel m et in add i tio n to sea rbelt restraints and a padded coc kp it. What do vou thi n k is ihe next item on the Dep t. of Transporta tion's agenda for car drivers? H int: It is not fireproof clot h ing. • Is lechien's career up in smoke? Lechien's contract terminated LO NG BEACH , CA, OCT. 21 Acco rding to Team Honda 's Da ve Arnol d . AMA 1985 l 25cc National Motocross Champion Ro n Lechieri's co ntract with American H onda was term ina ted as a direct res ult of hi s O cto ber 10 a rres t for possession of marijuana at New Tokyo Intern a tional Airport in Na rita, J apan. Lec h ien , wh o was in J apan for the J a pan ese Grand Prix. was a rrested by customs o fficials w ho found m a rijuana in the Team H onda rider's su itcase. After being detai ned for fo u r to six hours, Lechien spent the n igh t in a h ot el a nd returned to th e U .S. th e follo wing day. American H o nd a issue d a p ress release sta ting, " 1985 AMA 125cc Mot ocro ss C hampio n R on Lech ien wa s given hi s uncond it ional rel ease fro m Am erica n H onda as a contract team rider O cto ber 21, 1985. Altho ugh Lech ien 's con tract expires this December , co n sidering hi s tenta tive signing wi th a competitive brand for 1986, H onda fel t the ex tra ti me could be uti lized by Lc chien in getti ng a cqu a int ed with hi s n ew t e a m members." Desp i te wh at th e press re lease im p lies. th e termi nation was a d irect resu lt of th e J apan inc ident , ac cord ing to Arnold. T he incident , h oweve r, may not be as damaging to Lechien 's career as originally thought. Apparent ly because he was under the lega l age, h e will not have problems re turning to J a p an . " He wa s under legal age a nd 1 think he was very lu cky tha t some J apa nese from H onda were there (a t th e a irport) to p ick him up, " Arnold said. " I thi n k he will be a ble to go back. H is co nt rac t was to expirea t the end of Decem ber. They'd (the Lechi en s) asked to be rel ea sed ea rly , so this ensured th at. " Accordi ng to Le chien, he pa id a $ 100 fine, spen t th e ni gh t in a hotel a n d returned hom e to Sa n Di ego, Cal ifornia th e following morn ing. " I go t into trouble o n th e wa y over th ere, " Lech ien said in a phone in terview o n Monda y, O ctober 14. " I got ca ug h t wi th it in my su itca se, so H onda deci ded no t to let me ride th e sup ercross. I spe nt th e night in a hot el , got pl a ne tickets a nd flew back , th e next da y. T ha t wa s all. " " I got a phone ca ll from Dave Arnold a bo u t 2:00 a .m . saying tha t allthrec of o ur g uys (Lech ien , O 'Ma ra a n d Bailey) were in de ten tion beca use (C o n tin ued to page 22) 3

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