the CPSC staff demonstrated by the
questions they asked of the various
witnesses. Th e one excep tion 10 th is
statem ent is Mr. Statler. This egom aniac is apparentl y on so me sort of
personal crusade aga ins t th e ATV.
H e describes himself as a " reg u la tor"
a nd repeatedly u sed phrases such as
" bodv co unts" a n d " dea th sta tistics "
wh en'di scus sing ATVs. For whatever
rea sons h e may have. this man is
extremel y prejudiced against ATVs.
and I strongl y feel that he sh o u ld be
removed from th e CPSC's " in vestiga tion " because of this pr ej udice.
If you think ir's 100 lat e 10 do a n ything. yo u' re wrong. The CPSC has
onl y just begun 10 "i n ves tiga te "
ATVs; it 's an ongoing ca mpa ign th at
has been designated a pri ority in 1987.
Now is an exce lle n t time for a ll o f us
to get angry a nd write so me letters.
WEST
America' 5 weekly
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Copyright Cycle News. Inc . 19B5.
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ONTHE FRONT PAGE: John
Ulrich rides the 1986 Ya maha FZX700S Fazer at the
Yamaha Fuk uroi Test Co urse
nea r Iw ata. Japan.
2
Celebrate one week early
On November 10. th e AMA is havin g a 100-a -plate banquet 10 celebrat e th e 100th ann iversa ry o f th e
motorcycle. All th e p ro ceed s o f th e
banquet will go towa rds bu ildi n g a n
AMA museum 10 house th e famous
mot orcycles o f th e past.
Unfort u na tely. th ere a re man y motorcyclists who ca n no t afford 10 a ttend. On November 3, th e sixth an nual
All -Bri tish Road Rid e will be h eld a t
H ansen Dam Park near Sylma r. California. This ha s a n AMA san cti on
a nd is listed a5 a " ride for rights." It is
event a lso listed in th e Calendar section of Cycle News. We wish 10 keep
th e casual ea rly-m orn ing rid e for
British motorcycles on ly. However.
we will welcome all m otorcycli sts
from noon on and th ere will be a
sepa ra te parking area for non-Brit ish
m ot orcycles , We will have a n AMA
fund rai ser ra ffle a t 2:00 p.m. with
100% of th e proceeds go ing to th e
AI\IA Distri ct-37 Legal Defen se Fund.
Tickets will be $2 eac h or three fo r 5.
Last year. o ur raffl e rai sed $504 for
th e AMA Legal Defens e Fund. We
have set a rea listic goa l o f 750 for
this year's ra ffle.
_
The October issu e of Rider magazine, now on th e newsstand s, has a
story about o ur 1984 event. This year 's
expected ce leb r ities "
incl u de G en e
Rom ero . Dave Arnold. Louis McKey.
Eddie Krell. Ski p VanLeeuwen , a n d
Eddie Wirth . wh o holds th e a bso lu te
tra ck record a t Ascot driving a sp rint
ca r. Th e maj or su pporte rs wh o have
kept thi s event al ive are th e BSA
O wn ers Club o f Southern California.
British Cycles, Ltd. o f T orrance. a nd
].R.C. Engineering. th e new U.S. A.
Triumph Distributor.
PAT OWENS
L.A . Trade-Tech
Los Angeles. CA
On social irresponsibility
I hav e read BMW 's Mr. Gerli nger 's
co m me nts. reported in Cycle Ne ws.
October 2. I th ink BMW' s efforts to
bu ild a sta nda rd mod el mot orcycle.
o ffering a n a lte rna tive 10 th e racerrep lica -labeled j a pan ese motorcycles.
is admirable; however . suc h tripe as
hi s sta ted reas ons for doing 50 ar e
em barra ssing and damaging. H e must
rea lize that social irresponsibility is
eq ua lly attainable aboard th e KIOO.
the GSX -R. the CBX. and th e Schwinn
Cruiser. The vehicle it self is not respon sibile for the decadence of its
rider.
Perhaps the soci ally irr esponsible
a re more a ttrac ted by the j 'S400R
tha n by the R80RT . but is that soc ia l
irresponsibilit y th e manufacturer 's
responsibility? Is not th eir responsibil it y 10 build motorcycles for spe cific markets, as BMW ha s done with
th e K75? Does Gcrlinger rea lly beli eve
motorcycli sts , humans. 10 be incapable of indep endent though t. responding in satiably to th e Grand Prix styl ing of a motorcycle? Does BMW not
beli eve we a re ca pa ble o f deciding
our degree ' of adheren ce to socia l
standards prior to the purch ase a nd/ o r
operation of amotorcycle?
Fin all y, th e wid espread usage of
th e twi stgrip, with infinitely adj usta ble throttle positions. provides suffici ent control of any mot orcycle's
horsepower,
JIM DOVER
Fullerton, CA
Threatened recreation
I a m disturbed by two things I
observ ed at th e CPSC h earing in Los
Angeles on October 17; the lack o f
participation by ATV en th u sia sts,
a nd the biased attitude of CPSC Commissioner Stuart M. Statler.
The ATV industry made quite a
sh ow in g. but you and I were only
represented by a fairly sma ll number
of dedicated folks, mos t of whom are
a ffilia ted with ent h usia st organizations. What I think we all need to
realize is that the CPSCalready knows
how the ATV industry feels about
their methods of inv estigation: now
they need to hear from U5. the ATV
cons u mer. whose recreation is being
th reat en ed. It 's been all too ea sy for
th ese bureaucra ts to aro use th e public's indignat ion by making it seem
as if corpora te p rofit were th e on ly
rea son ATVs ex ist.
H ow ever. I was impressed with th e
o bject ivity a nd fairness th a t most o f
No people like MX people
This year, I was fortunate eno ugh
10 have had one of my most successful
racing seasons. topped off by finall y
clinching the Women 's 125cc, 250cc,
and Grand National titles. lowe this
success 10 m y family and sponsors
who have helped me . Without them.
I might have been still trying 10reach
my goal.
I would lik e 10 thank m y brother
and mechanic. jose. Nobody co u ld
ask for a better m echan ic a nd brother
all wrapped up in o ne. If not for him .
I wouldn 't be wh ere I am todav. I
would al so lik e to g ive special th anks
to m y mom a nd famil y for bei ng
behind me 100% all th e time.
For m y sponsors, I wo u ld first lik e
to thank Kawasaki T eam Gr een. They
a re a great hunch o f peopl e wh o
reall y ca re a bo u t a ll o f th eir riders
a nd have th e best bikes. just as important are m y o the r sponsors wh om
I would also like 10 giv e special
thanks - D;\-lC (Bu ilt me a rocketship!); SCOll G oggl es U.S.A. (Bevol):
Hi -Point Ra cin g Products ; Dunlop
Tires; Maxim a Lubricants: Shoei
H e lm e t s; Enzo Ra c in g (T h a n ks
Rossl): and SCOll'S Scooter Servi ce
(Great mora l supportl) .
La st. but certainl y not least, I would
like to thank m y fri ends o n and off
the track. Thanks to Stu a nd th e
CMC Squad ; a nd 10a ll th e m om s a nd
specta tors who cheer me on during
my ra ces.
There's no People lik e Mot ocross
People.
You ca n' t imagine th e apprecia tio n!
MERCEDES GONZALEZ
1985 Women's Grand Nation al
Champion
Arl eta , CA
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