Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126848
to heart a nd ru shed o u t to th e local mo to wars to test th e th eor y. I must adm it I raised a few eyebro ws as I p ulled up to th e lin e, resplendent in my N ike joggers. j. C . Penney sweatpants, a nd m y Cycle News " Best Go West" T -shirt. My o nly concessionto safety was m y Shoei helm et . as racing reg u la tions req ui re. As I holesho t the firs t moto , th e wisdom of Bailey's advi ce beca me clear. Never had I fell so loose and free o n my RM 250. A co nsistent back of- the-packer. I no w foun d m yself run ning aw a y from th e co mpet ition. un-encumbered by needless restraints. All went well unti l I came up to la p my former nem esis - Fred " Why Me?" Will is. H e did h is us ua l tankslapperapproaching th e do uble j ump a nd center-punched me in m id-air. Even upon la n d in g, th e Ba iley System wo rked , as m y n a tu ral body sensors swi tched off at im pact . nullifying any pain. I now have so me wonderful orange pills th at my doc tor says will keep me in good sp iri ts un ril my n ext event a few months from now . T hey do keep m e in a p lea sant menta l sta te. a nd I wi ll co rrespond with you aga in as soon as th e bi g gree n elep ha nt gives me back m y typewriter. WEST A merica's weekl y motorcycle new spaper Sharon ClayEo Publ ish" n, Mikt KlingtT .CornptT olln Skip Johnson . Associate Publish"! N Glional Sales ManaJ{ t'T _ Caroline Ge ndry. Executive St"cTt"tary to tht' Publish" Edito rial John U lrich , Edit o r Kit Pal mer. Ass ociate Ed itor Mall H ilgen berg , Associ ate FAilo r Paul Ca rruthers, A ssociate Editor Advertising T erry P ra ll Sales M anag er T im Ryan . Sa lt's Manager Mark Thome. Sales Managt'T Linda Bro wn Advert ising Coordina tor Nancy Wasldl. Ad vertising t Ed itoriel Assulan t ROBERT FREGGIARO Stoc kto n. CA Graphics and Production Gi ngn Devaul, Production ManaKt'T Mal col m Wilso n. Graphic Art ut Marion Ha sash ua . Typ~t'Ut'T Carolyn Bra nha m. Typ eset tn Dn1nas Greene. Lab. Tech , Account ing /Data Proc essing Donn;;a Bryan. Accoun ts R rcri vabte COOTdinatoT Cnxva Repa ss, Assista nt Fra n Ha mwey, Credit Circulatio n Rh eba Sm ith . Managt'T Sarah T aylor. Assista nt Lyna Hood. Assista nt Rebecca Braa k, Assistant Aima Anguiano, A.u istant Dee ler Sales and Service Bob Elli ott .INal,., Sa I~.J M o nngn Want Ads Ca nd y Han d. Want Ad Sol es Service a nd Support Ouis Aitcheson, Receptionist Leonard Herring, S<:rS ' West 220 1 C herry Ave., Lon g Beach, CA 90806. P.O . Box 198 . Lo ng Beach , CA 9080 \ ·(H98 (213) 127·7 433; L.A . Lin . 636 ·88-14. East 1190 Finl Ave., Tucker, GA, 3008 '1. P .O . Box 805. T uc ker. GA 30085·0 805. (404) 931·7850. Cycle N ~' s /\\'("!<,t (US PS 141-340) i!o pubh shed " ,ttkl y except the firs t a nd la st week of the ca lendar yea r [or $25 per year by Cycle New s, Inc ., 2201 Cherry Aven ue. Lo ng Beach, CA 90806 . Seco nd class postage paid at Long Beach, CA . POSTMASTER: S end form 3579 to Cycle News. P.O . Box 498 . Long BNc:h, CA 9 0 801-049 8. Subscription roues: One year. second cJa.u mail , $2';;; 1\000 years . seco nd class ma il. $4';; ' three vears, second class mai l, $68; 2.5 weeks, $13. Fo reign ra tes availa ble on req uest, Cycle News welco mes u nso lici ted edi torial material including stories, cartoons, photos, etc . Such mat eria l. if published . becomes the exclusive property of Cycl e News. Such accept ed materia l is subj ect to revisio n as i, n ecessary in the sole di scretion of Cycle S<:'W, U n sol icited material whi ch Is nOfused . will be ret urned if acco m pa nied by a sdf addressed stam ped en velope. AJI unsolicited material will be handled wit h reasona ble ca re, however , Cycle New s ass u m es no responsibrlity for th e sa fety. Jo ss or da mage to such material . Reprinting in wh ole o r pan on ly by permission ofme publisher. Ach't'llising rates a nd circulation information will be sent upo n request. SeeS.R.D,S. Copyrig ht @Cyc le N_ s. lnc . 19 8 6 . Trademark Cycle News reg i-.cl U.S. Patent Office. All rights 11lMMId. ON THE FRONT PAGE: A cutaway d rawing of Suzuk i's new GSXR 1100 street bike . For a technical closeup of the super-fast S uzuki. turn t o page 10. 4 Nice guy Thumbs up a nd helm ets o ff to Tim and Dian e Mendes of Tim 's Mo torcycle a nd Small Engin e Repair in Red wa v, California! During ' a recent IO-day tour of northern California with two o ther Goldwings. th e rear tire on o ne of th e Wings blew out. We were stranded on Highw ay 101 until so meo ne referred us to Tim. We call ed his shop at 4:00 p.rn. a nd he agreed to sta y open until we got there. With th e help of th e co m pressorson the 1985 Limited and th e 1984 Asp encade, a s well as th e shoestring. bungie co rd, g lu e. etc. that we used to pa tch the tire. we arrived tired , bUI safe . two ho u rs la ter a t Tim 's shop. By 8:30 p.m . Tim had us back on the road with a new ti re, a nd a t a very reasonable pri ce. If yo u experience trouble in the Redway area, be sure to ca ll T im's Moto rcycle and Small Engine Repair a t 707/ 923-2222. BOB A, ' D DOl':N A T H O MPSO N GW R RA Anaheim. CA Lec hien's bust I have been wat ch in g th e " Voices" co lum n for weeks to read th e op in io n o f o the r motocross fans regardi ng th e Lechi en marijuana possession sto ry. I have seen nothing. Wh at happened to all th e peo p le wh o wrote in during th e "Drugs and Racing " con tro versy last year? A professional athl ete, wh at ever th e sport. wh o serves as a rol e model for the you ngsters of our nati on (in cluding m y own three ch i ld ren ) shou ld not be a llowed co n nection wi th drugs of a ny kind. Kawasa ki a nd th e AMA should n ot lei this in ci dent pass without co m men t or action , esp ecially si nce th e act ive in gr edi ent in marijuana is sto red by th e body and ca n be released into th e bloodstrea m at a la ter dal e. Racers who smo ke pot. for wh a tever the reason (jet lag? Gi ve me a break !) are a danger to fell ow co mpetito rs. NAME WITHHE LD Orange, CA Trans-Americas rally I observed with some amusement the recent letter (Cy cle News, Octo ber 30) from th e " U.S. Executive" of th e ainbi tious T ra ns-Americas Rall y. Judging from the attitudes and assu m p tions expressed by th e Executive in his letter to you , I can only wish them good luck. Fran kly. the though t o f coordina tin g lan d ow ners. an d count less assorted bureaucracies. a ll from an office in Washington, D.C. will beq uitean achi evement. Wh o do you suppose, o utside o f Co ngress a nd th e Sierra Club , even drea ms th at they wield suc h a ut hority? An d th e th ought o f ridi ng up to 300 mi les a day on a co urse that was n ot pre-ri dde n , o r ma rk ed ? T hose de tai led maps will have to p u t Rand McN all y to shame. I ass ume th a t the same a u thority that issues the master permit wi ll a lso render th e co urse immune 10 loggers. ero sio n, wi ndfalls , high water, vanda ls a nd o ther assorted ph enom ena for the duration. Reg a rd i n g rider sel ection, I'm h appy to note that our obs cure na tiona l cha m p io ns without FIM licenses will be elig ible. But si nce David Bail ey. Broc G lover , Bob Hannah et. a l. are not "world" names, an off-road authority such as Cycle World might have difficu lty id entifying th em . Shame o n you guys of the press for not doing a bett er job of making us more awa re ! No Lynn. I'm not down on you r event , just th e a tt itude you express. You need some professional PRoMaybe you r Washington contact can line u p th at hotsho t from th e C PSC. What 's his nam e .. . Stuart something or other. CHA R LIE PASKA Redmon d , WA Bailey an d g reen elephants In o ne o f David Bail ey's recent co lumns (Cycle N ews, Octob er 9), he o ffered th e in sightfu l advi ce that excessive prot ectiv e eq ui p me nt is unnecessa ry an d ma y even p ro m ot e crash ing due to its un comfortab le hulk. Now, being a long-time crasher myself, I immedi ately took his adv ice Serious matter After read ing about Ron Lech ien , I was shocked! H ow ca n T eam Kaw asaki even thi nk o f lett in g Lechien ride for th em next year? Do th ey want the reputation of havin g " dru g users" o n thei r tea m? In all o ther p rofessio na l sports if yo u are ca ugh t with drugs you a re in big troubl e. H ow can Ro n n ie get off tha t easy? For years all the o ther pro sports had the rep u ta tio n of peop le usin g drugs, bu t motocross d id n't. Bu t now everybod y knows about this littl e in cid ent. I ha ve raced mo tocro ss for a bo u t seven years a nd was p ro ud of th e fact th at I had never heard o f p ro MXers usin g drugs. bu t n ow I don 't know wh a t to th ink. I a m very as ha med for th e sport tha t Ronnie go t ca ugh t. but I don' t feel so rry for Ronn ie o ne bit ! I. and people I race with in Distri ct II , feel th at Kaw a saki shou ld tak e this matter very ser io us ly. G ARY J. BLAIR Mariet ta. OH MRA road racing A recent adve rtiseme n t in Cycle N ew s (Octo ber 16) ind ica ted tha t the Mountain Ro adracing Association. Inc. was a sponsor of a road rac ing even t in Las Vegas, Nevada. Just for the record, th e MRA, Inc. was not a fin ancial sponsor or otherwise involved in th e production of that event. Currently, th e MRA. In c. co nf ines its race activi ties to Colorado wh ere proper control and organiza tio n of road racing events ca n be exercised . VIC KI YATES Presid ent. MRA , Inc. Boulder, CO Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle N ews. Inc .