Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ 00 fiY 'P~'P~ Wf~LfY OJ ...... Ch ris Crandall , th e winner o f last year' s Barsto w-to- Vegas off-road race, ca lled to giv e th anks for letters and ca lls o f su p port he had received si nce br eaki n g a vertebra in a 100-m ph cras h a t th e Nov ember 3 Barsto w (Ca lifornia ) G P . " J'rn o u t o f ho sp ital a nd recovering a t ho me," Cr anda ll said. ''I' ll be out there (for th e Novem ber 30 Bar stow-to-Veg as ra ce) giving . my su p port , bu t the doctor wo n't let me race." Superbowl of Motocross creator . and Rodil Cup co-promoter Mike Goodwin will appear on Larry Huffman's Motorcycle World radio show on December 1, and will answer phoned-in questions about the Rodil Cup debacle. A huge controversy arose over the onagain, off-again staggered start advertised forthe Rodil Cup supercross when several top U.S. riders sandbagged in their qualifying heat races to gain a front-row start. Letters from disappointed fans complaining about the race have been flowing into Cycle News, and Goodwin's appearance will be irate fans' first opportunity to talk directly to the man responsible. In California, Huffman's show airs from 10:00 to 11 :0 0 p.m. Sundays on Sacramento's KYlO I 105.5 FM, San Francisco's KTIM I 100.9 FM, and los Angeles' KOLAI 99 .9 FM, The show also airs atthe same time on XTRA 690 AM, which reaches several western states. More information is available from 800/228 -5249 or 714 /661 -1962 . T he 11th Annu al Co ors Barsto w-toVegas H a re a nd Hou nd w ill sta rt a t 7:30 a .m . o n No vember 30 in Barstow, Ca lifornia . Malco lm Sm ith will serve as thi s yea r 's ho nora ry mas ter o f cerem on ies. Australian 'Jeff Leisk won the final round ofthe Australian Supercross Series in Brisbane, Australia on November 23 after defeating fe llo w Auss ie Dav id A rmstro ng . America n Brian Manley won ' his q ualifier but was involved in an early c ra s h w ith Glen Bell t hat rui ned hi s chances of a win . T he Ca liforn ia Racin g Club (C Re) wi ll hol d th e Sa nta Claus en d ur o in Lucerne Va llev, Cal ifornia o n December 7-8. Sa n ta Cla us will be ha ndin g o u t p resents as pa rt o f th e Kidu ro . to be hel d o n the Sa tu rday a nd Yamah a w ill be o n hand with new Big Wh eel 80s, Big Wh eel 200s and YFM80s for free test rides. Cosworth Engineering Co. has announced their entry into the motorcycle performance products market with a line of aluminum pistons, rings and liners. Drag racer Elmer Trett has been selected as the sole U.S. distributor of the new Cosworth products. 2 T ea m Sm itt y crea tor J im Smi th ha s been sig ned by National La mpoon m agazine to draw a month ly, fu ll page ca rtoon strip . Smith 's firs t stri p sho uld a p pea r ea rly in 1986. Veteran desert racers Susan Brennan and Hal Wilday will be married o n t he s tarting line at sunrise Satu rd a y, Nove m ber 30, just prior to th e start of t he Ba rstow -to-Vegas Ha re and Ho u n d . Bre n na n, an emp lo ye e of Honda G le ndora , will ru n the race in the Women 's Intermediate. c lass a n d W ilday will compete in the Open Novice d ivision. The couple raced the event together la s t year, finishing sideby-side. This year they w ill start at d ifferent t imes from d ifferent lin es , but with a little luck the newlyweds should meet after t h e race a t the finish line. Three o f th e to p four mo to rcycles finishing the recen t Baj a 1000 were eq u ip ped wi th Mich el in desert tir es with no valve stems , acco rd ing to T im Sm ith, a So uthern Ca lifornia di strib utor for Mich el in ra ce tires. Sm ith said rims o n each o f th e m otorcycles were m oun ted wit h a new com bina tion tire and foam liner called a Bib Mousse, which repl aces inner tu bes. The new ti res were fitte d to th e factor y BMWs of Gaston Rahier/ Eddy H au and Tom Kell ey/ Wa rren Reid, a nd to th e H o n da of Ch ris H ai nes/ Jim Fis h back. The new tires are ava ila ble in limi ted q uantiti es and sizes from Interna tio n al Cycl e Raci n g T ires, 213/ 597-0339. Cooperation between racers and the Bureau of Land Management during Barstow-to-Vegas competition in 1983 and 1984 resu lted in the BLM issuing the first-ever two-year permit for the annual desert race. BLM officials granted a permit authorizing races in both 1985 and 1986, following a joint environmental study with the San Bernardino County Planning Department. The study concluded that event organizers and motorcyclists proved during races in 1983 and 1984 that they will abide by BLM guidelines. This year's event will be held Thanksgiving weekend with the blessing of the BLM and race organizers say they will hold the race during the same weekend next year. .Both races will be limited to 1200 motorcyc les, with strict controls over where racers can go and what they can do. Mot ojourna list Ken Vreeke refu~ed to co m ment on cha rges by th e America n Mo torcycli st Assoc ia tion th at a n a rt icle he a u thored for th e November, 1985 issue o f Cycle ma ga zin e was wr itt en with ma lice o f int ent a nd co n ta in ed in accu racies a nd fa lsehood s. Reach ed by Cycle N ews a t th e off ices of Cycle magazin e la te la st week , Vreek e said, " I ha ve no comm en t o n th e ma tter: ' whe n as ked if he wished 10 resp o nd to AMA allegation s. Board chairma n J ohn H . H asty vo iced the assoc ia tio n 's d isp leas ure wi th th e a rti cle fo llo wi ng a n execu tive sessio n a t th e November II meeting o f the AMA Boar d o f Trustees, held in Anaheim , Ca liforn ia . H asty presented a list o f speci fic exa m p les o f a lleged ina ccuracy, fal seh o od a nd di stortio n th at a lleged ly ap pea red in Vreeke's a rticle, wh ich was cri tica l o f the AMA's road racing program. AMA presid ent Ed You ngbl ood provided evidence to th e boa rd su p porti n g h is co ntent io n th a t Vreeke w ro te th e a rt icle wi th ma lice of int en t a nd added tha t Cycle pu blisher J im Frah m willfu ll y ign ored a n op port u ni ty to co rrect inaccuracies even th ough th ey were bro ugh t to h is a ttention pr ior to p u blica tion . Accor ding to Young blood, the a rt icle was circulated 10 th ird p arti es before it appeared in print, but th e AMA wa s de ni ed a ny opport u nity 10 review it fo r accuracy . T ru stees d irected staff to seek advice o f legal co u nci l a nd to dem a nd a ret rac tio n and a pology. Honeywell Computer's new advertisement features Harley-Davidson and reads, " S o Harley-Davidson said, ' G ive. us a computer system that 's as smart as our bikes are tough '. And we said, 'Gentlemen, start your engines:" The ad is currently running in the Wall Street Journal. Mot ocr osser Will y Si mons will ven ture to Eu rope o n a th ree-week supercro ss trek beginni n g on November 30 in Genoa , Ita ly. Following th e ital ian Supercross, Simons wi ll race on Decem ber 14-15 in anothe r su percross in An t worp, Belgium. Miller High life will no longer be associated with supercross in 1986, according to Stadium Motorsports. The beer company's marketplace competition has forced an advertising strategy realignment that does not include supercross. N ippondenso wi ll post a $ 100,000 point fun d for th e 1986 Supercross series of whi ch .$60,000 will go to facto ry-sponsored rid ers whi le $40,Ooo will go to th ose without major spon sors hi p . The ser ies o pen s on January 18 a t An aheim Stadiu m in Anah eim, Ca liforn ia. Mark Potter, the assistant manager of Yamaha U,S:s engineering department, was recently honored by the los Angeles (California) Trade Tech Community College as their outstanding automotive department alumnus; Potter graduated from los Angeles Trade Tech -in 1973 prior to working for Yamaha. An ad in th e want-ad sec tio n of th e Ark ansa s Dem ocr a t new spaper in Li tt le Roc k, Ark ansa s, has th e local Ll-H a u l o u tlets sell ing th eir fina l 13 Honda ATC200s; th e price $795. VH a u l recent ly decided 10 ge l o ut of th e ATC ren ta l bu si ness beca us e of th e h ig h co stof rep ai rs. The Professional Motorcycle Racers Association (PMRA) will provide a $50,000 accident insurance policy for all 1986 member riders, according to PMRA Executive Director Brady E. Brooks. Any current AMA Professional license holder and member of the PMDA w ill be el igib le for the policy. The PMRA is a lso working on a calendar to help cover the cost of the insurance premium; for more info rm a tion call 317 /299 -3 121 . Th e Southern Ca lifornia H arl eyDavi dson Deal er's Associ a tio n will be spo nsoring the Fourt h Annual River R un 10 ben efit th e Muscu lar Dystro p hy Associa tio n o n April 5 in Laugh li n , Nevada; for more in forma tion ca ll a part icip at in g so u the rn Ca liforn ia Harley dealer. The Wichita Jeeps Motorcycle Club will be sponsoring the Fifth Annual Motorcycle Trade Show and Extravaganza in Wichita, Kansas on March 28-30. The show w ill be held at the Cessna Activity Center in Wichita. Leo Zumsteg of Redwoo d Cycl e Scen e an d G a ry Arno ld of Cycle Pro, bot h in Sa nta Rosa . Ca lifornia will ho ld Racer 's Worksh op classes in early 1986 thro ugho u t nort hern and sout h ern Ca liforn ia. T he co urses will cover every thi ng from orga n izing a support crew to bui lding a portfo lio a nd find ing sponsors; for more in forma tion CJ II 707/ 527-8888. Silhouette Fairing Systems, lnc., has been purchased by the Vetter Products Division of Bell Sports, Inc. The manufacturing plant will be relocated to Rantoul. Illinois from its plant in Martinsville, Indiana; the development lab, however, will remain in Martinsville where Bill Shields will remain with the company to head up product development and design. The products will be distributed only by Vetter with the complete Vetter and BagMan line of products. Accord ing to report s fro m Europe, Suzuki will m ost likely use a new V-four m otor in the ir 500cc GP bike by round tw o o f th e 500cc World Road Racing Cha m pionsh ip Series in Monza , Ital y, May 18. little known fact: The name Cagiva is composed of the first two letters of the Castiglioni family name (brothers GianFranco and Claudio are Cagiva's founders), the first two letters of the first name of Giovanni Castiglioni (father of the two brothers), and the first two letters of the town of Varese, Italy (where the company began). Form er Camel Pro Seri es dirt tracker Eddie Wirth cl inched th e 1985 CRA Sprint Car Championship a t Garden a , California 's Ascot Park on November 23. T h e cha m p io nsh ip co nsisted of 47 races at th e track. Yamaha Motor Corporation U.S.A., recently announced a 1986 competition contingency fund and award program totaling $2.9 million, which represents an increase of more than 100% over the $1 .4 million offered in 1985. The program will expand in 1986 to include drag racing and will continue to support motocross, road racing and three-wheel competition. Yamaha's 1986 continqency program for motocross includes payoffs at events in 11 major national MX series, Included are such competitions as the California Golden State Series, the AMA Florida Winter Series, the Michigan Silverdome Spring Series, the New England Sports Committee Series, and the Texas Grand National Series. While Yamaha contracted , factory riders are not el ig ible for contingency funds, anyone else on a production Yamaha has a chance at a share of the cash. The most expanded portions of Yamaha's contingency support program for 1986 is the pavement program, which includes backing for production road racing, endurance road racing , Formula 2 , and drag racing. The w inner of an AMA Superbike professional race can go home with $5000 , At a total of 30 AMA and WERA endurance events, Yamaha's contingency will total $3000. At AMA Formula 2 events TZ250 riders will contest for a total of $4000 at each race. In all, contingency money available to Yamaha road racers amounts to over $750,000. Awards of $1250 per race in 50 events from coast to coast will be offered to Tri-Z racers. Finally, drag racers who choose Yamaha's production bikes will be supported at numerous NHRA and IDBA events. Rid ers in Pro Stock will be eligible for awards of $1000 for first place, with totals of $2700 per event and payouts available down to fifthplace fin ishers.

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