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/126851
30' to 40' Here's Broc Glover's design for a new Supercross obstacle ; Glove r des igned the obstacle in reply t o a request f ro m Stadium Motorsports . owner Mike Goodwin for ri der in p ut on t rack design. Now Goodw in has launched a Design an Obstacle Contest open to all Supercross spectat ors and f ans ' entries should be -sent to Stadium Motorsports. 22941 M ill Creek Dr:. Laguna Hills. CA 92653 . Watch Cycle News for more details. Willi e Si m p so n ha s signed a deal with th e Mai co factory to co mpete in th e 500cc MX GPs, wh ile Maurizio Dolce wi ll ca mpa ig n th e 250cc G Ps fo r th e German firm . The AMA Supercross Championship Series k icks off January 18 in California 's Anaheim Stadium. A tentative ser ies schedule can be found in the Calendar section. Former 250cc MX Wo rld Champion Danny LaPorte will compete in the 250cc G Ps in 1986 wit h sponsorship from the Italian Yamaha importer. LaPo rt e. who raced th e 500cc Natio nalsfor H usq varna in th e Un ited States d u ring 1985, will be ba sed i n T uri n, Ita ly. Husqvarna w ill not sponsor any riders in the 500cc MX G Ps during 1986, instead concentrating on the 250cc GPs w ith a squad consisting of Belgian Jo Martens. Swede Peter Hansson, and Finland's Simo Taimi. Canadian Supercross Champion Ross Pederso n has sp li t from Suzuki of Canada a n d signed with Yamaha of Canada for th e 1986 seas o n . Fellow Canadian Doug H oover has been dropped from th e Yamaha ros ter. Former National Enduro Champion M ike Melton sustained a broken l dislocated left hip in the Deeember 8 S E&TRA hare scrambles in Elg in, South Carolina, and is in Greenville (South Carolina) Memorial Hospital. Husqvarna's Melton, who recently inked a deal to concurrently become the coordinator for Carolina Tool 's off-road raci ng team, said, " T hey are going to operate Tuesday (D ecem ber 10). It looks like it ' s going to take plate and screw to repair the damage. I hope to be out of the hospital in about 10 days. " Cards and l etters can be sent in care of Greenville Memorial Hospital, Grove Rd ., Greenville. SC 29605. I'll j us t have to pl ay it by ear ." Barnett. 25, was crowned I25cc Na tional MX Cha m pio n in 1980. '8 1 a nd '82. a nd Supercross Cham p io n in 1981. The AMA Board of Trustees met on November 1 1 and decided on the following : approved a resolution that the future national motorcycle museum site w ill be devel op e d in connect ion w ith t h e A MA's home office in Westerville, Ohio; approved a recommendation t hat the f utu re museum not only feature histori cal and archival aspects of motorcycling. but that it presents a v ibrant and modern im age supported by exciting part icipatory d isplays aimed at bringin g new people into motorcycling: approved a recommendation to undertake a development plan that may include the creation of a Heritage Foundation planning center at AMA's current facility aimed at fund rais ing and generating enthu siasm toward the project. • MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRYS CflANGE Promoted By UST. Inc..John M. L in den . to mana ger of th e Tsubak i Mot orcycle Chai n Divisio n ; L inde n was formerly market ing services • m anager o f th e chain division . Uablll!y _~roblems: Prairie City OHV park may close SAC RA MENT O, CA . NOV. 12 " T he wa y it looks right now I ma y n o t race a t all in '86." sa id MX er Mark Barnett. who wa sn 't offered a new co n trac t with Kaw asaki for 1986. "The deal I h ad with Kaw asaki was strictl y for '85 . with no per form ance clauses for additiona l yea rs. I don't rea lly have an ything lined up for next year, but I do hav e a person ta lk- ing with a few beer companies a bo ut sponsorsh ip. T hey wou ld h ave to come up with a pretty good package to get me to thi n k a bo u t i t. a nd I would never go o n th e road as a privat eer. Act ua lly, I' m p retty h a p p y. I've been p re tty successfu l at motocross a n d wouldn 't mind ret iring while I' ve sti ll got a good repu ta tion . Prairi e Cit y Off-Highw a y Vehicle Park near R a n ch o Cordova. California will close to recreational rid ers sometime next Ma rch u nl ess th e Sacra me nto Cou nty Boa rd o f S upe rvisors ca n fi n d a way to opera te th e facility w ith out being responsible for liabil ity insura nce co verage. _ T he proposed ac tio n wou ld close th e par k to ge ne ra l p u blic use but wo u ld no t a ffect independently sponsored even ts. Supervisors decided during a public hearing today that the park will be sh u t down to casual riders unless th e Stat e of Ca lifornia provides a solu- tion wh er eb y Sacramento Count y will no t be responsible fo r accidents that occur at th e OHV pa rk. T he board took th e ac tion even tho ug h Supervisors feel P ra irie City shou ld rema in open to riders o f dirt bikes a nd o the r recrea tio na l vehicles. T hev want th e sta te to find a so lu tio n to the liability ins uranc e problem. wi th o ut Sacra me n to County footing th e bill. Lee Chauvet, deputy director o f the sta te O ff-H ighway Vehicle Park Recr eation Division. warned the boa rd that Sacramento County woul d be breaking its contract wi th the state if th e park is closed to recrea tiona l riders. H e sa id th e closure might resu lt in th e county being as ked to return state grants a nd suggested the board force casua l riders lO sig n a form accep tin g responsibi lity fo r ridi ng at Prairie Ci ty. Co unty o fficia ls feel Ca li fo rnia shou ld provide a ll -risk lia bili ty cov- erage o n a sta tew ide bas is a t state cos t, paying for the program wi th mo nies from the sta te o ff-h ig h way veh icle fu nd. (derived p ri mar ily from off-road vehicle lice nse fees a n d I % o f sta te sa les tax reve n ues ). County ta xpayers were forced las t winter lO pay a $2.4 m illion j udgeme nt 10 the vic tim of a one- man acci dent . despi te th e fact th a t P ra irie City is a co ntracted . joint o pera tion between the co u n tv a nd th e State o f . . Ca lifo rn ia . The sta te avoided making payment in the ca se by taking adva ntage of th e -jo in t and several liabilit y ru le. a " deep pocket " law which forces the go vern men t agency with the most money to pay for accidents. regardless of th e degree of fault. S u pe rviso rs vo ted 5-0 to sen d a letter to th e state O ff-H ig h way Vehicle Park Com mission. warn ing th at a no th er form of fina nc ia l remedy must be fo und or Pra ir ie Ci ty will be closed. T he board gave the commission a 120-day deadline to find a solution to th e severe liabilit y imposed o n the CO U lllY by the deep pocket law . If the sta te of fers no so lution. th e co u nty wi ll close th e OHV p ark i n o rde r lO cu rt a il the risk, according to Board C ha irman Will iam M. Bryan. Cou nty Execut ive Brian H . R ich ter told th e board during th e liea rin g th at Sacramen to County ca n not buy in surance to co ver the fir st SI milli on o f any acci de n t - that mea ns th e CO U lllY faces th e possi bility o f a $ 1 mi ll io n expen di tu re every tim e a n acci de n t occ urs a t P ra irie Ci ty. H e added th at th e co u nty's lia bil it y insurance cos t tri pl ed in o ne yea r to nearl y 600.000. In th e face of mount ing ins ura nce cos ts and lia bili ty clai ms. R ichter warned the co u nty ma y be u na ble lO p urchase in su rance coverage when i ts policies are up for renewa l nex t April. Ri chter sugges ted th at a lia bility pool be formed by th e sta te a nd a ll co u n ties operati ng OHV pa rk s to p rovide a so u rce o f revenue for a ny co u nty faced with a lawsuit. Only seven pe rso ns a tte n ded th e h earin g to speak aga ins t th e p roposed closure. in cluding five OHV enth usias ts from the Sacramento area. o ne from Co lumbus. Ohio a n d o ne from Sonoma County. Dan Bartlett. a 10C' recreational dl d irt bike rider. urged th e board not lO close the park and said P ra iri e C i ty co u ld be mad e sa fe fo r recrea tional or ca sua l riders if d ir ectional sig ns a re reinstalled . H e cha rge d wi thout th e signs the park is dan gerous because i t is fi lled with blind co rners and he critized the cou nty fo r co llecting a 52 fee from eac h ri der th en " tu rn ing everybody loose." Brya n to ld Bart lett he had given the board all the evidence they need to close th e park. • He's at it again: Statler attacks toys WAS HINGTON , DC. NOV. 26 Stuart " Ba n 'em" Sta tler, the Consumer Product Safety Com missioner critica l of the safety record of An' s. recently tu rned his a ttentio ns to th e American toy market. charging un safe toys injured more ch ild ren last ve ar while the CPSC looked the oth~r wa y. According to S tatler, the CPSC sh ould look into th e possibi lit y of remo ving several toys from th e shelves of th e nation 's retail ers. even though Commission Chairman T erre nce Scanlon said this vear's Christmas toys pose no major new sa fety r isks. No sooner had Scan lon cer tified th a t toys being o ffered for sa le th is Christmas a re safe th an Sta tler blasted the agency for not lo ok in g h ard enough in to th e area of toy safety. Sta tler. who is known a m o ng the motorcycle a nd ATV world as a crusading co mmissione r who has ca lled for a n ou tright ba n of a ll terr ain veh icles without providi ng hard evidence to prove that ATVs are unsafe, sa id hi s agen cy does not know abou t new tov risks because it has not monitored th~ toy ind ustry vigorousl y. Statler said th at because of CPSC budget cu ts, th e co m m issio n is not up to date o n information about hazardous toys . He claims the number of toy -rela ted accidents in 1984 is up over the previous yea r, even though Sca n lon said he is not aware of any " com pe ll i n g problems " with toy -sa fety, At the kickoff of its an nual toy sa fety ca m pa ign. both th e commission and to y industry officia ls pointed o ut en fo rcement and vol untary standards have reduced th e num ber o f toyrela ted inj uries from 147.000 in 1977 to 126.000 last year. Acco rd ing to Sta tle r , however, th ere were 118,000 incide nts durin g 1983. which apparen tly prompted th e co m missioner to cla im th a t o fficials in the in d us try a nd in h is o wn agency are attemptin g to min im ize a 6.7% in crease in to yrelated accide nts between 1983 and 1984. T he 126.000 ch ildren injured by toys in 198 4 we re h u rt serio us ly eno ugh to req ui re hospi tal emergen cy room treatment a nd a t lea st 33 ch ildren died . according to Scanlon . Those sta tistics do no t incl ude 385.000 ch ildren under 15 inj ured on bicycles . 65.000 injured o n skates. 23,000 in jured on sleds a nd 13.500 inj ured o n skateboards . At a Washington new s co nfere nce. the CPSC demo n strated unsafe to ys. including balloons that can bein ha led a nd h ave suffoca ted more than 90 ch ild re n in recent years; toys with sma ll p arts that ca use cho king; cr ib gy m s tha t ca n strangle babi es; an d to y chest lid s th at ca n cause su ffocation. A former CPSC of ficia l who is now a co ns u lta nt for the toy ind us try ca ll ed th e co n fere nce. " the same p ress con fere nce they have been g iving fo r 10 years with th e exact sa me prod ucts. Nothing has cha nged. I ca n ' t believe it. " T he Consumer Affa irs Committee o f Ame rica ns for Democr atic Action wa nts th e CPS C to require to y mak ers to label toys , outlini ng th e risk s in vo lved for various age gro ups . Ann Brown. an inves tigator for th e Cons umer Affa irs Co mm itt ee. cri ticized the C PSC for (00 much tal k a nd too little action. (Co n ti n ued to page 25 ) ~ 00 ....... ....