Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

events. The break-in per iod on the cycle co ns isted of pract ice the mornin g of the events. I think it is a tribute to th e new Suzuki RM80 morocrosser (as well as th e rid er , of course, o f whom I am al so proud ) that we wer e a ble to tak e th e RM 80 out of the box a nd make it a winner . In fact, of the 10 ra ces we hav e o n th e bike thus far . eight o f th em hav e been first place finish es (in cl ud in g tracks such as Ascot, Perris, Canyon and Firebird ). Thank yo u for th e clarification and keep up th e good work. (.0 00 O"l NATIONAL DAN CONNELLY Peoria . AZ America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Olympic champ's thanks Sharon Clayto n. Publisher ~t i kt· Klin Rt' . Com p troller T Skip Johmon . .i .u ocial' Publisbrr r Nal;mud Snl,., Mnnn,e'I"T Jad M a n~u!Jo. A ssocia te Publishers Senior Edi tor R beba Smith. Circulation Manaj( t'.,. Carol in e Gc-ndrl. E :(t'CUt ;I't' S,cr,tary t o Ih, Pu blish rr Editorial John l tlrich, Ed it or Kil Palmer. A noc;alt' Ed it o r Ma lt lIih{cnbl."TJ,: . A ssociate Edi tor Paul Ca rruthers. ..1s.\'O(';aU Ed itor Fa rre n wil tiams. Associate Edit", Advertising Terrv Prun. U', .'it l"Tn Snit' s M aring,., T im Rvan, 1V ,..dt"rl'I Sal,., M a m!!: ,.,. :\Ia r).; T ho me, If ,.,\/t" Salt's Ma'Ia/{t'f' rn Mi ke Ch urch. East ern Sa lt's M a n a .~ t'T H ila ry Bro wn. Ea stern Sal,.s M an aK' T Thomas R. GOUlt"T. Eastern Snit'S.1I a' JaKf"" Linda Brown . Wl'stn" Ad . Coo.,dinil im Carla Borden , Elu t,.rn Ad. Coordinntor l':,mq' Wa~ lrll . Adl 'rrri~in ,~ Ed itorial A sst. Graphic s and Production Ginger Machado , Production .\t/lr,a2N Ma k ol m Wiho n. G raphic Artist Dia na H ilgen berg. Graph ic A rtist :\ob r ion H a ta sh ita . T'Y~Httrr Carolyn Bra n ha m. T ypt'sru rr _ Ornni.. Greene. I.Ab. T echn icia n Accounting /Date Processing Donna Brva n . A CCh . Rece iva ble Coordinator G("nr \'a Repa ..!>. Assistant Fra n H am wev. Crt'dit Circulation Sarah Tavlor• •hsi51ant Lvn a H cXd . Assistant Alma Alquianu. A ssist ant Want Ad . Herz and Continental With interest I read yo u r sto ry of Wilhelm Herz a nd hi s NSU a nd how in 1956 h e set a new world record of 211 mph. Your readers ma y be interested to know that this record was set on Continental tires - specially developed for th is even t. ARNOLD VAN R ITENBEEK Sr. Vice President Continental Lyndhurst, NJ Candy Ha nd . Wnn t Ad Sairs Service and Support Qui..An cheson . H radq uarters R ,.uptio n i, d Leo nard Her ring. S"n';cr an d S I~P Port National Haadquarter. 220 1 C herrv Avr .. LOIlK Brach, CA 9OH 06: mail illK address P .O . Bo x 498, Long Br ach, r.A 9080 1·0198: 213 / 427·7·133. 2 13'636-88H . Eastern Office '1190 First Ave.. Tucker , CA 30084; ma ili nK uddre..!§, P.O , Box H0 Tucker, GA 300855, or,o:;: 404 ,95-1 · 7850. Cydr News (USPS 141-340) i.. published we-e-k lv ('Xcrp l l ht' fir "l a n d lust wee k o f t he ca lr nttH yr,lr for $25 prr year b) ' C.ve-le News, In c., 220 1 Cherrv Aven ue. Lo ng Beach . C.A 90R06. Seco nd da..~ po..rage paid a l Long Beach . CA . POSTMASTER : Send form 3579 to Cycle New• • P.O . Box 498. Long Bea ch . CA 90801 -0498 . Sllb~riplion rarec OOt' yt'ar, wcond d .a".. years, seco nd cla ss ma il. $-15: rhr ee- Y(~.I r .., -econd da..s mail. S6S: 25 weeks. S13. For eign rates available o n Tt'QUI"'JoI. C) cle :'\M\'.. we lco mes un sol icited eduorial mat er ial indudinJi: !loloril'S. cartoon.., p holo-., eu-, Su ch material . if p u blisbed , becomes th e ("X I Imi\(' pr opert y o f C)'C1t' :"('"-v, Su ch ac c('p lt,1 m al rr idl i.. ..u bjeet 10 revisio n ;u , i.. IU U 'Sklf)' in lhl' ~11(' diMTt"l i on o f Cvele Xew s. ( 'I1'Ioli t'ill'd m ;I1 , I'fi,,1 which i.. n OI uwd witl be returned if accompanied b)' a ~'I£ addre-, .... -d \tampe"cl env etop-. All unsol icited mat er ial will he' ha nd led wi th reasonable rare . how ('\'r f, Cy dt· :"c'w" ;l .. mm('\ " 0 IT"ipom i hi Jil Y rf lr Iht· 'kllt' l... lewoln da m';IJi:t' In "'Kh m;llt"fi;I), R(' pri nl ill ~ ' in who lt, ()~ pari only by pt·rm i..· ..io n o r lhr publi ..h n- , Ad\, t'r1 isi n ~ r;lf('~ ,m d ciIC'U!;;lio n informil lion ..... ill bt' M'O! upo n n 'ljll('''l. Sc.'i' S.R .D .S mail , $25: lW O Co p yrig ht ~ Cycle News, Inc . 19 8 6 . Tra dem ar k Cy cle · N ews regis tered U.S . Patent Office. All rights reserv ed. ON THE FRONT PA GE : Holland'. Kees van der Ven starred at the opening round of the Florida W inter AM A MX Series in Gainesville. Flori da. Story begins on page 8 . File photo by Luc Verbeke . 4 Hillclimb champion I have just received my co py of the Cycle N ew s '86 Calendar of Ch am p ions, a nd I do va lu e it. How ever , th ere is a n AMA Professional Motorycycle Champi on whose p icture is not o n th e ca lendar, a nd most deserveabl y shou ld be. Earl Bowlby . o f Logan , Ohio , has been nati onal cha m p io n more th a n a ny o the r rid er in AMA h istory. no m atter whi ch divisi on yo u loo k at. Earl has just become AMA G rand Nati on al Professi onal Hill cl imb Ch ampion for th e ninth time, durin g a 20-ye-dr ca reer. As o ne wh o foll ow s a ll forms o f AMA mo torcycling co mpetition, I can sta te without reserva tio n, th at professional h ill cl imbin g is as dema ndi ngand co mpeti tive as any o ther division of mo to rcycle event: Even tho ugh it is the last of th e " a n yth in g goes, let it a ll hang out " sports. th ose who compe re in motorcycle h ill cli mbin g events p rese nt themse lves in a p ro fessional sportsmanli ke manner a nd a re a co m p liment to motorcycli ng. DWI GHT B. l\IITCHEL L Da yton , 0 1-1 .Number O ne ag ai n It 's been five long years sin ce I h eld Nati ona l titles in WE RA, bu t th e thrill of being N u m ber O ne is sti ll great. I m ust mention that the Formu la O ne a nd Form ul a Two titles I won at Road Atla nta recently brought m v tota l to II , not five as stated in Cycle News. I wo u ld lik e to th ank a ll m v friends an d fans for th eir help a n d 'su p p ort th is yea r. Thanks to ND , Michel in . Suzuki, Ron Howard o f Mach I, a n d especia lly Norma Bonelli for h elping me win m y fir st title in 1979, a nd for co ntin u in g h er su p po rt each year. Also , a gr eat big pat on th e ba ck to m yself for a ll th e design , fabrica tion and high performance wo rk I did th is season. As a lwa ys, thanks to th e cus to mers o f Knott Fabricati on a nd TTFN who su p p ly a good part of th e money it tak es to keep me raci ng. As a lwa ys. looking for '86 spo nsors in en d u ra nce, Formula One and Superbike. BOONIE KNOTT U rba na , IL Chandler I would lik e to sho w m y concern o ver Danny Ch and ler 's recen t acci de nt. having lost my brother three months ago th e very sa me way th at Dann v was hurt. I kllow wh at a burden th e hospital bills ca n be. My brother's ca me to ove r 30.000 for on ly nine day s before passin g away. An d as mentioned in th e December II issue of Cycle News , Dann y's expenses wo n't be cove red bv insu ran ce. So I a m asking everyo ne to sen d a ny thi ng th ey ca n to help Danny's fam ily. T o th o se wh o a re close to Danny Cha ndler, yo u have my deep est sym pathy . J ust have faith. I kn ow what yo u 're going throug h. MIKE SOSA La Puente, CA Connelly and RM80 Thank yo u for mentioning my so n , Sco tt Connell, in th e ra ce report from th e Kyle Fleming Memoria l. No vem ber 16-17, 1985 a t Blythe, Ca lifornia. wh ere he won all four motos in th e 80cc No vice d ivision . H owever, for clarifica tio n on beha lf of h is sponsor, Casa Grande (Ari zona ) Ka wasa ki-Suzuk i and th e Suzu ki Mo to r Company, he di d so rid in g a 1986 Suzuki RM 80 (not a H onda as was reportt-rl in th e news story), which we took deli very of th e da y before th e There are man y people I need to thank for making 1985 a very successful year for m y racing program. The year was capped wh en I was p resented th e Bro nze Boo t Award following the five days of competition at the Florida Winter Olympics. Thanks to Yamaha Motor Corp. a nd all my friends there. incl uding Clarke Jo nes. Mi ke Ge, Tim Norton , Larry Griffis and Tad O kan o ; Larr y Mai ers and Hi-Point Racin g Prod ucts; Bevo Forte, Bill Larson and Sco tt at Scott USA; HRP; Bell ; CRF and Maxima. With sp onsors like these supporting me, I will continue to try to be a winner. This yea r I'll be a member of the Mot o-X Fo x team and I'm loo kin g forward to work ing with them. To all I've mentioned, I wish a happy and prosperous new year. DAMON BRA DSHAW Charlotte. NC Endurance sprints I am in receipt ofthe tentative 1985 AMA /CCS road racing schedule and a m co ncerned with th e 500 ki lometer format proposed for the majority of the Endurance Series. As a ca ndida te member of Stockline Raci n gs' 1986 effort, I am contemplating a su bsta ntia l investment of time and money. Un exp ectedly, several questions and an air of doubt hav e come to mind. As a " h om egrown " effort withou t major corporat e sponsor , we depend on th e most number of viable team member/riders to ca p ita lize on tal ent and help defer costs. Will th e shortened ra ce forma t d iscourage this beca use a ll riders will not have sign ifica n t track ti me ? Will it reall y be worth th e individual team members' tra veling long distances to ride for one h our? Another question co me s to mind: Will we not be co m petitive unl ess we build " sp rint " motors, with th eir high er inherent cos t, to co n test th ese shorter events? Most important, AMA CCS " En durance" racing will not be su ch . but in reality a three-four ho ur a ll -ou t sprint ra ce. wh ich will n ot place a prem ium on a hi gh degr ee co nsisten cy, dependability. or team strategy n ormally associa ted with o ur sport . In co ntras t. WERA offers a full schedule o f six, eigh t, and 24-hour events and conseq uent ly can be referred to as th e definitive end ura nce racing seri es. U n fort u na tely, it ma y become necessary to reali gn o ur thinking as to which ser ies m ore clos ely matches our objec tives for th e 1986 season. JEFF BU RCK Pa lm . Beach , FL Pub lishe d letters do not necessari ly reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Send letters to Vo ices, P.O . Box498, Long Beach . CA 90801 .

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