Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

stroke; single-shock ' frame. The two 198&- machines had frame numbers XP08528 and XP09171 . with engine numbers 20830292 and 20830251 . The 1985 machine had no frame number but had engine number 09521074. Erl is offering a 81 000 reward for return of the machines and information on the thieves. More information is available from Erl at 714/8357277. Ca n-Am 's Jeff Smith ha s a n nou nced that th e Canadian motorcycle manufacturer will back off-road aces J o hn Ma rtin , Geoff Ballar d , John Fero and lack Elkins in 1986. In addition to th ose factory team riders, su pport ri ders competing u nder the T eam Ca n -Am banner in 1986 will be G eor gia 's Joh n Boswell , Sou th Carolin a 's J oey H o pk in s, No rt h Carolina's G ray Leonard, Oklahoma 's J ack McGhee an d Gary Wa lkup, Misso uri's J oh n Caplinger and T im Newell , Washin gton 's Ron Gray, New J ersey's T om Dengler, Ca lifornia's Harry Keast a nd C harlie Barney, Mi ssissippi's Nol and Kn ight, Iow a 's Denn is Mesward, Kentucky's J im Stephenson, and Illino is's Bill Gusse. The 1986 Superbikers race date has been set by the AMA and promoter Gavin Trippe. Scheduled for October 26 at Carlsbad Raceway. the event will once again be televised by ABC Sports for delayed broadcast. Rep resen ta tives o f ABATE from Wash in gt on, South Carolin a, North Dak o ta , Neb raska , Michigan, Florida and Ma ryl and recently m et in Las ","... Vegas with representatives of th e Freedo m of th e Road riders o f M isso u ri, th e Modified Motorcycle Associ a tion of Ca liforni a, and th e Mission Church o f Bikers o f Connecti cut. The groups partici pa ted in a three-day co nfe rence d iscu ssing lega l, safety and legisla tive problems faced by mo torcycl ists an d motorcycl ing groups. T he group will hol d a n a tiona l co nference in Kansas City, Kan sas o n May 16-18. More information is ava ilable from Na tional Coal ition o f Mo torcycl ists, P .O . Box 24, Du pont , WA 98327. Crane Racing has announced that John Bettencourt. Mike Sturvedant, David Leppelmeyer and Stanford Crane will comprise its endurance road racing team for 1986. Team captain will be Fred Eklow. who will also participate as a rider at selected events. Randy Renfrow will contest the March 9 Daytona 200 on a Crane Racing Cagiva. while Bettencourt. Crane and Swedish Superbike champ Anders Andersson will ride Hondas in the 200. L ittle known fa ct: T he Ma rch iss ue o f a monthl y magazine features a five-page technical story o n th e 1986 H onda VFR750F, ill ustrated wi th th ree co lor p hotos o f a co ntributor rid ing th e ma chine. Astute readers will q uickl y rea lize th at . no wh ere does th e story talk a bo u t pe rformance. Tha t because th e mo torcycle seen in the p hotos didn 't run . Ma ga zine staffers towed th e mach in e up to th e to p o f a downhill road a nd took th e p hotos as th e rid er coasted p ast. There's n o m ention th at th e bike was a n one-runner , ei the r. BMW of North America has announced that the company sold 5570 motorcycles in 1985. an increase of 33% compared to 1984 sales. According to t he company. which im ports BMWs to America. 1985 registrations of new BMW motorcycles were up 65% compared to 1980. and the company's share of the 750cc and up market in the U.S. inc reased from less than 1 % in 1980 to almost 4% in 1985. Considering that overall motorcycle sales in the U.S . have been declining in recent years. company officials are proud of the increase. saying that BMW is the only motorcycle company to show sustained and consistent sales growth in the last five years. In a n industrv first, BMW of North Ameri ca ha s ' schedu led a two -day hands-on servic e school for mot or. cycle p ublication edi tors. T h e comp an y hopes th e school will familiarize edi tors wi th BMW techn ical features an d desig n . T h e school will be h eld in Ma rch in Los Angeles, Ca lifo rn ia. AMA D-37's Checkers M.C. has scheduled their 34th annual Check Chase Hare and Hound desert race for May 17. The 200-mile event starts in California 's Lucerne Valley and ends at the Colorado River. More information is available from Mike Sixbery at 805 /584-6975; the club will hold a meeting concerning the event March 5 at Casa Di Pizza. 19365 Victory Blvd .• Reseda . Ca lifornia. 818 /3443585. J eff Bra ke o f O range, Cali fornia won a Yamaha 225 DR shaft-drive three- - 0"' " •••••• • wheeler in a DannyChandler ben efit ' • ra ffle a t th e Febru ary 2 AMA D-37 Firs t C ha nce Enduro. The Yamaha wa s do nated by G ra nada Yamaha. FIM race-sanctioning affiliates in . England and West Germany have banned double jumps on Nationallevel motocross courses. The German Federation recently fined the promoter of an event in that country for incJuding doubles in his course. The promoters' claim that the two humps were not intended to be jumped in one swoop was rejected by the organization. Superbi ke road raci ng mach in es will loo k a bit different this year. With th e advent o f fu ll fairings o n m a ny product ion models, th e AM A is dro pp in g th e requ irem ent for separate n umber pla tes when the re is eno ugh su rface a rea on th e fairi ng to p ro p erl y d isp lay the numbers. Also , bikes ra ced in the Formula I class wi ll be req uir ed to wear full GP-style fairi ngs. England 's Graham Noyce i s now almost fully recovered from the accident which left him close to death last year. The former World Champion has been riding prac t ice sessions aboard KTMs supplied by the British KTM im porter. Noyce intends to contest the British Championships th is season. but must take part in qualifying rounds before being allowed into t he main series. Former 500cc MX Wo rid Champion Andre Ma lh erbe will be riding wi th a Monaco lice nse th is yea r, ra ther than (Con tin ued to pag e 14) 3

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