Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Dave Wc:,od , who fini~hed second in the 250cc P ro class a t th e February I mo tocro ss in the CowPal ace in San Fran cisco, do nated hi s $350 winnings to Danny Cha ndler fund; donations for Ch andl er a re being accep ted by the P ro Rider Ben efit Fund ; 14024 Sylva n, Van N uys, CA 91401. THE NATIONAL PAPERS J : R . Kelly. President of Dayton, Ohio's KK Motorcycle S u p ply. w as hono red as t he Moto rc ycle Industry C o uncil's Ma n- o f -t he- Year. during th e Dealernews Moto rcycle & ATV Ex po. hel d in Cincinna ti. O hio . February 1 5-17 . Kelly. a fo rmer d irt tra ck ra cer turned busine s s m an. has been involved in the m oto rcycle ind us t ry for 40 years. The FIN! will o nlv sanction the Grand Prix div ision or' th e BaTT race a t Davt on a. The class will feature a $6600 p urs e with 19 15 going to the . the win ner a nd $ 1320 for second p lace. T he Heavyweigh t Modified class will ha ve a S4650 p urse with the winner ta kin g ho me S 1350 wh ile the Lig h tweig ht Mod ifie class will fead ture a $3750 purse with $ 1080 go ing to the win ne r. Winne rs of the two 50-mile Superb ike hea t s at Daytona can earn $3520 plus a $1500 bonus from Arai Helmets. Second place can earn $2360 plus a $ 1200 Arai bonus; the 30th and final qualifier in each heat will take home $1 00. The heats will determine starting positions for the 200-mile Superbike Nationa l by Arai. The total purse for the 200 is $155.000 including the Arai bonus and both heats of $25,000 each. Lap money will also be paid in the 200 with the leader of each of the 57 laps getting $30. The 28-lap Formu la Two race a t Daytona will feature a $25,000 purse with $4590 goi ng to the winner. An add itio nal $ 100 will be paid to th e fast est qua lifi er. Harley-Davidson held a private banquet following the AMA / Camel Pro Series opener at t he Houston Astrodome to celebrate the signing of its 1986 racing team. Road racer Gene Church and d irt trackers Jay Springsteen and Scott Parker will make up the Harley team this year. Mark Tuttle. the vice-president of Engineering and acting race manager, said. "We want to do more tha n mere ly compete with Honda on the d irt tracks. Harley-Davidson wants to win that number one plate again, and this group will make it happen:' Harley-Davidson pays a contingency award of $2500 for half-mile and mile wins and $1000 for n or short track wins. TheSuperTeam tested their Yamaha FZ750s recentl y a t th e Alabama International Speedway, and according to team manager Tom Tucker, the tests proved to be usef ul. Lance Jones was the tester in Alabama, but Jay Springsteen and Ricky Graham will join the team for Daytona along with Engla nd's Steve Parrish. Cosmopolitan Motors is importing the Beta Trekking. a 240cc two-stroke woods bike with reed valve ind uc t io n and a six-speed transmis sion. Th e Trekking u sing the same chrome-moly chassis as the Beta TR32-33 Trials bikes with aluminum swingarm, single-rear Marzocchi shock and Marzocchi forks . Claimed dry weight is under 200 pounds. retail price is $2395 and more info rm a t io n is available from 215 /672 -9100. The California Off Road Vehicle Association (CORVA) will hold it s annual c onvention and awards banquet atthe Catamaran Hotel in S a n Diego. California . on March 7-9 . Speakers will include Assem blyman Steve Peace and Congressman Duncan Hunter. For more info rm a ti o n call Lynn Brown at 619 /427-1125 or Jim Peterson at 619 /486-3093 . U nder th e terms of a new agr eement . UST Inc. will suppl y Tsubaki chai n to Yamaha Mo to r Co rp. U.S. for use bv Yama ha 's motocross a nd road raeirig tea ms. Accord ing to Yam ah a Man ager of Mot orspo rts Ken Clark. Yama ha rid ers usin g Ts ub ak i cha in in 1986 will incl ude motocrossers Broc Gl over. J im H olley, Sco tt Burnwort h, Keith Bowen and Dann y Storbeck. along with road racers Ji m Filice and J ohn Kocinski . Kurt Hen rickson crashed during practice forthe Seattle Supercross and reinjured his neck, wh ich was originally hurt at the 1985 Rosebowl Supercross. He is d iagnosed as having a concussion of the spine and originally had no fee ling from his neck down . He arms are now hypersensitive to touch and he is in traction at the Harborview Medic a l Center. 325 9th Ave .• Seattle. WA 98104. MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRYS ClfANGE Started A motorcycle co urier service serving sou thern Californ ia, by Sh ager Messenger; motorcycl e orientated cli ents receive a discount; for more information ca ll 213 /4770204. Born To dirt tra cker Hank Sco tt a nd wife Sus an, so n Chase Randon, on February 5. Added Kawasak i and HarleyDavidson dealership to the already existing Jeep and Mazda l AMC Big Isla nd Veh icle Center, In c., in Hilo, Hawaii, by owner Jackie Yates Holt. T he 1986 Ca mel Pro team fro m R.J. Reynolds is set. C urt is G ray a nd Mickev Hanes will be back as Tea m Manager a nd Asst. Tea m Man ager. They will be joined by new staffer. J enn ifer Jones. fro m th e pub lic rela tio ns depa rtm en t. 'T his year there will be two Miss Ca mel Pros o n the circu it. Vivia n Chadbo urne will return to do all west coast even ts pl us so me ill the m id west. In the east. Miss Ca me l Pr o will be Linda Hellu nd from Winston-Salem . North Caro lina. Th e m em bers of Crane Racing S tanford Crane. J o hn Bettencou rt . Ra ndy Renfrow a nd Anders Andersson - w ill be wearing lea the rs de ve lo pe d joi ntl y by a Swedish m an ufa ctu re r and a n insurance company . The le a t h e rs fea t ure specia l shoulder, e lbow. hip and knee pads plus an in -ba c k protect o r; using the lea t he rs earns a rider a 1 O%'d iscount on insu rance from t he invo lve d company. A Daytona Speed Week institu tion, The Rox y Rockwood Radio Sh ow, will move fro m its hom e o f 15 years , th e H aw aii an Inn , to Finkv 's Country Sh owplace. The sho w will run from Monda y, March 3 through Sunday , Ma rch 9. A 30-m in ute segment of th e show will be broadcast over WNDB (1150 AM) a t 10:30 each night. The Daytona Supercross w ill fea ture both the 250cc National and the 125cc Pro/Am on Saturday in front of the main grandstand. T he U.S. For est Service is aski ng for input o n recreati onal activities in the Mon o Lak e Na tional Scen ic Area in Ca lifo rn ia. Off-road users ca n writ e to Marc Harris, Mono Lake Ranger Sta tion, P .O . Box 10, Lee Vining , CA 93541, if th ey have or would lik e to co nt in ue using th e basin for off-road activit y. Suzuki 's team Yoshimura and Team Yamaha first hit the Daytona track with their new bikes on February 25-26. when they conducted combined test sessions. The 200 will mark the return of 1984 World Champion and 1981 and 1982 Superbike Champion Eddie Lawson to Daytona and to Superbike racing. Lawson had 12 Superbike wins and two titles be- fore he jumped over to GP road racing, but Eddie has never won a Superbike race at Daytona. By Roxy Rockwood Will the D ayto na 200 be th e race of t he y ear] It appears tha t a negative has bee n turned into a positive. L et 's hope that it' s not too late fo r road racin g fans to enjoy th is bit o f fat e and good fortune. T he neg ati ve was last year's annou ncem ent tha t the re would not be a Formula O ne race a t Davrona this vear. So me cried " Fo ul! "and wanted boycott of sorts for this year's Daytona Cycle Week , bu t in recent weeks th e negati ve has been turned aro und, Depending o n wh o tells yo u a nd wha t you want to beli eve, thi s year's Daytona Super bi ke 200 looks like a re turn to the go od o ld time s wh en facto ry team s an n ually went head-tohead o n th e hi gh banks in Florida . T he en rrv list for the '86 Davtona 200 i nclud~s th e three ride rs' who have won th e Superbike Series title the last five years ru n ning; they'll mee t on th e track for the firs t tim e. The rider wh o has wo n the las t five times in a row a t Daytona will cha llen ge these pas t a nd present Su perbik e kin gs as will three Gra nd National Ch ampi on d irt track riders. H onda has go ne from a pair of riders to a quartet of cha m ps. Yamaha has never had a n official Superbi ke team , but th ey've crea ted a three-rider effort for thi s year's race. Eac h of th ose teams boasts of a form er Superbike champ, each has a World Ch am pion tit le holder , a nd one team has a form er Grand Nationa l Champion. Freddie Spencer, the curren t 250 a nd 500cc road racing World Champi on, has domina ted th e Daytona Superbike races lik e no o the r rider. Spencer has won the last five tim es out at Daytona, Joining Spencer on the H onda team is th e current (a nd two-time) Superbike cha mp, Fred Merkel. The Cal ifornian ha s found Day tona to be his biggest jinx th e pa st two times in March , but he has won th ere lat er in the yea r, three times runnin g. That brings th e overall Superbike win tot al to eigh t strai ght for the two T eam H onda lead ers! Freddie and Fred are joined thi s tim e by 1983 Superb ike cha rnp Wayn e Rainey and reigning Grand National Champion Bubba Shoben. Shobert won a Camel Pro Formula One National in '84, riding a Superbike-typ e ma chine in one of hi s very few road race outings. Backing up Lawson on a Yamaha is five- time U.S. Road Race Champion Mike Baldwin , who is returning to the Superbike wars after a year of Formula One on ly in the U.S . and Europe. Baldwin is the senior Superbi ke racer , having competed in and won Superbike races since the crea tion of th e division back in the mid'70s. T he third member of the Yamaha team , and for a time the on ly factory signee, is Jimmy Filice, T he new a 3

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