Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

whole. This does nothing but cast doubt on all manufacturers in th e eyes of th e consuming public. I sincerel y beli eve that th ere is no room for this type of marketing activit y; it does n othing more than drag th e party responsible down to th e level o f th ose wh om th ey publicly deride. I hope th a t this son of promotion will retire from wh ence it came befo re it damages th e reputation of this industry as it h as o th er industri es in th e past, I enco ura ge concer ned motorcyclists 10 write to Mr. Richard R aczu k, Kerker's presid ent, as I have and exp ress their concern with h is company's current advertising tacti c. The address is 7900 Deering Ave.• Canoga Park, CA 91304. Thank yo u very much ! NATIONAL America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Shamn Cla vton, Publisher Milt' KlinJ., t'f . Com ptrolln " Skip johnson . Associiur Pub lisher / N atio na l Saies Mana gt't J .d . Mangus . •Associate Publishrrt Senio r Editor Rheba Sm ith . Ci rcu lation M a na1( t'T Ca roli ne Cendrv. EurU/;1¥' SUtt't ary to thr Publish,.r SCOTr M. SMITH . Rent on , WA Helmet Laws Editori el J ohn Ulrich. Editor Kil Palmer• •-tssocinte Ed itor Mall H ilgen berg, Associate Edi to r Paul Ca rruthers, Associate Edi tor Fan('11 Willia m s. Associate Editor Advert iling Terry P ra n , W t'l tt'rn Sales Mnnag"'T Tim Rya n. U't'st rr n Sates ,\ / a n aRt"T Mark Thorne. lI't'sttTn .'\ a tt"s Managt'r Mikl"Church. Eastrrn .')n /,.. .\!a" ag N \ Thoma.. R. GOll irl. Eastrrn So les Matin g,., Li nda Blo wn . 11' /,.", Ad . Coor dinator ,., <:..,1a Bonlen. E astrm .-td. Coordinato r ~anq' W" ..u-ll. Ad l ~rt ;.\ ;I1 _¢ Edi'orial A $.\'. Grephics end Production Gingt'r Machado. Product i on MOna!{f"f Ma lco lm \\'ihoOn . G raph ic Ar' iM Dia na Hilgenberg . G raphic Artist :\orario n Hatashua. Tvpeseuer Carolyn Branham. Tvpeseuer Denni.. G reene , Le b, T rchn icien Ac cou nting /Deta Pro ce ssing Donna Brva n. A cet.!. Ru~ivo h [, Coordin4tnr Grnn'a Repa ss. A J-u.stanl Fran Hamwev. C redit Circulet ion .' . 11' 111 "1" ; ;1)101' .-Iui. . ant . .t .. l m ';l . \ n ,&.: lI i Oi ll o A.u;s'nu, \ LiIltLI 1" l m ;u Ti p&l .-I ,u;.\'nll' <:Iu',i <:1 &11 )11'''11Assistant 1 L aura A ld r id ~l', A s...isuuu Want A ds Stolll Sc'Itl lI'an, Ad S"l,.... Service end S upport Ch ri ~ Ahc heson. H eadq uarters R ecept ion ist Leo nar d Hl:rrill l';'. Service and Support Netional Heedquarters 22UI Che-rfY An'.. Lo ng Beach. CA 901'106: maihng ad dr ess P .O . Bo x -198. Lo n g Beach . C.A 9OKO\.(H98: 21~ /127 ·7H3. 2 13/636-8IH1 . Eastern Office 4190 Fir t AVI:.• T ucker, G A 30084; mai li n g ad d ress P.O . Box 805. Tucker. GA 30085· 0805: 104/ 951-7850. C )'clt' News (liS PS 141· 540) is p ub lished weeklv (" X{'('pI t he' first a nd last week o f th e ca len da r year fo r S25 per vear by Cycle News, In c.• 220 1 Cherry Avenue. Long Beach . CA 90S06. Seco nd cl ass JXKtaJ;(' paid at Long Beach . C . A POSTMASTER : Send form 3579 to Cycle N_s, P.O . Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801-0498. Subscri ption rates: One year, second class m.. il. S25: I WO years, seco nd class mail . S45: th ree yt""dn. seco nd cla ss mail. $68; 25 weeks, S13, Forei gn rates avai lab le on request. Cycle N('Ws wel co mes un soJicit td editorial mat eri al in cluding sto ries, ca rtoons, ph ot os . "Co SUl'h mat eri al. if p u blis hed . beco mes 1M exc l usive p ro pe rtv of Cycl e NC'Ws. Such accepted mat erial is su bject ( 0 rt'\fision as i!!o n«n.'iaf)' in th C' \Ole di SCTt1ion o f C)"cl 'NC'Ws. e 'h lf molid lC'd rnalma l "" ich is nOI u~ will be'rMumC'd if aa:o m pa n itd bya S(' f addrn:'lC'd l 5tamped t'IlvC'lopc. All un sol icitt'd mat erial will ~ hancllC'd wilh fC'asona b le care. how (",·er. C ycle N",'s assu me's no rc.-sponsib ilil Y for t ht-~ frly. los o r damaJ;t'to!>uch ma ln-ial . RC'prim in Jjt in wh ol e o r pari o n ly b)· pcTm i5sio n o r lhr publi)hM'~ AdvC'fli sinK ra tt'S a nd ci rc u la tio n inrOnnollion will br- sc.-m upon r t'qUt"SI. Ser S,R.D.S. . Copyr ight (!) Cycle News. Inc. 1986. Tr edemark Cycle News reg istered U.S . Patent Office. All rights reserved. 4 ON THE FRONT PAGE: Eddie Lawson on his FZ750 Yamaha Superbike at a Daytona test session. Lawson int ervi ew beg ins on page 16. Photo by Kenny Kan e/Daytona Internat ional Spee dway. Denzer I was shocked 10 read that Clyde Denz er is n o longer with H a rl eyDavidson and I would feel doubly bad if he got away wit hout some idea o f how much h is help ha s mea nt to a ll of us priva teers over the years. Th ere are a lot of peo p le who raced Harl eys faster because Cl yde was at th e end of a phone line hel p in g us on o ur way. Not o n ly cou ld he a nswer questions a nd help with pans, but you kn ew he ca red. Wh en I won I ~ lIed Cl yde and h e was just as exci ted as I was . When I broke h e co m miserated and offered sugges tions that reall y helped and I always knew that when Clyde told me so met h ing it was th e truth. So, thanks for everythi ng, not just from me but from all th e guys yo u helped along th e way . Please le t your fri ends know where you ar e and what you are doing. We will miss you . ALLISON HARTMAN Chicago,lL 0 -37 MX AMA District 37 has done some reorganizing and is p leased 10 announce that Distr ict 37 will offer a motocross program for 1986. District 37 will honor acquired 1985 numbers. We feel the new program has a lot to offer motocross riders. District 37 h as also revised our management policies for beller rider and promOler representation. For more in forma tion and cards please call me at 213/862-002 I. DAVE HERRERA 1740rizaba Down ey, CA 90242 Old racer for 0-38 I have ra ced on and o ff for th e past 32 years . I have ra ced cars, boa ts, a nd mot orcycles and o n man y different co urses, with m ost being motorcycles, I have two bo ys wh o race m o(orcyc1es, mostly in desen ra ces. The team of Jim and Phil Means fin ished secon d O pen class in the Parker SCORE 400 this year and th ird O pen last year . Jim ha s won several overalls, some in Arizona a nd Ca lifornia, a nd has don e extremely well in Nevada, but none have given the recognition to h im and 10 h is sponsors as District 38. The cost to race is S20. If vou wa nt to joi n 0-38, th e cost bein g '20 a n n u a lly. Mo st o f th e races are arou nd Pl aster Cit y, Ca liforn ia, w hich is located just 20 miles from El Centro, I ~ hours fro m Sa n Diego , and nearl y three h ours from O ran ge County. Man y of th e co u rses ar e 20-m ile loops, a nd yo u can pre-run most o f them. They have a volunteer medic team (Los Explordores) with air coverage most of th e time. They are th e best I hav e seen. T hey have a class for everybody, even me, O ver 50. People are th e friendliest I have ever raced with. On on e occasion I broke whi le out pre-running and · everyone passing by stopped to see if I needed help. Here is the bottom line: If yo u want to enjoy desert racing which does not cost an arm and a leg , without trials or enduro, (no th in g against trials or end uro. I prefer desert racing). com e 10 0 -38 races. HIMEY MEANS Parker Dam. CA Advertising tactics I would like to call attention to the current " KERKE R Kicks Ass all over SuperTrapp" ads found in the current issues of many magazines. I do not feel that th ese ads are at all appropriate. Before I go any furth er. I sho u ld note th at I use Kerker's products myself, so this isn't sour grapes on m y pan. SuperTrapp is' unquestionably guilty of an erro r in judgement if they , as Kerker claims, claimed a phony cha m p io ns h ip. This sh ould be handled within th e mOlOrcYcle aftermarket industry. For Kerk er 10 crow a bo u t this from th e hi gh est mountain tops an d drag a co mpetilOr th rough th e mud on a public forum is damaging, nOlon ly to SuperTrapp, but to th e a fterma rket industry as a I don 't understand why the AMA wou ld support anti-compu lsory h elmel law s. What is th e philosophy beh ind th e SUp p OI'! of a rider's associa tio n lor laws that a re inh erently unsaCe 10 rid ers? Man y ride rs have g ro wn up riding in an era w he re very few rid ers a re wearim; helmets. I gr ew up in T exas in the mid- 1960s whe n mot orcycles a nd helme ts wen' insepara ble due to sla te law . I. and mv friends. wo uld co m mon ly C'.IITy a n'olher helmet o n our bikes in case we picked lip a passenger. We didn 't question why we had to wear helmets, we wo n ' the m because in Texas, in th e 196Os, yo u wo re a h el m et and th at is a ll th ere was ( 0 it. Wh y do things have 10 be different n ow? Yo ung riders are grow ing up in a permissi ve cI imau- with a Ial se sense 01 security concer ni ng th eir safe ty. Mo torcycle dea lers a nd pa rems have a respons ibi lity 10 educa te riders a bo u t mot orcycle safety, bu t the strongest sta teme n t is sta le law . I do n' t bel ieve tha t a com p u lsory helmet la w wo u ld noti ceabl e reduce th e sales of motorcycles, Enthusiasts will still buy a nd ride motorcycles, just like we did in th e 1960s, I do beli eve that compulsory helmet law s wo u ld significa n rlv reduce motorcycle fat alities a nd make a stro ng sta tement for rid er safet y. The sta le of Texas has p assed mansigned datory sea l belt law s - laws de so lel y 10 save lives th rough the use o f pa ssive restra ints on public roadways. I am required to use safety equipment wh en d riving m y pi ckup - yet I C'.I n ride m y motorcycle without any safety eq ui p me n t a t a ll. The irony is in escapable. I realize that the socio-political climate of the late 1960s and early 1970s was conductive to the repeal of compulsory helmet laws. It is now 1985 and the motorcycle industry is booming, technology is at an all time high. It i s time to make a statement for rider safety and for the p ublic image of the mOlOrcycle industry. The AMA, and its powerfu l lo bby, should admit that anti-compulsory h el met la ws are a contradiction of th e most basic rider safety principles. R O N TOUDOUZE H urst, TX Publilhed lette ,. do not nee....rily reflect the po. ition of Cycle News. Inc. lett. ... fo r publicat ion m Ult be t y ped end double· lpaced: lette,. muat incl ude th e author", correct nem. e nd a d d,...; unaig ned or enonymoul lette,. CIInnot be uaed; d ue t o the volume of m ail no len,,. cen be ret urned o r ack n owled ged . Sen d ..tt.... to Voic• • • P.O , Bo. 49B, Long Beech . CA 9OB01 .

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