Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

HO V lan es as safe ly and effectively as possible. LEO j.TROMBATO RE , Directo r California Depart ment of Transportation Sacramento, CA .Director T'rombatore sen t th is reply to Assemblyman R ichardKatz; Chairman of the Assembly Tran sportation Committee, w ho inq ui red about the pol. icy of excluding motorcycles [rom California HOV lanes. Assemblyman Kat: made h is inq uiry at th e request of Cycle News . . . Editor. NATIONAL ...... ...... . America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Spoiled brats I went to Baro na Oaks (Sa n Diego, Ca lifornia) Sunday, March 30, to watch what I thought would be some good raci ng . The races were fine but the unsportsman like conduct I a nd the rest of the people wi tnessed by Rick Joh nson was terrible . The conduct of Ri ck and his family was a very poor exa m p le for th e man y young riders and their fami lies. . I th ink the factories a nd th e mo torcycle indus try sho u ld tak e a long, hard look a t th e spoi led brats they are produc ing. You j ust can' t give th ese you ng peop le the huge sal aries and t reat them lik e gods a nd expect them to act any other way . They are not matu re enough to handle the p ressures and the fame . 0- ~ Sharon Dayton. Pu blish rr Mil t' Klin ger , Co m p tro ller Skip j ohn son . A ssociate Pub lisbert ." at;a nal S aItos Manag~T J ack Mangus. Assa cuue Pu b/,'sht', 1 Se n ior Ed itor Rh eb a Smit h . Circulation Man tJ/{N Ca rol ine Ce ndrv, E XUUli l1 Suulary t' thePub lisher 10 Editorial J ohn Ulri ch . Editor Kit Pal mer, Associ ote Ed itor Mall Hilgenberg. Associate Ed itor Pau l Ca rr u thers. A ssociate Editor Farr en Williams. A ssc cint e Ed ito r . A dvertising Terry Pratt. Wt'stM'n Salt's JU ana,," .T im Ryan . Wt'stnn Sn it's Manag" Ma rk T home, H"t's,,.,.,, Stllt'.~ .\lanagrT , Milt"Ch urch . East ern Sales M anagr Thomas R . C rner, Eas tern Snles M a na . ; f"t o V Linda Brown , W,.slt'rn A d. Coo rdi nato r Ca r ta Borden. Eastr rn A d . Coo rdinator N:mC)' Wa!lo,u A dt orr :U. tising Editor ial A sst. Graphics and Production Ginger Machad o. Productio n M a "IJ~N Mal col m Wil son . G ra ph i~ A rtist Dia na H ilgenberg, G rap hic Ar l;st Mar ion Hat ashita . T'YP~J,tln Ca ro lyn Branham . T'Y~s~IUr Drnnis G reene. La b. T echnician Accounting /Da" Proc es. ing Do nn a Bryan. A cctJ. Ru~ it ..ble Coor di n ator Gmn-a Repass, .-fs.uslant Fran Hamw ey, Cr~dil Circu lat ion So.ra h Tav ka As sistnn AlUM .\nKuiill1u Ai\i.\'ln"t Linda i" II Il;l rrip.. •-1 .~ . .;. . nt ~ m C lu'ri Ch .. p m ..h .\i.\l fHlt au La ura Aldric.l/(l'. As.s ista1l1 Want Ad. Suru & '111 Wall ' Ad Sal,. .( Service and Support Chris Ait~heson. H eadquarters R eception ist Leonard Herring , S,.n 'iu and Su.pp ort Nation al Headquarter. 2201 Che rr y Ave., LoOK Brach . CA 90806; mail inF: add ress P.O. Box -198. Lo ng Beach. CA 901 101·0498; 2 13/427·7433. 213/ 636-8844. Ea.tam Office 4190 First Ave.. Tucker , GA 50084; ma iling add,es, P.O . Box 805. Tucker. GA 30085· 0805: 404/934 · 7850. C)'C1t" ~ C'w ~ (US PS 141·340) is published wee k ly except th e Iir st a nd 101M wee k of the' ca lenda r )'I:'OIr fo r $25 pe r year by Cvcle New s. Inc.• 220 1 Ch err y Avenu e. Lo n g Beach , CA 9OR06, Seco nd clas s pos tage pa id a t Lo ng Beach . CA . POSTMASTER : Send fo rm 3679 t o Cycla New•• P.O . Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801-0498. S ubscripuon ra tes: One yea r, seco nd dus ma il. $25: two vear s, second cla ss ma il. $-1 5: th ree yra n.. second d Oli'§, mail. 568: 25 wee ks, $ U . Foreign ra tes availa ble o n req uest. Cvc le SM\'lj, welcomes unsol icit ed edi toria l m'al ('rial inc lud ing sto ries. car too ns . ph o tos. etc . Such ma terial . ir publi shed. becomes th.. , rxdu ~i "r p roper ty o f Cvrle N ews , Such ac cepted ma terial is su bject 10 revision as is nl:'Ct'"O\a1')l in rh e sole discrerionof C)"clt" ~ t"WS, l lll'l.olic itro ma ter ial wh ich i!loo n OI used wil! be ret urned if acco mpa ni ed by a self addressed stam ped e-nve iope. All unsolici ted matt-ria l will be hand led with reason abl e rare. ho wever , Cvc !c New s a ssu mes no tesponsi bit itv for th e saf ety , t O li.. o r- da mage to such ma ter ia l. .. R t· p r i ll l i n~ in whole or part only by perm isvio n of the.pu bf ..h.. r. Ad\'f:rti ~inlit rates and r-itrulat iun in hu ma tion wil! be sen t upon request. Set" S.R.n.S. Copyright @Cyc le News. Inc . 198 6 . Trad emark Cycl e News regi stered U.S. Patent Office. All right. reserved. 4 ON THE FRONT PAG E: Our pro ject Ho nda CR125R-tumed ISOE bike gets a ta ste of the enduro life. See page 26 . Photo by Kinney Jone• . Ha ngtown M X Nat ional coverage (in set) begins on page 10. Phot o by Brian Barnes . Daytona I talked about going to Daytona Bike Week for 10 years and finally .went this year. Wh y did I wait so long? We had racing, bik es, and more racing. Just had a ball , of co urse it was nice having the SCOOlZ down there. Didn ' t miss those 10° temps. If my letter gets to one biker, it will be worth it. Not only were all the people nice, but the food was just su per. Enjoyed the mix of Harleys, touring bikes, drag, and all the other stock or modified bikes. Memorial Sta dium short tra ck series. don ' t miss. You think that the re is no way th at second p lac e can pass, bu t they do get by. L ike having all the racebi kes in the infield. The ligh ting was spot o n. So all you craz y bikers, save a little green a nd mark your ca lendars for ne xt year. Daytona Bike Week '87 . . . I'll be there! Yes, I did mi ss th e Formula One bikes. Maybe th ey ca n work it o ut to put some of them o n display at least. GAR Y L. HILD RETH Chicago,IL Correction I ha ve j us t received Cycle N ews. March 19. The win ner of th e Triple Crown Ser ies in th e 250 C class was ' Grant Wood, not Arrant Wood. This is som ething that I a m very p roud of and wou ld lik e to have it published properl y. G RANT WOOD Gainesvill e. GA Why California breaks Federal law . You recent ly asked wh at o ur policy is regard ing mot orcycle access on hi gh- occupancy vehi cle (H O V) lan es. T he Surface Transp ortat ion Assistan ce Act of 1982, Section 163, requires motorcycle access on new HOV lanes if Federal fund s are in vo lved. Exem p tio ns are a llowe d on ly if th e Sta te cert ifies th at th ere are safety co ns idera tions which war ra nt excl usio n . We ar e co m m itted to carryi ng ou t the law , but ar e opening new .. HOV projects with motorcycle prohibitions during initial testing. Each location is examined on a case-bycase basis. While we certainly realize that single-occupant motorcycles are as energy efficient as two- or threeperson carpools, our main operational concerns are safety and overall people carrying capacity. Because the use of HOV la nes is sti ll relatively new in Ca lifornia and, in many cases , sensitive at the local level, Caltrans has typically requested that the Federal H igh way Administration grant a one -year motorcycle proh ibition when new lanes are opened. Du rin g thi s period, operatio na l fine- tu ni ng takes place desig ned to maximize efficiency and safety. At the end of this period motorcycle access is evaluated. For example, th e HOV lanes on Sa nta Clara 237 have been in use since Octo ber 1984. Motorcycles were ini tia ll y prohibited du e to th e fact th at Rou te 237 is a surface highway with several sign a lized intersections. While we agreed that motorcycles ' would eventua ll y be a ll o wed , we wanted to observe traffic patterns through 1985. Du ring this period, safety a nd o pe ra tions were op tim ized through sign ing, signal tim ing a nd tum prohibition strategi es. Motorcycles will be allowed on th ese lanes no later than April I, 1986 for a oneyear test period. In another case, two adjacent reversible-flow HOV lanes are schedu led to open on San Diego 15 in 1988. Un like other HOV lan es, th ese a re ph ysicall y separated from mixed-flow traffi c by barriers. Motorcycles will be a llowed upon opening because a joint a na lysis by Caltrans and th e California Hi ghway Patrol concl uded th at there is no safet y-based reason to exc lude them. Motorcycle access on the HOV la nes o n Los An geles 91 and Orange 55 is cu rrent ly prohibited, but will be evalua ted when these lanes have been in operation for on e yea r. I rea lize this is a sensirive issue within th e motorcycle community. H ow ever, we ar e trying to respect the letter of th e law while using our best en gineering judgment to opera te th e ERN IE BOTTOMS Santee, CA According to NMA 's R on Henrickson . johnson was involved in a con troversy after h is bike suffered a flat tire w hile johnson led th e second 250cc PTO moto. Henrickson said johnson rode his CR250 into the p its. clipping a van m irTOr and nearly hitt ing a pedestrian. jum ped on his CR 500 and rejoined the 250cc race. After being blackjlagged repeatedly, johnson returned to the pits and his aunt and parents were involved in a loud confrontation with NMA officials . . . Editor. Godspeed, Samuel O n Mar ch 8, my fri end an d fellow road racer Sa m uel Phillips was kill ed in a mot or cycle acci dent in Winston Salem, North Carolina. Although Samuel was relatively new to the sport of motorcycle road raci ng, his contribution at each event was positive a nd enriching to a ll. In addition to gr ieving th e loss of a friend , I believe th e spo rt has lost a specia l member. Samuel loved life and sha red hi s love wi th all who kn ew him. MIC HAEL A. LAKIN Duluth, GA Published letters do not neeessari1y reflect the position of Cycle News. Inc. Letters for publication must be typed and double-spaced; letters must in c l u d e the author'. correct name and address; unsigned or enonymous letters cennot be used : due to the volume of mail no lette r. can be returned or acknowledged . Send l ette rs to . Voices, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801 .

• Cover