Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Horn Brothers Racing's Chris and John Horn crashed once but still won the WERA/EBC National Endurance Road Racing Series six-hour atGrattan, Michigan's Grattan Raceway July 5. M&M Racing crashed several times bUl finished second with Tour de Force third overall after one crash, all on Yamaha FZ750s. Yamahas swept the top 10 places in lhe event, which saw 600fthe 65 starting learns crash at least once on the new lrack surface; repaving was finished three days before the race and the asphalt didn't have a chance LO cure, making for slippery conditions. Team Hammer retained the series points lead with a 40th-place finish following two crashes and a fire; M&M moved into second in points, while The Human Race Team dropped LO third with two crashes and a DNF. Team Lucky Strike Roberts becomes Team Kool Roberts for the July 13 AMA Camel Pro Series Formula One Road Race at Monterey, California's Laguna Seca Raceway. Riders Randy Mamola and Mike Baldwin will ride unde.. green and white Kool cigarette colors because team sponsor Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation doesn't own the Lucky Strike brand. name in the U_S. Peoples Travel Service is handling the AMA USA ISDE Team Tour LO the 1986 International Six Days Enduro scheduled for this faU in Italy. The tour leaves the U.S on Monday, September I, and returns on Monday, September 15. The package includes round trip i1irfare via Alitalia Airlines; accomodations including breakfast and dinner at the Piccolo Hotel in Selvino, Italy; a rental car with unlimjted mileage and an officiallSDE jacket. The tour costs $1244 from New York and $1434 from Los Angeles, from Peoples Travel, One Nationwide Plaza, Columbus, OH 43216,614/224-1234. According to the Ontario, California, Daily Report, the San 'Bernardino Planning Commission voted to recommend that the Board of Supervisors not change the land use designation for Glen Helen Regional Park, site of the US Festival a few years ago, to allow construction of an international raceway and concert amphitheater. The amendment would have changed . the land-use designation on 1940 acres of the park from residential and recreation to,public; the plan would have included a 470-acre international raceway known as Syca'!1ore Flats, an aquatic park and a cycle park. An earlier environmental impact report said that the plan would have "unavoidable adversa impacts" on the area's traffic, noise, and current passive park setting. The WERA has established a national vintage road racing series with four classes to run in conjunction with scheduled WERA events. For more information call Lou Snedden at 606/787-5029. Americans will meet the best Europeans on 260cc motocrossers in the July 20 American round of the World Championship 260cc Motocross Series in New Berlin, New York's Unadilla Valley Sports Centerfacility. Team Honda's Johnny O'Mara and Suzuki's Bob Hannah will battle France's Jacky Vimond and Michele Rinaldi of Italy and others. Entries include riders from 11 countries; a total of 27 foreign riders are set to compete at the famous track. Amateur and Youth dirt trackers will compete in the 1986 AMA-sanctioned Grand National Dirt Track Championships at' Square Deal in Harpursville, New York, on July 19-20; TT scrambles will be held on July 23-24. The Square Deal facility is located 15 miles northeast of Binghamton. New York. Lee Rodgers, an engineer at Kawasaki Motor Corp., in Irvine, Californi~, is recuperating from successf",1 spinal surgery to repair an accumulation of injuries from his days of being a test rider; he is now recovering at his horne in Mission Viejo, California. , Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, may host a Formula One car Grand Prix in 1987. Officials from the Sports Car Racing Association of Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP) have reached an agreement with the Formula One ConSlructors Association (FOCA) and its president, Bernie Eccelstone. The 1.9mile Laguna Seca lrack will be expanded LO meet FOCA's minimum length requirement of 2.2 miles, whjch would also make it long enough for an FIM-sanctioned motorcycle Grand Prix. California's Sam Ermolenko and Kelly Moran qualified in the Overseas Speedway Final in Coventry, England, June 29. Ermolenko won the meeting with Moran advancing via the 11 th and final spot; The Inter-Continental Final will be held in Bradford, England on July 20. Shawn Moran, who won the American Final at Long Beach's Veterans Stadium, fell and reinjured his broken right foot and could not continue while Lance King could only manage one point in his five rides. According to the Continental MOLOsports Club, U.S. Suzuki's racing department has confirmed that Bob Hannah will ride in the CMC/Skoal Bandits' Pac-West Series starting July 13 at Clark's Branch in Roseburg, Oregon. Krause Racing's Sidewinder Sprocket Division has posted $7800 in product contingency awards for the 1986 AMA Amateur National ChampionshipMotocross finals at Loretta Lynn's Dude. Ranch in Tennessee. KOLA 99.9 FM in Los Angeles, California, will broadcast live race reports with Larry Huffman from the AMA Camel Pro Series N issan 200 road race at Monterey, California's Laguna Seca Raceway on Saturday and Sunday, July '2-13. Suzuki will sponsor the six daily reports. Orrville, Ohio's Buckeye Speedway will host a $6000 AMA Eastern Regional Dirt Track Championship Series ha" mile race on Friday, July 18. The event. the Fifth Annual All Star Classic, takes place the night before the Camel Pro ha" mile race at West Virginia Motor Speadway in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Buckeye promoters expect Camel Pro Series competitors to race at Orrville, including last year's winner, Stave Morehead. The July 5-6 AFM (Northern California Chapter) road race scheduled for Sears Point International Raceway in Sonoma, California, was cancelled due to insurance problems, according LO Sears Point's Rjck Lalor. "It's simple," Lalor answered when questioned aboul the cancellation. "It's insurance. The AFM couldn't get significant insurance and our insurance company aid we couldn'l help them anymore. If they can't get insurance and we can't help them then there's no way we can let them run. We hope it works out just as much as they do. They are real profitable events for us." Barbara Smith of AFM North said. "We're not entireIy sure (why it was cancelled). The track cancelled the race. We have medical insurance and they wanted us LO get liability. We got $500,000 worth. We met their request." The .AFM North representatives and Sears Point management were scheduled to have a working meeting on Monday, July 7, but according to knowledgeable sources, the biggest problem is the AFM chapter's refusal to run the turn one chicane used at AMA events to change riders' angle of attack to an embankmem outside the corner, reducing injuries in the event of a crash. The independently run Los Angeles Chapter of the AFM has separate insurance arrangemems for events run at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, California, and those events aJ'e not affected by the problem at Sears Pojnt. Malcolm Smith MotorcYcles, of Riverside, Califomia, recently won a special award from Husqvarna Motorcycles for having the top sales in the U.S. during 1986 and for their continued sales performance during 1986. The California Vintage Racing Group (CVRG) will sanction the Vimage race on Saturday, July 12 prior to the running of Sunday's Nissan 200 at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. There will also be a vintage parade and a special display of vintage motorcycles. Classes for the Vintage program will be split into 500cc Premier, Lightweight-B (251-350cc), Lightweight-A (12625Occ). This will be the fifth round of the Championship Vintage Series. A guide to a 130-mile recreational trail in southern California's East Mojave National Scenic Area i. now a"ailable through the Cali· fornia Desert Coalition (CDC). Donors of $26 or more will receive a copy of the Mojave Road Guide, a 248-page book. The CDC is raising funds to fight Senator Alan Cranston's Sierra-Club-authored senate bill S-2601, which would close most of the California desert to off-road vehicle use. Over $36,000 was raised for Big Brothers/Big Sisters programs and for Muscular Distrophy research over the June 13- I4-15 weekend, thanks to motorcyclists in Ohio's Miami Valley. The Friday, June 13 Old Time Newsies auction on WKEF-TV in Dayton raised $16,000 for Big BrotherslBig Sisters, much of that thanks to motorcycles donated for auction by local motorcycle dealers. On Saturday, June 14, the 16th Old Time Newsies half mile AMA Regional dirt track at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds, won for the second time by Steve Morehead, raised another $11,000 for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. On Sunday, June 15, the 12th MC for MD IOO-mileride starting at the University of Dayton Arena drew over 450 riders and raised over $9000 for Muscular Distrophy research. The Jeff Ward Garage Sale held June 21 in Laguna Hills, California raised $1400 which was donated to help defray ·Danny "Magoo" Chandler's medical expenses. Magoo was injured in a Paris, France supercross last year. • 1\N)TORCYCLE l'lINDUSTRY CHANGES Named Vice President, Motorcycle Operations for BMW of North America, Inc., Gary E. Cooper, e[[ective July I; replaces Jean-Pierre Bailby, who led the company's motorcycle operations to doubled sales since 1980 and who will return to his . native Paris to work for BMW France; a BMW press release on the move says Cooper has 25 years of experience in car and truck marketing but does not meJ:jtion any motorcycle industry connection. • Democrats push proposed ATV ban LONG BEACH, CA, JULY 7 Responsibility for a U.S. House of Representatives committee vote to issue a draft report calling for the ban and recall of three-wheeled ATVs rests -squarely with committee Democrats, according ro recently released congressional documents. An official vote sheet tally shows that 20 of 23 panel Democrats sitting on the House Government Opera-tions Commiuee on Commerce, Consumer and Monetary Affairs, voted in favor of the draft report, while 15 of 16 committee Republicans voted against the document. The June 24 vote - made strictly along party lines - approved a subcommittee draft report recommending a ban and recall of three-wheeled ATVs, along with an amendment that would require manufacturers to foot the bill for any costs associated with a recall. The committee

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