Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Goodwin (Continued from page 3) Murphy told Cycle News that no contract has been signed, but added, "we're getting real close." "In 1984, SMC, Pace Managemem and the AM-A signed the Insport Agreement, which gave them exclusive rights to the sport of Supercross," Murphy said. "The contract was for two years (1985-86) with provisions for a three year extension. It's now time for the extension, but we approached Mike Goodwin and l-; V instead of the renewal - asked to ..0 negotiate a new agreement. We're real close to signing that agreement." The new contract will include the u same participants, the AMA, Goodwin, and Pace Management, according to Murphy. How does the AMA feel about Goodwin's reported financial and obvious legal problems? "We've been negotiating un,der good faith," Murphy said; "Goodwin and Pace are stili active, valid promoters, and we don't see any reason to stop working with them. We are enthusiastic about the direction we are heading and look forward to the continued growth of the sport." What changes are in store for National Supercross through SXI? "More and better races which are not diluted by sta[f time and company money being spent on defending malicious lawsuits," said former SMC President, Jeanne Sleeper. Sleeper will work for Goodwin's new organization as executive vice president of event manilgement. She will be responsible for all phases of event production and marketing. SXI's 1987 Supercross schedule includes races in Anaheim, California (January 31); San Diego, California (February 14); Las Vegas, Nevada (sometime in April); Sacramento, California (sometime in April or May); Phoenix, Arizona (May 2); Boulder, Colorado (June 13); and Los Angeles, California (sometime in] une or ] uly). The running of Supercross events in Arizona and Los Angeles is dependent on stadium construction schedules in Phoenix and at L.A.'s Coliseum. A 1987 event originally scheduled for Atlanta, Georgia, was dropped from the sclledule due to construction at Fulton County StadIUm. SXI is exploring the possibility of holdinga SupercrossatGeorgia Tech, and if that doe~n't work out may promote an Arenacross at the Auama Omni. Schedules for other SXI events, including an Autocross series, will be announced during October. Goodwin's SXI will e.xpand Supercross racing to include an Autocross series, imegrating Autocross races IIUO Supercross events. Thompson, the long-time king of stadium au.to rdCing, added motorcycles to hts program in 1986. "Supercross and Autocross staged together is logical," said Leon Jones, SXI vice president of sales and development, and former MTEG sales and marketing director. "It makes financial sense to take advantage of dirt already in the stadium, advertising commonly aired and satisfied Supercross crowds," he said. ''This will let us begin building a professionally produced stadium Autocross series and increase Autocross attendance far above the actual 17,000 paid average of the currelll non'-SXI (MTEG) series." Goodwin claims that the reorganization of his company will increase purse payoffs to riders, provide unprecedented national television coverage, and produce .improved ou.t-of10 industry sponsorship partiCipation .• o .... o AFM disqualifies three from Willow GSXR-race By Paul Carruthers LONG BEACH, CA, OCT. 3 The American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM) has officially disqualified road racers Chris Steward, Richard Moore and SCOll Gray from their top three finjshes in the September 21 Suzuki GSXR Cup Series at Willow Springs' in Rosamond, California, because of illegal engjne modifications. All three of the Suzukis were found to have illegal five-angle valve jobs with Steward's GSXR also found guilty of having an illegally shaved cylinder. . AFM official Harry Bresa<:h said the tear down was not because of a protest, but was merely a periodic procedure. "We knew they would do it (a tear down of the top three bikes) in Atlanta (the series finale):' Bresadl said. "So I think it's good that they -got caught now before they wasted all that expense of going back there and then gelling ~aught. I think it's a good thing; it keeps everyone honest." One of the three that suffered the loss of purse pi us the loss of points was Gray, whose valve job was done by his former sponsor Vance & Hines. ''I'm pretty unhappy about it," Gray said. "They (Vance & Hines) said they would redo the valve job, but that's it. I lost both money and parts. My cylinder head will basically be no good now. Terry's (Vance) allitude has been pretty bad. If he'd taken care of the loss of purse and expenses there'd be no problem. It has nothing to do with Yoshimura (Gray's cur-_ rent sponsor); they worked on the suspensjon and that's it. They were tjcked off because they didn't make any money and they thought it made them look bad." Vance, however, said that they had no idea the modifications wer out.side the boundaries of AFM rules. "We just do valve jobs the way we've done them forever," Vance said. "All the angles are the same. We had no idea that would be an infringemem on the rules. "We have taken them back and changed it back to the stock angles. We didn't realize it was against the rules; it's no big deal. As far as the company goes, it's standard to do the heads with those valve jobs, They're just nitpicking. We've never had to go outside the rules to win." Vance said that there are 25-30 of the Suzukis in the field that had the exact valve job as on the three that were disqualified. "We've done them like that for 2530 GSXR Series bikes, It's very unfortunate, but the situation is not what it seems. They dar- 't like (Doug) Polen coming in and taking the money home; he's not doing anything wrong, he's just outriding them, We haven't paid that much attention to this; that's the way we've always done valve jobs·... Jim Moore of ]&M Promotions is the liaison between the various governing bodies that run GSXR Cup races and Suzuki itseIC, and he feels the disqualification came at the rig~t time, "I think it was good that H occurred prior to the final." Moore said. "That would make the series of evems look bad. It is unfortunate that it did occur, but the bollom line is that those engines were deemed to be illegal. I think it's good for the guys running seventh, eight and ninth to know that those guys aren't going to be outside the rules anymore than the other guys." • THE NATIONAL PAPERS And so the long AMA Grand ational Championship dirt track season has come to pass. We thought that last year, or even the year before, belonged to Bubba Shoben, which they did in a way, but 1986 will long be remembered as ''The Shoben Year." Shoben's personal assault on the record book was like no other rider before him. It is simpler to list what he did not do over what he did do on the track in all, or most of the 22 Camel Pro Series din track events, plus four or five road races. Since 1954 race fans often wondered if any rider would top the eight National wins in 'I. single season turned in that year by Joe Leonard, thesame]oe Leonard who went on to record 27 National victories before he burned out on bikes and went car racing. The record stood for so long that most people forgot about it or felt it would never be broken. For three straight years in the mid-seventies they came dose. Twice Kenny Roberts scored six wins, and then Jay Springsteen got closer with seven, but nobody could win eight for a tie, let alone break the mark, Both Roberts and Springsteen started as pure dirt track racers and later Roberts turned to road racing to score many of his National wins. There was no doubt in anybody's mind that it would indeed take a din tracRer LO tie or break the Leonard mark, About the time that Kenny and]ay were taking repeated shots, an unknown kid from west Texas staned racing for trophies on the cona-ete indoor tracks around the Lubbock arca of the' Lone Star state. Tracks you never heard about, or read about. Past great riders havc nevcr come from, nor staned at, mdoor events. In 1979 Bubba Shobert won both the Junior finals at the Astrodome and still nobody took much nOllce, although this publication ran a photo of "Don Shoben" and his Yamaha which carried a yellow number 67N plate. Many have been hotshots as ] uniors and then do a fast fade as Experts. The following year, 1980, Shoben was a rookie Expen on the National circuit. He scored points in six ationals but never came close to the winner's circle. He was, however, the LOp din \rack rookie Expen that se~ son and it should be noted that hls best mile finish was a distant eighth place, The following year was much like the year before. He scored in seven Nationals but again did not come close to the winner's circle and again his name did not appear in the top 10, or the top 20 for that matter. For the record, let's say that Don "Bubba" Shoben came up the hard way. A few years as an amateur, then four seasons in the pro ranks as a Novice, ]uniorand-then Expert before he was heard from. The year was 1982. The last half of_ the season he borrowed two dirrerent race bikes and won two Nationals to finish the season in eighth place, more than 100 points back of tbe champion, Ricky Graham. But it was a stan. The next vear, 1983, wasan improvement as the future superstar won three Nationals, all on mile tracks, and was a sol id founh in the final point standings, but close to 50 points off the pace set by Randy Goss. Two guys by the name of Graham and Springsteen were in between. . The old saying, "It was a marnage made in heaven," could well apply to Bubba and Honda when they teamed up for the 1984 season. Shobert took his best shot at being a brand new facLOry- backed racer and won seven Nlflionals, but only six are listed in the record book as he had one taken away and was forced to sit out several others due to a "Texas-style" misunderstanding thar brought about what turned out to be the most costly penalty ever issued by the AMA. From that point in time until the present it appears that Bubba subscribes to the old sayiJlg, "Don't get mad, get even." Shoben made a tremendous comeback arter his suspension ended, only LO miss the title by a single point at the last event and on the last lap! When the dust had sellled on the season, the time orr had cost him over $loo,OOO! He returned in '85 with determination and wrapped up the Camel Pro title with two races still to be run, Winning six Nationals and then \he title by more than 50 poims. In four seasons he had chalked up 16 National wins on mile and TT tracks. When a rider wins-the Grand National title, they often do not repeat. They have climbed to the top and no longer have the desire LO hang it out as far as it Lakes to top a dozen or more racers who have won mile events-and a like amount who have won the other types, No rider in the late seventies or in the first half of the eighties had won back-LO-back titles, not ulllil Shoben, who some are.saying should now be a th ree- Lim er. Maybe Bubba is still getting even. Hewon a record-breaking nine Nationals this year. He is the first to win six miles in a season. He scored more National points than any rider has scored under the current system that dates back to the 1976 season. He ended the ye r as the high pojnt mile and half mile racer and also was a runaway as the best rider in the combined din and road race points. His single season eHorts also produced mo~e records as he finished in the top three spots a record 16 times and was the fastest qualifier six times. He won his heat race on 13 occasions and topped it oH by winning the 10-mile heat races al mile Nat'ionals 21 of the last 23 times out. To top it all off, Shoben became at the final event, the first four-time winner of the Sacramento Mile, a ran' that dates back to J 959. Since joining Honda he has had only a single mechanical problem with his rapid 750cc V-twin on the miles and half miles, Credit is due to the wrench men, Rob Muzzy, Skip Eakin and Ray Plum, That's three seasons of racing. plus practice and time trials. In other words, a lot of fast miles of wide-open riding. The bad news-for the competition, that is-is thi!J Bubba is only 24-years-old. Not LO be forgotten in the saga of Bubba Shobert is that early in the '86 season he won hiS first half mile National, and in doing so became only the third rider (Dick Mann and Kenny Roberts are the other two) LO ever win all five types of AMA Grand National Championship events-half mile, mile, shon track, TT and road race. If Bubba ever gets tired of gelling even. we may get a new champ. Some say he hasn't yet hit his peak. I agree. Congratulations, Bubba. Roxy Rockwood

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