Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Fast Plaver ~ O"l C\l ~ v ..c o ..... u o America's weekly motorcycle newspaper haron Clayton. Publishe-r Mike Klinger. Complrolkr Skip Johnson, AssQ€;ate Publisher/ NalionQ/ Sales MtUulger Jack Mangus. Associate PubluheYl Editor Rheba Smith. Circulation MonageT Caroline ~ndry. Executive Secretary to the PublisheT Editorial Kit Palmer. Associate Editor Paul Carruthers. As.fociate Editor . Farren Williams. As.~ociate EditQr Advertising Terry Prall, Sales MQ.n4g~r Tim Ryan, Sales Managn Mark Thome. Sales Manager Mike Church. EAstern Sales ManagnThoma R. Conter. Eastern Sales Manager Linda Brown, Western Ad Coordinator Carla Borden. Eastern Ad Coordinator Cathy Corrao. Advertising Ant. Graphics and Production Ginger Machado. Production Manafer Malcolm Wilson. Grap}tic Artist Diana Hilgenberg. Graphic Artist Marion "Hat3shita, Typesetter Carolyn Branham. TyfHutler Dennis Greene. lAb. Tech. Accounting/Data Proceaing Donna Bryan. AeeLs. ReceivlJble Coordinator Repass. Assistant Fran Hamwey. Credit G~ne\'a Circulation Sarah Taylor. Assistant Angui;lOo. Assislimt Linda Zamarripa, Assistant Cheri Chapman. Assistant Alm~ Want Ads ~bbie Winkler. Want Ad Salu O..ler Sales and Servica David Mell.. Dealer Sales Manager Service and Support Chris Aitcheson. Head9uarters Receptiorlist Lronard Herring. Senllu and Support National Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave., Long Beach. CA 90806. P.O. Box 198. Long Beach. CA 90801·0198 (21~) 127·713~: 21~/636-8844. Eal""" Office "190 First Ave.• Tucker-, GA 30084: mailing address P.O. Box 805. Tu ker. CA 300850805. (404) 9~1· 7ll5O. Cycle News (USPS 141-.540) is published weekly except the first and laSI week of the calendar year for S52.00 per year by Cycle News. In .. 2201 Cherry Avenue. Lon~ Beach. CA 90806. 5e(:ond class postage paid al Long Beach. CA. and additional mailing of£.icf5. POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 to Cycle News. P.O. Box 498. Long _ch. CA 90801-0498. ubscriplion rales: One year. second lass mail. $52.00. Cycle Nt·ws welcomes unsoliciled edilorial mate:rial induding stories. canoon.s. photos. etc. Such maler-ial. if publishro. becomes the exdusj\,~ properly of Cycle eW5. uch accept~ material is sujbect to .1e\·ision as is necessary in the sole discretion of Cycle News. Un50licit~ material whi h is not used will be refurned if accompaniro by a seH addressed stamped envelope. All unsolicilro mattti31 will be handled with reasonable care. however. Cyde Newsas5umes nor($pon· siblily for the safety. loss or dama~ to such material. Reprinting in whole or pan onl)· b)' permission of the publisher. Advertising rates and circulation informaLion will be sent upon reqUe5L Set S.R.D.. N_. CopyrighlQll Cycle News. Inc. 19811. Trode....... Cycle regi_red U.S. PIt.... Office. All rights . . . . . - . 4 ON THE FRONT PAGE: Mark Hyde I.ads Fritz Kadlec at the Big Beer Nation" Ha.. SC.....bIes fi...... See page six. Photo by Devey Coombs. Suzuki's latest Cevelcede LX E. Check out page eight for 1987 Suzuki motorcyc.... Photo by Kit Palmer. Your recent coverage of the La Carrera Road Race was reminiscent of the irresponsible journal ism that helped throw the last shovels of dirt on a dying British motorcycle industry. An old vintage Norton beat the best efforts of a high dollar HarleyDavidson and, while one sentence mentioned that the overall winner 'was on a Norton, four full paragraphs were devoted to the amazing "Hardly Able To" that came in third. What made this old Norton so fast? . What did this (EngJi~h relic) giant killer look like? And what do you and the rest of the modern motorcycle industry have against Engl ish motorcycle~? CRAIG SKINNER Tempe, AZ For those oj you. who missed our "irresponsible" coverage of the La Carrera race, Fred Eiker rode a Norton John Player Replica to the overall win in the motorcycle division. In our humble opinion, poor management and a failure to produce machinery equal to the flood of new Japanese bikes that featured modem technology buried the British motorcycle industry, not irresponsible journalism. Stop by our offices some day, Craig, and we'll show you the British iron many of us ride and love . .. Editor. From the champ . I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks to the following firms a.nd people who helped me win the 1986 National Hare Scrambles Championship: Husqvarna/Cagiva, Husky Products, Autolite. Bel-Ray, Metzeler, Smith Goggles, Arai, HiPoint, Performance Products. AXO, Acerbis, my wife Betsy. Illy dad. Dick Burleson, and the rest or my ramily and friends who helped me to su h a successful season. MARK HYDE Columbus, OH Fast exhibition I enjoyed your coverage of La Carrera. It wasn't mentioned, however, that La Carrera organizers excluded the Exhibition class official average speeds from the overall results, an intention the entrants themsel ves didn't learn about until the rider's meeting in San Felipe. The Exhibition class was far from being an also-ran as the overall results imply. According to Loyal Truesdale, if the Exhibition class had been included in the overall results, Dan Holscuos, on a stad Kawasaki 900 Ninja complete with mirrors and turn signals, would have officially finished third overall at an average speed of 102.28 mph. At 102.04 mph, Nick lenatsch would have finished fourth. Officially, the 101.17 mph average speed of my 1971 Honda SOO }\'ould have given me fifth place overall, within one mph oIIenatsch's l203cc Harley. And so on, down the list. Including the Exhibition class in the o{{jcial results would have clearly demonstrated what an equalizer La Carrera is. Disregarding the performance of the Exhibition class to assure recognition of the Twins and Singles wasn't necessary. BOB KAROL Newark, CA More results While reading your excellent coverage on the Dusters and Shamrocks Hare and Hounds, it has come to mind that in the results section you print only Expert, Amateur and Noviceresults. As a Beginner turning Novice, we would like to see our results printed also. How about Women class results too? TIM CONROY Gardena, CA We print all the class results we can obtain or that are provided by freelancers covering events . .. Editor. Willingness to share There are many great experiences associated with racing. Along the way we get to know many wonderful people. Some are skilUuI racers, or talented tuners, or helpful and e{{jcient officials, or fanatic race fans who are always there to lend a hand in a pinch. I've come to know one outstanding individual who is all of these. His name is Richard Chambers. When I first got into racing Richard was a "local legend." When I first saw him and his Yamaha TZ750 cranked over coming out of a corner with the front wheel a foot off the ground 1 saw for myself why everyone was talking. Richard accumulated much knowledge and a wealth of experience over the years. But of all his assets the best is his willingness to share what he has with others. Richard has both a great desire and the ability to impart his knowledge to everyone from the greenest novice to his AMA pro buddies. There are countless examples of his unselfishness that I cou ld ci te. One I'll never forget centers on one recent weekend at Summit Point. After melting the lip on my exhaust header in the endurance road race I went to Richard for advice. First he explained why it happened, then what could be done to fix it, and finally he snatched it out of my hands and took off running with it. When I caught up with him at his camper he was dragging his welding tanks out. I was able to compete in the sprints later that day thanks to Ri<;hard. He told me to pay him back by doing well in the race and then ran off to make someone else's day. I'd like to thank Richard Chambers for all he has done over the years for racing and racers. The AMA Championship Cup Series organization is lucky to have such an official and so are all of us. JOHN LOWMAN Silver Spring, MD Thanks, Yamaha We would like to thank Yamaha for their involvement in the California Classic Series with SMX and the U.S. Western Championships with CRC, NMA &: SMX. Offering racer Yamabucks in all classes has encouraged many riders to become more competitIve and has been rewarding for them if they were Yamaha-mounted. There are many who have become increasingly disenchanted with some of the "prestigious" West COast events, preferring to compete only locally. This extra incentive has created interest in the local racers, tracks and clubs, will benefit the sport of motorcross, and makes racers want to be competing on a Yamaha! The local racers keep motocross alive, and it is gratifying to see a large corporation putting something back into the grass-roolS racing scene not just on the big national names. Perhaps this may set a precedent so other corporations (not only motorcycle manufacturers) will see the advantage ofthis type of support for the local races. Thanks, Yamaha. We salute you. KATHEE &: JIM SPEAR Ontario, CA Team Suzuki (Continued from page 2) Suzuki will, once again be race and developement work on production RM motorcycles. Three Suzuki support riders have signed contracts as well. East Coast AMA 125cc Supercross Champion Keith Turpin, 17; Ronnie Tichenor, 17; and Willie Surratt, 18, will seek titles in the 125cc Supercross and AMA National Championship Series in 1987. • Californiagovernor signs anfi-OHV bill WESTERVILLE, OH, OCT. 19 Despite a past campaign promise to support the California offhighway vehicle (OHV) program, Gov. George Deukmejian approved a bill September 22 that will remove more than $3 million from the state's "green sticker" program. The Governor's move came despite promises during his last campaign not to impinge upon OHV activitieS. California Assembly Bill 2710 was supported by environmentalists as a means to erode the funding base of the California OHV program, diverting those same funds to tlieiT own projects. Provisions of the bill dictate that a major portion of the ,o;tate's OHV program support fund, also known as the "green sticker" fund, be used for environmental projects. The existing structure of the OHV fund already allocates funds for enforcement of green sticker regulations, and requires that environmental impact reviews be included as pan of grant expenditures for new OHV areas or expansions of existing sites. The new bill was approved despite opposition from all major California OHV groups and the AMA. The newly mandated ex.penditures for expanded enforcement and environmental uses will substantially reduce the funds available for the program's original intended purposedeveloping and maintaining OHV sites. As a result, overall OHV activity in California could be reduced. Estimates for the amount spent by off-road enthusiasts in California anmially run as high as $480 million. AMA Land Use Coordinator Roy Janson commented, "The decision made by Deukmejian to approve AB 2710 clearly demonstrates his campaign desire to placate California environmentalists, while ignoring his previous commitment to respect the

• Cover