Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126947
Wind (Continued from page 2) andrecallthree-wheeledATVs. Waxman, like all Democrats on the commillee, voted for the ban. When asked for a copy of the report, a spoke man for Waxman's office said, "The GAO won't give it out until it's printed. I don't know if that will be a few days or a few months." When Cycle News contacted the GAO Press Office moments later, a GAO official said, "We'll get it in the mail to you today." Notice to ATV dealers: "Recent news stories attributed to anonymous sources have stated that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is planning to urge dealers to voluntarily make refunds to owners of some A TVs," the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America said February 3 in a prepared statement. "In response to our inquiries, the CPSC will not confirm any of these stories. To our knowledge, no official communication regarding this issue has been given to any consumer, dealer, distributor or manufacturer, and, in our opinion, the record compiled by CPSC provides no basis for any such action. All major ATV distributors have recently' communicated directly with their dealers, reaffir"!ing that there has been no decision to initiate a refund to ATV owners at this time. SVIA will continue to monitor CPSC activities and will coordinate industry input on this important issue. We recommend that dealers continue to follow (safety) guidelines to assure full buyer and rider awareness of the safety considerations inherent in the use of any motorized off-road vehicle:' A $10,000 point fun has been posted for the Wiseco/Speclro Daytona Dirt Track eries which will take place in Florida prior to and during Daytona Cycle Week. The eight series events are all AMA Regional Championship races. The series gets underway with back-to-back $5000 half mile races at Tampa on February 14-15. Next up are back-to-back half mile races at Volusia County Speedway in Barberville on February 27-28. The Saturday race has a $5000 purse and the Sunday race a $6000 purse. The series concludes with three $9000 short track events at Daytona's Memorial Stadium on March 5-6-7. In addition to the Wiseco/Spectro Dirt Track Serie event, there'll be a 3000 short track in Lake City on February 22, and a 6000 Pro-AmiJunior class hon track at Daytona's Memorial Stadium on March 4. A recent newsletter report that Bell Helmets has petitioned the International Trade Commission IITC) for protection against Marushin, Shoei and Arai, is "old news," according to Bell Helmets spokesman Don L'Heureux. Bell reportedly filed a petitionlast May against the three Japanese helmet manufacturers, alleging patentJnfringement and unfair competition. The American helmet maker has since settled its claim against Arai, while settlements with Shoei and Marushin are pending and should be approved by the first week in March, Three-time World Champion Freddie Spencer and his Honda teammate Niall Mackenzie were testing Honda's 500cc V-four road racers at Surfers Paradise in Queensland, Australia, the week of February 2-6. Australian sources say Mackenzie was turning l: II lap times, two seconds under the lap record; Scotland's Mackenzie finished lOth in the 1986 500cc World Championship on a Suzuki after competing in only three Grands Prix. Desert racer Dan Smith will be christened AMA Amateur Athlete of the Year during opening ceremonies at the Daytona 200. Smith, who hails from southem California's AMA District 37, earned the honor by dominating the 1986 AMA National Championship Hare and Hound Series. The award is presented annually to an AMA competitor who performs outstandingly well in an AMA' amateur activity; Smith's being so honored marks the first time the honor has been awarded to a desert racer. Also during opening ceremonies, the AMA will present championship awards to Terry Cunningham (AM A National Enduro Champion) and Mark Hyde (AMA National Hare Scramble Champion). Former Grand National Champion Gary SCOll of KK Motorcycle Supply has announced a $28,500 contingency program that will reward dirt track and road racers who have the KK logo on the chest of their leathers while competing in selectedAMA Nationals. The top placing "KK" rider in five Camel Pro Superbike Nationals (Daytona, Road Atlanta, Loudon, Road America and Mid-Ohio) will be awarded 2000. The top placing "KK" rider in nine AMA Grand ational Championship diTltrack races (both spring and fall Springfield Mile races, Louisville Half Mile, Lima Half Mile, Hagerstown Half Mile, Parkersburg Half Mile, DuQuoin Mile, the August Peoria TT and the Syracuse Mile) will receive 1500. Five Junior ational Championshi p dirt track events (the May Springfield Mile, Lima Half Mile, Hagerstown Half Mile, Parkersburg Half Mile and the Syracuse Mile) will see the top placing "KK" Junior rider receive 500. "The circular KK logo can be any color," said Scott, "because we realize racers have leathers in different colors. If no K.K rider makes the main at any of the selected events the money from that event will be added to the $2500 that we'll pay to the top scoring E"pen KK rider at the end of the season. KK will also distribute 6000 KK hats to dealers and fans can get a hat by presenting a coupon from selected event race programs to the dealer with purchase of $10 of product distributed by KK." For more details contact ScOll at6151 562-9817. • The Hilltopper's Rosarito Grand Prix which usually takes place in Baja in April witl be run in May this year. The club informs us that entry blanks will be available in the very near future. Monterey, California's Laguna Seca Raceway will host its annual motorcycle road race meet over the July 10-12 weekend. The event will not be a part of the Camel Pro Series, due no doubt to a falling out between the event's promoters and R.j. Reynolds Toba~co company-sponsored teams at last year'!> Camel Pro Series event at the track. "The Laguna Seca meet will pay AMA Grand National Road Race Series points," said the AMA's Bill Boyce. Efforts are being made by the promoters to continue the track's tradition o( hosting a Formula One race despite the dropping of that class from championship status by the AMA. And perhaps the biggest news to come out of Laguna Seca is the announcement that the northern California track has app6ed for a World Championship Road Race Series round in 1988. Laguna Seca Raceway's Lee Moselle has asked the FI M .for a waiver from its tracklength requirement (Laguna Seca is two-tenths of a mile under the FIM minimum requirement). Moselle says they don't have a major sponsor for the long-awaited Grand Prix, but says he has seen a show of interest. "I shouldn't have a problem with it (sponsorship)," he said. Laguna Seca's plans to host a Formula One car Grand Prix have been put on hold, according to Moselle. The February 14 San Diego (California) Supercross will utilize the entire [loor of Jack Murphy Stadium for the first time. In the past the baseball diamond was off-limits to Lhe daring young men on their flying machines. • ee WRITER California fights the helmet law again Well, I see our old enemy, the helmet law has raised its ugly head again. Thought we had slain the bogey years ago. But· now a new generation has to de-al wilh it: Do you wam a government to tell you that you have to wear a hat? Our founding fa Lhers asked thatquestion and answered no. An Act of Congress back in 1975 said O! (It was co-authored by Californian Senator Alan Cranston, who wasn't always bad.) Twenty yearsof experience in sta tes that do have helmet laws has shown that they have lillie if any effe t on motorcycle accidents and injuries. What difference can be found is often not in our (avor as the parties at risk. But kids continue to get hurt and killed on motorcycles and some of them won't wear helmets and griefriven mothers will petition politicians to do what they love to do best, pass a law. "Arrest our bare-headed babies before they harm themselves," the mothers l.:ry.' "We can't make them wear it, so the cops must'" That would be great, mom, if it did any good. Then we'd only have the freedom-of-choice problem. Helmet laws have been tried and discarded in many Slates, but never yet in California. I think it was because we presented a united opposition as a motorcycle spon and industry. It is hard for an industry to oppose mandatory "protection" of its customers, and so I want to thank the industry for Slaying 00 our side as long as it did. The Motorcycle Industry Council, the California Motorcycle Dealers Association and Bell Helmet Co. are entitled to their opinions for whatever their reasons, and I hope they will understand why we have to carryon with the rest of the industry that are either neutral or on our side. We could lose 'lhis one, and that would be a tragedy. What happens is, Americans resent being told how to ride our motorcycles. We consider ourselves to be the best judge of that. There will be lawsuits. Some of us will go to jail rather than submit. My hero Ben Franklin said, "Those who would sacrifice liberty for a little safety deserve neither." But when the California legislature considers lhis latest helmet biB for law, it will not be their liberty they might be willing to sacrifice, but yours and mine.' Then what seems to happen is, the car drivers figure they don't have to watch out for motorcycles anymore. Maybe they think our helmets render us impervious to injury. Whatever, motorcycle accidents contin ue to happen, and we still get hurt. Now what? Well, the popular solution is get rid of the motorcycle altogether, since helmet laws don't work. Or get rid of the helmet law and work on education and awareness, which do work. A helmet law is nothing like a seatbelt law, although they are often confused. A motor ycle helmet is a form-filled, per.onalthing.ltdoesn 't come with the vehicle, and you have to carefor it, maintain it, and replace it every few years for itto do it job. I do this voluntarily because I love my ,helmet. It is my [,.iend, not a hated booby-hat the government says I have La wear. By Chuck Clayton SuperTeam announces squad for Daytona 200 assault DAYTONA BEACH, FL, FEB. 6 Six riders on three different makes of motorcycles will comprise the 1987 version of the Daytona Beach-based SuperTeam road racing team in the 46th annual edition of the Daytona 200 by Arai. The Daytona 200 will get Lhe green flag March 8, culminating Cycle Week '87 at Daytona International peedway. "We've got the largest, most talented team in our history," said SuperTeam co-owner Tom Tucker. "We're cenainly going all out to win our hometown race. We were second in '85, fifth in '86, and'87 just might be our year," added Tucker, who owns a motor sports marketing fum in Ormond Beach, Florida. Three riders from formerSuperTeam efforts are on Lhe year's squad: Jimmy Filice, two-time Camel Pro champ Ricky Graham and Lance Jones. New riders joining are Dan Chivington, Rodney Farris and Danny Walker. "We feel our line-up can compete with anyorie," said Tucker's SuperTeam parmer.lrv MacDougall, a Port Orange, Florida, businessman. "Last ye-ar we built our own bikes. This year, we're providing SUPP~)[l help to six riders - it's quite an effort." Filice rejoins SuperTeam for the Daytona 200. The popular California racer rode for the Yamaha factory last year, but is going on his own this season. Filice was an original member of SuperTeam in 1985. Filice will be on a Lou Valerga-tuned Yamaha. Chivington, riding for respected mechanic George Vicenze's Gee-Vee Racing, will be on a Honda. Graham will be Kawasaki-mounted. Filice, Graham and Chivington will aU be on their own bikes with SuperTeam support help. Ridingyear-old uperTeam-prepared motorcycles will be Jones, Walker and Farris. That trio will be riding machines built for the '86 Daytona 200 in SuperTeam's Port Orange shop by mechanics Eddie Atkins, Larry Kono, Woody Kyle and Larry Worrell. "We've run well in Lhe Daytona 200 before, and this year we think we've got the numbers to go all t/1e way," said Tucker: In 1985, SuperTeam riders placed second (Wes Cooley), fourLh (Ron Haslam) and sixth (Filice) in the 200. In 1986, SuperTeam had the highest finishing non-factory rider when threetime Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen finished fifth.