•
America's
motorcycle newspaper
Volume XXIV
Sharon ClaYlon. PublishtT
Mike Klingcr.ComptTol/tT
Skip johnson. Associat~ Publish,...,/
National Salt:s M,mag~r
J:.tck Mangus. Associo..te Publ;s'lt~r/ Editor
Rht'oo Smilh. Circulation Manager
Caroline Gendry. Executiw Secretary to
Ilu' Publishn
Editori.1
Kit Palmer, Associate Editor
Paul Currulhcrs, Associtile Editor
Farren Williams, Associate Editor
Mike UlrSOTl, Assj~'la1tt Editor
Edwin•• M,llngU5, Coln1dar Editor
Advertising
Terry Prdtt Sales Manager
Tim RyolO, Sal,.s Manage!,
Mark Thome, Sales MalU1gN
Mike OlUTCh. w/non Sales ManagfOr '
TIloma R. Gomer. Wlnl'
Sa~s Managn
Lincki 8ro",'0 Wrslt'Tn Ad CoordinaJor
Gtrla Borden. EosINn Ad Coordinator
Linda Von dt- Veld. Advntising Asst.
Graphic•• nd Production
MaJcolm Wilson. Production Manager
Diana Hil~n~g. Craphic Artist
Peggy Smilh G-raphic Artist
Stacey Cues., GraphIC Artist
Marion I-LII.ashita, T)'p~St'lt~
Carol}'I1 Bntnham. TY/Nutt~r
Dt-nnL' Gr('~ne. Lab. Tuh.
Accounting/D.ta Pro CIlling
Donna BrYom. Aceu R~uiVRblt' Coordinator
G("f1t>Va Repass, As.ri5lnnl
Fran Ham",,<'y, C,,.d,l
Circulation
Sardh Taylor, A.uis/a"t
Alm.1 AnKuiano. As.~isln,,'
Ch('ri Chapman. A ,.i,flnnl
~briw Atbms, Ass;sUmt
W.ntAds
Debbi(' Winkler. Wanl Ad Snu-s
D....r S..... nd Service
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<:hris Ail hc.·son, Ht'ndqunrur,f R;-ct"/,,;o1list
Ltonard Hcrrin~, Suuiu turd Support
N.tional Headquarters
2201 Cherry Ave., Lon~ Beach, CA 90806.
P.O. Box 498, Lon~ lI<""h. CA 90801·0498
(21~) 427·7CycleN-..lnc. 1987. T _
mark Cycle New. regi-.d U.S. ""tent
OfflCa. All r1ghtll ..- . t .
SPA Consumer Audit Divisfon MemberlIlip Applied For December 1988.
ON THE FRONT PAGE: Rick
4
Johnson claimed his first supercro.s win of the ye.r in S.n
Diego. California. Story begins
on p.ge 6. Photo by Kinney
Jones.
-
Dear Assemblyman Richard
Floyd:
I want to congratulate you on your
efforlS to make helmet use mandatory
for all (California) motorcyclists.
I think this is such a splendid idea
that I wonder why we should stop
there. Clearly, there are plenty of
other health risks we should be concerned about.
For example, my wife has high
cholesterol counlS and yet she insists
on eating scrambled eggs for breakfast.
How about legislation to limit the
number of eggs that Californians
may consume? She also fJatly refuses
to exercise and that's already beginning to have its eHects on the state of
her health. So how abouta mandatory
exercise program? Come to think of
it, while I obviously don't know you
personally I have seen your picture
and I can't help thinking that you too
would benefit from such a program.
You are already on record with the
statement that you don't mind being
told what you have to do, so I'm sure
you won't protest when the comrade
drill instructor knocks on your door
to remind you it's time for mandatory
calisthenics. I£ you get a bit re entful,
try to think about how good it will be
for you in the long run and remind
yoursel£ of all the health care costs we
will be saving by preventing your
heart attack.
Is this ridiculous? Of course it is.
So was Prohibition, so is the eat belt
law, so is your helmet law, and so is
our loony national speed limit, which
somehow saves umpteen lives every
year even though nobody, not even
the Highway Patrol pays the 51 ightest
attention whatsoever to it.
I have written lettel's to various legislators in the past, and in the past I
have been civil, and respectful, and
utterly ignored. Well, I'm fed up with
being ignored, and I'm sick and tired
of the mother hen schemes you people dream up to protect me f~om
myself. All of them assume thatas an
adult citizen of a free country I'm just
not quite capable of looking after
mysel£ and that, therefore, I will
benefit £rom the imposition of your
benign wisdom.
Well phooeyl The only smart suggestion I have heard from a legislator
in recent years is the one made by
Howard Baker, who oHered the opinion that legislators ought to draw
their full annual salaries but meet for
only 10 days each year. Under the
present system you folks obviou ly feel
obligated to dream up new ways to
justify your existence. Mo tlegitimate
concerns have long since beeJl legislated into an incomprehensible jumble of rules and regulations, so much
of the busy work these days revolves
around finding new ways to guide
supposedly free _citizens along the
correct path of the officially approved
life style and shelter them from the
foolish notion that they can actually
make their own choices and their
own decisions.
Beggin' your pardon, sir, I really
don't want to seem ungrateful for all
your Big Brotherly concern, sir, but all
I can honestly say to that is, get o££ my
back and stop tinkering with my
rights as a free adult to assess my
options, and make my own decisions.
I'll decide what- I wear and don't
wear, thank you anyway.
Perhaps I should have introduced
myself at the beginning, but now is
probably as good a time as any. I'm a
retired executive vice-president of an
insurance company who has been
riding motorcycles for 32 years. Ninety-nine percent of the time that I ride
I wear a helmet, which I do for two
reasons: first. to me, personally, it
makes good sense to do so; second,
it's the most eHective way I know to
keep bugs out of my face at 110 miles
per hour.
Try riding motorcycles yoursel£
someday. You'll love the adrenaline
rush and the feeling of freedom (do
you even remember what that is?).
ANDY AKERMANIS
Thousand Oaks, CA
Enduro of the year
The East Coast Enduro Association
has named the '86 Pine Hill Enduro,
our 20th annuaJ event, the ECEA
Enduro of the Year.
We would like to thank the following who made the enduro possible:
Lebanon State Forest superintendent
Bethmann and all his rangers, the
Mercy.First Aid Squad, all those people who gave their time and effort to
work on the enduro, and a very peciaI thanks to the flag people who
manned the road crossings.
Thank you to the following firms
for donating awards; .Carlisle Tire,
Spectro Oil, Ricky, and Marushin,
and thanks to John Driscoll and Joe
Brumfield for their assistance.
Thanks to the following New JeT. sey dealers who donated awards: VIP
Cycle of North Plainfield, Freehold
Honda of Freehold, Gri££in Vehicle
Service of Chatsworth, Freedom
Cycles of Long Branch, Action Yamaha of Edison/Metuchen, Woodbridge
Kawasaki of Woodbridge, Burgers
Motorcycles of Three Bridges, Main
Line Motorcycles of Asbury Park,
Colavito Brothers Honda of Old
Bridge, Monmouth Kawasaki of Middletown, Flemington Cycle of flemington, and Somerset County Suzuki
& KTM of Somerville.
CENTRAL JERSEY
COMPETITION RIDERS
Edison, J
Giving it 100%
- I took a few days o££ of work last
week and went to visit my friend,
David Bailey. I'm sure you know Bailey was injured in a practice crash last
month, and that he is currently paralyzed from the waist down. During
the two days I was at the Santa Clara
Valley Medical Center, in San Jose,
David and I had a lot of time to talk.
Because of David's excellent disposition, I didn't have to curb theconversation; we talked about bicycling,
new running shoes, and the races
we'll be able to do together in the
future.
David says he will walk agillE. He
knows that there are sl)me rough
roads ahead, but David has bucked
the odds before. He says that there
isn't anything that he can't get
through if he gives it 100%.
David Bailey is one of the finest
persons I've ever known. He made his
way to the very top of his sport, and
then set new standards for style and
riding techniques. More important
than David's racing abilities were his
a ttri bu tes as a person. He has befriended and encouraged so many of
us. Modern-day motocross is lucky to
have a role model and ambassador
like David.
I don't know if I could be as strong
as David is in his situation.- He remains positive and is taking a logical
approach to recovery. ow that hi
wife Gina is pregnant, there' a lot of
extra planning to begin. ManyaspeclS
of David' life will be new, but he's
ready to tackle everything that comes
his way.
I want to encourage everyone to
keep sending cards and lellers. David
loves the mail he's gelling; he especially likes it when his fans send pictures and photos.
TOM MUELLER
Progre sive Publicity, In .
Greensboro, NC
Send cards and letters to: David Bailey, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, 751 S. Bast:omb Ave., S.an Jose,
CA 95128 ... Editor.
Iron men
Congratulations to John Braasch
for his winning solo ride in Class 20
at the Parker 400.
John is the third rider to complete
this event solo on a I 25cc motorcycle,
not the first as is stated in a photo
caption in your Parker 400 coverage.
I finished second in Class 20 at the
'86 Parker 400 riding solo. Kevin
Case, my current partner in o££-road
races, finished first in Class 20 at the
'85 Parker 400, also riding solo.
I hope Tom and Anne Van &veren
continue their fine coverage of desert
racing in the future.
GUY KIBBE
Fountain Valley, CA
Laguna Seea
Okay, so it's been three weeks and I
still don't see it. Anyone else notice
that there's no road race listed in
Monterey, California, for July? Are
we talking no Camel Pro race at
Laguna Seca this year? How can the
AMA do such a thing? A scheduling
conflict with a couple of dirt track
events? Does this signal the end of a
major Formula One event on the
West Coast? Are we not even going to
get a National Superbike race? Please
fill in the blanks before I have to
schedule a vacation back East to see a
National road race.
As we reported last week, Laguna
Seca will host an AMA Grand National Championship road race meet on
July Il-l2. It will not be a round of
the Camel Pro Series. Efforts are
being made by the promoters to once
again have a Formula One race as
part of the program. The Laguna
Seca date falls on an open weekend as
far as the Grand Prix schedule is
concerned . .. Editor.
Published letters do not necessarily reflect the po8ition of
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publication must be typed and
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and address; unsigned or anonymous letters cannot be usad;
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