Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1987 03 25

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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Half Mile. Cards and letters can be sent to Maitland at 11285 Lewis Rd.• Clio. MI 48420. BY 'P~'P~ Wf~LfY will now switch to the Yamahas of Mike Baldwin and Randy Mamola. David Bailey, the 500cc MX National Champion, remains paralyzed but is now sitting up and has started a rehabilitation program that includes swimming, according to his mother Darlene. "He was in the pool yesterday," Darlene Bailey said on ~rch 16..Bailey" who was injured m a practice seSSlOn crash in january, expects LO be released from the hospital in four LO five weeks. Cards and letter can be sent to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, 751 S. Bascomb Ave., San jose, CA 95128. The FIM has announced that for safety reasons, effective immediately it will forbid the use of double and triple jumps in all FIM-sanctioned motocross and stadium motocross events. The FIM also announced that the Rodil Trophy Stadium MX Series has been upgraded to World Championship status effective with the 1988 sea on. Former Team Honda road race mechanic Phil McDonald will work for Team lucky Strike Roberts in their campaign for the 1987 500cc World Championship. according to team manager Paul Butler. McDonald worked on Wayne Rainey's Honda RS500 Formula One bike last year. but "I'm getting better and just laying back:' injured dirt tracker Tom Maitland said in a phone conversation from his Michigan home. Maitland suffered a broken lower right leg. a crushed heel. and compressed a vertebra when he crashed in a practice session at the , February 27 Jacksonville (Florida) Dear Cycle News: There are 113 jersays in the picture. but I have over 1751 I have collected these over the past eight years as a Cycle News c.ontri~utor a~d photographer. I would like to get more of the European Tlders Jerseys In the future as well as some Motocross des Nations jersays. The jerseys I would like to obtain the most are a Brad Leckey #1. a ~ob Hannah #1 and !I Danny laPorte #1. as well as a Roger DeCoster Jersay of any type. With the help of Honda's Dave Arnold and freelancer Kurt Ross I have obtained a number of special jerseys and I owe them many ~hanks: This year I am hoping to get as many of the AMA'stop 100 n~';S' J~rsays as possible. The model in the picture ill Gallery magazine s Girl Next Door. Kelly Patton. a good friend of mine. If anyone has any jersays they would like to contribute. they may contact me at 206/577-0113 or 206/695·9221 after 5 p.m. Pacific. Brian Barnes Vancouver. Washington. • Kevin Schwantz' Daytona injury prayed to be more severe than iDlually reponed. The Suzuki facLOry rider was leading the DayLOna 200 when he cra hed on the 34th lap, breakmg the little finger on his right hand in eight place. chwantz underwent surgery on Thursday, M.arch 12; d~ors put four pins and wue m the £Inger. "It doesn't even hurt right now," chwantz said on March 16. The injury will cause Schwantz LO miss the opening round of the 1987 GP road race season in uzuka, japan, on March 29, but he remains optimistic about racing in the Tran -Atlantic Match Race Series in England over the Easter weekend in April. Motorcycle World with Lerry Huf· fman. the Suzuki·sponsored radio show. will feature a live telephone session with hospitalized David Bailey on Sunday. March 22. Usteners will be invited to call in and talk with Bailey. Check out the show's ad on page 29 for stations that carry the show. Maldwyn jones, 95, passed away at his Mesa, Arizona, home recently. jones was a factory racer for both Harley-Davidson and Flying Merkel in a dirt uack racing career that spanned the years 1914 to 1922. . CRC members can practice at Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale. California. every Wednesday. starting April 1. from noon to 7 p.m. There's a $10 charge per bike and a $2 charge for spectators. For more info. call 805/272-8889. Willie Surrall (Suz) and Kyle Lewis (Hon) collected wins in the inaugural NMA Silverbowl of Motocross held at the Sam Boyd Silverbowl in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 14. Surrall topped the 250cc Pro class and Lewis won the l25cc Pro final. A tentative schedule has been set for the inaugural FIM Superbike World Championship Series in 1988. The schedule begins with the Daytona 200 at the Daytona International Speedway in March. Other stops listed include races in (Continued to page 26) No insurance for racers under 12 By Farren Williams LONG BEACH, CA, MAR. 16 Promotors don't like the idea but mere is lillie they can do ab~ut an insurance company rulIng mat prohibits minicycle riders under age 12 from competing in motocross events' insured by K&K Insurance Company of Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Mini riders under age 12 who now race at events promoted by Continent~l MotorspoTls Club (CMC), Nauonal Motorspons Association (NMA), Calfornia Racing Club (CRC) and other organizations msured by K&K will not be allowed to race after April I because the insurance company has cancelled their liability coverage. "It's 'not really going LO hurt my program, but the CRC and NMA have a big mini following," aid Stu Peters, pre ident of CMC. "It will affect our U.S. Suzuki Spring Classic (a southern California series), our Pac West Series (held by CMC in the Pacific Northwest in june and july), our Trans-Cal Series (an autumn series held in California), plus our weekly shows at Ascot (Park in Gardena, California). Ascot will be the hardest hi t. It atuacts a lot of you nger riders and parents." "It's going LO eliminate a good portion of our program," said Jack Barbacovi, president of CRC. "It will totally eliminate our 50 and 60cc classes and a portion of the 80cc class. About 20% of our normal entries will be eliminated. It will affect everthing we do and we run 52 weeks a year." Cycle News was unable to reach a representative of NMA for comment before this story went to press. The insurance underwriter that supplys K&K Insurance with mOLOrsports covera~e recently set age 12 as the cutoff pomt for minibike racine because the company has suffered an unusual amount of lawsuits from riders who were injured at an early age and later sued for damages when they reached legal age (18 years old in most states), according to Peters. "They picked that age because they were having an abnormal amount of lawsuits from riders who were seriously injured when they were eight, nine, 10 years old, who sued (for damages) when they reached 18," Peters said. "The parents didn't sue, but when the kids reached 18 they sued their parents, the promoter, the track and any number of John Does. "No one keeps records after seven years," said Peters. "After seven years K&K destroys records, just like we do. H a young man goes to court, and we have no records, he has a cake walk." "I don't know why they picked that age," said Barbacovi. "It·doesn't seem logical to me. K&K is trying to work around it, but the odds are slim (they'll be successful)." Peters, who said CMC has been insured by K&K for 19 years, was quick to come to the insurance company's defense. . "They realize (motorcycle racing) is a young sport," said Peters. "They've made (the cutoff point for) all other motorsports l8-years-old. K&K's fighting it. They know they'll lose business. The thing that has been a major problem is that there is only one underwriter; K&K is just a middleman. There is one underwriter for the whole U.S. underwriting motor racing. It's a high risk business and they're not overly enthusiastic. aboUJ: underwriting motorsports insurance." K&K reportedly tacked into most policies a clause that says any promoter who can't produce a signed release from anyone injured at an event will be responsible for the first 25,000 toward the defense of any claim filed by the injured person. While Peters has heard that the c1aiJse has been added to some policies, he said it was not included m his coverage. "In my policy it doesn't come into effect," he said. "It's a situation where the promoter is required to pay the first $25,000 of the first line of defense. In most cases the first line of defense runs between $10,000 and $12,000. That lets the insurance company off the hook. It was not included in my policy, but it was included in some policies shipped to AMA promoters." . The clause is in Barbacovi's polIcy, but it doesn't worry him. "I can't see that it's a real problem," said "Barbacovi. "Everyone has to sign an entry blank and they SIgn a release at the beginning of the year when t,hey sign a CRC application. That's just something that promoters have to take care of." • ,

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