Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

A m.nd.tory helmet bill (HB-161) in the .tate of Wa.hington recently passed the Sen.te Transportation Committee and is scheduled for review in the Rule. Committee. Only approval by the entire Senate stand. in the way of W.shington becoming the first state to reinstate a helmet law since Louisi.na did so in 1981. Kevin Hines (KTM) won the second round of the AMA National Championship Enduro Series on Saturday, April II, in Georgetown, California. Hines dropped II points and edged out Dave Bertram (Hus) and jeff Irwin (Hus) by a single point. Bertram's better score on the tiebreaker gave him second overall. Geoff McCarthy blasted a new Ducati 7S0 to fastest time of 69 two and three-wheel entries in the second La Carrera Classic road race/rally in Mexico April 11. In the 12S-mile point-to-point race on a two-lane road aero.. the Baja penin.ula, Olin Daunell rode • K.w•••ki EX twin to win the SOOcc cl... at fourth overall, B. Wilson topped the three-cylinder clan on • BMW K7S0 and D.ve Roper on a M.tchless won the Vintage cl.... The Three-Wheel cI... wa. won by Ozzia .nd R.lph Auerona BMW/EMLsidecar. Full coverage next week. Drag racers Marty Blades, 40, of New Lebanon, Ohio, and jim Schumacher, 27, of Schenectady, New York, were killed in separate accidents on Saturday at an IDBA drag race at North Carolina's Piedmont Dragway. Blades, the number two IDBA Pro Stock class racer, crashed at the end of the one-eighth mile drag strip on a run in which he was attempting to back-up a new world record. Blades had previously turned in a 5.20 second run. Kevin Rentzell .nd Ron Ewerth rode K.yo .... V.m.ha FZR1000 to victory in the April 11 WERA N.tion.1 Endurance Road Race Series round at Clermont, Indian.'. Indi.napoli. R.ceway P.rk. Kayo II turned in 189 l.ps to beat runner-ups Doug Brauneck .nd Dave Schlosser on the Dutchman R.cing Suzuki GSXR11 00 byone lap. The V.maha FZR7S0 ef Team Human Race finished third, on the same lap a. Dutchman Racing. Team Suzuki, the defending series champs, finished 48th overall due to various problem.. Rentzell continued to dominate the young .e••on'• •print racing •• he topped the C Production, B Superbike, Formula Two, A Superbike and Formul. One cI...... Rentz..1 led a sweep of the top 27 places by Honda 600 Hurricane riders in the C Production race. A bill in Texas that would require helmet use for all motorcyclists passed the State Senate on April 7 on ., voice vote. It will now go before I hI: State House of Representatives for consideration. Senate Bill J44, sponsored by Sen. Ted Lyon (0Rockwell), wow-l change existing state law that only requires helmet use by riders age 18 and under. Texas motorcyclists who oppoSe this bill should contact their state representative and urge them to vote "no" on SB-144. One vote could have prevented this bill hom passing out of the Senate committee. One vote in the full House could be responsible for killing SB-I44 if a majority is not attained. Those interested shouJd call 512/463-0845 to contact their representative. The opening round of the World Championship 250cc MX Series in BeJgium saw factory Cagiva rider Pekka Vehkonen capture the overall via a 3-1 taJly. Second overall went to Eric Geboers (Hon) with a 4-2 combo. jorgen Nilsson won the first moto. Sketchy reports from France h.ve defending SOOcc MX World Champion, Britain'. Dave Thorpe (Hon) claiming hi. second Grand Prix win of the season with a 31 moto finish. Sweden'. H.ken C.lqvist (Kaw) won the first moto, but finished out of the top five in round two. American Billy Ule. (Kaw) fini.hed ~ird in the second moto. The Senate's override of President Reagan's veto of the Highway Reauthorization Bill (HR-2) eliminated two major obstacles to motorcycle access' to high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. The same biIJ gives back to states the freedom to raise speed limits on rural sections of interstate highways to 65 mph. Buried within HR-2 was new language smoothing the path for motorcycles to ~ able to use HOV lanes. Also known as commuter lanes, these lanes have traditionally been set aside for fueI-efficient vehicles such as car pools in congested urban areas. The language in HR-2 obligates states to allow motorcycles into any HOV lanes where federal-aid highway funds have been allocated for "constructing, resurfacing, restoring, rehabilitating, or reconstructing." These revisions mean that virtually any commuter lane that receives federal support must permit motorcycle use, unless the state certifies motorcycles to be unsafe and the U.S. Secretary of Transportation accepts that certification. Previously, no approval for the certification was necessary. "The Highway Reauthorization Bill provides two significant victories for' motorcyclists. We (AMA) have worked hard on the national speed limit and HOV issues because we knew they were important to riders," said Robert Rasor, AMA vice president for government relations. "States can still certify HOV lanes as unsafe for motorcycles, but now that certification must be accepted by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. That gives us a chance to intervene on behalf of our members," The Midwest Cafe Racing Ass0ciation (MCRA) hes announced that their April 19 race at St. Loui. International Raceway in East St. Louis. Illinois, hes been canceled. The road race facility'. owners h.ve filed Chapter 11 . We just received a press release hom the AMA that began with the following: "It has come to the attemion of the AMA that certain news has escaped the watchful eye of Cycle News." How right they are! What we failed to tell you was that on February 12 the AMA announced the appointment of jim Bensberg as legislative affairs specialist and RaJ( Pansch as communications coordi- nator for the government relations department. Bensberg, 32, comes to the AMA after serving as the executive director of the Colorado Motorcycle Dealers Association. He will be responsible for tracking legislative and regulatory issues at the state level. Pansch, 27, is in the process of completing a master's degree in public relations communications. He will be responsible for producing department press releases (like the one we're using for this information) and magazine articles, the AMA's Action newsletter, and issuing other departmental correspondence. Angelo Barroero, 72, of Oakland, California, passed .way recently. B.rroaro .massed • fortune in hi. lifetime through such projects a. the invention of the walk-in refrigerator door. He was .ctively involved in sponsoring race team. in the ' 40s and 'SOS, and was a part owner of the O.kl.nd (now Los Angele.) R.ider footb.1I team. HosPITal STOP: Shorty Seabourne, a veteran dirt tracker who raced in the Expert ranks during the late 19605 and early '70s, broke his back and suffered bruised lungs and a possible bruised heart during a comeback bid at the April 12 Ascot Half Mile. Seaboume, a ~pular southern California race official for the past 10 years, was injured in a solo crash coming out of tum two during a practice session. Seaboume said before practice that he wanted to become the first 50-year-old rider (he turns 50 August 21) ever to earn a National number. Seabourne was taken to the intensive care unit at Harbor General, UCLA Medical Center in Carson, California. He was' scheduled to be moved April 14 to Bay Harbor Hospital. Cards and letters may be sent to Bay Harbor Hospital, 1437 West Lomita Blvd., Harbor City, California 90710. The long-dre.ded 60 Minute. report on A TV. drew a quick response from the Speci.1ty Vehicle Institute of America .fter the report was broadcast on n.tion.1 television, Sunday, April 14. "The indu.try believe. that the 60 Minutes segment on ATV. w •• mi.leading, inaccur.te, incomplete and unfair:' the SVIA said in a prepared .tatwRent. "For instance, CommissioMr Anne Graham said that CPSC (Consumer Product Saf8ty Commission) data doe. not support the indu.try's view that rider misuse is involved in • m.jorty of ATV accidents. The CPSC ATV study cle.r1y'states that the majority of ATV accidents involved several types of misuse." The SVIA also accused the CBS news magazine of failing to .how the "overwhelming m.jority of satisfied, .afe users .nd re.pon.ible dealers." Dirt tracker Pete Hames, who finished ninth in the 1986 Camel Pro Series, will marry girlfriend Debbie SOwell on May 16 in CaJifornia. Hames, 22, has known Sowell, 23, for the past six years. Both are from Simi Valley, California. The photo. in last week'. raport of the April 4 Sacramento Mile were taken ~by Mitch Friedman. The photo credit was inadvertently left off the story. Grand National Champion Bubba Shobert was seen handin~ crisp new bills of various denommations to several of the riders gathered in the infield at the April I I Ascot HaliMile. Among those collecting from the champ were veteran Steve Morehead and long-time Shobert rival Scott Parker. Shobert didn't comment on why he was emptying his wallet, but the names "Sugar Ray," and "Marvelous Marvin," were bantered about the infield while Shobert asked Parker if he could make change, Aftereaming "TV money"forthe 1986 television broadcast of the DuQuoin Mile, most of the riders at the April 11 National H.If-MiIe in Gardena, California, wanted to know why there was no TV paybeck for Ascot, which wa. aired on ABC'. Wide World of Sports. "How come we're not getting TV money?" Ohio'. Steve Morehead asked. "Our sport need. TV:' said AMA Dirt Track Manager J.B. Norri., "Thi. was the skinniest de.1 we ever cut." "It'. the skimpiest purse we've ever raced for here," countered Moreheed. "I don't think wa need to aver ao this .gain," said Tex•• rider Terry , Poovey, "In my opinion, we should get the AMA'. TV money." factory Harley-David.on rider Chris Carr said after the meeting. Robert Wolf of San jose, California, is offering a $1000 reward in hope that he will recover his brand new Yamaha FZRIOOO. Wolf had only had the new bike four days when it was stolen from his home; the bike has no license plates. For more information contact Wolf at 3249 Cadillac Dr., Apt 16, San jose, CA 95117,408/374-1238. (Continued to page 30) 60 Minutes: Assassination of An Industry Ed Bradley's 60 Minutes presentation, "ATVs: The World's Most Dangerous Vehicle" (Sunday, April 12), is nothing short of assassination of an American industry and sport. The ramifications of 60 Minutes' pieces will severely affect every single aspect of the sport and every owner and every rider - touring, off-road, road racing, enduro, sport riding, motoCross, ATV, et al. No one, I mean no one, will not be negatively impacted. So get mad as Hades and do something about it. The yellow journalism of Ed Bradley and 60 Mintues cannot go without our reciprocation. "The World's Most Dangerous Vehicle" inaccurately and scandalously demeans all of us, regardless of your riding preference. And it is'11ot just coincidental that this piece aired at the same time the ATV recall issue is at the Justice Department for a legal ruling. Or when Alan Cranston is pitching his Wilderness bill to ABC (Saturday, (Continued to page 4)

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