Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

roo 0") .--4 America's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXIV Sharon Clavton , Publishn Mike K1 inger.ComplTolln Skip J ohnson. Associat e Publisber t National Sal~s Mana gtT Ja ck M an ~ s. Associate Publishert Eduor Rheba Smith. Circu lation Mana gn Caroline Cendrv. Execiuioe Secrnary to the Publisher Editorial Kit Palm e-r. Associate Editor Paul Carru thers, Associate Editor Farren Williams. A.uocUue Editor Mike Larson. Assumnt Edit or Edwina Man gu s. Calrodar Ed itor Advertising T erry Prau Sales Mana gN Mark T ho me. Sales Mana~N D~vid Metz. Sa lt'S Mana gN Milt' Ch urch. Eas te rn Sales Mana~N Mark Mitchell , Eastern Sa les Man a1{N Thom as R. Corner. Eastern Sa les Ma nagN Ca thy Corrao IVeslN n Ad Coordinato r Carla Borden , Eastern Ad Coo rdi nato r Linda Von de Veld. Advertising A sst. Graphics and Production Malcolm Wilson.Production ManagtT ~ Diana H ilgen berg. Grap hic Artist Peggy Smith. C T hic A rtist ap ... Stacey Guot . GTaphic A rtist Marion Hata sh ita . T vpesetter Caro lyn Bran ham. T ypeseuer Denn is Gree ne, Lab . T ech , Accounting /Data Processing Donna Bryan . ACCLJ R eceiva ble Coo rdi nator Geneva Repa ss, A ssistaJ1 t Fran Ham wey, Crt:di t Circulation Sara h Taylor. Assis tant Alma Angu iano . Assistan t Olt'ri Chap man . Assistan t Mari ta Adam s, Assistant Debbie Win kler. Wan t Ad Sales Dealer Sales and Service Reuben Casarez . Deal" Cus to mer R ep . Service and Support Quis Aitcheson, Headquarters Re ceptionist Leo na rd Herring, Service and Support National Headquarters • 220 1 Ch ary Ave.• Lon g Beach. CA 90806. ch. P.O . Box i98. Long Bea CA 90801·(H98 (213) 127-7i33: 2131636-88H . Eestem Office 4190 Fi rst Ave.• T uc ker. GA . 30084: mailing ad dress P.O . Box 805. Tucker. GA ' 00850805. (1001) 931-7850. Cycle News (USPS 141-340) is published week! y exce pt th e first and la.!ot week of the calenda r year for S52.00 per year by Cycle News. "Inc.. 2201 C he rry Avenue. Lon g Beach . CA 90806. Seco nd class po stage pa id at Long Beach . CA. and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER : Send form 3579 t o Cycle N ews. P.O . Boo498 . long Beech. CA 90801-0498. Subscription rates : One yea r, second class ma il, 152.00. • Cycle News welcomes unsol icited editorial material including stories, cartoo ns, ph ot os. et c. Such material. if p ubl ished. becomes the exclus ive pro~ rty of Cycle News. Such Olecepred m3 lrT131 is subject to revision as is necessary in the sole discretio n of Cycle News. Unsolici ted materia l which is not used will be- returned if accompanied by a self addressed sta mped envelo pe. All unsolicited material wiJI be handled with reason abl e ca re. h owever . Cycle New s assu mes no responsibility for th e safety. 1055 or dam age to such ma teria l. Reprinting in whole or part on ly by permission of the publisher. Advertisin g rates and circulation info rmation wi ll be sen t u po n request. See S.R .D.5. Copyrlght e Cycle News. I nc . 1987. Trade·mark Cyc le News registered U.S . Petent Office . All rights reserved. SPA Consumer Audit Division Member· 4 On April 12 at th e Double Cross Racing Glen Helen Grand Prix a you ng pro by the name of Mike Baker, who was leading th e race at th e time, left the course (giving up the lead ) and rode to the ambu lance lOsummon help for a rider who had crashed in a spot where no on e could see him. Mr. Baker then rode back to the dow ned rider so the medi cs would be sure to see him. On ce he was sure the y had, Baker rejoined the race at exactly th e spot on the co urse where he had left it. As I flagged down ride rs beca use of the amb ulance crew at tending to the inj ured rider, another young pro by the name of Craig Canoy ignored one flagman 30 yards before me, passed two riders in the air whi le fai ling to slow at all for my flag , then roosted away lO eventuall y win the race. Or did he win the battle on ly lO lose the war? A disqualification cost him the race and rightly so. The real winner is Malcolm Smith Products for having th e foresight lO sponsor such a quality indi vidual as Mike Baker. Mike Baker a nd Malcolm Smith Prod ucts - th e real winners on April 121 JIM HAWKINS SR . Double Cross Racing Escondido, CA Where's MX GP coverage? Want Ads ship Applied For December The real winners 1986. ON THE FRONT PAGE : 1986 AMA Superbike Champion Freel Merkel talks about his 1987 racing plans and more. Interview begins on page 12 . Photo by David Dewhurst . If you do not plan on pro viding more in-depth coverage of th e World Championship MX Seri es, o ther than what you prim in your In The Wind section, please ca ncel m y subsc ription. It is indicative of th e poor state of U.S. mote-journalism that MX GP coverage is not avai lab le iii a ny magazine. . By the way, I might add th at your 250cc MX GP schedule is incompl ete. KEVIN CONNER Columbus, OH Th e Br it ish jou rn alis t w ho has coordinated the flow of MX GP cov erage for us for the-past several years was notified by his em p loyer that he would no longer be all ow ed to do so. That notice cam e just as th e GP season began and left us h igh and dr y. We've jus t made other arrangem ents and coverage of MX GP events will appear in th e very near future, hopefully as soon as next wee k's issue. As for our 250cc MX GP schedule, you're righ t! Three additional even ts will tak e place as follow s: August 2, Brazil; August 9, Argentina ; August 3 0, Swe de n . .. Ed itor. Godspeed, Scott O n Saturday night, April 25, mo torcycl ing lost a tough competitor and we of the Western Ken tucky . Co mpetition Riders Association lost a good frie nd. ScottLamb was killed in the second Open class heat race at the Sturgis (Kentucky) Half Mile. SCOll had amassed many trophies, titles and wins in his 10 years of racing and was the number on e plate holder for WKCRA this year. We all feel thankful for having known him as he was an inspiration to everyo ne that knew him. Motorcycle raci ng was Scott 's first love and I am sure he is sitti ng o n God's starting lin e raci ng and reading Cycle News. Until we see you agai n, Scott, Godspeed from your friends and fami ly in WKCRA. BOBBY L EWIS, JR. Pr in ceton, KY Boo, Evel Kn ievel, once again you have done th e mo to rcycl in g p ubl ic a grea t injust ice! Your recent displ ay of brai n fade attacked you at the most inop po rt une tim e - a helmet law supporter! I bet there are plen ty of motorcyclists who thi nk you wou ld make a better a thlet ic supporter (jockstrap). Alt hough I started jum ping cars after seeing you perform a t the Kansas State Fair in 1971, I have always ma de it a practice not to fashion myself after you . I know you once said that it was a compliment to you for another person lo jump motorcycles, but take it another way because I have no compliment for you after the way you backed such an asinine bill as a he lmet law bi ll. Again it's tim e for the motorcycling public to cry out, "Let those who ride decid e!" Knievel, seeing how you chose to fall off nearly every time you rode I can see why someone needs to make you wear a helmet. ED BECKL EY Dodge City , KS Beckl ey bill s h im self as being th e " w o rld's larg est motorcycle jum per." W e won 't arg u e that , seeing as how he weighs 326 pou nds . . . Editor. Godspeed, Nate Natha n Tolpalar, Nate to h is fri ends, worked for Hap Jones, Menco Cycle, and was the first Rocky Cycle sal esman. He was quite a rider also , winning th e Portland Popper Enduro and th e Cow Bell. After retiring with over 20 years at Rocky Cycle, Nate moved back to his native Or egon. Nate, 69, met a group of "older" riders wh o were members of th e Kin g Mountain Motorcycle Club. Their average age is approximately 65. God must have really loved Nate as he recently died on his dirt bik e, with hi s friends, on one of hi s favorite trails. Godspeed, Nat e. LEN FALTYN Portland, O R Visit your investment May 21, vote June 2 The Motorcycle Repair Program has been taug ht on the Los Ang eles Trade-Tech Co llege campus since 1967. Between 7 p.m. and 9 p .m. on May 21 I am inviting the public to see the facility that has trained some of the most successful people in the motorcycle industry. The campus is loca ted at 400 West Washington Boulevard in Los Angeles wh ere th e Harbor and Santa Monica Freeways intersect. There is free motorcycle parking j ust south of Washington Boulevard .off G ra nd Avenue. T he meeting p lace for visi tors will be in fro nt of the Learning Resource Center, the newest buildi ng in the center of our campus. We will have students who are currently in the program escort visitors lo the motorcycle lab which is located in Room F124 of the F bui ldi ng. . Because o ur fut ure is highly pol itical you will have the opportunity to meet two people running for Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustee seats numbers one and seven. They are Patricia H ollingsworth, w ho is a teac her in the La nguage Arts Depart ment at Trade Tech, and Dr. Richard Ferraro, who taught n ight classes on our cam pus for seven years. As things stand at the moment, the Mo to rcycle Repair P ro gram will beco me history on J une 14 when the spring semester ends. The program was pu t on a lOtal p hase-out by the present board during a decision they m ade in February, 1986. U n less H o ll in gsw o rt h and Ferra ro are elected, the fut ure looks gri m. If you are a co ncerned motorcyclist, a graduate in particular, fun din g for these two candidates is critical. Prior lo the Apri l 12 primary election the AMA donated $1000 lo help finance a direct mailin g to known active voters in the Los Angeles Community College District. I personally matched that AMA donation lo make certain the mailing went out in tim e to be effective. Three da ys before the Apri l 12 election I spent an addi tionaI $745 to buy radio air time when I heard that the projected voter turnout was expected to be less than 10 percent. The Los Angel es H erald Examiner hightighted th e results coverage saym g voter turnout was a record low at eight per cent with less th an 200,000 people voting. The best thing you can do to ensure th e survival of this good program is lo enco urage an y voter in the Los Ange les Com munity College District lo turn out and VOle on June 2 in the main election. If you wish to help financially you might be encouraged to know that bo th H oll ingswort h and Ferraro have j ust received $500 each from me lo help finan ce th eir present cam paigns . If you live in southe rn California p lease come out to Trade-Tech and meet them in person and see the facilit y .yo ur tax do llars he lped purchase. I think this million-doll ar ' investment deserves your support. Those willing to help financiall y, but who can 't attend our open hou se, should keep in mind that funds sent to my attention for either candidate will be greatl y appreciated. If I helped you in a positive wa y pl ease consider thi s request. During the past year no n ew students were allowed lo enter. The waiting list is up lo 75 students. The present trustees voted 5-2 against saving the program. Patricia Hollingsworth and Ri chard Ferraro will make that vote 4-3. The moment of truth is now and every do llar and every vote is critical for survival. PAT OWENS Motorcycle Repair Los Ange les Trade-Tech Los Ange les, CA Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Inc. Send letters to Voices, P.O. Box 498,long Beach, CA 90801.

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