Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

America's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXIV Sharon Cl ayt on. Publish" Mik e Klin ger,Co mptT olltT Skip J ohnson. Associat e Publishert Nat ional So les ManagtT J ack Mangus, Asso ciate Publishrrt Eduor Rh cba Smith. Circulation Managn Caroline Gc ndry , Executive St'CTdary to l h~ Publisher Editorial Kit Pa lmer, Associate Editor Pau! Carruthers. Associat e Editor Farr en wil tiarns. Associat e Editor Nat e Rauba , Assistant Edi tor Edw ina Mangus, Cale ndar Editor Advertising T erry Prau Salt'! Manag t'T Mark Thome. S alt's M ana ger Mik e Ch u rch. Eastern Sale! Man ager Mark MilCht'lI . Eastern Salt's Man agt'T T homas R. C omer. Eastern Salt's Managt'r Tn Ca th y Co rrao Wt'slt" Ad Coor dinat or Ca rla Borden. Eastern Ad Coor di nator T oni Don eske. Advertisin g A ssist ant Graphics and Production Mal colm Wilson.Prod uct ion M an agn Diana H ilgen ber g, G rap hic tlr tut Pt"RKY Sm ith . Grap hic Artist Stacey G u o t. G rap hic tlrtut Mari on Ha tash ita . Tvpeseuer Caro lyn Branham. TYfNs~tln Denn is G reen e. Lab. T ech ; Accounting/Data Processing Don na Bryan . Accts Rf!Cn vabl l' Coo rdina to r Ge neva R ('J)3 ~'" A ssistant Fra n H a m wey . Credi t Circulation Sarah T ay lor . Assistant Alm a An guian o. A ssista nt Che ri Ch ..pm an . Assi .ttan t Mar na Adams. A ssistan t Want Ads Debb ie w ink ler. Wan t A d Sales Dea ler Sales and Service Reu ben Casarez, Dealer Cu suwner R ,.p. Service and Support Chris Aitch eson , H ,.ad qu artn s R eceptio nist Leo nard H err in g. Service and S uppo rt National Headquarters 2"10 1 Cherry Ave.• Lon g Beach. CA 90806. P.O . Box 198 . Long Reach. CA 90801 ·0498 (2 13) -127 ·7133 ; 213/636-88-14. FAX (2 13) -127-6685 FAX 110-1) 9:H·3 112 " Eastern Office 4.190First Ave.• Tucker. GA , 3~4; ma ili ng add ress P.O . Box 805, T uck er, G A 300M.!). 01\05.. (104) 931 · 7850. Cycle ~ ~~ ( US PS 141·340) is pu bl ished weekl y excep t th e first a nd last week o f the ca lendar year for $52.00 per yea r by Cycle 1"l:ws. Inc. , 220 1 Cher ry Aven ue , Long Beach. CA 90X06. Second class po ..tage ~ id 3 1 Lo ng Beach. CA. a nd add ition al mail ing . o ffices . POSTMASTER : Send form 3579 t o Cyc le News. P.O . Box 498. long Beach . CA 90801 ·0498. Su bscr iptio n ra tes: O ne year, seco nd cla ss ma il. $52.00. Cvr te New s welcomes un solicited edi torial ma teri al includi n g stories. C3f(OOnS, p hoto s, etc. Such materi al . if p ub lis hed. becomes th e exclus ive proJX.:rty o f Cycle News, Such 3 C· cep ted mater ial is su bject 10 revision as is Ilff t'S.\a f}' in the sole discretion or Cycl e News. U n so lici ted mat erial which is no t used wil l be return ed if acco mpan ied b y a \«:1£ ad dressed stam ped en velope. All u nsolicited ma teria l will be handl ed with rea sonab le ca re , ho wever, Cycl e New s ass u mes n o responsibiliry (o r the safely. los s or da mage to such mat eri al . Repr inting in wh ol e or pari o n ly by pe rm ission of the publ ish er. Adverrisin g rat es and circulation inf ormal ion ..... i1I be \t"lll upon request. See S. R.D .S. Copyright" Cycle Ne ws . Inc. 1987. Trade-mark Cyc le Newl reg istered U.S. Patent Office. All rights reserved. SPA Conlumer Audit Divilion Member · ship Applied For December 1986. 4 ON THE FRONT PAGE : Honda's trick 1988 CR250 production MXer. See page 16 for a closer look at the new CR250 and the rest of the 1988 CR lineup. Photo by Kinney Jones. Three points Where in Brazil? First I want to congratulate Guy Cooper on his recent National MX win. Every Oklahoma rnotocrosser is proud of you , Guy! I'd also like to co ng ra tu la te my friend jeff Emig on his recen t class wins at Po nca City a nd Loretta L yn n 's. Next, I don 't want to gel anyone mad, but why let Bob Hannah ride a 125cc bi ke a t the Motocross des Na tions at U nadilla? No way ca n H annah ride a 125 as fast as Micky Dym ond. I ho pe Bob proves me wrong an d smokes the Europeans a nd Ame rica wi ns again. Finally. I' d like to mention an idea of mi ne, a nd that is to hold a Supercross des Nations in 1988. Bu t don't let the FIM sanction it beca us e it has to have doubles and triples. Pl ease tell me exactly wh ere th e World Championship Road R ace eries round on September 27 in Brazil will be held. KAR L ST R O U H AL Moore, O K Th e Fl M banned th e use of double and triple jum ps in in ternational MX races earlier this year . . . Editor. Limit doubles Th e Augu st 9 Al\IA N ati on al Championship 125/ 500 cc MX a t Kenworthy's in Troy, Ohi o , was o ne of th e best organized event s I have p articipated in. The . tra ck didn 't sho w th e first sig n o f dust a nd th e security was a mong th e best we've ever had. H owever, a ll th at wa s o versh ado wed by th e lack o f co ncern toward th e riders. Double j u mps are grea t, but in a n o u tdoor Nat ion al th ey sho u ld be limited due to th e fa st pace of o u tdoo r races. I ad m it Kenworth y's ' was a specta tor's heaven. You co u ld see th e ent ire track and everywh ere yo u lo oked were doubl e jumps, a lt ho ug h som e were sm a ll sets, o the rs were th e typ e doubl es that mak e yo u turn th e th rott le. hold on tight an d p ra y you m ak e it to th e o ther side. The ra ces wer e 30 m inutes p lus two laps long a nd lap after lap riders had to co nt in uous ly com p lete the doubles. The slig htest mi stak e in di stance and hei ghth co u ld m ean tra ged y. a nd as time went by riders began to feel th e stea dy pou nd ing o n thei r bodi es fro m th e num erous jumps co m bined wi th th e pressure from th e o ther riders to go fa ster. That 's wh en yo u begin to mak e mistakes. I have never seen so man y rider s ca rr ied away on stretch ers, a nd many will n ot b e returnin g for th e remainder of this season. I hope no one takes this letter the wrong wa y. Doubl e jumps are a n exci tin g pan of ra cing and I think th ey shou ld always be included. They send you 10 heights that only a few dream of a nd wh en you make it to the other side you h ave a feeling of accomplishment. I hope Ken wo rth y's will be o n th e sche du le next year, bu t I ho pe they real ize th ey had a few too many doubles. H o wever , if they don 't feel the same way I do a nd in stead feel this is the motocross track of the future. I don 't think there will be any motocrossers left in the future. MATT MILLER Belle Chasse, LA W ILLIAM W. SCHULTZ St. Petersbu rg , FL According to the Fl M calendar, th e race wi ll take p lace in either R io de Janeiro or Go liania. We suggest you write to the organizer, CBM, Av. Paulista 509, Sao Paul o, Brazil. We' ll pursue the m ailer fu rther on th is end and keep you pos ted in r In T he Wind section . . . Edito r. the a n nouncer in the booth. It took about five minutes fo r us to rea lize that this man knew less than nothing about motorcycles or racing, and had not taken th e time to even lea rn how to pronoun ce th e rider s' nam es. Bubba Sh ob ert became ch u ben (as in U nfin ishe d Symphon y?) o r Sherbert. Kevin Schwantz must have been surprised to lea rn his last name rhymed with pants. Kurt Liebmann and Doug Brauneck had their names given unusual pronunciations by this tongue-twister. The machines fared no better. The Italian bike was referred to repeatedly as a MotoGuzzi (as in fuzzy) and it was obvious he had nev er heard of the Bultaco. Even sponsors were not exempt Michelin would not have recognized themse lves, and Mikuni became "MY Coneys." T he fina l insult to the bi kers a nd spectators was h is comment a t th e end of th e Superbike fina l. As Kevin Schwan tz came around the track o n h is victory lap, we were in formed th a t h e was sta ndi ng o n the "peda ls " of hi s b ike. S ure ly we are entit led to a n annou ncer who kn o ws the sport, or who at least does h is homewo rk. THOMAS S. MA RSDEN Grosse Po in te Woods, MI Two-time champ says. j .B. Norris was form erly t h e exe cu tive secretary of th e Illinois Motorcycle Dealer's Asso ciation. Th e IMDA promotes th e Springfield Mil e a nd th e DuQuoin Mil e as we ll as many other activities. j.B. was heavil y involved in th e racing end o f IMDA. The AMA took noti ce and h ired h im as th e Professi onal Din T ra ck Manager. j .B. a n d I have wo rked together o n many occa sio ns, doi ng p re-ra ce medi a tours througho u t so u th ern Illinoi s. The wa y AMA din tra ck racing is go ing (or th e wa y everybody sa ys it' s going ), taking o n this posit ion wa s a ver y heavy load. I'v e been o n j.B.' s ca se a few times thi s yea r a nd so have a lot of o ther riders. j.B.' s workin g o n crea tin g m ore d i n tra ck R egi on al s a n d Nati onal s. whi ch we need . I appl aud j.B. o n h is fir st yea r's efforts. By th e way , I don 't think he'Il rak e th e brak es off. Kenn y! R ICKY GRAHAM Sa linas, CA Laguna Seca changes In response to j eff Pestka's recent letter o n Laguna Seca, I agree that a World Championship GP h as been a Icing time co m in g. but th e cha nges to La guna Seca have al so. 1£ th e cha nges occ u r between turn s two and three, th e FIM has succeeded in doing what th e AMA co u ld nev er do - making Laguna Seca a sa fer track. T urn two has long been a major threat. A few of its victims hav e been th e lat e john Woo. Eddie Lawson , and our- latest tragedy, Gordon Hedemark, who is paralyzed from th e wai st down. I beli eve th e ch an ge is a we lco m e o ne. As for specta tors, Mr. Pestka , you w ill be so awe struck by the G P racing action that you will forget a bo ut tum two and you may ask why so much promotion has gone into National superbike racing as you will forget about them too. MA RCELLO DEL GIU DICE Deerfield , FL Pedals? Earlier this month I went to MidOhio, u ndoubted ly one of the finest road racing facilities in th e country, prepared to enjoy two days of racing. Unfortunately , someone in charge had a m ental lapse when they put Sh ifted I am writing this letter to share with all co ncerned my experience with the NMA in Ponca City, Oklahoma. I am referring to the Stock 250cc Pro class which I won on the race tra ck. The fin al result wa s protest ed by j erry Cambell because I was running a Race Tech shift lever o n m y Yamaha YZ250. Because I a m relatively new to NMA racing, I had m y m echanic, Dave H a m m o nd , double check th e legality of th e shi fte r with NMA official T ed Moorewood. I h ad used it previousl y at the Las Vegas event with no o bjectio n . T ed approved th e shifter for th e Stock class on Monday before ra cing began. In th e race the exce llent performance of my stoc k YZ allowed m e to win th e ra ce bv a 15-second margin. j eff Matiasevi ch finished a co m m endab le second. j eff' s result, though good. was obviously not good eno ug h for his mechanic, j erry Cambell, j erry felt th e ne ed to protest m y win on th e grounds that m y sh ifter wa s not stock . Adding that I should not even be ra cing at Ponca because I was older than most o f the riders and that I had raced Nationals. When as ked for a ruling Ted Mo orewo od side d with Cambell. When questi oned abo u t approving th e lever. T ed repli ed . " I d o remember th e conversation with Dave H a m m o n d but I n ever approved that shifter!" This win , thoul1h on ly one of three (incl ud in g Modified 125 and 250cc ), is very important to me. I believe it is important to Yamaha and my other sponsors as well. Beca u se of j erry Cambell 's concern for adhering to the fine points of the NMA rule book (incl ud ing not running cartridge forks ) and Ted Moorewood's inability to stick with a decision, I was stripped of the Stock 250cc P ro class win. This decision a lso robbed me of th e Grand National Cham pions h ip in the motorcycleclass an d th e re lated p ub lici ty. I am sadde ne d by the events th at h ave ta ken p lace an d h ope that the N MA will not treat other riders this way in the fu tu re. DOU G DUB ACH Costa Mesa, CA P .S. My grips were not stock either. .

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