Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

r- oo 0") ....... ~ CX") C'-l 10-< Q.) a ,.D. Q.) ..... 0. Q.) r:fJ Defending 500cc World Champion Eddie Lawson (Yam) won the Portugese round of the World Championship Road Race Series at Jarama , Spain, on Sunday, September 13. Lawson fin ished ni ne seconds ahead of runner-up Randy Mamola (Yam). Mamola's . teammate Kevin Magee (Yam) reported ly was under team orders to let Mamola finish in front of him and he fin ished third, less 'than half of a second behind Mamola. Wayne Gardner (Hon) finished fourth, 19 seconds beh ind w inner Lawson. With two rounds remain ing, Ga rdner lead s the po int standings with 153 points, Mamola is second with 136, Lawson th ird w ith 130. Mike Baldwin (Yam) returned to action after having been sidelined most of the season due to inj uries but pulled ou t of the 500cc GP after 10 laps. West Germany's Anton Mang (Hon) won the Port ugese 250cc GP and clinched his third World Championship title in that class . Mang previously won the ti tle in 1980-8I. For the first time this season,Fausto Gresini (Gar) didn't win the 125cc GP. Gresini, who had won 10 straight 125cc races and had already clinched the ti tle, DNF and Paolo Casaoi (AGV) won at Jarama. The September 12 WERA/EBC Brakes National Road Race Endurance Series round at Pennsylvania's Pocono International Raceway was won by Team Sol max (Yam ). Sol max's . Scott Russell rode all but three of the team's winning total of 101 laps. The . race was scheduled for six hours but after the start was delayed by fog and heavy rain caused treacherous track conditions the race was cu t to four hours. Team BioSoles (Suz) turned in 98 laps to finish second while Blackwater Racing (Suz) was third w ith 97 !aps. All three of the top teams 10 the series point standings crashed during the eve nt. Team Suzuki (Suz) recovered from its crash to f inish 17th overall and took over the po in ts lead from Human Race Team, who finished 20th overall despite crashing . Genesis Racing also crashed and f inished . 12th overall. Team Suzuki now has 791 points Human Race Team 789, and Genesis Racing 748. Organizers of the September 26-27 Sun Valley (Idaho) Trail Ride, a round of the AMA National Trail Riding Series, are still accepting enmes for the dual purpose event. To grab a starting spot, call 208/7267304. Speedway racer Sam Ermolenko of Ca lifornia suffered a broken ankle and a broken wrist in an int ern ational meeting at Vojens, Denmark, on Friday, September 11 . Ermolenko f lew to London England, on Monday, Septembe; 14, to attend a hearing to answer charges for fa iling to submit to a d rug test at a recent British speedway meeting . Ermolenko was found guilty of fa iling to undergo the test and for conduct injurious to speedway racing, and ~as b~-:n banned from competing 10 Bntlsh races until December 31, 1988. He was also f ined approximately $550. The British control board said it will recommend the FIM and AMA impose a similar ban. Ermolenko has 14 days in which to file an appeal. Reached by phone a f ew hours after !VI0nday's hearing, Ermolenko said, "It still hasn't hit me in the face yet. I'm sitting here w ith lawyers preparing an appeal. No one on the control boa rd knows anything about the sport or me. I have never taken drugs. I know I'm innocent." The hearing was con.ducted by the Royal Automobile Club, the governing bOdY of all motorsports in Eng land. Charles You ng has been named general manager of Barnett.Tool & Engineering. Young spent the past Syracuse Mile canceled, Shobert crowned champ By Paul Ca rruthers SYRACUSE,NY,SEPT.13 Syracuse Mile, round 16 of the AMA/Camel Pro Series was rained out for the second straight day on Sunday as storms continued to pass t hrough upstate New York. When the decision came to cancel the Don Brymer-promoted event at roughly 10:30 a.m . on S,;,nda~, the AMA/Camel Pro Series title and the $100,000 wmner s share of the Camel Pro point fu nd went to Team Honda's Bubba Shobert. calls Carmel Va lley, Cal ifornia, home, The Texan, . wh,? now _ wrapped up his ~h.lrd straight Camel Pro championship. With only two. races rernammq (4 0 po ints maximum via the 20 po ints for a WIO) on the Camel Pro schedu!e (Ascot - September 26, and S acramen~o - ~ctobe~ 3 ) Shobert s 43-point lead over road racer Wayne Ramey IS now insurm ount able. . . T~e battle for t~e AMA Grand National Championship, however, IS stili very much 10 do,;,bt as ~hobert leads Harley-Davidson's Scott Parker by only 11 po mts With 60 POlOtS (San Jose - September 20, Ascot - September 26 and Sac ramento - October 3) still up for grabs. . Shobert celebrated his championship by spending t he day at t he M?,tocross des N';'tions in nearby New Berli n, New York . !he pressure IS off now for the big one wh ich was the Camel Sene.s:" Shobe~ said . '" wish we could have raced , but the conditions wer~ Just too bad. The hay bales were real wet and the track was marglOal at best, plus the rain just.kept com ing," T~e ei.ght years as national advertising director of Cycle Gu ide Publications and prior to that was vice president at Yankee Motor Co. and Innovator Distributors, and district manager at Cemoto East Importing Co . The Special Olympics will receive $4 of each entry fee at the 5th Annual Kyle Fleming Memorial MX which will be held at Blythe Raceway in Blythe, Cal ifornia, on November 14-15. The Peoria (Illinois) Dirt Riders will hos t next year's AMA Nationa l Championship Amateur H illclimb at Sparland, Illinois, on August 1314, 1988. The club's last hi llclimb this year will take place on "01' Ug ly" on October 3-4 and it will be the .last climb held on the hill until the 1988 champ event. The hill has been. reworked and " the wall" has been eliminated. Califo rn ian Dale Walker, who a motorcycle drag rae109 school when he's not racing, says he recently turned in a quarter-mile run in 8.04 seconds at 174 mph ' on Kosman 's Pro Street Suzuki w ithout a wheelie bar at Baylands Raceway Park in Fremont, California. Has anyone ever gone quicker/faster on a bike w ithout a wheelie bar? Let us know, if you know: ~onducts Speedway Nationa l Champion Bobb y Schwartz wi ll conduct a speedway school at San Bernardino County Fairgrounds in' Victorville Ca lifornia. According to Scotty Brown, who wIll assist Schwartz "The school is for anyone who want~ to learn mo re about speedway racing. Tht; sc~ool .w i ll certa in ly help beginn ing riders but will help professional riders as wel l." For more information, call 7 I4/722-8896 or 776-2017. Classic Motorbooks, Inc. (P.O . Box 1, Osceola, WI 54020) has released their automotive/motorcycle book best seller list for the three months ending August 31. ":he best selling motorcycle book, fifth on the list, is Illustrated Harley-Davidson ' Buyer's Guide by Alan Girdler. Steve Wright's Harley-Davidson Motor Company, now in it s second edition is li st ed in 17th place, while Keith Code's A Twist of the Wrist: The Motorcycle Road Racer's Handbook is 18th. . The Motorcycle Industry Council's 1987 Motorcycle Statistical Annual IS now available. The 11th edition of this .reference booklet reports that an estimated 7.6 million motorcycles, scooters, and ATVs were in use and that the industry generated an estimated 6.9 billion dollars in consumer sa les and sources and state taxes and licensing in 1986. Chock full of statistics such as the number of motorcycles used on and offhighway by state, annual mi leage eII~tim~tes by type of motorcycle, state censm~ and equ~pm~nt requirements, rider educauon information etc., this annual publication i~ offered .as pa,rt of an ongoing effort to proVIde both public officials and private organizations with comprehensive information on the U.S. motorcycle industry. The 1987 Motorcycle Stati~tical Annual may be ordered prepaid at a cost of $25 per copy from the MIC, Research & Statistics Dept. , 3151 Airway Ave., Bldg . pol, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, 714/241-9251. Motorcycle retail outlets and educational institutions may order the Annual at a special cost of $10 per copy, paid in advance. Bob Bagwell will host this year's Harl~y-Davidson Fall Roundup at Devil s Bowl Speedway in Dallas, Texas, on October 18. The annual extravaganza offers attendees an AMA-sanctioned half mile race, swap meet, field meet, antique and custom bike show; vintage ,!"otorcy.c.le racing, hel icopter rides, chili cook-off and musical entertainment. We're to ld that Liz Taylor will join Malcolm Forbes and his Capitalist Tools in a ride from Forbes' New J ersey estate to the Englishtown Raceway Park MX on Sunday, September 20. We're also told that Forbes will be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno the next night. America's wealthiest motorcyclist never sits still! Kees Van der Ven on a Yamaha? Wrong l Everyone knows the Dutch MX star rides a KTM . Everyone, that is, but t he editor who erred in editing our report on the Swiss round of the World Championship 500cc MX Series which ' appeared in last week's issue. Van der Ven won both motos of the Swiss GP and he was riding a KTM, just as he's done for years. Sorry, Kees. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa KTM. . ' C:,J.lifornia's ~akersfield Speedway WIll host the JImmy Lynch Benefit/ Memorial . Race on Friday nigh t, September 18. Lynch's long- time race career ended earlier this year w.hen he \\;'as fata lly injured in a bicycle accident, P roceeds will be prese~ted to his wife Pa t and daughter Trista. For more information call 805/323-7877. We erred in calling K&N 's Rob Hassey a Junior class dirt tracker in an In The Wind item in last week 's newspape r. Hassey informs us that after "years of hard work" he's earned enough points to be advanced to the Expert ranks. A ~poke~person for Los Angeles radio station KLOS (95.5 FM) voiced regret that a KLOS disc jockey encOl;raged listeners to open automobtle 'd oo r s and knock down motorcyclists who sp lit lanes o n so uthern California freeways. . An assistant to station manager Bill Summers said, "We're sorry about that. We're gettinga lot of complaints l can't refute you at all. We're in total agreement (that the statement should not have been made)." The anti motorcyclist comments were made Sel?tember 14 during the Mark and Bnan Show, which features disc jockeys Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps. ~ane splitting is legal in California: openmg automobile doors to oncoming traffic is not. Readers who wish to voice complaints may telephone KLOS at 213/ 557-7000. CORRECTION : In last week's report on the August 29 Sears Point (California) round of the AMA/Motoworld U.S. Endurance Road Race Series we said Hyper -Cycle 's Carry Andrew crashed just after the 100-mile mark and that the bike was too damaged to continue. Andrew called to say that he had pitted and turned the bike over to teammate Jeff Herzog who crashed. "The bike wasn't disabled. It was just scratched up , but Jeff didn't have the strength to start it or it j ust . wouldn't start, " said And rew. (Continued to page 4)

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