Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cycle News 1987 10 28

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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CCS p ro gram begins o n Saturday at 1:30 p.m. with n ine sprint races. Gates open a t 8 a. m. and adm ission is $6. Su nday 's p ro gram features th e end u ra nce race a nd five sprint races and admissio n is $10. The Speedway's ticket o ffic e will be open durin g the weekend a nd tickets for 1988 eve n ts, including Da yton a Cycle Week, will be availab le for purch ase. "- 00 CN ~ V ,.0 o ... u o Entries are now being acce p ted for th e Acerbis Plastica Italia-sponsored In cas, Ra ll y in Peru, South Am er ica, April 11-21, 1988. On ly 50 entries from th e U.S. will be acce p ted an d th e fee will be aproxim a tely $1,800. For m ore in form ation, contact Bill Berroth, c/o Acerbis Pl ast ica Italia , 619/ 562-1440. The AMA's Government Re lations Department recently testi f ied in favor of reestablishing motorcycle safety programs as a nationa l priority before the National Highway Traffic Safety Adm in istration (NHTSA). By being c lassified as a nationa l priority, the programs would then be eligible for federal funding. Should the NHTSA adopt motorcycle safety p rog rams as a nationa l prio rity, the programs would be el ig ib le for federal "402" funds, w hich are made available each yea r to states that request the funds for hig hway safety projects. Section 402 is also known as the State an d Co mmun i ty Highway Safety Grant Proqram. The AMA outlined f ive areas whic h the Association bel ieves are worthy of receiving fede ra l funds. Those areas of concern are : increased . rider education efforts, un iform lic en si n g sta n dards, alco ho l awareness, improved ac c ident data co llection methods and motorist awareness campaigns. Prior to 1982, motorcycle safety was considered by the NHTSA.to be a nat ional priority. That yea r saw a sh ift in programs to focus exclusively on automobile safety. The result was that states could no longer req uest federal funding for motorcycle safety programs. Such programs have a demonstrated record of improvi ng rider safety. Since 1982, rider educat ion programs have been userf unded. By provid ing federal funding throug h 402 funds, states will be able t o establish more efficient motorcycle licensing and testing . procedures and initiate motorist awareness programs. The G o ld Strike World Championsh ip H are & H ound, form erl y known as Whiskey Pete's Hare & Hound, will ta ke pl ace in Nevada J anuary ' 16. Harley-Davidson h as recalled '13 ,3 0 3 1987 FXR and XL Harleys because cracks could develop in f ron t and rear wheels, causing w he els to break. Dealers are replacing wheels . 2 The 9th An n ual Daytona Pro-Am road race meet is set for Octob er 24~ 25 a t Florida 's Daytona Internationa l Spee dway a nd more th an 800 en tries a lready are o n file, a record for the road ra ce event and a 26% increase over 1986.' Accord ing to AMA/CCS D irector Roger Edmondson, 742 riders met the p re-entry deadl in e for the CCS Races of Champions and 66 tea ms ha ve sig ned u p for th e 250m ile fina le of th e AMA/MotoWorld U .S. Endu ran ce Champi onship Road Race Series wh ich will take pl ace o n Su n day, Octob er 25. The Team Honda has announced that it will continue its part service to AMA licensed competitors using road race and dirt track (RS600 and RS750) equipment originally supplied by Team Honda. Honda also announced that it has four Kn ig ht chassis TT bikes f or sale for $5500 plus tax eac h, F.O.B. Carson, California. Each motorcyc le comes complete with an RS600D engine (628cc) and an engine kit allowing conversion of the engine to 600cc. Team Honda also has 17 RS600D (628cc) engines ava ilab le for sale fo r $2000 p l us tax each , F.O .B . Carson, California. Each engine i s sold with It kit which converts the eng ine to' 600cc, t he kit inclu des a crank, cyl inder, p iston and gaskets. For more in f orm at ion, contact M itsu Kaned a at Team Honda, 213 /604-2545. In addition to $8300 paid o u t d uri ng th e season , $ 16,700 wa s recently awarded by RK Chain to the top 20 riders in the RK Chain AMA MX Contingency Po ints Fund program. George Holland came up the big w in ner , ea rn ing $4 175 . Do n n y Sc hmit p icked u p second p lace m oney, totall ing $2672, a nd Erik Keh oe was th ird a nd ea rned $ 1670. Cycle News advertising salesman Tom G o nter was t he overall winner of the October 18 North Georgia Mountains 50cc Road Reliability Run. Team Corn Dog, of wh ich Gonter was a member, scored the Team class win. Team Corn Dog 's other members, Mike Church and Mark Mitchell, are also Cycle News advertising salesmen. Fifty-two riders com peted in the AMA-sanctioned "fun run." Mitch ell Communications, a full servi ce advertising and p ublic relations firm, has ope n ed offices in Dayton, Ohio. The firm is headed by Dw ight Mitch ell , wh o served with Penny/Ohlmann/Neimann Adver tisi ng for 17 years, handling the KK Mot orcycl e Supp ly nati onal accou n t. KK Motorcycle Supply will co ntin ue with Mitch ell as h is fir st client. Mitchell Commu n ica tons is lo ca ted a t Suite 600, Am erican Building , 4 So uth Main St., Dayton, OH 45402, 513/ 223-8481. The Willow Springs Motorcycle Assoc iation (WSMA) Formula USA Road Racing Championship w ill be decided at Cal ifornia 's W illow Springs International Raceway on November 1 . Defending champion Earl Roloff current ly leads Scott Gray by a, single point w ith on ly the November 1 race remaining. The winner w ill rece ive his share ofthe ' $ 15,000 point fund plus a new Toyota pickup truck . James Domay is cu rrently t hird in the points chase, 15 points be hind Ro loff; a win pays 20 poin ts. A Sports 2000 car race will also be featured at Willow on November Danforth abandons "Superbike" legislation WESTERVILLE, OH, OCT. 16 Conceding th a t his controversial bill th at cou ld have led to a ban on Japanese " sup erbikes" is "a dead-end street," Senator John C. Danforth has pledged to work with th e American Motorcyclist Associ ation (AMA) in drafting future motorcycle safety legislation. .. . In an exclusIv.e InterVIew.for th e Decem?er 1987 Iss,ue o f Amencan Mot orcy<;hst. rna gazme, sched u led for pub~l ca ~~on Nove m ber .1, Danfort h sai d, My original bill (T h e Mot o rcycle Safe~y Ac ~ of 1987) h~s about ,~s much life to It as last year s snow. T he senator aban~oned pl a ns to purs l;le th e. super bi ke b.a';! after ~ee ll ng WIth ,:\M A officia ls to dISCUSS o ther opnons for motC?rcycle safet y. H e th en to ld th e ASSOCIa tIOn, " Yo u ' come u p wit h a program th a t ma kes sense, a nd I will be del ighted to join with th e AMA in attempting to get it legisla ted. " I am interested in ma ilers o f hi 1 ft d t d ig I~a y ~a e y, an ex en to yo ~u o rg arn za u o 'n and your membership . . " a n m vi tau on to try to Im p ro ve " D f th dd d " d f a e , an we sarety, a nor hlaveet~ do it together; I can't do it a on . Danfo rth in di cated th at his decision was in flue nced by the large n u m ber of com ments h e ha s received on the legisla tion from m ot orcycl ists across the co u ntry. ''I' m totally overwhel med. Whe n I conduct a tow n mee ting ei ther. in person or over the telephone, it's a lmost certain tha t I'll get calls abo ut th e mot orcycle legislation," h e said. " T' ve a lways been very open to suggestio ns a nd co ns truc tive criticis m of anythin g. My hope is to try to m ak e the hi ghways safer. (Bu t) I think tha t obvious ly this bill is just a huge hornets ' nest." At the AMA 's su ggesti on, Dan forth ha s alrea dy written a stro ng lette r of su p port to th e Department ' o f Transportation fo r a n AMAsh ip after fin ishing seventh in th e final round, held at Don in g to n Park in England on September 27. Ferrari rode a Bimo ta to top defending cham p io n J Oey Dunlop by three points. The fin a l round was won by Suzuki's Paul Iddon; Californian Fr ed Merkel en ded up finishin g eig h th in the title ch ase. Cycle News; Inc. w ill begin publ i shi ng Motorcycle Road Racer Illustrated, a bi -monthly magazine featuring the racers and machines that make up the sport, in April, 1988. The magazine w ill cover international, national and club level road racing in a predominately four-color illustrated format that is unlike any motorcycle publication currently published in the Un ited States. Paul Carruthers has bee n named edi tor of Motorcycle Road Racer Illustrated and is accepting resumes for a qualified motojournalist to serve as assistant editor. Resumes should be sent to Cycle News, lnc., ATTN : Paul Carruthers, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801-0498. 1. Italian Virgin o Ferr ari wo n th e 1987 TT Formula One Wor ld Champion- T eam Honda an nounced its official m ot ocro ss ra ce team for th e 1988 N ational a n d Su p ercross sea so n. backed pl an to ge t mo torcycle safety J:?rograms inclu~ed on th e priortity list for federal hi gh way safe ty f.un~s. H e a lso expressed a keen desire III furthering o u r mutual interest in safe r m ot orcylin g. " I think one th ing is clear from . th is exercise," Danforth said. " With o u t yo u r su p port, without yo ur energetic su p port, nothing is go ing to happen. " My ai des have been instructed to co me up with a lte rnatives, to co me u p with ,better ideas a nd work th em ou t with you. You've got th e interest in it, since most p eopl e who don 't id t I 'r e oi t be : 1. e mo orcyc es a ren going 0 in jured by ~otorcycl~s .. The people who are gOI1~g to be in jured are the people who n de the m. They ar~ you r ~embers. You ha ve th e cons~l.tuent mterest an d yo u h ave the ab ility to comm u nicate with yo ur mem bers. Wh a t I t t0 say IS th a t as far . wan , d ' · b as I m co nce rne , the suggesnon ox . " Jie said " I hi k b ~~~fJ~;ve ~;~e iive~ t~~et~::. ..e we . AMA Presid ent Ed Youngb lood , . re~pon~ing to Danforth's com me nts, sa id, We are g ra tef u l tha t th e senator has re-evalua ted hi s position on th is l egi sl ~ti on , and we we~ come th e opportu m ty t? dr~ ft mean in gful federal safety legi slat ion for mot or cychsts r •We c~rtamly look forward . to workmg WIth Sen at or Danforth an d other m embers of"Co ngress on these Important Issues . . " I a m a lso proud of th e m any AMA member s a n d o ther motorcyclist s across th e co u n try who took th e time to write to Senator Danforth a nd o ther members of hi s com m ittee to exp ress th eir views on th e matter. This is a victory for every one wh o rides a moto rcycle," Youngb lood sa id. • Ri ck J oh nso n, th e 1987 250 and 500cc N ational MX Champion , will remain with the team and will be joined by three new riders. George H olland, who fin ished second in the 125cc National s in 1987 for Team Suzuki, will compete in the 250cc Su percross and 125cc Nat ionals for T eam Honda, a long w ith Guy Cooper. J eff Leisk, who rode for T eam Yamaha in 1987, will ride for T eam Honda in the 250cc Supercross a nd th e 250 a nd 500cc Nationals . Micky Dymond" t he 1986 and 1987 125cc MX National Champion, has left Team Honda . According to reliable sources, ,D ym ond has inked a deal with ' Yamaha to ride the 1988 250cc Supercross series and the 250 and 500cc outdoor Nationals. T om my Watts (Kaw) won th e 500cc Pro class at th e final round of the CM ClDodge Truck Trans-Cal Series a t Carlsbad, California , and al so took th e 500cc seri es title. Mike Kiedrowski (Kaw) wo n the 250cc Pro class, but it was Willie Surratt (Suz) who too k the title with 8-7 rides. In • th e 125cc Pro class, Bader Manneh (Kaw) took the overall victory and (Con ti n ued to page 41)

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