Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

a ny questions abo ut th e 'riders or racing to come to the tower and he would an swer th em. I didn 't feel there was a consta nt hype of U.S. patriotism a t Unadilla as Mr. Leverin g mentioned. O ur team came from behi nd to beat the best in the worl d; they deserved th e glory. ' Ma iers has always done a good job. As far as I'm concern ed he can handle the a nno uncin g a ny ti me. ~ America's motorcycle newspaper 00 CN Volume XXIV l-4 l1,) ..0 o .... u o Sharon Clayton . Publisher Mike Klingn,Compi m l1n Skip Johnson, Associate Publisher! National Sales Managt!T _ Jack Man~s.lfssociate Publisher/Editor R heba Sm ith. Circulation Man agtT Caroline Oe ndrv . Executive Secretary to th l! Pub lish er Edit o rial Kit Palm er. AssociateEditor Paul Carruthers. Associate Edit or Farren Williams, Associate Edito r Nat e Raub a, Associate Edit or Edwina Man gu s. Calenda r Ed itor Advertising Terry Pr att Sales Managn Mark Thome. Sales Mana gn Mike Chu rch . Eastern Sa les Man agtT Mark Mitchell, Eastern Sales Mana gn Thomas R. Comer, Eastern Sa lt's Ma nagt!T Cathy Corrao Westt'm Ad Coordinator Car la Borden , Eastern Ad Coo rdin ator Toni Dcneske, A dve1' isi ng A.u isstan t t Graphics and Production Mal col m W ilson .Production ManageT Diana Hilgenberg, Graphic Artist Peggy Sm ith, Gmphic ATtist SUet')· G UO I. G raphic Artist J im mie O'Odl. Grap hic A rtist Marion Hatasbita, T ypesell rr Caro lyn Bran ham , T ytNsdter Dennis Grttne,1...Db. T ech. I'd like to respond to th e ISDE coverage in the October 14 issue. I don't think peop le rea lize wha t reall y goes on a t th e Six Days. The repo rt portrays me and th e U.S. team as being nothing more tha n chea ters. In fact , wh at I did was agains t FIM rul es, bu t it is nothing uncommon in Six Days compe titio n. Ri ght or wrong, if we are to be com pe ti tive at the ISDE these kind of ac tions are so me ti mes n ecess ary. It is ver y difficult to get six guys a nd th eir motorcycles to fini sh a 750-m ile even t. T he Europeans ha ve this unwritten rule to get a rid er and his bike to finish a ny way possible. If to have a chance of winning means switching riders or motorcycles, so be it. Some people might see it differently, but I feel wh at we did is to make a mov e to be co mpetitive just like an y other team has done. Crashing and breaking my hip ga ve away the true story, bu t I also wonder what th e a ttitude wou ld ha ve been if it had worked ou t and we had won th e World Trophy. I wa nt 10 see public land left open to the publ ic, not closed up so some elit ist can have a million acres all to himself. I a m as king you, as an off-roa der a nd as a n Ameri can who wan ts your side to be effectively represented in Con gress, io send a ca m pa ign co ntribu tio n . I kn ow th e preservationists will be send ing cont ri bu tio ns to my very libera l oppone n t. I will still fight for wha t I believe in wh ether or not you send me a co nt ribut ion. But unless you a nd ot her off-roa ders take out your checkboo ks and spend a few do llars to help th ose who are willing to help yo u, th en th e preserva tionists will con tin ue to mak e o ur public lands their private preserve for next to nothing. Please mail a co nt ribu tio n to: The Lowell Landow ski For Congress Committee, 7422 Carella Dr., Sacra mento, CA 95822. Include a separa te piece of pa per wit h you r occu pa tio n and name of your em ployer if the contribu tio n is 25 or more (th is is required by state law ). ALA N RANDT La nsing, MI LOW ELL LAN DO WSKI Sacramento, CA ISDE: The other side Accounting /Data Processing Donna Bryan . Acets R eceiva ble Coordinator ~neva Repass, A.ssistant Fra n Ha m wey. Credit Circulation Jim Kosta, R etail Sales Ma nager Sara h Taylor. A.ssistant Alma Angu ian o. A.ssistant Cheri Chapman. Assistant Ma n ta Adams. Assistant Want Ads Debbie Winkler. Wan t Ad Sales Service and S upport Ch ris Aitcheson . He adquarters R eceptio nist Leo nard Herr in g, Seroi ce and S uppo rt National Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave.. Long Beach. CA 90806. P.O . 80 . ,198. Lo ng Beach , CA 9080 1-0498 (213) 427·7433: 213/ 636-8844. FAX (213) 427-6685 Eastern Office 4 190 First Ave.• T ucker. G A, 30084; mai lin g address P.O . 80. 805. T ucker. GA 30085· 0805. (404) 934· 7850. I FAX (404) 934-3 112 Cycle N~s (US PS 141.340) is p';blished weekly except the Iirst a nd lasl week o f the ca lendar year lor $52.00 per year by Cycle News. In c.• 220 1 Cher ry Aven ue. Lo ng Beach. CA 90806. Second class postage paid OI l Lo ng Beach . CA. a nd additional mailing orfj cn. POSTMASTER : Send f orm 3 5 7 9 t o Cycle News. P.O . Bo x 498. Long Beach, CA 90801·0498 . Subscription rates: One year . second class mail . $52.00. Cycle News welcomes unsolicited ed itoria l material incl udi n g stories. cartoons. photos, etc. Such material. if publis hed , becomes th e exclusive pro~y ol Cvcl e News, Such Ole;· cepted ma teria l IS subject to revrs aon as IS necessary in the sole discretion of Cycle News. Unso licited material which is not used will be ret u rned il accompa n ied by a self addressed sta mped en velope. All un sol icit ed material will be handled with reasonable ca re, ho wever, Cycle New s assum es no respons ibility: for th e ~f~ly -.loss or damage to suc h mat erial. Rep ri n ti n g 10 whole o r pa ri o nly by permissio n of th e p ub lis her . Adver tis ing rates and ci rculation information will be sent upon req uest, See S.R. D.S . . Copyright" Cycl e News, Inc . 1 9 87 . Tra de-mark Cycle News reg istered U.S . Patent Office. All righ ts reserv ed. SPA Con sume r Audit Division Membership Applied For December 1986. ON THE FRONT PAG E: U.S . 'Senator John C. Danforth last w eek abandone d plans to purs ue his 1987 Motorcyc le Saf ety Act. wh ic h would have placed performance limits on superbi kes; see pag e 2 . 4 Campaign trail Wh y is it th at wh en it comes to legislation, the Sierra Club a nd the rest of the preservationists always seems to come out on top, wh ile th e olf-roa ders end up with th e sho rt end of the stick? The reason is because th e preservationists really su ppo rt their friends in elected office. Sena tor Alan Cranston, a kn own friend of th e preservationist s, is pushing a bill ?il. ed 57. 57 wou l~ l designate 8.8 mi lli on acres of CalI - ' fornia desert land as Wildern ess, to be man aged by the National Parks Service and 'the Bureau of Land Management. Only 4.6 mi lli on acres of th e current 12.1 million acres of general public use BLM land would . be left under the preserva tionists' 57. I am ab solutely opposed to 57. I am a candida te for Congress, but I am no friend of th e preservati onists so I will not ge t a ny ca mpaign con tributions from them. I a m a professional off-road veh icle expert. I am a certified soil scientist wh o has worked in th e Californ ia Department of Pa rks and Recrea tion O ffH igh way Vehi cle Program for six years. I know the facts and I kn o w how th e preserva tionists like to distort the truth , and I kn ow ho w to reveal the truth ! Those off-roaders who have wo rked wi th me kn ow th at I will always sta nd up for the right s of the off-roaders, even whe n I have to take a lo t of heal to do it. T he man I am running aga ins t is Rob ert Matsui. H e has been targeted for defeat by the Ca liforn ia Republican Party as o ne of th e 10 most lib era l congressme n in California. I was th e 1986 Republican nom in ee for the 3rd Congressional District, a nd I was unanimously endorsed by the California Rep ublica n Co ngressio na l Caucus. In 1986 both th e Na tio na l Rifle Association and the Bibl ical Candi da tes scorecard gave me 100% positive ratings on my positio ns. Get off your buns This letter is for all of us wh o ha ve some th ing else to do on Sunday than watch football on the tube. . The football stri ke has crea ted co mp laints fro m fans. Personall y, I a m glad that m y Su n days, a n d Saturdays too, include going to the desert wi th friend s to rid e or race dirt bik es. If the honorabl e Sen ator Alan Cranston's Bill , 57, passes a nd miles of "our" precious desert are closed off to various uses, wi ll thi s mean I wi ll jo in the ra nks of co mp laining football fa ns wh o ar e forced to wat ch last year's football games? Gee, we had better get off our bruised buns and fire off those letters -now! SCOTT NICOLITZ Whittier, CA Lifts us above I would like to congratulate you o n your new Cycle Dreams co lumn by William Edgar. Hi s co lu mn lifts us abo ve legi slati on and stim ula tes o ur brains a nd imagina tio n. JIM FIKE Honda Esco nd ido Escondido, CA Maiers anytime I d isagree with Mr. Levering's remarks abo ut La rry Maiers in th e Voices section in issu e #38. H e didn 't mention tra ck co n d itio ns a t Unadilla in hi s letter. They were a t thei r wor st. After one lap bikes and riders were comp letely covered with mud. It would have been tough for a nyo ne to identify the Eu ropeans or gi ve the team s ta n d i n~s im mediately after th e race. Wh at did he ex pect? As for Mr. Leverin g sayi ng th at Mai er s la ck s ge ne ra l m otocr o ss kn owl edge, well , that just doesn 't was h . One G a to rb ack Na tio na l stands out in my mi nd. At that event Mai ers told the fans that if they had H UGH GATLI N Dal evill e, AL BLM may cite AMA/District 37 for trespass LONG BEACH', CA, o cr. 19 Th e 'Ca l ifo rn ia Bu rea u of Land Ma nagem ent (BL M) has issued a notice of trespass and m a y cite AMA/ Distri ct 37 because an officia l in cha rge of the Barstow -to -Veg as race co u rse ordered unauthorized grading of a . port ion of the co urse o n pub lic lands In the Ca lifornia desert. BLM officia ls " may pr oceed with legal actio n" aga ins t District 37 for unauthor ized grad ing of a 5.5:mile sectio n of the B-to-V course which passes thro ugh the EaSI Moj a ve Scenic Area. BLM State Dir ector Ed Hastey reported ly wi ll mee t wi th Desert District Ma nager Gerry H ill ier this wee k to discuss whe ther or n o t pena lt ies wi ll be assessed agai nst the d istrict. AMA officia ls do not believe th a t fu rt her action agai nst the district wi ll result in th e cance llation of th e an n ual 170-mile desert class ic. " We consi der thi s to be a serio us tresp ass," sa id Hillier, " a nd we are extremely conce rned. It is unfortunate that th is took p lace. We can not condo ne un authorized . ac tio ns th a t ignore the public revie w process." T he gra di ng, whi ch took p lace abo ut four mil es sou theas t of Baker , betw een Kelbak er Road a nd Intersta te 15, is required under the race perm it for the 1986 event, acco rd ing to Rob Rasor, vice presid ent of go vern men t relat ions forthe AMA. "As part of th e 1986 permit, th e district was req uired to d rag a fivemile sectio n of the co urse one week prio r to the 1987 event," said Rasor " Ric k Ha mmel, chief of the course, mad e the decision to do it six weeks prior to th e event." " My ph ilosop hy, when I authori zed the gradi ng, was to clea n up what we did last year to red uce the impact of thi s coming year, " said H ammel. "(The gradi ng that was done) is IO-feet wide. It's no t a road. It 's noth ing more, nothing less, than trai l mainten an ce," which H ammel said is req ui red by the 1986 permi t. " We do not have a permi t for the 198 7 race," H am m el admi tted. " We're still in the enviro nmental assessme nt process. When deal in g with the BLM in 1985, we ag reed that it was not a good idea to do it (grading) so close to race tim e." The BLM 's environ men tal assess- m ent reco gn ized a n a lter na tiv e which incl uded th e need for gra ding in the a rea to m in imize impacts a nd avoid havin g participa nt s stray off the co urse to find smoothe r ground. The Bureau cri tici zed District 37, how ever, for us ing a bla de which created a six-inc h berm on each side of the 5.5· mi le section before the pu bl ic review a nd comment per iod had closed fo r the assessment and , before th e BL M had approved the a pplica tion for the race or issued a

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