Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126996
$-; v ..0 S v u v Cl Randy Hawkins (H us) captured th e overa ll victory at th e T ecate 250K Enduro in T ecate, Baja California, Mexico , December 5. H a wkin s dropped 25 points edging Larry Roeseler (Kaw) by on e. Third place went to Dave Bertram (H us) with Rick Da n iel (Yam), Fritz Kadlec (Kaw), Brent Wallingsford, Grant Palanske (Hon), Ed Arnet (H o n), Dan Smith (H us) and Pete Postel (Hon) ro un di ng ou t th e top 10. Kadlec won the 125cc class with Bertram topping th e Open class. Mark Manniko (Fan) won the Schreiber Cup trials event held on December 5 , near Temecula, California. Mann iko returned the following day for the Trial de Espana at the same location and walked away with the Expert class w in . Dennis Adams, 48, of Victorville, California, died 7:30 p.m. November 28 after co mpe ting In the first leg of th e Barsto w- to- Vegas H are & Hound. Adams reportedl y cras hed thr ee tim es before dropping o ut of . the competitio n at the first gas sto p , dr ove to the finish lin e with his famil y, and later died of an apparent heart attac k aft er returning to his Victorville h ome. " T he ca use of death is pending," said a spokesman for th e, San Bernardino Count y Coroner. " We don 't kn ow if it had an ything to do with th e ra ce or not. " As reported last week, J ohn Robert U nderh ill , 46, of Sh erman Oaks , California, suffered fatal , multiple, internal injuries during th e race in a solo acciden t. The deaths marked th e first Bvto- V-relat ed fatalities since 1972. Two-time World Champion Eddie Lawson competed , in a S uperbikers-type race in Bologna, Ita ly , on December 6 , but crashed . Italian motoc rosser Fabrizio Pirovan i won the event. Road racer Mik e Baldwin was sche duled to test th e 250cc Aprilia in Mugello, Italy, on Decemb er 5-6, acco rding to Team MacLean 's Bob MacL ean . Baldwin will test both the old and new model (the new Aprilia features a V-t w in p owerpl an t ) Ro tax-pow ered bikes. There is a p o ssibil ity th at Ba ldw in a n d MacL ean will be abl e to secure a deal wit h Aprilia to use the bikes during th e 1988250cc World Ch ampionship season. Aprilia ha s alread y secured th e services of Loris Regianni for 1988; Regianni finished sixth in th e 1987 250cc World Ch ampionship on an Aprilia, scoring a Grand Prix win in the process. AFM road racer Richard Moore recently returned from the Milan, Ita ly motorcycle show where he worked with Pirelli . Moore says the Italian firm has commited to work with Dennis Smith of Vance & Hines Racing and Moore in hope of further establishing themselves on the club road racing circuit here in the United States. 2 The California Superbike Sch ool will offer beginning road racers th e chance to become fully-sponsored road racers wi th its new challenge series in 1988. Riders who attend one of Keith Code's adv an ced road racing schools, and wh o ha ve never held a race license before 1988 or raced in any organized road race, can ra ce their own motorcycle in on e of two classes (0-600 and 600-0pen ) throughout the season a t Willow Springs Internat ion al Raceway in Ros amond, Cal ifornia. The rider wh o accu m ulates the most poin ts during th e season will be sponsored in the 1989 WSMA Formula U.S.A 600cc class wi th a fu lly-modified Kawasaki 600 Ninja, paid en tries , Dunlop race tires and Daeco gas for ' each ro und. They will also receive a Shoei helmet, Kushi tani leathers, boots and gloves an d a parts budget. Road racer Doug Polen has signed a contract to use Dun lop t ires again in 1988. Po len, w ho won both c lasses at the S uzuk i GSXR Nat ional C up S e r ie s fi n a ls in Riverside, California , in October and a lso took th e AMA /EBC Brakes Supersport t itle, ha s been inst ru me nt a l in the devel o pm e nt of Dun lop's DOT-approved K591 . Polen will a lso use the company's radial sl icks in A MA S uperb ike racing in 1988. Dunlop ha s a lso announced that it w ill be the exclusive motorcycle ti re sponsor of the 1988 Suz uk i GSXR National Cup Series. AI Huth, the owner of AI Huth Harl ey-Da vidson i n Black River Fall s, Wisconsi n , passed a way December . 2 in Black River Falls. Huth, 59, had ow ned the dealership since 1965. AMA/Camel Pro Series Superbike Champion Wayne Ra iney and AMA 250cc Gra nd Prix Champion John Koc inski left for Malays ia on December 2 t o compete for Te a m Lucky Strike Roberts in an internetional road ra ce meet on December 6. Sketchy reports indi c a t e that both Ra iney and Koc inski came away w ith a win apiece on the t eam's 500cc Vfours . The ra ce was the first by Kocinski on a 500cc machine. Ra iney's teammate-to-be in the 1988 GPs, Austra lian Kevin Magee, was reported ly on hand for the event, b ut did not race. Despite rumors of retirement plans, 250cc World Ch ampion Anton Mang will return to GPs in 1988 to defend hi s titl e. The West German ro ad racer will again ride H ondas under th e Rothmans banner. Ric k Johnson (Ho n ) won two of t hree superc ross events in Paris, France, December 2 -4. Opening nig ht action saw Johnson beat Kawasaki teammates Jeff Ward and Ron Lech ien . During the second night of racing, Ward took t he win w ith Johnson secondand o n the t hird night Johnson won with Ward second . Micky Dymond (Yam) finished th ird on the second night w ith Jeff Leisk (Ho n) taking the show position on the final night. Ron Lechien (Kaw) topped Rick Johnson (Hon) in th e Bologna, Italy, . round of th e Masters of Motocross Series on Su nday, December 6. ,Despite finishing 13th in Italy, Erik Geb oers (H on) leads J ohnson by 10 points with only one round remaining in the series. Merle Karst, vice president/sales and marketing for Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A., was recently . elected chairman of the board for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. Karst is the fourth chairman elected in the 1 5 -year history of the Foundation. "I am proud to serve on the board of trustees of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, particularly in view of the Foundation 's accomplishments since its founding in 1973," said Karst. "We will continue to encourage new and experienced riders to le a rn and im p ro ve skills, and to heighten safety aware- ness. " Bryan Villella, th e 1987 AMA Junior Dirt Track Champion and Camel Pro Seri es Rookie of the Year , will co ntes t the '88 AMA National Champ ionshi p 600cc Dirt T ra ck Series a nd selected road races, according to hi s tu ner and sponsor, Mike Camphouse. The Florida Gold Cup MX Series Awards Banquet w ill be held at the Hawa iian Inn in Daytona Beach , Florida, on Saturday , December 19. For more informat ion, c all 813/822-8929 . The 18th Annual Florida Winter AM MX Series will kick off at Brooksvill e with' a two-day am at eur event on Decem ber 26-27. The n ext fou r weekends will see th e series feature both am at eur and professional racing and the promoters will run the "A" classes on Saturday wh ich will enable riders involved in th ose races to com pe te with th e pros on Sunday. In addition to th e Pro classes, the 125cc Youth (12-15) and th e Plus 25 classes will run on Sunday, as will the Senior class. Th e Cal ifornia Off-Road Ve hic le Assoc iation's (C O R VA ) 1988 Convention w ill be held at the C la rion Hotel in Ontario , Californ ia , March 4 -6. Senator H.L. Richardson, the founder of the Pro Desert Coalition, will be the convention's guest speaker. Fo r more information, contact CORVA, 1601 10th si.. Sacrambento, CA 95814, 800/2375436. ' H elena Leitner of ATK will celebrate her 21st birthday on Friday, December I l', according to Jake Thompson of Showa American, wh o sent us th e information along with th e following: "This is my birthday gift to her. Please put it in In The Wind if at all possible." We'll see what we can do, Jake. Happy birthda y,.Helena! Trail -Way Speedway will host its 10th Annual Moto-Rama Race and Show Exposition at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Ha rrisburg, December 16-20. Flat t ra ck and supercross races w ill be held . For more info rm at io n, contact Trail-Way Speedway at 717/ 359-4310. We in correctly gave credit for being the trailboss of the Nov ember 15 Sandy Lane Enduro in New Je rsey to Dal e Freitas. Dale handled th e scoring while Doug Benson was the trailboss of the Meteor M.C. -hosted even t. Harley-Davidson 's Ride Free program which guarantees a tradeup va lue at participating dealers of $3995 for the Sportster' XLH883 has been extended another model year. Under the conditions of the program, when any Sportster 883 (purchased new before July 31 , 1988) is traded within one Y!Jar of initial purchase for a new, unregistered FX or FL model Harley, a trade-in allowance of $3995 will be allowed. For those of you who remember attending shows in the Daytona Beach Armory (and perhaps listening to the likes of Floyd Clymer extolli ng th e merits of the Mammoth Munch th at was di spl ayed in the armory's men 's room one year! ), it'll be deja vu time come Daytona Cycle Week '88. On Saturday, March 5, J erry Wood will be holding a Vintage Auction and Swap Meet at the Daytona Beach Armory. Wood runs th e Penquin Road Ra cing School in New England and he's an industrial auctioneer. For an inform ation pack , call 617/ 339-7790. Reports from Europe indi cat e that 1987 500cc, and '80 and '82 250cc Wo rld Motocross Champion Georges Jobe w ill campaign t he 125cc class in 1 9 8 8, hoping, t o become the first rid e r to win all three (1 2 5 , 250 and 500cc) World Championships. The Honda rider, however, will have compet ition. Hoping to achieve the same goal in 1988 w ill be the 1987 250cc, and ' 8 2 and '83 125cc World Champion, Erik Geboers. Geboers will campaign the 500cc GP series in 1988. The lat est regarding th e 1988 World Championsh ip Road Race Series is that Suzuki has reportedly secu red Pep si-Col a as th e team 's sponsor for 1988. Accordi ng to reliabl e sources, th e team has also signed Eng land's Rob McElnea to join T exan Kevin Schwanu o n Suzuki's new 500cc Vfours for the 1988 Grand Prix season . McElnea rode for T eam Marlboro Agostini in 1987, finishing lOth in the 500cc World Championship with 39 points. The big Brit is current ly in Australia competing in th e Swann Insu rance Series o n a Marlborosponso redY a m a h a IFZR I006: Suzuki's Ron Tichenor, the 1987ยท Eastern Regional 125cc Supercross Champion, injured his left knee in the November 29 Japan Supercross in Tokyo. Tichenor returned to the U.S . and on Wednesday, December 2, underwent surgery to repair the ligament and cartilage damage. San Francisco (Ca lifornia) Chronicle column ist Jon Carroll launched an uninformed yet vicious; tongue-in cheek attack on ATV riders in the northern California new spaper 's December I edition. In his first paragraph, Carr oll rep orted that, " r ep r esen ta ti ves of T oyota , the world's largest manufacturer of allterrain veh icles (ATVs), are meeting with go vern ment officia ls to solve certain safety problems associated wi th sai d veh icles. ' Carroll then described ATV riders as taking, "abo u t nine six packs ou t int o the . gor~eou s and fragi le landscape of the MOjave or Son ora or Nevada deserts, and th en th ey ride around like crazy destroying del icate wildflowers, animal habitats and indian artifacts. U nfort u nately, the se machines are not overly stable. ..so there's a lot of death and paraplegia and stuff. And now the government wants to stick its dirty fingers in and make ATVs safer. Candidly now; honestly, now: Aren 't the se the people we want to kill? Aren't we doing th e gene pool a favor? So I say to th e Feds: Butt out. Let them litter the desert wit h each other's bodies." Off-road riders may send letters of protest to th e San Francisco Chronicle , 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103.