Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Di ck Bu rl eso n a nd H u sq varn a Motorcycles have ended a more than tD 15-year association th at saw Burleson garner a record eigh t Nati onal Championship enduro titles on the Swedi sh bikes. The par ting of the ;j ways ca me when Cagi va North l::' America, th e impor ter and distributor o f Husqvarn a m otorcycl es, ~, closed the Ohio racing headquarters ' i whe re Burleson served as Husqvarna' s racing team manager. Burleson graduat ed from th e Un iversity of Michi gan wit h a Bachelor of Science . in Engin eering degree in May, 1972 and was immediat ely hired by Husqvarna. ''I' m going to Florida for a vacation," said Burleson , " and th en I'll be awaiting a new opport u ni ty in th e mo torcycle indust ry." Burl eson can be reached at 614/855-9239. C ro ro RESIGNED: len Foster. Yamaha Southeast Regional Sales Manager. effective December 18; Foster and his w ife will be em igrating to Australia where they'll open and operate a dive shop; Neil Jordan will succeed Foster as the new Southeast Reg ional Sa les Manager. R ESIG N ED: AI Parker, U.S. Suzuki Vice President of Mot orcycle Sales, o n Decemb er 8; Parker had been employed by U.S. Suzuki for over 20 years as a di stri ct sales .man ager, . reg io nal ' sales rrianager, assi sta nt nation al sales ma nager, and nat ion al sales ma nager prior to his appointment as Vice President of Mo tor cycle Sales. ' Earl Smith of the California -based American Road Racing Association (ARRA) tells us they're in .escrow on 640-acres on which t hey i n t en d to bui ld a mu lti pu r p o se racing fac i lity . The acreage is in southern California's l ockw ood Valley and plans call for the construction .of a 2.25-mile road race course, a dirt track oval. and an off-road course. j oh n Lassa k Racing, buil der o f i Yam ah a RZ 350 race pipes, ha s for med a two-rider team to contes t th e AMA Castro l 250cc G rand P rix Ch am pi on ship Series for 1988. Lassa k h a s sec u re d th e services o f England's Alan Carter and northern Ca lifornia 's Rich Ol iver; bo th will ride Yam aha TZ250s tuned by Lassak. The team is cu rren tly seeking sponsorsh ip; in terested parties ca n cont ac t Dain Gingerelli at 71 4/7859420. Superb ike ra ces as his European schedu le will allo w. If that is th e case a nd Suzuki's perm ission is gra nte d, Schwa ntz could be seen at Road Atlanta (May 15), Lo udon (J une 19), Laguna Seca (J u ly 10), and Brainerd (July 31). That mea ns he wo ul d miss three of the eig h t AMA Nationa ls. Acco rd i n g to Su zuk i officia ls, Sch wa n tz' Yoshi m ura Superbi ke wi ll co me directl y fro m J apan for Dayto na a nd an y o ther Nation als th e T exan can compe te in . Bubba Shobert recent ly completed a three-day test session at Florida 's Daytona International Speedway. Shobert tested his Honda VFR750 Superbike and both Dunlop and Michelin tires. "We tested Michelin on Friday and they were bas ically the same as what Kevin (Schwantz) used this year. They were new to me because I'd never used a 17-inch rear before. They worked really good ." The other two days were spent testing 18-inch rear Dunlops which Shobert said were similar to those used by Randy Mamola in the final Grands ,Prix of the '87 season . "They 'also worked well, but I'm leaning more towa rd Michelin because most of my competition will be using Dunlop. I would rather go with . someone else ." Shobert reportedly turned times in the 1 :57 range on both brands of rubber, and was joined by Doug Polen, Reuben McMurter, Jay Springstee n, Gene Church and Roger Reiman during the Dunlop test. Shobert also reports that there is a chance he will be riding a 250 at Daytona and laguna Seca . "Nothing is guaranteed, and I .can 't obligate a 250 team for the season in case the Camel po ints get real close. " Team Maclean's Bob Maclean is known to be in terested in putting the Grand National Champion on a 250 in the hopes of grooming him for a World Championship effort in 1989. As for Shobert's dirt track effort in 1988, he said, "We've moved everything from L.A. to the Indy race shop and we will run the road race and dirt track program from there. Skip (Eaken) and M ike Velasco ' wi ll have apartments there for the season. I ' ll be there off and on, how much just depends on how smooth everything goes." Shobert will be snow skiing in Steamboat Springs for five days in December before head ing for Texas for Chris~mas. Pepsi -Cola Suzuki 's Kevin Schwantz and Rob McElnea will .t ravel to Japan to test the new 500cc V-four Suzuki road racer prior to Ch ristmas. The five-day test session will , begin on ' December 17; the trip cancels out : plans for Schwantz' snow skiing trip with AMA Grand National Champion Bubba Shobert. 2 Team Lu cky Stri ke Roberts' Wayne Rainey recently won two races in Mal asyia during hi s first ou ting on a Yamaha YZR500, topping teammate J ohn Kocinski wh o ended up with two seconds. " It was pr ett y good," Rainey said from his home in Downey, Californ ia. " It's a lot different tha n a superbike. It gets to the corners quicker, turn s q ui cker and stops q uicker. I got a chance to ride in the rain (with rain tires), in the dry and in the rain with slicks, so I got a littl e of everything over th ere. We ha d fun. I ended up going faster than (Ra ndy) Mamola did last year, but the races weren' t G Ps and the big boys weren't there." Rainey recen tly purchased a 36-foo t motor - , home to use in Europe during th e 1988 G P season. With th e first two road race Grands Prix in South Ameri ca more than likely to be aborted, Kevin Schwantz will be seen aboard a Yoshimura Suzuki GSX R750 Superbike at Daytona on March 6, 1987. Schwantz has also said that he will enter as many AMA National , Cha mp io ns h ip Stop the pressesl That's what we yelled when the following schedules arrived just as we were about to go to press with this big end-of-the-year Silver Anniversary issue of Cycle News. The R.J . Reynolds Tobacco Co. will again payout $475,000 in the Camel Pro Series. Each Camel Pro round will feature a $17,500 Camel Challenge race and series competit ors w ill be racing for a share of the $ 160,000 point fund that awards the Camel Pro champ $100.000. With the races already ,on the Grand National Championship and 600cc National Champio nship Dirt Track Series schedu les and additional events which are expected to be added, the tota l avai lable to dirt track racers in purse money alone should top $1 million in '88. The new 600ge National Championship Dirt Track Series features 600cc fourstroke, single-cylinder bikes and the races are opento both Expert and Junior class riders. 1988 AMA/Camel Pro Series 3/6 Daytona Beach. FL AA 5/15 Atlanta. GA AA 5/22 ' San Jose. CA M Louisville, KY HM 6/4 6/19 Loudon. NH AA 6/26 E lkhart Lake, WI AA 7/16 Parkersburg, WV HM 7/2 4 DuQuoin. IL M 7/3 I Brainerd. MN AA 8/7 Lexington, OH AA 8/2 I Peoria. IL rr 8/28 Sonoma. CA AA 9/4 Springfield. IL M 9/11 Syracuse. NY M 9/24 Gardena. CA HM 10/ 1 Sacrame nto. CA M Schedule subject to change 1988 AMA National Championship Dirt Track Schedule ST 1/2 3 San Francisco. CA 600 ancisco. CA n 600 , 1/2 4 San Fr 3/5 Daytona Beach, FL ST 600 4/10 Woodstock. GA ST 600 4/16 Sacramento. C A M GNC rr 600 4/23 'G ardena. CA 4/30 Phoenix. AZ HM 600 5/7 Gardena. CA HM GNC 5/14 Castle Aock. WA rr 600 5/2 2 ' San Jose. CA ,M G NC 5/28 Springfield. IL ST 600 5/29 Springfield. IL M GNC/600 6/4 ' Louisville, KY HM GNC 6/ I 2 Peoria. IL rr 600 6/24 Hinsdale. IL ST 600 6/25 Lima. OH HM GNC/600 7/3 Middletown. NY HM GNC 719 Hagerstown. MD HM GNC/60 0 7/ 15 Parkersburg. WV HM 600 7/1 6 ' Parkersburg WV HM GN C 7/24 "Ilufluain, IL M GNC 8/6 Ashland. OH HM 600 8/ 13 Sturgis. SD ST 600 8/ 19 Hamburg. NY HM GNC 8/21 ' Peoria. IL rr GN C 8/27 Indianapolis. IN M GNC 8/28 Indianapolis. IN M G /60 0 NC 9/3 Springfield. IL ST 600 9/ 4 ' Springfield. IL M G NC 9/11 ' Syracuse. NY M G NC 91 18 San .J ese, C A M G NC 9/24 'G ardena. CA HM G NC 10/ 1 ' Sacramento. CA M GNC 10/ 15 Mesquite. TX \ HM 600 ' Indicates Camel Pro Series event Schedule subject to change 1988 AMA National Championship Aoad RIce Schedule 3/6 Daytona Beach. FL 5/15 Atlanta. GA 6/19 Loudon. NH 6/26 E lkhart Lake. WI 7/10 Monterey, CA 7/31 Brainerd MN , 8/7 Lexington DH . 8/28 Sonoma, CA Schedule subject to change AMA/Castrol 250cc Gra nd P rix rider Andy Leisner has secured a 1988 Aprilia AFI250 for use in the 1988 series . Leisner, who fin ished 12th in the '87 series, said, " T he bike has proven itself in Europe by winning a G P th is year so it will just be up to me to perform. I've been working really ha rd during th e off-season." Aprilia has ma de 30 of the AF l2 50s (iden ticalto those used in the 1987 Grand Prix series) to sell in 1988. Factory rider Loris Reggiani, however, the Italian who gave Aprilia its . first GP win, will be riding a new, twin -crank, V-twin version of the AF I250 in the '88 GPs. Jo in ing Bob Hannah. Johnny O'Mara, Erik Kehoe, Donnie Schmit, Ronn ie Tichenor and Keith Turpin on Suzuki's MX tea m for 1988 w ill be Junior Jackson and Todd DeHoop in the 125cc Nationals and the eastern portion of the 125cc Supercross Series, and Ty Davis and Jimmy Gaddis in the 125cc Nationals and western portion of the 125cc Supercross Series. Terry Vance will return in '88 for Suzuki at alllDBA and N HRA Pro Stock events riding a Katana-based 1100; Team S uzuki w ill represent Suzuki in the WERA endurance road race series with M ike Harth leading the riding chores. ' AXO Sport-Am eri ca, man ufa cturer of off-roa d rid ing apparel, will post a $60,000 cont ingency program for the upcoming CMC/ Dodge Truck Golden State National Seri es to be held throughout California beginnin g January 2, 1988. According to AXO , the top five fin ishers in each class at each event, including Pro and (Co nt inued to pag e 82) Suzuki to deal out mega-bucks in 1988 BREA , CA, DEC II U.S. Suzuki Mo tor Corporation announced today a conti ngency program that ,will payout a total of over $2 million in cash and U.S. Savings Bonds to professional and amat eur racers in roa d racin g, mo tocro ss, enduran ce, drag and ATV racin g in 1988. Usi ng the hi ghl y-su ccessful GSXR Natio nal Cu p Series as a stepping stone, Suzuk i will now fu nd sim ilar program s for riders wh o p a rt icipate in motocross even ts arou nd the co unt ry on Suzuki RMs. Pro fession al mo tocross riders will have the opportu nity to earn up to $932,235 in AMA Ou tdoor Na tionals and Supercross events in the 125 and 250cc classes. Amateur motocrossers can q ualify to take part in th e first-ever Suzuki National Mo tocross Seri es Final sched uled to be held in conju nc tio n with the AMA ama teur champion sh ips at Lorett a Lynn 's Ranch in Au gu st. Over $ 100,000 in cash and U.S. Savings Bonds will be up for grabs at th e final which will consist of comp etitio n in ni ne cla sses. The winner of each class, if Suzuki RM'mounted will receive $2000 in either cash (A clas ses) or U.S. Savings Bo nds (B and C cla sses). En route to th e fin al, Suzuki R M riders wi ll be eligible for up to $57,600 in cash and bo nds for racing in AMA ' R eg i o n a l Qualifiers natio nw ide. . In addition, $521,660 in posted contingency will be awarded in CMC Golden Sta te Series, AMA Florida Winter Series, GNC Regional State Ch am p ionsh ips , NESC,. and NMA World Mini events . Suzuki 's motocross contingency program for 1988 totals $1,511;495. Suzuki's road race program will continue to grow wi th the company adding two classes for its new 600cc Katana (600 P roducti on and 600 Supersport); th e series name has also been cha nged fr o m th e GSXR Na ti ona l Cu p Series to Suzuki Nati o n a l Cu p Ser ies. With the addi tion of th e new 750cc Supersport class at all AMA Nationals . the (Continued to page 4)

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