Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

rVI e. WYND .fiYp~p~ Wf~LfY The last Husqvarna to be made in Sweden. a 5 10 Enduro model. rolled off the assembly li ne at Husqvarna's Odeshog plant on December 3. 1987. All future Husqvarnas will be designed and built in Italy at facilities owned by the Castiglioni brothers. who also p roduce Cagiva and Ducati motorcyc les. The Castiglionis purchased Husqvarna some t ime back but production of the bikes had continued in Sweden. Elec trolux, the f irm that had purchased Husqvarna years ago. marked the occasion by hosting a "get-together" of people who have been linked to the Husqvarna marque. Among those attending the affair were To rsten Hallman. the fi rst rider to w in a World Championship for Husky in 1962. and Hakan Carlqvist. the last rider to win a World Championship MX title fo r the marque in 1979. According to Eng land 's Tr ials & Motocross News. 1988 models not yet shipped t o distributors worldwide w ill be stored in Sweden and the first made-inItaly Husqvarnas w ill probably be 1989 models. WASHINGTON D.C. ; DEC. 30 In an effort to fend off a federal lawsuit, ATV manufactuers today ag reed to no longer m arket · three-wheeled all - T he 3rd An nual La Carrera Classic, a road race which sees com pe titors race across Mexico's Baja California peninsula from En senada to San Felipe, will take p lace on Mar ch 19. Motorcycl e classes for singles, twins and triples will be run; no modern four-cylinder bikes will be all owed. For entry blanks and/or more in for mation, con tact Loyal Truesdal e at 213/ 464-5720. Acco rd ing to the AMA. M ike Goodwin's Supercross Inc. has ca nceled the advertised January 30 Atlanta (Georgia ) Supercross. . Kawaskai has pos ted $30,800 in con tingency prize mon ey to be p'aid to co m petitors in th e 250cc' Pro U ltracross and four-wheel ATV cla sses of the '88 Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship 'Gran Prix series ; $1150 has been posted for each Ultracross race of the series and if the winning rider is aboard a Kawasaki he or she will pocket $500. The eight-event . Mi ck ey Thompso n-pro moted serie s wi ll kick off on J anuary 23 at Ca lifornia's Anaheim Stadium and will feature stops at San Diego 's Jack Murphy Stadium, the Houston Astrodome, th e Seattle Kingdome, th e Rose Bowl in Pasadena (Ca liforn ia), San Jose's (California) Spartan Stadium, th e Lo s An~eles Coliseum and the Las Vegas Sliver Bowl. . Au stralian Kevin Magee, who will rid e for Team Lucky Strike Roberts during th e 1988 500cc road . race Grand Prix sea son , underw ent surgery on his right arm on Friday, December 18 in northern California. Mag ee was reportedly experiencing problems with his forearm pumping up, and underwent surgery' similar to th e procedure that fellow road racer Randy Mamola faced recently. Austria 's Heinz Kinigadner. the 1984-85 250cc MX World Cham pion. will return to the 250cc GP ' circuit after two years of competing in the 500cc ranks . Reportedly. Kin igadner had to be talked in t o making the switch by KTM officials and it is believed that part of the " persuasion" package was an increased salary/bonus contract for the longtime KTM rider. Kinigadner will be backed up by American Trampas Parker. who rides KTMs f ielded by the Italian distributor. and Sweden 's Peter Hansson. Florida 's Sandp iper Trave l is offering Daytona Cycle Week attendees special rat es on hotels and condos. air travel. and rent al cars. Complete air packages are available from New York. Indianapolis. southern California and other areas. For more inf o. contact Sandpiper Travel at 800/ 541-1223. CORRECTION: In our 25th Anniversary issue, rnotocros ser R o n Lechien was incorrectly identified in a photo caption as R ick Johnson. H IRE D: Mar k Hatten, as public rela tions manager for the AMA's p ro racing department; Hatten, 25, is an Iowa native, has been a motorcyclist since a~e 14, and holds a degree in journalism and mass communicatio ns' fro m Iowa State University; Hatten win- concentrate on p ublic relatio ns and AMA's relations with the media; Pa t Murphy, wh o for merly had . responsibli ty for both marketing and public relations, will now concentrate on marketing aspects of AMA pro racing. Newly-aquired factory Honda ri der Guy Cooper broke both the t ibia and f ibula bones in his lower right leg at a supercross event in Antwerp. Belgium. December 19. Cooper. who won the race. tried to "high f ive" a wooden banner hanging over the finish line jump on the last lap. but instead hit the banner with his arm which resulted in his crashing. Coverage of the event and more details appear elsewhere in this issue. The AMA has announced that requests for its computerized trip r Decrees enil sale of threewheeled A TVs Off-road riderscould benefit from the use of riding areas on private property if more landowners were made aware of state landow ner liab ility laws. according to the AMA. landowner liability laws. also know n as "hold harmless law s." exist in 47 · states and protect landowners from li ability law suit s as long as a fee is not charged for use of the land. The AMA currently is updating its study of landowner liability law s on a state-bv-state .basis . and the study soon w ill be made available to landow ners. promoters and government agencies. Interested individuals should contact the AMA Government Relations Department. P.O. Box 6114. Westerville. OH 43081. 614/ 891-2425. Wayne Gardner was recentl y nam ed Spo rtsma n of th e Year in Australi a; Gardner, who ' wo n th e 1987 500cc Road Racin g Worl d Ch am p ionship, to p ped ten n is pl ayer , and Wimbledon win ner, Pat Cash in winning th e award. 2 ompu- our. National Championship 125/250cc MX Series will tak e place in Gainesville, Florida, on Februar y 28. The next Nation al will be th e Axton , Virginia , round, May I , foll owed by th e Mt. Morris , Pennsylvania, event, May 29. Do ug Chandler, who finished th ird in the 1987 Gra nd National Champ ionship Dirt Track Series, will no t compete in the 1988 AMA 600cc National Championship Dirt T rack Series, acco rding to Cha ndler's team manager , Jerry Griffit h. Fellow northern Californian Chris Carr, who fini shed fourth in last year 's Camel Pro Series battle, will com pete in the 600cc National openers in San (Continued to page 26) terrain vehicles in the Uni ted States . The U.S. J u sti ce Departm ent today filed a lawsuit cha rging, " that the risk of harm presented by ATVs is both imminent and unreasonable," bu t th e suit was immediately pu t o n hold by th e filing of two conse nt decrees (negotia ted settlements betw een manufacturers and th e Justice Department). U.S . Deputy Attorney Gen eral Arn o ld Burns sa id th e co nsent decrees, if approved by federa l co urts, will accomplish most of wh at the government so ug h t in its suit. Burns al so said the government agreed to two consen t decrees, one with American manufacturer Polaris, and one with the four Japanese manufacturers - H onda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yam aha. Although the two decrees reportedly accom plish th e same th ings, Polaris was permitted to en ter into a separa te agreement beca use of th e small size of the company and th e differen ces in their marketing practices. ' The two co nsent decrees are " prelim inary," acco rdi ng to Consumer P roduct Safety Commission General Counsel J am es Lacey, wh o added that ATV manufacturers and the Justice Department have 45-days to negotiate final agreemen ts. In addition to immediately halting th e sale of all 'three-wheeled ATVs , the consent decrees require manufacturers to: • Send a no tice to all known past purchasers of ATVs inform ing them of all eged ri sk s associa ted with ATV s; • Provide all Ameri can distributors and retailers of ATVs with fourfoot-by-fou r-foot signs co ntaining the same warnings, whi ch must be displayed prominently; • • Rep u rch ase all three-wheeled ATVs in deal er inventories; • Affix new warning labels to all ATVs marketed and sold in the Un ited States; • Include alleged risks associated with ATVs in owners manuals; • Estab lish a toll -free h otl ine phone n umber for cons umer questions on ATVs; • Offer free hands-on training for all future ATV purchasers as well as those who purch ased ATVs in the last 12 months ; • Agree no t to oppose state legislative initiatives for th e licensing and certi fica tion of ATV operators; • Agree to undertake a substantial public awareness campaign consisting of p ri nt advertisements and radio and television commercials dealing with the potential hazards and risks associated with ATVs ; and, . • Agree to represent through the pri n t and electroni c m ed ia the minimum age limits for variou s ATV models, (the decrees req uire ATV ma kers to market ATVs witb engines bet ween 70cc and 90cc only to those riders aged 12 or older, and to market machines wit h engi ne size above 90cc only to riders aged 16 and older). All provisions in the decrees which require fundi ng are to be funded by ATV ma nufacturers. T he decrees also permit the CPSC to, " keep its jurisdiction - wi th ou t (Continued to page 27)

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