Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

T he fin al round of th e five-ro und Masters of Motocross competition will ta ke pl ace Su nday, February 14, as part of th e Seattle Kingdome Supercross in Seat tle, Washi ngton. T he series fea tured two ro unds in Holl and a nd two in Ita ly and goi ng into the fina le in Seattle, Belgium 's Eric Geboers heads the point standin gs with Californian Rick J ohnson second. T he European riders who will compete on Sunda y will make a n appearance at Saturda y nigh t's Super cro ss i n th e Ki n gd om e. Although poin ts leader Geboers is co mm itted to running the Le Touquet Beach Race in Holland and will mi ss the Seattle race, am o ng the Europeans expected to compete are H olland's Davey Strijbos, Leo Com bee, Pedro T ragter and Gert -J an van Dorn , Belgium's Peter Dirkx, and Italy's Michele Fanton . Pam Kendrick of Greensboro, North Carolina, will serve as the 1988 Miss Camel , a goodwill ambassador for the Camel Pro Series. Kendrick, 23, attends the University of North Carolina in Greensboro where she is majoring in pharmacy. Kendrick replaces Galia Gomez who served as Miss Camel in 1987. BMW of. North America is recalling approximately 4700 motorcycles to correct a possible defect in the rea r shock absorber moun tin g eyelet. It is estimated tha t in as many as 10percent of th ese mo torcycles, the lo wer mounti ng eyelet could crack as a result of an unfavo rabl e manu fact uring tol erance. In most ins tances the shock a bsorber will remai n . attached to th e motorcycle rear dri ve assembly, but in extreme cases, the shock absorber co uld becom e detached. The' motorcycles whi ch are i n vo lved wer e prod uced from October 1985 to Mar ch 1987 and incl ude the R80G /S, K75, and KIOO models excep t th e K100LT . O wn ers of affected mo torcycles have been contacted by BMW of North America and noti fied th at repair of th e shock absorber will be performed free of cha rge. The California Superbike School " Fact ory Ride " program for Wil- to Sandpiper, start at $392 from New York as well as several other East Coast cities; from southern California, three days/two nights starts at $191 . Packages are also ava ilable from other areas and include round trip airfare, car re nta l and hotel r o o m. Hotel rooms may also be booked separately. For further inf orm ation, call 800 /541 -1223. low Springs Motorcycle Association Novice class racers has been extended to include the WERA races held at Rosamond, California's Willow Springs Raceway throughout the '88 season . The top six finishes for the year will count towards the nearly $15,000 sponsorship offered by t he Superbike School. Riders who have never raced before ' 8 8 and who have attended Superbike School sessions are eligible. For more information. ca ll 213 /4849323. Will ow Spri ngs has been ;,I testing hotbed of late wit h HRC using the faci lity daily. Testing has in cluded the use of RC30s, NS R5OOs, NS500s and NS R250s wit h j a pan ese - test pilo ts handling the riding. Team MacLean sto pwa tches had one pilot on a 1987 NSRSO cutting times O under those of th e la p record , held by Scott Gray o n a Yoshimura Su zu ki Tornado. T he HRC test pi lots have also been doing th eir share of crashi ng with three riders going do wn on Wedn esda y, February 3, prompting o ne on loo ker to question , " How many of th em gu ys . (riders) do th ey have?" Rothmans H onda 's Shunji Yat su sh ir o, who fin ished ninth in th e 500cc Wor ld Ch ampionshi p in 1987, was a turn nine cras h victim on Monday, February I, but the factory rider escaped unhurt. The 1988 Molson Canadian National Supercross Series will feature three races. incl uding two events in Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Quebec, (M ay 21 and May 22). and a race in Exh ib ition Stad ium in Toronto, Ontario. (June 4) . SRE Promo tions with sponsorship from Yam aha will hold a mini road race (read Yam aha YSR50s, H on da MB5s, eic.) o n a go-kart track in Oxn ard , Ca lifornia, on Februar y 28.· Practice starts at I I a.m. wi th raci ng ta king p lace at noon . Fo r more i nforma tio n contact SRE a t 805/ 871- . 7055. Sandpiper Travel of Naples, Florida. is now booking air and hotel reservations for the Apri l 10 Laguna Seca GP. Working with several hotels in the Monterey. California, area , Sandpiper can place race teams and race fans either near the t rack or near the ocean. In most cases . there is no minimum stay req uired. Packages are also offered : ' double occupancy prices for f ive days/four nights , for one example according II) ::....... 1ffi ... :r ::l a: a: -c u 5' ~ >ttl o ... o :r a, 2 The 1988 American Historic Rac ing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA) awards banquet is set for March 2 at the Holiday Inn Surfside in Daytona Beach, Florida, during Daytona Cycle Week. Honors will be del ivered to 1987 Historic Cup Series winners and the Vintage Mounts-sponsored AHRMA Sportsman Award will be presented to a rider who will be named at the banquet. Reservations are required, and no t ickets will be sold at the door. Reservation forms were mailed to AHRMA members who are competing at Daytona. The deadline for reservations is February 13. Call 419 /253-4442 . Uni Filter Air Fi lters have been selected as the officia l air filter for the 1988 Yamaha MX team. T eam riders Broc G lover, Micky Dymon d and J eff Sta nton will use Uni Filt ers excl usively in Supercross a nd Natio nal Champio nship MX competition. In a move they say is " designed to enhance it s presence in' the U. S. Bridgestone t ire industry, " (U.S .A.), Inc. has announced it w ill relocate its corporate headquarters and tire sales group from Torrance. California, to Nashville, Tennessee. The new headquarters w ill be located 15 miles from the company 's tire manufacturing plant in laVergne, Tennessee. Bridgestone has offered every employee. a total of 165. now working in Torrance a position in Nashville, targeting August 1 as the completion date of the move. L ubri-Tech Mo torcycle Products Division of H ydrosol , In c. will be th e official co rpora te sponsor of th e Ill in ois Motorcycle Safety Program. T his marks th e second co nsecu tive year that L ubri-Tech has supported the program tha t trai ned over 7200 in 1987. AMA Grand National Champion Bubba Shobert tested one of Team Maclean's two 1988 Honda RS250s at Willow Springs in southern Cali forn ia recently; see accompanying Wind it em for more on the test. -_.....::::..-- Ferodo L td. wi ll supply Team Yoshimura with bra ke pads for the team's Superbike and Su persport class road racers as well as work with Yoshim ura in the development of new compound designs in 1988. AMA Grand National Champion Bubba Shobert · tested Team Maclean 's 1988 Honda RS250 at Rosamond, Ca liforn ia 's Willow Springs International Raceway on Wednesday, February 3 . Shobert and the Honda circulated in t he 1 :3 1 - ran ge ' i n what was on ly Shobert's second time at the southern Cal ifornia race track. The Texan was happy w ith the bike and his lap times (only a second off Wayne Rainey's Wil low Springs 250cc track record) brought sm iles to t he faces of Team Maclean's Bob Maclean and Tim O'Sullivan. The Laverda Owners Club/USA will hos t the 1988 All Itali an Motorcycle Rally at Iowa City , Io wa, J une 1718-19. All riders and fans of Ital ian motorcycles are invited to attend . Incorpora ted withi n the ra lly wi ll be a dealer show featuring Cagiva, Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, Beta and Bim o ta m otorcycl es, along with product di spl ays from Pirell i, Champi on Spa rk Plug Co., AGV H elm ets, Fureal Leathers (Bates, Brooks, Hein C erecke) and others. For more info rmati on , con tact Warren Dorn , 545 N. Hu m phrey, Oak Park, IL 60302, 312/386-8224. . Un ion Grove, Wisconsin's Great Lakes .D ragaw ay w ill hold their annual awards banquet and party at Vance's Hall in Rac ine. Wisconsin, February 28 . Festivities begin at 12 noon and continue until well , who knows? Dinner reservat ions must be made in advance and by February 20. Send $18.50 for each attendee to Great Lakes . Dragaway, P.O . Box 154, Union Grove, W I 53182, or call Mary at 414/462-5520 or Janet at 414/ 878-3948. No rt hern Californ ia 250cc Grand Prix co mpetitor Rich Ol iver broke both hi s feet in a test session cra sh a t Wi llo w Springs International Raceway in Rosa mond, Ca lifornia, on Monday, February I. O liver was passing a slower rider between turns five and six wh en th e rider moved over forcin g Ol iver off th e tra ck. Ol iver was ab oard a 1988 Yamaha TZ2 50. Oliver says if he can wa lk by Daytona, he'll try and ride in the opening round of th e AMAICastroI 250cc Gran d Prix Series at th e fam ed speedway o n Mar ch 5. Oliver is scheduled to team with Engla nd's Ala n Carter on J ohn Lassak Racing's Yamahas. Carter is due to arrive in the United Sta tes o n Febru ary 15. Solo max Rac ing w ill be supported by U.S . Suzuki in their attempt to w in the 1988 WERA Endurance Championsh ip . Riders Kevin Rentzell, Scott Russe ll and John Eidenberger w ill ride a Suzuki GSXR ; 100 in the Heavyweight Production c lass at all WERA endurance events. The team will also be sponsored by Dunlop, EBC Brakes, Shoei and Kal-Gard. Bates Leathers wi ll post co nt ingencies in th e AMAlCCS Endurance Ser ies, th e AMA/CCS Supersport Series, WSMA's Formula USA 600cc class and in Yamaha' s YSR Californi a Ch ampion ship. In addition to the roa d rac ing series. Bat es will also post co ntingencies in th e NH RA Ca stro l Mo torcycl e Dr a g Ra ce C ha m p io ns h ip. Det ail s o f th ese program s and rider req u irem ents will be avai lable from the o rga n izing cl ubs. From the publicity mill at U .S. Suzuki comes word that rock music star George M ichael has pu rchased a Suzuki GSXR750. The former Wham ! member is celebrating the success of his f irst so lo album, Faith. Vance & H ines is the official sponsor of the 1988 AMA 600cc and 75O

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