Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Former world class road racer Cliff Carr (above), owner of Cliff Carr's Harley-Davidson in Santa Barbara, California, will work with Cycle News during 1988 to transform this stock 883cc HarleyDavidson Sportster into a club road racer. The first step in the multi-stage project, riding the Sportster in stock trim around Willow Springs Raceway in southern California, will be fo llowed by modifying the m o t o rc y cle in stages and ret u rn ing to the track after each stage is complete to see how quickly lap times improve. Tuning chores will be handled by Carr and former Grand Nationa l Champion Mert Lawwill, and engine development will be cond ucted by Jerry Branch. Two-time National Superbike Champion Wes Cooley and Eng lish road race ace Mick Crick will ride the bike. Look for the first stage of the project to appear soon in Cycle News. KK Aftermarket Race Team's ,1988 contingency . program will offer a tot al of $25,000 to Expert superbike riders and to Expert/Junior dirt track riders who compete during 17 selected AMA events with the KK logo sewn onto the center chest of their leathers. According to former Grand National Champion Gary Scott, now representing KK Motorcycle Supply of Dayton, O hio, the top placing KK rider in four selected Superbike National road races (Road Atlanta, Loudon, Road America and Mid-Ohio) will be awarded $2000 at each event. The top placing Expert KK dirt track rider in eight selected AMA Grand National Champion ship Dirt Track Series events (the May Springfield Mi le, Louisville Half Mile , Lima Half Mile, Hagerstown Half Mile, Parkersburg Half Mile, Du Quoin Mile , Saturday night Indianapolis Mile and Syracuse Mile) will be awarded $1500 at each event. Five 600cc National Dirt Track Series events (Woodstock Short Track , Springfield Short Track, Lima Half Mile, Hagerstown Half Mi le, Sunday Indianapolis Mile) will see the top p laci ng KK Junior dirt track rider receiving $500 at each race. If there are no KK riders in the main event at any of the selected races, the money from the event will be. added to the $2500 bonus for the 1988 top-scoring KK Expert rider, which will be paid out at the end of the season. Dan Chivington, the 1987 KK Aftermarket Champion, collected .$12,000 for his efforts . For more information, con tac t Scott at 615/562-9817. AB36 was not considered by the California Senate Transportation Committee March'1 because the mandatory helmet bill's author, Assemblyman Richard Floyd (0 Gardena ), removed it from the committee's hearings schedule. The bill may be rescheduled for hearings on March 15 but that date is not certain, according to a spokesperson fo r the Trenspor-' tation Committee. In this space a couple of weeks ago we reported that the May 22 Camel Pro Series/Grand National San J ose California pro motocrossers Dan Be rg (left) and Jon Nelson (right) recently were presented with brand-new Dodge Ram 50 trucks from Chrysler Corporation's Bill Glaub (center) for accumulating the most 'po ints during the 1987 Continental Motorsport Club (CMC) racing season . Berg scored the most points in southern California competition, while Nelson topped competition in the northern part of the state. Mile will be the final motorcycle race ' ever held on the one- mile dirt ova l at Santa Clara County Fairgrounds because the oval will be paved to accommodate Winston Cup Series auto racing in 1989. Maybe, maybe not. Negotiations for paving the track are now underway between Santa Clara County Fairgrounds and International Speedway Corporation; the agreement has no t been finalized as we reported earlier. If an agreement is reached, the mi le oval may be paved this fall, as preliminarily scheduled. If a contract cannot be hammered out, the paving project could be postponed. A postponement of -th e project would mean a San J ose National Mile might be scheduled for May of 1989. We originally quoted R ick Farren , a spokesman for promoter Bob Barkheimer Associates, who said the San Jose Mile " hasn't held itself u p financially over the last. couple of years as we had hoped it would." Farren phoned us recently to say that his comment referred to the annual September event and tha t the May mile always . has been financially successful. If the track. is paved, BBA will consider relocating the San Jose Mile to another northern Ca lifornia race track. Minnesota's Polaris Industries, the only American company making ATVs, and three of four Japanese ATV manufacturers Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha presented arguments to the International Trade Commission March 1 on charges from Polaris that the Japanese are "dumping" ATVs in the American marketp lace a t less lhan fair market value. The commission is expected te. make a preliminary determination March 25 as to whether or not there is any substance to Polaris' charges. The 1988 Trial des Nations will take p lace in Czechoslo vakia on September 18 and o nce again the NATC Rider Support Fund is selling commernorauve items to raise fu nds to cove r some of the U. S. team's expenses. T'-shirts, jerseys, sweatshirts, caps, pins, patches and decals are available. In addition, a raffle is being held and prizes at this time consist of a trials bicycle, boo ts, sweatshirts, AMA memberships, and subscriptions to Dirt Rider magazine and Tnals and Enduro News. There will not be a World Championship Observed Trials Series round in the U.S. this year and the Support Fund's organizers say that will make raising money more difficult than it has been in the past. Raffle tickets at $1 each and a brochure listing commemorative items are available from NATC R ider Support Fu nd, c/ o Marilyn Wicker, R t. 14, Box 85B; Cookeville, TN 38501, 615/526-1794. AMA/EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge competitors High Voltage Racing, who won the GTU class at Daytona on February 28, have changed their name to.Cycie Connection Racing . The team, consisting of riders David Singleton and Titian Bue and crew chief Gerry Dorbandt, will .be contesting the entire series on their Cycle Connection of Garfield , NJ -sponsored Honda CBR600 Hurricane. The California Superbike School is offering "scholarships" to riders who send the school th e best stories of the worst thing they ever did to hurt th e image of motorcycling and the con tribu tions they have made sin ce to improve the image of motorcycl ing in their area. The stories must be 200 words or less and proo f of authenticity, i.e, press clippings, statements, etc., m ust be provided. Six winners - two each from the .East, Midwest and West - will be awarded an enro llment in an expanded .class session, worth $400, which includes use of a Kawasaki 600 Ninja, lea thers, helmet, boots and gloves, and 100 miles of track-time at anyone of the nine tracks that the school attends na tionwide. Entries must be received by July 4th, . 1988, and should be sent to the California Superbike School, P.O. Box 3743, Manhattan Beach ,. CA 90266,213/484 -9323. Cycle News correspondent Alan Cathcart recently won the London-based International Guild of Motoring Writers' Rootes Gold ' Cup award for the second year in a row. Cathcart was honored for having .made "the most notable achievement by a Guild member in motorsport activity during the preceding ·year." When Cathcart first claimed the prize in 1986, he became the first motorcycle jo urnalist in 26 years to take the honor, which traditionally has been reserved for automobile journalists. Guild President Lord Strathcarron pointed to Cathcart's continuing achievements in historic motorcycle road racing during 1987, inc lud ing a victory in the Dutch Historic TT and t hird place in the Spanish Historic GP, both won aboard his 500cc Paton twin . Nebraska Governor Ray Orr signed a mandatory helmet law on Febru ary 19, making it illegal for motorcycle riders in the state to operate their bikes without wearing helmets, acco rding to the AMA. Orr's action came two days after the state legi s- . lature approved the measure, Leg islative Bill 428, which was sponsored by Senator Daniel Lynch of O maha. The vote - 25 yes, 20 no and four undecided - marked the first time since 1982 tha t a state has reinstated a mandatory helmet law for all riders. The new law takes .effect January I, 1989. Vintage Racers of Old Motorcyc les (VROOM ) will present a display of classic; vintage, historic and special interest motorcycles Saturday, Apri l 9, during the Laguna Seca Grand Prix weekend. For information regarding entry or special price passes, contact VROOM, c/o Mike Lewis, 11969 NLigent Dr ., Granada Hills, CA . 91344, 818/363-0734 (eve ning s ). Larry Huffman's radio ita lk show, Motorcycle World, will feature interviews with Daytona winners on the March 13 broadcast. Motorcycle World can be heard in southern California on KOLA, FM 99.9. Reigning 250cc MX World Champion Eric Geboers, 125cc National contenders George Hoiland and Jeff Matiasevich, and 1987 N HRA Pro Stock Drag Racing Champion Dave Schultz have signed s ponsorsh ip deals with Bell He lmets for the 1988 season. Two-time Grand National Champion R icky Graham and Camel Pro Series veteran Steve Morehead will ride motorcycles tuned by former Grand National Champion Mert Lawwill during 1988. "We'll run the West Coast Nationals and see how it goes, " Lawwill said at Daytona. "We'll continue to search for a (Continued to page 55)

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