Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

-' .. ~ ~ .- 00 00 O"l ...... America's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXV Sharon Clayton , Publ ish" Mike Klin gcr .Comptroll e-r Skip Jo hnson. Associate Pub lisherl Na.tional Sales ManagM' J ack Man~s . Assocuue Pub lish" ' Ed itor Rh eba Smith. Circula tion Managn' Caroline Gendry, Executive Seculary to th e Pub lisher Editorial Kit Pal mer . Associate Edi tor Paul Carru thers . Associate Editor Farren w illi ams. Associate Edi tor Na te Rauba . Associate Edito r Brian Ca ne -son. A ssociate Editor Edwina Man gu s. Cairn dar Ed it or Advertising Mi ke Chu rch, Senior Sales Ma nagnT erry Prall Sen ior Sales ManagM' Mar k Thome, WesltT11 Sa les Managn Don Steeber , W esl tm Sa les Mana,{{t'T Mark Mitchell. Eastern Sales Ma na .r{M' T ho mas R. Gomer. Eastern Sa les Managn' Cat hy Co rrao WesltT1l Ad Coordinator Ca rla Borde n. Eastern Ad Coord ina tor T o ni Dcneske, Ad vntising A.s.sistant Graphics and Production Ma lcol m Wi lMln.P TOduction M a nag~ Diana Hil genberg. GYcp hi c Artist Sta cry Guest. G raph ic "b tut J im m ie O·Dd1. Gyap hic Artist Marion Hatash ita , T ype5dln Carol yn Bran ha m. T ypesrUeT Denn is Cfttne.lAb. Tech. Accounting /Data Processing Donna Brya n. Aut5 R eceivable Coo ydinawr Ceneva Repa s • Assutant Fra n Ham wev, Cu dit Circulation Sarah Taylor. Assis14nl Alma Anguiano . Assistant Cheri Cha pman. A.uistanl Marita Adams. Assistant Circulation Development Ron Davidson. Managn Wan t Ads Debbie Wink ler. Want Ad Sales Service and Support Ch ris Aircheson . H~adqtUnters R eceptio n ist Leonard H errin g. Service and SUPPOyt National Haadquartars 220 1 Ch erry Ave.• Long Beach, CA 90806. P.O. Box 498, Long Beach , CA 90801·0498 (213) 427· 7433: 2 13/ 636-8844. FAX (213) 427·668 5 Eastern Office 4190 First Ave.• Tucker. GA . 30084; ma ilin g address P.O . Box 805. Tucker. GA 30085· 0805 . (400 934· 7850. 1) FAX (404 ) 934·3 112 Cycle New. (US PS 141·340) is pub lished weeki y except th e first and las t week o r th e calendar year lor $32.50 per year by Cycle News. In c.• 2201 Cherry Avr n ue. Long Beach . CA 90806. Second class postage F.id at Long Beach . CA. and additio nal mai ling off ices. POSTMASTER : Send form 3579 to Cycl e Ne ws. P .O . Box 498. Long Beech. CA 90801-0<'98. Subscript ion rat es: One year. seco nd class mail. $32.50 . . Cycle Ne~ welcom es unsolicited edi torial ma terial incl udi ng stories, cartoons. photos . if publ ished. beco mes th e D Cycle News. Such acC cepred material is subject 10 revision as is necessary in th e so le discre tio n o f Cycle News. Unso lici ted material which is not used will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed sta m ped env elope. An u nsol ici ted ma terial wi ll be handled with reasonable ca re. ho wever. C ycl e Ne ws ass u mes no respo nsl bi liry for the ~ CeIY. loss o r da mage l O such materi a l. Reprin ting in who le or pa n o n ly by perm ission of th e publisher, Advertising nut's a nd circula tio n informatio n wi11 be sent u po n req ues t. Sa: S.R.D.S. BPA Consumer Audit Division M embers hip Applied For. ere. Such mat eria l. excl usi ve pro~t)' Copyright" C ycle Ne ws. Inc . 1988. Trade-m ark Cycle News registered U.S . Patent Offi c e . All righ ts reserved. ~ 'I . " "iV# 4 Missing flagmen As a rider and supporter of motocross for the past 15 years, I have seen and felt the growing pains of our sport, As I watched the racing and close competition at the GNC Final at Lake Whimey Cycle Ranch in T exas, March 11-1 3, the thought of a future j o hnso n, Ward o r H annah being injured because of a promoter possessing little or no con cern for rider safety made me furi ous. The race attracted over 700 riders and their families from across th e country to on e of th e safest tracks in T exas. For a normal race da y turnout of 250 riders only eigh t flagm en ar e needed for a safe race. At this " G rand National Championsh ip" Final. Mr. jerry Surber , at best , had four flagmen , wh en th ey co uld be found.. When a pp roached abo u t thi s problem . Mr. Surber was very surly and negative abo ut a ny suggestions regarding th e safety of th e rid ers. Riders drove hundreds of miles, paid $50 en try fees. $15 ga te fees, and received th is trea tm ent from th e promoter. No longer do we feel the pains of growing but th e pain of greed. DAVID JONES Dall as, TX Should feel fortunate Instead of com plain ing ab out th e layout and quality of the Four Aces Moose Run race course, Mr. Dan Ashcraft should feel fort unate to have been able to race at all. I feel his disqualification in the 1987 SCO RE Baja 500 was much too len ien t a penalty for flagrant cheating (swi tching bik es during the race). Debarment fro m racing in SCORE and AMA-sanctio ned events for at least a year wou ld have been more appropriate. PET ER BORMANIX M.D . T anana, CA Fund is still operational. However, the original co ncep t of th e Fund was sim p ly to give mo ney to people just like David in an effort to help pay for hospital bills a n d related expenses. But more important, was to give something back to those riders who risked th eir lives to bring th e exci tem ent o f professional motorcycle racing to us all. I ca n o n ly hope that the Fund has experienced a temporary glitch and that in reality the money is there and being properly managed as o rig inally intended. I for on e would find it deplorable and be very disappointed to dis cover tha t the Pro R ider Benefit Fund, as origi na lly created. was not livi ng up to its intended mi ssion . I would like to ur ge any of those wh o share my feelings to inquire a bo u t th e sta tus of th e Fund and tak e an ac tive pa rt in h elping it to perfo rm as design ed. T o David, I can on ly say tha t we can hope tha t th e answers to your questi on s regarding the Fund materialize, and that th ere will be some act io n taken to rest yo ur concerns. PET ER LOCASCIO Po rtland, OR You can chalk up Bailey's failure to receive th e fu nds as a " tem porary glitch." A check was sen t to Bailey by Penn y N icolai of th e Pro R ider Ben efit Fund last week. In a letter to Bailey that accompan ied the chec k , N icola i sai d, " Let m e apologize for th e m ix-up regarding sending you th e money collected by th e Pro Rider Ben efit Fund . . . I was waiting for you to call and since you hadn't, I assumed that you wanted Pro R ider to continue ho ldi ng th e money. We collected a to ta l of $2837.12 pl us interest of $141.85 and I am enclosing a cashier's check for the tota l amoun t. In addition, I am also enclosing a check received from Cycle Sounds in]apan from a benefit th ey held on yo u r behalf. ... . . Edit or. Writing politicians Pro Rider Benefit Fund This is in response to David Bailey's letter in th e February 24 issue of Cycle News. Wh ile David 's words are in spirational and dem onstra te trem end ou s courage and determin at ion , I was somewhat disappointed by h is remarks regardin g th e fact th at he never sa w a pen ny fro m the Pro Rider Benefit Fund. When I invente d th e co ncep t of th e Pro Rider Benefit Fund while workin g at Motorcycle Dealern ews, it was i nte n de d to di stribute donated mon ey genera ted at th e vario us trade and co nsumer shows pr oduced by Larry H est er , from races wh er e donated rider 's gear was to be auctioned to fans. a nd from genera l donations. The money raised was to be managed by a group of industry people, many of wh om were form er professio nal rid ers, a nd it was th ey wh o would determine th ose injured and qualified to receive the money. as well as the amo unts given. . Now mind yo u, many p eople in volved have ch an ged job s, etc., and in fact I'm not to tally sure th at the During the CORVA co nvention, Senator H .L. " Bill" Richardson said that he is asked, " What impresses a pol iti cian th e most, a handwritten letter, a typed letter or a phon e cam" The answer he gi ves is, 'It's none of those." The most impressive form of co m m u n ica tio n, accord i ng to Ri ch ardson, is " those littl e pr eprinted postcards. Those cards show orga n izatio n, and orga niza tion gets a politician 's attention." Cycle News asks th eir readers to write th eir congressm en on issues th at concern motorcyclis ts. Now as a reader, I am asking Cycle News to take th e leadership stance we need a nd include in our newspaper, pr eprinted postcards to our cong ress- . men o n th e issues that concern us. Let's show th em we're organized! ART OLIVIER Bellfl ower , CA We asked a m ember of Senator Pete Wilson 's staff th e same question last year and were told, "Senator Wilson is most impressed by handwritten letters and least im pressed by pre- print ed postcards and petit ions." H i- . T orque inserted millions of preprin ted po stcards in issues of their publications (Dirt Bike, Motocross Action, etc. ) last year. The p repr inted me ssage voiced motorcyclists ' concerns about Cranston's proposed S7 bill . We com m ended H i- Torq ue for th eir con tribu tion but we feel that a personal handwritten letter still packs th e most punch with the major ity of politicians. Remem ber, most politicians never see th e first missive from their constituen ts; instead, th ey receive a weekly or monthly tall y of pro and con ma il (and th e form of th e correspondence, i.e. personal letter, form letter, post card, etc.) on various subjects (bills like Cranston 's S7, etc.). No matter what form of communication you use, let your elected representatives, both on a state and federal level, know where you stand. Write! Call! Visit! And vo te! .. . Editor. 16th, not 38th My name was left o ut of th e resu lts of your Daytona 200 covera ge. I understa nd your d eadlines a nd thought I may hav e been flelt ou t because of in itiall y being listed in 38th pl ace o n th e provision al results aft er being credited with only 52 laps instead of th e 54 I comp leted. Since th e Daytona 200 was my first pro race. I was espec ially prou d of my 16th p lace fini sh . I wo u ld like to thank th e com panies and people wh o helped make it possible: The Human Race T eam , Klotz Special Formula Products. Metzeler Tire, Fox Racing USA, Megacycle Camshafts. Lakeshore Harley-Davidson/ Yam ah a . a n d T subaki. Special th anks to tuner Dave Zupan and the week -l ong effo rts of Dave, Ti m Morrissey, Rich Doan and pit hel p of Ed H essel , Scott Hall, Evelyne Pritz and Bob Hereford. Thank you for letting me set th e record stra ig h t and giving credit wh ere credit is due. KURT HAL L Hilton Head Island, SC Wh at w ith the catch -up nature of the rain /delayed racing at Daytona on Sunday, March 6, jetting to California th at evening, and getting our newspaper to the prin ter by 5 p.m. the follow ing even ing, what you . th ough t happened is exactly w hat did happen. Belated con gratu lations on your top 20 fin ish . . . Ed itor. Cheers for Viewfinders As a sponsor, and most importantly as a rid er of th e Viewfinders Grand Prix for th e last eight years. I want to take a moment to thank the members of th e Viewfinders M.e. for ano th er fan tastic weekend of ra cing. It ta kes an enormo us amo un t of team effort and coo rdina tio n to pull off an event coveri ng two days and including over 1400 en tries. Add to tha t layin g o u t a tru ly cha llengi ng 12-m ile course in a lim ited area and having th e perso nnel and support to make It safe and enjoyable is indeed an extra ordina ry accom plishmen t. Every year it just seem s to ge t better and thi s year was no excep tio n. Many people including myself look forward each year to the Viewfinders Grand P rix, and I hope tha t with th e eventual closin g of Riverside Raceway, that th e on ly th ing that changes will be th e location . .. the show mu st go o n! Thanks aga in to all th e Viewfinders for an other spec tacular even t. WAYNE CO RNELIUS Malcolm Smith Products Riverside, CA

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