Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

of Ha nk Scott's Hondas. Fili ce rod e an Eddie Atkin s Har ley-Davidson in mil e ro unds of th e Cam el Pro Series last year, scoring 17 poin ts. The 25year-old Modesto, Ca liforn ia, resident ha s won four dirt tr ack Nationa ls. H is first win came aboard a Kenny Roberts-sponso red , Mert La wwi ll-tuned H arl ey at the 1981 Louisvill e H alf Mile, and he scored th ree mil e wins in 1983, a t Ch icago, Syracuse and San Jose, o n Atk ins ' XR750. His best Na tio na l roa d race finis h came last year when he fin ished second on a Yam ah a in the Camel Pro road race at Laguna Seca. 00 00 ~ ,.....; - .... .... Coverage of the Easter weekend open ing rou nd of the Wo rld Championship Endurance Road "Race Series, which was won by Italy's Marco Lucchinelli (Due). and the Match Races was delayed in shipment and will appear in next week's Cycle News. 0.. ~ " Charlie Orr (H -D) won th e AMA 600cc Na tiona l Ch ampion ship Short Track a t Dixi e Speedway in Wood stock, Georgia, April 10. Garth Brow (Ho n) a nd Steve Morehead (W-R) followed Orr across th e fini sh li ne with Rodney Farr is (Hon) and Dan In gram (H- D) ro undi ng o ut th e top five. It was an no unced at the race , which drew over 5000 specta tors, th at Dixie Speedway would host ano ther 600cc Nati onal o n October 23. As it now sta nds, that event will be the final di rt tra ck Na tio na l of 1988. mon ey by winn ing th e A, Band C P roduction class races at the Ap ril 9-10 WERA roa d race meet at Talladega , Alab am a. 'Mike H arth (Suz) was first across the finish line in the A Producti on race but was later disqualified for " ru n ning a six-s peed gea rbox" in his Suzuki GSXR IIOO. H arth took second in B Production . Paul Bray (Suz) was second in A P roduct ion. R ussell sco red three more wins over the weekend, top pi ng th e B and C Superbi ke classes a nd th e Form ul a Open class. The April 10 Cadiz, Kentucky, round of the AMA National 'Championship Hare Scrambles Series was won by Tony Hendon (ATK), w ith Kurt Hough (Kaw) taking second and Scott Plessinger (Kaw) third. It was the third straight w in for Hendon in as many rounds and Hendon and Hough repeated their 1-2 finishes of the previous round wh ich took place i n Tennessee . National Champion Eddie Lojak (Hus) was fourth w ith former National Champion Mark Hyde (Hus) fifth . At the April 9 -10 WERA meet at Indiana's Indianapolis Raceway Park David Schmidt (Suz) topped the A Production race, Kurt Hall (Suz) won in B Production, and Hall (Hon) scored aga in in C Production . Scott Zanpach (Suz) finished second in both A and B Production, wh i le Fr itz Kling (Hon) was the r unner- up in the C Production race. Scott Ru ssell (Suz) pocketed a pil e _ of Suzuki National Cup conti ngency Jim Fili ce, who stunned th e wo rld by winning the U.S . 250cc GP at La guna Seca, will contes t th e Saturd ay night, April 16, AMA Grand Nati onal Ch ampion ship Sacra mento Mile at Ca l-Expo aboard one " CATALINA REVISITED: Wa lt Fulton (center), winner of the inaug ural Catalina Grand Prix race which was run on t he island off the coast of southern Cal ifornia in 1951 , poses with Catalina Island Museum staff members and Bill Bagnall (right) with display posters depicting overviews of the eight years of motorcycle competition on the island. Others, from left: Pete Salamunovich, Patricia A nne Moore (curator) and Carol Kirk. In an earlier v isit to the museum, Fulton noted an absence of any mention of the famed motorcycle race series. and contacted Bagnall. who had attended every race and reported and photographed each event for Motorcyclist magazine, to compile the posters for museum display. Posters were donated by the Tra ilblazers, a fraternal organization of earlyday motorcycling enthusiasts. 2 Ra ce fan s attendi ng Came l Pro Seri es events will have an opport unity to win a free motorcycle at "the new Cam el Pro Pavilion wh ich will be set up at each ro und of th e series. The pavil ion is a prominent 48-foot by 32-foo t blue and yellow tent. Inside th e pavi lion , visito rs can regis ter to wi n a com memo rative Camel 75th Anniversary motorcycle a nd helm et. The .drawing will be held o n race day, and th e lu cky wi n ne r will receive a replica o f Camel Pro Champion Bubba Shobert 's helmet and their choice of any one of the follo wing mot orcycles o n di spl ay inside th e pavilion: HarleyDavid son XLH Sportster, H onda VFI OOOR, Kawa sa ki 750 Ni nja , Suzu ki Katana 600" and Yamaha FZR400. All entran ts must be 21 years of age, and co ntestants do not have to be present to win. T he pavil ion a lso feat u res TV sc ree ns wh er e visitors can watch video highlights of 1987 Camel Pro Seri es events, an informati on board to help fan s keep track of race winners and other happenings on th e Camel Pro circuit. In addition, visitors can take home a free photograph from th e so u ven ir p hoto unit. Check th e Ca lendar secti on in th is issue for a co mp lete listing of dates and sites of upcoming Camel Pro Seri es even ts. The f irst w inner of a Camel 75th Anniversary bike was Jeff Schmidt of Jessup, Maryland. The drawing was conducted after the March 6 Daytona 200 and Schmidt. who took his f irst airplane fl ight in order to be on hand for Daytona Cycle Week '88, chose a Honda VF1000R . American Airlines and the Unadilla Va lley Sports Center h ave a n no unced " the ava ilability of comp lete travel packages for fan s, teams, etc. for the July 23-24 U.S. 250cc MX G P at the New Berl in , New York, motocross circ uit. In mak in g th e an no u nceme nt, U na d i lla's Ward Robinson noted tha t th is was th e second year that America n Airlines has offered th e most eco nomica l mea ns for lon g distan ce travelers to reach the si te of th e event, as American mad e simi lar arra ngements for the 1987 Mo tocro ss des Nati ons. For more information o n the airline 's trave l arra nge ments, call (toll-free) 800/433- 1790 and ask for Star Reco rd #S 66595 (in T exas, call 800/7921'160). Northern Ca iifornia speedway fans can look forward to a 20week schedule of racing at Sacramento's Cal Expo. No Brakes Racing will kick-off the speedway season at Cal Expo on Wednesday, April 6, with racing getting '. underway at 7:30 p.m. No Brakes Racing is Headed up by Mike Rooney, former Northern California Speedway Champion in the seventies. Mike is j oined by his father, Steve Rooney, who has been connected w ith speedway rac ing since its reb irth in Northern . Cal ifornia in the seventies. For more information, call 916 /4858619 or 489-0476 . T he Hilltoppers Rosarito GP in Baja, Mexi co, will take pl ace o n April 10, no t th e following week as has been reported elsewhere. The 100-mile event will feature separa te races for motorcycles and ATVs for th e first tim e. For more information, call 714/ 898-4557 or 213/428-49 71. Octillo We lls. a Cal ifornia State Vehicu lar Recreation Area (SCRA) on the eastern edge of Anza -Borrego Desert State Park in southern California, is being expanded, according to the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Parks Department officials said the size of the SVRA will be boosted from its origina l 14,590 acres to 42,890 acres. Octillo Wells is located next to Bureau of Land Management lands which offer "an add itional 150,000 acres for rid ing immediate ly adjacent to the SVRA to the north, east and south . Mickey Thompson Entertainment G roup's June 18 Coors Super Crown of Stadi um Mot ocross race in Los An geles (Ca lifornia) Memorial Coliseum will feature a double run up and th rough th e Peristyle with two j um ps off the to p , accordi ng to MTEG . The " Peristyle Double" was first used in the Coli seum last July at a MTEG Off-R oad Championshi p Gran Prix eve nt. The Los Angeles race will be the. last round in th e three-race Super Crown of Stadium Mot ocross Series as well as th e fin al ro und of the 1988 AMAI Coors Super cro ss Series . R acerelated festivities will include manufacturers' di splays and a free fun zone featuring live music. Area Yamaha deal ers will be offeri ng all ticke tholders free early entry passes to watch the aft ernoon's practice and qua lifying sessions . : Desert Distributing of Mojave, California, the exclusive distributor of Miller beer in the Antelope Valley region, has announced that it will sponsor road racer James Domay for the remainder of the Formula USA Series at Rosamond, California's Willow Springs Raceway. Domay, 25, has won the opening th ree rounds of the series . The Sylmay, Californi a, resident fi nished t hird in the po int standings last year. Preliminary na tional statistics for J a nuary-J une 1987 show mo torcycle fata li ties down II % from 1986. This figure co nti n ues a seven -ye a r downward tr end w hich shows mo torcycle fata li ties decreasi ng by 22% since 1980. T he figures for the fir st h alf of 1987 are es pecially enco uragi ng co nsi deri ng au to mo bil e fatali ties are o nly dow n 2%. " The Moto rcycle Safety Foundat ion is very encouraged by th e decrease in motorcycle fa ta li ties," said Ala n Isley, pr esid ent. " We feel th at a heightened awa reness of safe riding pr actices resulting from the growing number of parti cipants in ride r trainin g co u rses ha s co ntr ib u ted to this decrease." Both the May 29 British and July 2 -3 rounds of the World Championship Endurance Road Race Series have been canceled,

• Cover