Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

thin trying to hit a ll th e bases. Try sa tisfying the peop le who rea ll y watch yo ur show I not th e people yo u th ink wa tch it. CH RIS SM ITH Decatur, II. 00 00 O"l ........ Wind ..J ..J America 's motorcycle newspaper : w ::; (Jl th e first start was abort ed. L em m ing not only kn ew the rule bu t app lied it p rop erly at L ag un a eca. Good show, Bob! ... Editor. W ..J Volume XXV >- co Editorial b Q. ... Advertising Mike Church . Senior Salcs Manager T err y Pruu Sen io r Sal t's M an ager Mark T ho me, Wesln n Sa lt's Managt't Don Stoeb er. W,.stcrn Sales M an ager Mark Mitchell, East ern Salt's Mana.~n Thomas R. Gomer. Eastern Sal es ManagM' Cathv Co rrao West"" Ad Coordi nator Carla Borden . Eastern Ad Coo rd inator . T oni Don eske, Ad vertising As. .isum t Mal co lm Wil.'>OfI.Pr od uct ion Managn Diana H ilgen ber g , G rap h ic A rti st Stacey Guest. C rap ',ic A rtist J im mie O ·DeIl . G rap hic Artist Marion H at a sh ita . T yp rst"tleT sdln Ca ro lyn Branham . T YPt! Dennis Greene. Lab , T ech. Accounting /Data Processing D onna Bryan • •"ccls R ecn vabli Coordina tor Geneva Repa ss. Assistant Fran H am wey. Cred it Circulation Sarah Tay lor . A ssistant Al ma Anguiano. As sista nt Cheri Chap ma n. Assutan t Mar iu Adams. Assista n t Circulation Development Ro n David son . Manal:t'r Wa nt Ad s Debbie Wi nk ler. IJ'ant Ad Salt' s Service and Support Ch ris Aitc heson , 1f t'f1dq Uilrlt'rs Receptio nist Leo nard H er rin g , Service and S u.pport National Headquarters 2201 C herry Ave.• Long Beach . CA 90806. P.O . Box 498. Lo ng Beach . CA 9080 1·(H9H (2131 427·7433; 213/63fi.8M4 . FAX (213) 427·6685 East ern Office 4190 First Ave.• T ucker, GA , 30084: mail i ng addr ess P.O . Box 805. Tucker. G A 3008,1)0805. (404) 931·71!5O. FAX (404) 931-3 112 Cycl e New , (U SPS 141·340) is puhlisbed weekl y ex cep t the first a nd last week o f the calendar yea r [OJ $32.50 pe r year by Cycl e New s, In c. • 2201 Cherry Avenue, Lo ng Be ch, C..A 9OBOti Second class postage ~ id a a t Long Be- , CA . a nd additional maihn g ach o ffices. POSTMASTER : S end l o , m 3579 . t o Cyc le News. P.O . Box 498. Long Beach. CA 9080 1·0498. Subscriprio n rain: One year , seco nd class mail , S32..l)(). Cycle New s wel comes u nsol icited edi torial ma terial includin g sto r ies, cartoo ns . p hotos . etc. Su ch male-rial, if p ubl ished.becomes th e exclusive pro~rl y of Cycle News. Such acre p ted mat erial is subject 10 rev isio n as is necessary in th e sole discreti on o f Cycle New s. U nso licited ma teri al wh ich is nol used will be ret urned if accompa nied by a self add ressed sta mped en velo pe, All u nso licited ma terial will be ha ndled with reason abl e care. ho wever . Cycl e N ew s ass umes n o responsibilit y for th e safety, loss or da mage to such ma terial . Rep rin tin g in wh ol e o r pa rt only by perm ission o f th e p ub lis her . Adver t is ing rJ I ~ and ci rc u la tio n informat ion will .be sen t upon req ues t. See S.R.D.S. BPA Consumer Aud it Division Member Applied For December. 1986. I ~i p Copy, igh t 8 Cycle News. Inc . 1988. Trade· ma rk Cycle News reg istered U.S. Patent Office. All righ ts reserved . . 4 This is in respons e to n on T o lles' letter rega rdi ng La Carrera th a t ap pea red in yo u r April 13 issue. n on , if you'd ap proac h (La Carrera co- promoter) Loyal Truesd al e man -t o-man , h e 'd be h app y to en ligh ten you as to wh at an en try fee for La Carrera buys. I su spect yo u' d learn a gr eat deal about th e cost of ground and a ir am bu lan ce servi ce, as well as severa l oth er m on ey-spendin~ o p port u n ities for a race promoter III th e "land of th e bribe." But since you 've ch ose to whimper in publ ic, here's a pi ece of adv ice: 1--1 Carrera is for th e type 0 1 perso n who m ig ht go into a new foreign rest a u rant and order so me th in g th ey've never heard o f. Next yea r whe n th e rest of us a re down so u th ra ci ng L a Ca rrera , yo u sho u ld pro babl y stay ri ght th ere in Van Nu ys. Ma ybe get wild a nd em p ty your pi ggy bank , go d own to Denn y 's a n d grab a h amb urger (nothing o n it ). :I: Kit Pa lm er, Associa te Ed itor Paul Carrut h er s, Associate Ed itor Farren Williams . Assoc iate Editor Nat e Ra ub a . Associatt! Edito r Brian Ca tterson . Asso ciate Editor Edw in a Man g us, Calendar Editor Graphics an d Production In defense of La Carrera a Sha ron Clayto n , Publish" Mi k~ Klin ger ,Com p lro ll tT Skip j ohnson • •f .u Qci alt" Pu blish ~ 1 N atio nal Sa les MonoKt'T Jack Man gu s. Associate Pu blishert Ed itor Rh eba Sm ith. Circulatio n Managt'T Caroline Gf'nd ly . Execut ive Secreto ry to th e Publish er By the rules Con gratul ati ons o n you r .o u t sta nd ing co vera ge o f th e Lagu na Seca U.S. Grand Prix. This was a h isto r ic eve nt that prov ed th a t Am eri ca is more than read y for arid deserving o f a roa d race G rand Prix. We want to th ank th e p romot er , sponsors, an d many, m an y volu nteers wh o mad e this grea t weekend a reality. . There is' one factua l error in yo ur coverage that I beli eve shou ld be clarified for th e record. Your story sta tes, "T he fir st 250cc start was bot ch ed by the starters and af ter so me ch ao s th e riders were given a n o the r warm-up la p and th e race di stance wa s cu t to 3 1 la ps from th e original 32." T he starter did not botch th e start. What too k place was precise ly · by FIM starting rules. In the process of arriving late on th e grid, Anton Mang stalled his engine, requi ring the aborted start as th e rul es provide. A second rider near th e back of th e pa ck also was stalled, so the start was .aborted, bringing about th e add itional warm-up lap a nd reduction in race di stance per the FIM rule book. T o our knowledge, this is th e first time th e aborted start rule has ever been applied at a GP, since th is is on ly th e second season for th e FIM to use clutch starts with th e engi ne ru n n ing. If th ere wa s an appearance ' of chaos, it was because th e riders and tea m managers th em selves were unfamiliar with th e procedure prescribed by th e rules. For m e it was very gra ti fying 10 see both th e Laguna Seca management an d our own o fficials working so hard under new circu ms ta nces, a n unfamiliar rule book, a nd co ns ide rab le pressure from th e internatio na l teams to make this event th e grea t success it became. .Thanks as always for yo u r ou tsta ndin g coverage. ED YOUNGBLOOD President, AMA Westerville, OH Thanks for setting th e reco rd st raig h t, Ed . Three-t im e World Champion- Kenn y R oberts is one team manager w ho was obviously una ware of th e rul e. H e's seen here berating starter Bob L emming ~fte r ST EVE BALLMER Anaheim, CA More racing footage I am go in g to attempt to 'word thi s as ni cely as possible to mak e th is letter publishable. I am not going to say what I rea ll y feel. OK, here goes nothing. Larry Mai er s a nd th e entire staff of MotoWorld (the TNN TV show) sh ou ld be lin ed up against a wa ll and shot. There, I wa s able to holdback! Seriously, th eir coverage of Day tona rea lly stunk. You would think that with an hour to work with in stead of their usual half-hour, th ey co u ld provide so me decent ra ce . coverage. But what did we get ? Well, for one thing, we got an itemized list of how many parking lot a tten da n ts - Da ytona em p loy s. G ee , gu ys , that was m y main co nce rn. Also , I sa w Larry Ma iers hanging out with a bunch of, uh, women . And a lot of very ugly one-percenters (i.e. m otorc ycl e gang m ember looka likes). As usual, th ere was th e usual H onda plug with th eir test ride p rogram. That was sheer exci teme nt. A br ief glimpse of John Kocinski a nd Kevin Sch wan tz was all th at wa s necessary , eviden tly. After all, th ey just won th e ra ces th at were Am erica 's m ost prestigious until the La guna Seca GP becam e a rea lity. Oh, that feature on th e cha rity ride certain ly kept me o n th e edge of m y seat. . Come .o n , guys , get real ! The people wh o watch your sh ow and buy your sp onsor' s products are n o t one-percenters, they 're rac e fans. Show us more racing footage! Five minutes of footage on a 200-mile race a in 't makin' it. Thank God yo u 're n ot full y responsible for th e Laguna Seca GP. We'd get a lot of wine sip p ing an d lovel y views of th e beach a nd 12 seco nds of ra cing. Wake up and sm ell th e coffee, bo ys. You 're sp readin g yo u rselves (Contin ued from page 2) th e titles publ ish ed by Diamandis Communi cati ons are Cy cl e a n d ' Cycle World m agaz in es. T he deal , w h ich is expected 10 be co m p leted June I, wo u ld mak e Hach ene th e world's largest p ub lishe rs. Ernesto Vettore has been named president and chief executive officer of Cagiva North America. Inc. Vettore was formerly president and CEO of Alfa-Romeo of North America . Alberto and Daniela Carnell i, the previous directors, will remain with Gardena. California -based Cagiva North America until June at which time they will return to Cagiva It a ly. Neil Keen will be th e honored gu est a t th e June 10-11-12 BSA G old Sta r Owners Club Nati onal Meet at th e White Rose M.C. clubgr o u nds in J efferson, Pennsylvania. For furth er information, ca ll David Leavitt a t 215/486-6846. Phillip Zimmer, 39, president of the Salt Fork Dirt Riders of Danville. Illinois, d ied as a result of in ju rie s suffered in a head -on collision wh ile riding h is HarleyDavidson home from an ABATE meeting on Ma rch 26. The carthat hit him was in the wrong la ne . Zimmer. an Expert class trials rider,was manager of Danville's Kawtown Kawasak i. Zimmer le a ve s behind a 10-year-old son, Eric. He will be m issed by his family. friends. fellow ABATE members and the trials fraternity. Godspeed, Phil. . AMA President Ed Youngb lo o d ca lled for an industry-wide safel y co n ference during an April 14 meeting of the Am eri can Coalition of Outdoor R ec rea t io n P u b li shers (ACO RP , a motorcycle/ATV pr ess group), held in Los Angeles, California. Youngblood, o ne of eight industry execu tives who addressed ACORP during a roundtable discussion o n motorcycle/ ATV safety, sa id, " It's hi gh tim e for a safety co n ference . It hasn 't happened for a decade now. The purpose would be to evalua te wha t we are doing , present to th e worl d a n im age that we are co ncerne d , a n d to tell o u r o wn story ." Youngbl ood a lso told th e ed itors in th e a udien ce th at th ey shou ld be co ncerned with th e " to ne " o f th e edito ria l co n ten t in th eir publications and enc o u raged th e motorcycle/ ATV press to establish vo luntary editorial g u idel ines geared toward safety. " We ca n no longer afford to see ourselves as a n en th u sias t press being read by en th usiasts," Youngb lood told th e journalists. "T here arc o the rs reading us. We have to start see i ng o urse lv es th ro u gh th e eyes of leg islat ors, th e (genera l) pub lic and even th ose who a re not favorable to us." MOVED : Oakley lnc ., manufacturer of sport goggles and sunglasses, to 1 0 Ho lland, Irv ine,· CA 92718 ; the phone number remains 714/951 -0991 .

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