Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

\lTND fiY p~p~ Wf~LfY (Con tinued from page 2 ) and experie nce wh at it's lik e to fly with th e Blue Angels in San Diego, California. Hannah, who o wns and ' flies his own airp lanes, in cluding a Pitts stun t plane, gave a speech to U.S. Na vy enlisted person nel on the importance of motorcycle safety and was rewarded with ' the flight with the Blue Angels. He even got th e chance to take the stick a nd fly th e jet. "T he plane flew me; I didn 't fIy it. It (the experie nce) went beyond my wildest dreams." When Hannah retires from racing, he wants to compete in aerobatic stunt flying contests. Philippe Le Roux, chief executive officer of England's Norton Group, was in southern California April 22 exploring the possibility of importing Norton's 588cc rotary motorcycle into the United States. "We're taking a look atthe U.S. market:' Le Roux said. " We ' re not talking to (U.S .) distributors yet. We hope to int rod uc e the bikes in America during the course of next year. We're bui lding 500 bikes in 1 9 8 8 for the British /E uropean market. We hope to kick production up to 1000 units if we come to the United States. In 1989 we won't im port a full 500 bikes. The first year we're loo king at half that." If sold in the U.S .. the Norton w ill re tail for more than $10,000. Bill West, promot er of th e April 23 Tampa Supercross, says he will have a date secured for 1989 in Joe Robbie Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. " It's th e home of th e Miami Dol phins, and a great facility for Supercross," said West. "T here's also a good chance that we'll bring Supercross back to Atlanta next season." The Tampa Supercross " Gat o r Pit " had the real thing - at least until race time. Promoter Bill West had three live alligators in the ontrack pit for pre-race activities. The Tampa Tribune and Q-105 radio in Tampa sponsored a photo COOlest for all Supercross shutterbugs. Those who wa n ted to enter were all owed in a special photography area by a triple jump. After the winner is selected, the first-place photo will run ' i n th e Tampa Tribune. A 600cc National m ile will be held in conjunction w ith the Grand National Championship /Camel Pro Series San Jose Mile scheduled for May 22 at Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose, Cal ifonia. According to pre-entry lists for the San Jose Mile, 23 Expert riders will co mpete in both the Grand Na tional / Camel Pro Series mile and the 600cc Nation al mi le slated for the same afternoon. Among the scheduled " double dippers" are two -time Gra nd National Champion Ricky Graham, Ted Boody, Billy Herndon, Chri s Carr, Bryan Villella, Brya n McDowell, Don Estep, and Brian Atherton. The program for the San Jose Mile has been altered t o accomodate the running of Grand Nationa l and 600cc Natio nal mil es o n the same .da y . Th irty-six G ra nd National riders w ill q ua lify for t hr e e , 12ride r, 1 0-lap heat ra ce s; t he top thre e riders fr om each heat will tranfer to the fina l; and the top fo ur riders from each of two 1 2 rider, 1 O-Iap sem is w ill transfer to t he 1 7- rid er, 25-lap main event (t here w ill be n o la s t chance qua lifier). For the 600cc ra ce , 3 6 riders w ill qualify for three 12rider, e ight-lap heat races; the t o p three ride rs from each hea t will t ra nsfe r to t he fina l; a nd t he top three riders fro m each of two 12rider, e ight-lap semis w ill transfer to the 1 5- rid er, 15-lap ma in event. The program also includes a $17,500, five- la p Camel Challe ng e sprint race fo r the six riders who qualify fastest for the Camel Pro Series/Grand National m ile . The AMA is negotiating with Dixi e Speedway officials to schedule a 600cc National short track race at th e Woodstock , Georgia, facility on October 23. The addition of the race to the 600cc National schedule is all but assured. J immy Filice and fellow Californian Pete Hames will ride Hank Scott-built Honda RS750s for D&S Racing at each of the Grand National mi les on the 1988 schedule. Filice, who fi nis hed 17th in the Sacramento Mile after dropping out of the race with possible engine problems, is confident that Scott's bikes will meet the test of National competition - Filice wo n t he Novice National Champio nship in 1979 aboard a Hank Scott-tuned Yamaha. Hames made the move from the Gardner Racing Team, wh ich uses HarleyDavidson XR750s, to D&S Racing because he wanted to try his hand at rid ing a Honda. The team was put together by Scott and Bob Donabedian . T eam H arl ey-Davidson's Chris Carr, wh o ran away with th e seaso n opener in 1987, kn ew before this year's first Grand National race that th e co mpetition would be tough. " I' d like to do it aga in, " said Carr before practice atthe Sacramemo Mile, " but th ere probabl y isn 't a sno wba ll's chance in hell. " Carr is confi dent that his '88 program, whi ch features new m o to rcycl es a n d a n ew mechanic, will give him a good shot a t the Nat ional titl e. Carr , who fini sh ed fourth in th e Nati onal standi ngs in 1987, split with tuner Mert Lawwill in th e off-season and replaced him with T exan Ken Tolbert. " I had four races last year wh ere I brok e down wh en I was in a top five position and I'm hoping to get away from th at this year." Carr finished fourth in Sacramento. Three-t ime National Champion Jay Springsteen, riding for 'Ba rtel 's Harley-Davidson, plans to run all the m iles and half miles on the 1988 schedule, and may take in o ne TT race at Peoria because, "I really like that place." When asked if he has considered retiring, Springsteen said, "Hey, I would never quit. I'm still having fun at it. I'd race forever if I could. " Did Jimmy Filice's win in the 250cc World Championship Grand Prix at Laguna Seca result in a flood of phone calls from race team managers offering him a myriad of contracts? " No, not at this time," said Filice with a smile during the Sacramento Mil e. " I hav en 't been talkin g to anybody. I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens . I wo u ld love to go to Spa in but it doesn 't look possible; the J a pan ese rider sho u ld be w ell." Masahiro Shimizu missed Laguna Seca when he broke his wrist during testi ng. leavi ng th e doo r open for Fi lice to ride the ETV Kanernot otuned, H RC H onda. " Hopefu lly, I ca n rid e so me GPs a t the end of the year and hope for next year. I believe I can win th e World Ch ampionsh ip with ma chi nery th at is capable of wi nning. It was a thrill to win th at race (Lagu na Seca ). I thi n k I proved a lo t there." Ca liforn ia Senato r David A . Roberti (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the powerful Senate Rules Committee and the legislator who re pl a c e d OHV Commissioner Mike Bishop - an avid ATV e nthus iast - w ith a member of the Sierra Club, was burned badly re ce nt ly by his supposed environmental allies. "Legislators ought to be wary about ever having the S ie rra Club as an ally, " Roberti said on April 13. ~ 'Th ey , g ot me into a f ight, deserted me when the fight got rough, and then started taking some shots at me." Last July, Roberti made a deal with the S ierra Club and Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) to remove Coastal Commissioner G ilbert Contreras, after S ierra Club members expressed fears Contreras would vote to approve a request from Occidental Petrole um to d rill for off-shore oil along the Cal ifornia Coast. Roberti removed Contreras during the commission meeting, just before the vote was taken, and took a lot of he at for his action; he never m e ntio ned Sierra C lub involvement. When Hayden, backed by the S ierra Club, recently introduced a bill to prohibit the firing of commissioners in the middle of their two-year terms, Robert i . called the move hypocritical and angrily took it as a slap in the face. frow, Scott Russell, Dave Sadowski, Paul Sharwell, Craig Trinder, Wes ley W inchester and Scott Zampach . When racing in Production class' event s , Team Dun lop riders w ill be using Dunlop's K591 Elite SP t ires. No rthern Ca lifornian Do u g Ch andler, wh o raced last year u nder th e Freddie Spencer /S uperTrap p colors, said during a lull in activities at th e Sacramento Mi le that Spe ncer is no lon ger invo lved in Cha nd ler's dirt trac k or road race progra ms. " He 's in no posi tion to be worryi ng abo ut so meo ne 's sponsorsh ip ," said Chand ler. " He' s tryi ng to decide what he's going to do. I don't bl am e him , he has to look o ut Iorhirnself." 00 00 ~ ....... In 1987, Doug C handler attempted to w in both the dirt track and road race titles, but he w ill focus on Camel Pro event s in 1988. " We' re going to concentrate on the Camel Pro Series. If there is a conflict between a Camel road race and a National dirt track, "II have to miss the dirt track. It was just too hard to do all that racing last year. We tried it and it didn't really do us any good so we're going to be more realistic this ' time." Orient, Ohio's Don Estep finished seventh at the Sacramento Mile o n a Honda RS750 0 wned by Bubba Shobert and tuned by Shobert's mechanic Skip Eak en. Estep said he ' will ride Shobert's bikes on all the miles in 1988 and will contest half miles and TTs on his own eq uipment. " Bub' s not gaining anything," said Estep, " he just wants to help me out." Shobert said, " I hate to just see the bik e just sitting there and I think he's got some potential so we'll give him a cha nce to try it o ut . I don 't really know wh at I'm goi ng to do next year, and th is might give Skip a jump o n working with somebod y." Sh obert is hoping to land a GP roa d race ride for 1989. When asked if it fe lt good to be riding one of Mert Lawwill's Harley-Davidsons, two -time Grand National Champion Ricky Graham said, "Ohl Hell yeah ll felt there was no way I wanted to qu it. I still feel I'm as good as I ever was. It felt like a good, 01' Harley. Once, out of turn four in practice (at t he Sacramento Mile) , I felt like it was 1982 again (the year Graham won his first championsh ip on a Tex Peel-tuned Ha rley). I just d idn 't have the rig ht fr a m e of mind to run as a privateer and have to worry about the finances a nd t he rid ing. With my new deals, a ll I have to do is show up at the race t rack a nd ride, like I' m used to." According to Dr. Harry Hurt, a resear ch scientist for the U niversi ty of Southern California, the federal go vern men t has fail ed to budget a d ime for m otorcycl e acc ide n t resear ch in th e past seven and a half years, leaving th e door open for socalled "experts" who don 't understa nd motorcycles or motorcycling to cond uct th eir ow n studies and draw th eir own conclusio ns. Hurt sai d many privat e research ers ~o into research projects without objec tivity a nd with precon ceived conclusio ns. Hurt's com ments , made April 14 at a meeting of ACORP (Ame rica n Co alition of Outdoor Recreation Publishers, a motorcycle/ ATV pr ess Earnie Adams of Tennessee successgroup ), immediatel y brought to full y completed four co nse cu tive mind a study of Japanese-made, high-performance superbikes con jumps of 16, 18,20 and 22 Cadillacs during intermission at th e Sacraducted by the Insurance Institute for mento Mile to br eak the record of Highway Safety. The I1HS research 21, set last year by Evel Knievel's son prompted U.S. Senator John C. Robbie. Danforth (R-Misso ur i) to introduce th e Motorcycle Safety Act of 1987, which would have banned Japanese • Joseph Lindemann, 69, founder su perbikes. After several meetings of Max ie Shoes in Belleville, with the AMA, Danforth later withIllinois , makers of steel shoes for dr ew support for his own bill. dirt track racers, passed away of leukemia April 10, The business will continue with Lin Lindemann Dunlop Tire Corporation has taking,over the helm. signed a talented group of road race rs as members of Team Jim Filice dropped out of the April Dunlop for 1988. In alphabetical 16 Sacramento Mi le because he order they are: Doug Chandler, " heard this noise. " It turns out the John Eidenberger, Donnie Green, Jamie James, John Kocinski, Tom noise was produced by the bike's rear sprocket and chain hitting the Lynch, Reuben McMurter, Rich bottom of h is " boom box" muffler Oliver, Ricky Orlando, Joe Pitt-man, Doug Polen, Randy Renwhen the suspension bottomed out. 53

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