Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Wind (Continued from page 2) urrently heads up the Marlboro Yamaha Agostini Grand Prix road race team. Carol Hall has rejoined the staff of the American Motorcyclist Association as the western advertising manager for American Motorcyclist magazine. Hall . who left the AMA in 1987 after 14 years serving in a variety of posit ions. replaces Marsha Felton. w ho is leaving the motorcycle indust ry . at least temporarily. to t rave l. Hall w ill be relocating to southern California and w ill have an o ffice established there shortly. Meanwhile. she can be contacted at the AMA 's national headquarters. 614 /891 -2425 . LITTLE KNOWN FACT: South African Brett Redman, who recently finished second behind Jim Holley at the Houston round of the Mickey T hompson Off-Road Gran Prix, is the son of six-time World Champion road racer Jim Redman; Redma n rod e facto ry Hondas to the titles in the early 60s. AMAICastrol 250cc Grand Prix Champion John Kocinski will test the Team Roberts carbon-fiber framed Yamaha TZ250 at Rijeka in Yugoslavia the weekend of May 9 -, The rest of Roberts' Lucky Strike team will test in France the following weeke nd . World Ch ampion Wayn e Gardner will marry h IS longtime girlfriend Donna Forbes on November 12,1988. Gardn er a n d Fo rbes a re both Australian. Bill Surratt. father of pro motocrosser Willie Surratt. suffered , two broken legs at Glen Helen MX in San Bernardino. California. on April 24. Surratt was struck by a motorcycle that had gone off the course. Cards and letters can be sent to 41450 15 9 t h St. East. Lancaster. CA 93635. On Saturday night, April 23, In Tampa, Florida, thieves stole the trailer belonging to Du n lop Raci ng Services/Phil Flack Racing. The trailer was recovered the following morning, but not before th e thieves removed a Kawasaki generator,air compressor, two Snap-On tool boxes complete with tools, and Du nlop MX tires, tubes and valve cores. An yon e, particularly d ealers, approached by so meone wishing to sell the items should contact Tom McCollum at 704/252-9487 and th e Tampa Police Department. Lynn and Jenn ifer Arnett are - celebrating the birth of daughter Kaitlynd Nicole. who was bo rn Monday. April 25. in Dayton. Oh io. Lynn is the general manager of Xenia. Ohio's Competition Accessories . G ra nd National Champion Bu bba Shober t will take time out before the May 15 AMA/Camel Pro Series road race at Road Atlanta (Georgia) to sign autographs and bench race with fans during an open house at Roswell Honda, a motorcycle dealership in Roswell , Georgia. Shobert will be on hand Friday, May 13 a t 7:00 p. m . Rosewell Honda's open house will continue with a full schedule of festivities on Saturday, May 18. For more information, call 404 /4428460. .n Discover Today's Motorcycling. induatry-wide public relations campaign designed to promote motorcycling and to boost motor cycle sales. recently was spotl igh ted w ith a one-page feature in the April issue of Public Relat ions Journal. Author Ken Sc hulze said the success of the campaig n " m ay well depend on how serio usly the media take the campa ign' s linchpin - a transcontinenta l motorcycle ri de to raise money for the Juvenile D iabetes Fou nd at ion ." The Van Buren Tra nscorn, which w ill feature f em ale motorcycli st s ridi ng fro m coast-to -co ast . is scheduled to beg in May 1 in New York City. Transcom riders will make pu bl icity stops in Wa shingt on D .C.• Chicago and Dallas before w rapping up t he ri de in Los Angeles . Cycle magazine Edi to r Phil Schilling was quoted in th e afor em entioned Public Rel ations J ournal article as d isagr ee ing with the Di sco ver T oday's Motorcycling concep t o f bo osting motorcycle sales by promoting th e sport to the masses. "T he last th ing motorcycling needs is a motorcycle in every garage," Schilling reportedl y said. " Mo torcycles ar e dangerous. The motorcycle establishment will try to wallpaper and window-dress around that issu e, hoping to crea te a more receptive clima te in which to sell motorcycles to po ts-and-pans cons u mers, who, in truth , o ugh t to sta y in th eir cars. " John Kocinski. 1987 AMA/Cast rol 250cc Grand Prix Champion. dominated the 125cc Junior class d uring the April 27 Bayla nds Raceway MX in Fremont. Californi a. acc o rdi n g t o Cycle News contrib utor M ike Vancil . Kocinski. _ r id ing a 1 2 5 c c Yamaha that reportedly belongs t o three-time World Champion Kenny Roberts. defeated 15 Juniors on what Vancil called " a real tough track; it's a stadium track in a field ," Junior dirt tracker Andy Tresser, a regu lar on this year's 600cc Na tional Dirt Track Series circuit. also raced at Baylands. finishing second in a field of 20 riders in the 250cc Junior race . An American team co nsisting o f m otocrossers Willy Simons and Brian Bellew, speedway ace John Cook, ATV rider T oby Ash ley, Jet Skier Scott Watkins and parachutist Mitch Dakota took third place in th e Run the Gauntlet competition, a made-for-television (Eu ro pean) production, held near London, - England, April 12-24. According to Simons, the event was similar to th e Surviva l of the Fittest competition here in th e U.S. and consisted of motocross, Odysse y, ATV , dun e buggy, Jet Ski and hovercraft racing along with parasailing a n d an obstacle course. The Dutch team took first over th e Australians, and the English team trailed the U. S. in fourth. Team Kawas~ki's Jeff Ward. Ron Lechien and Jeff Matiasevich w i ll hand out and autograph racing posters prior to Kawasaki Nightatthe'Friday. May 6. speed way meet at Costa Mesa. California 's Orange County Fairgrounds. The riders will be at the Kawasaki tent set up near the entrance to the track at 7 p .m. Other special events planned for the evening inc lude free Kawasaki caps to the first 1 000 spectators and a half t ime speedway race on Kawasaki KDX80 m inibikes. According to an anonymous tip we received just before this issue went to press, someone - allegedly an official working for the California Departmen t o f Parks & Recreation - is p honi ng northern California motorcycle cl ubs and off-road veh icle groups a nd cha rgi ng the AMA, CORVA and O HM VR Commissioner Ed Waldheim with co nsp iri ng to keep Sacramento 's Pra iri e Ci ty OHV Pa rk closed to the p u blic. The unidentified ca ller reported ly a lso u rg es o ff- road o rg a n iza tio n s to support sta te Senator J ohn Doolit tl e 's (R -Rock lin) SB2659 , a b ill sponsored by the Parks Depa rtmen t which would reo pen Pra iri e City to the public by -making the 500-acre faci lity a State Vehicular Recrea tio n Area . Wh en we phoned Waldheim and as ked if th e up was accurate, he sai d, " Yes, someo ne is doing that," a nd denied there is a co nsp iracy to keep the park closed to th e p ub lic (cu rren tly the fa cility is open for co mpetitio n use o nly). Waldheim ex p lained that Doolittle's bill would immedi ately assign eight rangers to run th e park as an SVRA, while an a me nd men t to th e measure would gi ve officia ls the option of leasing the park to a private concessionaire during the 1990-91 fiscal year. Wa ldheim contends , however, that once th e park is in state hands it will stay in sta te hands. "1£ you put staff peo Ie in th ere , you 'll never get them o u t," Waldheim said. " Bid it out firs t a nd if you can ' t find a concessio na ire then go a head a nd ha ve the state run it, I j ust wa nt to get th e mo st for OHV gree n sticker (reg istra tio n) fun ds. If we can con tra ct that park out, the user will get th e mo st for his bu cks. If th ey're telling people we're tryi ng to keep it closed, they're wro ng. " Ou r anon ym ous ca ller urged o ff-road grou ps to che ck o ut all the op tions before su p porti ng SB2659 in its current form. It's officiall The May 22 AMA Grand National Championship l Camel Pro Series San Jose (Cal i.f orn ia) Mile. slated for May 22 at Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. will be the last mile ever held on the famed oval . According to Bob Barkhimer Associates. promoters of the event. "The big dirt track is scheduled to be replaced by a one-mile paved oval. part of a multi-million-dollar project which will include the addition of more than 30.000 seats. The new facility will be geared toward four major auto races per year. meaning the end of the line for motorcycles on the San Jose Mile. " The last event at San Jose will include a 25-lap Grand National main event. a 15-lap 600cc National final. and a six-rider. f ive-lap. $17.500 Camel Challenge sprint race fea turing the top six Grand National qualifiers. Target date for completion is Spring of 1990. Sco tt G ra y (Suz) wo n ro u nd four of th e WSMA For mula USA Un li m ited Motorcycle G ra nd P rix Series a t Willow Spri ngs International Racewa y in Rosa mond, Ca liforn ia o n May I. J a mes Do may (Su z) finish ed seco nd a nd Barry Bu rke (Yam) was third. Don Greene (H on) wo n the L ightweight division , with Do may (H on) second and Kazunobu Yon eda (Ya m) th ird. AB36. a mandatory helmet bill intro d u c ed by Assem blyma n Richa rd -Flovd (D- Gar den a). is scheduled f or a May 5 vot e in t he Cal ifornia Senate. accord ing to a spokesman for Floyd 's office. If approved by the senate. the bill. which was passed by the state assembly i n 1987. w ill go to Governor George Deukmejian for his signature. Deukemejian has not taken a pos ition on the measure. California motorcycli sts who wi sh to vot e in th e June 7 primary election must register by May 9. Voters must regi ster again if th eir addresses hav e changed, th eir names have changed du e to marital sta tus, o r th ey have changed party a ffilia tio n. T o register. call yo ur local County Voter Regi stration Office (the number is listed in th e front sectio n of you r ' phone book. in th e County Governm ent Offic es Sect io n under Registra r-Recorder Department) and request a Voter reg istra tion card be m ailed to you.. Rounds four and five. the f irst three ro unds took place in Flo rida in late February. of the AMRAPros "World Championship" Dirt Track Series w ill t ake place over the Memorial Day w eekend. A short track race will b e h el d Friday. May 27. at Jacksonville. Illinois. and on Monday. M ay 30 (Memorial Day) Wh ite City. illinois' M idstate Raceway will host a half mile race. Both even ts will host amateur an d professio nal racing. For more information. call 813/938 -4573 . The a nn ual Ohio dirt tra ck season opener, th e Springfield H alf Mil e, took pl ace on Sunday, May I, and Findlay, Ohio's Steve Morehead (H D) won the Expe;rt main, followed a cross the fini sh line by fell ow Ohioan George Roed er (H -D) and Maryland's Rodney Farris (H -D). Ron Schroeder (W-R) won the Junior final. while Pro-Am honors went to David Robinette (H o n). IT'S SP READING: If you thought that Ca lifornia was the only state affected by " wilderness bills" that would close off hu~e ch u n ks of land to off -road recreauon, th ink aga in . Congress recently passed a bill. which was later signed by President Reagan, that closes 92,000 acres of land to trail riders in Michigan. In Nevada two bills. HR-708 a nd H R2142. have been in trod uc ed which would close 132.000 and 789,000 acres of land , respec t ivel y. The differences between the bills may keep them out of action for a while. Another bill in Ne vada calls for the closure of 600,000 acres in 12 areas of the state. A Montana wilderness bill (H R -2090) was recently passed by the House of Representatives, which establishe s 1.35 million acres of land in th at state as wilderness area s. The bill also co n tai ns provisions which could close even more ,acreage. Sears Point International Raceway in Sonoma. Ca lifornia. announced at a press co nference on May 2 that President and General Manager Darwin Doll will be leaving effective August 5. Doll will assume a similar position at the soon -to-be-built A lbuquerque International Raceway in Albuquerque. New Mexico. This new racing facility will feature a twom ile. D-shaped super speedway and 1.9-mile infield road course. Cycle News has an opening for an assistant editor . App licants should have newspaper experience. own camera equipment and know how to use it. and preferably have a journalism degree. Position responsibilities include covering races. copy editing and feature writing . Send resume and sample of published material to: Jack Mangus. Cycle News. Inc.• P.O . Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801 . 49

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