Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

ago. During our 250cc or Open Amateur/Expert class race at the old H elveti a /Cal -Am track in Sacramento, Cal ifornia, a rider named Jay Carter sounded an air-horn as we entered the first turn, much to . our surprise! MIKE PHILLIPS Livermore, CA America's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXV Sharon Clayto n, Publisher Mike Klin ger.Com p tr oll er Skip J ohnson , Associa te Pu bl isher! N ational Sales M ana gN Jack Mangu s. Associat e Pub lisher / Editor Rheba Smi th. Circulatio n Ma nager -, Caroline Oendry, Execu tive Secutary to th e Pu bl ish er Editorial Kit Pal mer, Associate Edi tor Paul Carru thers , Associate Editor Fa rren Will iam s. Associate Editor . Na te Rauba , Associate Ed itor GP videotape I was not lucky eno ugh to attend the U.S. GP at Laguna Seca on April 10. I was, however, looking forward to viewing the 500cc race on NBC. Much to m y disappointment and anger, th e local TV sta tion (WROCRoch est er) chose to show a 60minute commercial call ed Mind Power instead. The race was not · shown on Buffalo or Syracuse stations either. My question is: will th e 500cc race be released on videotape? JOHN K. MORRIS Fairport, NY Brian Catterson. Associate Edit or Ed wina Man gu s. Calen dar Editor Advertising Mike Church. Senior Sales Mana ger Terry Pratt Senior Sales Managt'T Mar k T ho me. Western Sales ManagtT Don Stoeber, Western Sa les Mana ger Mark Mitch ell. Eastern Sales Managn Thomas R. Comer. Eastern Sale s M anageT Ca thy Co rrao Western Ad Coordinator Car la Borden. Eastern Ad Coordinator Ton i Dones ke, Advertising Assistant Graphics and Production Ma1coim Wil so n ,Prod uction Manager Diana H ilgenberg. G rap hi c Artist Stacey Guest. Graphic Artis t Jimm ie O 'Dell , Grap hi c Artist Marion Ha tashita, T ypesetter Carolyn Branham , T yp esett er Denn is Gree ne. Lab. Yuh . To date we haven't heard of an y plans to market a videotape of th e U.S. GP ... Edit or. La Carrera wind Regarding th e wind at La Carrera · a nd the adverse effect it' had on the " wind tunnel " bikes: they sho u ld try running 91.3 m ph on a FXRD H arl ey with twice the weight and half the horsepower. NICK NICHOLS Arling ton, TX Accounting /Data Processing Donna Bryan . Ace ts Re ceivab le Coo rdina to r Ge neva Repa ss. Assis tant Fran Ham wey, Credit . Nicho ls fin ished first in class and 23rd overall aboard the H arley he. dubb ed Eno la Gay III . . . Edi tor. Circulation Sara h Tay lor , Assis tant Alma Anguiano . A ssist an t Cheri Chapma n . A ssistan t Mari ta Adam s. Assis tan t Carnes Honda closes Circulation Development In 1945, just short ly after World, War II ended, J oe Ca rnes opened a bicycle shop in Sunland, Californ ia. On June 30, 1988, J oe Carnes will be retiring and the end of an era for motorcycling will come to an end. J oe started out wi th the bic ycle dealership, gradua ted to th e now inf am ous Whizzer bicycle conv ersion and furthered his invol vement .with motorcycling through th e years by selling Chusman, Mustang, Francis, Barnett, Puch, Rokon , BSA , Velocette, Zundapp, AJS/Matchless, Du cati a nd finall y H onda motorcycles. H e becam e a H onda deal er in 1961 and by 1963 hi s stoc k was exclusively Honda. The deal ership has had th e same address in Sunland since th ey opened th eir doors and thousands of "famil y" have purchased their new motorcycles from the Carnes famil y. J oe's dealeship is one of the oldest Honda dealerships in th e U.S.A. If you purchased a motorcycle from Joe and family, th en you know that not only are the nicest people you meet on a Honda but that people like the Carnes family sell and service them with the same en thusiasm. Joe, best wishes in retirement from yo ur "family " of cu stomers! Ron D';vidSon . Manager Want Ads Debb ie Wink ler. Want Ad Sa les , Service and Support Ch ris Aucheson. H~adq uarti!Ts R ecep tion ist Leonard He rring . Si!TVtUand Su pport National Headquarters 220 1 Cherry Ave., Lo ng Beach . CA 90806. P.O . Box 498, Lo ng Beach, CA 90801-0498 (213) 427-7433; 213/636-8844. . FAX (213) 427-6685 Eastern Office 1190 First Ave.• T ucker. GA . 30084; ma iling address P.O . Box 805. T ucke r. GA 300850805. (404) 934-7850. FAX (404) 934-3112 Cycle News (USPS 141-340) is publ ished weekly excep t th e first and last week of the calendar year [or $32.50 per year by Cycle News. Inc.• 2201 Che rry Avenue. L on g Beach. CA 90806. Second class postage pa id at Lo ng Beach . CA. an d additiona l ma ilin g o ffices. POSTMASTER : Send form 3579 to Cycle News. P.O . Box 498. long Beech. CA 90801-0498. Subscription rat es: O ne year. second, class ma il, $32.50. . Cycle News welcom es unsolicited editorial material including stories. cartoons. p ho tos, etc. Su ch mat erial . if published. becom es th e excl usive pro~rty of Cycle News. Such accepted mat erial is subject to revision as is . necessary in the ' sole di screti on of Cycle News. Unso lici ted material wh ich is not used wil1 be returned if accompanied by a self a ddress ed stamped envelope. All unso lici ted ma terial will be handled with reasonabl e ca re. however. Cycle News assu mes no respo ns ibility for the safety, loss or damage to such ma terial. Reprinting in whol e or pa rt o nly by permiss io n of th e publ isher. Advertising ra tes and circu lation informati on will be sent u pon -request. See S.R.D.S. BPA Consumer Audit Division Membership Applied For December. 1986. Copyright" Cycle News. Inc. 1988. Trade ·mark Cycle N..... registered U.S . Patent Office. All rights reserved. , [ ". s 4 "" JIM PILON Sunland, CA Less sound means more ground · Kit Palmer's otherwise excellent test on the Kawasaki KDX200 ,contained a few snide comments about the " heavy muffler, that of course rob s horsepower." I wonder if th is decision was backed by some dyno research or was it just Kit's opinion? A modified exhaust system would most likel y render this fine machine illegal excep t on closed course tracks. Enduro-type off-road vehicles are EPA certified and the exhaust (system) should never be tampered with. Conversely, on the back page of the same issue is a full page Honda ' advertisemen t in which Ri ck " Bad Boy" j ohnson states: " I hate loud bikes and I've been racing rnotorcycles for years. How do you think som eone who doesn't ride feels about th em? Only squids modify their bike's silencers. It's already tough to find good places to ride, loud bikes and thoughtless riders make it tougher. Less sound means more ' ground." Hooray ·for H onda and Rick J ohnsonl Each and everyone of u s must look at our actions and words, and ask, "Is this ~ood for th e future of motorcyclmg?" After reading th e KDX200 test and th e Honda ad, I am wondering if Rick's " Bad Boy" label shou ld be awarded to som eone elsel MIKE BISHOP Santa Barbara; CA Cheers f or Team Honda Specia l th anks to T eam H onda members Guy Cooper, George H oIland, Rick Johnson and J eff Leisk. T he ir ap pea ra nce a t Honda Town on Friday, April 15, before th e Dallas Supercross produced a very special eve nt. T eam H onda coordin ato r Rick Spillman was pr esent to keep everyth ing rolling smooth ly and he spoke hi ghly of both the fans and our deal ership. The food for ou r open house was .' professionall y catered and prov ided free of charge by Dan Hudson of Gep itoes Pizza in Arlington . H at s off to Dan and his crew for th eir efforts. To top it all off, Rick Johnson donated a pair of his Fox MX boots for a drawing. Congratulations to th e winners,Frankie Ladd and Keith Adams. It was good to see that kind . of coo pera tion and enthusiasm all under our r oof. Thanks to all concerne d. LYNN D. NICKERSON Honda Town Ft. Worth, TX Who gets to wear Rick's boots first, Frankie or Keith? . . . Editor. Memories The Over The Edge picture in the April 27 issue brings back memories for me and I'm sure others. The photo was taken as we entered the sandy beach turn on the old Daytona Beach course in 1960, the last Daytona 200 run on the beach course. The downed rider is Bates Mol eneau, number 2 is Dick Klamfoth, number 25 is Everett Brashear, and number 12 is me, Bobby .Sirkegian. Thanks for the memories. BOBBY SIRKEGIAN Covina, CA Ooog a! . In the In The Wind section of your April 20 issue you mentioned Jeff Ward's mounting of a horn on his Kawasaki atthe Pontiac Supercross. This also happened several years . Dirt trackers will perhaps rem ember .the bicycle bell Ed Salley mounted on his Ossa short track bike in the early seventies. Wh ile it didn't have the shock effect of an air-horn, it did turn a few heads wh en he rang it in the turns in those very brief moments wh en the riders were off the gas . . . Editor. A big t hank you A very big thanks to the Viking or Vikings who returned Dale 's bike to the pits and notified us of his injury at the Vikings M.e. Hare & Hound in Lucerne Valley, April 24. H e took th e time and trouble to gather up scattered pieces of motorcycle, tools and riding gear that was removed from Dale prior to transporting him to the ho spital. Thanks also to th e STAT ambulance crew for their concern and consideration, and to Rescue 3 as I'm sure th ey were also involved. Even thou gh thi s m a y have become routine business, those in volved appear to care enou gh to try a little harder to avoid unnecessary pain for an injured rider. People like this give desert racing a good nam e. . DAN STERLING Ch erry Vall ey, CA During th e Vickings M.C.. desert race, Dale Sterling suffered a broken right fem ur and a fractur ed pelvis; surg ery was required to repair the femur, which was fractured in two pla ces. Sterling's recuperation will last several months. Cards and letters may be sen t to Dale Sterling, 10215 . Avenue N ida M ira Villa , Cherry Valley, CA 92223 . . .Editor. Dirt to pavement I would like to see Rick J ohnson try a co up le of year s of pavement riding. I bet he cou ld be a 500cc GP road race con tender. He 's got th e guts and the abili ty. I would also like to see Kawasaki get back into GP road racing, so that Jeff Ward would have some thing to ride. Johnson and Ward competing in road racing would tighten up National Championship MX, and give Johnson and Ward achance to thrill th e asphalt crowd. Don't get me wrong, I love motocross but think the above proposed ch a n ges would be interesting. I wonder if Ward or Johnson ever considered switching to road racing in th e- future.' • RICHARD ELDRESS ' Montrose, PA Sorry, Richard, but both Johnson and Ward say they have no plans to road race motorcycles. Johnson said, " T h e closest I've come ' to it is (Yamaha) YSR50 racing w ith Bubba (Shobert). I have the mentality to do it, but to be great at it, which I'd want to be, I'd have to start at a much younger age." Ward said, "I'll take up car racing or triathlons, but I won 't road race motorcycles. It would take too long to get good enough to win, and you can't afford to throw it away with a motorcycle; you can pitch it away in a car." . . ..Editor.

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