Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

ind ontinued from page 2) ssociation's cooperative efforts . h the Anheuser-Busch Coman ies in developing and distributg the "R iding Stra ight" brohure, a pamphlet designed to iscou rage alcohol use by motoryclists when they are riding. The MA was awarded it s first C-Flag or develo pment of the " Trail iding in AmeriCa" publication . he C-Flag program was estabis he d in 1984 by t he Wh ite ouse. peedway racer Rob Pfetzing, who 's ow ridi ng in Engla nd for th e radford team, and tu ner Dave Brant ill hold a spee d way rid ing/ echa nies schoo l at Ascot Park in ard ena , Cali fornia, on June 19. Ietzin g will give rid ing instruction nd Brant will show riders how to eep their bikes in proper.tune. T he choo l will be held from 9 a.m. until rk and is lim ited to 16 riders; the ost is $80. For more information, ontact Brant at 71 4/ 646-0560. ouglas E. Fitts, coordinat ing hief inst ruct o r for the Cal ifo rn ia otorcyclist Safety Program , ecently wo n th e Moto rcyc le afety Foundation's 1987 J ohn ' E. Harley Memorial Award, which s g iven annually to the ind ivid ual r organization that did the most uring the yea r to promote motorcycling safety. Fitts' program won e Outstanding State Program Recognition Award, and t he state of Washington received the State Licensing Award. The United States Air Force took the Outstanding Military Ach ievement Award for the seventh year in a row. In all, 45 awards were g iven, inc ludi ng many to dealers, clubs, MSF instructors and loca l and regional safety programs. After numerous hearings (six if you talk to Dan Smith, four if you talk to SCO RE), SCORE and the Competition Review Board for the 4th Annual SCORE Great Mojave 250, held April 2 in Lucerne Valle y, California, have up held the disqualification of Smith and Garth Sweetland for allegedly riding off the course. Smith criticized the fina l decision and said he will take the matter to court " It has turned into a big screwed up mess," said Smith. "Everybody, at one tim e or another, has agreed with my position, but nobody wants to eat crow. They keep changing their point of view. I've never been able to meet this gu y (the official who said Smi th rod e off the course). Every tim e he's been at on e of th e meetings, SCORE said I couldn't go. I'm looking at going to court because in court everybody's ther e." SCORE spokesman Steve Cassanni said, " All I can tell you js the Competiton Review Board reviewed this matter during at least four separate hearings. After reviewing the appeal , the Competition Review Board decided to uphold th e disqualificati on ." We failed to list Hap Jones and Kush itani as sponsors of Steve Morehead in our San Jose Mile coverage in last week's paper. Morehead rode a Mert l awwill Harley-Davidson XR750 to the win at San Jose on May 22. "The confusion probably came about because I was s lated to ride Mert's bikes in West Coast events and other equipment with different sponsors back East." said Morehead. lawwill said, " It hu rt not t o have Hap Jones mentioned because he's the major sponsor of our effort." lawwill, who originally had planned to only contest West Coast events, said that he had obtained sufficient sponsorship to fund Morehead and former two-t ime Grand National' Ch a m pion Ricky Graham in both t his past weekend 's Springfield Mile a nd t he June 4 louisville Half Mile. " Plus Electro Heavy Eq uipment has stepped in w ith s ponsorship help, " said lawwill. The 3rd Annual Suzuki New Jersey State MX Champion shi ps wi ll be held a t Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, June 11-12. Stars who'll compete at Raceway Park incl ud e Bob H ann ah , J o h nn y O 'M a ra , Ron Ti ch en o r, Todd Dehoop and Junior Jackson. Taking them on wi ll be 33-yea rs-yo u ng Mickey Kessler, the defendin g New J ersey Sta te Ch ampion. Amat eu r q ua lifying and p rofession al practice will be conducted on Saturday with the Ama teur fin als and Pro motos runnin ~ on Sunday. Discount tickets are available a t area Suzuki dealers. For more informat ion , call 201/446-. 6331. . Dun lo p Off-Roa d Coord inat o r Fra nk S tacy has announc ed tha t Ph il Flack Services will be providing race service at th e J une 1 819 Blackwater 1 00 in Davis. West Virigina. Former National motocross rider an d cu rre n t ci ty co u nc ilma n of Hawaii, John DeSoto (Ho n) was the overa ll winner a t the Rock Island Riders' Mauna Kea 200 Endu ro in Hilo, Ha waii , May 28-29. DeSoto, 40, beat last year's winner Steve loll (Kaw) by five poin ts, 7-12. Third place went to David Amorin (Kaw) followed by Darryl Veirra (KT M) and former sur fing cha mp Gerry Lopez (Hon). More than 800 riders turned out for the Team Green Sp ring . National MX at High Po int Raceway, in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, May 28, the day prior to the 125/ 250cc Nat ional MX. Damon Bradshaw (Yam) and Sean Dukes (Hon) took the 125cc A divison one and two class wins. Bradshaw also scored the 250cc A class victory, while Robby Taylor (Yam) topped the Open A c lass. Brian Swink (Kaw) aced the 85cc (1 415) Expert and Schoolboy classes. The Illinois Motorcycl e Deal er s Association has announced th at th ey will hold a Springfield Mile 600cc National on Saturday, Sept ember 3, in conjunctio n with a Camel Pro Series Springfield Mile on Sunday, September 4. Monda y, September 5, ha s been reserved as a rain da te for the races which will take place at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Tickets for th e National doubleheader weekend will be available soon. Scott Davis (Yam) captured the overall victory at the 11 th Annual ADRA Prescott 100 Hare & Hound in Prescott, Arizona, May 29. Davis edged second-place finisher Jeff Darland (Hon) by 10 seconds, whi le Bobby Russell (Ho n ) finished third. The revi sed Honda NSR500 o n which Wayne Gardner debuted to a second place finish behind Eddie Law son in the May 22 Italian GP features a redesigned chassis. The engine now sits farther back in th e frame , and the swingarm pivot has been moved upwards. In addition, a new carrier for the troublesome fron t brakes , designed to drain heat more effectively, now uses British Ferodo pads with last year's Nissin calipers. " T he tr acti on is mu ch better ," Gardner said. " It seems HRC misunderstood my requirements when we sat down toget her a nd talk ed it ou t, they were able to mak e the bike more to my likin g. Actua lly, it has al most the same geometry as last year." Scotland's Niall Mackenzie and Japan's Shu nji Yatsushi ro a lso received the new chassis , but Italy's Pier-Fran cesco Chili did not. Road rac e r J ua n Garriga , w ho c urre nt ly lie s se c on d in the 250cc World Cham pionship, switched to 38mm Keihin carburetors to w in th e J erez GP o n Ma y 1 . Th e Spaniard was upset th at Yamaha s up plied th e other works riders luca Ca da lora a nd Carlos lava d o w ith 38mm Miku nis. while he st ill ha d the 37m m Mikunis . Mich ele Alboret to, one of Ferrari's F-One drivers, was on hand to watch pra ctice for th e Ital ian GP on May 22 wi th Claudio Castig lio ne, one of the brothers who own Cagiva, " It was a big help to me," Cagiva rider Randy Mamo la said . " He onl y told Claudio the same thin gs I've been telling him, but he's such a hero in Ital y tha t it seems he's easier to believe than me." J ackie Stewart, fo rm er Wo rl d C ha m pio n , was anot her Imola visitor, but he didn't stay to wa tch the race. Before he left, however, Stewar t exp ressed ad miration for the fitn ess of the motorcycle racers, but deplor ed th e lack of testin g between races. " In F-One car raci ng, you go testing every week," he said. S uzuki's Bob Hannah was present at the High Po int National MX at Mt. Morris, _Pennsylvania, May 29, b ut only in an advisory ro le . " I'm here to support Erik (Ke hoe), but t hat's it," said Hannah. "I 've ridd e n here a bunch of times and on't feel like I need to today." Hannah has been spending most of his time at his home in Idaho "training because I like to. I get up at seven every morning, list e n to Paul Harvey, have a cup of tea and go for a six -mile run in the woods." Pro-Am hotshoe Larry Ward , who has had several top finishes in the l25cc MX.Nationals, didn 't show at Hi gh Point " He 's riding an Ama. teur qual ifier so he can go to Loretta Lynn 's (site of the AMA Amat eur Ch ampionships) th is year," said T eam Yamaha MX Manager Keith McCarty. Ward is a Yam ah a support pro gram rider. The We st e rn Eastern Roadracer's Assoc iation w ill hold Pocono Cycle Jam ·' 8 8 on June 24-26 . The event w ill feature the entire WERA road racing program and a $7500 purse in the Formula Open class. WERA road racers w ill earn double national points paid to a ll reg ions. A drag racing program w ill a lso be run , with $ 10,000 up for grabs in the following c lasses: Top Bike (eight quickest qualifiers), Pro Bike (next 16 quickest), Pro Stock and E.T. There will also be a custom bike show. For more information and pre-entry forms contact WERA Headquarters at 803/681 WERA . Sou th ern California motocrosser Willy Simons broke six vertebrae in his back while practicing at a private track on Saturday, May 28. Fortunately Simons suffered no nerve damage and should be out of Simi Valley Adventist Hospital this week. Cards and letters can be sent to Simons at 2322 Alscot Ave., Simi Valley, CA 93063. Owners of classic motorcycles int e rest e d in d isplay ing the m at 00 t he Allen County Fairg rounds in 00 lim a, Ohio . on J u ne 25, the day 0') of t he lim a Half Mile ro und of both the AMA Grand National Championship and 600 National Championship Dirt Tra ck Series s ho uld w rite to Ohio National Championship, P.O . Box 6935, Toled o, OH 43612. Clas s ic .bikes w ill be on display fro m no on to 7 p.m. Tic kets for the Nati onals. wh ich w ill run Sat u rday night starting at 8 p.rn., a re $1 5 fo r reserved seats and $1 0 in a dvanc e f o r genera l adm ission . They' re available from t he same address or fo r those us ing Visa o r Mast erCard by calling 419 /478 -1839 . On Sunday, June 2 6, amateur racing will be held at the fa irgrounds w ith s ign-up starting at 10 a.rn ., practice at noo n, a nd ra cing at 2 . . ...... The Ameri can Federati on of Motorcyclists (AFM) has cancelled its J Li ly 23-24 road races at Sea rs Point Raceway in Sonom a, Californi a, and may or may not get a repl acement da te. Sears Point needs the weekend fo r work rel ated to th e N H RA Nation al drag race to be held the following week/ weekend. For more information contact th e AFM at 415/ 327-0908. Accord ing to the Apri l AFM news letter, Sears Po int now permits ca m pin g on Satu rday nig ht on ly. The gates will be loc ked after 7 :00 p .m. after which it's possible to leave the facility b ut not return . Also, no dirt bikes or ATVs w ill be a llowed. For info rm ati on contact Sears Po int at 707/938 8448 . All levels of trials riders are in vited to take part in the June 20.-25 Super School 1988 at Bodine s, Pennsylvania. Instructors a t the week-long schoo l will be 1987World Champion Jordi Tarres of Spain, 1979 World Ch ampion Bernie Schreib er, and 1986-87 National runner-up Ryan Young. Riders fee for th e school is $250, but riders who purchase a Beta or Montesa prior to the schoo l will receive free tuition . For more informati on on th e schoo l, co n tact: Young's Ent erprises, HC 31, B ox 116, Williamsport, PA 17701 , 71 71 435-0393. For more information on the " free tui tion " offer, contact your local Beta or Montesa dea ler or Cosmopolitan Motors, 301 Jacksonville Rd., Hatboro , PA 19040, 215/ 672-9100. 57 &AB36 (Continued from page J) recreationists wh o are concerned. Will the deserts be den ied to human beings? I sure hope not. I believe that the truth is still self-eviden t that all people are endowed by their Creator with the inalienable right to pursue happiness. And for some of us th e. only place left th is side of Mexico to pursue that happiness is the desert, our big back yard. S7 and AB36 will not succeed in their aim of killing motorcycling. But they will hurt a lot , if they become law. They will deprive so ciety of a valuabl e resource: needom. • 45

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