Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

fornia resident rode, you guessed i t, a Kawasaki J et Ski. The Los Angeles c ha p ter of t he ' Am e rican Federation of Motorcycl ists has ra ised its entry fees by $15 per entry effective atthe June 25-27 Riverside Raceway event. . The AFM c ited ris ing insurance. track ren ta l a nd "every other cost" as re a s o ns for the inc re a s e. and w ill no lo ng e r be accepting p re-entries on Saturday - on ly post entries. For more information. contact the AFM South at 818 /963-8676. fiY 1>411>41 Wf4lLfY Tim Coom bs (Hon) was th e overall winner o f the June 19 Blackwat er 100, a ro u nd o f th e AMA Nationa l Championshi p Ha re Scrambles Series, a t Davis, West Virginia. Second overall went to Kevin Hines (KTM), with Alle n Gravitt (KT M) taking third, Ra ndy H awkins (Suz) fo urth and Wally Wilson (KT M) fifth. Da ve Sch ultz (Ka w) w on t he P ro S t o c k drag ra c e fi nal at t he J u ne 1 9 N H RA Budwe is e r S p r in g Natio nals at Colu m b us. O h io . Sch ultz lo g g e d a 8 .198 second. 154.37 mph ru n to dow n S t e ve M iles wh o tur n ed an 8 .170 / 1 61 .78 . P e k ka Veh konen (Cag) was th e overa ll wi nner of the June 19 West Germa n 250cc MX GP. Veh ko nen fini shed seco nd in the first moto and wo n th e seco nd mo to after Rob H erring (Yam) , who finish ed thi rd in the opening mo to, crashed six laps from the end of the race while 15 seconds in front. Roland Diepold (Kaw) wo n th e first moto, b ut a lso cra shed near th e end of the second m oto a nd finis hed n inth. J o h n Van den Berk (Yam) had a 15-3 day, but co nt in ues to lead the poi nt standings, 207 to 164, o ver American Rodney Sm ith wh o fin ished 6-7 o n the da y. Ameri can Rick Rya n (Hon ) recovered from a cra sh in the firs t moto to finish ninth , but a pit sto p to chan ge a flat rear tire dropped him o u t o f the poi nts. fall . Th e T-shirts a re available w it h e ither lo ng or short s leeves ($10 short sleeve. $15 lo ng s leeve ). in sizes s m a ll through extra larg e . Also a vai la ble are IS D E patches ($4 ). pins ($ 3) . s t ic kers ($ 2 ). a nd a vid e o of the 1 9 86 Ita lian S ixDays ($ 5 0 ). Pos t a g e and handl ing c o s t s a re $ 2 (50C for patches. p ins ). Make checks payable to AMA. and m a il to: IS D E Fund. c / ' 0 AMA. Box 6114. West e rv ille . Ohio. 4 3081 -6114., The 1988 AMA Pro fessional Awards Banq uet is scheduled for Saturday eveni ng, November 5, aboard the Queen Mary in Lo ng Beach , Ca lifornia, with coc kta ils at 6:30 p.m., fo llowed by dinner at 7:30. The presen ta tio n of awa rds will follow. Tickets are ava ila ble d irectly fro m t he AMA for $4 5 eac h, whic h in cludes cocktails, din ner a nd wi ne. Reserva tio n requests must be acco m panied by a check and must be made by October 24. No tickets will be avai lable a t th e door. Send requests and pay me nt to: AMA Pro Award s Banquet, Attn: Pa t McCoy, P.O . Box 6114, Westerville, OH 43081-6114. Speaking of banquets. t he Flo rid a Tra il Riders will hold their ann ual awards banquet at the Holiday Inn S urfside in Daytona Beach. Florid a. on Saturday. Ju ly 1 6 . Mem bership. directors a nd executive meetings will be held in the afternoon and the evening 's act ivites g et u nderway w ith a social hou r at 6 p .m. Ticket cut-off dat e is July 2 and t ickets are $20 each . Make c heck out t o Flo rida Trail Riders and mail to 1 16 J ua n Rd .• De Ba ry. FL 32713. T he 7th Annual Classic Bri tish an d European Mo torcycle Ra lly will take pl ace a t Ca ble's Ca mpgrounds in T oronto, O hio, August 12-14. Activi ties during th e th ree-da y AMAsanctioned event incl ude a reli abil it y run, vi n tage trials, field meet, road events, parts swap a nd a moto rcycle show. For further informa tion, wr ite to: O hio Va lley BSA Owners Cl u b; , P.O . Box 23, T or onto, OH 43964, or call Paul Atkinso n at 614/264-1046. Bill West of St . Pete rsb urg . Florida-based SuperSports Promot ions has announced that his f irm w ill promote the Atla n t a (Georgia) Supercross on Februa ry 25. 1989. in Atlanta's Fulton , County Stadium. The 1988 Support The American ISDE Team T-shirts are now available. Proceeds from the sale of Tshirts and other items will help defray the U.S . ISDE team 's expenses for the trip to France this Factory Kawasaki motocrosser Ro n Lechien won the Novice Slalom co m pe titio n a t the In terna tional J et S ki Bo at i n g Associa tio n Desert Classic at Lake Mead in Boulder Ci ty, Nevada. The EI Cajon. Cali- A new president and board of directors has been named for the Mickey Thom pson Entertainmen t Group (MT EG), to co ntin ue opera tion o f th e co mpany foll owin g th e death o f its founder Mickey T ho m pson a nd h is wif e Trudy. Bill Ma rcel, 48, a long-time associa te of Thom pson wh o serv ed as vice president o f o pera tio ns a nd co n troller for MT EG since 1987, was named p resident. , Mich ael DeStefa no, 36, vice president o f marketing a nd sa les promotio n for th e past four years, has been a ppointed executive vice p residen t. An nounce me nt of th e new ma nage. ment team was ma de by Collene T hompson Campbell, Executrix of the T hom pson estate and cha irman o f the boa rd for MTEG . Six directors, incl udi ng Marcel a nd DeStefano , will make the board o f directors; directors named J u ne 10 include H arvey Cava, Da n n y Thompson, a nd Gary Cam pbell. Marcel will serve as the board 's secretary a nd Cava as treasurer. AMA District 6 motocrosser Dave Sa nt ic h to ld Papa that he recorded the 1 0 0 t h overall win of h is career at C lifford. Pennsylva nia's Hurricane Hills Sports Cen ter on June 5 . Sant ich. riding a 250 KTM. lo g g e d a 1-1 in the Senio r class and then t o p pe d the 2 5- Plus c lass w it h a 1 -2 performanc e . Santic h . 45. ha s been racin g MX s ince 1969 a nd has competed in over 550 races . a cco rdi ng to his record s. Showa R a cin g Serv ice ' s J a ke Thompson will be o n hand at the June 24-26 Mam mo th Mou n ta in MX in northern Ca li fo rnia to assist H o nda riders with sus pe nsio n setup. W hite Bros Cycle Specialties' Bill Bych lik w ill a lso be a t the Mam m o t h Mountain MX. beginning o n Wed nesday. June 22. Bychlik w ill be serv icing shocks and fo rks . a nd will have a complete inve nt o ry of s p rin gs a nd o the r s uspe n s io n ne ccessitie s . as well a s Twin Air filt e rs . Cl iff Carr's Harl e y- Davids on o f Sa n ta Barbara reports that a recen t cu sto.mer was roc~ guitar l e~end J im Messi na, of Logg ins & Messina fam e, ' w ho trade d h is Softai l C u st o m to wa r d s a n ew FXS TS Softa il Sp ringer. In t heir recent newsletter. Tracks ide. the Oregon Motorcycle Road Rac ing Assoc iation rem inded m e mbers that OMR RA rules prohi bit ridi ng a bike e q uipped with number plates on the street. (The A m erican Federatio n of Motorcycl is ts a lso d iscussed t his iss ue in t heir Nov./Dec. ' 8 7 AF M News.) It ' s this type o f ir re s p onsi b le behavior t hat g ives sport bikes a bad reputation. Race o n the track; not on the street ! Honda Mo tor Co., Ltd. of T okyo, Japan recently sent all stockholders a bu siness report on th e six-month period fro m Octob er I , 1987, to March 3 1, 1988. Include d in the report are year ended February 28, 1987, and hypothetical year ended March 31,' 1988, u nit sa les figures. The h ypothetical year ended figures were det ermined by com bining th e six-month period ending March 3 1, 1988, wi th th e seven-month period end ing September 30, 1987. Year ended 1987 mot or cycle u nit sales, which d isregard and round o ff figu res less than 1000 units, sh ow 758,000 motorcycles were so ld in Japan, a nd 777,000 were exported. H ypothetical year ended 1988 figures show 845,000 motorcycles so ld in Japan , an 11.4%increase, a nd 595,000 ex ported , a 23.3% decrease, for an o vera ll 6.2 % d ecrea se. H ond a ' s " mo torcycle" sa les fig ures include mopeds. The American Road Racing Assoc iation is plan ning a work weeke nd at t hei r ne w Lo ckw o o d Va lley fac ility the w e ekend of Ju ne 2526 . Pa rt ici pants a re urge d t o bring s hove ls . rakes. hoes. et c . Intersted parties should contact the ARRA a t 805 /966 ~ 5700 . According to Fastrax, the journal of the High Desert Racing Association, the April 30 Mint 400 Off- Road Race saw the debut of a new type o f car designed by Lynn Chenowith. The 1600 pound car, which uses the 1200cc, 145 hp, V-4 motor from a Yamaha V-Max ' street bike, stock except for heavier duty clutch plates, finished fourth in Class I, competing against cars wi th up to 3600cc engi nes. The A m erican Roa d Racing Assoc iatio n c losed escrow a nd is no w the owner o f 640 acre s of land in Lo ckw o od Va lley. California. iNhere t he y int e nd to build a new moto rs ports park. Ac c o rd ing to ARRA Presid e nt Ea rl Smith . the facility w ill include a 2 .2-m ile . 14tu rn ro ad race circuit. a m o t o c ro s s course. o ff -ro a d riding a reas and c amping . S m it h. who re m e mbers when t he ride rs were fa t and t he t ires were s kin ny. p ro mises a very ti g ht. challeng in g roa d c o urse w hich he ho pes will help renew int e rest in the small bore ra cing classes. Limited pa rt ners hi ps are avai lable . and .t hose inte re sted in participatin g in the design and constructio n of the s it e should contact the A RRA a t 805 /9665700. The ARRA, wh ich this year limited Novice riders to 600cc machin es, will fu rt he r red uce the limit to 500cc in 1989. This ac tion follows an acciden t du ring th e 'Memori a l Da y weekend a t Willo w Sp ri ngs in which a Novice racer, w ho clai med h e had the credentials to race a big bi ke a fter turni ng some fast laps a t Keith Code's Ca lifornia Superbike School, ta lked ARRA President 'Ea rl Sm ith into lett ing him race his 750. Du ring th e race, the rider crashed ha rd , seriously injuring hi s hand (which required su rgery), and genera ting a large cla im through th e AR RA 's insu ran ce program. Earl sa id, " Eno ughl" The current 450cc class will a lso be ch an ged to a 500cc maximum in order to a llow H onda VF500F Int erceptors and Kawa sak i EX500s to compete against Yam ah a FZR40 0s, rather than th e 600s. T he Russ Darne ll M o t o cro s s School w ill hol d two a dva nc ed seven-day t ra in ing camps at their ne w 1 0 0 -a c re Hemet. Ca lifornia. fac ility on J u ly 25-31 a nd Aug ust 29 to September 4 . Russ repo rt s that the school is 95% booke d fo r I

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