Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Eddie Lawson (Ya m ) won the French round of the World Championship Road Race Series which was run at Paul Ricard, July 24. Lawson beat Christian Sarron (Yam ) to the finish line by .22 of a second with Kevin Schwantz (Suz) taking third, just .24 of a second behind Sarron. Defendmg World Champion Wayne Gardner (Hon) finished fourth after h is engine seized on the last lap . Wayn e Rainey (Yam) finished fifth and Randy Mamola (Cag ) was sixth. In th e 500cc point standings, Lawson now lead s th e 500cc GP point standin gs over Gardner by 27 points, 185158. Rainey is third wi th 143 points. The French 250cc GP was won by Jacques Cornu (Hon) after a race-long battle with Sito Pons [Honjwho fin ished second . Third went to Domin ique Sarron (Hon) w ith Juan Garriga (Yam) fourth and Reinhold Roth (Hon) fifth. Pons leads the 250cc GP point standings over Garriga . 166-158 . Cornu is third w ith 142 points. " J orge Martinez (Der) won the Fren ch 125cc GP with Ezio Gi anola (Ho n ) fini shing second and Corrad o Caralan o (Apr) third. Rolf Biland and Kurt Waltisper g (L C R) won th e Fren ch Sidecar GP. West German sidecar drlver Alfred Heck suffered fatal injuries ina practice session crash at Paul Ricard on Thursday. July 21. Heck. 45. was participating in his f irst -ever GP meeting . Tragedy struck aga in in a French National race on Saturday. July 23. at Paul Ricard when multi-time French National Champion Eric Saba tier. 29. was involved in a collision with Patrick Durix, 33. in a French National race. Both Sabatier and Durix were killed in the incident . J apan 's Shunji Yatsushiro broke his right hi p in a crash that occured earl y on in th e 500cc GP at Paul Ricard. Patrick Igoa, who a lso crashed wh en Yatsushiro went down in front of him, su££ered a conc ussio n. Danny Storbeck (Hon) and Keith O'Neal (Hon) were the big winners at the Centra l Americ an MX Championships in Guatemala. July 16-17. Storbeck topped the 125cc Expert class over J im Holley (Yam ) and Bill Whitley (Cag ). Ninth went to Mercedez Gonzalez (Kaw). O'Neal won the 250cc Expert class over Costa Rican Adrean Roberts (Yam). An estimated 40 .000 spectators attended the two-day event. SRO/Pace Promot io ns is loo kin g for motor cycle jumpers for a series of mo tor cycle jumping com pe titio ns they will stage. Ol ympic-style judgin g by a panel of celebrity types (for TV) wi ll score th e jumps on style, acc uracy and control, not for di stan ce. If you feel you' re qualified , co n tac t SRO/Pace Promot ions, 590 West Grand Ave., Hot Springs, AR 71901,501/623-2544. 2 American Honda will be sending two Team Honda Support trucks and three Support technicians to the AMA Youth /Amateur MX Championship at Hurricane Mills. Tennessee. August"9-13. Technicians will provide Hondamounted riders at Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch with tech advice and assistance on setup and maintenance. A limited number of 1988 CR parts will be on .hand foroutof-the-ordinary repairs . Because the supply of parts will be limited. competitors are urged to bring their own supply of parts for routine maintenance such as pistons. rings. gaskets. clutches. chains and sprockets. Honda is posting contingency awards in the form of gift certificates for Loretta Lynn's for the top three f inishers in each class using 1988 CRs. Details will be available at the Team Honda trucks at the event. The B&J Motocross Track in Clarksville, Tennessee, wi ll hold a practice day August 8 for riders en tering the AMA Youth/Amateur MX ' Cha mp ionships which begin August 9 at nearby Loretta Lynn 's Dude Ra nch in Hurrican e Mill s. Su pport trucks from Team Honda, Downers Grove Yamaha, Tuf Racing a nd North Shore Racin g will be on hand, selling parts and service to help riders dial in th eir ma chines. The practice session costs $9 per bike. Family members a nd pit personnel will be admitted free. There will be fr ee ov ernight ca m pi n g Sunday night a t th e tra ck, whi ch is less than an hour away from Hurricane Mills. Hotels and restaurants a re also nearby. For more info rm ati on, contact Ed Krass, 615/ 552-2205. Camel Pro Series competitor Scott Pearson is promoting a " st adium rough scrambles" at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds in Turlock. Cal ifornia . on Friday night. August 5 . " Ot her than racing at the Peoria TT. the Indy Milesand the Springfield M ile.l ·m putting racing aside ." , sa id Pearson. " It's gotten too difficult to earn a living rac ing." Pearson says they'lI run amateur and pro races at Turlock. plus Quad. Vintage and Old Timer classes. For race entry inf orm ation. call 209 /538-2116 or 538-3510. The Tecate, Baja Cal ifornia, Mexico , round of the Triple Crown of Baja Series, July 29-31, has been relocated to San Felipe, Baja California, Mexi co, at th e San Felipe Raceway. The Mexican Forestry Service has recently declared the Tecate area to be a fire hazard. For more information call 818/ 340-5750. The FIM has announced that the Span ish round o f the World Championship Endurance Road Race Series which was scheduled to take place on September 11 at Jarama has been canceled. unprecedented progress in the fight aga inst muscle diseases. " Other distinguished figures who serve in MDA volunteer leadership posts are Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson. renowned heart surgeon M ichael E. DeBakey. M.D .• personality Ed McMahon. and 'TV Southern Ca lifornia's Perris Raceway has announced that the faci lity's new sp eedway track has been closed due to "lack of interest," According to Sports P ro m o tio n Entertainment's K. Barry Johnson, "The future of the speedway track will be decided in October." Ken Berry. 24. died on Tuesday. July 19. as a result of head inj uries sustained while competing in a second division speedway heat race at Inland Motorcycle Speedway in San Bernardino on July 13. Berry's death is the f irst in modern-day southern California speedway competition. Funeral services were held in Bakersfield. Californ ia. on ,J uly 23. Contributions to his wife. Kathy. can be sent to IMS. P.O. Box 3072. Arcad ia. CA 91006. Scotty Brown will be conducting a spee d way school a t Action Park East in Greene, New York, on Sunday, Jul y 3 1. The school will follow th e two -day, July 29-30 , U.S. Open Speedw ay Nationals at the facility. For furth er information on the school, call 607/754-0191. The seven-round 7th Annual CMC /Dodge Trucks Trans-Cal MX Series gets underway on September 11 at Glen Helen OHV Park in San Bernardino. California. followed by rounds (all in California) at Brentwood. Adelanto. Chowchilla. Dixon. Perris and Carlsbad. The 1987 Trans-Cal Series drew an average of 575.8 participants per event and the brand choice of those competitors i s as follows: Honda 44.1%. Kawasaki 24.5%. Suzuki 13.2%. Yamaha 15 .8%. and ' ''ot h er '' 2.2% . Last year's Brentwood (Sandhill Ranch) round drew the largest number of competitors. 728. The Adelanto (Sunri se Valley ' Cycle Park) round came close as (Continued to page 48) WRIIIN' AROUND Drivers' licenses and license plat es The Austra lian ro und of th e World Championship S u pe r bi ke R o ad Race Series will be held on Sep temb er 25 a t th e Oran Pa rk circu it, not a t Ca ld er as o r ig in a lly a n no unced, Mayb e yo u read in th is column a few weeks ago, my bright idea about linking licen se plates to motorcycle driversli-: William G. "Willie G." Davidson. vice president of Harley-Davidson Motor Co .• was elected a National Vice President of t he M uscular Dystrophy Association (M D A) at the nationa l health agency 's recent annua l meeting held in Las Vegas. " M D A is honored to have ' M r. Davidson serve the association in 't his important leadershi p position." said MDA President S . 'M ouchly Small. M .D. "The ded icated support of Ha rleyDavidson is helping MDA make censes, remember? It drew a mixed response, from a pa thy to zeal. Mostly apathy..T he three letters th at poured in ra nge d from Clem Sal vadori 's suggestio n th at we add proof of in surance, to Laurie Ri cht er Wat son 's conten tio n that it is th e deal er 's responsibility to ask cus to mers to show a Class 4 (mo to rcycle o pe rator 's) licens e, to J ames E. Dent's assert io n th at my brain program cras hed whil e I was writing that co lu m n. Okay, I will grant that if the idea has any great merit, it should apply to car drivers, too . But motorcycle riders (or "drivers," consi dering the size of some rigs) need to know two secrets that the car driver never considers: Counter-steering and independent fro nt wheel bra kin g. Everybody who receives the coveted motorcycle endorsement on his or her driver 's license has demonstrated some proof ,of knowing these two ba sic skills (at least I hope so). I don't want to see compulsory insurance linked to issuance of a license plate in California, because in this state, poor peo p le have to drive to make a living. When I was poor, I could afford a bike and gas, or insurance, but not all three at once. New York links compulsory insurance to license p lates, but that state has a public rapid transit alternative that the western states don 't have . And I agree that exceptions wo u ld have to be made for parents a nd co m pa n ies tha t own motorcycles which are ridden by others. And I admit that nothing will keep all the unlicensed drivers off our highways. Pas sing the simple DMV riding test and getting your ticket to ride doesn't make you an expert rider, but it doe s prove, at least, that you know how to stop with both brakes and yo u know that when you turn the hand leb ars right, th e motorcycle turns left. Helmets make sense, but helmet laws are nonsense Some readers may hav e gotten the mistaken impression that my opposition to helmet la ws is the same as denying the safety value of helmets. Not so. I think that good helmets, vo luntarily worn , show good sense. But, unfortunatel y, you cannot legislate good sense . So I make a clearidistinction between helmets themselves and the crime of not wearing them. I m ight think differently if there wer e any evidence that hat laws work like th e poli ticians promised. T he decades of experience of 48 states that hav e tried helmet laws prove only one thing: Helmets may make sense, but helmet laws are all promise and no performance. You can be sure that if there was any tangible proof, statistics or otherwise, that helmet laws rea lly save lives or reduce accid ents or injury, th e U.S . Depart ment of Transportation safetycrats would have told everybody about i by now. There is no such proof that we can find. Q uite the contrary, states that' have helmet laws, taken as a whole, show a slight rise in motorcycle accidents and injuries and deaths. That is a fact that seems to get lost in all the emotional hoopla and shallow thinking about helmet laws . Next year, sure as shootin', my state legi slature will try and pass a no ther helmet law for motorcyclists, maybe just on those under 21 years-o ld. I am ceasel essly amazed at how our legislature goes on reinventing the wh eel, just so they can spi th eirs . But you ca n be sure that we will restudy th e experience of other states, such as South Carolina, which hav e tri ed the under-21-helmet-law, to see if th ere is any evid en ce th a t it works, before deciding wh ether to oppose it or not. Again I rep eat, so th ere is no mi staking my meaning, " Wear th e best helmet you can afford when riding your motorcycle. Mak e su re it fits. R ead th e ins tructions that come with it. Fasten it properly all th e time. Replace it with a new one every two years. Replace it after any crash. Don ' t be fooled by fals e promises, and don't expect a helmet law to make you safer. Okay?" Okay l Chuck Clayton

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