Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

00 00 0') ~ America's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXV Sharon Clayt o n, Publish er Mike Klin gtT,ComptTOlla Sk ip J ohnson , Associate Publisher! Na t ional Sa les Man ag", J ack Man l:ius. A ssociat e Pu blisher! Edit o r Rh eb a Sm ith. Circula tion Manag", Caroline Oe nd rv, Ex ecu t ive &CTt'la ry 't? th e Pu bli sh er . Mom, Chevrolet, dirt track racing , , , . Concerning th e August 3 issue of Cycle N ews: Congratulations to the photographer who ' cap tur ed " the moment " and to the editor who chose to 'run the photo of R.j. (Rick Johnson) on the cover. ' Great work, folks - American as apple pi e! SHAWN RALLS N. Hi ghlands , CA Ed itorial Kit Palm cr.lfssociatt' Edito r Paul Car ruthe rs. Associate Editor Nai f' R auha . Associate Editor Brian Ca tterso n. Associate Editor T yrone Van Hooydonk, Assisli;ln t Ed ito r Ed wi na Man g us. Calendar Ed itor Advertis ing Mike Ch u rch , Sm i DT Sa lt's M anagt'T T err y P rall Sen io r Salt'S Ma naK"' ~f3rk T home. Wt'sttTn Salt's Manager Don Stoe ber, W t'slt'Tn S alt's M anager Ma rk Mitche ll, Eastrrn Salt'S Manager, Thoma s R. Go mer , Eastern Salt'S Managn Debbi e Win kler, Westt'm Ad Coo rdi na to r Carla Borden . Eastern Ad Coo rdi nato r Graphic s and Productio n Ma lco lm Wil §fm,Pm d uctio n Mana gN Denn is Grt"CDe, I...tJb. T ech ; Dian a l-fil b ber g , G rap hic A rtist .....n S tacey G uest; G rap hic A rtis t Ji mmir onen . Graph ic Ar ti.it Mandy L oo, G rap hiC A rtist '-1ario n H a ta sh ita , T ype sd tn Ca ro lyn Branham, T ypesette-r Arienne Tel ias , Ty pesetter Accounting/ Data Process ing Donna Bryan . Aeets R ecrioe ble Coo rdi nato r Geneva Repass, A ssistant From H a m wey , Cu di t Circulation Sa ra h Ta ylo r. A ssistant Alm a An guia no. A ssistan t alai Ch apman. A ssism n Marita Adams, A $S is ~ant Herl ane Rich mond , A $S ista n ~ Car o l Sca n nel l, Ass istan t Circulation Development Th e photographer wa s Kinney j ones. Credi t for our f ron t page photos can be found directly under our table of contents which usually appears on pag e 3 of each issue . . . Editor. Preview issues I' ve enjoyed readin g the preview issu es of upcoming major races. It 's been interesting to fin d out a little more ab out th e g u ys u nder th e helmets th en what we read in th e results co lum n every week. My enjoyme nt has always been end uro riding and to go with that th e " big" race for me every year is th e ISDE. In years past I rem ember bi g preview issues of Cycle News on th e Six Days with profiles of the team members, etc. I'd like to see that again thi s year, followed , of co ur se, by yo ur excelle nt coverage of th e event itself. PETER R EYNO L DS Bo ise,ID Ron Davidso n , Ma nager Want Ads Service and Support Space and time permitt ing, Peter, we'll preview the ISDE .. . Editor. 01riS Ahcbeso n. He adquarters R ecept ion ist-Leo na rd H errin g, Seroice and Suppo rt Viva Lou Peralta! Joan Rus sian , Wa n~ Ad-Sales Nat ional Headquarters 220I Cher ry Ave., Lon g Beach , CA 90806. P.O. Box 498, Lon g Beach , CA 9080 1-0498 (213) 127-7433; 213/63&-8844. FAX (213) 127·6685 Eastern Office 4190 Fir st Ave.• T ucker . GA . 30084; ma ili ng address P.O. Box 805. T ucker, GA 300850805. (404) 934-7850. FAX (404) 934-3112 Cycle New s (U S PS 141-340 ) is pu bl ished weekl y excep t th e first and la st week o£ the ca lendar year for $32.50 per year by Cycle New s, Inc., 2201 C herry Aven ue. Lo ng Beac h , CA 90806. Seco nd class postage P.'Jld a t Lon g Beach, CA.. an d addi tional mailing offi ces. POSTMASTER : S end form 3579 t o Cycle News. P.O . Box 498. Long _ . CA 90801 ·0498. To determ ine the e xpiration date of yo ur subscri ption. check the four numbers on the first line of your .cId.... la bel. The first two di9.its indicate the last iuue num ber you II receive and the last two cha racters indiCilte the yeer of the last iuue. Subscriptio n roues: One yea r, seco nd class mail. $32.50. Cycle News welcomes un sol icit ed editorial ma teria l includ in g stories, cartoons , ph ot os. ~IC. Su ch ma teri al. i£r ublished. beco mes the excl us ive pro~y 0 Cycl e- News. Such ac cep ted mat er ial is su bjec t 10 revision as is necessary in the so le d iscre tio n or Cycle New s. Un solicited material wh ich is no t used will be returned if accompani ed by a sel f addr essed sta m ped envelo pe . All un solicited materi al wi11 he handled wit h rea sonab le ca re, h ow ever, Cycle New s assumes no responsib ilit y for th e sa fety. Joss or damage to such mat erial. Reprinting in whole or parr o n ly by permissi?n of th e ~ublisher: Adv~r. risin g ra tes a nd circu la tion info rm a tio n W ill be sen t u pon req ues t. See S.R.D.S. . WBPA Copyright" Cy cle News. In c . 1 9 8 8 . Trade·mark Cycle News regi stered u .S . Petent Offi ce. All rig ho "'served. 4 On July 30 my pa rt ner a nd - I successfully completed the second race of the T ri pl e Crown of Baja Series put on by Lou Peral ta of Baja P ro mo tions. T he race was originally intended to be held in Tecate, but 10 days prior to the event th e Mexican government decided that du e to high fire haza rd in th e forest areas it would be necessary to cancel or postpone the race until conditio ns were more favorable. I had th e opportunity to prerun th e course and I must agree that the decision by the Mexican officials was correct. Unfort una tely for Lou, he had put hundreds of man hours into laying out what I beli eve was the greatest race course in Mexico that you could ever ride. Now what to do? Trophies aremade, entries are confirmed, Tvshirts . are printed and they all say T eca!e l You just don't pick up a 250·mIle race with over 100 entries and put it on in your backyard. I guess yo u chalk it up to experience, turn the trophies into anchors, and start refu nding the race entries. Wait a min ut e . . . Give up the ghost? Throw in the towel? No wayl This guy Lou Peralta p ut s on races so we can have fun . Stick a big "S" on his chest 'ca use he deserves it, The next thing I know I' m in my box van , wi th a bucket of cl uck , headed for San Felipe. We're going racing! You have to admire this man 's tenacity. H e p ulled off th e impossible. A dynami te cour~. Very well organized. Good looking Tvshirts, Super trophies. I'm talking " T oo Much Fun." Congratulations to Kenny Parry and Paul Krause for the overa ll win and to a ll the racers who hung in th ere to make this race a great success. With having to move a co urse under such short notice, there was a great turnout, For those of you who have never raced in Baja or ridden o ne of Lou 's events, " Co me on down." This stuff is great! H is next race is October 78-9 350 miles of outrageous ridi ng. It 's' su p posed to be in San Felipe u n less some u nfo reseen inciden t di ctates he has to move it again. H ig hly unprobab~e. . . Thank you , LOIS, Leslie, Lonme, Willie an d the who le Baja Promotions crew for hangi n ' in th ere and giv ing us some great racing. TIM CLARK T oo Mu ch Fun Club Montrose, CA There is a point in his editorial th at I strongly disagree with. Mr. Clayton stated, " I don't wa nt to see compulsory insurance Iinked t? issuance of a license plate In Ca lifornia because in this state, poor people hav e to drive to make a living. Wh en I was poor, I co uld afford a bike a nd gas, or insurance, but not all three at once." Does Mr. Clayton, th erefore, feel if you consider yourself :'poor," it is not necessary to have Insurance? Does th e sa me policy app ly t o automobile drivers? What would Mr. Cl a yton sugge s t to . the " p oo r " motorcycle driver and passenger who are struck by the " poor" automobile driver? Neither one has insurance. Who covers th e cost of medical services n eeded by ei th er pa r ty? (T hey probab ly don 't have any medical insurance either.) The sta te? Well , I guess that respo nsibility falls right back on th e rest of the la w a biding, tax paying citizens. (I must remind Mr. Clayton , " poor" or not, financial respo nsibility is th e law in this sta te.) If you can't afford insurance, you really ca n't afford to drive a motorcycle or a carl This isn't 1950 or 1960, this is 1988! I hope th e sta te of California.gets th eir act together and forces drivers of an y type to hav e insurance before th ey recei ve a driver 's licens e or a li cen se pl ate of a ny type. . DENISE DAY Buen a Park, CA Keep the juices f lowing I a m writing to thank yo u for your recent covera ge o f vintage road raci ng at Loudon and Laguna Seca. It ha s to be one of th e most enjoyable forms of racing for the avera ge guy, both spectator and participant alike. Vintage racing is ~rowing in pop u lari ty a nd will conunue to grow as new bikes get faster, more co mp lex a n d more expensive (a n d riders continue to get o lderl), Ma ny of us still want to rid e harder than can be done on the street but we do n 't have th e killer instinct we o nce d id. Vintage raci ng gives us a way to sti ll enjoy our bikes and keep the juices £lowing. And if you don't think there's some good competitio n in vintage raci ng, you haven 't seen Dave Ro pe r, Pete J ohnson, Malco lm eTunstaIl or Kurt Liebmann in action lately. I defy you to wa tch a good vintage race and not enjoy it , or to walk th ro ugh the paddock without smiling. Peopl e even smi le back I It 's raci ng the way it used to be. Vintage racing does n 't have to be hazardous to your bank account (or yo ur skin) like most classes, and you don 't have to worry about yo ur equipment being obsolete at the end of a seaso n. Revive that o ld Du cati single; chase the spiders out of your old BSA; build a vintage racer and come have some rea l fu n! . Enclosed find a copy of a letter from Congressman Rober t j. La~o rnarsino (19th District, Ca lifornia), telling me that he has lis tened to the folks in hi s d istrict, given serious thought and applied much common sense to the matter of taking away fro m the trail bi ke peop le, a trail th a t has been in constant use for 30 years that I am aware of. . You will note that Co ngressman Lagomarsino feels quite stro ngly abo ut the multiple use of our forests and does no t sanction taking away a " traditional" OHV access ro u te. As a voter in Mr. Lagomarsino's . d istrict for many years, I ca n vouch for his use of co mmon sense in th e past .o n many issues. We have an election coming u p in a short few mon ths , a nd I feel q uit e strongly that we bike riders should get to the polls and back up the representatives who ha ve go ne to bat for us. In my o pi nion , we shou ld th a n k Bo b Lagomarsino where it counts, in the voting booth. A great thank you should also go to Steve Kueh l of 'The Phan tom Duck Club a nd CO RVA for his hard work in this matter. RICK FE RGUSON Raleigh , NC ELLIS W. TAYL O R Santa Barbara , CA More fuel I am starting to ride enduros on . my Suzuki RM80. Do you know of a company that makes or wi ll make a desert tank for an '87 R M80? SHANE MILLER Highl and, CA Is there a com pany that would lik e to sell Shane a desert tank for his minibike? Con tact us and we'll relay th e inform ation . . . Editor. ' Insurance debate I am writing in response to Ch uck Clayton's editorial, Drivers' licenses and license pla tes, in the August 3 issue. I guess you must be in th e ins urance bus in ess, right? . .. CC. On our side In his letter to Mr. T aylor, Congressm an La go marsino said, " I share your concern. and agree .with you .regarding the Forest Service re~om m endation fo r the proposed w~11er ness which wou ld have prohibited m otorized access to th e Sespe Creek via the j oh nst on R idge T rail. After com p letion of th e managem ent pla n for th e Los P~dres, . I had several m eetin gs and diSCUSSIOns With Forest Serv ice officials and constitue n ts w ho frequently used the trail to obtain access to the Creek and H ot Sp rings area on their trail bikes. Based on these discussions, I introduced legislation, HR 4747, w hich excluded the j ohnston R idg e Tra il (Contin ued to pag e /3 )

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