Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

1-9f1YD N ~ fiY PftPft WfftLfY 00 0') ....... ~ ....... Q(j ..... en ;:s ;:s bJJ ~ Randy H aw kins (Suz)was th e overa ll win n er a t th e Jack P in e AMA Nat ion al Ch ampionship Enduro in Moo restown , Michigan, August 21. Hawk ins d rop ped 1.l08 poin ts to cap ture hi s fourth overa ll win of the series. Second pl ace went to Dave Bertram (Suz), who dropped 3. 123 points. Alan Gravitt (KT M) took thi rd overa ll, wit h fourth go ing to Alan Rand t (KT M) and fifth to J eff R ussell (Yam). Terry Vance (Suz) pulled the holeshot and held on to win over a quicker and faster Russ Nyberg (Kaw) in the Pro Stock drag race final at the August 22 NHRA ' North Star Nationals at Brainerd. Minnesota. Vance's winning numbers were 8.267/159.34. while Nyberg posted 8 .182/ 160.~5. T he Ca lifornia Off Road Vehicle Associatio n (CO RVA) will ho ld a fund rai sing dinner at th e Irvin e H ilton, October 7. Sen , Pete Wilson will be the guest spea ker and he'll exp lai n exac tly wh at occured in th e fin al hours leading up to the tablin g of S7 in the lOOth Congress. Atten dees at thi s $125 a plate dinner will include vehicle man ufacturers, aftermarket manufacturers and di str ibutors of off-road eq ui p ment, off-roa d organization and chi li memb ers, and individ uals who have a co ncern for off,road riding and dri ving. The proceeds from thi s fund raise r will go to CO RVA 's land use fund. Businesses and organiza tions wh o wish to show their support shou ld n ote th a t tabl es for g ro u ps are .available o n a limited basis. For i n fo r ma ti o n o r ti ck e ts, co n tact CO RVA at 800/237-5436. ' John Bettencourt. 36. of West Bridgewater. Massachusetts. died of a heart attack on Wednesday. August 17. Bettencourt. who co mpeted in AMA road race events for over a decade. was dr iving a car when he suffered the heart attack. The son of lo ng- t im e New England motorcycle dealer Dick Bettencourt. John began his racing career as a rnotocrosser in the late 60s and switched to road racing in t he 70s. He scored AMA Superbike Champio nship ' Series w ins on a Suzuki at Loudon in 1978 and on a Honda at Mid -Ohio in 1985. After retiring from racin g . Bettencourt served as an inst ruct o r at the Penguin Road Rac ing School and pursued a ca reer as a freelance artist. Funeral services were held in Brockton. Massachusetts. on Saturday. August 20. The Bettencourt fam ily requested that in lieu of flow ers. donations in "JohnnyB 's" memory be sent to the Ted Boody Memor ial Fund. Account #0152603 . Security Nat ional Bank. P.O . Box 1290. Sapulpa. OK 74067. ' 2 New H ampsh ire's J eff H ein o and Russia 's J uri Rau dsik made histo ry of so rts when they teamed up to ride a Suzuki GSX R750 in a 200-mile end ur ance road race in Finland, August 20. It marked th e first tim e that an American a nd a Ru ssian had com peted as team mates on th e same mo torcycle. H eino led the Midnight Su n 200 at Fin land 's Kernora circu it in th e early goi ng, but rain began to fall onthe 10th lap and he cras hed o n the 18th la p. Damage to th e bik e p revented th e Am eri ca n / Sovi et Unio n team from continuing. ''I' m sad that my tea m ma te didn 't get a cha nce to race," said H eino, whose gra ndfather was born in Fin land. .Fin ns J ari Kivila and Petri iem in en , a board a Suzuki RG5OD, won the Midnight Su n 200. American Honda has donated 10 motorcycles to the Northern illinois Motorcycle Safety Project. The six TR200 Fat Cat and four TLR200 Reflex motorcycles will be used mainly for off-road training in NIU's Recreational Trail Riding Workshop. according to Rick Kieltyka. project director. NIU offers a four-day trail riding workshop near Walkerville. Michigan. costing $225 per rider. and a two-day course in northern Illinois near NIU's DeKalb campus. costing $150 per rider. Limited to 16 riders per session. the workshops introduce riders to such skills as negotiating muddy or log-covered terrain. and are intended for experienced motorcyclists interested in attempting off-road riding. Participants must be at least 14. and those under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. For information on the trail rid ing sessions. call 815 /7531683. For a brochure or to register. write: Motorcycle Safety Project. College of Continuing Education. NIU . DeKalb. IL 60115-2860. RESIG NED: Gary E. Cooper, fro m BMW of North Ameri ca, Inc. wh ere he served as vi ce presidentmotorcycle o pera tions, Au gu st 12, for persona l reasons; in a letter to em ployees and deal ers, GunterKram er , chai rma n a nd president o f BMW of North Ameri ca, thanked Cooper for his commitment and hard work during h is ten ur e at BMW; Cooper join ed BMW in July, 1986; the Motorcycle Gro up will report to Kramer unt il a successor is named. The Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Club (MARRC) will host an open track practice day at West Virgil, ia 's Summit Point Racuway on Friday. September 16. The practice day precedes a weekend of AMA/CCS sprint racing at Summit Point. including a round of the Suzuki National Cup Series. On Friday. the track will be open from 9 a .m . to 5 p .m. and corner workers and an ambulance will be on hand . Open to licensed rac e rs only. the cost is $50 for non MARRC members and $40 for MARRC members. Registration w ill be held at the MARRC info rmation booth in the paddock. For mo re information. call Roger Lyle at 301 / 9 3 3 -2 5 9 9 or Steve Harrison at 703 /237-3400. The annua l Ca mel P ro Series Syracuse Mile at the New York Sta te Fairgrounds o n Sunday , Septem ber II, will cap Syracuse Speedweek. T h ree ni ghts of raci ng pr ecede th e . Syra cuse Mile with th e action gett ing underway o n Thursday n ig ht , Septemb er 8, with hal f m ile racing at Middletown. The next two ni ~h ts will feature shor t track events, Fnday night, Sep te m ber 9, a t Parad ise Speedwa y in Geneva, and Saturda y night, September 10, at Cay uga Co unty Fairground s Speedway in Weedsport. All Syracuse Speedwee k events will featur e P ro-Am , J un ior and Expert class events . The Middl etown , Geneva and Weedsport events will serve as " q ualifyin g hea t races" for th e Pro-Am class to determi ne who wi ll race a t th e Syracuse Mile. Novice road racer Chad Lehner. 22. died August 1 as a result of head injuries suffered in a July 31 crash in an AMA/CCS meet at the Blackhawk Farms circuit in Illinois. Lehner was competing in his fourth road race. having won his first race two weeks earlier in Grattan. Michigan. Cards and letters can be sent to Lehner's wife. Amy. at 5747 Monches Rd .• Colgate. WI 53017, , The Metro Triumph R iders of Detroit, Michigan, in co nj unc tio n with th e Detroi tTriu mph Sports Car ' Clu b and Windsor-Detroit MG Club will host th e 6th An nual Battle of the Brits all-British motorcycl e an d car show at h istoric Fort Wayne o n Sunday, Sep tember 18. Only British bikes and cars will be allo wed on the . judging grou nds. Regi str ation opens at 10 a.rn. and a swa p meet will also be part of th e activities. For further informa tion, wri te to the Metro Triumph R iders, 823 O akb ro ok Rid ge, Rochester, MI 48063 or call Mike Martin at 313/478-7464. The Kryptonite Corporation of Boston. Massachusetts. has been awarded the coveted Good Design mark of excellence from the Japanese Industrial Design and Promotion Organization. The highly regarded committee of Japanese designers presented the award to Kryptonite for the design of its KR-T bicycle lock. which is a smaller version of the com• pany's popular U-shaped motorcycle lock, The Kryptonite K-4 lock is part of the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. H ey, stickie collectors! Free No lan and Kiwi helmet race stickies are available for the asking. Dro p a lin e to Gary H ildreth at Dyna Tour, 1801 W. 16th St., Broad view, IL 60153, and tell him to sen d yo u so me stickies. Interlube International has named Sport Tracks as distributor for Optimol Oil products in the north ern Los Angeles-area counties and north to the Oregon border. For more info rm ati o n. contact Sport Tracks at 818 /361-6070. O ptimol O ils will su p p ly $ 1500 worth of oil products at th e No Swea t Double Cross Grand P rix at Gl en Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, Cal ifornia, d urin g La bor Day weeken d. The co mpa ny will also fill all o f the Iubricat iori need s at the Mo to rcycle In d ustry rid e in Reno, Nevada, o n Sept ember 8. Optimol' s Robert Sm ith will be o n ha nd to answer q u estions a n d s u pp p ly samples. Rob Ziegler and Mike Moran. who were both with Cagiva North America. are now with Yamaha Motor Corp. U.S .A. in the service d ivision . Ziegler is involved in customer relations. and Moran in tech services. Three-time Grand National/Camel Pro Series Champion Bubba Shobert will star in a docu mentary-style video sc hed u le d for re lease in Octob er. The video marks th e debut of a new AMA Videos series ent itled, " Cham pions," wh ich will profi le outstanding co mpetitors, bot h present and past. " The '88 season is the perfect time to document Bubba Shobert's remarkable racing career," said Dave Despain, producer and host of AMA Videos. " H e's out to tie Carroll Resweber's record of four co nsecutive cha mpionshi ps and our show wi ll focus o n that a ttem p t." Despain said th e video will be " m uch more than a single-season story. We' ll begin in Lubbock , T exas, wh ere Bubba 's career began. We'll trace th e entire life sto ry of th e man who is re-writing the AMA reco rd book. " For a free AMA Videos catalog, call toll-free 800/462-TAP E. White Bros Cycle Specialties of Garden Grove. California. has announced the availability of a 24hour FAX order line for dealers and customers who wish to place orders or request information using a facsimile machine. White Bros's FAX number is 714/5549622. T he Checkers M.C . · of so uthern Ca lifo rnia's District 37 will host a hare and hou nd race at Means Dry La ke in Lucerne Valley, October 9. T hey 've issued a challenge to a ll Nevada , Arizona an d Ca lifornia District 38 racers, a nd say they 've always " put o n tough races, and th is .year's is no exception." For more informat ion , call 805/496-29.64. The AMA has a ~nounced that Dave Despain and Larry Maiers will once again co-host the AMA Professional Awards Banquet on November 5 . The Grand Ballroom of the Hotel Queen Mary in Long Beach. California. will again serve as the site of the banquet. Tickets for the banquet are available directly from the AMA for $45 each. which includes cocktails. dinner and wine . Reservation requests must be accompanied by payment and received by October 24. No tickets will be available at the door. Ticket orders should be sent to: AMA Pro Awards Banquet. ATTN : Pat McCoy. P.O. Box 6114. Westerville. OH 430816114. H a rl ey-D a vidson has sta rted a nationwide search for the next Ms. H arl ey-D avidson. T he n ew Ms. H arl ey-David son will be cro wned during- Daytona Cycle Week. next Ma rch when J ackie McCue, th e cu rrent Ms. H arley-Davidson , ends her two-year reign. The co nt est is open to all femal e residen ts of the U.S. and Canada wh o are at least 18 years of age. Contesta nts must submit a rece nt head-an d-s hou lders color photo, a full-l en gth photo in a swi msui t, and an essay of 50 words or less describing why th ey want to be Ms. H ar ley-Davidson , alo ng with a com p leted co ntest a pplication . form. The winner m ust agree to obtain a valid mo torcycle operator's licen se from her Slate of residen ce by May I, 1989, if she doesn 't already hold such a licen se. Con testan t applica tions ar e avai la blegat all H arley-Davidson dea lerships. The Track Riders' Association has a new mailing address and phone number. The new numbers are P.O. Box 9551. Canoga Park. CA 91309. 818/362-3029 . TRA conducts open track days at southern California road race tracks. Fox Racing USA has a new pho ne number: 408/3 78-4884. Harley Rider. a new monthly ' co m ic book is now available at all Harley-Davidson dealers and at comic book stores. An officially licensed Harley product. Harley (Con tin ued to page 49)

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