Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

America 's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXV Sharon Clayton . Publisher Milu:, Kli n gtt.Co m p lTOlkr Skip Johnso n . .4 .s.social~ Pu blish er! Na tio nal S oles M ana K" jack Ma ngus, Associate Publish ert Editor Rheba Sm ith. Circulation M ana gt'f Caroli ne Oend ry, Executive Su ulary to th t: Publisher . Edit o rial Kit Palmer. Associate Edito r Paul Carru ther s, Associate Editor Na te Ra uha, As socia te Editor Bria n Catterso n, Associat e Editor T yrone Van Hoovd on k, Assis tant Edi tor Edwina Ma n gus. Calendar Edi tor Ad vertising Mike Church, Senior Sales Al ana,{CT r T errv Pratt Smior Sales ManagnMark. Thome , Western Sales Manager Don S toebe r, West,.,n Sales Mana gn M ark Mitch ell , Eastern Sales ....t anager Thomas R. C omer. Eastern Sales M anagt'r Debbie w inkl es, Westrm.dd Coor di nato r Ca rla Borden , Eastern Ad Coordinator Graphics and Production Ma lco lm Wil~n ,Production M ana gt"T Den ni s Gr eene, Lab. Tech. Diana Hilgenberg. Grap hic A rt;lt Sta cey G ua- t, Graphic Art ist Jimmie O 'De ll, Graph ic A rtu t Mandy Loa. Graph!, Artist Mar ion Hatashita . T ypesetter Carol yn Branham , T yp eseuer Arie nn e Telias , T yp l!sl!ttn Donna Brya n, A cc Lt Rueivabk Coo rd ina to r Ceneva Repass , Assistant Fran Ha mwey. Credi t Circula tio n Sarah T aylor , Assistant Alm a Anguiano . Auistant Ch er i Chapman. Assistan t Marna Adams. Assista nt H erlane R ich mo nd , Assistan ' Carol Scan ne ll. Assistant Circ ulation Development Ro n Dav idson, Ma na~t'T ' J oa n R ussian , Wan t Ad Sal es Service a nd Support Ch ris Aitcheso n , Headquarters Reception ist Leo nard Herting , Service and Su pport Na t io nal Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave. , Long Beach . CA 90806. P.O . Box 198. Lo ng Beach. CA 9080 1-0498 (213) 127-7133: 213/636-8844. FAX (213) 127-6685 Easte rn Off ice 4 190 First A\I~.• T ucker. GA , 30084; mailing address P.O . Box 805. T ucker . GA 30085O8OS. (404) 934-7850. FAX (404) 934-3112 Cycle N eW5 (U SPS 141-340) is published weekl y except m e fir st .and last week of the ca len dar year for $32.50 per year by Cycle S ('W In c., 2201 C herry Aven ue, Long s, Beach. CA 90806. Seco nd class pos tage paid a t Lo ng Beach, CA. a nd additional mai lin g offices. POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 to Cycle Ne_. P.O. Box 49B. Long lINch. CA 90801-0498. To det ermine the expiration date of your subscription . che ck th e f our numbers on the first line of your add ress labe l. The first two di~its io die-t e t he last issue n umbe r you II receive and the last two ch.racters in dicate the year of t he Jut i..ue. Su bscr iption ra tes: One year, seco nd cla ss ma il. 132.50. Cycle 1Y s welcomes u nsol icited edi toria l ew mat erial incl uding sto ries , car too ns, p ho tos, etc. Such mat eria l, if pu blished . becomes the excl us ive p rofM:rt y of Cycle News. Such accep ted ma teria! is subject to revisi o n as is necessary in th e sole di scretion o f Cycle News. U nso lici ted mat erial whi ch is no t u MX1 wi ll be returned if acco mpa nied b y a self addr essed sta m ped envelope . All u nso licited materia l will be ha ndled wi th reasonable ca re, however , Cycl e News ass u mes no respons ibility for thesafety, lo ss o r da ma ge In suc h mat erial . Repr int in g in who le or p art o n ly by per mi ssion o f the p ub lisher. Advertisin g ra tes and ci rcu latio n inf o rmat io n will be M"OI U IX!11 req uest . See S.R.D .S. W'BPA Copyr ight'" Cyc le News . Inc . 1 9 BB. Trade ·mark Cycle News reg iste re d Patent Office . All rig hts re served. 4 I was saddened to hear recen tly of th e death of Rex Beauchamp. Wh ile it has been a few years since h e had been on a race trac k, the sport o f m otorcycling has lost one of its truly " gr ea t" riders. I first m et Rex in 1970 wh en we were both Junior cla ss 'riders (ca lled Amateur in th ose days ) and we became friendly co m pe titors. He was a very qu iet guy, but ro de hard an d fast o n th e tra cks, excell in g on half mile a n d m il e tracks. Rex wa s th e first o f Bart Markel's ma ny prote~es ou t of Michigan. Bart was sti ll wmning races wh en Rex came alo ng, so he wa s a ble to teach him firstha nd how to wi n races. But in racing, Lady Lu ck so m etime s blesses so me mo re th an ot hers. Wh ile hi s record will sho w fou r wins in G r a nd N atio n al Cha mpi o n ship events, a few good br ea ks h ere and th ere co u ld have resu lted in man y more wins in a n era of so me of the to ugh est co mpetition the sport has known . Godspeed, Rex. . DO EM DE P u blisher, Dea lernews Santa Ana , CA Ac counting/Data Processing Wa nt Ad s Beauchamp tribute u.s . Hurricane in Europe Bob H annah 's remarks in the August 3 issu e on wanting to ride the G Ps in Europe rem inds me of h ow much fun it was to watch a few of th e rid ers from th e past campaign oversea s. While many have since gone to th e GP' wars, I'll always remember the early trips by Gary Nixon, Brad Lackey and Kenny Roberts as the most interest ing. They ca used us to eagerly wait for th e results from each event. Some of your readers may feel that Hannah's too old for Europe (they ar e wrong), while others, like myself, feel that it's time to have the Hurri cane hit Europe. W.C. KOPPA Owosso, MI Thanks from the Esteps We would like to give a gr eat big thank you to everyo ne for th e gifts, cards, visits and telephone calls in regards to Donnie Estep 's crash (an d subsequent injuries) at th e Parkers burg, Wes t Virginia , dirt track National. A spec ial thanks to Willie McCoy, Kevin Atherton, Larry "The Balti-: more Bullet" P eagrarn , Carri e Ra th u rn, Lisa Hall, and Don's a u nt a nd uncle, Tom an d Donna Estep. They spent hours and hours at th e hospital. It was a rough 12 da ys stay , but Don is healing fantasticall y no w. We ca n' t giv e an exact date when he will return to th e tra ck , but we will keep in touch by spectating at a co u p le of ra ces. THE ESTEP FAMILY Orien t,OH High school safety program H elp ! I a m tr yin g to s ta rt a m o torcycl e sa fety a wareness program at m y school. My goal is to tea ch sa fety and sens ib le riding techniques for both on and off-road m o to r cycles and ATVs to high school students. I have been in contact wi th some of the local deal ers th at would hel p by gi ving talks and live demos. The AMA doesn 't seem to have anything of this nature and I a lso co n tac ted th e MIC via th eir 800 number, and th e operator took my name and information, but -I haven 't heard from them a n d it's been over a month. If you co u ld put m e in touch with so meo ne who might help m e with visu a l aids, videos , etc., I would a p p recia te it very much . , DE NTON J. SMITH Lenox Memorial High Sch oo l 157 Eas t L Le nox, MA 01240 413/63 7-1531 W hile yo u're waiting for someone to contact you, we suggest you give th e Motorcycle Safety Foundation a call at 714/72 7-3227 ... Editor. Pay us a v isit Your August 10 issu e co n ta ined a lett er from Mr: Wirth in which he lamented th e passin g of Sport SJ)9t in New J ersey, a n d he wondered wh at a rider was to do . For many vari o us reasons, th ere is a lo t o f upheaval in th e motorcycle co m m u n ity. More dea ler s are disappearing than appearing. Those who are left have had to become better/ smarter dealerships than ever before. The changes are happening fast and - furious and I feel that no one knows where it wi ll en d. Ther e is someth ing that Mr. Wirth, as well as o thers like him wh o are in th e same situation, can do. Get on your trusty steeds and ~a ke. a .ride to visit the other dea lerships In and a ro u nd yo ur area. I am sure that th ey' ll find one they can put their trust in. In Mr. Wirth's case, if he will travel a few miles west, he wi ll find Touch of Class. It is not on ly our name, but also our philosophy [or the care of our customers, their BMWs, a nd mos t re ce ntl y their Suzukis. I invite all riders to stop in and get acquainted with Touch o f Class. I think you 'll find that we can fill the void in yo ur life. DAVID P. CUSHING President, Touch of Class Stewartsville, NJ Thanks from U.S . Marshalls This is ta belated but heartfelt thank yo u -from all the co rner workers at th e AMA National/Camel Pro Series road race a t Loudon in June to all th e people wh o donated prizes to our traditional post-race . raffle. We wou ld like to than k Wa lter Von Schoenfeld o f Castrol, Marion " Billie" Davies and Mil es Frederick of Street & Co mpetiti on . Dav id Graham and Mike Fleet of Kayo , Scott Gray, J erry from Shoei/Skycycle, Larry from Kal-Card, Stow Sm ead fro m Mi ch elin, Ph il Flack of Dunlop, Lee Block and Steve Hubbard of Cycl e Works in Connect icut, T om J ones fr om Cosm opolitan Mo tors, Tom Gonter and Mike Church of Cycle News, Keith Code of California Superbike School, Jerry Wood of Pen guin Road Racing School , J ohn Flory, Steve Nogeira of Bernardi 's Cycles, Roger L yle o f MARRC, as well as a few anony mous frien ds. . ' An extra special than k you to Mik e Vaugh n a n d th e folks at Kawasaki who provided hats for a ll the workers and a m agni ficent chicken BBQ' dinner on Saturday night after we had been working for 12 hours. During that weekend we also had a SO/50 raffl e to benefit the Ted Boody Memori al Fund and the family of Chuck Laszelles, a club racer fatally injured th e previous weekend. R uss Boeck, th e winner o f the raffl e , donated SI 00 of his winnings to th e T ed Boody Fund. SANDY MacPHERS ON U.S. Marshalls Wobum,MA Election recommendations In view of G ov. Dukakis' total di sregard for the safety of Ma ssachusetts' motorcycli sts a nd -his ac tions wh ich resu lts in th eir in abi lity to obta in di scounts on th eir insurance premi ums throug h participa tion in sa fe r id er p rogra ms , I ca n n o t imagine h ow any m otorcycle rider co u ld support th e Democrats in this election. _ Cal ifo rn ia voters a re choosin g betwee n G O P Sena tor Pete Wilson, wh o was certain ly a stro ng fac tor in th e ta bling of S7, a nd Leo McCarthy, wh o is su pported by both th e Sierra Club and Alan Cranston. We sho u ld never su p port ca n dida tes th a t ign ore th e righ ts o f motorcycli sts. In this el ectio n those ca ndidates seem to be Democrats! KAYe. MANN Ri chmond, CA No thunder in Knoxville I would like to apologize to a ll my 'frien ds who appeared a t the ca nc eled Knoxville (Ill ino is) Regional Champions hip H alf Mil e on August 13. The promoter didn't call me until • Tuesday afternoon, lea vin g me li ttle tim e to noti fy the many people I'd ca lled a nd sent posters to . I hope you a ll had a good day in Peoria (at th e Augus t I4 Peoria TT) an d I'm sorry for a ny inconvenience ca used by this cancelation. EDAHLF Clinton,IA Race people On o ur way home from th e AMA Youth/Amateur Dirt Track Nationals in Wa shington state, our motorhome fram e gave out. The McPhersons, a race famil y, put us up for three da ys and a relative of theirs, Lew Alter , welded up a new frame. Not on ly was h e a hell of a welder , he was th e referee a t th e local short tra ck races. A very special thanks to th e people of Boise, Ida ho . ROCKY WATSON Lake Orion, MI Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Inc. Letters are subject to condensation due to space limitations. Anonymous letters will not be published . Send lette r to Vo ices. P.O . Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801 -0498 .

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