Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

America 's motorcycle newspaper . Volume xxv Sharon Clay to n. Pu bl ish er Mike Klinger.ComptTOlkT Skip John son, A ssoc iate Pu bl ish er/ Na t io nal Sales Managt!f' J ack Mangus. Associate Published Editor Rh eba Smi th. Circulation Manager Ca roline Cendrv. Ex ecu tive Secretary to ,h I' Pu blish er Editorial Ki f Palm e-r. Associate Edi tor Pau l Carru thers. As sociate Editor Na te Ra ubu . A ssociate Ed itor Brian Ca tterson. A ssociate Edi tor • T yron e Van H oo ydonk, A ssistan t Ed itor Ed wina Ma n gu s, Calendar Editor A dverti sing Mi ke Ch u rch. Senio r Sales Managn Terry P ra ll Sen io r Sa les Ma nager Mark Tho me. We,fil em Sa les M an agrr D Oll Stoeber, We steTTl Sale s M an ager Mark Mitchel l. Eas tern Sa les M anag er T ho mas R. Gomer . Eastern Sail'S """ a, w grr Debbi e Wink ler. Westnn Ad Coordinat or Carla Bord en . Eastern Ad Coo rdin ato r Graphics and Production Mal colm W ilson .Productio n Alanagt'T De n nis Greene, Lab. Te ch: Dian a Hil genber g , G rap hic Artist Sta cey G uest, G rap hic Artist Jim m ie O·Th·II. G rap hic Art;"t i\. and y Leo. Grap hiC .4rlist t Mari on Ha tash ita . T YP t!sd U r Ca ro lyn Bran ha m. T YP t!st!Ut"T .. r ienn e Teha s, Tvpeseuer A Accounting / Da ta Processing Do nna Bryan . Accls R eceivab le Coo rdi na tor Gen eva Repass, Assi.'ilan l Fra n H am wey. Credit Circulat io n Sarah Taylo r. A ssistant Alm a Angu iano . Assista nt Cheri Ch ap ma n . A ssi,~ta nl Mar na Ada ms . Assislan l H e -lan e Richmond. A ssistan l Carol Sca nn ell , A ssistan t Circulation Deve lopment Ron Davi dson , Manag t'T Wa nt Ads J oan Ru ssian , Wanl Ad Sa lt's Service and Support Ch ri s Ai rcheso n . H t'adquarlt!TS R ecept ion ist L..-ona rd He rr in g . S~ru, Ct! an d S up port c National Headquarters 220 1 Cherry Ave., Long Reach , CA 90806 , 1 .0 . Box 498, Lo o g Beach, CA 9080 1·0498 ' (2 13) 427· 7433, 2 131636· 8844. FAX (213) 427·6685 Struck an emotional chord Thanks for printing my letter (Sights and sounds ) severa l weeks ago. What started o ut as a n emotional tirade about the grass roots state of the industry , ended up as a trip down memory lan e. Evident ly, it str uck an 'emo tio nal cho rd with a t least one of your read ers. Within da ys, I received a lett er from M:. Uli Schuenemann, Ea stern Regional Manager for BMW motorcycles. First of all, I'm impressed that Mr. Schuen emann reads Cycle N ew s. Secondly, he took the tim e from his busy schedu le to wr ite me a full-page lette r exp ressing his co ncern for m y well -being as a BMW cus to mer. Furthermore, he enclosed a list of all loca l BMW dealers, sent cop ies of the letter to each of the m , and provided me with a n 800 num ber to call for assistance. T o da te, I' ve been contacted by no less than four dealerships who assure me that they can sa tisfy all of my needs as a mo tor cyclist and BMW custo mer. In response (Q th eir support, I would like to perso na lly thank Mr. Uli Schuenema nn of BMW of North Am erica ; th e . sta rr o f Suzu ki o f Edison in Edi son, New J ersey; Mr. Clif Patrick of C&S BMW in Ch ester, New York; Mr. J oel Sach er of Suffolk County BMW in Huntington, New York ; and Kim and Que Freyer of House of Triumph in Thornwood, New York . I am extremely gratified that these fine individuals took time and effort to ensure my sa tisfactio n as a BMW customer. Needless to say, I made th e proper choice when I purchased my KIOO nearly four years ago . A su perb ma chine su pported by an equa lly su pe rb organization ! THEODORE L. WI RTH Newfoundland, NJ Eastern Office 4190 First Ave.• Tucker. G A. 3008-1; ma ili n g addr ess P.O . Box 805, Tucker. G A 300850805. (404) 934·7850. FAX (404) 93·1· 3112 Cycle N ews (USPS 141·340) is p u blished weekly exce p t the first a nd last week o f th e ca len da r year fo r $32.50 pe r yea r by Cycle News, l nc. , 220 1 C h erry Aven u e, L0 i"'! g Beac h , CA 90806. Seco nd da~s. postage paid at Lo n g Beach . CA . a nd addi u ona! mai ling orri~.' POSTM AST ER : Send form 3 5 79 to Cycle New., P.O . Box 49B, long Beach, CA 90B01-049B. To d ete rm ine th e expiration date 6f your SUbscripti on, check the fou r.nu mbers on the first line of yo ur ad dress label. The first two digiu indicat e th e last issue nu m be r you 'll receive and t he last two characters indicate the year of the last iss ue . Subscr iption rates : O n e yea r. seco nd class mail. $] 2.50. Cycl e N ew s welco mes u n solici ted ed it orial mat erial incl udi ng stories. ca rtoon s. photos. etc. Suc h ma' ('rial ,.iflluhl isht'd. beco mes th e excl usive p ro~rt y 0 Cycl e New s. Such accep red mat eri al is sub ject to revis io n as is necessary in th e so le d iscr etio n of Cycle News, Unsolicited ma teria l whi ch is not used w ill be returned if acco mpan ied by a self , add ressed sta m ped envel ope. All unso licit ed material ' will he ha nd led with reaso nab le ca re , h ow ever . Cycl e N ew s as sumes n o respon sibil it y for th e safety. loss o r damage to such material. Reprinting in whole o r pa rt o n ly by' perm ission of the publish er. Adver tising rate s an d ci rcu la tio n information wil l he se n t u pon req uest. See S.R .D.S. WBPA AUDITED CIRCULATION Copyr ight e Cycle News, In c . 1988. Trade-ma rk Cycle New. reg isterad U.S . Pete nt Office . All rig hts reserved. 4 Beat themselves Thanks for your mention of T eam St. Lou is and T eam Wanker in your Au gust 3 report on the \VERA SixHour endura nce road race a t E. St. Louis Racewa y.. Although we were given credi t as class winners in 1980 and 1981, it sho uld be noted tha t T eam Wanker was the WERA overall end ura nce cham p in 1979 and Tea m St. Louis was th e overall winner for 1980 and 1981. For the record, T ea m St. Lo uis did no t take th e cha mp ions hip away from T eam Wanker in 1980. The Wa nk ers beat themselves. DAN HAYES Captain , T eam St. Louis Clayton , MO Vote for Bookhammer The recent squeaker concerning a helmet law in California should convince all of us that we have few friends in Sacramento, and that we need a friend in Sacramento. I think it's time that bike riders pool th eir en ergy and get a person elected to th e State Assembly who a t least rides a motorcycle. At the same time, let' s get rid of a person who clearly is no friend of motorcyclists. I can only be referring to Dick (wha t's in a name?) Floyd, th e assemb lyman from th e Gardena and Lawndale areas. Floyd's term of office expires ~his co m in g November. He I S being challenged by a guy I know nothing abou t except he rides motorcycles, and is against Big Bro th er trying to run my life. That's all I need to know to vo te for him rather than Pin k Flo yd. . Flo yd says he in ten ds to ~eep in troducing a he lmet law until it . passes. T hen I hear he plans a law requiring a ll fishermen wear vests even if they are fishing in a stream 12-in ches deep . Next I suppose he will propose laws making anyone who shoots a gun wear a red coat or an yon e who bowls wear safety toe shoes. . Let' s get this jerk out of office, I£ yo u live in th e 53rd Ca li fo rn ia Assembl y Distr ict, vote for Chuck Boo kha mmer in November. C.M. McREYNOLDS Sierra Madre, CA Credit to the industry I wis h to ex p res s my si nc er e gra titude to all the good folks a t Co nejo Honda in Thousand Oaks, Ca lifornia, and Pro Circuit Racing in Anaheim, California, especially Jim and Greg at Conejo Honda and T ed and Bones at Pro Circuit, for all th e help they gave Geoff Griffiths a nd me on such short notice. Geoff arrived from Australia late Saturday afternoon as my guest. By the time we lin ked up , Conejo Honda had closed and we had to wait until Tuesday before we could pick up the CRI25 that Geoff would ride in the ISDE in France as a member of the Australian team. Jim so ld Geoff the bike in less than · a n ho ur an d G reg had a ll th e accessories (that weren't in stoc k) in less than 30 ho urs . Ted a nd Bones did a complete suspension work-up, plus a cylinder/ head modification, in less than 30 hours! Geoff a nd I had the entire bike di sassembled, a ll accessories in hand, and all modifications com pleted by Thursda y night. We then packed every th ing in three (yes, three) large, sturdy suitcases in tim e for Geoff to ca tch a flight to France on Friday a fternoon . Geoff £Jew to France with a comp lete motorcycle and accessories as sta nda rd luggage! Ge ntleme n, it was a hell of a week a nd your professionalism is a cred it to the ind ustry. Thanksl . JOHN A. CLARK j .c, Products, Ltd. Simi Valley, CA Remember the feeling Wh en John Betten court lost ~is life, those of us wh o had known him grieved for the loss of a fellow road racer who cared mor e about this spo rt and its people than a nyone else I can remember. His wit and u pbeat personality helped serve as a!l inspiration for many more than Just me, I' m sure. From th e first time I met John , he ins pired me, especially y;il,h h!s philosophy abou t road racing. H.ls rol e as an instructor at the Pengum Road Racing School the past several years was invaluable to me as a student and the fact that he sincerely loved to race contin uall y amazed me. H e stressed the feeling one gets from ra cing far more th an th e speed. Speed was irr eleva nt as lon g as yo u 're ha ppy ourthere, he'd claim. "A re we , co mfy? Do we feel good?" he'd say in th e schooL And we'd all smi le and wonder ho w he could mak e it look so easv and how he co ul d be so fast and is he really ha vin g that much fun ? We started asking how he got that " feeling," a nd could we, th e learners - th e lowly Novices or slow JuniorSor ten se Experts - could we, too, find so much of Johnny B's happiness in this sport? And, after hours of listening and riding and imitating Johnn y B's sty le and attitude and philosophy, we decided, yea h , it's tha t much fun after all . . When I fell in June of-l987 With an injury serious enough to put m y road racing future in doubt, Johnny B called me and said three wor ds that I've taken as gospel and without which I probably would not still be road racing today. Those three words were magi c. " Re member the fe.eling," J ohnny B t~l d me. A~d, wI~h a little effort , f did. And I m still having fun. Thanks to a dedicated . road racer, su per teach er and people lover. I can never tha nk you eno ugh , Johnny B. I'm sur e your mem0!y will live on in all of us who still deci de to road race. JACQUELINE L. MICKIEWICZ • Marlborough, CT Hospitality appreciated Our son , Kevin , recently parncipated in the A~A Yo':'th/Ama~eur Dirt Track Nationals In Washington, a nd we would like to say thanks to the Mt. St. Helens M.C. The effort that this club a nd its members put forth made the week of raci ng. one all cou ld enjoy. Friendliness -and consideration of the riders wa s always firs t in thei r minds.. . . Even though the compennon was tough , our District 6 and 7 riders Georgi e P rice, Ra nd y Shank and Kevin - all brought home N umber IN p lates. We are rea l proud of th ese boys. . . Thanks again , Mt. St. Helens for your hospi tality, a nd Mt. :Bak er for hos ting th e Youth / Ama teur Nationals. We wo uld in deed ret urn. J IM & DOLLY VAR NES Pottstown, PA Superbikes on the tube I just received my ESPN Guide for Sep tember and they are going to telecast rounds of th e World Championship Superbike R oad R ace Series on Tuesday afternoons at 2:30 p .m. Pacific time, and 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. On September 6 they 'll telecast th e British round, September 13 the H u nga ria n ro und, September 20 th e West German round, and on September 27 the Au strian round. Whi le th e show time may be inconvenient for som e, all one has to do is to set their VCR to autopilot and enjoy. It would be a good idea to drop a card or letter of apprecia tion to ESPN, ESPN Pl aza , Bristol , . CT 1601 0. Correspondence m igh t encourage them to telecast more mo torcycle events . CARL MU NTER Santa Maria, CA Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Send letters to Voices. P.O . Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801 .

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