Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Wind (Con tinued fro m page 2) Mike Baldwin ponders the thought of "flushing their "showing no mercy" as he prepares for the next scene. American Built (Con tinued from page 18) -~ Bu t there was some filming done a t Spa during practice and for those who saw it, any hope th at plausibility would be preserved was forever lost. The scene involved Gifford (MacLeod) coin ing in to th e pits. H e rolls to a stop . His mechani c, ta ll and skinny in a yellow jum psuit that made him look like a straig ht ba nana, looks a t hi s rea r ti re, pats him o n th e back, a nd says, "T ake no prisoners." Ma cLeod, fitfu lly trying to rep ress laughter inside his helmet, must have thought, " Well, even if I d id take prisoners, wh ere wo uld I put th em ?" But that was n' t the worst of it. In order to film the victory scene where the banana and his j apanese cou nterpart jum p into eac h o the rs arms, th e film crew set up a camera dolly and sound cart in th e hot lane a t the bottom of pi t ro w wh ere the riders are accelera tin g to ge t back o nto th e track, th is during th e fourth 500cc sessi on. Abo u t 12 p eopl e hung around moving back a nd forth across the pit la ne, some looking, some not. " All th ey have to do ," one disgr u n tled participant said, " is kill a cou p le of thes e film people that shou ldn't be th ere in th e fir st p lace and th e image is tarnished forever." After a while, there was a great co mmo tio n and th e two mechanics embrace on film to signal the win. Then th ey did it again a nd again. Winning a race th ree times in a da y is mo re th an Cody cou ld have hoped for. . For th e race , the rea l tea ms move to th e top of th e pi t lane by the near deadstop "Source" hairpin so that th e riders hav e a chance to recognize their boards and get some useful in formatio n. The movie folks, ho wever , were signalli ng at the bottom of the pit la ne where th e riders are banked over to th e right, tu cked under th e fairing in sixth gear, and concentrating o n their bra kemarker for " Ea u Rouge" befo re Hashi ng back up th e hill. T ha t they could recognize any thing at 160 mph is farcical: what Cody was su pposed to be reading was ludicrous. . The fir st pit sign read: " No mercy, +3, P.5," which, we must presu me, ' meant that although he was in fifth place, he shou ld .show no mercy on the sixth-p lace rider. The second pit sign was easier to read, but harder to co mprehe nd. It read, simply: " Flush th eir toilets." No plusses, no minuses. J ust " Flush their toilets." Out of · curiosity, I as ked a few rid ers what they wo ul d do if they were sh ow n 4'Flush th eir toilets. " The first response " What?" and was followed by " Who' s toilet a m I su p posed to flush? " and " What did I do to deserve this? " Did they mean . that the rid er sh o uld immediately pull off th e track to flush th e toilets a nd, if so, can th ey re-join th e race o n ly to show no mercy on the 32nd a nd 33rd p lace riders? (In th e ' Spa paddock it cost 10 Belgian francs, ab ou t a quarter, to use the facili ties, so being asked to flush toilets cou ld end up co ns umi ng a co mpetitor's entire race win nings.) T he race seq ue nces are bein g filmed by Don Sch umacher, the directo r of " O n Any Sunday II ," a nd will , no doubt, be th e best part of th e movie. Current plans ca ll for 70% dra ma a nd 30% racin g. Cameramount RC Suzukis will be ridden by' Mortimer and o th ers during th e fake races and MacLeod's bike sported a sound reco rder, hopefull y so tha t the RS500 does n 't end ~ soundin g like a Wide Glide. The on ly ins tructions th e prod ucers gave the rid ers was th at they take th e chec kered flag . "Their job is to rid e and be as co mpeti tive with th e rest of th e pack as they ca n be," he sai d. . " Did th ey tell Baldwin he's got to fi ni sh , " one cyni ca l journ al is t remark ed to anoth er, dredgi ng u p h is 1986 cras h in th e wet entering th e " So urce." T he o the r principals in th e movie a re Peter Berg who plays Chris , Cody's tuner, a nd Pamela L ud wi g, Cody's " lo ve interest" who, presu m a bl y, helps with h is s u btext of achieving manhood. There was so me con tradiction in whe n the film wo u ld be released. Gordon sa id th at it wo u ld first be shown a t th e Cannes Firm Festival in so ut he rn France in m id- May , 1989. For those imp ressed with the na me "Cannes," yo u have to u nd ersta nd th a t virtually a ny movie made which hopes to be distributed is screened at Cannes and that it's li ke a gian t cell ulo id flea market. Among th e movies shown thi s year at Cannes was "Space Slu ts in the Sla m mer." They also me ntioned mid-March or April as th e worldwide release date, so when it wi ll be o ut is a nyo ne's g uess, altho ug h th ere will be severa l pronouncements from th e producers and Pep si trumpetin g its arrival. " I don 't thin k th ey can really say when it will be released," a film publicist said. Will it be worth seei ng? Well, if you're interested in mo torcycles, the answer is an unqualified maybe. But like most fiction , such as th e " Roa d R unner" cartoons, it will requir e th e . suspension of disbelief, unless, -of course, you 've ever been instructed to, " Flush their to ilets." • World Troph y a nd j u nior Worl d Troph y competition after the second day, Tuesday, September 6. The unofficial World Trophy sta ndings had Ita ly ahead with 106.80 poin ts, fo llowed by France ( 129.24) a nd Czech oslovak ia (393.55). The U.S.A trai led in sevent h with 923.90 points. In unofficial J un io r World Troph y sta n d ings, It a ly led with 180 .08 point s, ahead of Fra nce (360.94), a nd Finland (382.97). The U.S. was. in fourth wi th 426.38 points. The top o verall rider a fte r da y tw o was Yamaha rider Stepha ne Pet erh ansel of France. Ka wasaki-mounted Kurt H ough was th e best American performer. Two Am eri ca ns dropped out of the co m peti tio n; R ick Da n iel bro ke his foot, a nd Rob er t Neeley's 'Kawasaki seized , both o n the firs t day. The co mpetition bega n Septem ber 5 and will concl ude September 10. Russ Darnell announced that his private motocross track in Hemet, California, i s now open, by appointment, to individuals, race teams, and factories. The course, near Riverside, is spread out on a 40-acre facility that will feature a training center. now under construction. The center, ' which Darnell called a "country club for motocrossers, " will have food and lodging, a gym and video taping services. For information on renting the track, call 714/ 658-RDMX. Kawasaki Motors Corporation held their a n n ua l dea ler m eetings in Reno, Nevada , o n Au gu st 29, and although its lineup of new products is sli m , th e co mpany put on quit e a show for its deal ers. Highli gh ts were th e smoke- a nd exp losion- filled introd uctio ns of the co m pany 's new est J et Sk i , th e TS650 tw opassenger personal wat ercraft, and th e n ew water-cooled KDX200 enduro bike. The rest of the Kawasaki li neup is rela tively unchan ged excep t for graphic d ifferen ces a nd improvem ents on last year's models. Kawasak i al so stressed the irnportance of its Mule, a sort of co mbin at ion mini- pi ckup a nd ATV designed for heav y in d us try, to dea lers and an nounced tha t Ball y's, the sight of the show, had recently - purchased two of th e Mu les. Mi ke Vaughan, KMC' s director of com - r, munications, also to ld dea lers that ~ the company's recent upsca le advertising campa ign would co nt in ue to 00 00 grow in 1989. 0"> ~ fa ~ ,... ~ Dunlop is the official tire sponsor of t he upcom ing CMC / Dodge Trucks Trans-C al MX Series. Cycle N ews has an o pe ni ng for an assistant edi to r. We're looking for a motorcyclist who holds a journalism degree or has daily newspaper experience, p referabl y in th e s po rt s depa rtment. Duties incl ude race reporting, copy ed iti ng, a nd bike testing. Send a resume and cover letter to j ack Man gu s, Cycle News, In c., P.O . Box 498, Lo ng Beach , CA 90801-0498. Human Race Team (Yam) won the September 3 WERA Six-Hour Endurance Road Race at Tennessee's Memphis Motorsports Park. Second overall went to Solmax Racing (Suz) with Kayo Racing (Yam) finishing th ird. Team BMH (Hon) and Team Racerback (Kaw) rounded out the top five finishers. Defending series champ Team . .Suzuki (Suz) DNF. T exan Do ug Polen (Suz) wo n two classes during Suzuki Cup road race ac tion at Mem ph is Motorspo rts Park, Sep tember 4. Pol en topped . Scott Ru ssell (Suz) in B Pr oduction and Kurt Ha ll (Suz) in C Producti on. Russell (Suz) won the A P roducti on class over Paul Bray (Suz) wi th Polen (Suz) finish in g th ird. In other WERA pro ac tio n a t Mem p his Mo torsports Park , Mike H arth (Suz) won the For m u la Open race wi th Ru ssell (Suz) fin ishing second a nd H all taking third. AMRA-Pros. the dirt track sanctioning body, has a new phone number: 813/996-5353.

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