Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

America's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXV Sharon Cla yton , Pub lish er Mik e Klin ger, ComplTOllt'f Skip J ohnson, Associat e Publish er! Nat ional S ales Afanag eT Ja ck Mangus. Associate Publ isher t Editor Rheba Smith. Circ u lati on Mana gt'T Caroline Gendry, Execu tive Secretary to Oil' Pu bl ish er • Editorial Kit Pa lm er. Assodatt- Edit or Pau l Carruthers. Associate Edit or Nat e Rauba. Associate Editor Brian Ca tterson , A ssociat e Edi to r Edwina Mangus, Calendar Edi~ OT Advertising Mike C h u rch , S~niOT Soles M ana gl"r T er ry Pratt Sen io r S ales Man ager Mark T horne, Wes~t'fn Sale s M anag er Ron Davi dson. We~t ern Sa les M aT!agt'f Mar k Mit ch ell , Eastern Sa les Man a. !t'T l Thom as R. Go mer. Eastern Sal es Manager Debbie Win kler. IV~-l"~em Ad Coordinator Carla Borden. £as~t'T11 Ad Coordinat or Graph ics and Production Mal col m wil son. Produ ctio n Managt'f Dennis Gr~ne,LAb. T ech ; Diana Hilgenberg, Graph ic Art ist Stacey G uest , Grap hic Art i,~t Jimmie O 'Dell. Grap hic Artist Ma nd y Loa, G rap hic Artist Carol yn Branham. T ypesetter Arienne T elias, T ypesdter Accounting /Data Proc essing Donna Bryan . A ccts R eceivable Coo rdinato r Geneva Repass, A ssistan t . Fran Harnwey. Cred it Circ ulation Sarah T aylor , Assistan t ;...Alma Anguiano. Assistant Cheri Cha pm an . A ssistant Mar ita Adams. Assistant Herlane Ri ch mo nd. Assistant Car o l Scan nell. A ssistant Circulation Developm ent Ron Da vidson , M anager Want Ads Joan Ru ssian . War" A d Sales Service and Support Ch ris An ch eson, H ead q uart ers R eception ist Leonard Herring. Sen na and Su p po rt National Headquarters 220 1 Che rry Ave.. Long Beach . CA 90806 . P .O . Box 198. Lo ng Bea ch , C A 90801 ·04 98 (2 13) 127· 7<133 ; 2 13/636-8814 . FAX (2 13) 427·6 68.\ Eastern Office 4190 Fir st Ave.. T uc ker, G A, 30084: ma iling address P.O . Box 805 , Tucker, GA 30085· 0805. (104) 934·7850. FAX (101 ) 934 ·31 12 Cycle News (USP S 111· 310) is pub lished week ly excep t th e first and last week o f the ca lendar year for S50.00 per year by Cycle News. ln c., 220 1 C he rry Avenue. Long Bea ch . C A 90806 . Second class postage paid a t Lo n g Beach. CA. and additio na l mailing of fices, POSTMASTER: Send f orm 3579 t o Cycle News. P .O. Box 498. Long Beech. CA 90801 ·0498. To det ermine the expiration date of your subs cription . check the four n umbers on th e f irst line of yo u r a d d ress label . Th e first two d ig it s ind icate the last issue number you ' lI rece ive an d the last two c ha racters indi cate t he year o f th e last issue. Subscription ra tes: O ne year, seco nd class ' mail, $50.00 Cycle News we lcomes u nsolicited edit ori a l m ateria l includ ing stones. cartoons. ph OIOS. etc. Su ch mat er ial. if published. beco mes the excl u sive property o f Cycle News . Su ch ac re p ted mat eri a l is su bject to revision as is n ecessar y in th e sole d iscretio n o f Cycle News. U nso licited material whi ch is not used wi ll be ret u r n ed if acco m pa nied by a self ad d ressed stamped en velope. All unsol icited mat erial will he hand led with reasonable ca re, ho wever, Cycl e News assu mes , no responsibi lity {or th e safet y. lo ss o r da mage to su ch ma teria l. Reprinting in whole or part onl y by per m issio n o f th e p u bl isher. Advertisin g rat es and circula tio n info rm at ion will be se n t upon request. Sec S.R.D.S. W'BPA A UD ITED C IRCULATION C opy rig h t " C ycle N ews . In c . t 988 . Trade-mark Cycle News reg is t ered U.S . Pat e nt Office. All right s reserved. 4 Godspeed, Russ As my husband Joe and I went to pick up a new Duca ti Paso today, I th ou gh t of Russ Paulk, one who wa s totally in lo ve with m otorcycling. When I first me t R uss, he was riding a BMW R90S a nd I had just bought my firs t bike, a Suzuki 400. We rode every weekend in the n orth Georgia m o un tai ns; together wi th a group of very close frie nds. I thought I was something else, a girl riding with rive motorcycle race rs:'Russ was the only one who ever complimented m e on my riding, even ' th o ugh th e guys had to " wait" on me at every turn . That was Ru ss, a lways a fri endly smile and a n ice word to all, helping rac ers and riders-alike. . That was about 10 years ago. Russ was at Southern Tech earning hi s Mech anical Engineering degr ee and working at a restaurant, Victo ri a Station, a t n ight to ea rn extra money. Back th en the same group o f g uys became very in volved in road raci ng with WERA an d AM A, starting with Yamaha TZ250s. We h ad so m uch I u n at the races; a ll of us dreami ng o ne day we would make it to the to p. Russ's parents would co me to th e tra ck a nd bring en o ugh food for a n army , and I had to m other a ll th e guy s ens urin g they had food and that th eir love liv es were on th e up a n d up. Somewhere between th en a n d now all our lives changed. We each went in different directions. Although a co up le of us still race, .it's not th e same as past years. Not Russ , he never gave up! I've nev er seen a nyo ne so dedicated to the sport, and what a rider. Frequen tly winning in a ll types of classes - endurance, 750cc Formula One, etc., Russ had m ade it to the topl 'No w Russ is gone and motorcycling will never be th e same without him. I'm sure I' ll co me around a corner on Rich ard B. Ru ssell Highway and see him smiling at me in my dreams. It 's a fine tribute to Mr. and Mrs. Paulk to hav e raised su ch a fin e son. Racers and riders everywhere will miss him. . KAREN WALLACE Lawrenceville, GA Russ Paulk lost his life in a road race practice session crash at Sears Po int Ra ceway in Sonoma, Californ ia, on Septem ber 30 .. . Editor. . Ascot memories I enjoyed reading th e art icle o n th e hi story o f Ascot Park in yo ur Sep tember 26 issu e. I think everyone sho u ld know ab out th e life o f suc h a grea t m ot orsports promot er lik e j.C. Agajan ian. . In th e days wh en m y brother , Hank, and I were riding m otorcycles in a local field, my father took us to watch a race at Ascot Park one Friday night in the early sixties. It was only th en that I realized how far you co u ld go in motorcycle ra cing. Don Autrey.(fa ther o f speedway racer Scon Autrey) took Scan a nd I to th e Sacramento Mil e a few years la ter a nd again I was very impressed with such a spec tacu la r even t. As tough as I thought I was , I will never forge t the butterflies I had in my stomach th e first time I got in the rider sign-up line as a rookie Expert at the Ascot Park season . opener. At Ascot Park , every wi nner felt like a champion because j.C. Agajan ian made it a special p lace. I consider m yself lu cky to have grown u p in an era o f such a great ma n and promoter as J .e. Agajania n. I a lso thi n k j.e. en joyed watch ing th e races as m uch as any spectator did. Ma ybe that was his secret for being so successful ] a promoter as he was. GA R Y SCOTT ' J acksboro, T N Gary Scott was the Grand National Champion in 1975 and fin ished second in th e GNC point standin gs fi ve t imes . H e won 19 Grand National Championsh ip races betw een 1972 and 1982. Scott is currently . th e manager of th e KK Afterma rket Ra ce T eam . . . Editor. M ore Americans I was sligh tly di sappointed in th e ISDE co verage. Only th ree p ictures o f o ur riders? I a m hoping fo r a follow-up pi cture layout lik e yo u did last year. Congrats to the U. S. MX d es Nations sq uad for a very thorough, co nvin cing victory. Is eigh t co nsecutive wins a record? You folks have the best motorcycl e publication in the business, hands down. No more two-month-old news for me. I'v e been turning all my frie nds on to Cycle News a nd h ave yet to h ea r one co m p la i n t. I 'rn loo kin g forward to a test on the new Kawasaki KDX200 . Keep up yo u r commendab le work! "SMOKIN' " RIC H G RAHAM Rochester , NY Many readers requested that we show th e top riders/teams in the S ix Days, not just the Americans. We'd appreciate hearing from readers as to whether they want us to concen trate on the top riders /teams in the ISDE - no matter what nat ionality they might 'be - or put the em p hasis of our coverage on th e American com pet itors . Eight straight Motocross de s Nation s w i ns is a record '. . . Editor. Captured on _ilm f Just a note to say th at I reall y enjoyed Kit Palmer's coverage o f th e Six Days. Having just returned from Spain , I liked th e way het'captured" the Eu ropean co u ntryside in th e background o f hi s p ictures. PETE BROWN . Long Beach , CA Ascot accolade I j ust wa nted to dro p yo u a n overdue note and simulta neously giv e you a large pat on the ba ck for last week's issue of Cycle News. An edition containing events such"as the ISDE and th e Mot ocross des Nations is bound to h ave a lot o f gr eat competition coverage, but th e a rt icle that rea lly go t my a tte n tio n was th e o n e that Farren Wi lliams wrote co n cern i n g As cot Park a nd th e Agajanian fami ly history. It has been m y privilege, and sometimes my terror, to work with race promoters and tra ck owners in the U.S .A. a nd abroad, so I am here to tell you that when you deal with th e Agajanian famil y, you are working with the creme de la creme. When dea ling with some other promoters, you must fight conri naously to receive even the minimum contractually promised during and preceding a sponsored event. An event for which you are normally paying an exorbitant amount in order to ha ve n a m e banner involvement. Wi th Agajanian Enterprises, you get at least as much as you bargain for and us ually a good bit more. The Agajanian family, and indeed the whole starr at Ascot, is involved with racing in its entirety. T hey go .the extra mile (or is it a ha lf mile?) to see that all racers, sponsors and fans ge t what they pay for plus a bonus in return. If more promoters a n d .track owners were similarly co ncerned, there wou ld proba bly be more p laces to race in the SoCaI area and nationwide . T he Agajanians are absolutely tops in th e b usiness , and your readers shou ld know that. Thanks again for a great issu e, a nd for focu sing on peop le whose exempl ary effo rts trul y deserve to be recognized. ROB SANDERS Memphis, TN Sanders was pu blic relat ions di rector for Suzuki for severa l years. H e resigned from th at position last year bu t is sti ll active in th e public relat ions field . . . Editor. Don't get caught without it I would like ever y responsible motorcyclist to know that riding without insurance in California is a severe rap. Getting caught means: I) A substantial fin e. 2) Automatic suspension of your driver's license. 3) A three-year black mark on your DMV record. 4) The possibility that yo ur auto insu ran ce firm will ca ncel yo u as a result of tha t entry o n your record. Take it fro m a form er Cycle News Ed itor w ho sho uld have know n better. It happened to me . By the way, I th in k your newspa per is much better th a n it ever has been, certainly more so than it was back in 1967. Rum HA RTMUT NIEDZIE LSKI Tustin, CA Cheers for Bubba It was my pleasure to watch Bubba Shobert -win th e Camel Ch allenge an d p lace second in the National to wrap up th e Superbike title at Sears Point Ra ceway. In talking with him outside his motorhome, I sa id, " Fo r a d irt tra cker you are one hell o f a road ra cer." H e laugh ed a nd said. " Yeah , trouble is I ge t o rr in th e dirt every so o ften." _ L at e r . in th e winn er 's circle, Bubba ga ve m e hi s Bell helmet. Wh at more ca n I say? L EE STILLMAN Santa Cruz, CA Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Inc . Letters are subject to condensation due to space limitations. Anonymous l etter s will not be published. Send letter to Voices. P.O. Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801-0498 .

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