Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Ch ampion Wayne G ardner (Ho n ) a nd Kevin Magee (Ya m) . In the u perhi ke cl ass Mich ael Ooohan ( Ya m) b eat fe l lo w Aus tra lia n Mic hael Do wson (Yam) a nd Texan Dou g Pol en (Suz). T he 2.')Occ class win went to Frenc hman Dom in iq u e Sarron (H o n ) with Spa niard j ua n Garriga (Yam) and California's john Kocinski (Ya m ) rounding o u t the top three. Cal ifornian Wa yn e Ra iney ret ired from th e 500cc class with reported ignition failure. ~ C',J ..... v ..0 6 v > o Z BY p~p~ Wf~LfY World C ha m pion Eddie Law son ha s quit the Marlboro Agos ti n i Yamaha GP road racing tea m a nd signed with Ro th m an s H on da . La wso n, wh o wo n Wor ld Cham pi o nsh ip titl es in 1984, 1986 a n d thi s year a board Kel Ca rr u the rs- p re pa re d Yam aha s, reported ly sig ne d a two-yea r, $2 m i l li o n p er yea r co n tr ac t with Honda th at wi ll see h im rid e Erv Kauem o to -prepared eq ui p me nt o n a team separa te from the " n u m ber o ne" \Va yne G ar dner team. Lawson, reach ed first by phone a t hi s U p la nd, . C'.a liforn ia, home a nd the n in person . a t La ke Hava su , Arizona, wh ere he was a u endi ng a j erSki race, refu sed to co m me nt o n th e sw itch. " T m o n vacation a nd wo n' t say a ny th ing about - it unt il next wee k, " said Lawson. Former Wo rld Champion Gard ner first heard about Lawson 's signing wh en he read a bo u t it in a Lo nd on n ews p a pe r w hi le a t a n Aus trali an a irp o rt awaiting a flight to japan. " So m uch for loya lty ," Gardn er told the Australian pr ess. " I have been ridin g m y bu tt o rr for H onda a ll year whil e the y have been W O I kin g o n this Ior months a nd th ey didn 't even hav e th e courtesy to tell me befo re I read it in th e papers. II is very disappointing." Gard ner added , " Bu t I am look in g forward 10 th e cha llenge of racin g aga ins t Edd ie on eq ua l m achi nery ... it's th e c ha nce 10 seu le o nce a nd for a ll who is the be tter rider. " Lawson's departure leav es the M ar lboro Agostin i Yamaha team w it hout a r ider as : the team 's number two rider in 1988. Did ier de Rad igues. will reportedl y not be re-signed and is rumored to be talk ing to Aprilia about a 250cc GP ride in 1989. Rumored to be f irst in line fo r the vacated Lawson ride is Australian M ichael.Doohan and also mentioned for a possible spo t on the team is Spaniard Juan Garriga. who finished second in the 250cc GP point standings. Just two weeks ago. Doohan _spent two days in Japan testing Lawson 's Yamaha YZR500. .The te st came right after Doohan won a m ajo r Formu la One race at Sugo on Octobe r 9 . Iro n ica lly, the da y th e news lea ked - - T uesday, O ctober 18 - Lawson wa s taki ng pa rt in a Mar lboro p hoto ses si on a t n o rth ern Ca lifor nia's Lagu na Seca Racewa y. The editorial staffs of both Cycle and Cycle World magazine have been revamped. Phil Schilling. Cycle's editor since 1979. will leave the magazine to assume a "broader magazine development responsibility" at Diamandis Communications Inc. (DCI). it was announced October 21 by Robert F. Spillane. executive vice presidnet of DCI. Since its acqui sition by Paris. France-based publishing giant Hachette. DCI has been expanding and just last month launched two new magazines and acquired others. Cycle will move its editorial offices from Westlake Village. California. to the DCI West Coast headquarters in Newport Beach where Cycle World. Road & Track. and Road & Track Specials are located. Paul Dean. editor of Cycle World. has been promoted to the newlycreated post of editorial director. He will be succeeded as editor of Cycle World by David Edwards. and Steve Anderson will become Cycle's new editor. Both Edwards and Anderson will report directly to Peter G. D iamandis. president and CEO of DCI . The appointments and relocation of Cycle to Newport Beach will be effective December 1 and. according to a DCI press release. w ill complete the reorgan ization of the motorcycle publishing operat io ns wh ich began last November wit h t he appointment of Jim Hanse n as vice president /publ ishe r of bo t h Cycle and Cycle Worl d . Cycle w ill co ntinue to focus on street bikes and Cycle World w ill cover both dirt and street bikes with "an emphasis on the activity itself. " HosPIT al STOP: T hree-time 250cc Nationa l MX Champion Tony DiSteCano wa s cri tica lly injured O ctob er 13 fo llo win g a crash su ffered during a private session o f hi s motocross school. DiStefan o was reportedl y flipped orr h is motorcycle and landed o n th e top of his head. a nd he described it as "sort of lik e hitting th e bottom of a sw im m ing pool without wat er. " As a result o f th e cra sh DiStefano's fifth a nd sixth vertebrae were injured wi th severe co mp ressio n to the sp ina l co lu m n, leaving him with no feeling from mid-ch est down. DiStefa no underwent su rge ry on O ctober 18 to fu se th e vert eb rae and insert reinforcement rods into th e spinal co lu m n . Ca rds and lett ers can be sent to 428 W. Mapl e St. , Hazleton, PA 18201. Will Davis (H- D) won the f ina l rac e of the 1988 AMA 600 National Championship Dirt Track Series at Woodstock. Georg ia's Dix ie Speedway. October 23 . Steve Morehead (H-D) finished second and Terry Poov ey (Hon) was third. Chris Carr (H-D). who had already wrapped up the series title f inished seventh. Texa n Kevin Sch wa ntz (Suz) won the 500<;c class o f th e Fuji Sp rint ro ad race in Mt. Fuji. j apan , o n O ctober 23. Schwan tz topped former World Ty Davis (Suz) won the 250cc Pro class and sewed up the class t itle. along w ith the 125cc Pro class crown. at the f ina l round of the CMC /Dodge Trucks Trans-Cal MX Series at Carlsbad Raceway in Car lsbad. California. October 23 . Larry Brooks (Hon) finished the day second overall in the 250cc Pro class ahead of Steve Lamson (Yam). Kyle Lewis (Hon) was the overall winner in the 125cc Pro class over Ryan Hughes (Yam) and Mike Young (Cag) . Davis f inished fourth but claimed the championship, Greg Zitterkopf (ATK) won the 500cc Pro class followed by Jim Ellis (Hon) and Ron Turner (Hon), but Rich Mythen (Hon) took the class championship. Dan Smith (H us) wa s th e ove ra ll win ner at the AM A District 37 100's M.e. Best of the West Cham p io ns hi p Ha re & Hound in Lu cerne Vally, California, O ctober 23. Smi th fin ished approxi mately three m inutes a hea d of seco nd pl ace fini sh er Paul Kra use (Kaw) , w hi le th ird a nd fourth were fill ed by Chuck Mill er (H o n) and Grant Pa len ske (Kaw), The AMA has released a tentative schedule for the 1989 National Reliability Trials Series : Tulsa. Ok lahoma•. Apri l 30; Rose City. Michigan. June 3 ; Bo ise. Idaho. J une 10; and Yamhill. Oregon. June 24 . It has not yet been dec id ed how many days each event w ill be. however. talk has it t hat Oklahoma and Idaho will be four-day events. M ichigan three days. and Oregon two days. Road race r Scott Ru ssell, who bro ke hi s righ t kn ee cap a t th e O ctober I Sears Po in t ro u n d o f th e AMA/CCS End ura nce Series, say he will try to rid e a t the No vem ber 3-6 _\VERA Grand a tio n a l Fi n als at Roa d Atl anta. " I t's (the kn ee) co m in g a lo ng ," R ussell said. ''1'11 giv e Road Atlanta a sho t. I haven 't ridden a bike yet. but I've sat on one." BORN : Taylor Forrest Guest. son of Cycle News graphic artist Stacey Guest and husband Cra ig . October 24 . in Lo n g Beach . Cal ifornia. CHANGE D: Th e Kyl e Fl emi ng Memorial MX, he ld a t Blythe Raceway in Blythe, California, to th e Western Stat es Mem ori al l\IX. Th e race is held eac h yea r in th e memory o f min icycl e racers Kyle Fleming, Bru ce Bun ch a n d Rick H emme, wh o lost the ir lives in a ca r acc ide nt during th e Grand National Cham pi onships in Po nca City, Ok lahoma, a few years ago. T hi s year's ra ce wi ll take p lace No vem ber 11-13 wi th the same staff, sponsors a nd awards that ha ve previously sup ported the even t. For more informa tion ca ll 602/9934954. Eighty teams are expected to take part in the final round of the 1988 AMA /CC S EBC Brakes Endurance Challenge at the October 28-30 10th Annual Daytona ProAm at Florida's Daytona Interna- tional Speedway on Sunday. October 30. Three teams are only eight points apart going into the three-hour race. Dutchman Raci ng has 108 po ints. Team Lockhart has 101 and Team Hypercyc1e is third with 100. With po ints awarded 20-16 -1 3-11 and so on . Dutchman can cl inch the champ ionsh ip by f inish ing f irst or second. but a lower f inish opens the door f or either of the other two teams. In add ition to the endurance race . 881 entries will contest 15 AMA /CCS Races of Champions - 25 -mile sprints to determine National Champions in 18 different classes. The November 6 T ed Boody Memoria l Dua l Sport Ride which sta rts at Hansen Da m Park in Sylmar, Ca lifornia, is open" to operators of a ll veh icles, two-, th ree-, or four-whee l. Bikes donat ed by H onda , Kawasaki, Suzu ki a nd Yama ha , plus cars an d a n assortme n t o f ot her goodies wi ll be ra rrIed orr a t the even t a nd a ll p ro ceeds will benefi t the T ed Bood y Mem oria l Fund which wa s esta blish ed for the fa m ily of th e pop u lar racer wh o was killed in a crash ea rl ier this year. For more in forma tio n on th e ri de, ca ll 818/ 249-2 14I. Hugh Fleming. who is in charge of AMA amateur activities. has been selected as president of the FIM IS DE International Jury. BORN : j essica McEln ea , da ugh ter o f G P roa d racer Rob McEln ea a nd wife Sharon, in Engla nd, Octob er 19. Motocrosser Donny Schm it recently broke his right tibia in a practice crash near h is home in Bloomington. M innesota. "I went over the bars and caught my leg on the crossbar trying to dive out of the way. " he said in a te lephone conversation October 24. " The impact crushed the crossbar to the handlebar bolts and broke the knee brace I was wearing." Schmit had a rod inserted in the -leg and is slowly returning to action . The Si lver State Racewa y in Carson City, Nevada , will celebra te its gra n d open ing with th e O cto ber 30 Ha llman H all o ween MX. H a ll man ridi ng gear wi ll be up for grabs in all classes. For more informa tion co ntact th e ra cewa y at 7021782-7903. Wh ite Bros Cycle Specialties of Garden Grove . Californ ia. w ill host what they're billing as the Veterans World Championsh ip MX at southern California's Perris Raceway on November 6. Classes for riders 25 to 30 years of age. 30 to 40. 40 to 50. and 50 and over w ill be offered. A ll exNational and international motocrossers of the past are being invited t o participate in a special exh ib ition r ac e . Already conf irmed are former Wo rld Cham pion Danny laPorte. Rex Staten and Warren Re id . There will also b e specia l events for v intage motorcycles and those events will be run under CRVG rules (1974 and earlier machinery. etc.), For more information. call Hal San guinetti at 714 /554-9442. Airborne! That 's wh at Cycle News gra p hic a rt ist Mand y Loo was o n Su n day, O ctob er 23, wh en she mad e a tandem skydive parachu te j um p 13,000 abo ve Perris, Ca li forn ia. T he free-fall portio n o f th e jump last ed a p proxima tely o ne -m in u te. All th e way , Mandy!

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