Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

., A g .. ~ ~ I I- , 00 00 O"l ....... America's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXV Sha ro n Clay lo n: Pub lis her . Mike Klin ger. Comptroller Skip Johnson . Associate Publisher! National SIlks Man ager J ack Mangus. Associate Pu bl ish rr t Editor Rh eba Smi th. Circulatio n l\ f a nagnCaroline Ge ndry . Executive Secretary to th t' Pu blish er . Editorial Kit Palm er, Associate Editor . Paul Ca rr u thers. Associate Ed itor Na te Rau ba , Associate Editor Brian Cauerso n. Associate Editor Edw ina Mangus, Cale ndar Editor Advertising Mike Ch u rch. Senior Sales Managn Terry Prall . Se nior Sa lt's Man ag M' Mar k Thome. Wt'st" n Sales ManagN' Ron Davidson. Wt'stt'm Salt's Manager Mar k Mitchell. Eastern Salt's Man agn Thomas R. Go me r. Eastern Sales Atanager Debb ie Win kler. Wt"stt"Tn A d Coordinator Car la Borden. Easte rn Ad Coo rdina to r Graphics and Production Malcolm Wi1soll,Product;on Mana gn Dennis G reene. LAb . T ech: • Diana H ilgen berg. Graphic Artist Sta cey Guest. Graphic Artist Jimmie O 'Dell . Graphic Artist Ma ndy Loo. Graph l€ Artut Carolyn Bra n ha m . Typcs~ltrr Arien ne T ehas, Typeseltn Accounting/Data Processing Donna Bryan. /f eels Re ceioable Coordinator Gen eva Repass . Assistant Fran Hamwey, Credit Circulation Sarah Tay lor . Assistant Alma Anguiano, Assistant Cheri Chapma n , Assistant Mari ta Ada ms, Assistant Herlane R ichmond. A ssistant Carol Scannell, Assistant Circulation Development Tough sledding Wa s th e lOOs M.e. Distr ict 37 H ar e & H ound race a " fu n -fi lle d race?" Abso lutely no t! The seco nd loop o f th e O ctober 23 100's race ca n a nd a lready has been described by a very large n umber -of riders as: a ) Un necessary. b ) Wrong. c) The worst last loop we'v e seen. d) Dan gero us. And in the words of a 100s club member , "Not th e right thing to do. " Every year at thi s time th e District . 37 clubs seem to be in co m pe titio n to see who can pu t o n a race th a t fewer an d fewer rider s can finis h without : a) Bod il y in jury to them sel ves or so meone el se. b) Lots of dama g e to one ' s eq u i p men t. c) Decidin g to ta ke u p ano ther sport . My mai n gripe co nce rns the hi ll s we co ns ta n tly have to run up and down , u ncli m bab le by many, with no a lterna te routes to tak e if yo u ca n' t ride ri ght up. I'm not for a ll fast gr ound either; th e technical stu ff is great and lower speeds, in my opi n ion, ar e of some value. - If th is s po rt is to grow a n d improv e, I'm sure, as are a lot of o the r District 37 riders, tha t the ki n d of race. th e loos put o n is de tr ime nta l to th at growth. By co m parison, the 100s race last yea r wa s th e best I a nd many o ther riders rem ember. I p oint o u t the 100s ra ce as a n up-to-d at e exa m p le o n ly. There a re many o the rs eq ua lly as guilty. (O n ly 59 riders fini shed. th e last loop of th e Check Chase ra ce o n O ctober 9.) Ron David son . Manager Want Ads DO NAL D WALLEN La ke Elsinore, CA J oan Ru ssia n . Want Ad Sales Service and Support Ch ris Aitchescn , Headq uarters R ecep tio n ist Leo na rd Herring. Service and Su p port Excellent sledding National Headquarters I wo uld like to co ngratu la te two District 37 cl ubs for (laying o ut) excellent co urses (for races). First, the Checkers M.e. desig ned an excelle nt cou rse with " ne w ter rain " in a very used area o f th e desert. Secondly, th e 100s M.e. p rovid ed a ll riders with a fantastic co urse. The co urse m ark in g s wer e exce llen t. Organizati on of th is event was first class - fast sign -u p, q uick tech inspec tio n, a nd beau tifu l start! fini sh ba n ners , In , addition, pit locations provided maxi umum specta tor appeaLBo th th ese events deserve AMA Na tional C hampionship Hare & H ou n d status. 220 1 Cherry Ave.• Long Beach . CA 90806. P.O. Box '198. Lon g Beach . CA 9080 1·0198 (2 13) 127·7433; 2 13/636 ·8811 . FAX (2 13) 127·6685 Eastern Off ice 4 190 Firs t Ave.. Tuc ker. G A, 30084; maili ng add ress P.O . Box 80S, Tucker, GA 300854 0805. (101) 931·7850 . FAX (401) 931·3112 Cycl e New, (US PS 111·340) is published weekl y excep t th e lint and last week ol th e ca lendar year lor $50.00 per year by Cycle News, In c. • 220 1 Cherry Avenu e, Lon g Beach . CA 90806. Second clas s postage paid a t Long Beach. CA. a nd ad ditional ma ilin g offices . . POSTMASTER ; Se nd form 3579 t o Cycle News . P.O . Box 498. long Beech. CA 90801·0498 . To determin e the e xp irati on det e of your s ubscripti o n. ch e c k the four numbers on the fi rst line of your address label. The first two d igits ind ica t e t he last iss ue number you 'll receive e nd t he last two c hara ct e r. indicate the ye ar of the last is su e . SUb!'oCr~~i on mail. S. .00. ra tes: One )'("ar; seco nd class • Cycl e News welcomes un sol icited ed ito ria l mat erial in cluding sto ries. ca rtoons , p ho tos . e tc. Su ch mat er ia l, if p u blished . becomes the excl usive propc:n)' of Cycl e Xews. Su ch accep ted mat erial is subj ect to revisio n a!'. is necessary in the' cole di scretion o f Cycle News. U nso licited materia l whi ch is n OI used will be returned if acco m pa nied by a sclt addressed sta m ped envelope. All u nso lici ted rnater iul will be ha nd led with reasonabl e care. however, Cvrle News assumes no respo naihi li tv [or lilt safet y, lo ss or damage " (Osuch ma teria l. Rep rint in g in wh o le or part o n l y b y perm ission or th e pu bl ish er. Advertisi llR rates and cir cu lat ion information will be sent upon req uest. Sec S.R .n .S. W/ BPA Y 4 AUDITED CIRCULATION Copyr ig h t e Cy cl e News . Inc . 1988 . Tra de- mark Cyc le News registere d U.S. Patent Off ic e . All righ ts reserve d . G RANT PAL ENSKE Laguna Beach , CA Cheers for Champions I wo u ld like to thank j o hn Marti n 'a nd T ony Hendon for do na ting th eir time a t the hare scramb le schoolthev held a t th e Minneso ta' round o f th e AMA Nationa l Cham p io nsh ip H are Scra mb les Series. Not o nly did j oh n donat e hi s time a nd h is tra ck, bu t he asked Tony, th e 1988 Nationa l H are Scra mb les Cha mp io n, to spe nd a n ex tra da y o f hi s tim e assisti ng us. Wh at a deall H ow o ften ca n yo u rid e wit h two Nationa l Champions a nd ha ve them a na lyze yo u r tech ni ques. . I ha ve ridde n for 15 years bu t I still learned a lot. j ohn pl ans on h a vin g this schoo l agai n in 1989 a nd I suggest that a nyone ser io us abo u t cross co untry! hare scra m bles rac ing mak e pl ans to atten d next yea r. The o n ly cos t of th e school was a dona tio n to a 'fu nd that goes 'to the to p pl acing Minnesota rider in th e Nationa l H are Scramb les Series n ext year. An y wa y you look a t it , j ohn and Tony are rea lly helping o u r sport. DAVID E. SHELLY Shreve,O H YSR events I need informatio n on a n y YSR50 raci ng in a 100-m ile radius of Delawa re. T h is is a sad sta te to live in if you want to race motorcycles. ED LIN K Newark , DE If we receive any wo rd on YSR50 events in your area, we 'll relay th e informatio n to you . . . Editor. Other issues Being a n a vid mot orcycl ist for over 15 years, I feel I must co m me nt o n H al Sang u i ne tt i's letter in the October 26 issue. To vote for a ca ndida te ba sed sole ly on one issue is ignorance at best. We must co nsider th e many more im portant issues a t hand th at need to be th ought ou t before casting o ur vot es. Hal co m me nts abou t th e threat o f Mike Dukakis a nd Leo McCarthy. I feel m ore threaten ed b y narrow m inded people w ho are giv en the power an d authority to make deci sio ns based on th eir pocketbooks ins tea d o f th ei r hearts and minds. The Reasa n! Bush adm in istra ti o n has done ItS best to set civil lib erties ba ck 30 years, dump more money into defen se, ra ise the deficit co ns idera b ly, a nd has em p lo yed a dirty tra il o f hero ic adventu rers suc h as Ollie No rth, j o h n Po in dext er a nd Elliot Ada ms (to name a few ). We shou ld co ntin ue thi s? To co n done suc h th in king a ny longer , we ca n be ass ured that wh en nuclear a n ni h ilatio n comes we wi ll have pl enty o f riding area. Sick. So, H a l , o n Novem ber 8 I'm putting o n my hel m et, ridi ng down to th e poll in!? p lace and voti ng for the most rea lis tic candidates. I on ly hope my visor does n't fog up. R ICHARD F. H AMI LT O N jR. Canoga Park, CA The iss ue , I would like to seco nd every th ing stated by Mr. Sa ngui netti in his recent letter about the importa nce of voting. Poli ticians are fi na lly rea lizing that we represent a large port ion of th e p ub lic. An example is th e appearance of Senator Pete Wi lson as th e keyn ot e spea ker a t th e CO R VA birthday party. T here are three close races in sou thern Ca liforn ia a nd if they go the wrong way, you ca n bet th at yo u wi ll lose ridi ng a reas . T he first and most obv ious is th e re-election of Pe te Wilso n. Wi th out h im , yo u ca n kiss th e desert goodbye. The seco nd is Los Angeles Cou nty Supervisor Mike Antonovich in the 5th District. If yo u a re o ne of th e man y people w ho want a replacement for India n Dunes a nd yo u do not pr oduce a t lea st 10 vo tes besid es your own for Mik e, you do not dese rve a p lace to ride. . T he th ird is Co ngressman Robert La g om ar sin o in Sa nta Ba rb ara COUlllV and the coas t of Ventura County. Although you may have n ever ri dden th e j ohnson Ridge Trai l to Sespe H ot Spri ngs , p lease help keep this trai l out of Wild erness for those wh o ha ve. T he Co ngressma n has int rod uced legislat ion to protect this tra il fro m a big Wilderness grab. If he goes, yo u ca n bel th e tra il will also. If yo u live in a ny of th ese di stri cts yo u o we it to yo u rself to vot e a nd ge t a ll o f your friends and neighb ors to su p port these ca ndi da tes. If yo u do not Iive in the mentioned di stri cts, ca ll a frien d who does a nd m ake su re tha t he vot es. We used to say th at if you a re not pa rt of the so lu tio n, th en you are part o f th e problem. Now , if yo u are no t p a rt o f th e solu tio n , it wo n 't matter , just fin d a new hobby. J ERR Y- CO U NT S . Countdown En gineeri ng Canoga Park, CA Weighty reply In repl y to Mr. Hugab oom's lett er , Weighty matter , in th e O ctob er 26 issu e: Everytime H arl ey-David son wi ns a race o r a titl e so meo ne surely writes acc usi ng th em a nd th e AMA of co nspiri ng to bend th e ru les. The fact is regard less whe ther Shobert's appea l had been u pheld or not , he a nd Honda wo u ld no t have wo n the (G r,1I1d Nationa l) Cham pionship. Bu t what rea lly ca ught m y attentio n was Mr. Huga boom 's statemen t that Harl ey-Da vidson shou ld bu y a Ho n da engine a nd study it ex tensively. Co me now , Mr. Hugaboom, wh o rea ll y does th e bu yi ng a nd study ing? Wh y does the RS750 so closely resemble an X R750 in the first p lace? And wh ere in actua lity was th e RS750 desi gn ed? And wha t ab o ut th e Honda 250 Rebel, wi th its H ar ley Fat Bob styli ng. Depending on o ne 's point of view, that mach ine is eithe r flattery o r a n in su lt to the Harl eyDav id son Moto r Co . a n d it s designers. T he new Honda sof ta il sus pe ns io n is a n a lmost ca rbo n co py o f Harl ey's. I wo nde r how lon g it will ta ke the m to co me o u t wi th a Springer from end. T he n th ere are a ll th e o ther j a pan ese imi tati on Harl ey-Da vidso ns. Look a t the j a pan ese motocross bikes whi ch were flo un dering in the ea rly 70's until, with their big yen, th ey hired th e best motocros s designers a nd rid ers Europe had to offer. The su ccessful j a pa nese trial s bikes were d esigned by Samm y Mil ler a nd Mick Andrews after th ey were h ired away from Bul taco and - Ossa, two sma ll compa ni es wh o built motorcvcles for the lo ve of th e sport a nd not for m u lti -m illion do llar p ro fits. T hese compa nies and . ma ny others th rough out th e wor ld, who prod uced fine mo to rcycles, hav e falle n by th e waysid e, d ue la rgely to japanese business practices. Harl ey-Da vidson ha s no t stayed a live, M r., Huga boo rn, by st udying a n d rep ro du cin g H onda s, or by ma ni p u lati ng the rul es with th e AMA. T hese are the reasons I ha ve never a n d will never ow n a j apanese mo to rcycle, a n d wi ll rema in a n avid Harley-Da vidson enth usiast for life. Co ngra tu la tio ns , Sco tty and Har- . ley, yo u ea rned it. KEVI N R. N IRSCH L . Fa yett evill e, NC

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