Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Wind (Con tinued from page 2) Renton Vocati onal Tech nical In sti tu te in Renton, Washin gton , has openings in their mo torcycle technician program for people wishing to trai n for a career as a motorcycle mechanic. T he program is a on e-year state supported a nd certified program. Int erested part ies shou ld call 206/235-5804 for more informat ion. ~ C'l C'l >- lo-< ~ ..... 15 V ~ Vanson Leathers has named Craig Cote as it s Novice Rider of the . Year in road race competition in t he no rtheast. Vanson has awarded Cote with a set of Vanson ra ci ng leat he rs. The award is made each year to the ride r who starts the season as a Novice and advances the most during the season. Cote is the 13th rider to be honored in the program. NAMED: In trac Corp . of Knox vill e, Te n nessee, a n d West ern Power Sports of Boise, Idah o, as distributor s of Blen dzall prod uc ts; dealers ca n co ntact Intrac a t 800/ 251-9871 or WP S at 800/ 999-3388. FO RMED: Edgar King Co m m un ications, by Willia m Edgar a nd Denny King w ho w ill spec ia lize in producing m o torsport-re lated and entertainment packages for theatrical rel ease, TV broadcast and home video m arkets; Edg ar is a Cycle News featu re cont rib ut or an d Cyc le Dreams col umn ist and has produced film and TV documentaries; Kin g ha s extensi ve expe rie nce in TV series and s ports p rogramm ing and was most recent ly market ing and sales VP for MotoWorld and Seals Commun ications; they can be reached at their Beverly Hills, California, office at 213 /205-0170 or 2741740. A $1000 reward is being offered for the wh ereabouts of a sto len 1988 YZ250 Yam ah a, a 1985 CR80 H onda an d a bag full o f riding gea r. The ' items were ta ken from the ga rage of Scott Sivage at hi s Huntington Beach , Californ ia , home, J an uary 25. T he YZ's fram e numb er is 2V M003 157; th e CR80' s is JH 2H E0408-FK20233 1. For an y in forma tio n, ca ll 714/ 895-1005 o r 714/536-7555. The Donnie Hansen Motocross Academy (DHMA) w ill be holding it s first motocross school of the year at Holeshot Raceway in New Palestine, Texas, February 18-19, w it h a th ree-day MX camp being held February 20-22. For more inf orm at io n ; contact t he DHMA at 2 14/731 -4600. Motocrosser Bill y Liles marri ed Becky Carswell in Morganton, North Carolina, Ja nuary 28, The co uple will move to Belgiu m, wh ere Li les will resume his quest for the 500cc MX World Cham pion ship ti t le ab oard a Kawasa ki. A lim it ed amount of e nt ries by American riders are now being acce pted for the 1 9 8 9 Incas Rally starting in Peru , South America, Ju ne 4 . Fo r more info rm ati on on t h e 10-day rall y , call Ace rb is Plastica US A, 619 /562-1440 . " I race because I still like to go fast on a mo torcycle," said thr ee-time Daytona 200 winner (1961, '64 and '65) Roger Rei ma n . The former AMA Grand National Champion is an entry in bo th the Championship Cup Series Middleweight Twins race a nd th e Pro T wins Gra nd Prix class. Reiman ' s fir st Daytona ventu re netted him second place in the 1958 Ama teur class race back when the races were run on the beach course. T he Dayton a 200 moved to Dayton a Int ern atio nal Speedway in 1961 with Reiman winning th e inau gural running of th e 200 at the inland facility. "Head straight dow n the beach for two miles and then t u rn le ft ," That's how Reiman remembers the instructions from the starter prior to his first race on t he beach course at Daytona. . " Ra ci ng on the beach was a one-of-a-kind event and I don't think there will . ever be anything quite like that again." T he pre-e n try ta lly for the March 12 Da ytona 200 By Arai Superbi ke Classic sta nds at 101 riders. The list contai ns nearl y all the top run ners in last year 's 200 with the excep tion of race win ner Kevin Schwantz and th ird -pl ace finisher Bubba Shobert. T he two are tun ing u p for the opening 500cc G P , Mar ch 26 in Japan. "I ' m serious," is how fo rmer twotime AMA Grand National C hampio n RickV Gra ha m describes his a ppr oa ch t o the upcoming rac e season . "How s e r io us ? I've moved into my tra iner's hous e so I 'have t o ' tra in every day. We do we ight tra in ing, ca rd iovascular traini ng, we do a lot of trai ni ng. I w ant to hit Dayto na at full s pe ed an d keep rolling right through the season . I'll have a Kawasaki sho rt tracker for t he Cam e l P ro Kick off National and, hopefu lly, a road race ride for the Daytona 200. Hey , I' m pumped." ''I' m not sure if I' ll be racing in the 600cc Supersport event or not," said 250cc Na tiona l Champion Joh n Kocinski when questioned on his feeli ngs about the race. " My ma nager, Gary H ow ard, ha sn 't told me yet wh at the plans for Dayto na are." Kocinski is also entered in the 250cc Interna tio nal L ig h tweig h t even t wh er e he is th e defendin g race winner on a T eam Nordica Roberts Yam aha. ~ Team Yamaha's entry for the 600cc Supersport race includes the not-sa-sure John Koc inski, his teammate T homas Stevens, defending race w inner John Ash m ead and u p -a n d- c o m e r Cam Roos. The Yamaha Motor Corporation USA-suppo rted FZR600 machines are being p repped by Muzzy 's R&D in Hesperia , Califo rn ia . Orange County Cycle in Garden Grove, California, will be hosting a free YZ Suspension Tun in g and General Maintenance Seminar, February 22 at 6:00 p.m .. Several representatives from T eam Yamaha 's racing department will be th ere. The semi nar is open to the public. For more information call .7I1/530-7340. Papa's t ol d there ' s bee n some confusion as to just where the April 30 round of the Sout he rn End u ro R ide rs As s o c ia t io n End u ro Series wo uld be ru n , SERA's Jonatha n Kem p says the end uro will take place in Hattie s burg, Mississippi, 'a n d w ill be sponsored by the Mississippi OffRoad Riders M.C . Fo r more info rm at ion, call 601 /582-2035 . . MOVED: Kno bby Shop International, th e U.S. importer of Rent hal products, to 1943-F Frie nd ship Dr. , EI Cajon, CA 92020; new phone nu mb er is 619/448-7814 and new FAX number is 619/448-8932. FO RM ED: Trials East, a Beta an d Montesa d e al ers hi p, by R ic h Brooks, fo rm e r advertising man ager for Cosmopolita n Moto rs , and his s o n Marc; Tria ls East w ill pu blish a free tria ls newsletter and a copy is free fo r t he asking; 298 Ash Ave " Langhorne , PA 19047, 2 15/757-8492 . Former 250cc MX Wor ld Champion Jacky Vimond has formed his own team, Vimond Pro motion , to co nt est the 500cc MX Gra nds P rix. Vimond, who was left without a ride for the 500cc class after Yamaha pulled o ut of the class in o rder to concen trate on the 250cc series, turned dow n a contract from Yamaha for the 250cc class in order to contest the 500cc series on H on das as a privateer. (Contin ued to page 54) Camel backs AMA Grand National Series with $400,000 in annual awards By Bill A m ick WEST ER VILLE, OH , FEB. 6 T he America n Motorcyclist Associatio n (AMA) and Sports Marketi ng Enterprises (SME) have an nou nced details of the 1989 AMA Camel Pro Series, marking the 16th consecu tive seaso n that Camel has been a major spo nsor of AMA professio nal dirt track racing. SME, th e sports marketing arm of RJR Nabisco Inc., will post $400,000 in cash awar ds for the '89 renewal of th e series, which will consist of 17 AMA Grand National dirt track race s. Of that to ta l, $200,000 is a lloca ted to a point fu nd for th e ser ies' top 10 riders; $192,500 will be paid as purse awards for Camel Challenge eve nts to be h el d in co nj unc tio n with I I of the series even ts; and $7,500 will be paid in special rookie incentive awards.' " T h e AMA G ra nd Nati ona l C h ampio ns h ip Se r ies is w hat attracted us to AMA raci ng back in 1974," co mmente d T . Wayne Robertson, sen ior vice president of SME. " When fans ta lk about th e Camel P ro Series they think of dirt track raci ng . 200,000 is th e largest point fund th e AMA' s dirt track rid ers have ever had, and they ar e exci ted abou t th e prospect of winni ng part of that mon ey." T en riders will sha re in th e lucra tive point fund, with $100,000 awarded to the Camel Pro Series Champ ion . The o ther mainstay of the Camel Pro program is th e Camel Challenge, a special five-lap spri nt race scheduled at selected Cam el Pro Series venues. Each Cam el Ch all enge wi ll be open to th e da y's six fastest qualifiers and will pay $17.500 in purse awards with 10,000 go ing to the winner. Estab lish men t of a Camel Pro Rooki e of the Year program is a new eleme nt of the agreement , and comp let e de ta i ls have n ot yet been finalized. " Like th e AMA, we ar e looking for ways to attract new rid ers to the Ca mel Pro Series," Robertso n said. " We hope this Rookie of the . Year program will p lay a rol e in ac hieving that objective." In recent years, the AMA Camel Pro Seri es has included AMA road race Nationals along with its staple of dirt track events. And although th ey will no longer be in cluded in the Cam el Pro Seri es, selected road race Na tionals will co nt in ue to ben efit from Ca me l involvement. SME has already announced th at it wi ll sponsor the week- long activities leading up to the 1989 Daytona 200 road race, and is negotiati ng addi tional road race event sponsorships. Camel Cycl e Week in Dayto n a Beach , Florida, will include Camel Supercross Series and Camel Pro Series event s, both on March II, followed by the venerab le Daytona 200 at Daytona International Speedwa y on the 12th. " T he relationship betw een Camel and motorcycle racing goes back 15 years and is stronger than ever," commented AMA P reside nt Ed Youngblood. " In addition to th e exciting new aspects of its Camel P ro Series sponsorship, Ca mel has also assumed the tit le sponsor role for . AMA 's Supercross Series. We're pleased to have a program in pl ace that wi ll ca rry th e re lationsh ip between AMA and Ca mel into the 1990s, an d we loo k fo rward to working wi th SME to optim ize th e benefits of th ese sponso rships for all concerned." . Tota l purse, point fu nd and contingency awards for th e I7-event 1989 AMA Camel Pro Series exceed $1 million, mak ing it the richest series ever for dirt track motorcycle racers. California tortoise issue provides "close call" for OHV users By Mike Bishop LONG BEACH, CA. FEB. 3 If you were to rate clos e calls from one to 10, 10 being the closest, the off-h ig hway recreation public of Ca lifornia survived a nine, when the Ca lifornia Fish and Game Department met in Long Beach. O f special interest to anyone who uses the desert was th e proposed listin g of the desert tortoise as a " threa ten ed " species. There was no deba te that th e tortoi se is indeed threatened - th eir population has decreased by 40% over the last 20 years , but th e controversy over just what to do abo u t th e prob lem drew over 200 people to th e hearin g. A bus load of sheep ra isers, or " food and fiber" as they prefer to be labeled , had arrived from Bak ersfield, and ma ny of th e fami liar " o ff-road warriors" who travel throughou t the state voicing opposition to restrictive la nd managem ent plans were ' in a ttenda nce, Were it no t for these devoted users, who raised significant doub t a bo u t th e viability of the pro posed tortoise management plan, the listing would have certain ly been . approved. St eve Ku ehl , representing th e California Off Road Vehicle Associ a tion (CO RVA ), informed the Commission that th e staff members wh o prepared the listing recommendati on were Founders and Board members o f th e Desert Tortoise Council. " How can som eone with this co nflic t of interest prepare an u nbi as ed recommendation?" charged Kueh l, who a lso serves on the Tortoise T echnical Review Team. Kuehl presented th e Commission wi th recent BLM studies that show a maximum surface disturbance of only 4% in OHV " o pen " ar eas. According to . th e Fish and Game Staff recommenda tio n, O H Vs cause a proliferation of trails tha t are th en used by hunters and vandals to get deeper into the tortoise habitat. Ratherthan cont ro l th e shoo ting and vandal ism , Fish and Game wants to ban OHV use. Mike Bishop , Safety Coordinator of the California All Terrain Vehicl e Asso ciation (CAT VA). expressed

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