Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

quarter increase in motorcycle sales over 1987. and ended the year with a 46% market share in the super heavyweight (850cc and over) category. Richard Teerlink. Harley's president. told the M i lwaukee Jou rna l that the increased demand has caused production problems. "While we have increased our daily production rate to 250 units per day. the t im e period. costs and supplier delivery problems associated with reaching that level have exceeded our expectations." said Teerlink. ~ 00 ..c may be made to the American .Lunq Association . U l-< ro ~ waard, p resident of FIM 's road racing commission, and Keith J ones, wh o represents th e series ' marketing firm , Sports Marketing of Auckland, New Zealand. Supporting rac es for the weekend will be the Castrol250cc Gra nd Prix , and AMAlCCS Endura n ce Challenge an d Supersport even ts. Tickets for the April 16 Dunlop United States International Grand Prix. presented by Honda and Yamaha. officially went on sale February 23 th rough Laguna Seca's new ticket office. Fans can order t ickets by phone. weekdays between 8 :00 a.m. and 5 :00 p.m. (Paci fic time) by calling 408 /6485100 or. in California. 800/3679939. Sunday ge neral admission tickets are ava ilable now f or $30; two-day general ad m ission costs $40; VIP tickets incl uding grandsta nd seating are $75; Flag Room ticket s. incllaling reserved grandstand seating. inf ield parkin g and hospita lit y . ' are $ 175 . Limited camping will also be ava ilable at ' $15 per night f or motorcycles and $25 per ni ght f or RVs and other vehicles. Ron Naylor, th e Suzuki-mo un ted Nationa l Ch a m p i o n sh i p H are Scrambl es Series co n tender, has signed a o ne -yea r co ntract with , Optimol L ubricants, according to O p tirnol 's Robert Smith. BORN: Aust in Lee Wi nn. son of Ameri can Historic Rac ing M ot orcycle Associat io n (AHRMA) CEO ' Gary Winn and wife Sherry of Marengo. Ohio. on February 16. Actor Gary Busey. according to a press release from Los Angelesbased Bikers Against Manslaughter (BAM). on February 13 made his first public statement since the December 4 motorcycle accident in Culver City. Cal ifornia. that left him with a serious head injury. A lthough still under heavy medication in a medical care facility. . Busey is making excellent progress on the road to a full recovery. "I still feel that it should be 'Let t hose who ride decide:" Busey reportedly said in a telephone conve rsation with David Nichols. producer of t he radi o show. A merican Top 40. BAM National Di rector Bill Bish asked Nichols to co ntact Busey. explain how his unfortunate mishap had sp urred a helmet law' crusade across th e country. and ask the actor if hi s anti-helmet law posit ion had fa ltered since his accident. "Wearing a helmet should be a matter of perso nal preference:' Buse y is said t o have t old N ichol s. adding that he hasn't yet decided if he'lI put on a helmet next t ime he ri des. "I m ay prefer to wea r one or not . bu t that'II be ' my choice - just as it should be everyone 's p ersonal ch oice ." Nichols then spoke with Bu sey's personal m anager Herb Nanas. ' w h o is also a motorcyc l ist. According to Nichols. "Herb said that Gary will launch a media blitz to help counter the negative publicity as so on as he is phys ica lly and m entally recuperat ed enough t o f ace t he news m edi a and t alk show circuit." Shortly after receiving th o; above press release fro m BAM, we received o ne from Rogers & Cowan , the Los Angeles-based public rela tions firm that rep resents Busey, with word tha t Busey wou ld hold a news co nference o n March I, his first sin ce th e December 4 accid ent. According to Rogers & Cowan, " H e (Busey) has not done any interviews since the acciden t." 70 According to the Milwaukee Journal. Harley-Davidson Inc. had record sales and profits in 1988. Harley reported a 30% fourth- ,We had a tie in our Aussie Patch Con test as Ed Doeri ng of Milwaukee, Wisco nsin, and Kent Pe terson of Elgin, Illinois, bo th correctly iden tified Greg H ansford as being the last Australian to win a 250cc Grand Prix roa d race. Hansford rode a Kawasaki to victory in the 1978 Yugoslavian GP. Both Doeri ng and Peterson 's lette rs were postmarked February 22 a nd , a s a n nounced , th e ea rli es t postmarked en try wo uld win. Papa flipped a coin to break the tie and Peterson won th e coin toss, so Papa's sending Peter so n th e pa tch and Doering an Australian Grand Prix stickie. Engli shman Dave Pit her will ride a Com monwealt h Honda-backed. ex-Honda Britain VFR 7 50 Superbike in t he ' M arc h 1 2 Daytona 200. Pither is a multi-t ime classic racing champion in Eng land. and raced'a Commonwealth Norton in last year's Pro Twins race at Daytona . , Minneso ta 's Brainerd International Raceway (BIR) has co nfirmed th at a round of the World Championship Superbike Road Race Series will be hel d ther e on June 10-11.The offi cial title of the even t is th e H onda World Classi c. BIR was "approved for the race in October following a review of th e 500-acre faci lity by J oe leg- Randy Mamola was scheduled to test the fuel-injected 500cc Vfour Cag iva road racer at Rijeka. Yugoslavia. the week of February 27. Mamola. however. says the fuel-injected bike will probably not be raced until the ltalian round of the 500cc World Championship on May 14 at Misano. Mamola w il l' be joined at the test session by ltalianfest rider Massim o Bro ccol i. T he p rom oters o f Lagun a Seca Raceway are continui ng to u pgrade thei r faci lity in prepara tion for th e Apri l 16 U.S. G.P. In addition to the track repavi ng repor ted in th e Febru ary 22 issue of Cycle N ews, ru n o ff room has been increased in several p laces (incl udi ng turn o ne) wit h gravel pits in stall ed o uts ide fou r corners to help slo w falle n riders, and the steel barrier ou tside of turn 10 has been removed. Gu ttering has been added to improve track drainage. In th e paddock area , 30 mo tor hornes will be p laced at th e disposal of th e riders, and a new electrica l system and com pres sed air will be sup plied. A new bathro om sho wer bl ock is being installed and a new restaurant will also be in operation, If you attend any of t he March 3 4-5 Pro Half Mile races at Vol usia County Speedway du ring Camel Cycle Week and plan on spectating at the March 6-7 Amateur/ Youth class races at the Barberville facility. hang on to your ticket stub(s) from the pro eve nts. A pro race ticket stub is worth a $2 discount off the reg ular $5 gra nd stand adm issio n ti c ket at t he Amateur /Youth races . Australian Paul Lewis will again rid e Martin Adam s' Commonwealth Honda in the March 10 Pro T wins Gr and Prix event at Dayton a. Last year, Lewis led the event unt il he experie nced mech a nical ill s, a nd turned la p times a shade under two m inutes before the grem lins struck. T he RS750-based engine (disp lacing 857cc) will be tuned by Honda's Ray P lumb and Brian Uchid a , with Honda also providing a spare motor. Adams reports th at he has a new C&:J fram e for th e bike wh ich sligh tly reduces th e wh eelbase and rake, bu t will not use it at Daytona. Adams is currentl y seeking backing to field a rid er in other AMA Pro Twins even ts. a heart attack o n February 22 and under wen t triple-b ypass sur gery February 25. He is no w lis ted in stable condition at Ana heim Memoria l Hospital in Anaheim , Ca liforn ia. Cards and letters can be sent to Anaheim Memorial Hospita l, CC U #6305, 1111 W. LaPalma, Anaheim, CA 92801. . Richard Moore (Yam) won the second round of the ARRA Miller High-Life Formula One Series at W illo w Springs Internationa l Racew ay in Rosamond. California. o n February 26. Chuck Gra ves (Suz) was second and Barry Burke (Yam) th ird . The Formula Two race saw A lan Carter (A pr) w in . followed Robbie Petersen (A pr) and Dave Busby (Yam) . HosP ITal STOP: Ken Maely, famed dirt trac k steel shoe maker, suffered T exan Kevin Schwantz is another G P racer sched u led for testing the week of February 27. The Pepsi Suzuki rider will ride the 1989 Suzuki RG v500 at 'the Su zuka Ci rcui t in J apan . C ycl e N ews contributor Tom Van ' Beveren was aboard t he Un ited A irl ines Boe ing 747 that safely lan ded in Honolulu. Hawaii. after its scheduled flight t o Ne w Zealand had to be aborted after a large pi ece of the fuselage blew out. N ine passengers were sucked out of the airplane; none of whom had been found since the accident wh ich occured last week. Van Severen's wife Anne. a native of New Zealand. was already in New Zealand and Tom was f ly ing there to join her. Accord in g to the February 27-March 5 editio n of th e Los An geles Business J ournal , inv entor Don R ichardso n may be awarded $20 m illion or more from .Arner ica n Suzuki due to a spec ia l U.S. appeals court ruling that found a federa l judge in Los Angel es erred in ru ling in favor of Suzuki in a patent in fringement sui t two year s ago. In th e Mar ch 1987 su it a jury found Suzuki guilty of fraud and stea li ng trade secrets in co n tract dea li n gs wi th Ri chardson , who worked on con tract for Suzuki to design a single-shock suspen sio n system. R ich ard so n cl aime d th at Suzuk i stole his design , bu t three months after Richardson 's victory in court, a district court j udge ru led th at th e jury didn't understand th e case and overruled the jury's decision and ordered a new trial. Bu t the special (Contin ued to page 78) (Left t o right ) Grand Prix road racer Ra'ndy Mam ola pose s w ith comedian Ja y Leno, fe llow GP race r Kev in Schwantz and M am ol a's manager Jim Doyle at the February 20 Sav e the Children benefit held at t he Co medy and Magic Club in Herm osa Beac h. Cal if ornia . The benefit. organized by Pro It ali a Motors of Glendale. Calif o rn ia. ra ised $7100 fo r Mamola's favorit e .charity. a:: « o o W ...J ...J co >- '" o .... o J: e,

• Cover