Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

America's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXVI Sha ron O ayt un . Publ ishn Mil t' Klin ger . Com pnolter Ski p j o hnson. A .uO(" itlt~ Pnbli sher t Naliontll Sales Mtlntlg" Ja ck Man gu s. ASJocitlk Publuhn l Edilor Rh eba Smith. Circulation MGnG gn Caroline Cendry. Ext'Cut lVf' Secutary to th~ Publ ish " ' Editoria l J ack Ma nK\Js. Ed ito r Kit Palm" . A .uO« iat~ Edi to r Paul Camnhers. A ssoOa k Edi tor Na te Ra uba. A! soc iatt"Edit or Brian C auer so n . A .u()("iate Edit or K C Faugh t. A.ui"ta tlt Edit c r 'II Edw ina M an ~ s . Ca lendar Editor Adv e rt ising Ski p joh nso n . Ntlt " Stiles Manager Mike Church . ~n io r Sales MtltlGgn Ferr v Prau. St"nro r Sa les Alana,l;'n Ma rk Thom e. Wt" .)tt'm Sales Ma na.~n Ron Davidson . Wt'st nn Sal~s Mant1K~r Tho mas R. Comer, It't'st(''ffl Sa lt's Mana g,.,. MarL Milchell. Eastern Sales AranagtT Gr~ Mitchd l. Eastern Sa les Manag,., j o an Ru ssian. W~stt'm Ad Coordiruuor Car la Borden . Elutn'YI Ad COOTdmatOT Ho ll y Cn wa n . Eastern A d Coordvuuor Gra phics and Produc tion Ree j ohn son . Prod u ction Ma nagn Mdn d y Loo, A rf D irector Denn is G reene , Lab, T ech . SL:llyY G unl. G rap h ic ," rlu l J immie O 'Dell. r. rap hlc A rtist ' Mid t;u'j G ruuka . Graphic Artist Ca rol yn Bran ha m. Typ~st'Uer Arienu e T elia s. Typt'J~tt~r Account ing /D ata Proc essing Do n na Bryan , A ccts R rceiuabl e Coo rd ina to r Ge nev a Repas s. A u istan t Fran Ha rnwey, Credit Circ ula tion S ara h Tavlc r• ..fJ.si51ant Alma Anicuian o, Au ista,,, Ma ru a Nel sen. ," u isla n t H er lan e R ich mon d. A JJu tan' Car o l Ma KKio. AU lJta n! De a le r S ales Kt" Beaubi en , ,\ t an agt'? vin Wa nt Ads Sh erri Gomer, Want A d Sa.I~J S e rvice an d S upport Chris Ait cheson . l l,.adq 'Ulrtns R t'u pt ionist Leonard Herr ing. St'TIIU and Support l Nation a l He a dqua rte rs 2201 C lwr rv Av('.• lAm /.; Beach . C A 90806 . Box 4!~H , Long Reach, CA 9OH0 1.Q198 (2 151127·7455; 2 15/636·8811, FAX (2 13) '127·6680 r ,o. Ea st ern Office 4 190 Fim Ave.. Tucker, GA . 300M ; mailinJ':: address P.O . 8 0 x 805. Tucker . G A 30085-0805. (10-1) 931·7850, FAX (40'1) 934-3112 Cycle Nt'ws ( US PS 141·340 ) is published wrd.ly except the Iirst a nd lasl week of the ca lenda r year fur S5O ,00 per yea r by Cycle News. l nc., 2201 Cherry Avenue. Long lk-.u.:h, CA 90806. Seco nd clau pO\L:I~ paid 31 Lo ng Beach, CA. a nd addi tio na l mailing offi cn, POSTMASTER: Send for m 3579 t o Cycle News, P .O . Bo x 498. Long Beach , CA 90801 -0 4 9 8 . To de term ine th e ex pira tio n date of your lubKript ion. ch eck the four numbers on the fi rst line of your addre.s label . The first two digit. indicat e th e last is su e number you'll receive and th e la .. two c hara c t er. ind ia t e t he yea r of the last ioue. Subscri ption r.aln : Ra in for the U n ned SL:un a nd its pos sessions for o ne year. (50 iuun ). S50,OO; rwo vear s (100 issu es). S9" ,00; six months, (25 inun ). S26,OO; mal sub (15 i~uo). SI9.00. Canada a nd Foreign. o ne yeu (50 issues), $90.00; ('oliO years (100 iuues). SI75.00; six months (25 issu es). S45.00; Iria l s ub (IS issues ], U 8.00. Cycle New s we lcomes u nsol ici ted editorial mat er ial incl udi ng stories, cartoons. p hot os , etc. Su ch ma terial . if pubti shed , become s rhe excl us ive property o( Cycle News. Suc h accepted mat er ial is sub ject to revisio n 3S is necessary in the sole discre tion of Cycle New s. Unso licited rnarer ial whi ch is nOI used will be returned if a ccom pan ied by 3 ~ H ad d ressed sta m ped envelope. All unsolic ited ma teri a) be handled wuh reasonable care. how ever, Cycle News assu mes no responsibility for the sa f('ty, loss o r damage to such mat t-rial. Reprin ting in whol e or pari o nly by permissi on of th e pu blishrr , Advr rlisi ng rat es a nd circ ula tio n mf ormati on will be §l'Il1 u pon ~ unt, Stt wm S.R.D ,S, W.I V 2 B PA AUDITED CIRCULATION CoIlvriIIht" Cycle News. Inc . 198 9 . Trodo' ....'" Cycle News "'lIiotONd U.S . P.ton" Offico . All ri9hta ....rvod. Crazy pinheads Mot orcycle ri de rs kn ow th at over th e p ast few decades we h ave hee n accu sed o f all so rts of terrib le cr rrne s th at we h ad no th in g to do with In recent years , with la nd devel op me nt pro jects gr owing acro ss the nation, di rt riders hav e ta ken a lot o f heat from a ll sorts o f groups th at cla im they are doing the eco system a favo r by doing away with d irt rider s. We a ll rea d about th e tire spi kes and ra ilroad ties in a tunnel a t the Bar stow-to-Vega s race a year or so ago for which th e environ me n ta l gro u p Earth First clai med responsibil ity. T o a lot of ordinary n onriding people, th ese acts were co n sidered to be pran ks rather th an crimes a nd since no n -mo torcycl ists were not d irec tly involved they q u ite frankly co u ld care less. A co u p le o f weeks ago, I ca me across a story about Earth First and severa l of th eir mem bers who were arrested by the FBI for attem p ting to sabo tag e some of o u r nation's nuclear power pl ants. Th is is ser ious st uff Earth First is doing now a nd it gives a ll of us riders some go od ammuniti on to th ro w a t o ur governmen t o ffici a ls to give them a bett er idea o f how dangero us and dem ented so me o f th ese en viron me ntal grou ps reall y are to a ll of us . I, for o ne, h ave been pointing o u t to my non-ridin g pa ls just h ow crazy these p inheads a re. I wonder if guys lik e Senator Cra nston wo uld th ink di fferen tly if they knew that these env iron me ntal groups were trying to cause a nuclea r accident just so they ca n point th eir fin gers a t nuclear p ow er. We have to let as m an y peop le as we can know abou t th e tacti cs the se scu m bags ar e using. VINCE THRO CKMORTON Ba ll win , MO Check t he book Enj o y yo u r p a p er every wee k. H ow ever , when you begin to quot e rules, bet ter chec k th e book Iirst, hi FIM GP motocross, rid ers lin e up o n th e gate for the seco nd mot a th e same way they did for th e first moto, n ot by th e way th ey finish ed th e last moto (as stated in th e Hollister U.S. 500cc MX GP preview ). That (the sta rti n g procedure you mentioned) is an AMA ru le. The FIM Code differs slightly in some ar eas. RICK TITONE Newark , NJ Thank for setting us straig ht, R ick. Titone is the AMA sen ior MX referee and the FlM-appointed referee for th e Unadilla 250cc MX GP ... Editor. Who gets the money? I have been attending dirt track races since the early fifties . My all ti me high was 13 Nationa ls in one year. Recently, I have noticed that you are reporting the money earnin gs of the top finish ers. This is great as far as it goes, but I wonder where does th e rest of. th e money go . With an attendance of 6000 to 10,000 and a ticket price of Sl5 to S18, the ra ces' ar e genera ting a gate of from $90,000 to $180,000 (not counting parking fees at so me even ts, co ncessio n a n d program in come). The purses range fro m 29,000 to $40,000. Approximat ely $10,000 to $12,000 goes to the top th ree riders, excl u din g Camel Pro a nd o the r spo nso r in centives. Who gets the rest o f th e purse? It appears obvio us th at th e racers ar e no t geni ng a fair percentage o f th e purse a n d th ey have to p a y to co mpete. RICHARD D. McM ANI G L E Dolt on,IL JNS t as is th e case with an y busin ess, promo ters operate to make m on ey. Promoters put th eir m on ey on th e l in e, hoping tha t th e atte n d ing crow d is large enough for the m to mak e a p rofit. Promoters of Cam el Pro Series di rt track events pay th e AMA a 6400 sanct ion fee, an d addit ion al fees (f or offic ials and ins urance) raises that pre-race, prepurse f igu re to ap p roximately $13,000. A dd that to, let's say, th e upcoming DuQuoi n M ile's p urse of $40,000 and th e prom oter has $53,000 on th e lin e before he's rent ed th e facility, advertised th e even t, printed tickets, and lined up em p loyees to run th e concession stands, sell the programs, p repare the track , and att end to the m an y other du tie s required to stage a N ational. If , as was th e case at the recent rained-out Springfield M ile, th e riders practice but no races are run , the promoter is out the mon ey he's laid ou t fo r ins u raT e and offi cia ls, facility lc rental, em p loyee salaries and advertising. I personally know of one ret ired d irt track racer w ho copromoted a N ational half m ile race several years ago and du e to a oneday postponem ent of th e race lost ap proximately $25,000 - m on ey he had saved dur ing h is racin g career. All prom oters don 't get rich . All racers do n 't get rich. That's life, n ot on ly in the fast lan e, but in bus in ess in genera l. As fo r th e p urse money, $40,000 in the case of th e Jul y 23 DuQu oin M il e, the win ne r ge ts 5370 and th ose w ho foll ow h im across th e fin ish lin e in th e N ational final get, in order, $3565, $2320, $1590, $1365, $1250, $1140, $1080, $1025, $970, $910, $855, $830, $800, $770, $745 and $715. In addition, $2900 is paid ou t to the second through last place finishers in th e Last Chance Qualifier (the winner of th e LCQ advances to the National final), and $2000 is paid out to th e 12 riders in th e Junior Nat ional ($560 to w in, $20 for last place). Finally, a Performance In cent ive Award of $350 will be paid to each of the 20 top-ranked rid ers based on 1988 AMA Grand Nat ional Championsh ip point standings if those riders appear at the race and attempt to qualify. For a shot at that kind of money, a racer pays an entry fee of approximately $30, $17 of whic h go es fo r medical insu rance . . . Editor. Hicks on flatheads? Michael Scott should first apologize to the great riders he slandered 'n his coverage of the Ita lia n G P. Then he shou ld tak e up some other (ki nd of) work. I like 'a ll mo torcycle rac ing, b u t it is your usually exce llent coverage of th e GPs that keeps me su bscr ibin g to Cycle N ews. I sta rted riding in 1949; my first h ero wa s G eoff Duke. Am erica racers were a joke to th e Limeys. Hicks trundling f1atheads around horse tra cks. The last 10 years have been so good with Americans as hero racers and I get a trifl e upset when some irrel evancy tri es to demean th em . JOHN STANFORD Pocatello, ID H icks trundling flatheads around horse tracks? G ive us a break, John. Wa yn e Ra in ey, th e American rider who sits on top of th e GP road race point standings at this very momen t, was "trundling" a Harl ey around horse tracks jus t a few years ago . I had dinner with th en World Cham p ion Barry S heene of Eng land in 1976 and he was discussing young riders w ho he thought cou ld possibly be a thr eat to him on th e GP circu it in th e fut ure. H e named several, discussing th eir pot ential. After he had fin ished, h is fath er " Franco" said, " You forgo t Kenn y R oberts." Sh eene said, " I' m not wo rried about h im ." H e should have been, fo r it was horse track racer R oberts who took the 500cc GP title away Jrom Sheene jus t two years later. By th e way, w hi le dicing with th e lik es of Kin g Ken ny in the late seventies, Barry S heene wo re a Gary Nixo n T shi rt under his leath ers. Sh eene's hero N ixon " trundled" a flathead Harl ey around horse tracks at th e beginning of his brilliant racing career . . . Edi tor. Down. then up I've jus t returned from th e L.A. Ol d T imer' s Mammoth Mounta in MX. It wa s a true " doo m an d g loo m " to " tro p hy win n ing" day for m e, than ks to Mark Man gold of Suzuki's su pport tea m. In Sa t u rday 'S pra cti ce I was in volv ed in an accid ent that smashed th e exha ust pipe on my 1989 Suzuki RM250. My weekend wa s over, before' it was even sta rted, and I was rea lly down . I remember ed what John Kin ser , my Ri ver sid e Suzuki Dealer, told me just before head in g up to th e ra ce a n d that was if I needed any kind o f hel p I shou ld see th e Suzuki support people. So th at is what I did. Wh en Mark heard ofmy problem, he told me to bring th e bike to th em. I did, but th ere was on ly 10 minutes until m y fir st rnoto. Mark told me to get suited up a nd get to m y place on the starting lin e. With only two minutes to go until my race, Mark rode up and turned the bike over to me . He had rep lace d the smashe d p ipe with a new o ne and wi thou t a bit of hesitation, he sent me on my way . What ca n I say? This cou ld only happen to th e pros . .. but wait, I'm . only a Novice in the Old Timer's Motocross Associ ation. Thanks, Suzuki. GA RY K. GILES Cerritos, CA Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Inc. Letters are subject to condensation due to space limitations. Anonymous letters will not be published. Send letters to Voices. P.O . Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801-0498.

• Cover