Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

find a girlfriend at home and come to the races to vent their fru strations. Next year, wh y not do all true MX fans a favor and stay home with Mommy. TONY SCHUMMEL Newburgh, NY America's motorcycle newspaper Volume xxvi Sha ron Oayton, Publishn Mikr Klingf:f, Comptroller Ski p J ohnson. A.uociau- Publishnl N ational S41t' Man ogt"r s Jack Man gu s. Associate PublishtT! Editor Rhrba Sm ith. CirCUUllion Managn Ca ro line enidI)'. Execu tive SecrdtJry to , h, Pu blishn Editorial Jack Man gus, Editor Kit Palmer, Assocuu e Editor Paul Ca rru thers. A ssoc il1lt' Edit or Nate Ra u ba. A ssociatt' Edi tor Brian Ca tterson , Assocuue Edit or Ken Fau ght . Assistant Editor E dwina Man gu s, Ca l~ dar Editor Advertioing Sk ip J ohnson. Narl Sal t's M4114gt'r Mill:'Chu rch. Smior Saks MiJnagn Terry Prau. SmioJ' Sa l~s Ml2nagn Mar k T ho rne. Westnn Sales Manag~r Ron Da vid son , W~stnn Salt' s Managn Thomas R. GOIllf'r. Westnn Saks Mana gt'J' Mar k Mitchell . Eas ltT71 Sates Man agn Gr~ Mitchell . E4s ttT71 Sales ManagtT Joan Ru ssian . Westnn Ad COOf'dinatm earla Borden . E4sltT71 Ad CooJ'lunatOJ' Hotly Co wart, E4stern Ad Coo rdi ne ior GrBphics and Production RC"(' Johnson. P roduction SufJt'nlisor Ma nd y 1.00. Production Managn Denni s Creme. lAb. Tech , StMrY G U~I . G raphi c ,htist Jimmie O'Dell, C rap hic A rt ist Micharl Gr u uka. G raphic A rtist Carol yn Branham. TYPNt't tn ArirnneTdias. T Y!Nsd ttT Accounting/Oata Processing Donna Bryan • ..feels R t'CriV4bl~ CoordinalOJ' Ceneva Repa ss, A ssis14nt From Ha m wry . Credit Circulation Sara h Tay lor. Assis14nt Alma Anguiano. Assistan t Mar ita Nelso n. Assistant Herlan e Richm ond, An istam Caro l MagJ:io. Assistan t Du ler Sales . Kevin Beaub ien. Ma ndgn Want Ads Debbi e Well er. Want A d Salt's Service and S up po n Chri s Airch eson , Headquarters Rt': ption ist u Leo na rd Herring. Sennce dnd Support National He8dqu8ners 220 1 Cher ry Ave.• Lo ng Beach . CA 90806 . P.O. Box 498. Lon g Beach . CA 9080 1-0498 . (2 13) 427·7433 ; 2 13/ 636-8844. FAX (2 13) 427-6685 Eastem Office 1 190 First Ave.. T ucker. G A. 30084 ; maili ng address P.O . Box 805, T ucker. G A .wos.;·0805. (404 ) 934 ·78.\0. FAX (404 ) 93,4.3112 Cycle News (US PS 141-340) is published wttkly except the rinl and last wttk of th e calenda r year Ior S50.00 per year by Cycle News. Inc.• 2201 ChaT)' Avnlue . Long Beach. CA 90806. Second claM pmUi~ pai d a t Lon g Brach . CA. and additio na l mailing oUien. POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 to Cycle Newo. P.O. 80a 498. lo"ll Beach. CA 90801 -0498. To -.nitM the eapirotion da" of you< oubocription. chec:lt the lour numbers on the lirst litM of you< odd 1obeI. The _ two digits indicate the last number you'll receive end the led two cheracters indicete .... _ o f ........ _ . Su bscrip tion rates : Ra tes ror th e Uni ted Sta tes a nd iu possessions Ior o ne year. (SO won). SSO .OO; two yean (tOO iss ues) . $95.00; si:ll mon th s, (25 issun). $26.00: trial sub (15 issues). $19.00. Ca nada an d Foreign , o ne year (50 issun ). $90.00; two y t""MS (tOO issun). $175.00; six months (25 issues ). $45.00; tria l sub (15 issues), $38.00. "C ycle News welcom es un sot icired ed itoria l ma teria l i nd udi n~ stories. cartoons. p ho tos . etc. S uc h mat erial , if publi sh ed . bec omes rhe excl usive propert y or Cycle News. Such accepted mat erial is su bject to revision as is n ecessary in the so le discretio n or Cycle New s, U nsolici ted mat eri al which is no t used will be ret u rned if ac co m p a ni ed by a sd r addressed stampe d en velo pe . All unsolic ited material will be handled with reaso na ble care, h owever . Cycle Nt'W assumes no responsibil ity for th e sarety. s loss or damage to such materi al . Reprinting in wh ol e o r part o n ly b y permission or th e p u b lisher . Ad vert ising rates a nd ci rcu la tio n infot ma uon will be Sf' 01 upon request. Set: S.R. D.S. . WYBPA " V AUDITED CIRCULATION rov- P.- Copyright4' Cycle Newo. Inc. t989. TrodemaI1i Cycle _ U.S . Office . An righlS .-.-d. Quality events - Hats off to the Peor ia Motorcycle Club and T ote G ray for the excelle nt job th ey did durin g th e AMA Amateur. Di rt Track National s. They spent a lot of time and put forth a lot of effort to present qual it y even ts. Promoters and clubs are always the first to be told if some th ing is wrong, a nd the last (to be told) if some th ing is done well. These people worked hard and deserve a bit of recognition for th e good and fun races they ran. They are a terrific bunch of peo p le who are truly dedicated to the sport. In my 25 years of dirt track racing, I have had som e great tim es, but none co u ld co m pare to thi s yea r's Nationals. Roger Anse l did a fine job for the AMA and the Chris Carr school was very enjoyable. Scott Stump and Larry Pegram hel ped o ur riders a 10L Thanks for letting a ll th e ama teur riders take a lap at th e Spri ngfield Mile a nd for giving eac h rider a free ticket to watch th e pros. It is important that all the spon so rs who are in volved with o u r racing program get proper recognition as it would be im possibl e to run a successfu l racing program without them. Special th anks to mech anic j erry Clark; Lori, Bob and Scott Stu m p; Stump Insurance; Eddie Thompson; jim Fogle; Wood y Kyle; Bobby Lewis; T-Shirt Shoppe; Mach I Kawasaki; Tri State Yam aha and WKCRA . EARL HAYDEN JENNY H AYDEN NICKY HAYDEN TOMMY HAYDEN Earl's Racin g Team Ow en sboro, KY A big thank you to Tote Gray and th e Peoria M.e. for putting on th e AMA Amateur/Youth Dirt T rack Na tionals. T he gu ys had a grea t week of racing and all had nothing but praise for you. We all look forward to next year. GEORGE HINTHORN Director of Dirt T rack AMA District 17 Bloomin gton, IL Thank God for big and little girls Let' s ta lk about the attitude of so me men towards women in th e motorcycle industry. I' ve been in motorcycle parts since 1974, was officia lly made par ts manager several years ago, and have tra ined my sha re of guys to do parts. Many of my regular cus tomers tell me th at I am a lege nd in th e Pi ttsburgh area because I've been in it so long and know my stuff. And yet, I'll have older guys come in or call for parts and th ey will ask for "one of the guys" to help th em . What a trip! Face it, men, motorcycling is no longer just for gu ys. Women have_ been into it for many years now, from all aspects of motorcycling - touring, racing, business management, reporting, and yes, even repairing th eir own ma chines. We do not look like men nor do we try to act like men. We ar e wives, mothers and even We deserve to be shown respect and given credi t for doing our jobs well In a to ugh busin ess. DOTTIE SACCO Pans Manager Bohn Cycle Shop Pittsburgh, PA Island dilemma I have just returned from the Isle of Man TT races held orr th e coast of England where I co mpeted in the 750cc Production race on june 5. I £lew myself and my 1989 Suzuki GSXR to London, and in a rental van, I made my way to the island. After melting a piston on the ultrafast mountain sectio n of the course on th e second lap of the first day of practice, I sa t on the sidelines as pr actice week rolled on without me. I wat ched while Mick Grant, who runs th e Team Durex Suzuki, sen t orr for pi stons (in London) for me. With o nly Friday's practice sessio ns rem aining (j une 2), I still had not received th e parts that I needed, and it looked lik e I was ou t of luck. Fort una tely, I met a generous 23· year-old Irish resident of the island Thursda y evening, who loaned me hi s 1985 GSXR750, and I qualified on it Friday. My pisto ns arrived Saturday morning, a nd I had my bike read y to go for Monday's P roduction ra ce. I fini shed th e event (and was also the on ly American to race on the island in 1989) 30th , th e fastest of the newcomers. I would lik e to thank the people that helped make my ride possible: Lightn ing Express Motorcycle Couriers, Golden Gat e Cycles, Performance and Design, Barnett Clutch, Fox Sh ox and Mom . CHRIS CREW San Francisco, CA Unadilla pros and con s Thanks to Kit Palmer and the " H urrica ne " for a great interview (Cycle N ew s, july 5). ~ I witn essed the first U.S. GP in 1978, a nd every Unadilla event since th en . It was always a thrill to see Bob Hannah charge through the field fro m a midpack (or worse) start to do battle with th e leaders. Although it seemed as if bad luck followed him to Unadi lla , Bob always sho wed the determination that made him a true cha mp io n . The last GP was no excep tion. After th e checkered flag fell , Hannah took a farew ell lap around Un adilla and th e fans reall y sho wed th eir appreciation. It was an emotio na l 'm o ment we will never forg et. Thanks, Bob , for a ll th e th rills. Unadilla may never be the sam e without you! On a negative note, though, there are still a handful of mental midgets showing up for the U.S. GP (at Unadilla). Their main purpose for being there is to verbally abuse women spectators. Many women en j oy motocross a n d come to -Unadill a to watch the races. Unfortuna tely, many women also stay h ome so they don 't have to be subjected to idiots yelling at them to show various parts of their analom . Perha s these little bo s can't Having just returned from a weekend of motocross racing at Unadilla Valley Sports Center (for the 250cc U.S. GP MX), I am compelled to share the following observations. First of all, the racing action in both th e 250cc GP and l25cc Support class was superb, but the treatment of foreign riders, while better than th e fia sco a t the Motocross des Na tions of 1987, was only marginally better at this event. While (race announcer) Larry Maiers managed to (so me how) co rrectly (I think) pronounce the European names this tim e, I have to ask wh y no mention was made. of how well they did against th e American field this year . Those of us who faithfully come to the GPs held in the U.S., do 'so in part because of our interest in the foreign co n tingent. If we expected the announcer or the promoters to satisfy our curiosit y on this, we came away no more knowledgeable than when we arrived. But for the excellent coverage by Cycl e News (the only publication that informs us about such matters), we would be totally ignorant of th e racing action abroad . Plus, while we all honor Bob Hannah, wh y weren 't the secondplace trophies awarded before th e crowd? Scant recognition of a performance by j ean-Michel Bayle had to put even Ri ck j ohnson a bit on edge . I assume, of course, that Bayle did finish second overall. Which leads me to my next observation. How in the hell are we, the crowd, supposed to kn ow what's going on at this race? I point specifically to the failure of the announcer to provide the results of mota on e prior to the beginning of moto two and the continued failure to announce the results a t the conclusion of rnoto two. Is it too mu ch to want to know, at least, who the top IO finishers were? It sure would make the race a whole lot more interesting. Incidentally, my crowd is still trying to figure out what happened to johnny O'Mara. For those of us who follow particular riders, it is utterl y frustrating to not know how th ey fini shed or if th ey finished. I'm also tired of U.S. GP races being a forum for pointing o u t Ameri can superiority by neglecting to give credi t wh ere credit is due. Grow up, Ameri can motorcycling. Show som e graciousness as hosts. Battle th em (Europeans) fair and sq uare o n th e track but not before or after with chea p remarks or lack of com ments at all. I ca n honestl y sa y that I am ashamed, not of our patriotism or sup port for American rid ers, I'm all for that, but rather I am embarrassed that we cannot give credit when due - that we can no t adopt a professional attitude towards international racing. As an American; I am proud of our riders and their professionalism; I am not proud of our promoters or our announcing at the track. The term "Rude American " is aptly applied to the current mentality in motocross. Let's make next year 's GP an event to be proud of and to remember. GARY BUTCHER TED WITMER York, PA

• Cover