Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Mules? "Hey, they're not just mules," said Adkins with a grin. "They're a matched pair of Arkansas m ules! " On Monday, July 24, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed the desert tortoise on its endangered species list. The move cou ld see restrictions on off-road racing in the Mojave Desert, possib ly halting the ru nning of the ann ual Barsto w-to-Vegas race. Areas of 'Californ ia, Nevada, Utah and Arizona are a ffected by the listi ng. The emerge ncy designation, issued at the req uest of en vironmentalists, will be in effect for 240 days whi le the Departm ent of the Interior and the Fish and Wild life Service decide whether to gra nt the tortoise per ma nent sta tus as an endangered species. T he Fish a nd Wildlife Service admi tte d th at the recent spread of a deadl y respira tory disease and other little-known diseases is the main reason for the declin e in the number of desert tortoises, bu t said they were taki ng ' the emergency actio n to prevent any further loss to the tortoise pop ulation that is "already devastated by those diseases." Accord ing to AMA District 37's Legislature Officer Dana Bell, the plans for the Barstow-to-Vegas race is proceeding as planned. " We really don 't know how this (desert tortoise iss ue ) will affect us, but we are proceeding as usual with the race," said Bell. "We w ill be sure that all our permit requests are submitted on time and comply with all the BLM regulations. Until we hear differently, we w ill conti nue our program as planned." If a nyone has questions about the ra ce , call the B-to-V hotline, 619 / 949-RACE. In a statement during the July 2021 California Off H ighway Vehicle Recreation Commission meeting in Sacramento, California, Steve Kuehl of the California Off-Road Vehicle Association (CO RVA) clai med that a California Departm ent of Fish and Game commissioner was threatened with removal from the commission if he didn 't vote to list the desert tortoise as an endangered species. The Department of Fish and Game receives OHV funding to help mitigate the effects of off-road use in the desert, prompting the OHV commission to unanimously pass a motion to withdraw all OHV funding for the Department of Fish and Game if the project funded limited O HV opportunities. The measure also called for a refund of previously-dispersed funds allocated for tortoise loss mitigation and to refuse funding for bio logists with an anti-OHV bias. 2 France's Dominique Sarron and Alex Vieira (Hon) completed 202 laps to w in the Suzuka 8-Hour in Suzuka City, Japan on July 30. Sarron and Vieira topped Japan's Shoji Miyazaki and Tadash i Oshima (Hon) by a lap. Third place went to Australia's Peter Goddard and Japan's Shimgo Katoh (Yam) with 198 laps. The top Americans in the race were seventh place finishers Randy Renfrow and Dale Quarterley (Hon); Kevin Schwantz and Doug Polen (Suz) were eighth. The two teams favored to w in the endurance race did not fin ish - Wayne Gardner and Michael Doohan (Hon) were win- John Kocinski and Tadahiko Taira (Yam) finished 45th at the Suzuka 8-Hour, completing 162 laps despite mechanical problems. Other Americans competing in the event were Richard Moore who teamed with Japan's Kazuya Kuroyanagi (Kaw) to finish 33rd; David Sadowski and Kurt Hall (Hon) finished 34th; Chuck Graves and Tatsuro Arata (Yam) finis hed 39th; Richard Arnaiz who was partnered by England's Rob McElnea, dropped out after on ly six laps; and T om Kip p's team retired withou t com pleting a single lap . Dan Smith (KTM) was the overall and Open class w inner in round four of the National Championship Hare & Hound Series in Wells (to Jackpot), Nevada, July 30. Taking second overall and first in the 250cc class was Danny Hamel (Suz), while finishing third overall and second place in the Open class was Garth Sweetland (Hon). America n ri ders domi nated the action at the 12th Ann ua l Marlboro Florenzia Classic Supercross held July 29-30 in Florenzia, Guatemala. In the I 25cc Pro class Americans Fred Andrews and Billy Whitley topped local rider Jose Morales, while in the 250cc Pro class Mike Young took the win over fellow American Jeff Hicks. Adrian Roberts took third and Jim Holley was fourth. Other Americans to win classes in amateur competition were O'Neal USA's Jim O'Neal in the Vet class and son Jimmy in the 60cc class. Riders from 13 other Central and South American countries also competed in the event. Motocross Northwest will host six qualifying races for the 1990 Seattle Kingdome Amateur Supercross. The first round will be held at Washougal on Saturday, August 26, the day before the August 27 Washougal National Championship MX. Last year's amateur supercross in the Kingdome drew 465 riders. If you're interested in competing in the Kingdome rrext year, you must ride at lea st one of the qualifiers. For more information, call 503/ 761 -6042 or 543-6028. The Mid-Atlantic Roadra cing Club (MARRC) will host an open track day at West Virgi nia's Summit Poin t Raceway on Friday, August 18, the day prior to the WERA Six-Hour Endurance Race, a round of the WERAIEBC Brakes National Endurance Road Race Series round. The track will be open from 9 a.rn . to 5 p.m. The fee is $50 for nonMA R RC members and $35 for MARRC members. Riders must have a raci ng license or show proof of graduation from a raci ng school. For more information, call Roger Lyle at 301/933-2599 or Steve Harrison at 703/ 690·2699. Eddie Adkins, the former professional dirt track racer who now fields Harley-Davidson XR750s for Camel Pro Series competitor Rodney Farris, celebrated his 50th birthday on July 21 by attending a party hosted by his family in Tennessee. Adk ins showed Papa his "favorite gift" at the DuQuoin Mile a couple of days after the party - a large framed picture of a pair of mules. to Stage Two · fire restrictions, according to Forest Ranger Mike Mendoza . For more . information call 619 /376-3781. If you attend the Albuquerque Mile on August 6, check out the exhaust pipes on Harley-Davidson factory team member Jay Springsteen's bike. They're "gold"-plated. When asked about the pipes at the July 23 DuQuoin Mile, three-time Grand National Champion Springsteen said , " I've gone into partnership ' with a friend of mine and we can make any meta l surface look like gold. It's done with a titanium powder and is for cosmetic purposes." The company's called Springer Gold Prod ucts and is located at 556 S. Court SL, Lapeer, MI 48446 (Phone: 313/667-9311). Teammate Kevin Atherton's XR750 also sported the "gold"-pla ted pipes at DuQuoin. An FIM tribunal has decided the fate of the protested Belgian road race GP from July 2. The third leg of the 500cc GP has officially been discarded from the results and half points have been awarded to 15th place. Thus, Eddie Lawson takes home 10 points for his win , Kevin Schwantz gets 8.5 points for second and Wayne Rainey has been awarded 7.5 points for third. Rainey now leads Lawson, 165.5-157 in the championship standings with Christian Sarron third at 116.5 points. Schwantz is fourth with 102.5points. Frank Harrison, our man in Wichita Falls, Texas, called Papa to tell him that a horse named Uoyd's Ruby raced in Shreveport, Louisiana, last week. For the youngsters, Uoyd Ruby is the former Indy car racer from Wichita Falls who first logged track time ' in motorcycle races. Riders who are planning to race the August 26 Amateur MX at Washougal, Washington, prior to the next day's 125/500cc National, will be required to have an AMA card in order to compete in the event. For information call 503/673-1671 or 206/695-9221. . Former factory motocrosser Goat Breker, who plans to come out of ret ire m e nt in order to race the upcoming 500cc Nationals to benefit children's hospitals, is still seeking sponsorship to help cover travel expenses to each event. According to Breker, Honda will be supplying him with bikes and mechanical ass istance at the races. MAR R IED: Motocrosser Kei th Bowen tied the knot with Stacy Price in Michigan on Saturday, July 29. Following a ho neymoon, Tuf Racing's Bowen will contest the AMA Na tional Cha mpionship 500cc MX Series aboard a Kawasaki KX500. Speaking of Tuf Racing, they'll be at the AMA Amateur/Youth National Championship MX meet at Loretta Lynn 's to offer technical assistance to Suzuki and Kawasaki riders on a first come, first serve basis. Sou thern California's American Road Racing Association has had a couple of changes in their Willow Spnngs schedule. The August.l2- 13 event will now be round nine of the sprint road race series, while August 26-27will see the 500-mile endurance race. For more information contact the ARRA at 805/966-5700. PROMOTED: Chris Bergstrom to position of purchasing manager of White Bros.; Bergstrom's past duties at White Bros. included domestic and export sales and purchasing . BOR N: T ayler John Fiscus, son of sout hern California's Track Riders Association orga nizer Renard Fiscus and wife Sue on T uesday, July 25. The volunteer Albinata Trail reconstruction project in the Kennedy Meadows/Kern Plateau off-road riding area in the Sequoia National Forest in California, on August 5, has been cancelled due Yamaha Motorsports will be on hand at the NMA Amateur National MX in Ponca City, Okelahoma, August 1-6, and theAMA Amateur Nationals in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, August 11-13. They will be offering technical advice and assistance to all participants. Parts will also be available, in emergency situations, at a special racers' price. Plus, 1990 model YZs will be on display during the week at both events, . with factory riders Damon Bradshaw and Mike laRocco making ' guest appearances at Ponca City, August 2 . The Hill and Gully Riders Motorcycle Club wants to remind Chicago and midwestern-area enduro riders that the Hill and Gully Summer Bummer Enduro will be held on August 13, despite the failure of the AMA to list it in the August issue of American Motorcyclist. For more information, call 312/236-2931, or 848-4566. Yamaha has officially announced that it will be sending former twot ime 125cc MX National Champion Micky Dymond, Doug Dubach and Shaun Kalos to the National Championship 500cc MX Series, which begins August '2 0 in Millville, Minnesota. The three will be competing on YZ250s w ith 360cc engine kits. Motocrosser Brian Myerscough and mechanic Chris Haines, who used to wrench for former 125cc National MX Champions Micky Dymond and Ron Lechien, will compete at the World Championship 500cc MX GP in Namur, Belgium, August 6. Myerscough will ride a high-tech carbon-fiber Honda CR500 built by Innovation Sports' Jim Castillo. The special Honda features a carbonfiber-co nstructed muffler, rear subframe and gas tank, which is built so low in the motorcycle's chassis that it requires the use of a fuel pump. The CR is reportedly 20 pounds lighter than stock. Former 500cc MX National Champion Mark Blackwell, who is now the marketing director at American Suzuki Motor Corporation, suffered a badly broken foot while trail riding in the San Bernardino Mounta ins near Lake Arrowhead, California, July 25 . Blackwell broke six bones in his foot after hitting it against a tree stump . Blackwell underwent surgery to have pins inse rt ed 'at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton and was released on July 29. Cards and letters can be sent to: Mark Blackwell, c/o American Suzuki Motor Corporation , 3251 E. Imperial Hwy, Brea, California, 92622. (Continued to p age 4)

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