Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~TND fiYP~P~ Wf~LfY (Continued from page 2) way, No vem ber 4-5. Riders 25 years of age an d olde r are invited 10 com pete. On a tu rday night, multitime World Champ ion Roger DeCoster will co nd uct a motorcycle set up semi na r, and his sessio n will be foll owed by a scree n i n g of th e original On Any Su nday. T he 1990 Honda CRs will be available for test rid es bo th Saturday and Sunday and several of T eam H onda 's riders will be on hand to a nswer q uestio ns. Preent ry forms ar e availa ble; send a SASE 10 TNT Productions, P.O. Box 5641, Pasad ena, CA 91117. For more infor ma tion call GFI Racing a t 71 4/ 788-5853, White Bros. at 714/ 5549442 o r TNT Pro d uctions at 818/ 441-8121. · Race f o r Glory Ra ce for Glory probabl y won't do for moto rcycle road racing what Top Gun did for Air Force recruitment. Originall y called Ameri can Bu ilt, Race for Glory is th e final title of the road racing movie filmed in Europe during th e 1988 Grand Prix seaso n. T he film underw ent a last minute name cha nge, so lat e in fact that we had alread y seen a screen in g of the " finished " version befor e we received a phon e call informing us of th e new name. Race for G lory is th e seco nd film fro m director Rocky La ng. It co mprises a fam ili ar underdog theme in the sp ir it of o ther action-s ports films su ch as Amer ican Fl yer (bicycl e raci ng ), H o t Dog (freestyle skii ng), Vision Quest (wrestling), or even the most recent mot orcycle road raci ng film , th e Briti sh -made Silver Dream Racer. It matters li ttle wh at sport th e fi lm is based o n , it's a p ro ven formula with a pr edictab le o u tcome. The fi lm 's press re lease read s, " Cody, J enn y a nd Ch r is band together to make a dream come tru e in Am er ican Built (n o w Ra ce. fo r G lory), a story testi n g th e boundaries of frie nds hi p and fame o n t he int er na ti o na l mo torcycl e cir cui t. " A dr eam co me tru e is right. T he p lot revolves a ro u nd th e exploits of Cod y Gi fford, a reg io na l di rt track cha m p io n p layed convincin gl y by Alex McArthur. Cody and h is tunerI friend Chris Wash bu rn (p la yed by Peter Berg ) build .th eir o wn motorcycle (wh ich bears an astonishin g sim ilari ty to a Ho nda RS500), a nd head to an exhibition race a t "The Speedway" (filmed a t R oad Atla n ta, G eorgia ), w h ere Cod y's clas h wit h th e villa neo us Worl d Champion , Klau s Kroeter (p layed by Ol iver Stri tzel), attra cts th e attentio n of a ta lent sco ut for the fiction al J apanese motorcycle giant, Samura i. Fro m ther e, it's a fast-paced cli m b to the top of th e 500cc Grand Pri x road racing world, in a tim e fram e that makes Kevin Schwantz' rise ;,to fam e seem' lik e a life-long quest. Q' Just when everyth ing is com ing up roses, a quarrel betw een the two friend s over Chris' mechanical a biliti es leads to fisticuffs, a nd Chris and Cod y's gir lfriend J enny (p layed by th e comely Pam ela Ludwi g) return hom e. Naturally, every th ing tak es a turn for the worse for Cody, and before too long he returns ho me in disgrace. T he fil m 's climax is th en hi ghl y predictable as o ur hero es return to Europe wit h th eir ow n mach in e 10 conq uer th e world. A nu mb er of facets of the film will m iff mo torcycle roa d raci ng ent h usias ts, o r a t lea st h a ve t h em sni ckering: Fo r starters, Cody reca lls a time when as a ch ild he was beat up by Ken ny Clark, a nd we wo nder if the reference to Yam aha's U.S. raci ng manager is accidental. Next, the top secre t Samurai is des igna ted th e " R Z500" - wo nder if Yam a h a knows abou t th at one? Next, wh ile the on -bike camera work a nd th e ac tua l footage from the G Ps are excellent (with Mike Baldwin a nd Donnie McL eod doin g the riding), th ere's 100 littl e of it, and 100 man y slo w-paced trac king shots with the bikes goi ng perha ps 60 ' m p h, And th e aggressive, fairin gbanging style is not represent ative of th e cu rrent cro p of G P conte nders. Tru ly kn ow ledgeable fans can no t help no ticin g that foo tage of di fferen t tracks is sp liced togeth er as one (w hen did P a u l R ica rd grow a forest?), a nd the mi spelling of Sa lzburgring as "Saltzburgr ing " in a graphic is inexcusable. Also, if Kroet er is the defendin g Wo rld Champion, why does he wea r num ber 18 o n h is fairing? Technica ll y speaki ng , th e movie a lso su ffers. One sce ne ha s a ' mechanic sayi ng, " T he baro meter 's rising; we need a sm- r main je t." alle R ight, is he tryi ng 10 win ra ces or cause a seizure? The crooked air scoo p a top Gifford's he lmet is a lso com ica l. And we onl y saw th e film o nce . . . T he mistak es are no th in g a littl e research a nd aski ng th e righ t peo p le th e r ig h t qu estions cou ld h a ve pr evented, bu t hey, th is is Holl ywood. In short, Race for G lory offers little 10 dyed-in- th e-wool fans of mo torcycle roa d raci ng tha t a good GP video doesn 't. In fact , a G P video is prob abl y more ente rta in ing (have yo u seen th e Au stral ia n G P?), If th e film has a ny meri t, it's that it will hopefu lly pr esent Grand P rix mo tor cycle road racing to a publ ic th at is high ly o blivio us to any form of mot or cycle raci ng. And for that , we'd say it's wor th th e price of ad mission. Race for G lory is a New Centuryl Vista Film Compan y release, and is slate d to debut on November 3. Brian Catterson MOVED : Great Wall Manufacturing and Distributing. to 4901 W. Van Buren. Suite #4. Phoenix. AZ 85027. 602 /352-0194. FAX 602 /352-0403 . • Round fo ur of th e CMC/ Dodge T rucks T ran s-Cal Seri es held at Argyll Park in Dixon , California , Sep tem ber 23, a nd round five at Marysville, California, September 24, had identical winners in th e Pro classes. Rodney Smith (Suz) topped th e 125cc Pro classes on both days, Tallo n Vohland (Kaw) wrapped up th e wins in the 250 and 500cc Pro classes , a nd Rex Staten (Hon) was th e Vet Pro class winner. ENGAGED: Supercross and 250cc National MX Champion Jeff Stanton to longtime girlfriend Sara Knowles. "It (the wedding) won't be for a few years. she's got to graduate from college first." Stanton said. Knowles attends Illinois State University. J im H olley (Yam) wo n th e Sep tem ber 23 Montreal Supercross held in Ol ympic Stadium. David H and (Hon ) was second a nd Mik e J ones (Yam) thi rd in the Canadi an event. H oll ey too k home o ne pound of go ld for win ning th e event in fro nt of 60,000 specta tors . Binghamton 125cc National class winner Damon Bradshaw almost didn't make it to New York for the September 24 race. Hurricane Hugo ripped through his hometown of Charlotte. North Carolina. toppling trees in his yard but leaving the house unscathed . With airline service interrupted. Bradshaw and his family were forced to make a 1 O-hour drive to Binghamton . Bradshaw's mother sewed Hugo on the back of his riding pants. According to T eam Suzuki mechanic Jeff Clark, J immy Gadd is mi ssed th e Bingham to n National due ' to a ba d case of th e fI u. It's silly season time in the National MX pits. with all kinds of rumors of rider team switches. Honda definitely has Rick Johnson and Jeff Stanton as they fulfill multi-year contracts. and Mike Kiedrowski has signed a contract to ride .t he 125cc Nationals and 250cc Supercrosses for Honda in 1990. That leaves one spot open for another rider. which could be Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle. the 125cc MX World Champion, if he accepts a support deal for t he 125cc class. Damon Bradshaw and Doug Dubach have both in dicat ed that they w ill re-ink dea ls with Yamaha, wh ile over at Kawasaki Jeff Matiasevich has another year on his contract and Jeff Ward is expected to sign. Ron Lechien's status is sti ll questionable . Mu lti-time Nati onal MX Ch ampion Broc G lover is back in th e U.S. a t hi s Del Mar , California , home following hi s first seaso n in Europe contesti ng th e 250cc World Championship on KT Ms. As far as th e 1990 racing season goes , Gl over has yet to mak e any p lans. " Righ t now I have no idea what I'm doin g," he said o n Sep tember 25. " Who kn ows? I' ve had a few offers but I haven 't ma de any decisions." A memorandum dated September 20 from Ron Zimmerman. Vice President. Professional Competition of the AMA. outlined proposed rules for 1990 Pro Twins road race competition. Headlining the proposal is the renaming of the two current Pro Twins classes the Grand Prix division would be designated GP-1. and Modified Production would become GP-2. Pro Twins would remain open to four-stroke. twin-cylinder motorcycles on ly. with GP-1 catering to machines displacing from 751 to 1000cc. and GP-2 for those with 451 to 750cc displacement. Bore and stroke may be altered to achieve the maximum capacity in the GP-1 class. but in GP -2 only the bore may be altered. In GP2. there would be a 310-pound minimum weight requirement in race trim with a drained fuel tank. A new claiming rule would allow GP-2 engines (complete with carburetor(s), ignition and exhaust) to be purchased by a fellow competitor for $3500. Un der the new p lan, the G P- l class wo ul d be open 10 any rider wi th an AMA Expert, lim ited Expert or P ro Twins license, but G P-2 would no t be open to Expert riders . At FIMsanctioned even ts, internationallyli censed ri de rs wou ld a ls o be excl uded from GP-2. Under the new plan, both Pro Twin s divisions wo uld co mpete in th e same race , wi th a two-wave sta rt and separa te scori ng (alth ough at so me events, such as Dayto na, the two classes could be run separately). On Wednesday. September 20• . the Bureau of Land Management released the draft Environmental Analysis forthe 1989 Barstow-toVegas Hare &. Hound. There are several significant changes in the format of the race . There will be no pre-running of the start area . Testing may be accomplished in a test area adjacent to the road to the start line. There will be no mass start this year. Starting will be by class. at one-minute intervals. Each rider will be timed at the finish so that there will be an overall finish list according to total elapsed time. There are other changes that will govern the width of the course. protect active burrows. and help to keep the riders on course. District 37 wishes to remind all participants that this year's race will determine the future of this classic race. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be . looking closely to see that the • riders adhere to the rules set forth . 43

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