Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Mo tocrosser Keith j ohnson (Kaw) from Pem brok e, Massach usetts, was the overall winner at the fin al round of th e AMA 'a tiona I Ch ampi onship Har e Scram bles Series in Wrentham , Massachuset ts, No vember 12. SCOII Pl essin ger ( Kaw), wh o fini sh ed seco nd in th e race, officia lly wrapped up th e Nat ional Cha mp io nsh ip titl e, edg ing Ed Lojak (Yam), wh o finished th ird in Massachuset ts. Ch ampionshi p co ntender SCOII Summers (Ho n) did not fini sh the race, Larry Roeseler, Danny LaPorte and Ted Hunnicutt (Kaw) were the overall and Open class (Class 22) w inners of the SCORE Baja 1000 off-road race, which started 29 miles south of Ojos Negros, Baja California, Mexico, and ended 992 miles later in La Paz, November 9 -11 . The winning team finished the race in 17 hours, 53 minutes and 16.3 seconds at an average speed of 55.46 mph. Finishing second overall, a little over six minutes behind, was the Class 22 team of Darryl Folks and Scott Morris (KTM). The 250cc class (Class 21) was won by Mark Vanscourt, Joey Lane and Robert Playther (Kaw), who completed the race in 20:19:08.1. Topping the 125cc division (Class 20) was the trio of Roger Hurd, TIm Morton and Jeff Martinez (Kaw) with an elapsed time of 21 :2 5 :2 7 .1. Gr eg Han cock (Gd n) won th e U.S. Long Track Spe edway Na tio nal Ch ampionsh ip o n th e half-mile a t Asco t Park in Gardena. California. Novem ber 10. j osh Larsen (Jaw) was second wi th England 's Simon Cross (Gd n) th ird a nd Bobby Schwartz (G M) fourth. Australians Peter Goddard (Yam) and Michael Dowson (Yam) won one leg apiece in the next-to-Iast round of the World Championship Superbike Road Race Series at Oran Park, Australia, November 12 . Aussie Rob Phillis (Kaw) finished second and third to score maximum points. American Fred Merkel's (Hon) 11 -5 fin ishes dropped him to second in the series point standings behind Belgian Stephane Mertens (Hon). who finished 8-4 . Mertens now leads Merkel, 245 to 243 . . Da rn o n Bradshaw (Yam) sco red hi s seco nd will in a row at th e Osaka. j apan , Superrross , November 12. Rounding o ut the top five were 250('C World Cha mpion Jean -Michel Bayle (H o n). U .S. Ca mel S uper cro ss Champio n j eff Sta n ton (H un), j eff Mariasevich (Kaw), j eff Ward (Kaw) a nd Mike La Rocco (Yam). Former two-ri me Supercross cha m p R ick j ohnson (Hon ) cra shed during the first lap a nd did not fin ish the race. An estimated 2000 people attended the second HR780 (Californ ia Desert Protection Act) field hearing in Barstow, California, on Saturday, November 11. As they did in the first hearing in Bishop, California, on October 28, oppone nts of HR780 far out-numbered proponents. A three -hour rally organized by opponents of the bill was held prior to the hearing and drew several notable speakers including Congressman Jerry Lewis and legendary cowboy movie star Roy Rogers. Congressman Larry Craig of Idaho, spoke against the bill. "It's ironic in this time of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall ," said Craig, "that we are putting up walls to keep our citizens from legitimate access. " AMA Specia l Projects Man ager Bill Bo yce, a lo ngtime fixture at AMA races, will retire at th e end of thi s year. Boyce, who was ho nored for hi s m an y yea rs of se r vi ce a t th e November 3 AMA Pro Awards Banquet in Lon g Beach , Ca lifo rnia, wi ll con tinue 10 serve as a co nsu ltant. Also retiring at the end of this year is Walter von Schonfeld, a longt ime Castrol representative and li ke Boyce a fixture at AMA National races. Von Schonfeld has been involved in motorcycle racing in this country since the early'40s having spent stints with Ind ian and motorcycle publicat ions prior to joining Castro!. The Honda display at the October 27-November 6 Tokyo Motor Show featured the (above) NR V-4, a prototype based on the GP bike campaigned in the mid- '80s (including an appearance at Laguna Seca with Freddie Spencer in the saddle). Little information was released on the NR, but it does feature oval pistons, eight valves and two connecting rods per cylinder, fuel injection, and extensive use of carbon fiber reinforced plastics. Also shown was the (below) "design idea" CO-29, a small displacement street bike. Honda showed a total of 71 motorcycles, 23 passenger and race cars, and 13 commercial vehicles at the Tokyo Motor Show. H eartland Park T opeka , th e new Ka n sa s road race fa cilit y, h a s exp ressed interest in hosting a rou nd of the Wor ld Cha mpionshi p End urance Road Race Series. Accordi ng 10 Zimmerm an, th ere' s a poss ibi lity that the track will host an internatio na l endura nce race in 1990. AMA President Ed Youngblood reports that he did not withdraw the U.S . from the ISDE calendar for 1994 at the recent FIM Congress, but said no one has stepped forward with sufficient funds to field the event. Sweden' will host the ISDE next year, Czechoslovakia in 1991, Australia in 1992, Poland in 1995, Finland in 1996 and Great Britain in 1997. Spea king of th e FIM Con gress, we reponed tha t it was held in Maastr icht, Bel gium. Wron g! Youngblood said while Maastri ch t used 10 be in Belgiu m, a bo rder change mad e it a pa rt of Holland. "The word th ere is th at th e border was changed so H oll and co uld hav e a mountain ," said Young blood. Replacing longtime AMA Board of Trustees member Hazel Kolb, who is seriously ill, on the Board when it convenes for its Annual Meeting in February in Cincinnati, Ohio, will be Patty Mills of Topeka, Kansas. Mills was the only individual from the South Central Region to receive enough nominations to be placed on the ballot and because her election was uncontested she will be automatically seated on the board. Also uncontested was current Southwest Reg ion trustee Bob Perkins of Granada Hills, California, and he will continue to serve on the board . T he co nstructio n project a t the AMA nati onal headquarters in Wester ville, Ohio, wh ich included remodeling of the o ffice areas and th e additio n of th e Moror r ycle Heritage Museum , has been co mpleted and o utfiu ing of th e mu seum is pr esently underway. Acco rdi ng 10 th e curre nt issue of the American Mot o rcycle Her itage Foundat ion newsleu er, the mu seum is tech n iru l l y o pe n a t 0') 00 0') ...... presen t, bu t a co m p let e ex h ib it will : no t be assembled un til sum me r 1990 " ill time for an Aug ust gra nd o penin g." That o peni ng wiJl rake place in conj unctio n with the Aug ust 1518 AMA Her itagc H om ecoming that will lake pl ace in nearby Athens, O hio. AMA Life Members Mike and Margaret Wilson ofCedar Rapids, Iowa, have donated a bronze sculpture entitled "The Glory Days" to the Motorcycle Heritage Museum. They've commissioned sculptor Steve Posson of San Luis Obispo, California, to produce the three-quarter-size sculpture. It is based on the Indian race bike that belongs to Dean Hensley of Los Angeles and racing photographs of legendary racer Jim Davis aboard similar Indians. " Pus hing For ds and For din g Ri vers: Motor cyclin g in New Mexico " is the name of a n exh ibit that o pened o n October 3 1 and closes o n November 19 a t the Univ ersit y o f New Mexico's Art Museum St ud y Ga llery in Alb uquerque. A flier from the exh ibit says, " A uni qu e exh ibit of ph o togra p hs, mat erial o bjects . a nd a n a ntiq ue moto rcycle pr esen ts a brief h istro y o f moi orcyr f ing in New Mexi co before su perhig hways and su perbikes, depi ct in g mu ch of the beauty and so me of th e travail of mo tor cycling in an age of innocen ce, adven ture, and Amer ica n V-rwins." Pa pa received wo rd o f the exh ib it just th is week, a nd a po logizes for gelling the word o ut so late. HosPITal STOP: Danny Umbarger, 23, a District 15 Pro-Am motocrosser, suffered paralyzing injuries in a crash at the Indiana State MX Championships in September. His parents say : ' h is spirits are good and his attitude is excellent." Umbarger faces months of hosp italization and would welcome hearing from his friends . Address mail to Umbarger, c /o Methodist Hospital. Room 5042, 1701 N. Senate Blvd ., Indianapolis, IN 46202. If yo u plan o n stopp ing by the Cycle N ews headquart ers bu ilding in Lon g Beach before December IS, bring a n ew ($5 m in imum va lu e ) un wra p ped toy wit h you and deposi t it in th e collectio n box we' ll poi nt o ut to you. AJI toys collected wiJl go to th e Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program. If yo ur pl ans don ) call for a visit 10 o ur offices, ca ll your. local Marin e Corps Reserve unit and they'll tell you wh ere you can drop off toys wh ich they'll distrib ut e 10 needy youngsters for Christmas, 'Fud" Fudpucker has been reelected president of southern California's AMA District 38 and will be serving his 11 th consecutive one-year term in that position. Also reelected were Claude May(Con tin ued to pag e 2) I

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