Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

America's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXVI Sha ron Clay ton. Publishn Mike Klin ger , Com ptTO lln Jack Man~ s . ,bsociale Pub luhnl Editor R heb a Sm ith. Circulatio n Mana gt'T Caroline Gendry, Executive & CTe14ry to th e Pu blish", . Editorial Ja ck Mangu s. Edi tor Kit Pa lmer. A ssoci6te Edi tor Pa ul Carruthers, A ssociate Editor Na te Ra ub a , A.s.sociaJe Edi tor Brian Ca uerscn, As. eiale Editor w Ken Fau gh t. A,fsistan t Edi tor Edwina Ma nKulI., CalnlClaT Ed itor Advertising Terry Pratt, Smim' Sa ll!j Managl!T Mar k T ho me. Wej ttTn Sales M anagn Ron David son. Wejf l!Tn Sales Ma nagn Thomas R. Come r, Weslt!1't1 Sa les Ma llag eT Mark Mitchel l. Eiuttm Sales Ma nagtT Gr eK M itc~ ell. Easte rn Sales M ana gtT J oan RUSSian . Wt'.dt'm Ad Comdinat07 Carla Borden. Eastern A d Coor dir uu or Graphics and Production Ree J ohn son . Production SupenmoT Man dy 1..00. Production ManagtT Denni s Greene , Lab. T ech. Stacey G uest. GTap hic ATtist J imm ie O'Dell, GTaphic ATl u l Carolyn Branham. TyfWsdln Accounting /Data Processing Donna Brya n , A eelS R , uivabl, Coordiruuor G4=n('Va Repass , A ssistan t Fran Hamwey, CTt'dit Circulation Sarah Taylor. Assurant Alma Anguiano, A.u u lant Hertane Richmond. An istant Car ol MagK-io. A n utant Dealer Sale. Eric RtTO:. MtJntJKeT Want Ad. Debbie Weller . Want Ad Salt'S Indoor scootin' The 14th An n ua l Ti m o n iu m Indoor Sh ort T rack Seri es ended o n Saturday ni ght, November 25, wi th a n excelle n t night o f racing. T he indoor races, held o n a conc re te ova l track in the Cow P alace a t the Maryland Sta te Fairgrounds, dr ew a record number o f specta to rs a nd riders a like fro m a seven state area . The series was jointly spons ored by th e Optimist Club of Cock eysville a nd the Ba ltimore County Trail R iders Association, whose members put in a n u ntol d number of hours of work. A la rge thanks goes o ut to the sp onsors, la rge a nd sm a ll , wh o hel p in promoting o ur sport. T han ks to H a ns Kronheim at Tucker/ Rocky Distr ib u t in g , Scott Watan ab e a t Scott USA , Kevin Don nell ya t Sh oei Helm ets, j ohn Sm allwood at Yoko Competiti on Sportswear, a nd Denny Broderi ck at The Bee's Distr ibuting (An he user- Busc h). An ex tra bit o f grati tude and th anks goes ou t to a ll th e (rea lly) fin e wives a nd g ir lfriends o f th e club m ember s w ho were ens laved to run the sign-u p, scori ng, etc. fo r the five-week series . Agai n, as in the past, mod ified mo to cross bik es (Fo rm u la DTX ) pl a yed a vital ro le in rider participation. Our for mat for running races has mad e it easy to swi tch ove r to this type o f rac ing with minimal cos ts, a nd in most cases to be com peti tive in almost every class, the Pro classes bein g the exceptio n. Service and Support TAYLO R WHIT E IV ED JOLLY BRI AN VAN WRIGHT STEVE N ELSNIC BILL KRAFT Bal ti m o re Co u n ty Trai l R id er s Assoc. 'Cockeysvill e, MD.. Chr is Aitcheson, Hl!tuUfUIJTlnj R ut'ptionut Leonard Herrin g, S t!1'VICl'and S u p po,-t National Headquarters 220 1 Cherry Ave.• Lo ng Beach, CA 90806. P.O . Box 498. Long Beach . CA 9080 1·0498 (2 13) 427-7133; 2 13/ 636-8844. FA X (2 13) 427-6685 Eastern Office 4190 First Ave., T ucker, GA. 30084; mai ling address P.O . Box 805, T ucker. G A 30085-0805. (404) 934·7850. FAX (404) 934-31 12 Cycle News (USPS 111·340) is p ublished wttld y except the first a nd last week of the ca lenda r year for $50.00 per year by Cycle News . In c., 220 1 Ch ttr)' Avenue, LoOK Beach. CA 90806. Second d Ol.ss postage pa id Oil Long Besch CA • • a nd add itiona l mailing offices. POSTM ASTER: Send form 3579 to Cycle New s. P.O . Box 498. Lo ng Beac h . CA 90801-0498. To determ ine the expiration dIIte of your subscription. check the fou r numbers o n the tint li n. of YOUT add,... la bel. The first two digits indic.t. the lest iuue nu m ber you'l l receive and the last two c:herec:ters ind lc.te the yea r of the lest iaue. Su bscription ra les: Ra tes for w Un ited Stales a nd its possessions for on e yea r. (SO issues), $50.00; rwo years (100 w ues ).$95.00; six months. (25 issues), S26,f)(); trial sub (15 issu" ). $19.00. Ca nada a nd Foreign. one year (SOissues), $90.00; IW O y e3fS (100 issues). $175.00; six month s (25 issues). $45.00; tr ial sub (15 issues). $38.00. Cycle New s welco mes un soli cited editori al material i nd udi n ~ stories. cartoons, p hotos , etc. Such material. If published . becomes the exclus ive pro pert y 01Cycle News. Such accep ted ma terial is subject to revisio n as is necessary in the sole discretion of Cycle News. Unsolicited material wh ich is not used will be retu rned if accom pan ied by a self addresse d sta mped e n velo pe . All unsol icited materia l will be ha ndled with reasonable care. however. Cycle News ass um es no respo ns ibility lor the safelY, loss or da mage to such ma terial . Rtyrint in g in wh ol e or pari on ly by permission of the pub lisher. Advert isin g ra tes a nd ci rcu la tion Infor ma tion will be sent upon reques t, See S.R.D.S. . V" B PA . ' AUDITED The worst T he letters WERA have now co me to sta nd for Wor st Endurance Racing Association to me. Its rules prevent series reg u lars from competing a t the series final at Road Atla nta. Case in po in t: A sprint rider m ust earn eno ugh points in order to gain an inv itatio n to th e C randNar ional Fina l. However , a ny endurance tea m o u tside o f th e top 15 in points is no t reserved a grid position a t the fina l event. T his extre mely low number does n ' t even a llow for a gr id posit ion for th e to p five tea ms in each class. If th e GNF is to determine th e best in the cou ntry, th en th e endurance series sho uld be trea ted the same way . Anyone shou ld be allowed to ride the fin al en d u ra nce event at th e GNF, but only a fter th e regular end u ra nce series entries have been accommodated. I don' t th ink it is fai r af ter spe nd ing th ousands of dollars, dri ving th ousands of m iles and God kn o ws how many hours devo ted to my sport throug ho ut th e year to be to ld , " Sorry, th e grid is full. " CIRCULATION Copyright8 Cycle New s: Inc. t 989. Trodemark Cycle New. reg istered U.S . Patent Office. All righta reserved. DAVE JONES Charm City Racing Ba ltimore, MD According to Kurt Hall, WERA 's organ izational manager, the endu- ranee race held in conjunctio n with the GNF is treated n o differently tha n the other 14 races on the WERA N ational En du rance Series schedule. " It wo rks that way all season long," H all said , "som etim es the grid fills u p, sometim es it doesn 't, but for the GN F it fi lls up way in advan ce. You need to p re-ent er - tha t's that. " saws in the sawmill with resu ltan t damage to eq uipment or people. T he y have left boob y traps in th e deser t in th e hope th at th ey would stop motorcycli sts ,..- no matter tha t th ese traps could maim or kill th eir vic tims. Further, your piece neg lected to mention that their leader and two of his associa tes were arrested by th e federal government for sabotage. I th ink that presen ting some of these fa ct s would h a ve bal anced that section of your pi ece on Earth First and given the viewer a better basis o n which to assess th eir statements a nd radical positions. Yo ur failure to do so in this case will mak e me view a ny futu re The Report ers J may see with grea t skepticism . RO G ER B. WESTON Daytona, FL Give credit to . .. I appreciate th e recent letter Cycle N ews p ub lished from Tom Mueller regardin ~ m y company's efforts and acco m p hsh me n tsi n getting more motorcycl ing on television. Mo re specifically, Mo toWorld o n T he Nashvi ll e Network a nd the 1989 Supercross Series on ESPN. H owever, a long with these efforts, a lot of coop era tio n and suppo rt was n ecessary from. num er ou s o the r parties in or der to make th ese programs p ossib le. I wo uld lik e to ex tend m y ap precia tio n and credit to other parties as well ,' including th e three m ajor Supercross promoters Mickey Thompson Entertainment G roup 's Mi ke DeStefa no , SRO/ Pace's C.E . Altman and SuperS ports' Bill West , who because o f their fin ancial co m mi tme nt to th e Su percross Ser ies o n ESPN in 1989, hel ped to make th e television series possible. For 1990 , t he p romo ter s h a ve renewed the arra ngeme n t th at was begun th is year, and I a m again proud to work wi th thi s gr oup and produce the ser ies o n ESP N next year. Also , a big thanks to th e mot orcycle ind us try in gen eral , wh o has su pported o ur effor ts by co m me rcial spo nsorship o f the various mo torcycle shows we produce. My co m pa ny has built its reputati on as producers of motorcycl e programming in th e United Stat es since 1983, a nd we hope to co ntin ue this work for years to co me. We a p p recia te th e support o f all o f our sponsors, th e p romot ers, and most espe cia lly the viewers wh o tune in to our programming every week. LO U SEALS Pr esident Seal s Communciations Corp. Fa yettevill e, GA As we have reported, the promoters Seals na m es purchased th e air tim e on ESPN an d th en h ired Se als' com p any to p roduce th e Camel Su percross Series shows . . . Editor. Open letter to The Reporters T o the producers o f T he Reporters: I was watching you r piece o n t he e n viro n menta l Time Bomb wh ich ai red on WOFL November 18 wi th gr eat sympathy until you got to th e Ea rth First rnovem em. You g lossed over their i llegal activi ties by sim p ly saying th ey were will ing to break th e law in defense of the en viro n ment. T his made it seem like th ey were willing to risk a parking ticket or com mit some o ther minor infractions in th eir pe rcei ved crusade. In fact, th ese people are environmenta l terr or ists! T hey have driven metal spikes into harvest ab le trees in the hopes that 'these will be hit by lo ggers' ch a ins a w bl ades a n d/ o r Good guys I am writing to exp ress my gratefulne ss for th e b est motorcycle dea lers hip I'v e ever dealt with Bookcliff Cycles of Gran d j unction , Co lorado. T he owners, Robb ie Noiles and Web ber Arnold, wh ose deal ersh ip dea ls in KTM , Cagiva a nd Husky, have do ne everything in thei r power to hel p me and m y friends rac e and p lay ri de even though over the years I haven 't alwa ys ridden a bike they . deal in . These ~u y s o n occasion hav e stayed until midnigh t reval vin g my sus pe nsio n an d on o ther occasio ns ha ve run across town to other dea lersh ips to get parts for me a nd m y fri ends. There is no th i ng th ey wouldn't do for me o r a nyone for th at matte r. I ca n't say eno ugh abo ut how happy I a m to have met these guys and to know abo u t th e extent they go to Perpetuate o ur sport. MICHAEL THUILLIER Aspen , CO The last salvo I am th e " so ur grapes" BSA rider th at Mr . Ealer of St.:Clair, Misso uri , referred to in hi s letter th at a ppeared in the Decem ber 6 iss ue o f Cycle N ews. '. Mr. Ea ler mad e mention o f the fact tha t 100% o f the Bull -tacos en tered in the 1989 Lead Belt National H are Scrambles a t St. j ose Stat e Park in Fla t River, Missouri , finished the event. T hat is a correc t stateme n t. Mr. Ea ler failed to mention that 100%of th e BSAs entered in th e event a lso finished. All - one - o f them were m ine. I a lso finish ed exactl y th e sa me number of laps as th e Bulltacos. As far as ca ll ing me a whiner, Mr. Eal er, let me ask you th is: What year, make and model of vintage bike did yo u race? H o w m u ch ti me a nd money did you inves t in a bike th a t most pe ople would ca ll j u n k? I can tell yo u that I spe nt a t least $100 and co u n tless h ours workin g o n a machin e that I kn ew would not be co m pe titive with a Bultaco (see, I do kn ow how to spe ll it), a Husky, or a CZ. Bu t let me say thi s: I had a blast a t the National, a nd at th e Flat R iver Grand Prix held a t the sa me location just a month previously. Mr. Ealer, I kn ow Mr s. H ejlek spe nt a good deal o f time on her article as she does on a ll her articles. I in no way state d or implied otherwise in m y letter; I also know all abou t Al and Arlen e's efforts in th e MTRA. I hold membership card #0007. What is you r membership number? Are you an AMA member? lam. All I said in m y letter was th a t for most of the printed history of motors(Con tin ued to page 68)

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