Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127243
bikes. Within a very short tim e it beca m e blatantly obvious that not on ly were th ese bikes (oth er than Nixon's) horrib ly slo w, but in addi tion had very short fus es. They were fam ous for " pos i t ive cra n kcase ventil ation", like where the rod blew a bi g hol e in the cases w hen it mad e its final exit. Ronnie Ra il 's su bsequent victo ry abo ar d a 250 Bultaco reversed th e pec king o rder the next year an d probably cos t th e two-stro ke gr ou p a n eq ua l a mou nt o f h a rd earned dollars wh en it proved to -be th e Spanish eq uiva lent of a bo ttle roc ket . Wh oosh . .. .BANG!! T he ultim at e social coup for th e Astrodo me we e ke nd wa s to ge t invited to one of th e man y " parties" after the races. (It never crossed o ur minds tha t we only got invi ted so we wo u ld br in g gi rls with us .) These rather impromptu gatherings wen.' usu all y held in various roorr ' . ' ,,Astro dome Hotel across the . .. much to th e dismay a nd irritatio n ' o f th e non-race patrons of th e inn. Att ending one of these wa s a lso amm u ni tion for b raggin g a t th e remainder o f th e year 's bench racing sessions. Points were awarded on a rat her informa l, yet rig id system . T he num ber of big nam e ra cers in attendance decided a ma jority of the points, wit h bon us points for th e .po lice showi ng u p or for being in th e immed ia te vicini ty wh en o u trageous acts were performed . . . like fire hose figh ts in the h a ll or strea king the lobby. Note: The number of bonus poin ts awa rded for police resp onse was directl y prop ortional to th e number o f cops a nswer in g th e ca ll. The Houston co ps were kn own as th e " Blue Meanies" an d were heavy advocates o f o ld -style fro ntier justice. Su n day n ight, a fter a ll was over, we were left with the em p ty feeling lik e a kid has on Christmas n ight. . Just kn owin g th at it wo u ld no t happen aga in for a nother fu ll year made th e co nce pt o f waiting 363 days seem an etern ity. Monda y would co me tomorrow a nd it would be back to real ity . Back to th e sa me o ld job, back to reading abou t th e races, back to th inking about far away p laces and wi shing we were a ny w he re but Housto n. I kn ow th e race rs left a nd went on a bo u t th eir business. They pro babl y rem embered lillie a bo ut th e people o f H o usto n .. . the local s. But we didn't forget the m because every ti m e we rea d th eir n am e , everytime we sa w th eir pi cture, we wou ld sa y, " Hey, I met this g uy a t the Dome races. See, h e signed m y program. He's a friend of mine. 'Gon na go o u t to Ca lifornia o ne o f th ese days and g ive him a ca ll. ' . Probably go to Ascot with him. " It was a drea m, but it go t us th rough th e year. - "I would like·to thank my sponsors for making my 1989 season so successful" Ii HONDA-LINE· i=lr{C CIr{CUIT DUN.£OP W-it ~ '1'- MIKE KIEDROWSKI 1989 AMA 125 OUTDOOR NATIONAL MX CHAMPION STOP! DON'T TRASH THAT WORN CHROME PLATED CYLINDER. A LASCO SLEEVE. Distrib utors or De alers Call for p rod uct (213) 946-3581 Want Ad inf or mati on - (213) 427-7433 SAVE IT WITH Los Angeles Sleeve Co. has sleeves for most popular makes and models of motor" cycles and ATV's . We also stock piston kits, rebuilt cylinders and Big Bore kits. For more information, contact: LOS ANGELES SLEEVE CO., INC. 831 1 Chetle Ave.. Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670 Call Of write for your f,_ catalog .ncI deeal . , (2 13) 945-7578