Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Series the past two years a nd hope tha t the G reat Lak es Series will help fill the void," said Dell. Innovative Products, Tucker -Rocky Distributing a nd Fredette Ra cing have sig ne d o n as spo n sors 'o f th e series but a d di tio na l spo nsors are bein g so ug h t. If you ' re in terested in helpin g spo nsor th e series, ca ll Dell a t 3 13/ 386-7527 (even ings) or 3 13/33 78000 (da ys). (Con tinued from pag e 42) bling over the last five years, and stock tr ipling in price since th e initial public offering in 1986. Teerlink also addressed a reported takeover attempt: "Finally, you may have re a d some speculation that Harley-Davidson is the object of a speculator who may want to ach ieve some near-term gains for himself at the expense of this company's long-term strength and growth potential. Let me assure you that the company is not for sale. We are confident that the best interest of our stockholders will be served by contin-. uing our company's business strategy of building stockholder value with the h ighest quality products and best service delivered to our customers by employees involved in and concerned about our company. Accordingly, we feel that any . externally-imposed changes in the management team that has made Harley an American success story could have a serious, negative impact on the future of your . company. I hope ' you support us in that belief:' . T he Western Eas tern Roadracers' Associa tion (WERA) has releaseda ten tative sched ule fo r its 1990 Na tio nal End urance Road Race a nd Pro Series. Fifteen ro u nds are on the schedu le wit h th e fir st taking p lace March 17- 18 a t Roebling R o a d Ra cew a y in Fau lk vill e, Georgia. T elevised ro unds o f th e WER A Pro Seri es will be held a t Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, Cal iforn ia, o n Ap ril 28-29; Sea ttle International Raceway in Kent, Washington, May 19-20 ; Firebird Internati onal in Ch andler, Arizon a, June 9-10; H eartland Park T opeka in Kan sas, July 7-8; Michigan 's Grattan Raceway Park , Jul y 28-29; Ro ad Atla n ta in Braselton, Georgia, August 11 -12 a nd Octob er 3l1November4; Pocono Intern ational Raceway in Pocono, Pen nsylvan ia , August 24-25; Mem p his Motorsports Park in Mi llingto n, Tennessee, September 1-2; and In d ian a po lis Raceway Park in Clermont, In d ia na, O cto ber 6-7. The complete schedule can be found in the Calendar section. Cycle Marine Center of Orlando, Florida, will be the official race headquarters of the 1990 Florida Winter AMA Series. The Honda and Kawasaki shop, will be helping CR Support and Team Green riders throughout the month-long Winter AMA Series, as well as Amateur .Day racing at the Gainesville, Florida, 125/250cc National MX Series opener, March 3-4, and the Daytona Supercross, March 10 . Scott Taylor, formerly of Seminole Honda in Orlando, is the race team coordinator. For more information, call 407/277-6880. 54 Gary Dell informs us o f th e 1990 G reat La kes End uro Series that wi ll consist o f nin e to 10 ro u nds which w i ll take p lace Irorn April to N ovember in Mic higa n, Ind ian a , W isco ns in a n d Ill in o is. "We've missed the AMA Regiona l Enduro Road racer 1 di rt tra cker Doug Chandler reports that he more than likely will be aboard factorybacked Kawasakis in next year's AMA Superbike National Championship. "Nothing is for sure yet, . but I guess they're (Kawasaki) working on getting a budget set. They're trying to get everything ' put together th is week." If the Kawasaki venture comes together, Chandler will again join forces with tuner Rob Muzzy. MOVED: P M Comm unications, the AMA and AMA/ CCS race mar keting fir m headed by Pa t Mur ph y, to 2015 J St., Sui te IS, Sacrame nto, CA 95814, 916/442-7985, FAX 916/44280 18. The first resolution from Pat · Owens, the former Triumph factory race team mechanic, as a member of the Los Angeles Community Colleges' Board of Trustees passed with support from all board members and the entire college district will. celebrate Vocational Education Week, February 11-16. Broc G lover, who spent 1989 contesting the 250cc MX G P circui t, made his firs t race appearance in the U.S. si nce comi ng home from Europe at the G FI Ca liforn ia Winter Series opener a t Perris Raceway in Perr is, California, Decem ber 31. G lover was sorting o ut a P ro Circuit-backed H onda a nd said tha t he' ll race a "reasona b le a mo u nt o f se lecte d races" in 1990. Most o f those races will p rob abl y be in Europe since mo st pay sta rt money. " I'm not going to spend a lot of money to race here," Gl over said. None of the four Japanese MX factory racing teams have made any real commitments regarding ' their participation in the rest of the . GFI California Winter MX Series, or the CMC Golden State MX Nationals, which begins in Castiac, California, January 6-7. According to Honda's race team manager Dave Arnold, "We have no plans right now. Everything is depending on testing, travel and track conditions (weather). The only races we're pretty sure we'll make is the GFI races at Perris Raceway (Perris, California, January 14) and L.A. County' Raceway (Palmdale, California, January 21). We have no preference as to wh ich club puts on the race, it ' s just a matter of the races most convenient for us to attend." Suzu ki's MX rac e team manager Pa t Alexander said, " We'll go racing as testi ng permits. We can't make any commitments right no w, but it look s as tho ugh we' ll make th e G FI ra ce a t Perr is Racewa y (January 14), but not a ll o f our riders wi ll be there." Yam ah a 's Ke i th McCart y sai d , "We're goi ng to play it week to week and see wha t ha p pens. We're do ing a lo t o f testing righ t now and we rea lly don't want to trav el out of the area. Wea ther pe rmiting, the only race we plan on going to right now is this week at Baro na Oaks (Ca lifornia, J a nuary 7) for the GF I race." " We have no pl ans excep t to ride at Ba rona Oak s," said Kaw asaki 's Roy T urner. " We will be raci ng every week prior to the Ana heim (Ca lifo rnia ) Supercross (January 27), but we're not exac tly sure wh ere, yet. We w a n t to go wh ere th e co m pe tition is." The first round of the Casey Folks Best in The Desert Series, the Gold Strike Hare & Hound held nea r Las Vegas, Nevada, has been rescheduled from January 7 to February 3 . According to a news release from promoter Folks, " Afte r a special meeting with the BLM, Fish and Game and myself, we fe lt because of the t ime element involved with the Gold Strike Hare & Hound, Christmas and New Year's, it was in the best interest to all concerned to move the race. We feel this date change will most definitely improve our relationship with the BLM and Fish and Game." Two-ti me Na tiona l End uro Cham p io n Rand y H awk in s has in ked a nother o ne -year deal with Suzuki. " I wi ll cam paig n th e N a ti onal End uro circuit, o n the RMX250, a nd will ride the (ISDE) Qual ifiers, on th e new DR Suzu ki four-stroke," sai d H a wk ins in a rece nt tel ephone conversa tio n. " My ma in concern is the Enduro Nationals, while m y teammate Dave Bertram will concentrate on the Nationa l Championship Reli ab ili ty Enduro Series. " Kawasaki Team Green's David Pyle suffered a broken lower leg and knee damage in a trail riding accident in southern California on Friday, December 29 . Pyle, a former National class trials rider, was riding with six-time Baja 1000 winner Larry Roeseler. The only thing Papa can say about the accident is, you don't tug on Superman's cape, you don 't spit into the wind, and you don't try to keep up with Larry Roeseler in the desert, David. AI Bak er, wh o was serious ly injured in a pl an e cras h last fall in Ari zona, has been . moved to Meadowbrook . R ehabil i ta ti on H o spital , 38 31 Stocker, L os Angeles, CA 90008. H is mothe r Betty says, " AI's eyes now focus an d he is respond ing to doctor's co mmands to move h is legs and arms. On beha lf of AI, we as parents thank all who have helped a nd will help fina nce hi s recovery. We appreciate eac h of yo u indivi d ua lly." WRITIN' AROUND "I know that if you can give kids a reason to study something ... they'll learn if. This school gives 'em a reason." Pat Owens. H ere is a guy you shou ld see on 60 Minutes. You know how th ey say American education is run down? Pat O wens is bucking the tren d. He was a teac her, now he is a trus tee on th e Boar d of Los An geles Communit y Colleges. And most of a ll , Pat ri ck F. Owens lives a mo tor cycle life. O ut of work af ter the T riumph. BSA fai lure in the 1970s, Pa t took a " tem po ra ry" job a t Los Angeles T rade Tech . teachi ng motorcycle repair, discovered tha t he liked it, and stayed on. He was a good teach er. Today, his former students hol d high ra n ks in the to p mo to rcycle service establis h me nts. At th e same time, he was ro lling up miles on his elderly Triumph. When th e speedo hits 99,999 Pa t dis connects it a nd fits a new one. He is on his third now . Three Smith's Chronornetrics lin e up a long the handl ebars. 1£ L.A Trad e T ech were a private institution it wo uld cos t a lot of money to a ttend. a nd well worth it. Graduat es ge t good jobs a nd are in demand a ll over. " O u t o f 21 students in m y fourth -sem ester class, only four spe a k English as th eir fir st language," a Trade T ech teacher reports. "T hey are a ll hard workers," she says. Good, right? Go od for the motorcycle industry, whose products need trained, ski lled service. Good for the poor shlubs who never learned a trade i n h i g h school, good a ll arou n d . .. Wro ng. T he Sc hoo l Board shu t down th e motorcycl repa ir classes and much of the o the trad es. Wh y? Nob od y wa nts to ta lk on camera, b u t it seems that th e trade teach ers generally lacked th e college degr ees th a t the Ed uca tio n Establishrnen worships. And , for teachers, th eir pa was hi gh, beca use a ny tra de teac he kn ow s a valua ble trade. "Not common kno wledge is th .fact th at th ere was no Mo torcycl Repair class in L. A. Trade Tech fro Sept. '87 to Sep t. '88," Pat Owen says. H e found work as a h ig h schoo recruiter , counse li ng dro pouts. Bu h e wo uldn ' t qui t. " I accepte ... half-pay to b r i n g ba c k th motorcycle repair class in the fall 0 1988," Pa t continues. " Knowing th a t ootn myse u an the mo torcycle program were targe o f the District Ad ministration, entered the poli tical arena and won.' In the recen t election Ow ens defeat th e wo ma n who was gutti ng th tra de school, a nd took her sea t 0 the board. O wens kept hourl y ins tructio from being reduced from 21 hour to 18 h ours per week. " T his wa p ropo sed to bring Lo s Ang ele T ra de-Tech into a lig n m ent wit classes taught at th e o the r ca m puses," he emphasizes. "1£ passed , i wo u ld have k ill ed quality vocationa education. " At Trad e T ech , a ny way Fortunatel y pu bl ic trad e schoo l have co mpetitio n from the p ri vat sector. Owens killed a costly p roposa that wo uld have given each Boar mem ber a h ired (Ju nky, and kept th pa rki ng fees fro m being in creased fo students from $15 to $40. Maybe this is more of a story fo T om Peters, who's on TV a bo u " H ow Can America Compete in th 21st Century." H ere is an em ba ttle Owens in th e education-servic business wh o is competing with al those private mechanics schools yo see adverti sed in th e motorcycl magazmes. Or maybe it 's just fodder for And} Rooney. "Didja ever wonder why normal person would want to b elected to th e schoo l board?" " I have a $ 12,000 campaign debt,' says Pat O wens. " I had to resign m employment with L.A. Trade T ee to ta ke my 'sea t o n the Board. T hi resulted 'in a $24,000 pay cu t. , "The good news is th at I was abl to pick Bob Price, a Trade T ee grad uate , . to tak e o ver th e M/ Repa ir Class at L.A. Trade Tech. "Skip Van Leeu wen , Ed Waldhei m a nd ot her ind ustry folks ar promo ting my fund raiser o n Sa turday nig ht, January 27th." Pat has a servi ce at 213/225-1687, if a nyo ne wou ld lik e to pay tribu te to a real ed ucator. Chuck Clayton

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