Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

America's motorcycle newspaper Volume XXVII Sharon o..YIOO. Pubiishrr Mile Klinget, Complrolln J ack Mangus. Associate Pubiisher t Editor Rheba Smith. Circula tion Ma nagt'1' CarolIne Gmdry. EXf'C'Uli~ SuTt!tary to th, Pub lis her MOTOCROSS: Bradshaw. Coleman top Florida Winter-AMA Matiasevich wins Perris GFI Winter Series opener Lusk in the spotlight in Bermuda TEST: KTM 's all -new 250 E/XC INTERVIEW: Kenny Roberts on the f ut ure of GP racing NEW PRODUCTS : New it em s on the market CALENDAR : The weekly weekend planner 6 8 16 10 12 18 24 ON THE FRONT PA~E: Damon Bradshaw (t op) won the 250cc Pro class at t he opemng round of the Florida Winter-AMA Series (Middle) Rick. Pummey (3 4) leads the start of the 250cc A class : (Bottom) Chns Co leman (47) passes Jeff Glass on the way to the 125c.c ·Pro class wi~ . See page 6 for complete coverage. Photos by Mike & Anne Adair. Edi tori al J ad. Mangus. Editor Kit Pal mer, A.ssooatt' Ed itor Paul Carruthers , Assocuue Edit or Nai r Raubu. Associa te Edi to r Brian Duerson. Associatt' Editor Ken Faugh t, A.u istant Edi tor Ed wina Man gu s. Calmdar Edi tor Advenis ing Ter ry Pran . Sen io r Salt's M anager Mark Thome. Wrstt."mSalt's Managn Run Davidson, Wrs tnn Sales Managn Thomas R. Gu nter. Wt'SltTn Salt's Managn Mar k Mitchell . Eastern S41t's M anagtT G reg;Mitchell , Eastern Salt's Manag" Joan Russian . Wt'.ftt"m Ad Coordinator Car la Borden. Eastern Ad Comdinato r Gr ap hic s and Production Ree j ohnson. Production SUPnvUOT Mandy Lao. Prod uction Ma:nagn Iknn~ Greene. l.IJb. T ech : S I. lcry Cuesl, Grap hic ATtut : j immi e 0 ·Dt-1l G rap hic Art u t . Ca ro lyn Branham. T yfNyttn A ccou nt in g /Data Processing Donna Bryan. A u ts Ru~ivabl~ Comdina to r Geneva Repass. Auutilnt Fran Hamwev. CrNlit Circulatio n Sa rah T aylor . Assutant Alma An,.;uiano. A ssutant Herl an e Richmond. A ssutant Ca ro l MaJO:o. A ssutant i Dealer Sales Eric Reece. Managa W ant Ad s Debbie weller. J" 'ant Ad Sales Sarvi ce and Support Qui !o Aitcheson , Headquarters Re ceptionist Leonard H erring, Sm riCt' and Suppor, Nat ional Headquarters 220 1 Cherry Ave., Lo ng Broach . CA 90806, 1) . .0 Box 498, Lo ng Beach , CA 90801-0198 2 13/427-7 133; 2 13/636-8811. FA X 2 13/ -127·6685 Ea st ern Off ice 4190 First Ave.• Tucker . G A. 30084; ma iling address P.O. Box 805, Tucker. GA 30085-0805. 401/934-7850. FAX 401/ 934-3112 Cycle News (USPS 111-510) is published wttkly excep t th e Iasr IWO week s of th e ca len da r year for $50.00 per ye by C ycle News. Inc , 2201 ar Oterry Avenue, Lon g Beach . CA 90806. Second clan pcnage paid OIl Long Beach, CA. and addiuo nal ma iling otfices, POSTM ASTER : Send fonn 3 57 9 to Cycle News. P .O . Bo x 4 9 8. Long Beach . CA 90 801 ·049 8 . To d e te rm ine the expiration date o f your s ubs cript io n. check the fo ur nu mbers o n the fint line of your ad dress label. The first two dig its ind ica te the last is sue number you"1I receive and the last two charac:ters indicate the year of ttle last Issue. Subscr tp ucn ra tes: Ral a (or th e United Stain a nd its possessions for one year. (50 iuua). $50.00; IWO yean (IOOw. uo), $95.00; ~i x. months. (25 i!l~un. ). $26.00; trial sub (15 issues). 519.00. Canada and Fore ign. one yea r (W i$!iua ). 590.00; two y~.n~ (100 issues), 5175.00; six months (25 iMUn. ), $-15.00; trial sub ( I~ issu es ), $38.00. Cyc1C" New s welcomes un soli ci ted edi to ria l rnarertat including sto r ies, ca rtoon s. pboeos , etc, Su ch mat er ial , if publ ish ed . becomes th e excl usi ve property of Cycle New s. SIKh accepted material i!o subject 10 revision as is necessary in the sole discretion of Cycle News, Unsol ici ted ma terial which is no r used will be returned if accompanied b y 3 sel f a dd ress ed sta m ped envelope. All u nsol ic ited ma terial will be handled with reaso nabl e care. however. Cyd C" News assumes no respo nsibil ity for the safe ly. Im li. or da mage 10 such materia l. Rropr in g in im whole or pa rt on ly by perm ission of th e pu blis ber. Advenisi nK rat es a nd circu la tio n informa tion will be sen t upon 'C"qU O I. See S.R.O.S. ?BPA AUDITED CIRCULATION Copyrighrt Cyc le News. Inc . 1990. Trade. m.rk Cycle Ne~ registered u.s. Pat ent Offi ce . All rig hts reMnI8d . Where? I would like to give back to those whe;> ha ve fought for our rights dun ng the past year. I' m referring to the D-37 Legal Defense Fu nd , Ca li fornia Desert Coali tion, AMA Leg islative Supponer Fund, a nd CO RV A. H owever , I ca n fin d no list in g in Cycle News to tell me how to get in to uc h or co n tr ib ute to any of the above. In th e past I have seen the D-37 a nd CDC addresses printed occasio na lly , but would it be possible to print th em once a m onth (or more) to remind and assist the p u blic w ith the ir. co ntrib u tions to t he orga n iza tio ns th at hol d the fut u re o f o ur sport, BILL SHROYER Encin itas, CA District 37 L egal Defense Fund, c! o Dick Postma, P.O. Box 526, Pearblossom, CA 93553; California Desert Coalitio n, 6192 Magn ol ia Aue., Sui te D, R iverside, CA 92506; AMA Legislative Su pp orter Fund, P.O. Box 61H , Westerville, OH 43081-6114; CO RVA , 160110th si; Sacramento, CA 95814 . . . Editor. Senator Wilson and the tortoise I was ou traged by a letter I recen tl y received fro m Senator Pete Wilson regardi ng the pe nding endangered species list in g of th e desert tortoise, Sena tor Wil son's lett er states: " As y<;lU ma y kn o.w, a fat al respiratory disease ha s killed off an a larmi ng number o f th e desert tortoise a nd threatened the species with extinction. T h is m atter is int ensified whe n the add itiona l threa ts posed to the tort oi se by predatory ra vens a nd offroa d vehicles are consid ered." Although th e listing process tak es into co ns idera tio n stud ies co nduc ted by th e Bureau o f Land Managem ent a nd other in terested parties, n one o f th ese studies ha s co ncl us ively iden tified the species as " th rea tened with exti nction" or threat en ed by o ff-roa d vehicle activities. First o f a ll, th e population sta tistics of th e desert tortoi se are only short-lived a nd we do not know whether th e decline, if a ny, is a natural occurrence of the species in drought cond iti ons o r not. Those of us who race and ride for recrea tion in th e Ca liforn ia desert know o n ly too well h ow m u ch land will be im passab le for us shou ld th e listing be permanently adop ted. We have a lready lost th e Fremont Vall ey, a popu la r pitting a nd riding area . U nfort u nately, so me o f our go vernment officia ls are bei ng hornswa ggled into accepti ng unsubstantia ted da ta as "evidence" th a t of f- road veh icles have co n tri b uted to th e decline, if there is in fact an y decline. Although Senator Wilson's offi ce has been co ntacted a nd a sta teme nt ha s been issu ed th at th ey did n ot intend to single ou t any user group, I urge any of yo u who receive this lett er to contact Sena tor Wi lson's office and advise th em that sta tis tica l reviews have yet "proved" th a t offroad vehicles have threatened the existence of th e tortoi se, LI SA LATHAM New port Beach , CA About-face I n referen ce to th e interview with me in th e J anua ry 3 issu e o f Cycle Ne ws , d ue to th e exciteme nt of winning the (AMA Nationa l Championship H a re Scram b les Series ) champ ions h ip, I m ad e some remarks about Kaw a saki w hic h I di dn 't intend to. I p la n o n ri di ng for Ka wasa ki in 1990 a nd p la n on doi ng a good job representing th em a nd su p po rtin g them a long with the suppon they give me. SCOlT PLESSI NG ER Ham ilton , OH Where's Mert? I heard a rumor th a t Men Laww ill had tak en a job in Los Ange les with Cosworth , th e people th at b ui lt th e CART Indy ca r engines . How abo u t you chec ki ng it o u t. I a m sure th ere are a lo t o f people around th e co u ntry th at wou ld like 10 kn ow wh at has hap pened to one of th e ni cest g uys to ever put a leg o ver a dirt tra cker. J IM KIDMAN Granite City, IL If you loo k closely at the photo of L aww ill in last week's coverage of the Kenn y Roberts birthda y! N ew Y ear's Eve happen in g you'll see that .he is wearing a Cosworth jacket. A ccord ing to Mert, he's on a " tem porary leave of absence" from Coswo rth, w here he helped develop th eir fo u r-cylinder tw o -l it er m idget engine. Th e 1969 Grand National Champion says he's seek ing sponsorship that will enable h im to return to m otorcycle racing. fielding bik es fo t one of the nation 's to p di rt trackers this season . . . Editor. Buying points At the J anuary 4 Off-R oad Sports Committee m eeting o f AMA Di stri ct 37 a n action was ta ken th at lower s the integr ity of dese rt raci ng within th e d istrict. T he di strict passed a mo tion to give fi rst pl ace po ints, in class, to a ny d istri ct rider wh o attends th e February 10 HR780 h earings in Los Angeles. Also passed was a n op tio n tha t if yo u ca n' t a tte n d th e meetin g th en yo u ma y sen d a letter o f op positio n to HR780 a lo n g with $100 a nd receive th e same points. I co u Id not believe tha t th e highly respected di strict for o ff-roa d racing wou ld stoop so low as to allow its m ember ship to buy points. This ac tio n is th e ultimat e sla p in th e face to th ose racers wh o to ok th e tim e a n d effort a nd ex pe nse 10 a tte n d th e Bish op a nd Barstow hearin gs. In m y op in io n, if th e di stri ct rid ers ca n n o t a tte n d the hearings o u t o f desire to save th eir sport a nd land, but a re will in g to a tte nd to ga in poi nts , th en they don 't deserve the righ t to use the la nds . I have been involved in the figh to save our sport for a long ti me. h av e a tte nded m an y m eet in g s rep resentin g the vario us organ iza tions to which I belong a nd a lmost a lways th e a tte ndance o f off-roade rs was poor. T here are always th e same handfull of peop le representin g th e off-readers views an d rig hts . T h is is th e la st cha nce for o ff-reade rs to physically voice th eir o p in io ns and dem ands and mak e a d ifferen ce o n th e Desert Pro tect io n Act, HR780. As for m yself , the actions tak en b) Distri ct 37 ha ve ca used me to reval u at e m y desi re to belong to th e di strict. I will mi ss th e quality racing that th e many clubs put o n , bu t I ca n no t co m p ro m ise my moral p rincip les o f fairness by bel onging to a n org an izatio n th a t a llo ws th e buyin g o f fir st pl ace points. I will still figh t for o ff-roa di ng a nd th e ri ght for multiple use, but not because so me o ne ga ve me so me th ing for showing up. MIL T H O RNT ON Ora nge, CA Tiptoe shooting On my rece nt visit to the AMA/ CCS races at Daytona Interna tional Speedway I noticed th a t they h ad rep laced the chain lin k fence arou nd the infield part of the race tra ck. It is now si x-feet high wh ich may help on th e safe ty aspect bu t m akes it more d ifficult to ge t good racing ac tio n p ho tos . Bring yo ur step ladder s, p icku p trucks (w it hout caps), vans wi th roof racks, etc. C H AR LES BUTLER Co lu m bus, GA Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Inc. Letters are subject to condensation due to space lim it ations. Anonymous letters will not be published. Send letters to Voices. P.O. Box 498, Long Beach. CA 90801 -0498.

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