Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

, associate sponsors should co n tac t Bill West o f Su perSports at 813/ 822· 8929. C O RR ECTIO N : The Vet ' Jun ior cl a s s results from the opening round of the CMCIDodge Truck Go lden State Nationals, held J a n ua ry 5-7 in Castaic, California, were incorrect. There were two divisions, w ith Kenny Kopecky (S uz ) the winner of Division One, followed by the riders listed. The fi nis h ing order of Division Two was: 1. Steven Lawlek (Ya m ); 2. Jeff Haas (Hon); 3. Randy Skinner (S uz ); 4 . Garrie Turcotte (Ho n ); 5. ~ o h n Clifford (Yam). Riders co m peti n g in the Camel Su percross Series will be ab le to take advan tage of two or three specia l . semi na rs this season th a t will help them deal with th e media. Accordi ng to Bob Moore, Camel Supercross public relations m a nager, the program will be im p lemented in early Ma rch before the Da ytona Supercross. Rider s will review a videotape of a m ock interview with a television persona lity so th ey can see how they p,erform; " It will h el p them be}t ease In a n Inter vi ew srtua tron , says Moore. J a pa ne s e v iewers were the first to see Camel Supe rc ross S e ries action on television this season . Starting with last weekend 's Ana h e im ro und , each ro u n d w ill be tele c a s t live on a Tokyo station . ( View e rs in t he U.S . w ill h a ve to wait for the one-hour shows on c able ne twork ESPN . 'Darrel Dovel will not be the referee at AMA Na tional Cha m p io nsh ip Road Races in 1990, according to Ron Zim m erman, th e AMA's vice president of professional raci ng. Accord ing to Zimmerman , J erry McHal e will referee the Daytona 200 a n d th e su p p orti ng road race classes of Daytona Cycle Week a nd will likely do th e rest of th e eastern road . race Na tio na ls. T he AMA has yet to name an official for th e wes tern road race Na tio n als. " T he referee wo n' t have as many administrative duties as in th e past," Zimmerm an sa id. " Mos t of th at will now be handled by Rog er Edmonston, who will be t he r ace d ir ector. ,,' Zim mer man added th at the AMA p lans to use two technical in specto rs th is year - Kevin Cameron and Rob King. ''I'm not speaking for Edmonston a nd th e Superspo rt classes, but in th e P ro classes yo u can expect to see m ore teardowns th an last year ," Zimmerman said. Registration is n ow open for the Es s o South American Marathon Raid '90 which will run from A pri l 14 to May 5 through t he countries of Peru, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Bo livia. The 10,000mile event is open to motorcycles, cars and trucks. The entry fee for the race is $2500, and the South American Rally Society w ill m ake a donat ion in your name t o t h e Save The Amazon Rain Fo rest Fund . For more information contact the Lufkin Group at 619 1 551-0660. R K Chain h as posted co ntingency a wa rds for th e following p ro fessio na l racing series: AMA Su perb ike, 250 G rand Prix an d Pro Tw ins Nati ona l Road R a ce Championships; AMA/ CCS Su p erspo rt a n d Endurance Road Race Cha mpio nsh ips; AMA 125/250cc MX and 125/ 250cc Su percross National Champ ionships; WERA Formu la USA and Endurance Road Race Champions hips; AMA National Enduro Cha m pionsh ip: a nd IDBA Fu nny Bike, P ro Comp, Pro Stock, Su per Comp, Pro G as, Su pe r Ga s, Co m pe titio n, ET Brack et an d Super Elimination C hampio ns h ips . Fo r more in for ma tio n co ntact FTM & Associates at 619/756-9464. Two-time Ca me l Pro Se ries champ Scott Parker has his s ights set on t itle number three in 1990. The road to that goai sta rts w ith the March 10 Camel Pro Kickoff S hort Track Nationa l at Daytona Beach Mu n icipal Stad ium. "Th is year I d o n't want to be on t he s idelines w atching the National." s a id Grand National Champio n Parker, "I want to be in it . Last year I got a little a nxious, a little too eager a nd fell off in the first heat race. I want to do good at Daytona; the championsh ip is won by doing good in all the races." The Daytona Short Track, th e first of th e 17-ra ce, $ 1 m illion-plus Camel Pro Series, will a lso host the first of II Camel Challenge events that will be ru n at selected ro u nds. The Ca mel Challen ge even ts are five-lap rac es th a t p it the five fastest qualifiers agains t eac h o ther in a dash for th e $10,000 winne r's share -of a $17,500 purse. Austra lian Paul Lewis w ill be doing double duty during Camel Motorcycle Week at Daytona . Lewis, nicknamed " T h e Angry Ant:' w ill be looking for victories in both the March 9 G rand Prix Twins 1 final and the March 11 Daytona 200 by Arai. Lewis will be Ducati-mounted in both events. (Continued to page 4) ~'&' 6fNCt1 W orkben ch is a wee k ly column dealin g with motorcycle maintenance, perform ance and equip m en t. Ha ve something that Workb en ch can address? Th en drop a lin e to Workben ch, Cycle News, P.O . Box 498, L on g Beach, CA 90801-0498. Battery basics For th e m ost part batteri es are taken for gran ted, be it in cars or m ot orcycles. We rely o n batter ies to start our engines , yet seldom g ive th em a second thought u ntil th e time co mes w he n we p ress th e sta rter button a nd n ot h in g ha p pens. Dead batteries are something we a ll h ave to face ' soon er or later. Batteri es slo wly d ischa rge th ro u ghou t their lives, whe ther th ey're used or not - especia lly on motorcycles. U n like a ca r battery which is con sta n tl y recharged by the car's power fu l alt ernator , a mo torcycl e 's a lterna tor gen erates on ly en o u g h p ower to maintain th e battery 's existing ch arge. And with repeated .. starts a nd constant d ischarge, that · cha rge slowly beco mes wea ker. Age isn ' t th e on ly thing that drai ns a ba ttery: tem perat u re a lso speeds wear, and vibration causes material with in the battery to break down. Although batter ies do eventuall y wear out, their lives can be prolo nged for troubl e-free operatio n with the proper care a nd cha rgi ng. . T he rea son a battery wears out is attributable to its co m positio n. The type o f battery used in m ot orcyles and cars is know n as a lead-acid .stora ge battery, a lso referred to as a wet -cell storage battery. Wi th in the pl astic housing of a 12-volt battery are six cells co nsistin g of p lates, separators a nd an elec tro lyte so lu tio n . Ea ch cell produces 2. 1 volts . Positivel y-ch arged plates a re co m posed o f a lead di oxid e p aste on a lea d gri d , wh ile negativel y-ch arged p la tes are mad e of a m etallic sponge lead p a ste on a lead g rid. T he electrolyte is a water solution co nta in in g 36% su lfuric acid b y weight. Any wat er th at is safe for drinking, except m in eral wa ters , is gene ra lly safe to use in a ba ttery. . Electricity is forme d within th e battery due to a che m ical react ion. Wh en an elec tri ca l co n nec tion is made - such as when the starter button is p ressed or ligh t switch turned o n - both th e lead dioxide o n th e positive plates and sponge lead on th e negative p lates combine with the sulfuric acid in the wa ter. T he elec tr olyte so lution becomes diluted as th e pl a tes tak e up th e excess su lfa te. T h is che m ica l reacti on cre a tes a flow o f el ect ron s th rou gh the electr ical co n nections . It al so crea tes hydrogen a nd oxygen gas which accumulates a bove th e water in eac h cell an d is rel ea sed in to th e a tmosp he re through th e battery 's vent tube. Some gas does rem ain in th e cells, h owever , a nd this h igh ly fla mm abl e gas ca n ex p lo de if exp osed to sparks, flame or even a lighted cigare tte. _ When th is che mical reaction takes place for lon g periods of time, both sets of p ositive a nd negative pl a tes are coated with th e lead su lfate an d n o longer have opposi te charges. There is n o lo nger a reaction so th e electrons stop flowing, m ean in g th e battery is d isch arged. A battery wo u ldn 't last very lon g if th is reacti on co nstantly occurred. T hat's wh ere the a lte rnator co mes into p lay. T he alternator creates a charge to reverse th e che mical rea ction a nd force electricity. ba ck in to th e battery. Lead dioxide reforms o n positive p lates, spongy meta llic lead returns to n ega tive plates and wa ter turns bac k into su ifuri c acid. Road vibra tions also a ffect th e cha rged p lates. Asa battery ages. the -Iead p astes start to fall off th e plates and co llect a t the bo tto m of the battery. Eventually, the residue will bu ild u p a nd short out th e pla tes. There are two wa ys to det erm ine th e condition of your battery: One is by using a voltmeter to measure th e ba ttery's voltage level. According to Schauer, a ba ttery charger m anu factu rer, th is is best done a fter th e battery has sat unused overnigh t. The second way is by using a h ydromet er to measure' the specific gravity o f the electrolyt e solu tion. In a low-battery conditi on, th e electrolyte will be more like water a nd wi ll give a specific gravity reading of I. When th ere is more than 0.05 0 d iffer ence in th e specific gravity between th e cells of a fully-charged battery, it shou ld be rep lace d: Si nce a low battery's electrolyte solution is more like wat er , it will freeze q u icker. The su lfuric acid ac ts as an an tifreeze, lowering th e freezing p oint of the wa ter. A froze n ba tte ry shou ld be avoided since it co u ld crack the cas ing. Next week , we' ll co ntinue ou r d iscussion o f ba tteri es by co veri ng battery maintenan ce a n d recharging tech niques. Nate Rauba r--------------------------------------------------------~--------, I · . SUBSCRIP TION ORDER FORM I I I I I I Na m e , PL EAS E PRI N T C L EA R LY I I I I I I I I I I I 1 L Address C;'y I I I I I 0 T h is is a re ne wal 0 P le a s e b ill m e 0 En cl ose d is check or money order Cha rge m y 0 Vis a 0 Ma s t erc a rd S ta t e Z;p .CI::l Order Date: - - - - - -- OK, please start my subscription to Cycle News and send me the newspaper o e ve ry week fo r o n e ye ar (50 iss ues) fo r $35.00 o e very week for two ye a rs (10 0 is s ue s ) for $65 .00 o si x mo nt hs s e cond c la s s (25 issu e s) fo r $18.00 Ono yoor (50 issuos). 2nd class Canada or M oxico and all othor f oroign co untrios 575 .00 (U .S. f unds). 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