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/127252
L splitting bill hearing canceled 'ane T Kelly Moran got the southern California speed way seaso n underway with a win in the opening round of th e three-race Speedway Spring Classic at Vet er an St adium in Long Beach , Mar ch 3. Bobb y Schwar tz fin ished seco nd with Rick Mill er tak in g th ird. Round two of the series was held the following day a t IMS in San Bernardino and thi s tim e it was Bobby Schwartz comi ng up the winner with Moran seco nd a nd Greg Hancock third. The final round takes place at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa on Friday night, March 9. Dan e Leimb a ch , wh o head s u p Amh erst, Oh io-based Pent on Im po rts dba Motoplat USA, tell s Papa th at he's heard ru mors th at the company is in financial trouble. ·' T m sure the rumors started when Malcolm Smith Racin g closed the H i-Point Racin g dis tri bution facili ty in Sacramento, Cal ifornia. J ohn Penton sold H i-Point Racing to Malcolm years.ago. We share a building with J ohn 's Hi-Point Trail ers, a totally separate compa ny from H i-P o in t Ra cing. and th a t's where the confusio n lies. Tell th e world tha t we're aliv e and kicking stro nge r than ever." Spea king of John P e n t o n , Leimbach tells us "Uncle J ohn" and a group of friend s are off on a l4-day, 3000-mi le du al -sport ride in Mexico with Les Fren ch 's Great Motorcycle Adventures. " It's the lon gest J ohn 's been away [rom th e bu sin ess in years." said Leimbach. " Leroy Winters, Preston Petty , Mike Lewis and T eddy Schwartz are som e of th e guys he's riding with. He did th e Copper Canyon tour Les leads and he was reall y look ing forward to thi s ride in Yucatan. " Former top-ranked Camel Pro Seri es competitor Hank Scott, who last year fi elded a Bob Donabed ian -owned Honda RS750 dirt tracker for Doug Chandler, says. " I'm not going racin g th is year. I so ld the Honda to a gu y in Ca nada and hi s son - a Junior is go ing to compete in AMA Junior Nati onals o n mil e tracks with it. It' s Evelyne P rit z was elected president of the Western Eastern Roadracer 's Associatio n. Inc. (W ERA) at th e corpora tio n's a n n ua l sha rehol ders meetin g at H ilton Head Island. Sout h Carolina , Febru ary 28. Additionally. board of director members C.E. " Buzz" Pritz. J r.• Patt y O 'Brien Frank and Evelyne Pritz were re-elected to ano ther term. Pritz sta rted worki n g wi th WERA in 1979 as a registrar in the No rt h Central Region. In 1985 she becam e a partner in the cor poration and reloca ted to Sou th Carolina to become execu tive directo r. In tha t position she handled the day-to-day operations of WERA [or the pas t five years. Bids submitted by Harl ey-Davidson a n d Kawa saki to the California H ighw a y P a trol show th at Harl ey offered to sup p ly 218 po lice bik es for $4269 api ece. wh ile Kaw asaki bid $4199. Harl ey has pe titioned the sta te to consider the resale value of its bikes. reportedly $2000 more tha n Kaw asakis brin g at resal e tim e. If that argument doesn 't convince the sta te to go for th e Milwaukee marque, tliey say they'll sho w that Harley pol ice bikes o utperform Kawasaki's. J ay Emery. tran sp ortation manager [o r th e CHP , con firmed that Harl eys have a mu ch' h igh er resal e va l ue . H e told th e Sacramento Bee tha t most of th e Harleys purchased for $3800 to $4200 in th e last three or [ou r years have been resold for " about $3800." Emery added , " We have gotten as hi gh as $5700." Racing fan s will be abl e to meet their Team Green h eroe s during Cycle Week under the Kawasaki tent ou tside Daytona International Speedw ay. Autograph ing posters will be off-roa d champ La rry Roeseler on Thursday. March 8. from 4 to 6 p.m. ; MXers Jeff Ward. Johnny O'Mara and J eff Matiasevich , on Frida y. March 9. [ro m 4 to 6 p.m.; and T eam Muzzy Kawasak i's, Oll Russell and Dou g Ch andler, SC Kawasaki's winds of change~__ C 2 iting th e winds of change in motorcycle marketing. Kawasaki ha s become the lat est Japanese manufacturer to get back to basics with the introduction of its new Zeph yr model , a ime d primarily at entry/re-entry riders. Kawasaki released a 400cc version of the Zeph yr (" west wind") last year for th eir home market, but decided to upsize the bike for its 1990 U.S. debut. The Zephyr's 553cc air-cooled. two-valve per-cy linder. DO H C in - Kawasak i ZR550-BI Zeph yr l in e four-cylinder engine is derived from the venerable GPZ550 sport bike , which Kawasaki says . is easily serviceab le. Among its other features are an oi l cooler. four -int o-one exhaust system, semi-floating dual front disc brakes . dual gas-charged rear shocks. and a boxsection aluminum swingarm. . . Kawasaki stresses the Zephyr's user-friendliness. with its low seat height of 30.3 inches and light dry weight of 392.5 Ibs. (Californ ia models weigh l.l lbs, more.) The Zephyr will be available in April at a suggested retai~ p rice of $3999. he hea ri ng in the California State Assembly Transporta tion Committee on AB2560. a bill that would make lan e sp litting illegal in California, which was schedu led for Monday. March 5. was canceled and n o n ew dat e set for a hearing. "We're still gathering information," Assemblywoman Gwe n Moore (D-Los Angeles ). autho r of the bill. sai d in a telep ho ne conversation March I. "We mu st loo k at the hazards (of lane sp litting) ,' said Moo re.' "Thirty-eig h t other states prohi bit lan e sp lit ting." Motorcyclists counter the charges that lane sp litting is hazardous. and argue that instead it is an emotiona l issue. The 1980 H urt Report. conducted by Dr. Harry Hurt at the Univers ity of Southern California. concluded tha t lan e splitti ng is not da ngerous, T he. Californ ia H igh way Pa trol . the primary source of da ta for most traffic studies conducted in California. ha s no statistics on lan e sp litting. Motorcycli sts feel that AB2560 was int rod uced because automobi le drive rs stuck in gridlocked freeway tra ffic, common on hundreds of mil es of California's freeways an d pa rt icu larly in the Los Angeles basin . are jealous that motorcycl ists can easil y move through suc h tra ffic. Man y California motorcyclists rid e to escape the gri dlock situations. I£ passed. AB2560 wou ld force them back into the tra£fic proble m. Man y motorcycli sts would a lso likely leave their bikes at ho me and add to tra ffic conges tion by drivin g autom obiles. Moor e says that she is willi ng to exam ine a ltern at ives to prohibiting lan e split ting and will meet with the California H igh way Patrol [or more in p ut. " If there are other ways sho rt of banning lan e sp litting . I would be -interested,' Moore said. " I wou ld be willing to modify th e bill tak ing those ways into consideration." AB2560 was in troduced by Moore on J anuary 4 du e to complaints abo ut la ne spl itting she received from constitue n ts, I£ the bill clears the Transportation Co mmittee. it will be forwarded to th e Assembly Ways and Mean s Committee. If it then passes both hou ses of the legislature and is signed by Govern or George Deukrnejian , lan e splitting would become an infraction. Motorcyclists sho u ld voice their opposition to th e bill by writin g: Assemblywomen G wen' Moore. 3683 Crenshaw Blvd., 5th floor, Los Angeles. CA 90008; or 2117 State Capitol. Sacramento, CA 95814. Motorcyclists sho u ld also co ntact their local assemblyperson. J ohn Ashmead on Sa turday, Mar ch 10, from II a. m. to 12:30 p.m. McGra w Insu rance will present the 4th Annual Laguna S e c a G o lf Classic a t Ranch o Canada Gol£ Club in Carmel, California , on Frid ay, Apri l 6. Held each year in conj unct ion with the Laguna Seca GP. th e event p rom ises to feature so me o f th e mo st impressive duffers in th e motorcycle industry and insurance commu nity, Individual entry fees ar e $100, whi ch in cludes greens fees, prizes, no-h ost cockta il party and aw ards dinner. Corporat e tee sponsorships are availabl e for $500. For en try and spo nsor sh i p information . co nta ct Robert Thomas at 415/261 -6500. M ary Jo Pate Robinson. the widow of Goody ear race tire rep Bill Robinson , suffered a fatal heart attack on February 16 at her winter hom e in Lak e Wells, Florida. Mrs. Robinson and her first hu sband opened Pat e's HarleyDavidson in Ch attan ooga , T ennessee. in 1947. lat er adding Yamaha. She is survived by a son , J oe Pate, and five gra ndchi ldren. one of whom is road racer J eff Pa te, 1989 AMA/CCS Novice Middl eweight Supersp ort and Middl e- . weigh t GP cha mp. Las Vegas Int erna tion al Speed way (formerly Las Vega s Speedrome) has reopened under new management. The roa d race track has been redesigned and repaved, and will host its fir st AMA/CCS South west regi on event on March 24-25. GP PRO, a toad raci ng orga n ization based a t Bridgehampton Race Circuit on Long Island. New York. has joined forces with the AMA/CCS, adding anot her track to th e Northeast region. The first event is sch eduled for April 28-29. Paramount Studi os film crews returned to Gardena, Ca lifornia's Ascot Park last week to shoot some last min ute racing action for Another 48 Hours. which stars Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte. Taki ng part in th e filmin g were veterans David Aldana, J ohn Hatel ey and J oe Win ston , wh o were joined by Junior class racers Jim Kessl er , Mark Ledbe tter and Joey Winston III. Spectro Oils of America and the motorcycle division of the Interna ti o nal Hot R od Associatio n have en tered an ag reeme nt naming Spectro a s th e o fficia l spo nso r o f IHRA FunnybikelTop Fuel drag bik e competition, wh ic h ,will be o ffi cia lly known as the Spectro Oils Funnybikel Top Fuel Ch all en ge. Harle y-Davidson was presented the Muscu lar Dystroph y Association (MDA) Corporate Appreciati on Award a t th e Nation al Football Lea gue Pla yers Associat ion Awards Banquet in Washington , D.C. , February 28. Proceeds from the ba nq ue t benefited MDA. Idaho 's Sen at or Steve Syrnrn s a nd Congressm an La rry Craig introdu ced legisla tion, the N a tio n al Recreatio n Trails F u n d Act , on February 21, th at would dramatically exp an d off-ro ad ridin g op port un ities. The legi slation is designed to return th e portion o f fede ra l ga s tax mon ies already paid by OHV riders to a 'p ro gram th a t will build and maintain trail system s. The bill would ' create a fund for gra nts to be mad e to state agencies for multiple use trails. Accordin g to cu rre n t estima tes. some $50 mill ion in gas taxe s are paid an n ually by OHV users. The Kat o Cycle Clu b of Mankato, Minnesota. is offerin g professional MXers the opportunity to practice on their tr ack prior to th e Millvill e (Min nesota) National MX on August 19. Accord ing to Kate 's Chris Demers . the club will make the track . which is located one and one-half hours northw est o f Mill ville, availabl e August 15-17. I£ you' re a pro rid er and are headed for Minnesota this summer. call 507/625-6505 or 345-4725.