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/127585
VOICES Lett~rs tothe editor Golden purchase Of all the things I though t I would measure success in life by - one good mar. riage, a stea dy job, a nice house, etc., I seem to have failed a t the m all. I console myself by the fact that I have become a "success" at something I never considered a benchmark. I just purchased my 50 th Yamaha RD . I h ereby p ro cl a im m yself the b ig gest RD nu t of all ti me and woul d love to hear fro m any challengers. I should qualify my claim by saying I ha ve included some RSs and an RDI25 in th at total. Long live the bike th at n obody forgets! Bruce Mangels 40253 161st St. East Palmdale, CA 93591 805/264-4373 Class act Roy Nicholson of N icholson Enterprises and American Harley-Davidson in Ann Arbor, Mich igan, ha s been a grea t help in the past but this time he outdid himse lf! A lit tle back ground: I a m a quadrip legic, the result o f a racin g accid ent a t the Jacksonville Half Mile in 1981. Not a lot of rea lly nea t things have ha p pened to me in the pas t 12 yea rs . Yeste rd a y was th e e xcep tio n . Roy N ich olson has he lped me in the pa st (at a benefit given fo r me right after the accident a nd b y spending m a ny hours visiting w ith fIle whi le I was hospitalized w ith a kidney infecti on ) and he has known for a couple a.f yea rs that I th o u ght Ric k y Grah am was a class act. With the help of Do ug Fay (Ricky's 883 m echanic), Roy managed to s u r p rise m e b y b ringin g Ricky Graha m by for a visi t. Saying he su rpri sed m e is an u n der sta te men t. When I saw Roy d rive up and Ricky get ou t of the tru ck, I d am nea r bla cked o u t! I've been around almost 50 years a nd I'm not easily im p ressed but I w as yesterday. These tw o guys took four hours o r so ou t of their b usy schedule to v isit a guy Ricky di d n ' t kn o w fro m Ad am. W ha t a ni ce g uy. We w ere a t ease, he talked, h e listened, a nd I w as in h og hea ve n . You can ' t as k for a n icer guy . What yo u see is what you ge t and I can't thank him enough. Speaking o f than ks, th ere ar e a co up le o f s pecial p eo pl e I w ould like to thank for all th ey ha ve done for me over the past 12 years: Roy N ich olson, Clyde a nd Perry Younce, Da v id Bloom , Bob Kruz e l, m y skydiver buddy Gary INSIDE Steinma n, a nd mos t of all my wife, who is my best friend. Thanks to all of yo u. Michael Morio Red ford, MI FEATURES PROOUcr EVALUATION Kendon Industries Stand-u p Motorcycle Transport trailer MOTOCROSS Kied ro w ski ma rches on, Dobb dusts 'em with Unadilla 4 DIRT TRACK Graha m continues strea k at Hagerstown Half-Mile 8 wins.: Devils Bowl heat My wife, Vel ma, and I have promo ted AMA races at Devils Bowl Speed w ay in Mesquite, Texas , since 1980. An ite m in th e In The Wind sec tio n of yo ur June 30 iss ue said Terry Poovey had only been beaten once at Devils Bow l and Poove y sa id "no one has ever raced a motorcycle there at night." Both sta temen ts are incorrect as is the advertisemen t that the 1993 AMA Na tional is the firs t N ational a t Devils Bow l. My w ife and I have prom oted 99.5% of all th e m otorcycle races at Devils Bowl the last 13 years, including several night races, the last bei ng in Octobe r 1992. We also hosted the AM A Na tional a t n igh t in OCtober 1988. Chris Carr w on th at race, d efea ting Po ovey a n d t h e ne x t da y C arr agai n b e a t Poove y . In ad d iti o n, Steve Morehea d d efeated both Ca r r a nd Poo vey on hi s 750 tha t d ay. Carr again ca me to Devils Bo~1 in 1991 and won everything, a nd Sammy Sw ee t d efeated Poovey in 1987. H owever, Poo vey is still the winning estever rid er a t Devils Bowl with only five defeats in main events o f d ash for cas h races si nce 1981, ac cording to o u r records. Also, for thos e who a re phoning us and askin g why we did not ge t to do the 1993 AMA National at Devils Bowl afte r spending 13 yea rs b uilding the AMA r aces to w h e r e they a re to d a y , the answer is tha t we tried b ut another p romo ter, who worked for the AMA a t that tim e, go t the event. Robert Bagwell Mesquite, TX The Nationals the Bagwe lls promoted at Devils Bowl were~OO Natio nals. TIll! race promoter they are referring to is form er Grand Nat ional Cllampion Mike Kidd and Ill! is promoting thefirst-eoer AMA Grand Nat ional Championship race at Devils Bowl. It was rained out on June 19 and the followin g day and resc hed uled fo r A ugus t 14...Editor. Leit ers to the edito r s ho uld be se nt to Vo ices, Cycle New s, P.O. Box 498, long Beach, CA 90806 or faxed to 310/427--6685. Publish ed lette rs do no t necessaril y reflect the pos itio n o f Cycle New s, Inc. Letters sho uld not exceed 200 wo rds and all lett ers are su bject to ed iting. Anon ym ous letters will not be cons ide red for p ubl lcat lon. All le tt ers s hould cc n tai n the sender's na me, add ress and d ayt ime phone num ber. DUAL SPORT Blackwater 200 Dual Sport Ride The other Blackwater 12 19 ROADRACING Rainey returns with win a t GP of Europe 20 Force Racin g's Nelson Ledges 24-Hour 26 Henning stars a t Lo udon AHRMA Vintage RR.....••.•...........•....28 NOSTALGIA Time Forgotte n .30 TEST BMW's R100GS - A different kind of dual sport bike : 14 TECHNICAL Yamaha Tf350 Du al Sp ort Co nversion m ade easy , 18 DEPARTMENTS EVENTS _ CALENDAR RESULTS WANTADS _ _ _.._ _ _ _ .32 44 51 53 ONTHEFRONT PAGE: A pa ir of riders stopped a nd e njoyed the sce nery in the Black wat er Falls Sta te Park d uring the third runnin g o f the Blackw a ter 200 d ual sport ride in West Virg ini a . See page 12 for a repo rt on the tw o-da y rid e. Photo b y Jim Talkington. Sharon Clayto n, Pr..iden t Michael Klinger, Pub/is/In Editorial /Editur Jack Mangus, Associate Pubfislter Kit Palmer, Associal. Editor Paul Carruthe rs, Associate Editor Donn Maeda, Associate Editor Chris [onnum, Assoc Editor iat. Edwina Mangus, Calendar Editor Graphics and Production Ree Johnson, Production Supervisor Mand y Loo , Production Manager Dennis Greene, lAb. Tech. Stacey Guest, GraphicArtist Amy Faught, Graphic Artist Victoria Vaus, Graphic Artist Ad m ini st ration Judy Klinger. Coordinator etary to thePublisher Peggy Rivera, Secr Want Ads Kelly Branscome, Waflt Ad Sales Accounting/Data Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond, AIR Coordinator Geneva Repass, Assistant Herlane Lewis, Credit National Headq uarte rs 2201 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA 90806. P.O. Box498. Long Beach,CA 90801-049B (310) 427-7433; (213) 636-8844 . FAX (3 10) 427.f>685 Advertising Terry Prall, National Acrounts MaTlJIger Mark Thome, W"tern S