Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

A week -lo ng tr ial exa mI ni ng the ac tions of for mer Spartanburg, South Carolina, police chief W.e. Bain Jr. at a 1994 American Red Cross charity event attended by over 500 motorcyclists ended in a mistrial last week, according to the AMA. Chief Bain, who is named in the suit along with the city police department, had ordered officers to stop and search hundreds of motorcyclists who had attended the event to raise donations for the Red Cross. Bain reportedly ordered the searches af ter he had received information that there was the possibility o f violence between two rival mo torcyc le gangs a t the eve n t. Th e eig h t-me m ber jury was una ble to d eli ver a verdict regarding the co ns titu tio nal legality of the search es despite three days of deliber ation as w ell a s te s t im o n y fr om o ne of the sta te's h ighest-pl aced law en forcemen t offici a ls, Ch ie f Rob ert Stewart of th e South Carolina Law En forcemen t Division, ind icating th at h e h ad co ncerns about th e sea rches and had ordered h is agen ts not to participate in th e operation. The class-action suit was brought on behalf of 107 m o t or cy cl ist s w ho were subje cted to the sea rches. Some of the in divid ua ls searched incl uded a local magistrate, offica ls fro m a nearby BMW manufactu ring facility and a vice president of a local ba nk. The case will now be heard again in front of a new Jury a nd U.S. District Judge G . Ross Anderson has scheduled the retrial for June 10 in Anderson, South Carolina. After recent moves to severely restrict the use of s t a t e lands b y off-roa d moto rcyclists in Massachu setts, steps are bein g taken to open ot her non-stat e lands to of f-road mot orcycle and ATV riders w ith a proposed marked redraft of Massach us etts house b ill 4985. Bill H -498 5 w as originally su bmitted in a form that covered th e use of sno wmobiles only, but it has bee n proposed to ex ten d th e biII to cover "recrea tio n" ve hi cles, in cludin g off -ro a d motorcycles and ATVs . The bill wou ld allow club s an d their members to ge t oral or written p ermi ssi on to u s e p ri v at e ly owned or leased land s an d lim it the liabili ty of th e land o w ner o r le ss ee if so meone is inju red . Rider s interested in freer land u se in the sta te of Massachusetts sho u ld su pport H -4985 and its ex tensio n t o re cr e a t ion vehicles. In addition, H -2400-1040, an amendment to the Massachuset ts state budget, pro vides th at any fees that the Department of Environmental Ma nagement collects from "recreation" vehicle use must go to the mainten an ce of recreation-vehi- de trails. To voice yo ur opinion to your Massachussettes sta te representative an d sta te se nator, even if vou don't know h is or her name, call 617/7222000. Whi le you have your representative on the line, you should also mention your dismay with the recent limitations regarding the use of state lands for off-road rid ing and the possible negative effects the land closures could induce by overconcentration of use due to trail closure. For further information, call Mark at Freddy's Cycle Cen ter at 617/847-0001, or 508/947-4450; or call Dave at Bettencourt's Honda Suzuki at 508/587-1701. opted to withdraw fro m the class upon the introduction of the CBR600F3 in 1995, with the well-known re s u lt Honda won every race during the 1995 season. Yamaha is currently working on getting the YZF600, or Thundercat as it is known in the rest of the world, EPA certified and ready for release in the U.S. According to a spokesman for Yamaha, the YZF600 will undergo extensive track testing before a final decision is made, though it seems highly unlikely that an all-new motorcycle would be introduced into such a hotly contested class without being campaigned in Supersport competition. WERA Vintage has in tr o d u ce d four new classes for the 1996 racing season. The Vint age 1 class h as been sp lit into Pre-' 66, Pre- '65 and Pre- '7 3, w hi le th e Vinta ge 4 cla ss has been split into Tw oStroke and Fou r-St ro ke cl asses. The new Pre-'66 and '65 cla sses offer sm aller d isplacem en t mot orcycles to be comp etiti v e among themse lves wi th th e same advantages being ga ined wi th the d ivision of th e two-stro kes and fourstro kes. In ad di tion, WERA Vi ntage allows racers hold ing current AHRMA o r USC RA racing licenses to participa te in a WERA Na tional Vin tage se ries event without the obligation of p uchasing a WERA competition license. AMA Pro Ra cin g and th e Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course annou nced d uring the AMA Superbike Na tional Champions hi p Seri es round on Ju ne 2, p la ns for a w eek-long Cycle Festival on Ju ly 11-20 , 1997. Th e AM A Su pe rb ike Na tional Championshi p roun d will be hel d on Jul y 11-13, in conju nction w ith the follo wi ng weekend's AMA Vintage Mo torcycle Days. Mid -Ohio p resid en t Michelle Truman Gajoch also said the date change fo r the AMA Superbike weekend also h ad a lot to do with the poor weather th e event has had since moving to early Ju ne. Naturally, it rai ned on June 2 for the AMA road races. Due to the cancellation of th e 'Ap ril 6 WERA race at Grattan, Michigan, due to snow, a n event at Putnam Park in Mo u nt Meridian, Indiana, on September 28, has been ad ded to the calendar. The rained-out AMA D-36 Dirt Days, originally scheduled for May 18-19, has been rescheduled for June 22-23 in Foresthill, California . There will be a n ight en d uro and a poker run . For more in formation, call 916/645-6002. The last tw o rou nds of the SSC Castaic Brick Spring Nationals h av e bee n changed from Saturdays to Sundays; at th e Castaic tra ck in Cas ta ic, Cali fornia, on June 9 an d the Hungry Valley facility in Go rm an, Cali fornia, on June 16. For m ore in form a tion, ca ll 805/2940020. Though the 1997 racing season still seems a long way off, an almost-sure int ro d uctio n of the new YZF600 at the end of this year has sparked speculatio n as to whether or not Yamaha will rejoin the AMA 600cc Superspo rt class they officially left after Jamie James won the title for them in 1994. Yamaha Last year, PireIIi joined forces with the AMA and multi-tim e off-road racing champion Scott Summers to form the PirellilS u m mersl AMA Land Use Fund. The fund's purpose was to "help preserve current off- road racin g areas and establish new ones." In a re cent public ceremony, Pirelli demonstrated its co m mi tmen t to the project when they present ed th e AMA wi th a check for $5000. offers Ka w a sa ki customers a flexi b le way of purch asin g merchandise . Th e Good Times Ca rd can be used for Jet Ski watercraft, ATVs, d ual-purpose and off-road motorcycles, Mule uti lity vehicles and Kawasaki generators . Street moto rcycles will contin ue to b e financed on closed-end contracts. Led by off-road legend Malco lm Smith, th e recent Six Da ys of Baja was a success. Smi th led a group of 58 participants from Ensenada to the tip of Baja California and back to the Ll.S. border. "It was one of the most exciti ng tr ips I have ever been on ," said Don Mackey, th e ow ner of Don Mackey GMC Truck of Tuscon, Arizona, who was a participant as well as a sponso r of the event. Funds raised by the ride will be donated to Internation al Chil d Care to help bu ild a mu ch-n e ed ed o r p h a n age in Valle de Trinidad. Sheldon Coleman, pres iden t of Big Do g M otor cy cl e s L.L.e. of Wi chita , Kansas, has announce d the p rod u ction of the 100th Big Dog mot orcycle. "This is a great m oment for Big Dog," said Coleman. "While we will sti ll con tinue a cus to m -motorcycle ope ratio n, th e manufact ured line of Big Do g s h a s become our primary business. Our production rates are now in excess of 20 motorcycles per month, so the next 100 will come qu ickly." Big Dog continues to sell m o t o r cy cl e s direct, b u t is increasing dealer sales th ro ugh a growing n e twork of authorized Big Dog dealers, according to Big Dog . The future stars of Am erican dirt track racing will take center stage at the 1996 AMA Amateur and Youth D irt Track Nationals, scheduled for Ju ly 2-4 at the 1-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich igan. Th e se ries has been th e s p ringboard for su ch cu rrent AMA sta rs as Ch ris Carr, Larry Pegram, Ken ny Coo lbeth [r., and Doug Cha ndler. Acco rd ing to Rob ert McD evitt of ADT Auto mo tive Inc., th e recent Kyle Petty Charity Ri d e Ac ross Am erica raised some $ 50 0, 000 , whi ch w ill be s p lit b etwe en th e Mak e-A -Wish Fo unda t ion and th e W in st on Cup Ra cin g Wives Au xil iary . Most of th e ride fea ture d a m inimum of 200 rid ers w it h up to 300 foll o w ing th e g ro u p in to ci ties suc h as Nashv ille, Te n nessee . Heading in to Ch arl otte, North Ca roli na, McDevitt estimates th at there w as a 1000-bike co nvoy t h at stre tche d some five miles. In case you h a ven 't he a rd, th e 19 th An nual Good Time Nationa l G N C Motocross h as been moved to a new lo cat ion . The event, w hic h is s t ill scheduled to go off July 6-7, h as been m o v ed fr om La k e W hi tney Cycl e Ran ch in Lake W hitney, Texas, to Mosier Valle y Moto cross in Mos ie r Valley, Texas. For m ore in for m ation, call 214/351 -9900. Kawasaki has introduce d the Good Times Ca rd , a revol vin g charge ca rd issued th rough Household Ret ail Services which has no annual fee and BORN: Joshua Dale McCoy to longtime AMA D-29 and SE&TRA co mpetitor Johnny M cCoy and his wife Lyn, on May 14 in Sumter, South Carolina. Di r- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- ------------ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - -, (EID ~ SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM Name _ Address City _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ O rde r Date State _ _ Zip _ This is a 0 New Subscription o Renewal o Please bill me o Bill 3 payments of $12.67 o Enclosed is my check or money order Charge my 0 Visa 0 Mastercard Signature Please start my subscription to Cycle News: o Every week for one year (50 issues) for $38.00 (can be billed 3 mo nthly payments) o Every week for two years (100 issues) for $70.00 o Six months second class (25 issues) for $19.00 MC/Visa# _ Expiration Da te fII:17i:fl.\"\l ~ I Sendto: ~ ~ , nco P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801-0498 Toll Free Subscription Hotline (800) 831-2220 O ne year (50 issues ), 2nd class Canad a or Mexico and all other foreign countries L. .::~~(~S~:~)!~~I~S~~ ::r:a:r~:a:a~~e.:,,:n..:e~~t:... o • ":'4~~r':~ ~r~e:.L:e~~)~2~c:s~ .J 3

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