Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

T aylor was thrown onto the track, knocked unconscio us an d suffered a broken collarbone and ot her bruises, so we're certain ly glad to hear th at. Pa c ific Northw e st m ot oc ro s s fa ns and ride rs will have a c o uple of , g ood deals leading up to the Aug. 8 Washougal 125/500 cc AMA MX National. On Aug. 5 at Po rtla nd International Racewa y's nig ht MX, there w ill be a $1 000 g ua ranteed Pro p u rs e ; plus several Northwest deale rs will be fattening that sum w it h their own c o ntributions. Gates open at 5 p .m. fo r that one. Fo r more info, call 503/285-6635 or 774-3 3 5 6. The next day at Va nc o uve r Yamaha/ Suzuki, there will be a Ya maha Motocroll Clinic , with Superbowl winner Mike Be ll a nd eve r-popula r Bob "Hurrica n e " Ha n nah in charge. The c linic runs from 9:30 a .m. to 12:30 p.m. , and you can get more info at area de ale rs o r by calling 206/695-0 5 08. You m us t be signed up ahea d of ti m e fo r this one. Oh yes, Be ll and Ha n nah will be at Vancouver Yamaha / Suzuki that afternoon to sign aut ographs. O vernight camping will be ava ilable at Washougal for th e National. However, there will be no glass containers of any kind allowed . One of the best spectator dea ls fo r SoCal motocros s fans could be the last AMA National ro u nd at Carlsbad on Aug . 15. It w ill have half the number of people that the Datsun USGP d id , so t he re will be lots of freedom of move m e nt and places to watch from, and t ic ket prices in advanc e are just $8 for adults and $5 fo r kids. " The s e two title races could be bette r than the USGP," says promot e r Gavin Trippe, ••And, with re a s ona b le prices and the f ina l shoot o ut between all the U.S. facto ry riders to clinch both the 125/50 0 c c tit le s. we hope fo r a good turno ut. .. ABC will air coverage of the sidecar motocross conducted after the Carlsbad USG P on its Wide Wo rld of Sports show. Sched uled date is Saturday, July 31, at 5 p .m . Check local listings. The rained-o ut Santa Fe S peedway Winston Pro Serie s TT has rece ived anothe r rescheduling. The new date is S e pt . 1 0 on a Friday evening. Heavy scheduling at the Hinsdale, IL, facility has fo rced t he second delay after an int erim rescheduling to July 31. Winston Pro Series racers will compete at Santa Fe on Friday nig ht, t hen d rive to New York for the Sept . 12 S yracuse Mile. Honda Support rider Brian Myersco ugh will be on a factory Honda for the remaining 125cc National rounds at Washougal, WA and Carlsbad, CA after his fourth and top production bike finish in New York. Ov er at Husqvarna, we're t o ld that Ma rk Blackwell has been promot ed t o vic e -presldent of Ma rketing . Blackwell ass u m e s the po s itio n from Swene rik Eklund, w ho is taking another position with Electro lux, Husky' s parent com pany. Figures: Superbo wl of Motocross winner Mike Bell 's first place purse money totalled $2,720. Teammate Broc G lover's latest stereo acquisition was a reported $15,000. Monday, Aug. 2, at 3 p.m. a t the top of the timing towe r at OCIR will be · the time· and site of ,the " . 1983 NMRA rules meeting. Racers, manufacturers a nd concerned ind ivid ua ls should be in attendance or send constructive suggestions for considerations. Final rules draft will be aired at Atco Raceway in Collingswood, NJ, during t he Oct. 2-3 NMRA National. American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) members should pay particu lar attention to the August issue of A m erican Motorcyclist, th e monthly AMA magazine. Executive director Ed Youngblood explains th e revam ped Life Member program on pa ge 14 and details of the progr am appear in an ad on the facing pa ge.• Kawasaki ann'ounces sales administration reorganization plan SANTA ANA, CA, JULY 16 M. Tazaki, president of Kawasaki Motors Corp. , U .S.A., (KMC), has announced a reorganization 'of the company's sa les administration system designed to directly increase field sales support and improve overall operational effectiveness. . The company plans a three-month transition from a regional administration system to a centralized national sales administration and operat ions system . KMC has been regionalized since _ 1971 with sales administration and operations offices in Santa Ana, California; Arlington , Texas; G rand Rapids, Michigan; Atlanta, Georgia; and Edison, New jersey. Under the reorganization plan these offices will be more able to concentrate on field sales. Warehousing and training functions will con tin ue at th e regional locations while distribution, adm inistrations and operations will be central ized at the company 's Santa Ana hea dquarters. T he admini stratio n of dealer credit managemen t and cash collections as well as the pr ocessing of vehicle orders will be centralized in Californ ia. T he move aligns KMC fun ctions with the other major U.S. motorcycle distributors. T azaki also announced severa l personnel changes accom panying the reorganization p la n. Hiroshi " Henry" Noda has been ap pointed vice president of the corporate office. His responsibilities incl ude marketing research, sales planning and control, credit policies and evaluation and special projects as assi gned by the preside nt. The adve rtising and public relations departments will als o report to him in or der to more clos ely align these function s with overall corporate planning. No da, a 21-year Kawasaki employee, rejoined KMC fro m Kawasaki Heavy Industries in j apan in January of this year. J oseph FioRica has been named vice president of operations. He will be in charge of all order entry, distribution and warehousing of vehi cles and parts. Additionally, the accessories department and the graphic services department will report to him. FioRico, a l l-year employee of KMC, has been vice president of product • ~en:ic<;s for ~~~ ~ast.~~:mr years . Ga ry "J et" Johnson will be ap pointed vice president of sales. H is responsibilities will include national sales , dealer services, management of the regional sales offices, Team Green, Team T o ur operations and police bike sales . johnson, an 8-year KMC employee has most recently served as regional sa les manager of the central sales region. He replaces Chuck Larsen who will resign August 10. Larsen , who started wit h KMC in 1968 and progressed through the ra nks of field sales management, became vice president of sales in 1979. In 1981 he was elected to the KMC Board of Directors. Throughout Larsen's ten ure wi th KMC the company gr ew from a national sales volume of 20,000 units wi th 5% of market share to a current vol ume of annual registrations exceeding 128,OOO'units with 16%of market share. He resigned in order to return . to Atlanta and pursue other interests as owner and publisher of several fish and game magazines. Paul Trotta is named regional sales manager for the eastern ar ea. Tro tta will have the responsibility of ach ieving KMC sales objectives through a network of authorized Kawa sa ki dealers inthe l I-state New Engla n d area. Trotta is headquartered in the company 's Edison, New j ersey, regional office. Dennis Revell has been ap pointed regional sales manager for th e central area, a seven-state southern and midwestern sales area of authorized Kawasaki dealers. Revell will be headquartered in the Arlington, Texas, KMC regional office. • T HE NATIONAL PAPERS A recent article appeared in the Los An geles Times, the dail y bible o f most of so u th ern California. The article stated that speedway champ Bruce Penhall had backed off in a recent race in Europe so that three other American riders could advance onto another meet based upon th e points scored. It stated that it was a four rider race, all Americans, and Pen hall never ran in any position other than last place from the start. The article went on to say that the British fans yelled, booed, threw var ious objects and in general were very unhappy with Penhall, whom the T imes later refered to as "The Darling of Speedway." The other Americans who advanced did so in place of British riders. It brought to m y mind that on severa l occas ions over the years , some of the point battles tha t have come down to the tail-end of a season, or the final race. Not t o de c i d e simpl y advancement to ano ther event on an o ther day in another country, but for th e Grand National title, thousands of dollars and some future sponsorships. It also brought to mind a few races years ago, non-National type , where the turnout of riders was so slim that it was going to be very difficult to put on a show. The latter brings to mi nd a half m ile event many years ago a t a county fai r in the Midwest. The promoter had to guaran tee a certa in number of riders. Weather was bad all around that da y and th e entry list was slim for bo th the Expert and Juni or classes. We combined the two groups to still come u p sh ort but wi th eno ugh for a couple.of heats and a final. There were only two or th ree ra n king Experts that knew how to tum left a t speed. We gathered the riders and to ld th em that a show m us t be put on if the races were to come ba ck again o n an annual basis. They agreed. . Instead of setting back and runn in g las t from start to fini sh, th ey . took turns blasting into the lead on every tum. The eventual winner was decided in the last half la p. The crowd lo ved it , the riders liked it and it was one of the best " show s" I ha ve ever seen . They are still raci ng on the same track once a year. While the cou nty fair even ts can be for fun and small purses it is a different matter wh en it comes to th e National events. But over the years I have wa tch ed Trium ph and H arley do battle for th e title. T ri u mph against Triumph and Harley against Harley for the overall win and any points that coul d be had. . Also add factory ri der against factory rider from the same tea"!. I ca n think of no case where a rider backed off to let another ri der go by and p ick up more points. I am speak.ing of AMA National events of the Wi nston Pro Series type . I know th a t it has happened in motocross and there was much flak about it, but not in dirt orroa d raci ng events here in the U.S. What comes to mind in recent times is th e Harley factory team ri ders. I ha ve been to races d uri ng a crucia l point in th e season and wa tched where nobody would bac k off for Jay Springsteen, Ra ndy Goss or any other rider who had a shot a t th e wi n or the Grand National title. I have read abou t teams in European road racing, both cars and cycles, where the instr uctions are that a certain rider/driver must win or be in front of his teamma tes a t race end. I have never heard of it in the U .S. Penhall was q uo ted as sayi n g h e did it for his fellow Americans, a sta tement th a t may haunt him for the rest of his ra cing career, and righ t at a time when it appeared that he had everythi ng go ing for him in the world of speedway racing on either shore. Comments have come that Bru ce could have at least made it look like a race, or could have fa llen down, or made a big mistake out on the course. Anything except saying in public that he took a dive, went into the tank, didn't try to win. Honesty may not always be the best policy, at least in the case of th e best speedway racer in the world. Perhaps this is one of the reasons there is no betting on cycle racing. A good racer can do many things on a track on any lap in any event. The only opinion I have is that Bruce Penhall hurt onl y himself by being so open and perhaps challenging about the whole th ing. I don 't know of anybody th at has enough guts to approach a Winston Pro Series rider and ask him to hold back. It would be asking fo r a guaranteed punch in the face. We all make mistakes and young racers make more than most, but don 't try and convince Kenn y Roberts or Jay Springsteen to go slow - even in practice. We asked Rober ts one time to take it easy for at least part of a 250cc mad race; t oat least make a portion of the event interes ting . He said he wo uld until he started lapping the slower , rid ers. He kept his word, but led all the way and when he caught the fir st slow one he gass ed it and was gone. Something to think abo ut. Roxy Rockwood J 3

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