Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Cham pionship are : Bruce Penhall , curre nt Nat io nal Cham pion and Wo rl d Cha m pio n; Dennis Si galos, winner of the 1982 USA World Quali fier; and Kell y Moran, second in the 19 82 USA World Qua lifier .- The Cycl ie rs Motorcycle Club is putting o n a Trop hee and Motocross des Natio ns Ben efit on Aug. 21, at the Bakersfield Speedway in Oildale, CA. In addi tion to their 100%Expert p ayback, th e speed way will also be giving awa y a Honda Express to one lucky spectator that night. For m o re in fo rm a tion, check the CN calendar sectio n. Th e Mountain Road racing A ssoci at ion is offering a $35 0 0 purse f or their seventh an nual Six- Hour Endurance Rac e A ug. 28-29 at Woody Creek Racew ay in A spen, CO. The track will be open Saturday Aug. 28 for practice and t ime trials. Pre-entry is $1 2 5 . Send ent ries to MRA , 370 C St reet, Golden, CO, 8 0 4 0 1, by Aug . 21 . Papa recei ved a note from th e family of speedway racer john Fos ter , letting th e o r fella know tha t john is do ing well. Foster almost lost a finger in an acciden t, but surgery save d the finger, and john is ex pected to rega in 80 to 90% of its use. -' Keit h Van Harte, who was w ith U. S. Suzuki f or over 17 years and D irect or of Advertising f or t he last several, is no longer with the co mpany. Van Harte w as reportedly asked to resign during the first w eek of A ugust, and when we call ed for confirm at io n, a Suzuki spoke.man said, " I believe that to be true." Van Harte left Suzuki week, and Tom Knudsen has been named as the new National Advert ising Manager . Sketchy reports from th e Sp anish round of th e 125cc World Motocross Championship Series in Spa in sa y th at Suzuki teammates H a rry Everts and Eric Ge boe rs split moto wins and ru n ne r-u p fin ish es. Geboers had recently clinch ed the title. The California Off-Highw ay Vehicle Advisory Com m ittee w ill meet on Friday; A ug . 20 at the South County Reg ional Center, 800 West · Branch St., in A rroyo Grande . Topic s of discussion for the 6 p.m . m eet ing inc lude review of developm ent plans f o r the Ca rneg ie, Hu ngry Va ll ey and Ocot illo W~lIs SVRA s, the department's bu dget f or next ye ar, the stat ew ide OH V Trails Plan , a repo rt on recent Coasta l Com m ission act ion as it _ pertains to the Pism o Dunes SVRA, and status reports on new areas under study f o r new SV RAs. The Advisory Comm ittee w ill tour the Pismo Dunes on Friday afternoon, prec eding t he meet ing. For more inf ormat io n on the m eeting , conta ct the California Departm ent of Park s and Rec reat ion at 916/3229 57 2 . - run o n the half mile oval, and al ready entered are 1981 cham pi on John Co ok, Lance King and Bobby Schwartz. Speaking of Ascot, legendary Ascot promoter J .C. Agajanian is currently in Hawaii celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary. Aggie, who as we reported earlier in the year underwent a battery of tests for recurring stomach troubles, was diagnosed as having an ulcer. Ascot's Ben Foote tells us that Aggie is now on medication, and " his life is getti n g back to normal." In the meantime, best wishes to Aggie and Fa y Agajanian on their golden wed ding anniversary. One final A scot note: The weekly CMC short track on Thu rsday nights will ha ve two kart-only nights, Aug. 26 and Sept . 23. Statistics comp iled by the American Motorcyclist Association and the Mo torcycle Safety Fo u nda tio n show th at motorcycle reg istrations, accidents and fatalities a ll declined in 1981. Total registrations of street-legal motorcycles declined 1.02% to 5,623,336, while accidents involving motorcycles dropped 1.2% to 175,022. By far the largest decline was in fatal accidents involving motorcyles, where the figures dropped 4.96% to 4,844. That was first decline since 1976, and even though registrations have increased, the total figure was below the 1979 mark. Brad Lackey, t he newly-crow ned 5 0 0 cc World Motocross Champ ion, will attend t he Aug . 21 -22 A M A/Winst o n Pro Series ro ad races at Sears Point aathe official Grand Marshall of the eve nt . Rac ing will be going on both day s wit h t he Superbike final at 3 p .m . o n Saturday an d a full day of Form ula One, Formula Two, Sidecar and Battle of t he Tw ins racing begi nning at 1 1 a.rn , on Sat urday . Sears Point is at t he intersection of Highw ays 37 and 121 in So nom a, CA. For more in f o on t he event, call 707/ 938-8 448 . An error was made in th e results as we printed them from the NMAlYamaha . Grand Nation al Championship a t Ponca City, OK. Mike P asca rella should have been listed as third in the lO5cc 9-11 class. The slightly crosseyed editor responsible for the error sends his apologies to Mike, and we add our best wishes for his future racing. The Cycle News Barst ow to Vegas Motorcycle Road Ride and Poker Run, scheduled for Nov. 27, will finish in the RV parking lot adjacent to the Circus Circus ho tel on the Las Ve gas St rip. The starting area will · be the sam e as for the past two ye ars, just north of the Alvord Rd . overp assofl -15, about 20 miles north of Barst ow , CA. Stay t uned t o this ne wspaper for further details. The tragic car-train accident that occured shor tly after the N MA Gra nd Na tional C ham p io n sh ip in Po nca City, OK, claimed anoth er life o n T ue sd ay, Aug. 10. Rick H em m e passed away in the intensive care uni t of St. Francis-Hosp ital in Tulsa . Rick was buried in Lancaster, CA, on Au g . 14. The so le surviving occupant of th e ca r, Da na Duke, is now listed in fai r co ndition at St. Francis. Speaking of the above-mentioned Cycle News Motorcycle Road Ride and Poker R u n , Papa remembered that this year's edition is the fourth annual. Papa had one of his better ideas - reverse the direction, run it from Vegas to Ba rsto w and then make up finisher pins that read' 'V to B4." Wiser heads in the office simply duct taped the or fella 's mouth shut and chained him to a sturdy typewriter. Ascot Raceway w ill present its annual Long T r ac k S peedway Championship on Sunday evening, Aug. 29 at 7 p .m . Th is event will Any AMA Formula One rider w ho has not rec eived information in the mail regarding the Formula One road race at the Caesars Palace GP on Sept. 2 6 , should contact AF M Pro at 714/735- 5 3 4 2. Also, AFM Pro is making ro om reserva tions for the riders, so let them know your lodging requirem ent s ASAP . The Dirt Diggers M.e. will host their an nual G P at Hungry Va lley o n Oct. 2-3. According to Digger spokesman Na te Scia q ua, the GP wi ll be la id ou t on "never-ridden-be fore-even -by-tra ilride rs ground," in the Quail Canyon area . The race will u ti lize the Q ua il Canyon freewa y off-ra m p off 1-5. The last Sequoia work day of 1 982 will be held in the Sequoia National Forest in northern California on Sept. 4 . This is a good opportunity to meet other motorcyclists and do something good for the sport and Mother Nature as well. For more information, check the CN calendar section. G lancing through the Sep tem ber 1982 edition of Mo tocross Acti on, Pap a ca me across a nd took th eir monthl y Na me T he Cha m ps quiz. While we're not revealing the official Wealey score, we did no ti ce the fo llo wing quest ion: " Counting Int er-AMAs, Trans-AMAs, Trans-USAs, Supercrosses, 125, 250 a nd 500 Championship s, which rid er has the m ost C ha m p ionships to hi s credit? How many? A. Bob Hannah. B. Bro c Glo ver. e. G ary j o n es. D. Mark Barnett. E. Roger DeCoster. " The off icial MX A ans wer was A., Bob H annah . A prize of unspecified va lue is h ereb y offered to the Cycle News reader who is the firs t to tell us why MXA is wrong, who really has the most Championships, and ho w m a n y. CN staffers aren 't eligible an d the offer is, of course , void where prohi bite d . The Elks are hosting a benefit motocross on Aug. 29 in Santa Maria, CA, with 100% of the proceeds going 't o handicapped children. Overnight camping is free, there will be 50% trophies to all classes and a 1982 Suzuki Shuttle will be given away as a door prize. There will also be contingency prizes to all riders and a skydiving exhibition. American - Motocross Enterprises is sanctioning the event and, though membership is not required, AME m embers will recei ve double po ints. For more in formatio n, refer to the CN calendar section. A mys terious ly-disappeari ng set o f notes and a slight case of fra zzled nerv es led Papa into boo- boo ing in this space last week. Specificall y, Kaw asaki-mounted Mike Keyte was the Pro Stock winner at the N MRA G olden State Nationals at Frem o nt, CA , on Aug. 8. Dave Sch u ltz , in co rrectl y listed in th ese pages as the wi n ner, did bri efly hold the ET record until it was furt h er low ered by Suzuki 's T erry Vance. T he complete Fremont sto ry is o n p. 20. Claude Larose of Tr iangle Accessories in Quebec, Canada, has appointed Bill Worthington as Triang le's national sales representative in the U.S. In addit ion to Worthi ngt o n's new resp onsibilities w ith Triangle, he w ill con tinue to ma nage and promot e Leak Proof Sea ls. Bill ca n be contacted at P.O . Box 61 , Pataskala, OH 4 3 0 6 2, 614/ 927·5300. The Tahoe Nationa l Forest is beg in ning to develop the ir O HV Use P la n a nd they are seekin g input fr om n orthern Ca lifo rnia off-ro aders. Accordi ng to Paul Dolde fo the Motorcycle Indus try Co uncil, expanded trail systems an d fa ci lities for motorcycles, three-wheelers and fo ur-wh eel drives are possible, if there is enoug h interest to he lp the plan along. O rga n ized cl u b participation in volun teer efforts a re especially needed to help mai ntain existing trails. If you like ri ding in the Tahoe Fo rest and wa nt to h el p keep the trails open, co ntact Do u g H a tch , R ecr ea tio n Planner, Tahoe ational Forest, Hwy. 49 & Co yot e s... Nevada City, CA 95959. California Assembly Bill 2398, which would place the state's 0 HV Fund under the control of an independent OHV Commission, cleared the Senate Natural Resources and Wildlife Committee by a 5-0 vote. The measure should beup before the Senate Finance Committee by the time you read this, and on to the full floor of the Senate on the following week. .There's still time to write to your state senator, urgi ng his/her yes vote on AB2397. All California legi slat o rs can be written to i n care of the State Capitol, Sacrament o, CA 95814. T eam Hammer founder Bruce H amme r has ap p oi nted Norma Bonelli busine ss manager for the endura n ce ro ad racing tea m . Bo n ell i has been inv olved in mo torcycle racing for a decade an d runs her own distr ib ut ing co m pany, TrFN Specialties, ou t of Urba na, Illinois. Bonelli will handle all p ro m o tio na l and sp o nsorsh i p co ntacts and ne gotiations for Team Hammer and can be reac he d at 217/469-2784. What kind -of bike does Danny laPorte ride? A KTM. Wait a minute, that's a KTM bicycle. laPorte uses the -ten-speed as part of his training program in Europe. Facto ry entries for th e T rans- USA MX Series are still up in th e air. Kaw asaki wishes to go, but doesn ' t have th e budget to do it. Yamaha is still makin g a deci sion. Eve n Mark Barnett do esn ' t kn ow if Suzuki is going or no t. H o n da loo ks to be the o n ly tea m at this p oin t who plans on bein g there. National Road Racing Champion Dale Singleton is o n the verge of hanging up his leathers. The twot ime Daytona 200 winner says he can't sta y competitive as a privateer any longer, an d that a ride on a factory 500cc GP bike is about the only th ing that would keep him scratching t he pavement in ' 83. Sometimes stories aren't to ld until well aft er the incident occ urs. It seems that after Darr ell Shu ltz won th e Daytona Supercross, a cele bration dinner was held in Dayto na Beach . During th e dinner Shultz's Honda teammate, Johnny O 'Mara, threw a di nner roll at Sh ul tz. Shultz ducked , a nd the roll hit one of H on da 's head execu tives, from japan , in th e h ead. No one laughed u ntil th e executive did; even then, many didn ' t th in k O 'M ara 's jo ke ca m e off too well. It a ll ended in fun wh en th e j apanese execu tive went to th e kitchen, came back wit h a piece of ch eesecake, and smashed it in Sh ultz 's face AMA and NMA amateur MXer Ron Lech ien, w h o ri des for Yamaha's ama teur support program, is hot property for ' 8 3 . It ' s reported Honda offered Lechien a one year pro contract for $80,000. Yamaha is reported to have countered with a three year deal-$55,000 for the ' first year, $1 00,000 for the second and $150,000 for the third. Lechien said he has not yet signed with anyone for '83, but is planning on inking with Yamaha in the near f ut ure. • 3'

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