Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

We thought we had a winner in the off-shoot of the Name The Champs c ont est run in last week's Latest Poop. Then one reader with a m ind a s devilish as the Weale y Special posed an answer t ha t se nt the 01' fe lla back to the boo ks to do a little resea rc h . Complete answe rs next w eek on the w inninge st champ. as w e ll as on,how far a que st io n ca n be taken. HosPITal ST OP: "This year' s ou t," admi tte d def end in g AMA G rand Na tional Champion Mike Kidd in an Aug. 20 phone call. "I'm goi ng into the hospital this Monday (Aug. 23), and they're go ing to tie up the liga men ts in the kne e that I inj ured last Friday ni gh t at San ta Fe. I'll be in the hos pital for five days, in a cast for three weeks, and then I'll be able to begin reha bilitation. " Kidd will miss the remainder of the Winston Pro Series, bu t said tha t he hoped to make the Oct. 31 Superbikers ra ce a t Carl sbad. While Kidd is recuperating, he has a project to keep him busy . It's t he Nava Southern S tate s Cha m pions hip Series, a three -e vent s hort t ra c k and TT series to be held on Labor Day Weekend . Saturda y and S unday. Sept. 4 -5, w ill see racing at Mike Kidd 's Hills ide , with t he serie s moving to Ro s s Dow ns on S e pt . 6. The AMA S e m i-Pro event w ill feature a $450 0 pu rs e and tro phies for the amate u rs . For info o n the events. call817/ 4 3 3 -5 5 5 9. Morgan Kavanaugh (Bul) was the winner of the Aug . 15 rain-shortened 13th an n ual Rocky Mountain T rials Associa tion 's Ute Cup with a score of 13. He was followed by Three other Colorado riders: Bill Burgener (Bul), last year 's winner with 28; Dave Burke (Bul)with 43; and G uy Boden (SWM) with 43. Fifth place went to Ca lifornia rider Dave Webster (SWM) wi th 50 points. Va n Leeuwen Enterp rises has just c om plet ed its third expa ns ion in five years with a move to la rger corpo ra t e headquart e rs and warehouse spaC8at 1327 5 Paxto n Ave., Arleta. CA 91331 . Along with t he m ove , Bob Gonnen, forme rly wit h ebeor, has joi ned Van Leeuwen a s special assistant t o t he presid e nt. The president is, of cou rse. fo rm e r TT great Go rd o n G. "Skip" Va n Leeuwen . T he California OHV Trails Plan status report is on the agenda of the Sep t. 17 meeting of the California Department of Parks and Recreation's Recrea tional T rail s Committee. That meeting begi ns at 9 a.m. at the Big 4 Buildi ng (upstairs), III " I" St., in Sacramento. Te rry Tiernan has resigned as gene ra l manager of R.C . Eng inee ring . " The re were a couple of other t hings he wanted to do, " s a id Russ collins. "including a move ba ck to the midw e st . Eve rything w as on good terms and we gave him a glowing reco m me ndatio n. Co llins said he would ass ume the ge ne ra l mange r d uti s himself. II World 500cc Motocross Champion Brad La ckey will be honored for his achievement during halftime cerem onies at the World Speedway Champi onship at the L.A. Colise um on Aug. 28. The final AMA 125 cc Mo t ocro s s S e ries point st a ndings s hould have credited Johnny O ' Ma ra w ith 3 0 5 point s for his second on the yea r, a nd third place J im Gibso n wit h 2 8 9 . In the 5 0 0 cc point s. Donnie Cantaloupi was actually the 19th place rider with 66 points. T he Pasadena City Council voted 5-2 in favor of having a 1983 Supercross event in the Rose Bowl. Wh ile the date has not been set pending the AMA promoters meetin g, the Stadium Motorsports event will probably be some time in Aug ust. Stadium Motors ports Gene ral Manager Mike DeStefano a ls o told Papa that they are proceedi ng with attempts to stage a mile 'National at the Lo s Alamitos race t rack. which Mike Goodwin made mention of in a Cycle News interview ' two months ago. While nothing is firm on that project. DeStefa no says t hat Los Alamitos ow ner Lillie Ves s els is "1 0 0% behind the project ." The BL M's Ridgecrest Resource area has an nounced the begin ning of the final major comment period on public route approval process for portions of ·Kern and San Bern ardino counties th at incl ud es the Do ve Springs/jawbonearea. This will be a . . very important p hase, because those who have seen the interim list of approved routes tell us, " If it's not on the Auto Club map, it's closed." The BLM has scheduled an open house on the matter, from 12noo n to 8 p. m. on Aug. 30 at the Ridgecrest Resource Area Office, 1415-A Norma, in Ridgecrest. Public comment files, wor k maps and other information used to develop the proposed routes will be available for p u blic viewing. Those unable to make the ope n house but wish to be involved in the rou te approval program sho uld contact Stan Zuber a t the Ridgecrest office, ' 714/ 446-4526. T he final public comment period ends Sept. 20. The BLM's California Desert District Multiple Use Advisory Co m mi t e e w ill meet Aug . 27 f rom 10:3 0 a .m . to 5 :30 p .m. at t he G reen Tree Inn . Cryital Room s A and B, 1 41 7 3 Green Tree Blvd .• in Vict o rville , CA . Included in the agenda a re 1 9 8 2 California De sert Plan a m me ndments. Stu Peters called in to say that the California Moto-sports Club has outgrown its old Post Office box, but not the Costa Mesa Post Office. The address, with th e ,new P .O . Bo x number, is CMC, P.O. Box 1858, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Informed sources indicate that a press conference called by R.J. Reynolds t he day before t he Aug ust 2 8 Indiana po lis Mile ro und of t he Win st on Pro Series will be used to announce a change of series ide ntifi ca t io n from Winston to Ca me l for 1 9 8 3 . The initial invol ve me nt of R.J . Re ynolds in AMA Gra nd Nati onal C ha m p ionship racin g be gan with the Camel Pro S e ries in 1 974 . Th e na me was changed to Winston Pro Series in 1979. Former World Champion Barry Sheene remains hospitalized as a result of serious injuries suffered in a practice session for the British GP. Former Grand National Champion Gary Nixon spoke to Sheene via phone last week and told us, "Barry has plates with 27 screws in both legs, plus he smashed his left wrist and that has a plate as well. He sounded good, but is obviously suffering a great deal of pain. Roberto Pietri and I have been in' touch with him, but we'rejust trying to fill time for him. Roberto says Barry will race agai n, but that will have to be decided by Barry after he recovers.' , ...... Bruce Penhall has signed with the producers of the MGM series CHIPs to do seven consecutive episodes. Penhall will be co-starring with CHIPs regular. the housewife heartrender. Erik Estrada. Italian Bimota motorcycles are now available in limited quantities from Cosmopolitan Motors (301 Jacksonville Rd.. Hatboro. PA 19040. 215/672-9100) . The Bimota SB3 (seen here) is powered by a Suzuki GS1000 engine. The frame is handmade from 25CD4 chromemoly tubing. Features include Marzocchi fork. De Carbon monoshock. Campagnolo magnesium wheels. Brembo disc brakes. and Michelin tires. Other engines available in the Bimota line are Honda 900 and Kawasaki 550. with a 1000 Kawasaki slated for future production . A petition calling fo r the AMA to retain the 1 ,025cc maximum engine displacement rule for Superbike road race machinery in 1983. rather than go to the scheduled maximum of 750cc. has been sent to the AMA. The petition was signed by 30 Superbike racers. including the likes of Mike Ba ld win. Wes Cooley. Freddie Spencer and Ed Mullineaux. Mullineaux. a Superbike competitor and a practicing attorney. put the petition together and he has requested permission to address the AMA Rules Committee. Mullineaux also requests Superbike competitors who haven 't signed the petition contact him by writing : Rt . 2 . Box 60H. Ridgeway. SC 29130. Bombardier Inc., which has produced its Can-Am motorcycles at Valcourt, Q uebec, Canada, since their introduction in 1972, has announced that begi rm ing with 1983 models the Rotax-powered Can-Am cycles will be man ufactured for the company in Great Britain by Armst rong Compe- ' tition Motorcycles, a divis ion of Armstro ng Eq uip men t Ltd. Pa ul Lam on tagne, president of the Recreational Products Division of Bombardier Inc., said the company has signed an agreement with ACM I Arms trong to produ ce a full li ne of Can- Am motorcycles for distri but ion in North America. T he first machines made under the new contract will be six new 1983 Can-Am motorcycles recen tly announced for introduction to United States and Can adian dealers thi s fall , including four MX models, a Trials cycle, and a 250 Road Racer. Armstrong, a $250 mill ion an n ual sales su pplier of the automotive in dustry, recentl y has diversified into electronic chi ps and motorcycles. In the past two years , the com pany has taken over a gro up of small British motorcycle manufacturers, including CCM and Cotton , to form Armstrong Competitio n Motorcycles and forge a resurgence of the British cycle industry. "T rying to keep _pace with swif tmovi ng off-road motorcycle technology in a countryside that is snowcovered about half the year has become incr easingly difficult for Bombardier," said Lamontagn e. " In addition, the sizeand efficiency of our Valcourt recreationa l products plant, desig ned especially for making our Ski-Doo and Moto-Ski snowmobiles, requires long p rod uction runs in short time frames. Both situations created problems for our Can-Am operations and dic tated the feasibility of the agree~e nt made with Armstrong." Br itish bookma king a g ency Coral's has made Bruce Penhalla 32 favorite to defend h is crown at the L.A . Coliseum . 7

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