Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Harley-Davidson seeks relief from Japanese imports This is what the production 1983 Husqvarna CR25 0 w ill look like, we're t old . White bodywork and frame are set off by a blue seat. New Ohlins shocks with increased lay down are said to feature internal progressive dam ping . New po rting and pipe are expected to add horsepower. The Phantom D uck of the Desert invit es you to join him in t he desert o n Sept. 5 fo r the B S A Hare Scrambles, a dese rt rac e for pushrod four-strokes. The race w ill be held off Trona Rd . in the Red M ount ain area , and there w ill be movies on both Sat urday and Sunday nights, and a Phantom Duck raffle Saturday afternoon. For more inf orm at ion on the race call 213/ 4 4 3 -9 6 3 0 . HosPITal ST O P: Minicycle rac er Sco tt Brown was seriously injured in a n acci de nt a t Sadd leback P ark. Brown wa s riding on a pa rk road when a rid er landed on top of him after jum pi ng off a blind crest. Brown suffered a broken leg, collarbone and nose, and will be in traction for abou t six weeks. Cards of cheer can be sent to Children 's H ospita l of Ora nge Coun ty, I I09 W.LaVetaAve., Orange, CA 92667. Sco tt 's in room 206. Mark Saturday, Nov. 2 7 on your calendar. That t he day f or the annual Cycle News Barstow to Las Vegas Motorcycle Road Ride and Poker Run. This year' s is the fourth annual, and it will be held to benefit the Phantom Duck of the Desert Legal Defense Fund and the AMA Legislative Supporter Fund. The finish will be in the RV parking lot of the famed Circus Circus Hotel and Casino. On Sunday, Nov. 28, the Nevada Motocross Association will be holding a mot ocross to also benefit the Duck and the AMA. OK, here' s Papa 's version of who really wo n the most motocross ti tles. Motocross Action said that it was Bob Hannah, with three Su percross titles, two 250ccand one 125cc AMA Nati onal MX crown s and one T ra ns -USA Cha mpionsh ip . That's a to ta l of seven , and the most vari ed list of tit les am ong all the riders MX A in cluded. Bu t Papa rem embered tha t Roger DeCoster, wit h five 500cc Wo rld MX Cham pionships and four Trans-AMA wins, has a tot al of ni ne. Reader Son ny Bachelder was th e first to come up with tha t total, and he gets the prize of unspecified value, as soon as we figure it o ut. Frank Emerson gets an honora ble mention for throwing a monkey wren ch in the works by trying to include t he n um ber of Belgian titles DeCoster ha d won , but that number couldn 't be verifi ed by press time, a nd the tota l still wo u ld have been wro ng because if memory serves correctly, Deq:>~t.e~ won ~n • "' .......... ~ :...,.,oI r • , • J' '1# '" ~ .\ MX title in Chile several years ago. Tha t is the las t time, by the way, that Papa ever tries to stretch a question. Th e Profe ssional Riders Organization grand pri x scheduled for Carlsbad has been rescheduled t o Nov. 2 1 beca use P.R .O . didn 't w ant to . co nf li ct w it h the upcoming Front ier 500 off-road race . P.R .O . offici als also announced that J unior Pro class riders will be co mpet ing now for a 40% payba ck of entry fees . Becau se of the Labor Day "US" Festiva l in San Bern ardino 's G len He len Park, nearby Arroyo Cycle Park will be closed for the Labor Day weekend. Organizers expec t hundreds of thousands for the big roc k festival , and in fact, "all the Sh eriff' s deputies an d other law en forcement and security personnel will be stayi ng here," reports Arroyo's J erry McNeal. The first Wi nst on Pr o Ser ies Awards Banquet will t ake place in Long Beach, California, on Sun day, September 26 . An A M A ProAm road race meeting at West Palm Beach , Florida, t he sam e w eekend w ill keep several top WPS poi nt earners away from the banqu et. In the past, WPS aw ards . w ere give n out at the ann ual A M A 'A w ards Banquet, but R.J . Reynol d s ob viously felt it s seri es . deserv ed it s own banquet . R.]. Reynolds Tobacco Co . has an nounced that AMA Grand Na tional Championship Series will be spo n sored by Camel in 1983. The early involveme nt by R .]. Reynolds was under the Camel ban ner from 1974 to 1978, with a switch to Win sto n sponso rsh ip in 1979. In announcing the swi tch, Reynolds T obacco president and ch ief operating offic er Gerald Long said, " T h ro ugh a return to the sp o n so rsh ip by Camel, American motorcycle racing will becom e pa rt of th e in tern a tiona l image Camel has built for the sport through its Camel Challen ge mo torcycl e racing in Europe." England 's Trophee and Motocross des Nations team will be comprised of Graham Noyce, Nei l Hud son , Dave Thorpe and Dave Watson . An alternate has yet t o be pi cked . Reports from Europe indicate proposals ha ve been made to the FIM to ..J . , I.: . M ILWAUKEE , WI , AUG . 24 America 's only domestic motorcycle manufacturer, today said they would petition the International Trade Commission (lTC) for temporary relief from the growing number of Japanese motorcycles being shipped to the United States. Vaughn L. Beals, chairman and chief executive officer of the Harley-Davidson Motor Co., Inc. said the company needed time to adjust to the flood of Japanese imports so that it can compete on an equal level. Said Beals, Japanese manufacturers have introduced products directly targeted against Harley's traditional stronghold - large Veng ined motorcycles with an emphasis on styling. "We've taken a series of steps to meet the Japanese'competition head -on, " Beals said . "All we're asking for is a little breathing room - the opportunity to compete fairly, and on equal ground. " For instance, the co mpany's break-even point has been reduced 40 percent to only 35,000 units per year. Since 1978, Harley-Davidson has lost more than one-third of the 700cc m otorcy cl e market share, as a direct result of the tremendous increase in Japanese im ports. The probl em has been worsened by a decline in demand f or motorcycles in recent months, both in the U.S . and throughout t he world. As a conseq uence, Harley-Davidson has significantly c ut back production and has reduced its work-force by 1600 jobs. In add ition the company has instit ut ed salary and hiring freezes, fring e benef it redu ction and has reduced the salaries of corporate officers, Beals said . " While Harl ey-D avi dson has taken steps to meet the com petition from the Japanese and the overall decline in sales , the Japanese are ma intaining h ig h production and building up the i r heavyweight motorcycle inventories in the U.S. to record level s." Beals bel ieves there is a two-year supply of foreign motorcycles in U.S . warehouses at this time. Beals said the request for expedited relief will be filed in Washington this week. It involves a section of the Trade Act of 1974 which provides temporary relief to a domestic industry being injured by . imports. Relief could come in the form of temporary quotas, tariffs, tariff rate quotas, trade adjustment assistance or orderly marketing agreements with the Japanese. "We need seve~e short-term duties on imported motorcycles and power trains," the C.hairman concluded. "We've been hit, but we aren't sunk." H-D attorneys estimate that it will take six to nine weeks for the ITC to act on their petition. How do you compete 'against Japan? "Harley-Davidson, are they gonna make it?" That's the question I'm being asked with serious concern lately. The answer is yes, I think so, the Motor Company is doing everything in their power to survive. They can make it on a shred of the market - only 35,000 machines annually. The question is, will they be denied even that scrap of business by the competition? Charles Clayton mo ve th e final 500cc MX GP of next season ou t of Luxembourg to a no ther country. The fans at that event seem to be uncontrollable, and many problems have arisen over the past few seasons. Graham Noyce, th e rider who reportedly had his hand broken by. a spectat or with a stake, also reported he h it three specta tors who ha d crossed onto the course. Bottles, stakes and even beer cra tes were thrown at riders ; Gary Semi cs said a wo man threw a camping chair into his pa th. The exceptio n to th e abuse seemed to be Belgian riders, to whom the crowd was partisan. Lackey's fans responded by " shoo ting the moon" a t An dre Vrom an s as he went by. Angel Nieto, the 1982 125cc World Champion road racer who now has 11 World Titles to his credit, may be offered a ride on a Honda NS500 works GP racer at the San Marino and/or German 500cc GPs. New 500cc World Ch am p io n road racer Fra nco Vncini threw a large spaghetti pa rty to celeb ra te his newly acquired #1 pl ate. '81 champ Marco Lucch in elli present ed Uncini with • J .> I "~ ,.j i •. a h i s ne w Wo rl d Ch am pion shi p nu m ber pl at e while food , wine and cham pa gne flowed freely. Before the bash was over Uncini, hi s sponsor Roberto Gallina and Italia n journ alist Pao lo Scal era ended up in the pool. Husqvarna's Dick Burleson left Aug. 23 for the Husky factory in Sweden. "I'm going early to go to some product meetings," said Burleson, "and attend the last 250cc MX GP, which is in Sweden. After the meetings the time will be taken up by putting bikes together for 1 3 Husky riders on the U.S. ISDE squad. To meetthe new FIM ruling of only 9.8 inches of suspension travel front and rear, we've made a special fork which doesn't hang much below the front axle. This requires new sliders and damping rods. The rear shocks will have travel limiters on the shock rod inside the body. " Belgium 's Trophee and Motocross des Nat ions team will be comprised of An dre Vro rnans. G eor~es J o be. Andre Malherbe , and J ean -Claude La q uaye. • .t Jl ",. J I l r J " I. . , ... • ~ • •• 3

• Cover