Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

motorcycle safety programs." Sta tes with a significant motorcycle safety problem that plan to improve motorcyclist licensing procedures or rider education would be eligble for priorit y funding. Previously, NHTSA's final ruling on state and local highway safety programs in dentified only six areas eligible for priority federal funding: alcohol countermeasures, occupant restraints , police traffic services, traffic records, emergency medical services and highway constr uc tion improvements. HosPITal STOP: Barbender's A enduro rider Keith Drochak crashed his new GPz1100 in Ho llywood recently and broke his leg in 10 places . Drochak also broke his nose and is feeling a little lo nesom e at St. Joseph's Hospital in Burbank. Drop by between 1 1 a.m. and 8 p .m. or send your well wishes to him at St. Joseph's Hospital, Room #436. Buena Vista and Alameda, Burbank, CA, 91505. The phone number there is 213/843-5111 . Trophee des Nations Chandler leads American team to victory .GAILDORF, W . GERMANY, SEPT. 5 For the second year in a row, the prestigious Trophee des Nations World Championship belongs to America. Danny Chandler won both motos of the 250cc event that saw four-man teams representing many nations compete against one another. Backing up Chandler's two w ins, were his teammates, all aboard Hondas, Johnny O'Mara, David Bailey and Jim Gibson. O'Mara logged 5-3 moto finishes, Bailey 8-6, and Gibson 10-7. . . Team Belgium took second with Germany finishing third. Bailey was a last minute substitute for Donnie Hansen, who was inj ured in a practice session in Germany three days before the event. According to Preston Petty, Hansen's father-in-law, Hansen is in a Heidelburg, W. Germany, hospital and is under sedation. "He checks out OK except for some swelling which was brought about by the concussion he suffered. He's being sedated to allow the swelling to go down. We're told it'll be a couple of days before they stop sedating hi m, and t hen a co uple of weeks until he can fly home. The delay in ret urnin g to t he States is due to the pressurized cabins of airplanes, " said Petty. Amer ica n Freddie Spencer an d hi s V3 Honda NS500 took a convincing win in th e Sept. 5 San Marino round of th e World 500cc Road Racing Championship. The race, he ld in Mugello, Italy saw Spencer win by 20 seconds over fellow American Randy Mamola (Suz ) and New Zealand's Graeme Crosby (Ya m). Kenn y Roberts had to miss the round due to a lingering finger injury. Suzuki-mounted Rowland Stuart came up the surprise winner in the motorcycle Top Fuel portion of the NHRA Summernationals drag race at Indianapolis, IN . Stuart posted a 7.815 second run at 183.29 mph to take the win over a redlighting Terry Kizer. Top qualifier Terry Vance (Suz) ran a 7 .05 / 197.20, but didn 't reach the 200 mph plateau and broke a blower in the first round . T he 10th roundofthe 12-roundAMA Na tional Championship Enduro Series in Winterset, lA, on Sept. 5 saw Husky's T erry Cunningham tak e th e overall win with a score of 25 points. Second overall , top AA, went to CanAm 's john Martin with a los s of 34. Husky-mounted Mark Hyde dropped 37 for third overall, and john Fero (Suz) was fourth overall, first 200cc AA, with a score of 38. 6 We have two w inners in the Cyc'e News West T-Shirt Slogan Contest, and so we'll be producing two new T-shirts in the near fu ture. Co -winners are K.M . Spear of Ontario, CA, forthe phrase " Discover The Best. .. Cycle News/West," and Matt Montgomery of Wilmington, CA, for "BeatThe Blues, Read Cycle News." Checks for $25 and brand-new T-shirts will be in the mail to our two winners very shortly . The AMA 's Commissioner of Pro Racin g , Mike DiP rete, has submitted his resignation, effective Dec. 31 of this year . For more on what Di Prete and others involved in the j a pa nese manufacturers versus the AMA controversy have to say, please tu rn to p . 16. Team Good Times of Texas has secured the WERA/N D Endurance Triple Crown w ith a second overall in a 24-hour race in Rockingham. NC. The t eam, comprised of Joe Fisher, Ron Mayfield, Lynn Stackable, George Ashley and Charles Brothers. rode a Yamaha Vision to second place f inishes in each of t he three races. National Highwa y Traffi c Safet y Administer Ra y Peck clarified th e agency 's intent to make federal funds available for for state motorcycle safety . programs, in a recent letter to Motorcycl e Safety Foundation president Charles H. Hartman. According to Peck, " . .. it was not NHTSA's intent to discourage sta tes from su bm itting a pplications for federal funds for The Los Ancianos M.C., which for the past 1 0 years has brought you the Tecate 500 enduro. voted recently to drop the classic event. "We would like to thank all the riders who have supported us over the 1 0 years. " said a club spokesman, who cited rising costs and the amount of manpower as t he reasons for dropping the eve nt . The Los Ancianos club does pla n to rev ive the through the streets Tecate Grand Prix, in September of 1983. Bob Sirkegian called Papa to remind ever yone that Sept. 15 is the start-up date for the fall semester at Citrus College in Azuza, CA, where Bob teaches two nightly motorcycle mechanics classes. The first class covers basic maintenance and tune-up tips for motorcycle owners. Bob 's advan ced class is aimed at the worki ng pro a nd includes en gi ne reb ui lding, cylinder reboring, etc . For more information, call the Citrus College camp us at 213/335-0521. .In Decem ber 1981, the California Department of Parks and Recrea tion contracted EDAW, Inc. to prepare a Statewide Off-H i g h w a y Vehicle Trails Plan . Wo rk to date has included an inventory of all OHV trails a nd O H V activity patterns in the state, and an extensive user survey and analysis concerning trail demand. The results of th is work were reviewed in a series of public meetings conducted in july 1982. A second round of public presentations have been scheduled to inform interested persons and organizations about preliminary trail system options which are now being developed by EDA W. The purpose of these meetings is to solicit public comments o n these options. The meetin gs will be held at the followi ng times and loca tions: Oct. 5, 1982, Senior Citizens Bu ilding, 915 27th Street, Sacramento; O ct. 6, County Administration Center, R oo m 358, 1600 Pacific Highway, San Diego; and Oct. 7, Friendship Auditorium, 3201 R iverside Drive, Los Angeles. All meetings begin at 7:30 p .m. The Sept. 1 2 AMA Pro- A m road race at Kent, WA, w ill also be the f inal round of the AMA's Sidecar road racing championship. The race, also the third-to-Iast round of the AMA's Superbike Championship, is also expected to mark the return of points leader Eddie Lawson to active competition. Rep ort s fro m American Hon da say that organizers o f Sept. 5 Trophee des Nations had to do a little tree trimming. Seems that double mot o wi n ne r Dann y " Magoo" Cha nd ler was hitting tree branches during practice off of jum ps - the only rider to do so! Magoo was also stung by a bee while leading the second rnoto, but managed to hold on to finish , where he was scratching his body on the grass before being administered bee-sting serum. The reports from Ho nda also said there were several attempts to disq ualify Chandler, for "dangerous" riding and for illeg al machinery. Neither worked, and the FIM even grabbed the syringe of medicine g iven to Chandler after he was stung by a bee in the second moto. Other reports from Europe say that the Belgians, stung by their defeat, will have the injured Eric Geboers ride the Sep t. 12 Motocross des Natio ns, where the entire Belgian sq uad will be mounted on factory Suzukis. Cycle World Accessory Center in EI Toro will sponsor the Saddleback Summer Sizzler two race series, to be run on the Saddleback Saturday Motocross dates of Sept. 11 and 18. The top five amateur winners in each class will receive a Cycle World gift certificate. For more details, call 714/495-4771 . Those watching the trainin g camp of the football -variety Superbowl winners, the San Francisco 4gers, couldn't help but notice Dirt Diggers North emblems on the chain link fence around the practice fence . That was because it was a Diggers fence upon hearing that Sa n Francisco coach Bill Walsh had requested extra fencing to protect h is tea m fro m the team's many fans, the Dirt Diggers came to the rescue. The fence is normally used for their annual Hangtown Motocross Classic. Desert racer Bryan Charters has announced plans to marry Myrna Sims. His father, desert ace Gary Charters and mother Dotti are very excited about t he big event. with the banner expected to drop on Sept . 1 1. The Salinas Ramblers and Elks annual benefit, a half mile to run at Salinas Rodeo Grds. on Sept. 12, will see the return of the privateer Yamaha Vira go that had been campaigned by Bill y Scott. Scott is currently out with inj uries, so the mac h ine, with a new Knight Irarnevwilt be ridden by exTeam H on da rider jeff Haney. For more on the Elks/ Ramblers race, see th e Cycle News Calendar secti on. The final environmental assessment on the Oct. 9 Check Chase - the 1982 Johnson Valley to Parker motorcycle race in Bureau of Land Management terms - is out. The BLM answers public comment in this 'document, and in the decision record, flatly states that the permit for the event should be granted. Comments on the fina l EA / decision record will be accepted by the BLM until Sept. 28. The address is BLM, Needles Resource Area, P.O . Box 305, Needles, CA 92363. In the continuing saga of the AMA's lawsuit against the BL M's desert plan, the forces of good enco untered another setback. After judgeA. Wa llace Tashima ruled against the AMA's request for a p relim inary injunction several month s ago , th e judge recently granted a su mmary judgement to the Sierra Cl ub, declaring the Veh icle Access

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