Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

CN 00 0') ~ ... l.!") ~ ~ (l,) ..c - 8 (l,) U (l,) 0 - _ • • I EXPRESS@) YOURSELF THIS HOLIDAY SEASON AT A PRICE THAT'S A REAL GIVEAW~Y. During our Horida Holiday Giveaway, we're offering Honda's famous Express@ at an incredibly reduced price. Now you can Express yourself in one of the most fun and economical ways ever invented. Features like an automatic oil injection system, an automatic two-speed transmission and solid state ignition make the Express easy to ride. And very dependable. So when you drop by during our Giveaway, check out the '82 Express. You could wrap up a good deal this holiday seaso~. COME TO OUR OPEN BOUSE! SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11 lie 12th FIlEE! DBAWINGS FOB PRIZES HONDA KICK lie GO SCOOTERS, HONDA ATC 70 All models on sale Free safety inspection on Dec. 11 th by a Honda Service Representative. reg. sale . SPECIALS $17.35 $12.35 Ancra red tie downs 16.50 Hondaline team MX jersey 13.80 Hondaline Early Warning riding jacket 89.95 79.95 5 gallon gas cans 10.95 7.50 NGK Spark Plugs D8EA 1.35 .75 NGK Spark Plug 89EVA 4.95 2.50 - MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRY COUNCIL ***************** eel Kz.ei:% ANOSON - - - IM~"'1 'TL. MOTOR'cYCLES. INC 417 E. Garvey Ave., Monterey Park, CA 91754 (213) 283-4277 (213) 280-8244 Available from your Local Dealer (]tifll~TMA~ I~ (]()MIN~ 5015 M()T()fl (]Y(]LE VI()E() By Larry Huffman TOKYO, JAPAN, NOV. 23 The 1982 Coca Cola Japan Supercross - the first ever held in that country - was dominated by the younger but more experienced American riders. Rick Johnson and his Yamaha teammate Broc Glover staged a knock-down, drag-out brawl in the main event before 26,000 screaming Japanese fans, ........ 'till 12/23/82 - Johnson, Glover lead Yanks in Japan before johnson passed Glover on lap 12 and pulled away. The American riders finished first through 13th with the best japanese riders finishing 14th, 15th, 17th and 20th. But, boy, they sure learned a lot about racing in a stadium.' And, as one of their veteran racers said afterwards, "wait 'til next year!" I was approached by a friend, Susumu Morioka, editor of one of japan's biggest motorcycle magazines, Monthly Play Rider, earlier this year about acting as the American coordinator in arranging for our riders to attend the first Supercross ever held in the Far East. He'd been wanting to bring a Supercross to this country for a long time and had finally hooked up with a major concert promoter to do so. We signed a contract and he came over for the Carlsbad National in August and we started talking to the riders and the team managers. If you ever consider staging a Supercross race out of this country with American riders, let me give you a little advice: Allow two to three times the time and effort you think you'll need. Dealing with riders, factories, the japanese consulate for work visas, travel agencies, etc., it was a long and drawn out affair. It was an interesting group lined up to board· the Nov. 18 flight to japan: 11 Americans, one Canadian and five women racers. Three riders, Goat Breker, Marty Smith and Chuck Sun, had already left to race in Austral~a before flying to japan the following Monday. Our group included Broc Glover, Rick johnson, jeff Ward, johnny O'Mara, Danny Chandler, David Bailey, Kenny Keylon and his father, john Savitski, Warren Reid, jimmy Ellis, Canadian Champion Ross Pederson and Mr. and Mrs. Kent Howerton. Team managers included Yamaha's Larry Griffis, Kawasaki's Mike McAndrews, Honda racing manager Toshiro Kezuka and MX manager Dave Arnold. Mechanics included Honda's jim Felt, Paul Turner, Steve Carter and Greg Arnett. Ex-Suzuki rnechanicjim Vester came along to keep tabs on the Suzukis that were to be furnished by a local dealer. Mike Bell was a last-minute scratch because of knee surgery performed two days before we were to leave, Ditto for Kawasaki's Roy Turner, who was taken to the hospital with severe stomach pains at three a.m. the morning we were leaving. The girl racers included Gail Webb, Dede Cates, Karen Leitinger, Kimi Douglass and Charlene Ho. Oakley's jim j annard also came along on the tour. We arrived at Narita Airport completely strung out after the 12-hour flight. Our spirits picked up considerably when we spotted the full film crew from Fuji TV waiting for us as we walked off the plane. Fuji':TV is the largest TV network in japan, similar to our CBS and they had rolled out the red carpet. After a half hour of interviews, we boarded a bus for the hour-long drive to our hotel in Tokyo. I was surprised to'see representatives of Shoei Helmets on board the bus already negotiating with both male and female riders alike to wear Shoeis for the japanese Supercross. When we arrived at the hotel, I was more surprised to see Arai Helmet reps in the lobby waiting to talk to our riders and the negotiations began in earnest. Apparently, it was pretty important to have the American riders wearing japanese helmets for this event and rumor had it they were paying up to $3000 to the better-known male riders and up to $1000 to the girls, which shocked me because the women's race was simply an exhibition. . The next day, Saturday, we caught a bus to Kerakuen Stadium for a press conference and to inspect the track. john Savitski, who has built Supercross tracks in Houston, Pontiac and Seattle, walked the track with the japanese construction people and pronounced it "surprisingly wellcons·tructed." They beamed, Remember, not only had these guys never built a supercross track before, they'd never even seen one. john made several suggestions and the track turned out to be as good as most V.S. stadium circuits. The rna.in jump, however, was something else! It had to be seen to be believed! The construction crew had built it like a skyscraper with a very serious-looking foundation leading up to a height of about 15 feet. It had a nasty little lip coming off the top and then a sort of second jump about halfway down that claimed one American girl rider and virtually eliminated half the japanese field of racers. The first japanese rider to try to double jump it found himself heading to the hospital with a possible broken le~. After a short time walking the stillunder-construction track, we were taken inside for the press conference. Korakuen Stadi urn is the home of the Toyko Giants and is one of the oldest in japan, having been built immediately after WWII (which Susumu tactfully referred to as "the Big Fight. ") It reminded me of the L.A. Coliseum except that seating capacity was only 35,000. We entered The Silver Glove restaurant and found ourselves staring into about 200 cameras manned by about 300 japanese reporters. I mean, the room was jammed full of the press! A long table had been set up in the front of the room with microphones on top of it. I was directed to sit at the'table alongside the japanese FIM representative and one of the event's promoters. It looked exactly like the surrender scene , aboard the V.S.S. Missouri; two unsmiling japanese officials in suits and ties with one American facing the press. i 'said -'- through interpre-

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