Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/650535
IN THE WIND P28 FORMER YAMAHA PRESIDENT TERRY TIERNAN PASSES T erry Tiernan, former president of Yamaha Motor Corp. during the 1970s, passed away on Febru- ary 17, 2016, in Murrieta, California. He was 84. A native Californian, Tiernan operated a small motorcycle shop while attending college. After working as an industrial engineer for Alcoa, Tier- nan joined Yamaha as a district manager in 1962. He worked his way up through the company and in 1971 became vice president of Yamaha's mo- torcycle division. A year later he was promoted to president. It was Tiernan who hired Pete Schick to direct Yamaha's racing program and that led to the hiring of a young Kenny Roberts at a time when other factories were passing him over. In 1975 Norton/Triumph hired Tiernan away from Yamaha in an effort to save its struggling company. The problems with Norton/ Triumph proved too deep even for an executive hotshot like Tiernan. He later joined Kawasaki before becoming gen- eral manager of R.C. Engineering. In the 1970s Tiernan also served as president for the American Motorcyclist Association as well as serving on the AMA's Board of Trustees. The sport of supercross owes a great deal to Tiernan. Under his guidance Yamaha was a key sponsor of early stadium motocross events, even- tually leading to the Yamaha Super Series in the early 1970s, which later morphed into the AMA Supercross Series. Tiernan was co-promoter of the first Superbowl of Motocross in the Los Ange- les Coliseum. A memorial service was held for Tiernan on Sat- urday, February 27, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in Temecula, California. Larry Lawrence UBER ON BIKES? IT'S HAPPENING IN THAILAND! H ow would you feel about hopping on a strang- er's bike and blasting through traffic to make that plane you're late for? Or going out to meet a friend at a bar? Well, the success of ride sharing company Uber has convinced the company to take its first tentative steps into motorcycle ride sharing with its new venture, Uber Moto—but only in Thailand. The idea is novel enough, especially for cities with traffic congestion the level of Bangkok's (if you haven't been there, rush hour traffic in Los Angeles is a walk in the park compared to Bang- kok), so beating the public and rushing home on the back of a scooter does seem like a good option. At this stage, there are no plans for the new Uber Moto to make it to the U.S., as it's a system much better suited to small area, high population cities like those of southeast Asia, but if the idea works, you never know. CN Terry Tirenan, a former president of Yamaha Motor Corporation, recently passed away at the age of 84. Would you hop on the back to cut through traffic?