Ups And Downs

UPS AND DOWNS

ROUNDUP

UP: To Eddie Lawson, the dominant American roadracer of the 1980s, for wrapping up the 1989 500cc GP world championship after a tough, season-long tussle with Wayne Rainey. This marks the fourth time that Lawson. 31, has earned a world roadracing title, the most by an American rider. Rainey ended up second overall, while another American, Kevin Schwantz, finished the series in fourth place.

UP: To members of Tri Cities Chapter “L" of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association, for getting involved. On their way to a rally, 13 members of the club came upon a 14-car pileup caused when swirling dust dropped visibility to near zero, a recent article in the Tri-City Herald reported.

According to George B. Tellevik, chief of the Washington State Patrol, “The members flagged or warned traffic, helped victims from their wrecked vehicles and away from the fire, and attended to the injured. This thoughtful, caring and willing-to-get-involved attitude is not seen much these days, so this effort reinforces my belief that there are people using our highways that care for each other."

Club members then cleaned up and continued on to the rally, where they won a best-of-show award in a parade the next day.

DOWN: To Howie Carr, a columnist for The Boston Herald. who apparently fancies himself as Massachusetts’ answer to bellyaching Andy

Rooney of “60 Minutes" fame. Singing out with suitably corpulent prose, Carr felt that the readers of his July 5th column would be entertained with “some things about driving in Boston that I really hate." Included in the list, wedged among such keen insights as, “Rest areas with no sanitary facilities," “Pipesmoking drivers" and “Nautical flags on cars," were these two: “Motorcycles without mufflers" and “Motorcycles, period."

UP: To the San Francisco Examiner, for putting motorcycle race coverage in its place. While many newspapers continue to relegate the results of motorcycle races to small-type sections in the back pages of their sports sections, the Examiner ran the news of Kevin Sehwantz’ victory at the British Grand Prix as the lead story in its “Motor Sports" sectionahead of reports on Indy-car racing and NHRA drag racing.

UP: To U-Haul, for recognizing that motorcycles are part of the national fabric. The company recently added graphics to the sides of its ubiquitous orange-and-white rental trucks, and among the landmarks, national monuments and events de-

picted are two of particular interest to motorcyclists. One portrays roadracers at Daytona, the other is of the USGP at Laguna Seca. S

If you come across a motorcycle-related item that you think should be singled out for an UP or DOWN, send the information to CIV Roundup, 853 IV. 17th St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627.