Ups And Downs
UPS AND DOWNS
UP: To Time Australia, for featuring World 500cc Grand Prix Champion Mick Doohan on its cover. The accompanying four-page article is a well-informed account of the sport and Doohan’s quest for a second successive title, which quotes former champions Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Gardner and Barry Sheene. Doohan, a tax exile living in Monaco, admits to wanting a helicopter like neighbor Daryl Beattie’s and doesn’t blush at being Australia’s second-highest-paid sports figure, after golfer Greg Norman.
DOWN: To syndicated columnist Bill Hall of Idaho’s Lewiston Morning Tribune, for his unbearable prose. In a recent editorial, Hall opined that riding motorcycles without protective gear was as dangerous as straddling a live bear. His suggestion? Legally demand that all motorcyclists donate organs because, “If you’re going to waste yourself...give us the leftovers.” He added that given the choice between riding motorcycles and bears, he would prefer the bear. That can be arranged, Bill.
UP: To Love Ride 12, for raising more than $1.2 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Approximately 25,000 riders participated in the annual affair, led by Grand Marshal Jay Leno. The 50mile excursion from Harley-Davidson of Glendale to Castaic Lake, California, included a trade show, barbecue and concert featuring Los Lobos. “For the third year in a row, we went over the $1 million mark,” says Oliver Shokouh, HarleyDavidson of Glendale owner and Love Ride founder/chairman. Love Ride 13 is scheduled for Sunday, November 10,1996.
