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/125544
L Perfect condit ions prevailed for the opening IT race last Sunday and let's hope II is an Inkling of things to come Instead of l1ke It was In •67 when rain took away more races in one month than II had in sev en years . It's a grea t field of IT r ider s on tap this year but Sklp Van Leeuwe n is st1ll the rider to beat. Mert LaW\\111 and Bob Bailey pulled off surprises but both have been known in the pas t to run hot and cold. Jimmy Odom again fall ed to show up for the race which leaves the first year Expert , if he ever get s around to ll, again racing under a big handicap. The IT's ar e becoming as ro ugh on first year Experts as the half -mlle, as no first llme wear er of the white pla tes made the Main Event, or even came close . However, the Amateur clas s this year appears to have five or six riders that after a full season of TT racing could become Experts In a hurry. The IOO-lapper next month will give quite a few of the new Experts and Amateurs a chance to gr ind around with the veterans and pic k up mor e experience in aile after noon tha n mos t do in an entire seas on. Keith Mashburn backed up our pr ediction that the new Yamaha 250 s ingle was going to be a winner . He made it look awfully easy but it does look li ke the new BSA s ingle and rnve Aldana w1ll be giving him a ru n for the money before the season is too far along, For mer tal- IT rid er Mel Gr is el came out of a ten- y, ar r ell r ement and tried , the comeback, •..,t in Expert class, but in the Amateur dL '~sion . He found out in a hurry that things : in' t what they used to be. Veteran ligbtweight '--ramble r and TT r ider Byron Boaz fr om : "oenix obtai ned a license In the Novice C_ o o and after ten years of riding and winning found the going rougher as he fell off the hard way in the hea t r ace. Jody Nicholas was in the plls watching his fir s t Asco t IT and said he is going to park his Navy Je t fighter plane and give it a try in Apr il . He will be back at Carlsbad next weekend on the 18th to try and win his second' s tr aig ht r oad r ace . This will be the final war mup for the dozen s of Call! . r iders that ' ar e hea ding for Dayt ona and the speed week in March. The Carls bad event is agai n a sportsman show and open to ali riders, pro and non- pr o. The Daytona entry blanks are now available and the entry deadl1ne is Feb. 25th. A full loa d of ra cing is again in store down there, Incl udtn g two nights of short track racing and a full day of Spor ts man l1ghtweight r oad racing. The final entry list for the Houston Ast r odome Natio nal Indoor races is in and ther e are 90 Experts and 70 Amateur s headin g down there this weekend. The race will be held this satur day night and Cycle News will have the full r epor t and pictu res next week. Over 30,000 fans wlll watch this one. Four teen National Champions and 35 r ider s who pack Nati onal Number s are enter ed for the Texas event. The entry l1st includes everyone of the twel ve riders that rode In the Na tional Short Track finai last year in Chicago. Neil Keen enters the new Yamaha 250 s ingle,. Al Gunter introduces the new Kawasaki 238 single, Gary Nixon and Ji mmy Odom will r ide the new Triumph 250 single, just a few of the "firsts " for the "Dome" this weekend• . New r eferee Chub Kellam advi ses that l! you are r iding the As cot l OO-lapper or gettl ng ready to ride the half-m lle season and have som e doubts then call him in Lawndale at OS 6- 8124. After 5:00 p.rn, dur ing the week. clear. We agree that a helmet de!1nitely should be worn when r iding a motor cycle However , we r esist having helmets made mandator y by legislative action for the followi ng reasons: " Helmets do not prevent ac ctdents, The other pr ovisions of Ass embly Bill 978 can help preve nt acc idents, but requirtng a helmet only equips a pe r son to su rv ive an acc ide nt that might otherwise have bee n avoided. " Motor cycl es of thems elves do not have acci dents. Statistics prove mos t accidents involve novice r iders . This obviously points to the need for motorcycle driver tramtng, We feel the emphasis should be plac ed on this area of the safely problem, rather than afterthe-tact protecti on. " secondly, mandator y helmets can be construed as an attempt to protect the Individual from himself, We feel that this is not only contradictory to establ1shed Cons titutional la w, but would also s et a dangerous precedent In every legislative area. " Legi slation of this klnd has been stre nuous ly res i s t e d by aut omobile drivers and has not received the rea cti on that the resistance to mandator y hel mets has. For example, seat belts wlll lessen the death rates in motor vehi cle accidents. However. even though the manufacturer must now pro vide seat belts In eac h automobile , there is no la w r equiring a pe rson to use them. How, then, can one justl!y a la w requir ing the motorcycle rider to wear a hel met? Many of you mistakenly feel that this legislation will affect only the motorcycle rider. You a r e wrong. Ove r 50,000 people a year ar e killed in automobiles, many as a r es ult of cranial Injur ies . Are automobiles next? Cli ma x of the session was a demonstration of s a fe ridi ng by the Explorer SCouts from Po st 981 , La Mira da , Calif. The Scouts also provid ed free rid es for the safe ty co uncilme n. J oe Ho pe was s ele cted by t e lev ision cha nne l KNXT in Los Ang eles last week to give the rebuttal to th eir pro-h elme t law editoria l rec ent ly. The te xt of his stateme nt is published be low . Reply: Motorcycle Safely VIDEO: MR. HOPE . AUDIO: " The motorcycle industry is safety conscious and gener al ly s uppor ts the proposed m ot arc y c 1e legislation. We supported Assembly Bill 978, except for the helmet por tion of It, " On the s ubject of hel mets, !t ts d1!fI cult for the industry to make its pos itlo n •...................... SOUTH COAST MOTO-CROSS HEADQUARTERS : : : • • KAWASAKI Honda Triumph Greeves 8ulta(0 • • • : Yamaha Hoda" • BEACH CITIES CYCLES 525 N. EI Camino Real : San C lemente, Cal if. MOTO·CROSS EQUIPMENT SPECIAL •• Bi g John Bool s Baruffalll G lasses • Expert wheel lacing & Compl ete welding service • Ceriani Units Bar1lTl Mol o-Cro ss Tires Akron Rims Com p lete line of p art s & ,a c c e s s o ri e s : ~ • • : Tracy sell s Monles as al lnternational Motorcycle Co., 7233 Canoga Park, Californ ia. Telephone (21 ) 3 346-3700. ,,~~ MONTESA Second clas s ma i l is ~OT fo rwardable. Send us yo ur new address a s soon as po s s i bl e, so you won ' t mi s s an issue. Atta ch here old . ddress labellrom CYCL E NEWS NAME: , • • • • • • _ • • NEW ADDRESS: CITY: . • _ • "As you can see, our position is difficu lt . We support the wearing of helmets but we resist the steady encr oachment and Feder al intervention into our way at ilie. I would like to see fur ther debate on this subject." STATE: •• •• • •• ZIP: • All ow t wo we ek s fo r a ddre ss change. THAT'S LLOYD LINGELBACH ON THE LEFT, an Expert in the desert, and parts manager for Nicholson Motors, North Hollywood. L loyd used to ha ve a p i ck- up t ruck and a Co rvette, bu t dec ided to mak e one c a r do t he job o f two. Th a t' s wh y he got th e 196 £1 Cam i no . I t h aul s his b ike, it tak e s him wh ere ver h e wan t s to go, a n d it look s good do i ng it. It has ai r con ditio ni ng, a ut o mati c, a nd d i sc brake s . : • : • • : Exp ert service on all makes . (714) 492-6741 cyc le rider, Tracy also flies his own plane, enjoys waterski ing, motorcycl e riding and other athletic hobbi es. If you want to ta lk motorcycles, tal k to Tracy Saylor, ~ : • • • : TRACY SAYLOR 17 years a m otor- MOVING??? •• HOPE SPEAKS AT SAFETY FORUM One of ihe prime mo ver s in the new responsibility image which motorcycle dist ributors i n the west a re a dopting , is , J oe Hope, sales c hief of BSA-W est e rn and preside nt of the Cal iforn ia Motorcycle Sa fe ty Council. A s ta unc h cam paig ner for effect! ve safety pro gram s , Hop e will addr e s s the Gre a t e r Lo s Angele s Ch ap t er of t he National safe ty Council on " P utting Sa fe ty on T wo Whe els · at their F ebruary 7 me e ting in P omona, Ca li f. Hope sha red the speake r' s podi um wit h Ri cha rd ,A. Smar t, a s slstent manager for public safety of the Automobile Club of Sou th e rn C a lifo rnia a nd proj e ct director for the Ex plorer Scou t s Motorcy c le Tra in in g Progra m, to which Mr. Hope' s company ha s also gi ve n Invaluable assistance . MEN WHO KNOW MOTORCYQES SELL MONTESA : ~ That's Jim Woolwine on the right, the car salesman and Motorcycl e Lover, heavyweight scrambles rider #56. J i m sell s c ars at Ro b e rt Ha ll Chevrolet in T uj u ng a . :\' ew cars, truck s , £1 Caminos••• u sed , too-- and new car lea s ing. Ji m c a ters to mo to rcy cl e ri ders. Call Jim W oolwi ne at (213) 352-324 1 or 353-3226.