Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

MOTO·CROSS A CHANGE IN TIME By W Cooley es T he popu larity of motorcycle racing has gone through various cycles just as the styles cha nge in fas hio ns a nd a uto mobil es. Most of you will reme mbe r s e ver al yea rs ago how popula r TT' s a nd sc rambles events were , and s ti ll a re to a gre at e xte nt . And,l imagi ne a few of you re me mbe r the great popularity in the late 40's of the rough sc rambles o r moto-c ross. .F rorn the re c en t intere st s hown by the rider s and specta tor s , moto-cross ra cin g i s returning. T hree years ago , many rid er s began losing in ter es t in the s uper-fast TT and s c rambles cours e which had drawn the greatest numbe r of competito rs for so lon g. Speed had be come t he ultim ate a ccompli shmen t a nd T T an d sc rambles co urses we re ,built wit h s uper-s pee d in mind . Th e great majo rity of the ri ders turned their inter est to the developme nt of. more hor s ep ower a nd th e handli ng qualitie s nece ss ary to hi gh sp e ed motor cycles. So, wit h this in mind, the ACA decided to promot e s ome mot o-cros s e ve nts of the typ e W ch hi were run in t he 40's . Naturally , many people told us t hey would not be s uccessful becaus e the ri der s wer e still mos tly int erested i n TT ' s and not in a re rough ri ding. Howe ver, a s you ca n a ll see , the rider s were ri ght - motoc ros s ra cing is the " in" thing. W h the in trod uc ti on of the ne w Suzu ki a nd it Yamaha , a nd the promoti ona l e ffor ts put fort h by CZ and Husq varna , as well a s Gree ve s , Bul ta co, Montes a and the sma ller mac hi nes - Moto Be ta , Hod ak a a nd sachs , the emphasis now is not so much o n t he 'spe ed, but on the ha ndli ng q ualities of the motor cycl e. I n fa ct . most of the mo torcycl es us ed by th e E uropeans i n the rece nt international mot o-cros s eve nts hel d thro ugho ut the U.S., had a maximum speed of aro und 70 miles per hour , and ve ry rare ly did the rider s e xcee d 50 mph. Of co urse , this type of racing on a clo se d ci rcuit wit h na tu ra l a s well as man-mad e obs tacles i s mos t dema ndi ng of the rid er' s physi cal a bili ty , and proba bl y le ast dema ndin g of all on th e e ngi ne . lf yo u had the oppo rtu ni ty to s ee the Europeans ra ce , you noti ced that the y wer e a ble to particip a te wit ho ut becomi ng fatig ued . Th is is due, i n pa rt , to the physical c ond i tio n of th e rider: the emphasis is on the ma n ra th er than the ma ch ine. ,At the la s t inter national moto-cros s in San Die go, the CZ tea m did not ha ve the ir fa c tory eq uipment which had bee n returned a wee k ea rlie r to Eur ope with th eir fac tory me cha ni c. Th e CZ team co mpe te d on 's ta nda rd CZ 's . In fa c t, one of the mac hines was owne d by a local motorcyc le dea le r. He had parti cipated o n this s a me piec e of e q ui pme nt thro ugho ut the yea r a nd had don e well, but had not wo n any eve nts. Howe ver, when Joel Robert compe ted a gain s t the Hu sqva rna fa ct ory equipment on this same 250c c mac hi ne , he won both the 25 0cc a nd the 500cc eve nts . Some may a rg ue that t his doe s not pro ve a nything , but it is a fact . I thi nk most of the rid er s feel that moto-cros s ra cing gives them a be tt er chance to compe te Irian for man, and tha t the s uper-fac tory equipment and s pecialized tune r do not play suc h a n important role in the winnin g of the se NEW MOTO-CROSS ASSOCIATION FOR SO. CAL. By Darryl Sk rabak In the afte r math of Joel Rober t and Torsten Hallman at Hopetown, a new club Is forming to br ing European style moto- cross to Southern Califor nia on a perm anent basis. At a meeti ng last week, the California Moto-Cross Club announced plans to • re tur n scrambles r acing over unimproved courses to Southern California. • pr omote at leas t one race per rnonth . . • oper ate under an AFM charter, with FIM moto-cross rul es In for ce at events. • offer political help and racing pr eparati on for r iders wishing to compete In Europe. At the meeting, held In Burbank, club officials explaIned they felt their venture would draw suppor t fr om interest engendered during the r ece nt U.S. tour of Husqvarna and CZ fac tor y riders . The fir st event was scheduled by the club for Carlsbad Raceway, Sunday, February 4 (see r epor t, this Issue). Under the FIM rules, European sty le oval number plates will be required. Either folding or rigid footpegs will be acceptable. Any tire pattern will be permitted, with full knobbles recommended. All machines will be subjected to a technical Inspection at each event. According to club officials, principal Inspection standards will focus on correct number plates (three r equired,) clean appearance, and safety. The club adVised that any machine acceptable for AMA scrambles should pass CMC inspection, pr oviding oval number plates are fitted. At the present time the CMC Is headed by eight men who joined for ces after the successful tour by the European r iders • Four have raced In International events In Europe. They are Paul Hunt, Stu Peters , W alt Axthelm and Aust r ali an Kelvin Fr ancis . With the club chartered by the AFM, and the AFM In tur n tie d to FIM, the European r ace sanctioning body, participati on In club events will provide U.S. riders a convenient means to acquire a competition 11c ens e for International class European events , accor ding to CMA official s, Club dues ar e set at $10 for competitor s, with $6 going to the CMA, $2 for AFM member ship, and $2 buyingan AFM moto- cross competition license. For ' Carlsbad event races ar e slated for 25OCc, 500cc, and over 500cc bikes . The club plans to offer separate classes for 11 ttle machines up to 125cc and sidecars at later events. Attention Comer Captains Staffing at CMA events will depend to a great extent on enthusiast help, the club officials said , as dur ing events many club members will be busy racing. Anyone willing to assist at a race will be put to work, and CMA membership won't be requ ired. Some futur e events will be scheduled for Saddleback Park In Orange County, the club announced, as soon as Cycle W ld's publl she r Joseph Parkhur st or completes negotiations to open the park. For more Informati on on joining the CMA or helping In an official capacity to run the r aces, write or call Walt Axthelm, 1049 West 5th Street, Pomona, Calif. (714) 629-8642. WHAT I S TIlE SPIRIT OF TIlE MOTO-CROSS? To bounce up and down li ke crazy over natural terrain, as this picture by Jeff Wright graphica lly illust rates. e ve nts . Moto-cr os s raci ng is more fo r the true ent husiasts who does not have a grea t deal of money to s pend o n eq uip ment but is willing to pra ctice a nd get himself in good physica l co ndition , with a minimum of expe nse for equipment . This is somethi ng tha t desert rid er ha s known for a lo ng time , a nd I feel it is reall y true . T he de s er t rid er competes for his own enjoyme nt a nd not so much for the thrill of the c rowd , but ev eryo ne li kes to re ceive rec ognitio n for his competition. Thi s is wher e the closed ci rc uit whic h is Offere d by moto-c ross ra cin g gives the ri der three- fold satisfactio n; he ca n co mpe te a nd he can receive recognition , and a t the same time e njoy himse lf. W ith the proper promoti on a nd a tt itud e by the sanc tio ni ng mot or cycle organizations towar d each other a nd the spectator, moto-cross wi ll c ha nge the ima ge of mo tor cycl e ra ci ng. WHAI IS MOIO-CROSS! The word moto-cross, sometimes spelled moto-x, means a scoring system which computes a racer's finishing positions in two or more races to arrive at his overall score. The system was devised in Europe to score the inte rnation al scrambles series, which are also called moto-cross scrambl es. As it i s used here in the U.S. , a moto-cross is a rough scrambles over a fairly short course in which all riders in a class get to race two or three equal races (" motos"). " oi nts ea rned for their finishing posiP tions in all three races are added up to determine who is first, 2nd, 3rd, etc . in the overall mo to-cross standings. It would be an oversimplification to say that moto-cross is a" besttwo-out-of-three" contest and that conventional main event scoring is a " once-and-for-all" gamble. Both systems promise the racer more than one ride for his entry fee. But the rider who fails to qualify in the preliminaries is out of a main event ride. While under the moto-cross system, since the " main event" is run in two or three starts, he gets to ride them all. It is possible for a rider who is consistent to win a moto-cross on points without winning a single moto. With the merging of the European moto-cross system into the"heatsemi-main-event culture of the U.S. scrambler, it was inevitable that a sort of hybrid scoring system would develop. So when the number of entries in a scrambles class are too few for running heats and mains, the class may be run off moto-cross fashion while the more popular classes ride conventional elimination heats, semis and mains, all in the same day's racing. But moto-x is more than just a scoring system."Since the visits of the European masters of this art, moto-x has come to mean the extremely high speed version of rough scrambling. To a motorcycle population familiar only with the smooth coursemanship of TT-scrambles, the visiting European aeto-x stars were a revelation to behold. What Americans had accomplished with bulldozers and scrapers the moto-crossers did with mere motorcycles. They demonstrated how to be remarkably fast and smooth on the roughest courses. • ~o\fol~~tl~:::=::::=:; ctt-tlc.\-\d de vel o pment an tl~S~ RyAMiHa* c o. • l 6 9 ORA NG E A V E , . G OL.ET A ,C A LI F"•• 93017 .' THE HOME OF CHAMPIONS! PI1 . 805 -96 " -8 9 19 SACHS MOTORS COR..ORATION ..l1_.... ..''C_.s...,,,. ~ .. J.U .... h,t1 Ra.d DItt'I 181 • o C".,, 'I' HI" . N_ M9 . If ·1M6 J .'." 08034 HIGHEST TRADE-IN 239 N. Anaheim Blvd. Anaheim, Cal. Phone (714) S33-1309

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