Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

A EDAL FOR AMES AD Editorial B y R.O. F ee I am very happy to see Mr. Sherman Ames' letter develop as a result of stories filed by me and printed in Cycle News. The only disturbing factor is that in his fury, Sherm has connected two articles unrelated i n content or time. Worse yet, Mr. Ames has attribUted comments of persons clearly quoted by me, to me as my own editorial comment. The presence of a by-line an editorial does not make. So a medal forSberm for saying what he thinks needs saying - and another for faulty reading. I leave to the principals of the story to defend their statements and reasoning. The "RRC Loses" article (CN 2/2/68) was chec1ced corrected, and rechecked by the principals so the story clearly expressed their feelings. I feel Sherm should have dealt with the actual statements of the story In question rather than what he though I said. The " •• .almighty dollar." statem ent (RRC Loses) was a clearly designated direct quote of the '67 Chairman, RoberiAdst!. Through what alchemy does Sherman maintain that Adsit' s statement becomes some standard devel oped by Bob Fe e and magically applied to a statement of !act appearing in another issue of Cy cle News? (RRC M eets, 2/ 9/ 68) There was no r eference to the quote. The statem ent tha t Ames say s casts so great an aspersi on on the RRC was, " The Treasurer' s report showed the lowest balance in several y ears due to the dance expenditures and the Chart Stewart' s r eport..... Mr .Ames questions my intent - I question his reasoning!!! Mr. Ames see ms somewhat confused and as a result unfair when be attributes other peoples comm ents to me personall y. That' s comparable to holding Walter Cronkite r esponsible because he reported Niklta Krushch eV' s " We' ll buy y ou" comment. Had Sherm mentioned his wrath on any of the occasions he conversed with me since the publication of the articles view (such as in RRC Loses) or com mentaries that seek to pinpoint and discus s problems of the sport and the RRC In particular? Does Mr. Ames seek to stine exploration and analysis o! the various actions taken by the RR C or Its of!lcers? Would he deny the respresentaUves and the consequences of any action because some officer might feel crIticized ? I per sonally feel that all r oad rider s; club members, outriders , and the RR C reps are entiUed to know what acttvities transpire in RR C and what various v i ewpoints exist. The editors of Cycle News think likewise (the fact that these Items appear here). I should think that the officers of the RRC would want to cooperate with Cycle News in dispens i ng such Information. So tar, per hap s due to the confusion of articles and editor ials, they have been cool and almos t sec retive to this reporter. However, the year is young and the RR C, In the words of th e chairman, hopes to achieve greate r accomplishm ents . I can assure Mr . A me s tha t as l ong as he continues to offer the super b skills of his shop forem an , Phil Runs er , and the common courtesy extended any cus tom er, I shall continue to patronize M r , Ames' business . As he supports his family and knows ho w I support mine, I can only hope tha t it is a two- way street we travel. Th ere should be more than one factory race team m anag er crying in his beer with Jody Nicholas around but not avallable for Daytona, or any other Natioual road race f or that matter. Like good wine , JodY appears to Improve wi th age and right no w be Is an old twenty-four. He will and can serve a m os t useful purpose, however. He can be the sparr ing partner fo r any and all Daytona hopefuls. In other words, if y ou can beat JodY at Carlsbad you are ready toleaveandhead for bigger things In national road races. Took Two This Time Jody has an excellent BSA 650, In lact the best running r i g that we have see n In road racing competition. He sho wed up last Sunday l or the first ti me wi th a good 250 Yam aha and also did the job. Th e Yamaha is also a good one botnot as good as the team stuff tha t will i nvade Daytona. Th en too, Ni cholas can m ake any bike look good . He i s silk- sm ooth and makes no m i stakes. He' s a good guy t o hav e around for a measuri ng s tick lor all current National road racers an d the new and yo unger r iders co m ing up th e ladder. \IIben he was active from '60 through ' 65 he was perhaps the mo st under rated r oad r acer in A merica . _' GUZZI ~ DUCAT. ,..--_. -'--- "'"' - _..--.. .... He has quite a stretch to go i n the Navy as a pilot but Carlsbad ls right in his current backyard, He'll be there and .... waIting in future events and ls going to "@ help make California fast on the pave- co men!. ~ Get Those Entries In It's About Time Race fo llowers may also start looking for a movie to be m ade about racing cy cles that will f ollow the same lines of the car pi c ture tiUed " Grand Prtx". There wer e peopl e at Carlsbad last SundaY getting the information and shooting some footage for th e start of what can be the fir st of the " Good - Guy " fllms abou t cy cling. 700cc MOTO GUZZI V·7 ~ and before his pr ese ntation of his l etter, he would have found my offering him the same painstaking care developi ng his viewpoi nts as I gave the member s of the T oo Tired M.C. Through his present:l.tion of his letter and his rallying the RRC mem ber's support, Mr . Ames has perform ed a valuable service. He also, albeit briefly, raised a spectre when during his remarks at the RR C meeting, in r ef erenc e to RRC Loses and RRC Meets, he said, " Bo th of which I don't think hav e done any good." Does he des tre tha t Cycle News and I ts reporter s supp r ess all points of GOOD TURNOUT FOR BAKERS-FIELD HILLCLIMB By M.J. oxronl DUCATI 250 SCRA MB L ER Imported by Berliner Motor Corp. Railroad SI. & P lant Rd. Has brouck Hets ., N. J . Weste rn Part s Hea dquart ers ZDS otors 527 W. W indso r Rd. Glendale, Ca lif. Sacramento's Dick Bertolucc i (Trl u ) tr... ..le d to &kersfield lor the Reveliers II.C. bil icli mb, wound up lst Expert In the OlMn Cla ss and took home till s trophy. The Revelier s M.C . hi llclimb held i n Baker sfleld, Califo rnia on February 4 brought over 1400 sp ectators from all over Nor the rn and Southe rn Califor nia, one of the bi ggest crowd ever to gather at Outlaw Hill. Th e day went last and s mooth. During Intermission, besides the us ual event for children climbing the hill, two dunebuggies came up from the Los A ngeles area to compete wi th any rider for fastest time . Both buggies were not only beautiful bul put on a grea t show. The biggest attraction, howev er , was the Open Class ev ent, which was won by Dick Bertolucci from sacramento. Second ove rall and ! tr st Amateur went to Bakersfield' s Dick Oxfor d. Bertolucci r ode a Tri um ph; Oxford was HarleyDavids on mounted. (Results on pag e 20) YOUR B E R L IN E R 1 TO RS 0 D E A L ER PRO DL Y PR E ~ TT THE FI<"E , F LL LINE OF HIGH PER FO R ~ I A , ' C E ~IOTOR CY C LE ...: ,ORTON, D CATI .AND ~IOTO GUZZI. IS TillS THE YEAR YOU DE CIDE T O OW . O, TE OF TH E FL 'E O, "E "? LET EXCITE- '" $ Daytona entries close this Sunday c.: night. Next week we will start giving a ~ team by team rundown on who ts riding c.: what at Daytona on March 16th and 17th. ..J Between now and Daytona time the ~ annual Ascot lOO-lapper takes the spot- (.) light with the Novice riders going on saturday and the Amateur and Expert riders taking to the turf on Sunday. A r ecord crowd i s again expected both. on the track and in the stands. Any r ider that does not know what Is goi ng to take place and when It Is going to happen sho uld start making some pho ne calls. 750cc NORT ON P-Il , lE NT BEGL T ALL OVER AGAIN. IT' TR ADE-L T T I~I E AT YO R NORT ON, DUCAT I, MOTO GUZZI DEALER. WE 'RE LI TE D IN T HE YELL OW P AGES.

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