Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

v.l St: ~ULUUJI.JI.A.~LUUJI.JI.A..u..LUUJI.JI.A..u..IU.JLUI.JUlJlJl..;IUULUI.JUlJUlJIUUL.JUl.JUl,.>UI: enforced, we hope Wortb1ngton checks Before getting into a little re-cap of the pro tracks too. There have been Hopetown - if you didn't notice the small "jelly beans" slddding around the cir:... paragraph in last week's paper, Worthcuits for quite a while, some of 'em no U 1ngton has just droPped a bomb. Starting where near the required eighteen years in 1970, no one under sixteen years of age will be allowed to ride an event in of age. So if they pick on us Sporting riders, we'll have to pck backl which speed is a factor. That means the Back to good old Hopetown. Even though Idds will only be able to ride Enduros. the resulls are completely unoffictal, There goes half the trail bike class in did you notice how well the scramblers the desert and quite a gang of scramdid? People like Steve Nichols and Haybiers including probably 90% of the Lightward Mendenhall were really in there weights M.C. The Lightweights, a group pitching, not to mention the rest of the of youngsters, are the leading scrambles regular Sunday gang. One tbing the Dirt clubs and throw darn good races inspite Diggers did we'd like to see more often of the adult members. is the use of signs. One read, "Jump the As we've always said, there are two line, you're disqualified," and the other sides to every story, and one gives you "Is the gas on?" The last sign can save food for thought. The newspapers never some very embarrassing moments I give the good side of motorcycle racing We wish some more of the girls from much Play, but they sure pick up the bad out of our District would come to race stuff in a hurry. Can't you see head11nes here like Debbie Jackllne. We noted in like, "Eleven Year Old K1l1ed Motorthe paper that she rode in the men's cycle Racing?" NewsPaper feature writExpert race up North and came in second ers, however, can!t f1nd enough human behind Carl Cranke. If you watched Carl interest in a story about an eleven year and his Penton at Hopetown, you'd know old maldng the Expert class on the same that he's a tiger. terms as a full grown man. Another tbing, too - perhaps someday Personally, we don't go along with that we could have rider classifications side of the tale. If parents want to put standardized between all organizations. their Idds on a track that's their deciWe've spotted several riders who are sion, but how about a compromise? Too rated Expert or Senior in some, yet sign many tlmes we've seen Idds riding who up as Novice at Grand Prix, then blow can't get even one foot on the ground let blow the other racers off the track. The alone two, and dad bas to balance him on way things are now, you could ride Senthe line. Now that IS dangerous. All racior a motocross in one of the FIM ers know how Important that old "outgroup!; and chase Wilson and Bailey on a rteger" Is when you have to yaw over in Sunday and maybe beat them once in a a turn, and if can't reach the ground. to wb1le, but stlll hold a DIstrict Novice balance yourself or push yourself up in a card. Not quite fair, eh? hurry, you're in trouble. So why not What was one of the nicest tb1ngs the change the rule that if a youngster can't 'Diggers did? They refunded the entry reach the ground he's too small to race? fee to those riding in the "lnternatioJial" It will be interesting to see what DIsevent. These were riders who won their trict 37 does about this. There were class or hold an inter'*tional license. growls on the fioor of the SPorts ComitThis cost them some bread, too. tee when tbis rule was announced, and Well, five more scrambles to go then let's face it. District 37 bas always been we can all collapse for a bit. See you the rebels of the A.M.A. If the rule Is at them. r.J d s.••alio.a1 Savi.g. NOW o• ••• 1970 Bodakasl t ~ ft. grea'••' "alu•••"., ar• .DOW oll.,.d by your 80dda d.al.,1 Do.D" .-I•• III b.m. Hodaka is the undisputed champion of the Trailbike class! Winner of three national championships in a row! The strongest, most versatile 100cc screamer the industry has ever seen! NOW YOU CAN OWN THIS NATIONAL CHAMPION HODAKA AND SAVE MONEY, TOO! See your dealer today! This opportunity won't last long. Learn about the many advantages Hodaka has to offer. You'll' be amazed at the incredible attention to detail, the exciting appearance and unreal performance! THE NEW 1970 HODAKA ACE 100 . . . BEST VALUE EVER! See if af yo.r nearesf HODArA Dealer Bob Hicks, New Englands Mr. Motorcycle Bob Hicks in the offices of Cycle Sport mapzlne. By Darryl Skrabak If you're in New England and you want to find out about the motorcycle scene, a good man to see is Bob Hicks. Cycle News readers who watch the want ads should recognize Bob Hicks' name as the publisher of the Journal of New England motorcycling, Cycle Sport magazine. Longtime Cycle News readers may remember Bob Hicks as being instrumental in organizing the East- West scrambles competition of a few years ago, which saw a team of Southern California riders, including Eddie Mulder, Jim Hunter and Bruce Jackson, take on Charlie Vincent and company. Knowing that much about Hicks, I called bim up and went out to see bim. What I learned in the subsequent interview is that Hicks Is seemingly all tbings to whatever there Is on two wheels in New England. In addition to publishing Cycle SPort. he Is race promoter, competition rider, Six Days Trial competitor, and as head of New England's SPorts Committee for ten years, in great part responsible for the very healthy motorcycle sports program here. He is also currently a member of the AMA Executive Committee. For bis rePOrts on AMA inner worldngs emanating from meetings he attends, and his positions taken as a Committee member, he has been publicly cursed by the AMA executive secretary, the organization's maximum leader. All of which indicates sometbing Is happening with tbis man vers, MasHicks operates out sachusetts, a tiny town about 20 miles from Boston. His home, at first glance, looks like the location of a small motorcycle repair enterPrise, what with the garage out back being stuffed full of bikes. ThIs Is mislead1ng. The motorcycles all belong to Hicks and his family. One is led past the bikes and upstairs to a room over the garage. Here, among the make-~ tables, Friden typesetter and paste-ups, is the home of Cycle Sport. The magazine Is ten years old and Is staffed solely by 'Hicks and bis soft-spoken wife, Jane. Like Cycle News, the magazine carries the news a competition rider wants to know•. "Cycle Sport is an insider's magazine," says Hicks. "It's oot a newsstand tbing. You have to bUY it at a bike shoP or subscribe to it." Circulation is Up to 4,500 oow. Riders who may visit New England should acCJlire a few issues beforehand. Price Is 50 cents per coPY, and the address Is Cycle SPort, 29 Bui-ley Street. Danvers, Mass. 01929. Hicks, a young-looldng 39, admits to riding scrambles 16 years. Tbts would put him on knobbies at New England's first scrambles, which he rePorts occurring in 1953. Scrambling, and now motocross, according to Hicks, are the only regular racing events that New England bas, besides the Laconia National road race. Until tbis year, he says, regular professional events have been absent from the calendar. Some attempts have been made periodically to establish an oval racing program, but they have failed. Unt1l tbis year, that is. Bob Hicks and other entrepreneurs, through their promoting organization, Intersport, inaugurated a professional motorcross series this season. The races. so far have been very successful. In three evenls at the rocky Pepperell track, lntersport bas made money and paid $2,500 to the riders. This year, as last, Intersport hosted the New England meeting of Inter-Am, the current tour of European motocross riders. Attendance was 10,500 - well above last year's 7,000. In addition to paying starting money to the Europeans, tbis year Intersport paid $1,500 starting money to the 20 local riders who competed in the professional event. So Intersport is a burgeoning and healthy entity, serving the New England sport' by throwing good events and providing the only professional arena, intersport is also operating without AMA sanction. Tbts is part of the source for the AMA's exasperation with Hicks. But there is a lot more happening with the AMA in New England besides Intersport. Currently there Is a big feud on between the AMA and New England clubs. . The feud began when the AMA withdrew the charter of the New England SPorts Committee. (A SPorts committee can't have a charter, the AMA said. It's not in the rules. Tbts after the AMA bad been issuing the Committee a charter for the proceeding ten years.) Then the AMA suspended three riders who entered last year's events at PePperell against the Eurapean motocross stars. (Suspended for riding an outlaw event, the AMA said. Tbts was when the AMA was not yet around to recognizing professional motocross.) Lastly, a well- liked local referee was dismissed with some non-sequitar reasoning by the AMA, it appeared to Hicks. It all made the New England clubs angry. They got together and decided not to apply for AMA sanctions for their 1969 events. The result is that New England Is enjoying one of its best competition seasons, and a lot of people are wondering what purpose is served by acquiring an AMA sanction in the first place. "Like who needs the AMA?" they ask. "We get along very well without it." Wblle all tbis was going on, lUcks was airing the viewpoints of the disenchanted clubs in Cycle SPort. He was also trying to patch tbings up with the AMA through his membersbJp in the AMA's Executive Comittee. "Well, I'm not res1gn1ng," Hicks writes in the latest issue of Cycle SPort. Good show. When I talked with Hicks he bad just returned from Germany, where he bad competed in, and finished, the International Six Days Trial. Prior to going overseas, Hicks bad put in about 3,000 woods miles training for the event. Most of this riding was over terrain convenient to his home. With outdoor riding country fast disappearing near metroPOlitan areas in the rest of the country, 1 wondered how be could ride backwoods so near Boston. Hicks explained that New England riders become experts on the location of historically established but nowabandoned, roads and rights of way. "The roads of the American Revolution times are the bike paths of today," he said. Motorcyclists are also appreciated to a certain extent by state park officials. They keep trails oPen that might otherwise be lost through disuse, or cost the state a lot of money to keep in repair. "As far as the park officials are concerned," Hicks says, in his down East accent, "snowmobiles draw their ire much more than woods bikes." At present there is no blanket pollcy having to do with motor vehicles on trails, but Hicks foresees the day when rules will be applied. The increase in numbers of motorcycles alone would seem to ensure the arrival of trail rules sooner rather than later. Hicks reports motorcycle registrations in Massachusetts have jumped from 8,000 in 1960 to 50,000 tbis year.

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