Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ LJe _ o " ~ w Z w -" U > U ~:=~ n r:: ~ WS L J ~ "American's No. 1 weekly motorcycle newspaper. You'll always see it FIRST in Cycle News!" Publisher . Business Manager, . . . . General Manager Advertising Manager Editor Assistant Editor Circulation Manager Art Director Lab Technician Advertising Asst Bookkeeper. . . . . . . .. Bookkeeper Receptionist Circulation Asst Delivery . . . Charles Clayton Sharon Clayton Tom Culp Tom Walsh Bob Sanford John Bethea Rheba Smith Lili Lakich DianeSosnoski Bruce Braly Dorothea Lang Eleanor Duke Chris Pratt Dorothy Apple Larry Groves Cycle News East, Dixie Cycle News, and National Advertising information: Tom Culp. National Advertising Dir. Cycle News (West). P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, California 90801. (213) 427-7433 - L.A. 636-8844. Subscription: One year 2nd class mail Single copy price $7.50 $.25 Published weekly except the first and last week of the calendar year by CyclE! News, Inc., Post Office Box 498, Long Beach, California, also publishers of Cycle News East, and Dixie Cycle News. Second Class Postage paid at Long Beach, Calif. Editorial stories, cartoons, photos, etc. are welcome. Write for information. Addressed, stamped envelope assures return of editorial matter. Reprinting in whole or in, part only be permission of the publishers. Advertising rates and circulation information will be sent upon request. .Q RESPONSE TO "FEAR" I am writing in regard to "Name withheld in fear," over his outrageous conduct during our Prospectors ~Iotocross held at Bay Mare September 13th. I was the starter of that race, and was approached by "Mr. Fear" while I was in the process of starting a. race. He was very belligerent about his son not racing in the main event, and proceeded to cuss me out, and called me and my club a So--. He then pushed me and I hit him in self defense. His son never qualified to race in the main event, and he wanted his money back after riding 2 events. We did give money back to several riders who had trouble with their bikes before the ace, which we felt they had coming. As for the Hell's Angels beating he describes in his letter to Cycle News, there were only 4 Prospectors involved. The rest were spectators, riders, and Mr. Fear's friends. They pushed, kicked, hit, and broke 2 ribs of the starter. Two officials from Bay Mare were most helpful in breaking up this so called • In regards to Dist. 37 Referees, they cannot be at 5 races at once. Thanks for all of the riders, who have called me. Mr. JACK LUND Pres. Prospectors M.C. NO CAT NAPPING This fat, middleaged, businessman is presently recuperating from his first motorcycle race -the Catnip No.1 Hare Scramble put on by the Cactus Cats M.C. on 9/20/70. Although many previously unnoticed muscles are still complaining about the treatment they got; I feel that the effort that the Cactus Cats put into running a beautifully organized event deserves immediate recognition. As my son and I had never raced before we anticipated all kinds of problems and approached th e pit pretty grimly. Much to our surprise we found the whole experience to be a pleasure from beginning to end. YOIC• • disturbance. We have never had this kind of spectator at our races before, and if he knew an ything abou t racing he would know that th e starter has more to do trying to get the riders off in time for each race without some one like him coming on to the track and making an ass of himself in front of spectators and their families. lf this so called man had not called me foul names and then proceeded to try and hit me, none of this would have happened. And I am not about to stand there and put up with this kind of nonsense. This unhappy experience, lasted only 45 sec. to a minute at the most, and I proceeded with 3 more motos. Also in re.gard to Mr. Dave Smead's reporting of this bad experience to me and my club, I would like to say if he would have taken the time to investigate this matter before writing such a bad article about my club, he would have known that he had done great harm to our club. First of all there were not 10 to 12 Prospectors involved in this argument as he stated, only 4. There was not a Sheriff's Deputy involved in this matter. Also Mr. Fear was not the rider in question, as he reports, and as for riders being unhappy about their ride that day, we heard great praise about the way we handled our motocross. There are always a few snivelers in every race, but that is to be expected. . Mr. Smead, if you will read the District 37 rule book you will find that it reads, "In the event of more than 30 entries per class, classes may at the discreption of the promoting club, be divided." We had about 30 riders in each moto, in the Junior-Novice 100cc-125cc and 250cc. We had more entries in the Novice divisions then we anticipated, and under circumstances like tllis to avoid confusion and at our discretion we kept the divisions at a maximum. We had, in all, over 215 Novice riders. One of the 250 riders was checked by our referee and found not qualified to make the main event, and stated that he was a close friend to Mr. Smead, and said he would be sure it. would be a bad writeup for our event that day, and boy it was. Thanks Mr. Smead. All of the Cactus Cats I met were, without exception, friendly, competent and very helpful with advice, etc. Signups were fast, the riders instructions were very well wrtitten, and the race was started on time. The course was clearly marked and although I frequently seemed to be all alone in the middle of nowhere I never had any doubt that I was on the course. Somebody had the foresight to run the course over a horrendous hill right at the start which served to space out the pack. The sight of 200 motorcycles trying to get over that hill all at once was so hilarious that I just sat and laughed for ten minutes before trying it myself. While neither of us were in good enough condition to go more than one of the two 36 mile loops, we enjoyed ourselves immensely. We will look for and ride in any event we can that the Cactus Cats present in the future. BOB Be CHRIS NICHOLSON Alhambra, Calif. MORE BACKING In the September 29th Cycle News, the article by Charles Clayton cycle noise really bent me out· of shape. In his fourth paragraph he asks the question, "Isn't there some organization of bikers JO put pressure on the politicians to get you someplace to ride?" Then he answers it, "No". I support M.O.R.E. whose lobbyist in Sacramento is Russ Sanford. Every issue of C.N. has an entry in the want ads headed. "Tired of Mickey Mouse Laws?" In view of the increasing concern of riders for land to ride on, why not take the time to do something besides look at the race results and pretty pictures, and really do something about it. We can put pressure on the politicians if we back this cycle representative. What about a feature article concerning actual rider organization, rather than always complaining about dwindling .riding areas? Please - no more tears. GARY GRANATH Oakland. Calif. Trans-AMA Details WORTHINGTON, OHIO, Sept. 24, 1970 - Details for entering the new Trans-AMA motocross series were released today by the AMA, and it became very apparent that time is of essence for West Coast riders interested in entering the fll'st event at LaRue, Ohio, or, for that matter, any of the remaining races. The new series, featuring competition between top American and European competitors, consists of eight separate events across the country, where all riders will vie for a minimum $4000 purse (at each event), with the National AMA Motocross Champion being determined on the basis of most total accumulated points at the end of the series by an American rider. According to the AMA, anyone who holds a current AMA competition license may participate (prior information stated that "green stamp" FIM licenses would be accepted, but an AMA official said this is not so). Application for competition licenses can be obtained by writing the organization at P.O. Box 231, Worthington, PORTLAND, ORE., Sept. 24, 1970 - Tom Clark, director of professional racing for the AMA, announced today that the Trans-AMA event scheduled for Sacramento on Oct. 29 has been changed to a new location in the Seattle, Wash. area. Clark, who was in this area attempting to secure a replacement site, said the new location is at Raceway Park in Puyallup, Washington, near the Seattle-Tacoma area. He also adds that he was able to secure promoters for the newly-located race set for the same date. Ohio. After the application has been received, a rider must get 'a physica~ examination, pay $20, and prove, by birth certificate, that he is 18 years old. Each event must be entered separately, with entry forms available through the AMA at the above address. Mail entry is $5 and is due 21 days before each event, with the exception of the fJrSt event on Oct. 11, where the deadline is Oct. 4. Each of the eight events will have a "Main Event" and a "Support Class", with riders in the two moto Main being selected from mail entries by the AMA and the promoter of the event. Those selected will be notified by mail immediately after mail (Please tum to pg. 27) EDITORIAL MX Scoring Questioned By Bob Sanford The AMA has quite obviously jumped into the motocross business with bolli feet, as evident by the new Trans-AMA series. Coming off a previous lukewarm attitude toward the sport, the series is most certainly a welcome change. However, like many new endeavors, the prototype is likely to be fraught with oversights, mis-ealculations and the like, and the Trans-AMA is no exception. Some of these are already apparent. One of the announced purposes for the series is to determine a U.S. Motocross Champion; a purpose that can hardly be faulted. The method of determination, though, leaves much to be desiredEssentially, the new champion will be selected on the basis of accumulated points throughout the eight event series. Some 40 to 50 riders, including the European stars, will be "invited" to participate in a Main event, consisting of two 30-minute motos. The winner of each moto will receive 300 points toward the National Championship, with second place receiving 295, third 290, and so on down the line. Additionally, there will be a "Supporting Main" at each of the eight events, where "uninvited" riders - those not selected by the AMA and the promoter to ride in the main - will compete in one moto for a fll'st place total of 400 points toward the Number One motocross plate. Second place in this event will be awarded 390 points, with third getting 380, etc. At the end of the series, points of all participants, both invited and uninvited, will be totaled and the National Champion will be announced. Simple? Yes, but not without some definite and very serious deficiencies. First, the rather arbitrary selection of Main event riders is certainly open to criticism. Although we're sure this will be done as fairly as possible, some sort of system of eliminations would seem much more equitable. There are many good systems that could be employed, including instituting heat races on the day before the featured event. But the matmel' in which eliminations are determined is not important. What is important, is that they're held. If not, there is a high degree of likelihood that a very good, but relatively unknown rider _will be ignored and handicapped In his fight for top bread and points. Second, and most importantly, the idea of the Championship being determined by total accumulated points, in a word, stinks. By looking at the schedule of events and using a little deductive logic, it becomes obvious that the series favors riders with a lot of mone.y and/or very helpful sponsors. The motocross situation in the U.S. today is such that many of the nation's top notch riders do not, in fact, have sponsors or a lot of money. Essentially, then, it's a question of having enough money and time to be able to compete 'in all eight events. At least under the suggested points system. Under this system, a rider who places 37th in all six of the motos could place higher in the point standings than a. person who, say, can only ride in three events, but at the same time wins all six of his motos. This, we feel, is unfair. Furthermore, we feel this point system should be changed before it is even started. The AMA should take a tip from the World Motocross Championship circuit, using the best placings of riders in a specified number of events. More to the point, it is our feeling that the championship should be decided on the basis of a rider's best four showings. This would still encourage inter-regional competition, while still giving the talented, yet less fortunate rider a fair shake of the championship stick. As it stands now, there is a very good chance that a mediocre motocross rider, who has gotten factory support because of his talents in other types of racing, could end up as the United State Motocross Champion. It is not an easy ,decision to be critical of the AMA, when they are so obviously working very hard to carry out a difficult and much needed task. Never the less, we feel that these remarks are necessary and hope the organization will view them as constructive.

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