Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ 1 (Colte'd. from paffc 41) '" ~ can't do that any more. Now there's so _ many guys, maybe the first 50 get _ through and then they start nailing the next ones. So you have to face up to the .., problem. 1l! CN: In our area now the police have w helicopters. Z Vinc;nt: Whew! Where are you from? ~ That's not fair they ought to put o them on bikes, make it even! CN, I'll tell you, it adds a whole new aspect to the sport when this damned helicopter comes down and a loudspeaker blares, "You're on private property. Get off there." Latham: Well, you can't go on private property unless you've got permission, so if it's posted, you've got to stay off. There's no question about it. Even ·if it isn't posted, if you know a guy doesn't want you there, you'd better stay out. In the Berkshire, we have permission from the Federal Govemmen t to run in the National Forest and we have permission from the State Government to run in the state forest. CN: They have one more qualifier in Ohio, don't they? Vincent: Yeah, it will be the.next one I guess. That'll be all trail I think. CN: Is that going to be a Pen ton Special? Latham: Yeah, I think so. Vincent: It's going to be a YANKEE Special! Plan 27 comes into action in Ohio! We've already tried 26 plans and 3" t they didn't work. CN: Is the AMA going to seduce you guys back into their organization with the Six Days? • Latham: What do you. mean by seduce? Who's being seduced, New England or AMA? Anyway, it isn't New England people who would run the ISDT. The " people who decide whether New England goes bac k to the AMA is an entirely differen"t crowd from the people who are going to run the ISOT. Maybe the AMA is going to seduce Al Eames or something, but it's got nothing to do with all of the other trail bosses. CN: Bob Hicks is kind of your spiritaul leader, so to speak, in the New England portion isn't he? Latham: Well, not a spiritual leader, but he's the fellow that's probably done the most for the sport and the fellow that probably knows most about what's "happening. But Bob Hicks wasn't involved at all ih our original withdrawal from the AMA. That was the vote of the enduro committee and the" sports committee for scrambles. We enduro riders withdrew because we didn't see any advantage. You had to ftJe all those long reports that took a couple of hours to fill out. You sent them S 10 and you never saw anything for it. Why bother to belong? Besides, we wanted to try our own rules. I think it's been great that we've gotten to try two or three different kinds of rules now. One system is the rider-number flip cards at each check, so as you ride into a check you can see if your number is up and whether you're early or late. 1 think that's done a lot for the fun of riding. If you number's up on the board, then you know you're on time. It also helps in the scoring. The way we score is by writing down the number dues, not th~ real time. Then when you get back and you want to score, you take the difference between the rider's number and the number on the slot. If you're rider No. 20, then your card should consist of a whole bunch of 20's, if you've got a perfect score. If it's got a 22., you know you dropped two points. Vincen t: It really makes it neat, there's not a Jot of figuring to the thing. CN: The idea 1 really like is that trail network you're building in Massachusetts. Latham: The fellow that's doing the most work on that is Don Norris. We've got all these people \hat just sort of come out of the woodwork who are willing to work hard on this Trail Rider Association. It's amazing. This guy Don Norris, it's like a second job to him. CN: Is it close to becoming a reality? Latham: A lot of it is a reality. You can get route sheets for most of it and it's been cleared with the necessary people, CN: How do you get people to work on these things? Latham": You don't have to; they just volunteer. It's not always people who ride enduros either. They Ijke to have an excuse to give the wife for why they have to go riding Saturday and Sunday and the excuse is, "Well, I have to go and work on the trail grid." CN: (To Latham) Do you have to do much physical training? Latham: I don't know whether we have to or not, but we do. CN: Running and calesthenics and that sort of jazz? Latham: Yes, I work out every day. CN: Do you get a chance to ride during the week at all? Latham: No. CN: Malcolm Smjth told me one time, that he never had to do any training or anything like that. He said, "Of course, I like to go out and tak~ a little ride before breakfast every morning. I've got a 40 mile loop up behind my house." Eames: That's the kind of dedication it takes. CN: I don't know if it's dedication in his case. He seems to enjoy it.so much. Eames: Well, you've go't to enjoy it too, Latham: If we didn't enjoy it, we wouldn't be doing it. The minute it gets to be work, I'm just going to quit and let somebody else go beat himself over the head. But it's still fun. You get up on the top of the ridge in this run and you look around and see these fantastic deep valleys between the ridges. Today the sky was blue in spot. You could see for miles up there .... CORONA Still not convinced? Read on. If you follow the racing scene, you know the all new '72% Puch is a real winner. For those of you who don't: On February 20, 1972 Jeff Wright became the first person in California history to win a desert hare and hound race overall aboard a 175cc machine. A Puch of course. Jeff has been putting it on them at Ascot Park's night MX series, too. To date Jeff has put together an unbroken string of 6 wins. luck you say? Read on. At the annual Elsinore Grand Prix this year, Jeff beat all but one of Saturday's 1.000 entrants, for second overall winner. Sunday, Jack Morgan, on a 175cc Puch, won overall in the 250cc Open Expert Class. . Currently Bill Friant is leading the AMA 37th District Division 2 lightweight class on a 175cc Puch. If you're still not convinced, come into your nearest Puch dealer and see one. Seeing is Believing. PUCH DISTRIBUTING OUR 71'S WERE GOOD, BUT OUR '72'S ARE FANTASTIC! Your Official Western States Puch Dist, 9825 MASON AVENUE CHATSWORTH, CALIFORNIA 91311 PHONE: (213) 882-8272 • L . . . .~ - - ,"J TT------- By Elaine Jones CORONA, CAL., June 28, 1972 - New faces found their way to the winner's circle as more riders continue to try their luck on Corona's tricky course. Billy McElyea, an unknown around local tracks, put it to the fast 100-125 Amateur.Experts. Wayne Whisenant, who had been king of the mountain, could do no better than second. Brad Holt, another first time rider, was third. Tim Holm played a cool waiting game, then collected in the 250cc Amateur class. Tim had been seen" scouting the troops from the stands and by the way he led the pack he did his homework well. Doug Hannon and Tim Abshier were second and third. Clyde Grizzle made his trial run last week on the Flat Track and Half Mile and made a return trip ro win the 250cc Expert class. Scott Flint and his BridgestQne kept things lively in the 175-200cc go and kept up Buddha Bultaco's domination of said class. Jim Wriglrt, who is undefeated in this class, is Scott's teammate, so while he is on vacation Scott is making hay and proving to all comers that Bridgestones do go fast. Steve Van Wormer got his feet wet for the first time as he traded his 100cc Suzuki for a bigger machine and battled it out with Rich Barnes for the second place slot. Gary Kauffeld", another new face," took a very close one from Eugene Miles in the Novice moto. Both riders were tied l{oing into the final moto and just to make it a little more exciting Sandy Robertson suddenly came alive and ran away from both of them. Gary picked up the second and the win with Eugene having to settle for third and second overall. Sandy took third with his sudden spurt. Grant Murray, Jr.,.the second oldest rider on board at 37, showed the kids that maturity counts as he captured the Amateur/Expert moto. Last week Gran t went home with seconds in the Flat Track and Half Mile. P..at Dale was second andJim Young third. Rod Sexton, no relation to Jeff who also had a brother Rod, is looking to that Corona Amateur rating as he won all three heat races in the 250cc Novice class with nary a rider in sigh t. Frank Schnetz, one of the bunch that puts on a show in this class, did it again changing places with Phil Corona faster' than the announcer could get it au t of his mouth. Frank managed to come out on top but it was nip and tuck all the wya. Ray Widener, who looked to figure in the fracas after a second place finish in the first heat, was never heard from again. Dave Lugan and Steve Sisco trophied in the first division of 100cc Novices with Robert Murray and Kip Johnston taking Division II. The Side Hacks will make their first . appearance, at .cbrona J.a:1y <12 running with the regular IT program.

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