Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

scramiDn' arounif By Maureen Lee Here we go with another bit on OUf little green stickies again. Whee! I was accused of advocating civil idsobedience the other day and Alice Rhea received a blast from a reader that people like her are responsible for our hippies etc. and that she has contempt for law and order. Well, Alice can speak ror herself and I'll speak my piece. Personally, I'm against the registration because having seen the paper-work CMIC has on it, it's just a grab to get some more tax money. The first amount in the coffers will go to the counties to buy helicopters so Big Brother can watch over you. Like all of us, I pay taxes til I'm ready to find a South Sea Island; it's getting to be ridiculous and this is one mo.re we don't need_ Then read that $ 100,000 of our tax money has been handed over' to a study to see if they can move the railway tracks away from the front of the' Western White House. Just a study, mind you, if it can be done. Guess who pays for the moving of those tracks? Not RN and not the railway; us. As for the civil disobedience bit. That's my decision and this country was founded on civil disobedience when taxes became unbearable. If pressed, I shall most probably have to put on a stickie but every time I get checked the officer will get a very cool recep tion. One' feeling is they will stop stolen bikes_ Hoo haw. On a new bike the dealer does not have to list the engine number on the paper work. On used ones, when you apply, the space for frame and engine number are blocked out. They're not looking for stolen bikes, just checking so they know how many scooters you have and then can let anyone else know who can figure out a way to tax you on 'em! * * * On to happier things. If you missed the Coliseum motocross, you really missed something. Naturally we all see the same race a differen t way; mine is that only in America would someone convert a football field into a motocross course! But with what they had to work on, they did a bang up job on designing that course. European riders, who didn't fare too well, had a few comments. One Swede, who declined to be quoted by name, though t it was too narrow; whoever got into tum one first would have it made (he was later proven wrong). The one thing he definitely didn't like was that it would give Americans who don't know what motocross is all about the wrong impression of such a rough sport. I think Dave Bickers summed the course up the best after a few commen ts as being "Minature". That was about it, had everything in it a proper course does bu t in small scale. My question is, wer~ the Americans that good or were the Europeans that bad? Motocross can often develop into a win for people not expeeted to because of bad luck with other riders who get bottled up in traffic, falloff or have bike problems. Still, there wasn't one spectator who could disclaim Marty Tripes absolutely sensational ride. That youngster just picked 'em carefully one at a time and sometimes not even receiving assistance from his slower teammates as it was supposed to be a Yamaha team effort. His riding style most impressed me. Before Torsten Hallman suffered his back injury there was a lot to his style like Marty's, very smooth and very controlled, but friend-husband (hey, gang, that's geneL ..Ed.) insists Marty looks a lot like Robert, as the migh ty Joel stands up at least 90% of the time without tiring and only sits when necessary to get that power to the ground. Don't know what Marty's diet is but you can bet your boots it's not soda pop, fries and junk food. Regardless of who he looks like, at least he has a style, and every great motocrosser has or had one depending on whether they're still in competition, and style does not consist. of bashing around comers, feet flying and arms flailing. John DeSoto could have been really irr contention, but good lord, John, did you have to live up to your title of "The Flying Hawaiian" so seriously? His right rear ilhoclt collilpsed and locked and John' made like a bird righ t over the front end. Sunday morning wife Patti said he was ok but very stiff and sore. I should think so, it was a corker. Morris Malone on an A-] ay had to be the bard luck youngster of the nigh t including getting some of the banners wrapped around his sprocket, does rather tend to pull down the power, you know. Also got to meet two new people. Jim Weinert .from New York who is considered in some circles to be a very under-rated rider, especially here in the West. An injury has slowed bim down but he believes in physical fitness and weig/l t training and that's the way to go! And once again I have to pat the AMA on the back for moving ahead in getting better and better people in the key jobs: The new motocross referee, John Lancione, is a delight. Very personable, with a great sense of humor but a no nonsense attitude about racing; he'll keep things going well. Not only that, he's happy to listen to any suggestions and the riders like him, too. He says, rather tongue in cheek, th'at,he became a referee because he bitChed at Tom Clark so much that Clark finally said, "Then you do it." John did. Our one criticism about the Coliseum was the placement of the flag stand and the scoring tables. Never, never, never on the outside of the tum. One of the first laws of racing. They obviously thought it would be safe because it was such a slow tum, there's no such thing as a safe slow tum when one is on the outside. Bruce got off-keel and ploughed into the haybales on which the assistant starter was standing, hurling him into the air and narrowly missed the scoring table. A few more inches and the people at that table would have been creamed. Also, at times, the flag was waved so fancily that it was tough to see the color. We noted the same thing at Ascot. Sit on the south tum and look at the finish and try to tell the difference between the white and the checkered at times. There's something to this because we're having more riders than ever pull in on the wrong flag than ever before. It even bappened at San Jose. There's only so much vision and at speed a rider can only see so much, not like a chap in a car. Back to more slowly waved nags, chaps! , Laugh of th nigh t was provided by the announcer saying repeatedly that the Europeans would be hampered by riding at nigb t! In the Coliseum, with lighting brighter than day so that GaDe can pick off Snow with no shadows as they move? The East tum, which was the darkest since the football field does not extend that far, was still brighter - than sections of our night tracks! It was a great show and I hope they have another, with both Evel and Super Joe jumping. Watch their styles. Evel is trel1)endous on the ground, wheelies around, spins do-nuts and looks graceful. Super Joe at times looks clumsy like he's just learning to ride, but when in the air, Super Joe's trajectory is straight and true while Evel's rear wheel comes down quicker. Interesting. taking care of the duties of Commissioner. What a title: Commissioner. He is just about God and can express himself thusly but by the same token he shoulU .BIUIOA_ (Cont'd. from page 31) ACE DOUBLEHEADER ALL JUNIOR DAY . N· 7.D-D ·· .B MINICYCLES eglnners, OYICeS .. SUNDAY, AUGUST 13 ALL-CLASS MOTO-X •

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