Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125793
KAWASAKI 3's and HONDA 4's !! i ... Crisp Performance· Pl'8t:ise Handline with parts. complete conv....ions.•• Disc Brakes. Mag Wheels and more•. Send 25l! for info. ~~~liIi~~~~ N .... - Ol '5'AW.I71h 51. I ~ w Cosl. Mesa. CA. '2627 FULL BORE BOOTS $59.50 MX LEATHERS $49.50 Z ... o w all sizes in stock FOOTHILL CYCLE ACCESSORIES 3067 Foothill Blvd. La Crescenta. Ca. 91214 > o 213/248-3352 11 am to 9 pm dallY except Sunday .****************. : Yamaha & : : Triumph : : of Fontana : : S.Ies ",'s Sen;Ce : • • • Maico, DKW, CZ, Hodaka, BMW • • 9008 Sierra Ave. .... • • • Fontana, Calif. (714) 822·2252 •• • .**************~*. None Better for Motocross Road or Racing ~1 By Jack. Mangus Photos by Bob Lenk., Jack Mangus and Cary VanVoorhis Cycle News Dixie The 1972 racing season began for an unheralded young Novice road racer named John Long in February when he was handed back the $1,000 he had put down as a deposit on a TD-3 Yamaha. . The dealer had written the refund check on toilet paper. "It was a bUmmer. I'd given them the $1,000 deposit and really expected a bike. The vibrations we got after speaking to Yamaha was that the bike had never been ordered. Through the mon ths they had that money the Yamaha east coast road man and the dealer obviously never ordered the bike - justa bummer," stated Long. The 21-year-old Florida resident, who has completed two years of college and plans to return to school in the fall, was tmally able to obtain a TD-3 the nigh t before the Amateur road races at Daytona. Long had gotten in touch with Dirty Distributing Co. of Atlanta through his friend and ex-Dirty employee, Conrad Urban owski ,. a fine road racer himself. "I ran the Amateur race at Daytona just to make sure the bike would run. I didn't re.ally run.it hard and like it had baffles in it. I'd finished third a couple of years ago on a Ducati in the 200 class and I'd won the 250 Sportsman race last year." Long won the Amateur race easily. A couple of days later Long tQok his newly acquired Yamaha to a convincing victory in the Novice race beating out a factory sponsored Yamaha rider named Evans. "Pat Evans - yeah, I'm envious of him." Who wouldn't be - a factory sponsored Novice is a rarity and to another Novice who came very close to not even being able to buy a bike the sigh t of the factory leathers, spare bikes and truckloads of -parts was more than en.ough to turn Long green with envy. Midway through the season, after four road races the score is John Long4; factory rider - 0; the envy must be emanating from Evans. Long, whose time in college is being spent in pursuit of a degree in English, states quietly and seriously, "Pat's a good racer but he needs some more experience. A lot of the California road courses he raced on are similar to our Florida ones - drag strip straigh ts connected with 90 degree turns. Pat needs a little more flop it this way and that way k.ind of experience. 1also think he's a little rough on the equipment; like his shifts don't seem all, that smooth." The four National weekend wins haven't been all that easy for the taIl, slim Floridian. He started the Daytona race with a problem that almost caused him to pit after the first lap while he was in the lead. "I came off the bank into the infield and couldn't see a thing. I had taped up my face shield all the way around and when I exhaled it fogged up completely and that really flipped me out. I said I'd better pull into the pits and tear off the tape but I was in the lead so I just kept on going. It even tually cleared up in to a small V shaped opening that I could see out of." Long - I, Evans - O. ~awasaki JOHN LONG "When I caught up with Pat, I decided to see where he was at and chase along behind him..... FROM A TOILET PAPER REFUND CHECK TO FOUR STRAIGHT WINS "Road Atlanta is beautiful," says Long as he face lights up. Bqt Road Atlanta, the site of the second AMA National road race of the season, wasn't beautiful on the starting grid as John's engine quit with the one· minute board up and after he pushed across the line to restart the engine Referee Charlie Watson pulled him off the grid. Long got the bike refired and was allowed to get underway after the first wave had taken off down the front straight. He proceeded to turn in what many veteran onlookers call the greatest Novice road race performance ever. By the fourth lap ne had worked his way up to second place and as he puts it, "When 1 caught up with Pat I decided to see where he was at and chase along behind him but by lap 10 or 12 I decided to dispel him and. just go on and .race and that's been my philosophy ever since - to just go out there' and ride rather than be bothered with chasing and all that stuff." Giving credit to Evans Long added, "At Road Atlanta his bike was geared too low - so that was. their mistake." r" Long -,2, Evans - O. The next stop for the AMA road race circuit was Louden and Long, who had raced the course several times before, wanted to tum times as fast as the Juniors and Experts would on their 250's in the Combined race. "Well, I came close," was his only comment. Long, once again, won the Novice race easily after Pat Evans' engine let go. Long - 3, Evans ~ O. Several weeks later Indy was the place and Long-gone was the name of the game as Long crossed the line at the end of the first lap with a three second lead. Other than lapping the majority of the field he had no competition. Long - 4, Evans - O. While he has won every AMA Novice race this season he has also lost a few non-AMA even 15 but he used those races to polish his act and gain the experience heefeels is needed to excel on asphalt. He had to settle for second place behind Cary Fisher at Bridgehampton in an AAMRR race and while he stresses the fact that for that race he was aboard a tired bi.ke and Fisher had two machines, iii-~- ·,.·~·iii·_~i;iJl~~I::~~~-~·~'~"~.I!~-~·~J;;;lIIO"~~iIi ..-_.. ~'. . ~-::~-~~ ":',::-":"1 MACH III 6 . .~ , <. J>, ~~ lil, I Y•. The best thing EXPAN'SION that ever CHAMBERS happened ~f~r50 to a chain. FOR STREET $ Mfd by, "Blendzall" Corporation 1433-37 First St. Escalon·, Calif. 95320 WEELSMITH - EwGINEERING 3838 W. McFADOEN SANTA ANA. CALIF. 92704 (714) 8"'''·01150 JOE SMITH RACES '10 WI" I That·s why NHRA Indy Nationals champ Joe Smith insists on Venolia Forged Pistons for all his racing bikes. For other selective buyers like Joe we make bike pistons lor STREET...TRAIL ... DIRT and MOTORCROSS. ALL SIZES - BORES FROM 2%" UP Featuring exclusive Venolia design and all the basic performance characteristics we build into our bigger automotive pistons. 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