Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

5,Ciram ~ .-.--------------------------------------~------IIIIIII! . boulders); and a few more groups I haven't space to mention. Them's my feelings and that's where I stand as an individualist who still works with groups trying to solve this thing. i It; j . "' I .. Z III .,J U > C by Maureen Lee I know where I'd like to be Monday, September 4. Beatty, Nevada where they're holding a Grand Prix through town. From what I've heard about Beatty, it was and, I guess still is, a pretty swinging town. They're even going to have a wild burro race. Hope they'll be more careful of the burros than the folks in Big Bear used to be. But I've got a suggestion for the Silver City Scramblers. If you catch any pit racers, why don't you tie 'em up on the ground, and then chase the burros over them! There's quite a little storm brewing at local scrambles races and in away, it's quite funny because we haven't had any squabbles over scrambles for ages. It's usually desert events that come before the Compe tition Committee., not scrambles. In the first instance, a group of riders protested the running of one of the TT MC's scrambles at Adelanto. Don England owns the track and is also President of the club. Seems he set up and started the races and then scored them con trary to how it had been done all year, and that you can't do. No shifting in the middle of the season, and follow the rule book. Technically, England was doing this, but it wasn't the way the riders were accustomed to doing it, and it messed up the results. • Now, for some reason Don England thinks certain riders and the two scrambles stewards, Dick Kouns and Diane Connolly, are picking on him. Whenever personalities get involved, it gets to be a sticky wicket, and I know for a fact that both stewards have worked dam hard at all the races (except when Diane had Jim Junior this season and was sidelined for a bit), and both have assisted when England needed help. The District is definitely not against him or any other track owner, if District people didn't like track owners you wouldn't see all the scurrying around going on over the Burton's Night...it's not a point run, AMA that is. District riders like and need Adelanto, and we can't lose a District Few of the lucky fans who witnessed the inaugural running of the Champion Spark Plug Motorcycle Classic will forget that day last October. Motorcycle Weekly called it "some of the toughest road racing ever seen in this country." Popular Cycling summed it up: "It was the type of racing you had to see to believe - you should have been there, you really should:' In case you weren't, you've got a second chance on October 1 to see the world's longest, toughest, richest road race...The second running of the Champion Spark Plug Motowcle Classic. A blistering 250-mile road race divided into three parts. One hundred and twenty-five miles, followed by a mandatory 45-minute pit stop during may be ahead of yo~! The BLM hassle is "far from settled, but things are looking brighter. On the local levds, the BLM people seem to be very sympathetic. They don't want to end up the villains of the piece when One man, Russ Penny should play the staring role. A little bird told me that the BLM is quite in favor of District 37 runs because they know how the District polices individual clubs and we leave the desert clean, usually cleaner than before and will repair damage if any does occur such a a road bern with no arguments about it. There's even a feeling that they might consider scouting an event part of it so that stickies won't have to be put on bikes as competition machines are exempt. Naturally though, if they grant us this courtesty, there had better be no cheating and going cow-trailing and saying your scouting or you just may end up being dropped down a mineshaft. The BLM is also k.icking around the fact that other organizations throw bike runs in the desert, and when it comes to permits, you can bet your bottom dollar that they will have checked to see how well these people handle themselves. I know for a fact that one of them took ages to clean up the pit area. It was a disgrace. I believe one "Of the District clubs finally did it for him, just to hold onto the desert. We're not all dispoilers. Mr. Penny always likes to refer to the soil damage done at Pinoche. It's been shut down now for three years and you can barely see that any vehicles went that way. I just wonder if Mr: Penny has any idea whatsoever what damage sheep do to soil while grazing. If he doesn't I respectfully suggest he get a couple of history books on the American West and read about some of the bloodiest range wars that ever took place over the grazing of sheep on cattle land. . It's public land, there for all of us to use, wisely. If we are shut out then ~veryone should be, including sheep (destroy the land); cattle (they eat it clean); backpackers (they litter); rockbounds (They smash apart beautiful which the bikes are literally rebuilt in the pits. Then, a 125-mile fight to the finish. The pit stop simply makes everybody more competitive for the final heat How competitive? How does half a dozen lead changes per lap sound? Or a final winning margin of four inches? It all happened last yeat: And believe it or not, things might even be closer this year. Because every hot shoe who can beg, bonuw, or steal a ride wants a shot at nearly $100,000 in prize money (plus national AMA championship points). All the great American riders will be there, plus a few legendary European names who only come out for the big, big money. They'll be riding some of the meanest YAMAHA FORMS NEW SUBSIDIARY PARTS COMPANY Yamaha International Corporation has announced the formation of a wholly-<:>wned subsidiary to be called Yamaha Parts Distributors, Inc. The new subsidiary will be responsible for the diPect importation, warehousing, distribution and US sales of all parts and accessories for Yamaha motorcycles and" snowmobiles. "The move to change this Yamaha division to an au tonomous subsidiary company was due to many factors," said Mr. Hiroshi Kawashima, President of Yamaha International with headquarters in Buena Park, California. "First of all, this operation in our company had reaced the point where it can progress more efficiently with its own management controls - such as accounting, warehousing, importation and personnel administration." Yamaha Parts and Accessories will continue to be distributed from three warehouse locations - Buena Park; Cudahy, Wisconsin; and Bellmawr, New Jersey. The new subsidiary has already been incorporated and should be operative by October of this year. Yamaha International was incorporated in Los Angeles twelve years ago as a U.S.A. subsidiary of Nippon Gakki, Ltd. The parent company in Japan manufactures and distributes world-wide such well known products as pianos, organs, musiGllJ instruments, skis and audio components and speakers. Nippon Gakk.i's brother company in Japan, Yamaha Motor Company, Ltd., manufactures and distributes world-wide motorcycles, snowmobiles and their replacemen t parts. ''The formation of Yamaha Parts Distributors, Inc.) "reports Mr. Day, "will enable us to give our dealers and our customers better service as well as accelerating new product develop men t in expanding leisure time special ty lines. " machines that ever put two wheels on a track. The brutal new 750cc "super" bikes that accelerate like a runaway dragster and can top 175 miles per hour. Just close your eyes and picture 80 to 100 of them on the Big O's punishing 3.2 mile road course at once. Unbelievable. And that's just the climax to four full days of constant racing excitement. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, you can watch ten hotlY'contested preliminary road races, ranging from blazing flat-out five-lap qualifying heats in all three classes to Saturday's 125-mile Expert-Junior Combined Lightweight feature (Kel Carruthers topped an all-star field last year by four-tenths of a second). Plus four hours

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