Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

N '" .f N ..... '" M ti o ~ w Z w -' U > U • Jim Hoggard Jr, over the top for the 360 win, The Over The Hill Gang at De Anza by Barge Charger RIVERSIDE, CAL., Sept. 17, 1972 For the second mon th in a row over sixty brave souls, including some of California's best, came to try their luck and skill on De Anza's Competition Hill. The hill is relatively short at only 300 feet and the first 180 is smooth sailing but from 180 to around 280 feet it's a real bear and consists of sandstone ledges and bumps. It's so steep that when a rider comes off the machine both he and bike slide and roll to the bottom. To prevent excessive carnage the Bushmasters M.C., the host club, had several club members, with ropes and grappling hooks, stationed at wfferent places on the hill. Their ma;n concern was' to keep' the machine away from the rider to preven t injury and second to minimize the mechanical damage. The Bushmasters have done a good job, as the ambulance hasn't been used yet. The younger kids ride mini-cycles and when the first runs were tabulated Gary Hall had broken the record which he set the previous month with a 143 foot climb. The second round Gary went 149 feet, only one foot more than Richard Dick and two feet more than Ricky O'Neill and it looked like these marks would stand until Ray McClendon put his Honda way out front with a 156 foot run that couldn't be beaten. As the Bushmasters always give 100% trophies in the toddler class there were no losers. Dave Powell held the old record in the IOOcc class at 185 feet and it looked like a repeat victory as his first run was also 185 feet but .his little brother, Mike, wanted that trophy too and he got it with an amazing first run of 200 feet as nobody else came within 20 feet of Powell's Suzuki. Opinion LJerrill Lowe's Bultaco holds the 125cc record at 221 feet and five riders tried to break it but nobody came within 40 feet of it as today's high mark was posted by Roy Waterhorse on a Suzuki with a first run of 176 feet. Alice Hudnall showed the boys how when she made her first run on her 175 Yamaha with a mark of 231 feet. Ron Sutter took second place when his third try took him to 220 feet. Doug Hall was first over the hill today on his 250 Bultaco with Joe "The Griper" Graper's Montessa following him over, Either other riders tried in vam to get their 250s over the top with third place going to another girl, pretty Louise WeatheriJl, who went 271 feet on her Husky, the highest girl so far. Jim Hoggard, Lonnie Clayton, Joe Graper and Gary Parsons had the only 3'60s that could make the hill so they got to relax while the other ten riders elimmated themselves. None of the 400s made the hill today and Kerry Peterson lost by three feet to Raymond Reasmes' Ma;co at 278 feet. Bud Key's Triumph ",as the only 500 to go over the top but all of the 650s and 750s made it over. When the starting point was moved forward all of the 250s were elimmated with Doug Hall winning bis class with a run of 266 feet. Joe Graper was eliminated from the 250 and the 360 classes and Randy Daugherty used up his last try in the 650 class. Once aga;n the' start was advanced and all ·the 360s were eliminated with Jim Hoggard taking home the class trophy witb a 220 foot run. Bud Key had already won the 500 class and his run of 255 feet wasn't good enough to keep him in con ten tion for the overall trophy. Bill Correll went over the top again on his first try to win the 650 Bill Carrel seems to be pushing his Ossa, why not ride it?' class and Neal Mackel got his 750 Triumph over on the third try to win his class. The start was moved up agam and Correll, who hadn't had a miss all day, had three chances at the overall win agamst Mackel, who had only one try left. Correll's first run was a creditable 220 feet but Mackel went 248 feet. Correll now had two more chances and his second try was 234 feet. Mackel proved to be King of the Hill Correll fa;Ied to pass him on his th ird try. • DEfINITION • BIKERS ARE BAD GUYS by John Huetter All right, dammit! Enough is enough. It's taken twenty years, at least, for the American motorcyclist to even have any hope of an alternative public image besides the black·jacketed chopper freak who lives on pills and booze and whose occupation is raping minor females. • In the last few y.ears, with the infusion of inexpensive Orien tal machinery and the example of Euopean sportsmen in motocross' and roadr3cing, not to mention the National Circuit, the image and perhaps the reality of those who ride or deal with the two-wheeled internal combustion-engined machines we call motorcycles has changed, Not that there's anything wrong with wearing black leather and riding a chopper in "my eyes, but the framework of Joe Public can dig a cute helmeted couple on a small displacemen t Honda, whereas the former invokes a gu t reaction fear, largely because of the mewa. But now nationwide television, unfortunately the most powerful force in the United States, has ripped it. On "Mod Squad", the program broadcast on Sept. 21 in the Pacific time zone, . what appears for all of America (and • our servicemen overse~) to observe but a fierce. mean, criminal motorcyde.gaDg· on dirt bikes. They're a "gang", accordjng to the script, that harass workingmen and knock off payroll trucks and deal in tear gas and plastic explosives. You see, Checkers. Dirt Diggers, Red Dots, Invaders, Lightweights, Sled Riders, etc, al infmitum, we've got the straigh t story on you guys now. You're a gang of thieves and ripoff artists; after all, ABC television says so and whether you like it or not, that is what, God knows how many, million people are believing righ t now. That particular episode of "Mod Squad" was, obviously, the straw thatis breaking my dusty, scabby, mud-caked back. I can't reaJJy condemn the Stunts Unlimited guys or the man who used the helmet camera so effectively to protray a side of pff·road riders that I've never seen. Those guys work for a buck and, in many cases, aren't even aware of the overall script. 1 can condemn the producer-director of "Mod Squad" for not, at the very least, hiring a technical adviser so his idiot portrayal of a gang of criminals whose ma;nstay and affiliation is motorcycles, particularly wrt bikes, would not be so inaccurate and have the words of the script ring so ,hollow and false. (Of course, in that sense, it wasn't any worse than most editions of that program. I t just hit close r to horne. I t also occurred to me. that bo th Husqvarna and Yamaha, whose bikes made up the mam force of this bandana-ed gang of cutthroats. would not allow or particularly dig their machines being associated with the type of rider, and person, these dirt bikers were portrayed to be. The gang members were also wearing AJS and Cycle Products West T·shirts and those outfits can't be that hard up for a free plug. Unless they want all the hubcap stealers in Sou them California to be wearing their brand names on theit chests. That's the image the program conveyed, with overtones of more extreme violence. I ended up seeing the program with a friend who doesn't ride or race but, tor some reason, understands why average, everyday working guys ride, and who commented, "We don't need this sort of thing." That person was right. We don't. As if that isn't enough, the subplot invoked the motorcycle as a phallic substitute for some poor dude that didn't have any other way to assert his manhood. This amateur psychoanalysis has also gone plenty far enough for me . Even with aJJ the assaults of modem society on the basic masculinity and feminity of its members, very few seek out dirt bikes for that reason. It takes more than that to get someone to join a "gang" of dirt bikers and ride and race off the road. Nobody likes to see a distortion, or Oat out lie, about their life or hobby or sport portrayed to the rest of the world as reality. The off-roacLrider, or any biker, can afford it least. The network programmers will hear abou t their nonsense hour of so-called entertainment from me. It wouldn't hurt if they heard from other fascinated or reluctant viewers. About the only thing that was halfway right about the whole program is that dirt bikers have been known to sip some suds while working on their scooters, but I'm not so sure a fair percentage don't prefer coffee or Gatorade. I may even give up beer if that's the kind of image that necessarily results. Just think:' the alternative could have been a documentary on the Barstow-to-Vegas run or the Check Chase. Now that is real drama, action, pa;n and excitement. The Hollywood version, as usual. is worse than a farce; It was insulting. J

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