Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Mike pqsey has been giving Jim Hunter a bad time about his Gold Star e-xhaust system. In Mike's words, Jim. has installed utwicc pipes to make It go faster". In reality, Jim had devised a new system to place nvo ~ilencers ?" the Goldie's huge exhaust pIpe to qwet it down. * * * People in the know were quite surprised when no one noticed the new 400 prototype Bultaco at the Trans-AM.A at Carlsbad. For one reason or another it did not have a spectacular showing, but when matched side by side to the super bikes, it zapped them with ease. Look for it at forth-coming Trans-AMAs. • • • Gary Nixon has purchased his Kawasa~ H2-R road racer from Kawasakt and WIll campaign it as a privateer next ye~. He will get a break on parts - that s all. Gary has taken up tennis. * * * REFLECTING on a comment in the llopetown story about Powder Puff leaders being as good as a lot 0 f men. we feel that is a much too conservative statement. Janene Pennington will run in the top five in any 125 Amateur motocross and Cherry Stockton has beat one of the dirty staffers in at least two mOlOs of a Novice class motocross. Get your egos in line, whichever direction it takes. They are plain good racers, not good woman racers. * * * There seems to be a major difference in the approaches of the car people ~nd the bike people to off-road racIng. There were bikes that finished Baja in all sorts of disrepair, but we know a pick-up driver that related the following story. "My clutch began to slip, but I decided to see if I could make the next check. Then my tape player broke, and I was forced to turn back." * * * ", ,; o Z ~ w ATTENTION INTER.1"\1ATIONAL MOTOCROSS COMPETITORS. CONSERVATIONISTS, MOTORCYCL E B U I LDERS, ACCE SORY MANUFACTURERS. TRA I L RIDERS. MOTOCROSS HOTSHOES, and GRANNIES WITH DEFr:;CTlVE HEARl] G AIDS! AMA Motocross referee, "Ligh t Brown" is seriously trying to devise standards and methods for measuring and en forcing the standards for noise levels of competition machinery in AMA motocross competition. Everybody that makes silencers, decibel meters, or motorcycles, or who has conducted scientifically meaningful noise testing of motorcycles is invited to contribute and participate in this'" ~ndeavo:. Competition riders may oJfer theIr comments since lhey are most directly affected by the noise standards for motocross. "Light Brown" can be contacted at any TransAMA motocross. (He's the one in the striped shirt that isn't Brad Lackey.) or at Universal Accessories in Dallas, Texas. Call 213/428-8357 for a good time and immediate altention to your needs. Then again, maybe you'll only get to talk to John Lancione. . * "I don't doubt that it tastes terrible. You just drank the gas." Did you lose a durn.,. bag full of racing gear on the Kramer. on-ramp- of the Riverside Freeway? II so, gIve Officer Vallis of the CliP a call at 213/620-4520. * • * If you are trying to figure out what happened to Motocross Cat last week we hope you find out. Actually, the Cat is taking it easy during the wonter and only running every other week. * • • There was some girl at Talladega during the road races who has gotten her picture in just abollt every motc;>rcyclc publication going. She was weanng lh; usual skimpy top. but wasn t particularly trick. She was OK, but n?t what one would expect to see over and over again. CONCLUSION: Bike jounlalists arc all Sll1Ulty Loads. * • * Latest word is that Honda will premier their new Elsinore MXer at the Carnegie Cycle Park TransAMA on November 26th. The big surprise is that it will be running in the Interna!ional clas~, according to our informatIon, whIch ~s for 500 class machines. YoshImura IS sched uled to be aboard a 255cc version of the new two-stroke. Honda must be very confident about something since they are giving away a lot of displacement. A number of other Japanese riders are signed up for that one. Nation..1 Champ Takezawa on the Kawasak i and two other fellows named Suzuki on, er, Vamahas. * • • If i\ke Jonsson wins the TransA~(A at Carnegie he will have won the senes. If he break~ a leg (or the equivaJen t) in .the first moto, there is still a mathematical possibility that llei.kki Mikkola can Wll1 it. As a matter of lact, If for any reason Akc doesn't do well in the next three races Mikkola will win. Ake can get by with 'seconds and thirds from here on, though. • • * The picture of Dick Kilgroe's helmet (or what was left of it) in last week's column, prompted another racing friend of ours to remind us that he had the same experience with the same helmet. He was going about 30 MP.H on th.e street when he h it an oil shck on hIS Honda Four. He laid it down fairly gracefully and when he got off, ~umped his head slightly. The lagged pIeces of shattered helmet cui up his head to the tune of about 20 stitches. When he approached the helmet company w!th the pieces they responded by sendlOg him three more of the same helmet. He told them what they could do with their helmets. All three of them. 50 much for polycarbonate Grants. • • * \Ve have noticed with some amusemen t the rise of the Trans-Am State Championship type of event for Juniors, Novices. and Begi,mers. Whal does It mean if you are S ta.te ChamplOn Beginner? * • • Cliff Carr may be headed for Australia for some winter racing. which should make h.im more competitive than ever next year. Maybe he and his wrench, Kevin Cameron, will get some factory backing next year. Lord knows,. they deserve it. A factory couldn't find a more popular team to back, either. * * * J Un Rice w ill be aboard a Harley nex t year. lie won't be a factory rider, bUI the factory w.ill be friendly, no doubt. A lot of riders who can figure sec:m Lo be eyeing the alloys for next season's dirt tracks. * * • • * • The 1913 Yale motorcycles had a gas-powered fidelity taillight. So there. ALSO: In 1913 Lee Humiston rode an Excelsior (a type of motorcycle, we're told) around a board track one-mIle 111 36 seconds to make Excelsior the first production machine with lwo wheels to clock 100MPH. . * * * • * • WHAT'S MORE: Dick Mann is said to be an antique furniture freak. Evel Knievel turned up at a SoCaI nite timehotspot called Filthy McNasties last \yeek. * * * BOGWHEELER5, take note. The new address for the Plonkers Trials club is ~t 2652 Harrison St., Long Beach, Cahf. 90810. If you want to write to them, send the correspondence care of Bobby Byerlee. This would be a good ch~nce for would-be Trialsters to get some lI1fo from a going club. * • • Vic Wilson, two time winner of the Baja 1000 and proprietor of Saddleback Park has just purchased a new John Deere road grader to the tune of $27.000. As Vic .put it, " .. .il cost about 27 Bultacos." - Well, Saddleback staff guys, there goes your Christmas bonus. * * * * There has been considerable concern over the intersection of the Barstow-to-Vegas Hare and Hound with a NORRA four-wheel event. NORRA has changed their course so there wouldn't be any conflict. Three cheers for NORRA and it sure is nice seeing some cooperation. • • * Look for an increas~ in the number of amateur events to be slaged in the Northern California area. The North Bay Motorcycle Club has purchased a large plot of land north of San La Rosa to have a place for motocross events and off-road riding. They will have morlgage payments to meet and the club has me"mbers with the experience to stage most any kind of event, so look for some coming up. * * "" • * * * * * Jim West h·as a temporary illness that requires plenty of R & R but plans to get back to racing with the U 5. Husqvarna Team as soon as possible. Arroyo Cycle Park mascot George C. Coyote has given up eating rocks for the notorious New Mexican-style hot chili and beans that they have the audacity to spoon out at 'the trackside cafe. He has issued a challenge to Motocross Cat for a chili-eating con lest to see who really has gurs. It remains to be seen whether MX Feline is willing to make the trip all the way from Texas. but he should have plenty of practice in eating hot chili. NO R RA has withheld payment of first place money to Nilsson-Tibblin Husqvarna team that finished first in the . motorcycle side of the Baja 1000 pending resolution of an investigation into alleged improper procedures by the Husky people. More on this as it becom es available or we dig around some more. • • • If you haven't already noticed, this is the biggest weekly motorcycle publication in the history of the universe. It would have been bIgger, too, but it has rained all week in South.ern California, and almost every event w~s cut down or cancelled. But, we don t mind. We're overworked anyway. * • * Z W ..J U >U Photo courtesy" Australian Moron;:ycle News" J WHAT ARE THEY DOING TO MY DIRT BIKE DEPT: The Rickman Brothers, famous for their frames, have made a police bike out of their 125 Zundapp engined dirt machine. It is strictly for British use - so far. Also, Norton-Villiers are making a 175cc police bike. Finally, the Yamaha shown on this page is not a trail bike; it's an agricultural machine. It features crash bars around the controls and headlight and also has a crash bar around the full chain guard. Just the thing for editors who fall down a lot, or pulling a plow. • • • Our dictionary defmes "gwobble" as a cross between a turkey and a turkey. • • • If you get this p\,per late, it !s because our printer had a snafu. He lUst called and said his press broke, and he has to order a part from Chicago. • • • i\ccording to the Wall Srreet Journal, Honda and Ford are talking about tbe possibility of Ford licensing some ideas from Honda's new low-emission car engine. * * * New York City motorcycle papers are bizarre. * * * * * One of the reasons that l-Ieikki Mikkola had such rotten luck at the Puyallup TransA~'lA with two DN F's in the final motos, is that some lowlife scum ripped off his van, prototypc 360 Husky and all his tools and equipment. Heikki ended up riding Bengt Aberg's second machine and it was definitely a second machine. His first moto win is all tbe more remarkable for it. The bike is one of a kind so if anybody comes around trying to peddle some trick Husky parts that don't look too stock and standard for your 400 MX, nail 'em. That little experience is bound to ~ve th,: first time-visiting Finn a super ImpreSSion of the U.S. The worst part of it is, he may have the right impression. If anytbing breaks your way on this, get hold of Husqvarna Mororcorp. West. Gunnar Lindstrom is the team manager. In tbe van was Heikki's bike with engine No.4 and no frame number_ He also had his spare engine '0. H804 and frame No. H804, cylinder and head, three or four pistons, two rear wheels with Goody,:ar MX tires, two front wheels With Trelleborg tires and four fork yoke sets with different angles plus a Husky front fork. Heikki's boots, Ieatbers, helmets, etc. went, along with all of Gary Semics equipment, who w~ traveling. with Mikkola. The van was 111 the parkmg lot oj the Sherwood Inn, south of Tacoma. Doug Grant lost his van up tbere last year. Heikki was so disgusted he wen t home to Finland. * Somehow the MIC seems to have rented space for ad vertisement on the bod ies of certain Japanese carburetors. It is after all Mikun i not Micuni. Either that or it's statement about Teed valves on a street bike. * * Speaking of 5addleback Park, with all of the rain we had this week, the mud problem seemed to be concentrated around the entrance and service areas. If you could get your vehicle past the mire and into the park you had hours of fantastic riding in store. Saddleback ,s neat after a rain. • • • When the Modern Army says they want to join you, they don't mess around! Wait 'til George S. Patton hears about this! P/('os(' tunl /0 /Jagl' 6 :)

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