Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

The Great Motocross Silencer Hassle and Other FIM Goodies by John Huetter with John "Light Brown" Lancione Much debate in international motocross circles has cen tered around the disqualification, penalization, and regulations for AMA motocross competition under international (which means FlM) sanction. The AMA has been criticized; riders have been criticized, especially Hans Maisch for ignoring the black nag, and the riders' Team Managers have been criticized for not informing their racers of the rules. For the U.s. to be accepted as a respected member in In ternational motocross competition, which is tbe only route to having an American World Champion, we really have to get our stuff together. This aspect of the situation is what makes it important. Otherwise, we don't need the FIM sanction and all riders have to take their chances under whatever rules and interpretations the AMA cares to use for motocross. But this isn't the case. Now "Light Brown", who spends his weekends gamboling around the country in the guise of John Lancione, the AMA motocross referee, has been taken to task by the Europeans, accused of favoritism and generally bad-mouthed. Now John may be inexperienced, which anybody would be since there haven't been all that many national MX refs, but he is not insincere or incapable. Take a for-instance. The Inscrutable Lackey-ShouldaBeen-Flagged Controversy at the Houston Trans AMA that made it look like Hans Maisch was being discriminated against on the basis of national origin in explained below by "Light Brown": "Brad's expansion chamber broke in two during the third moto leaving the silencer and part of the stinger dangling from a bracket (not safetywire) but still attached to the bike. In effect his silencer h ad come off. Remembering all too well the problems at Road A tlan ta (where Maisch was disqualified for failing to heed the black flag for the same reason ... Ed.) I I*rsonally wen t to trackside ro see this. Since I was some distance from the finish line, I radioed the flagman and instructed him to black flag Brad. I then walked to a position where I could observe the flagman. Righ t away, 1 saw that the flagman was giving the riders the white (last lap) flag. At this point in time, I did not know if Brad had been given the last lap flag or not. So I asked the flagman if the leader was ahead or behind Brad. The flagman said that the leader was in front of Brad. This meant that the checkered' flag would be given before Brad came around again and, according to OUf rules, the race is over when the checkered flag is displayed. Thin king that the leader was about to take the checkered flag I radioed the flagman and told him to put the black flag away as he would be giving the checkered flag ..'. 7241 Orangethorpe Buena Park, CA 90621 ~ MEANS MONARK next. Wen, I'm standing there watching and all of a sudden there goes Brad by the finish line, takes the white flag and starts his last lap. This is the point at which he should have received the black flag but didn't for the reasons stated above. A minute or so later the leader came by, the race was over and my problem had started." Based on all the information available to him, including discussion with the Kawasaki Team Manager, "LigO t Brown" decided to penalize Brad two laps. The two lap penalty moved him from sixth to seventeenth for the moto. Brad finished eighth overall. John then goes on to inform us that the AMA policy on silencers for motocross has been changed effective November 12th this year. All exhaust systems are inspected on the starting line before each mo to. If, in the referee's opinion, the exhaust system or any part of it is not satisfactorily secured the rider is informed. If, during that moto, the exhaust system or any part of it comes adrift, the rider will be black flagged. He may either retire from the race or go to the pits, make repairs and continue the moto. Should a rider whose exhaust system passed inspection on the starting line have problems out on the course during the subsequen t moto, he will be black flagged only for safety reasons. That seems fair enough to us. Second item of concern to many is the way the TransAMA series has been run. I t is not strictly in accordance with FIM rules, though it adheres to most of them. This is due to a set of Supplementary Regulations governing this series only issued by the AMA. The application and issuing of these SR's is provided for in the international FIM rule book. The in ten t is to take care of special situations which may prevail in the country or venue where the event is taking place. The supplemen tary rules are legal, under flM rules, and are binding on all riders in the TransAMA series, both U.S. and non-U.S. These supplementary rules spell ou t, among other things, the flag system to be used for the series. The black flag is identified as meaning "disq ualification of the rider, report to the referee"_ If the riders or their team managers didn't read the SR's err translate them into the appropriate lan~age, that's kind of too bad. I t is quite unprofessional, however, ~ to get into a contest for big stakes without knowing the rules of the game. Anyhow, the flag system was no novelty. The black flag was used at the Motocross des Nations in Holland so international riders can be presumed to be famiJiar with it. Arguments of Hans Maisch's ignorance of the system do not hold up. AMA officials, particularly the referee, should not be taken to task on that count. The biggest complain t we have heard from both European and American riders, particularly the Europeans, is being required by the promoter to pay to get in to the pits. They seem to have a point. Promoters are trying to make a buck but if they start charging riders and mechanics to get in to put on the show they are, in the long run, sJitting their own throats. Especially since they are not paying appearance money to the big names; something the big names are used to in Europe for international events. Roger DeCoster also commen ted that it would be better to have a committee make rules interpretations and decisions at a motocross such as the TransAMA instead of one man, the r!lotocross referee. Would a bunch of officials squabbling and debating the merits of an a rgu m en t really make better decisions than one man when they have to be made quickly? This is the European way but we doubt if it's any better in its final outcome. Ame,ricans, riders and officials, have a lot to learn about International motocross and freely admit it, and you can bet that next year it will be a lot different - for everybody. We're getting dialed in to this game and can start thinking about losing our inferiority complexes. Yanks haven't been doing this as long as the British or the Europeans but we're starting to play this motocross game pretty damn weIl. So much for 19n WHAT YOU PAY FOR YOUR 750 AFTER· YOU BUY IT by John D. Ulrich Comparison tests are very popular in this age of a market full of awfully good motorcycles. These tests are designed to help the reader decide which bike is for him by comparing several machines side by side. However, these tests overlook importan t considerations. These considerations can be characterized hy this example; not long ago one of our friends had narrowed down his choice of a new bike to two machines. He could not make up his mind which bike he wan ted to buy. Finally he decided to pose as an owner and price breaker List Tune-up Points points at two dealers handling the motorcycles in question. He found that the poin ts for one machine cost $4.88 for the two sets needed, while points for the other machine cost $12.64 for the two necessary sets. He figured that this price differential would be reflected in other part prices, and so on the basis of this information made up his mind to buy the brand supplying commonly needed parts at a lower cost. That is what this comparison is all abou t. We priced some commonly replaced parts for several brands of 750's advertised as being good for touring. All the listed prices were Plugs Condensers Throttle cable (Complete) (Labor) supplied by randomly chosen official dealers and are the prices those dealers charge the general public. Obviously the prices are not absolute, especially in reference to tune-up and spark plug costs. However, the costs can be considered typical, and do give the prospective owner something more to think about than performance figures. • There is an old saying that "You made your bed, now lie in it!" In order to improve applicabiJity, we say, "Vou bough t the thing, now you pay to keep it running!'1 Clutch Speedo Tach Headlight Oil Filter Cable Cable Cable (Beam) (if disposable) BMW R75/5 2095.00 17.95 3.87 Honda CB750 1702.00 21.95 2.90(2 needed) 2.29(2 needed) 1.10(4 needed) 10.70 Kawasaki MachlV 1365.00 24.50 none 3.36 1.25(2 needed) COl 4.43(2 needed) 4.14 7.78 3.50 4.95 2.14 2.16 2.92 4.90 2.20 6.00 1.20(3 nee- u

• Cover