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/125817
SUZUKI AIDS STATE REHABILITATION CENTER Rex Barrat beat Keeter in the Heat, but positions were reversed in the Main. Things in the engine repair shop at the California Rehabilitation Center are more noisy now; the sound of small engines fills the spacious center in Corona, California. Selected "residents" of this rehabiUtation center for narcotics offenders are participating in a vocational training program designed to help them find secure, rewarding and well-paying jobs once they leave the center. The small engine repair classroom includes a lecture area and work shop facilities where there are several complete motorcycles and many different style motorcycle and lawnmower engines. In addition, there are numerous tools and testing equipment, most of which has been su ppUed by various manufacturers including U.S. Suzuki Motor Corporation of Santa Fe Springs, California. With the necessary tools and training equipment. instructor Art L. Downs provides a comprehensive vocational training in two-stroke main tenance and engine diagnosis. Suzuki's involvement with the center began in January of this year when Mervyn Wright, Technical Supervisor for U.S. Suzuki was invited to attend a meeting of the center's Trade Advisory Council. Wright was so impressed with the facility and the uresidents' positive attitude that he asked and received permission to supply motorcycles and engines for the center to use in training studen ts. "I was particularly impressed with the small engine shop," said fonner motorcycle racer Wrigh t, "What I found at the cen ter was a group of people who were willing and eager to learn a profitable trade. " The class is limited to 20 carefully selected students, mOst with some prior or related experience in mechanics. The class meets for six and one-half hours each Monday through Friday with lectures and practical experience training. The small engine repair training program is under the direction of Lee L. B aldwin, Supervisor of Vocational instruction. The comprehensive course laid out by Downs includes both the theory and practice of in ternal combustion engines H in sufficient detail to make a graQuate of the small engine course a capable, independen t mecbanic. .Starting with the basics, Downs qwckly moves through the use of special tools and measurement and then into the minute detail of maintenance and repair of the small engine. The student starts learning with a lawn mower engine and finishes the course working on Suzuki motorcycle engines. The course is so complete as to include welding and painting to round out their background in total motorcycle repair. Suzuki's helping hand is apparent in the spacious and well-equipped shop. In addition to the technical help provided by Mervyn Wright of U.S. Suzuki, vocational help is offered to the students by Southern California Technical Advisor, Jack Waldron, and Northern California Technical Advisor George Daniels. Waldron spends severai days each month at the center lecturing and demonstrating on two-stroke engines. All of the men Wright W,,!dron and Daniels, also ~pend tim~ assIsting graduates in finding work as motorcycle mechanics. Job recommendations are, of course unofficial; but when Waldron is asked by a growing dealer where he can find qualified mechanics, Waldron puts them in touch with the California Rehabilitation Center's placement office. The center was opened in 1961 by an act of the California State Senate and is dedicated to the rehabiUtation of drug offenders and treats drug use and drug addiction as a social illness and not a criminal problem. 0 one who has committed a violent crime other than possessing or using drugs is allowed to come to the center. The average length of a resident's Slay in the center is se-ven to eight months. Wright is quick to point out that Suzuki's interest in helping the center is not entirely unselfish. As the number of Suzuki dealeTShips continues to grow, more and more trained motorcycle mechanics are needed to service and provide maintenance on the vehicles. "If we can help people and at the same time increase the number of qualified mechanics, it's good relationship," Wright concluded. In the junior/Expert Main Keeter rode to his second win in as many weeks with his third Main eventer this season. Second went to Rex Barratt with a closing Tom Horton running third. AMA PRO HALF·MILE Ascot Park Gardena. Calif. July 6, 1973 Bob Hosford (Honl won third Novice. 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