Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

'" The other was from some freaked out dirt rider who l=aJIed at one o'clock and said that he and his buddy were going to tie John behind their Huskies and drag him through the cactus. Some times we don't like biken; as well as other people. * * * Award for the wont luck of the night (after maybe Gary Scott) for disaS1lln at the Ascot IT goas to Cal Reyborn. Cal running second in his heat when a _ boogered sprocket broke a chain. He fixed it, started in the back row of his Semi and won it. He had begun to work his way up through the pack in the Main when, with no peau=tion, another chain broke. '1 n all the yean that I've been riding Hadeys:' said Cal, "I've newer broken a chain before tonight:' We commented that _ hoped he shook off his bad luck this _ k and Cal said, '1 can't afford to. I haven't got any good luck, and if I get rid of my bad luci, I won't have any:' * * * We misrepresented Mike Devlin a few weeks ago when we said he fmished second at Riverside on a 350 Yamaha. Mike, aboard a 250, was keeping 350 mounted Don Emde in sight. . Many BMW owners will blink their eyes when they see the thAte BMW 750cc bikes that have been entered by the German factory in this year's Intemetional Six Oays Trials. Practically the only thing thet makes these motorcycles recognizable as BMWs are the insignia on the tank and the well-known horizontally opposed twin engine. Beyond that, a major effort has been mede to giw the BMW-competitors every possible ad""ntage to pa.. through the terrain that they must expect in this trial. The weight of the entire bike hes been reduced to just under 300 Ibs. - with the tank full. Greater ground clearance has been achieved in a wry simple but ingenious way. The electr"'l starter and the complex air intake chamber normally present at the top of the BMW engines have been whisked tlrNay. giving the engine a chance to sit closer to the tank and further off the ground. It is notable that the BMW factory's n_Iy created Sports Department. which has jurisdiction over all sPOrts activities. for motorcycles .. well as cars. has seen fit to equip the ISOT motorcycles with slide carburetors rather than the standard \oBcuum type. The unusual striping on tank and fenders shows the distinctive colors of the BMW Sports Department. e""ry motorcycle, sidecar unit, and racing car officially sponsored by BMW carries the new colors. Look for a new CMC ro~ racing track. Anzac? Whiteman? Santa Bwara? * * * BIG BIKE BINGO: There has been a big staff swapping orgy among the'dirt bike monthlies. It seems to have .started when Rick Seiman was made publisher of Hi - Torque publishing, the manufacturen of "Dirt Bike" and "Motocross Action". Shortly thereaf:ter Pete Szilagyi, "MX Axshun" Editor, left to go freelance. This left Paul Boudreau as leading figure on the staff, but a few days later he had lunch with Dave Swift from "Dirt Bike," and Bob Braverman, head of the "Dirt Rider" and "Cycle· Rider" group. "Brave"decided that he liked the former CN staffen (a little history there) and got ready to hire them. In the meantime, Dave Ekins, Editor of "Dirt Rider" got the drift of . what was happening and split. So Paul and Dave now run "Dirt Rider", leaving we're-not-.ure-who at the helm of "Dirt Bike" and Mike Cudey running the branny new "MXA". We got all this from a girl at "Motorcydist", incidently. * * * In the meantime, there is a new head man at "Cycle Guide" (which used to be run by Bob Bravennan), replacing Frank Connor, T.C. Brown is his name. * * * The latest from Cycle News is thlt John Ulrich, known and feared by politicians everywhere, has come to us on a full time basis as a new member of our editorial department. * * * High Point T.T. Novice and one of the high point Novices in the Nation, Jim Oliver, broke his leg at the Graham Washington IT two weeks ago and will be out for the remainder of the dirt season. Hopefully, he'll be ready for the shoct track season this fall. Speedy recovery, Jim. A comparison of fatal motorcyde accident victims by HA.B. Wiseman and C.V. Haviland of the University of Miami, Florida discovered that the dead were identical in all measurable respects to the prisonen booked on a typical weekend into the Dade County jail. Wiseman guesses that high·risk personalities tend to use their cycles as extentions of their personalities, thus frequently getting snuffed. * * * Top British ISDTen;, Mick Andrews and Martin Lampkin, have withdrawn from England's Vase B team. * * * Roger DeCoster took two seconds for a victory at the West German GP. Willi Bauer won the first mota, but dropped out of the second while leading when a stone hit him in the eye. This gives Roger a 16 point lead,123to 107,over Willi. The second -moto was won by AdolfWeil. * * * And in road racing, Giacomo Agostini beat Phil Read in the 500 class and took second in the 350 class behind Teuvo Lansivuori at the Czech GP. Dieter Braun was the 250 winner and OteDo Buscherini was 125 winner. * * * For those of you who would like to ride you r street bikes fast, WiUow Springs road racing track is open all week long. and on weekends when there aren't any races scheduled. The fee for a full day is $15 per rider. Willow Springs is located about five miles west of Rosamond, California (which -is North of Palmdale). Take something to drink; it gets hot. * * * John Ulrich got two bizarre phones calls last night. One was from the head of the La Mirada Horseman's Association (who bears the handle "Bill Buck"), offering his support for the establishment of motorcycle trails or parks in La Mirad-a. * * • Congressman John E. Moss (D-Call. Chairman, Subcommittee on Commerce and Finance, laid to rest MIC daims that effwctjve anti-No Fault Insunmce lobbying had been done during this session of Congress. In a letter to John Ulrich, datad July 13, Moss stated that "Most of the contacb on the legislation relating to motorcycles have been by letter from individuals." Answering questions about what he planned to do to insure that NFl· did not nail biken, Moss said, '1 n the course of the hearings which I intend to hold on No-Fault rnotw vehide insul'llnce sometime after labor Day, it is my intention to give detailed consideration .to the question of covering motorcydes and the premiums which would be payable by their ownen. We intend to receive testimony from manufacturen of motorcycles and representatives of motorcycle ownen:' * * * Notice the paper doesn't look quite so much like an unmade bed? Graphic artw ise, the credit belongs, along with considerable cash, to 25-year-old design whiz Roger Black. Roger managed to revise the graphic layout of Cycle News without sacrificing any of its timeliness. The revision is appearing little by little, week by week_ See if you can spot the changes. * * * WATERGATE has nothing'on us. Watch for a Big Scandal to break open soon. * * * If you are 22.7 years old, with prior driver training, have a sissy bar on your 25Occ-or-larger bike and a tattoo on your body, maybe you should consider giving up street riding for a while. Yo,! closely resemble the typcial motorcycle rider involved in serious injury accidents, according to a recent University of California study. Whatc;ver you do, don't ride between the hours of 6-9 p.rn. on any weekend between July 2 to 8. That's when the most injury accidents happen. i ... ... !! Q. GEOFF PERRY KILLED TAHITI, July 23 - Geoff Perry, winner of the Road Atlanta National Championship Road Race, was killed here today in an airplane crash that took the lives of 71 persons. The 24 year old AukIand, New Zealand resident was a four time winner of the Singapore Grand Prix and was a member of the U.s. Suzuki racing team. Ironically, Perry was just about to complete a six year apprenticeship in jet aircraft engine main tenance. The crash was blamed on a broken windshield, however. Perry is survived by his wife and father. helmets at the ear when biken are driving -at freeway speeds. At the moment, according to investigators at one major motorcycle company, the Ben Magnum is the quietest. * * * last week Papa escaped from a burning Alfalfa Romeo. Next .-It he ... to escape from a ftying French Canadien and a devilish Dart. * * * All the time it seems more like Giacomo Agostini is going to quit the problem ridden MV factory and go to work. for Honda, who are, it seems, going to make a comeback in European road racing. Agostini has certainly been approached by Honda, but whether be accepts or not remains to be seen. Honda apparently is tired of seeing Vamaha win all the races over there and gobble up a bigger portion of the market, so they decided to do something about it. Honda is just one to do it, too. * * * We were puttering .ound in Costa Mesa the other day and encounteftId aiff Carr, K_ _ki ~ scmc:hing_, riding around on one of the _ 400cc three cylinder 8-3 Kawasaki two-stroltes that will be shown to the pres for the fint time this week. Unlike the bIKk and red one that our spies _ before, this one _ kind of turquoise on blutr. It does indied h_ the rubbel' engine mounts. . . * * * Next we stopped i.n to see Skip Newell, Kawasaki PR director, and were unhappy to hear that he is going to give up the motorcycle biz and move up to northern California to farm, raise ducks and fish, and unwind. His last official act will be to host the new model preview at Laguna Seca this week. He is the man behind Kawasaki's sponsorship of the Monterey National. He is glad, he says, to get away from the pressures of budgets, programs, and press persons who go announcing machines before they are released. "But I wonder," said Skip, "How I'm going to fix my wind mill." He'n be missed. * * * Stay tuned folks; find out in an upcoming issue what makes Marcia Mettco tick. If you've been paaed lately by someone who h. the _ Marcia Mettco on the back of her janey, you've been had by the powder puff streak. Soon _11 let you know the truth about how fast her Miranda is, and how many horsepower it puts out at fB/250. Find • * * out, too, about her overexposed Penton, pushed at 125. Ever wonder why people The way to pick up girls at Ascot is to jumped out of second story windows 01 stop at the Kentucky Fried Colonel on leap in front of can with an armful of your way and buy a bucket of d'Iicken. , groceries? We h_, too. Is it true that You'll have to fight them off. For that she was screened for the los Angeles the bones are handy. Rams while wearing her Jofa shoulder *- • * guards? Is it true that she invented the Rolf Tibblin's Motocross School is going. term 'squid? We hope to find out the to have a powderpuff session during the truth to these and other questions by first week of September. cornering her against her will in the * * * editorial offices of Cycle News. If you have a problem with wind roar in * * * youl helmet, you could try stuffing socks in your ean. Two water cooled Harley-Davidson 350 * * * road racers are making the round in the Incidentally, people out there are European Grand Prix circuit. We may beginning to investigate sound levels in see some over here rather soon. ~ w Z w ~ U > U

• Cover