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/125827
September 25, 1973 Page 5 very confused and inserted a picture of Gary Nixon and Cliff Carr road racing at Laguna Seca on the spec P898. Hoo h_l JERZY SZCZAKJEL. That's the name of the new World Speedway Champion. He nailed down the ti tie in a run-off with Ivan Mauger, who crashed when he ran into Szczakiel while trying to pass Itim. Mauger was second, and Zenon PIech was thud. Szczakiel is the tiTst Pole to ever win the speedway ti tie. THE NEW BMW 900 probably won't be available over here until the first of the year. The biggest Bavarian twin will probably come out at about the same time that the smaller 750 and 600's appear in their restyled versions. The 900cc R-90 Sport version, which features goodies like dual discs up front. single disc rear, DeUorto squirter carburetors, etc. and retails for about $3400, wll be available only in limited quantities. VoU .... eyed Husqv.rna freaks should noti.. something quite different about the a _ 250 enduro. Ves. it doesn't have the old styl. forks and big fn>nt brake. nor the funky tum signals and other unloved goodies of the preent models. but there is something .... Look hard in front of the footpeg. ...there·s no shift laver! Th••ngine is a th_ speed automatic using a centri'-I dutch. Originally _oped under cc>ntract for the Swedish army. the automatic is presently u.......ing testing .. both a 250 and 360 enduro. No plans have _n m_ for production y.t. but our ",. . report thet it works really _I. A four speed will also probably be built for _ing. Beau. it .... a centrifugal dutch then is no ho__ ower 1_ ....r a conventional clutch, so it could possibly find its way into motocr.... Th. transmission is a littl. beyond our compnhension, but •• undel'Sbnd that it shifts itself according to road speed and load. Th.re is a handl_r mounted ' - for enpging neutral. It seems unlikely, bu t there is a persistent rumor that the new big Honda will be a 950 f1al four with shaft drive. Another rumor has been mamtainmg that the CB-750 will be changed to shaft drive. Malcolm S. Forbes, publisher of "Forbes Magazine" (a very respected business publication), resented it when he _ told he could not ride his motorcycle on the N_ Jersey Garden State Parkway two y..rs ago. He _nted it even more when the Supreme Court upheld a N_ Jersey court ruling that the SbtII Division of Highways could leg8Hy do that. Now Malcolm is taking an appeal of those decisions to the Supreme Court with his lawyers. It's nice when a millionaire bik. gets into the fight. ONE PERCENTER POLITICS? When Jim Mannmg of M.O.R.E. went to a meeting of The Humpers MC, an outlaw club, every member signed up. at $10 a head, as a member of M.O.R.E. In con trast, when he went to the Prospectors, who benefit more directly from M.O.R.E.'s fight to keep the desert open, no one joined. To top it all, the Modified Motorcycle Association (MMA) has fourteen outlaw clubs as members, and supports a full time lobbyist and legal staff in Sacramento. . While no fault insurance plans are blId for motorcycles, they may be very good for bicycles. Latest Department of Transponation interpretations indicate that federal no fault insurance plans would, although not expressly intentional on the part of the authors, provide bicyclists with all the benefits of insurance at aboIutely no cost. This before unforeseen deYelopment may hurt motorcyclists by building supPort among bicycle riders for po fault insurance plans. No fault experts predict a 400 to 1000% premium increale for motorcyclists if no fault insurance is adopted on a national basis. In admtjon to Willi Bauer, Kawasaki is also said to be trymg to lure Heikkj Mikkola, Bengl Aberg, and Christer Hammagren over to them to ride their 500 class MXer next season in Europe. Marty Tripes says that the Honda 400 motocrosser is right fine. It has a new front end, repositioned footpegs, and a new swinging ann. They claim 42.5 horsepower tG the rear wheel. ATTENTJO CONTRIBUTORS, ADVERTISERS, LEITER SENDERS, ETC.: IT you sent somethIDg to Cycle News at Box 498, Long Beach, and it was returned to you, please send it again. The post office seems to be . plotting agamst us. New employees, they say, have been sending back mail addressed to the residents of Box· 498, and we haven't been getting it. The matter seems to have been cleared up, however. Speaking of shorter range D.O.T. forecasts, Buchanan stated his belief that mopeds and bicycles will become increasingly more popular with city dwellers as problems of urban congestion, fuel shortages and resultant price increases, and air pollution become more acute. A decreale in popularity of large bore motorcycles and an under-35Occ motorcycle boom will also occur, Buchanan predicted, but "not in your lifetime". Bob Vineyard of Scramblers Motorcycles, a Yamaha dealership, organjzed much of the resistance to the Burbank City plan to reqWre helmet usage withm city limits. 'Long 'bout October you'll get a chance to see one of the best collections of printing errors ever assembled by one motorcycle publication. "Dirt Rider" sent the pictures for their spec sheets on three Honda tests to their printer late and staffers were not a little surprised when they saw the final proofs. The pictures of the Honda two and four stroke 250 Enduros got switched. but the best disaster was in the 125 motocrosser test where the prinlllr got The Hell's Angels Los Angeles chapter is promoting an anti hard drug program for kids. "We don't care if a guy 25 ~rs old sticks a needle in his ann, that's his business. What we're trying to do is reach kids 12, 13, 14," said Bob Lawnmce, Angels LA. President. The program included bumper stickers, raps, and friendly preac:hin'. Teuvo "Teppi" Lansivuori will ride at the Ontario National road race. He is Yamaha's hottest European team road racer. The editor was given the chance to ride Reg Pridmore's 750 BMW production road racer this past weekend. It has been commorfty held by those that Reggie beats (which is almost everyone) that they are giving at least 20 horsepower and about 50 miles an hour to Reggie. Well, fellows, it just isn't so. Our man says that he had horsepower on Pridmore at Laguna Seca where Reg finished third. After riding the BMW this weekend, our man is left with the utmost respect for Mr. Pridmore. This bike is good. It handles well and is mode{8tely fast. But it isn't any faster than any of the bikes that filled the five places behind it. It is considerably slower than a couple of them. Next time you get passed by that BMW, don't curse, watch the rider; he's very, very good. The cice thing about the SCORE International off·road race is that for the first time off-road racmg can be a spectator· sport. It is being held at Riverside International Raceway on the weekend of October 6. Motorcycle racing seems to be seeping into the sports columns of daily newspapers. Somebody seems to be realizing that a lot of people dig it. If your paper was late last week it is for the same reason that it mjght be late this week. Our prmter's press broke and he couldn't get parts. If you want to complam, don't call us, call Goss m Cmcago and ask them why they don't have parts on the west coast. The United Racing Association is trying to "fight the high cost of racing", according to Larry Langley. They are holding the "Good Time Endla'O" October 28 and are charging only $12.50 for the entire family. Of course, if you're single, this won't do you too much good. However, if you're manied with 39 children, it could help, providing you can afford the bikes. If you're from Northern Cal and looking for something to do thjs weekend, we'd like to pump you on the big-bucks mile at Golden Gate Fields. Most of the National numbers will be on hand. The night before Charlotte National there was a half-mile that Rex Beauchamp very much _ntlld to win. Trying too hard at the start got him put beck to the penalty line. Still trying, Rex got into the fint tum 20 MPH too hot, and when he crashed, took Dick Mann, One AId_, Chuck Palmgren, and Charlie Seale with him. Mann .....vated an old back injury and David broke his thumb. He soaked the cast off the next morning of course. Sa.'s bike _broken. The Trans-AMA motocross series starts this weekend (23rd) in New York. Watch for full coverage in the next issue, as the great international MX showdown begins again. Gas jt, Yanks. Kawasaki 400 four stroke twin will be available next April.