Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• • • TC Racing were feeding him information) while the rest of us were still running around in the woods. Gonzo journalism at iu best! Ent~ I II While on the subject of Bob Hicks and his ecological concerns it might be well to take a look at the proposed injunction which almost stopped the Trial. The bare facu of the situation are tha.t a group of citizens attempted to secure an injunction on the basis of three possible ecological damages: noise pollution, damage to the trails, and traffic hazards. There was no decision in the case; because of a technicality it was delayed until it would have been impractical to continue. These were important and reasonable concerns that promoted the citizens to bring the AMA into court, and it seems to me that it would be beneficial to evaluate their concerns in the light of what ;u:tually happened. I II ..:I E Taking the easiest first, damage to the land and the trails was fairly light; what damage there was, is fIXable. AI Eames is very conscientious and he chose for the most part old roads that couldn't be hurt. Underneath a surface of abrasive mud, they are solid, bony rock. By Ron Schneiders The American ISDT, praIse God, IS over. For once in my life I offer this reverently on behalf of both myself and a number of other XR750 people. For me the ISDT turned out to be six weeks of very difficult work, which is why Gambit hasn't appeared for awhile. MODIFICATIONS & REBUILDING FRAMEWORK 1. Decrease head angl. 2. Incr...... trail 3. Increa.. stabilitY 4. Incr.... w.ight on front axl. SWINGARM Install 3...position rear shock supports. Purpose: Allow incr.ase and decrease of head angl•. HEAD & CYLINDER WORK 1. Raise compression from 150 'Ibs. to 180 Ibs. bV precision boring and valve work. 2. Two cuts on valves and three,cuts on valve seats. 3. Increase spring pressure from 105 Ibs. on valve seat. CAMS Choice of three: 1. Torque 2. Torque & mid-range 3. High revs TC Racing Enterprises 4915 Airport Blvd. Austin, Texas 78751 (512) 454-5742 Tommy Conner (5121451-4356 Ted & Terry Poovey - (214) 276-1529 James Rawls (214) 264-9751 FOR THE BEST IN MOTORCYCLE ACCESSORIES 1201A EAST BALL ROAP. ANAHEIM. CALIF· 714-776-1250 Al&a Hal Complete Lines Of Pe!'ton ez -lnelLa" 610W.6thSt.(Box 879) Coro"',CA 91720 1(718)737·7138 -1 INTERNATIONAL CAFE RACERS ASSOCIATION Join now the world wide organization for cafe racing enthusiasts. Receive pin, 1 year subscription "The Ton" newspaper, accessory catalog, tech Sheets, & all the latest info. send $5.00 to: .1.e.R.A., Box 73. Houston. TeQs 77002 14 Find it fast in the Cycle News Dealer and Services Directory I This ISDT was probably the most extensively covered motorcycle event in . American history. If there was a single . one of almost forty monthlies that didn't have a reporter there, I wasn't aware of it. This extensive press coverage has a couple of interesting sidelights. Until about two years ago there were only about two magazines covering the Six Days regularly. Even the Cycle News coverage of three years ago was embarrassingly scanty. Consequently, there are few people around who have much journalistic JSDT background. There were literally bunches of journalists at this event who haven't been to an ISDT before, and don't even know how it's scored. It's going to be in teresting (and perhaps a bit amusing) to see some of the stories that result, especially if some of the new fans decide to do "in depth analysis_" Another result, not so amusing, of having the ISDT in the United States was that the monthlies could save money by covering the event with their own inexperienced people, so some of the few experienced free-lancers around such as Lynn Wineland (who's covered the event for the past ten) wound up withou t assignmen ts. The AMA's attitude toward the press in general was sort of "Let's ignore them, maybe they'll go away, or at least not bother us." There were isolated exceptions to this poli~y, but the foreign corresponden ts were not among the exceptions. Exceptions were mostly friends, or people who have been "problems" before. like myself. During the crisis immediately before the event, when the ecological people were threatening to close it down, I asked Ed Youngblood to fill me in on the details. He agreed to meet me the nex t morning at the hotel coffee shop. I was 98 percent sure that he wouldn't show up. but I figured, what the hell, I've got to get breakfast somewhere. anyway. Surprise. Not only was Ed Youngblood there but AI Eames cam.. with him. Both men gave me information not only then but several other times through the event. It would be nice to report that their attitude was typical of the AMA attitude in general, but it was not. At the American rider's meeting presided over by the AMA's Jim Cagle, Motorcycle Weekly's Suzie Mann and I were thrown out. Lynn Wineland was allowed to stay because he was a nice guy and CN pub!jsher, Chuck Clayton, was allowed to stay because Cagle didn't recognize him! Another day, I was in the ISDT work area shooting pictures when an official came over and asked me to leave. Since he had walked right on by Marcia McDonald. who was also shooting pictures (she works for Cycle IUustrated), I asked, "How come?" "Ob, she's a marshall," he said. Doing a switch on the old gag, I said, "That's no marshall, that's Marcia McDonald." The official wen t over to Marcia, had a short conference, and came back to me. ' "She stays, you go," he says, in a classic example of Nixonian diplomacy. "Go to hell," I told him cbeerfully. I wasn't about to play male chauvinist by yielding press rights on the basis of sex. "If she stays, I stay." He then asserted that he didn't think be could remove me by himself (which was true), but that he had about six friends over there and they could certainly do the job (also true). Not wanting to bave either my camera or my teeth broken I conceded the point. I mean, what the hell, it wasn't like I was in a free coun try like Czechoslovakia or East Germany. As the week went on it became apparent that the marshall's armbands, which were the badges that allowed you to go practically anywhere and do any th ing, were awarded some thing like postmaster's jobs after an election. It was merely irritating when other press people had them, but it came close to being internationally embarrassing when a foreign juryman took one away from a guy who was functioning as member of the pit crew of one of the American teams. All the accredited members of the press were given a nice package full of press tags for the car, decals, rule books, a green plastic tag to be worn on the person, and other such stuff. It was exactly the same kit that was sold to spectators and conveyed the same rights (or mostly lack the.reof). The only difference was that the press people didn't have to pay $12 for theirs. If the press passes allowed you to go anywhere a spectator couldn't go, I never found the place. The real press credentials were a marshall's armband and a special "P" number plate for your motorcycle and only a very few "friends of the establishment" had those. One interesting paradox to emerge from the quixotic handling of press relations is that Bob Hicks' magazine, New England Trail Rider, had the first and some of the best coverage of the event (for the monthlies). It was on the stands two weeks ago. Bob Hicks. you migh t recall. is the guy who has been doing the articles opposed to the ISDT which might have appropriately been titled" Fear and Loathing in Berkshire." I}ob didn't even show up at the ISDT and everyone thought he was sulking. Apparently he was achieving a journalistic coup by sitting in his office doing the story (Don Norris and others Noise poilu tion was a bit more serious. The FIM standard, to begin with, is too lenien't for motorcycles that are going to run through towns. Bu t beyond that, some bikes were allowed to continue running long after they had lost any vestige of silencing equipment. There was a large Kawasaki running (for awhile) that was particularly bad. It could literally be heard for miles and in town it sounded like a Boeing 707 on takeoff - at a distance of abou t 40 feet. Bikes that lost their silencers should have been removed immediately, but they weren't. On the question of traffic hazards, it's difficult to take a view. On the one hand there were no serious accidents. On the other hand, that happy statistic is due largely to luck, not planning. I attempted to follow a couple of bikes, a Husky and a BMW which were ridden by an American and a West German. We were on a two-lane asphalt road that curved frequen t1y and passed through several populated areas. I Was driving a van and I chickened out at somewhere between 75 and 80 MPH. The two bikes pulled away from me like I was parked. At those speeds, a careless farmer or kid who ventured onto the highway was a dead duck. The effect on trail riding in Massachusetts of such an accident would have been pretty serious. The average citizen has a rough .time making a distinction between Hell's Angel types and trail-riding types. I'd hate to be the one trying to explain for the next ten years that the kid was actually killed by an ISDT rider, not a trail rider. As Bob Hicks has pointed out, only about fIVe percent of the riders in the state are competition-oriented, but the other 95 percent have to live with what those five percen t do. Luckily it didn't happen, but I don't think the organizers can take credit for anything but good wishes. The unfortunate part of that situation is that the exhorbitant speeds do not seem to be necessary nor need they be tolerated. Kvetoslav Masita, one of the Czech Trophy Team riders, told me that their team was very careful to obey all traffic regulations, even to the extent of stopping and waiting behind stopped school busses (his example). I can't say for sure that this is true. of course, but Masita did sound in eamest about it and I never saw any of the Czechs riding in an obviously hazardous fashion. From this, it seems to me to be at least possible to both ride safely and have a chance to win. But the organizers have to insist on it. The (SDT was a huge success, at least within the sport and with the foreign competitors. The people of - Massachuselts were not as unanimous but at least a few thousand of them enjoyed the event. Enormous credit is due to many people but particularly to AI Eames who made the thing happen. I have focused in this column a fe\; of the aspects that were not so neat because it seems to me that if something is worth discussing at all, all aspects, good and bad, should be considered and I doubt if these considerations will be given much space elsewhere. • \

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