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/125842
r Get it while you can SANTA A NA, CAL_ Public app rehension about the energy crisis is caus ing a boom in motorcycle sales that may result in shortages in mid 1974, o ne of the lead ing U.S. distrib utors said to day. Acco rding to Kaw asak i Moto rs, increase deman d in the Unite d By John Huetter A survey of American motorcycle" manufacturers and distributors revealed a very mixed reaction to the threat o f gasoline rationing and poss ible curtailment of two wheeled competition in the United States. Some companies that previously had large racin g 8 programs have c u t them " back drastically , others have stopped n ation al racing sponsorships co mpletely , wh ile still others are taking a " w ait and see" attitude while they go ahead with racing programs for 1974 of equal or greater magn it ud e as comp ared to their 1973 efforts. The general trend that emerges fro m discussions with sales and co mpe tit io n directors of the maj o r co mp an ies is a return to backyard racin g w ith less emphasis and impo rtance, in terms of sales, attached to the natio nal level such as AMA-sanctioned competition, a t least in m otocross and road racin g. Following is a b rea kdown by major company of the im pact of a projected gasoline shor tage on co mp et itio n programs in 1974. Everybody sees the situation a little diffe rently, wh i ch is understandable in view of th e fact tha t the federal gov ernment ha s yet to rele ase a definitive policy to deal with the "energy crisis". Most co mpanies indicate d th at th ey ma y ha ve to change thei r pl an s, e ither increasing or d ecr easing th eir participation in maj or events wh en such a policy is anno unc ed . .Ou tri ghr gasoline rationing was one it em mo st mentioned to cause a serious re-thinking of co mpany racin g policies. Suzuki - So far th e o nly cutb ac k in Suzuki's raci ng pr ogram is in snowmob iles. T hey w ill give a miss to some of th e bigger events. T rial s participation w ith the new Suzuki 250 trials machine will be restrict ed to lo cal events only. Suzuki will participate in the major AMA road ra ces but some of the co rporate motocross plans have been postponed for a while . Mik e Runyard and Rich Thorwaldson will probably co n tin ue to be the Suzuki official U.S. motocrossers. Suzuki says th e y will c o n t i n u e to support co mpe tition events "insofar as they are ab le." Honda Honda is looking at a red uction in thei r r acing schedule of 15-20% . This r e fl e c t s na tional m o tocrosses they w ill n o t p art icip ate in. Ho nda Racing Dept. has also made so me reco m me ndations to the AMA to swi tch to a Saturday racing program and reschedule some of the ra ces so that the re is less travel between events, o r cu t ou t so me o f the more farflung on es altogether. The factory mo tocross team will probabl y stabilize a t three riders, with a m ax imum o f four. So far o nly Rich Eierstedt and Gary Ch aplin are signed to ride Honda. Honda is p roba bly looking fo r a rider o r tw o to con tes t the 125 National Motocross Champ ionsh ip , as they wo uld like to win this class in 1974. American Honda 's racing effort co u ld be affected moo by th e fuel re sho rta ge in J apan than that in the U.S. This seems to be true of all the Japan ese importers to varying degrees. Honda has no plans, or non e th ey would reveal, for road racing o r other co mp eti tion beyond th e Hou ston short t rack. . CZ There will be no d irect sponsorship of riders on the na tio nal level by Am er ican Jawa. Their gen eral atti tude is t hat an act ual or effective gaso lin e shortage will have a sign ifican t negative im pact on racing all ove r the coun try . T hey anticipate the bike mar ke t rever tin g to end uro and du al p urpose mach in es. CZ will act ually have a raci ng budget co mparable to the one for 19 73 but th e m on ey will be spent at the d ealer level. T his means tha t m ore local CZ dealers will be ab le to sponsor more riders, and hopefully, p ick up mo re wins for th e Czech m ake at local events. They anticipate that "backyard" MX and end ure s will be th e trend during 1974 and look to meet the demand for d ual purpose bikes. including Jawas, wh ich are well suited fo r a 55 MPH speed limit, as imposed in California. Husqvarna - Husqvarna Motorcorp ., the American di stribu to rs fo r Hu sky, are waiting for th e fed eral governmen t to do so me thi n g co ncrete be fore making any furth er plan s. The y are backing o ff in their rac ing su pport for t he first quarter of 19 74 b ut will have their riders at as many AMA motocross qualifiers as they can afford . Again, th e impact o f a fuel shortage in th e co untry of manufacture ma y have a m ore sign ifican t impact th an any U.S . policy . Ex treme gasoli ne rati oning has been imposed in Sw eden and Husqvarna producti on has been cu t slightly due to Contin ued on pa g« J 6 Stat es for e conomical, gas-saving mo torcy cles of all sizes probably won't be me t due to production problems in Japan ca used b y energy shortages. Explained Ala n Masek , Executive Vic e President o f Kawasaki Motors : "while all manufacturers had planned increased sales this year. we weren't ready for this h eavy demand or reductions in U.S. motorcycle imports. Japanese co mpanies are being hard hit by c u t b ac ks in Arab petroleum shipments sin ce Japan imports almost all of its fuel." Mase k sai d tha t all m oto rcycle com pan ies are predi ctin g sho rtages on dealer floors as increasing numbers of new custo mers tum to mo to rcycles in lieu o f second cars, and a "sold out " situation as early as the begi nning of sum mer. " In Gr eat Britain, many motorcycle dealerships were stripped of a ll but the very smallest size mo torcycles when fuel rationing hit earlier this mo nth ," he noted. "And th e reason is qu ite sim ple. A motorcycle gets anywhere fro m 30 to we ll over 100 m iles p er gal lon. Kaw asak i an d o ther manufacturers are selling everything fro m b ig sports b ikes - like th e m an y 75 0 to 900cc models which ge t aro un d 40 m iles per ga llo n, to sm all 100cc aro und town m odels whic h re ach over 10 0 mil es per gallo n ." If ec o nomic rep orts from Japan, infor mation f ro m d e ale r s , and kn owled ge of the situati on am ong o th er m oto rcycle distributo rs weren ' t en o ugh to p redict an increasing ru n o n m o to rcycles, Masek n o tes tha t reques ts for employee sales are w ay up as people in th e know give up their secon d cars _ fo r two wheeled transp ortation. End of the Eisinores Production stopped on CR series motocrossers Honda of J apan has stopped produ ct ion o f their successful CR-1 25M and CR-250M motocross rac ers. Production lines tha t