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/125845
Motorcycle Industry Council Safety and Education Fo undation, Incor po rate d was too hard to say , according to Charlie Hartman, MICSEF head dude. So he changed it to Motorcycle Safety Foundation. Why not change it to Motorcycle Ob l iga tory Oligarchy Society Enterprises. Then they could call it MOOSE , and that's really easy to say. J.N . Roberts is considering returning to desert racing. Pavemen t mast er (both insid e and on to p of a road rac er), Kel Carruthers, has an nounce d his official retir ement from the Yam aha racing te am. The San Diego-based Aussi says th at he will devote full time to "research and developmen t." The q uestion is: for whom? Arcadi a and San Marino High Schools will be racing in th e firs t in terscholastic motocr oss he ld on a professional track , at Irwindale Racew ay February 14. The Valen tine 's Day program in cludes c h e e rlea d e r s , rooters, b uses. and (pres umably) the high school bands. It all starts at 2 p .m. , but you can ' t come un less yo ur school is racing . FOR POWDER PUFFERS (ACTUAL AND WOULD-BEl BY A POWDER PUFFER. Dirt track racer Teresa Martin will be giving a riding school for girls on ly at Ind ian Dunes on February 9. A bike and helmet will be provided if you don't have your own. For 20 bucks, it 's a good chance to learn the basics of dirt riding and how to keep your scoot ru n ning, or unlearn your bad habits, especially if your into leran t husband or boy friend yells at you all the time when you ask him to teach you to ride. This school is strictly for the distaff dirt set. Call Teresa at 714/649-2078 and tell her you're coming. Speaking of high school MX, one ed itor remembers a school assembly in h is days of impetuous high school youth (Yeah , all the way back in 1971). The school football coach came to the microphone, introduced a player, and presented him with t he "Hit of the Week " trophy. As he did so, he said, "He hit that guy so hard last week he dislocated the guy's shoulder!" As the gym reverberated with applause, our man walked out thinking that there had to be a better sport than one that taught "enemy de-personalization" (that's what allows moral men to drop napalm on babies) so well. In that respect (and just about all others as weill high school motocross is infin itely better. He's put t ogeth e r a handy-dandy gu ide to putting on your own in this issue, and we hope somebody out there gets the message. 1<""-_ _ Newl y si gned Y am ah a te amster GIACOMO AGOSTIN I sore ly missed the familiar loaf o r two of hard-crusted ' Ital ian bread on the ta ble during his recent testing t our of J apan. It seems the European half o f Yamaha 's Te am Ha ndsome co uldn 't get along on oc top us, radishes, ric e, an d raw sq uid . Sounds y ummy. What's wr ong wit h Ago, anyhow? ~I Sr. Francisco Bulto is reportedly trying to discourage JIM POMEROY from co.ntesting the InterAMA and TransAMA series in the U.S. Neither of them count toward the motocross World Championship (obviously) and they make for a long fatiguing season. It would seem that should Jim forego the U.S. races , he would have a good argument for additional compensation from Bultaco as he would be giving up that potential prize money. Bonnie Paulson , where are yo u? That goes for Tim Meyer as well. The Avon calendar from Hap Jones (P.O. Box 3068, San Franciscol is fantastic and worth every bit of the four bucks. It 's just beautiful. A motorcycle and parts auction in an o ld barn in San J ose? Will they be selling Ill.. , • Cow-a-sa k is? Apparently Yamaha is selling TZ 750 s to any squid with th e mon ey and eno ugh friend s to scrape him of f the fence outs ide of turn one after his first ride. Yesterday Cycle News, today CyclE; Guide, tommorrow Cycle, and the next day the Daily Planet. Mos t cities use money to chase away kids riding motorcycles on vacant lots. But Lo ng Beach , California has used a whole bunch of mon ey (along with private d onati ons) to actually build a small mo tor cycle park in the city. It's called Honda Haven . T he two tracks o n th e site have much potential, b ut volun teers are needed to sup ply work needed to shap e up -the park. A water tr uck is badly nee de d, too. Any donations are tax ded uct able, and interested people can call Cycle News fo r in fo rmatio n . AMA Regional events will charge $25 extra for post entry this year. Better go with pre-entry if your wallet isn't well-endowed. There's so me d an ger that Mission Gorge near San Diego , Calif. will be lost as a trials an d riding are a. Righ t after th e Yamah a tri als school, th e place was d is co v ered b y a b unc h o f four-wheel-drive freaks, wh o have been rat-racing over th e trails an d raising general havoc. Th e lease-ho lde r is getting up tigh t and co nside ring clo sing the area , but the fo ur-w heele rs also break down gates an d tear up fences . T his , kind of act ion co uld b ring the sheriffs in to it. Bad trip. THE ISDT IS NOT DEAD! Nor is it in the dead of Winter, as reported in last week's column. It is on for 9 to 14 SEPTEMBER, and as for that gremlin that lives in Papa's typewriter, he is in deep trouble. Harry Reasoner repor tedly has agreed to amend the statements ma de regard ing the mo torcycle and its ride rs. T he tentative airing d ate is Feb ru ary n in th. It will be intere stin g to see h ow a prospective 'dicta to r ' o pens his mo u th an d changes feet. c Bill Spencer from Oregon, Bill Baird from somewhere in the central part of America, and Paul Schlagle from Ohio are the new AMA Class A representatives. Congrats! / E.C. (Birt] was by our offices the o ther day and tells us that he is very satisfied with the way the Tyran line of MXers - that he is helping to develop is coming alo ng. E.C:s eng ine and pipe grace the bike and most of the rema ining pieces are plastic. E.C. also men tio ned that a lot o f no n-Exper ts are finding a DH reed assembly to be a big help on the CR-125 Elsinores. His latest project is a 50cc moped which E.C. hopes to make produce 18 horsepower and thereby make freeway·legal. He isn't fooling either. He really thinks that the bike has the potential. He also has a tricked-out law n-mower that puts out all sorts of HP. It has a pipe and E.C. did the engine. Now he says that it doesn't matter if the blades are sharp. The thing makes about 17,000 RPM and it chews up what ever it comes to - includ ing rocks. , At the Rawh ide GP last week, there were on ly fo ur pi t racers doing insane things. That wouldn 't be so ba d , except that all fo ur wer e members of the "Park Pa tr ol" hir ed to prevent pit racing. If your club is planning to hold a desert race, make sure you have all t he course rib bo n you need before you file your BLM permit application. It seems th at ce rta in colors of ri b b o n are back-ordered at manufacturers due to the "oil shortage." The BLM requires you specify ribbon color, so make sure you have it ahead of time. We got a call fro m Yama ha th e other day about a report that Saddleback Par k conside red YZ Yamahas an d TM Suzu kis to o loud to be raced there wit hou t additio nal mu fflin g. In our conversation , it became eviden t th at Yamaha is very intere sted in making " p ublic places co mfortable." They are looking for sol utions an d are do ing th e best they can, an d an y effort of that ty pe is commenda ble. Amer ican Trials Association has combined the Expert and Master Classes into one Expert class for 1974. Last year's Experts were given a grace period to petition the ATA to move back to Amateur if they wished to do so. Transfer points will be paid for the first ten places: first place - ten points, second - nine points, etc. Transfer from Novice to Amateur now requires 30 po ints; from Amateur to Expert, 70 points. BENCH RACIN G WINNE R OF T HE WEEK . Some thing even very in-grou p Pen to nites may not be aware of is what the le tters " KT M" stan d for. Give up ? Kronrief und T runkenpolz Mattighofen. Tha t min d-numbing bit of kn owledg e should q uie t even the biggest -mo ut hed moto-kn owitall. Remem ber, you saw it first in...blah , blah, etc. Ossa has grabbed Malcolm Rat hm ell away from Bultaco with one of the biggest m on ey offers ever made to a t r i a ls ri de r. The for mer British Cham pion will have a product ion bik e for th e Iri sh an d Belgian ch ampio nship rounds, the n a super-light works special begi nning with the Spanish round in March. For all you people out there who keep asking for more European GP coverage, t he season "over there" is over until April. Patience, patience. Pu t a blower on your bike to save gas? A Ho nda 5 00 Fo ur equipped .with a Rayjay turbo-charger by American T ur bo-P ak lopes alo ng a t 55 MPH delivering up to 77 miles per gallo n. Let's see, now, at 5 5, th a t's 0.714 gallons per hour...p u t a six gallon coff er-rac er tank on the beggar an ' I can ride fo r abou t eigh t an d a half hours. Go ahe ad ; let 'em close u p on Sunday! Oh , ye ah, the fu el co nsu mptio n goes up markedl y whe n it 's on full bo ost , but they bu st pe opl e for d oing 14 0 in Californ ia. Yes, Virginia, the Ene rgy Crisis is real. It 's not a hoax. The Federal Government is a hoax . HE RN IA DE PAR TMENT - Papa me t a survivor of a vanishin g bree d th e other night, a m an who used to ride har dtail Har leys in th e Boonies. The qu est ion cam e up, " How do you ge t it off yo u if you ever dr op i t?" The answer: "You've got to get either the fro nt en d or the rear end poin ting straigh t d ownhill. The n it picks up easie r than you'd think." 5