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/125848
AUTOMOTIVE BiG! AND MOTORCYCLE Un-gassin' it Has the gas shortage really hurt racing? One reading shows th at th e number of Dist rict 37 desert competition numb ers applied fo r is down from previous years. Let's face it. No o ne wants to get home fro m a desert run without en ough petrol to get to wo rk Monday and , 24HR IHFORM ATl OH(21 3J 588 - 731 0 CA N NING'S SHO W HEADQU ART ERS ;Alfl.O ECAlf 8E j\ SELLER! ,...... . . . ,- _.O' p. _ PO'" oAd ...<>~ • • • ••• c. ... 0;.1, 10 t . ... .. " 1oc>lo"'9 1 ,..... "" ..,,100 0. Old 0< _ .. oood M(.'OO "'Or '"' .old 10' .............., < 10' " to . _ .. _ .. _o.( ,.~ .. ... Id ~ .,ace. co, l ~ .) 00 10' • 1 • 7Cr ."... e .. . Itl ""_ 0· 1._. Ioc_ -.lob,," 10. ' 10 00 _ ' PO'O' .. 1Od od d" oo_ l . _ to p.o . ~ )'iN' d All , , be od O'br ,1,.. ~ _. s,..,ply ,1 ,.", . "K. to . ....... . .. • Ild 11 JOV' _ . b" _ .1 lind ....d oil odd.'oo"ol ,,,lo_ t.o.. ""O'O _ to < _".... TED EVANS • G..-,.I onic": UlS I. Sttt. , • • .IIYW .M. C. Iif. " ... to 210 "''' 0 0_' oma OPB _AT" WlHlSaAY (21])519.1675 (21])saa-.lSSI 10: 0 0 A.M. to 5:00 P.M • Give us money 133 4 7 W. Washington Blvd., Marina Del Rey (213) 390 ·3406 Year End Clearance Sale All New Motorcycles BSA 500 MX Pursang 250 A lpina 250 Pursang 175 Pursang 125 CZ 125 CZ 400 $1149 . 1045. 887 . 916 . 877 . 800 . 1175. Huskv 450 CR Husky 450 OM Husky 125 WR Husky 400 CR Rickman 250 MX Rickman 125 MX 1305. 1432. 10 14. 1469. 925 . 800. SPECIAL OFFER! JIM DAVIS MOT C O EQUIPMEN O R SS T a AIR FILTERS HANDLEBARS CE NTURI ON M OU T H .; UA RO••• ••• SHOULD ER PA DS ••••• • SH IN AND KN EE ~UAR D. ~ ... DELUXE CH ES T P RO TECTOR ••.• CH ILDREN 'S SHOULDER P ADS , •• CH I LDR EN 'S MOUTH :; UA RO..... CH ILDREN 'S SH IN AND KNEE •.•• YOUTH ELBOW ~UAROS.... 1 ,95 re.sc 19.1!l 16.lS !l .9S .,85 12.8 5 7, 9S K&N ENGINEE RING 24 depending on how yo ur lo cal gas sta tio ns are pumping fuel, this may well happen . Tom Berry, who has been doing well for himsel f a t th e CMC Ascot ra ces, k no ws ab o u t it first hand. He ran o u t of gas on the San Diego Freeway go ing home from his last win. One way to be a ble to ride as much as you want and still co nse rve gas is to head for on e of the places where yo u can camp o ut over t he weekend. Escape Country is one. They have motocross both Saturday and Sunday , pl us there 's all the traili ng yo u can d o th ere , plus switching to ho rses if you get tir ed of wheels. or wa tc hing th o se guys fly t he ir hang gliders. Rid ers who dig Escape Country will be glad to know that Mi ke Cap alit e will b e ba ck m an agin g th e races. If yo u've rid den eve n ts han d led by hi m, you kno w you 'lI be in fo r a good ti me . PO 80_ 1329 . RI..r 'I ~ . CA 92501 (7 14 }682 8813 BO X 14~ BILL JONES MOTOSPOR'T NOR T H MO LL VWOOO . CA LIF" ') 1603 .. In my last colu mn I kicked ar o und thc id ea of havin g a productio n dir t bike cl a ss. hoping t he Al\1A Sports Co mmittees mi gh t consider it. Here 's ano th er suggestion for the m to muse over. I t's obvio us to anyone leafing through Cycle N ews to d ecide where to race o n a weeken d, especia lly in m ot o cross, that there 's many a n o pp o rt un ity to make so me m one y. Not a lo t , but enough to qualify yourself as a professional w h ich co mes in handy when ta x ti me co m es around . Pay-offs are to Experts only but with a little diligent riding o n yo u r part you should be able to make Expert, Once you've made it, why not cash in on it ? Eve n desert racers aren 't left out as t he Desert Racin g Association is co min g up with a Hare an d Ho un d with a p ur se for each class. ~I ost Ex pe rts I kn ow could n 't care less a bout trop hies. Trophie s may be nice to impress people wit h b u t it's cas h that keeps a finely tun ed scoote r sco o tin '. Now th is is m y opinion . but I th in k th e tim e has co me fo r the AMA to do so m e thin king and co me up wi th a syste m that pays back so mething t o at leas t th e Expert class. It wou ldn ' t hurt fo r everyo ne to ge t a litt le bi t of mo ney . Mo n ey, lega lly or illegall y . has entered eve ry other b ran ch of speed sp o rt s. Becau se of th is. a nd simi lar practices in other fields of a th letics even the ' O ly mpic Co mmi ttee no w a llows a n am a te u r sportsman to re ceive payment for co m pe ting in sports ot he r than th e o nes he com pe tes in durin g the Ol ympics. Last year I wro te ab o u t a vounz rider w h o lo st h is position on his .. . .. .. .. .. .. . . ~ .. ..... . ... high sch ool sw im team be cause he had bee n w innin g m o ney in m oto cr oss. He was, ac cording to former AA U rules, no longer an amateur sp ortsman. Until this year. The ncw ruling would ha ve enabled J im Thorpe to have kept his Olympic m ed als wh ich wcre taken fro m h im for being paid a few dollars in se m i-p ro baseball. Yeah, AMA...how come? When Joel Robert first ca m e to the S tates he was quite su rp rised to find o ut th at o u r riders weren 't ge ttin g pai d for winning. In Europe, everyone ge ts a cha nce to make some mo ney a nd I'd like to see it here. I think th e time has co m e fo r motorcycle racing to take that big st ep here and for the AMA as FIM represen ta tive in this cou ntry, to d o what th e rest of t he wo rld is d oing. T he AMA has been d o ing pretty well recentl y bu t they sti ll d it her about a bit. It 's n ot t o o late to start wo rkin g on it with an ey e t oward 19 75 . Fo r instance, Rich Ko uns is one you ng Expert I kn ow wh o receives a sm all am o u n t o f hel p from a sho p on pa rt s, but o the rw ise d oe s his own tuning. If you d o n ' t t h in k he wo uld ra ther get a few dollars for his win s than a tro p hy, j ust ask him. He's represen tative of hu nd reds of young rid ers who have m ad e their way u p th e ladder with a lot o f help fro m thei r dads . Eve n a few dollar s co mes in handy fo r p lugs, gas , a nd oil. Cries in t he w ilderness I can already hear some o utc ries fro m p ur ists . I used to be o ne myself , b u t n o m ore. Sadly , ti mes have changed and m oney has c han ged them. So wh y no t ma ke th e cash availa ble t o more people, n o t j us t a fe w lucky o r d ishonest o ne s? I can also hear so me p ro mo te rs say ing they ca n't aff o rd it , e tc . If that 's a pr o b le m , ask the gu ys who a re suc cessfu lly d o in g it , like Ind ia n Du nes o r Saddleback, ho w the y man age. T he AMA obviousl y d oe sn't ha ve a p pea l for everyo ne or t hese othe r organizatio ns wou ldn' t hav e flo urished. Some of the m eve n provide t he ir ins ur a nce ... Maureen Lee