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/125852
America's No. 1 Weekly Motorcycle Newspaper Sharon Clayt on; Publisher Thomas R. Culp ; General Manager Edna Mewton : Se cretary to Publ ish er Advertising T homas R. Culp ; National Dir e ct or . Wendy Blanton; Assistant Trudi Culver: Assistant Editor ial Dan McCue; Managing Editor John D. Ulrich ; Associate Editor J a hn M.O.R.E. overkill Huetterj Feature Edit or I can no t understand ho w yo u co uld let suc h an article be written in that manner. Russ San ford is a very good frie nd of m y husband an d it was very up setting t o th in k th a t he was dead and the n find ou t that th is was a cheap trick on the par t of this Charles Clayt on. This is real ly a very terrible thi ng to do about someone even if they are in a financial bind. If M.O.R.E. is dy ing, print it as such. not Russ Sanford was dea d. I think an apology is in order. All this has done is up set friends of Russ and now they know he is alive and fine - m ay be in financial trouble, but alive - they are going to want to hit back at th is Clayton guy . People who do not know Russ will think Ru ss was behind this stupid article and will never help M.O.R.E. nor Russ Sanford. You may also lose some subscriptions over th is stupid and cheap article. MARY ANN TURNER Placerville, Calif. Lane Campbell; Calend ar Editor Art & Production Cat herine La mpton ; Art Dire ctor Nan cy Gray; Ad vertising Art Dire ctor He ctor Agui lera: Lab Technician Marion Ha tashi ta : Typ ographer Melvin Phelps; Assistant Typographe r Circulation Rh eba Smith ; Man ager Pam Hobbs; Assistan t Cheryl Stein berg; Assis ta n t Accou nting Gaye Zaion z; Manager Chris Kolber: A ssistan t Twila Wheeler; A ssis tan t Rosemary .Chan d ler ; Assist an t Jim Squires; Collection Services & Support Mike Colikas Chris Andrews Rand y Davis Bill Runyan J eann ie Dunivan; Re ceptionist Clayton doe s apologize to R uss Sanford, his f amily and friends. "I should hav e realized R uss is too h onest to accept money contributed under w hat m ight be construed as fal se pre mises. Most peo ple understood the article as it was inte nded, because of the omission of certain details that any real obituary would co ntain. Tho usands of dollars were do nated, which Sanf ord is sending back. " Concludes Clay to n , "I overdid it. .... . Ed. West P.O. Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801 (2 13) 427-7433; LA 636-8844. Telex No. 673-474. East-Dixie· P.O. Box 805 Tucker. Georgia. (404) 934-7850 Central P.O. Box 1324 5, Austin. Texas 78711. (512) 444·7 548. It is my under standi ng that the rep ort of Ru ss Sanford's death is "highly Exaggerated" and I also un derstand that to ret urn th e generous contributions t o his memorial fund will cause hi m co nsiderable expense. Perh ap s it really takes this type of "shock" rep o rt in g t o awake n the cycle riders to the tremendous loss they would have suffered had the re port been true, lt would be appropriate, at this ti me , fo r all doner s to n otify Mr. Sanford i m me diately that ret urn of the contributions is no t ex pected and that the fun ds should be used to continue his work. It is high time tha t all riders contribute in some m eas ur e . How about a 50 cent contribution from all entrants in all eve nts to go to M.O .R .E . ? Most special in te rest groups sp end millions of d ollar s every year, certainly . t he riders can co nt ribu te so mething. No , I 've never been on a mo t orcy cle. What's m ore I never expect to get on one , but [ ha ve two sons who ride, - an d I belong to M.O.R.E . - and it costs less than $ 1.00 a month. Dues are only $ 10.0 0 a year. Le t 's show Mr. Sanford t hat it 's only that we've been too busy to show hi m t hat we do care and ap p reciate his effor ts. Subscription One year, se con d class ma il, S 12 .5 0 2 years. second class mail. $22 .50 3 years. second class mail, $30 .00 Single copy price. 50l: 2 L _ _......:=- ''" " 'ol:" -'0 > I don't feel bad I hav e subscribed at various times to Cycle Ne ws East and Cycle News Dixie . While b eing region al publication s, t heir con te nt was slightly overweight in covera ge t owards one o r two st at es. Cycle New s West , how ever , is so gro ssly geared t oward on e state th a t it co uld and should be ca lled Cycle Ne ws Califo rnia. Perhap s th is is why I wa s so mewhat put-up on when I re ad your article on Russ Sanford . (CNW Vo . XI No .9, p. 2) Wh ile I can respect the man and realize that he was indeed an hon est. dedi ca ted lob byist fo r Califo rn ia motorcycling. I resent your attempt to make me feel badl y because I di d n't send hi m m on ey to support Califo rn ia lob bying. T here are thousands of dedicated people in p ub lic service in this co un t ry . Perhaps so me are even more impoverished and work fo r more irnpor tan t causes. (I do be lieve there are more importan t th ings today than motorcycles.) A .K . R ETTI G Silve rd ale , Wash. We are too This is in defense of all h usb an ds and boyfrie nds who ride mo t or cycles for pleasu re or competition. I've read an d heard of so many women co m plai ni ng about t heir men spen di ng too much time (or all their time ) in th e garage w it h t he ir. favo rit e motorcycle. All human beings n ee d an out, so m ething t o get aw ay with, and m y husb and's bike is th e nicest ou t a girl cou ld as k for. A ft er all, it's better than d rinking and ch asing women, ra cing car s (whic h i s more expensi ve ), and gam bling . Life is co mpetitio n and I'm willing to co m pete for th e personal satisfact ion that I 'm still number one in m y family. After all . I had to co mpete to win m y husband at first anyways. T o make a lo ng p ers o nal st o ry short I'm 10 0% fo r motorcycles! You women out there w ho are numb er t w o , it 's y o ur fa ult for n ot trying harder t o fin d wh ere you belong in y!'ur h usb ands life . VENITA BR AGG Yeah! We 're 10 0% fo r bik es and 150 % fo r women. . .or is that 99 % fo r women and 15 1% for bikes. . . er, 25 0 % bik es, 21$0% women? 999% to 998 %? Anyway, th ey're bo th suiell. Hope our ho ney reads th is. . . Ed. Is there a future? Motorcycl ing faces su ppression fr om two separate , b ut rel at ed fac tions . One is the group that fears cyclists as peopl e. T his grou p wan ts to ge t re venge for th e nerve-wracking noise a loud mo t or cycl e o nce made wh ile th ey w er e sick o r res ti ng . Or tho se wh o wer e in t imidated by t he stories (or incidents) of brut ality by the mo torcy cle "ou tlaws." Or, so metimes the most to be feared, t hose wh o sim ply rese nt the free dom t o be had hy riding a m o t or cy cle. T hese th ree catagories are t hose peo pl e who would just as so o n run over a b ike r as look at him . Some even go out of their way t o try to d o so. The other group is mad e up of peo ple who fear m o t or c y cle s th emselves. It' s human nature that we fear what we don 't understand. Perhaps some of these people saw friends inj ured, or we re th emsel ves injured, while ridi ng, an d blame it on a lack of pr o te c tio n. These are th e people wh o a tte m pt to a bolish mo torcy clin g th rough th e courts - " fo r ou r own prot ecti on " o r make cy cli ng as cumbersome as possi ble through law s req ui rin g suc h "protective" devices as h e lm ets, lon g sleeves, crash bars , day time headl igh ts, airb ags, training wheels, even seat belts. Fort unately, st eps are b eing taken to resis t this su ppression. T he M.LC. is ca m paigni ng for bikers to cut down on noise pollution voluntaril y. The M.I .C. is als o backing an extensive adv ertising campaign to give a more positive image of cy clists. And, so far, most of t he oppressive law s h ave been su ccessfully defeated by the efforts of both large organizat ions and co ncerned in di vid ual s. We must still face a long struggle, though, and th er e is a lot yet to be done. We must try to avoid situations that t end to re inforce our already bad reputations. We all have brakes and ho rns - use them in time to prevent trouble. Don't have an avoidable accident on ne ar miss and then resort to shakin g your fist and shouting obsceniti es; after all, he is b igger than you. P erh ap s t he m o tor cy cle manufacturers should adv ertise to sell mo torcyclin g, not just cy cles. And how ab out a law that would make it tougher on t he dri ver of a ca r or truck th at hits a cycle. After all, he is bigger th an y ou! On e thing is too ba d, th ough. There will always be those who hate fo r anyone to b e m ore free than they are . DAV PA ULI Eastcowbungaland, Minn. Marla, baby.. . I am a pleasant 22-year-old y o ung lady, wi th lo ng b londe hair, b ig blue eyes, an d a nagging thirst for th e swee t shivers o f a Norto n Commando. At th e moment, I d on't know a lo cal.soul who owns on e, and so me editors are positi vely selfish wi th "th eir test models. So. What I would like to do is t o st rike a bargain with some sharp-minded Commando ist who is will ing to come al on g with me for the wind-in-your-hair routin e. If I can caj o le a weekend's wo rth of winding roads from someone, I'll sponsor th e food. Sound good? If you'll be kind enough to print this plea in your column, I will sit anxiously b y the telephone, waiting for it to vibrate. Ring, I mean. My telephone number is: (213) 396-0728. If a woman answers, don't hang up. MARLA Santa Monica, Calif. Sh e ain 't kidding. f olks. . .Ed. INSIDE Pro MX: Indoors ..•••.••6 Dicin ' under the ' Dom e Speedway: Outdoors ... ..8 Guess wh o won? Desert •....••••. ...... 12 What, no Adent? Road Race: AFM . ••. •..17 Nekkid racers Academics 22 'Crossed u p in t he sch ool yard · Test: DT125A 26 T he end uro b ike of yo ur ado les cen t d ream Personality 28 What, Aden t ? Results 34 Taking the chec ke red , the troph y, e tc. Test: Cooper Enduro ....36 12,000 pesos wo rth - eas ily Calendar 38 Nex t weeke n d . an d ne xt , and . O n the co ver; Yes, Ade nt, agai n. . .wit h lad y. Pho to by J eb Wilcox.