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
the an no u ncer had to tell the crowd to shut up and wa tc h th e races. In the restart, Mike Curoso ra n a bri lliant race against Briggs, taki ng th e win. The m atch races saw Sonny Nutter beating Mar ti n As hby , an d then Dan Becker outriding Ze no n Piech. In a special m atch race, N utter wo n out when Becke r wheelied in front of the starting gate. In race 17, Mike Bast broke, sending Chr is Pusey to t he outside , Nutter t he n sent Pusey into th e wall, and European team m embers ha d to re strai n Pu sey as he ran after Nutter. Bast pushed his bike across for a 'fin ish ahead of Pusey, b ut since both of h is wheels had been in the infield , the ref did not al low Bast any poi n ts. Tensio ns were growing, an d when t he last race cam e up, a win by Am erican s could have w on th e series for th em . Sonny N utter won the event, b ut Mike Bast had tro uble getting b y Bert Har kins, wh o was ridi ng slo w because of his inj urie s. What happen ed after t he event is d ispu ted, b ut th e inc ident en de d with Bast an d Harkins be ing pulled off o f each ot he r . Bast go t on the public address sy te m a fter th e races, stating , " I ride lik e a man, " giving the im p re ss io n that H arkins doesn 't. Harkin s th en to ok th e mi cr op h one, and th anked th e American s for their hospitality and said he hoped he wo uld be invited back soon. Th e cro wd cheered Harkins wildl y, an d just as wildl y booed Mik e Bast. It was a shame, as Bast had been ge tting t he ch eers all weekend as he be at the Euro peans. The inci de nt em barrassed th e American team, and the cr ow d let Bast know j us t how they felt abou t it, alth o ugh Harkins said he had "no hard feelings," while Bast stood and co mplained to Mauger abou t Harkins' riding. T he weekend ended on a sou r no te, bu t th e fan s saw a lot o f good action, fistfigh ts not withstanding. The crowds were not large, but the y we re very vocal, giving a hin t t hat this spe edway season is going to be a wild on e. On e will ne ver fo rge t the rid ing of Ivan Mauger ; his spe ed , and his ab ility to see ming ly know where o ther riders are w ithou t even ha ving to look. The cro wds will al so remember "Bouncin'" Bert Harkins and hi s bagpiped introduction th e firs t night of th e races; Chris Pusey an d Zenon Piech and their wild st yl es, and most of all Bill Cody putting Mauger into the w all. It was a long, hard weekend o f racing th a t took its toll on men and m ach ines. Mos t can ' t wait for the chan ce to do it again . Results 1. Ma uger 45 pU. 2 . Briggs 39 . 3 . M. Ba st 38. 4 . Cody 38. 5 . S . Ba st 2 1 . 6 . Plecn 2 7 . 7. euraso 2 0 . 8 . Hark ins 2 0. 9. Pusey 19. 10. Beck 18 . 11. Nutter 18 . 12 . Autrey 14. 13 . Ashby S. 14. Jancar z 5. FRIDAY : USA 5 2·Eu rop eans 55. SATURDAV : USA 59-Europeans 49. SUNDAY : USA 5 2-European s 56 . TOTAL : USA 163·Euopeans 160. Well, Cycle News finally has a controversy that seems likely to drive Hazlewood, of Anti-deserturination fame, off the Cycle N ew s r e ad er's page. While Hazelwo od dribbles o ff, so to speak, let us examine the newest ou trage, the rep orted demis e of Ru ssell San ford. By now, let us fondly hope , eve ryone kn ow s that Russ Sanford is not d ead, at least not in an y physical way. He is alive, if not well , and living in Sacramento. Du rin g t he past two weeks it seems that every motorcyclist I know has had som eth ing to say about th e Ru ss S anfo rd MeMOREiam. Some were s h oc ke d th at Chuck Clayton , a jo urnalist, for God's sake, would do suc h a th in g. Most were ex tremely an gry at wh at they co nsidered to be a tas teless put-on . Some clubs st ar t ed to raise some money to send to Mrs. Sanford, but cancelled the plans in anger wh en th ey heard he was still alive . T he message seems clear : If Russ Sanford wants an y money fro m motorcyclists, he 's going to hav e to di e and stay dead. Motorcyclists no t on ly don 't believe in m iracles, th ey find th em offensive, esp eci ally if th ere's a b it of hocus pocus or malarkey behind the scenes. I w ould not hav e written the article th at Chuck Clayton did, regardl ess o f how I felt about Russ Sanford. Vou might call it principle, or lack of co u rage or both. In truth, I think it 's probably a matter of style and imag ination . I wouldn 't have thought of it, and if it ha d occurred to m e, I would have rej ected th e idea . It's not m e. And since I wouldn't have wr itten it myself , I'm not goi ng to try to defend it. Do y o u co ns ide r i t un -profess ional ? T asteless? Poor journalism? Unfair ? So be it. Vou won't get any argumen t from me. But . . . There are several underlying tru th s. The fir st is that Russ Sanford has worked very hard for a number o f years for motorcy clists. And, to the exten t tha t o ne man with no mone y can be effe ct ive , he has be en effective. E n or m o usly s o, c o nsid eri ng the circ umstances. Do we then How e" him at least a living ? It's true that nobody asked him to do wh at he 's doing, ex ce p t a few o f us who, after the fact, j oin ed M.O .R .E. But on the o t her hand nobody ha s asked him to stop, eit her . We all enjoy the fact that w e d on't have to we ar helmets, and th at w e don't have to have our scoo t ers eq uipp ed wi th sca t belts. Chuck and have a kind o f disagreemen t in principle at th is point. Chuck feel s that since Russ has done us a service, we owe him some support, so he took it upon himself to ge t th e cyclis ts to pa y wh at they owe . .! look a t it a b it differently. Russ decided a number of years ago , when he face d a real death, th at he w as goi ng to do his Ivan Mauger teaches Bill Cody some international style techniq ues as Sonny Nuner and Bert Harkins watch on the o uts id e. Mauger is p ushing Cody's front wheel with his foot, forcing him into the track edge marker and off the gas. Z "' "' "' C< o !!! z z "' o o wn "thing, n which was to be .-a motorcycle lobbyist. He didn't really ask if a motorcycle lobbyi st was needed or wa nted. He just de cided that there was a spot fo r on e, and h e w as it. Russ Sanford, suited an d tied , an d a b it p lump, is the epi tome of the sub urban conservative, fr o m his stati on wagon, to h is support for Republicans to his fo nd ness fo r boo ze (ra ther than grass) . Bu t in ch oosing hi s li fest yle, doi ng wh at he wants to do an d say ing the hell w ith estab lish ment jobs , he has o ut-hipp ied most o f the p arent-supported kids on t he S unset Strip. I can sym pathize with Russ' n ew appr oac h to life. At j ust about t he same ti me th at Russ ab an doned h is nin e to five in favor of d oing hi s own thing, I abando ned my own j ob to do likewise. It 's gr eat. Th ere' s a tremendous feding o f acc o m p li s h m ent when y our own "thi ng" turns o ut righ t an d pe ople accept it. T he re 's lots an d lots offree d o m . One of the new fre edoms is the freedom to starve to de ath and take you r fami ly with yo u. All of u s who have rej ect ed nine to five jobs have to face ce rtai n fact s, t he mo st importan t of which is that you have to figure out so me way to make your " thi ng" sup port you, or y o u will very shortly ex ercis e y o ur freedom to star ve. There is little ldi fference between t he kid who sell s liis leather-work or beads on the st reet, th e writer who sells free-lan ce and the lo bby ist who works un a sked, and unbound, for the particular cause . Vou ei ther make so met hin g som eb od y w an t s enough to pay for, o r y o u go hungry . If yo u get desperate enough, yo u m igh t steal or beg. One thing most of us, whether yo u ca ll us h ippies, free lan cers or free-loaders, won't d o , is go back to the nine to five . Russ has a pretty good product, better than most of th e "do your own thing" p eople. Bu t he d oe sn ' t know how to sell it withou t co m pro mis ing his own int egri ty. He flirted w ith the idea of theft, or at leas t so it seem s to me, when he star ted M.O.R.E. Na ti o nal fina nced wi th money an d promises from Ari zo na and st a ffed wi th AMA rejects. M.O.R.E. National flopped and now Russ is back doing his own th ing once more, lobbying for cy clists, Since he still can't sell an d he isn 't quite hippy enough to be g, it seems likely that he _ might starve. It seems to m e that what Russ is doing is valu able to us, but there is no wa y he can make us pay for it. He ha s put his wares out on the counter and walked away, hoping that those who too k them would be honest enough to pay for them . Few people are . A few people paid the first time th ey came to the store, " for got" the next six times. Chuck tried to shame and shock motorcycli sts into payin g so m eth ing for wh at the y have received. It hasn't wo rked very well, It 's go tt en lots o f people mad at both Russ an d himself. Now Russ pr obab ly coul d n ' t get an y sy m pathy if he really starved to de ath becau se nob ody wo uld beli eve hi m . So wh a t am I asking? Taking a look at what Ru ss Sanford is doin g an d if yo u're getting so me benefits from it, t he n h elp out so me. Not fro m sy m pa thy. He's earned his righ t to starve if his gig isn ' t good eno ug h. And not bec aus e he m igh t quit. I expec t he ' ll go right on d oing what he's doi ng if he has to hitch-hike to the State Capitol an d put cardb oa rd in shoes becau se lob bying for m o t o rcycl ists is his th ing. Bu t it's h ard to do a very effective job of lo bbyi ng when your shirt collar is fray ed, and yo u c an 't afford deodorant. O f co u rse, if you reall y don't think y o u need a lobbyi st , well hell, let him starve . But don't let an yb ody m ak e y ou feel guil ty abou t it . If yo u let him starve, at least have the ball s to let hi s w ife st arv e too. Did you get ta ke n o n a guil t trip last week and th en go t mad at Chuck Clay ton bec au se he ran th e st ree tcar? Too bad. • Russ Sanford an d M.O .R.E. are ru nning a Gas Eanomy run down in San Diego on March 30th . Vo u can d o some good for moto rcy clin g and for Russ by eit he r en te ri ng or spectating. But don't t hin k I'm trying t o put yo u o n ano ther guilt tr ip. I have ano t her assign m en t tha t weekend , so I won ' t kn ow wh eth er yo u show up o r no t. I f yo u're in terested , the details arc on p age 39. . Ron Schneiders 9