Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Rel ations) major in college and deeply co m m itted to p olitical action . For instance, o n Saturdays I do volunteer counselin g, during th e week I do resear ch for peop le inv olved in thing s like N.O .W. an d o ther sp eci al in teres t groups and I wr it e a lo t of letter s t o people that I strongly di sagree with. Yet , having done all th is work , I had never th o ught ab o ut doin g an ything fo r on e of the things th at means th e most t o m e, riding m y motorcycle with th e lea st a mo un t of hassle, Now, since I read y our ar ti cles, I realize that it was people like Russ Sanford th at helped m e enjoy doing wh a t I like. I am sending ten dollars to M.O.R.E ., which represents 10% o f my t o tal mon thl y i nc o m e . (The Ve terans Admin istrati on stil l insists that a person rc:ally can live: on $220 per month.) However , I wi ll consider it money well spent if it will keep Russ going. Th ank you for rai sing my consciousness of Russ Sanford, your arti cles have: added a voice to the cry fo r rights fo r motorcycle riders. Bill Ryc:r, Santee, Calif. MOREaetion We were thrilled to learn that Russ San ford is alive and kicking in Sa cramento. It was a fte r th e initial feeling of relief wore off, however, that the true meaning of Charles Clayton's so-called " o bi t uary " started to sink in. The fac t th at M.O.R.E . is no t supp o rt ed financially th e way it should be cannot be de nied. T he fact that San ford and fam ily have give n up m uch in t he fight fo r mo to rcy clists' righ ts also cannot b e de nied. Your tactics, however , were the lowe st form of j o urnalism we have see n in years . . . . T im & Becky Burke , Dal y City, Calif. · .. I realize this stu nt wa s d o ne w ith good intentions, b ut to say that it was in poor taste puts it mild ly . . .. The worst thing about the whole th ing is the sorrow it probably caused all o f R uss' friends who were not awa re of the truth. Norman Blackmer, West Covina, Calif. · . . I think Chuck Clayto n m issed his calling. He shou ld have been a preacher. Larry Huffman , Anaheim , Calif. · . . In th e brief period I w as permitted to jaw with this guardian o f t he free sp irits, neve r o nce d id I he ar Rus s say, "I w ish." It was " it must be n fo r th e bike rid er, be he dirt rider ' or ho g jockey. When th e many tim es arose t ha t dis couraged other believers in th e grea t motorcy cl in g sport to the po int o f say ing . "what 's t he use ? To hell w ith it ," Russ was always there to pull th e d isco u raged o nes together an d put the strongest should er to the wheel. F ol lowi ng t he terrible disappointment of the Tucson, Ar izona fias co (M.O.R.E. of Am erica) in which I too was invo lved with Ru ss on his side . in allowing a group of profiteers t o take and use the M.O. R.E. concep t, I know for a fact that a lesser man would ha ve thrown in the towel so t o sp eak. But no t Russ. He ca me ba ck off th e d eck more de termined than e ver t o posi tio n the mo torcy clist in his rightful p lac e. In our last meeting last fa ll. Russ was offered a deal "like you co uldn ' t refuse" from t hose w h o wa nted to use hi s ta len ts to be nefit an d pro fit themsel ves at t he expense o f th e individ ua l ride rs . But, as I knew wo uld happen , he re fused to eve n discuss it since it would be: of no so und val ue or pro vide a p lace in th e sun for the average cycle rid er . . .. Jack Sh eahan, Phoenix, Ariz. · . . . Don e in very poo r tast e. P.S. T he re is a boa t leavin g for the Sou th Paci fic . your part. You have done your profession a disservice and th is cer tainly does nothing to help motorcycling. Certainly there was a better way to "awaken" and "shock " listless cyclists. I would agree that the greatest percentage of us ar e not politically motivated, and trea t t hi s as our personal sport. Yo u do us all a great harm though , when yo u le t m otorcycling jou rnalism rea ch a n all ti me low . T he re are alre ady enough bad stigmas abo ut m o torcy cles and the people associate d with it to overcome. We have enj oyed mot orcy cles an d peo ple interested in it from all walks of life for o ver te n years n ow and you an d yo ur p oe tic license have been th e first th in g to muddy it. I hope this is th e las t ti me we wi ll see this ty pe of trash, as there are be tter and more im por tan t things to be d one. Barbara R . Ta nzc:y, West Covina , Ca lif. . . . Having read the two article s yo u wrote on Ru ss Sanford, I fou nd I was fav o rably im pre ssed with wha t you wrote ab o u t th e m an. A lso, I was a little shocked .with m yself whe n I tr ied to thi n k abou t wh at I had d on e lately t o pr eserve m y way of life, m ot or cycling. What really h ur t was th at I am a P ol i.t i c al S cie nce ( Inter nat io na l Pole position IrrHlIIlL I am glad to mee t y o u although b y let t er. Please fo rgive m e I d ecid ed to writ e to you. It is a hobby of m y life to collec t th in gs ad vert isin g of firms p ro d ucting cycles and accessories for .cycles. My co llection co n sists of p ro sp ects. cycle m agazine s. post card s, em b le m s. signs, calendars, plakats and labels. T hen if you co uld sen d me these things I would be grateful to you for it. In particular I am anxious for your cal endars, magazines and labels (o f co urse o ld ones and useless fo r you) . I give -thanks t o yo u in advan ce an d I wait for yo ur answe r. . Grand Prix 100 mi les of great and bear it 6 Flat Track • • . .••• . . .• •12 A tribute to Cal Rayborn n 14 Trials 24 Lappin ' it up at Ascot A two day affair 26 Road Race Cap itol classroom 34 Technical Th e two st ro ke and how it g~t fas t Husqvarna CR 400 36 All new and all righ t Suzuki TM 400 40 Getting be tter all t he time Squeeky Mr. Clayton: Yo ur articles were two o f the wo rst attempts of petty journalism t hat I have ever wi tnessed. T o deal so loosely and une motio na lly to wards death and the feeli ngs o f people and their fami lies and friends, shows li ttle m oral j udgment o n EDITOR 'S NOTE: Letters and phon e calls on th e subject of C. Clayton 's pr emature obituary of California's motorcycle lobbyist have been nine t o one outraged at what was considered a morbid bid for M.O.R.E. Signif icantly, m ost of th e respondants wer e alread y M.O.R .E. supporters. The vast majorit y of cyclers who have alwa ys taken the lobbyist fo r granted are apparen tly st ill unaware, yet it was to "get th e attention" of this apathet ic nu m ber that Clayton was willing to sacrifice the credibility of Cycle News West. " I made tw o big m istakes, " Clay ton ruef ull y acknowledges. "One. so me people got the idea I was acting with R uss Sanford's knowledge o r approval, w hen of course he knew nothing abou t it and wo uld never have condoned it , had h e known. A nd two, I should have realized that, no mat ter how badl y he needs it, Russ would not acce pt donations solicited under false pretenses. M.O.R.E. is returning all the donations. by th e way . But I hope, now that the truth is kn own, everyone will mail them back to R uss and tell him to k eep up the goo d work , an yway. " Cycle N ews, in case y ou are wo ndering, sent M.O.R.E. a $500 contrib utio n. Cover : Fo rmer 5 00 GP ra cer Russ Dar nel l sh ows what a 4 0 0 Husk y does best - sq uare: t urns in round co rn ers . Pho to b y John Huert er, •.. . ... o.. .... . SL AWOMIR T ARGOSZEWSKI . 9 0-308 Lodz ul, Glown a 33 m 48 Pol and OK. Slauiomir. So m e Cycle News stick ies and a ho t hat aTe on the ir wa y to yo u.. .Ed. Condom Ads ... America's No.1 Weekly Motorcycle Newspaper Thomas R. Culp : General Manager Edna Me wto n : Secretary to Publisher - Advertising < Sharon Clayton : Publisher T h o ma s R. Cu lp ; National Dire c tor ' i: c, Wendy Blanton : Assistant T ru di Cu lver : Assistan t Editorial Dan McCue: Managing Editor John D. Ulrich : Associate Editor John Huetter: Feature Editor Lane Campbell; Calendar Editor Art & Production Cath erine Lampton ; Art Director Nancy Gr ay ; A dvert ising Art Directo r Hec tor Agu ile ra : Lab Tech nician Marion Ha tas hita : Typographer Melvin Phelps: Assistant Typographer Circulation Rheba Smith: :\Ianagc:r Pam Hobbs: Assistant Accounting Gav e Za io nz; ~l anagc'r Ch ris Ko lber: Assistant Twila Wheeler: Assistant Rosem a ry Chandler: Assistant 'J im Squires ; Co llectio n Services & Support Mike Colikas Ch ris And rews Randy Da vis Bill Runyan Jeann ie Dunivan: Re ce p tionist West P.O. Box 498 , Lo ng Beach, CA 9080 1 (213) 427-7433: LA 6 36-8844. Te lex No. 673·4 74 . East-Dixie P.O: Box 805 Tuc ker, Georgia. (404) 934-7850 Central p.o. Box 13 24 5 , Austin, Te xas 78 7 1 1. (5 12) 444-7548. Subscription One y ea r, secon d class mail, S 12.50 2 yea rs , second class mail , S22.50 3 years. seco nd clas mail, S30.00 Single co py price, 504 6~~ Publ ished weekJ y except for the first an d last week of'thc calendar year by Cycle News. Inc. Post Office Bo x 498 , Long Beach , Cal ifornia. Secon d class P05ta$tC paid a t Long Beach . CA . Edi torial stories, cartoons, photos, et c. a rc w e lco me , Addressed, stamped envelope assures return o f editorial matter. Reprinting in whole o r part only b y pcnnissio n o f the publishers. Ad vert is ing ra tes and circulation info rmation will be sent upon request. See S.R.D.S. Copyright. Cycle News , In c., 1974. All rights reserved. There are so me strange implications in yo ur Yamaha ad o f last wee k. One is that Su zu ki d id no t win the 500 class at Daytona. Another is th at Ken ny Rob ert. rode the same b ik e in the 25 0 and Open class ra ces and had tr ou bl e both times. Ano th er is that o nly t he Junio rs an d Novices -wo re helmet s. A fift h is th a t th e win ne rs o f t he Ex pe r t, Junio r, and Novice races were ridi ng fo r Yamaha In ternat ion al ju st because t hey were on b lack and yellow mo t orcy cles. Ano ther is that Ag o led th e whole race. Stay w ith the nice, ho ne st co nd o m ads. DA LE IRWIN Az usa, Calif. 3

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