Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• • . fIJ IIa IIa ..:::lI g ~ g Th"e ed itor of a trade journal called to ge t more d etails abo ut th e " dea th .. of Ru ss San ford. When in fo rmed t hat the M.O. R. E. Lob by ist is still alive, the editor said, " O h, I thought if he had died, I would write som et hing nice about h im. " That was one reason fo r the ho ax , we explained . Why wait til it is too late to show your appreciatio n? TH You know you' re really on to something when, wh ile walking out the parking lot with the woman you're . taking for a moonl ight ride , you tell her your b ike is a new Honda 750 and she asks, "K3 or K4? " -.:t' r--. Q"l C'J Two-t ime 5 00 class motocross Worl d Champion ( 19 69- 70) Bengt Aberg will ride th e 500 Cheney BSA ab sented by J oh n Ban ks. It's still up in th e a ir if he will c o ntest all the 500 Worl d Champion ship ro u nds or no t. ~ 0.. ~ DeWayn e Jones was pitting a Can Am 175 for Jones Motocros s Products' emp loy ee and te st rider Steve Hasse at the AMC night MX Mar ch 15 . A crash kept Steve out of co n te ntion. DeWayne and Steve showed up the next weekend (March 23) at Saddleback w ith a XR75 Honda. It wasn't trick enough to w in . "The Re volution is here ! The work ers o f Ame rica are rising up agai nst th e oppressive laws!". . .coul dn't be, right? Wrong! After the ne w s t ha t the Arab o il embargo is lifted, speed laws in Cali fornia are be ing obeyed abou t as often as the l a w s against premari tal . . . ah, eh, yo u know. On e b iker was heard to exclaim, "I was doin g 65 and was ge tting passed by Pries ts in Buicks ." Even the head dude of the California Highway Patrol wants the limits upped to the old levels. After spending a weekend in an AFM Ro adracing school, one ed itor was makin ' like a go-faster on the 5 0 MPH limit transition road between two freeways the other day. He dusted off a long line of four wheeled slugs on the outside and shot onto the freeway "well" over the limit. Suddenly a bl ack and wh ite shape caught the co m er of his eye as it crabbed across four lan es toward him. He ins tan tl y gra bbed a handfu l of d isc. co m p ressi ng t he fo rks to t he st o ps and skittering t he fro n t tire in an effort to scru b o ff speed . He di d it ' before the " man" clocked him , b ut got fo llowed th e entire te n remaining m iles to work an yw ay. 55 MPH with a fuzzy tai l is a d rag. Spectator ' admission from the four-school interscholastic motocross to be held at Osteen's Park in Pomona March 31 is a whopping 55t. With a motorcycle publication editor's challenge race, three TV stations and 'o ne radio station covering it , the event should be interesting. It starts at 9 a.rn . Seen in the Baker sfield Californ ian: " 'It's a toug h thi ng when yo u ha ve to r es tr ict th e publ ic from public land.' - - Ed Wald ap fe!, Inyo National Forest spokesm an , on the U.S. Forest Servi ce de ci sion to lim it access to M t, Whitn ey becaus e huge numbers of hikers are de stroying its trails." 4 I guess when you're in the desert long enough, you'll do just about anything. Seems like the teachers at Burroughs High School want their motocross March 30 at Sage Park in Ridgecrest, California to work so bad they are going to have a teacher's moto. It'll be only five laps, but since none of them have eve r been on a track before, it should be worth the buck admission just to watch that one race. - .- Rumor has it th at Al Gunter is pl anning a co mebac k. Streaking is getting out of control. Streakers are popping up at races right and left, all sexes and sizes. Sure beats golf. CMC ace Tom my Croft will be out of action for two or so m onths at least , follo wi ng a da maging crash at Saddleback March 17. Ge t we ll qu ick , T om my. Cook Neilson puts the infamous Harry Reasoner anti-bike report in proper perspective in the April issue of Cycle. The piece itself is worth the GOt cover price. Montesa is goi ng to bring in 1000 copies o f th eir 25 0 sin gle roa d b ike th is year. It is all modernized with oil injecti on an d the ex pected go odies and, if pas t performan ce is any t hing to go o n , should handle like a Manx a nd be q uic ker than a slick snake. Might even b e a picture o f it around her e so mewhe re if th e Feature Ed itor didn 't leave it at th e Mexican restaurant. Better get yo ur name in now, if you think yo u 'd be in terested. Sure is purty-lookin ' , Contrary to popular misconception, the first interscholastic motocross held at a professional facility was not the Arcadia/San Marino duel at Irwindale February 14. It was a five school race held at the Sunnyvale Police Acitivities League track in Sunnyvale, California. Fremont, Awalt, Sunnyvale, Monte Vista, and Homestead competed, with Fremont winning it all. Troph ies and prizes went to tenth place in each class. According to th e Mar ch 20 t h. ed itio n o f th e Ind ependent Press T elegra m yo u ca n now - Rent-A·Streaker fo r you r next social fu nction. T he y co me in b oth sexes and of varied types. Price ran ges from five doll ar s for your eve ry day buffer, with more exotic ty pes cos t ing so mew ha t more . If yo u are stil l having the barber give you a short ba ck -an d-side s yo u m igh t be p leased to know tha t t here is eve n a sepera te "Freak -Streak:' available to amaze yo u and yo ur friends. We . called up and ordered tw o bl ondes. a redhead, and on e small " Frea k" . . .lunchtim e was certainly far more intere st ing , There will be no more entries taken for the 125 mile 49'er Enduro. Jaak Van Velthoven won again in a Belgian loternational motocross on . a tough sand circuit at Hechtel on a 396cc Yamaha. 250 World Champ Hakan Andersson was second on another big Yamaha. American Brad Lackey's best finish was a ninth in the second moto on a new works 360 Husqvarna. Surprisingly, new Montesa GP works rider Raymond Boven, moved up from 125 class, ran third overall until the last lap when he ran out of pee-mix on the power- and gas·robbing sand course. Trans·AMA winner Adolf Wei I (Mail was seventh overall. SHOT IN THE A RM FO R BAJA , R A C I N G . It looks like Micke y Th o mpson's S.C.O .R .E. may sco re agai n with th e Baj a Intemationale Off-Road Race to be run over an al l-new course about 500 miles lo ng that runs up in to the trees of t he central plateau o f the Baja Pen insula. The race is currently sch eduled fo r July 25-26-27 an d the new course will d efini tel y give the bikes the b iggest adv antage th ey' ve had in years of Baja co mp eti tion. Thompson knows o ff-road ra cin g and if it's an ywhere as well run as th e recen t Dam 400, Baja sh ould be a winner . Got a date? No place to go and less money to get you there? Take Matilda to the movies at Harry D. Foster's Motorcycles in Lawndale, California. Race footage will be shown Thursday, March 28 starting at 8:00 p.m, The movies are free, you supply the rest. KONI is in th e process o f supplying th eir U.S. distributors with specialized springs for th eir shocks. Malc olm Sm ith is the So Cal distributor. OUI magazine has a snappy, shiny color piece in this month's edition. It is entitled "Cafe Racers" but there aren't any cafe racers shown in the article only expensive Italian bikes. Streaker sat ura tion ? While imbibing at his lo cal the other n igh t o ne staffer was surprised to note that the boisterous entrance of a streaker duo raised nothing more than a few obscene remarks from the disturbed patrons. Hangtown interest isn 't hangin' . So far there is $13,000 in prize money, scheduled major television coverage, and top name entrants. Kawasaki·sponsored Jan-Eric Sallqvist, 1972 Swedish 125 National Champion is joining the already bulging big-name list of riders. Dis count t ickets can be had at Ticketron and Downtown Box offices. Starting April 12 a ll racers at AM E races will be co vered with a S3 ,OOO med ical policy . Vea l Streaking is catching on in Europe, too. Seems two streakers on a Suzuki rode through Buckingham last week, wearing only boots and helmets. It's still winter over there, too. The National Par k Service wo uld like to incl ude 8 5% (1,596. 500 acres) of Death V alley National Monument in a wild e rness classifi cation . T hat classifica tion wo ul d close man y roads and trails to all vehi cular travel, decreasing public access to the area. Vou ca n tell the m t hey already have enough areas o nly hikers can get in to a t a public rnee ting April 3, in t he Califo rnia Roo m, New City Co nven tion Cen ter, 303 North E Street, San Bernardin o , California. To d o so, you ha ve to write to the Hearing Officer, c/o Superintenden t , Dea th Va lley National Monumen t, Death Va lley, CA. 92328 before Mar ch 29 an d reser ve yourself a speaking slot. Then j ust take y o urself and a summary of yo ur comme nts to th e m ee t ing a nd le t t he m know yo u want to be abl e to get in th ere without hoofin g it - after all , walking thro ugh Dea th Va lley is what gave it its na me . Internationally known fur trapper, .train robber, motorcycle racer, and socialite Robert Redford appeared incognito at the Champion's Challenge International Speedway matches at Costa Mesa last weekend. He apparently enjoyed the show as he returned Saturday and Sunday night, also. Ja p anese Motorcyclist repor ts th a t Ho nda is testin g a CB400 Four fi tt ed wi th new an ti-pollution co n trols. They es timate th e model will be ava ilab le in June. Brad Lackey was second Husky rider, behind overall wi nner Heikki Mikkola, at a Dutch International on the rough St. Anthonis circuit. Brad finished eleventh overall ahead of another new Husqvarna teamster, Kalevi Vehkonen. New Suzuki·ite and local Dutch favorite Gerrit Wolsink won both the first and third motos but had his engine seize in the second round. A F M i s a d vertising strea ke rs o n sidehacks fo r their n ex t ro ad race Ap ril 17 at Ontar io. In an effort to keep a four-stroke effort going in 500cc World Championship motocross, Austrian nobleman Count Otto Herberstein is going to sponsor Britishers John Banks and Jimmy Aird (actually a Scod to at least the opening GP round: the Austrian 500 GP on April 21 . Must be nice to be a rich gentleman sportsman. Both riders are scheduled to ride the U.S. TransAMA series, sponsored by Bri~sh Caledonian airlines. Must be nice to be a rich, international airline. J oh n Hate ley gets the D eC o st e r /K ar sm a k er s M o t o cr o ss Showmanship and Flying Hand-St and Award fo r his per formances over the Ascot jum p d uring the 10 0 lap 'IT. The Feature Editor, along with about half a dozen other nervous riders, was relieving the tension over by the fence of the impound area before his race in the Great Bear Grand Prix. One rider saw him and called out, "You better cut that out or I'm gonna send your name and number in to Cycle News ." "You do and I won 't print it. ..unless you spell the name right," he quipped while zipping up his leathers. The other guy grinned and looked confused. Wanna che c k o n the gas sit uat io n in th e area yo u plan to visit this we ekend ? Holiday Inn s have a program called GAS and can inform you of availab ility within five m iles of each of their Inns . The much -speculated Honda water-cooled two stroke triple road racer is closer to being a fact. If you have n't wo n any thing lately and n eed a little p ublic exposure, tr y rid ing the en tire race wi th yo ur clothes o n. The Motorcycle Industry Council and the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association have joined forces to conduct an emission test study of motorcycles in the America. J .A.M.A. is paying for it. Seven day s after wi nni ng Dayto na , Ago was b ooed at th e Moden a It alian Na ti o na l road race by a bunc h of It alians up set over his swi tch to Yamaha, The British m otorcy cle press headlined th e inci dent "Ago Get s The Bird!U The Orange County M.C., along with the rest of ,t he ir excellent organization of the Great Bear, had signs on the outhouses advising potential users to "Watch Out for Hazelwood." Read and heed, r_rs!

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