Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Enduro rule The first time . . . For th e first ti me in pro bably two o r three years I bough t , at a sid ewalk vending m achine, your March 12 issu e, because it h ad a re view of the Norton. I traded my Sportster fo r a new In t ers ta te last June. It's ra ther an exci ting j ob . ' I find it has everything I though t an XLCH would have when I got th e H·D in December , 1969. Y ou r p ap er is st ill 99-44/ 100 compet ition, but thank y o u fo r those .. fme - and enlightening - ar ticl es on the No rton In t ers ta t e an d th e H·D XLCH. I h ave three of y o ur o ld Ch rist mas Staff photo s tacked up o n m y garage wall . JOHN HE DIN Los Angeles, Calif. Reptiles exotica I was d eli gh ted up on reading th e article, T ur tl es Attacked, in Cy cle News. I am gla d t o see that you pointed out the fact th a t the desert j ust isn't a pl ac e wi th san d, b ushes, hills , and m ountains. It is a pl ace wh ere some very unique and special ized ani m als have to live . I am sure that many of your readers say , "So wha t if the De sert T ortoise becomes extinct, its just a d umb animal and anyway wh a t good is it? " I 'll ad mit they are n ot th e sm ar te st an imals ar o un d, an d m aybe t he y don' t d o us any good, but re mem be r this ; th e t o rtoise has been ar oun d fo r more than a hundred million years, and has b ecome very uniq uely adap te d to de sert living. Aft er it is go ne ano ther one like it will never be see n again in the de ser t. I am no t saying that all o ff road ridi ng should be banned . I feel that th e riders need a place to ride, but the deser t j ust isn 't the pl ace for it. It can' t take it! The m ost im por tan t fact that yo u poin t ed o ut in your article is that effe ctive protection and non-use will depend largely on the cooperation of the vehicle users. I hope yo u plan to contin ue d o ing t his so rt of thing to inform riders of the importance of the preser va tio n of an imals. BI LL MEYERS Exp lorer Post 30 Reptiles Exotica Sa n Jose, Calif. After visiting th e track on Sunday I could only think of ra cin g back home in Wisconsin where the first eight or ten events in Spring arc genuine mud races, run under conditions far worse ' th an Baymare. Conditions that demand more thinking and less throttle. This th rottle /thinking re la tionship is what keeps American s from winning on EUropean tracks. So long as Mike Plunkett and promoters like him are in control o f the Am erican MX scene , you can bet th e conditions will be ' oriented towards drawing spectato rs and m aking a buck . MU D RUNNE R Wisconsin Lis t ed below ar e t he reasons for sup p o rt of th e 1974 Enduro rule, which states that starting time s are to be assig ne d in the order of rid er classification w ith the"A" riders leaving fir st. I. T he sk ill and experience o f eac h rider is ke pt closer t ogeth er for purpo ses of safe ty . Ther e will be a m or e even flow of traffic and fewer b ottlenecks. Also it is eas ier on the t errain. 2. In all other Divisions : Professional Racing, Flat T rack, Short Track, Scambles, Motocross, Har e & Ho und , and Hare Scrambles ea ch r id er rides wi th riders o f his own class. 3. T hi s rule is used in all Enduros in th e East ern Districts and has w orked well for them. 4 :Wit h r iders of i h e s ame classifica tion ri ding t ogether it is much fairer than to have a rider of th e same class ificatio n leaving 45 minutes or more ahea d of you and both of you com pe ti t ing fo r the same trophy. 5. In each rider class, ev ery rider has the same chance to be drawn fir st. 6. Regardless of rider class, riders may still r ide together if they request. Howeveer they will be assigned starting numbers in the lowest class of that group. A father/son team of an "A" rider and a "C" rider would be assigned a starting number in the " C" rider series if they wanted to ride together. . I feel that this rule is good, sound, and logical. It is in the be st interest of all rid er s and should not be abando ned without a fair trial. F RANK L. SHOWERS , JR. D-36 Enduro Steward Outraged I'm a family enduro enthusiast that has beco me outraged a t t he Cal ifornia clubs i nability to an t icipate the populari ty o f their events. In sho rt I am n sic k of fi isher pin sh o rtages. Whe n there is ap proxim ately 150 pre-en try n um bers at six r iders per number and only 500 pins, I don 't know whose adding is off, bu t I wish it would be correcte d . KIM WARR Yorba Linda , Calif. ..; ReadTestRlNKI In referen ce t o y our arti cle in the March 19 issue, " Read Honda," in wh ich you state , regarding the rear disc bra ke, .f u ture co nversions w ill use Lo ckh ee d/G irling mast er cylin ders." As th e USA rep resenta tive fo r Automotiv e Produ c t s , LTD. , manufa cturers of Lockheed brakes, I wi sh t o state that there is no affiliation with Giriing and ourselves. As a cons eq ue n ce there is no such th in g as a Lo ckh eed /Girling m as ter cylinder . Subsequent to re adin g your ar ticle, I called Di ck Pearce and he co n fumed th at he is, indeed , in tend ing to use a Loc kh eed un it for future co nversions on his super trick Hondas. T hanks fo r th e equal tim e. Left-handed compliment MX 6 10 Desert 2nd Baker to Vegas Road Race •••••..••...10 "Amerikan" MX, more throttle less thinking Car lsbad scratc hin Imola , first coverage fro m Ital y Mike Plun ke tt and the AMA officials who can celled the scheduled national opener at Baymare have managed to up -hold t he tradition o f pussy-cross in so u thern Cal ifornia. Postp onin g an MX even t due to rain is unheard of exce p t in So. Cal. Shutting down a national event when sp ectators a nd riders have travelled literall y tho usands of mil es is inexcusable . Ye t, Plunkett was so b old as to advertise in C y cl e News th a t, " T hese riders guaran teed ra in or shi ne ." Plunke tt an d those inv o lved te n d to cheape n t he tr ue sp irit of m otocr oss j ust as recen t "pitch an d putt" indoor eve nts have. It is apparent t hat m o t ocross will soon be " Ameri kan ized" to the p oi nt of being an en tirel y d ifferent sport fr o m the classic mud, rocks, and rain events of Europe. Wo rld Ch amp ion sh ip with some Birt-ish sideligh ts Minis Half-mile 12 ,15 Aldana Op ens Asco t Test .... .•........... 24 ' Ossa 2 50 Expl o rer Technical ...•. ........30 E.C. an swers all Speedway ...• •.....•.•32 Dow n Un der and So . Cal. Results Calendar . , . , 34 38 ON TH E COV ER : Bill Gr ossi (Hon) is pursued by Marty T ripes (Hus) in Han gtow n 250 classic. Grossi we nt o n fo r the w in. Pho t o by Steve French / Brooks Inst it ut e. Shar on Cla yt on : Publish er Tho mas R. Culp ; General Manager Edna ~I ew t on : Secre tary to Publisher Advertising T ho mas R. Culp : Natio na l Dire ct or Trudi Culver ; Assistan t Editorial Dan MeCue; Managing Edito r J ohn D. Ulrich ; Associate Editor Jobi> Huetter ; Featu re Editor Lane Campbell; Calendar Editor Art & Production Catherin e Lamp ton ; Ar t Director Nan cy Gray ; Adve rtising Art Director Hecto r Ag uiler a: Lab Tech n icia n Mario n Hatashita ; Ty pographer Melvin Phelps; Assistant Typographe r Circulation Rh e ba Smith ; Manager Pam Hobbs; Assistant Accounting Gaye Zaion z; Manager Chris Kolbe r ; Assistant Twila Wheeler; Assistant R o semary Chandler; Assistant Ji m Squires ; Collect ion Services & Support Mike Colikas Chris Andrews Rand y Davis _ Bill Runyan U •• C. E. BURTON Hollywood, Calif. Hangtown Classic total coverage of AMA opener "America's No.1 Weekly Motorcycle Newspaper I would be the first t o agr ee th at t he Swede s believe there is a co rr ec t m ethod fo r d o in g j u st about everythin g. But who would have a bike su ch as the one pict ured on your current issu e of Cycle N ews . . •with a left-ha nd throttle. April fools to you too. . MICHA EL ELLS WO RTH Grass Valley, Calif. A left -hand ed Sw ed e, or an apprentice prin ter. . . Ed. Horny girl seeks affectionate Papa Could yo u plea se tell m e wh at Pap a Wealey looks like? I would really like to kn o w an d I'm sure a lot o f other girls would like to kn ow also. T hings like co lo r o f hair, height, age , and co lo r of eyes would be gr eatl y app recia te d . Maybe yo u co u ld just print a picture. . I'm a horny 22 year o ld female and I d ig go od -looking, we ll built, horn y m en. If Pap a is reall y foxy I mi gh t even co nsider streaki ng for hi m. My specs. are 38 -26 ·36. So h ow ' b out it guys, j us t o ne p ict ure, okay? Get it u p . J cannie Dunivan ; Re ce ptionist West P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 9080 1 (2 13) 427·743 3; LA 63 &-8844. Telex No. 673-474. East-Dixie P.O. Box 805 Tucker, Georgia. (404 ) 93 4-7850 Central P,o . Box 13245. Austin , Te xas 787 1 I. (5 12) 444 -7548. Subscription O ne y ear, second class mail . S 12.50 2 ye ars . second cla ss mail, 522 .50 3 y ears. se c ond class mail , $ 30.00 Single co py price, 50<1 6~~ Publ ished weekly exc ept for the first and last wee k of th e calend ar ye ar by Cycle News, In c. Post Office Box 49 8, Lo n g Beach. Cal ifornia. Second class p os tage paid at Long Beach. CA. Editorial stories. cartoons. photos, etc. arc welcome. Ad dressed. stam ped en vel ope usures return o f editorial matter. Reprinting in w h ole or part only b y pennission of the publishcn. A dverti sing rates an d cir culation - infonnation will b e sen t upon re qu est. See S.R.D.s . Copyright Cycle News, Inc., 1974 . All right. reserved, KA R EN KI NG SWOOD T o rranc e , Ca lif. Your wish is ou r co mm and, too ts. See all of me on page 3 7, we ll almost all. Weight ing to hear fr om you. . .Papa. 3

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