Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Sponsor s . " Beck ·Arnley Co r p. Cycle News ($5, 000), Diamond Chain ($1 1,000), DomiRacer D ist . ($1 ,5001, Duckworth Chain ($2, 100 1, Dunlop Ti res ($ 2,300), General Cycle ($5 00), Goodyea r Tires ($4,2001, Mo ll y Bl u e L ub rica nts ($6,1 00), NASCO ($ 2,0001, No rstar Boots /US Sports ($ 2,8 001, Pire lli T ires ($3,300), US Grand Prix Boots ($6 ,5001. US Spo rts Swingarms ($ 2,8 001, Whittaker Gas Tanks ($4,8 001. ($ 2 ,4 0 01, A stu dy done by Kaw asa ki ,sh o ws that on e th ird of all motorcy clists bough t bik es b ecaus e they wa nted "econo mical, trouble free transp ortat ion ." Yeah , an d they're fun, too . J .C. Aga janian Jr. go t ma rr ied rece ntl y , and promptly spli t fo r Greece with hi s ne w bride . Rick Sheren was not getting lapped by Marty Smith in that big Hangtown action p hoto last week. He was j ust getting passed, suddenly . Mickey Thompson has gotten the required permits and will be holding a 500 race in Baja July 25·27. It will be ~ the first Amerlean-run race in Baja in over 13 months. Get entry forms from SCORE Baja International , 2701 E. Anaheim sr, Wilmington, CA 90744. The rare-bike auction May 26 w ill be in Arlington, Texas. More info is available fro m Don Harral, (918) 747 -8871. Don't bid on the Brough Superiors, though . Chuck Clayton wants to pick them up cheap . After a near-catastrophic fa ilure at 80 MPH , Ed Fa'rr of Los Ange les submitted his broken Monotrak alloy wh ee l to Magnaflux - Te sting Lab for fa ilure analysis. In a certified test report, the lab concluded that both bead flanges had -broken away f ro m the rim because of defects in casting and machin ing . Even if it was a production fluke, it would be worthwh ile to have your allo y wheels inspe cted before you do anything ha iry. Farr was lucky enough to ride h is to a stop. Monoshock Yamaha TZR 500 is still okay by F. J.M. TZR 700 is banned overseas. Yamaha's ZR series of water-cooled road racers and Harley-Davidson XR's were banned from Fo rmula 750 competition by the FIM, the world sanctioning body, so the AMA dropped its FIM affiliation for the next two A merican National Road Rac es until the F1M figures o u t what th ey are going to do about their controversial decision. FIM's ban ca me abou t when so mebody discov ered an old rul e that the b ikes racing in t he Fo rm ula 750 category had to be based on " street legal" models, which the ZR 's and X R's are not. Imagin e Agostin i's I I ' MPG Day t on a winner with t urn indicators and h om ! One lone American will .go to the Qualifying Round for the World Speedway Championship, as a result of an agreement between F.J.M., A.M.A., and the Speedway Racing Association. This is the first t ime in twenty years that an American ride r has been eligible to compete for the world title . S.R.A . is working now on pla ns for a runoff t o c1etennine the U.s. entry. DRA paid $1500 purse money in the Baker-to-Vegas race without charging an outrageous entry fee . NO Sparkplugs ha s started a big contingency program at Ascot Raceway. Doyle Fields, designer of the helmet camera rig used in making movies fro m the rider's viewpoint in a race, returned from a Baja tr ail riding trip, sa t down in his California home, and died of a heart attack. He was in his middle forties. We'll miss the Baja race veteran who competed on either two or fo ur wheels at every Baja race . Membership in the ORA is $10., not $12. a year. Our Lame Calenda r Editor goofed o n the ph one number for t he Dirt Diggers' Perris Dino saur Run. Instead of reaching the Diggers, people were calling so me Ford agency and asking t he m " What 's the scoop o n your Di nosaur Race?" The Diggers forgave us, and t he correct numb er is 213/820-5433. We'l do it to '" Ca dillac agency next. The AFM Los Angeles chapter is wi lling to let f irst t ime racers ride w ith a leather jacket and two pa irs of Levis on inst ead of requiring full coverage leathers . Doug has details at (7 141 642·2311 . All right now, everybody stand up. That 's right, y o u too. Yeah. No w , take off your hat (if you don't have one to take off, put one on an d then take it off). There. Now smile and wave. Good. That 's a little tribute to those unsung heroes, the trials section checkers. Cactus Cat Lynnette Zuber, sponsored by Yamaha of Pomona, won t he Powder Puff class in both the Invaders and the J ackrabbits 0 ·37 Hare and Ho unds without getting mentioned in the race reports. Must be frus t rating. T he Speedway season reopens in Southern California April 19 at Orange County International Ra ceway .in Irv ine. These compan ies are supporting AMA professional raci ng with money and cont ingenc ies: Ba tes Indus tr ies ($49,000 ), Bell Helmets ($16,0001 , Bel -Ray Company ($24 ,0001, Bog .Mulholland Shocks ($10,000) , Castrol Oils ($20,000), Champion Spark P I u g s ($20 ,000 1, Cycle -Coo le r ($10 ,0001 , Filtron F ilters ($1 0,000 ), KLG Spark Plugs ($ 15,0001, KRW He lme ts ($ 11,0001. Pennzoil Co. ($22, 0001. This first group is called " Major Sponsors." The second group wh ich follows, is called " Gene ral school enduro competi tion? interscholast ic Only 27 riders finis he d th e Picayune, Mississipp i IS DT Qua lifier April 6 an d 7, with Billy Uhl (Can -Am ] winn ing. Husqvarna East was firs t m anufacturer 's team , with Pe n t on East second, an d Rokon t hi rd in the sli my enduro hampered by a week of torren tial rai n th a almost caused can cellat io n. A l Eames called it " The true test o f ISnT asp iran ts." Mert Lawwi II, bounc ing back fr o m a two w eek bout of fl u, will try to cu t into Gary Scott's Ascot Silver Medal point lead, when the four race se ries continues this Friday n ight. At stake is a $2 ,000 point fund, in addition to the _ weekly purse . American Honda has donated a TL -125 to the American Trials Association , to be given away at a drawi ng la ter this year. Only those who have worked A.T .A. events will be eligible fo r the drawing. So much for the checker shortage, huh , maybe ? Car show people are unreal! Papa and co mpany were o ut riding near Elsinore, Californi a (the tow n the Ho nda m o to cr ossers are nam ed after) an d happened to meet a highly placed execut ive with American Honda. His Porsche's p lates read "Honda 5." It seems he tried to ge t personalized plates reading "Honda," but they were 'already taken by a cowo r ker. " Honda I" and "Honda 4" were taken, as wen as the numbers in between, so he took what he could get . "You should have gotten 'Honda 6,' " suggested Papa, Uta match all the rumors about the new bike." " Oh , you mean the 1000," replied the Honda honcho without h esitation. "Well, if and when that comes out, I'll have to sec if I can get those plates. " What docs it mean? The same American Ho nda exec invited us to go riding with him sometime. We're going to accept because it's nice to know a man responsible for selling a machine thinks enough of it to ride one himself, and anyway, he 's a ,nice guy . May 4 and 5 are the big days for the second a nn ual California Grand Prix through the streets and deserts of California City in, that's right, yo u guessed it, Calipurnia. This time around it will be th e baby of Ron Burpo's Desert Racing Association. And for once , the winners have a chance to take home som e cash as we ll as trophies. Not much cash , it's a sportsman's race still. The number one selling brand of cycles in the U.S . is Honda. Know what 's number two? Used Hondas. Nothing is fre e anymore. It costs more th an 21'.: cents a mile to ride a bicycle. That's the price of energy you bum up , based on 1971 food prices, according to Mr. Eric Hirst, energy analyst on the st aff of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Gary Bailey's book " How to Win Motocross" has completely sold out th e first printing . Ten thousand copies were snappe d up in about three months. Good n ews is that Kaw asaki's new p lan t in Lin coln, Nebraska w ill produce 100, 000 bikes per ye ar and employ ab o ut 1,000 p eople when it gets go ing. Th at's only the tip of th e iceberg. Supplying th e plan t with be ar ings , seals, plugs, points , and other standaridzed off off-shelf parts can and will crea te a "second layer" of -vendors that will likely crea te ano t he r 1,000 to 2,000 jobs. The existance of these vendors ma y prompt othe r m an u factu rers to j ump in t o th e mo tor cycle bu siness, knowing they can co un t on a sta ble, hom e-based parts supply. Arevalos School from Founta in Valley, Cal ifornia and Southern Cal ifornia Military Academy ILong Beach) both had ' teams competing in the Lame Puppy Enduro. Pat Conaster, Kirk Zellner, Brett and Kirk Vanmatre, Joe Dombrowsk i, and T roy Raugh participated. What's next? Junior high The King of Stuntmen, Eve! Knievel, will make one last appearance in Southern California before his Labor Day Snake Canyon jump, Saturday night. April 20 at Orange County I nte rnational Raceway, EVeI will attempt to leap his Har ley ·Davidson over ten Mack trucks, fol lowing a Championship Drag Race w ith funny cars. Yo u know how the feds kee p telling every o ne if bikers keep their head ligh ts on all the time the y will be nice and safe on th e roads? It isn 't so . Papa wa s barrelling down a back road (head ligh t on ) th e other day at 55 MPH. A Pontiac driver looked righ t through him, and proceeded to pull ou t from a side road. Both ends locked up and no pl ace to go is not fun , but since the head biker in the sky was watching, Papa escaped wi th only a rapidly beating heart and big eyes. 5

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