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/125859
THE LATEST Contrary to rumors in a less informed publication, Dave Aldana may not ride a TZ -700 for Gary Fisher: He got a better deal that won 't req uire a 5 0-5 0 split of prize m oney, Gary Fisher may be mounted on a Ducati for the San _Jose Mile. Irv Kanemoto is allegedly preparing a Kawasaki 750 triple set up with all three cylinders firing at once Ion the same stroke I for Gary Nixon for the Mile. 'Yam aha may be forced to either A) build street legal versions of the watercooled 250s, 350s, and 700s or B) give up building racers. That's the latest trend in FlM thinking. Suzuki's new 500cc Grand Prix road racer is a sensation in Europe with its debut at the French GP. It's a twin crank, water-cooled four. Picture it as two rotary-valve twins stacked together with a common power take-off. Barry Sheene got a second with it first time out, and Barry was stroking it most of the race, unaware that the only thing causing it to go sour was a set of fluffed plugs. Husqvama's Rolf Tibblin, director of the Training Center at Carlsbad, is forming his own motocross club. Races will be run every Saturday, beginning May 11. Rolf will conduct the races under FIM rules, with the intent of giving American riders some experience a.t running in a European type atmosphere. . There is a z"50 Division in D-37 Powder Puff racing, so girls with 175s and 250s are legal for entry in the Viewfinder GP. I Don't miss the reply of that living legend, Officer Ken Hazlewood, to his critics in this week's Voices of the West section. He's got a good sense of humor even if he is wrong. ' I Evel is in terviewed in the latest issue of Penthouse. I e understand that the roadracing enthusiast running the biggest motorcycle publication in America is being referred to as . "Captain of the CYcle Road Rashing Team" these days by iocal pit squids. I OORAY! One thing you have to hand (, the Garden Grove Unified School .istrict and the Garden Grove partmeiit of Human Services Division f Recreation is that they've got guts. ter their first seven high school MX , a disaster, they have announced lans for another race May 11 at OCIR! t seems several steps to ensure tighter rganization and less problems have een taken. This time it might work. , t more info in the Calendar section. I hy did EVEL'S ROCKET-BIKE crash nto the Snake River during its test run? t has to do with the center of gravity , the center of thrust not bei ng roperly aligned (because it was fired ff without Evel's weight in it) and thus 'ing unstable. The dude who built the ing has now built a Honda Elsinore I unted hang glider, as seen in MX Cat , issues ' ago. The idea is for some rave person to ride off a cliff with it, either fly or die. Different strokes for ifferent fol ks. _• o HAMPlON SPEEDWAY, located along e Bayshore Freeway across from andlestick Park in San Francisco, alifornia, has now opened a motocross ourse built by the same people who ' uilt McGill Cycle Park. On May 25,26 d 27 they will be holding a giant high chool motocross with a $1,000 Taco ell scholarship as the grand prize. I nternational sanctions have been ranted to all five AMA National road aces remaining on the season schedule. e National Championship program ' II be run as Open International Ompetition so the foreign aces may ' pete. Looks like Formula 750 is d as a coffin nail. We are glad to hear that Brad Andres, 38, former Grand National Champion, is recovering from his heart attack at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, California. AMA announces the appointment of Mr, Mel Parkhurst as Professional Competition Manager. He was the Pro MX Manager. Moving up to take that post is Jim Nidiffer, who was Amateur Activities Coordinator for the AMA. Money time, again! We've got checks for Bob Anderson, Bob Bon, Craig McAllister, Mike Conway, Blaine and Marty Dickson, Bob Hemphill', Sandi Martin, Mike Molletta,Alden Sheridan, Bob Strobel, and Maurice Wilson - but no addresses. This is why we ask all correspondents to put their address on every sheet of everything they send us; pictures, stories, results, everything. 'All you folks drop us a line and hit the jackpot - OK? FROM SANTA BARBARA 'S FERMENTED/DEMENTED GRAPEVINE via Stoned Valley: Rumor has it that AL BUCK won't miss the Hot-Creek action during this year's annual Mammoth Mountain Motocross. . He's . packing a loaf of sheepherder break, a six-pack, a sleeping bag, and his . slow-motion motocross movies, in case you missed them last year. And. . .for some hoot-wine, he'll also show some dirt flicks from the last Phoenix and Saddleback Trans-AMA races, including lots of neat slow-motion shots of DeCoster, Weil and Eierstedt, Nearly every start on the final night of Ascot's Silver Medal series was jumped. Did you happen to notice that AI Mintz, the starter, was missing his usual bright red jacket? He was wearing a blue-grey pullover and bringing the green flag down across his chest before each' wave off• Proof positive of the value of contrasty clothes on race officials. . A Southern California High School Title race will run as a support class to the Superl:iowl of Motocross at the Colisum June 22. Qualifying events are being set up now at OCIR and Irwindale to groom sixty riders to represen t their schools in the title bash . Rumor also has it that September is the earliest date to start looking for Honda TL-250s at your friendly dealer's emporium. The District Ranger in charge of the -Texas .Canyon area of Los Angeles National Forest called us the other.day to tell how impressed he had been with both the club and the riders at the V.O.T.E. Two-Day Trial held there in March . "I'd had my misgivings about large numbers of motorcyclists on the fire breaks causing erosion damage," he ' said, "but I've got to tell you, they left the resource in better condition than they found it." The mostly-American Rokon Automatic scored first and second in the recent Barstow, California 6-Days qualifier enduro. The enduro and MX versions _ will be available at western dealers soon . Price? Around $1600. They are 340cc. Marland Whaley from California got his best finish yet in World trials competition - a 19th in the French Round at Sancerre. Mick 'And rews got his second .win of the year, moving to within one point of Malcolm Rathmell in the hunt for the championship. The mythical plastic boots were all oyer the GP . courses in Europe, we hear.. Actually, allover riders' feet. At least six of the ' 30 or so regular GP riders were so shod and seem to be liking them . OK. More 250 riders than 500 riders had them. What does it all mean? And where are they, really? CN East has its Pit Tootsie Contest, Central has its Corn-O-Cross and now CN West has an Event. We call it "Political Enduro" and the prize is a brand new Honda 250XL, courtesy of American Honda Motor Co. See page 13. Did you read Sam Moses ' confessions of a road test magazine in the June Cycle Guide? Next, Walt Fulton llLwill tell us wh at it's like to work for Cycle World and Pete Szilagyi might chronicle the 1973 Dirt Bike Strike. . Big money ' is investing in the bike biz, Gulf & Western is supposed to have bought Florida cycle Supply and Fuqua Industries, .so we hear, purchased Wheelsport Distributing Co. in Oregon. Mechanics who pay their $4 at the back gate of professional AMA races should insist on getting a receipt. That way there's a better chance the money will find its way to the AMA instead of some referee's pocket. a Gerrit Wolsink is using stock TM-400 Suzuki eniline in his Grand Prix bike. He put on a smaller carburetor and ·a different head gasket and claims to otherwise like the power. Roger is sticking with the 367cc motor. American Arnie Beamon won the International Mechanics ' Race after the Spanish GP but the resul Is are under protest. Don't see why, all the Americans agreed that he won. . The Sidehack Association is traveling to Austin August 3 and - ~ to show the Texans what 3-wheel road racing looks like . . QUICK! BEFORE IT VANISHES! Go to the Land Use Planning meetings on the Kern Plateau area of Sequoia National Forest. Public meetings are scheduled at 7:30 p .m, for the following , evenings: May 8 at Kernville Elementary School, Kernville; May 13 at Monache High School , Porterville, and May 15 at the Education Center, 1300 Baker St ., Bakersfield. If you can't be there, submit written comments to District Ranger, Cannell Meadow Ranger District, P.O. BoX: 6 , Kernville, Ca. 93238. Congratulations to Neil Keen and Ken Maely on their 20th anniversary. Yup, Neil just rolled up twenty years on the same Maely steel shoe: Gordon Farley, who has been ill lately, will pass up the Scottish Six Day Trial this year. Instead, he'l1 be coming to the U.S. to work with Suzuki on a trials film, and possibly to announce ready availability of the RL-250. Led by Giacomo Agostini, all the factory teams refused to race at the World Championship road race April 27 at the West German Nurburgring track. As a result Helmut Kassner (Yam), a West German who did not join in the action protesting a lack of haybales around the dangerous Armco barriers bordering the circuit, is now tied with Agostini for the world 350 title. This photo shows the en tire field for the 250cc World Championship race. There were more guys than this at the CMC road race in California last Sunday! Matt Matsuoka, PR Director at American Honda, has been elected Ch airman of the Board . by . the . Motorcycle Industry Council. Six more publicity releases came in saying Matt Matsuoka, Honda's American P.R. Director, was elected Chairman of the Board of MIC. According to Riverside County Safety Di rector, Clarence C. Carpenter, motorcycles are way too dimgerous for the Riverside County Deputy Sheriffs to use in desert patrols, . 3,