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/125869
Jack Baldwin, a West Los Angeles, Calif. BSA dealer for 27 years and California road man fo r Webco, died recently of heart failure. He was 50. Cogs two, th ree, and four in Gerrit Wolsink 's Su zuki 's gearbox were close to sign ing off in mo to one of th e U.S. GP. lie wobbled home in seco nd and got it all fix ed but cracked his ch in and • bloodied his tongue in th e finish line getoff winning the second mo to . Gerard McCaffrey and Gavin Tri ppe are busier than a Suzy 400 hack team with a stuck throttl e on a"B·X course. The ir big U.S.G.P. Motocross ran S u n d a y , and the wee k after ne xt th ey are pro moting the Kawasaki Superbike Nation al at Lagu na Seca , California. The second letter in the Voices of the West section last week was fake. We do not usually run fake letters, and the staff member responsible has been yelled at viciously for three days in a row. He promised not to do it again. Con tr ary to ru m or , Larry Watkins was no t killed testing bi kes in Florida. He is alive an d well. Sammy Spann er says tha t the MIA National Ch ampionship IT races at Ascot this Saturda y are so me th ing like mo tocross, on ly w ith 750cc bikes, longer ju mps, tigh ter turns and fas ter speed s. Heik ki Mik kol a's flat rear tir e was a pro to type, ex pe rime nta l, etc. two- ply design. A book we can reservedly recommend is AI Griffin's "Motorcydes: A buyer's and riders ~ide" published by Regnery. It's for beginners who want to know a lot about what they're getting into . The book costs $5 or $10 depending on the binding and would make a good gift to some beginning cycler friend. It's the second ed ition, so it's fairly up-to-date. Sep tember is Evel's b ig jumping-off po int. reme mber. Racers arc invited to ride the big, week-lon g motocross righ t up to j um p-ti m e, for $125 ,000 purse and prizes. Entries from the AMA . Kenny Dewitt is Evel's press agent. We hear t hat Gary Bailey 's leg was broken recently when a studen t at a mo to cro ss school slid into the p ro fe sso r. DKW stands for Dampf Kraft Wagen (steam powered wagon) wh ich is what they built when the factory f irst started. Ro xy and T o m Rockwood w ill be h onore d by the Gardena Valley Cham ber of Com merce d ur ing the Ascot . Gardena Go ld Cup pr ogram Ju ly 19. Ro xy announces at races all o ve r the place . and Tom gasses it at those same races. June 10, 1974 ni ha ppy roo sareta mo torc yc le s no e xhaust syste m certif icatio n ni kan suru ad vance notice of proposed rul e making ni ts uki facto ry gas no comments wo kaki no toori m ato m em a s h it a nod e y o r o sh ik u ne gaimasu . Ji ka nga arimase n node jyuubun kentoo de kimasen des h itaga sa ido comme nt sur u k ika i ga ar imasunode toriaezu t or i matomete mimashita . (Not e : even our Japanese tr ansl ator can't tell us what this Tel ex message fro m Japan say s.) Bad news? Nixon wa nts 60,000 more ac res o f wi lde rness to en large the sys tem by 50"10. Mo st o f th at land would be in the West. Two 19 year old ladies wrote in to say the y wanted a foolproof way to pick up on some of th e good looking motocrossers at CMC races. To start with, girls, you should have included your names and addresses. Any lady out there wan t to associ ate with an associate editor? The new Honda big bo re special is a 1,ooOcc wate rcooled fla t fo ur. Yamaha 's big bike market badly needs bolstering, and a b ig bore four st ro ke is headed for our sho res in about 1976. Honda, meanwhile, is punching o ut their 35 0 four int o a 400cc, Cafe Racer package, and should release it lat er th is year. The Yamaha MX and YZ models will be very limited production next year, and due to the increa singly hi gh cost of alum inum, have gained some we ight. For example, the iro n steering post alone on the 1975 YZs weighs more than the e ntire triplecrown assembly on the 1974 models. They also will all have monoshock rear suspension. Anyone who did not com plete ch ec k No. 13 of the Polit ical Enduro by July 16 may be disqualified. It was n ice to see -so me decent network TV coverage of the Powder Puff nationals at Indian Dunes July 6 and 7. To mmy Roc kwood is reco vering in th e Torrance Memorial Hospital , Room 716, 3330 W. Lomita Blvd., Torrance , CA. Well wishers can call hi m a t 2 13/325-9 110. Th e California Ae rial Circu s, a famous west coast precisson parachute te am, will start off the night at Ascot for both the Gardena Gold Cup J une 19 an d the AMA Nat ion al TT Ju ne 20 . On July 4 th e te am bailed ou t 5,000 feet ab ove the track and almost th e ent ire group managed to land inside Asco t 's walls. One, ho wever, had a hard t ime and came close to alighti ng in the middle of a freeway inte rch an ge. Wouldn't it be funny if Harley-Davidson co mpleted enough 350cc water-cooled twi ns in time for the Ontario road races this year? It wo ul d be th e first time in history the H·D will have been the engine -size und erdog . Brad Lack ey was limping noti ceably both bef ore and after the recent Wo rld Champ ion ship round. Ma rty Tripes lim ped a little only afterwards. A lad whose paren ts oppo sed his bu yin g a moto rcycle tho ugh t he co uld overcome th eir o bjectio ns by proving what a shre wd bargainer he was. He bought th e sligh tly used MX model that he wanted for S1,OOO an d told his parents tha t he had only paid $500 fo r it. "1 couldn' t pass up suc h a bargain ," he explain ed. Next da y he came hom e fro m school to find his pap a beaming prou dly. "Y ou're no t th e onl y horse-trader in the fam ily, son. You know tha t bargain motor cy cle you had? I j ust got rid of it to so me damn fo ol for $600. " The oldest Greenhorn Enduro fin isher , 59 year old J im Daleo, was also the oldest finis her of the F irecracker M.O.R .E . benefit enduro two weeks ago. The Maste rlinks MC report th at they have ex pe lled the "bad apple" member wh o sab ot aged the Greenhorn course in resp onse to Greenhomers allegi ngly sab otaging the Maste rlinks Hare an d Ho un d co urse hel d the same weekend. George, Marian, Linda, Debbie, and Annette Griffing would like to express great thanks to everyone who stopped and aid ed them after a fledgling maniac ran a sto p sign and broadsided the ir camper as they were returning home from the Brush Busters race . We're glad no one was injured, and gratified to kno w de sert people stick togeth er. Wanta see a moto rcycle sh ow on televisio n ? Then write t o ABC-TV , New York Cit y o r to y o ur local ABC affilia te station. Networks believe there's no int erest and nee d convincing that America wants to watch bikes on th e boo b-tube. After all, th ey 're using our airWaves . Pierre Karsmakers wa s nab bed by Oceanside, Californ ia po lice Wednesday fo r allegedl y doing 97 MPH . in the Yamaha van. Pierr e po ste d 5 100 bail for "reckless driving.... The 1\lt. SCOll l\I.C. of Portland. Ore., earned $3000 for crippled children in its Fourth Annual Benefit Cross -county race. Good news , maybe? Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho) has asked fo r fundi ng of environmental impact statements on retu rn ing roadless areas in Forest Serv ice lands to mult iple use. One reader has come up w ith an idea to make it easier fo r pit crews to rescue strande d enduroers o ut o n th e c ou rse , Under his plan, prom oters would pl ace le tt ered signs at in terval s along the course. A fter the sweep crew came in, they could te ll th e pit crew "Yo ur man is be tw een poi nts C and D on the secon d loop. " They wo uld know exactly whe re to find th e rider, instead of having to ru n t he loop fro m one end or th e o ther. It isn't a bad idea for enduro dubs to use different color rib bo n for marking different loo ps. Millie Horky Uules ' Mrs.) went to visit Mar k Brelsford in the Ohio hos p ital where he is back on the roa d to recovery and brought him so me goo dies including t he latest Cycle News . " Oh boy ," gri nned Mark, " Th at' s like a letter from ho me !" District 36 is looking in to the idea of a Sand Hill Ranch Bene fit scrambles and motocross combined , proceeds to the us. ISDT- riders. In formers i';form us th a t Do n Brow n (o f " wha t ever ha ppened to" fame ) got hu rt recently in a dirt riding acci den t. STOP ripping-off banners and signs at motocross courses! Papa was disgusted to see thieves actually fighting over Hang-Ten signs at the U.S.G.P. Those th ings cost money. Sadd leback Par k 's big Decemb er MX w i II be covered by CBS SP0rlS Spectacular. It 's about ti me, huh ? Saddleback sha rehol der J oe Parkhurst is a CBS -Vice Presiden t. IT'S IN PR OD UCTION - slated for late 19 74 introduct ion is this latest A merican motorcycle fro III Attcx. Engine is an oil-injected 125cc uersio n of Frank Wheel er :, "Great American Motorcycle " design (first seen in Cycle News last ye ar) which is now licens ed to th e Pcnnsyluania firm . Output is 14-15 rear wheel hors epower us. 13 Ih from a Bul 125 011 th e sam e dyno. Does it seem to y ou th e fram e'S been designed to accept a larger engine later '! On the way ho me after the U.S. Grand Prix , we heard a rad io ad urging fo lks to at ten d the event. T hey didn't even me ntion Gerrit Wolsink among th eir list of Yurpeen stars. The latest fad seems to be people running around nak ed at 0 ·37 desert race s. Now they're even hav ing contesu to see who can do it the w ierdest. ' Wo nd er what Russ is up to no w? R e cre a tional T rails Commit tee to support l e g i s la t i o n c re a t i n g a recreatio nal trail sys tem fo r California, has been set up a t P.O. Bo x 26062 , Sacra mento, Ca . 95826_ Coincide ntally, tha t's l\1.0.R.E.'s box, lie probably needs vo lunteers. so writ e in o n it. 3