Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

rn iii Di3 2: gg ..,; g ~ g -e- l' -- O"l ~ C<") I SDE ISOT Perso nalit y . . ..6 Billy Uhl Sidewa ys . . . . . . . . ..8 Denny does it Ascot Opinion 10 12 Mon terey . Red Ro ck. and Perris 16 World Cha mp. RR Sweden and Belgium ... North Local RR ~ CMC OCIR: Ho nd as and Deeks ~ Nevada Riding Race Test til eo <:: 18 21 22 24 CZ 4 0 0 Photo Gallery 28 Aspen Tech 30 Ask E.C. Results CAT Calendar 32 :3l 39 ON T HE COVER: Billy Ubi at home in Idaho . ca ptured on celluloid by Ma rt y Gregory. Inse t : CZ 400 sh ot by J ohn Hue rt er , Sh ar o n Clayton; Pu blisher Thomas R. Culp ; Ge neral Manager: Edna Mewton : Secretary to Pub lisher. Advertising Thomas R. Culp : National Director Inco nsistency at Laguna Seca \ I w o uld li ke to e xpress m y di sp leasure at w hoe ver was resp o n sibl e for p osting th e heat race sh eets during th e Laguna Seca Na tiona l Road Race. The he at rac e sheets fo r the Novice and Lig ht w eig h t J u nior / Expert co m bine d r aces we re post ed in descending o rd e r of runn in g from left to right. O n the extreme left was the second Novice he at , righ t f ro m that was the first Novice heat , th en the sec o nd J uni or heat, an d the first Ju nior heat o n the ext reme right. These lists showed which ri ders wer e to run in which heats. It was very un fortunat e that m y hus band mis sed h is race due to this. I do no t lay th e bl ame entirely o n him. We have been condi tioned during our entire educational years to read fro m lef t to right an d ra cers have been conditioned to read the heat bo ar ds in ascend ing seq uence fr om left to righ t. I hope t he AMA o fficials will try to standardi ze this facet of race set-u ps. MERLE 1\1: BARTELS Los A ngeles. Cal if. Ch arles Clay to n; Editor. J ohn D. Ulrich : Associa te Edi tor , John Hu e t t e r ; Feat u re Ed i t o r . Lane: Cam pbe ll; Calendar Editor . We think th e A MA should standardize many facets of AMA races. Laguna Seca was a madh ouse of inconsisten cy . . . Ed. Art & Production Tunney's avoidance Editorial Ca therine Lampton: Art Director. Nancy G ray: Adve rtis ing Art Direc to r, H e c t o r A gu ilera : Lab Technician , Marion Hatash ita; Ty pographer, Melvin Phel ps : Assistant T yp ogr ap he r. Circulat ion Is it true tha t Sen at or Jo hn V. Tunne y d id co n tac t yo u an d tried to ans wer yo ur q uestio ns. or are t her e so me othe r issues not m en tion ed in his letter that he ha s been avoiding? Rh cb a Smith; Man ager . Pam Hob b s & Chris And re ws ; Assis- BONNIE KR A FT Po rt la nd, Oregon t an ts . Accountin g Gaye: Zaio nz ; Man agc:r. Chris Kol be t & T wi la Wheeler: Alsi stants, Ro sem ary ChandJa ; Collection, Dary l Ch r istian ; Assistant. Services & Support Mike Colikas, Randy Davis , Bill Runyan, Jean nie Dunivan: Re ceptionist . West P.O. Box 49 8. Long Beach. CA 9080 I (2 13) 427-7433 ; LA 636-8844. Eas t P.O. Box 805 . Tucker. GA (404) 934·7850 . Central P.O. Box t 32 45. Austin, TX 78 711. Subscription One year. seco nd class ma il, S12.50: 2 yun , second dass mail . 522 .50 ; 3 years, sec ond class mail, S30.00; S ingle cop y pri ce , 50 cen ts. Cop yri l(ht Cycle New s. In c . 19 14 . T rade' rn u lo. reRlll ert'd U .S. Pilten t O ffice' . All T1lChts reser ve d . Puhliehed wt't'lo.ly t'''("t' pl th e fiu t an d lU I wet' k of tb e calend ar ve ar by eyclt' ~ t'W I . In c•. P.O . Bo x. 4 9 K, Lo nlt: Beam , ~ Ii rornia . Se cond dUI p ostiijtC pill d a l Lo e g Beaeh , CA . Ed il orial i 'tories. cartcora . ph oto s, CIC. M l" welcome . Addr t'Mt'd. ' I~~d eevelope ass ur es rTIum o f unp ur ch UC"d c d l l CJ'l' i ~ m ener . Re'pnnllnlt in w holt' or p;arl on tv by pC' miuion of the' r publuhrTl. 4 in form Alion S.R .I>.S. Ad~rti, inlt: will n lr, a nd circ ula tion be' ~ent upo n reques t, Se e Not only did T unney not contact us as he claims. but he also ignored sev eral issu es we co ntacted him ab out several m onths ago. Tunney's let ter published last week mad e no mention of his requ est ed stand (and t echn ical an d pub li c i n p u t consid ered in th e fo rmatio n of that stand) on proposed anti-smog devices f o r mot orcy cles. th e inclusion of high -mil eage bikes in gas-rationing plans. and allotm ent of f uel for ' recreational OR l' use in th e eve nt of fue l crisis. Tu nn ey's press secretary, Jack McDon ald. has stated that th e co ncerns of mo torcy clists are. t o S enat or Tu nn ey. " very low priority. " . . . Ed. Yellowsto ne gloves Yo u r writer. J ohn Huerter, in hi s co ns u me r rep ort in Cycle New s July 3 0 . acquired a p air of d efective Yellowstone glo ves , jumped t o a bi g co ncl us io n ab out Yellowst one qualit y con tro l, wr ot e all abo u t it wi th out usin g his gu ar antee. and in the pro cess cas t dam aging mi sinformat ion ab out a fine American m ade pr oduct . Yellowst on e Leather Pr od ucts has made a lin e of quali t y glo ves fr om wi ld and d omesti c animal skins fo r West ern pe ople fo r o ver 30 years. Ropin g glo ves th at co wboys use, for in stance. have long been a sp ecialty. The m ot o cro ss glo ve was develope d fro m th e basi c Yell owst one patented seam less p alm design a bout four years ago . Man y attem p ts h ave be en m ad e to co py th em and "j ust like Ye llo wsto ne" has been m ar ke ted far to o often . b ut genuine Yellowstone glo ves have a fi t a nd feel t ha t ca n' t be beat. Ge nuine Yellowsto ne gloves hav e a patent n u m ber stamped o n th e inside leather an o n th e tag. T he tag includes wash ing in structions and a gu arantee against d ef ec ts in m at eri al o r workm an sh ip. As di stribut o r fo r t hes e gloves, we are in a po sit ion to kn ow th e Ye ll o w s t o n e factory honors th is guaran tee; b ut. co n t rary to Hue rter's opinio n . d oe s no t need to very often . The tag. standard to all styl es . says return t o the fa ctory. but m o torcy cle deal er s can rep lace th eir customer's gloves. knowi ng we m a ke good to th e m. The defect rat e is so low (fo ur tenths of one perce n t o r less) t hey so metim es fo rget when t he need d oe s arise t hey can do t his . T his defect rate is a statistical fac t a nd no t a gross gene raliza ti o n as q uo te d by Huerter. Now, whe re is the t rut h? Statis tic ally we know exactly how good th e glo ves are. a nd have testim on ials b y th e bucketsfu l! from satisfied c us to mers fro m Hawaii to Hyan nis. Over a year ago . d ue to th e shortage o f d eerskin . Yellowst one m ad e : a soft ca lfsk in ro ughout wh ich looked very much lik e the deerskin. T h is fully guara n teed glov e was m ad e fo r a few m onths, b ut th e leathe r qual it y was no t as good as de e rskin (i t wo uld n 't wea r fo r ye ars) and with th e again ad eq ua te supp ly of deers ki n it was disco n tin ued. It is po ssibl e th at Huee ter could ha ve fallen heir t o a pair o f th ese gloves. It wo uld h ave p leased us if Mr. Hue rter had m ade his glo wing report on th ose bi tchin • Yell owsto n e glo ves before he lost his o ld p air, b ut it should p lease him to learn he can still get a bitchin ' new pair. by sim p ly aski ng to have his guara ntee ho nored. T hat's m o re fair than he was. Would y ou tell him? And you r readers? T. E. OTH.\ lAl\ Othman Dis tributing Co . No rt hridge . Calif. Huffma n Crusade? Mark Castell's cr it icism attacks Larry Huffman b y saying. in short. that Huffman is not a racer. and hence not qualified to speak intelligen tly about race sit uat io ns. Mr. Costell fu rt her states t ha t Han anno uncer is su pposed to en tertai n t he cr o wd with informa tion and coverage of the en ti re race. a n d . . . s ho w n o prej udi ce o r favori tism .' , When t he S u pe rbowl of Motocross was co nc ei ved, it w as an experime nt (albeit a successful o ne) to see if a rac e in a sp ec tat o r-orie n ted fac ili ty wo uld dr aw 'sp ect at o rs who no rm ally d on ' t a tt e nd an event o f this type . lly and large. these " ne ophyte" spec ta to rs kn ow very littl e aho u t the sport. The last th in g th ey need is a co ld . imperson al. unem oti o nal a nno unc er wh o be lches out, robot-li ke, a multi tu de of det a il s th at a r e a bso lu t ely meaningless to th em - o ne wh o fa ils in his p ri ma ry resp onsibil ity or ge tting th em inv olved in the race itself. Larry a nnou nces t he wa y he d o es because he feels it is his resp onsibilit y to have all his audien ce invol ved in the race . If he choo ses to concentrate on Tripes, i t' s b e c au se t h e less knowledgeable spectator can m<;>re easily ide ntif y with :\Iarty . due to all of th e press ge nerated by his pa st Superbowl victori es. If Huffm an felt th at he could in crea se a udience participation by concentrating o n t he dicing fu rther back in t he p ack. l'm su re he would have dev oted more time to it. I don't want this le tt e r t o see m like a one man crusade to uphold the ho nor of Larry Huffman beca use Larry doesn't need it. (In fact . he pr o bab ly won't ap prove of m y writi ng it .) His efforts spea k for the mselves. Wh a t co ncerns m e abo ut letters suc h as Mr. Co ste ll 's is t ha t they reflect a provincial a tti tu de. Bikers tend to be "clannish" eno ugh in th e eyes of n on -bikers wi th o u t maki ng the m easure of sorneon e 's worth (an d hen ce his acc e p ta n ce i nto t he m o to rc y cle co m m u nity) hi s ability or eve n h is inclinat io n to go r aci ng . It is a sad ind ic t me n t of o ursel ves if th at is wh a t we ha ve c om e do wn to. ' Nuff said. • G A Ry n VO MBLEY F airw ay Yamaha Yorba Lin da. Ca lif. Tall tales wanted Mike Leckich , age 16. of Invaders MC, No . 15t Expert, 0 ·37 d esert racer, has be en in the hospital eig h t wee ks with a n ast y injury a nd will be o ut of ac tion fo r a while. Mike wo ul d li ke to hear fro m o t her 0 ·3 7 dese rt ra cers . A letter telling ho w th e last course was and how you did wo ul d be neat. T all tales will be ac cep te d. Mike is als o collecting cl ub decals. If yo u have an extra. se nd it along . Mail to : Mike Leckich , Ward 70 3. Rm 73 c/o Rancho Los Amigos Hos pital 760 I E. Im perial Highway Do wne y. CA. 9024 2 BUTCH HA L L Masterlinks M.C. Bellflower. Cali f. No more MWRC Min i World Ra cing Club (M WR C) has called i t q uits af ter two years. Th e f oll owing is a letter sen t b y J im Bennet t. pre sid ent of MWR C shortly aft er the M.W.R.C. Califo rnia St ate Championships at Corona Ra ceway. J o h n T alk ington of MWRC dro ve 1.600 mi les to get a mo to r for his son 's bike for th is race. His son m issed hi s race because he was helping his dad get t he trop hies se t up . R en ee Payen, las t year 's California sta te c ham pio n , broke a ring in the Powder Puff race and her d ad . bei ng an official. did no t have tim e to fix it becaus e h e was help ing other pe op le's kids get t heir bikes going so they co ul d race. Another official had to ge t up at 5: 30 a .m , Saturda y and didn't get to eat until 9 p .m. th at night. When yo u were sittin g in the shad e drin kin g a cold beer. those o fficials were in 104 d egr ee hea t helping yo u r kids and there was no one to hel p their kid s. We are d isso lvin g MWRC because o f lack o f help and coo peration. so we can help o ur own kid s a nd wa tch the m race. We want t o t hank evervone who did help a nd those wh o were' m em be rs for the two y ea r s we ran. Th e ch ampionship s will he ru n next ye a r by a d iffere nt club . J L\l asxxarr 1\IWRC Thanks to great people O n Ju ne 9 my d ad (Don Bro w n ) was inj ured whil e practicing at Valley Cycl e Par k. . The quick th inking o f ma ny peop le. es pecially th e O ld T imers orga ni zati on save him f rom being hit by o n-coming bi kes. Although the acciden t was o f a seri o us nature, I t hink if it had n ot been for -the a ct ions o f these great pe ople th e inj uries co uld have been far wo rse . SCOTT BROWl\ L1 Cres cen ta, Calif. -

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