Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

A "psuedo-technical" engineer? I g u ess everyone fi na lly reads so mething th at forces h im to write you. Well it's my tu rn. John Hu e rter's article o n the new Pent o n 36 0 was absolu t ely the last straw . The art icle was a ty pical " road test" exha lting th e Penton as t he m o st bi tc he n thi ng eve r created fo r t he dirt bike rider. wh ich it ma y well be, b u t please tell m e by what st re tc h of a n y bo dy's imaginat ion does he expect us to ' bel ieve the line of bull ab o ut "gas dampen" shocks? If 1\lr: Hu etter has eve r ta ken thermodyn amics I wo uld be surprised. Wh y d oes he try to make us th in k he kn ows wh at he is ta lking abou t. whe n j us t re ad in g hi s p ar agr aph on th e wo rki ngs of a gas da m pe ne r so plainly dis p lays h is co m p lete ign ora nce of it ? laguna Seca blues I attende d the Kawasa ki Superbi ke Int ernati onal at Lagu na Seca o n Sunday . I sa w o ne 45 minu t e Ex pert race and one 3 0 min ute Junior race. I drove th ree hours t o ge t to Laguna Se ca. After o ne ho ur a nd 15 m in u tes o f racing , I d ro ve th ree ho urs home. Su nday's schedule incl ude d, besides th e races, fiv e qualifying even ts. T hese are not races. They d o n o t belong on a race program. Sund ay was adve rtised by pr om ot er T rip pe-Cox Associates as " Race Day. " Saturda y 's sche d ule was also a m ix o f races an d q ua lify in g and p ractice. Surely . a ll pract ice should be o n one da y a nd all races o n Sunda y. If so th e view er would be give n ful l val ue for his viewing d oll ar ; and th e viewer wo ul d be able to pi ck a nd ch oose th ose elemen ts of the program wh ich h e or she wo u ld be interested in . HA RO LD BLAKE End of an era At Laguna Se ca the end of an era passed almost unnoticed. To my knowledge. thi s was the fir st A.\1A National for man y years whe re no English machines made the sh ow hea ts or m ain . Good Show. Ho pefully , next year the same thing will be true of Larry Huffman and the sidecars. That would make it one helleva race wee kend, BIL L BOYD Corona, Calif. Kentucky Fried Huffman I've go tta writ e you a letter since I read the criticisms of La rry Hu ffm an , Vo ice o f Sp eed way, Cheerleader o f Millions . T he fir st weekend in April I load ed m y CZ u p in m y oid purple El Ca mino (a.k .a, G rape '0 War ) a nd choogled eas t dow n Route 66. T hat weekend. th er e m ust have been a pro dr ag race in every town of 15 .0 00 or more fro m Alb uque rq ue t o Memphis, a nd scream ing in ecs tasy abo u t t he joys o f seei ng p eople nam ed " The Sn a ke." "Dy n o Don ." an d "The Mo n go o se " smoke 'e m was no ne othe r t ha n o ur boy Huffma n. I mean really . That ea t 's gotta have the b ub b le-g u m-ro c k-tn-rotlra d i o- s t a t io n-d r a g -r a c e -c ommercial (p he w) market ti ed up. And if you reall y d on 't lik e hi s sty le, yo u ought t o trip over to " Ke n t uc ky Fri ed Theater " on Pico in West Los Angel es to h ear them do a job on him. BE TB ERE! JAl\IlE L1NXW ILER Wash ingt on. DC Huffman do ing his job In reply to Mark CosteU 's co m m e n ts on Larry Huffman U u ly 30) t ha t "a little kn owledge would be better than 110 decibel sc rea mi ng ." What he d oesn't reali ze is I\lr. Huffm an is doing . his jo b . an d more. If Larry Hu ffm an j us t sa t there and ga ve o u t info a nd details . th at would be gre at - if you didn't fall aslee p firs t. I su p pose he m a ke s mistakes as d oes any other a n no unc e r, but when yo u think a bo ut how much good he d oe s, it's worth it, I say. Moto cross is a grea t sport, a nd watching it is even bett er with Larry Buffm an o n th e PA. DO N McGR EGOR Garden Grove , Ca lif. Evel Wha t if Evel Kn ieve l hel d his Snake Ca nyo n Fr ea k Show a n d nobody came . - 525 a ticket ? Be 's been h it ting the " can e " too much. Kn ievel is t o mo t orcy cl ing wh a t Lar ry Huffm an is to the Superbowl of l\1X. T II\I E L LIOT Burbank, Cali f. Best Baja I woul d lik e to te ll e veryone t ha t Micke y T ho m pso n t hre w the be st Baja race I have been entered in y e t. Also, set eve ryon e straight Parnelli was in no wa y at fa u lt. JIM HUNTER La Habra, Calif. Jorgy .I unior professional rider A lex "Jorgy" Jorgensen ha s been the first Junior in th e Ma in event at Ascot Park in hi s las t five ap pea ra nc es in addi tion to a n earli e r win in May. He has also won two Juni or m ains a t South Bay Speedwa y in Chula Vista. se tting new Juni or track records each ap pea ra nce; he se t th e fastest Junior t im e at th e first Jun ior Invitational at San J o se : he won th e Junior Ma in a t th e St o c kton Mile, se tting t he four t h fas test time of the da y. All togethe r Alex has wo n 20 pro e ven ts (heats. se mis. an d mains). b u t Cycle Neurs has prin ted but one action pict ure o f this young rider and th at o nc was a starting tine shot wh ere he was ha lf hid de n by ano the r rider . I believe t ha t when a rider to tall y domin at es a track o r a class of rider s he should be given m ore recogn ition tha n the t yp ical one-lines Alex has received in the Cycle New s write u ps a nd the almost total lac k o f picture co vera ge. 1\IRS. AN N CA R R Carrera goggles I noticed your mention o f Carrera goggles in the July 3 0 , 19 74 issue o f C ycle News. As you m en ti oned Carrer a's are probab ly the fav o rite goggle among motocross riders. I have to disagree with yo u on two po ints however. 1. The genu ine Carrera lenses a re fairly scra tc h re sistant (for plastic lenses) ; of course they won't take it as well as glass . 2. Model and price. The mos t p opular model is the Model 98 . Our suggest ed retail price is $ 9. 9 5 (n ot $ 1 7). Our price on th e len ses is 1. 50 re ta il. I hope yo u can get thi s information t o your readers. GEOFFREY T . FOX The 1\10to-X Fox Campbell, Calif. All of th is bi tch ing about Mr. Hue rt e r's a r ticle is re all y o n ly a lead in to m y re al com p lain t ab ou t th e m ot or cycl e press in gener al. T her e a re prob ably only four or five reall y te chnically kn owledgeable wr iters in a ll of the motorcycle press and two of them work for Cycle. You have E.C . and I'm sure there are a t leas t two three more, but magazines lik e Dirt Bike. Moto -Cross A ct ion and Dirt Rider, (t o name a few), have on ly self s ty le d s ea t -o f -f h e -p a n t s , p suedo t echnical types who a re t ry ing to force d own th e re ading public's throat their own semi kn ow ledgeable (a nd usually co m pletely basele ss) t heories. or We happily live in a ti me whe n some extremely interesting t echnical adva nces are b eing made in the m otorcycle ind us try. We, the refore, mu st be extra cri tical of th e in fo rma tio n fed to us abou t t hese advances b y th e m otorcy cl e pres s. Youn g , m ot o cr ossers an d b ik e-o -cr ossers in hale th is info wi thout a ny real basis fo r evaluating it and t he re fo re b el ieve any th in g rea d in Dirt Bik e, MX Action. Dirt R ider, Cycle World, etc , is th e God's tru t h . If Dirt Bike sai d running one sh oc k upside down was the hot setup, half o f the 125's in the U.S. would be that way next wee k. My request is this: write anyt h ing about motorcycles you want but please don 't as k me or anyone else to digest your pet idea and believe it unless you are read y to back it with so m e real facts based on real engineering theory and not your own half assed, hair brained though t waves ! REX SCHIMMER John Hu et t er has a maste r 's d egree in engineering and design ed th e pilot rap id transit sys te m fo r th e Unite d Stat es Depart m ent of Transporta ti on bef ore aban doning th e suit and tie wo rld t o do ride w h at h e liked b e t t e r mot orcycles . . • Ed. Motocross 1I10 re 1\IX co ve rage is wanted by myself and fellow mor ocrossers, with m ore articles like the one a bo u t Rolf Tibblin's school an d other so urces of methods indicative o f the conditioning Americans ne ed to put a n American No . On e in internatio nal 1\IX. In st ead of havin g small writ e -ups that on ly say "Williams (Ho n) led it from th e start with J ones ( B us) in secon d all the way an d Dow (Su z) made it to the checke red for th ird. " Just put those in results a n d th at will lea ve room for m ore o f the MX write ups th at count. JACK CHILDS Cucamonga, Calif. Thanks from Nixon I would app recia te it if yo u would rel a y m y sinc er e thanks to the hundreds of friends and fans who sent me get -well ca rds. notes a nd letters. I would like to personally write each and every person who remembered me, but having both arms in cas t s makes th at im po ssible. Being broken u p is a bum me r, but being remembered m akes t hings better. On ce again. than ks to ever yone. GARY NIXON Cockeysville. Md . INSIDE Nat io nal MX 8 A t ale o f two J im m ies 10 Nat ' l. Short Track Who 's th is guy Ro b ert s ? 12 Sideways Booi ng Bast Road Racing 14, 27 Big 0, Finla nd 16 Op inion • BL.\1 and Enduro Scene 19 24 North KX 125 World Champ. MX 28 Ro ger a nd Mikko la 30 33 34 35 Results E.C:s Zundapps Desert World Cha mp. Spdwy Scott Autrey in Yurp 36 Time Mach ine Rough Brough 38 Calendar O N THE COV ER: R o ger DeCoster ( Right ) talks with Brad Lac key: Hei kki Mikk ol a res ts af te r a m ot o. The batt le was to the wire. bu t when Roger 's S uzuki bro ke, B ei kki was the new champ . Phot os b y J oh n Huetter . Sha ro n Clay ton. Pub lis her Th om as R. Culp. Gen eral ~ bn a ger ; Edn a Mewt on , Sec re tary to Pu b lisher. Ad vertis ing Tho ma s R. Cu lp , Na t ional Directo r: Ol ris Kol ber , Ad vertising Assista nt. Editoria l Charl es Clay to n , Edi to r; Jo hn D. Ulrich . Associate Editor ; Lane Camp be ll. Calen dar Edit or . Art & Product io n La mpt o n. Art Direct or; Catherine Nancy Gray. Advertising A rt Direct o r ; Hec to r Aguilera ; Lab Technici an , Mar io n Ha tash ita , Typograp her: ~ 1 e1 vi n Phelps. Assist ant Typographer. Circulation Rheba Smith. Man ager : Pam Hobbs & Chr is Andrews, Assis tants. ACQJunting Gd ye Zaio nz, ~la nitga ; T wila Wheeler & Linda :\Iallard . Assistan ta: Rosem ary Chand ler , Collect io n: Lan i Sienko Assistan t o Services & Suppo rt :\Iike Cotlkas: Rand y Davis; Bill Runyan ; J ean n ie Du nivan. Re ception ist. W.. t P.O . Box 498. Long Beac h. CA 9 080 1 (2 13) 4 2 7· 74 3 3; L.A . Line 6 3 6-8 844. East P.O . Box 80 5. Tuck er, GA 3 0 084 (4 04) 9 34 -78 50 . Central P.O . Bo x 13245, Au stin. TX 78 7 1 t. (5 12 ) 444-7548. Su bscript ion One yea r . secon d cJa...s mail S 12 .50: 2 years. seco nd cla ss mail, 522.50 : 3 yea rs, seco nd class mail. 530.0 0; Single copy price. 50 cen ts. Co p y rilrl1 1 Cv cte :'II~W I. In c. 19 74 . T rade mark ~xj l l ~r~d U.s. Patent OmH'. ,. 11 rixhl &reserved, \ Puhfhh~d wee kly ex eept the (irst and IA t wee k of lh~ ca lendar ycov by Cycle News, Inc., P.O . Box 49H . Lona Beach, Cillif orni a, Second dau P~t 411t~ paid a t Lo nR B~ a("h . CA. Editori..J ~lOri ~I. car room, ph ct os, e tc . ar~ welcome , ....ddrCUC'd. lumped envelope ll. .urrl ""turn n[ un pu rdu5t'd ~dituri"] m.lltrr . Rrprinting in who le or part on ly by pl:'rm i5lio'l of th e pu bli.shrrs. Ad 'Trti,ing UI ~ 1 .nd cin ul. ti un inform oltio n will be KIU upon rrqlK"I L See S.R .O.5, . 5

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