Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1974 09 10

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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Roger DeCoster has pointed up in the British pres s th at the Continen tal practice of awa rdi ng purse money (as well as wo rld poin ts) for individual mo to finishes co mp letely o verloo ks the basic motocross co ncept o f declaring overall winners based on th eir aggrega te points. HOT RUMORS : WiII 19 75 see J im Pomeroy 'e rr Bultaco? Ken Roberts racing only in Europe within 24 months ? Pierre Karsma kers away from Yamah a if his salary is cut, and instead wor king big deals with Re vell Models? How about a big bucks road race circ uit starting in October 1975? Wo uld you believe MV Agusta has offered Gary Scot t big mo ney to defect? How abo ut so mething called an " Indian " cont esting the National circuit in 1976? o --< Kawasaki's plans are still up in the air on a reported bid to send Yvon DuHamel to the 24 hour Bol d'Or at Le Mans, France. Measures initi at ed late in 1973 have produced a favorable turn-aro u nd in the AMA's economic picture. Last year's $350,000 debt has been erased and replaced with a satisfactory working balance and cash reserve after the first six months of 1974. En tr y blanks for the Copetown Trans-AMA (Canada) were lost in transit, so any rider wishing to enter should write immediately: CMA, 20 J arvis Street, Hamilton, Ontario , Can ada 18R 1M2. Due to a misplaced results sheet provided by the promoter, the results of the Escape Country $1000 MX report v.ere in error. Correct Expert results are as follows: 125, Tim Lunde, Mark Tyer, Dave Williams and Bruce McDougal ; 250, Morris Malone, Jon Derhammer, John DeSoto and Jeff Jennings; Open, Pete Maly, Steve Carrisosa, Bruce McDougal and Bill Rubly. Our reporter prom ises to duct tape all such documents to his bod in the future. Larry Scha idt of Grand Rap ids, Mich., an AMA Professional racer , has been awar ded a $500 sch olarship from the Rusty Bradl ey Memorial Trust. Schaidt, 25, is a Chemistry major at Hope College, is married an d finished seventh in Central Region AMA Novice points. The National Mile at Albany, Calif. Sept. 29 will be a test to prove the soundness of AMA's 92 decibel noise limit. Says AMA Competition Ch ief Bill Boyce, "unpleasant noise sometimes associated with motor spo rt s can be removed to the satisfaction of nearby residents without elim inating the thrill of racing o r engine perform ance." Walter C. Davidson, 61, retired Vice President of Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc. , and son of co mpany founder Walter Davidson, died August 3, 1974 following an illness . He had been with the co mpan y 34 yea rs before retiring in 1969. lie also served as Director, Committee Chairman, and officer in bo th the A1\IA and MIC. Ken Robert s has the 55 ,000 first place money in the S15, 000 Camel Pro Series in his poc ket , but th e next fo ur in the standi ngs, Yvon DuHa mel , Mike Gerald. Gary Scott and Gene Romero , are u nder the proverbial blan keto K & K Insu rance, carriers of rider med ical cove rage for many AMA an ateur events, has virtually doubled its rates in th e last two weeks , as a resu lt of what the parent company calls "an un acceptable loss ratio." The new rates for 60 % med ical coverage to $10,000, $100 deductible will be: Motocross (up to 500 riders) $404, Short Track $258. Road Race & Cross Country $346. So far, K & K appears to be the only carrier upping its rates. Supe r Hunky (Rick Se iman ) reports that the reason he left Dirt Bike was a " clash in ed itorial po licy." His new home, Modern Cycle, is undergoing a transformation int o a totally racing m a ga z in e with all the act ion berm-busting pies and ed itorial freedom to tell it the way it is that Rick has always insist ed u~n. We can't say an ything yet ab out Suzuki's ne w bo mbshell, bu t the way U.S. Suzuki in trod uced it to the pre ss was -uh - pr ett y spacey. Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Department is actively researching potential demand for motorcycle off-road recreation land. They're looking for facts and figures on numbers of dirt bikes in the County (not easily available because not everybody is buying Green Stickies). Should we tell them? "Life is a ma tter of challenge an d I see no reason why I should sto p now. " So 73'year-old Sydney Har t to ld the British press as he an d Elinor Longfield (also 70·plus) left on the first leg of an England-to-Istanbul trek - on Puch Maxi mope ds ! The Southern California edition of the Moto-AMA sidecar motocross series will use Valley Cycle Park's entire motocross circuit, downhill included. To convince the skeptics, the local Sidehack Association ran an exhibition race at the Jaycee event August 25. Though visibly cautious of Valley's big dropaway at first, by day's end the hackers had it dialed in, WFO all the way down. When the likes of F.I.M. champions Robert Grogg and Lorenz Haller (Norton/Wasp'" and Honda/Wasp, respectively) hit that section together, Katie bar the door! With $ 1 2 0 ,200 in m an ufa c tu rer co ntingency awards he aped upon th e $50 , 00 0 gu arant eed pur se , t he S .C .O . R .E ./AC-Delco off-roade r at Riverside Sept ember 27·29 to ps out at $170,200 in posted awards. Man , that's a lo t of pizza an d bee r. 2 Rain date for the Camel Pro Series finale half-mile National at Terre Haute, Indiana is September 22. World Championship motocross features "natural" terrain. That means the track is routed through, into, up, down, or over whatever happens to be around. Sometimes it's flat , sometimes it's vertical; sometimes there's traction, sometimes there isn't. Aere Finn P~uli Pippola practices at Ettelbruck, Luxembourg. T he B LM 's l at e st interim Crit ical Management Program map and overall plan fo r the Califo rnia Desert is now in print , and the Bureau is asking for pu blic co mments by October I, 1974. Copies of the plan can be requested from : Califo rnia Desert Plan Program, P.O. Box 723 , Riverside, California 92502 . District 36 Sports Committee will hear more arguments September 9 at Fairfield Holiday Inn on proposed 1975 rule changes. Among the proposals, min is to be allowed to use specialty frames, and all events and members to be totally AMA. Oakland MC 's J ac khamm er Enduro the end of October is to have Distri ct 36 championship sta tus. Hayward's Cow Be ll and Ric h mo n d R a m bl er s ' G e or g e t own endures ha ve swapped ~~ . . The Department of the Interior plans to reclassify 22,700 aaes of federal land to recreational use and add the land to Anza-8orrego Desert Park . Comments are due from the public September 23, Secretary of the Interior , LLM 320, Washington, D.C. 20204. Ulf Carlsson (Mon) won the Finnish trials ro und August 18. This should p ut him a solid third in the "world" F.I.M . stand ings. You don't have to have a green stickie (ORV registration) if your bike is used only in sanctioned races. But California police are demanding proof of some sort. Current AMA, CMC, etc. card plus a numberplate on the bike seems proof enough for most cops. Or carry a recent receipt from Saddleback, Indian Dunes, etc. as insu rance against harassment. A dozen or mo re don ors have bee n lin ed up for conti ngencies at the High School Motocross Finals co ming up Sep tember 5 at Saddleback's Raceway, OCIR. Boots, hel mets, plugs, oil, plastic tan ks, headers, all that good stuff, plus something called " High School Dirt Action Magazine." Is this getting out of han d, or what? SACRAMENTO DRAMA: The California legislature decided they wanted motorcycles to be more quiet in the future. The result was a law lowering the noise standard for new manufactured bikes sold in the state from 86 dbA to 80 dbA, effective January 1, 1975. Trouble was, some manufacturers couldn't make machines that quiet. Thanks to extensive lobbying by M.O.R.E ., the standard was changed to 83 dbA. On the logarithmic decibel scale, that's still a 50% reduction. New bikes must be half as loud as current ones to pass! Can tilever mon oshock rear suspensio n has now sho wn up on the latest wor k John Player Nor ton in a test outing at Silverst one, Englan d. If the conce pt proves o ut, it will be used on th Cosworth Nort on being readied for ':lext seaso n. Barry Sheene gave the Suzuki's 50 Four its first GP win at the Britis G rand Prix, Silverstone over th weekend of August 10-11. It wa Suzuki's meeting, as Sheene won th 750 GP on a triple and Paul Smart 0 another triple won the Formula 75 event. If you do your ridi ng on pro per ty or in a privat e mo to rcycle park, you don't nee d a Californ ia Of Highway Vehicl e regist rati on (green stick;"). Individual California DMV and CH outposts still must have their wire aossed, even after Governor Reagar signed the Green Stickie exceptions int law, since we're still getting feedback tickets written. If you got a citation fo transporting your race bike, sen citation number, date, location, an details to M.O.R.E., 1129 N. 11th St. Sacramento, CA 95826. If it can proven that the citation was issued i error, you'll get your money back. HT e a ch ·a·rider" is th e game aru Motor cycle Sa fe ty Foun da tio n is th name. Last wee k MSF train ed its firs class of mo tor cycle driver ed ucatioi teach ers, wh o will co nd uct co u rses thi term in five Cali fornia high scho districts. And the British press reports that M Agusta tried to buy Kenny Robe away from Yamaha while Kenny was the Dutch TT.

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