Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

a nd th ey informed me they had nothi ng on it . Actuall y , a sun ke n field with viewers above would be the best asset . A ga me be t ween th e Hell's Ang els a nd Sat an's Devils would be a hell o f a dr awing card, with police presen t o f co urs e. C.R . SHUl-IWA Y K Hollywood, Calif. INSIDE Nati on a l MX 7 New winners, one ne w cha m p 8 Nat ional RR BlM bungle Roberts goes fast agai n ,10 Duck hunting No ammo ~ l SR .. 12 Blo wn cr an ks won ' t do o World Champ. RR World Champ. MX . , 13 15 25 0c c polit ics Desert North New . . , 16 18 , .21, 23 Pu ch , H-D, DKW Sideways Big he arted Bast MX to ST , 24 , 28 30 ,,34 ,.., Results Bultaco 19 74 1'> Pursan g Mk. VII Weird " 36 Who said he wasn 't? Calendar .. , , , 38 Ot\' TH E COVER : Lisa Wright models the 1975 Pu ch 125 MX . Ah, to be I 6 aga in. Det ail s on page 2 1. Dick Wrigh t phot o . Sha ro n Clay ton, Publisher Th omas R. Culp. General Man ager ; Edn a Mewton , Secretary to Publish er . Ad vert ising Thomas R. Culp, Na t io nal Dire ct or; Chris Kolbet , Advertising Assistant. ' Editorial Charles Clayton. Ed itor ajohn D. Ulrich. Associate Editor; La ne: Campbell. Galen da r Editor. An & Production Catherine Lam pton . Art Dire ctor: Nan cy Gray. Ad vertising Art Dire c tor : Hector Aguilera: . Lab Technician . Mari on Hatash ita, Typographer ; Melvin Phelps. Assist an t Typographer. Circulat ion Rhcha Smith. Manager ; Pam Hobbs & Chri s Andrews. Assistants. Accounting Ga ye Zaion a, Manager ; Twila Wheeler & Linda Mallard. Assistants ; Ro semary Chandler, Collection : Lani Sien k, Assistant. Services &: Support Mike Colikas ; Randy Davis ; Bill Runyan ; J~ann ie Dunivan. Re ceptionist, West P.O. Box 4 98 , Long Beach, CA 9080 I (2t3) 4 27 -74 3 3 : LA. Line 636-8844. East P.O . Bo x 8 0 5 , T ucker, GA 30084 (40 4 ) 934-7850. Central P.O. Bo x 13 24 5, A ustin. TX iB7l!. (5 12) 44 4-7 54 8 . Subscription One ye ar, seco nd class m ail 512 .50; 2 years. second class m ail, 522.50; 3 years. seco nd class mai l, $ 30 .0 0 : Single: co py price, 50 cen ts. \Apyright l."yd e New s, Inc. 19 74 . T rade mark I"C'g iSlued U.s. Patent Office. All rixhtl reserved, Puj) liahed w ee k ly except the fin l and l;ut w ee k o f me aJendu ye ar by Cy cl e News. In c., P.O . Sen : 498 . LanK Be ach , Ca lifornia.. Sf'eon d. c10ul po.l ~t' paid at Long Beach. CA. Ed ito ri41 . tones. cartoom. ph otos. et c. are wel com e . Addrn-..d . stam ped enve lope usura I"C' tum or 'WIpurch .ucd ed ito rial m atter. Rep riOlinl[ in wbol e « JW"t o n ly by pc'nn iuion of the pubhdll,~n. AdwortiWt l rates and circul ation inronna~ion will be scn ( upon reques t, SeC' S.RoD.s . 4 let me explain lI as tily written lc t te rs so me tim es have bad re sults . 1 n ow am afra id to leave m y sho p after dark for fear some muscle bound e nd uro rider is waiting behind a bu sh to bea t m e up, Please let me explain. I like endures. They 're fun . It takes special people and special equip ment to be co m pe ti ti ve in these even ts . I, however, do not fin d it e xciting to wa tch o r rid e th rough a horre ndous p ile of rocks a t five-I 0 :'>IPH especially if I o r so meo ne else fa lls i!, t his p ile and at least 10 rocks p un ctu re the riding ap parel and m iscell aneous o the r ite ms . Nor do I find it e xci ti ng to ride with a p rickly pear cac tus attached to my glove and ha nd. I do (o r did ) fin d en d ures to be a lot o f fun wh e n n o ne of these ty pe events happened . Ho wever, as m y brot her (w ho by the way could ge t ex ci t ed pushing a shop p ing ca rt in a supermarket) stated, I nave ne ver fini sh ed o ne. I did no t get excited wi th my normal five -L fi m ile wal ks in my leathers, helmet. and bo ots in 90- 100 degre e we ather either. I personall y fin d it exc it ing to wa tch or ride in a f ull lo c k slide at 50-60 :'>I PH in th e middle of eight o r 10 other wild eye d rid er s. To the gu y wh o sugges ted I try riding endures, 1 might, if he will pay for the on e o r two wee ks I'll ne ed in th e intensive ca re un it of Ge neral Ho sp it al to recuperate f rom co m p lete p hys ical exhaustion. ' DAVE HA M Corona, Calif. Dear goo d ole' Ron Ah ye s, myoId pal a nd buddy Ron Schneiders, always joking (T he co n tr act was a joke, right?). I me an what 's an ugly rumor among friends? Why only yesterday I was saying to myself I ought to ju n k m y Yammer an d get one .o f th ose gre a t Matadors, And I sh o uld glVe m y M orn her typewriter ba ck and get one of my o wn. After all, th ird pl ace in the Political Enduro sh o uld jus t ify a typrewriter o f my own. And also th e blad e on m y buzz saw broke and I th ink a m o t orcycl e sprocket wo uld work just fin e. Actually I had no knowledge o f the rumor until m y "plumber" Ron Alve s informed me o f it. (We shall p au se here fo r an 18 min ut e ga p.) 1 deny an y wrong do ing an d will not resign as th e Eyes and Ears o f Burbank (and the Checkpoint MC). Surreali sti call y, I really enj oyed th at article (' bo u t fell off the couch laughing). Keep th o se go od enduro a rticl es co m in g . Might sec you at the Che ckpo int's Jubilee Enduro. Ya'll ride well. TIM ELLIOTT Burbank , Cali f. Mike Gera ld By c hance was gla nci ng o ver your August 20 issue and was nearly knoc ked down by th e sto ry and photo on the Santa Fe Short Track National fe aturing my nam esake, Mike Ge rald. 1 was just beginning to feel rather unique sin ce never e ncountering a n ot her one in my 30 years on Mother Earth. vThe su rn a m e leaves us few and far between, (check an y New York o r Los Angeles phone bo ok). I hav e fo llo we d motorc ycling at least di stantl y for 20 years b ut retired fr om dirt riding and am presentl y restoring a 1949 Velocett e L. E. wa te r-co o led twin. I men ti on this o n ly be cause it has resu lte d in my losing con tac t with c ur ren t top flat-track riders. At a ny ra te , I a m c ur io us a bo u t Gerald ' s caree r history an d his homet own. (Possibly a Louisian a lad ?) :'>IIKE G ERALD Mind en, Nevada r~o ur namesake is a Louisiana native, all right . . . Ed. Television In re sponse ' to a rece n t article in Cy cle N ew s a bo u t co verage of motorcycling in the m edia (T V, radio, newspapers. etc. ) I wrote to the head honchos at NBC, CBS, and ABC television networks. I received this letter from NBC in rep ly : Dear Mr. Destler : Thank you for your letter. While w e can understand your en t husiasm fo r moto rcycling, this same ent husiasm f or th e sport is not shared by enough people across th e co un try to warrant special programming on the NBC Tel ev ision N etwork . We nevertheless appr eciate your suggestion and th e troub le you took to write. With all good w ishes. Sin cerely y ours, Sally McGraw, Mgr. Audience S ues, NBC, Inc. 3 0 R o ck efeller Plaza New ~'ork, New Yo rk 10020 hope this m akes all of y o u a pat h e tic bi ker s out the re ma ke yo urs el ves heard for once, to show how much in t erest in motor cycling there is in th is cou nt ry . DA VE DESTLER Canog a Par k , Calif. Moto polo I am wri ting in regard to fabricating motorcycle polo teams. I' ve seen this game pla yed in Denver, Colorado in th e early thirties. This ga me ne ces sitat es qualified riders plus gu ts . Five men pe r team, it is played alo ng the lines o f regular horse polo. The Super X mo to rcycle was th e best motor in those day s for this game anti hillclimbing, in that area . T he game is played with a tough hide soccer ball, goal posts o n each end of the field, and players hitting the ball with feet, hands, elbows, head, or knees. I f ul ly re ali ze tha t th e necessary stand-by equipment would be fir e tr ucks , referee, ambulance , doctor and insurance as to the public in general. I als o ca lled th e Athletic Commission. 1 wa s s tu n ned by Burton St anley's co m m e nts on m y re cent a r ticle regarding th e suspense account into which SoC al MC pla ced their Special Land Use Permit fee s ea rlier this year. Mr. Stanley states he is not authorized to ac cept fees paid into a suspense fund , an d wi ll return all such ch ec ks sen t to him . This is in complete opposition t o two letters bearing his sign ature - the first asking Mr. Ho o p er to pl ace .th e money in a suspense accoun t, _t he second accepting SoCal's check in acco rd a nc e with the terms of Mr . Hooper's letter. When I called Mr. Stanley's office in Sacram ento for comment on this apparent contradiction, I was informed he had taken a o ne- week leave, co inci d en t ally beginning t he day his letter a p pea re d in Cy cle News. On his re turn I will again try to co n t ac t him, and hopefully obtain an ex p lan ati on for yo u r readers. LESLIE RICHARDS San Fern ando, Calif. Phot ocopies of t he two letters signed by Mr. St anley are on file at Cy cle News, and tend to sup port Ms. R ichards' view . .. Ed. Covering girls Righ t on fo r printing a go o d story abou t a girl ra cer ! Mostl y, for givi ng girl s some coverag e, Nan c y , keep up the good work. JANICE McCALL Road racing dirt bikes In reply to the disdain expressed by G.\IC n u m be r 40 Dave Boido ab out John Ulric h's and Larry Lim's superfast "road racing dirt bikes ,. I' d like to add that many purist road race freaks in my ne ck o f the mo untains (Co lorad o ) voiced similar co mp laints about most anyt hing that didn't ha ve cl ip ons an d b lew t heir do o rs a way. Man y felt tha t th e local ho t sh o es had an u nfair advantage with t heir wide han d le bars at Aspen's tw isty sho rt 1. 1 mil e co urse . So our Mountain Ro adracing Asso ciation did so mething abo ut it . We' ve got a dirt bike division wit h t wo classes, 0 -200, 20 1-Q pen for a nybody r idi ng a dirt bike. So now the dirt bike riders could "race what t hey brung" an d they do . The MX. TT, flat track and enduro riders are out there o n anything from knobbies to KR 87s having fun. However, I encourage competition, so I get a kick out of it when I see Bruce Sass on his street legal ized MX 175 Yamaha broad sliding and drifting his way to third o ve ra ll in the Cafe Ra cer class or Ulrich and him dusting the guys in the Production or Dirt Bike divisions. Funny things are happening :- there are dirt bi kes with clubman bars, ventilated o ver-size d double leadin sh oe br ak e se t ups - a few with fai ri ngs - shades of Kawasaki 's Big Hom road racer. The !\IRA also advocates takin your bike a nd racing it in as many di fferent ca tegories as fe asible. Ulri ch for example, co uld take his DKW 1 25 a nd run 125 Production, Cafe Ra cer Gl', and Dirt Bike and be supe co mpe ti tive in each . ( He did , b y th way, at o ur July race in Aspen. ) . Competition is where it's at . and if co uld ge t a TZ 3 50 engine I'd sur ely lik to give the di rt tra cks a try . Thos 40,000 RPM twins a re eating th e Tl and half mil e events for brea kfast lunch, and dinner. T here's nothi ng quit like h aving the horsepower, th handling, an d the ca talyst riding the hel out o f if in the dirt or on the pavement See you in Col or ado . T . G. " WOO D Y" WITT :'>IRA t\'o. III Denver, CO

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