Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

WRITIN' AROUND Rider Education comes to high schools Safe rider tr ammg is the number one challenge facing the wonderful world of motorcyles. Most of us take incredib le chances learning to ride. It's a continual wonder to me that any of us survived the course of hard knocks. But now there's a better way . Old Timers' race After a mild disagreement with my doctor which ended with him winning and me in the hospital for a week and an editor who did not SCUDERIA HUSQVARNA PENTON LAVERDA SALES . SERVICE', AND MAIL SPECIAL IS TS -(213) 542-1695 The Finest Selection of Parts and Accessories For Bike and Rider We Offer Expert Repairs Porting and Competition T uning Receive S50 Wort h of Parts and Accessories FREE When You Buy a N ew Husky or Penton . 24 19 Artesia BIIId. Red ondo Beac h, Ca lifo rn ia 90278 C O M PLETE M A CHIN E SM O P R 'RS"'RVIC "'PA . CE 1140. ... N . KR....£MI!:R 92. 0 6 c .... Ha n d waShab,e • ... O t h ma n ;,._ _•• Cycle EngIneering & Supply . ... "" ...... I£l:oro.ot . ~~~r ANO ~, ' ~ «7 14 . 630 ·~720 . . . .. ~; ~~ Oi ~tr'Duli ng Cn . ~~~r:' i~~~.l t~.S~ i 324 . .. Ri di ng .. Racing .. Street GLO V ES De"ler I f1Q U l r ,.. ~ l ll l/ll e d (2 13 1 36 3 -62 30 send someone else to co ver the Perris Old Timers' race, it never got a mention. So we'll try to recapture what we can o f that grand and glori ous night! Jim Hunter act ually go t out on the trac k ! He really did but we couldn 't get him to race so he gave a three lap exhibition a nd van ished for the re st o f the evening. T he ribbing gets pretty heavy on tha t occasi on. Don Spargur, who carried the heavyweight scrambles number o ne ba ck in the days when to be number one m eant a hell of a lot more hard work on the tr ack cam e out with a Honda XL 3 50 a n d sh owed the young 'uns a t hing o r two. I've seen a lot of racers in my time but to me there was never o ne t o be at " Spargoo " for sheer effortless and ease and yes, he was in front. So was Jim Goldsmith along with h is new wife. No, ['m n ot kidding, Goldie finall y got married and mounted on one of Guy Louis' H uskies fell off tw ice at least. (It wa s pretty dark in other p arts of the track!) Guy himselfbrought out enough bikes to look like a professional racing team had arrived but without results we can ' t tell who did wh at. In keeping with the "Old Timers," Grannie here served as assistant starter and half-referee and to add to th e silliness and fun the only trouble [ had ex cept for th ose who wanted to pu t o ne wheel ahead of the white line was wh en speedwa y a ce Jeff Sexton and professional IT-er Willie Ho ckie tri ed to ride in the Uinactivc" class. No wa y! [ sympathize with Chub Kell um a t Asco t , the ple as for mercy are reall y so mething. Ben Fakkeldy was first to th e weenies in that test o f skill a nd endurance but co uldn 't get h is mouth around it while t he rest of the intrepid co n testa n ts became more and more smeared with mustard until it looked like a party for two yea r o lds . Anyway, it was one heck of a go od nigh t an d we 're looking forward to the next one. Oue of the best parts was when T erry Dorsch's wife Asa accep te d the sp ecial trophy honoring the late Ron Bonner, Terry's long time friend and tune r. It was a be autiful pl aque and suited the occasio n perfectly. To end the night of festivity, we won 't even mention the name of the Greeves rider who lives iIf this house who missed his third moto by gos sip ing in the pits and not watching th e line-up! World Championship MX 16 515 N. Victory Blvd. BU RBANK, CALIF " (213) 849·7295 What do you think of the new world motocross ch am pions? Kind of sho ws that money ain't everything, d o esn't it ? It did my heart good to see Heikki Mikkola win, an d on a Hu sk y . A Nordic man on a Nordic machine, you ca n't d o better than th at. And as for the 25 0 ? We always did say Pen ton was the way to go, alt h ough of course we referred over the years to the [25s not the KTM but [ ca n hear the shouting from Russia now. Still, Moisseiev is a great c ham pio n and what a happening this really is. A R us s ian winning the World 250 Moto cross Ch ampionship on an A us tri an bike. New bikes When yo u buy something new do you go around tightening nuts and bolts? Most of us old cycle hounds do, we know how the guys put them together som etimes. But here's a true tal e that sounds funn y but definitely isn 't. A couple we know just p u rc hased a BMW. To begin with y ou're talking about a lot of money right there. They like to tour so they bought the fairing they like best, a Windjammer. (I agree, they are smashing.) But he re's Bill tootling down the freeway and the bloody headlight fell off. LUCKily it bounced to the side and didn 't break but just think on that for a bit and your heart will go a bit faster. But for God 's sake, when you pay the price of a Windjammer the leas t the dealer co uld do was to make sure all the nuts and bolts were tight. Mama Maureen Congratulate me , I'm a mother ! Number three is now in the garage, a new Honda CB 200, not exactly designed to make you go like Phil Read alt ho ugh you can try without getting into too much trouble but what a doll t o buzz around on. It makes for a lot of snide remarks sin ce Gene rides Yamaha but since we name everything around here, the 200 is named after a special gentleman. It 's name is Calvin. Maureen Lee The Motorcycle Safety Foundation is sending out gradua tes specially ed uca ted to teach Beginning Rider Co ur ses through high sc hools. The graduates are al l hig h school teachers an d their courses will be available through the Adult Extension Program to everyone o ld en ough to apply for a driver's license. Eventually, anyone will be ab le to take the Beginning Rider Course, free, at j us t about any high school in the land. But for now, the course is avai lable " in just five California school districts . T hey are Artesia, Fresno, Huntington Beach, Sacramento and Santa Rosa. The idea is being tested in those districts to evaluate and tune-up six different co ur ses written by the MSF staff of educators. After 750 novice riders have been taught, about five months from now, the courses will be analyzed for their contribution to stu d e n t development. An independent evaluator, c h ose n by the State Departmen t of Education, will sort out the d ata and make the evaluation. Results will be used to p erfec t the programs a n d improve rider performance and safety. Judging from the instruction booklets , the co u rses are geared to a wide range of learning speeds. By 1975 they may need drastic revision to include the new simulator that Honda recently developed. Studies . of motorcycle accidents reve al that over half involve riders with less than two years experience. Some third 0 f all reported bi ke crashes occur during the first six m on ths of cy cle op eration. The initial lea rning p eriod is far more hazardous to cycle riders than the equivalent period is fo r new drivers of cars. Experience has shown that any forma l instruction can cut ne w ride accidents 100%! So if you know 0 a nyo ne needing to learn ho w t o ride put them in touch with the Motorcycle Sa fety Foundation, to sign u p for th Beginner Rider Course when it comes t their school. The address of MSF i 6755 Elkridge Landing Road Linthicum , Maryland 21090. Telephon (30 1) 796·8622. Charles Clayto AMA Compe tit io n Direct or Bill Boyce disp lays so me of t he gear d onated to th e 19 74 ISDT team: Bell helm ets, gloves b y Torsten Hallman, U.S. Grand Prix b oots. Scott goggles, Winner Lin e riding suits , JVeb co bags, Chain Mat e oilers, Penn zoil chain lub e, and InterA m spo k e wren ches and chain breakers. Said Boyce, "O ur ability t o f ield a first class team at Camerino t his year has been mad e possible by the generous co nt ribu tion of money and gear from more in dividuals and organizatio ns than w e co uld ever hope to m ention o n an ind ivid ual basis. " Th ese are just a f ew of th e ma n y w ho are truly paying ,. their du es.

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