Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125879
Promoter Gavin Tr ippe said recendy that he would like to abolish the Junior race at AMA Nationals, and instead include Lightweight and Heavyweight Production races in the AMA purse . n' DOESN'T .FIGURE: It 's bewildering why some of the "also ran" mags and rags keep claiming "First Tests" of • cer ta in model motorcycles when their tests have appeared on the stands either at the same time or after "riame " publications . have te sted the same ma chines . Example: Motorcyclist claiming the first Laverda 1000 test when Cycle World has one in the same month's issue. .~ u ...0 A GENUINE FIRST: Read the absolute first test of the production Can-Am 250 MX in next week's Cyde News . o .... u o HOLD EVERYTHING: The quote of Ed Unini in the AF:.t road race story last week got "altered" somewhere between the au thor's typewriter and the pri nting press. It should have read " If I had known we wer e dicing fo r firs t , I wo ul d have tried a lot hard er. " Nas ty thi ngs, th ose typos. Ho nda's t w o-s tro ke 700 ·7 50cc water co oled tr iple ro ad racer is in the United States bein g outfitted with fiberglass b y Dan Gurney . AT LAST! It could- be that the AMA National road 'race to be run at Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario, California October 5~ won't be detracted from by bizarre corner marshals. It seems promoter Gavin Trippe has asked the AFM Los Angeles chapter to flag the event. Now maybe if we wear an AFM T-shirt . . . Victor Popenko, Russki body blocker of some reknown, was sacked from the CZ factory team, picked up by the Russian KTM team, and did his thing again this ti me to Hakan Andersson at the Trophee des Nations in France. Hakan was forced out of the second moto with a broken footpeg. The 250cc national team contest was won by Belgium (sans Joel) un d er pro tes t fro m th e West Germans, Call o u t the UN truce team . How many words can you make from the letters in Marty Tripes? The U.S. Congress gave $3 m illion of tax pa yers ' money for t he co nst ruc t ion and maintenance of public t rails for hi kin g or horseb ack riding only. Anybody who doubts what J.R. Penny has in mind when he asks for an army of desert rangers should read what Robert Moses did to New York with command of a similar troop. Can-Am is testing a beautiful new line of water-cooled street/roadsters with enclosed, double-row chain drive. Harry Keast was the winner of the Little Tufty Enduro, not J im. Since everybody has a so-called "ISDT Repl ica," Bultaco is preparing to introduce for 1975 an American Two-Day Matador. Now that makes some sense. A rad ical conservation group has asked fo r an inju ncti on to prevent San Gabriel M.C. from putting on the annual Barstow-to-Vegas Hare and Hound this year. A hearing on the requested injunction will be held Friday, October 18 at 4 :30 p.m, in the Los Ange les Federal Building . According to the nice lady on the telephone in AMA publicity directo r Dave Despai n's office, Bengt Abe rg won the Motocross des Nat ions on a Husqvarna , Being gullible eno ugh to th in k the AMA kne w what was wh at , we printed that last week. Guess wh at ? You bet - Aberg rode a Bultaco, j ust like we sus pected. Alas. 2 First American, Jim Pomeroy, of course rode a Bultaco in the MX des Nations, as well as overall winner Aberg. Ellie Taylor, maker of prescription lens goggles, writ es to say it 's amazing how man y peopl e wri te for in fo rm at ion about his products a nd don' t incl ude th eir addr esses. The Postmaster tends to fr own upon letters addressed simpl y "Tom Burroughs." At the Honda dealer convention (where new models are revealed ), the th ing getting the most- wh istles, shouts, and daps was the picture of the Honda 400 Cafe's ignition switch projected up on the big screen - it's located with the instrument cluster. The most amazing thing to co me out of the Honda show was their claim of holding the land speed record with the ill-fated Ho nda Hawk. Crash damage to the streamliner pre ven ted a return run within th e requi red one hour; and one-way reco rds do n't count. Harley-Davidso n hol ds the reco rd at 265 l\IPH . We just got a press release in from the Rokon people with something about the Rokon Automatic being "versatile:' They don't even know how well that applies! The sixth overall, first 350 production bike in the MRA four hour, $1,000 road race in Aspen, Colorado was a Rokon 340 equipped with K81s as its total race preparation. Beat all the entered Yamahas, too. Peop le have closed mi nds about ru nning dirt bikes in production road racing. Killer DKW (see n last week) -has more ground clearance, more to rque. mo re drive out of corners, m o re finning, an d better stability under braking (since the leading-link fro nt end extends 'the. wheelbase 1'.<" ins tead of contracting it under hard braking compression) than a 125cc street bike. Put it against a Ho nda CBI25 or a Yamaha RD 125 and it just -runs away. It figures, since the bike was made with competition in mind. It 's expecially- nice on rough tracks, where the MX suspension soaks up all the ripples and keeps the wheels on the tarmac. ~ PIT RACERS, BUZZ OFF! The Sports Racing Association of Colorado (SRAC) is soon to join the A.\IA, but under d uress says affiliate Mo u n t a i n Roadracing Associat ion ho nch o John Petro. According to hi m , the A.\IA strongly imp lied during negotiat ion t ha t if SRAC didn't join, th e n AMA wo uld co me i n independently and take away all the pro moters from their own sanctioned races, A~ IA affiliation will double the cost of getting into raci ng in Colorado, in exchange offering the "benefits" of A. IA member shi p . We expect A:.tA \ officials to deny the allegation vigoro usly. EVERYBODY VERSUS EVERYBODY: The Race of the Year road race held in Mallory Park, England September 15 was a Ken Roberts (Yam) runaway until almost the end. Seems Roberts started the race on rain tires, a good choice 'since it was raining. But it stopped raining during the race, and Kenny's tires started chunking . He pulled into'the pits to stay close to the fin ish, since there wasn't time to change. Giacomo Agostini (Yam) had already quit, being completely blown off by the fast American. Barry Sheene (Suz) won. In a last lap, last turn effort to t urn a second into first, Paul Smart (Suz) tried to outbrake leader Sheene at the Race of the Year. What he got was front brake failure and a trip into the A rmco b arri er head on. Paul broke th e tib ia, fib ula, and fe mur of both legs , injured h is back, an d garnered a sev ere co nc ussion. His hos pital stay is expecte d to be six m onths at least. Gary Nixon won 't ride Ontario because some bones he broke testing Suzukis in Japan won't heal. Unless bone grafts take, Gary won't be starting the next AMA Grand National season. English ac e Pe ter Williams is finally off the critical list due to injuries sust ain ed in a pre-Tall adega crash o n a J oh n Play er No rt on . Discojet is offering a buy-back deal for riders after the Golden Gate Mile. It seems they're supplying mufflers at $20 each for the event to keep it under a set dbA Iimi t, and now have offered to buy back undamaged units from people not qualifying. In addition, they're offering all sorts of cash for heat and main winners using their mufflers. The Turf Club seating/buffet/ champagne de al for the Golden Gate Mile has proven so popular that Media Max has opened up another 200 seats. Now people turned down 'cause the first 200 were sold out can get in on the comfort . There won 't be any Race of Champions th is year in San Jose. Th e event, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 29, the same day as the Golden Gate Mile, just didn 't get finalized in planning. Valvol ine has added $4,0 00 contingency to Al\IA pur ses durin g the closing stages o f thi s seaso n - for the Ontario road race an d th e Puyall up , Livermore and Saddle back T rans-AMA's . Barstow-ta-Vegas Hare 'n' Hound, the world's largest outdoor recreation vehide race, is still on for the Saturday after Thanksgiving, despite the environmental case. S.C.O .R.E. has decided to let 50 Amateurs enter thc A.C.-Delco Off Road Championships at Riversid e Raceway next weekend to race for trophies instead of cash. They'll be high priced trophies, but then glory never comes cheap. Try 35 per entry plus $12.50 insurance fee for two days of racing. Bob Hans en of "Team Hansen" fame, is the new west ern states manager of operations fo r Continental Motorcycles Inc . of New J ersey . Look for some Laverda motorcycles; Kre idler mopeds and So lo electric scooters in the winner 's circle soon . Dirt Bike Safari is offering a 13-day cycle tour of Peru , de parting from Miam i or Los Ange les from October, 19 74 through September, 1975. Gary Bailey will do a two-day motocross school in Lima for the December tour. Prices (inclusive) ran ge fro m $835 to $ 1,282. For info, cal l toll free (800) 327-5781. KLAC radio in Los Angeles will air the Champion Spark Plug Motorcycle Classic from Ontario October 6, so take along your transistor. T he Baj a R ac ing Asso ci ation h as withdrawn fro m th e promotion of th e Baja 1000 off-reader, They ar e sti ll o pen for su gge sti o ns fo r the ir early-1975 bi ke event. Write wishes to Box 18 0 3, Calexico, Cali fornia 9 2 231. KNXT Television in Los Angeles , Cal iforn ia w ill air CBS Sports Spectacular coverage of the 1974 World Speedway Championships at Gothenberg, Sweden at 2:30 p.rn, Saturday , September 28. It's a CBS network-generated program, so consult your local listings for broadcast time in your area. And if you like it, be sure to tell CBS. The Grand Prix of Canada Mo to cross at Copetown, Ontario, Canada is still o n as scheduled September 29, with a purse of SI5,OOO. However , due to en try form fo ulups and other hassles, the even t will no t pay Trans-Avl.A p oin ts. Send late entri es to Steel City Rider , 5 1 Delbroo k C ourt , Hamilto n, Ontario, Can ada. Brake discs on the 1975 BMWs are full of holes. They gang punch them on a giant cookie cutter before finish grinding the working fa ces of the discs true. The holes don't save all that much weight, but they do yield better braking control in the wet, plus eliminating disc brake squeal. T he n ew Su zuki Ro ta ry is th e best-styled cycle to co m e out of J apan. Loo ks like so mething George Brough migh t hav e de signed. Paramount is re-releasing "Little Fauss and Big Halsy," one of the ' best motorcyde f1ix ever made. Hope they changed some of the dialogue though, A hare and hound is not an "enduro" and enduros don't pay cash purses, for insta nce. The S cholasti c Association of Mororsport is now operating to sanction high school motocross th rough the California Interscholastic Federation. Students, contact your Principals to par ticipate. They have all the info. Motorcycle Industry Council won a lawsuit in U.S . District Court to ba r the California Automatic Lights-On Law from going into effect as scheduled January 1, 1975. The statute, which would have required all bikes sold in the state after that date to have head lights come on with the ignition , is pre-empted by Federal rules in the same area. Yosh im ura 984cc Kaw asa ki. wo n first, seco nd and fo urt h places in the 24-ho ur Bol D 'o r roa d race over th e we e kend. Winners were the French tea m of Gooier and Ge nous.