Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1974 10 15

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/125882

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 1 of 41

Land Speed Record race - While Don Vesco was breaking the Land Speed R ecord fo r motorcycles at Bo nneville, the Norton effort was just tuning up fo r its reco rd runs. A s of press tim e th is we ek , all was pro ceeding sm oo thly fo r Denn is Manning (kn eeling in picture) and his two-engin e Norton streamliner, but th ey had not brok en Vesco's l!") ..... ... <:J ..0 o ..... u o new record as yet. The OCR·IOOO, a Dutch project fr om the same co mb ine th a t produces Kreidler rna-peds and 50cc GP sc rea me rs, f eatures a transverse m ounted, water-cooled twin ro tor Wankel engine, chai n drive, cas t alloy wh eels an d full di sc bra king (t wo fr on t, o ne rear ). It is sana. Other hit s o f t he Co log ne show (lar gest in Europe ) were Honda 's CB400, Suzu ki's RES rotary, a Rick man cafe kit for the Z-1 Kawasa ki, an d Zundapp's 250cc prototype mo tocrosser. Andy Richman , Bult aco's Eastern U.S. factory rep , will take over full-t im e ma nage ment o f t he E u ro pea n champio nsh ip mo tocross effort in 1975 . Andy managed th e Ame rican team at th e Sp an ish ISDT. Th ey h ave their pri oriti es strai ght on the Isle of Man. A Douglas magis trate f ined two dog owners for all o wing their pets to st ray on to t he circuit du ring the Manx GP . A p it fire and an expired engine halted the thrust o f Yvon DuHamel and Frenchman Christian Leon in the Bo l d'Or 24-hour at LeM ans, France . They had led on a French prepared 1000cc Kawas aki through the tenth hour. Th e Godi er I G e no ud te am (th is year's Barcelona winners ) won it with nine laps o n the ne arest co mp etit o r. At least twenty Brit ish speedway leagu e rid ers may sign contracts to race in t his co untry if negotiati o ns between the AMA an d Brit ish Speed way Pro mot ers' Assn . go th ro ugh. British drag bi ke builder Alf Haga n h as tu rned his tal ents to designing a semi-m on oc oq ue motocross side h ack. Also being d ra wn into t he intrigu ing world of sidecar motocross is so lo builder Eric Ch en ey . Gary and Darlene Bailey were blessed with the birth of an eight pound, 11 and one-half ounce baby bay September 24 in Ta llahassee, Florida. AMA Treasurer Jo hn Harley p resen ted the association with a balanced budge t at their m eetin g last week. Presi den t Ford co uld use a fiscal dude like John H. Ever notice that the AMA logo looks like a Wankel rotor? A,\1A point s ta ndi ngs didn 't chan ge much after Ontario. Kenny Roberts rem ains first with 2,256 points . Gary Sco tt ha ngs in at second with his 1,467 earned prior to On tario and Gene Rom ero added to his third place edge with a to tal now of 1,124 points. Gulf Oil signed t o spo nso r the British Speedway League. Speedway is Britian's second largest spectator sport and Gu lf's distribution is " in the conurbations where speedway tracks operate," says the oil company's P.R. man. " Ask for nothing and you sh all have it in abundance ." - Frank N. Furrer, noted hot do g. Willy Bauer of West Germany sign ed with Su zuki in time to rid e this we ek's New York Trans-AMA motocross. Steve McLaughlin called up Monday after Ontario just before we went to press wanting to publicly apologize to Jim Evan s for calling him a "clown" on the PA system . Seems after Ago hit Steve and knocked him off the track in the ruckus t hat eventually took out both of them (Ago crashed, Steve's Yamaha sucked in dirt and seized) , Steve thought Evans had done it. When he reti red to the pits he was met by a mike and questions, and that's when he came across w ith the "clown" comment. Contra ry to what y o u have heard elsewhere, Jim Pomeroy d id NOT punch brother Ron out after they collided at the Knievel Kross . Way back in our Sept. 17 issue, the res ults of the Knievel-Kross, we lis ted so mebody named "Broc Gage" third in the 125 Amateur class. It was really Broc Glover of EI Cajo n, CA o n a bo rrowed Honda. No t ba d for 14 years old. 2 The Rokon boys think we ignored t heir Silver and Bronze IS DT on purpose. It isn't so, fellows. Why we even ride Rokons ourselves and win money with them - at road races in Colorado. Eigh t, possibly nine riders will be entering the Trans-AMA series with full or partial Bultaco support. Bengt Aberg , Vic Allan , and possibly Malcolm Davis (currently re covering from injuries) will be on factory 36 2cc Purs angs, as will Americans J im Pomeroy and Ken Zahrt. In the 250cc support class, look for Ron Pome roy with a full ride , J im T urner with partial su pport. Fred Joehnck spo nso re d by Samba's Restaurants (eat yo ur pancakes, kid) and Jack Keese. Honda's GL -1000 flat four got paraded around LeMans at the Bol d 'Or, while another 1000cc sensation, the VanVeen OCR -1000 rotary, got an airing outside the Cologne motorcycle sho w in Germany. Mack B. Tomlinson has been promoted to Vice President of BecklArnley Co rp . Mack is 43 , bough t his first bike in 1947. He'll head up the tn]c division. OK, WE TAKE IT BACK : Scott Brelsford (Kaw 750 ) was not the first rider ever to qual ify a two-stroke int o a Mile National , as we reported in error last week. Yvon DuHamel d id with a 350 Yamaha in the Sacramento Mile September 15, 1968. After coming from last to second in his heat race, Yvon ran fourth in the National until the last few laps when Gary Nixon an d Cal Rayborn (H-D) passed him. DuHamel fin ished sixth. Alas, who would have guessed Roxy would steer us wrong? rr-n M.O.R.E . will shortly be issuing its annual Pro gress Report, giving members co mplete accounting of the more than 400 bill s our California sta te lobbyist has been working on this pa st legislative session. No w is a good time to join, if yo u h aven 't already. Send a donation, with yo ur name and add ress to M.O .R.E., 1129 11th Street, Sacramento , California 958 14 . Bob Barkhim er, ace promoter , say s he has a spot lined up in San Jose for speedway in 197 5 . To all o ur de ser t co rre spond en ts : " Am at eur" is sp elled A-M-A-T-E-U·R! Got th at ? During the 45-minute repair pe riod between heats at t he Ontario National, Suzuki paraded their new RE -5 rotary; Vesco paraded his land speed record streamliner; a dragster, a funny car and a drag bike laid rubber down the front straight, and the schmaltz was fl o wing so thick yo u could choke on it. Latest Brit ish world-beater is t he cre ation of George Silk . The pro to ty pe is powered by a 669cc wa ter-cooled t wo stroke tw in (originally designed to power football field lawn-cutters) and weigh s 30 I pounds wet. The B r it ish pre s s re p o r t s Harley -Davidson prepared to sink substantial money into their European rac ing efforts, following Walter Villa's wrapup of the 250cc world title. Nothing succeeds like success. Do n Vesco - Worl d 's fastest. Twin Yamaha TZ700s and Vesco brea k Bonnev ille World Speed Mark BONNEVILLE, UT AH, OCT. 1 Veteran Don Vesco, a 34-year-old EI Cajon, Cal ifo rn ia , Yamaha dealer, once again has gained ran k as th e world's fastest man o n two wh eels. Us i ng two w ater- c o oled Yam ah a T Z700 engines in his streamlined motorcycle, Vesco T uesday wh ip ped through the me asured mile o n the famed Bonneville Salt Flats to establish an a ffi cial t wo -way average o f 281. 702 ~IPH. That effort outstripped the previous mark o f 26 5.492 MPH , rec orded alm ost four y ears ago by th e lat e Cal Ra yborn of San Diego . Ra yborn had ta ken the record from Vesco on October 16 , 1970. Just a m atter o f days before the Rayborn r un, Vesco had tra veled more than 253 MPH ove r the salt , becoming the first motorcyclist to top the 250 plateau. " I'm sti ll confident these new engines will go well ove r 300 m iles an hour," Vesco said, after Tuesday's remar kab le ru n . "We had a miss in one of the engines which I th ink I can clear up. This was a pretty smooth ride, considering. It wasn't scary at all ." Vesco's runs T uesday , be sides the ultimate average, established the following AMA and FIM records : Down Ru n: Return R un : 281.030 lm easured mile) 282.375 276.07 3 quarter m ile) 287.539 285.099 (kilometer) 285 .099 He made the runs in early evening, easil y within the prescribed time limit for a two-day effort. Th ey ca me at 6: 12 and 7:05 p.m, Ve sco also operates a "privateer" Yamah a racing team . Shortl y afte r his brilliant performance, he got on th e road and head ed for Ontario Motor Speedway, where his team raced in the final AMA National road race of the season. Is t here such a thing as a spoke torq ue wrench? Sure wo uld be handy. Saturday October 19th OCIR MX will be Buco High School MX night. Winners of the night's racing will be riding for ' Buco helmets or jackets as well as for trophies. Rid ing the grass-eovered track will be riders from several high schools. Team riders w ill also be qualifying for th e Cal ifornia High School State Championship to ' be held November 30th. On thi s side o f the pond, Lane Leavitt, Do n Sweet, Marland Whaley, Steve Darrow, and Mark Eggar, in that order, lead the chase for the firs t U.S. Trials Championship .

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's - Cycle News 1974 10 15