Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Contrary 10 all the rumors - Raw hide Cycle Park is n ot in im rnin e n t da nger of clo sing . Rest easy , Rawhide fan s. If you' re worried that the government may soon outlaw two-strokes and burd en four-stroke motorcycles with catalytic conve rte rs, joi n the AMA and hope their ne wly -expanded Legislative Dep artment can do so me thi ng. It loo ks like th e manufac t ure rs are read y to knuc kle u nd e r without a fight. We ju st got our advance office co pie s of the Cycl e News Postcrbo ok th at will be wra pped aro und deal er co pies o f o ur big End-o f-the-Year issue nex t wee k. It 's fa n tas tic! The d ouble -size, four-co lor poster of EvcI co ming down is pinned up on o ur office wall to rem ind us that yo u don't h ave to succeed to be su cc essful. Subscribers. th ere 's a coupon in this issu e to o rder yo u r Postcrboo k a t half-pri ce (m inus the newspaper). If you don't subsc ribe , co p a co py at your local de aler 's. It's a b ig bang for a buck. .... Il.J ..c E Il.J U Il.J Q THE LATEST o We th ink that was Kent Howerton's f irst ride at Saddleback Sunday, wh ich he won overall. Remember t h e Alamo! WEILEY We'we gotten a lot of letters taking BLM to task for the way they handled Barstow-Vegas matters, but we think the BLM deserves our thanks and our praise more than our criticism. The Siena Clubs and pucker-bush defenders are REALLY ticked off at BLM because they didn't run B-to-V entirely on the Freeway. Grecn Stic ky Progress - As o f Oct. I, 19 74, th e Cali fo rn ia ORV fu nd has Of th is accumulate d $ 1,9 4 7,4 2 I. amount $ 20 3,249 has been spent fo r planning and ad m in istration, S20,67 I for a man an d veh icle to assist 0 RV USCT5 at Anza-Borrcgo Desert Par k, $ 131 ,000 is marked fo r mat ching gran Is for local ORV gro unds in Davis, Marysvill e an d O ran ge Coun ty, S30 ,OOO went for snowmobile trail maps a nd signs and $768,500 is approved and submit ted for ORV areas in Victorville , Tulare, Cerritos and Baldwin Par k , a nd the cou n ties of Sacram ento CMC ro ad rashers' award s bash is a t AI Klin zman's La Posad a a t 2200 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa, CA o n December 22 at 8 p.m. Cost is only S I .50 a head fo r all riders, but yo u must RSVP with cash to Pat Manning a t 340 7 W. Olive, Burbank, Ca . 9 1505 by December 15 so the mai tre 'd will know how much go ulash and beer to serv e ' up. Far o ut! Speedway Motorcycle League, Inc. is signing riders and selling franchises for their first ei!#lt·week season in the spring of 1975. League format envision s twefwe teams in three divisions: Western - Vancouwer, N. Calif., Denver, S. Calif.; Central - Detroit, Chicago, Houston, Ohio; Eastern - Toronto, Northeast, Atlanta and Miami . First and Second Dmsion riders and franchise buyers shoufd contact Jack Long at 555 E. Ocean BlIId., Suite 211, Long Beach , CA 90802. 12131435-8364. Gary Scott has his cast off fro m that broken foot suffered at th e Alb any Mile. alUck Palmgren is in th e hosp it al foDowing c o rr ec ti ve back surgery, h opes to be back on the circ u it a fte r Houston, still with Dan Gurney back ing. Any rider who did not attempt to qualify for the 1974 ISDT team, who woufd like to try in 1975, should contact Jim Nidiffer at the AMA in Ohio before January 15, 1975. Five twcHIay qualifiers are confirmed, with four more likely. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co . is putting up S75 ,000 fo r pro racers to race fo r in th e 1975 AMA Gr and Natio nal Ser ies. Points toward cash pri zes in the Camel Pro Series will be awarded at all 21 events and the to p w inner can co llect as m uch as $25,000 throughout the series . Camel pro motio n peop le will also be helping to publi cize the nationals in every co m m u n it y they co m e to. The local Sun-Telegram da ily newspaper called the Barstow-Vegas race "horrify ing ." What is so horrible about 3,000 people enjoy;ng the dusty desert fo r a da y? AMA put th e minimum age for professional dirt track and ro ad race co mpe titio n back to 16 at their December 4 Professional Rul es Committee meeting in Los Angel es. Pat Hennen won the Au st ral ian Pan Pacif ic Series by one poin t , with a heart-stopping finale at Adelaide, December first. Runner-up Ron Toombs, who had chased Hennen all the way, clipped a concrete rail during a last turn bid to pass, barely rega ined control after touching Hennen's mach ine, and finished a half bike length down. There were six sets of twins among the 4 ,000 licensed AMA professional racers in 1974. Families w ith two brothers licensed are too numerous to count and there is at least one husband-wife combination among AMA pros (Gary and Peggy Fulled . A "M oto J ournal 20 0" race for o ver $ 100, 0 00 purse has been se t for the Paul Ricard circ uit in the south of France June 8. World 's fa st est Do n Vesco will be a guest on TV's game show " Wha t's My Lin e" p retty soon. Contact your local NBC affiliate station fo r the dat e in your area . There's a finn time and place for the 1975 ISDT at last. The Isle of Man, October 13·18. What ever happened to the Over -the -H ill Gang? A 360cc Husky with an automatic transm ission has won a two day trial in Sweden. Test ing Suzukis in Japan must be downrigh t d an gerous. Barry Sheene got off with bru ised rib s and mild co nc u ssio n when a broken b re ather pipe ho sed his fron t wh eel. a nd Stanislaus. More information and delails can be reques ted fro m T rails and O RV Section, Dept. of Parks and Recrea tio n , Box 2390, Sacramen to 958 11. Call (91 6) 445-1370. 2 Reade r Will Dabbs wri tes that a 19 74 Husky, ad ver tised by Imperial Motor Sports of Baldwin Par k, Califo rnia as a 250 five speed WR , turned o u t to be a 250 RT. Neat, if you wanted an enduro bik e, not so ncat if y ou went e xpec ting a 250W R moto cr o sser. The British equivalent of our Laugh·ln Trial is at a place called Wayzgoose. Even that's funny. A Honda Trail 70 won it. It was Merry Christmas early for Kenny Roberts at the AMA banquet in Los Angeles December 5. Ken was han ded checks totalling o ver $57,000 for his share of the po in ts fund , Ca mel Pro Series, and co ntingency po t. Yam ah a laid o n a $20,0 00 presen t for win ning th e number o ne aga in . Roger DeCoster an d Gerrit Wolsink were telling each other they we re in the wr o ng game, as Kenny 's chec ks j ust ke pt o n co ming. Save Memorial Day Weekend 1975 for a big motorcycle Jamboree in Visalia, California. Road ride, races, field meets - the whole tutti-frutti, Mike Runyard got married ov er the Thanksgiving weekend; co ngra t ula tio ns . What can you get for free these days? Well, the new Racecrafters Catalog, for one thing. Get one at their store on Sunset Strip, located between Schwabs Drug Store and the Institute for Oral Love. The British papers say the Benell i Six (remember it? ) is finally in production, with 200 units expected to be read y for export by year's end. Th e facto ry will enter three 1000cc Laverda triples in all the Coupe d ~Enduran ce long distance road ra ces next season . No fina l word o n wh o's riding. Barry Briggs' boy Tony, age 12, wants a crack at Junior Speedway Champ Lance King. The reputation of trial s as an o ld man 's spo rt is rap idly endi ng - even in 15-year-old Chris England , where Sutt on o n a Montesa q uali fied for the prem iere So uth ern Exp erts T rial th ere. And here in California, the domination under·20 riders is so complete, they're going to have to create an Old Man's class for us middle-aged Novices. by Oss a's 125cc Pha ntom m o tocrosser may be d ue fo r re lease soon. It was shown at a schoolboy racing show in Engla nd, recen tly. Don't forget, Cycle News editorial offices will be shut down for two weeks holiday after the next issue comes out. Circulation department will be open for business and deale r reorders. Jim Hunt er fe ll off and b ro ke his shoulder while funning around at th e recent Lau gh -In Trials. Ve-e-ry funny . Now th at so me benefits are beg inning to show from Californ ia's ORV registration program (gre en st ickles}, it's tempting to say "I t old you so:' It 's taken three years, but th at's not very long for a government prograrn to get into gear. Ho llister Hills, the first state green st icky pa rk, is slated to open this summer, probably under' concessionaire management. And if you like the looks of Little rock fo r the next green sticky place, w rite y o ur view to the California State Park s & Recreat ion Department. Don 't miss Modern Cycl e motomonthl y. These last few issues a re Rick Sieman at his b est. Warning: it's not a fa mily maga zin e. Say , doesn 't anyth ing ha ppen in Wash ington and Oregon during the w inter? No indoo r road races? No 24·hour mud marathons? No "B rass Monkey " trials? If you're not all hibernating up there, send us a typed, double-spaced report on what's happening and you may become rich and famous. Uh - settle for famous? Fem inine femmes who dig b ikes (or would like to ) are invited to get in touch wit h Trish a Yoder, fo under of International Association of ' Vo men in Motorcycling (whew) at 2351 Lo ring St., San Diego , Californ ia 92109 or ca ll (714) 278-5590 days, 273 -8566 evenings. She's got a local cha p ter going, and say s it's for any lady with an interest in bikes, skilled rider or no. And th e gu y s are n ot excluded. Sounds like fun . Send us your tale (illustrated or photo if poss ible I of the most creative use of duct tape you've come across. Winner will receive an autographed picture of The Lame Camel falling off. Settle for an autographed picture of MX cat fall ing off? How about getting your name in the paper? Speak ing of the Lame Camel, he 's in semi -retireme nt after s tep ping o ff his swivel chair at "h igh speed one fran tic Mon d ay. Co n valcscing nicely , than k yo u. Maico company makes motorcycles and hearing aids. Guess that's what's called vertical integration. To furth er its ba d-as s image , the A FM heirarch y has d ecided not to raise license fees for 19 75 . That 's if riders renew b y mail o r at cha p ter meetings . O therwise, th e sight o f 40 to 50 re-enlistees in lin e on rac e day makes them so hostil e, it will cost $5 extra to re-up a t th e ra ces,

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