Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(Co ntin ued from page 7) 15180R RA YM ER STREET VAN NUYS. CALIFORN IA 9T405 $ ==== OK , AI . ,.V~ mark ed th e rank (sJ and the col or( s) I want plus "ny SCCt1$$(}ries. I'm sending by Credi t Card). Please $hip m y stuff the fastest way for the Holiday s, /'I1".y the fees on 0 1000 150 D 17S 0 300 0 150 O J50·7J.74 Vaml h. m U 5 el . O Vl m hi VZ D eZ o M. ico D Bult. co D Hond, EI,inD" & Suzuki 1M @$24.95 el . mis Md. O Vented l4·turn G8Cl P."1.9S ... o Gasbnk Mounting Kit Qil SZ 1I' .9' . Show color choice by writing " t" or "2 " in bOil: 0 Red D Whil1 0 Blu. 0 Yellow 0 Silwer o Ol'llnl i Name City Address_---,---, Stat e o MasterCharge 0 BankAmericard ---,,--Zi p -,-Ekpires-== No . _ _ = =-. AL BAKERRESEARCH & OEVELCJ'MENT SPEClALIZES IN EOJIPMENT FORTIiE tn'oIDA ELSIIIKJRE !""-'''-'-''' 9. Husqvarna International Training Center presents "Here in America, zf a rider wins one or two races he already thinks about being sponsored." 1975 Sched ule Janu ary 2 1 th ru January 24 Carlsbad, Calif orn ia and Ocala, Florida Special East er Vacation Classes Janu ary 28 thru January 31 March 25 thru March 28 and April 1 thru 4 Carlsbad, Calif orn ia onl y Carlsbad, Calif ornia February February February February 4 t hru 7, 11 th ru 14, 18 thru 2 1, 24 thru 28 These classes all to be held at Carlsbad Racew ay March 31 thru April 4 Grand Junction , Co lorado April 7 thru 11 Salt Lake City , Ut ah April 14 thru 18 Boise, Idaho For information wri te : H.T .C., 933 So. Santa Fe, Vista, CA 92083 714-724-809 1 or 7 14-729 -3492 Hey, Subscriber! Order your Cycle News I Posterbook for 50¢. I I I 28 t op two or th ree rid ers m ovi ng to in t ernati o na l class . Once you e nter t he intern atio na l clas s yo u ca n obtai n your FIM lice nse which allo ws yo u t o ra ce a nywhe re . You still must finish in t he t op t hree in National even ts if yo u a re t o co n te st t h e GP circuit. Yo u m ust be t he best in yo ur class for fo ur y ears to earn a pl ace o n th e G P gra d ing list . . . It takes tremendo us d esire to ac hie ve a sp o t o n th e list an d t h en yo u mu st cam yo ur spot eve ry ye ar . . . I thi nk it ma kes fo r a much mo re m at ure ri d er. CN : It sound s lik e what we 'r e t alking ab0l!.U~J)ay ing yo ur dues. JL : Yea. T ha t 's where d es ire co mes in . Yo u really h ave t o wa nt to b e a p ro fessi o nal in Eu rope. AJ : You ha ve to learn to d o all tb e work yo urself. It 's Too easy he re to ge t a bi ke. I 't hin k m o st American riders d o not have a re al inter est in bikes a nd This colle cti on of six snappy, eye-po pping cycle posters comes wrapped around retail co pies of Cycle News year-end issues and costs $1, But because yo u subscribe, yo u can orde r one for only 50¢ and one address label from yo ur current subscript ion, Attach mail label here, I I rid ing, T hey d on ' t w o rk on the b ike s the y use. T hey j ust ta ke t he m as they get t he m . It 's too easy . PK: I know a lo t o f American rid e rs who d on ' t even know how a spark plug wor ks; th at is p o ssib le becau se so me ge t a sponso r so fas t. All t he y d o is worry abou t th eir ow n p hysical co nd it io n , Will tha t eve n t ua lly mak e a b etter rid er ? I do n 't think so . A rider must know what goes on inside th e e ngine , how the sho cks a nd s us pensio n w o r k: that is what will eve n t ua lly m ak e a b ett er rid er. RD : You must give Brad La ckey a lot of cred it because he co uld m ak e much more mo ney ra cing in the U.S. t ha n he did in Eu rope . He has go ne ov e r for th ree seasons no w just t o ge l exp erience a nd I hope it will end up good fo r h im becau se he deser ves it. 1 feel a p art o f th e problem is t hat Am e rican rid er s have no he roes to lo ok up t o as we do and d id in Eu rope ; t her e a re no Rol f T'ib b l in s o r To rs te n Hall rna ns in Am e rica for th e yo u ng rider to sa y "I'd lik e t o b e like h im so me d ay" . I th in k t hat th e d ay an Am erican w ins a World Champio nship t here will be much m o re in te res T fo r yo ung rid ers. CN: The G P rid ers formed a rid er s' ass o cia tion in 197 3 . Why ? RD : The id ea was to give the rider s so me representa tio n. Usua lly th e riders will not stick toget he r; o ne rid er w ould co m p lain abou t t he tr ack co nd it io n s o r dust but t her e wo uld be no so lid e ffo rt. At th e Au str ian G P, ( The GP was run after th e course was cleared of m ow and m ost of th e rid ers bo y cotted the ev en t; h o w e ver GP p oin ts were still aw arde d to t he r i d e r s r-m ai n l y t h o s e f ro m c o m m u n is t c o u n t ries-w ho had no choic e but to rid c. ] we proved that alm o st all rider s co uld stic k t ogether. It hap p e ned at another race also . Wit h the riders' associa tion I t hink we ha ve a little more voi ce wit h the o rgan ize r an d with the F I ~ l. T he Fll\1 allowcd a rider e rep r e s en tativ e to attend a m ee ting ea rlier this year in Gen eva whi ch is a first . Also we see m t o be ge tting so me response fro m th e p romo t ers wh o a re listen ing t o us . What we need t o d o is get m or e o rga ni ze d a nd ge t a full ti me sec re t ary so we co uld do much m ore , We d o p retty good , t hough . (Gerrit W o ls i n k, pr e sid ent an d ri d e r repr esentative to th e Gen eva meeting was in Japan wh en th e di scussion was tap ed . Whe n h e was qu estio ned th e fo llo wing week Wolsink state d h e fe lt t hat t he riders association was ma k ing a goo d deal of prog ress but that there was still a lo t to be don e.} CN : Do yo u th ink it would be a go od id ea to ha ve rid er associat io n in t he U.S .? PK : No . We have a p rett y good say already in t he AMA. 1 d o n ' t t hink we have a co m m un ica t io n p roblem here lik e th ey have in Europ e. JW : We d o n't reall y ha ve a ny p ro b lem s. JL : T he AMA riders don 't really need a n association. O nce in a wh ile we o ffic ials los e sight of wh at 's im po rt a n t a n d wh a t isn' t. T he n w e ne ed a reminde r. but 1 d o n ' t th ink- we ne ed a co n tin u o us fo rma l remin d er lik e th ey do in Euro pe . PK: T he refe ree her e kn ows all the rid er s. b u t in Eu ro pe every week the ra ce is in a di ffere nt co u n tr y. It be comes impo ssib le fo r a refe ree to kn ow the riders so there is a d istance betwee n th e rid er s a nd the officia ls. RD : I t h i n k t h e co m m unic ati o n between t he rider an d t he refer ee in t he AMA is a go od thing. O ur proble m st ems from alw ays racin g in a d ifferen t co u n t ry with a d iffe ren t la nguage a nd a d iffere nt re fer ee . They are usually o lde r pe o ple wh o have ra ce d on ce the mse lves 30 yea rs ago and , if yo u tell t hem abo ut t he co nd itio ns and to change th e m, t hey say " I w as racin g a nd o rgan izing lo ng ago and yo u've b een in it on ly a sh ort t i m e . You do n 't tell me any t hi ng becau se I kn ow be tte r t han yo u' " C I\' : I can see a lac k of com m u n ica tio n t he re alrigh t. J ust how much d o tr ack co n d i l i ons vary b etween h ere and Europe ? GRO UP : Most of t he t racks he re t hey make to o easy They make t he m fo r the spe ctator. T hey are to o sm ooth .. . . In Eu rope you race o n any t hing. They would m ake you race o ff buildings if the y co uId work th e m in t o the co urse . . . .So m e of o ur co urses are bad and d an ge ro us . BL: T he re a rc so m e good tr ack s in t he U.S. b ut I d on't get as ex ci ted here as I d o r a cin g o n a good , to ug h an d d emanding t rac k in E urope . CN: It see ms th at we m a ke m o st of o ur tra cks fo r the spe ctator and no t for the ride r. JW : Yes . Righ t no w we have t o make th e track s for t he spect at or because th at's wh er e we are getti ng our mone y . I think grad ually we ca n get away from th at but , fo r th e immediate future, we will have t o stay th at way . PK : The promo ter kn ows that he has to pu t on a sh ow fo r the spectat ors o r he 'll be o u t o f b usiness next year . I ag re e the spe ctators sho uld get a show, but t here is no nee d to tak e all t he bumps awa y and mak e it a TT. I'm sure that if mos t tr ack s wer e natural lik e (Unad illa) New York t hat t he spe ct at ors wo uld lik e the m. JL : Lo o k at th e popularity o f the Superb owl and Day to na. Th ey're pure specta to r sho ws . eN : We agree we have to sell th e spe ct at ors o n t he spor t ; but is st ad iu m MX th c co m ing th ing?

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