Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Injury informat ion INSIDE 6 Co uld yo u p lease give m e so me statistics o n rid er inju ries (pe r year) in motocross. It's fo r th e m otorc ycle cl ub at school (More no Vall ey High ). We're go ing t o p resen t a report to the sc hool board t o see if we can b e recogn ized as an o ffi cial school cl u b. ,8 BRYA N KNOX S unny mead, Cali f. , Frosted URA 's Fro sty Cactus, "fantastic view " an ' all Gassed Frothing-at-the-shock department . Dabbed 10 Bryan, th ere are so many alphabet -soup out fits p romoting mo to cross that there 's n o o ne se t of injury figu res for th e sp ort as a wh ole. At a gu ess, figu re a well-supervised eve n t sh ou ld have an injury rate eq ual t o or less than foo tball o r soccer. Ho w ab out it clu bs? Insurance comp aniesi Can yo u give us a ny statistics o n expecte d injury rates? .. . Editor. Griffi tths kic ks o ff ATA trials season righ t 12, 13 Raced At th e Ponderosa, Car lsbad. and points be twe en Tested 16,20 Two 125s from Honda a bumbleb ee wit h kn ob s. an d Nord; Calendar Pix 22 26 , , , . .29 Ride a little, wait a lot A night ga llery of m o t o cro ss by Andy Hay t, Results Surplus Cat : .. , ,., 30 36 Th e bargain s yo u get fr o m the govern me n t, th ese d ays. . ON T HE F RON T PAG E: Bubbles by L ane C ampb ell , Ron Sch nei d ers an d o ur o wn Art Lad ies. Bike s b y Yamaha a nd assorted supp orter s. Dirt by Go d . Sharon Clayto n , Publisher Ed na Mewtcn, Secretary to Publisher. Advertising Linda Clark, Ad vertis ing Man ager. Gil Brown, Na tional Adve rt ising Man ager ; Chris Kol ber , Advertising Assistan t. Editorial Charles Clay to n. Ed ito r; Lane Campbell , Assist ant Editor, Bo h i Sco tt , Sec retary and Cale ndar. Art & Production Catherine Lampto n, Ar t Director : Nan cy Gray. Ad vert ising Art Directo r ; Agu ilera, Lab Technician ; Hector Mario n Hatashita , Typographer. Circulation Rh eba Smit h, Mana ger ; Pam Hobbs an d Chris Andre ws, Assistan ts. Accounting .. Ga;rlen e - Zai on z, Mana ger; T wila Wheeler . Judy Fou ts, Lan e Slee k & Mike Klinger. Assistants: Gary G in n , Credi t Manage r. Service s & Support ~(jke Coli kas ; Ran dy Davis: Bill Ru ny an ; Jeannie Dunnivan , Recep tionist. West P.O. Box 498 , Long Beach, CA 9080 I. (2 13) 427-74 33 ; L.A. Line 636-8844. East P.O. Box 8 05 , Tucker. GA 30084. (4 04) 934·7850 . Cen tral P.O. Box 13245 , Austin. TX 78711 . (5 12) 444-754 8. Sub scr ipt ion One year, secon d class mai l $ 12.50 : 2 years , seco nd class mail , $22.50 ; 3 years , seco nd class mail , $30.00; Single co p y price . 50 cen ts . 4 Copyright Cvc te News. [n co 19 74 . Tra de mark regtseered U.S. Pa ten t Offi ce. All rights reserve d. Publi shed weekly except the first and I", t wee k of t he calendar year by Cycle News. Inc•• P.O . Rox 49 8. Long Beach, California . Seco nd dan poltaR e pa id at Lo ng Beach , CA . Editorial sto riea, car too ns, ph ot os. et c. arc' we lco me. AddrelJed . atarn pe d enve lope a ~surC'5 re t urn o f unpurchased edi torial matter. Reprinting in whole or part only by pe rm ission of the pub lisher l. Advcrtisin jit' rat es and cirewation in form at ion will be sen t upo n req uest . See S.R .D .S. How to deal with the Sierra Club: "Coexist with it " , T he see mingly endless battle between o RV p e op le a nd co nserva ti o n ists frankly leaves m e q uite frustra ted . All the claims an d co u n te r-claims, charges and co u n t er-charges are non-pro d uctive babble. I've always co ns id ered m yself to be eco logy mi nded, a co nse rvatio n ist . . . I use m y motorc ycle in an effo rt to see nature close up . I said see it , no t d estro y it. . . . There are coun tless enem ies o f na t u re th at need t o b e fo ugh t . I don 't th ink ORVs belong in th at gro u p. I feel no shame when I leave an im prin t of m y knobby o n the Mojav e Desert . Dirt h as been around a long t ime a nd is no t in danger of b ecoming extinc t. Tho se wh o co nd em n ORVs for m essing up d irt c o uld better serve the need s of co nserva tio n in other areas . Cond e mn tho s e wh o d estro y, whateve r th eir sport. Conservationists must co nc en trat e their effo rts o n people who don 't und ersta nd the need to preserve nature. Th e time has com e to stop bi ckering a nd get to work while there is sti ll so mething to sa ve ! MIKE BARTON Chino , Cali f. "Join it and take over" Firs t let me say I h ave no Si erra Club co nnec tio ns. I wish t o di sagree with J ohn Ulri ch's 19 ; 3 co ncl u sio n th a t th e C l ub wi ll nego tia te an d is no t a n t i-O RV . .. Base d o n h isto ry , as reported in Cycle News, I've fo rme d my op in io n of th e Sierra Club . Sin ce th ey will not negotiat e with us , ne ver sup po r t areas fo r o u r us e, o p pose posi tive alternatives, I'm forced t o co ncl ude the Club is not a tr ue co nservatio n organiza t io n. but one whic h sup p o rts its fav orite fo rms of r ecre a tio n as t h e o n ly o ne s allo wab le . . . So how do you com bat su ch a gro up? On e solution would b e to form an ORV o rga n ization t o co un terac t the Sierra Club , b ut we alrea dy have two . llle AMA has 150,000 to 200,000 members, while I re ad th at the Sierra Club has a national mem b ershi p o f 400,000. In Cali fo rn ia th er e's M.O. R.E., with 5,000 while th e Si erra Club has 80 ,0 0 0 in the state. I'm no t down gra ding A~ [A and M.O . R.E . , but even with th e members , th ey h ave an uph ill fight aga inst th e older, established Si err a Club. Why no t join the Sierra Club ? Wait. Think ab o ut it. If 100,000 O RV'ers joi ne d , we co uld help elect sensible lead er s. people wh o believe in find in g so lutions tha t benefit bo th sid es, not ju st o ne. It's your ch oice. S ure, m y propo sal is al m o st selli ng out t o them , at least at first . But reall y , it's either th e Sierra Clu b o r o ur o wn o rga niz atio ns. I'd pr efe r to see M.O. R. E. or AMA as o u r spo kesm en , b ut sin ce fe w join them, I'm suggesting a n alternative. Either way, it's yo u r land ... fo r now . K EN PA RTRIDG E Fo res th ill, Cali f. " Fight them ... " . . . Th e id ea o f trying to cooperate wi th th e Eco -extrernist s is no t a no vel one. It has been tried in th e pas t and each time in th e final o u tcome th e o ff-reader too k it in th e ass. Point Mugu, the Sa nta Mo nica Mountain s, Coyote Can yon a nd A n za Borrego a re a fe w of th e areas where the off-read er sided with the environme ntalists aga inst la nd develope rs. As so o n as the battle W ..lS won, the ceo-nuts tu rned like m ad dogs a nd did th eir be st to have ORVs banned from th ese areas . Brotherly lov e with the posey sniffers ma y m ake gre at co py , but in the "real world," I d oub t it. Th ese a re my own pe rsonal feelings, but they co me from ove r six yea rs o f in-depth in volvem ent. J AM ES R . STRA CHAN C.O . R.V.A., Culver City , Cal if. Viewfinders strike back This is a re p ly to M. Keep ers' letter on 124 -; 4 stating th at one o f our riders, 6 9c, was riding in th eir campat night. This is u ntrue. Th is M. Keep ers is of the San d Sailors ~lC , whose m em ber ship d ropped 9 0% las t Oc to ber 26 because o f t he K e ep e r s ' in c omp a ti b il i t y wi t h the o ther member s. It see m s to us when 18 active ra cer s walk a way fro m a cl u b at o nce, so meth in g is wro ng. VIEWF IN DERS MC Chatswo rth , Calif. Amen for the Reverend I d o n 't kn ow h ow m any times yo u've been o ut la tely , or eve n if you 've seen th is sai nt, b ut I've been o u t quite a b it lately, a nd it seems I see him all the time. (May be so m eo ne is try in g t o tell m e something.) I've been to th e Gringo 10 0 an d near th e finis h I see h im stopped hel ping so m eo ne o u t. At the Little T uffy I h ad a buddy wh o was bad ly in need o f water at the bo t tl en ec k . Well, the Rever end cam e up a nd ga ve hi m wh at water h e had in h is can teen , then p ushed his b ik e ou t of that ca nyo n. We st ayed o n top of th e hill to rest , but th e Rever end went d own to help others o u t of the ca nyo n. I ran C RC Hare Scr ambles o u t at Ch ar les, guess who 's there checking the last ch eck? Yep , th e Re veren d. A.C. Bak ken was lead ing b y 3 0 to 40 sec o nds and the Rever e nd gave Brooks the winning sign . . Sure en oug h, Bro o ks overt o o k Bakken. Is th is man o rdained, d o you know? I know h e 's with URA, beca use I hear he hold s early su nr ise serv ices and Bib le rea d ings . • Is it possib le that Larry Lan gley an d th e rest o f th e gro up arc getting Grace from the Reverend ? I' m sure o th er mo torcy cli sts wo ul d be intereste d in his services. At the Ho o k & Lad der tro p hy presen ta tion , I sec th e Reverend big as ever ta lking and joking aro und with Malcolm Smith . Wh o is h e? SAM HOW ARD Los An gcles , Calif. Having ju st a rr ived in SoCal, I was di sappoin ted in th e cycle par ks I saw . They ar e a jo ke, esp eciall y when they cal l th em selves "family " recreation cen te rs. Th ere is no pl ace for the recr eat io nal rider - that is, a nyo ne w h o se ri di ng sty le is no t WFO motoc ros s under incred ib ly c ro wd ed co nd it io ns. I thin k it's great fo r th e race r , don't ta ke it a way fr om th em . But what abo ut m e an d ma n y m ore like me ? I'm disap pointed th at every thing is co m pe t itio n-o rie nted . What's wro ng wi th co m pe ti tion? You ride very lit tle an d wai t arou nd a lot. Is th ere any place to ride , wherever you wa nt, rel a tively un cr o wded , in te resting a nd vari ed te rrain, and I d on ' t m ea n up a nd do wn the sam e sheer cl iff all d ay lo ng like I saw at the c ycle parks. Ho w about it ? FRAN K AHLG REN Sy ma r, Calif. Th e d esert and Baja are still goo d. A lso. ex plore the "trials " areas in the back half of Saddleback, It 's less crowd ed, plen ty of variety and tight trail that stress es skill rath er than speed. For compet ition , try so me of th e fam ily end uros or trials in the Calend ar; you get a pretty fu ll day S riding out of th ese and in not totally IVFO all th e time .. . Ed. Think about it ./ Recently I read in your pap er that th ey spen t a lot of money to chec k air poll ution fro m th e Barst o w-to -Vegas race. Hav e th ey th ough t to worry ab o u t th e po llutio n from the jets a t Palmdale Airport a nd Geo rge o r Ed wa rd s A FB? I bet th eir p oll u tio n is at leas t 10 0 time s worse a nd t hei rs occu rs every d ay o f th e year. So .wh y d on 't th ey fu nnel their m o ne y to stop th e "large scale polluter s " ? Mainly th e fat cat d evelopers wh o wo uld love nothing better th an t o build th e d eser t in to a n o th er sp ra wling ci ty suc h as L. A. Th en th ey wouldn 't have to wo rry ab o ut the terribl e d esert racers ru ini ng and poll uti ng th e d ese rt any lo nger . .. Wise up, Sierra Club (ED F , Etc)! We lik e the desert as much as anyone. BRUC E WI L LlA~lS ON Phelan, Calif Another thanks and no thanks I and my fa m ily wo uld p ers onally l i ke to th ank 1 5·year-o ld Ken McWillia ms fo r what h e d id at Stat e Line, Nevad a on Friday, No vem ber 2 9 th in n otify ing th o se co nc ern ed a nd call ing th e a m b ula nce to th e scene o f a d u ne bu ggy acci d ent wh ich killed one wo man and inju re d ano ther. We would also like t o sa y no tha nks to an ind ivid ua l o f th e O.C.M.C., who was mo re co nc erned with hi s p lace in th e pit than with wh at had happe ned . He was only asked to keep th e Rover area clear so a nyo ne co m ing in d u rin g th e nigh t wo ul d get the m essage. (Bo n nie was with th e Ro vers.] Thanks again . Ken, and no th an ks , Mr _J . o f the O .C.M.C . R UT H, RO BIN", CHRIS , & TE R Ry J West Covina, Cali f.

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