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/125975
Littlejohn Hateley will campaign a private Harl ey -Davidson and his Yamaha Trac kmaster in the AI\IA Nationals this year. If times are so tough, how come more people aren't riding motorcycles for transportation? Maybe because it's not fash ionable? What would it take to get you to ride a scoot to work? I'm really cur ious. Stu Peters tells us th at Pat Manning, the tailor who runs CMC road races, was British Champion in 19 50 and '51 in the Lightweight classes. - A motocross at Ontario? Torrance Cycle Parts has set a 300 rider invitational for March 23 at the famed road race facility. Let's see . .. we could run 'em up the stands, through the V ic t o ry Circle restaurant, then do a 160 mph berm shot off the south banking ... ya' know, it might work. Call (213) 371 -3611 for entry info. The Kawasaki Z· I will become 1000 cc midway through this year. It will be faster than th e Honda GL 1000, since th e 900cc version of the Z· I already is. Cycle Magazi ne's test GL 1000 ran 13.0 and 102 mph in the best of three runs before the clutch blew. What were a Can-Am 250 and Kawasaki KZ 400 doing parked in Honda's R&D department recently? The Honda 1000 originally had self-cancelling turn in dica to rs opera ted by a cab le running to the odometer. After a given distan ce was co vered , they shut o ff au toma tical ly. How ever, the production models will not have th e feature becau se it didn 't work all th e time. lVeslak e speedway engin e is a realit y. English grasstrack star Do n Godden (left) wh o has alread y w on a m eet ing wit h it, and World Finalist J oh n Louis (right) will both campaign the new [ou r-value Weslak e speedway engine during the co min g season. Lo uis kno ck ed 1. 6 seconds off th e old track record while testing at Hackn ey Bowl and was suitably impressed. The zinger is that the lI'eslake engine will cost as mu ch in England as a co mplete ESO /J awa speedway bike. rFHELATESf I P P BY PAPA WEALEY Littlerock Wash is no lon ger bein g considered by the California Parks and Recr eation Department for a Gree n St ick y p ark. Conflict with a local irrigation district was given as the reason for passing up the site, but the Parks people are considering alternat e sites within a reasonable distance of th e Los Angeles basin. The opposition to the Little Rock Wash ORV park appears to be coming from about a dozen entrenched locals with buddies in high places. The kind who think of motorcyclists in terms of "policing problem," "Vandal ism, malicious misch ief" and more to that effect. They'll probably get their way unless you write Trails and ORV Section Supervisor Ronald D. Rawlings at P.O. Box 2390, _ Sacramento, CA 95811 and tell him why a Green Stick ie park in the area is a good one . 2 Steve Hallad ay an d Wayne Co ok won th e S.C.O.R.E. Parker 400 on a much-tricked-out 25 0 Elsinore, blo wing all th e four-wheelers away in the process. To p "car" was pil oted by Malcolm Smith, who would have wo n overall bu t for a b ro ken wheelan the last loop which dropped him to fo urth. A lady staffer at California picked and was startled asked, " Can you just fell off." Scuderia in Redondo, up the ringing phone when the male caller help me? My t ickler H. A. Maxtead e!'joyed th e party honoring his retirement fr om the Nort on Triumph Corpor ation, but he's not goin g to be completely ret ired. Max will still be travelling the trade sho ws for NTC, we ar e glad to say. Cin cinnati wouldn't be the same without hi m. Th e regular AMA flat track season at Ascot Park in Gardena, California will on ly last six weeks th is y ear, April 4 to May 16. We alway s thought the seaso n was too lo ng before, but th is is rid iculous! To avoi d co nflic t with th e mati ng of th e quail an d the blunt-no sed leop ard lizard (what a hybrid th at should mak e) th e Dirt Diggers' Red Garter Nation al enduro has been set fo r March 23, in th e Ballenger are a of Las Padres Nat '!' Forest. With the n ew sche dule, all last y ear 's hassles are apparently set aside. Rudy Galindo is the new AFM Number One for 1975 after the club upheld his protest of the May 12, 1974 results. Rudy beats out Ron Pierce for the coveted dig it. off-road recreation ac tivities All com bine d in the state use only four-ten ths (A) of one per cen t of th e total gaso line consu med in California. Desert along the route of S.C.O.R .E:s 1974 Parker 400 off-roadie was in better condition ecologically after the race than before, according to a BLM report. February 1 was the date of the 1975 race . Look fo r a serni-faeto rv Can -Am road raci ng effort in Southern California club road races th is year. The only publication that regul arly scoops Cycle News is th e lILO.R.E. Newsletter, pu blished for Motorcy cle Owners, Riders, an d Enthusiasts of whenever . funds allow. California Reason it scoo ps us is be cause the editor, publisher, et c. is making th e new s (mo stly good) as well as reporting it. Ju st about all of the moto-monthlies are going up to a dollar soon, if not already. Publishing is like the gas company, the less you buy, the more it costs, apparently. Some of the dollar books are really worth it, too. URebate " is a clean , up standing, Gerry For d kind o f word, wher eas " di scount " is like Nixo n, kinda sly and un derhanded and self-de fea ting in the long ru n. Wh atever it 's called. we are glad 10 see pr ices co mi ng down . May 24, 25 and 26 th is year are the f irst annual " ride your motorcycle days" a nd the best place to be is Tu lare , California. More than - 20,000 bikers of all persuasions are expected fo r a " fa ntastic three -d ay out ing ' and show-of-strength ... • Th is is the one event that every motorcycle e nt husiast in California SHOU LD attend" says Russ Sanford of M.O.R.E. We're gonna be there by bike too, you betcha ! I see whe re the Defense Department has established a Defense Panel on In telligence. They need it. We hear that the National Committee on Un iform Traffic Ordinances, a branch of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, has scheduled a meeting on February 26 to discuss dropping the mandatory helmet requirements on a national basis ! Bikers are urged to write letters to the Executive Director, Edward S. Kearney, and the National Chairman, David M. Baldwin, at 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 430, Washington, D.C. 20510 urging them to drop this stupid law . A WSRA Benefit ha re scr~ mbles held January 12 near Reno , NV. netted about S I 000 for Fred Roge rs and family. Fred had been badly hurt at last year's Wendover race . Carl Cranke showed up on a 400 Penton and blew the Open Experts away. Top mini rider Doug Nicol broke his femur out at Ind ian Dunes and will be in traction fo r some t ime. How ' bo ut a card to keep h is sp irits up? He's at Santa Monica Hospital, Rm . 703 South, 1225 - 15th, Santa Mon ica, California. Mend soon , Doug. Good news: Malcol m Smith's Raci ng Pro du cts will have a la rge stock of those new Girlin g gas-charged shocks in ab out 90 days. They co me in three di fferen t lengths, each with three sep arate da mping settings, so th ey can be used on bikes with standard mounting. " I' m using them now and they are terrific!" states Malcol m. The 13.5 " shock will give 4.3" of tra vel on a standard bike . Gen tlemen , place your orders. Motorcycle Industry Council will be opening offices in Southern California with new Executive Director Alan Isley in charge. James Potter, former Executive Director, heads up the MIC Government Relations office in Washington, D.C. The second round of America Vs, the World Speedway series happens in Costa Mesa. California at the Orange Cou nty Fairgrounds on Mar ch 14 at 8 p. m. The series is being taped by CBS for an up coming lV Sports Spectacular. Husqvama is be ing featured in the May Playboy. Since the British mad e rid ing without helmets a high cri me and misdemeanor, the number of fa tal and serious casualties am ong motorcycle riders and passengers in England rose three percent over the preceding y ear. Apologists for th e killer helmet law claim, however, th at mo torcycle mile age increased "an estimated" six percent, saving "an estimated . . . about 200 de aths and serious injuries each y ear." It would be funny if it weren 't so serious. Greeves motorcycles will continue to be distributed in the U.S. by Nick Nicholson Motors of North Hollywood, California after all. The new owner of the Greeves factory in England, Mr. Brian Gilroy, is a young in d ust rialist and enthusiast who "wants to get the motorcycle development going," and so Nick has decided to stick with him. Gary Sernics and Steve Wise h ave signed for the Kawasa ki motocross learn, and Don Brown (who was injured last year) is on board 10 head Kawasaki's acce sso ry divisi on. Astrodome Speedway to the 'World' side By Bob Dickey HOUSTON , TX., FEB. 2 The six top European speedway racers soundly defeated the top six Americans by a score of sixty-four to fourty-four in the first of a fo ur-match Learn race serie s. Yamaha sponsored the Sunday race as th ey had the Gold Cup T' I' an d Short Trac k. Of the twen ty races an d/or ex hihitions held on the 440·ya rd Astrodo me track, th e Europeans won eleve n. Ivan Mauge r of New Zealand was the to p ind ividu al rider wit h five wins. Mike Bast o f California was the second highes t individual wit h four wins, incl udi ng a • special match race with Mau ger.