Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

§INSIDE o f us were as ked t o give o ur o p in io n on th is matter an d it's too bad a few Big Mouths ca n ruin it for both male a n d femal e riders, hUI I can ' t really blame Ih eOCMC. Her e's h op in g that th e men won 't thi n k -t hat all o f u s wo men race rs a re so unreasona b le. I ca n already reel those kno bbies goi ng u p m y back. GI NG ER EV AN S Dese rt Wo m en's Divisio n No , 6 Hesp e ria, Calif. ~ t l!"l l' en ..... ..... ..... Opinion 6 O f things A FM and A.I\IA-ish 7 New Bikes A Toad an d a spicy mea tb all 8 Nuts 'n ' bolts A mechanic 's-eye view of Honda 's G L- I 000 Mellow Gold : To hell with kindheartedness 10 50 0 " C" rid ers can' t be wro n g Hotli ne To th e guy wh o cam e into ou r cl ub ca mp a t th e CRC T eam Race J anuary 19, I kno w yo ur number a n d won't forge t. You cos t us a re al fine fin ish position since you never re turned m y tire rep air kit, My b u ddy an d I both go t flats , the club ran out o f sp are tubes, an d I had the only repair kit. I thought all desert people were trustworthy, but you sc re w ed it u p and now nobody gets anything from m e except for our club . .. Se e ya ' later, pit racer! . 12 Weinert gets nudged, Hasten gets hitched a n d this Croft kid win s a lot The Big UA U •••••••• 16, 17 Breaking the jinx with Ro berts, Mr. Bones, an d Darryl Hurst under the 'Dome. North 19 Everybody vs, The Mud Monster Calendar Results Kid, we feel for you . .. 22 25 I own a 100cc T ak a by Ro ckford . I wo u ld like to know m ore ab out it but I ON TI-IE FRONT PAGE: A very m ellow Ken Roberts, the fr othy stuff an d a cu t e friend after the Houston IT. Photo by Richard Creed. have no t see n any manuals o n th em at all. Do y o u thin k you co u ld send m e so me sp ecs o n th em ? I w ould lik e to · kn ow m ore ab o u t m y bi ke be cau se I'm · makin g it in to a racer. BOB GROW Sa n ta Cla ra , Calif. Best we know is to write th e importe r, 191 1 h arriso n R ockf ord Mo tors, Avenue, R ockf ord , Illinois 6 110 1, or find a manual o n a Bridgestone. You sure you want to race that thing ? . ~Edito r Why t here won't be a .Baker-to-Vegas race thi s year Sharon Clayton. Publisher Edna Mewton, Secretary to Publisher. Ad";rti sing Linda Clark. Advertising Manager. Gil Brown, National Advertising Manager ; Otris Kolber, Advertising As sistant; Editorial Charles Clayton, Editor : Lane Campbell , Assistant Editor, Bobi Sceu, Secretary and Cale ndar, Art & Production Catherine Lampt on . Art Dire ctor; Nan cy Gray , Advertising Art Dire ctor; Hector Agu ilera, Lab Te chnician : Marion Hataahita, T ypographer. Circulation Rh eba Smi th . Mana ger ; Pam Hobbs and Chri s Andre ws, Assistan ts. Accounti ng Gaylene Zaionz, Manager: Twila wheeler, J udy Fo uts, Lane Sien k & Mike Klin ger , Assistants : Gary G in n . Cred it Manager , Service' & Support Mike Colikas ; Randy Davis: Bill Runy an ; Jeannie Dunivan, Receptionist. West P.O. Box 498. Long Beach, CA 9080 l. (213) 427-7433 : L.A. Line 6 36-8844. East P.O. Box 805, Tucker, GA 30084. (4M) Q34 ·7850 . Central P.O. Box 13 24 5 , Austin, TX 78711. (5 12) 444-7548. Subseription One year, second class mail $ 12.50 ; 2 yean, second class mail , 522 .50 ; 3 years, second class mail . 530.00 : Single copy pri ce, 50 cen ts. 6~~ Copy righ t Cycl e News . Inc . 197 5: T rad e mar k rt:giltered U.S. Paten t Offi ce. AU right re served . Pub lished weekly ex cept the firs t an d lau wee k o r th e ca lendar ye ar by Cycle News, ln c., P.O . 80 x 49 8. Long Beach. CaJiro m ia . Second class peerage paid at Long Beach . CA . Edit o rial stories. car too ns. p h o tos . ric , are welcom e . Addressed . stamped envel ope assur es re tu rn of unp urchased editorial matter . Rep rinting in whole" o r pa rt o nly by permission o f the" publishers. Adve rt ising rates and circ u latio n info rma tio n will be sent upon req uest . SeC" 4 S.R.O.s . In view o f several legal problems faci ng the Bureau o f La n d Managemen t , a ris ing from a lawsuit bro ug h t b y the En vironment al Defen se Fu nd an d the Sierra Club , who jointly are a tte m ptin g t o bl ock the BLM d esert pl an a n d make it virtually impossib le t o se cure a p ermit fo r cros s-co u n try -racing in the de sert for · some time, therefore Des ert Racing Asso ciation 's th ird runn in g of the Baker-to- Vegas race o ri gin all y scheduled for March 29, 197 5 will not b e run. It would take a gr ea t deal o f time to explain the wh ol e st ory an d circums tance s su rr o un di ng th is d ecisi on bu t we feel so me e xp lana t io n is nece ssary so here it is in a n ut she ll. Due t o the importance o f t he work and th e expense th a t wen t in t o prep arin g th e Environmental Impact St atement f or the Barst o w -t o -Vegas race, that E, I.S . at this tim e is m u ch too valuable to jeopardize by stag ing ano ther event before the fin di ngs from th e stu dy of th e Barstow-to-Vegas race can be completed. The ' Bureau set up some 25 environmental sa mpling p lots o n the cou rse. The p ossibility of a new co u rse or going arou nd the study p lots is o ut. The question now is, ca n this a rea be used f or off-road ra cing? The breaking o f any ne w grou nd is stictly a n o -no u n til the study is co mp le te d. As much as we th e sanctioning a nd promo tin g Association of the event a nd you th e particip ants would lik e to h ave · Bak er-t o-V egas, it could h ave a very adve rse effec t t ha t m igh t very w ell con t rib ute to losing o ut for o ff-road . .racing in this ar ea be twee n Cali fornia and Ne vada fro m n ow on . There is n o gu ar an tee, h owev er, t ha t we will co n tinue t o e nj oy long point-to-point races from Bar st ow to Vegas a n d Baker to Vegas an d a ll we can be assu re d of is that we are n ot co mp o un di n g the injury and di sturb in g the a rea that is now in question. Because the Bureau co u rageo us ly vot ed in favor of issuing the permit for the Bar st ow-to-Veg as race , I feel that we should back them up at least by letting th em 'co mp le te the ir work, that a t this point is the on ly thing t ha t is go ing to kee p u s racing. We a re respectin g th e B L~ I's p o sition and decisio n in this m a tter a nd h op e fo r the sake of al l c ross-coun try racing h u ffs that they ca n come o ut on top. To do an ything in opposinon here would surely be suicidal. Although the Bureau an d motorcyclists hav e not always seen eye to eye, in this p articular situation th e Bureau is n ot our enemy . RONALD L. BURPO Desert Racing Associat io n California City, Cali f. R o n 's right it's pretty much touch-and-go at the mo ment, fo r Barstow-t o- Vegas and all races like it. We 've go t n o choice but to wait, let {he study be co mpleted, and wh ile we 're waiting, write lett ers. To Congress, to th e Secretary of th e i nterior, to the BLM, so that when th e figu res are in, th e decision- makers w ill weIgh th e cost to us and to the economy against the cost to th e lizards and snakes, and yes, the EDF, too . . . •Ed itor Steaming over frosty ... I found grea t dis appointment in reading Ron Schneiders' st o ry on the Frosty Ca ctus run. He m ad e h onest mistakes, like st ating there were 10 ch ec ks when there were on ly nine; but fa ilin g to mention us " C " riders w as a biggy. He said, "Loop Two was for 'A' an d ' B' rid ers." The "C" riders (o ve r 16 ) were required to go both loops an d there was no penalty for them on the first loop, either. Ab out Lo op Two being for "A " and "B" riders on ly, that's almost true. I (as man y"C" riders did) found much of th e ride diffi cult. He sai d t h e o n ly chal len gin g p art of the ride was a ce rtain uphill. Not so . N ot onl y the uphill , but the go rge shortl y a fte r the hill (wh ich was a bottleneck when I go t th ere ), a nd w he re signs sai d " h ard way" a n d "easy w ay ," th e easy way wasn' t so easy, I fee l that since th e m ajo rit y (1400 a t Frosty Cactus) are "C" rid ers, th e family ru n s shoul d be wr it ten jrid den by a "C" rid e r. This way us "C" rid e rs ca n identify with hi m and h is experiences. The article was n ' t a total lo ss . . . I agr ee that the exc uses for not having finishe r p in s are getting o ld . .. Than k you fo r hea ring m e ou t. 1\1. LAPIN S V an Nuys, Calif. Bitch! Bitch ! Bitch ! The o ther evening I gave OCM C a jin gle to find out why the Women 's Division h ad to ra ce with the m en a t their an n ual Great Bear Gr and Prix . Their answer was some of the habitual crybaby ladies weren't happy with the GBGP tentative schedule an d began t o m ake demands so we ended up with what they felt lik e giving us. After su ch a big stink we're lu c ky to b e o n the bill at all. Women's Division racing is coming into its own b u t h asn't matured to th e p o int where we ca n sa fely race on a G.P. co u rse w ith th e m en. If any of th e girls a re hurt we can thank the Big Mo u ths. I'm su re a lot o f men will ge t gy p ped ou t o f their GBGP en t ry this yea r b ecause o f th e e x t ra women en t rie s in their class. I kn o w a lot of lady ra cers a nd n on e TOM SWANSON East /West MC , Anaheim, Calif. Keep an eye on Ron What a pl easure it is to see articles on ATA Trials even ts. I would lik e to th ank you for yo ur men ti on in the January 21 issu e of Ron Do st er . This y oung m an rode h is first trials on March 3 1, 1974 (S DT R Scottish, as a Nov ice) . Sin ce then he h as ridden 12 m ore trials (fo u r as a No vice. ei ght as a n A ma te u r) and is two points a wa y from Exp ert . Since his firs t trials, h e h as had n othing less than a fourth in cl as s. I feel that to become a n Expe r t in less than a year is something very few riders can acco mp lish . .. PA UL E. DOSTER A Happy Pappy San Diego, Cal if. A bad situation On J anuary 19, I was a spec t ator at the NMA race a t Indian Dunes. During o ne of t he ra ces, the water truck was backed across the track. Lu ckily, an ale rt byst an d er flagged the riders down and prevented an acci d en t. The st andard procedure a t this and other cycle parks seems to be simply to drive on th e track and st art watering (esp eci ally during practice). The riders come up beh ind the truck, pass on both side s, and keep on riding. No a tt em p t is made to stop riders during watering. Nobody see ms to re m em b er a few years ago at Baymare the water truck p u lled o n to the trac k an d st arted watering; a y o u ng boy n amed Whit e ca me ove r a rise. hit slick mud. went in to th e truck an d di ed of h ead inju ries , Befo re so me th ing like t h is happen s aga in, all p ar ks sho u ld h ave a h ard rul e o f completely evac uat ing the track before and during watering. Even if th is takes two m en to a water t ruc k. this is cheap in su rance. BOBJ AI\IES Granada Hills, Cali f. Gary Davis Memorial The Plonker T rial s Club would lik e to thank Sa d dlebac k Park fo r t hei r cooper ation for the Gary Davis Memorial Trial. Donations als o were give n by Jeff Koskie-S I 0, Don Rehak- S4, an d others wh o chose to remain an onymous. SHERRY GREGOIR E Garden Grove, Calif. More notes of thanks I would like to publicly express my appreciation to m em bers of the Four Aces and especially to Rescue Three for the p rompt and ex ce lle n t care I received a t the Moose Run after breaking m y colla r bone. Also to m y good friend Tosh Konya, who gave up probably a go od finish a nd a really bitchin' pin to a tte n d to my injuries and bike. Sincere thanks to all of you. ARN A C. DAVIS,JR_ Dirtfliers MC

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