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/125977
who were no t professional pr o m o ters and di dn 't ca re an y more if District ra ce s were t hro wn on t hei r trac ks or not. They m ad e m or e money without th e club races , bu t yo u had to do th ings their way o r else. There was no rule book to fall bac k on ; the track owner m ad e his rules his way. . Wh y di d more riders s tar t riding those mdepen d en t races ra ther than District o nes? One rider 's quote, HI h ave m o re fun riding there (referring to Perris). Every one 's not so up-tigh t, an d you don 't have all those dumb r ules that so me cl ubs interpret differently al l the tim e.., If you th ink track owners are m a kin g lo ts of money promo tin g, thi nk again . Perri s once m ade their financial st atemen ts available to me an d those hundreds of dollars aren 't there in a n ice bank acco un t! The Perris track is still going because t he Perris group lov es raci ng. I t h in k yo u ca n look a t Bay Marc's efforts to m a ke it and see the differe nce. Several operators have lo st b u ndl es o n th at track. Why d on ' t m ore riders who are st arting in t o racing take up sc rambles ? Easy. Motocross is th e "in " thing. An d be sid es, it gives you m ore riding, at leas t two 20 -minute mo tos per d ay . Co ntrast th at to riders wh o support ed Sanda k at Coro na t h is season, o fte n n umbering under 9 0 an d who go t only four lap s each time they fired up thei r scoots. If yo u reall y want to have at it , four la ps doesn 't even warm y o u up! All these changes are heal th y, I thi n k. No w the rider ca n p ay his m o ney an d ta ke his ch o ice, he is n o longer forced to rid e District ra ces. The choice is varied. If y ou don 't like one organization, ride ano t her. Ones who don't give riders what they wan t will go o ut of b usiness. Motoc ross h as plenty of othe r-than-District events too. Organizations other than th e AMA can th row ex cellen t even ts. Many riders say better. The growth of the CMC is a case in point. Weekends like those at Escape Coun try keep many riders happy. But the M IA is still where you have to go if y o u a re seriously in to racing, an d have t h ough t of not just a professional career bu t an in te mational one. The AMA is the one th a t will grant you th e necessary licensing and th eir national m otocross sp ortsm an p rogram is a big step forward. Still , Distri ct racin g is troubled an d cl ubs will be h it b y a big ins uran ce p remium to p ay in ' 7 5 . We 're tal king o f a premium of above 160 d oll ars p er TT o r m o tocross event. With a poor entry you can gu ess the results to a cl ub treasury! Bu t insurance is a n ec ess ary expense . " If y o u are a cl u b m em be r an d some nit sues y o u for so me reaso n , all o f you in y o u r cl ub will have to an swer in court an d tha t' s wh y you need that insurance . Need I point o u t th at la wy er s are very ex pe nsive and t hat y o u need one when someone is suing y ou for a mill ion or m ore d oll a rs ? Perish th e th ou gh t , b ut fo ur cl ub s ha ve been h it by la w suits, al l bu t one of t he m for over a m illio n . So racing kee ps ge tting m ore and m or e expensive to everyone . Eventuall y it m ay price itself ou t o f the avera ge p erso n '5 p oc ke t as we get m o re an d m ore fancy with o u r equipment. No longer can you b uy a production sports car and race fo r just a few d o llars. It 's getting th at wa y wi th bikes. A lot of wo uld-be racers neve r ge t to r ace as the cos t goes u p an d the racing ca t gets fatt er and fatter. My editor co nsidered scrambles m igh t die ou r, 111 go hi m o ne better in sum marizin g wh er e the whole raci ng scene m ay be head ed. The day may n ot be too far o ff whe n we 11 have a d ecl in e in every b ran c h of raci n g. Things will get spread t o o thin . T oo m an y races and we'll have to re-gro u p in to a sm al ler p ac ka ge . Feature a d ay when 3 0 or so ride rs show u p at o ne even t when just over t he hill at an o th er venue an o t her 4 0 o r so a re signing in . All part ies will los e out. A new seaso n is beginning and we 'll see wh at hap pe ns n ow th at t he trem endous growth in m o t o rcy cl in g, especially di rt bi king is leveling off. But whil e th ere are t hose o f us who love racing bi kes in an y form, it 'l l still be around but d ifferent. Maureen Lee The trashrnan cometh One of my problems IS, I can never throw anything away. Not that I'm a string-saver like some people (now, rubber bands, that's anothe r thi ng) nor do I rifle mv neighbors' trash tubs on th e kerb these Friday mo rn ings an y mo re. I mak e trash o f my own now th at I am grown up . Clay t on 's first ru le is, " y ou n ever need any th in g so bad as when you 've ju st thrown it out." The b lown-out tennis shoe that you le t the dog b ury so mewhere yester d ay is the very size, sh ape and m olecular composition y ou will need to pad the motorhorne today fro m the ab ras ions o f a carrier -borne bike . I c ould go o n an d on with exam p les o f Clayton 's first rule in ac tio n , co nseq u en tl y I have learned, by madden ing exp eri en ce , n ot to ever t h row any thing com ple tely away. At m y o ffice t here ar e warehouses b ulging with un cl assified docume n ts dating back beyond the firs t issue of Cycle New s. Every unpunctu ated p ress rel ease , eve ry fu zzy snapsh ot of so mebody 's cus to mized Cush m an , every lette r from every daredevil who ever d ecl ared he was go ing to jump a Product de-valuation motorcycle over anything is there, so me where , like Nixon's guilty evidence. I can n o t just sen d it to the sh redder. In one o f those ragged cardboard boxes is Evel Knievel's first clumsy press release. Some future scholar co uld docum ent a thesis with something lik e that. My trash is an arc haeo logical si te, in o ne regard ; on the o th e r hand, it is a m in e of possibilities. I keep n uts and washers like so me people save m oney. Co nseq uently I never lack the ex act fasten er , whatever co m es adrift. Two h ou rs or m ore o f sift in g my gre asy fortune co mes u p always , "Eureka !" Does th e child de molish his electric motorcycle ? Save the m otor an d swi tch and deba te with myself over the broken shards o f plastic . Thus over th e years my pil e has gro wn an d I have inheri ted the tras h pil es of departed fr iends who had th e sam e p ro blem. Wh en I die , m y so n will in herit al l th is. I h ave h igh ho pes for m y heir, wh o sh o ws a n atu ral talent fo r turning eve ry th ing in to u n deba ta ble rubbi sh . If anybody can dispose o f t h is bequ est, surel y it is he . By Lane Campbell Accust omed as we are to using a Barcelona Spee dw rench (a sm all met ric cr escent made in Spain) the " Super Six" spo ke w re nch seemed a neat idea . It 's gradu at ed in two milli meter "st eps" at ei th er end , so theoretically it sho uld fit any n ipPle. Neat idea, but in p ract ice . sp o ke ni pp les are n't the same size across t he flat s. not even on t he same nipple; especia lly if t he y'v e alrea d y been pre tty savagely w renched before you get yo ur "Super Six" on t he m . They' ll be bigger across the flats one way t ha n t he o ther •. R ight avvay. you're red uced to fum b ling fo r th e righ t size each quarter -turn . T hen , if you don' t match up the exact set of flats o n t he tool to t he size o f t he ni pple . it w ill " ca m" insid e the wre nch. Aside fro m ro undi ng the n ipp le co rners , t his a lso e xerts a tremend ous levera ge t hat te nds t o spread the jaws of t he to ol. Ours sprea d all the wa y, very suddenl y . T hough rob ust in appearance. our " Su pe r Six" was d ie cast in b rittle po t metal , subject to sudden brittle fracture . Back to t he Barce lona Speedwrench - sigh . products for the rider who knows "H i, I'm Cal Clayton here, offering this acre and acre of good used ll'l ol'dirt bike, what us here call a ORV '" So you come on d own, huh, and you think I would sell my ' 64 Mountebank ? It 's like my own flesh and blood. It is my flesh and S S poke W uper ixS rench, broke wrench Quality bloo d, lo ok . . . See th is shi n ? The pi vot of th at folding kicks tart is lubed with th e grease of m y bones. When I found her she was on the street. But I kn o cked some o f her rough edges o ff, alon g with the ligh ts and instrumen ts . I know her insides and out, li ke a parts-book. I go t her all the fin est things m oney co ul d buy - n o th in g was to o good for her pl astics, su rgical rubber , Dri-Slid e before eve ry ride ... su re, there were so me bad t!m es t ogether, b u t th er e were th e good LImes, too. Well , yo u look like an all-rig h t d ude. If you real ly think you wa n t to, o kay , take her away . Gim m e six h undred d oll ars. Yes , that's ab o u t wh a t she cost n ew , bu t have y ou priced a new one lately ? O ka y , don 't sh oo t , five-fifty. H e ll o , R o d ? Listen b ud dy , s till go t th at '74 Mazu m a Masticator? Yeah well d o n ' t se ll it t o a nybody til ' I ge t th ere. I go t the do wn . . . wh adday a me an you ch an ge d yo ur m ind about selling it? You can' t back o ut ! Don 't sa y anythi ng, 111 be right th ere . Charles Clayton 1031 West Brooks St., Ontario, California 91762 (714) 986-4537 YAMAHA 360 SINGLE STRA IGHT CUT PRIMARY GEARS WITH FlYWHEEL FOR FlAT TRACK . ,c. ~ . MORE HORSEPOWER ~. MORE TORQUE PRODUCTS 'NCo 2'1 Ol.O MIOQUFI£LD WAY 0 MT ....1 w .CA 9C04 3 0 34 f;. 141~ ) 9l'I1-2oW15 Who did how ? Read Results. 7 14-525·7606 15