Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

' r The AMA rightfully pointed out t hat nearly half the Barstow-to-Vegas race course is in a so nic boom corridor. Can y ou feature what a high-speed lo w-altitud e pass by a military aircraft will do t o your eard rums, much less a lizard's? The BLM invites you to attend and participate in a planning session to manage the Red Mountain and EI Paso, California desert areas. The object is "ide nti f icat io n of impo rtant issues, problems and opportunities early in the planning stages:' Meetings are at Trona High School, Bur roughs High in Ridgecrest and L.A. Water and Power Building in Los Angeles at 7 :30 p.m. on February 26, 27 and 28 respectively . ECOLOGICAL COMPENSATI ON: If all 3,000 m ale Nobius Californicus Racers) did a (California Desert Hazlewood on the starting line of the Bars tow-To-Vegas race, the am monium and phosphate nutrients thus dep osited in the desert wo uld sustain en o ugh forage to feed 150 wild burros, 4,200 d eaf lizards, 18 gila monsters and 25 0 ,000 dung beetles for a year. But that wo uld be wrong. A tip of the Wealey hot hat to Jack Wollard, 50 , who almost single-handedly forced the city of Los Angeles to start coming up with some cycle parks for the kids and grown·ups in San Fernando Valley. Lopez Basin at the en d of Maclay Street see ms as good a place as any to start. Kinda rocky, t hough. Looks like Team Kaw asa ki ha s decided to contest the Isle of Man with works riders Mick Grant and Barry Ditchburn on KR750s. Co ndolences to Dud Perkins, Dudley Jr., Bill and Joan on the loss of Mrs. Eileen Perkins, w ife and mother, who died of flu compl ications at 83. Motorcycle Owners, Riders and En th usiasts of California re comme nds th at yo u o btain liability in suran ce for y our street or road bike immediately, sinc e the new sta te m anda tory insu ra nce law is super-t o ugh if y ou become involved in an ac cid en t with o u t ins uranc e. Even if it isn 't yo ur fault . AFM racers will be interested to know that Yos hi m ur a Ra cing is o ffering co ntingency p rizes of S100 first place , $50 second place and $25 th ird pl ace to rider s ru nning th eir Honda or Kawa saki fo ur -stroke eq uip me nt. Contact th em at 330 Easy Street, Simi Valley, Californi a 93065 fo r stickies and all info rmation . Senate Bill S.R. 307 (Mills) is in the California hopper to appropriate $2.2 million for a Green St ickie park at Ocotillo Wells, near San Diego . Needless to say, if you d ig it, write your state legislator(s), Th e Eastcoast Road race rs Assoication is starting their season wit h a swap meet and pr actice sessio n March 29. What a neat idea for others to copy ! After Houston, th e AMA Gran d National p oin ts leaders are as fo llo ws: Mark Williams 198 , Kenny Ro berts 172, Darryl Hu rst 16 5, Gary Scott 13 2, Dave Hansen 13 2, Randy Clee k 12 0 , Dennis Briggs 88, Dave Aldana 83 , Rick Hocking 77 , an d John Gennai 66. Yamaha alr eady l e ads the manufacturers' points standings by a factor of · two to one over Harley-Davidson. And they were angry because we d idn't ca ll the Astrodome Nat ionals by their " p ro per" name, the Yamaha Gold Cup. Tsk. Fuel in the frame -is there nothing new? This 1914 "rnonocoque" Pierce, by the makers of the famous . Pierce-Arrow cars, was acquired for $11,100 to grace Bill Harrah 's muse um in Ren o , Nevada. The mac hine is not a resto ra tio n - it's all original, right down to the Pierce decal! Team Suzuki at Daytona will consist of Stan Woods (Eng.) Barry Sheene (Eng.! Tepi Lan sivuori (F in.!, Paul Smart (En g. ), Gary Nixo n and Dave Aldana. The 750 Suzies will ha ve six-speed gea rboxes t his y ear. Cycle News again offers its regional AMA flat track contingency p rizes in 19 75. Send a sta mped , addressed en velope fo r the valuable stic kles, if y ou plan to win. one , too. After about the fo urth round o f the 250cc World Championsh ip , look for t he Bultaco fa ctory t o t rick J im Pomeroy out w ith all-new machinery aga in . Reme mber Bria n Masterso n, who has bee n rid ing de sp ite the fact t ha t he shed his righ t leg at t he k nee? He's looking to ente r t he Mini Mint , and has as ked that we ru n h is address, so that other y o ungsters wh o ha ve a sim ilar ha ndi ca p might w ri t e h im: he 's at 15 307 South Prairie Ave nue, Lawndale, California 90260. British promoters have approached Mike Bast about ridi ng league speedway this year. Harley-Davidson is m ar ke t ing its " SX" 250 single in Engl and as a road bike .. . lo w pi pe , big front brake, the whole shot. Dealers report sale s of high -ticket models like t he BMW R·90S , Kawasaki Z-lA and Ho nda 750 are good. Cadillac sales are at an all-ti me h igh , sa me with motorhomes. Guess t he idea is, if you are booking a t rip on the Titan ic, you might as we ll go first class. J im Fox wen t to a lo t of expense to build an all-ne w Kaw 125 KX fo r T eddy Davidson th e num ber six Expe rt in District 36. Fo x says it will win th e 125 National at Han gt o wn , California Ap ril 6. / Japan's Hiroyuki Kawasaki w ill rid e a TZ750 Yamaha in the Daytona 200-miler. In ter-Am aluminum handlebars are the first non-steel handlebars approved for co mpetition by AMA. Ha r ley- Dav i dso n ( nee Aer macchi) brough t a 500 twin to Mon za fo r tes ti n g fitted with an en gine -mou n te d rear b ra ke to red uce rear wh eel u nsp rung weight. The British reported imm ed iate controversy surrou nds the Har ley-patented brake , as ap paren tly arc h-rivals MV are testing Cal ifornia's District 36 has inaugurated a " Cross Coun try n co mpetition division. Moto crossers who'd like to convert , or acqu ire a cross-country card, contact stewar d Bruce Yo ung, (916 ) 783-5 67 6. Straightline speed fre aks can order a Bonneville "memento package " consisting of T-shirt, license plate frames, embroidered emblem, decal, brochure and 1975 rulebook fo r S7.95 plus 50t handling from Bonneville Nationals, In c., 11919 East Washington Boulevard, Whittier, California 90606. U.S . Senate bills 72, 73, 74 an d 75 would make "wild e rness" out of m illions of acres of good Califo rnia trailrid ing count ry . The Sie rra Club Senators Cranston and Tunney are t he culprits and the only way to t hw ar t them is to write to all the other Senators ask ing them to vote no. Admissio n to th e AMA Awards Night cere mon ies o n Mar ch 6 at the J ai Alai Fro n to n in Daytona Beach, Florid a is fre e to th e firs t 5,000 AMA me mbers who p rese nt th eir membersh ip ca rds at t he door. Door prize is a new Suz u ki RE-5 Rotary , donated by U.S. Su zuki. Michael DiPrete of Keene, N.H. is the new AMA Profess ional MX Manager. He organized the Rokon factory teams for Six-Days and motocross. Al\tA is offering a new Minicycle motocross and dirt track program that will award 24 re gional titles in 19 75. Central and Eas tern regionals begin Jun e 21-22 and the West schedule is to be announced. DeAnza Cycle Park, Sunnymead, Cal ifornia, ha s laid on a $5000 purse championship hillcl imb for the weekend of May 10-11. A p air of th e new alum inu m Ko ni GP sh oc k absorbe rs wil l lay down fo r about $ 13 0. Ask for the 76V model. Littlejohn Hateley will temporarily replace Mike Kidd on the Triumph-Norton racing team. Kidd re-bro ke h is left leg when it caught a hole on the dangerous Ross Downs, Te xas track. Here 's another address people have been asking for: 175 West Fifth Street, San Bernardino, California 92415. It belongs to the San Bern ar di n o Coun ty Board of Supervisors, and you might want to r e p ly after their recent resolution for abolition of the calling Barstow-to-Vegas run. Be polite. The Lame Camel won a Playboy tennis racquet as a door prize at t he Kawasaki road race unveiling. He went out and played 18 holes w it h it , but couldn't get below par. I think he gave it to his wife. Marty Tripes is still experim enting, tryi ng both a Bultaco and a Maico at a recen t CMC m otocross. Watch out for speed traps on Cajon Pass near San Bernardino. It's their way of paying for schools without raising taxes, the cop said. At least he was an honest thief. (Continued on page 20) . 3

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