Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Mike Ru nyard (former Suzuki facto ry r ider) h as bee n campaigning a privateer 360 Husky in the Florida series. Mike was doing wel l with third and seventh place finishes under his belt when his bike was ripped off. All is not lost though, Mike has been con tacted by Can -Am to ride in the 250 class and is to p ick up his new m achine this week. Th e APB on Mike 's Husky is: Frame No. MLOI023 , Engine No. 204 50 773 1, missing air box and up -pipe. Californ ia pri vateers didn't do badly at this year's Daytona 200: Steve Mclaughlin hung in with a sixth overal l and Ron Pierce in at eighth. West Coast Bultaco Rep. Mike Hannon has gotten a sneak preview of Jim Pomeroy 's new GP bike and says that it is a very trick piece of machinery . Ron Pierce, who fin ished eighth in the 200, lost his rear brake and said that the new super-wide ti res caused accelerated brake wear• . The road racing associat ion of Honolulu is now ho ldi ng CMC , road races in Hawaii. I Easter Week bash scheduled at Escape Country March 22·30, a nine day hang gliding festival with CBS coverage, spiced with big purse mo tocross the 23rd and 30th. Tickets are now on sale at Ticketron, $15 including camping and night sports for the whole week. Been reading y our funny pap ers lately? (No t the headlines, the ca rt oons in the ba ck). It seems Charles Schulz (Pean uts ) is getting Snoopy tuned up for a test match with The Cat. Y'all ready , Tony ? The Dirt Diggers' Red Garter Enduro, t he Hangtown Classic, an d the Polka Dots' 49-er all have one thing in common. Th ei r entries are all filled . Sorry . This little to mcat see ms to smell quality. It 's a made-in-India replica of a S teib Series 200 sidecar using genuine Steib suspension components and available soon t hro ugh Sidestrider, In c. at a ridicul ous price. Co mp onen ts available to fit it up to an y bike. Dennis Poore fonnally announced last week that the Meriden dispute had been finally settled, by selling the factory there to the workers' cooperative. They will continue to build Triumph twins and spares for same, which will be distributed on an exclusive basis by Norton-VilliersT riumph. Survi val education for cy cle en th usiasts is be ing o ffere d by Sch ool of Outdo or Survival, Inc. The horn e-studv lessons operate on th e pr em ise that th'e brain is the best survi val to o l. First.200 students get a 10% disco u n t. Wri te to SOS , Dep t. Q, Box 44 , Glenwood, Wash in gton 98619. CMC's regular March 23 race at Indian Dunes will not be run, as it confl icts with the World Mini·Cycle Grand Prix scheduled that same weekend. CMC will return to the Dunes April 27. John Penton says that prices of European-built motorcycles are going to double in the next co uple of y ears and Bill Du tc her of Bultaco International says, "we are already looking at the $2,000 Purs ang ." That neat Laverda 250 six -days will have to retail for $2,300 here. 2 Harley-Davidson was reported in the Japan Motor Press as having placed large orders for Sebac shock absorbers, mainly for its lightweight div ision in Taiwan, "which is marketed under the Indian trademark." Doe s Indian know about this? FIM says th at be caus e Don Vesco changed a toothed dri ve belt co nnecting th e two TZ700 en gine s b etwe en his two Bonneville re co rd runs, his 281. 71 4 mph average is disallowed as a world record. At t he same meeting, FIM lifted their ban on TZ700s fo r Fo nnula 750 competition. The TZ750 is already app roved. Enter " Th e Sword " - a front wheel dri ve Norton-powered grasstrack sidehack unv eiled in th e British press re cently. Wild. British speedway league clubs are st ill trying to woo Mike Bast and Jeff Sexton, though with scant succe ss, as both riders reportedly already have signed their American contracts for the season. Ron Sloan (Calif.) and Bill Baird (Ill. ) were re-ele cted Class A reps on the AMA Bo ard of Dire ctors and And St one (Pen n.] is a new first -termer . AMA Trustees re-elected Te rry Tieman (Yam ) Pres ident, Ken Luehmann (Hon ) Secretary, and John (" Don' t be t on the come") Harley (H-D) Treasurer. Bob Rudolph (Bates) was elected V.P. arid (NorlTril Assistant Roger Stange Treasurer. Other industry members now on the Board are Graham Kirk (Kaw) , Bob NorVelle (Beck/Arn ley ), Joe Parkhurst (CBS ), Keith Van Harte (Suz ), and John Wyckoff (Dix ie lnt'L), road racin g di vision has CMC ina ugu ra te d a 750 Pro du ction class for th e 197 5 season. . I guess Bryar Holcomb is n ot go ing to riding for any body in t he near future, he had the misfort u ne to break his leg Sunday. be Th e rest of t he economy migh t be slidi ng, bu t ca nn on production in Austi n, Te xas is holding stead y at one per year . Motocross Cat carto onis t T . Bell has just adde d a third two-wheel ban ger (o ne-stro ke variety) to his can n on collection. Motorcycles were invented before cars. Faced with an obs erv er sh ortage for a recent trial, a British club ap proache d a local m agist rate for the loan of a few prison trustees to serve as section checkers. Th e judge tu rn ed them down. Ontario MX is back on an all new seven-ten th of a mile co urse. The first race is scheduled fo r March 23. Entry fee is $10 which get s you on the trac k, covered by insurance and a gate pass. The purse will be $1500 plus 50 % of the gate. En tries are limited to 30 0 riders. Gary Nixon, while attempting to train in for the Daytona 200, worked loose the screws holding a plate in one ann. Doctors say for all practical purposes, the . ann is broken again . The Nixon/Kanemoto ride was offered to Gary Scott, but he declined. The Sierra Club asked the Governor of California to exempt the logging industry temporarily from having to file environmental impact reports because of high unemployment in the depressed lu mbe r ind ust ry. Bikes will break in a new dirt half- m ile in North Florida near La ke City the week after Daytona, going for a $2000 purse, March 15. It 's the middle event in a three race series for visiting pros. A $1000 contingency was posted by Bell Helmets for the March 7-8 " U.S. vs. The World" speed way test match series. after the Bar Benders West, Barstow-to-Ve gas. donated $50 in the name of their Pit Cap tains as a show of ap preciation. To Ivol Chapman, Brett O. Ed Redford and Bill Cleaver, Critchfield, right on, guys . A MA could rent a Los Angeles member center fo r as little as $5,000 a year. Th at's less than a fifth of one percent of AMA du es. Local fundraisers and donations could provide operating expenses. Promoters of the March 29-30 multi-money motocross in Odessa, Texas are a little disappointed that the majority of th e 200 pre-entries are in the Senior class, pointing out that t here are $3,500 worth of trophies for th e other classes, Deadline for entries is March 28 . Call (9 15) 332·1 504. 500cc world champion Heikki Mikkola won an International mot oc ross in Toersel, Belgium by only six tenths of a second. Rog er did not compete in this same race beca use o f difficulties in getting an engine from Suzuki. Harry Everts, racing a new Puch with Marzocchi forks, led th e sec on d race from sta rt to finish beati ng out Sigmans and Mikkola. The National Committee on Unifonn T raffic Laws (Fede ral D.O.T. ) voted six four to retain the Federal to r e qu ire ment that states enact m andatory helm et laws. Th e guys wh o turned up to testify wearing head band s that read " Hel met law s suc k" d idn 't do ou r cause any good, f ro m what we hear in feedback. Hey , hey, hey - all th e Sambo's pancak es you can eat for 50 cen ts Sunday morning, March 16th at S ad dl e back 's eighth anniversary motocross. San ction by CMC, also BX presen ted by Sunshine Yamaha. We may have to ph y sically restrain the Lame Cam el. He' s a regular garb age gut when it co mes to free (or even cheap) food. We finally picked a winner of the Great Creative Duct Tape Con test - Miura Products, for their brilliant red and blue duct ta pe to match Bultaco colors. They graciously decl ined our p rize - 12 rolls of the plain grey st uff . T he Lu c ern a 2 50, under BRA IS.C.O.R.E . san ction, is set for April 12 west o f Mexi cali, Writ e BRA , 639 Len Rey Avenue, EI Centro, California 9 2243 for entry info , or call (714) 352·3 76 7. Th e Tr i-State BMW Club of Evansv ille, Ind ian a is t he host for the Grand National BMW rally and conv enti on the weekend of July 25. 26, 27. Address of a local BMW Riders of America chapter to contact is P.O . Box 3036, San Diego, Californ ia 92103. Yoshimura Racing con tingenc y awards a re now available to A FM road racers in both Production and GP classes. Call (805) 527-3589 to learn their requirements. CZ is on the bandwagon, too, with up to $6, 000 posted for the first overall motorcycle at th e big off-readers, A BLM organic act by Senators Haskel and Jackson gives the Secretary of the Interior "the right to arm" certain Desert Rangers. We'd better let them know that the desert is a playground, not a prison, and that di rt and guns don't mix. Hurley Wilvert after his first ride on a TZ700: " No wonder they stomped us last year. It even handles."

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