Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; IIa a= ~ t TH LATEST lr) r(j) ...... C'J C'J .... As of last week, Speedway Racing Assn. board decided to go all the way with AMA . No wisecracks, please. Brad Lynch , popular C:'.IC Pro rider and a regular at Irwi ndale . was killed whil e ridi ng in t he Arizona de sert. . The San Diego County ORV Citizens' Adv isory Committee meets the second Tuesday every month in Rm. 335-A of the County Admin istration Center, 1600 Pacific Hwy _ Show an interest, citizens, as they're trying to work with the various government agencies on the continu ing hassles over land use . Senate Bill 307, for the acquisition of lan d aro u nd Ocotillo Wells for an ORV park, is sti ll hung up in California Senate co m m ittee. San Diego area fo lks , tell your Senator to gas it up. 0.. <: The "aftermarket" industry now has its own trade group, the Motorcycle Trades Association, headquartered at 6622 Bed doo Street, Alexandria, VA 22306. The group was formed March 6 at a charter meeting in Daytona . Take a ride o n the MT A, anyone? Venezuelan pavement wizard, Johnny Cecotto (Yam) once again upset World Champion Giacomo Agosti ni this time at an International meeting in Misano , Ital y, April 13. The whiz kid fro m South America scored back to ba ck wins in th e 250cc and 350cc events . If this keeps up people are goi ng to say its an upset when Agostini beats Ceco tt o. Suzuki's Roger De Coster and Huskies' Hiekki Mikkola are at it again this season in Europe. The pair swapped wins in the Swiss Grand Prix April 13 as Gerrit Wolsink (Suz) rounded out the top three ahead of American Brad Lackey (Hus). Bengt Aberg (Bull held off Lackey in the first of the two motos but dropped out of the top ten in the second round. Lackey finished well ahead of Ake Jonnson (Yam), Arne Kring (Husl, Christer Hammergren (Kaw), and Frans Siegmans (Mail . Full coverage in an upcoming issue. The A FM six-ho ur Product ion ro ad race at On tario Ap ril 20 will p ay over $5 ,600 in ca s h , prize s, a nd co n t ing encies : Winners of sprin t rac es for bi kes not elgib le for t he long race will win Bates road racin g gloves. "King Richard" Burleson (Hus) added yet another win to his commanding lead of the AMA National Enduro Series last weekend with a victory in the Fallen Timbers National Enduro held in Toledo, Ohio. Full coverage in an upcoming issue . Torque Mast er Product s has anno unced th at it will award S100 to th e overall winner of the Califo rni a City GP o r $50 to th e first b ike to cr oss the finish line that is eq uip ped with Torq ue Master S p a r k p lugs. The same will ap p ly Sa tu rd ay wit h S50 going to the win ner or $25 goi ng to the firs t bike to cross .th e fin ish line Torque Master equipped. Th e Radio KO IL motocross ba sh at Omaha, Nebraska June 1 will be an AMA 250cc National. A multitude of multis at the San Jose Mile, May 18 ? Irv Kan emotos Ka was aki triple will be there, possib ly tw o TZ 750 Y am ah a s , and maybe a Schwerma Honda Fo ur. Hot tip courtesy of Derek Belvoir and P.I.T. Stop: Trials bike owners with an urge to ride enduros but a shortage of fuel capacity, try about 20 pounds of air pressure. Presto ! (It says here) instant balloon tank. Wonder if Preston Petty got started this way? P.I.T. Stop, by th e way , is the m onthly p ub of P a cific International Trials So ciety , a b argain at $2 .25 a year fo r Nort he rn Cal ifornia ne ws and shaggy tr ials jokesrCall (4 15) 552-0506. Honda and Pennzoil have gotten together to sponsor a Peter Starr Superbowl MX movie for future television airing. Th is one even has a plot. Inflat ion b ite s! Saddleback 's gene ra l a d mi ss io n goes from S3 to $3 .50 effect ive Ma y I , Ra c er/spectator ad m issio n will remain the same. Bonus featu re for speedway opening night (April 181 at Orange County Fairgrounds, Costa Mesa , is a swap meet, 5 p.m. to m idnight, in one of the exh ib ition halls. Be early, as the bargains tend to walk away in a hurry. Th e government of Argentina issued a de cree p e r m i tt i n g t h e d u t y - free i m p o rta t i o n of 112 c o m p e titi o n motorcycles. Mo tocross is very big in Sou th America - rep lacing polo among the upper class. But can you breed mo to rcycles? FROM OUI MAGAZINE : " Hey , listen, we just heard : In Tokyo, the Imperial Palace Guard rides Harley-Davidsons. Pass it on." OK . Migue l Llado, a Sp anish tria ls expert fro m Igualad a, near Barcelona, has scal ed Mt. Kilimanjaro to the very tip o n a 325cc Bultaco Sherp a T, beating a Y a mah a- mounted French effort by 1,000 feet . Not onl y that, he rode the bi ke fro m Bar celon a to Africa and ba ck, acc ompan ied by a support jeep and a came ra cre w ! Since the only price th at's reall y go ne down lately is the price of waste newspaper .has any track o wner ever tried using ne wsp ape r bales instead .: of haybales on the t urn s? We co uld probably supply a number of the m, tied and bagge d fo r abo u t S I each , And whe n the recycle p rice goes u p . .. sell em ! Those conical hubs noticed on the H·D/Aermacchi 250s are actually cone -element BRAKES! Eng lish technical writers still aren't sure how to take this latest bit of Italian razzle-dazzle. 2 The office next door to the Lo s Angeles chapter office of the Sierra Club is available for S185/month , b ut it is t oo small for the proposed AMA member cen ter. Tom Rockwood, hurt at Ascot the night of April 11, will be out with a broken back and possible cracked wrist. Snoopy , a/k/a "Joe Motocross " has bee n a wa rde d an ho norary l i fe membership in the MIA. Final Enviro nme n ta l Im pact St at ement is ava ilable at BLM's Rivers ide, CA o ffice. It turns out th at its con te n t isn't as b iase d as the propagan dists wo uld have us believe. Unfo rt unatel y , y o u kno w w ho seems to be getting first access to t he media these days. It 's a bit early , but th e BLM ha s anno unc ed a major volunteer cleanup of the Rand Open Area (Cal ifo rn ia ) for the wee ken d of Novembe r 1 and 2. The effort is under dual sponsorship o f C.O.R.V.A. an d M.O .R. E. The P1onkers' Trial at Rawhide (near Els inore, Calif o rn ia ) April 20 will include a beginners' class for the first-timers. No "rosegarden" promised, but it shouldn't be too hairy. It 's a first, o f sorts - in door ice ra ces the wee kend o f April 19·2 0 at t he Ran dhurst Twin Icc Aren a, Mo unt Prospect , Illinois. Granted, th a t 's a bit far away, but Bart Markel. Coo n Ass an d Darryl Hurst will be there. and it is a first .. . Engrave th is number in your skulls HR3869. It's a bill in Congress to prohibit the Federal D.O .T. from using highway fund blackmail to force states to pass mandatory helmet laws . Better yet, engrave it on your Congressman's skull . Figuratively speaking, of course. Th e mandatory helm et law provision is again on the agenda o r t he Na tio nal Co mm ittee o n Un ifo rm Traffic Laws and Ordinances , this tim e set fo r J uly 23 -25 , which means we lost o ne battle, bu t no t th e war. Ad dress y our letter (t he o ne y o u're go ing to wri te , righ t ?) 10 Mr. David M. Baldwi n. Chairm an, NCUT LO , 1 77 6 Massachusetts Avenue, Sui te 430, Washingt o n . D.C. 20036. About 3500 acres in Franklin County, Wash ington, have been closed by a BLM order, to protect sand dune formations and existing stands of Juniper. Calendar note: Th e Boise, Ida ho AMA Regio nal IT, originally sched ule d fo r April 13 , has been slid to April 27. Amateur road racers, write the AMA Amateur Dep artment for program schedule and details on the Amateur c hamp ionship qualifier . The Pathfinders ' Chicken Enduro, originally scheduled for April 20, has been b umped to Ju ne 8. Due to heavy snows in the area. th e Fo res t Serv ice ya nked the club's pe rmi t until a ti me o f Jess erosio n risk. Speedway at Ventura, Ca. opens May 6. Ho nd a dealer Troy Van ce . J r., wh o o pe rate s dealers hips in th ree Idah o ci ties, is o ffering a $5 0 a month b onus for no n-smoking em p loyees. Credit 0 -31 AMA Congressmen Lee Ball, Jr. and Bud Allen, with the help of AMA's travelling firefighters Bob Rasor and John Amidon, for helping to push he Imet Iaw repeal in the Arizona legislature. Arizona bikes, it's up to you, now. Fran k's Main terran ce & En gineerin g, 945 Pi tn er , Evanston , Illin ois 60 202 has steel wheel rims with 40-spoke patterns available in 16 " , 18" and 19" sizes. We men ti on this b ecause Fran k makes rea l good st u ff and besides we want to encourage a n Am erican O E:'.I mar ke t. P.U.R .R. is back with a second annual Powder Puff National, this t ime at Carlsbad, CA . during the weekend of July 5-6. Write P.U.R.R., 17454 Sumiya Dr. , Encino, CA 91316 for entry info. , or call Kasey Roge rs at 213/783-4149. How things co m e full circle! Remem be r ho w the Mic k Andrews monosh oc k trials suspensio n was de rived fro m Yamaha's wo rks m o tocrossers ? No w the wo rks 3 60s ap pear with the slim me r. ligh ter trials cantilever swingarm . Look for Harley-Davidson to do some heavy trucking on their lightweight bikes this year. The tiddler units will be phased out and the concentrated push will be o n bikes of 125cc and mo re . In the offing is a 250 street bike based o n the SX-25 0 single, a limited editi o n 250 motocrosser and o ne o r two othe r s urprises . By th e wa y, all Harley-Davidsons are te chnically "Ame rica n made" as t he Aerrnacchi manufactured machines are assembled in the York, Pennsylvania plant . Cranke wins Ft. Hood lwo Day Qualifier FT. HOOD, T EX., APR. 12-13 Carl Cranke rep eated his performan ce o f last year by tak ing h is 252cc Pento n ac ross th e line for th e overa ll hon o rs in t h is yea r's Ft . Hood Two Day Qualifier , Saturday 's co urse was a ru gged affa ir wit h 14 8 o ut of 2 76 starte rs co mp leti ng th e first day. Sunday 's co urse was t he sam e loop ru n b ac kwards wit h a day lo ng drizzle turning a lo t o f go lds in to silvers, bron ze , and DN Fs. Of the 88 riders wh o finish ed 80 took ho me m ed als, 14 go ld , 17 silver , 4 9 bronze. Malcolm Sm it h (Hus) too k a gold h om e bu t flat s ke pt him ou t of t h e ove rall spo t wit h mudder Barr y Higgins (Mai) j ust edging Sm ith for Open class honors. T o m Pento n 's go ld in th e 125 class alo ng wit h Dane Lei mbach 's (Pe n) gold in th e 100s co mbi ned wi th Crankc's gold gave Penton the Manufac tu rer's Cu p . AMI lights-on reprt o The A merican Motorcycle Associatio n has just released a statist ica l stud y of the effect of laws req uiring co nstant dayti me o peration of motorcycle head l ights . According to the st u dy, seven o ut of eight sta te s that have such laws experie nce an increase in the nu mber 0 m o t or c y cl e a c cide nts (p e r 10 00 regi stratio ns) rather th an a decr ease. AlIlA Le g isla ti v e Director Gen c Wi r w ahn sa id , " pro po ne nt s of th e lights-on laws clai m th ey will red uce t he num b e r of m ot or c y cl e a c ciden t be c a u se m o to rcycles will be mor visib le. Ou r st udy sho ws t hat such law ha ve no t had t h at effec t in stales t ha hav e ena c ted the m. In fact, state witho ut ligh ts-on laws have a bette re cord of m o t or c y cl e a c cid en reduction. Of 28 st ates t hat do not h av such laws and for whi ch co mp lete dat: is availab le, 16 have ha d a decrease i accid en ts while n ine have experience an incr ease and three ha ve remaine constant over th e same per iod o f time. '

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