Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Darrow rebuttal INSIDE Pop 2 From Poopa Wealey Voices 4 Thundering on Speedway opener 6 Back and blasting San Jose 8 How come they always tum left? .- Swiss GP ...... ... . . • . .14 < Up . up and away s-. 0.. Not Bad Brad Widowmaker Local adventures Northern blasts 16 17 26 A.\IA Qualifer Results New GP bikes 32 35 Pict orial Suzuki RM125 36 Lat est edition Calendar . . .. .. .. . . Da Cat Want Ads 38 43 44 COV ER: "Berserko " Becker crossin g himself. Color by Cy cle Graphics. Sharon Cla y ton, Publisher Edna Mewt o n , Secretary to Pu blishe r . Advertisin9 Linda Clark . Advert ising Manager. Gil Brown . National Advert ising ~l anagcr: Chris Kolber. Ad vertisin g Assistant. Editorial Rich ar d Creed. Edi to r; La ne Campbell, Edi tor. J e ff Peck. Assista n t Edi tor. Bobi Sco tt . Secre tary and Cale nd ar . Art and Prod uction Ca t he r ine Lampton , Ar t Director ; Nancy Gray. Advertisi ng Art Director ; He c tor Agu i lera. Lab Technician; Marion Hatash ita, Typogra pher. Circulati on Rheba Smi th . Manager : Pam Ho bb s and Chris Andrew s. Assista n ts. Accounting G ay len e Zaionz, ~ 1a n a g e r ; Twila wh eeler , J u dy Fou ts. ~ Iik e Klinger , J e a n n e Ha m mo nd. Assistants; Tom Hunter, La n i Sien k, Credit Depa rt men t. Services & Su pp ort Mike Colikas: Bruce ~1acGrcgor: Bill Runyan ; J ean nie Dun ivan . Recep t io n ist. West P.O. Box 4 98, Long Beach , CA 9080 I. (213) 42 7· 7433; L.A. Line 636-8844. East P.O. Box 805 , Tucker . GA 30 08 4 . (404) 934· 7850. CenITal P.O. Box 1324 5, Aust in , TX 78 711. (5 12) 444-754 8. Subscrip tion One year. seco n d clas s mail SI2. 50 : 2 years , seco nd class mail, $22 .50 ; 3 years. second cla ss mail . S30.00 ; Singl e coPY pri ce . 50 cents. . ~' Cop yri gh t \,;ycle News. Inc. 19 750 . Trad e mark regist ered U. S. Patent Office . All ri gh t re-serve-d. Publ ished weekly excep t th e fin t an d las t we-d of th e cale ndar year b y Cycle New, . Inc.• P.O . Box 498 . Long Beach . Cal ifo rnia. Second cllu po stag e paid at Lo ng Beach . CA . Editoria l sto ries, car to o ns . ph ot o s, e tc . are wel come . Addr'e ued. s t~mped en velop e ~"urel return of unpurchased ed ito rial matter. Reprinti ng in whole o r par t only by pcTmin ion of the publishers. Ad vCTtisin g rat es and ci rc-ulation in forma tion will be K'nt upon request . Se e 4 S.R.D.S. Special builders beware I built my self a di rt bike with a $600 cu sto m frame . I had to get a regist ered frame number - the CHP does this - to get my new bike a green stickie and some insurance . While I was inside CHP o ffice s filling out form s and testing chair s they cov ertly put a number pl at e o n my frame - by drilling tw o ho les in my downtube and riveting it on, because U\Ve 've done it th is way for years." I died several times ove r, and o nce m o r e w he n th e fra me builder/designer sa id the bike was now wea ken ed, su bject to cra c kin g a t those holes. and n o lo nge r q ualifies for its origi nal life-t im e warranty . I am filin g a damage claim with t he Boa rd o f C o n t r o l fo r restitution (ho pef u lly a n e w fra me). CHP 's imm edia te solu tion was to tel l my friends to advise local CHP workers as to where to put these plates (check wit h the frame builder). CHP also assured me th at they would get with so me fra me builders and try to find a safer solutio n. Don 't register y o ur b ike until you chec k wi t h CHP Sacramen to offices ( Lt. Oliver). This problem applies to street and dirt bikes. so you must let someone kn o w. Call . write, ye ll - but do it with tact and some factual information, and even sta te govern men ts will listen. Please withhold my name, as my c ase . with the state is pending. Put on or take off? I have n ot i c e d the di mi nishing quantity of pages in" your publication since the first of t he y ear . I attributed this to yo ur co st-cu t ting efforts in order to keep th e price at its p resent level. Now you have taken valu ab le space. wasting four pages of co py in the April I issue ; two p ages covering a distast eful subject on a minority class of bike rider along with a pi cture th at belongs in P l a y girl, and the other two pages cover i ng pr o du c t l ines co n ta ining double meaning phrases. I am nol su re if this issue an d its co n ten ts refe rred to above are meant to be a " put on," b ut my feeli ng is th at you could better serve yo ur readers by prin tin g subject ma tt er th at woul d ben efit th e majority . MIKE HISS Ro wland Heigh ts, Calif. Put -on ? It was more of a take-it-all off . .. Editor Compliments to the chef My co mplimen ts to CRC for th eir fan tast ic Gringo Enduro. I felt they put it all together on this o ne . Some of the family endures have be en rat h er " ho- hum, " bu t following this one I felt a tremendous feeling of accomplishment to h ave been able .to finish. Man y thanks to CRC an d le t 's have more like th is one. N AME WITHHELD WALLY NISBET Desert Streakers M.C. La Mirada, Calif. Thunder power C ommenting on Laura Maddock's co mp laint in which she used the alias Melissa Thunderpussy, in all m y years I h ave never had one thunder on me. Maybe Bassani could fi t a pi pe to correct the situation. MANFRED LAUXEN alias "Thunders -on-other-side. " Anaheim , Cali f. More free pub licity The story on "Sex An d Cy cles, " in y our Cycl e News. ha s upset one o f our stuntsmen and members of the Death Riders Thrill Show and associa tes. La rry Mann was so upset that he has co nsult ed a lawy er about u sing his name and picture, Numerous calls and letter to this office from our clients have associated the Death Riders with your story , in the April 1st publication. I appreciate your story on page eight, as it was very good. I would appreciate it if Cycle News would retract the article and clear Larry Mann's name and the Death Riders Motorcycle Thrill Show, so your rea ders will know that we are not associated with t he story • what so ever. FLOYD C. RE ED SR. Presiden t, T .N. T. Productions, In c. Danville, Ill. Than x , Floyd, sorry, Larry. Th e tw o stories were int en d ed to contrast. They had nothing t o do w ith each oth er . . . Editor In the April 8 Cycle News, Steve Darrow, a nat io nally ranked trials rider, expressed his dissatisfaction with the first round of the California State Championship. The Saint Patrick's Two Day is known as a very ru gged event. For this reason it was ch osen for the first round of the State Championship and was advertised as not for beginners. Many privateers includ ing myself look forward to t hese rough events each year and well know the cost and work of keeping a m a chine operat ing under such ' circu ms tances. As most motorcyclists know, the a b iI ity and co nfidence a rider has developed has much to do with what he or she considers dangerous. The fatigue factor will also have an effect upon this view in a tiring even t. The intense co m pe tit io n in Southern California trials events has m ad e it what it is today. If we are ever to have riders do well in world class competiti on we h ad better g e t off this kick of complaining about each other's events and accept the cha llenge. Every Ex pert a t the St ate Championship rode the same sec tions as Mr. Darrow. On ly three of them DFN'd. No one ever for ces a co mpetito r to ride a sec t io n he may co nsider unsafe. The rider may get his card punched and go on. We of th e Am eri c an Tri al s Associ ation are truly so rry th at Steve did n't enjoy this eve n t as so man y o t hers d id. If in th e future, he 'd like to ass ist in t he layout of an even t. his help woul d be greatly ap precia te d . JE RR Y WIENC EK. President American Trials Assoc iatio n Oran ge, Calif.. P.S. Thanks to the four wheel dr ive clu b s and t he checkers who braved th e freezing cold . rain and snow to hel p make this even t a success. Deep six A co up le of weeks ago we read in Cycle News of yo ur en dorsement to pu rchase McGill ' s C y cle Par k in Sacramento, We ce rtainly agre e abo ut the ne ed for a pl ace to ride fo r kids and families in the Sacramento area. but let's not throw away the gree n st ickie money , McGill 's is a ro ck pile , it is unsafe for kids and a nothing for advanced ri ders. Before we run o u t and sp end our green stickie m oney let 's look around and no t b low it on th e first thing that comes alo ng. We say " de ep six " AB 475 and co nsider other land, SACRAM ENTO JAMMERS M.C. (endorsed by 110 members) 0-36 Cross Country explained Blowharder As of the first of March , 19 75 there was a new class ificat ion de veloped for all even ts su ch as GPs , Hare Scrambles, Hare and Hounds, European Scrambles, etc. This new classifica tion will be kn own as the Cross Country divis ion in District 36. In th e past these events were p ut in to the Motocross division , It is the hope o f District 36 to develop a more pure clas sifica tion b etwee n t ru e Mot o cros s ri der s a nd riders who specialize in Cross Country even ts. All events that are run that fall under th is Cross Coun try clas sificati o n will require a Cross Country car d . If there are an y questions abo u t this new cl assification ple ase contact Bruce C . Y oun g , 1301 Shef field Way, Roseville. CA 9 56 78 . (916) 783 ·5676. Sorry I must have missed t he results of the Husky vs. Chabasco race as reported in t he Husky ad . I don't know if th e Hu sk ys can outrun on e but the writers of that ad ca n sure outblow one ! (The ce n te r o f these storms only moves abo u t five knots - 6 mph.) I would hope the writer of 'that ad co uld experience a chabasc o as I did in a sailb oat off Baja for two days. BR UCE C. YOUNG D-36 Cross Coun try Steward My big scene I would like to hear fro m anyone ge t t i ng photos at the Great Bear w a t e rhole, when sidecar 402 (Blue Peterbu ilt] did its number. This here pas senger sure would like a shot of the unglorious m omen t , in order to recall what fun I had. A. H. TELLIER 9447 "A" Alameda Road South Gu adalu pe , Airzona 85283 P.S. Sidecars are for sthissthys! ' - RICHARD JACKSON Former Captain of " Artful Dodger" St . Louis. Missouri File 13 Are y o u serious ab o ut the co unty actually thinking of purchasing McGiII's Cycle Park? We do need a park fo r the kids (old and young) but let 's not jump so fast to spend our green stic kie money. McG ill's is the first park to be considered, what about the Cavette property which is a great deal better. McGill's is nothing but rocks whic h is extremely unsafe for kids and is a bore to ride, Let's be sensible an d thin about purchasing good land at reason able price, not th e first wiz -ba n deal that co mes along. Mak e it me 13 for Z'berg's AB 475

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