Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

INSIDE BLM " . " " , 7 Politickin ' at Cal City Louisville . , 8 Sp ringsteen wins h is fir st Na tional. ., ., 12 15 , 16 Bob Endicott . . Speedway , , Nat'l. MX Jammin' with Jim . Hotline, ., ., . ... , . , .. . 18 Lotsa 0-37 action, dez and scrams. Tests , ... , , . , . . . .. , 26,48 Authentic An glomania and a Spanish factory ride. Tech , ,30,52 Chasing mythical Mar zo cchis o n a de sert Elsin ore. Carlsbad Preview Cat . ., ., .. .. ., . ., .,31 ..35 You best friend WI LL tell yo u . Hunky defended North. . . . . . . . . . . Opinion " . .36 50 Desert in the cr ucib le . ON THE FRONT PAGE: Your basic, authentic classic je wel photo ' by Charle s More y . Sharon Clayton. Publisher Robert L Nor Vel le , General Man ager Edn a Mewton, Secretary to Publisher. Advert ising Linda Clark, Advert isin g Manager. Gil Brown, National Adv ertising Man ager; Chris Kolbet, Advertising Assistan t. - Edito rial Rich ard Creed. Senio r Edi t or : La ne Campbell, Editor ; Jeff Peck, Assistant Editor ; Bob i Calendar. Sco tt, Secretary and Art and Production Catherine Lampton . Art Director ; Hecto r Aguilera. Lab Te chnician ; Marion Ha~ashita. T yp ographer. Circulat ion Rh c ba Smith. Man ager ; Pam Hobb s a n d Chri s And rew s, Assistants. Acco untin g Gayl en e Zaionz, Manager ; Twil a Wheeler. Judy Fouts. Mike Klin ger, J eanne Hammond. Assistan ts ; To m Hunter, Rh onda Van Doren, Credit Departmen t. ' Services & Suppo rt Mike Colikas ; Bru ce MacG re gor ; Bill Runyan i Jeannie Dunivan , Receptionist. West .P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 9080 I. (213 ) 4 27 -74 33 : L.A. Line 636-884 4 . East P.O. Box 805 , Tucker. GA 30084 . (4 04) 934 -78 50 . Central P.O. Box \3 24 5 , Austin , TX 787\1. I' \Ve are writing this letter in response to the le t t ers of Jim Connolly , Dee Granger and the Santa Barbara Starte rs. In 1974. m y brother and I h ad been to all the District 3 7 moto crosse s at . Goleta. We h ave n 'g gon e to Goleta this year beca use we figured it would be like last year. Well, ac cording to Ri ck Sie man and Jim Le arnahan , it is. Las t year, Santa Barbara Starters a lm ost always started practice late, the race la te r, and drug o ut t he motos so long, we thought we would never ge t out of there. It wouldn't be so b ad if we could of " h u ng around and drank beer after the races," b ut we h ad a three hour drive home, a n d usually went to sch o o l the next day. What re ally go t t o us was af te r a ~ moto my brother and I were ch ec k ing ! the resu lts, an d m y brother thought they h ad made a mistake, so he aske d one o f the club m embers to ch ec k it. After a while he still hadn't c hec ke d it so m y brother asked him aga in. The club member to ld m y brother, " he didn 't have time to mess with him, and if h e co u ldn 't ride fast enough to finish in th e top few guys, " h e shouldn 't "co me around there saying he did b etter than what he did, and expect the club to move h im up . " There is only one thing though we don 't agree w ith Rick Sie man about : their n am e, it should be " San ta Barbara Screwups, " JIM BLANKENSHIP LOUIE BLANKENSHIP District 37 Moto crossers "Meatgrinder" response I h ave jus t received m y May 2 7th issue of Cycle N ews, an d h ave re ad y o u r co m m en t s on our land u se problems. I .wan t to thank yo u for the very positive comments you h ave m ad e abo u t the Association and its legisl at ive effo r ts. lt is very e ncouragin g to receive favorable co m m en t in the press, but I think it is even m ore valu able \ 0 see so meone exp res s our problems ex ac tly as y ou have, in in fo rming m otorcyclists that none of u s walks on wa te r and t hat the o n ly way we 're goi ng to acco m p lish anything is th ro ug h t he individual e ffo r ts o f all motorcyclists working together. ED YO U NGBLOOD Genera l Man ager, AMA (5\2) 444,7 548. Subscriptio n One y ea r, secon d cla ss m ail $12.50 ; 2 years , seco nd class mail , 522 .50 ; 3 years, seco nd cla ss mai l, $30 .00 ; Singl e co PY pri ce, 50 ce n ts. 4 Co py n ght t. ycle Xew s, In C'. 19 75. T rad e m ar-k regi st er ed l.".S . Paten t O ffice. .-\1I ril':h t rese rved , Publi shed wee kl y ex cep t the first and l.as t wee k of th e ca le nd a r ye a r b y Cy cle ~ cw s . In c . P.O . Bo x 4 9 8 . I.on l': Beach . Cali forn ia . Seco nd d.!S~ pos tage paid a t Lon g Beac h . CA. Ed itoria l sto ries . car to o ns. p ho tos . et c. a re .....elco me . Addressed . st am p ed e nvelope assures ret urn of unpurcha sed editorial ma tt e r. RC'printin g in who le o r pa r t o nly b y p ermission of the publishers . Adv erti sin g rat es a nd ci n- uta uon information will be se n t up on request . Sl'C' S.R .D.S . Thank you w/an apology I want to than k th e I.R.R .C . fo r th eir work o n th e Green ho rn End uro . I b ro ke down in an are a m ile s fro m nowhere , The PMC sw eep n otified the I.R.R.C. a t the next che c k, wh o in turn n o ti fie d m y wife in Re d Mountain tha t they would ge t m e ou t an d take m e to the Harper Lake Ro ad c hec k. They and PMC with a four whee l drive took mysel f and a rider from the Dusters MC t o Harper Lake Road where my wife and h is club were waiting, Su re beats a nig h t in the desert. My ap o log ie s to 1. R. R,C. for wanting to donate to t heir kitty . They informed me that they had none an d all they wanted was a thank you . I was thoroughly d isgu ste d with myself for thinking that a donation was a thank y o u . Se ems we are co m p u te d tha t wa y bu t I. R. R. C. d o es not co n cu r. A h earty thank you and keep up the go o d work. GAYLORD F. WARD 25x Help ! O ur lands are being rip pe d o ff! How can I help? Who can I write or call ? Will joining the AMA he lp? If so , wh at's th e address? Please hurry! !! M. GREEN P.V. E ., Cali f. Yes - joining th e AM.1 or M.O.R.E. does help (join . both, A.M.A. is at P.O. Box 141 , Wester ville, Oh io 43 08 1; M.O.R.E. is 11 29 11th sc, Sacramento , CA 95814. $ 10 each ). A lso , read Cycle Ne ws, get involved, and go t o so me of th ese lan d use m ee tings y ou read ab out . . . Edit o r Jock Crichton writes fro m England Through yo ur ver y excellent newspaper, may I say "Thank y o u" to Bill Adams and his family who for the second time h ave treated m e to th e fin est of S o uthern hospitality. Thank you also to Bill Boyd , Gene and Jennie, son Mike, Pattie a n d all the lovely fo lks who make up the Chaparrals MC . I enjoyed liv in g with th e above people so m uch that I a m tryi ng t o return to the Mo jave Des er t in time fo r thei r 19 76 en d u ro . (Mus t be something to do w ith that dreaded " Mex " drink!) As you kn ow, one o f the o bje c t ive s of m y trip s to Californi a is t o " re move " money from my workmates (th ey be t m e on h ow f ar he'll get in the end uro . . . Ed.} and give it to th e lo cal sch o ol for menta lly and physic all y handicapped ch ildre n . So far , from the March e nduro , I have in Eng lish m one y 11 5 p ounds (mo re to com e ) which will be h anded o ve r n e xt month. A Chap ar ra l wh o c an be m o st proud of a ll this is " Lo ni St e fan, " as it was h is su pe rb 360 Yam I w as moun ted up on . Te ll th e Lam e Came l to t a ke care of th at arm ! JOCK CRICHTON Staines, Middlesex / P.S. Don 't let the BLM ge t their hands o n my des ert ! Hunky writes again I feel fo rced to wri te y e t ano t h er letter co nc e rn ing t he San ta Barbar a ra ce s. When J im Connolly wrote an an swer , I re ad it and found tha t Jim did m ake so me re a sonab le argu me n ts fo r t he slipshod behavior of th e Starters M.C. I res p e ct J im 's o p in io n and abilities as a rider - and we still re m ai n friends. re gardles s of our good difference of opinions. However, the next two- letters sent me right up the n earest flagpole. Apparently, th e Starters feel that no on e should be allowed to disagree w ith them. Eve n worse, th e Starters see m to feel th at being a District 37 cl ub allo ws t hem th e distin ction of me di ocre p re parat io n a nd m an agement of races. For th e re cord , gentlemen : The fact that y o u ar e a Dist ri ct 37 clu b is not a kin to sainthood an d y o u a rc not ab o ve critic ism . Wh y d on 't yo u face up to th e fact th a t yo u ar e a gr o u p o f se mi- com pcten ts w h o would be be t ter o ff raisi ng m o ney _a t a fruit sta n d a lon g th e o cean h ighways ? If y o u wan t to hol d races (suc h as th ey are) o n th at pil e o f d an dr u ff you call a tr ack, that is yo ur privilege . Just d on ' t expec t o t he r ri d ers to em b ra ce y o u r lo ca l y o ke l race wit h o p en arms. Yo u 've go t to give p eople someth in g for th ei r money, Starte rs. So far , all yo u 've given , is m inim al rid in g an d m aximum arrogan ce . Th is is th e sort of attitude th a t al m os t kille d Distric t 37 moto cross in the p as t. Pe rhap s yo u o ug h t 0 hav e y o u r o w n dist rict . ... District 37v.. ? It 's p ainfull y obvio us yo u are using the District 37 riders to fa tten your own ail in g finan cial status . . Perhaps t he S tarte rs ought to take a loo k a t h ow th e exce lle n t clubs in the District ru n races . Th e Badgers, Diggers• Fo ur Ac es, Viewfinde rs , e tc ., all ru n wo uld be exce lle n t events. Th ey as ha med t o put o n a fia sc o like the o ne s tha t see m to be n ormal wi th th e St arter s. An d do n ' t hide be hind the excuse o f y o ur trac k lo cation an d peculiarities. ei the r. If th e se tu p is that bad , then ch an ge it. On e o f the Starters told me, an d I q uo te : "W e d o wh at we ca n with w hat w e got. " Well . perhap s what y ou go t ai n' t eno ug h . Seriously , th ink ab o u t that roadside fruit st and. It's a livin g. RICK SIEMAN Canoga Park, Calif. A thrilling experience Wow! Wh at a thrilling experie nce it was t o read J ohn Huet ter's a rt icl e on the Italian Motocross GP . Are y o u ready for su ch he avy stuf f as quote "A debacle created out o f ch ro nic in ep ti tude overJaid ' w ith injust ice" o r " Byz an tine power m achinations" o r how abou t this fo r the coup de grace , "applying th e legal doctrine of last clea r chance? " I wonder if we, th e m otorcycling p ublic. rea lize how fo rtunate we are to be perm itted to b ask in th e glow of su ch verbal brilliance . Truly, this ki nd of tal ent w as m ean t for b igge r and better th ings. Oh we ll, li terature's lo ss is o ur gain. Where else but in Cycle News can you find out what 's happening in the cy cle world and also benefit by this mind boggli ng verbiage ? I. M. PRESSED I- No address We are very p leased you enjoye d J ohn Hu ett er's rep ort of th e 1talian GP and hope that y ou enjo ye d his J ohn ny Cec ott o interv ie w last issue . . . Editor Bofo Viewfinders bash After attending the Viewfinders Grand Prix a t Indian Dunes, my h elmet co m e s off to them for an extremely great ra ce . Havin g participated in many desert and motocross races poorly org anized, little or no cou rse markin gs, few flag men or maybe a coup le of ei ght year old kids hold in g a fla g taller than they were . Some races lack en o u gh first : aid facilities for th e a m ou n t of riders they have . .Not so wi th the V iewfinders ! They wen t fir st cl ass. Organiz atio n was fan ta sti c. Everyone knew wh ere ~ hey were suppose to b e and at what ume , Th e co urse . wa s marked very well and fl ag men were a ll ove r t he place, ready to help if needed. Thank you Viewfinde rs .fo r your thought and ca re for t he safety of the riders in y o u r rac e. Also, t hank y ou fo r a great we ek-end. THOMAS C. BLEAKLEY Morse Signal Devices Th e view s ex pressed in this colu m n and columns appearing on th e following page s are so lely those of th e auth ors and do n ot necessarily refl ect the of fic ial position of Cycle News West or Cy cle News, 1nc. Qualified readers wishing fr ee and equal rebuttal space should contact , th e Editor. o t h er I

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