Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

12 t he re was an event he ld that weekend. Racers feel it was a priviledge to have their names mentioned in Cycle News when they pla ce. Ple ase get someone out t here who knows the desert and it 's people. Manv of us will be an xiously awaiting improvements, After all we'd hate to take our business elsewhere. Tech: Honda Elsinore .... 17 KAREN COCH RAN Womens Div. No . 65-A Chatsworth, Calif. BINSIDE ~ E U.S.G.P 6 Wolsink m akes it two in a row. Isle of Man Slippery Sam may have bid goodbye to the IT We got a chain o n this one ...... 18 Speedway Quit e frankly , the coverage of ~sert events is picking up after an admitted period of decline. What Cycle News has been printing a lot of recen tly may not be what you want to read, i.e , the hassles that are involved with the BLM and the ecology factions that are seeking to restrict dese rt ridin g. It isn 't pleasant news, it is time con su ming, and you won 't see your name in the articles. What you will find in t!'e articl~s pertaining to the desert uihich: appe~ r In the Opinion section an d the short pieces that are in Poop is valuable inform ation regarding meetings, confer,!nces a!'d behind the scenes happen ings tuhich. affect every desert user. This m ay be a good time fo r dese rt riders to get off th eir bikes, put on their ties, ,and stand up and be counted. You won t get your picture in th e paper, you won't see your nam e in th e results section, and nobody will hand y o u a trophy, but it must be done and it must be done now. Plans are now underway to broaden coverage. Personality our dese rt features, tech articles, and a special de sert issue are now in th e w orks. We also welco m e anyone who w ould lik e to w rite artic les co vering desert events. For further inf orm ation ple as.e contact. the editorial offices du ring business hours . .. Ed. Some new winners Local ..... ... . .. . .. . •21 For those of you who di dn't go to Carlsbad . Castle Rock ..••. •.•.•.25 Northern Re gio n al Personaltiy: Harry Klinzman . .. . . . .• 26 Behi nd th e scenes with Urch Grand Nat'l Half Mile ....28 Gary Scott takes 'em al l North .. , , Test : Honda 500 T 30 42 High class co m m uter Opinion , 44 And we have a lot of it European Sidehacks ... ..49 From an American '5 view COVER; Rodger De Co ster leans it way over at Carlsbad. Photo by Andy Hayt. Ex·District 37 rider writes Thanks fo r the suggestio n R ick , business is booming. St arters MC, Santa Barbara, CA Sharon a ayton . Publisher Robert L Nor Velle, General Manager Edna Mewton, Secretary to Publisher. Advertising Linda Clark, Adve rtising Manage r. Chri s Kolber, Advertising Assistant. Editorial Richard Creed, Sen ior Edi to r ; Lane: Campbell. Editor; Jeff Peck, Assistant Edi tor; Bob i Scott, Secretary and CaJcndar. Art and Productio n Catherine Lampton, Art Director; Aguile ra. Lab Te chnician; Hector Marion Hatashita, Ty pographer. Circulation Rheba Smith. Manager; Pam Hobbs and Chris Andrews, Assist ants. Accounting C aylene Zaionz, Mana ger r Twil a wheeler, Judy Fouts, Mike Klinger. Jeanne Hammond. Assistants; Tom Hunter. Rhonda Van Doren. Credit Department. Service. & Support Mike Colikas; Bruce MacGregor ; Bill Runyan; Jeann ie Dunivan . Receptionist . West P.O. Box 4 98, Long Beach. CA 9080 I. (2 131 4 27-7 4 33; L.A. Line 636-8 844. East P.O. Box 80 5 . Tucker, GA 30084 . (4 04) 934-7850. Central P.O. Box 13 245 , Austin. TX 787 11. (5 12) 444-754 8 . Subscription One year , second class mai l SI2.50 : 2 year s. seco nd class mail , S22.50 ; 3 years. seco nd class mail. $30.00 : Single: copv pri ce, SO ccnts . Co py flgh t \. ycle :"ew s. Inc. 19 75 : T u de mark re gist e red U.S. Palent Offin . ,\ 11 fllCh t reserved . Pub lished wee k ly ex cep t th C' fir st and t.. u week of the cale nd ;1.r YCOIr hr Cvcle :'\ e ~·s . In l ' .• P.O . Box 498. I.o ng Bea ch , C..liforn i... . ~ cu ~~ d ~ n postage p aid itt Long Beach , Edit or i..1 sto ries. cart no ns. ph ot o s, C' tL .JrC' welcome. Addressed , st amped en velope " n ur C' ,n · h .lfll '.11 unpun:hued edi to rial mauer. Rtpf lllung III whole o r p"fl o nlv il r pe-rminlfln o f ~h C' publishen . .\ d ve rt ising U tt's .Jud t"irc ul.. u. n " informa tion will h e 1t'1l1 upon f el(u t'S 1. See C. ., S. R.D.S. The secret's out While I was cas ually kicking back with my June 17, 19 75 issue of Cycle News I came upon page 52, where I n o ticed the p icture o f the Elsinore 250. Come on yo u guys th at Hondog co uldn't even beat my tric k Hodaka (don't tell anyone t ha t it doesn 't have a chai n, heh , heh , heh . . . ) let alo ne my super CZ. In co nclusio n, may I say t hat you put your trash in t he o ld ro und m.e whe re it belongs (the Hondog not this paper). RICHARD HAWKINS "Koni Hodakins" Garden Grove . Calif. P.S. Remember, don't te ll anyone about the chainless Elsie. This will be our and only our secret. [heh , heh . . . ) Boy, Rich - you blew ou r big secret . Since chains draw at least th ree ho rsep ower , we figu red leaving it off w ould give us an extra five MPH out of fifth gear. Now every squi,! in So.uthern Calif ornia will be runmng WIth no chain . .. Ed. Too much, too soon The NLL Enduro-Family Run ? Was too much for so me of the best o f them and way too m uch for the Mini and Powders. We wo uld like to thank Michell Payton and all the yo~ng m~ n assisting those in need on this famil y co u rse. Also a job well d o ne and t han ks to the pi ck- up crew fo r help ing the peo ple stranded o n this sandy-rocky-hot and miserable course. THREE OF T HE MANY THANKFUL PEOPLE No ad d re ss Do you think I'm any good? I am wri ting in re gards to a bit 0 f in fo rmat io n that I hope y o u1 1 be able to supp ly me. Let me start from ~he beginning. A few ye ars ago I was racing p rofessional motocross on the southern Califo rn ia circuit with clubs such as CMC, AME, AMC, etc. I had an accident that left m e in the hospital, and a $2000 deficit which I had to p ay 20% of. It was n 't exactly pl easin g t o the poc ket book. So I decided to q ui t an d venture in t o other avenues of life. I have been in vo lved in several enterprises as we ll as many sp orts . activities. But t hey defin itely were m issin g somethi ng, something that motorcycle racin g had all over them, pure competition. I feel it's o ne of the closest competitive sports that our form of life has to offer. So now I am looking into motocross again. But before I do I would like to know if there is an y t est or examination that co uld determine whether a person has the a bility or ca pa bili ties to become a virtuoso in this dynamic sport. NO NAME Los An geles, Calif. The only sure fire test or ex aminat io n we kno w of is t he race itself . . . Ed. Desert destroyers? According to th e latest BLM Newsbeat a three and one-half mile trai l has recently been completed at a mere cost of 525,000. In the three a nd one-half m ile section, 15 tons of surplus military exp losives were used by (g~t this), m e m be rs of the California Ecology Co rp s. Mart Maeding After re ading the pros and co n s of motocross ra cing with th e Santa Barbara Starters for the past few weeks, I felt I should write my feelings on the m at t e r. First I think it should be pointe d out that the Santa Barbara Starters arc n o t within the boundaries of District 37 and that the club that belongs to the District is called the "Santa Barbara Starters So u t h " and has o ne member whic h live s in the Dist rict 3 7 a rea. The Starters were m embe rs of Distri ct 35 b ut di d no t draw m an y riders to their trac ~ a':ld d id no t like to dri ve no rth to District 3 5 races. I read both Mr . Connolly 's an d Mrs. G ran ger's lette rs and at n o time did they disagree wit h Mr. Sie man, th e y only tried to poin t out wh at a great b~ch of guys th e Starters arc. I m u~t po mt o.ut also that the Starters arc gtven special treatment b y so me of the major cl ub s in the dis trict. Mr. Connolly's own cl u b the " Dirt Diggers" allowed the Starters to camp overnight at the Hopetown GP a fter te lling everyone that there was no overnight camping allowed. I also understand that the Viewfinders allowed the Starters to camp overnight at Indian Dun es during their Gran d Pri x . I don't think it 's the Starters fau lt as a whole, b ut the political make up of District 37 that encourages clubs to feel they can get away with anything. . I feel this would be as good a lime as an y to bring out one of the main problems, on this year 's District 37 Com pe t ition Committee; fo ur out of the 10 members arc of one cl ub, t he "Desert M/C" the Competition Co m m ittee makes most of the ru le changes and this type of dominance by one club shou ld no t be allowed. I feel there sho uld be so me m ajor changes made in District 3 7 before all the riders m ove away to t he O RA 's and CMC's. P. S. The Grand Canyon is rumored to have been ca used by a Honda Z-50 passing ove r the dese rt in 1943. Downhill on the desert Seeing as your co ve rage in the desert has been slowly . bu t steadily going downhill. as an exasperated reader I felt o bligat ed to wri te , . . District 3 7 people arc beginning to feel fortunate if they get a paragraph printed letting the public know that RON GRIMES West Covin a, Cali f. The views ex pre ssed in this column and co lumns appearing on th e fo llowing pages are solely those of th e auth ors and do not necessarily reflect the offic ial po sition of Cycle News West or Cycle News, Inc . Qualified readers wishing fr ee and eq ual rebuttal space should contact the Editor. o t her

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