Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125997
A belated and special thanks to U.S. Grand Prix promoters, Trippe, Cox and Associates for their professional job of stag ing thi s countrv's most prestigious motocross event. It 's too bad there aren't any promoter schools around , (Why not? There are p lenty of rider's schools ) th e Engl ish duo could certainly show their fellow racing entrepreneu rs a things or two. It is with great sad ness t ha t we learned that th e Flyin ' Hawaiian, John De So to has decided to hang it up , mo ve back to the island st ate and become a fire man. The Oly Superbowl will be his last performance before retiring. J im Cooke is currently sporting the latest in trick medical technology with plastic ligaments in his left knee. Cooke plans to race test them soon. Rex Staten fo und out t he hard way that fam e an d its glory is but a fleeting sha dow. At the U.S. Grand Prix he appeared to be on the way to an upset win un til h is mo to r mo un ts went aw ay. On e week later at a lo cal CMC event , some o ne took excep tion to S tate n 's first moto riding sty le an d stuffe d a wre nch in hi s face as he was riding ba ck to his van . St aten was ta ken to the hospital and police searche d the area fo r the assai lant. Late word is that the iden tity of the wre nch wielder is known an d that Staten got a broken nose and much o stitches out of the deal. What's with all the hassles and fights at speedway lately? Come on people, this isn't England . The J uly 2 7 Amateur motocross at New Castle, Kentucky will be a Muscular Dystrophy benefit. For info, write Woodsmen MC, P.O . Box 79 85 , Louisville, Kentucky. ~nllnwina Ii'C"I' ~k's surprise announcement fro m John Penton th at seat instead o f breat hing air th ro ugh the upper frame section as on the enaur o iI.uc;!:. Ott-.::- ch~f12"1~ included on all KTM models are shou lderl... alloy rims and gas Marzocchi shocks. The 175, 250 and 400 KTMs w ill also come wi th the stro ng enduro swinging arm and all will feat ure cantilever suspension design . Two other new models, wh ich were unavailable for photos, a re a street lega l machine and a cross country mount. Mr. Lapadakis stated that plans are now underway to enter two b ig bore KTMs in the upcom ing Baja 1,000 and that a heavy emphasis will be put on desen even ts . tl,~. A';'tria~··fi;;;:'- of KTM would soon beg in importi ng moto rcycles under their own name . sPeCUlation and rumors abounded as to who would be named t he new d ist ributor. Last Wednesday Cycle News visited Mr . Ted Lapadakis who will head the new corporation entitled , KTM Imports, USA . Four models will be imported with the gem of the group, the 250 motocrosser with which Moissiev won the 250 World Championship last year. Th is model differs substantially fro m previous ones in that it has the motocross frame wh ich uses an air box under the THE LATEST P OP BY PAPA WEALEY The big news about Kawasaki's 19 76 models is what they didn 't bring out. (What they did show us , we promised not to tell until Sept. 15) No Lobster , no 1300cc V-4, no. new Z-1 bas ed Superbike. They 've done some nea t things with their off-road line, but we 're not supposed to tell yo u that, either. To find out all this good stuff, the Lame Camel had to 90 up to Lake Tahoe and falloff a horse. They actually suckered all us press types into racing those critters. On e of the h o m ilies th at California Assemblyman Carpenter laid o n th e helmet protesters was, "If I ge t a letter from San fran cisco , I tak e scant no t ice; b ut if I get one fro m Garden Gro ve, my home dist rict, it gets a lot more co nside ra ti o n. Fin d out exactl y who represents y o ur district in th e Asse mb ly and Sen ate, an d wri te him a letter. It will be n oticed. " 2 .. One way to find out exactly who represents you is to call your local daily newspaper and ask. In California, another good way is to join M.O.R .E . and ask for the current legislative guide. H , Hs.ts ' .bot h. , h e lne · . U 11lt ' and · .. .. · . r rr · · ...- -...-... ~ · ,. ••• .w rr ~ .. r ...·....... .. Sacramento addresses for all of California's legislators. Good project for activists in other states. to research and publish such a list. Coming down the p ike : a 1.0 gra m per kilometer HC em ission stan dar d for motorcycles , i f California 's Air Resour ces Board doesn't hear a significant difference of opinion from the public July 15. Industry sources say there 's no way they could meet such a standard by the targ et 1977 deadline. Even Honda, which stands closest to meeting it, says it will range fr o m difficult to impossible . The emissions standards flap is one of the things putting Kawasaki and others off-balance on new model intros. Who knows - maybe the Big K was trying to mil us something. putting us on those horses. Trying to prepare us for 1977. perhaps? The AMA Region al mile at Stockto n, California this wee kend is attracting some national stars. Acco rding to Wildcat Productions, promoters of the event, David Aldana, Mert Lawwill, Gene Romero , Rick Hocking, Alex Jorgense n , and Dian e Co x have entered th e $8,000 purse event. Th e newly re built track wi ll feel the t rea ds of an esti ma ted 250 Novice , J unior an d Expe rt rid ers wi th tim e t ria ls scheduled to get underway at noon and the first heat away from th e line a t I :30 p .m. Also on tap fo r the July 6 date will be the reappearance o f th e Kanemo to Kawasa kis p ilo ted by Do n Castro an d Scott Brelsford. With eight out of 12 Grand Prix events behind them, Gaston Rahier and Suzuki . have ~ tied up the 125 World Championship class their first year out. RahiM's btest·victories-came during last • , - . r· • --z.," Sunday's Czechoslovakian GP where he won both motos. With the championship tied up it is open to question if Rahier. or any other Europe.... will make the trans·Atlantic trip to this week's American round in Ohio although he is entered. OLY SUPERBOWL UPDATE - The City of Los Ang eles has presented a resolution co mmen ding the AMA and promoter Mike Goodwin for bringing the Oly Superbowl of Motocross to L.A. The presentation took place in the co uncil cham be rs last Friday, June 2 7 . . . . World Ch ampio n He ik ki Mikkola, Am eri can ace, J im Pomeroy and Jim Weinert are all on tap along with a gro win g list of American and European ta len t . . . . two Americans who will be missing arc two time Superbowl champ Marty Tripe s and Gary Jones. Tripe s was injured during Saturday p rac tice fo r t he U.S. Grand Prix and Jones, while up and aro un d, is still reco vering from hi s leg injury s u staine d in Dayto na d uring th e Yamaha Super Series of Motocro ss. Survey estimates show that Peter Starr's Ontario road race film grabbed off 25% of the available television viewing audience .on Sunday, June 22. In rough figures that's about three quarters of a million people. Remember also that Starr's film was shown at the same time that the U.S. Grand Prix was being held at Carlsbad and you come up with a surprisingly large general viewing interest in motorcycling. If yo u have never see n Bruce Bro wn's "On Any Sun day," you'll ge t a chance to sec it free on a b ig screen television if you sh ow up a t Brennan s Pub, 36 00 Highlan d Aven ue in Manha tt an Beach , Tuesday , J uly \.!; at ·8:3 0 p .m. .. , -, ." 1 .• •••, •• •· ' Canadian 500cc MXGP COPETO WN, ONTARIO, CA NDADA, JUNE 29 Pierre Karsmakers put Team Honda in a motocross Grand Prix winner 's circle today after bulldogging th e 400cc red-frame works bike to a fast, consistent two-two score. The rough and dusty Copetown course nearly fo rced Karsmakers to total exhaustion, but treated his competitors even worse. The battle for leadership in the World Ch ampionship points race bet wee n H usqv arn a ' s r eigning ch am p io n , Heikki Mikkola, and Number Two, Suzuki 's Roger DeCoster, saw both riders frustrated in their attempts to substantiaIly better one another. Mikkola dropped out first, on lap one of the second round, when he a tt e mp te d to pass Maico 's Steve Staekable for the lead and crashed heavily in th e process . Stunned by the fall , Mikkola DNFed th e moto . DeCoster had wo n the first moto, and again took over the lead at the 30 minute mark of th e second leg. Safely ahead and cruisin g to wh at ap peared to be an eas y one-one victory, the facto ry Su zuki suddenly quit on th e 40th minute, leavin g th e dis appointed rider with only a long walk ba ck to the pits as payme n t for h is efforts . DeCoster's first moto win over Mikk ola's third in that round put th e Su zuki rid er five points ah ead. Brad Lac key fin ishe d fifth in the first moto despite problems th at necessitated a motor ch ange between motos, Air filt er failure in round t wo kept the American from scorin g, and spoiled his opportunity of ga ini ng any gro und in th e po ints race . Holding up American honors were Suzuki 's Tony DiS tefano, th ird overall beh ind Gerrit Wols in k with a six- th ree sc o r e; Te x a n Maico rid er Steve Stackab le, fo urth wi th a seven-five; and C an A m 's Mike Runy ard, fif ih wi t h a ni ne-seven tall y. fi rst Candian was J an Eric Sallq vist, who rode a Kaw asaki to sixth in the overall standings. • Fall co veraze ne xt wee k. .. . • . 1 ' f l • • • • " r r .. ~ ......