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/126001
DeCo~ter is Champ Belgian motocross star Roger De Coster used a pair of convincing victories in the West German 500cc Grand Prix of Motocross last Sunday to regain the World Championship he lost a year ago to Finn Heikki Mikkola. DeCoster won both Grand Prix rnotos in oJ oJ UJ al Q. :l; c( u UJ Z S What are you guys looking at? None of you smoke. :TH ELATEST I P BY PAPA 'W L EA EY CBS will televise the recent Superbowl . of Motocross this coming Saturday, August 9, unless there's a last-m inu te schedule change. Check your local TV listin gs for this Sports Spectacu lar. Don't expect to buy a Harley-Davidson 500 road racer li ke Gary Scott debuts at Laguna Seca unless you wan t to go to It aly and pic k it up. H-D shi pped 25 units to the U.S ., AMA counted them for approval, then 23 we re shipped righ t back to Europe. Loo k for BIKER, published bi·weekly by Cycle News, Inc. fo r the road riding ma n, at motorcycle dealers and so me newsstands next week. WHERE'S BUGS? On J un e 29 Dick Mann showed up at a motocross in Carson City, Nevada and proceeded to ride his BSA to victory in the - get this -=- Old TImer's class. Wood y Kyle, the m an responsible fo r the Novice accomplishments of flat trackers Jay Ridgeway and Jeff Purv is, has gone to work for Noguchi Motors. Woody has bee n hyper· busy the pas t few weeks maintaining Noguchi's st able of m in ibikes for the likes of Billy Ules, Tammy Kirk and Y·AMA's Number One, Gene McCay . 2 Mar k Brelsford, the 1974 AMA Grand National Champio n, is looking fit, remarkably so for a man still facing seven oper ation s to patch up injuries sustained in a 1974 Daytona crash. Mark is st udying fo res try at the University of Alaska in Anch orage, where he now mak es his home. At various times it has been reported that Brelsford wanted to make yet another comback. However, he was quoted at the recent San Jose Mile as saying, "Those guys aren't having any fun," wh ich leads us to believe the retirement will stick. We wish Mark well in his new career. T .C. Christenson picked up Top Fuel hon o rs at the July 19-20 5th Summer Motorcycle Nationals at Cincin nati's Edgewater Raceway Park aboard his dual-engine Norton. Terry Vance, on h is un be atable R.C. Eng ineering dual Honda once again won To p Gas. Ron Teson (Hon) took Supe r Elininator; Bob Carpenter (Kaw) topped the Pro Comp class; and AMDRA National Champ Mike Bruso won Pro Stock, setting a new record at 9 .99 seconds. Comp Elim inator went t o J im Betz; Street Eliminator t o Vic Force (Suzl ; Stock Eliminator to J im Dodd (Hon). Four Cuban road racers are presently in Europe competing in the 125cc GP class . The fou r eamed an all-expenses pa id trip f ro m the Cuban Fede ration by plac ing at the top of a national road race program. Three MZs and an air-cooled Yam aha are the bi kes be ing used by the quartet . Unofficial 250cc MX World Championship Standings including France: 1. Harry Everts 133 2. Willi Baue r . 126 3. Hans Maisch 107 104 4. Zdenek Vel ky 5. Hakan An dersson 102 6. Adolf Weil 99 85 7. J oel Robert 84 8. Jim Po meroy West Germany despite a flat front tire in the fmale and holds an insurmountable lead with three of 12 races remaining on the schedule. . DeCoster, who rides for Suzuki, was the World 500cc Champion in 1971, 1972 and 1973 before Mikkola Seized the crown for Husqvama last year. In the nine World Championship events run thus far in 1974 DeCoster has been both fast and consistent, winning 11 motos, placing second twice and being sh ut out of the point-paying positions only once, when mechanical problems sidelined h im in Italy. DeCos ter, the 1974 Trans·AMA Champion an d the winningest rider in Trans-AMA history, n ow has fo ur Wo rld Championships to h is credit an d ad ds to a long list of Suz uki motocro ss successe s in recent years. Tony DiStefano of Morrisville, Pennyslvania, has already won the United States 250cc National title for Suzuki this year and the 1 8 -y e a r -o l d star also leads the Inter-AMA Series standings. Hollander Gerrit Wolsink, teammate of DeCoster, remains in the number three spot in the 500cc World Championship standings, just 19 points behind Mikkola, who is second with no hope of retaining his world title. Another great points battle near the top features American Husqvama rider Brad Lackey of Pinole, California, wh o is tied with Belgian jaak Van Velthoven for the number five poin t position. The best finish ever registered by an American in world motocross standings was Jim Pomeroy's seventh in 250cc competition last year. • Have you ever though t of leasing your next motorcycle? Several companies offer leasing services an d there are lots of advantages, like y ou can deduct it fro m yo ur taxes in m an y cases. Zundapp has built a 250cc prototype MXer described by factory rider Gilbert DeRoover as, "very powerful." Another inte resti n g feature is the way they've imple mented an under-the-seat gas tank with the air filte r located up in the normal gas tan k position. Before winning the Ascot IT, Gary Scott did a last-minute shock switch to the Red Wing ROCU units he 'd tried earlier at Castle Rock. Jay Sp ringsteen's rear Pirelli began ch unking away early during the Ascot TT. Must be what smog does to that Mich igan rubber. Ron Pierce wins 525 at a SoCal road race. Boy, it's a good thing road racers are rich to begin with. Ron Pierce's Bakersf ield motocross August 15 will feature a rock band and giant party after the last moto. . Norton Villiers Tri umph chairman, Dennis Poore, h as requested th at the British gove rn ment invest 30 to 40 million pounds in an effort to make the NVT three factory system survive. Poore, in a report to shareholders, blamed the loss of nearly 5.7 million pounds in the period July, 1973 to March, 1975 on the confusion caused by a workers' co-op running the Meriden plant as a result of a government decision. Is road riding making a comeback? Has it ever been away? Publisher Sharon Clayton took delivery of her new Ossa Super Pioneer to replace the one that got ripped off in Baja recently , and is de lighted with it. Gary .Scott's new H·D 500cc road racer cranks out 96 horsepower at the rear wheel and weighs only 240 Ibs. A good way to celebrate the 200th birthday of American freedom wo uld be to repeal the hel met laws in 47 states. Coming up in Cycle News: A series on " Ho w to tune y ou r body for maximum horsepower" w ritten by the guy who runs Husqvama's motocross training camp in Sweden. Under the heading of sticky finge rs, would the person or persons who made off with 01' man Tripes' personalized license plates at the Super Bowl please return them. The reward for the return of the plates is seven au tographed pictures of Marty Tripes. Point standings - World Championsh ip 500cc Motocross: 1. Roge r DeCoster 189 2. Heikki Mikkola 155 3 . Gerrit Wolsink 136 4. Ake Jonsson 103 5. Jaak VanVeithoven 72 5 . Brad Lackey 72 7. Bengt Aberg 51 8 . Pierre Karsmakers 43 9. Ame Kring 38 10. Christer Hammargren 37 AMA has set up a m ee tin g on Sep te mber 20 for standardization of rules governing production, cafe, and GP classes of Amateur co mpetition. Any organization that is involved in amateur motorcycle road racing is invited to attend the meeting in Dallas, Texas. (Continued on page 15) Jerry Thompson new American Bicycle Assn. President The Board of Directors announced the appointment of J erry Thompson to serve as Presi dent of the American Bicycle Association. Thompson , a foun der, do n ates his ti me to th e ABA and is also Presi dent of J .T . In te rn ational, a Los Angeles based advertising agency . He has enj oyed 17 years of m ar ke tin g and publi c relations experience, 10 o f which h ave been in the bicycle, m o to rcycle and auto m otive in d ustries. Jerry also p reviously represente d Steve McQueen fo r three years as public relations director for his racing activities. Jerry previously served on the Board of Directors for the Leukemia Society of America and holds a comme rcial pilot's license which enables him to do extensive economic development work on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Jerry, a Cherokee Indian himself, donates