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/126006
. Ai, open letter to Gasten Rahier: BINSIDE Ohio MX Nat·l Wo rld Champion Ro d ger DeCo ster has raced at Mid-Oh io Mo ta Pa rk in the 19 73 T rans-MIA, which he won , th en agai n in t he 1974 Inter-Abf A, in whic h he was be aten b y Falta, Velky. Aft er th e race, 1 asked him whv. His humble reply was. "I just go t beat.:' Th is is wh y he is a World Ch ampion, and I respect him ver y much . I wish I could sa y th e same abo u t yo u. On Jul y 6 th , in th e U.S . 125 Grand Prix, Mar t y Smith ble w yo ur do or o ff, and Mr. Dero ov cr 's also . Why can 't you acce p t this fact, a nd stop knocking the M IA flag sy st e m , the Mid -Ohio Grand Prix track, e tc. It was very evident th at the race co u rse and Marty Smith was m o re than you co uld han dl e. 6 Sugar Bear gets the sweets 8 9.38 Speedway Produca So lid Ox welder, gas boingers, and other good stuff. Opinion, Personality 10 12 , Ro c k 'n ' rollin with Gary Fisher E.C. , , 14 T ech tips and a peek at Yamah a's latest TZ tri ck 15 16 Can-Am Oualifer Dez PET E R WEIDNER, J R. President, Mid-Ohio Motocross Man sfiel d , Oh io DRA wi ns the m atch .. Hotline North Results Tune your bod 18 26 33 36 Federal blackmail MXers d o it 'longer - b u t h o w? Sound TIps 39 MXers go tta d o it quie ter , to o Calendar , . .40 O N T HE F RON T PAG E: Leap tal l buildin gs ! Be stro nger th an a b ull I Throw th e b ull ! J oin Brad in t h e Tune Y our Bod co u rse beginning o n page 3 6. Sh aron O ay ton, Publisher Re bert L. Nor Ve lle, Gen eral Man ager Edna Mewto n, Sec retary to Publish er . Advertising Lin da Clar k. Ad vertisin g Manager. Ou;s Kelbe r, Adve rtising Assistan t. Edito rial Charles Clayton, Edi tor -in -Chief: Lane Campbell, Jeff Pec k , and Bobi Sco tt Editors. Art and Production Cath erine: Lamp ton . Ar t Director: Barb Mizuno . Adve rtisin g Art Dire cto r: Paul Butle r. , La b T ec hnician : Marion Hatashita, Typographer. Cin:ulation Rhcba Sm ith, Manager; Pam Hobbs Chris Andrew, Assistants. and Accoun ting Gay lene Zaion z, Man ager ; Judy Fo uts, M ike Kl i nger . ] eanne / Hammond , Assistants ; Torn Hunter, Rhonda Van Doren, Credit Department. SalVices & Support Bill Runyan , To m Luehmann . West - P.O. Bo x 498, Lon g Beach. CA 9080 1. (2.3\427 -7433 : L.A. Line 6 36 ·8844 . East P.O. Box 805, Tucker, GA 30084. (4 04 ) 934·7850. Control P.O. Bo x 13245 , Austi n , T X 78711. (512) 444·754 8. Subscription On e ye ar , second class mail S12.50; 2 years, seco nd class mail, 122.50 : 3 years, seco nd clas s mail , 1 30 .00; Singl e co pv price , 5 0 ce n ts. 4 Copyrigh t Cy cle New s, Inc. 19 75. T rade m ar k registered U.S . Pat en t Office. All right s rese rved. Pu blished weekly e xcept th e firs t an d last wee k of th e calen da r year by Cycle News, Inc., P.O. Box 4 9 8, Lon g Beach, Cal iforn ia. Second class pos tage p aid a t Long Beach, CA. 90 80 I. Edi to rial sto ries, ca rtoo ns, ph ot os, et c. Add resse d, sta mped are welcome. envel o pe assures re turn o f unp urcha sed edito rial matter. Reprint in g in whole or par t only by pe rmissio n of the and p ublishers. Adve rtis in g rat es circu latio n in fo rma tio n will be sen t u pon req uest. See S. R.D .S. Wild life at Saddleback I ca n 't hel p but co m me n t on the sq uib ab o u t o ur "super-a bundant" wild life her e a t Saddl eb ac k. The fo llo wing a r e exc e r p ts fr om a r e c ent e nviron me ntal im pact st ud y we d id fo r ou r la nd use ex te ns io n fro m t he Co u nty. " No rar e or e ndangered vegeta t ion or wildlife, as de fined by state and feder al o fficials, was fo u nd or is known to e:x ist on the sid e. The Par k, wit h its lar ge a re a s of u ndeveloped brushland, presently su p port s a n ab un dance of wildlife. The te rrestrial an imals ar e no cturnal and are little disturbed b y the da ytime activities o f m an where habitat s are left undisturbed , .. Diurnal wildlife 'o n the site are either burrowing or mainly aerial in h abitat and are seemingly undisturbed by vehicular tr affic. ,. Okay, Papa, here 's m or e abo u t th e ty pes or kinds o f beasties we have . " Visual sightings o f var ious species o f fa una are fo und during the su rvey . TI, e Califo rn ia gro u nd sq ui rrel , th e side blo tc hed lizard. West ern me ado w a nd homed lar ks, brown towh ee, Brewer's blackbird a nd purple m artin. Red-t ailed hawk, sp arrow hawk, m arsh ha wk , tur key vult u re s, raven and crow. Deer , bob cat , coyo te, Califo rn ia gray fo x , qu ail , kangar o o rat , pack rat, rabbits. and gop he rs." \Va ttayamean , Sadd leb ack is " a d isaster are a? " JEFF JAMES Manager Or an ge, Cal if: I saw some gr ound sq uirrels t o o at Saddleback, There were in the pits try ing to run people over. Als o the f oxe s I saw weren't gray . . . Edi tor Two points The Desert Barons Team Race was a ball. But , several in cid en ts occurred wh ich proved the need fo r a m essage to so me riders. 1. T o the p arents o f t he two very yo ung bo ys . riding mini-motorcycles ac ro ss the trail n ear the begi n ni ng of t he pi ts. Your failure to wat ch yo u r two ru g ra ts nearl y ca used th em tr aumat ic injuries and did ca use o n e senior ride:r to take a spi ne jangling dive . 2 , To the riders wh o brought no n-district visitors and all owed t he m to race t he co u rse d uring the race. Those unknowing squids not only added to the hazards by creat ing additio nal d ust , impeding co mpetitors o n ro ads and trails, bu t , their fa ilure to wea r helmets co uld have ca u sed the lo ss o f o ur amb ulance t o a racer. JIM WILLI AMSON La Mirad a, Calif. San Jose going to the dogs? TI,e Gr ey hound Raci ng People are wooi ng th e San ta Clara County Fair officials with pro m ises, etc. It lo o ks no w that if the dogs are voted in that their racing will el im in ate all t he mo torcycle events held at t he Santa Clar a Co un ty Fair (San J ose). ' - - - - - - ::-=---- --:--;-:- ; - --:_ 0"7 ._ _ . . .. ?o .i ! . ~ ea_n~ t hat.all tho se inte rested ,,_ _ in th e sport of m oto rcycl e raci ng must start wri ting lett er s agai ns t Dog Raci ng. These letter s should be sen t to t he Santa Cla ra Coun t y Fair, 344 Tully Road , San J o se , or t o yo ur lo cal State Se nat o r / Assemblyman , the San J o se Mer cu ry , 75 0 Ridd er Pa r k Drive, San J o se, CA 95 190, attention Letters to th e Editor. If we . do n't do something soon mo torcycle raci ng will soon be a th in g o f the past. BOB BARKHIMER Scotts Valley, Cal if. Con cernin g t he helmet law. I th ink it's federal black mai l. It sho uld n' t co ncern th e govern m en t if yo u wear a hel met or not, I m ean reall y, it 's yo ur life no t th eirs . Next, the re will be a law tellin g yo u what t ime of day yo u can m ak e lo ve to yo ur wi fe. I m ean it 's just as st up id, and t hat's what it 's co m ing too. MA R K A. NE WQ UIST Ga rde n Gr o ve, Calif. What good is a helmet going to d o you wh en yo u are making lo ve to your wife? . . . Edit or Good old boys I like snake pits My friend a nd I 'w ere riding in the woods when I saw this rattlesnake. I pi cked my feet up, tried to m iss it a nd then proceeded t o b ite th e dust , The sn ake co iled up and st ar ted rattling at m e. My frien d ca me up fro m beh in d a few seconds lat e r. Th e snake t oo k o ne look a t m y fri en d 's KX 125 and t ook off so fas t you wo uldn ' t believe it. Aft erwards we were tal kin g abo u t why th e sn ake didn't like th e I\.X 125. We dec ide d that it didn 't like bi gger sna ke s with larger rattles, th e K...X 12 5 had a sna ke pipe with a n Ex-Ducer, TOM SP URLOCK La l lab ra , Calif. Please be advised that the results of the Ge ritol Generation Sweepstakes on August 2 at 39 5 Cycle Park should be co rrec ted to read Norm Laney seco nd. Dick Powell third , and " Big Mike " Hunter fourth . The referee penalized Po well a nd Hun ter a lap ea ch af te r they "swo re" t hey on ly cu t th e course t o preserve the un blemi sh ed ap peara nce o f their scoo te rs wh en th ey o versho t th e IT tum onto the jump and too k the hal f- m ile in st ead . Congratulations and apo log ie s to N o rm Laney a nd we hope thi s co rr ect io n will ca use him to withdraw his alleged laws uit. HO PE ENGLAND Ad elan to, Calif. Ever hear the one about th e m igrating Wo mba ts and Gy psie s? . . Editor Lizards in danger Kookie is OK I e nj oyed the art icl es written by th e " e nviro n me n ta list," and agreed with mo st o f wh at he said . ' '\'e have some well ridden areas here in Oregon and wh at he says ho ld s tr ue with these areas. Th ere is, ho wev er, o ne p oi nt I must objec t to in the last a rt icl e o f the series . Th e author sta tes any an imal within a quarter o f -a mile will be scared s--less by th e soun d o f a motorcycle . Un tr ue, swa m p breat h . I see m or e deer trail rid in g th an I do h u n ting. I've e ven co m e u pon de er whil e in a. cro ss co u n try race. In m y trail ex pe d it io ns I have co m e up on tw o bo bca ts i n separate: en counters , many, man y greydiggers, a fe w be es (close look at the bees), numerous birds su ch as hawks, robins, a co uple of q uails , a couple of pheasants, and he rd s of deer. We have no lizard preserves here and I hope it stavs t hat way . I hav e h ea rd fro m seve ra l friends that I was kill ed . We ll, as Ma rk Twain said, " The rep or t s of my de ath are greatly ex agger at ed . " ] a m in semi retirement as I think m y so n, K.J ., is ca pa ble o f taking m y pl ace. If he fail s to up ho ld my good re co rd I m ay co me o u t o f retiremen t to fu rthe r instruct the y oung whippersn apper. li e is d oing rather well and has fini sh ed eig h t races. If he can fin ish another 300 he will eq ual m y re cord. I just hope J o hn can last th at long, I was ra ther proud o f h im last we ek at the Simi Vall ey lIare Scrambles. He fell o n a n uphill , (I co uld have cle aned it ) but he hurried to the top and jum ped ba ck on. I st ill come o u t to th e desert every weekend a nd I a m still very to ugh, growl, growl. I\.OO KI E South Ga te , Cali f. PIIIL PA R KE R Co rvall is, Ore. Such a deal Last we ek yo u ran a letter fro m Phil Darli ng abo u t ge tti ng hi s Fem sa ign iti o n fo r hi s Bult aco rebuilt fo r o nly $3 0 in stead o f $1 20 . The o nly thing-yo u left o u t was t he ad d re ss o f t he sho p . I de cided to hel p yo u t here , the addres s is Gol e ta Va lle y Cycle , 5729 Ho llister Avenue , Go le t a, CA 9 3017 . Oh y es , we rebuild CZ ign itions also. BUTCH I.I ND EN Go leta Val ley Cy cles Go le ta , Cali f. We app reciate y our assistan ce . . . Editor We we re a little suspicious of this letter wh en we go t it mainly because of the lack of paw prints on it. A lso there was cat hair inside of the envelope . . . Edi tor • The view s ex p ressed in th is colum n and colu m ns app earing on the fo llowing pages are so lely those of th e au tho rs and do no t necessarily reflec t the officia l position of Cycle N ews West or Cycle News, In c. Qpalified readers wishing free and equal rebu t tal space shou ld con tact the Ed ito r. a th e r • ] ....