Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

BINSIDE ~ t Ascot extra 6, 9 Roberts bags Nation al ; Boody and Gennai ro mp in Friday Invit ation al show 10 Trans-AMA Bimbo for openers at Road Atlanta f"lo-< Q) ..0 o ... u o Speedway 14 Sivadge tops Natio nal qualifiers Hot line 16 Dez RR pullout. 22 23-34 Save th is special section an d dream o f taking u p th e West Coast co mp e tit io n trail. Better yet - don 't dream , do it! North . .. . •...... . .. . .38 Products 41 Exotica 42 Calendar 44 Results 48 O N T HE FRON T PAGE; Spectacular, if sm o ky intro to a r oad r a s h e r th em e, Rickman/H onda lit off in CN st aff p hoto. Sh ar on Clay ton, Publisher Ro bert L No r Velie : General Man ager Edna Mewton, Secretary to Publish er . Advertising Linda CIark, Advertising Manager . . Qu;, Kelbe r, Advertising Assis tan t. Editorial Ch arle s C ayton. Edi tor- la- Chie f: Lan e Cam p bell , and Bobi Scott Edito rs. An and Prod uction Ca therine Lam pton, Ar t Direct or ; Barb . Mizun o , Advertising Art Director ; Paul Bu t ler, Lab Te c hn i cian ; Mari on IIatas h ita, Typograp he r. Circulation T he S . C.O . R.E. AC-Delco . Wo rld Champi onship repo rt mentioned that Neil MacDannald, who won th e 250 clas s an d wa s fourth overall Saturday, " dr o p p ed out" Sunday wh ile run ni ng ' thi rd overal1 behind th e Op en class bike s of Rex Staten and Mitc h Mayes. The " dr o p out " occu rre d at a hole near th e en d o f on e of th e 70 mph p lus straigh ta ways with a sp ectacular en do whi ch catap ulted Neil in to his own life or death race. He made a fast ambulance tr ip to Ri ve r s ide Community Hospital an d spen t five ho urs in successfu l open ch est surgery to rep air the three m ain veins which serve the upper righ t side which were co mple tely severed and mangled by a broken col larbone, Neil has left th e intensive care unit after a seven day sta y and wil1 so o n be strong enough to make the lo ng trip home. His rapid re co very from su ch grave inju ry has been re markable and in the surgeon's wo rd s "unfortunately he will be ab le to race motorcycles again." Neil's fam ily ....rishes to thank his many Distric t 36 friends for th e rapid spon taneous bl ood donor crusade made in his behalf to the Mo d est o branch of the Delta blood hank. It would be wonderful if the h igh regard an d go o d f rie n ds h ips whi ch develop between motorcycle riders co uld be come a t rait of all walks of life . DA RO LD Mac DA NNAL D Keyes, Calif. Murchie responds . Rheba Smith , Manager ; Pam Hobbs and Chris Andrew, Assistants. Aecounting Gavlene Zaicnz, Man age r ; Judy Fouts, Mi k e Klinger , Jeanne Hamm ond. Assistan ts; Tom Hunter. Rh on da Van Doren , Credit Departmen t. Services & Support Bill Run yan , Tom Lueh mann, West P.O . Box 49 8, Lo ng Beach , CA 9080 I. (2 131 427·7 433; L.A . Line 636-8844. East P.O . Box 8 05, Tucker. GA 30084 . (4 04 ) 934- 7850. Central P.O . Bo x 1324 5 , Austin , TX 7871 t. (5t2) 444·7548. Subscript ion One ye ar , seco nd class mai l 512.50 ; 2 years , seco nd class mail. S22.50 ; 3 years, second cla ss mail, 530.00 ; Sin gle co Py pr icc , 50 cen ts. Copyri g:hl Cycl e New s, Inc. 197 5. Trade mark registere d U.S. Pa ten t Office. NI righ ts reserved. Puhl ished week ly ex cep t the fir s t an d las t week o f th e calen da r year by Cycle News , ln c., P.O. Box 49 8, l.ong Beach , Califo rn ia. Seco nd cla ss pos tage pa id a t I.ong Bea ch. CA . 9080 I. Ed it o rial s to rie s. c a r t o o n s , pho tos , c le o welc ome. Add ressed , sta m pe d ar c 4 MacDannald follow-up en velope assu res re tu rn o f unp ur chascd edito rial matter. Reprinting in who le or part o nly by permission o f th e p ublishers . Adv ert isin g ra tes and ci rcu lat ion inf orm ati on will be sent upon reques t. See S.R .I>.S. I !• I'm glad to see that Cy cle News re ade rs who 've so far responde d to wha t I said in the series " An Environme n tali st Views Dir t Bikers " share so many of my conc erns. I do , however , want to rep ly to so me of these co un te r-co m me n t s. T o L aur a M add o ck ( " M . Thunderpussy ") , who in h er letter of August .12 suggests th at desert racers are favorite targets of the Sierra Club : ac tu ally, it would be mo re accurate to say the club 's ta rget is any rider, as individual or member of a gro up, who runs his bike across the des ert fl oo r to the detrim en t of the environment. To Phil Parker o f Corvallis, Or egon, letter of September 9 : I still t hink a u to mo tive no ise is very ro ugh on wildlife , whether it 's in the Nort hwest outback o r t he Mojave , and whether animals Oee at t he so und o r stand th eir gro und. Ask any Oregon bobcat. 1 have to agree wit h hiker Bill Poehler (colu m n of Augus t 26) tha t ca m pers and hiker s are beati ng and po llu ting the hell o ut of parts of th e Sierra. I do n 't co n done th e ac ts of the ca llo us bac kpac ker an y m or e th an I do th ose o f th e negligent off-ro ad biker. Th an kf ully , there are bi ker s wh o lo ve the out-of-doors for its be auty and so litude as does Bill Poehl er - n o t j us t for its avai lab ility as an op en space to rip across. TIle Sier ra Clu b, by the way, has dr asti ca lly redu ced th e n umber o f pe rso ns it ta kes o n sche d ule d trips in to the hi n te rland . If " all the groups " deal t responsib ly wi t h th eir own abuses maybe we wo u ldn't be hearing ahou t t he BLM (Bureau of Land Management) having to ,. , po lice t he Moj ave. Or any other part of the co un try. DO NALD M URCHIE San ta Monica, Cali f. Want to help? The Lake Havasu Cit y Mo to rc y cle Club is developing 25 0 acres of th e SA RA (Special A ctivities Recr eation Area) a coun ty park near La ke Havasu City. We ar e going to have motocro ss, IT, short track, trials, field meets, an d trail riding. We also hope to h ave rider e ducation and sa fe ty courses. We are in need of any assistance an yon e can give us in the way of ban ners. flags. arrows, ad vice , e tc . STEPHEN W. HO LD READ, Sec . L.H. C.M.C. Box 2266 Lake Havasu Cit y , AZ 86403 Left him cold T h e Lo n g Be a c h Sports Arena premier (and fin ale , I h ope) of ind o or ice racing w as a rip -off in th e be st ro l1er-derby fashion . It was an ins ult to the sp ec ta tors ' intelligence , an d to the riders ' tal en ts. The track wa s to o sm all an d the bikes were too big. The ride rs buffaloed the s t a r ter ; the o ffi cials aggrava ted th e ri ders, b u t it reall y didn 't m atter, beca use half the rac es were fixed an yway. Th e m ost cre di t sh ould go to Rex Beauchamp fo r n ot sh o wing up . Th e be st p arts o f the even in g wer e hear ing Gary Nixo n tal k and th e drive home. I think the fans su m med up the whole evening best - boo-oo-oo . AL LAN EN GEL Seal Beach , Calif. Desert pep tal k Chalk one mo re western American family's recreation pasttime u p fo r t he govern men t bureaucracy. Bikers m us t thin k they aren't co n sidered ci tizens of the Uni te d States, and have n o righ t to figh t for thei r rig h ts . T he Bar sto w-t o -Vegas race is no longer, th e Check Chase. has m oved o ut o f state, an d th e rest o f t he desert is . starting to crum ble . What 's next bik ers? Are yo u goi ng to give u p yo ur scoo ter for a fenced in ro ck ing chair an d a glass of mil k? Are yo u j ust to o lazy to get off your d uff and help keep yo ur old bi ke in the dese rt? Puck er b ushes, road cro ssings, and ne w to th e sp o rt ri de rs are mo re da ngerous th an th e gro ups wh o have co me up against yo u. Dea d q u iet, just before th e banner drops, an d the bod y an d m ind vibrating all through as the bikes ligh t up and roar off in a nose stuffin g cloud of desert d irt. Gre at o ld dese rt dus t! Will this all be p art of the past soon ? Will you be holding your grandchild on your messed u p knees, from ridin g the desert m an y years ago .when America was a free land, and tell th em all abou t t he go o d old days? Or will y o u ligh t up now and then and ride the bo mb? I sure as hell hope so! K. P. TACY Red lan ds , Calif. Help! I need help p ittin g an d would like t o ge t w it h a club havin g m em ber s tha t will be rid ing th e Chec k Chase. I have been deser t racing fo r th e p ast five years. I have a new 125 Hu sky set up for desert - 3. 5 gallo n tan k, etc . P l e as e ca ll 71 4 / 77 2-9 271 , be t wee n 12 :3 0 p .m . and 10 p .m . weekday s, any ti me wee ke nds, or wr ite. J ERRY J AR ED No . 27 8c 3 08 Bern iece Anaheim , Calif. 9 28 01 Outta sight . Th e m ost co m mon form re sults in v a r y in g degre es o f d iffic ul ty in di sti nguishi ng red f ro m green . Red or orange rib b on s attache d t o gree n pucker bus hes are virtually invis ibl e to a co lo rblind person. Fo r so me reaso n , t he m ost co mmon marking for the events I hav e ri dde n co n sists o f red ribbon. Consequently, my ability t o fol1ow the course de pe nds on arro w markers, lime and the path of other riders. Reason ably o ften, these markings are not adequate and I have go tt en o ff of th e co urse several times in events th at wer e ac tu ally wel1 marked with red agai nst gre en . I suggest that clubs co nsider using y ellow or white ribbon rather than red for their marking . This change should no t result in an y increased cost or inconvenience to the club. This m ay seem a trivial req uest , but I assure y ou tha t it is an im p ortan t co ns ide ra tion for a lar ge number o f ri d er s and that it 'is made in all serious n ess. GRA NT WILLSON San Diego , Calif. Nearly 20 % of th e male p o pulation is afflic te d with sign ifica nt co lorblin dness. Icy request : We n eed to kn ow the address for the co m p any m ak in g t he ste el studs used in . ice racing. Were special tire s used ? What kind o f tu be lin er s were used? Please help ! Shee t m etal scr ews don't make it. T&T CYCLE ENTERPRISES Spen ard , Alaska The screws (400 per tire) were specially made so me where in Detroit, Michigan. (Our sou rce of info ref used to release th e name of the company. } They are 3/ 16" hex head sheet me tal screws, with a knurled inside edge. The most po pular tires were Carlisle Universals and th e old Dick Mann A von Trackra cers. Each tu be contained one can (or bottle) of tire sealant, suc h as Seal 'N Air . . . Edit or More on B-to-V Ho w ab o ut giving us the ad dr ess of th e San Gabriel Val ley MC? I would like to send them some m on ey just in case they de cide n ot to give up just ye t. It 's also a way to th an k th em for many h o urs of racing pl easu re (di d 1 say th at ?) in o ur great desert. May be th e day of the . 20 0 0 + rider poin t-to-poin t rac e is over, but if it is, dam ni t, let's a t least give th e Sierra Club et al. a figh t to the finish . H. M. LEW IS Santa Marg ari ta, Calif. Write to th e SG VMC, 11 06 Moonligh t Summit Dr . , Diam on d Bar , CA 9 1 765 . . . Edi to r The vie ws ex pressed in this colu m n and o t h e r columns appearing on the f ollowing pages are solely thos e of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official p osition of Cycle News West or Cy cle News, In c. 0'alif ied readers wishing fr ee and equal rebut tal space should contact th e Editor.

• Cover