Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Another proposal B INSIDE i KOIL Trans-AMA My gut ch um s e very time I think a nd read ab o ut wh at is co mi ng down on th e desert riders freedom from th o se nurds at BLM an d the Sierra Clu b. I p ro po se that a com mittee be established t o secure fro m C RC. SG VMC , SRA, DRA , UEA. HBMC . PVD R to name a few. a list of all their p articipan ts th at attend th eir eve nts. Once this has been accom plished a le tter should be drafted to each and eve ry individual explaining exactly what we are faced with and asking fo r any am o un t 0 f donatio n to support o ur legal defense. We m ust reac h the multitude if we are to defeat the bureaucratic bull that is about to trample us into the very desert we cherish . J. D. VANIK Rowland Heights. Cali f. 6 [es' shuckin, huh Marty? ISDT ...... • •.•• ...... 8 Si x days o n the isla nd. First pix Speedway 13 Opinion . ......... •...14 Red Bud Trans-AMA .... 15 Ro ger made it two fo r Belgium . Hotline 16 Dez • •• . • • • •• • • • . . .• .• 18 Central .. .. . • .. .. . . . ..20 Rashers bash 24 AMA road racing comes to Phoenix Side ache North • .• . •• . . . . . . . . . .26 Results 31 Ask E.C 34 Quickie rides 35, 36 MV Agusta flas h bike and KTM's White Tornado Calendar Good question 38 FRONT PAG E: Su~ival was th e name of the gam e . ISDT pho tos by Charles Morey and Bob Lenk. S har on Clayto n. Pu bli sher Ro bert I.. No r " d ie . General Manage r Edna Mcw ron , Secre tary to Publ ish er, Advertising Linda Clark. Advertisin g ~t a ruger . Ch ris Kol be r. Advcrtising Assistan t, Editorial. Ch~rlcs Clay Ion. Ed itor -in -Ch id: Lane Campbe ll. Senior Editor, Bo b i Sc on Edit or & Dale Bro wn. Ass't. Ed ito r. Art and Production Cath erine Lamp ton , Art Director ; Barhara Mizu n o , Advertisin g Art Director' ; Paul Butl er, Lab Te chnician; xtaricn Ha tashi ta . T yp ogr ap her . Circulat ion Rhch a Sm ith. Manager: Pam 110 111>5 an d Chris An dr ews, Assistan ts. Accou nt ing Gavlen e Zaion z, ~t an a gc r ; J ud y Fouts. ~likc Klin ger, J eanne Hammond, Assist ant s ; T om Hunte r , Rhonda Van Do ren , Cred it De partme n t, Serv ices & Support Bill Run yan . To m Luchm an n. Juan ita JUanto n. reception ist. West P.O. Box 4 9 K. Long Beach . CA 90KOI. (2 13 ) 42 7-7433 : L.A. Line 636·KM4. (Tele x 6 56 ·3 30) East P.O. Box K05 , Tucker, G A 3 0 0 M . (4 0 4 ) 934·7K50. (Te lex 542 -7i7 ) Subscrip tion On e year. second class m ail S 12.r,O; :! year s, seco nd dais m ail, S22.50 ; 3 years. secon d class mail. $30.00 : Sin gle co p y price, 50 cents. Duck strikes again It doesn't seem th at the AMA's plan to improve ro ad racin g h as done much . The rule al lowing 25 m achines, intended to allow ot he r co mpanies (besides Yamah a) t o co mp ete; has flo pped. Su zu ki an d Kawasaki have pulled o u t. Onl y Yamaha seems likely to have a co mp etitive facto ry e ffo rt , based on o ne man , Kenn y Roberts. Ho w many rid e rs can a ffo rd to maintain a T Z 75 0 (o r KR 75 0 Kawasa ki , ava ilab le n ext year)? J ust pa yin g for the tire s is m ore: than you can win , a n d parts prices are as tounding. . Eli minat io n o f the J u nio r class WIll m ean more slow Ex pe rt s. It also e nlarge s t he Nov ice class which is alrea dy packed to the point of being lethal. Go production raci ng? Maybe, b u t forget th e b ig bike clas s. DuHamel 's bi ke looks about as st oc k as a funn y car. Loo k a t his frame (o r his pipes). Tell me wh ere I can buy a Super Sport Ducati, and how m uch it'll co st to m ak e it as fast as Cook Nielson's . How can a " str eet" bike be as loud as T ony Murphy's. When did they make Honda Super Sports as lo ud as the one th at ran a t Ontario? What if they threw a Daytona and nobody came? DENNIS SPENCER Lakewood, Calif. Once agai n it is necessary for t he Phan tom Du ck to flap his wi ngs and peck a t so me b iting lice in protest, th is time in an attemp t to save the very existence of o ur m o t orcycli n g sport. The Sierra Clu b , Envi ro nmental Defense Fund, and other gro ups are not p laying games wi th us. The death an~ destruction o f our sport by any means IS thei r prime goal . . The Phantom Du ck of the Desert is going to ride Bars to w to Vegas. Not a race, unless SGVMC puts one on, but a simple trail ride. Uno rganized, o f co urs e . But the old duck is a lonely cri tter, bird, or whatever. and won' t mind havi ng a little company along. Four or five thousand supporters wouldn 't frighten m e. but it might wake up the BLM and a lot of other people. I don't think the BLM or Sierra Club or anyone else has ever experienced a five thousand per so n strong, unorganized, desert happening. All desert "u sers must face the facts. The Barstow to Vegas race is the cream of the cro p ; o ur No . One event of the year. If we lose the opportuni t y of co m peting in this organ ize d race , we have lost the de sert. Now is the t ime fo r every d esert user ' to fig h t for hi s life . Invite yo ur fa mily and friend s. Spread the w o rd. 8: 00 a. m , Sa turda y , November 29 . Harvard Ro ad o ffr am p . Le t 's fig h t in the o n ly wa y we kn o w how for th e right to use ou r p u blic desert lands. Ho pe to see five t ho usand o f you there , and m ay we all reach Las Vegas. THE PH ANTOM D UC K O F THE DESERT Quack! Quack! Sticky situation Re ce ntly I saw a bumper sti cker with an illustratio n of a wood screw readi ng "Screw the Sie rra Club." At first it was funn y a nd my feelings were "right on." But, wh at does the avera ge dude think when he sees a pickup hauli ng bikes to the desert with this stic ker on the bumper? Ask in g a few non-bikers , I found out. Bad ! Bad for bi kes in ge ne ral and bad for the cause of land use. It 's th e same connotation as "The h elmet law su cks " bumper sti cker. We're never going to get what we want with a profane public 'k im age . not somet him g I'k e " D' Why I rrt b I e riders support individual rights to public . land use. Does the Sierra Club? " Le t's clea n up ou r act and get somewhere. ROB ERT F. GAYER Phoenix, Ar iz. Uh oh! Copyright Cycl e News. Inc. 197 5. T rade mark registered U.S. Patent Offi ce. All righ ts reserved. Published weekly ex cept th e first and last wee k o f th e calen da r ye ar lty Cycle News. Inc.• P.O . Ilo x 4 9 M. Lon g Beach, California . Second class po stage p aid at Lon g Bea ch , CA : 90M OI. Edi torial sto nes, ca r toons, phot os, et c. arc we lco me . Ad dr esse d, sta mp ed en velo p e assures return o f unpurch ased edi torial matter. Reprinting in wh o le or part o nly Ly perm ission o f th e p ublishe rs. Adverti sin g rat es and circu lation in fo rmatio n will be sent upon re q uest. SCC' S.K.O .S. 4 After finishin g 6 1st ov erall, and first girl at the Check Ch ase, I was surprised to read m y name as Trudy Beck. Please wheelie o ve r th at writer for me . DAWN GRANT 5 0 A Mission Viejo, Calif. P.S . Sue Va n Buskir k rode Check Chase fo r first Am ateur rid e. She end ed up with a bro ken ankle, and is in Anah eim Gene ral for surgery. Ouch! Darn th ose hnob bies. Dawn, I really blew it. I just " Trud y Beck" by mistake and catc h th e error. R esults had it th ough . . . Dale Brown Sorry typ ed didn 't right, Raffle at Hopetown The Dirt Diggers M.C. is having a "Memorial Raffle" for deceased club me mber Frank J . Ryan 's five children. The raffle will be held Sunday aft ernoo n at the Hopetown GP. Winners ne ed not be present. Donations of $1 are being acc ep t ed through any DDMC member, or Bruc e Jochim 213 /828-4677 days, or 670-1793 . Tickets will be avai lab le November 1-2 at Hopetown. Prizes consist of a new Honda XR-75 ; a $90 charter fishing trip from Mulege B.C. co u rtesy of Jack Perkins Ent., Santa Monica, California and other prizes. Thanks very m uch for the donations fellow bikers. BRUCE J OCHIM , DD MC 2834 Colorado Ave ., No . 35 V , Santa Mo ni ca, CA 90404 Hey ! What Ch ec k Ch ase did you go to ? Who was ahead o f Mitch May es for more than half the race? Sidehacks, O K . maybe only five raced , and maybe they did get a he adstart , bu t t hey were in the race. Not only d oes your article not mention t hem, nei th er do your resul ts. Fo r the record, first sidehack wen t to Ralph Whitney (pilo t) a nd Russ J ones (pass .) who finished with half of a r~ar wheel and a bi g push across the fin.'sh line. Hack racers are a part of racmg too . Please remember these guys. AMY GONZALES Wo odland Hills , Calif. Where to write Ple ase publish an ad dress to protest the can cell at io n of the B to V race this year. If you do, I promise to write the turkeys a letter, and whoever re ads this will do likewise. Right, bikers? J ACK CHILDS Cucamonga. Calif. Start with BLM State Director; Mr. Ed Hastey, Federal Office Bldg. R oom E 2841, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA 95825 '.•• Editor Listen to the thunder I just receive d a re ply to a lette r I Wrote to E'd Ha stey, S tate Director of the BLM (2800 Cottage Way , Sacramen to , CA 95825) , in pro t est o f the ·B t o V ca ncellation . His reply begins: "Your letter concerning the Bars to w to Las Vegas Motorcycle Race th is year was o ne of m ore th an a hundred expressio ns of opinion we rece ived. Most have been pro tests agai nst our rejection of the race a pplication; so me hav e been in favo r o f t his action." . .. Nearly 3000 people race B to V. Ye t the BLM received a meager 100-plus le tters on the subject, so me of whic h o bviously weren't written by bi kers . That m ean s less than three percent of those of you who would ride B to V wrote to protest its cancellation. Deplorable! C'rnon, peop le. whether you care to recognize the fact or not, letters do m ake a difference. We have a choice: either do nothing and let motorcycling be legislated into obsolescence, or yo u Can get off your apathetic asse s and take 10 minutes out o f your lives to help educate the lawmakers and bureaucrats to understand what we , as motorcyclists {and voters} want. It's up to u s, as individuals. to keep mo torcycling the way we want it. Please , write a letter today. M. THUNDERPUSSY Hemet. Calif. Super Joe Thanks to J o e Pe na and his so n for the help t hey gave m e at the C RC Motocross at De Anza. J oe gave u p his position in th e ra ce and a possible win to help a fellow moto-xer (me) after a super hard get off. ART MEYER Huntington Park, Calif. The views ex p ressed in this column and columns app earing on the following pages are solely those of the authors and do no t necessarily reflect th e official position of Cycle News West Dr Cycle News, In c. QJlalified readers wishing free and equal rebuttal space sh ou ld contact th e Editor. a th e r

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