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/126015
the race results were not mailed to th e AFM National Secretary wi th in a standard seve n-day time limi t . Th ere is m u ch debate over who is at fault. Fixing bl am e is not important. What is important is the fact that the putting administration, AFM is bureau cracy , and politics ahead of motorcy cle racing. The AFM is penalizing racers for an ad ministra t ive hassle that ra cers h ave no control over. It is a terrible thing that the AFM has go ne the way o f th e AMA: rules first, racing second. JOHN D. ULRICH AFM I25cc Production Ch ampion La Mirada, Cal if. BINSIDE ~ t Hopetown foreve r . . " , . .6 8 Baja bike blast ,., Cannady/Baker/ Ho nda lead the charge 10 Dez •• . , Rand Cleanup, DRA Har e Scrams 12 Speed way Nat'l. Cal l it a mini- Ullivi . . • call it Mike Bast's perfecta Hotline 18 Central 21 North , , 26 Cap' n Ame rica .......• .30 Results 31 33 Cat Retu rn request Going metric Land Grab ! • .. . . . . . . .. .36 El Paso/Red Mountain area - the great vanishing de sert Calendar , , , 38 FRONT PAGE : Baja 125 class win ner Carl Cranke cranked o ver, just clip ping a co nvenient (? ) co urse marker, as the bikes boogied awa y from everything on fo ur wh eels. Ph oto b y John Hue tte r. S haron Cl ay ton , Publish er Robert I.. Nor Veli e. Gen er a l Manage r Edna Mcwto n . Sec re tary to l' ubli sh er. AdvertiSing Linda Clar k. Advert ising ~1an agC'r. Ch ris Kol ber , Adve rtising Assist a n t. Edito rial Cha rle!l Clay to n , Ed ito r-in-Ch ief': Lan e Camp be ll. Senio r Ed ito r. Bo b i Scot t Ed it or & Dale Brown. Ass't , Edi to r. Art and Produ ction Cath erin e Lampton . Art Director; Barbara Mizun o. Adv er tisin g Art Direc tor : Marion Hatash it a. Typographe r . Circulati on Rhch a Sm ith , ~1anagcr; Pam Ho bb s and Chris Andrew s, Assist ants . Accounting Gaylen e Zol o nz , Man ager : Judy Fou ts . i Ilamm on d, Xfike Klin ger . J e anne Assis tants ; T om Hunter. Rh onda Van Do ren, Credit De partment. Services &: Sup port Bill Runy an, T om Luehma nn. J uan it a Blanton . recep t ion is t. West P.O . Box 498, Lo ng Reach, CA 9080 I. (2 13) 4 27 ·7433 ; l. .A. Lin e 636·8X44. [Te lex 656·3 3 U) . East P.O . Box 8 U5, T ucker, GA 30084. (404) 934·7K50. (Telex 542· 777) Subscript ion One year . second class m ail 51 2.5 0 ; :! yea rs, second class mail, S22 .50; 3 YC;.I rs. second class m ail . S30 .00 : Sin gle (:u p)' prk-e . 5 0 cc n ts. Copyright Cycle News, In c. 197 5. Tr ade mark regi st ered U.S . Pa ten t Offi ce . All righ ts reserved. Published weekly except the first and last week of the c ale n da r year by Cycle News, Inc.. P.O . Box 49 H, Long Beach, Cal ifornia. Second class postage paid at I.ong Bea ch , CA . 9 0HOI . Edi torial sto ries, c arto o n s, ph ot os, e tc . are wel come. Ad dresse d , sta mp ed envelope assu re s re t urn of unpurc has ed edi torial mailer. Rep rint in g in who le o r part onl y by permission o f th e publishcn. Advertisin g rat es an d circu la tio n informati on will be sen t u po n request, Sec S.R .D .S . 4 Hello Mr, Hastey: ' Since you hold th e big stick fo r the Bur eau of Land Man agement (BLM) I ain d irecting m y co mp lain t to yo u. The Barstow to Vegas mo to rcycle race is the largest participat ed race an d probably th e m ost enjoyed event by m otorcy cle enthusiasts . There ar e approximate ly 3,000 entries each year who should be receiving s ome k ind of recognition .. . I used to ride dirt trails around my house until luxurious apartments, houses, and shop ping ce nters were built o n these riding are as. I suppose this is okay, peo ple do need a place to live . However, do n't p u t an extinction o n open lan d. After the BLM and city people took away most of the trail riding areas I got interested in the desert. The waste lands and bad lands, the old timers called it. Land used b y no man . Now the off-ro ad vehicles are being forced out of the city into the desert areas. Fo r the past fo ur years I have paid th e st ate for the use of the lan d . I then re ceived a Green Stic ker. The' state was going to save land especially for the off-road vehicles. Then th e news came in that the City of Los An geles borrowed mo ney (1 believe $20,000) fro m the Green Sticky Fu nd. Was t he money eve r repl aced, was interest paid on it, will t hey be fin ed o r imprisoned ? Hell no ! I p urch ased a d esert bike to ride out there and th en discovered th at you are trying t o close down most of the desert riding areas: What fo r? If there is hist o ry in the desert th en fence off the impo rtan t areas. And don't te ll me the whole desert has some historical significance. I'm telling you now, if yo u close down or stop an y events (Barsto w to Vegas race) I'll guarantee that my friends and I will ride anyway . Yo u don't give us any reason not to. I own two off-road motorcycles valued at ap pro x im ately $ 2, 00 0 and 111 be damned if I will let them sit and collect dust in m y garage (speaking for my friends, too) . If the Barstow to Vegas ra ce is cancel led I suggest the San Gabriel Valley M.C . hold the race an yway, raise the entry fee, do not pay th e BLM for a permit, and d o not give t-shirts or finishing pins. Instead keep the money for any legal fees to protect the sport. My next step will be to cancel m y subscription to the State of Cal ifornia for the Green Stic ker. DENNIS J . MONTGOMERY So uthern California Complaint or compliment? The 19 75 Ch eckchase was a Pu ssy Cat. Altho ugh th ere w as a to t al abse nce of com petitive terr ain , and the starting flag ceremon y lacked class , I jus t loved th e whole th in g. This en duro club ribbo ned our ii i' o le to ur alo ng sculptured farm roads, ar ound several stalled snowplows, through wide fir t ree lined avenues, and for mil es we chased waves along the beaches of the Rio Gr ande. Absolutely no sand, no t alcu m powdere d roads, no wide sandwashes, an d no do wn hills. If yo u haven't anythi ng to d o next Oktober, join me wh en I use m y 750 Smi th & Wesson to ce lebra te m y 21st birthday by com pleting the 70 th Annual Ch eckch ase. JIM WILLI AMSO N No. 03 59 , Badgers M.C. La Mirada, Ca lif. Duck, here it comes again You can 't be serious about your trail ride. Do you really want to get us in deeper Bandini than we are already? The headlines would be impressive. " 5, 0 00 Bikers Destr o y Desert in Protest." That's no t the kind of publicity we want or need. Has it occurr ed to you that last year's course crossed private land , with the owners' permissio n ? What chance d o you think we11 have of getting that permissio n n ex t year if you take 5, 0 00 riders across without permission this year? You couldn't be helping the Sierra Club more if yo u were a d ues pay ing member! The cancellatio n of the B to V is a rip off! But if you really want to protes t, do it o rd erl y an d legal! If Harvard off-ramp is an open ri di ng area, meet o u t t he re fo r a play-day or a Me morial Service to th e B to V. Stay the day and enjoy. Clean up y o ur t ras h and leave . Show the Sierra Clu b and BLM th at we are n o t a group of undisciplined clo ds! After yo u leave, m ake it a poin t not to go to Las Vegas. 5 ,000 empty ho t el and motel roo ms may tell the Vegas Chamber of Co m merce so mething. Will close now with the wis h that you use your head . no t your tail feat he rs, before you real ly screw it up for the res t of us! TOM KENNEDY MARK NIELSON San Gabriel, Calif. P .S . Drop a few words to th e Barstow and Baker Chamber of Commerce telling them that because the race has been canc elled, you won 't be spending an y money in their towns this year. It may turn the businessmen on to what th e co un ty is doing to them. Dear Desert Duck Will the Unofficial Barstow to Vegas T rail Ride hel p o r will this j ust be fuel for the Sierra Clu b to help stamp us Unfortunately, th e various o ut? comm unication med ia , i.e. television and radio , are goi ng t o just ea t this up and blow our image righ t out the d oo r. San Ga briel, wh at do you wan t us to do? Anybody else o ut th ere have an answer? THE WET WEAZEL AFM pointless At a m eeting of th e National Board of Dire ctors o n October 18 , the American Federation o f Mo torcyclists (AFM) decided to not co unt poi n ts fro m the Los Ange les Ch ap ter race J une 22. J ustification for th is move is t hat Man y than ks to the people who helped Eddie Ay ers (34 I x) duri ng the Novi ce race a t the California City Grand Prix, Oct. 5. He sustained very serio us head injuries and is still hosp italized at Northridge Ho spital. Special th anks to the unknown rider who stayed with h im until t he doc tor and ambulance arri ved. We are still trying to find his helmet, goggles, m ou thguard . tglo ves an d kidney bel t. If anyone fo und t he se things o r kn ows wh o m igh t have p ick ed th em up at the accident, p lease co n tac t m e. We would like to have them back. SANDI E A YERS 20221 Delig h t St. Can yon Co unty, CA 9135 1 Pha ntom Duck quacks again Only yo u wo uld believe how ma ny letters I have written and to wh o. All of our Cali fornia Asse mblymen and Senators in Sacramento , plus all of those in Washington as well have received p osters, letters and clippings. I have passed out posters wherever I can, bu t just can't co ver all the events. Also, I don't want anyone to catch me. ] now have a return address in hopes of hearing from some of our legislators. Hope to see lo ts of action about Barstow to Vegas in Cycle News. THE PHANTOM DUCK OF THE DESE RT Helendale, Calif. Duck, yo u kno w we can 't legally publicize y our fi rst annual unorganiz ed Barstow t o Las Vegas desert trail ride No vember 29th because that , might make Desert Ducks an endangered species. Is it tru e you're going to leave a trail of f eathers from Harvard Road to the Pahrump off ramp ? ... Edito r Frustrated fan After reading your article on the Ph oenix Road Race , I don't t hin k yo u gave Dave Ern de the credit he deserve d. He started out on t he third row and was leading by quite a margin whe n Beader and KJinzmann went out. You made it sound like he just lucked out. Also, when he won Riverside the week before (it was a match race. do wn to the checkered) you only men ti oned Rudy Galin do b lowing u p on a wrenched mo to rcy cle le ft over from Ontario . It's hard on a kid to race when he has to follow a big brother that's done as well as Don Ernde, The least yo u can do is give him a little cre d it for a good win. J, JONES Spring Va lley , Calif. When y ou get down to it , no racer gets all th e credit he deserves, because print just can 't do justice to what th ese guys do every we ek end. Credit or no , Dave Emde was enjo ying himself, and that 's the important thing to keep track of•. . Ed ito r. The vie ws expressed in this co lu m n and o th e r columns ap pearing on the fo llowing pages are so lely those of the authors and do not necessarily refl ect the official position of Cy cle News West or Cycle News, In c. Qualified readers wish ing fr ee and equ al rebu t tal space should contact the Editor.