Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

I've seen in " Cycle News. " We race o nly motocro ss and d on't have as much o f a problem as the desert racers. We do write in defense o f desert racers th ough , be cause if th ey close the desert, those guys will start racing MX . Look what h appen ed to Mitch Mayes. He was th e b es t in the d esert. Now he either misses th e co m er, o r knock s some body d own. So m oto cr o ssers unite ! Help kee p the de sert open a nd th ose crazy guys o ut there wh ere t~ey can o nly h u rt themselves. BINSIDE ~ t Trans·AMA 6 T ony 's second win barely warms the ch ill Dez . •..•...•••••• •.•••8 PVD R uses Natio nal section in "family" loo p Poly ticks TEAM BAN AN A Co ro na Del Mar, Cali f. 10 No ise regs out of hand in Oregon Hangin' in Y ou guys aren 't bananas, you're crack ers! If you know what 's good fo r you, don't wea r your " Team. ~a na?a n jersey to th e next event 01 MItch attends . . . Editor 12 Two h igh-pressure d ays . with MX p romoter Mike Goodwm Hotline Products Central North Results Opinion Calendar Cat 16 23 26 29 33 36 38 44 Hosed again F RO NT PAGE : Gettin' off can be almost poetic - sometimes. SRA Riverside GP photo by John Ulrich. Sharon Clayton . Publisher Robert L. Nor Velie , Ge ne ra l Man ager Edna Mewton , Secretar y to Pub lisher . Advert ising Lin da Cla rk . Advertisin g Man ager, Chris Kolber , Adver tising Assista nt . . Ed itorial C ha rles Clayto n , Ed ito r-in-Ch ief; La ne Campbell. Senior Edi tor, Bob i Scott Ed it o r & Da le Brown, Ass't . Editor. Art and Production Ca t heri ne Lampton , Ar t . Director ; Barbara Mizu n o , Ad ve r tis ing Art Dire ctor ; Dennis Cox, Lab T echn ician: Marion Ha tashita, Typographer. Circulation Rheba Smith , Mana ger : Pam H obb s an d . Jane t Phelan , Assistan ts. Gavle ne Zaion z, Man ager ; Jud y Fouts, ~ I ik e Klin ger, Jeanne Ham m o nd , Assistan ts: T om Hunte r , Rhonda Van Doren , Cred it Dep artment. Service. & Support Bill Ru nyan, T om Luc hmann . J ua n ita Blanton, rec e p tio n ist. West P.O . Bo x 4 98, Lon g Bea ch . CA 9 08 0 1. (2 13) 4 2 7: 74 33: L.A. Line 636 · ~ X44. (T e le x 6 56·330) East 1'.0. lIu x X05. T ucker . GA 3 0 0X4. (4 04) 93 4 ·7H5 0 . (Telex 5 4 2-7 7 7) Subscription On e year. secon d class m ail $ 12.5 0; :! ye ars. second clas s mail, 522.5 0; 3 ye ars. second cl ass mail. $30.00: Sin gle co py pri ce. 50 ce n ts. Co pvrlght Cy cle News, Inc. 19 7 5. Trade mark regis te re d U.S. Pat ent Offic e. All righ ts rese rve d . Pu blishe d wee kly excep t th e first and last wee k o f th e calen da r ye ar by Cycle Ne ws , Inc.. P.O. Bo x 4 9 ~ , Lo ng Beac h , Cal ifo rnia. Se cond class postage p ai d at Long Bea ch . CA . 90 80 1. Ed ito rial sto ries. cartoo ns, ph otos, e tc. ar e welcome. Addressed , sta mped e nvelope assures return of unpurch ascd edi torial matter. Reprintin g in wh ol e o r part only by pe rm issio n o f t he publish ers , Adver tisi ng ra tes and circu la tio n in form at ion w ill be se nt upon re quest . See S. R.O .S. 4 Hold your pants on Free speech, racing, and editorial grit I enclose yesterday's motor racing column in which I'm sure you'll have an interest. (Excerpts from that colu mn app ear on the Opin ion page . . . Ed.) . The re action was immediate : LIk e abo u t three or four hours aft er th e paper hi t th e street. One o f the lo cal Sierra Club fu ncti o n aries, a college pro fesso r PhD, rang m e u p , harrangu ed m e fo r 4 5 minutes and threatened, in directly , to " have m y career" if I didn 't me nd my irrespo nsible ways. His name is Ge orge Lawrence, who I u nde rs tand has had some co nnection with hear in gs no w going forth in California City. Co n servationists have had the ear of th e politician for countless years and cannot accept t h at the powers that be might listen to o thers. Obviously , ~bey d o n't believe others should have the rig ht to fre e sp eech . Your November 18 issue was " rig h t o n" in properly recognizing that bikers must be go o d citizens to protect their in t erest. Hiding one's head in the sand is a luxury none of us can afford. If Cycle News and publications like it can keep the " great masses" pumped up on the idea that government, left to its own devices, will deprive all but a privileged elite of America 's traditional freedoms, perhaps there is some hope left. I can dig it. OWEN KEARNS ,JR. Editorial Page Editor The 'Bakersfiel d Californian Bakersfield, Cal if. On the air I was tuning in my radio last Saturday and found a show cal led KKOP Cycle World. It told all abo u t wh at was going on in th e motorcycle business , racing and lots of other st u ff. This is the kind of thing we need more of, so chec k it ou t. The sh ow is on every Sa turday fr om 11 :0 5 a. rn, to 1:0 0 p .m. It 's Fl\I 93.5 on yo u r di al . TOM RO BB Harbor Ci ty, Calif. Somebody noticed! I am writing to congratulate you, th e Cycle News staff, fo r th e su ccess in p ub lishing yo ur ne wsp ap e r, Cy cle News. It has by far the be st race coverage. When I thoug ht ab o ut it , it's pretty nice to have a Cycle Ne ws eve ry wee k to read 50 we e ks a y ea r. The paper has two sec ti ons to keep you up to dat e o n mo torcycle facts an d tr oubles. The Want Ads ar e very helpful when looking for bargain s o n m otorcycles, spare parts, ri ding apparel, and accesso ries. But the paper j ust wouldn 't be th e sa me without the Motocross Ca t cart oo n ! I would like to th ank you for writing th ese newspapers. It o utdoes any of the o ther motorcycl e magazines by a long ways! Don 't let yo ur typewri ter run out of gas , m~ne's just about out! Write us a letter SUBSCRIBER La Mir ad a, Calif. Further out without I started racing in 1954. I had a lot o f fu n with all the open ground. We used to ride allover the Santa Monica Mountains. When they closed all the fire roads to b ik es we just moved, never did complain much, at least t o the people that cou n te d. The bikers j ust went furt he r o ut without fighting. In th e 60's we thought Little Rock was way out. It was cl osed . We just kep t on moving o u t, never fighting, we felt there would be pl en ty o f room. At one time Hi Vist a was to o far t o go . Now where do you go ? Why so far? Because th e old riders didn't fight for old Crater Camp and th e old Shamrocks Park tracks. Just kept on moving. Maybe if we would have fough t th en, yo u wouldn 't have to go 150 mil es or more to race. The Dirt Di ggers fought th e Helmet law eight or nine years ago . They passed out fly ers and campaigned agains t it. ~ t was defeated, but almost eve ry year It comes back. ' Why do they have to beat it every year instead of just once? ~oes no one listen in government? The Bikers in Oregon blew it . Now you must wear a helmet and have your headligh t on just to go a co u ple of blocks to the store. To go trail riding you need a ' headlight. If California riders don't fight, the ground they will have left may be nothing but roads. So fight, it will be worth it. BOB BRANCH DDMC Far North Grants Pass, Ore. I used to buy Cycle News Central every week, but now West co mes to the shop. Central was smaller, but bet.ter written and had more photos. WeIsel wrote entertaining reports a bo u t the nationals. No o ffense , but I like the old Central much more. I d on't have a subscription to cancel , but I'm unhappy. What happened to th e staff of Central ? If they went to work for another m agazine, wh ich one? . I will keep buyi n g Cycle News, but I have no d o u b ts t h at just wh en I start to like it, yo u 'll fire all the good gu ys again . LA R R Y MYE RS Bastr op, Texas Hey, you done good! Had t o pull m y fin gers together and peck ou t this note t o co ngratu la t e y ou o n the " p oli ti cal" issue this week. I hope Cal ifornia bikers will save that inser t - and use th os e ad dresses on envelop es co ntai ni ng letters ! It is becoming m o re a p paren t to me all the ti me that some o f o u r political figu res are (a t least) beginn ing to list en to motorcy cl ists. T hanks fo r th e 'p ub lici ty' b u t I d on 't th in k it 's jus t m e the "pol s" are listen in g to - it's al l o f u s cyclists (" st ren gt h in numbers ." " power of the p en " all th at sort o f th in g). Now, if we co uld j ust get some o f the ' people in th e m otorcycle in dustry t o start listening ! Ride safe . . . ROGER HULL Ro ad Rider Magazine S. Lagu n a, Calif. We are glad to hear that someone misses good 01' Cycle News Central as much as we do . The Cen tral staf f moved to 'CN West. Dennis Cox and J od y Weisel will still be turning out th eir great photos and entertaining reports and stories here at Cycle News West . . . Editor One for our side I am enclosin g m y check in the amount of $ I 00. I would ap p recia te it if yo u could see that this money goes to the Legal Fund co nce rn ed with the acti on of desert closures. . We own and operate the Outpost Cafe on Interstate 15 near Victorville. As an ardent desert motorcyclist, member of East-West MC, I can verify that we are in a battle to retain our use of the desert, and that thousands of people that enjoy this open country during the year will contribute lots of bucks to businesses of the desert communities. This is my point. Somehow we need to enlist horsepower, in the way of votes and money, from the large group of businesses in Victorville, Barstow, Baker, California City, Mojave, etc., that immediately benefit from the motorcyclists and RV's visit s to th eir areas. I remember wh en we had ra ces ;"'ound Oak Hills a nd Bald y Mesa. That area is m ostly private land, but the County o f San Bernardino took it upon itse lf to creat e th e " written permission in possession" o rd inan ce, and the land was effectively closed. This "Big Bro th er" ap p roach by the co u n ty has closed o ther raci ng areas. Now we are facin g the BLM Protective Society. You businessmen in the desert should come alive and join in th e efforts to keep our lands open to the people. Yo.u independent riders find out what IS h appening, a nd se n d in a buc k or two. Write your newspapers, parti cularly the San Bernardin o Sun -Telegram . This paper covers all the desert areas, and is negative to the open d esert p lans. HosPital stop Mark Williams, National Number 70, has been dismissed from the hospital in Portland and sent home. Cards, letters ; best wishes or whatever, can now be sent to him at 1440 South A Street, Springfield, Oregon 97477. J.LACEY Watch it yellow jacket Your map of the districts and list of representatives is one of the best articles GEORGE NEWTON Apple Valley, Calif. The views ex p ressed in this column and th e r colu m ns appearing on the following pages are solely those of the authors and do n o t necessarily reflect the official position of Cycle News West or Cycle News, In c. Q!

• Cover