Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1975 12 09

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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THE LATEST P P BY PAPA WEALEY O'l .Now that the Internatio nal Trials Association has j oined the American Trials Association, ITA members will be able to join the AT A at their December IlJ 7th Saddleback trials, or at P.O. Box U 2155, Orange, CA. 92669. Costs two IlJ buc ks. l-< IlJ .c E Cl Sure were a lot of squids trail riding around the 0-37 Benefit. During the races they were riding on , backwards on, and across the course. 175 winner Jeff Kaplan collided with a pair crossing the course in front of him. One racer later disqualified - was interfering with Trudy Beck and Dawn Grant during their race. Kinda makes us look like idiots if racers can't stay out of the way of other racers when they're not competiting. With the Benefit in Cal City and the Duck's B-to-V trail ride going on, guess whe re the San Gab riel M.C. was? At a field meet in Hi Vista. Starting w ith their first motocross in January , CMC will have a four-stroke class on the first and second Sundays of each month . It's open to any machine over 25Occ. A '76 CMC license win be requ ired , Seen at the D-37 Benefit: Dave Aldana riding Heavyweight Expert on a big-bore Suzuki. Not an RM mind you, but a TM 400 engine in a m onoshock frame. Gary Fisher's wife Christy gave birth to baby girl , Kimberly Ann, on Thanksgiving day. The new baby has the same birthday as Fisher's first tuner, Gary Fiel, an d as Art Friedman's girlfriend, Chris. Ii Jim Pomeroy spent the last two weeks in a Yakima, Washingto n, hospi tal hav ing his kn ee inj ury repaired. Bimbo plans to be back in action for the upcom ing Florida Winter-AMA Series which he'll campaign to get him sel f back in shape fo r t he 250cc World Championships. Apparently, Yamaha has sold out the first batch of TT500 thumpers, with most models going sight unseen via advance . order. Rumor has it that the second sh ipment, on the water at present, is 1500 TTs and 3500XTs, which maybe syas what they expect by way of customer acceptance of the street legal venio n . Tony DiStefano and his Suzuki mechanic Keith McCarty are headed fo r Japan in January for b ike testing. Suzuki teammate Kojii Masuda has already written ahead to warn the girls at the Torco Massage Parlor. Yamaha 's 125cc watercooled motocrosser is currently being marketed in Japan. Does this mean that it cOuld be available in America as early as this Spring? Billy 'S ugar Bear' Gr ossi h as m at chin g pins in both legs, but doctors will be breaking up t he set by removing one of the pins on December 9th. The Bear will have his 1974 Superb o wl so uvenir removed from his righ t leg an d will be ba c k in actio n for the Florida Winter-AMA Series. 2 Some feedback on our emissions article in the November 18 issue - the folks at Montesa tell us the L_A. Basin was called the Bay of Smokes (not Land of Smokes) by the Spaniards, who blamed the haze on fires set by Indians. It figures; there's always been a convenient scapegoat for the loc:aI atmospherics. Barstow to Vegas H'n'H Memorial Trail Ride Interested folks are getting together with AMA officials Decemb er 4 to discuss new an d /o r improved AMA min icy cle programs for 1976. Contact M IA 's Amateur Depar t m en t for details. Purse allowance for Semi Pro AMA races has been increased from $450 to $600. After 1975's pilot programs that pa id professional advancement points at Semi Pro meets on a quarter-point bas is, the AMA Congress voted to adopt the program for all 1976 d irt track. However, the Pro Rules Committee sent the idea back for further study. AB 1809. California riders engrave that number on your brain pans, as it's a piece of legislation we ca n support, fo r a change. To learn how yo u can help this landmark rider education bill move through a reluctatnt legislature, han g o nto your Califo rn ia p ullout and check Political Hotline ne xt week. Watch th is. KCOP , Channel 13 will present a special, "Motocross, the Stadium Phenomenon," Saturday, December 6, 10:30 p.m . Marty Smith will be featured, ' along with footage from the Super Bowl '75. Don't miss it. One of the latest entrants for the Anaheim Bow l go is AI Baker. Remember hiro? He just won the Baja 1000. He will be co n testing the Op en class on a modified 4-stro ke Honda. Final meeting to put together the National Outdoor Coalition 's response to BLM's Red Mt. and EI Paso Peaks draft plan will be held this coming Saturday. For info call: (2 13 1 361-8530. Seen at a photo studio last week: Steve McLaughlin, looking fo r "the perfect political can didate shot. Sincer e , yet for ceful . .... The 1976 Florida Winter-AMA Series will serve as qualifiers for the stadium events next year, and will be the hardest fought Series ever. Full teams will be field by Husky, Bultaco, Suzuki , and probably Honda and Yamaha as vvell. Both Brad Lackey and Jim Pomeroy will race the Series before heading over to the GP wars in Europe . After three years of riding for Yamaha, Tim Hart has been released fro m their mo to cro ss team. Na ti o nal Champion Jimmy Weinert will remain with Yamaha for 1976. All you kids, six ye ars and under, bring a toy to the American Motocross Fin als, December 13, and get in free. The U.S. Marines will provide " T oys for Tots" drop boxes. Big people can b ring toys too, but they'll still have to pay. So far , the youngest en tran t in Open class competitio n for the American Motocross Finals is 15-year-old Vic Darilek, Jr. Vic just won the state-w id e Open class competition in Phoenix , Az., and is the first of a number of st ate champs to qualify. Vic will ride a 400 Yamaha Mono sp onsored by Southwest Yamaha in Phoenix. Clyde Earl,your NVT redundant worker, is the new main source of Triumph Twin and Matchless parts, Matchless tee shirts, and tender, loving care of certain old turkeys. Clyde's at Harry D. Foster Motorcycles, 1635 W. Carson, Lawndale, CA. (213 )328-2850. Look fo r Kawasaki t o sponsor on rider o n both 750 and .250 road racers next year, in spite of their "official." withdrawal from road racing. And expect t heir choice of rider to be a surp rise to everyone trying to ge l Kaw asakis for next year. Hint : The sele cted rider's name does start with N, M, II, R, A, o r D. On the trail 01 the Phantom Duck & livestock oller By Charles Clayton and Lane Campbell Four of my in-laws and nephews ride bikes and when we got ยท together to grve thanks for America by stuffing ourselves with turkey and other rich foods, we used to talk about the Barstow to Vegas race that coming Saturday and I always felt envious because they were entered and I always had to wo rk that day. This Thanksgiving was different, tho ugh. The race had been can celled, so I di dn't have to work Saturday . I was riding th e B to V course in pursuit of t he Ph an to m Du ck o f t he Desert whom no o ne, no t eve n the Sie rra Club, has ever seen. / While in -law s and nephews wer e sn ug in t hei r beds, dreamin g o f a Saturday watching b all games on televisio n, I was eyeball to eyeball with sunrise on the 1974 starti ng line. Their wo rnout scooters mouldered in the garage while my new Yamaha barked good m orn ing to a beau tiful desert. God had hosed away all but the memory of the 1974 co urse , but our navigator, whose handle was "El Co yo te " (it was painted o n his bike) had an auto dub map and a to pographical map to guide us through that disputed do main which is still public. A couple o f sour-faced Sierra Clubbers blasted through the pits in a green Blazer, the male snapping pictures of us as he steered and th e female passenger contorting wh at may have been a pretty fac e into a mask of fear and loathing. Wish I'd got a picture of th em . I did get a picture of so me kids laying a wreath on a black cross signed " In Memory of Barstow to Vegas Race , 19 75 - killed by Sierra Club. " Someb o dy lit a streak of gasoline and we started eas t along t he po wer line road toward a smokebomb so me o ne else had ceremoniously provid ed . There were about tw en ty of us riding m or e or less to get h er , trying to kee p th e guy ahea d in sight. A few dropped out befo re th e first gas ch ec k at Rasor Ro ad. It always hap pens . I recogni zed so me of t he terrain we were riding as part of the 19 74 course. It s bushes were still somewhat bent, the way my back yard gets when the ne ighborhood kids play t here. But they would come back, the kids and the bushes. My ba ck yard is fairly small, but there is room for both , and if the foliage gets tweaked, well, it can take care of itsel f. Nearly everything in the desert grows its own defenses. It either bi te s, cuts, sticks, stings, or flings mo torcycle riders o n their heads. We fo llowed designated roads whe n we could find them. The straight, boring, bl aded roads were obvious because th ey gre et yo u like a hear t attack. Come over a rise and fin d a di tch in fr ont of you and a hard p at ch of kittylitter to infinity in a straight line . The jeep roads were better. They meandered around puckerbushes and swerved to miss ant hill s and every tum had two nice berms. These jeep tracks were easy to miss, where they turned off the kittylitter roads, because they looked so much like the rest of the desert. Finally as our group, now d own to about 12 riders, approached State Line , I to o turned back. We had co me 75 miles and it was growing cold and we had screwed around so much it would be dark by the time I got back to the ca mpe r. We will leav e o ur desert backyard now to Phantom Duck, the Coyote, the Grey Fox and the Sierra Club ber Unpaid Monitors in their green Blazer. Campbell continues ... At State Line, with the sun already dropped behind the m ountains, my gas sto p was truly like a racing pit, as my friends poured gas in m y tank o n a dead ru sh , shouted co urse instructio ns at me, slapped me on t he helmet and I was off, und er the free way to p ick up trails east to J ean , o ur nex t sto p . Boogie ti m e. We we re on t he old co urse, a trail with well-developed th ree foot who o ps that eventually sp it me an d the Triumph out onto a be autifu l dry lake. Down o n the tank, tapped in fo urth, I can 't tell ho w fast we're going because the speedo's busted an d my

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