Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

A lawsuit brought by a snowmobiling club to permit the vehicles use of the Tioga Pass road in Yosemite National Park was decided against the ORVs. The outcome may set a precedent for similar of motorcycle suits on behalf recreation, AMA Legal Fund please note. Park Superintendent Leslie Amberger told the Fresno, CA. court he banned snowmobiles to min imize conflicts between them and cross-country skiers. Sound familiar? Webco , Inc . partner Tom Heininger sold his share of the world's largest motorcycle accessory firm to longtime partner Bob Hughes. Tom doesn 't know what he 's go ing to do when the buy -out agreeme nt tak es place January I, 1976 but hopes he will still be involved in the motorcycle game. 1 Did last week's "Open Letter" on the Century Ranch classification make somebody at Parks and Recreation jump? The preliminary hearing on whether to make the place a park or recreation area is December 15, instead of July as we were led to believe earlier. So don't sit back - if you have an interest in seeing Century Ranch as a recreation area, with possible ORV activity a!,d club road racing, WRITE . You are reading the next-to-last issue before Cycle News knocks off for our annual two-week vacation. Don't take any chances on missing the big End-of-the-year issue next week. Newsstand copies will feature a great, 8-page slick Posterbook wraparound and will sell for a dollar. Subscribers will not r e ce ive . the Posterbook automatically (costs too-much), but may order a copy by sending 50 cents to the office with a sample of a recent mailing label off the front page of Cycle News. On the hel met front - The California Peace Officers' Association, a letterhead outfit that does not necessarily represent all the sta1Il's Black and Whites, is trying to stick it to us again, this time with a proposed amendment to an existing part (No. 278021 of the Vehicle Code which would, in effect, be a mandatory helmet law. It gets its first airing in San Diego December 11 before the Auto Legislation Advisory Group, a q u as i -official committee of transportation industy people established by the legislature to screen off-the-wall proposals for new laws. We'll let you know how the proposal fared. If approved, it will be rushed to the lawmakers after New Year's. Rich Eierstedt has re-signed with Honda after we mused that he probably wouldn't . Eierstedt, who spent most of this year on the injured list, will contest all three classes in next year's national circuit. America's motonnouth, Larry Huffman, will not be announcing the American Motocross Finals in Anaheim Stadium. The oft praised and condemned announcer has always been a highlight of the indoor series. 2 HosPITal stop - Robert Coombs is in Tustin Community Hospital with a broken ankle and a severly lacer at ed foot following a get-off at an AMC Night Race at OCIR. Rob ert will run with the plaster set for a whil e. Texas 125 Expert MX'er Shawn Smith is in serious shape at the Whitne y Hospital following a four bike acciden t at Lake Whitney Cycl e Ranch. Emergency surgery saved his life, bu t the road to recovery will be long for bo th riders with out a little help from their friends. Women's National Champion Terry Kezar crashed badly at a Phoenix motocross Thanksgiving weekend while running second in 250 Expert. She broke ' five vertebrae, but thankfully there's no paralysis. She is recovering and reportedly in good spirits at St. Joseph's Hospital. The American MX Finals in Anah eim this Saturd ay night is shaping up to be a real runoff among the best rac ers of various types . There 's Bill Rubly, CMC No. I and a great night racer, DeStefano, Eierstedt and Weine rt , the AMA superstars, Al Baker of Baja 1000 fam e, Terry Clark of the Desert, Bryar Holcomb on the new Harley-Davidson, Gary Jones on the Islo prototyp e and Marty Tripes making his stadium comeback. Not to mention Minnie Moore (remember her?). Looks like the Cal ifornia Enduro Association's Last Chance Enduro will be the deciding factor in who gets the Number One 0 -37 Enduro plate for '76. Husky rider Tom Spurlock is leading with Dave Ekins and Rick Munyon breathing down his neck. A double-point run, they don't call it the Last Chance fer nuthin'. Camel Filter cigarettes will be back in 1976, sponsoring th e AMA Grand National Series to th e tune to $75,000 again. They said they were very pleased with th e value received for their advert ising bu cks th is past season. PHD, a truck leasing agency in San Diego, California is advertising on the radio that they have new BMW motorcycles for lease. Is this a first? Roger DeCoster's famous MX shocks are available from Suzuki dealers for $170 the pair. Zeltwig, Austria will be the site of next year's ISDT on September 20-25. ZeltWig is presently noted as the venue for the Austrian Formula One GP auto race. Saturday night December 13, people attending the ORA Weekend will be treated to a belly dancing performance by Power Puff Winona Richardson. Winona assured Papa that her routine would "rejuvenale" the most grizzled Experts. AMA rebate. Next year AMA will return half of the sanction fees of successfully completed races back to certain districts for use in such things as legal funds , expenses, and member servi ces , Next. dues sharing? Buy of the week, but no American need apply: Gary Nixon tried to buy his Suzuki from the factory at their price. Instead of accepting the offer, which some sources value at up to $10,000, Suzuki sold Nixon's bike and three spare engines prepared by Irv Kanemoto to an Australian for $1 ,700. 'Tis the season for Number One plales. .The winner of the American MX finals gets his gold plated. Look for Jim Pomeroy on a 250 Suzuki for the European Grand Prix next year. Once again the KIinzmann family has provided the facilities at their La Posada Restaurant in Anaheim for the annual CMC road racing awards banquet, all CMC road racers and their guests are invited. It 's Saturday even ing, December 21 and $3 a head - " pre-en try only" . We hear the fo lks have laid down a classy starting line. Mmmhmmmm.. Four road races are on the AMA Grand National schedule for 1976, with two mOn! tentative. Based on the success of his first venture, Ken Maely is holding another speedway school. This on e is set for December 20-21. For information, call (714) 735-0540. Folks who have seen it say the Maico 400 GP for 1976 sports gas Girlings (fitted on Adoph Weil's advice) fitted to an extended swing arm . Rear travel, stock, is now 8.5 inches. Rear subframe and porting are also changed · slightly. NBC-TV will not broadcast the American MX Finals on a one-day delay basis. The highligh ts will be held for a later showing in January. Yamaha has signed 19-year-old So Cal racer Bob Hannah to their motocross team , following his successful streak at local tracks. He'll begin riding under his contract with the AMA National qualifiers beginning in Florida, February 1. Vandalism to desert wells in the vicinity of Ridgecrest, CA., according to BLM is costing up to $2500 per well pilr year to repair and. maintain these vital facilities. In particular, anyone with info as to who has been shooting the Indian Wells Canyon well full of holes, the FBI is interested. Steve Stackable has signed on the dotted line to join Tony DiStefano and Billy Grossi in an all out Team Suzuki drive to capture the 125 , 250, and 500 . National Championships. Roger DeCoS1er was reported to have said, just before the Omaha Trans-AMA which Marty Smith won, that Marty " . .. won't beat me for at least three years, and if he does before then I'm going to retire." Canis La Tr ans (loo k it up , you turkeys) Mot orcycle Club , wh ose symbol is Wylie E. Coyote through permission of Warner Bros., was se t up by Seal Beach city aut ho rities to give under-16 ers opportunity to ride in the dez. The club meets 7:30 p.m. the first Thursday of each month in th e Marin a Community Cen ter, an d needs par ent suppo rt to get th e kids o ut into the countryside. Call (2 13) 596-0597 for more info. RISING SUN. • • Charles Sun (61cl is one of the hottest young new riders in the Trans-AMA Series and has been attracting the eye of more than one factory leam. Charles finished better than fifteenth at each event in what was his first tour on the Pro circuit in the 500 International class. Can ad ian 125cc National Champion, Masuru Ikeda has been campai gning a st ock Su zuki RM3 70 with works forks during th is year 's Trans-AMA as a part of Su zuki 's testing program. D.O.T. power threatened WASHI NGTON, D.C. A significant legislativ e advance on behalf of m ot orcyclists was registered December 3 during a meeting of th e U.S. Hous e of Representatives Sub-C ommittee on Surface Transportation in Washington , D.C. The 23-member committee voted to include the wording of House Resolution 3869 in th is year's federal highw ay bill. HR 3869 would remove the Feder al Department of Transportation's righ t to withhold highway funds from states which do not enact mandatory safety helmet laws for motorcyclists wh o are 18-years-old or older or which repeal such laws. The bill was o ffered as an amendment to the federal highway bill by Representative Glenn M. Anderson (D-Calif.) and received support from sub-committee chairman James Howard (D-N.J .) and ranking minority member Bub Schuster (R-Pa.) . "Inclusion of HR 3869 virtually assures that this importan t issue will receive consideration of the full House of Representatives," AMA Legislative Director Gene Wirwahn commented from Washington. "We are still a long way from victory but this was an essential step. " Wirwahn stressed that the issue presented by HR 3869 and companion bills HR 6211 and HR 6918 is not whether motorcyclists should wear helmets. "At this time we are concerned with bureaucratic pressures brought to bear on State Legislatures which do not see fit to enact helmet laws or which seek to repeal existing laws," Wirwahn explained. "We feel that if the power to decide such matter is rightfully placed in the hands of individual states the rights of motorcyclists will be protected." • Final Fasttrack AMA road race qualifier PHOENIX, ARIZ'., DEC. 6-7 Local scratcher Cliff Allison took a cliff-hanger decision over visiting Mike Baeder in Lightweight GP during the last of the series of road races designed to qualify AMA amateur road racers for their day at , Daytona. Jim Vialovos ran off and hid in the early laps, then seized to set the stage for a back-and-forth lead swap between Allison and Baeder. Jon Wincewicz demolished the 125 GP race with a 40-second lead, while Rusty Sharp (Yam) from Colorado won the always close Lightweight Production round. Dave Neill had t o have earned the hard-luck award - borrowed a Rickman Honda and wrapp ed it up in a ball in a street accident, showed up Sun day stiff and sore to race anyway , then had th e carburetor fall off his Norton du rin g the race. It was announced at riders meeting th at the track will affili ate with th e newly-formed West ern Roadracin g Association (WRA) with the AMA's blessing. Full st ory next week. •

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