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/126023
What with Jay Springsteen hav ing moved to the Harley factory team, Vista-Sheen will enter machines for newly-turned Expert Ted Boody. There is going to be a lit tle Roger DeCoster in th e n ear future. At the same show, KTM displayed a 125 motocrosser with their own engine to rep lace the Sachs unit, wh ile Laverda showed a new eight-valve 500 twin, scheduled to go into production du ring summer '76, Moto Morini showed a 500cc V·twin, and Guzzi brought ou t a cafe -styled version of their 850 V-twin shaftie. West Ge rman road racer Dieter Braun may race a 350cc MorbideIli, devel oped by the same team th at scor ched the 125cc World Ch ampion ship circu it this year. There will also be 250 water cooled twi ns for curren t w orks riders Pileri an d Bianchi. Just to show what can be done with two-stroke singles that don't make it in the dirt, the Italian Aspes J uma is a trick cafe-style little number that weighs 172 pounds street legal, has a rubber-mounted engine, 20 HP, f ive speeds, alloy rims and a front disc. Tops out about 90. All card-carrying No vices are reminded about th e Sem i-Pro class at DR A 's upcoming 20-Mule Team 200. Fift y percent payb ac k plus ne at tro phies and it all happens on J an uary 4 th. It costs $1 00 to en ter, team or solo. But get the entries in by Dece m ber 20th, for p os t entries are 10% extra. (714) 37 3-4 64 7 is the number for all th e in formation - . For 1976, Al'nerica will get one rider seeded to the Inter-Continental Final, one step below the World Individual Speedway Final. That's less than last year, because the Inter-Continental is on the European continent instead of England. Limeys, Norskis and other assorted furriners get fewer berths as a result. Barry J oh nson will be re-o p eni ng Perris Raceway on J an uary 4th to start an eight-week IT and shor t track point series. Motocross is set to st art there in March, on a new co urse. Sonny Nutter will be the instructor at Ken Maely's speedway school on December 20-2 1. Only a limited number of students w ill be accepted, call (714) 735-0540. ITH ELATm IOP PO ;BY PAPA WEAlEY In our recent "open letter" on Century Ranch, the reference to an existing road race course was wrong on account of C. Clayton got the property confused with Paramount Ranch across the road. However, after attending a citizens' advisory board meeting on the area, we were pleased to find bikers be ing urged to seek access to the adjacent Hope property which is part of the planned park/recreation acquisition in the vicinity. The public hearing to decide park or recreation status for the 3,850 acre Century-Hope' real estate will be January 9 at 9 a.rn, at 107 S. Broadway, Los Angeles. We want it to be a Recreation Area. 2 Kawasaki p lanne d a b lack -tie formal affair to introduce their new LTD versio n of the Z900. But they had to relent on the dre ss co de when it turned out the only guy in th is business who owns his own tux is Larry Huffman. "Early Bird" awards (of some sort) to Britisher Les Kenney (Mercury Dispatch TZ750) and West German Gerhard Vogt, as the first European entries to the 1976 Daytona 200. Mo have County supervisors (Arizona ) rejected Don Wat kins' application to build a moto cro ss track near U.S. 93 south of Kingman, recently . After the usu al flap genera te d by oth er propert y own ers, Supervisor Dr. J ames Howe ll promised Watkins to help seek an alte rnate site for th e tra c k. Florida's National Motorcycle League has chosen Lion Country Safari, near West Palm Beach, as the site of their 1976 Winternational Motocross February 15. Far out. Our money's on the pair of cheetahs entered by An imule Motocycles, Inc. A.\IA suggests th at cl ubs should check o ut bussin g to arrive en masse at race meets and other happenings. One club reports that a Greyhoun d can be chartered for 88 cen ts a m ile, or 2.3 I cen ts p er mile per person with a full load . Saves gas and m oney both, not to mention parking hassles. S.C.O. R.E. In terna tional has moved its headquarters to a new office at 20944 Sherm an Way, Suite 115, Can oga Park, CA 91303. Mickey Thompson, who founded S.C.O. R.E ., will step down according to plan and tum the rein s over to S.C.O.R.E . president Sal Fish . The new o ffice ca n be reached at (2 13) 999-2250. A.M.E. will hold a J im West Memorial race at Valley Cycle Park, January 4 with a $1500 purse. Track changes have been made for ride rs' safety , but there's $4000 rider medical insurance anyway . Call (213) 881-5778 for details. Jim Pomeroy 's operation on his knee was much more seri ous than fi st r thought and Bimb o will no t ride a moto rcycle un til after the Florida Win ter-Seri es. Bimbo says he stilI has a year to run on his Bultaco contract and will continue to be Pursang mounted for ne xt year's GPs. We will be closed for two vveeks, returning Dec. 31st. Be sure to put your ad for issue No.1 in the mail so that it arrives for the 12/31 deadline! One week after signing his 1976 Honda contract Rich Eierstadt broke his shoulder riding in Baja with tuner Roy Turner. Texas motocrossers can p itch in to help injured 125 Expert Shawn Smith by donating to the Shawn Smith Hospital Fund which is being coordinated by Joe London, P.O. Box 1948, Dallas, Texas 75221. At the same t ime a memorial race, co-sponsored by all the North Texas track, will be held at Lake Whitney in memory of Arlie Hutsell on January 11. All the proceeds will be donated to Arlies family and t o the Shawn Smith Fund. If you'd like to get involved contact Joe London (214) 821·9599. Scott and H-D part MILWAUKEE, WISC., DEC 12 Gary Sco tt, following a meeting Friday with Harley-Davidson raci ng team manager Dick O 'Brien, has deci ded not to renew his contract with the factory that carried him to the AMA Grand Nati on al Champ ion ship in 197 5. The move leaves Scott wit hout bikes or sponsorship for 1976 . Scott, co ntacted at h ome in Spri ngf ield, Oh io , saw the decision as one o f priorities. He cited th at , in his estimation, the Harley-Davidson racing departmen t did not have enough ma npower to be competitive th ro u ghout the wh ol e seas on. The re mark was in reference to th e six sho rt tracks and four road races that co mprise a fun o ne third of the season. "I've got a job to d o (retaining th e Grand National Cham p ion ship ) and I'm going to give it he n, but with Harley's raci ng program the way it presently is I felt th ere was no way for me t o do th e job 1 get paid for." Dick O' Brien , reached at ho me, said that th e decision was reached mu tual ly and th at it was primarily because of a lo t of lit tle th ings with money among th em although not the main poin t. "Scott had a lo t of things on his mind. He's been un der a lot o f pressure in his effort to become Champion and we 're proud that he did it on a Harley-Davidson. I' m very sorry to lose him as a member o f our racing team because Gary 's a very to ugh co mpetitor. " According to Scott his presen t plans include a trip to California to te st ride brother Hank's Shell Raci ng Specialties Yamahas for tentative use at the January 23 -24 Ho uston Astrodome events, the opening rounds o f th e 197 6 G ra n . d N a t ion a 1 A MA Cham p ionsh ip /Cam el Pro Series. O'Brien stated that H-D will campaign the '76 season with a four man Grand National team . Rex Keener, Greg Beauchamp, Co rky Sassaman and Jay Springsteen will ride ma chinery tuned by the likes of Bill Werne r, Babe DeMay and Carron Resweber. 1976 will mark H-D's entrance in to the National Championship MX wars and they will be represented by a two ma n team, Rex State n and Eric Skrundland, headed by recently-hi red John Ingham. Ingham, who left Red Wing to re tu rn to H-D, will rep or t directl y to O' Brien. Bikers win a big one Hatlaw blackmail outlawed WASHINGTON, D.C., DEC. 12 The House of Representatives had already voted their objection to Burea u of Highway Safety blackmail. Today the Senate agree d, 57 to 32, and thus a vital American f reedom was resto red to the people. It took ten years of political activity, a fortune in postage and an act of Congress, to "let those who ride decide " when to wear crash helmets or not, but soon this freedom will be the law of the land. (The addition of an amendment onto the omnibus Federal Aid Highway Act