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/126026
In my opimon, allowing the unl im ited d ev el opm en t of multi-cylinder m achines in class "C" would have much the same negative effect th at Formula Libre has h ad on au to m o bile racing over the year s. In au to racin g there tend to be o nly two or three com pe titive car s (no t brands, bu t ac tu ally individual cars), substan tially determined by t he we alth o f the owners (sou nds a little lik e AMA roadracing doesn 't it?). We have a co m pe ti tive class o r Cannula fo r class he" racing right now . We have lo ts of good equipment and many fine riders re ady to race and win . Let's not make th e whole thing obsolete by refusing to manage class "C" racing, as we failed in AMA r oad racing. Robert Nor Velie AMA Board of Trustees Con. • • Those of us " vet erans" in th e sport have seen so many changes on the racing scene , especiall y in relation to th e AMA . When I go t my number more yea rs ago than I like to remember, the AMA on th e racin g scen e was virtua l dictat or. You ro de MIA or not at all and Harley-David son was supre me God of the pro tr acks. From what h as h ap pen ed recen tly it looks as if Har ley will aga in rule th e roost, th an ks to th e A."'IA. No, I'm n ot ac cu sing any b ody or hin tin g coercio n ye ar s ago , yes, th e Harley and the Davidson families an d the AMA were the same things but no longer . But what see m s to h ave happened is th at th e AMA h as handed down th e key to an open door for total Harl ey domination of the tracks, once the remaining Triumphs and Nortons and co nventional Yamahas ge t tired of being also-rans or just p lain wear out. What I really am try in g to ge t at although m y pen runs away with me is the ban on the use o f engines w ith an ything more than tw o cy lin ders. T he re go th e Su zu ki and Kaw asaki triples an d o f cou rse that de mon, the TZ75 0. I wonder if Kenny Roberts' n ow in famou s re m ar k at the Indy m ile " They don't p ay m e en oug h to ride that thing" w as w hat the competit ion co m mi ttee was just wai ting to hear so they co uld fin d something to pin a ban down with. Probably Kenny had no su ch intention, but he gave th em the ammunition they needed. If th e rules com m ittee had been so do wn on the b ike s runnin g on the dirt tr acks th ey shou ld have done something about it a year previously when the TZ750 first arrived. A lot of money w as spent on developing these bikes by Doug Schwerma fo r one and it was his ex pert ise that gave Roberts the machine to be at the Harley Vvrwins on the mi le. T he Yamaha twins couldn't ke ep up. The TZ750 cou ld and did. T he T Z 75 0 is designed to win the mil e, and j us t when all the R&D d one on it to m ake it tr actable was ab o u t done (an d we all know th at an y b ike, I d on't ca re a d amn what it is requires so me care and feedin g when it co me s fr o m the factory before it becomes a racer ), they up an d ban it along with every thing else th at m ay p ro vide some exci te men t for th e fans. T he Mile ! T hat's where it all comes togethe r fo r me - there is no th in g, abso lu tely n othin g like th e dirt mile an d that includes all th e wonder of high speed road ra cin g to o. The pinnacle o f a man and his mo torcycle is, fo r me, go ing into a tum at sp eed on th e mile an d p it ching it ove r. So m aybe th e TZ w ouldn't have bee n a very good b ik e o n o ther d irt trac ks. Racin g has los t backing from fac tories for this year and it will lose backing from the fans if they n ever ge t a chance to sec some developmental stu ff raced. We all need vari e ty. As I said before , wh en all th e other bikes arc gone it will be like the fifties agai n , Harley Davidson dirt track ra cin g, o nly worse. I'd just lik e to jo in o th ers in the sport and say AMA, you did it again, and although coming up with the ru le in Commi ttee and having the Board o f Trustees vote it into law wa s legal , it isn' t ex actly cricke t. If yo u are a fan reading this and feel unhappy too, th en let Bill Boy ce know yo ur fe elings in a bri e f n ote. But you kn ow 'one th ing? The AMA liste ns to u s rank and filers now, and t hat's the biggest st ep o f all! Maureen Lee r M Skyway TZ-750 Silencers Designed in conjunction with Kel Carruthers They Work! .,-............,-.............------....... ........eo• • '-.~•• ~.~•• r-."""-- •• r.~ •• ,.- Skyway Recrea llonal Products 123 00 Gladstone Ave . San F er n and O. CA 91342 L U Things rusty tank 1,--:------ smell rank with a---=-_1 ..,~i11rm·li·iil·mmrm·ril tii··;1·mr·ii·il mil ·m·:mrmmmm:mrmrmmmmmrmmmmmrmmr," " i i:·r · ifil!. !. !.! • I • ··r: .. ; .",0 ~,:,; " , ;, ;,; .. , .. 1.1.1.!.. !ml .H,i -;; G. Suzuki 01 Van Nuys ... Jan. Clearance Sale New New New New ~ ~: ' 75 ' 75 ' 75 '7 5 Street Bikes GT 25 0 GT 3 8 0 l' 5 00 GT 55 0 $ 649 $ 899 $ 8 99 $11 49 New New New New Ne w New '75 '7 5 ' 76 '7 5 '76 '7 6 TM TM RM Rl\! Rl\! RM Dirt Bikes 100 250 100 125 25 0 3 70 .,: ': . . $ 5 4 9 $ 649 $ 679 $ 699 $1099 $1 219 11 S~~~~~m~!.Yv~!t~~ys 11 6 * • SUZUKI 213· 994 ·2800 213·99 4·2 8 8 2 3 b l oc k s West of the S.n D i ego F ree w ay SUZUKI c :-' .= ~jit!ffi!ijiiijiiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiUUiiiiijii!jiiiiljijiilliiliiijiji!iiUiiiiUjiUUUjijiiijtiiiiiiiii !ii~ 15