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/126038
T ELATm longer sponsor a road ra ce effort. Kawasaki doesn't speak with forked tongue - it . ju st changed its min d. Yeah, we 're back in ra cing again:' said Tim Smith of the racing de partment. Asked about th e green-meanie chan ces before the 200·miler. Smith replied, " Well. it 's always hard to find horsepower when yo u 've been off for three months - wh en you ann ounce that yo u 've pulled out of racin g and then decide to ra ce again ." II Ron Pierce blew u p his Jaguar on th e Daytona banking earl y in speed wee k. Ron declined comment on the car 's trap speed, but his wife, Vick i said, " We were going faste r than a 250." Repair bill estimate for the broken rod and associated damage ; $1,200. .-.. .- ~ Steve Eklund's breaking in a new Shell Motors Yamaha 360 for th e Dallas sho rt track and others down th e road in the Camel Pro series. Dr. Pete r Frank, founder of W/ ERA, has resigned his medical practice and so ld partial inte rests in several medical centers to devote full time to his organization. " I'll be living out of my van for two months," he told us recently. "And when I get back home, everything will be under contra" " He and Ms. W/ERA will be at the Cyde Wor ld Show April 14 in the U. Sports Arena. We ju st heard that the bikes in the Kawasaki " exh ib ition" road race during the Long Beach GP beat the cars' lap times by several seco nds on the tight. narrow co urse. Take that, door slam mers! 'Here's one you NorCai ' riden need to know - Ukiah Dist. Mult iple Use Adv isory Board meets Ap ril 1-2 at the District Office, 555 Leslie St., Ukiah. Agenda is field tour and discussion of Cow Mountain ORV use . To go on the tour, bring your own lunch and back-eountry buggy. The UEA Ride-On benefit enduro netted about S1800 for the Deser t Legal Defense Fund - great going. The legal task force so far has filed suit in San Bern ardin o Coun ty over the written CN East's Man from Dixie , John ' Wyckoff, raised an interesting point for you non-AMA racen. There's no quarrel with your deci sion to race with and support your favorite organization BUT, if you can buy the idea that the price of freedom is taxes, then consider the $12 AMA dues as a voluntary "tax" you pay to ma intain your freedom to ride . On track or off. Think aboJlt it. At last, there's a Curnutt shock R & ·R depot in the So Cal area ! Charlie J r. , under the handle of WFO Industries, will take in cranky old Curnutts Thursday and Friday at 2206 Gladwick St. (ncar Wilmington and Del Amo) in Com pton. He 'll also ' re condition any other brand rebuildable sh ock an d do frame hell-ar cin g too. There will always be an England Dep t. : Lit t le-known ef for ts are still going on to produce that elusive all-British racing engine. One such is centered around Barry Hart's ra ce shop at Barton engineering. where Barry produces 350cc an d 50 0cc Su zu ki-based watercooled road rac ing triples under the "Sparton" nameplate. They're abou t ready wi th all- British lower case castings wh ich will alow them to cast loose from dependence on Su zuki and/or th e salvage yard asa:source for parts. Also working out of the Barton shop is jack-leg des igner, Graham Dyson, who is scratch-building his own 250cc two-stroke V 4. enother Oly -Superbowl qualifiers: Clarification o f our clarification - The co m ing Oly Superbowl of motocross will have a 250 feature class with stars like Weinert. Smith and DiStefano. Also a 500 Support class for Eierste dt, Chapl in . etc . . . an d a 250 Profe ssional Novice .: class for the top 12 25 0cc an d top i 2 500cc riders in the seven race qualifier series. The Professional Novice s will ride 250cc equip me nt at the Colise um. I The big boys are having problems with their new toys as factory motocross riden are gear ing · up for the new GP season. At an international race held at Wuustezel, Belgian Roger DeCoster retired out of both motos after hav ing fits with h is new air-suspended works Suzuki. J im Pomeroy was having similar problems with his Bultaco; and Willi Bauer, now riding for KTM, had h is scoot suffering from many d iseases before he pu lied out. Orange County chapter of M.O.R .E. gets together with BLM and the rockhounden on a joint deanup in the Bell MountainslStoddard Wells area April 3-4. Saturday workday. Sunday p1ayday or whatever. Rendezvous is nine m iles off 1-15 on Stoddard Wells Rd . Call (714) 558-8873 days, 750-7042 nights for more details. We know where some of th e slicky mags got t hei r "arti st s co ncep tio ns n of a Can -Am watercooled 500 twin . A Rotax/ Bombardier two stroke twi n was raced sp oradically in 1975 in ternatio nal road races , according to the It alian Motociclismo . For the fint time this year, the AMA is kick ing in for support of the U.S. team in the Motocross des Nations. Funds to he lp send a st ro ng team to Holland September 12 will come from sal e of limited-editio n MX de s Nations T-sh irts for a $5 donation. Send to MX des Nations Support Team, clo AMA, P.O. Box 14 1, Westerville, OH 43081 . Nation'al Hemo p hilia Foun dat ion became the b ene ficiary when the winner of th at Honda GLI 000 (intended for givea way at th e Daytona Award Night March 4) was disqualified as ineligible under contest ru les. Since mo st of the audience had left and a fair drawing seemed ou t of the question. the bike was do nate d as an unexpected ad dition to AMA's " Ride Against Hem ophilia" (RAH) program. NHF in turn will use the bike fo r fun d ra ising purposes. District 36 Board of Directon voted to sweeten the pot at Lodi's daytime scrambles opener April 11 by some $350. 2 Lately we've not do ne a " Political Lifeline " because of space limitations. Ho wever. we found one place that see ms to regu larly ' anno unce BLM advisory meetin gs in the L.A. area. Edu ca tional TV, KCET o n UHF Channel 28 (usually piped in on like Ch. 3 by cab le) does it in the mornings about the tim e the kids ar e off to school. The palatial Cycle News Towers will be turned into a home f or wayward girls. Publisher Sharon Clayt on announced today that because of the rapid growth of motorcycling in Amen'ca Cycle News will be moving to e,,!~rged quarters in a n e ~ 7.~00 sq. foot office building at 2201 Cherry in Long Beach. Calif ornia. The declSZon to tum the old offices into an Insane aslyum was prompted by staff evaluations. The actual move will not tak e place for three months, so until then applications are being tak en for the CN Hom e for the elderly. which will bf housed in the old offices in Long Beach. . . pe rmission o rdinance. an d wen t to bat fo r riders a t rec ent BLM advisory meetings. 0.37 legal tas kers n ote d that Jim Honetor's River sid e County trespass case was dismissed an d advised other bikers cited for riding private property and other dubious o ffenses that it's worth the time t o go to court and figh t. There's a new short track in final grooming stages at Sears Point. Summer season will find both 0 -36 Class C guys and NorCaI Speedway circus on the new oval. Peopl e are still co m menting on th e size o f Kawasaki 's effort at Day ton a, and on the fact th at the co mpa ny had ann o unced last year th at it would no Lori Barbllrus, 2209 E. Simpson, Fresno, CA 93703 wanti to IN,.- from Central Califomi_ interested in forming a speedway fan dub. It was bound to happen . Rick Hocking (H.D) wo n h is third straight Cal Rayborn Memorial Race which was held at Sou th Bay Speedway i~ San Diego . Scott Pearson (H.D) pi cked up the Junior win . and Steve Carr illo (Yam) did it to the Novices. Fu ll story nex t week. Dodge van ownen - expect your timing cha in and jun k plastic cam gear to self-destruct after 60,000 mile s. They are not as' m uch f un to replace as t hey are to wear ou t . CZ is rumore d to have a completely n ew bi ke in the works whic h will make its debut n ex t year. It will have a center port engine. porcup ine head . and super-lo ng air shoc ks in the rear. Other details will be ad ded, but they arc unclear at th is tim e, wh ich will ma ke th is a radical departure for . the otherwise co nservat ive Czec h firm . Honda has announced its official return to the European road race circuit. HOnda UK and Honda France will represent the factory in nine long distance races during the season with a team of eight riders and one rese rve . New bikes will be used but details about them aren't final yet .