Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Bike stolen at Baja - a Husky Automatic, Frame No. Ml-12286, Engine No. 122; has Marzocchi leading-axle forks and an or...ge Vesco tank. Bill Oury, of Colorado, is offering a $300 reward for its retUrn; call (303) 684-2012. Our victory in Congress over the DOT goes far beyond just helmets. The DOT ties , by law, arc now required to review all their "mandatory" programs, in public, before they can wield the highway fund cudgel over any state for any reason. If any of your non-riding friends arc interested in civil liberties, tell them they can thank a bunch of " dirty bikers" for one small victory in their favor. T EUTEST Numbers - The Sierra Club claims 160,000 members nationawide, 21,000 in the Los Angeles chapter. The MIA (which, regrettably, comprises about one percent of all motorcyclists) has 135,000 members, 20,000 of them in California. Moral: Whatever victories the posey-sniffers have won have not been because they were so numerous or so strong, but that so many bikers sat on their haunches and let them. T.C. Christenson and his double engiiled Norton topped Joe Smith's Double Harley to win the Beech Bend Top Fuel drags with a 170.13 mph run. Super Eliminator honon went to Ray Price over Ron Fringer. Ken Blackburn won the Pro Camp class while Bob Carpenter beat Terry Vance in Pro Stock. $1000 will be up for grabs at Corona Raceway's Firecracker Flat Traek Championship, July 3. Some of the best sportsmen and Pros the West Coast has to offer will be on hand to pit their skills on ,t he half-mile and short track. Al "Snooky" Owens is sponsoring 0-36 shorttracker Rick Delacey in NorCal Speedway. But get this - AI's AMA number is 86, and he has a card from 1932 signed by E.C. Smith but no plastic life card. (Mel Parkhurst 's said to be working on that.] He's just one of a bunch of pre-60s National numbers who show up at Speedway, these days. Mr. Otto Maisch , President of Maico Fahraeugfabrik GMBH, Germany and Frank Cooper. of Cooper Motors have agreed to , transfer western U.S. distribution rights to Maico West, Inc. effective June 10, 1976. The new company will operate with the same staff from the former Cooper Motors location in Burbank. California. Maico's midwest distribution will stay with Debenham Imports. Antioch, Illinois, Eckart Schorn is President and General Manager of the new Maico distribution center. The AMA is planning an organizational split. one segment to concentrate on professional competition; the other to cover "amateur activities" - ever(thing fr 0 m racing to f"H11d meets and legislation, apparently. The Board of Directon is still mulling the details of ' h ow the two divisions will be structured. KJ (Kookie, Jr.) was reported missing out Mar Rd. Mtn., California after the Cactus Cats' desert race. It's hoped that everybody's favorilll doggy-biker may have mooched on somebody else's campfire. Any info, call lonnie McGowan at (2131 567-5697 or Gr'umpy at (714) 893-1766. What's it all mean? Is the AMA, like in cell-division, gonJ:Ia shift chromosomes before the big split? Who will go Pro Division? Who will go Amateur? Who will go away? 'Gee, this is almost as much fun as watching the Kremlin. Jim Manning, who is doing much of the promotion for the coming W/ERA Ontario National, July 17-18, is putting tog ether a manufacturer/trade show/display area at the track. Booth space will go for $25, and -get this- $20 of that will go directly into the riden' puna. Guess we'll know by the size of the show who road raci ng' s friends really are. Call Jim at (714) 559-0199 for info. More from the City Desk: Signs posted at the Rock Store called for a peaceful protest run beginning Noon june 27 to air complaints about a recent 'mass bust at the traditional gathering-place for bikers of all shades and persuasions. Steve Baker's loudon lightweight race-winning Yamaha was shod with Dunlops front and rear. Many others were trying Michelins. Most of the 750 riclen in the National stayed with Goodyears, although Gary Nixon had Michelins on his Kawasaki. We hear that some Arizona and NorCal area AMA Novices and Juniors are going together , renting "community" apartments in Oregon, and spending a month or two racing in the Northwest to earn transfer points. It's gotten that tight. Suzuki will fill out its RM liM with the inclusion of an RM-80 minibike. Remember the Lightweights M.C.? If you'll check the calendar section this week, you 'll find them hosting a 0 -37 TT Scrambles at Elsinore Raceway next Sunday,June 27. All you scrambles fans better show up. This could be the start of something big, again . AMA Expert tiacker Jim Wright met up the hard way with a car that cut in front of him while he was riding a little 125, wearing sandals. The incident lost him his right big toe, which doctors grafted back on and crossed their fingers.. Jim's resting at home, champing to be back in action. Drop him a line or a call - he'd appreciate it. 2 Next year, if meetings between Legal Defense Fund lawyers and the BLM bear fruit, the agency may accept 0 -37 's proposed course rotation plan and agree to process a long point-to-point B to V type desert event. Good vibes - The Mt. Scott Me of Oregon recently presented an $8,000 check to the Crippled Children's Division of University of Oregon's Health Sciences Center, proceeds from a May 1·2 200 mile "Ride So They Can Walk" desert event. Overall winner was Dale DeMaris, who covered one 100 mile leg in an hour and 45 minutes. But the real winnen were the kids especially after the check presentation when the biken parked their machines outside the Children's Division and joined them for lunch. Speedway brings out the BEAST in our favorite announcer. Did you know the AMA is the only top professional racing association who doesn't allow the promoter a"percentage of the back gate? Next week we'll have more on the Ascot·AMA-eMC half·mile situation, with comments from Aggie himself. Bart Barfly, the Bay Area 's answer to Jimmy the Greek, is laying even odds on Al Jorgenson and the Ron Woods Norton on the San Jose Half Mile National July 10. He says, night race, tacky track , all those Ascot successes ... yeah, but what about Stev e Eklund, who's no slouch at San Jose, or Kenny Roberts who has a lot of poin ts to make up and a lot to prove about his factory -prepared equipment? Gonna be a 14-lap Trophy Dash, methinks, Gunnady Moisseev (KTM) went wire-to-wire both motos of the British 250cc GP June 20 , Harry Everts (Puch, 2-2) and Antonin Babarovsky (CZ, 4-4) followed in the overall classification. Jim Pomeroy crashed while challenging Moisseev for the lead in the first moto, hurt his shoulder, crashed again, still was fifth. The pain got to Bimbo later, as he only completed one lap of the second moto, The California Assembly voted 62 -2 to approve a bill freezing motorcycle noise standards at 83 db(A) @ 50 feet , The limit could have gone in stages to 75 db(A) in a few short years. Apparently. the MIC's field demonstrations for the legislators worked. The demo ' was in tended to show that a stock motorcycle, quite inoffensive to the ear, could still bounce the meter over 80 db, due to fin ring, airbox noise, and other sound associated with an aircooled engine unshrouded by body metal. Good show" guys. Now we gotta convince the Senate. One entity who is frothing at the mouth over the loss of the Federal helmet l_ is Benjamin Jackson. of Insurance Institute for Highway Safety remember the guy who proposed banning motorcycles? He's really mad at the motorcyclist press; even cited Roger Hull in a recent broadside. Snivel, snivel - you think that with all the insurance company money behind him, 01' Ben could get the government to do what he says. A Junior I nvitational half mile, sponsored by Sam Arena and M & M leathers, has been added to the San Jose July 10 program. Any Eastern Juniors want in? Call (415) 327-4461 for info. Dubb Ferrell did the skyshot of Skyshots at Ventura 's Tuesday night Speedway, landing flat on his back, dazed. Only Jerry Fairchild, rushing to his aid , heard his whisper. lying there, "Gotta practice my starts."

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