Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

'"" '"" . : _.. .-: ;" . -:-: :J. ; DIll fourth. A beautifu l disp lay o f riding. In th e Ope n In terrnediate , Bob Landis scored a first with J eff Elrod a close second. Several of our Expert rid ers have not raced the last month or so . Get ba ck in the race fellows. we m iss you . • . Results in Results Section. Sandhill Ranch going again By Tura Houser BRENTWOOD , CAL.,JULY 16 There was a super turnout at Sandhill Ranch Friday nigh t for the new m otocross track - five big . jumps, su per cushion surface. Retired AMA Champ Dick Mann was o ut to try the n ew track, as was Danny " Magoo" Chandler . With a' little bad luck on the RSA. Mann was out of co n te n tion but put on a show o f sho ws. Phil Crane beat Magoo and Mann . ending up first overall with a spect acular ride. Scott Cowan. a much improved n ew Exp ert. won th e Open Expert class on a Maico, An additional event of the evening was th e Trophy Dash. w on by Phil Cran e. A well-known northern Cali fornia rider, Joey Schlag, won t he 100 eas ily on a Yamaha but was pursued by an upcoming hard charger Gary Moyer on his Yamaha. There was a gre at turnou t for the minis with Dave Nicodemo in fro n t , Mik e Garman second. Frank Hastings ' th ird (all on Hondas) and Dave Houser , • fo urth on a Yamaha. Results in Re sults Section. • ~ t 1.0 r--. Q') ~ ~ 0 ~ .... ;:j '" be ;:j -( Fair starts a-plenty from the new-for-Prison Hill speedway style starting gate. IIHow Hodaka helped IDe lose 690 cc's (... and f ind the real fun of cycling ." ) H ow? "Like a lot of people who get in to cycling, I went the big bike route for a while. Enjoyed that - until the novelty of beating sports 'ca rs away from the stoplights wore off. Finally had to admit to myself tha t for me , owning a big street machine just was n't worth the big investment in money and time . "Didn't know what to do after , I sold tha t bike . Even thought about getting out of cycling altogether. "Then one day my buddy C har lie bo ught himse lf a new Hoda ka 125 Supe r Combat dirt bike. I kidded him about gett ing a 125 because he's pretty big. But he just smiled an d told me to try it ou t. "As soon as I sat on the bike I knew it wa s di ffe re nt from ot he r lig h t weig h ts . It fe lt d ifferen t. N o t heavy, but solid, like a b igg er bik e . And • when I put it in gea r and took off, I thought the fac tory must have put a 250 engine in it by mistake! I never kn e w how grea t off -ro ad rid ing co uld feel o n a machine that really handles. "Well, the ne xt da y I went o ut an d bought my own Hodaka - a 100 Su per Rat. As fa r as I'm concerne d, it's as close as you ca n get to pure fun. It's mor e has sle free than I figured a ny bike co uld be . And at the prices they're selling for this mon th, I'd be crazy to have anything else! "And you know, I neve r miss those 650 cc's I lost." The Hoda ka Philosophy At Hodaka, we've not iced off-roa d riding has really opened up, and more peo ple are includ ing it in their outdoor activities . We're glad they're discovering the fun of a sport that's bee n our favorite for 12 years. That's how long ago we se t out to deve lop the Ultima te Trail Bikes. We set up ope rations in the small town of Athena. Oregon. site of the Nat io nal Bad Roc k 2 Day Trials and sma ck in the middle of every co nceivable kind of off-road lerrain you might run into . Cow trails. For es ted moun ta in s . Ope n dirt roads . Ro ck y streams. Yo u narne it. We've put a lot of miles on Hodakas aro und Athena . And made a lot of design improvements based on what we've found out. What we've arrived at is a gro up of exceptionally refined off-roa d performers that still have a ll the virtues of simplicity. On ly one plug to change . No multiple carbs to synchronize. Parts that don't cos t a mint. And ea se of maintenance tha t's designed into every bike we build. Now we'd like to introduce you to this mo nth's very special offer on two very spe cial Hodakas : the 100 Supe r Rat and the-I25 Super Combat - the High Pe rforman ce Adult Tra il Bikes. The Motorcycles Don't let the racy good looks fool you. Th ese aren't tweaky, high-strung mounts designed to go like hell for a n hou r and then be torn down and rebuilt. What the y are is a happy co mbina tion of race-bred performance and ha ndling· plus traditional Hodaka reliability - all tucked into tall. toug h. man-s ized frames that are mor e reminiscent of a 250 than the Ioo's and 125's you' re used to see ing. The Pe rforma nc e From the minute you fi rst sit on o ne of t hese ma c h ine s and snap t he throttl e ope n. you'll know these a re no ord ina ry light weigh t's . Th e exclusive Hod a ka AI..miferric e ngine ha s a rnaz ingly qu ick respon se and gutsy perfor man ce over a wide RPM range . And it's co up led to a 5 speed gear box tha t lets you pick your ratio for any kind of terrain and any kind of riding. But don ' t take o ur wo rd for it. Ch eck the reco rd Hodaka has piled up in competition. Not only have Hodakas won hundr eds of nat ional and inte rna tiona l eve nts. but the same bas ic engine . and frame have won all kinds of events . Mot ocrosse s . S c ra mble s . Hill climbs . Trials. Even roa d races! Like we sa id, not ordin ary light· weight motorcycles. The Rel iability In Novembe r of 1972. big six foot, six inch Fran k Wheeler rode a Hodaka 125all the way around Australia - 10,000 miles - in 21 days! Man. machine, and 200 pounds of gear averaged an inc redible 475 miles a day over the rugged terrain. Th a t's 2 o r 3 years ofave rage use squeezed into 3 weeks! No t the sort of punishment most light bikes take kindly to . But then , most bikes aren 't built like Hodakas. Th e ext ra quality that starts in our advanced power train carries right through to every detail of the Super Rat and Super ' Combat. Take the rear suspension. for instance . Its light alloyshocks have coo ling fins to preve nt fade when you're loaded , down and in a hurry. Full knobby tires are standard , too. So are super -strong alloy rims tha t are light in weight to ge t you over obs tacles style foo tpegs. A braced chain guard. Unbreaka ble plastic fenders front and rear, with front mud flaps . A responsive pr og r essiv e-ac tio n thro tt le tha t co mes on smoo thly from idle to full bore. Impro ved bra ke lin ings . And lots more . Something Special -On Special We hope you've go tten the picture that the Super Rat and Supe r Combat ar e very special mach ines . Now get hip to the othe r half of the sto ry - the price . Becau se for a limited time, these high performa nce trailers are on sale at prices you 11have 10 look twice to believe - just $519 suggested reta il for the Super Rat and $549 suggested retail.for the S uper Combat! (West Coast p.nE)· If you've been considering a 250 dirt bike , you know a good on e will cost you aro und twice these prices and pos sibly a lot mor e . Th ink abo ut that for a while: two grea t bikes for the price of one. Th en think about the things you ca n do with two bikes that you ca n't do with o ne. Beca use if one Hodaka is a great in ve stmen t in fun , tw o Hodakas ca n . co mpo und the rewar ds' But hurr y - this sa le can only la st until current inventories are gone. A Hodaka exclusive: the Alumiferrlc Cylinder Bef ore Hod ak a, th e b e s t b ike engines usually had cylinde rs tha t were made in two pieces: an aluminum outsi de with a cast iron sleeve slipped into it. The aluminum was great for light weight and fast heat dissipation , but didn 't wear well, so the cast iron cylinde r liner was added for durabil ity. The problem is, the iron sleeve has to have "windows" cut in it for the port o pe nings . And , with no rmal manufac turing tolerances. these windows often don 't line up perfec tly with the ports in th e alum inum c ylinder. Th is c r e a te s irre gula ril ies . lrre gula ri tie sc re a te tur bulence . Turbulence interferes with the smooth, laminar gas flow that's esse ntial for peak performance. Hodakas pat ented A lu m ife rr ic fu sio n c a s ting process el im inates th is problem . That's because our iron liner isn't just a slipped-in sleeve - it includes the port passages, too , so there a re no irregu larities to restrict flow The aluminum . exte rior is then bonded onto the iron core to form a cylinde r that has the advantages of bo th metals - with none of the disadvantages of co nventional engines! · U .S.A. p rice s not in cludina ship pin g. c e at e r setu p, state & local t8K . By Lee Darby CARSON CITY, NE V., JULY II easily, And don 't forge t the folding, enduro HOD AKA MOTORCYCL ES PABATCO Box 327. Sherman Road AthenaOreq on 97813 R-Team revives MX in Nevada You have to give R-Team Motorcycle Club a well done: The y took a "dead hors e" so to spea k and put a lot o f hard work, sweat and time to prepare 3 supe r ne w co urse at Pris on Hill. Fro m the turnou t in riders and spe ctators today it lo oks like their efforts we re well worth it . They improvised on a speedway starting ga te principle using a rubber band. There was a minimum o f ju mp ing the start. For a motorcy cle club putting on th eir first series of races R-Team deserves everyone's confidence th at this will be one hell of a series, and once aga in revive regularly held motocross in Nevada. With over 200 riders raring to try their luck and skills on the new co urse, the minis showed up in force and put on some cro wd pleasing racing. The 80cc Nov ice ra ce saw little Ed Raines (Y Z) taking the first moto, with Don Miskiel and Sh awn Vogel right behind him. In the second moto it was reversed with Mis kiel taking first and Raines second in a shortened mota due to the ambulance ha ving to be called onto the track. In the 80 cc Amateur, Expert and IOOcc Combined, the ra ce was hotly con teste d in both motos. In the first moto, Amateur Mark Rowland (Ya m ) set a to rrid pace for the fir st t hree laps, then the re st of the field started to catc h up. At the checkered flag it was Expert Mike Darby (YZ) followed by Amateur Mark Levrett (Ya m) and Mark Rowland. The fina l moto had them all psyched o u t and re ady to go. Off the start it was Tommy Hadlock with a fantastic holeshot, Again Mark Rowland was right behind him an d go t around on the fourth lap with Expert Tom Hall chewing at his fender. Mike Darby was havin g to play catchu p un til Rowland went down in a tum. Then it was the two Experts Hall and Darby battling it out. On the white fla g lap Dar b y was righ t on Hall 's rear wheel when on t he to p part o f the course his pipe broke. At the flag it was Tom Hall first Expert, Mark Levrett first Amateur and Mark Rowland second Amateur. The largest class of the day was the 125 Novice which was divided into two divisions. In Division One it was Mike lnderbitzen followed by Dave Alle y and ano ther Vogel in third . this time Stuart. In Division Two the fourth Vo gel turned up in the winner's circle with first ove ra ll. . The 250 Semi Pro eve nt was a t igh t race. Allan Ber lutti of Ren o , a fte r racin g at Live Oak Saturday . t hen dr ivin g all . ni gh t to be at Pris o n Hill thi s morning, to o k his mo rning shower in the wa te r tru ck and pro ceeded to burn up the tr ack finish ing with a second in th e first mo to and a first in th e second by a scan t few inches. • 29

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