Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

1IIE'LATEST P BY PlPA WEALEY A sneak attack through Congress The Speedway Racers Assoc. board turned down the L.A . Sprockets' pro test, up holding the results of the event and agreeing with the referee's decision that Bruce Penhall was not knocked down in a Bandits/Sprockets match at Bakersfield. A piece on Tony DiStefano in the August issue of SPORT is en titled " T he youngest , fastest motocross racer anyone's eve r seen." We 'll go along w ith th at but won't go along with Tony's comments about st reet rid ing. Fol lowing a lawsuit brought by a rid er, the Mojave ,Desert Rac ing Association has announced its demise. The August 15 Team Race and the rema inder of the 1976n7 season are cancelled. MORA organizers Lynn and Pat Kelsay thanked every body fo r their support of the Ponderosa races and urged th em to continue to be active in the desert. Gary Nixon and Erv Kanemoto departed for England last Saturday. With just three rounds of the F750 series remaining (Englan d , Holland and West Germany), they are seeking to cop the top prize. "We're going for it ," said Nixon. "And then we'll be looking forward to some decent starting money over there next year." Emrironmentalists and their allies hawe for ye ars tried to get a tough BLM Organic Act thro ugh Congn!ss, in their drive to shut down all hu man activity in the California Desert and elsewhe re. Two bills, a Senate versio n (S.507) and a House version (H.R. 13777) have been passed and go before a House/Senate mnference committee to iron out differences. This does NOT mean it's on the Pnlsident's desk, nor does it mean the desert will automat icall y ' become WiIcWness dassified. What IS true, is 1IuIt the Act, if passed on in its p.-nt form , would arm BLM rangers and give them .-t. search and seizure powers the same as other Federal agents. h also appropriateS an additional $40 miUion for the Bureau to use in land use planning for the - CaIifonU Desert Consenation A CN staffer asked if public hearings would ever re-open on the California daert; and the BLM's spokesman couldn't promise anything. bu t said it was be ing thought about . . . At Luxembourg, the final 500 race of the season, Roge r DeCoster, with a fou rth in the second moto, won h is fifth World Championship over teammate Gerrit Wolsink, who went 2-2 for the day. Jaak Van Velthoven won both motos to dose out the season seventh in the standings behind Brad Lackey, In the 25 0 class. Heikki Mikkola needs two points to clinch his championship after winning the first m oto of the Dutch GP, over "Tealeaf" Hansen and Jim Pomeroy . Moisseev wo n the second moto and defending champion Harry Everts pu t together a 4-3 for the day. At the 1~ World Championship motocross round in West Germany, Gaston Rah ier went 1-1 ; and Marty Smith with a 4-2 score split with A. Albergeni (2-41, according to early reports on that race. 2 Final 500cc Motocross World s tan d in gs after C ham pi onship Luxembourg: 1. Ro ger DeCo ster, 183; 2. Gerrit Wolsink. 177 ; 3. Adolf Wei!, 138; 4. Graham Noyce, 113; 5. Herbert Schmitz , 101; 6. Brad Lac key, 99 ; 7. Jaak Van Velt hoven, 92; 8. Ake J onuon, 81 - 9. Pierre Karsmakers, 71; 10. Bengt Aberg. 48. The August 10 meeting of San Diego County's ORV Committee has been cancelled and rescheduled for August 24 at 7:30 p.m , At th is wr it ing , the BLM's 1974-vintage Interim Crit ical Man age me nt Plan (ICMP) for the California Desert still stands; but it's going to be a whole new poker game on all other Federal Lands with respect to ORV access, as a result of new proposed grou ndrul es. See Polit ical Life line, page 32. "nation al Ca lifornia has wo n recognition" from DOT for enforcing the 55 mph limit. Whoopie . A bicycle safety seminar is to be held October 25-26 in the Los Angeles area, according to California's , Office of Traffic Safety. - Could be to f igure out why our fellow Californians are wiping out fewer bicyclists (8 .6 percent fewer, 1976 vs. 1975. through May 311 and more of everyone else . The same statistics ind icate that it 's far more dangerous to be a pedestrian (deaths up;: 13.3%1 than it is to be a motorcyclist (u p 9%1. Must be a moral there, someplace. Er, what else is happening in our wild and wonderful m edia wo rld? Well, U.S. Suzuki beat Yamaha 7-6 . No, not mo to scores - softbaIl. Anybody for an All-Industry league? Poppa can't h it, can't catch. but is fairly accurate with a beer bottle. AIu,.- What you can do now is write Pi · Ikrrt Genld Ford, 1600 Peaw.yl••,ia Ave., Washington, D.C. 20516 and ask him to veto the Act when it does come up for his signature. Also see next -'t's Cyde News for names of Conference Committee members so you can let you r will be ~. Bet1er yet, call up your Congressman's home-ilistrict off'_ and let his staff know your reaction to the BLM Organic Act. More details next _ k. Gary Scott was referred to as the "Sultan of Scrounge" by a daily newspaper scribe. The remark was in reference to the variety of bikes the Grand National Champ has competed on th is year. Which , by the way , is shapi ng up as the long-awa ited " year of th e pr ivateer ," Welcome, Bob Gill, to the City of (fallen) Angels When Bob Gill, paralyzed from the waist down in a jumping accident, completed his 7,SDO-mile Ride for Independence across the country, it wa s supposed to be all oyer but for the press conferences and the congratulations. The ride , on a specially-ilesigned Kawasaki 9OO/sidecar outfit th at allowed Gill to load his wheelchair in the sidehack, mount and ride without help, was done to dramatize the efforts of the National Paraplegia Foundation and to raise money for spinal injury research . Imagine the shock and dismay when the press and many handicapped persons, who had come to share Bob's triumph and his hope, came down from the conference to find that someone had, in broad dayl ight, made off with the sidecar, leaving Bob's now-useless Kawasaki leaning against a post! No, the story doesn't end on that depressing note. The men who took the side car preferred to call it "repossessed" in an apparent dispute over ownership of the car and patent rights to it s de sign . When informed by police that, due to their method of repossession, they faced sevefa! serious charges, they returned the hack to Bob and went to seek sounder legal recourse . Dick Fuller, after placing fourth in Superbike Production at Laguna, took his girl rid ing to Frisco on h is R-5 , sans n umbe r plates. Hear he fouled a plug on Lombard street, though. Wondered when it wou ld happen in SoCal - CMC's Pat Manning will try out a combined 250 GP/Four Stroke Single race a t an August 22 Ontario road race. Designed to bring out those vintage Manx and AyJays, it's more likely th at so me far m o re modem stuff may sh ow I!p. The U.S. Forest Serv ice in Arizona is expected to preview its ORV plans within the next couple of weeks, a ccord ing to o ur ' Ar izona correspondent. Stayed glued . Ooops l Correction - very important. Several sources, CN included. published notice of a $4000 purse for the August 28-29 Golden Gate Challenge AFM road race at Sears Po in t. Not necessarily so ; the $2000 p ut up by the track is guaranteed. Anything over $200 0 will be announced on race day, in additionto contingencies an d product awards. CaII (916) 392-0611 for current info . North Texas t rialers: Your contacts for info on trials events in your area are Tom Batchelor (2141 337-8656 and Jay Decker (2 14 1 436-6151. They are reps of the North Texas Trials Associat ion and architects of the Texas State T rials Championship. Ask them about their 1977 program . When asked about his car racing p lans , Gene Romer o said he will be te sti ng a midget racer sh ortly. As for the more po werf ul sp rint cars. Burritto qu ipped, "A sp rint car sponsor wo uld get a lot of p ublicity if he 'd p aint h is n ame on the b elly -pan of on e an d let me drive it ." California's Lodi Cycle Bowl will wrap up scrambles high point awards at the Stockton MC's TT on August 20th . Then short track season begins in earnest with , a four-event kickoff over Labor Day Weekend . Keep your eyes on Calendar. '

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