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/126073
Another piece of bad news. With little fanfare outsi de the Federal Register, EPA granted Californ ia its waiver request to adopt its own emission regs for motorcycles. We have until January, 1978 to obtain some relief from the state legislature. After that, the world begins to slowly ·turn upside down. Hope you guys ou t there helped elect the right people. [TH LATEST E IOP P Doug las _County Fair grounds drew 131 riden, most ever fo r a local ind oor short track in that part of Oregon . It may be _raining up there, but the action doesn't stop (if you don't mind a little essence of co w in your t raction). BY PAPA WEALEY :... Q) ..0 a c:J :> o Z The Mini Bik e World Cham pionship Grand Prix is officially on f or Friday evening, No vember 19. The third annual affair gets underway w ith practice at 6:00 p.m . at the Richmond Rambler's club grounds locat ed near the end of Girard Blvd. in Richmond, California. Because of certain " cry babies" last year, Mr. lackey, (Brad 's dad), says engine displacement will be limited · to 150cc, but an unlimited class will be run if there are two or more entries. There's no word yet if Marty Tripes and Earl Lyons will come out of retirelJlent with their 250cc m ini Bultaco to defend their titles in the Rider's and Mechanic's classes. Is it true .that team Suzuki wrench Bria n "Chicken Legs" Lunnis has been working out daily to get in shape for the Richmond s~owdown? With suspension travel on motocross bikes reaching its lim its, getting more usab le power to the ground is the next step in technological development. More tire contact to the ground is one idea, with Brad lackey usirig a 17inch rear rim and 5.00 x 17 Trelleborg on his factory Husky. Yamaha's Bob Hannah is using a WM-4 rear ri m on his works Yamaha. Close-but -no-cigar Dept.: Acting on the strength of Bernie Sch reiber's finis hes in the Ca lifornia National trials rou nds. Bulraco International decided to fly hi m out East for the two ro unds November 6· 7 (so he wou ld n 't miss school. a constraint whic h had kept him fro m entering). Upon his arriva l. his entry was protested by Montesa on grounds he'd not sent notice of intent 2 1 d ays p rior as required by AMA/NATC rules . The protest was upheld , and apparently Bernie's trip was for naugh t. BLM's National Advisory Board meets for a long session November 14-17 in Albuquerque, at the Albuquerque Inn . They'll let the public make I O-minute statements between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Monday, November 15 (ain't that nice?) provided ·they 're also sub mitted in writing, in duplicate, and you call for reservations, (505)988-63 16. Do y ou begin to get the idea they don't really want to hear fro m yo u? .... w l/l W ~ >o o .., >III a Imagine our surprise ....: over jump and into 15 bikes at Saddleback. Southland Cycle has received California Dl\1V approval for a silencing kit to allow the RM 125,250 and 370 Suzukis to be Green -Stic kle registered. San Diego County is forming a new M .O. R .E . Cha p ter Novembe r 15. The kick off meeting starts 7:3 0 p _m. at the Colony Kitchen in Encenitas, off 1-5 at Santa Fe. 500= World Champ ion Barry She ene has q uit England 's Te xaco Heron Team Suzuk i. Immediat ely aft er announc ing his dec ision t o quit th e team. t he yo ung road racer flew to Japan to hopefu lly persuade Suz uk i to bac k him w ith works moto rcycles for the ' 7 7 season. Acco rd ing to the British press, Sheene intend s to fo rm a one-ma n team wit h Faberge and a fuel company providing the necessary fu nds. Marland Whaley doubled up on the National Trials Championship field this weekend, winning both the Rhode Island round November 6 and the Pennsylvania round November 7. The Rhody Rovers' event was a Team Honda sweep, as Joe Guglielmelli and Mark Eggar were in an unresolved points tie for second/third. In Pennsylvania, Don Sweet (Mon), who had sat out his "home area" trial. came back with a second and Lane Leavitt was third. Unofficially, this leaves Marland with three w ins to Sweet's two, ' and a three point lead in the best-of-five standings. Showdown is in Michigan November 13. . Taking Sheene's plac e on the factory-backed, Merv Wright directed Texaco Heron Team will be Californian Pat Hennen, who capped a successful roo kie Grand Prix season with a win in • the Finnish GP's 500cc class. I The most recent road race events scheduled for Adams County Fairgrounds near Denver, Colorado have been cancelled. Woody'Wrtte and the Mountain Roadracing Association still want to throw an event. either November 13-14 or_ November 20-21 . Call (3031233-8167 to confirm dates; our inf o is very spotty. U .S . Forest Service has released a packet of proposed rules called " Prohib ited Acts" sort of a consolidated list of No-Nos . To obtain a copy and/or comment (deadline is November 26 k wri te USDA Forest Service, Fiscal and Accou nting Management Staff. W ashin gton , D.C . 20250. Your Regional Forester's offi ce sho ul d h ave copies of the propose d regs ha ndy. also. - One of Forest Service's proposed No-Nos is unlicensed (read, under 16) operators on ORVs without adult supervision, similar to the proposal released by BLM. Do you suspect the Feds are mounting a con 'racy against kids? One of motorcycling's un looked-for frie nds, former Ca lifornia ' Assemblyman Pa ul Ca rpenter of Cypress. won his bid for the St ate Senate. Another Texaco Heron Tea m member unhappy with h is lot is Joh n Newbold . He reported ly has been offered less fo r , 7 7 t h a n h e re ce ived f or th e just -eomplet ed '76 season. O fficials recently sent a letter to parents of chi ldren competing in 40MA Mini ra ces . It seems that the- p;irerits kick up such a fuss at the events that the AM A is havi ng a hard time finding promoters to run the races. As mi ni bike racing has m atured . it has developed its own class of ."Lit tle League" parents. T he most serious question remains : a t wha t age is a ch ild old enough to know when to gas it and when to ba ck out. and at wh at age is a child strong enough to en dure cr ashin g . Just learned that the Husqvarna 250CR is now Green-Stickie legal with a dealer-installed factory silencing kit. In spite of the confusion over Pa pa's long-winded P ublic Opin ion message (wrong wordcount) a sizeable number of you · either edited it down to 15 words or sent it as a $2. 55 Mailgram . We checked with the White House . staff; and whi le they refu sed to div ulge numbers. they had received enough messages to . esta blish a separa te "EOI 1644" ca tegory and. kn ow exac tly wh at m essages we were ta lking a bout. Thanks for hanging in with us . even if we gona do it again when th e new m ali m oves in . The all-conquering Butler and Smith BMW Team of Reg Pridmore, Steve Mclaughlin, and Gary ' Fisher finished 1-2-3 in the 1976 AMA Superbike Production standings. BMW-mounted riders won three out of four SUperbike Production racas during the year. However, to give them a piece of your mind in writin9, the address i~ Director (230), BLM, U.S. Department of · the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240. They will be going over both the Organic Act and the proposed ORV regulations. We . got a glimpse of t he 1977 pro duction big bore H usq u a rn a bike while out berm blas ting a t ou r favorite riding area . The new 390cc CR Husky closely resembles Brad Lackey's TransAMA works bike right down to the H usqvarna leading axle fork, through -the-frarne exhaust pipe, and differen t frame with longe r shocks. Travel at each wheel is around ten inches with dual rate. springs on the 17-inch Girling shocks. An improved airbox, utilizing an outside p lastic cove r. is part 'o f the package. . The ORV Monitor is still up to its old tricks. In California's East Bay area, the Regional 'Park District is at least trying to plan for bikers' needs. So what does the Monitor. do? Print 'a picture of a hideously over-used hillside in Chabot Park _" and asks "Do you ' want this to happen to Canada del Cierbo7", thus sidestepping the premise that this gross over-use stems from lack of facilities. Neat. fellas, really neat. Roger DeCoster was seen test ing new Ka yaba suspension un its on a RM 370 Suzuki at Indian Dunes . The fork looks similar to the ai r-spring units on the works Suzu ki and Ka wasak i racers. The rear shocks a re ai r-sprung' with dual air fittings, using a Marzocchistyle reservoir on the shoc k b~y and additional fr ame-mounted reservoirs . Roger was testing jhe units for possible use on production models . Contrary to what we reported last week, AMA dirt-track ster Steve Eklund did not break his arm at Riverside Receway on Halloween. While Eklund did hit the Turn Nine wall during an AFM money race, he was not seriously i!'lj ured. -'\ According to. Owen Kearns of th e Bakersfield Californian , California Senator-elect S,l. Hayakawa may ha ve modified his stand on off-road riding sin ce writing th e ou tlandish art icle reprinted on page four of th is issue. Hayakawa's Assistant Press Secretary. Pat Turpin , reques te d th at we note that fa ct pendin g rele ase of a positio n statement from the Golden State's new juni or Sena tor. After a long bout of planning as a " Special Design Area," the BLM has ordered California's Eureka Dunes system closed to ORVs.