Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

§INSIDE ~ t OHV Scan dal. 2.12 "Off Rhodes" , p.2; " All the Director's men" , p.12 Trans-AMA 6 Broc Glover [ VOICE S ! ·OP TIIEI ,WB S~ 10 Roger D. clinches title Youngest. newest factory rider 16 West hot line Tom Brooks wi ns ORA. Road· race phot gallery, Ju bilee Enduro Baja 22 MavesiRoeseler beat the buggies Take a number 23 Who's w ho in National MX RM 80 Suzuki 24 Just the thi ng for Roger's kid 28 Phil Read Hanging up the helmet ? World-Mini GP 29 0 1' Roger whats-his-name didn't w in this . North Katayama 30 34 $100,000 privateer Opinion 38 ON THE COVER: Broc Glover. Photo by Jim Gianatsis. Charles c.. Clayton, President Bobi Scan. Assistant Sharon Clayton, Publisher Edna Mewton, Secretary to Publisher Adverti sing Robert 1.. Nor VelIe, National Advertising Sales Manager Debbie Wilkins, West ern Regional Advertising Sales Manager Chris Kol be r, Advertising Assistant Eaito rial Lane Campbell, Editor, Jody Weise l, Editor, John Ulric h Editor. Art and Production P rod uctio n : Dennis Tech nician : Mario n Lab Ha tash ita, Cox, Typographer; Mike Klin ger , Lab and Productio n Assistant. Circulation Rheha Smith, Mana ger ; a nd Pam Green Assista nt . Accounting G ayl ene Zaio nz , Man ager : Ken Lo rin . Assist ant ; J ca noe Hamm o n d. Acc t s. R e c eivabl e : Pamela Dicker so n and Caroly n Bra nham . Assist a nts ; Ju dy Klinger, Cred it Dept. : Rhon d a Van Doren . Co llec t io n Dep t. Service and Support ~I i ch ad Co likas , Den n is Wall s. Juan ita Blant o n , re ceptio nist. Triumph presses on Triumph is alive and well. The Meriden Plant, owned and operated by the workers co -op is producing the best Triumphs in years . The new American Distributor , NVT America , Inc. in Anaheim, California is doing a super job. Ask any of the loya l dealers who have defended their brand and will still try and satisfy their Triumph customers . W hy, then , has the motorcycle p ress in th e last cou p ie of years repeatedly sta ted that Triumph is going out of business , or that it is dead? T he press wou ld do well if they wo u ld check befo re pri nting. Fo r example, the J une, 1976 R .L. Polk Repo rt shows Triumph sales sixth place , well ahead of some very respectable bra nds. Pol k also shows that Triumph doubled its sales over the previo us year when other motorcycle m a n u factu re rs were just tryi ng to hold their own . That 's unequaled by any other brand. O n e ca n only believe that the motorcycle press prints what it wants to believe. For example , why do you refer to Bri tish racing motorcycles as antiques and vintage, when they are no olde r than most of the Yamahas and Harley- Davidsons that race? The only difference I can see is that Triumph is still a street bike you can buy and convert to racing, unlike the Yam a ha 750 twin , Harley-Davidson XR 750 and Yamaha 4 cyli nder T Z 750 . These las t two bikes were never intende d for street use and are so hard to come by tha t top notch riders have to cla im them . Is th is why Gary Scott got a fa ce sla pping from the p ress for winning on a vintage Triumph? In Tri u m p h, I bel ieve . It is a mach ine ba cked by a factory that has been go od to m e . Triump h a nd its riders need the hel p from the press that they have not been getting. So let's p lay ball ; if not , hand me the bat because I kn ow where to put it. GEORGE W. "J ACK" WILSON Big D Cycle Center Dallas, T exas H ey th ere, Ja ck , don 't call T rum pets "vin tage " it ir ri tates peopl e . . . Ed . West P.O . Box 4 9 8 . Lo ng Bea ch . C,\ 90801. (2 13 ) 4 27 -74 3 3 : L.A . Lin e 636-8844. East P.O. Box 80 5 , Tucker , G.\ 3 0084. (4 0 4 ) 93 4·7850. Subscr ipt ion One year. secon d class m ail 51 2.50 : 2 yea rs. seco nd cla ss mail. 5 22 .50 : 3 year s. se co nd cla ss m ail , 53 0. 0 0. CLASS. MId M£M.flll 4 CopyriKht Cyd(' Ne ws , In c. 19 76 . Tr... e d mark regis te red lt .S. Paten t Orrin' . All ri,'thts reserved . Pu blished w('('kly e xce p t the first .1Od last week of the cale n dar year hy Cy d t, :"(" \ 'I,S. Inc . P.O . Box 49 1'1 . Lo ng ueach . C.uifornia. Second class POS (J.~ (" paid J.t Long Beac h. C.\ . 901'10I. blitori~1 sto ries. ca rt oons. ph o tos. c u-, J.rl..' welcome. Add ressed , stamped envelope assures re t vm o f unpurvh ased vdit o ria! ma t te r, N.e.·pr in t ing in wh ole.' o r P.IJ't onl y hy perm ission .. f th e o puhlishns. ,\ c.ln " isin t.: rl ra tes J.nc.l c.: i rc.' u l~ l i o n in furm .ation will he.' sent u po n rc:q~~s~ ' i~'~ ~ . R . I}~ ... Snow job I a m fa r from be ing an enduro expert, but I appreciate and accept the challenges offered by such clubs as U .E.A . and XXMC . Isn 't ENDU R -O self expanatory? BOB LINDGREN MotorPsychoists MC Whittier , Calif. The Simi Valley Motorcycle Club called her Mama Ruth. She and Dad dy Jim Coppage helped get the charter for the group 13 years ago. They also owned Jim and Dust y 's Triumph and Honda Shop on Los Angeles Avenue and First Streets. On any Sunday they could be found at a desert race or a motocross with their kids Dust y, Nadine and Johnny. Ruth worked for Lockheed Aircraft and Litton Industries altern ately most of her adult life. She was a riveter when she met Daddy Jim during World War U. She had so many friends because she loved peo ple and was in tum loved. Mama Ruth died of cancer on October 19th at the age of 51 in Lancaster. Maybe you did know her, bu t a lot of peop le ' in the San Fernando , Simi and Antelope Valleys did . Those of you who didn't know .her missed knowing a great lady. VALAREE {Dawson} PETRITSCH Chatsworth, Calif. Trial search I wouldn like to ge t a sched u le and locat ion of trial s events for the Sou th ern Cal ifornia T ria ls Assoc. or th e Orange County Trialers . Cou ld I ge t a name and ph on e number? Seems th er e is not a lot of public info on tri als. JIM LOW Orange County. Calif. W ith a f ew ex ceptions, th ere 's not much inf o coming out of trials clubs. H ow about it, trials p eople? Our Calendar section is still fr ee . . . Ed . New bike preparation Over the past six years that I have been involved in ra cing motorcycles . I hate to think how many new bik es I hav e spen t ho urs on repairing the "ne w bike p reparation " performed by t he deal er. I decided to purchase a new KTM for d esert ra cing purposes recently an d wa s referred to J eff Br ownin g at Competition Servi ces in San Pedro. You ca n im agin .. how su rprised I was whe n I picked th e bike u p on a Frid ay afte rn oon a nd worked in m y ga rage a t hom e unt il I :00 in th e morn in g tryin g to find so mething. a loose bolt or stripped nu t o r a ny item tha t had n't received a tt ent ion . I adjourned to bed co m pletely fru strat ed in not find ing one item in need o f a ttent io n. The re are deal er s wh o ca re a nd spe nd time p reparing new bik es. RON MILLER Los An geles, Ca lif. JIMMY MACK Anaheim, Calif. But if th ey pr epar e th em right , how yo u r Friday will yo u sp end nights? . . . Ed . Enduro is earthy sport In regards to recent com pla ints p rint ed in Cycle News a bo ut end uros such as th e Tuf E Nuff a nd Cal State 100 , it a ppears as though the complaining parties would be bett er su ited in a car rally th a n the earthy • • sport of e duro~ ' I Ii .. · I just want to say that 1 thin k Elmo C. Buckweather the XU is doing a great job. He should be given a raise, or at least a medal. Really. I mean , how many people can write like him? Especially letters. The man is a gen iu s. MRS. ELMO C. BUCKWEATHER XU Buckville, Montana Farewell, " Mama Ruth" T hat Mike Yada is hy far th e best new mote -news writ er I've read in a long tim e . .. Are yo u th eJ immy Ma ck kn own to be a good friend of Yad a's, or is your na m e and address a m er e coincidence? . .. Ed. Kudos She's my Husky My Husky was really upset at the res ults of SRA Gam b le rs Paradise Enduro , where she was listed as a Yamaha. She's n ot a Yamah a . Sh e's a '76 250 WR tu ned by Malcolm Sm it h . Ann Mennell rides a H usky not a Yam aha . PAM LEH MANN Nor co . Cal if. Yes, but d oes papl!T$?' . ! . lEd. it i I ha ve I I Barstow to Vegas lives The Pha nt om Du ck's mail overflowing with letters from people who want to get invo lved with the Ph ant om Du ck of t he Desert 's "u norga nized" Barsto w to Vegas T rail Ride. T ha nks to everyone . A special note for anyone showing up at t he start area early. Private p ropert y owners may resp ect our right to do our thing if we respect th eir right s. Please , no pit or trail ridi ng in the area . Save it for Satu rday, an d leave a clean ca m p. Cooperat ion is the on ly way . T H E PHANTO M DUC K OFTHE DESERT Cuca mon ga , Ca lif. Land-use turkeys W e have been screwed by the Sierra Cl u b . Let me tell you what they have don e this time. The Ari zona Desert Racing Association ha d m ade arrange ments with Luke Air Force Base and Marine Corp. Air Station in Yu ma to use thei r bombing ranges for a motorcycle race from Gila Ben d to Yu m a , which the good people of the mi lita ry we re ha ppy to oblige. The Arizona Dese Ra cing Assoc ia tion ha d alread y gone to great expense a nd time to m ake the a rrangemen ts for this event and many people were look ing forward to being involved in th e ra ce. T he Sierra Club started scr eami ng to th e officials at the m ilit ary bases saying that th ey were going to sue the U .S. Go vernment and the Arizona Desert Ra cing Asso cia tion for not fil ing an Env ironmental Impact Statement .. . get ' that , an . Environmental Impa ct Statement on a bombing ra nge . I' ll bet no on e ever said anythin g a bou t th e bom bs that were d rop ped out th ere. I have seen the bombing are a and it is just wasted desert. If it wer e virgin desert I wou ld say the Sierra Club had a gripe, bu t not in th is instance. I have grea t admiration for Arizona Dese rt R a cing Associ a ti on . I have been racing with these people since 1972 and have watched t hem go to great ext remes to clean up the desert after a race. Motorcycle riders know what it is like to lose their land and I know for a fa ct that they go out of their wa y to take care of the desert . This letter isn't just to motorcycle ride rs or racers. This is to everyone, the rockhounds , fisherm en . hunters. back packers and just plain old people who like to get away from it all once in a while. If we continue to let these hypocrites d ictate to us where we can go or what lands we can use , we're goi ng to lose everyt hing th a t this country stands for. How about all of you veterans? W hy the hell d id you do you r th ing for this cou ntry if you aren't going to be a llowed to exp ress yourself, use your la nd a nd spe ak you r piece? Come on Brothers, sta nd up and let yourself be he ard . It only takes 10 or 15 minutes to p ut it on paper and 13 ~ to mail it. It is about time we put a stop to th ese tu rkeys . GARY A. BAILEY Riviera , Ariz .

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